Impeachment of President Donald John Trump: The Evidentiary Record, Volume II, Part 2 — House Document 117-9

Summary

House Document 117-9, Impeachment of President Donald John Trump: The Evidentiary Record, Volume II, Public Reporting and Other Documents, Part 2, ordered to be printed February 2, 2021. It was produced by the House Committee on the Judiciary pursuant to H. Res. 40 and submitted by the House impeachment managers, led by Jamie Raskin (D-MD). The text includes a January 3, 2021 release from the Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia on preparations for First Amendment demonstrations scheduled for January 5 and January 6, with emergency no-parking and street closure lists. It also includes a transcript of remarks on vote counting and Election Day.

Summary drafted by a model from the document's text below and checked by script against that text before publication. It is a navigation aid, not a reading of what the document proves. Where AI is used

Issuer: Congressional materials
Document type: Cdoc Cdoc 117Hdoc9 Cdoc 117Hdoc9 Vol2
Case: Cdoc Cdoc 117Hdoc9 Cdoc 117Hdoc9 Vol2

Cite this document

“Impeachment of President Donald John Trump: The Evidentiary Record, Volume II, Part 2 — House Document 117-9.” Original at www.govinfo.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/cdoc-cdoc-117hdoc9-cdoc-117hdoc9-vol2/, SHA-256 417c29e89e93524b0fcdfdee55b29beecbf1e68f6fb5178b7683717114ef06a3.

Full text

Full text shows the first 300 of 1726 pages; the complete document is the PDF above.

117TH CONGRESS }
1st Session HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES { DOCUMENT
117-9

IMPEACHMENT OF PRESIDENT
DONALD JOHN TRUMP

THE EVIDENTIARY RECORD
VOLUME II

Public Reporting and Other Documents Part 2

Printed at the direction of Cheryl L. Johnson, Clerk of the House of
Representatives, pursuant to H. Res. 40, 117th Cong., 1st Sess. (2021)

FEBRUARY 2, 2021.-Ordered to be printed

U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
42-975 WASHINGTON : 2021
PRODUCED BY THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY
PURSUANT TO H. RES. 40 AND SUBMITTED BY:

JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD), Lead House Impeachment Manager
DIANA DEGETTE (D-CO), House Impeachment Manager
DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI), House Impeachment Manager
JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX), House Impeachment Manager
ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA), House Impeachment Manager
TED LIEU (D-CA), House Impeachment Manager
STACEY PLASKETT (D-VI), House Impeachment Manager
JOE NEGUSE (D-CO), House Impeachment Manager
MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA), House Impeachment Manager

(II)
A'\!Y RUTKIN. Chief of Staff
PERRY APELBACM, Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Jmrn DOTY, Senior Advisor
AARON HILLER, Deputy Chief Counsel
DAVID GREENGRASS, Senior Counsel
JOHN WILLIAMS, Parliamentarian and Senior Counsel
BARRY BERKE, Chief Impeachment Counsel
JOSHCA MATZ, Impeachment Counsel
SHADAWN REDDICK-SMITH, Communications Director
Moll SHARMA, Director of Member Services and Outreach & Policy Advisor
ARYA HARIHARAN, Deputy Chief Oversight Counsel
BEN HERNANDEZ-STERN, Counsel
SARAH lSTEL, Counsel
MATTHEW MORGAN, Counsel
MATTHEW ROBINSON, Counsel
MADELINE STRASSER, Chief Clerk
WILLIAM S. EMMONS, Legislative Aide
PRIYANKA MARA, Legislative Aide
ANTHONY VALDEZ, Legislative Aide
CIERRA FONTENOT, Staff Assistant
JESSICA PRESLEY, Director of Digital Strategy
KAYLA HAMED!, Deputy Press Secretary

(III)
Office of the Mayor·

Connect With Us

-* *1111
* John A Wilson Building
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004
Phone: (202) 727-2643
TTY 711

Muriel Rowser
Mayor

Mayor Bo\NSer Continues Preparation for
Upcoming First Amendment Demonstrations
Sunday. January 3, 2021

(Washington, DC) Mayor Bowser is continuing preparations for this week's f=irst
Amendment activities. She had previously directed the DC Homeland Security and
Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) to stand up the District's Emergency
Operations Center (EOC) beginning Monday, January 4, to coordinate the response for
the upcoming r=irst Amendment demonstrations, permitted by the National Park
Service, scheduled for January 5 and January 6. The EOC serves as the coordination hub

(1)
2

between District agencies and regional and federal partners. On Tuesday, the
Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) begins its full activation with all staff reporting
for response on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Mayor Bowser instructed District agencies to create a comprehensive public safety
response to ensure residents' safety. Additionally, HS EMA and M PD are conducting
event overviews for the Council of the District of faith leaders, and the
downtown business Residents are encouraged to report suspicious activity
by making a report through iwatchdc.org or by calling 911 for immediate threats or
emergencies.

"MPD and HS EMA are coordinating among District agencies and with federal authorities
to ensure our residents and businesses remain safe," said Mayor Muriel Bowser. "I am
asking and those who live in the region to stay out of the downtown
area on Tuesday and Wednesday and not to engage with demonstrators who come to
our seeking confrontation, and we will do what we must to ensure all who attend
remain peaceful."

Members of the public and anyone attending the events are reminded that District law
prohibits anyone from carrying a firearm within 1,000 feet of any First Amendment
activity. Under federal law, it is illegal to possess firearms on the US Capitol grounds and
on National Park Service areas, such as Freedom Plaza, the Ellipse, and the National
Mall. Additionally, members of the public are reminded that the District of Columbia
does not have reciprocity with other states' concealed pistol licenses; unless a person
has been issued a concealed pistol license by the District of Columbia, they cannot
conceal carry a firearm in the city. it is illegal to open carry firearms in the
District.

Residents and commuters are encouraged to register for important alerts from the
District by signing up for AlertDC at ~~~~a'-'-"-·

A comprehensive list of traffic adjustments and street closures can be found below:

Emergency No Parking - Tuesday,January 5, 2021 at 6 am to Thursday,January 7, 2021
11:59 pm:

• H Street from 15th Street, NW to 17th Street, NW
• I Street from 15th Street, NW to 17th Street, NW
3

• Connecticut Avenue from H Street, NW to L Street, NW
" Vermont Avenue from H Street, NW to L Street, NW
• 15th Street from I Street to K Street, NW (west side of McPherson Square)
• 17th Street from I Street to K Street, NW (east side of Farragut Square)

Emergency No Parking Tuesday,January 5, 2021 and Wednesday,January 6, 2021 at
12:01 am to 11 :59 pm:

" Constitution Avenue from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to 18th NW
• Pennsylvania Avenue from 3rd NW to 18th Street, NW
• E Street from 9th Street, NW to 15th NW
• F Street from 12th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• G Street from 12th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• I Street from 9th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• I Street from 17th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• H Street from 9th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• H Street from 17th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
" K Street from 9th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• New York Avenue from 9th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• 17th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to L Street, NW
• (west side of Farragut Square)
• 15th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to L Street, NW
• (east side of McPherson Square)
• 16th Street from K Street, NW to O Street, NW
• 14th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to L Street, NW
• 13th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to L Street, NW
• 12th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to E Street, NW
• 11th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to E Street, NW
• 10th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to E Street, NW
• 9th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
• 7th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to E Street, NW
• 6th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to E NW
• 4th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
" 3rd Street from Independence Avenue, SW to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
• New York Avenue from 18th Street, NW to 17th Street, NW
• C Street from 18th Street, NW to 17th Street, NW
4

• D Street from 18th Street, NW to 17th Street, NW
• Madison Drive from 3rd Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• Jefferson Drive from 3rd Street, SW to 15th Street, SW

Street Closures - On Tuesday, January 5, 2021 and Wednesday, 6, 2021, the
following streets will be restricted to vehicular traffic from approximately 6 am to 11 :59
pm. The decision to restrict vehicles will be based upon public safety and if safe to do
so, vehicles will be allowed to enter the restricted area if they are on essential business
or traveling to-and-from their residence.

• Constitution Avenue from Pennsylvania Avenue to 18th Street, NW
• K Street from 9th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• I Street from 9th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• H Street from 9th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• New York Avenue from 9th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• New York Avenue from 17th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• G Street from 9th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• G Street from 12th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• G Street from 17th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• F Street from 9th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• F Street from 12th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• F Street from 17th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• E Street from 9th Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• E Street from 17th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• D Street from 5th Street, NW to 9th Street, NW
• D Street from 17th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• C Street from 3rd Street, NW to 6th Street, NW
• C Street from 17th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• Pennsylvania Avenue, NW from 3rd Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• Pennsylvania Avenue, NW from 17th Street, NW to 18th Street, NW
• Indiana Avenue from 3rd Street to 5th Street, NW
• 3rd Street from Independence Avenue, SW to D Street, NW
• 4th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
• 4th Street from Indiana Avenue, NW to E Street, NW
• 5th Street from Indiana Avenue, NW to E Street, NW
• 6th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to E Street, NW
5

• 7th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to E Street, NW
• 9th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to E Street, NW
• 10th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to L Street, NW
• 11th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to L Street, NW
• 12th Street from Constitution Avenue, NW to L Street, NW
• 13th Street from Pennsylvania Avenue, NW to L Street, NW
• 14th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to L Street, NW
• 15th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to L Street, NW
• 16th Street from H Street, NW to L Street, NW
• Vermont Avenue from H Street, NW to L Street, NW
• Connecticut Avenue from H Street, NW to L Street, NW
• 17th Street from Independence Avenue, SW to L Street, NW
• Madison Drive from 3rd Street, NW to 15th Street, NW
• Jefferson Drive from 3rd Street, SW to 15th Street, SW
• 12th Street Tunnel
• 9th Street Tunnel

While the Metropolitan Police Department does not anticipate additional street closures
on Tuesday, January 5, 2021 and Wednesday, January 6, 2021, there is the potential
for intermittent closures in the downtown area. Additionally, while the Metropolitan
Police Department does not anticipate street closures on Thursday, January 7, 2021,
there is the potential for intermittent closures in the downtown area. Any decision to
close a street will be based upon public safety. For timely traffic information,
visit: . k . L l l ~ ~ L L ! . . ! L ~ ~ ~ ~ =

The public should expect parking restrictions along the street and should be guided by
the posted emergency no parking signage. All vehicles that are parked in violation of the
emergency no parking signs will be ticketed and towed.

Motorists could encounter possible delays if operating in the vicinity of downtown area
and may wish to consider alternative routes. The Metropolitan Police Department and
the District Department ofTransportation also wishes to remind motorists in the vicinity
of this event to proceed with caution as increased pedestrian traffic can be anticipated.
6
7

1121/2021 Mccaul, Meeks Release a Joint Statement on Today's Violence in the Capito! - Committee on Foreign Affairs

Mccaul, Meeks Release a Joint Statement on Today's Violence in the
Capitol
Press Release 01.06.21

Media Contact 202-225-5021

WASHINGTON, DC - House Foreign Affairs Committee Lead Republican Michael Mccaul and
Chairman Gregory Meeks released the following statement in response to today's violence in
the U.S. Capitol Building.

"America has always been a beacon of freedom to the world; proof that free and fair elections are
achievable, and that democracy works. But what happened at the Capitol today has scarred our
reputation and has damaged our standing in the world.
'Today's violence - an inevitable result when leaders in positions of power misled the public - will
certainly empower dictators and damage struggling democracies.
'The people perpetrating the violent insurrection of the Capitol today should be arrested and
prosecuted in accordance with the law. We must send a message to the world that this is not
acceptable, and that America continues to stand for the rule of law.
"It is time to make the peaceful transition of power. The world is watching."
###

https://gop-foreignaffairs.house.gov/press-re!ease/mccau!-meeks-release-a-joint-statement-on-todays-vio!ence-!n-the-capitol/ 111
8

McCaul's Statement on Impeachment Vote
•· rnccaul.house,gov.:medifi-center/pres.s-releHses/mccc,~ls-st~iternent-01,. !rnpeachrnent-vote

January 13, 2021

Jan 13, 2021

Press Release

WASHINGTON, DC - Below is a statement from Congressman Michael McCaul (TX-10)
on today's vote to impeach the president.

"Let me start by saying I strongly condemn the president's rhetoric and his behavior. I
understand, having witnessed these events first-hand, that emotions are high; but this
decision must be based on facts and evidence.

"Let me also say, there very well may have been impeachable ojJenses committed leading
up to, and on, that tragic day.

"But we have not been given the time to truly look at the facts and the evidence before this
impeachment was hurried to the House floor. We haven't been given the opportunity to
hear from a single witness, or hold even one hearing.

'7f Congress moves forward with removing a sitting president in this manner, it would set a
bad precedent. I do not believe the Founding Fathers envisioned impeachment taking place
in one day.

1/2
9

"If we did this in a deliberative way, perhaps we could come to a more bipartisan
consensus. At the very least, I believe a deliberative process would give more Americans
faith in the outcome.

"That's why I'm calling on my colleagues and officials from the Justice Department to
launch a full and thorough investigation. The American people deserve to know the full
scope and severity of what took place.

''.As a former federal prosecutor, I look at this as attempting to indict a case before it's been
presented to the grand jury. And I can tell you from first-hand experience, rushed justice is
not the solution to mob violence.

"For that reason, I will, with a heavy heart, oppose impeachment at this time. I did not
come to this decision lightly. And I truly fear there may be more facts that come to light in
the future that will put me on the wrong side of this debate.

"It's time for the nation to heal as we prepare for the peaceful transition of power."

###

2/2
10

Pro-Trump lawyer Lin Wood to Steve Bannon: Trump
supporters must do what "our Founding Fathers did in
1776"
ii 1nediamattors.org/stevc;-bnnnon/pro--tr1.HT1P-iawycr-lin-wood-sh"!\'8-bannon-"trump-support0rs-must-do-\vhc:1t--aur-
found1ng

Wood: "The country is ready to do what is necessary to preserve freedom"

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published 11/22/20 2:18 PM EST

1/2
11

Video file
Citation From the November 21, 2020, edition of War Room: Pandemic
STEVE BAl'INON (HOST): Do you have any, what would you like to tell our audience, about what
they not just should look for, but how they can help, how they can assist and how they have to steel
themselves for what's ahead? Because we're coming to a climax of one of the most important times in
American history, we're going to be one thing or the other at the end of this, by December 14th, we're
either going to be the republic that was bequeathed to us or something radically different. Do you
have any words for the audience before we let you go?
LIN WOOD: l think the audience has to do what the people that were our Founding Fathers did in
1776. l think you've got to pledge your life, your money, and your sacred honor so that generations
that come after us can live in freedom. I don't believe the people trying to take over our country are
going to let go when it's exposed that the election was a fraud. I think there are plans in place to try to
do other things to try to take over our government.
I think 2020 is the year they wanted to do it. Old George Soros said he was going to get it done and
get rid of Trump, so l think the people need to have courage, I think they need to be prepared to fight
for their freedom and I think at this time more than any time in my lifetime people need to have faith
in God.

WOOD: l know the spirit is there, the country is ready to do what is necessary to preserve freedom, I
think that patriots have to come together. They need to be prepared to stay in touch with each
other. 'I11ey need to be prepared for some difficult days ahead, but they need to have faith that this
country was founded under God and 1 don't believe that communism is ever going to rule the day in
America even though it may have infiltrated our government in the last 20 years, freedom is going to
prevail, Steve.
BANNON: Lin, thank you very much, make me proud to be an American and a southerner, thank you
sir, Lin Wood.

