Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) revealed on Monday that he r…
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/580666-gop-rep-shares-threatening-voicemail-after-infrastructure-vote
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Cameron Jenkins
Trump is now asking for a preliminary injunction to prevent the release of the documents to House lawmakers.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-capitol-riot-documents-case-faces-steep-federal-court-ncna1283164
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Teri Kanefield
The Washington Post said it will not publish former President Trump’s response to a new investigative series it published this week about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol because the statement contained irrelevant an…
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/media/579355-washington-post-decides-not-to-publish-full-trump-response-to-series-due-to
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Dominick Mastrangelo
The House of Representatives voted 229-202 on Thursday to hold former Trump strategist Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee.
Why it matters: The Justice Department will now consider bringing criminal charges against Bannon, marking a significant escalation in the Jan. 6 committee’s efforts to enforce subpoenas against Trump allies who refuse to cooperate.
Between the lines: If the vote demonstrated Democrats’ united front in using any means necessary to uncover facts about Trump’s role in Jan. 6, it also showed similar unity among Republicans for opposing the investigation.
The big picture: Bannon is just one piece of a far broader investigation into the attack.
What to watch: There has not been a successful prosecution under the criminal contempt statute since the Reagan administration. Assuming DOJ does bring charges, experts say it could take months, or even years, for Bannon to be convicted.
Editor’s note: This post has been updated with a comment from Pence’s spokesperson.
Source: https://www.axios.com/bannon-contempt-congress-house-24e2ebcd-fbfd-4bfb-93a1-35b1fdf8fcf9.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Andrew Solender
Ex-president challenges Biden’s decision to waive executive privilege that protects White House communications
Donald Trump has sought to block the release of documents related to the Capitol attack on 6 January to a House committee investigating the incident, challenging Joe Biden’s initial decision to waive executive privilege.
In a federal lawsuit, the former president said the committee’s request in August was “almost limitless in scope” and sought many records that were not connected to the siege.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/19/trump-lawsuit-block-release-capitol-attack-records-biden
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Associated Press in Washington
Officer Michael Angelo Riley was charged Friday with trying to protect someone later accused of illegally entering the Capitol during the riot.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/capitol-police-officer-charged-helping-hide-jan-6-rioter-s-n1281654
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Pete Williams and Frank Thorp V
Capitol Police are warning of potential clashes or unrest during a Sept. 18 right-wing “Justice for J6” rally, …
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/571448-capitol-police-warning-of-potential-for-violence-during-rally-backing
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Rachel Scully
“The United States is a far less confident and optimistic nation now than it was in September 2001,” historian Michael J. Allen said.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/sept-11-united-america-twenty-years-later-nation-stands-divided-n1278600
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Corky Siemaszko
President Joe Biden vowed to respond “with force” to the terrorists who killed 13 U.S. service members and dozens of Afghans in suicide bombings outside the Kabul airport.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/u-s-retaliates-against-isis-drone-strike-afghanistan-n1277844
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Courtney Kube and Dartunorro Clark
Dr. Michelle Fiscus, who claimed she was fired for political reasons, said the dog muzzle was a threat. A state inquiry said it was bought with an American Express card in her name.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/muzzle-sent-tenn-vaccine-expert-bought-amazon-account-credit-card-n1277017
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Antonio Planas and The Associated Press
The Taliban captured Bagram Air Base on Sunday and released thousands of prisoners, including many senior al Qaeda operatives.
Why it matters: The prisoners were some of the Taliban’s most hardened fighters and could pose a threat not only to Afghan citizens but to American security interests.
State of play: U.S. forces handed control of the airfield to Afghan government forces in early July.
The big picture: The prison, Pul-e-Charkhi, is the largest in Afghanistan and contained a maximum-security cell block for al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners.
The big picture: U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told senators Sunday that a previous assessment of how soon terrorist groups will likely reconstitute in Afghanistan will speed up because of what’s happening there now, three sources on the phone call told Axios.
Go deeper: Scoop: Joint Chiefs chairman moves up terrorist threat in Afghanistan.
Source: https://www.axios.com/taliban-bagram-prisoners-release-87ec6885-6930-46d6-9e96-473a252dcf7d.html
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Ivana Saric
Family members of Sept. 11 victims say the information could shed light on whether any Saudi Arabian officials were involved in the attacks.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/after-9-11-families-told-biden-not-attend-memorials-fbi-n1276400
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Rebecca Shabad
Republican Reps. Matt Gaetz (Fla.), Majorie Taylor Greene (Ga.) and Louie Gohmert (Texas) on Thursday were turned away from the D.C. Department of Corrections where they tried to visit accused Jan. 6 rioters….
