Today, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta held a hearing in Washington, D.C., to determine whether three lawsuits against former president Trump and a number of his loyalists should be permitted to go forward. The lawsuits have been filed by Democratic members of the House and Capitol Police officers injured on January 6 against Trump, lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump Jr., Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL), and others. The plaintiffs are trying to hold Trump and his team liable in a civil suit for inciting the January 6 insurrection.
Madison Cawthorn couldn't gulp down the Kool-Aid fast enough. He touts the sanctity of marriage yet divorces his new wife in less than a year to put his cockamamie politics first. Another power-driven newbie bully joins the group.
I wish we, the people, could all sue tRump and his cronies for the prolonged torture, stress, and agony their Big Lie perpetuation and criminal insurrections have put our country through. I am sick of them all.
Until today, until just now, I’d never heard of Senator Mike Rounds, a brave man, in a time when few are to be found.
He told the truth. A free and fair election was lost by the lead candidate from his party, his clan. One man, his candidate lost, he admitted the loss, said they lost, fair and square. Simple truth.
And that is where hope begins. Simple truth. Good faith. Country before clan. The whole is more important than - the one, any one.
Thank you Sir, for standing up for truth, standing up for your country, standing up for democracy.
We don’t have to agree on everything. We can agree to disagree. We can compromise and work together. That is the way - Forward, the way to - Better.
The United States Constitution, Article II, section 1 clause 7 requires the President to take the following Oath or Affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Donald J. Trump took that Oath of Office on January 20, 2016; during that Insurrection on January 6, 2020, Trump was still legally bound by the terms set forth in the Oath. "Preserve, protect and defend…" are affirmative duties that the President must fulfill to secure the Constitution against diminution or despoliation. Donald J Trump failed in that duty by his repeated refusals to respond to the mob attack on the Capitol for a period of time amounting to 187 minutes, or approximately three hours, slightly more. During those three hours Trump was besieged with requests from his political allies in the Congress, from Fox News, and his aides and advisors with him in the White House. All that time, Trump was following the progress of the assault with rapt attention. He knew exactly what was going on, and it was his intent to disrupt the counting of the presidential ballots cast by each State's Electors in the Electoral College. He was outraged that Vice President Mike Pence had earlier refused Trump's repeated demands that Pence reject the electoral count by in certain contested States, to the end that Joe Biden would lose his electoral majority, and the election would be thrown into the House of Representatives. Trump was counting on the disruption caused by several thousand of his followers into the Capitol to put a halt to the vote count, and it was only after the efforts failed that Trump reluctantly send his followers home.
The President's duty to preserve, protect and defend brooks no exceptions. Trump was fully aware of the consequences of the attack on the Capitol, and what would happen if the attack succeeded. By a razor-thin margin, the attack failed.
The President's duty required him to take affirmative steps to make the preservation, protection and defense of the Constitution effective. The obligations embodied in the Oath of Office are not self-enforcing. The President, any President, is required to take affirmative steps to fulfill his obligation under the Constitution. Donald J Trump, by his failure to act, was allowing the coup d'état attempt that he himself had inspired and inferentially directed to go forward. That attempt was thwarted by the Capitol Police, and Members of Congress and the Senate were able to either find safety from the mob, protect the original state ballots from the Electoral College, and with the help of the Capitol Police, resist the mob from getting further into the Capitol than they already had done. This was a complete and thorough dereliction of duty on the part of President Donald J Trump.
United States District Judge Amit Mehta got it right the first time. President Trump, in refusing to send law enforcement and military assistance to the Capitol then under siege, willfully violated his Oath of Office, thus exposing Members of Congress and Senators to irreparable harm, along with every Capitol employee and civil servant then present in the Capitol building. The Ku Klux Klan Act makes such refusal to act in the performance of a constitutional duty actionable by any person injured thereby. By no stretch of the imagination could the president's inaction, coupled with his encouragement to his supporters earlier in the day to walk down to the Capitol and, in Trump's words, "fight like hell" be construed as the president's lawful performance of his official functions. Trump's speech to his followers on the morning of January 6 could not, in the light of what followed, be construed as anything but an encouragement to attack the Capitol in order to disrupt the vote count that was to occur in the same afternoon. Nothing that Trump said could be interpreted as anything relating to the public policy of the United States. It was all about saving Donald J Trump from the electoral defeat that he suffered at the polls the previous November 3. Consequently, no official privilege attached to Trump's words. By definition, Trump's advocacy, coupled with his refusal to act for more than three hours, constituted unlawful conduct. A president's constitutional duty to take affirmative steps to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution is utterly incompatible with Trump's willful and malicious behavior on January 6 towards everyone present in the Capitol building. Trump had no discretion whatsoever under the Constitution to act as he did; and therefore, Trump's behavior in dereliction of that duty by refusing to respond to the attack, and by justifying his actions to allies of his, both in the Capitol, and elsewhere, clearly evidence a malignant mind and unlawful intent. I clearly foresee Judge Mehta ruling against Trump, and for the plaintiffs in their civil suit under the KKK Act.