In This Article

Steve Bannon

2/2
12

Stanford News
JANUARY 6, 2021

Stanford scholars react to Capitol Hill takeover
Stanford scholars reflect on the occupation of the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday and suggest what needs to
happen next to preserve democracy.

BY MELISSA DE WITTE AND SHARON DRISCOLL
On Wed. Jan 6, a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol bnilding, disrupting the certification of
the electoral vote count for President-elect Joe Bi den and causing members of the Senate and House to evacuate
their chambers.

Eiden called what occurred an "insurrection" that "borders
on sedition." What do we know about the people who turned
a protest into a violent demonstration at the nation's capital?
What were their likely motivations? And what happens next?

Here, Stanford scholars - from legal experts to political
scientists - share their thoughts on some of these pressing
questions, as well as their thoughts on what led to an
aggressive act of rebellion against 111e American
government.

Weighing in on the Capitol takeover are:
(https://news-media.sta nford.ed u/wp-
• Gregory Ab!avsky content/ uploads/2018/11/13120408/midterms_getty-
(https:/flaw.stanford.edu/clirectory/gregory- e1609993190406.jpg)
ablavsky/), associate professor oflaw
Stanford scholars reflect on the occupation of the U.S. Capitol
• Bruce Cain and suggest what needs to happen next to preserve
democracy. (Image credit: Getty Images)
(https://west.stanford.edu/about/people/bruce-e-
cain), professor of political science in the School of Humanities and Sciences and director of the Bill Lane
Center for the American West
• Larry Diamond (https://profiles.stanforcl.eduflarry-cliamond), senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and
at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI)
• Frank Fukuyama (https://cclclrl.fsi.stanford.edu/people/fukuyama), Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at FSI
• Shirin Sinnar (https://law.stanforcl.edu/directory/shirin-sinnar/), professor of law
• David Sklansky (https://law.stanforcl.edu/directory/david-alan-sklansky/)_, Stanley Morrison Professor Law;
faculty co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center
• Stephen Steelman, (https://politicalscience.stanford.edu/people/stephen-stedman) senior fellow at FSI
13

• Robb Willer, (https://sociology.stanford.edu/people/robb-willer) professor of sociology, School of
Humanities and Sciences

As people try to make sense of what happened in Washington on Wednesday, what do you think led to these
events?

Diamond: What is occurring is the product of years of disinformation and rising extremism and defection from
democratic norms, particularly on the extremist right, which has been fed by the support and indulgence of
President Donald Trump and other politicians who have sought to mobilize grassroots political anger and
disaffection for their own political ends. Analyses of public opinion, including this one
(https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/0l/political-violence-424157) that I was involved in, have
been warning for years that there was dangerous and growing support for political violence if their party or
political program did not prevail.

Social scientists and political commentators have been warning for several years that Trump and other right-wing
populist politicians were feeding a dangerous climate that could spill over into violence.

Stedman: Part of Donald Trump's strategy since 2016 was to cast doubt on our electoral legitimacy. This strategy
was amplified during the pandemic when so much of the country implemented early voting and vote by mail,
which Trump and his acolytes relentlessly criticized as fraudulent methods. His strategy was aided and abetted by
Fox News and its commentators, as well as by various social media personalities and websites.

Wednesday was the culmination of that strategy. The electoral count was the last possible chance for Tnunp to
keep power. The strategy was shamefully supported by senators like Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of
Texas, as well as key members of the Republican House leadership. This all ratcheted up the stakes of yesterday's
electoral count, and Trump's supporters were there yesterday to pressure Republicans to bend to the President's
will, and failing that to prevent the count from taking place.

Given that Trump has been falsely denying the election results and encouraging protest on Wednesday, are
you surprised that the Capitol police were so unprepared for the violence that took place?

Sinnar: The violence came as no surprise, but the fact that
"protesters" could so easily access the Capitol and remain
there for hours is stunning. The government response is
striking in light of the massive surveillance and violence
deployed on racial justice protesters last year, including by the
National Guard, in cities across the United States. While law
enforcement officials say they didn't want to respond to
election protesters with an overt military presence, no such
respect for free expression or democratic legitimacy
characterized the response to protests against police brutality,
especially at the federal level.
14

ain: I expected protests and some street fighting, but not the
reaching of the Capitol. The proximate cause was Trump's
ally speech preceding the attack that primed the crowd's
nger with just enough linguistic ambiguity, or so he thinks, to
void legal liability. But make no mistake, he is responsible.
" e has fomented civil unrest and slyly encouraged far-right
,•~elements to act violently throughout his four years in office .

,l~d,~
.1

de~rihe <he.WI-= Wednesfu, ••
\.,insurrection?

liFix...
r. The pm,e<= who floclred ,o w~hioe,oo, D.C.,
of unaffiliated Trump supporters and members of far-
=•
right militant groups, like tl1e Proud Boys, a self-described
.stern chauvinist'' group, and tlle Oath Keepers, a 25,000-
ember paramilitary organization whose ranks include many
ilitary veterans and law enforcement officials.

n insurrection is a violent rebellion against the government.
,sterday's political violence certainly sought to subvert
ocratic governance, but it came at the behest of the
ident, who has pushed demonstrably false claims of
oting fraud in an attempt to overturn the election. Trump's
(https://news-media.Slanfo rd -edu/wp• message to the Proud Boys during the fall presidential debates
content/uploads/2021/0l/06184319/Sinnar_Shirin.jpg) -to "stand back and stand by" authorized the kind of

Shirin Sinnar violence we saw yesterday. His response after it occurred -
(Image credit: Courtesy Stanford Law School) "these are the things and events that happen when a sacred
landslide election victory" is "stripped away from great
patriots" further legitimized it. So this violence isn't
unconnected to the state; it's been licensed by the president.

What do people need to understand about the people and likely motivations behind Wednesday's events?

Fukuyama: The one thing to say about motives is that many Trump supporters genuinely believe that Trump won
a massive landslide and that the election was stolen from him by massive fraud. If you believe that, you would be
angry and violent as well. Our problem is that we are living in parallel information universes.

Diamond: The hardliners who broke into Congress are similar to the ones who marched into the Michigan State
Capitol in May and later protested the governor. Their views have been distorted by years of disinformation, fed
and encouraged by some opportunistic politicians, and drenched in insular networks that become increasingly
extreme and cut off from true information and rational dialogue. They have come to see this as a battle of good
and evil. They are not going to be reached by liberal professors or Congress members.
15

Willer: This insurrection follows more than a decade of
increased right-wing street protests and riots since the
emergence of the Tea Party in early 2009. While the right-
wing groups we've seen over the last decade vary in a
number of ways, there are common threads: claims of social
and political disenfranchisement, anger at Democrats,
online organizing, conspiracy theorizing, and primarily
white participants.

The president called his supporters to the Capitol to
protest his Joss of a free and fair election. Is there any
legal liability for the president for what happened on
Wednesday? Is speech that incites violence protected
speech?

Sklansky: Trump's statements in the weeks, days and hours
leading up to Wednesday's storming of the Capitol
culminating with statements like "They're not going to take
this White House," "We will never concede/' "You don't
concede there's theft involved" - were like throwing matches
onto a gasoline spill. Not only did the president egg the
rioters on, he made clear on 1\vitter afterward that he was
on their side calling them "great patriots," excusing their (https://news-media .stanford .edu/wp-
lawlessness and urging them to "remember this clay content/uploads/2021/01/06181414/Frank-
forever!' Fukuyama.jpg)

But the First Amendment protects even wildly irresponsible Frank Fukuyama
speech unless it is calculated to produce imminent (Image credit: Courtesy of the Freeman Spog/i
lawlessness. Incitement needs to be pretty explicit and Institute)
direct to satisfy that test. Winks and noels aren't enough.
Neither are statements of support after the fact. So the criminal liability of President Trump for Wednesday's riot
isn't clear.

So the president's calls to his supporters to fight a fair election may not he prosecutable. Are they
impeachable?

Sklansky: TI1ere is a strong and straightforward argument for treating Trump's words and conduct over the past
several weeks, and especially on Wednesday, as grounds for impeachment. TI1e standard for impeachment is
"high crimes and misdemeanors;' which is a term meaning, essentially, abuse of power. And it is hard to think of
a clearer violation of office, or a more dangerous abdication of duty, than refusing to acknowledge the result of an
election voting you out of office, encouraging your supporters to prevent the lawful transfer of power and
congratulating them for their violent efforts to do just that.
16

Can the protesters who turned violent be prosecuted? If so,

''
under what charges?

Sklansky: They absolutely can be prosecuted. It's a felony to
enter the floor of either Honse of Congress by force and
"Our problem is that violence. It's a felony to assault a federal official, like an officer

we are living in of the Capitol Police. It's a felony to intimidate, impede, or
interfere with federal officials, like members of Congress,
parallel information engaged in their lawful duties, like the counting of electoral
votes. And it's a felony to conspire to seize federal property by
universes." force, or to conspire to use force to obstruct the carrying ont
of any federal law.

FRANK FUKUYAMA Cain: The Constitution and the Electoral Count Act process is
-Olivier Nomellini Senior Fellow at pretty clear. They are in violation of the rule of law and
FSI democracy. TI1e violent ones should be punished accordingly.

Are there any parallels between what happened Wednesday and to other events in history and in other
countries?

Stedman: This is reminiscent to me of several elections I studied in Africa in the last 10 years, including Cote
D'Ivoire, and Kenya, where an incumbent lost an election, cried electoral fraud and mobilized violence to
overturn the election and stay in power. And lots of people got hurt.

Those countries ended up in civil war. We are not there yet but this could still play out in escalatory ways.

Cain: Pretty clearly, Trump was mimicking Putin and other authoritarians in his disdain for democratic processes.
Aside from all the obvious parallels with third world country coups, the attempt to bully Congress into not
certifying the election reminds me of the Republican Brooks Brother riots around the Florida recount in 2000.

Ablavsky: Clearly, what happened yesterday is pretty extraordinary, especially in recent American history, and
many people have said how they felt that it seemed like a foreign country. But if you look at U.S. history broadly,
you see quite a few "rebellions" in which armed groups proclaimed themselves the true and legitimate source of
governance "self-created" bodies, as their opponents denounced them. Early American history is rife with such
revolts: events like Shays' Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion of the 1790s, or the Dorr Rebellion of the 1840s.
And, of course, the most violent and widespread rebellion of all, Southern secession. In that sense, perhaps, it
was appropriate that many of the invaders were carrying Confederate flags.
17

But I actually think one of the best analogies to yesterday's
events is something that I taught my students about
recently: the Wilmington Massacre or Coup of 1898.
(https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/27/what-a-
white-supremacist-coup-looks-like)That year, Wilmington,
North Carolina duly elected a Fusionist government of both
Black and whites. But white supremacists deemed that new
government illegitimate, denouncing what they called
"Negro Rule!' They violently overthrew the government,
killed as many as 60 people, almost all Black, and forced the
local government to resign, installing their chosen
candidates in their place.

Fortunately, unlike in Wilmington, yesterday's coup attempt
does not seem to have succeeded. But it does demonstrate a
similar insistence on the right to overthrow a duly elected
government based on a self-appointed group's faith in their
own exclusive legitimacy.

The protesters said they occupied the Capitol to uphold
American democracy. What would you say to these
people? Can they be convinced otherwise?
(https://news-med ia .stanford .edu/wp-
content/uploads/2021/01/06180701/Larry-Diamond.jpg)

Larry Diamond
(Image credit: L.A. Cicero)

Diamond: I don't think there is anything that a Stanford
professor can say to people who would forcibly break into the
Capitol building while it is deliberating on certifying a
presidential election. These people broke the law and
committed a grave offense at constitutional democracy. These
people have to be held accountable. These actions have to be
prosecuted.

Previous extremist groups have been dismantled or contained
by legitimate law enforcement and judicial efforts. It not only
diminishes their operating ability, it sends a broad societal
signal that their actions are morally wrong and illegitimate.
The key messages have to come from the political leaders who
have encouraged and incited them, but that is not going to
come from Donald Trump, who, even while asking them to go
home, has expressed his love and empathy for them.
18

ukuyama: I don't think you can convince that crowd. I
tually believe that Wednesday's events could break the
rump spell. A lot of Republicans have stood up and said they
upport the Constitution and not Trump, unlike what they did
uring the impeachment. McConnell gave a great speech
efending the integrity of the election this morning
Wednesday, Jan. 6].

ow can political norms and democratic values be
eaffirmed during a time of crisis? What would you say to
eople who might feel helpless or at a loss as to what
olded?

ond: We need to rally in defense of our constitution
cross party lines. The key imperative now is for the growing
ircle of Republicans who are disgusted by these actions to
me forward loudly and denounce this. Senator Mitt Romney
as been particularly eloquent in this regard, but the circle
as been growing. It looks like the [vice president], the
ational security advisor and the acting attorney general are
1behaving in responsible ways now. Anything they do to
ntain this damage and denounce this insurrection should be
(https://news-media.stanford.edu/wp- embraced across party lines.

content/uploads/2021/01/06182739/Sklansky_David.jpgbbviously people in Washington, D.C., should stay off the

David Sklansky streets and not try to battle these extremist protesters. There
(Image credit: Courtesy Stanford Law School} will be another time for peaceful pro-democracy
demonstrations.

Stedman: A famous political scientist, Adam Przeworski, once wrote that democracy is a system where parties
lose elections. For elections to be legitimate parties have to have confidence in the professionals who carry out
the elections, and there must be rule of law to determine whether electoral grievances are warranted and need to
be redressed. If elections are conducted with integrity and there is rule of law, there will be winners and losers,
and losers are obligated to honor the results, however much they might abhor them.

Cain: Our Democracy is holding up. That is the good news. The bad news is tl1at the anger and tensions will not go
away soon.

Media Contacts
Melissa De Witte, Stanford News Service: (650) 723-6438, mdewitte@stanford.edu (mailto:mdewitte@stanford.edu)
Stephanie Ashe, Stanford Law School: (650) 723-2232, sashe@law.stanford.edu (mailto:sashe@law.stanford.edu)
19

e(mailto:?
subject=An%20interesting%20article%20from%20Stanford%20News&body=l%20want%20to%20share%20this%
20

Trump meets with GOP allies with eye on challenging
count of electoral votes

Washington - President Trump huddled with Republican congressional allies at the v\Thite
House on Monday to discuss the possibility of challenging the Electoral College votes when
Congress convenes January 6 to tally them, in what would be the president's last-ditch
attemJ21 to overturn the results of the presidential election.

A number of the president's closest supporters on Capitol Hill attended the meeting,
including Congressmen Jim Jordan of Ohio, Matt Gaetz of Florida, Mo Brooks of Alabama,
Louie Gohmert of Texas and Andy Biggs of Arizona. V\'hite House chief of staff Mark
Meadows, himself a former Republican congressman, confirmed the gathering on Tv,itter.

"Several members of Congress just finished a meeting in the Oval Office with President
@realDonaldTrump, preparing to fight back against mounting evidence of voter fraud. Stay
tuned," Meadows tweeted Monday night.

1/3
21

Several members of Congress just finished a meeting in the Oval Office with
President@realDonaldTrurnp_, preparing to fight back against mounting
evidence of voter fraud.

Stay tuned.

Mark Meadows (@MarkMeadows) December 21, 2020

Biggs, who chairs the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told Fox Business in an interview
the group discussed the process for objecting to electoral votes during a joint session of
Congress, of which Vice President Mike Pence will preside over.

"We think we're going to actually be able to contest this, as you say, with at least one
objection from the House - and we'll have dozens of objectors in the House - and then at
least one in the Senate, and we think we'll have more than that," the Arizona Republican said.