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/565562-gop-reps-gaetz-green-and-gohmert-turned-away-from-jail-to-visit-jan-6
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Lexi Lonas
President Joe Biden is expected to attend the 9/11 memorial in New York City to mark the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks, four sources with knowledge of his plans told POLITICO.
The White House recently indicated to officials in New York that Biden plans to travel for the commemoration, two of the sources said. Officials are also looking at possible stops at other locations attacked that day: the Pentagon and the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pa. But one administration official said it may be logistically difficult to attend all three spots in one day.
A White House spokesperson had no comment.
In 2020, during the heat of the presidential campaign, Biden and then-Vice President Mike Pence both attended the New York City ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, which was erected in the location of the downed Twin Towers. Biden later made a stop in Shanksville where he visited with families of the downed plane and then spoke with local firefighters.
For the 10th anniversary of the attacks in 2011, then-President Barack Obama visited New York. When Biden was vice president in the Obama administration, he traveled to the memorial sites during different years. In 2012, he marked the anniversary in Shanksville with a speech.
Biden’s likely visit to lower Manhattan will be “particularly significant with our withdrawal from Afghanistan,” said a White House official, referencing the full U.S. military pullback from that lengthy war. At the ceremony, Biden is expected to strike a tone that is “in large measure a sort of arc of the last two decades,” the person said.
New York City officials, including Eric Adams, the Democratic nominee for mayor, had been urging Biden to come to the Sept. 11 anniversary events in their city. Unless Biden goes to New York City in the month-and-a-half before 9/11, it will be his first visit to the city as president, although first lady Jill Biden and Anthony Fauci visited a vaccination site in Harlem in early June.
In 2016, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, a former U.S. senator from New York, attended the 9/11 New York City ceremony for the 15th anniversary but her visit was overshadowed by a health episode in which aides were forced to help her get into a waiting van. Video of the event played into Donald Trump’s false narrative that Clinton was not healthy enough to be president.
While Trump also attended in 2016, he never visited the 9/11 memorial site in New York City as president as part of an anniversary commemoration, though he did go to the Pentagon and Shanksville.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/07/27/biden-nyc-9-11-memorial-20th-anniversary-500841
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Daniel Lippman and Christopher Cadelago
House GOP leaders teed off on Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Tuesday morning, accusing her of neglecting her duty to defend the Capitol on Jan. 6 and demanding answers about her role in the violent attack that injured mo…
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/564988-house-gop-blames-pelosi-not-trump-for-jan-6
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Mike Lillis
Eight men armed with rifles and handguns claimed to be from group ‘that does not recognize our laws’, police say
A group of heavily-armed men were engaged in an ongoing stand-off on Saturday with Massachusetts police, prompting shelter-in-place orders in some areas and sparking massive delays on the holiday weekend as a portion of Interstate 95 remained shut down.
The standoff began around 2am when police noticed two cars pulled over on I-95 with hazard lights on, authorities said at a Saturday press briefing.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jul/03/standoff-armed-men-i-95-wakefield-massachusetts
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Associated Press in Wakefield
On Sunday, Islamophobic violence surfaced once again in Canada. It was former PM Stephen Harper who stoked it.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/6/9/a-terrorist-attack-in-canada-and-the-politicians-who-primed-it
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The Article Was Written/Published By:
The filibuster has been on hiatus since Joe Biden took over. Senate Republicans are about to change that — over a bipartisan commission to probe the Capitol riot.
After more than four months of letting their power to obstruct lie unused in the Senate, the 50-member Senate GOP is ready to mount a filibuster of House-passed legislation creating an independent cross-aisle panel to investigate the Jan. 6 insurrection. If Republicans follow through and block the bill, they will spark a long-building fight over the filibuster’s very existence.
The filibuster has spent months of lurking in the background of the Senate’s daily business, but the battle over the chamber’s 60-vote threshold will erupt as soon as next week. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is plotting to bring the House’s Jan. 6 commission bill to the floor and daring Senate Republicans to block it.
And GOP opposition is hardening by the day. According to interviews with more than a half-dozen Republicans on Thursday, there is almost no path to even opening up debate on the bill — much less passing it.
“I don’t think there will be 10 votes on our side for it,” said Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind). “At this stage, I’d be surprised if you’re gonna get even a handful.”
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been circumspect about his use of the filibuster, leaving the tool untouched so far this Congress as his conference has advanced Democratic bills confronting hate crimes, planning water infrastructure and increasing American competitiveness. But the Jan. 6 commission — and talking about former President Donald Trump for months on end — is a bridge too far for the GOP.
Now that McConnell is pushing his conference toward a filibuster of a bipartisan bill, Democrats see an opportunity to begin making their case to reluctant members that the 60-vote status quo is unsustainable.
As an incredulous Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) put it: “How do you go forward if you can’t make it work over something like an independent commission?”