"In North Carolina today, eleven voters filed a challenge with the State Board of Elections to Madison Cawthorn as a candidate for reelection on the grounds that he is disqualified by the third section of the Fourteenth Amendment..." –HCR
“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore… After this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you. … We’re going to walk down to the Capitol … because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength. … We're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue … and we're going to the Capitol.” And then the crowd stormed the Capitol, fought like hell, blood was shed, barriers were breached, police were injured, people died, democracy was halted.
It speaks volumes of where we are when Trump's lawyer accuses the judge of holding the former president to a higher standard than the judge would for a Democrat. The lawyer is in open court preening for his corrupt client and perhaps auditioning for a Fox News appearance or interview with Steve Bannon. In the process, he hurts Trump's already weak case. He deserves a Bar review of his unethical conduct.
Let’s pray that our legal system works properly to adjudicate the growing number of civil and criminal lawsuits against ex-President Trump. Also, that the US Supreme Court grants access to Trump’s official records to the House investigation committee to get to the bottom of his role in the events of Jan 6th 2021.
The chorus of Romney and Murkowski sounds pale, coming as it does from their shelter in the shadow of one voice raised to speak an indisputable fact.
We have sunk so low, that even the self-serving statement of a compromised politician is lauded as heroic. What will it take for the others to join in?
Avalanches start with a crack, a barely perceptible unsettling. Let the smothering begin.
“An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile—hoping it will eat him last,” wrote Winston Churchill. Indeed. We appeased Hitler, and that genocidal madman kept right on going." The politicians who purport to lead the Republican party should take heed. They ARE feeding the crocodile and it is a policy fraught with peril.
I read Rounds statement in sections where they only showed he said Biden won. And I saw Romney was agreeing with the statement Rounds made. Then later in the day I saw the entirety of his statement. His last paragraph shows he will not do anything noble or smart, he won’t support voting rights, or any of the other proposals by the Democratic Party that will move this country forward. It was a push to elect more conservations and a veiled way of saying to bury 1/6. They want to move on. The 1/6 committee is uncovering the awful truth they have been covering up or ignoring and they need to gain a lot of lost ground. They always make this first statement to say yes Biden won and follow it with words and actions that show they will continue their obstruction and damage to the country. But everyone is cheering them on for admitting a truth we didn’t need to hear from them. When they admit Trump and his cohorts are responsible for 1/6 and they’re willing to hold him accountable then they’ll have done something positive. When they pass Voting Rights then they can be applauded.
Here’s a question: perhaps the lawsuit against Madison Cawthorn could be applied to other members of Congress in up coming elections for violating their oaths. Could there not be legal consequences for people in the military or former military or police or other public servants for violating their oaths? Maybe in terms of their pensions or being denied future employment?
This letter made my heart lift! I think “the unraveling” IS true! Even if I was frustrated with these Republicans before, I am grateful for any voices now speaking sanely from the right. We need them. We may need a couple of them to help pass the Voting Rights Act.
Judge Amit Mehta was appointed to the US Court of the District of Columbia by Obama in 2014. In 2021, John Roberts appointed him to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This judge is no slouch and his questions to TFG’s lawyers are complete and accurate. It’s very interesting to see that TFG may be shaking in his boots right now. Also, the other Congressional inciters are trying to ride on TFG’s coattails which I feel with spell doomsday for all of them. I can tell you that I have to say I am enjoying this “witch hunt”. What goes around, comes around. I want to be front and center to witness justice finally taking place.
A massive difference between Watergate and the BIG LIE/1/6 Capitol Building insurrection was that, in Watergate, several of the principals knew, early on, that they were on the hook for criminal activities. James McCord, in his 50s, was one of the five Watergate burglars facing a stiff sentence from Judge Sirica. A former FBI professional who thought he had been serving his president as head of security at the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREP), he spilled the beans because he didn’t want to spend many years in the slammer.