Since the presidential election, of which President-elect Joe Biden was declared the winner,
Mr. Trump has mounted an unsuccessful campaign to reverse the outcome of the election,
turning to the courts and then ReP-ublican-led state legislatures to contest the results.

But the vast majority of lawsuits filed by the Trump campaign and the president's allies in
state and federal courts, as well as the SuP-reme Court, have been tossed out, and state
Republican lawmakers have refil.S!ed_p~ by the president to subvert the ¼ill of voters
and seat their own set of electors.

The 538 members of the Electoral College from all 50 states and the District of Columbia met
December 14 to count the electoral votes, formalizing Mr. Biden's victozy.

But January 6, when Congress convenes to count those votes, will mark the final long-shot
attempt for the president and his backers to challenge the outcome of the election. During the
joint session, which is required by law to ratify the results, members can object to the returns
from any individual state as they are announced, which opens the door for Mr. Trump's GOP
allies to contest a state's results.

Objections must be made in writing by at least one member each of the House and Senate,
after which the joint session will recess and the two chambers separate and debate the
objection in their respective chambers for no more than two hours, according to the
Congressional Research Senice. The House and Senate then vote separately on whether to
either accept or reject the objection. If the two chambers agree to accept the objection, the
contested state's electoral votes are tossed out.

2/3
22

While Biggs expressed optimism there would be numerous House Republicans lining up to
contest states' Electoral College votes, the plan has not gained traction in the Senate,
dimming the prospects of Congress delivering Mr. Trump a second term. Additionally,
because Democrats control the House, it is highly unlikely the lower chamber would vote to
toss out a state's electoral votes.

Republican Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the majority whip, said he isn't aware of
any GOP senators planning to object to the results.

"The thing they've got to remember is, it's just not going anywhere," he told reporters
Monday. "In the Senate it would go down like a shot dog. And I just don't think it makes a lot
of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the ultimate outcome is going to
be."

GOP Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, an ally of Mr. Trump, said challenging the
votes would "probably do more harm than good."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asked Senate Republicans last week not to object to
the election results when the joint session of Congress convenes. Senator Shelley Moore
Capito of West Virginia, a Republican, told reporters "there was encouragement on the phone
for us to accept the result."

Election 2020 ,.,.

Election 2020 More •

3/3
23

Perma I int,nyt.com 1/21/21, 1:18 PM

Perma.cc record
Captured January 15, 2021 12 50 pm What is Perma.cc 7 (/about)

(https://int.nyt.com/data/document
Show record details View the live page

®met llf t~t ~fortttt? Q)tntral
Jb.a~t11ghln, lt <!!. 2ll.6JJU
November 9, 2020

MEMORANDUM FOR UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS
THE ASSISTANT ATTORNEYS GENERAL FOR THE
CRIMINAL DNISlON
CIVIL RIGHTS DIVISION
NATIONAL SECURITY DIVISION
DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF lNVESTICATION
FROM: THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

SUBJECT: POST-YOTlNG ELECTION !RRlKRLLARITY INQU!RlES
Last week, our nation once again demonstrated Ilic streneth of our dC!lllocraoy as more than
1-40 million Americans cast bellota to 1<tlcct their le■dm. I Wini to thank each of you and your
teams for your extraordinary efforts to coauro that all Americans could excroise this 1nost
fundamental ofriaht• with confidence and in safety.
Novr th11 the volilli has concluded, it is imperative that tho American people cm trust that
our elections were conduoted in auch a way 1hat the outcomes accumely rcf!oot the will of the voters.
Althoueh tho States have the primary responsibility to conduct and supervi:.e election, under our
Comtltution and the laWli enacted by Con~s, the Uniled States Department of Ju5tico ltas an
oblielltlon to ensure that f«!eral elections are conducted in such o way that the American people can
have full oonfidence in their electoral proceo and their &overnment
The Department's aeneral policies 'With regard to election fraud investiiations are
contained in tho Jostke Manual. Tbote policies require, among other thing:1, consultation with the
l'ublio Intei:rity Section', Election Crimes Branch ("ECB"} in some instances. Those policies
already allow pieliminery inquiries, including witness intorviews, to be conducted without ECB
consultation. l11 instanc,cs in 'Ml.ich they a1i, <:<msu1ted, the ECB '• general practice has been to
coun!ICI that overt investigative steps ordinarily should not be Ween until the election in question
baa been concluded, it• results ocrtified, and all recounts and election contests 0011cludcd. Such 11
passive and delayed enforcemem approaoh can result in situations ill which election misconduct
cannot rcatistic1lly be rectified. Moreover, this ECB practice bas ne\'0! been a bard and fast rule,
and we-specific determinations and judgmenl:i most be made,. While most alleaatio1111 of
plllJlorted electio11 misoonduct are of 1uch II ac<lle that they would not impact the outcon1e of 011
-1~~,1..:L •. - __ ,1 .i.t... w '••~·••••!,•• ,.! .••,. -~•· ___ ,, __ ..,.:,,.~-•~• \~- ..l .• r,_.,,-.t .,..,._,. !~ =-"' ~•••--·-·- •L~ .-~-.,

https://perria.cc/523A-D82E Page 1 of 1
24

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao resigns following
Capitol unrest

Meredith Digital Staff January 7, 2021

(Meredith) -- Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao is resigning, becoming the first person to
leave President Donald Trump's Cabinet after Wednesday's unrest at the US Capitol.

"Yesterday, our country experienced a traumatic and entirely avoidable event as supporters
of the President stormed the Capitol building following a rally he addressed. As I'm sure is
the case with many of you, it has deeply troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside,"
Chao said in a statement.

Chao has been married to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell since 1993.

This is a breaking news story. More info to come.

1/1
25

Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud
~ apnews.com/i,rt:cie1bot' -no-w1despread-election-f18Ud--b1f1488 796c9a98c4b1 a906 '\ a6c? M9j

December 1, 2020

By MICHAEL BALSAMODecember 1, 2020 GMT

ElLE.::.ln..t.bS,..2.Q.2.Q,.fil.e_~~~g.a
roundtable discussion on Operation Legend, a federal program to help cities combat violent
crime in St. Louis. AttorneY. General William Barr said TuesdaY., Dec. 1, that the Justice
Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud and has seen nothing that
would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. (AP Photo I.Jeff Roberson,..Ei,k).

ill..3
FILE - In this Oct. 15, 2020, file photo Attorney General William Barr speaks during_a
r le discussion · ' to help cities combat violent
c St ou. s tt :i,..l.kc:J,~

1/5
26

Deuartment has not uncovered evidence of widesuread voter fraud and has seen nothing that
would change the outcome of the 2020 uresidential election. (AP Photo/.Jeff Roberson, File).

WASHINGTON (AP) - Disputing President Donald Trump's persistent, baseless claims,
Attorney General William Barr declared Tuesday the U.S. Justice Department has uncovered
no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election.

Barr's comments, in an interview with the The Associated Press, contradict the concerted
effort by Trump, his boss, to subvert the results oflast month's voting and block President-
elect Joe Biden from taking his place in the vVhite House.

Barr told the AP that U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific
complaints and information they've received, but "to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale
that could have effected a different outcome in the election."

The comments, which drew immediate criticism from Trump attorneys, were especially
notable coming from Barr, who has been one of the president's most ardent allies. Before the
election, he had r.e~Y-raised the notion that mail-in voting could be especially
vulnerable to fraud during the coronavirus pandemic as Americans feared going to polls and
instead chose to vote by mail.

More to Trump's liking, Barr revealed in the AP interview that in October he had apuointed
U.S. Attorney ,John Durham as a suecial counsel, giving the prosecutor the authority to
continue to investigate the origins of the Trump-Russia probe after Biden takes over and
making it difficult to fire him. Biden hasn't said what he might do with the investigation, and
his transition team didn't comment Tuesday.

Trump has long railed against the investigation into whether his 2016 campaign was
coordinating with Russia, but he and Republican allies had hoped the results would be
delivered before the 2020 election and would help sway voters. So far, there has been only
one criminal case, a guilty plea from a former FBI lawyer to a single false statement charge.

Under federal regulations, a special counsel can be fired only by the attorney general and for
specific reasons such as misconduct, dereliction of duty or conflict of interest. An attorney
general must document such reasons in writing.

Barr went to the White House Tuesday for a previously scheduled meeting that lasted about
three hours.

Trump didn't directly comment on the attorney general's remarks on the election. But his
personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and his political campaign issued a scathing statement
claiming that, "with all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn't been any

-
semblance" of an investigation into the president's complaints.

2/5
27

Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday the Justice Department has not uncovered
evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential
election. (Dec. 1)

Other administration officials who have come out forcefullY- against Trump's allegations of
voter-fraud evidence have been fired. But it's not clear whether Barr might suffer the same
fate. He maintains a lofty position vvith Trump, and despite their differences the two see eye-
to-eye on quite a lot.

Still, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer quipped: "I guess he's the next one to be
fired."

Last month, Barr issued a directive to U.S. attorneys across the country allowing them to
pursue any "substantial allegations" of voting irregularities before the 2020 presidential
election was certified, despite no evidence at that time of widespread fraud.

That memorandum gave prosecutors the ability to go around longstanding Justice
Department policy that normally would prohibit such overt actions before the election was
certified. Soon after it was issued, the department's top elections crime official announced he
would step aside from that position because of the memo.

The Trump campaign team led by Giuliani has been alleging a widespread conspiracY- by
Democrats to dump millions of illegal votes into the system with no evidence. They have filed
multiple lawsuits in battleground states alleging that partisan poll watchers didn't have a
clear enough view at polling sites in some locations and therefore something illegal must
have happened. The claims have been repeatedly dismissed including by Republican judges
who have ruled the suits lacked evidence.

3/5
28

But local Republicans in some battleground states have followed Trump in making
unsupported claims, i;iromi;iting_grave concerns over potential damage to American
democracy.

Trump himself continues to rail against the election in tweets and in interviews though his
own administration has said the 2020 election was the most secure ever. He recently allowed
his administration to begin the transition over to Biden, but he still refuses to admit he lost.

The issues they've have pointed to are typical in every election: Problems with signatures,
secrecy envelopes and postal marks on mail-in ballots, as well as the potential for a small
number of ballots miscast or lost.

But they've gone further. Attorney Sidney Powell has s:i;iun fictional tales of election systems
flipping votes, German servers storing U.S. voting information and election software created
in Venezuela "at the direction of Hugo Chavez," - the late Venezuelan president who died in
2013. Powell has since been removed from the legal team after an interview she gave where
she threatened to "blow up" Georgia with a "biblical" court filing.

Barr didn't name Powell specifically but said: "There's been one assertion that would be
systemic fraud and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to
skew the election results. And the DHS and DOJ have looked into that, and so far, we haven't
seen anything to substantiate that."

In the campaign statement, Giuliani claimed there was "ample evidence of illegal voting in at
least six states, which they have not examined."

Full Coverage: Election 2020
"We have many v.itnesses swearing under oath they saw crimes being committed in
connection with voter fraud. As far as we know, not a single one has been inteniewed by the
DOJ. The Justice Department also hasn't audited any voting machines or used their
subpoena powers to determine the truth," he said.

However, Barr said earlier that people were confusing the use of the federal criminal justice
system with allegations that should be made in civil lawsuits. He said a remedy for many
complaints would be a top-down audit by state or local officials, not the U.S. Justice
Department.

"There's a growing tendency to use the criminal justice system as sort of a default fix-all," he
said, but first there must be a basis to believe there is a crime to investigate.

"Most claims of fraud are very particularized to a particular set of circumstances or actors or
conduct. ... And those have been run down; they are being run down," Barr said. "Some have
been broad and potentially cover a few thousand votes. They have been followed up on."

4/5
29

Associated Press Writers Lisa Mascaro and Eric Tucker contributed to this report.

5/5
30

1/15/2021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics v Vide:? Listen

RELATED
TOPICS

Election 2020
Donald Trump
Joe B!den
Religion
Politics
Race and
ethnicity
AP Top News

Florida
Elections
Voter
registration
Capitol siege
M1chae! Pence

Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US
Capitol takeover
By MICHAEL BIESECKER, MICHAEL KUNZELMAN, GILLIAN FLACCUS and JIM MUSTIAN January 10, 2021

Trending on AP News

AP FACT CHECK: Trump's call to action
WASHINGTON (AP)~ They came
distorted in debate
from across Amcrlca, summoned by
President Donald Trump to march on
Washington in support ofhls false claim
Man lO'd as speaker's office invader
https://apnews.com/artic!e/us-caplto!-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc1 5a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 1/15
31

1/15/2021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

"Big protest in D.C. on January 6th," culture,' son says
Trump hvcctcd a week before
Christmas. "Be there, will be wild!"
byTaboola
The insurrectionist mob that showed up
at the president's behest and stormed ADV[RTISEMENT

the U.S. Capitol was overwhelmingly
made up oflont,rtimc Trump supporters,
including Republican Pru-ty officials,
GOP polltical donors, far-right
militants, white supremacists, members
of the military and adherents of the
QAnon myth that the government is
secretly controlled by a cabal of Sntan-
worshiping pedophile cannibals.
Records show that some were heavily
armed and indudcd convicted criminals,
such as a Florida man recently released
from prison for attempted murder.

The Associated Press reviewed :c;ocial
media posts, voter registrations, court
files and other public records for more
than 120 people either facing criminal
charges related to the Jan. 6 unrest or
who, going masklcss amid the pandemk1
were later identified through
photographs and videos taken during
the mclec.

The evidence gives lie to daims byrlght-
wing pundit::; and Republican oft1cials
such as Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., that the
violence was perpetrated by lcft-v.ing
antifa thugs rather than supporters of
the prc:c;ident.

MORE ON THE CAPITOL SIEGE:
- In wake of Capito! riot, Americans
struggle for answers
- Capitol assault a more sinister
attack than first appeared
- Capitol police were overrun, little
defense against rioters

"If the reports ai-e true," Gaetz said on
the House floor just hours after the

https;f/apnews.com/artic!e/us-capito!-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc15a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 2/15
32

1/15/2021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

in fact, were members of the violent
terrorist h1roup antifa."

Steven D'Antuono, the assistant director
in charge of the FBI's Washlnf..,rton field
office, told reporters that invcsti1:,"ators
had seen "no indication" antifa activist:,
were disguised as Trump supporters
Wcdncsday'R riot.

The AP found that many of the rioters
had taken to wcial media after the
November ckctlon to rctwcct and
parrot false claims by Trump that the
vote had been stolen in a vast
international conspiracy. Several had
openly threatened violence against
Democrats and Republicans they
considered insufficiently loyal to the
president. During the riot, some
livestreamcd and posted photos of
themselves at the Capitol. Afterwards,
many bra.&-,.:rcd about what they had
done.

A.s the mob smashed through doors and
wlndm\~ to invade the Capitol, a loud
chant \Vent up calling for the hanging of
Vice President ::'viike Pence, the recent
target of a Trump Twitter tirade for not
subverting the Constitution and
overturning the legitimate vote tally.
Outside, a wooden scaffold had been
erected on the National Mall 1 a rope
noose dangling at the ready.

So fur, at least 90 people have been
arrested on charges ranging from
misdemeanor curfrv,rvio1ations to
felonies related to assaults on police
officers, possessing illegal V./capons and

making death threats against House
Speaker Nancy Pdosl, D-Calif.

Among them \Vas Lonnie Leroy
Coffman, 70, an A}aba.'tlla grandfather
https://apnews.com/artic!e/us-capito!-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc15a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 3115
33

1/15/2021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capito! takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

three handguns and 11 Mason jars filled
with homemade napalm, according to
court filings.

