January 6th, 2021

hanimmal

Well-Known Member
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-donald-trump-riots-only-on-ap-michael-pence-a27921d08ca949c0b1e64c33628dd80e
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WASHINGTON (AP) — As the rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, many of the police officers had to decide on their own how to fight them off. There was no direction. No plan. And no top leadership.

One cop ran from one side of the building to another, fighting hand-to-hand against rioters. Another decided to respond to any calls of officers in distress and spent three hours helping cops who had been immobilized by bear spray or other chemicals.

Three officers were able to handcuff one rioter. But a crowd swarmed the group and took the arrested man away with the handcuffs still on.

Interviews with four members of the U.S. Capitol Police who were overrun by rioters on Jan. 6 show just how quickly the command structure collapsed as throngs of people, egged on by President Donald Trump, set upon the Capitol. The officers spoke on condition of anonymity because the department has threatened to suspend anyone who speaks to the media.

“We were on our own,” one of the officers told The Associated Press. “Totally on our own.”

The officers who spoke to the AP said they were given next to no warning by leadership on the morning of Jan. 6 about what would become a growing force of thousands of rioters, many better armed than the officers themselves were. And once the riot began, they were given no instructions by the department’s leaders on how to stop the mob or rescue lawmakers who had barricaded themselves inside. There were only enough officers for a routine day.

Full Coverage: Capitol siege

Three officers told the AP they did not hear Chief Steven Sund on the radio the entire afternoon. It turned out he was sheltering with Vice President Mike Pence in a secure location for some of the siege. Sund resigned the next day.

His assistant chief, Yogananda Pittman, who is now interim chief, was heard over the radio telling the force to “lock the building down,” with no further instructions, two officers said.

One specific order came from Lt. Tarik Johnson, who told officers not to use deadly force outside the building as the rioters descended, the officers recounted. The order almost certainly prevented deaths and more chaos, but it meant officers didn’t pull their weapons and were fighting back with fists and batons.

Johnson has been suspended after being captured on video wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat while moving through crowds of rioters. Johnson told colleagues he wore the hat as a tactic to gain the crowd’s confidence as he tried to reach other officers who were pinned down by rioters, one of the officers said. A video of the incident obtained by the Wall Street Journal shows Johnson asking rioters for help in getting his colleagues.

Johnson, who could not be reached for comment, was heard by an officer on the radio repeatedly asking, “Does anybody have a plan?”
___

The Capitol Police has more than 2,300 staff and a budget that’s grown rapidly over the last two decades to roughly $500 million, making it larger than many major metro police departments. Minneapolis, for example, has 840 officers and a $176 million budget.

Despite plenty of online warnings of a possible insurrection and ample resources and time to prepare, the Capitol Police planned only for a free speech demonstration on Jan. 6.

They rejected offers of support from the Pentagon three days before the siege, according to senior defense officials and two people familiar with the matter. And during the riot, they turned down an offer by the Justice Department to have FBI agents come in as reinforcements. The officials spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the decision-making process.

The riot left five people dead, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was hit in the head by a fire extinguisher. Another officer died in an apparent suicide after the attack.

The attack has forced a reckoning among law enforcement agencies. Federal watchdogs launched a sweeping review of how the FBI, the Pentagon and other agencies responded to the riot, including whether there were failures in information sharing and other preparations that left the historic symbol of democracy vulnerable to assault.

Top decision-makers have offered differing explanations for why they didn’t have enough personnel.

Sund told The Washington Post that he was worried about the possibility for violence and wanted to bring in the National Guard, but the House and Senate sergeants at arms refused his request. To bring in the Guard, the sergeants at arms would have had to ask congressional leaders.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, said congressional leaders had not been informed of any request for the National Guard before the day of the riot. The office of Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, declined to comment.

It’s not clear why the threat was not taken more seriously.

John Donohue, a 32-year veteran of the New York Police Department who advises the Capitol Police on intelligence matters, sent a memo on Jan. 3 warning of the potential for an attack on Congress from the pro-Trump crowd, according to two law enforcement officials with knowledge of the memo first reported by The Washington Post. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal memo.

Donohue was well-versed in the extremist threat. At a congressional hearing in July, before he starting advising the Capitol Police, Donohue told lawmakers the federal government needed a system to better monitor social media for domestic extremists.