John Dean, as White House Counsel, was being set up as the Watergate fall guy by President Nixon. As a lawyer, he came to realize that he was personally involved in a criminal conspiracy of which Nixon and his henchmen were guilty as hell. Dean went to Sam Dash and spilled the beans—an astonishing story that was later confirmed by the Watergate tapes. Jeb McGruder, once hearing that Dean was singing, went down to Dash to lessen his criminal punishment. Neither Dean nor McGruder thought that their future was tied to then-President Nixon.
In sharp contrast, ex-President Trump is currently the king pin in Republican politics. Many political careers are tied to being a chapter-and-verse Trumpite. This involves publicly accepting the Trump mantra on the BIG LIE and the 1/6 Capitol Building insurrection. AT PRESENT NO ONE IN THE INNER TRUMP ENTOURAGE IS CERTAIN THAT THEY WILL BE INVOLVED IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS. Steve Bannon and a few others may be facing charges for ignoring a Congressional subpoena. Some other perpetrators are hiding behind the Fifth Amendment. However, these slimy fish probably expect that they can drag out these issues until the 2022 elections, when there could be a new political ballgame.
The big unknown is whether Department of Justice criminal charges will flow from what the House 1/6 Committee has been uncovering in a treasure trove of documents and from over 300 witnesses so far. Such criminal charges would become almost certain, were several of the insiders to conclude it ‘prudent’ to lessen their likely prison time by singing like a canary. To date no such star singer has appeared.
Ex-Vice President Mike Pence has been waltzing with the House 1/6 committee. He certainly has first-hand info on what Trump sought to orchestrate regarding certification of the Electoral College results. Moreover, on 1/6 Trump seemed willing to throw Pence to a ‘Hang Mike Pence’ mob. Pence does not seem inclined to throw Trump under the bus. Laughably, he may think that this could harm his non-existent chances of being the 2024 presidential candidate.
The prospect of one or more of Trump’s castrati singing may well turn on the Department of Justice (Attorney General Garland) filing criminal charges by late Spring, 2022. Once initiated, such charges would not be affected by the results of the 2022 elections. Under President Biden’s attorney general these criminal proceedings would continue to their conclusion. I would expect that there then would be several McCord/Dean/McGruder types who would seek a life boat from a sinking ship.
Madison Cawthorn couldn't gulp down the Kool-Aid fast enough. He touts the sanctity of marriage yet divorces his new wife in less than a year to put his cockamamie politics first. Another power-driven newbie bully joins the group.
I wish we, the people, could all sue tRump and his cronies for the prolonged torture, stress, and agony their Big Lie perpetuation and criminal insurrections have put our country through. I am sick of them all.
Until today, until just now, I’d never heard of Senator Mike Rounds, a brave man, in a time when few are to be found.
He told the truth. A free and fair election was lost by the lead candidate from his party, his clan. One man, his candidate lost, he admitted the loss, said they lost, fair and square. Simple truth.
And that is where hope begins. Simple truth. Good faith. Country before clan. The whole is more important than - the one, any one.
Thank you Sir, for standing up for truth, standing up for your country, standing up for democracy.
We don’t have to agree on everything. We can agree to disagree. We can compromise and work together. That is the way - Forward, the way to - Better.
But we must begin by standing up for truth.
The United States Constitution, Article II, section 1 clause 7 requires the President to take the following Oath or Affirmation: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Donald J. Trump took that Oath of Office on January 20, 2016; during that Insurrection on January 6, 2020, Trump was still legally bound by the terms set forth in the Oath. "Preserve, protect and defend…" are affirmative duties that the President must fulfill to secure the Constitution against diminution or despoliation. Donald J Trump failed in that duty by his repeated refusals to respond to the mob attack on the Capitol for a period of time amounting to 187 minutes, or approximately three hours, slightly more. During those three hours Trump was besieged with requests from his political allies in the Congress, from Fox News, and his aides and advisors with him in the White House. All that time, Trump was following the progress of the assault with rapt attention. He knew exactly what was going on, and it was his intent to disrupt the counting of the presidential ballots cast by each State's Electors in the Electoral College. He was outraged that Vice President Mike Pence had earlier refused Trump's repeated demands that Pence reject the electoral count by in certain contested States, to the end that Joe Biden would lose his electoral majority, and the election would be thrown into the House of Representatives. Trump was counting on the disruption caused by several thousand of his followers into the Capitol to put a halt to the vote count, and it was only after the efforts failed that Trump reluctantly send his followers home.