The truck was found during a security
sweep involYing explosives-sniffing dogs
after two pipe bombs were found and
disarmed Wednesday near the national
headquarters of the Republican and
Democratic parties. Coffman \Vas
arrested that evening when he returned
to the truck carrying a 9nm1 Smith &
Wesson handgun and a .22~calibcr
derringer pistol in his pockets. Federal
officials said Coffomn is not suspected
of planting the pipe bombs, though he
was charged with having Molotov
cocktails in the bed of his truck.

His grandson, Brandon Coffman, told
the AP on Friday his gnmdfathcr was a
Republican who had expressed
admiration for Trnmp at holiday
gatherings. He said he had no idea why
Coffman would shO\v up in the nation's
capital armed for civil war.

Also facing federal charges is Clcw•land
Grover lVIeredith Jr., a Georgia man who
in the wake of the election had
protested outside the home of
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, whom
Trump had publicly blamed for his loss
in the state. Meredith drove to
Washington last week for the "Save
America" rally but arrived late because
of a problem with the lights on his
trailer, according to comt filings that
include expletive-laden texts.

Full Coverage: Capitol Siege

"Headed to DC \Vith a (s--) ton of 5.56
armor-piercing ammo," he tcxtcd
friends and relatives on Jan. 6, adding a
purple devil emoji, according to court
filings. The follO\ving day, he textcd to

the group: "Thinking about heading over
to Pelosi (C--';-;) speech and putting a
bullet in her noggin on Live TV," He
once again added a purple devil emoji,

https://apnews.com/artic!e/us~capito!¥trump-supporters--1806ea8dc1 5a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 4115
34

111512021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capito! takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

that within 12 days, many in our country
will die.''

Meredith, \Vho is white, then textcd a
photo of himself in blackfacc. ''I'm
gonna walk around DC FKG with people
by yelling 'Allahu ak Bar' randomly."

A participant in the text exchange
provided scrcen:shots to the FBI, who
tracked Meredith to a Holiday Inn a
short walk from the Capitol. They found
a compact Tavor X95 assault tiflc, a
9mm Glock 19 handgun and about 100
round::; of ammunition, according to
court filings. The agents also seized a
stash of THC <:dibks and a vial of
injectable testosterone.

Meredith is charged with trnnsmitting a
threat, as well as fdony counts for
possession of firearms and ammunition.

Michael Thomas Cur:r,io \Vas arrested in
relation to the riots kss than two years
after he was released from a Florida
prison in 2.019 after serving an eight-year
sentence for attempted murder. Court
records from Florida show that he shot
the boyfriend of his former girlfriend in
a fight at her home.

Federal law enforcement officials vowed
Friday to bring additional charges
against those who carried out the attack
on the Capitol, launching a natiom"vide
manhunt for dozens of suspects
identified from photographic evidence

The FBI has opened a murder probe into
the death of Capitol Police Officer Bria a
D. Skknkk, who was hit in the head
\Vlth a fire extinguisher, according to law
enforcement off:kials \VTio spoke on the
condition of anonymity because they
were not authori:ted to discuss thf'
ongoing investigation publicly. He dkd
at a hospital.

The Trump suppmters who died in the
1iot were Kevin D. Greeson, 55, of
Athens, Alabama; Benjamin Philips, 50,
of Ringtmvn, Penrn,-y1vania; Ashli

https://apnews.com/artic!e/us-caplto!-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc1 5a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 5/15
35

1/1512021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

conspiracy thcmy that holds Trump is
America's savior. Her Faccbook page
featured photos and videos praising
Trump and promoting fantasies,
including one theory that a shadowy
group was using the coronavirus to steal
elcctiong, Boyland's final post on
Twitter - a retweet of a post by W11itc
House social media director Dan
Scmino-was a picture ofthousand:c: of
people surrounding the Washington
Monument on Wednesday.

"She would text me some thini:,,rs, and I
would be like, 'Let me fact-check that.'
And I'd sit there an<l I'd be like, Well, I
don't think that's actually right,"' Lonna
Cave, Boyland's sister, said. "'We got in
fights about it, arguments."

The AP's review found that QAnon
beliefs were common among those who
heeded Trump's call to rnme to
Washington.

Doug Jensen, 41, was arrested by the FBI
on Friday in Des Moines, Iowa, after
returning home from the riot. An AP
photographer captured images of him
confronting Capitol Police officers
outside of the Senate chamber on
Wednesday.

Jensen was wearing a black T ~shirt
emblazoned with a large Q and the
phrase "Trust The P1an," a reference to
QAnon. Video posted onlinc during the
storming of the Capitol also appears to
show Jensen, who is white, pursuing a
Black police officer up an interior fiight
of stairs as a mob of people trails several
steps behind. At several points, the
officer says "get back,'' but to no avail.

Jensen's older brother, William Routh,
told the AP on Saturday that Jensen
believed that the person posting as Q

was either Trump or someone very dose
to the pre;o;idcnt.

"I feel like he had a lot of influence from
the internet that confused or obscured
https://apnews.com/artic!e/us-capito!-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc15a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 6115
36

1/15/2021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Tap Stories Topics Video listen

thought that maybe this was Trump
telling him ·what to do."

Jensen's employer, Forrest & Associate
Masonry in Des Moines, announced
Friday that he had been fired.

Tara Coleman, a 40-year-old mother
who lives ln Lancaster, Pennsylvania,
was arrested at the Capitol for a cmfcw
violation and for un1mvful entry. On her
Faccbook page, Coleman re-posted
a1ticlcs supporting the QAnon beliefs
about a "deep state" conspiracy to target
children. The AP could not find a
working phone number for Coleman
and her attorney, Peter Cooper, did not
respond to an email seeking comment.

And Jake Chansley, vvho calls himself the
"QAnon Shaman" and has long been a
fixture at Trump rnlllcs, surrendered to
the FBI field oflice in Phoenix on
Sanirday. News photos show him at the
riot shirtless, with his face painted and
\Vcaring a fur hat with horns, carrying a
U.S. flag attached to a wooden pole
topped with a spear.

Chanslcy's unusual headwear is visible
in a Nov. 7 AP photo at a rally of Trump
supp01tcrs protesting election results
outside of the Maricopa County election
center ln Phoenix. In that photo,
Chanslcy, who also has gone by the last
name Angeli, held a sign that read,
"HOLD THE LINE PATRIOTS GOD
WINS." He also cxprcs:c;cd his support
for the president in an interview with
the AP that day.

The FBI identified Chanslcy by his
distinctive tattoos, \:Vhich include bricks
circling his biceps in an apparent
reference to Tmmp's border wall.
Chamley didn't respond last week to

messages seeking comment to one of his
social media accounts.

There \.Vere also current and former
members of the U.S. military in the
https://apnews.com/articfe/us-capito!-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc15a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 7115
37

1/15/2021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

Emily Raincy's involvement in the
Wednesday rally. The 30-ycar-old
psychologkal operations officer told the
AP she led 100 members of Moore
County Citi:-.:cns for Freedom who
traveled to Washington to "stand against
cb.tion fraud'' and support Trump. She
inl'isted :,;he acted within Anny
regulations ,md that no one in her group
entered the Capitol or broke the law.

"I was a private citizen and doing
everything right and within my rights/'
Rainey told the AP.

Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Larry Rendall
Brock Jr. of Texas was charged in federal
court on Sunday after he was identified
in photos shov,ring him standing in the
well of the Senate, wearing a military-
style helmet and body armor while
holding a pair of zip~tic handcuffs.

The insurrectionist mob also included
members of the neofascist group known
as the Proud Boys, whom Trump urged
to "stand back and stand by" when
asked to condemn them by a moderator
during a presidential debate in
September.

Nicholas R. Ochs, 34, was arrested
Saturday after returning home to
Hawaii, where he is the foundC'r of the
local Proud Boys chapter. On
Wednesday, Ochs posted a photo of
himself on Tv:itter inside the Capitol,
grinning broadly and smoking a
cigarette. According to court filings, the
FBl matched photos of Ochs taken
during the riot to photos taken when
Ochs campaigned unsucccssfuliy last
year as the Republican nominee for a
scat in the Hawaii statehouse.

Proud Boys leader Henry "Enrique"
Tarrio was arrested Monday in
Washington on weapons charges and
ordered to stay out of the nation\i
capital. Tarrio is accused of vandalizing
a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic
Black church last month.

https://apnews.com/artic!e/us-capito!-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc15a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 8/15
38

1/1512021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

the Proud Boys. He told The Stanly
News & Prc:c-s in 2019 that he was a
Proud Boys supporter but wouldn't say
if he was an official member of the
group. Another North Carolina
newspaper, The Jacksonville Daily News,
published a photo of Thaxton wearing a
"Make America Great Again" hat at a
2,019 protest over the removal of
Confederate statues.

A man who answered a telephone
number associated with Thaxton hung
up on an AP reporter. The recipient of a
text message to the same number
responded with an cxpktivc.

Also arrested at the Capitol was \Villiam
Arthur Leary, who owns a manufacn!fcd
housing business in Utica, New York. In
an interview Friday, Leary told the AP
that he ;c;trongly believes the election
wa;,, stolen from Trump and that he went
to ·washington to show his support.

Leary said he doesn't trust informatlon
reported by the mainstream media and
that one of his main source;c; of
information was Tnfowars, the far-right
conspiracy site run by Alex Jones. He
denied he cwr set foot in the Capitol
nnd compbined that he was held for
more than :.q hours and had his ccU
phone seized.

"They treated us like animals," he
complained. "They took all our phoneB. I
didn't get to make a phone call to tell
anybody where I was."

Leary said he remembers seeing a
woman, Kristina Malimon, 28, sobbing
at the detention center because she had
been separated and not allowed to
translate for her mother, \Vho primarily
speaks Russian. Both women had been
charged with curfew violation and

unlm.,·ful entry. According to a video
posted on her Instagrnm account, the
younger Ma1 lmon says she was born in
Moldova, where her family had faced

https;//apnews.com/artic!e/us-captto!-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc15a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 9115
39

111512021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

the Young Republicans of Oregon,
according to the group1s ,vcbsitc and is
also listed as an "ambassador" for the
pro-Trnmp group Turning Point USA.
Her social media focds arc full of photos
taken at Trump events, including the
earlier "Million i'v1AGA March" held in
Washinf..,rton last month. She also posted
photos of herself posing with Donald
Trump Jr. and Roger Stone, who was
convicted of crimes including
obstruction of justice and pardoned by
Trump on Christmas Eve.

Media reports from Oregon quoted
Malimon in August as the pl'lmary
organiY,er of a Trnmp boat p<-1rndc on the
Willamette River, where big waves
C1Yatcd by speeding boats flying Trump
flags S\Nampcd and sank a smalkr bout
that was not participating, throwing a
family into the water to be rescued by
the sheriff's department.

"Oregon, today you came out and
showed your love and support for our
wonderful President, Donald J. Trump
thank you!" Kristina Malimon wrote on
Faccbook following the parade.

Malirnon also served as a Republican
poll watcher in Georgia and spoke at an
event organized by the Trump campaign
in December, claiming to have seen
voting machines and tabulation
computers in Savannah, Georgia, with
suspiciously blinking ~1Tccn light:-:. she
interpreted as a sign they were being
secretly controlled by outside hackers -
a claim debunked as false by GOP
election officials in the state.

A phone number listed for Kristina
Malimon rang without being answered
on Friday. At the address listed for her in
southeast Portland on Friday night, her

teenage brother answered the door as
other family members, including young
children, ran around.

The family spoke Russian to each other
https://a pnews.co m/artic!e/us-caplto!-trump-suppo rte rs--1 806ea 8dc1 5a2c04f2a 68acd6b55ca ce 10115
40

111512021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

seem upset about her arrest.

Others arc facing consequences even
beyond arrest.

A Texas shetiff announced Thursday
that he had reported one of his
lieutenants to the FBI after she posted
photos of herself on sod al media with a
crowd outside the Capitol. Bexar
Com1ty Sheriff Javier Salazar said Lt.
Roxanne Mathai, a 46-ycar-old jailc1\ had
the right to attend the ra1ly but he's
investigating whether she may have
broken the law.

One of the posts Mathai shared was a
photo that appeared to be taken
Wednesday from among the mass of
Trump supporters outside the Capitol,
"Not gonna lie .....aside from my kids,
this was, indeed, the best day of my life.
And it's not over yet."

A lawyer for Mathai, a mother and
longtime San Antonio resident, said she
attended the Trump rally but never
entered the Capitol.

Attorney Hector Cortes said Mathai's
contract ban; her from speaking directly
with the press but that she welcomes an
FBI investigation and that her actions
were squarely within the bounds of the
First Amendment.

Brad Rukstales, a Republican political
donor and CEO of Cogcnsia, a Chicago-
based data analytics firm, was arrested
with a group of a half-dozen Trump
supporters who da,shcd \;;,'1th officers
Wednesday inside the Capitol.
Can1paign finance reports show
Rukstales contributed more than
$25,000 to Trump's campaign and other
GOP committees during to 2020
election cycle.

He told a local CBS news channel last
week that he had entered the Capitol
and apologized. He was fired Friday and
did not respond to calls and emails

https://apnews.com/artic!e/us-caplto!-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc15a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 11115
41

1115/2021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

following his arrest on two charges
related to the Capitol riot. He had
streamed video of himself charging into
the building with the mob.

"They're making an announcement now
saying if Pence betrays m; you better get
your mind right because \.Ve'rc storming
the building," Evans, 35, says in the
video, as the door to the Capitol
building is smashed and rioters rush
through. "The door is cracked! ... We're
in, we're in: Derrick Evans ii> in the
Capitol!"

On Saturday he issued a statement
saying he regretted taking part.

"I take foll responsibility for my actions,
and deeply regret any hurt, pain or
embarrassment I may have caused my
family, friends, constituents and fellow
West Virginians," the statement said.

Kunzelman reported from Colk:gc Park,
Maiyland, Flaccus from Portland,
Oregon, and Mustian from New York.
Associated Press VI-Titers Jake Blcibcrg in
Dallas; Michael R. Sisak in New York;
Michael Balsamo in Washington;
Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho; James
LaPorta in Delray Beach, Florida; and
Heather Hollingsworth in Mission,
Kansas, contributed to this report.

Follow Associated Press investle,>ativc
reporter Michael Biesecker at
http://twlttcr.com/mbicscck

Contact AP's global investigative team
at Invcstigative@>ap.org

https://apnews.com/artic!e/us-caplto!-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc15a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 12/15
42

1/15/2021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

9 Strange Things
Millionaires Do
With Their Money,
But Most of Us
Have Never Tried
~

These arc simpk money
moves any nonnal, non-
millionaire person can
make today.

AP FACT CHECK:
Trump's ca!! to, ..

Ad Content

25Worst
Movies Ever,
According To...
l'romote<l:Pc>s1 Fun

The App That's
Teaching

Promote<l:llabhel

Michael Oher
Tells A Whole
Different Stor...
PrornNNl:Garneday

https://apnews.com/artic!e/us-capitol-trump-supporters-1806ea8dc15a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace 13115
43

1/15/2021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

Man ID'd as
speaker's office...

Trump business
backlash part of ...
7\EW YORK (AP)

Ad Content

Try Not To Laugh At These Photos Of
Actors With Their Stunt Doubles

Amazon Prime Increased Its Prices.
Now What?

25+ Times Strangers Left Hilarious
Notes For Others To Find

California
professor who,..

(AP)-:\lnw ..