“America is at a crossroads,” he said in his testimony. “The intersection of constitutional rights and legitimate law enforcement has never been more at risk by domestic actors as it is now as seditionists actively promote a revolution.”

Tens of thousands of National Guard members have now been called to secure the Capitol in advance of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday.

A spokeswoman for Capitol Police did not respond to questions Friday.

___

For major events, the Capitol Police normally holds meetings to brief officers on their responsibilities and plans in case of an emergency. Three of the officers interviewed by the AP said there were no meetings on or before Jan. 6. It’s also unclear whether the department held over its overnight shift or called in more officers early to help those who would be on duty that day.

“During the 4th of July concerts and the Memorial Day concerts, we don’t have people come up and say, ‘We’re going to seize the Capitol,’” one officer said. “But yet, you bring everybody in, you meet before. That never happened for this event.”

Another officer said he was only told that morning to pick up a riot helmet. He said he had training on dealing with large crowds, but not on how to handle a riot.

“We were under the impression it was just going to be a lot of yelling, cursing,” he said.

As Trump called on his supporters to go to the Capitol, telling them to “fight like hell,” members of the House and Senate were inside the building to certify Biden’s victory over Trump in the Electoral College.

Crowds of Trump supporters, many of them linked to far-right or white supremacist groups, began gathering on both sides of the Capitol.

An officer working the western front of the building, which faces the White House and where risers were set up for the inauguration, quickly realized that the crowds were not peaceful. The rioters began breaking down short fences and systematically clipping off “Area Closed” signs, the officer said.

Videos from the event show the crowd climbing the walls on the western side and eventually breaching the building.

One officer listed the various weapons used to hit him and people near him: batons, flagpoles, sections of fencing, batteries, rubber bullets and canisters of bear spray that went further than the chemicals the officers themselves had. Some of the rioters showed their badges from other law enforcement agencies, claiming they were on the side of the Capitol Police, the officer said.

Most of the insurrectionists left without being arrested, which officers who spoke to the AP say was because it was next to impossible to arrest them given how badly the force was outnumbered. That was underscored by the rioters taking away a man who officers had tried to arrest inside the Capitol.

“The group came and snatched him and took him away in cuffs,” one officer said. “Outside of shooting people, what are you supposed to do?”
 

H G Griffin

Well-Known Member
Scarborough says he's considering legal action against Trump over conspiracy tweets
MSNBC “Morning Joe” host Joe Scarborough said in an interview that he has considered taking legal action against President Trump for repeatedly amplifying an unfounded conspiracy theory about the death of one of Scarborough's former aides.

Scarborough, a former GOP lawmaker from Florida, told the Times Radio that he consulted defamation lawyers in New York and Washington, D.C., about a potential lawsuit after Trump suggested repeatedly last year that Scarborough may have murdered his aide.

The MSNBC host said he was advised by the lawyers that he could not sue Trump because he was the president.

Scarborough said in the interview that aired Sunday he disagreed with the notion that the president is immune from legal action and also suggested he could potentially try to sue Trump in the future, without providing further details.

“They said, well you can’t sue the president because he’s the president and he’s got immunity — which I disagree with, I think there may be a challenge there. I may sue him in the future,” Scarborough said.

“I am going to go back to the lawyer after he leaves office and I’m going to make sure — because why should a president be immune from a lawsuit if he does something like that?” he later added.

Scarborough would be limited in his ability to sue Trump for defamation because the television personality would be considered a public figure.


I think it would be a good idea. They are saying the courts will not see the evidence then lets have a trial with the evidence. That is the only way we will get the hoards to believe that the election was not stolen, when Trump can not produce proof. Until then you will have the righteous bastards feeling they own the country and communists took it over.
It would not surprise me to see a lot of people who have kept quiet and awaited their day coming out of the woodwork with lawsuits and criminal charges now that the Insurrectionist-in-Chief is losing the ability to hide behind his Office.

The dumb and publicity- or money-hungry ones made their play early, but the smart and savvy ones are outside the Whitehouse, waiting to pounce on a largely declawed foe on the 21st.
 