The President's duty to preserve, protect and defend brooks no exceptions. Trump was fully aware of the consequences of the attack on the Capitol, and what would happen if the attack succeeded. By a razor-thin margin, the attack failed.
The President's duty required him to take affirmative steps to make the preservation, protection and defense of the Constitution effective. The obligations embodied in the Oath of Office are not self-enforcing. The President, any President, is required to take affirmative steps to fulfill his obligation under the Constitution. Donald J Trump, by his failure to act, was allowing the coup d'état attempt that he himself had inspired and inferentially directed to go forward. That attempt was thwarted by the Capitol Police, and Members of Congress and the Senate were able to either find safety from the mob, protect the original state ballots from the Electoral College, and with the help of the Capitol Police, resist the mob from getting further into the Capitol than they already had done. This was a complete and thorough dereliction of duty on the part of President Donald J Trump.
United States District Judge Amit Mehta got it right the first time. President Trump, in refusing to send law enforcement and military assistance to the Capitol then under siege, willfully violated his Oath of Office, thus exposing Members of Congress and Senators to irreparable harm, along with every Capitol employee and civil servant then present in the Capitol building. The Ku Klux Klan Act makes such refusal to act in the performance of a constitutional duty actionable by any person injured thereby. By no stretch of the imagination could the president's inaction, coupled with his encouragement to his supporters earlier in the day to walk down to the Capitol and, in Trump's words, "fight like hell" be construed as the president's lawful performance of his official functions. Trump's speech to his followers on the morning of January 6 could not, in the light of what followed, be construed as anything but an encouragement to attack the Capitol in order to disrupt the vote count that was to occur in the same afternoon. Nothing that Trump said could be interpreted as anything relating to the public policy of the United States. It was all about saving Donald J Trump from the electoral defeat that he suffered at the polls the previous November 3. Consequently, no official privilege attached to Trump's words. By definition, Trump's advocacy, coupled with his refusal to act for more than three hours, constituted unlawful conduct. A president's constitutional duty to take affirmative steps to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution is utterly incompatible with Trump's willful and malicious behavior on January 6 towards everyone present in the Capitol building. Trump had no discretion whatsoever under the Constitution to act as he did; and therefore, Trump's behavior in dereliction of that duty by refusing to respond to the attack, and by justifying his actions to allies of his, both in the Capitol, and elsewhere, clearly evidence a malignant mind and unlawful intent. I clearly foresee Judge Mehta ruling against Trump, and for the plaintiffs in their civil suit under the KKK Act.
"In North Carolina today, eleven voters filed a challenge with the State Board of Elections to Madison Cawthorn as a candidate for reelection on the grounds that he is disqualified by the third section of the Fourteenth Amendment..." –HCR
Well, glory hallelujah! It's about time!
“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore… After this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you. … We’re going to walk down to the Capitol … because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength. … We're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue … and we're going to the Capitol.” And then the crowd stormed the Capitol, fought like hell, blood was shed, barriers were breached, police were injured, people died, democracy was halted.
2+2=?
It speaks volumes of where we are when Trump's lawyer accuses the judge of holding the former president to a higher standard than the judge would for a Democrat. The lawyer is in open court preening for his corrupt client and perhaps auditioning for a Fox News appearance or interview with Steve Bannon. In the process, he hurts Trump's already weak case. He deserves a Bar review of his unethical conduct.
"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." ~ Leonard Cohen, "Anthem"
Let’s pray that our legal system works properly to adjudicate the growing number of civil and criminal lawsuits against ex-President Trump. Also, that the US Supreme Court grants access to Trump’s official records to the House investigation committee to get to the bottom of his role in the events of Jan 6th 2021.
The unraveling, oh, but that it were true.
The chorus of Romney and Murkowski sounds pale, coming as it does from their shelter in the shadow of one voice raised to speak an indisputable fact.
We have sunk so low, that even the self-serving statement of a compromised politician is lauded as heroic. What will it take for the others to join in?
Avalanches start with a crack, a barely perceptible unsettling. Let the smothering begin.
“An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile—hoping it will eat him last,” wrote Winston Churchill. Indeed. We appeased Hitler, and that genocidal madman kept right on going." The politicians who purport to lead the Republican party should take heed. They ARE feeding the crocodile and it is a policy fraught with peril.