Maryland man
turns self in, ...
WASH1:\"Gl'O;\;
(,\P)

https://apnews.com/art!c!e/us-capito!-trump-supporters. 1806ea8dc15a2c04f2a68acd6b55cace
44

1/15/2021 Records show fervent Trump fans fueled US Capitol takeover

AP NEWS
Top Stories Topics Video Listen

https://a pnews. co m/art!c!e/us-capito!-trum p-supporte rs-1806ea 8dc1 5a2c04f2a 68acd6b55ca ce 15/15
45

Pence Makes Clear There Is No Daylight Between Him
and Trump

October 4, 2019

WASHINGTON He held firm when the "Access Hollywood" tape nearly ended President
Trump's 2016 campaign. He did not waver through even the most trying moments of the
special counsel's Russia investigation.

And once again, Vice President Mike Pence has risen to Mr. Trump's defense at a moment of
crisis that some Republicans fear could inflict lasting damage on them both.

Amid questions about Mr. Pence's role in the campaign of political pressure directed at
IB<raine's government that has become the subject of a House Democratic impeachment
action against Mr. Trump, the vice president appeared before reporters in ,Arizona on
Thursday and was all in.

Hours after Mr. Trump defiantly escalated the impeachment drama by .Q12enly urging China's
government to investiga.t:J;. the business dealings there of former Vice President Joseph R.
Biden Jr.'s son Hunter, Mr. Pence backed up his boss without apology, saying that Mr.
Trump was malting good on his campaign pledge to "drain the swamp."

Mr. Pence also reiterated an earlier statement that the business Hunter Biden did in Ukraine
while his father was overseeing the Obama administration's policy toward the country was, as
he put it on Thursday, "worth lool<ing into."

1/4
46

"The president made it very clear that he believes our other nations around the world should
look into it as well," Mr. Pence added.

No evidence has emerged to indicate that the elder Mr. Biden sought to steer American
foreign policy based on his son's foreign business dealings, and Hunter Eiden has not been
accused of any legal wrongdoing.

But Mr. Pence's remarks further cemented his unlikely political bond with Mr. Trump, whose
political style bears little relation to the vice president's low-key Midwestern conservatism. It
also reflected Mr. Pence's apparent belief that he cannot afford to allow even a sliver of
daylight to appear between himself and the president for fear of drawing Mr. Trump's wrath
and, potentially, that of core Republican voters.

"Daylight is deadly. That's why he did what he did today," said Michael Feldman, a former
adviser to Vice President Al Gore. "His job as vice president is to support the president
politically, no matter what. Even when the president is setting fire to his presidency."

Mr. Gore found himself in a similarly awkward position in 1998, when Congress impeached
President Bill Clinton for lying under oath about his affair with a v\lhite House intern, Monica
Lewinsky.

Mr. Gore, too, remained steadfastly loyal. But unlike Mr. Pence, he never publicly supported
Mr. Clinton's defenses of his own conduct.

David Kochel, an Iowa-based Republican strategist, said that in vigorously defending Mr.
Trump, Mr. Pence was making the only move available to him. "No matter what comes out,
the base is going to stick with Trump," even if some Republican members of Congress do not.

Mr. Kochel added that Mr. Pence "is going to be judged by" the president and "his fervent
supporters on his loyalty to the president." But he said there is little downside politically for
Mr. Pence in demonstrating his loyalty during the impeachment fight.

The Eiden Administration

Updated
Jan. 21, 2021, 1:04 p.m. ET
"Right now it's framed as a partisan fight," he said.

Still, in expressing criticism of his predecessor, Mr. Bi den, Mr. Pence also seemed to
underscore the quandary he faces in his proximity to a president bearing a large load of
ethical and legal accusations.

2/4
47

"The simple fact is that, you know, when you hold the second-highest office in the land, it
comes with unique responsibilities," he said. "Not just to be above impropriety but to be
above the appearance of impropriety."

Mr. Pence, who was in Arizona meeting with Hispanic leaders when he talked to reporters,
did not address questions about whether he had a role or knowledge of Mr. Trump's efforts to
press foreign governments to investigate the Bidens and the origins of the F.B.I.'s 2016
investigation into his campaign's ties to Russia.

According to the whistle-blower complaint accusing Mr. Trump of improperly pressuring
Ukraine on those subjects, Mr. Pence planned to attend the May inauguration of Ukraine's
new president, Volodymyr Zelensky, but canceled his trip at the instruction of Mr. Trump,
who was seeking to pressure the Ukrainian government to investigate the Bidens. But a
source in Mr. Pence's office said that no such trip had been planned.

And when Hurricane Dorian led Mr. Trump to cancel an early-September trip to Warsaw on
which he was set to meet with Mr. Zelensky, Mr. Pence traveled in place of the president.
While there, on Sept. 2, Mr. Pence denied to reporters that he had discussed the elder Mr.
Biden with the Ukrainian leader.

"The president asked me to meet with President Zelensky and to talk about the progress that
he's making on a broad range of areas," Mr. Pence said. "And we did that."

Mr. Pence did not directly respond to a question at the time about whether the Trump
administration had held up $391 million in military aid for the country this summer in order
to further pressure Mr. Zelensky's government. Instead he cited Mr. Trump's complaint that
Europe has not done more to assist Ukraine, adding that "as President Trump had me make
clear, we have great concerns about issues of corruption."

By that time, Mr. Trump's public remarks had already conflated well-established concerns
about endemic corruption in lJkrainian society with his more personalized notion of
corruption in the country- namely the alleged activities of the Bidens and unfounded
theories that it was ill<raine's government that meddled in the 2016 election, not Russia's.

Mr. Pence's critics say that despite the vice president's professions of ignorance about the
core of Mr. Trump's political agenda in Ukraine, he knew enough about the president's
mixing of foreign policy and politics to be implicated in any wrongdoing.

At the same time, Mr. Pence appears to have been almost willfully oblivious to Mr. Trump's
public obsession with Ukraine, the Bidens and conspiracy theories surrounding the 2016
election that have also been amplified in public by Mr. Trump's lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani.

"What's unique about Pence is that he just feels he had no political fortune left in America if
Trump didn't tap him," said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian. "His game plan is
never to lose not just Donald Trump, but Trumpians," Mr. Brinkley said.

3/4
48

"He doesn't want to have any kind of backlash from the alt-right or conservative talk radio,"
he added, "So all he does is megaphone Trump with the amplification lowered a few
notches,"

But by defending Mr, Trump's behavior to an extent that few other elected Republican
officials did on Thursday, Mr, Pence may not only find himself dravvn deeper into the
impeachment morass, but also diverted from the message of economic growth and legislative
action he has sought to promote as an antidote to the politics of the congressional inquiry.

·while defending Mr. Trump's call to investigate the Bidens on Thursday, Mr. Pence also
stressed the president's policy agenda, a theme his aides have also promoted during internal
White House discussions about responding to the Democratic impeachment onslaught.

"The people of this country want us to focus on issues that matter most to them," Mr. Pence
said. "These endless investigations should end in Washington, D.C., and Speaker Pelosi and
the Democrats ought to be focusing on issues of security, of prosperity, infrastructure, the
U.S.M.C.A., lowering drug prices."

Mr. Pence's aides have argued that such a message would be effective against Democrats in
red congressional districts and states where impeachment lacks strong support, especially
when compared with kitchen-table issues.

The fact that Speaker Nancy Pelosi had cited those issues during her own public remarks on
Wednesday before mentioning impeachment was a sign that she understands the risk of
blowback from voters frustrated by legislative inaction in Washington.

4/4
49

111512021 What Happened at the Capitol Yesterday - The New York Times

Today's Rampage at the Capitol, as It Happened
last Updated 3 hours ago

Follow our live news updates on inauguration day, Joe Biden and President Trump's impeachment

~ Jan.~• 2021, 11:22 p.m. ET
~ By Michael Levenson

Washington, D.C. mayor issues order extending emergency for 15 days.
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser of Washington on Wednesday night issued an order extending the city's public emergency
for 15 days, warning that extremists who support President Trump might continue to wreak havoc in the nation's
capital.
The order empowers officials to reduce the hours of operation for businesses, order people off the street if a curfew
is issued, and expend funds as needed to protect public safety.
The directive, which will expire at 3 p.m. on Jan. 21, extends the emergency through the inauguration of President-
elect Joseph R. Eiden Jr. on Jan. 20. It came hours after Ms. Bowser imposed a citywide curfew from 6 p.m. on
Wednesday until 6 a.m. on Thursday.

~ Jan. 6, 2021, 9:38. p.m. ET
~ ByTheNewYorkTimes

Video: Protesters linger as law enforcement surrounds the Capitol building.

https://www.nytimes.com/Hve/2021 /01 /06/us/washington-dc-protests 119
50

1/15/2021 What Happened at the Capitol Yesterday - The New York Times

<>
There are still protesters - and even more law enforcement - around the Capitol in Washington tonight, several
hours after a curfew was imposed following a pro-Trump mob's storming of the building.

Jan. 6, 2021, 8:53 p.m. ET
By Neil Vtgdor

Congress resumes vote-counting as leaders on both sides repudiate siege.
Rattled but defiant, members of Congress returned to the Capitol on Wednesday night to resume counting the
electoral votes from the November election, a process that leaders on both sides of the aisle said would not be
derailed by the earlier siege of the building by President Trump's supporters.
"This temple to democracy was desecrated, its windows smashed, our offices vandalized;' Senator Chuck Schumer,
the minority leader, said as the Senate reconvened.
Mr. Schumei; who is poised to become the majority leader after Democrats won both of Tuesday's runoffs in
Georgia, said that January 6, 2021, was a date that would live in infamy, invoking President Franldin D. Roosevelt's
phrase after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

~ Jan. 6, 2021, 8:31 p.m. ET
~ By Maggie Haberm:;m and Helene Cooper

Trump rebuffed initial requests to deploy the National Guard to the Capitol. Pence gave
the go-ahead.
httpsJ!www.nytlmes.com/!ive/2021/01/06/us/washlngton-dc-protests 2/9
51

1115/2021 What Happened at the Capitol Yesterday - The New York Times

President Trump initially rebuffed and resisted requests to mobilize the National Guard to quell violent protests at
the Capitol, according to a person with knowledge of the events.

In the end, it was Vice President Mike Pence, defense and administration officials said, who approved the order to
deploy. It was unclear why Mr. Trump, who is still technically the commander in chief, did not give the order. The
mobilization was initiated with the help of Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, among other officials,
according to the person with knowledge of the events.
Kash Patel, the chief of staff to Chris Miller, the acting defense secretary, responded: "The acting secretary and the
president have spoken multiple times this week about the request for National Guard personnel in D.C. During these
conversations, the president conveyed to the acting secretary that he should take any necessary steps to support
civilian law enforcement requests in securing the Capitol and federal buildings."

Jan. 6, 2021, 8:09 p.m, ET
By Neil Vigdor

A prominent business group calls on Pence to start Constitutional process to remove
Trump from office.
A lobbying group for the manufactming industry an entity once aligned with the Trump administration urged
Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday to utilize powers within the constitution to remove President Trump from
office after Mr. Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
In a lengthy statement, the National Association of Manufacturers termed the violent incursion at the Capitol
complex as "mob rule" that it said was fueled by Mr. Trump.
The 14,000-member group, which last year honored Ivanka Trump, the president's eldest daughter, said that Mt:
Trump was not fit for office.

Jan. 6, 2021, 7:43 p.m. ET ,0''
https://www.nytlmes.com/!ive/2021 /01 /06/us/washington-dc-protests 319
52

e
1115/2021

By Michael Levenson
What Happened at the Capitol Yesterday - The New York Times

Twitter, taking a harder line, locks President Trump's account. Facebook does the same.
Twitter on Wednesday took the extraordinary step of locking President Trnmp's account, depriving the president of
his favorite means of communication after violent Trnmp supporters stormed the Capitol and swarmed the streets
of Washington.
Twitter took the harder line after removing three of Mr. Trnmp's tweets, which it said had violated a company policy
that forbids using the platform "for the purpose of manipulating or interfering in elections or other civic processes:•
Facebook later said it had "assessed two policy violations" against Mr. Trnmp's page, and said it was blocking him
from posting on the platform for 24 hours.

~ Jan. 6, 2021, 7'.30 p.m. ET
~ TheNewYorkT1mes

In photos: Night falls on Washington.

Police officers take cover behind their shields as they try to keep protestors outside the
U.S. Capitol. Leah Millis/Reuters

https://www.nytimes.com/!ive/2021 /01 /06/us/washington-dc-protests 419
53

1/15/2021 What Happened at the Capitol Yesterday - The New York Times

First responders wheel a person on a stretcher into an ambulance outside the Capitol
after protesters stormed the grounds. Michael Reynolds/EPA, via Shutterstork

Local and federal law enforcement officers patrol inside the Capitol. Olivier
Douliery/Agence France-Presse ~ Getty Images

Jan. 6, 2021, 6:59 p.m. ET
By Neil Yigdor

Miu Romney says Trump incited an 'insurrection' at the Capitol.
Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, condemned President Trnmp on Wednesday night for the breaching of
the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, saying that the president bore direct responsibility for the violence that disrnpted
the counting of electoral votes by Congress.
"What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States;' Mr. Romney said in
a statement. "Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a
legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our
democracy."
Mr. Romney, the lone Republican in the Senate who voted to convict Mr. Trnmp last year on one of two articles of
impeachment, has been the target of verbal attacks by Mi: Trump's snpporters in recent days. Videos showed one of
the president's followers confronting Mr. Romney before a flight at Salt Lake City International Airport earlier this
week. He was later heckled by Mr. Trump's supporters aboard a flight.

https://www.nytimes.com/Hve/2021 /01 /06/us/washington-dc-protests 519
54

111512021 What Happened at the Capitol Yesterday - The New York Times

A Jan. 6, 2021. 6'.52 p.m. ET
~ TheNewYorkTimes

In photos: A mob's costumes foreshadow its actions.
Some of the protesters who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday came in costume - dressed like Vikings, pioneers or
soldiers in camouflage. Many had faces painted with American flags and others carried elaborate signs.

Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse - Getty Images

https://www.nytlmes.com/Hve/2021 /01 /06/usfv.lashington-dc-protests 6/9
55

1/15/2021 What Happened at the Capitol Yesterday - The New York Times

Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Jan. 6, 2021, 6:37 p.m. ET
By Emily.Cochrane

Pelosi: The electoral vote tally will resume tonight.
Lawmakers will resume counting Electoral College votes on Wednesday after a mob of Trump loyalists stormed the
Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said, as she vowed that the attack could not "deter us from our
responsibility to validate the election of Joe Eiden:'
Ms. Pelosi, in a letter to colleagues, said she had reached that decision after consulting with her leadership team and
a series of calls with the Pentagon, the Justice Department and Vice President Mike Pence. She made no mention of
the president.
'We always knew this responsibility would take us into the night," Ms. Pelosi wrote. "We also knew that we would be
a part of history in a positive way, today, despite ill-founded objections to the Electoral College vote. We now will be
part of history, as such a shameful picture of our country was put out to the world, instigated at the highest level."

~ Jan. 6, 2021, 6:15, p.m. ET
~ By The New York Times

Twitter locks Trump's account after he encouraged his supporters to 'remember this day.'
In what could be interpreted as an attempt to stoke the flames of a Capitol mob which has begun to disperse,
President Trump sent a tweet at around 6 p.m. in which he reiterated the false claim that the election was stolen and
encouraged his supporters to "remember this day" going forward.
"These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously &
viciously stlipped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long;' he tweeted. "Go
home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!"
Twitter later took down the tweet, saying that it had violated the company's rules.

https://www.nytlmes.com/Hve/2021/01/06/us/washington-dc-protests 719
56

1/15/2021 What Happened at the Capitol Yesterday - The New York Times

~ Jan. 6, 2021, 6:14 p,m. ET
~ By Nicholas BogeH3urroughs

Woman shot in the Capitol has died.
A woman who was shot inside the Capitol building after it was overrun by a pro-Trump mob has died, Washington
D.C. police officials said on Wednesday.
The woman has not been identified and no information has been released about who may have shot her. Chief
Robert J. Contee of the Metropolitan Police Department said earlier that she was a "civilian" and that his officers
were leading the investigation.
The woman was pronounced dead at a local hospital, Dustin Sternbeck, a spokesman for the police department, said
in an email. Mr. Sternbeck said he did not yet know who shot her or have any other details.