Jimdamick

Well-Known Member
Trump is a broken man and that's a beautiful thing to watch.
Nah, it really isn't, not in my mind at least.
I've spent fucking years warning against & hoping for the demise of Trump & now we are here
A broken man/country
Fucking Tragic
So now, Trump will theoretically ride off into the sunset/oblivion on the 20th, leaving behind a path of wreckage/carnage never witnessed on the American people in it's history.
Absolutely nothing beautiful to watch
Anyway, this is a good song that seems relevant to me at this moment :)

 

topcat

Well-Known Member
Nah, it really isn't, not in my mind at least.
I've spent fucking years warning against & hoping for the demise of Trump & now we are here
Fucking Tragic
So now, Trump will theoretically ride off into the sunset/oblivion on the 20th, leaving behind a path of wreckage/carnage never witnessed on the American people in it's history.
Absolutely nothing beautiful to watch
Anyway, this is a good song that seems relevant to me at this moment :)

I disagree. I'm loving the slow breakdown of him, his family, and his fortune. I'm allowing the cruel side of myself, I usually try to suppress, to revel in the sadness of him.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
me too. i'm wanting to see "repossessed" stickers on all of his beloved golf courses.
I want to see his forfeited corporate jet used to fly parents from wherever Trump had them sent and re-united in the US with their children whom they were separated from at the border after they applied for asylum.

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printer

Well-Known Member
Attorney says she'll try to depose Trump in three cases after he leaves White House
Roberta Kaplan, an attorney representing President Trump's niece Mary Trump and author E. Jean Carroll, is preparing to bring forth three lawsuits against Trump once he leaves office.
Kaplan, 54, told The Washington Post in a story published on Monday that she has prepared three lawsuits alleging defamation and fraud against the president.
Carroll has filed a defamation suit against Trump after he said she was "totally lying" about her allegation that he had raped her in the dressing room of a department store more than two decades ago. Mary Trump alleges that her uncle and two of his siblings left her out of millions worth of inheritance.
Kaplan is also representing people who took part in ACN, a marketing company that was promoted on "The Celebrity Apprentice." According to the Post, Trump and his three oldest children are being sued for making the company appear as a promising opportunity.
“Because of his prominence, he marketed his ability to convince unsophisticated, very poor Americans to invest,” Kaplan said.
Kaplan is well known for arguing on behalf of Edie Windsor before the Supreme Court in a lawsuit that struck down the Defense of Marriage Act and resulted in the recognition of same-sex marriage.
Apart from the suits being brought forth by Kaplan, Trump is also facing a civil investigation from New York Attorney General Letitia James and a criminal investigation Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr.
Recent reports have suggested that Trump is considering issuing multiple pardons for his allies, children and possibly for himself. The constitutionality of pardoning himself has been brought into question, with several scholars saying a self-pardon would likely not hold up legally.
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
GOP lawmaker accused of giving 'reconnaissance' tour prior to Capitol riot

Investigators are looking into tours members of Congress gave of the US Capitol prior to the insurrection on January 6. CNN's Manu Raju reports.
 

injinji

Well-Known Member
And another one that made a mistake.

Police: Woman arrested at checkpoint claimed to be law enforcement officer, Cabinet member
A woman was arrested in Washington, D.C., on Sunday after attempting to pass police barricades while flashing a military police challenge coin and claiming to be both a member of President Trump's Cabinet and of law enforcement, U.S. Capitol Police said.

In an arrest report obtained by The Hill, U.S. Capitol Police said Linda Magovern, a 63-year-old Connecticut woman, told officers at a checkpoint by Columbus Circle that she was “a part of the presidential cabinet" while displaying a military police challenge coin.

The checkpoint was one of many set up around Washington, D.C., to restrict access to areas near this week's presidential inauguration.

According to the report, Magovern then proceeded to drive around Columbus Circle and was stopped again near Union Station. She was arrested on suspicion of falsely impersonating a police officer, failing to obey police and fleeing from police, according to the report.

Downtown Washington has been virtually locked down for days due to security concerns surrounding the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden after a violent riot earlier this month at the U.S. Capitol. Five people died during the Jan. 6 violence, including a Capitol Police officer, while another officer who responded to the scene died several days later.

Magovern's arrest follows the arrest at an inauguration security checkpoint of a Virginia man on Friday who police said was found to be in possession of an unregistered firearm and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

She cra-cra
 

DIY-HP-LED

Well-Known Member
Former Trump campaign staffers worked on National Mall rally the day of the Capitol riot - CNNPolitics

Former Trump campaign staffers worked on National Mall rally the day of the Capitol riot

(CNN)After the deadly sacking of the US Capitol this month, President Donald Trump's reelection campaign has insisted it had nothing to do with the National Mall rally that preceded the riot and featured a speech from the President.