I read Rounds statement in sections where they only showed he said Biden won. And I saw Romney was agreeing with the statement Rounds made. Then later in the day I saw the entirety of his statement. His last paragraph shows he will not do anything noble or smart, he won’t support voting rights, or any of the other proposals by the Democratic Party that will move this country forward. It was a push to elect more conservations and a veiled way of saying to bury 1/6. They want to move on. The 1/6 committee is uncovering the awful truth they have been covering up or ignoring and they need to gain a lot of lost ground. They always make this first statement to say yes Biden won and follow it with words and actions that show they will continue their obstruction and damage to the country. But everyone is cheering them on for admitting a truth we didn’t need to hear from them. When they admit Trump and his cohorts are responsible for 1/6 and they’re willing to hold him accountable then they’ll have done something positive. When they pass Voting Rights then they can be applauded.
Here’s a question: perhaps the lawsuit against Madison Cawthorn could be applied to other members of Congress in up coming elections for violating their oaths. Could there not be legal consequences for people in the military or former military or police or other public servants for violating their oaths? Maybe in terms of their pensions or being denied future employment?
This letter made my heart lift! I think “the unraveling” IS true! Even if I was frustrated with these Republicans before, I am grateful for any voices now speaking sanely from the right. We need them. We may need a couple of them to help pass the Voting Rights Act.
Judge Amit Mehta was appointed to the US Court of the District of Columbia by Obama in 2014. In 2021, John Roberts appointed him to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. This judge is no slouch and his questions to TFG’s lawyers are complete and accurate. It’s very interesting to see that TFG may be shaking in his boots right now. Also, the other Congressional inciters are trying to ride on TFG’s coattails which I feel with spell doomsday for all of them. I can tell you that I have to say I am enjoying this “witch hunt”. What goes around, comes around. I want to be front and center to witness justice finally taking place.
A massive difference between Watergate and the BIG LIE/1/6 Capitol Building insurrection was that, in Watergate, several of the principals knew, early on, that they were on the hook for criminal activities. James McCord, in his 50s, was one of the five Watergate burglars facing a stiff sentence from Judge Sirica. A former FBI professional who thought he had been serving his president as head of security at the Committee to Re-Elect the President (CREP), he spilled the beans because he didn’t want to spend many years in the slammer.
John Dean, as White House Counsel, was being set up as the Watergate fall guy by President Nixon. As a lawyer, he came to realize that he was personally involved in a criminal conspiracy of which Nixon and his henchmen were guilty as hell. Dean went to Sam Dash and spilled the beans—an astonishing story that was later confirmed by the Watergate tapes. Jeb McGruder, once hearing that Dean was singing, went down to Dash to lessen his criminal punishment. Neither Dean nor McGruder thought that their future was tied to then-President Nixon.
In sharp contrast, ex-President Trump is currently the king pin in Republican politics. Many political careers are tied to being a chapter-and-verse Trumpite. This involves publicly accepting the Trump mantra on the BIG LIE and the 1/6 Capitol Building insurrection. AT PRESENT NO ONE IN THE INNER TRUMP ENTOURAGE IS CERTAIN THAT THEY WILL BE INVOLVED IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS. Steve Bannon and a few others may be facing charges for ignoring a Congressional subpoena. Some other perpetrators are hiding behind the Fifth Amendment. However, these slimy fish probably expect that they can drag out these issues until the 2022 elections, when there could be a new political ballgame.
The big unknown is whether Department of Justice criminal charges will flow from what the House 1/6 Committee has been uncovering in a treasure trove of documents and from over 300 witnesses so far. Such criminal charges would become almost certain, were several of the insiders to conclude it ‘prudent’ to lessen their likely prison time by singing like a canary. To date no such star singer has appeared.
Ex-Vice President Mike Pence has been waltzing with the House 1/6 committee. He certainly has first-hand info on what Trump sought to orchestrate regarding certification of the Electoral College results. Moreover, on 1/6 Trump seemed willing to throw Pence to a ‘Hang Mike Pence’ mob. Pence does not seem inclined to throw Trump under the bus. Laughably, he may think that this could harm his non-existent chances of being the 2024 presidential candidate.
The prospect of one or more of Trump’s castrati singing may well turn on the Department of Justice (Attorney General Garland) filing criminal charges by late Spring, 2022. Once initiated, such charges would not be affected by the results of the 2022 elections. Under President Biden’s attorney general these criminal proceedings would continue to their conclusion. I would expect that there then would be several McCord/Dean/McGruder types who would seek a life boat from a sinking ship.
Perhaps there is a glimmer of hope that we will have a legitimate opposition party.