Jan. 6, 2021, 6:11 p.m. ET
By Eric Schmitt

'I thought we'd have to fight our way out; a congressman says.
Within minutes of the mob breaching the Capitol complex, rioters were pounding on the doors of the House gallery,
where a group of lawmakers were trapped.
"I thought we'd have to fight our way out;' said Representative Jason Crow, Democrat of Colorado and a former
Army Ranger who served in Iraq.
Mr. Crow said he moved other members away from the barricaded door inside the gallery, helped them don gas
masks, told them to take off the lapel pins assigned to all Honse members and took out his only possible weapon - a
pen.

~ Jan. 6, 2021, 6:08 p.m. ET
~ By Jennifer Steinhauer

Police in Washington seize 5 guns and arrest at least 13 during violent Capitol protest.
httpsJ/www.nytlmes.com/Hve/2021 /01 /06/us/washlngton-dc-protests 8/9
57

1/15/2021 What Happened at the Capitol Yesterday - The New York Times

Police seized five guns and arrested at least 13 people during the violent protests involving supporters of President
Trump at the Capitol on Wednesday, Chief Robert J. Contee of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department said on
Wednesday.
Chief Contee said the firearms included handguns and long guns. He also noted that none of the people arrested
were residents of the District of Columbia
At the same news conference, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser called the violent protests, where Trump supporters looted
and vandalized congressional offices, "shameful" and "unpatriotic!'

~ Jan. 6, 2021, 6:01 p.m. ET
~ By Emily Cochrane and Neil Vigdor

Sergeant-at-arms declares the Capitol cleared of a rampaging mob.
The sergeant-at-arms, who is responsible for Congress's security, has told lawmakers and reporters that the Capitol
is now secure, though lawmakers, staff and reporters continue to shelter in much of the Capitol complex.
Lawmakers in both parties have called for the certification process of the Electoral College votes to resume with the
securing of the building. No word yet if and when that will begin.
Representative Jan1es E. Clyburn of South Carolina, the No. 3 Democrat in the House, vowed that Congress would
continue the counting on Wednesday night.

https://www.nytimes.com/!ive/2021 /01 /06/us/washington-dc-protests 919
58

President Trump Joins Call Urging State Legislators to
Review Evidence and Consider Decertifying 'Unlawful'
Election Results

January 3, 2021

Michael Reynolds/Getty Images

Michael Patrick LeahY-

3 Jan 2021
President Trump spoke to 300 state legislators from the battleground states of Arizona,
Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Georgia on Saturday in a Zoom conference call
hosted by Got Freedom? in which the 501 (c) (4) non-profit election integrity watchdog group
urged those lawmakers to review evidence that the election process in their states was
unlawful and consider decertifying the results of the November 3 presidential election.

1/4
59

President Trump addressed the call for 15 minutes at the invitation of former New York City
Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who now serves as the president's personal attorney, and was one of
the featured speakers on the call.

Other featured speakers included Chapman Law School Professor John Eastman, Dr. Peter
Navarro, Assistant to the President for Trade and Manufacturing (appearing in his personal
capacity), John Lott, Senior Advisor, U.S. Department of Justice (also appearing in his
personal capacity), and Liberty University Law School Professor Phill Kline.

Kline, a former attorney general in Kansas, is a spokesperson for the 501 (c) (4) Got
Freedom? non-profit, and also serves as director of the 501 (c) (3) Amistad Project of the
Thomas More Society, an election integrity public interest law firm which is engaged in
litigation regarding the 2020 election.

In a press statement released after the call, GotFreedom? said they conducted Saturday's
"exclusive national briefing ... at the request of state legislators from Michigan,
Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin to review the extensive evidence of irregularities and
lawlessness in the 2020 presidential election."

"A similar briefing is being scheduled in Washington, D.C. at the request of Members of
Congress," the group noted.

UPDATE: Representatives and senators' objections to Electoral College votes
on Wednesday will allow Republicans to air allegations of vote fraud.
https//t co/zl 9!6HIWK5

Breitbart News (@BreitbatiNews) Januai:y_l, 2021

A joint session of the newly convened 117th Congress will meet in Washington, D.C. on
Wednesday to determine if they will accept the results of the December 14 meeting of the
Electoral College, in which Joe Bi den received 306 Electoral College votes for president and
Donald Trump received 232 Electoral College votes.

If at least one member of the House of Representatives and one member of the Senate object
to certifying those votes on Wednesday, each chamber must then separately hold a debate on
whether to accept those Electoral College votes.

More than 30 members of the House have already announced they will object to certification.
Last week, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) announced he will publicly object to certification.

Then on Saturday, as Breitbart News rePQrkd, 11 Republican senators said they would vote
not to certify on Wednesday and would instead recommend the establishment of a
commission to review the lavvfulness of the election process in the disputed states in a full

2/4
60

election audit. That commission would have ten days to review the evidence and report back
to the joint session of Congress.

"This information should serve as an important resource for state legislators as they make
calls for state legislatures to meet to investigate the election and consider decertifying their
state election results," Kline, who hosted the call on behalf of Got Freedom? said.

'The integrity of our elections is far too important to treat cavalierly, and elected officials
deserve to have all relevant information at their disposal as they consider whether to accept
the reported results of the 2020 elections, especially in states where the process was
influenced by private interests," Kline added.

The statement continued:

The evidence discussed includes unprecedented public-private partnerships that created a two-
tiered election system in the states that determined the winner of the Electoral College. Funded
by over $400 million from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, these public-private
partnerships sought to boost turnout in Democratic strongholds while depressing turnout in
conservative areas, violating constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection.

The private monies paid the salaries of election workers and funded the purchase of election
equipment, but came with strict conditions on the conduct of elections in jurisdictions that
accepted the money. These private interventions were aided by the actions of public officials,
who sought to undermine transparency, fought efforts to audit the results, threatened legislators
with investigation and prosecution for questioning the reported results, and in some cases even
physically prevented state lawmakers from entering the Capitol Building in order to prevent
them from challenging election certification.

A communication sent to participating state legislators after the call summarized Professor
Eastman's argument during the call about the specific "Constitutional imperatives" of state
legislators.

State legislators, Eastman stated, have both the right and duty to:

• Assert your plenary power
• Demand that your laws be followed as written
• Decertify tainted results unless and until your laws are followed
• Insist on enough time to properly meet, investigate, and properly certify results to
ensure that all lawful votes (but only lawful votes) are counted.

In that subsequent communication, Kline encouraged the state legislators to:

3/4
61

. agree to sign on to a joint letter from state legislators to Vice President Mike Pence to
demand that he call for a 12-day delay on ratifying the election, allowing the states the
necessary time to further investigate the lawlessness with which the presidential election was
conducted. We also request that you send this message out to fellow legislators to ask them to
sign on to the letter as welL

He added that "Representative Daryl Metcalfe (R-Pennsylvania), Senator Brandon Beach (R-
Georgia), and Representative Mark Finchem (R-Arizona) already ¼Tote a letter to Vice
President Mike Pence for this narrow purpose. Coming together to sign a joint letter is a vital
step-one you should take confidently and in solidarity. We will send the joint letter to all
legislators who contact us in reply to this message."

The 1,400 pages of evidence presented to state legislators on the call can be seen at got-
freedom.org/evidence/

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.

4/4
62

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

https://www.wsj.com/articles/one-trump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-capitol-mob-11610311660

U.S.

Doug Sweet joined rioters who breached the Capitol, where he was eventually arrested.

ALLlbLlll£cLLLi,,.LLWw1'"" Jennifer Levitz; and Jim Oberman
Jan.10, 2021 3,47 pm ET

r;;::'\ Listen to this article
\!!':.) 19mInutes

GWYNN'S ISLAND, Va.-On Doug Sweet's first trip to the U.S. Capitol, as a 13-year-old in
1975, he tilted his head back, gazed up at the glistening white dome and thought it was the
most awesome thing he had ever seen.

On his second trip to the Capitol, he joined a mob of Trump supporters who smashed their
way into the seat of the U.S. Congress, and finished his visit handcuffed facedown on the
floor.

The 45-year journey between those two visits was marked by bright idealism and belief in
dark conspiracies, by a solitary existence and a newfound fraternity with those convinced
there is no way Joe Eiden beat Donald Trum12 in the 2020 presidential election.

It didn't matter that no evidence of widespread election fraud emerged, or that more
than 50 legal claims filed by the Trump campaign have been dismissed by courts.

Mr. Sweet put his faith in Mr. Trump and his allies, who for weeks had implored followers
to rise up against the outcome of a national election they said was rigged.

https://www.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-caplto!-mob-11610311660 1113
63

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U,S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

STORMING OF THE CAPITOL

i..atest Ugdates: Live Coverag.§

<:onsQiracy Theorists, CE Os and Grandmothers: Inside the Cagitol Mob

.!The Protesters Are in the Building': The Scene Inside the CaQitol

in History of U.S, Cagitol Nothing Like This

Qgital Journal: Political Violence Shakes CountrY.,

"He said, 'Hey, I need my digital soldiers to show up on January 6,"' Mr. Sweet says of the
president. "And we all did."

The mob that stormed the Capitol last Wednesday was a combustible stew of QAnon
conspiracy theorists, armed rampage rs and extremist personalities, as well as more
ordinary Trump loyalists determined to fulfill the president's desire to persuade-or
intimidate-lawmakers into undoing his election loss. Among those who have been
arrested are a leader of the far-right Proud Boys for his alleged role in the siege, and an
online provocateur and white nationalist-who before the attack warned of rioting if the
results weren't overturned-who live-streamed from inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's
office.

A Capitol Police officer was killed and four others died amid the violence.

The Wall Street Journal interviewed Mr. Sweet at his home after police included him on a
list of those arrested.

Mr. Sweet is a man who clipped his toe in the pool of wild and false conspiracies during the
Barack Obama administration and is now up to his neck in it, wallowing in resentment
and anger that others can't see how the elites are scheming to destroy America the way he
can. He has become intractably fixated on beliefs so extreme-but widespread-that he is
estranged from his elder daughter.

He came to Washington ready to act on them.

https://www.wsj.com/art1c!es/one"trump-fans--descent-into-the-u-s-capito!-mob-11610311660 2113
64

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

Trump supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
PHOTO: STEPHANIE KEITH/REUTERS

Mr. Sweet and a friend, Cindy Fitchett of Mathews, Va., first visited the Ellipse, where
President Donald Trump told his supporters that the election had been stolen and that he
planned to walk with them along Pennsylvania Avenue to take their anger to the Capitol.

"We fight like hell," the president said. "And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to
have a country anymore."

Mr. Sweet says he took his marching orders from the president and walked east. The
Capitol was a battlefield when he arrived in early afternoon.

People waving Trump flags and wearing MAGA hats were swarming the bleachers erected
for Mr. Biden's inauguration. They were scrambling up the walls. Rioters had overrun
Capitol Police and forced their way into the building. Mr. Sweet could hear the thuds and
see the smoke from flash-bang grenades going off inside.

0 THE JOURNAL.

How Wednesday's Attack Came Together: Out in the Open

QQ:QO

https;//www.wsj.com/artic!es/oneArump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-caplto!-mob-11610311660 3/13
65

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

He says he and Ms. Fitchett walked up stairs on the Mall side of the Capitol, where he
found the doors open.

He says he hesitated. He says he felt the need to go inside to share his views with Congress
but wanted to consult God first. He prayed aloud: "Lord, is this the right thing to do? Is
this what I need to do?" He says he felt God's hand on his back, pushing him forward.

"I checked with the Lord," he says. "I checked with Him three times. I never heard a 'No."'

They walked in and, he says, found themselves in a whirlwind of broken glass and debris.
He says he was shocked; the event on the Ellipse had been all picnic blankets and puppy
dogs. This was an orgy of destruction.

Trump supporters mob the Capitol Rotunda after breaching security.
PHOTO:JIM LO SCALZO/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK

Mr. Sweet, 58, lives alone in a worn, wood-heated house on a lot crowded with tractors
and old boats on Gwynn's Island, a short walk from the Chesapeake Bay.

He's usually up at 5 a.m. and in bed by 9 p.m. A lot of days his only conversation during the
hours in between is with Jenkins, his aging Labrador.

For 40 years he has pieced together a living, a far cry from the path taken by his fathe1\ an
aeronautical engineer who developed satellites for NASA during the Cold War space race
and died when Mr. Sweet was in high school.

After graduating from Mathews High School in 1980, he operated a crane and forklift for a
decade in the Newport News shipyards. He tried his hand at landscaping and did a stint on
a tugboat and another fishing for oysters on the Rappahannock River.

https:/twww.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-capito!-mob-11610311660 4/13
66

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

A divorce left him with custody of his two daughters, so in 1996 he took up odd jobs
welding and doing carpentry to remain on dry land. A garage-building business collapsed
in the crash of 2008.

These days he earns a thin living mowing grass in the summer and selling oak firewood in
the winter, filling his larder with deer he shoots and striped bass he catches. He is on
Medicaid, the government program for the poor or disabled, but says he doesn't use it.

Mr. Sweet outside his home in Virginia. "Some people can't accept losing," he says.
PHOTO: MICHAEL M. PHILLIPS/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

There were a couple of run-ins with the law along the way-a fistfight with his brother,
who dropped the charges, and a six-month suspended sentence after he hit his older
daughter, Robyn Sweet, then 14. It was an act he describes as a spanking and that she
prefers not to discuss. "I think he did his best, but it was very dysfunctional," Ms. Sweet,
who responded to questions through Facebook Messenger, says of her childhood.

Mr. Sweet still remembers his thoughts when he first entered the Capitol building as a
teenager: "You feel like you own it. I have a right to be here. This is America's building. My
voice counts as good as anyone else's here."

A Richard Nixon fan, Mr. Sweet found that Bill Clinton's presidency deepened his dislike of
Democrats. Friends from Arkansas told him Mr. Clinton was "one of the biggest cocaine
smugglers in the U.S," a partner in crime with Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar. Mr.
Sweet found the false allegations plausible.

In 2008 he voted for GOP candidate John McCain, the senator from Arizona. He preferred
the Republican vice presidential pick, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose beliefs and attitude

https://www.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-capito!-mob-11610311660 5/13
67

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

reflected his own self-image as a "Tea Party Patriot."

Nonetheless, he says he was "kind of excited" that the country got its first Black
president, Barack Obama. He soon concluded., however, that Mr. Obama was actively
"trying to destroy the country," citing infrastructure spending and the cash-for-clunkers
program.

In 2016, Donald Trump caught his eye. Here was a businessman who told it like it was, he
thought, not a politician. "He's not a perfect man, but we haven't seen a perfect man since
Christ," Mr. Sweet says.

One thing he liked was Mr. Trump's defense of Confederate war memorials.