But many of the individuals who helped put on the bombastic rally that day had worked to stage other Trump rallies just a few months earlier. Ten of the 12 people listed as onsite emergency contacts on the government permit approving the January 6 rally have previously worked for or been paid by Trump's reelection campaign, according to a CNN review of Federal Election Commission records, and several worked in the Trump White House.

The rally, billed as a "March for Trump," was organized by Women for America First, a conservative nonprofit group founded by a longtime Tea Party activist. The National Park Service approved a permit for an event that the group predicted would attract 30,000 people to The Ellipse on January 6, the day Congress certified Trump's electoral defeat to President-elect Joe Biden.

Later that day, a mob of Trump supporters -- some of whom had attended the rally -- stormed the Capitol, killing a police officer and leaving four others dead in the mayhem.

Trump spoke at the rally, encouraging his supporters to "fight like hell" and airing debunked conspiracy theories about the election. Other speakers included his sons Eric and Donald Jr., his daughter-in-law Lara, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and political allies like Reps. Mo Brooks and Madison Cawthorn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The permit shows that numerous former Trump campaign staffers were also involved in running the rally behind the scenes, although the campaign says they were acting on their own.

Of the 12 people listed on the permit as onsite contacts, seven were on the Trump campaign's payroll during the 2020 election, according to campaign finance records -- many of whom worked in roles that involved event planning or production.

They include Justin Caporale, the Trump campaign's director of advance and a former director of operations for first lady Melania Trump, who was listed on the permit as the project manager for the rally; Megan Powers, who worked as director of operations for Trump's campaign through January 2021, according to her LinkedIn page, and was listed as an operations manager for the rally; and Maggie Mulvaney, the niece of former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney and the director of finance operations for the Trump campaign, who was listed as the rally's VIP lead.

In addition, two other rally staffers were paid by the campaign for event consulting last year. They include Tim Unes, whose event planning company, Event Strategies, Inc., helped produce Trump rallies and has worked on numerous Republican campaigns, and who served as stage manager for the January 6 rally.

Unes told CNN that he and his company had nothing to do with the march to the Capitol or the riot.
"Our job here was to work on the rally specifically on the Ellipse -- we did not have anything to do with the march," Unes said. "Like any other good American, I am disgusted by what I saw of those people breaking into the Capitol."

Trump campaign denies ties to with the rally
A tenth staffer, Hannah Salem, who was listed on the permit as an operations manager for the January 6 rally, was paid by the Trump campaign for event consulting in 2018 according to campaign records and also worked as Special Assistant to the President and director of press advance, according to a biography on her event management company's website. The biography said she helped plan summits between Trump and foreign dignitaries such as Chinese President Xi Jinping, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, the Queen of England, and Pope Francis.

Some of the rally staffers' previous work for the Trump campaign and the White House was first reported by the Associated Press.

Altogether, the Trump campaign paid the 10 staffers who worked on the January 6 rally more than $1.4 million in salaries, consulting fees, and reimbursements between 2015 and November 2020, according to a CNN analysis of the FEC data.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign said that the staffers were working on their own, and that the campaign had no ties with the rally.

"The Trump campaign did not organize, operate or finance the event," campaign spokesperson Jason Miller told CNN in a text message on Monday. "No campaign staff was involved in the organization or operation of the event. If any former employees or independent contractors for the campaign worked on this event they did not do so at the direction of the Trump campaign."

Other than Unes, none of the other staffers or contractors who worked on the Trump campaign and the rally responded to requests for comment sent to emails, LinkedIn accounts, or phone numbers listed in public records.
One person close to the organization of the rally, who asked to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to share details about the event's planning, also said that the Trump campaign had not been involved. Many of the former Trump campaign staffers were junior level employees, they said.

"Hiring former campaign workers was really just a matter of getting the logistics done," the person said. "Young campaign staffers who were let go after the election are out of work and familiar with the work ... they're kids and they don't have paychecks, that's why they were hired."

The group that planned the rally, Women for America First, did not respond to repeated requests for comment from CNN. The group was founded by Amy Kremer, who previously worked as an executive of the conservative group Tea Party Express, and her daughter Kylie Jane Kremer is listed on the permit as the "person in charge" of the event.
In the permit approved days before the rally, the organizers referred to the possibility of other events at the Capitol that day but said their group wouldn't be involved.