“That’s their problem. They can prove how difficult life is with the filibuster if they’re not careful,” said Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin. “When the filibuster is actually used, it becomes an exhibit in the case against continuing it.”
Some Republicans, such as Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine, are still amenable to opening debate on the bill and amending it to ensure the investigation is completed this year and that the commission is staffed in a bipartisan way. But overall, Senate Republicans have rapidly shifted into wholesale opposition to the commission concept this week, reasoning that tanking a commission in May of 2021 is better than setting up Trump headlines well into the midterm year.
GOP senators aren’t exactly looking forward to the moment.
“It’s a dicey vote. It’s set up to be anti-Trump, pro-Trump vote, in my view,” said one undecided Republican senator. “As somebody who voted not to impeach, I still am interested in finding out what happened.”
What’s more, Trump has directly linked himself to the vote on the commission. He criticized the 35 House Republicans who supported it and is publicly leaning on the Senate GOP to defeat it. It would not be lost on Democrats that Republicans appear to be using the filibuster to help Trump avoid months of headlines about his actions stoking the Jan. 6 riot.
Democrats didn’t exactly draw it up this way. Just a few days ago, it appeared the Republican Party wanted to make changes to the bipartisan commission, not block it altogether.
The more salient vote for the filibuster’s future might come this summer when Democrats’ voting-rights plans hit the Senate floor. And unlike other Democratic priorities, the bipartisan commission appears to have unanimous party support.
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), one of the filibuster’s strongest supporters in the Democratic Party, seemed aghast that his GOP colleagues are on track to block the bill.
“So disheartening. It makes you really concerned about our country,” Manchin said. Asked if that is an abuse of the filibuster: “I’m still praying we’ve still got 10 good solid patriots within that conference.”
McConnell and Senate Minority Whip John Thune have not begun twisting arms, but leadership has delivered an unmistakable message that the commission needs to be disposed of on the Senate floor when Schumer brings it up. McConnell’s close ally, former Senate Intelligence Chair Richard Burr (R-N.C.), has been making an aggressive case against the bill.
Burr, the most surprising vote for Trump’s conviction at his impeachment trial, said there are no changes that could be made to the legislation to win his support.
“I know how difficult it is. So this myth that you could finish this by December? You probably couldn’t even get your staff security clearance to read the documents,” Burr said. “There’s no question” this would bleed into the midterms.
Burr and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said they expect committee reports on the Jan. 6 pro-Trump riot at the Capitol to come down in June, arguing that would preempt the need for a bipartisan commission with subpoena power. Not all Republicans are sold on their line of thinking.
“I’m not going to worry about the party. I’m going to worry about what’s the right thing for the country and for the Senate. And I support the effort to learn more about the attack on Jan. 6,” Romney said. “Susan Collins made good points in insisting the staff be a bipartisan staff and making it clear that we really do intend to be finished by the end of the year. I will not have this go into an election year.”
Besides Burr, the other six Republicans like Romney that voted to convict Trump are either undecided or supportive. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) has been most emphatic in his support for the commission.
But it’s hard to find a path to 60 votes without a more general acceptance in the GOP that a commission is needed. Several senators reported that in the GOP caucus room, momentum is building the other way.
Moreover, it’s an open question whether the Senate will wrap up work on Schumer’s American competitiveness legislation before its upcoming recess. That means the commission vote could slip until June, which would fail to capitalize on the current mayhem in the House GOP over Rep. John Katko’s (R-N.Y.) deal with Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the investigative panel.
Blunt said Republicans could make it difficult for Schumer to quickly move onto the Jan. 6 commission if Schumer tries to force a vote next week. He said Schumer’s competitiveness bill “wouldn’t succeed” if he attempted to rush it through to move toward the commission vote.
But if Republicans blocked the competitiveness bill, that too would be the first filibuster of this Congress. Progressives are itching to start the filibuster fight, regardless of which bill prompts the first one of this Congress.
“If we get to a point where compromise, bipartisanship is not going to work, and it’s just basically delaying what we need to be doing, then we need to face the issue of filibuster,” said Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii). “I’d like to see it dealt with now.”
Marianne Levine contributed to this report.
Source: https://www.politico.com/news/2021/05/21/filibuster-gop-opposition-commission-489954
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Burgess Everett
The House Republican leadership has formally urged their members to vote against the measure.
Source: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-vote-bipartisan-commission-probe-jan-6-capitol-attack-n1267896
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Rebecca Shabad
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-N.Y.) office is calling on top lawmakers to ensure that Congress remains “a safe, civil place” for members and staff after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) reportedly accosted her on…
Source: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/553286-ocasio-cortez-expresses-security-concerns-after-greene-asks-why-she-supports
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Marina Pitofsky