Protesters in Charlottesville, Va., in 2077
PHOTO: STEVE HELSER/ASSOCIATED PRESS

In 2017, Mr. Sweet went to Charlottesville for the Unite the Right rally, a protest against
the removal of a statue of rebel Gen. Robert E. Lee. The event devolved into violence, with
neo-Nazis shouting anti-Semitic slogans and a white nationalist plowing his car through a
crowd and killing a counter-protester, Heather Heyer. Mr. Sweet thinks Democrats staged
the clashes to make anyone "pro-Confederate" seem like a Ku Klux Klan racist. No
evidence has backed up that theory.

Afterwards, Mr. Trump defended the statue. "So this week it's Robert E. Lee," he told
reporters at the time. "I noticed that Stonewall Jackson is coming down. I wonder, is it
George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after? You know, you
really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?"

That resonated with Mr. Sweet, who felt Mr. Trump was trying to "preserve America."
https://www.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans•descent-into-the-u-s-caplto!-mob-11610311660 6/13
68

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

Two years ago, Mr. Sweet helped found an activist group called the East Coast Hiwaymen.
He saw the fledgling organization's mission as defending Confederate war memorials in
Southern cities and towns, while also undertaking charity drives.

Initially the East Coast Hiwaymen had some 30 members, he says. During the summer of
2019, they spent many weekends forming a protective shield around the 27-foot statue of
a Confederate soldier in front of the courthouse in Pittsboro, N.C.

Members grew demoralized after spending heavily on gas and restaurant meals only to
see the statue come down amid the backlash to Charlottesville. Now the East Coast
Hiwaymen number just eight.

"Some people can't accept losing," Mr. Sweet says.

This summer, the remaining East Coast Hiwaymen loyalists spent their nights guarding
the memorial to "Our Confederate Soldiers" in Mathews, Va., just down the road from
Gwynn's Island. Mr. Sweet considered it a victory that the county Board of Supervisors
decided to put the monument's fate up to a referendum later this year.

Mr. Sweet says it's a question of remembering Southern history, not honoring the
Confederacy's armed defense of slavery.

Radio host Alex Jones speaks to Trump supporters gathered in front of the Maricopa County
Election Department in Arizona.
PHOTO: OLIVIER TOURON/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

Mr. Sweet says he gets his news from the internet and the pro-Trump news stations,
Newsmax and One America News. He says controversial radio host Alex Jones, the
InfoWars founder, was an early favorite.
https:/!www.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans.-descent-into-the-u-s-capito!-mob-11610311660 7/13
69

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

He professes a series of beliefs about the powerful manipulating the world in ways visible
only to those able to see through the deception. He knows he is one of them.

"There are so many people walking around half asleep," he says. "They don't know what's
going on."

In Mr. Sweet's world of false conspiracies, financier George Soros is both a Nazi and a
Communist who pays leftist activists to burn and loot American cities. QAnon, a
conspiracy-theory group that believes Mr. Trump is under assault by devil worshipers,
speaks the truth. A Washington pizza parlor serves pies made of children's blood to
Satanists who know to order off-menu. The U.S. military invaded Afghanistan to seize
control of the heroin trade. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and House Speaker
Pelosi drink children's blood in a quest for eternal youth.

"I'm not going to go open a court case saying [Ms. Clinton] eats children," Mr. Sweet says.
"But I can believe that she might eat children."

'I'm not really quite sure of what, but it's like they're
paranoid'
- Robyn Sweet, daughter of Doug Sweet

Robyn Sweet, now 35 and the operator of a group home for disabled adults, says she has
been saddened and puzzled to see her father's views grow more extreme. She says she
loves him and still sees his good qualities, calling him "charismatic, lovable and funny
outside of all this." Yet she says he has become someone she doesn't quite recognize.

"I don't know this person anymore," she says. "It's almost like a lot of these middle-aged
white men are afraid, I'm not really quite sure of what, but it's like they're paranoid .. .It's
mass hysteria."

She says their relationship has become increasingly strained "because it just seems so
crazy some of the stuff he would talk about."

Ms. Sweet marched in support of Black Lives Matter in June after the killing of George
Floyd in police custody, and started a Facebook page to highlight bigotry. She says her
father supported her exercise of her constitutional right to free speech, but some people
"in his camp" began accusing her of "being antifa," a loose collection of sometimes-
violent left-wing activists.
https:!/www.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-caplto!-mob-11610311660 8/13
70

1115/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

"She's caught up in the idea that BLM goes into cities and helps Black children," Mr. Sweet
says with a wheezy laugh. "I wish they did. I would get behind that," he says.

"She's really hard to the left," Mr. Sweet says of his daughter. "I'm really hard to the right.
We're polar opposites. But I love her."

This summer, Mr. Sweet became more active at Gwynn's Island Baptist Church, where,
due to pandemic concerns, congregants listened to services from their cars and honked
their horns to say amen.

In July, Mr. Sweet demonstrated his growing faith with a baptismal dip in the Chesapeake
Bay.

"His priorities changed, and he got very committed to church," says Pastor Ed Jordan. He
describes Mr. Sweet as a passionate "patriot" who talked about being "concerned for our
country."

Mr. Sweet's distrust of those in power colors the way he sees the 2020 election results.
"We always knew there was something funny going on with elections," he says.

Former Vice President Eiden couldn't possibly have gotten 80 million votes "by sitting in
his basement," he says. After all, almost everyone he knows voted for Mr. Trump.

And in the news sites Mr. Sweet consults, everyone felt as he did. Mr. Sweet followed
online reports about the "Stop the Steal" rallies, and he took the word of Mr. Trump and
his high-level supporters who insisted that the election was rigged.

"Big protest in D.C. on January 6th," Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter on Dec. 19. "Be there,
will be wild!" He and his allies used battle terms, repeatedly calling for "patriots" to fight
for Mr. Trump and take back their country.

The invitation seemed to speak directly to Mr. Sweet, who describes himself as someone
who is trying to save America from dark forces. In his view, Mr. Trump had summoned his
"digital soldiers" and he meant Mr. Sweet. He thought of his granddaughter and imagined
her "looking me in the eye and saying, 'Paw Paw, how come you didn't do anything?"'

"I'm sitting here watching my country go in the cesspool," he says. "I can't just sit here
and watch it happen."

https:/lwww.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-caplto!-mob--11610311660 9113
71

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

President Trump speaks to his supporters before they breached the Capitol.
PHOTO:CAROL GUZY/ZUMA PRESS

At 4:15 a.m. on Jan. 6, Mr. Sweet left home, picked up Ms. Fitchett and another like-
minded woman at the YMCA parking lot in Hudgins, and a guy in Saluda. They met four
others and caravanned to Washington to attend Mr. Trump's "Save America" rally on the
Ellipse, a grassy expanse between the White House and the National Mall.

"We didn't know exactly why he wanted us there-just a show of force or a show of
numbers," Mr. Sweet says. "Whatever it was, it was fine with me."

He says he didn't travel to Washington planning to go to the Capitol. Or to do anything
illegal.

Mr. Sweet says he wanted to enter the building so he could share his views with
lawmakers. "There is no other way I can engage Congress other than walking in
unannounced and taking the floor," he says.

Once inside, he says, he was alarmed by the violence and tried to stop the rioters. "This is
our house," he says he told them.

Mr. Sweet and Ms. Fitchett wandered over several floors of the building, turning at one
point to find themselves facing a wall of more than a dozen Capitol Police officers. He says
he saw fear in their faces and assured them that he presented no threat.

"We want to get to the Senate and talk to the senators," he recalls telling them.

The police saw it from a different perspective. Mr. Sweet, Ms. Fitchett and four others
were at the front of the mob when the officers, "in a loud and clear voice," ordered them to

https:/Jwww.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans-descent-lnto-the-u-s-capitol-mob-11610311660 10/13
72

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

leave the building, according to a police report. "The six individuals, like others in the
larger crowd, willfully refused the order to leave."

Several police officers wrestled Mr. Sweet to the ground, held him facedown on the floor
and cuffed his hands behind his back, Mr. Sweet says. The officers soon let Mr. Sweet sit up
and gave him water. One loosened his cuffs to give him more room to move his shoulders.

Mr. Sweet estimates he was held in the Capitol for more than four hours, as police tried to
find a safe way to get the group out of the building, which was besieged by the pro-Trump
masses.

Along the way, Mr. Sweet noticed a blood trail on the floor.

Passing through the Capitol crypt, one officer played tour guide and pointed out the white
stone compass star on the floor, which marks the meeting point of Washington D.C.'s four
geographic quadrants. In the Hall of Columns, the officer gripped Mr. Sweet's arm in front
of a marble statue of Francis Blair, an anti-slavery lawmaker and major general in the
Union Army. Mr. Sweet says he offered the policeman ibuprofen for his injured knee.

The officers marched the group along one of the underground subway tunnels that lead to
nearby congressional office buildings. The scent of tear gas hung in the air, Mr. Sweet
says.

The police finally found a clear exit to the street, loaded Mr. Sweet and the others into a
police van and deposited them at the station house a few blocks away.

He was one of four in his cell, sharing a stainless steel bench and a stainless steel toilet.

Around 11 p.m., he was released on his own recognizance. The police kept his phone,
which contained photos he took inside the Capitol, and gave him a sheet of paper saying
he had been arrested for unlawful entry and that prosecutors would determine whether
to file formal charges before a June hearing date in D.C. Superior Court. He says he's not
sure if he'll show up for it, but ifhe does, he says he'll plead guilty.

"I'm a realist," he says. "I was inside a building I wasn't supposed to be inside."

He wondered aloud if Mr. Trump would rescue loyal supporters who heeded his call and
now face criminal charges. "I am seriously contemplating getting in touch with Donald
Trump and asking him to pardon all of us who were in our group," he says. (The president
can pardon people for federal crimes, but not local or state offenses.)
https:/lwww.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans-descent-1nto-the-u-s-capltol-mob-11610311660 11/13
73

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

On Friday, the Justice Department announced Mr. Sweet and Ms. Fitchett would also face
federal charges of unlawful entry, with intent to impede government business, and violent
entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. Usually, a federal case supplants any
local charges.

Ms. Fitchett's husband, Ronald Fitchett, says his wife won't comment. But, in an interview
Saturday, he said she went to Washington to convince Congress to "look at how the
election was done" and didn't intend to enter the building.

She is slight, he says, and was carried into the building by the crowd.

Police clash with rioters using a ladder to try to smash their way into the Capitol building.
PHOTO: LEV RADIN/PACIFIC PRESS/ZUMA PRESS

Mr. Sweet and Ms. Fitchett were among some 55 people facing federal or local charges as
of Saturday, according to the Justice Department. FBI Director Christopher Wray and
other law-enforcement officials promised further investigations and suggested more
arrests were likely.

A friend drove Mr. Sweet back to Virginia, where he returned to splitting wood and
pondering the conspiracies around him. He says that on reflection, he's quite sure that it
was antifa, the radical left, who broke into the Capitol and started the violence to make
Trump supporters look bad.

Law-enforcement officials have found no indication of such a left-wing provocation, a
federal prosecutor said Friday.

Mr. Sweet remains unconvinced. "They weren't acting like characteristic American
patriots in there," he says.
https://www.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-capito!-mob-11610311660 12113
74

1/15/2021 One Trump Fan's Descent Into the U.S. Capitol Mob - WSJ

Ms. Sweet, his daughter, learned her father had been arrested Thursday after seeing his
name in the news. She told him in a call that he had put the family in a bad light and that
she was worried about him.

"I really feel sad that he's involved in all of this," she says. "I don't think there's anything I
can do to change it."

Sitting in his yard the day after he returned home, the court citation folded up in his Jeep
Cherokee, he remained confident that someone will stop Joe Biden from becoming
president on Jan. 20. He isn't sure who. He isn't sure how. But he is sure.

"There's something getting ready to happen before the 20th," he said.

Write to Michael M. Phillips at michael.uhillip~@wsj.com, Jennifer Levitz at
jennifer.levitz@wsj.com and Jim Oberman at Jim.Oberman@wsj.com

Appeared in the January 11, 2021, print edition as 'One Man's Descent Into Mob That Breached the Capitol.•

Thi, copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. To order pruentation-rudy copies for distribution to your coll"egues, clients or customer, visit
http'l://www.djreprints.com.

https://www.wsj.com/artic!es/one-trump-fans-descent-into-the-u-s-capito!-mob--11610311660 13/13
75

1/11/2021 The Constitutional and Mora! Imperative of Immediate Impeachment - The Bulwark

Ride or
die.
Support (HTTPS:/ /PLUS. THEBULWARK.COM/SUBSCRIBE/)
The
Bulwark.

THE TRUMP COUP (HTTPS://THEBULWARK.COM/CATEGORY/2020/THE-TRUMP-COUP/)

The Constitutional and Moral Imperative of Immediate
Impeachment
The process need not be long and drawn out. And it need not be limited to current officeholders.

by MICHAEL STOKES PAULSEN (HTTPS://THEBULWARK.COM/ AUTHOR/MICHAEL-PAULSEN/)

JANUARY 8, 2021

A vulture flies near a banner towed by a plane calling for the impeachment of U.S. President Donald Trump. A day after a pro-
Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, members of the House Judiciary Committee have announced articles of impeachment for
President Donald Trump, alleging he will remain a threat to national security, democracy and the Constitution if he is allowed to
remain in office for two more weeks. (Photo by Paul Hennessy/SOPA lmages/LightRocket via Getty Images)

resident Trump should be impeached and removed from office
immediately.

He has, without doubt, committed acts constituting "high Crimes and
Misdemeanors" within the meaning of the Constitution's impeachment
standard. He has attempted to preserve himself in office, notwithstanding his
https://thebulwark.com/the-constitutiona!-and-moral-imperative-of-immediate-impeachmenti 1/6
76

111112021 The Constitutional and Mora! Imperative of Immediate Impeachment - The Bulwark

defeat for reelection, by seeking to subvert the results of a series of popular
democratic state elections-a terrible attack on our constitutional republican

government. He has done so by developing a tissue of lies and repeating them
endlessly, in a fraudulent effort to undermine public confidence in election
results. Over the course of an hour-long phone call last Saturday, he
essentially threatened state election officials in Georgia, seeking to
intimidate them into "finding" -manufacturing-sufficient votes for him to
corruptly overturn the official, verified count of a freely and fairly conducted
election.

He sought to have the vice president of the United States unconstitutionally
refuse to allow the counting of votes cast by electors who were selected in
election results certified by their states and upheld against court challenges.
When the vice president declined to do so, Trump incited a mob to march on
the Capitol and disrupt Congress's official counting of electors' votes for his
opponent. His remarks and tweets fairly can be read as efforts to incite
imminent lawlessness, insurrection and violence-including even attacks
directed against his own vice president.

PODCAST

Tim Miller on Days of Rage
(https://podcast.thebulwark.com/tim-miller-on-days-of-
rage)

President Trump's actions are nothing less than an attempted coup d'etat
against the lawful constitutional government of the United States by a
defeated presidential candidate. This is worse than anything ever done by any
other president in America's history. It lies at the very core of the offenses
contemplated by the Constitution's impeachment standard
(https://harvardlawreview.org/2018 /12/to -end-a - republican -presidency/).
It is at the heart of the Framers' (https://lawliberty.org/alexander-hamilton-
the-federalist-and-the-power-of- impeachment/)intentions
(httns· / /l;mrlihPrtu on:r /thP-rr1tifirr1tion-Prr1- 11nilPr<:tr1nilimr-of- hiP-h-
https:f/thebulwark.com/the-constitutiona!-and-moral-imperattve-of-immediate-impeachment/ 216
77

1/11/2021 The Constitutional and Mora! Imperative of Immediate Impeachment - The Bulwark
, ............ r ...... ,, ................ ..., .......... , .......... 9, ................................................................................................................................. 9 ................. 9 ... ...

crimes-and-misdemeanors- impeachment/) concerning the very most
clearly justified occasions for use of the vital constitutional check of
impeachment and removal from office. If Trump's misconduct is not
impeachable, nothing is. If this is not the legal and moral occasion for
exercise of the power to impeach, convict, remove from office, and disqualify
from future office a president, then there is never such an occasion. The
impeachment power is a dead letter if not used now. Presidents can do
whatever they want.