"Women for America First will not conduct an organized march from the Ellipse at the conclusion of the rally," the permit read. "Some participants may leave to attend rallies at the United States Capitol to hear the results of Congressional certification of the Electoral College count."

Other conservative figures and groups that were involved in organizing the rally have stressed that they planned a peaceful protest and have argued that they shouldn't be held responsible for the violent actions of the rioters that followed.

"Any suggestion that Stop the Steal participated in, led, or breached the Capitol building, itself, is defamatory and untrue," Ali Alexander, an organizer with the Stop the Steal group, told CNN in an email. "We cannot control the broader public any more than Nancy Pelosi does Antifa."

Meanwhile, other prominent conservative groups also helped promote the rally. The Rule of Law Defense Fund, a nonprofit associated with the Republican Attorney Generals Association, released robocalls urging supporters to march on the Capitol.

"At 1:00 p.m., we will march to the Capitol building and call on Congress to stop the steal," the robocall said, according to a recording first reported by the news website Documented. "We are hoping patriots like you will join us to continue to fight to protect the integrity of our elections."

Adam Piper, the executive director of the attorneys general group, resigned last week amid controversy over the call.
The group's chairman, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, told the Montgomery Advertiser newspaper that he had not authorized the robocalls and the group is "engaging in a vigorous review" of the incident.
Charlie Kirk, the founder and president of influential conservative group Turning Point USA, tweeted two days before the rally that his organization Students for Trump was "sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president." He declared that the rally supporting Trump "will likely be one of the largest and most consequential in American history."

Kirk later deleted the tweet, which was saved in a snapshot on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine and was first reported by the news website The Daily Dot. A spokesperson for Turning Point Action, a political group affiliated with Turning Point USA, told CNN that Students for Trump only sent seven buses of students to the rally, and that the buses took the attendees out of the area after Trump finished speaking.
 

Bagginski

Well-Known Member
”Charlie Kirk, the founder and president of influential conservative group Turning Point USA, tweeted two days before the rally that his organization Students for Trump was "sending 80+ buses full of patriots to DC to fight for this president." He declared that the rally supporting Trump "will likely be one of the largest and most consequential in American history."
That 80+ buses of protesters ended up in Ginni Thomas’s lap, though they at least tried to clean it up.

Clearly, the Steal The Election March was not the largest rally in US history, but it could turn into the most consequential since the Boston Massacre: the image of “PATRIOTS” breaking into the Capitol to prevent Congress from certifying the results of a verified election has sent a shock wave through the nation. I expect this was a radicalizing shift in perspective for a lot of the people who needed a shock to get the message. The signs are small, still, but popping up all over: we’re recoiling from the assault on the Capitol, from the violence, from the naked display of self-service by the regime, its flacks and lackeys, and what remains of the”republican” party...even some “professional conservatives” are trying to act like they weren’t all-in on the regime.

They’ve used up their plausible deniability: caught red-handed, being the vandals, the rioters, the terrorists they love to clutch pearls over. Everybody saw it, and even folks who never had a civics lesson in their lives can tell it should NEVER have happened, and that the people involved aren’t people to trust. The dividing line is wider now, and brighter...it always was deeper.

First, the Slaver Rebellion. Then, the Businessmen’s Plot. Then, the Kennedy assassination. Now this.

Mad-Eye Mooney would say this calls for “ETERNAL VIGILANCE!!!”
 

printer

Well-Known Member
I still think he can have a change of heart.
Trump talked out of pardoning kids and Republican lawmakers
President Donald Trump received an unsettling warning on his final Saturday night in the White House.
Huddled for a lengthy meeting with his legal advisers, Trump was warned the pardons he once hoped to bestow upon his family and even himself would place him in a legally perilous position, convey the appearance of guilt and potentially make him more vulnerable to reprisals. So, too, was Trump warned that pardons for Republican lawmakers who had sought them for their role in the Capitol insurrection would anger the very Senate Republicans who will determine his fate in an upcoming impeachment trial.

White House counsel Pat Cipollone and another attorney who represented Trump in his first impeachment trial, Eric Herschmann, offered the grave warnings as Trump, his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner listened. Other lawyers joined by telephone. They all told Trump he should not pardon himself, his family or any GOP lawmakers in a prospective manner unless he was prepared to list specific crimes. Cipollone and former Attorney General William Barr both warned Trump earlier this month they did not believe he should pardon himself, multiple sources familiar with the matter told CNN last week. Barr conveyed this position to Trump before resigning last month, sources say.

Trump continued to bring the matter up in the ensuing days, even after officials believed the issue was resolved. But the sobering meeting on Saturday evening at the White House seemed to put the idea to rest. While Trump often discards advice he doesn't agree with -- particularly coming from Cipollone, with whom he has a fractured relationship -- the message Saturday resonated. The conversation spooked Trump in a way few others have, a person familiar with his reaction told CNN.

Now, Trump will leave office muted and disheartened at being unable to wield the power he has cherished most while president. Boxed in by his own actions that helped spark the riots at the Capitol, Trump finds himself constrained in a way he mostly avoided for his entire tenure.
His final batch of pardons, due later Tuesday, is expected to contain few of the controversial or outlandish criminals that have characterized his earlier use of his clemency powers.

Trump could still change his mind, and retains his sweeping clemency powers until noon on Wednesday. The President continues to bring up pardons that aides once thought were off the table, including for former strategist Steve Bannon, leading to general uncertainty about whether Trump will continue adhering to his lawyers' advice. But White House officials and others familiar with the matter describe a muted President, concerned about his pending impeachment trial and swirling legal problems, who was talked out of his long-discussed notions following the Capitol insurrection.

Several Republican lawmakers who are alleged to have been involved in the rally that preceded the deadly riot on the US Capitol have sought clemency from Trump before he leaves office, but after meeting with his legal advisers for several hours on Saturday, the President decided he would not grant them, according to two people familiar with his plans.

The fear of legal exposure is not limited to Republicans who promoted or spoke at the rally, including Reps. Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks and Paul Gosar. Those who participated, organized and fundraised for it are also concerned, sources told CNN, including his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, who both spoke at the rally. Top figures associated with the groups that helped organize it -- including Women for America First and Turning Point Action, the political action committee arm of Turning Point USA -- have also voiced private concern about legal repercussions, a person familiar tells CNN. Several of Trump's closest advisers have also urged him not to grant clemency to anyone who breached the US Capitol, despite Trump's initial stance that those involved had done nothing wrong.

The idea of pardoning himself has captivated Trump nearly the entire span of his presidency. He viewed the prospect as a unilateral magic wand he believed could ease his legal troubles, if not make them disappear entirely. Almost as alluring: preemptive clemency for members of his family, who Trump has long bemoaned were being unfairly targeted by his enemies. Rendering them immune from retribution seemed like a raised middle finger to his detractors. The legal standing of either move was questionable, and Cipollone had been "direct and strong" that a self-pardon was unlikely to hold up in court, a person familiar with the matter said. Internally, one of Cipollone's legacy items is believed to be whether he dissuades Trump from pardoning himself.

Others appealed to Trump by warning he should be more concerned about the effect it would have his legacy, not the legal standing of the pardons. The decision to not pardon any Republican lawmakers or his family members was a last minute one. After initially defending the idea that he may pardon himself or his family members out of concern they would be targeted once he's out of office, Trump decided Saturday night that he would not pardon anyone in his family or himself. Trump agreed with the attorneys and other advisers that doing so would increase the appearance of guilt and could make them more vulnerable, but was disappointed at the outcome, according to people familiar with the matter.

Even as recently as Monday, with hours remaining in his presidency, Trump appeared fixated on pardons. While he was considering preemptive pardons for his children and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, a source close to the process said those are no longer expected. Bannon, who has been indicted on fraud charges, is also not expected to receive a pardon on Tuesday, the source said. Trump is also not expected to pardon Edward Snowden or Julian Assange, whose roles in revealing US secrets infuriated official Washington. While he had once entertained the idea, Trump decided against it because he did not want to anger Senate Republicans who will soon determine whether he's convicted during his Senate trial. Multiple GOP lawmakers had sent messages through aides that they felt strongly about not granting clemency to Assange or Snowden.
As he departs office, Trump has expressed real concern that Republicans could turn on him. A conviction in the Senate impeachment trial would limit his future political activities and strip him of some of the government perks of being an ex-president. Trump is less worried about being barred from running from office again, and more concerned with the optics of being convicted by the Senate, people familiar with the matter said.
 

printer

Well-Known Member
We'll let you know tomorrow.

Trump's lawyers seek clarity about how tax-return case will proceed following Biden inauguration
President Trump's personal lawyers are requesting that a federal judge schedule a teleconference to discuss how a lawsuit about House Democrats' request for Trump's tax returns will proceed during the new administration and Congress.
In a motion filed Tuesday evening, hours before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, Trump's lawyers expressed concerns that the new administration could provide House Democrats with the outgoing president's tax returns without giving Trump advance notice.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) in 2019 issued requests and subpoenas to the Treasury Department and the IRS for Trump's personal and business federal tax returns. After the Trump administration rejected those efforts, the Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit against Treasury and the IRS. The case has yet to be resolved.

Trump and his businesses are participating in the case as intervenor-defendants. Lawyers for Trump and his businesses said in their filing on Tuesday that the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is representing Treasury and the IRS, could reconsider its position about a request for Trump's tax returns in the new administration. Trump's lawyers also noted that Neal's requests expired when the previous Congress ended earlier this month and would have to be renewed if he wants to continue to seek Trump's tax returns.

"All of this raises the possibility that a renewed request from the Committee might be satisfied without giving Intervenor-Defendants notice or an opportunity to be heard on their legal objections," Trump's lawyers wrote.

Trump's lawyers said that the Ways and Means Committee's lawyers declined to disclose to them if Neal plans to renew the request. Neal, however, has told reporters that he plans to renew his effort.

The DOJ said in a statement to Trump's lawyers that it can't speculate on how the Biden administration would handle a request for Trump's tax returns but that it would not object to a temporary order, lasting up to two weeks, that would require Trump's lawyers to be given 72 hours notice before his tax returns are released, according to the court filing.

Trump's lawyers asked Judge Trevor McFadden, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., appointed by Trump, to schedule a teleconference in which the parties in the case would discuss whether the Ways and Means Committee plans to renew its request for Trump's tax returns, whether the committee and DOJ would agree to not disclose Trump's tax returns until the courts reach a decision on Trump's claims, and whether McFadden should issue relief that prevents Trump's claims from becoming moot before they are adjudicated.
 

Fogdog

Well-Known Member
We'll let you know tomorrow.

Trump's lawyers seek clarity about how tax-return case will proceed following Biden inauguration
President Trump's personal lawyers are requesting that a federal judge schedule a teleconference to discuss how a lawsuit about House Democrats' request for Trump's tax returns will proceed during the new administration and Congress.
In a motion filed Tuesday evening, hours before President-elect Joe Biden takes office, Trump's lawyers expressed concerns that the new administration could provide House Democrats with the outgoing president's tax returns without giving Trump advance notice.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Mass.) in 2019 issued requests and subpoenas to the Treasury Department and the IRS for Trump's personal and business federal tax returns. After the Trump administration rejected those efforts, the Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit against Treasury and the IRS. The case has yet to be resolved.

Trump and his businesses are participating in the case as intervenor-defendants. Lawyers for Trump and his businesses said in their filing on Tuesday that the Department of Justice (DOJ), which is representing Treasury and the IRS, could reconsider its position about a request for Trump's tax returns in the new administration. Trump's lawyers also noted that Neal's requests expired when the previous Congress ended earlier this month and would have to be renewed if he wants to continue to seek Trump's tax returns.

"All of this raises the possibility that a renewed request from the Committee might be satisfied without giving Intervenor-Defendants notice or an opportunity to be heard on their legal objections," Trump's lawyers wrote.

Trump's lawyers said that the Ways and Means Committee's lawyers declined to disclose to them if Neal plans to renew the request. Neal, however, has told reporters that he plans to renew his effort.

The DOJ said in a statement to Trump's lawyers that it can't speculate on how the Biden administration would handle a request for Trump's tax returns but that it would not object to a temporary order, lasting up to two weeks, that would require Trump's lawyers to be given 72 hours notice before his tax returns are released, according to the court filing.

Trump's lawyers asked Judge Trevor McFadden, a federal judge in Washington, D.C., appointed by Trump, to schedule a teleconference in which the parties in the case would discuss whether the Ways and Means Committee plans to renew its request for Trump's tax returns, whether the committee and DOJ would agree to not disclose Trump's tax returns until the courts reach a decision on Trump's claims, and whether McFadden should issue relief that prevents Trump's claims from becoming moot before they are adjudicated.
Trump erected a defense during his presidency that hinged on him winning the election and then remaining in power afterward. It's time to blow that house of cards down.
 
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