Impeachment-not the Twenty-fifth Amendment-is the constitutionally
proper method for removing Trump. The Twenty-fifth Amendment is about
presidential disability, not presidential culpability. Trump's attempted coup,
while perhaps delusional, is an act of malevolence more than madness. It is
not evidence of literal inability or incapacity to perform as president-the
subjects to which the Twenty-fifth Amendment is addressed. It is evidence of
a rational, but morally culpable mind. Trump knew what he was doing.

Impeachment in a Day

Constitutionally, Trump can be impeached, tried, convicted, and removed in
a day or even a matter of a few hours- literally overnight. The House of
Representatives and Senate share the constitutional power of impeachment,
each with their respective, independent constitutional roles to be exercised in
whatever procedural manner they see fit. The Constitution requires only an
ordinary majority vote of the House of Representatives on impeachment for
any grounds satisfying the Constitution's sweeping standard for
impeachment of federal officers- "Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes
and Misdemeanors." There is no constitutional requirement of formal
"articles" of impeachment, hearings, or extended debate.

The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote of the Senate to convict
and remove a president from office, but little more than that in the way of
formal process. Other than the two-thirds majority requirement, the
https://thebu!wark.com/the-constitutiona!-and-moral-imperat1ve-of-immedlate-impeachment/ 3/6
78

1/11/2021 The Constitutional and Mora! Imperative of Immediate Impeachment - The Bulwark
uuecuve Lildl se!ldLUIS dCUllg dS d LllUUildl 01 ll!lpedCI!IlleIIL Sll ··uu Vdlll ur

Affirmation," and the requirement that the chief justice (rather than the vice

president) preside "when the President of the United States is tried," there
are no constitutional rules governing the Senate's procedures for conducting
an impeachment proceeding.

Constitutionally, the Senate can proceed in essentially whatever procedural
fashion it deems appropriate, including acting as expeditiously as it deems
necessary or by a summary process. "The Senate shall have the sole Power to
try all Impeachments," Article I section 3 of the Constitution says, leaving it
to the Senate to decide how to conduct its impeachment proceedings. As the
Supreme Court held, in Nixon v. United States in 1993-unanimously as to the
result-this power commits to the Senate alone the decision about what
procedures are appropriate and necessary in a given situation. There is no
requirement for a drawn-out, formal legal trial proceeding.

Is Impeachment Really Necessary?

What's the point? Won't Trump be gone in two weeks anyway?

The point is preservation of the Constitution. The point is preservation of
constitutional government. The point is decisive and emphatic repudiation of
any leader, or pretender, who would seek to usurp power and overthrow the
democratic and constitutional processes of free government.

The point is also to disqualify such a would-be usurper from ever seeking to
become president again. The Constitution specifies that "Judgment in Cases
of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and
disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust, or Profit under the
United States" (Article I, Section 3, clause 7, emphasis added). (The provision
goes on to preserve the possibility of criminal punishment in separate
proceedings.) A failure to impeach and convict President Trump means that
he could run again in 2024, raising the specter of a coup-plotting former
https:/lthebulwark.com/the-constitutiona!-and-moral-imperative-of"immedlate-impeachment/ 416
79

1/11/2021 The Constitutional and Mora! Imperative of Immediate Impeachment - The Bulwark
presmeuL Wdlllllg Hl Lile w1ugs dllU dLLernpung LU lUIIJeUL !UIL!Jer

insurrections.

There is a fair argument that the Constitution would permit impeachment,
conviction and disqualification from future office even of a former president,
in order to impose the punishment of disqualification. Impeachment is the
exclusive method for removing a president from office but nothing in the
constitutional text literally limits impeachment to present officeholders.
Moreover, it would seem almost absurd to permit a miscreant officeholder to
frustrate completely the possibility of receiving the constitutionally
contemplated punishment of disqualification from future office by quickly
submitting a pre-emptive resignation, hoping to launch a new bid for office
in the future. The impeachment power thus arguably extends to former
officeholders.

But that argument is contestable. More to the point, there is no reason for
delay and every reason to act immediately to remove Trump from office now.
The constitutional standard is satisfied. The moral imperative is plain. The
moment is right, and important. The Constitution permits-and the present
circumstances require-a streamlined, expeditious process, as each house of
Congress directs.

What about the many senators and representatives who voted with Trump to
challenge and overturn the results of democratic elections-who served as
either co-conspirators in or willing aiders and abettors of a coup attempt? I
leave for another day whether such members of Congress should be expelled
by their respective houses of Congress, a procedure which constitutionally
requires a two-thirds majority vote of the house in which a member sits.
(Impeachment does not apply to remove members of Congress from their
elected offices as representatives. Rather, Article I, section 5 of the
Constitution specifies that each separate house of Congress has the exclusive
power to "determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for
disorderly Behaviour, and, with the Concurrence of two thirds, expel a
Member.")

T....., ,.,,,...........,...., ,.._,.,..,,..,.. ,..,-~- •• 1.,..!.- ...... ---.-.!_,., £-..-.-4-l..,... ! •• ....,,1..!£!,...-1 TI •• -4--4-t.., _ _._ .,.:t;:,......, •• ...,,..!,.. ..... _..._.....,
https://thebu!wark.com/the-constitutiona!-and-moral-imperat!ve-of-immed!ate-impeachment/ 516
80

1/11/2021 The Constitutional and Mora! Imperative of Immediate Impeachment - The Bulwark
Ul SUille Cdses, expu!SlUll IlldY l!l ldCL ue JUSLlileU. bUL LildL UlSCUSSlU!l Cdll

wait. Clearly, no one's culpability exceeds Trump's. And whether or not
congressional sycophants or seditious enablers deserve expulsion from
Congress, it is plain that President Trump deserves impeachment and
removal from office. He must not be allowed to leave office, gracelessly,
claiming grievance as if the rightfully reelected holder of the presidency-a
pretender to the throne, seeking to govern from "exile." He must be forced to
leave office, involuntarily, in ignominy and in shame, for his commission of
high crimes and misdemeanors against the American republic.

Michael Stokes Paulsen (https://thebulwark.com/author/michael-
paulsen/)
Michael Stokes Paulsen is Distinguished University Chair & Professor of Law, and co-director
of the Pro-Life Advocacy Center, at the University of St. Thomas, in Minneapolis. He is co-
author of The Constitution: An Introduction (https://www.amazon.com/Constitution-
Introduction -Michael-Stokes-Paulsen/dp/ 0465094104/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_ o?
_encoding=UTF8&qid=1603829707&sr=8-1) (Basic Books, 2015).

https://thebulwark.com/the-constitutional-and-moral-imperative-of-immediate-impeachment/ 616
81

1/15/2021 Trump Is Banned on Facebook 'at Least' Until His Term is Over - The New York Times

i!IJeNew!!forkl!!Ulffll

Facebook Bars Trump Through End of His Term
Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's chief executive, said the risks of Mr.Trump using the service were too great, even as
Twitter lifted its lock on the president's account.

By Mike Isam:;: and K~te Conger

Published Jan. 7, 2021 Updated Jan, 8, 2021

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook on Thursday said it will block President Trump on its platforms at least until the end
of his term on Jan. 20, as much of the mainstream online world moved forcefully to limit the president after years of
inaction.
But Twitter, which had locked Mr. Trump's account on Wednesday for posts that violated its rules, lifted the
suspension, allowing the president to tweet. Late on Thursday, Mr. Trump marked his return to social media by
posting a two minute 41 second video on Twitter in which he said he would support a peaceful transition of power.
Facebook and Twitter said they made their contrasting decisions for different reasons. Mark Zuckerberg,
Facebook's chief executive, said in a post that the social network decided to cut off Mr. Trump because a rampage by
pro-Trump supporters in the nation's capital a day earlier, which was urged on by the president, showed he wanted
to undermine the transition to President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

"We believe the risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too
great," Mr. Zuckerberg wrote. As a result, he said, Facebook and its photo-sharing site Instagran1 would extend
blocks, first put in place on Wednesday, on Mr. Trump's ability to post "until the peaceful transition of power is
complete:'

Twitter had said on Wednesday that while it saw a "risk of harm" in Mr. Trump's messages, the company would only
permanently suspend the president's account if he continued to break its rules. Mr. Trump deleted the tweets that
had prompted the locking of his account, Twitter said Thursday, starting a countdown to his access being restored.
The diverging actions showed how social media companies were still grappling with how to moderate one of their
most powerful and popular users. Mr. Trump, who has used the sites throughout his presidency to rile up his
supporters and bully his enemies, has constantly bedeviled Facebook and Twitter by pushing the envelope on what
world leaders are willing to say online.
Before Twitter reinstated Mr. Trump's account, it and other social media companies had been part of a widening
revolt against Mr. Trump. Twitter had started the online curtailment on Wednesday by temporarily locking Mr.
Trump's account after he posted tweets that violated its rules against calling for violence and discrediting the vote.
Facebook later followed suit. Snap, the maker of Snapchat, also cut off access to Mr. Trwnp's Snapchat account.
YouTube on Thursday enacted a stricter election fraud misinformation policy to make it easier to suspend the
president for posting false election claims. Twitch, a video streaming platform, also suspended Mr. Trump's account
on Thursday.
Those actions were a striking change for a social media industry that has long declined to interfere with Mr. Trump's
posts, which were often filled with falsehoods and threats. Facebook and Twitter positioned themselves as defenders
of free speech and public discussion, saying it was in the public's interest to see what world leaders posted, even as
critics assailed the platforms for allowing misinformation and toxic content to flow unimpeded.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021 /01 /07/techno!ogy/facebook~trump-ban.html 1/3
82

1/1512021 Trump Is Banned on Facebook 'at least' Until His Term is Over - The New York Times

Lawmakers and even employees of the companies said the platforms had waited too long to take serious action
against Mr. Trump. At Facebook, dozens of workers noted that the company had only suspended Mr. Trump from
posting after Democrats had secured the presidency and control of the Senate, according to people familiar with the
internal conversations.

DEBATABLE: The sharpest arguments on the most pressing issues of I Sign Up I
the week.

"While I'm pleased to see social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube take long-belated steps to
address the president's sustained misuse of their platforms to sow discord and violence, these isolated actions are
both too late and not nearly enough;' said Senator Mark Warner, Democrat of Virginia.
Derrick Johnson, the president and chief executive of the N.A.A.C.P., praised Facebook's decision to lock Mr.
Trump's account and urged Twitter to do the same.
"The president's social media accounts are a petri dish of disinformation, designed to divide and fuel violence at all
costs;' Mr. Johnson said.
A White House spokesman said no one had been more successful at using digital media than Mr. Trump and that it
was "incredibly ironic, yet not surprising, that when the president spoke to the country at a critical time, Big Tech
chose to censor and block him from doing so. Big Tech is out of control:'
Over the past year, Facebook and Twitter had started taking some steps to label Mr. Trump's posts as inaccurate and
to direct users to reliable information. But they had remained largely unwilling to delete Mr. Trump's messages or
limit his account.
At Facebook, that unwillingness changed on Wednesday after Mr. Trump egged on his supporters using social
media and a mob stormed the Capitol building. From their homes, Mr. Zuckerberg and other executives - including
the chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, the head of policy, Monica Bickert, the vice president of integrity, Guy
Rosen, and the head of international policy and communications, Nicholas Clegg - dialed into video calls to discuss
what to do, said two people who were on the call and who were not authorized to speak publicly.

After Twitter locked Mr. Trump's account late Wednesday, Mr. Zuckerberg approved removing two posts from the
president's Facebook page, the two people said. By that evening, Mr. Zuckerberg had decided to restrict Mr. Trump's
Facebook account for the rest of his term - and perhaps indefinitely, they said.
"What we watched and saw in real-time on TV - that was atrocious, a violent insurrection, deeply disturbing;' Mr.
Zuckerberg said on a conference call with Facebook employees on Thursday, which The New York Times listened to.
"You just can't have a functioning democracy without a peaceful transition of power:'

Mr. Zuckerberg also criticized Mr. Trump directly on the call, saying the president was "fanning the flames of his
supporters who moved to overturn the election outcome."
Ms. Bickert added that while Mr. Trump's posts had not been direct calls for violence - the standard Facebook uses
to take down posts - executives "felt that these posts did more to contribute to, rather than diminish, the risk of
continuing violence."
Alex Holmes, the deputy chief executive of the nonprofit The Diana Award, said external councils that he is a
member of that advise Facebook and Twitter on trust and safety had raised concerns about President Trump's
inflammatory social media posts but were ignored.
"What was sometimes lost was the understanding of how things could result in offline harm," he said. "The world is
watching now."
https:f/www.nytlmes.com/2021 /01 /07/techno!ogy/facebook-trump-ban.html 2/3
83

1115/2021 Trump Is Banned on Facebook 'at Least' Until His Term is Over - The New York Times

At Twitter, the decision to temporarily suspend Mr. Trump's account on Wednesday came after discussion among
executives in charge of safety and policy, a person familiar with the company said. They pointed to a clause in
Twitter's policy, which said that even world leaders could face consequences if they promoted terrorism or made
clear and direct calls to violence.

Jack Dorsey, Twitter's chief executive, then spent Thursday morning liking and retweeting commentary that urged
caution against a permanent ban of Mr. Trump, suggesting he would not deviate from the plan to allow Mr. Trump
back onto the service.
A Twitter spokesman declined to comment on Mr. Dorsey.
The social media companies' clampdown extended beyond Mr. Trump. Twitter overnight permanently suspended
Lin Wood, a lawyer who had nsed his account to promote the conspiracy theory QAnon and to urge on Wednesday's
mob. The company also removed a post from Dan Bongino, a conservative podcast host, on Thursday.
That helped renew right-wing criticism that conservatives were being censored by the platforms, which are
headquartered in liberal Silicon Valley. Mr. Trump has accused the companies of censorship in the past and signed
an executive order last year intended to strip legal protections from the platforms.
"The speech snppression is going to get worse;' Mr. Bongino tweeted before pnblishing the post that would be
removed and cause his account to be locked.
Other conservatives railed against Facebook on alternative social media sites like Parler and Gab, two Twitter-like
platforn1s that the far-right have flocked to for their laissez-faire attitudes toward speech. On Parler, the hashtag
# FacebookCensorship was trending on Thursday, while Gab's "Trending" page featured a full-screen photo of Mr.
Zuckerberg with the headline "Facebook Bans Trump."
Parler and Gab did not respond to requests for comment.
"The purge will only intensify;' wrote one Gab user with the handle @WinstOn_Smith. "People need to migrate to
alternative social media.1'
Daisuke Wakabayashi and Sheera Frenkel contributed reporting.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/techno!ogy/facebook-trump-ban.html 313
84

President Trump deletes tweets after Twitter, Facebook
and lnstagram lock down accounts for 'violations'

Share This Story!
Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about

President Trump deletes tweets after Twitter, Facebook and lnstagram lock down
accounts for 'violations'

Twitter confirmed President Trump deleted tweets causing a lockdown to his account after
similar suspensions on Facebook and Instagram.

Mike Snider, USA TODAY Published 7:26 p.m. ET Jan. 6, 2021 I Updated 11:56 a.m. ET Jan.
7, 2021

The big three social media platforms have locked President Trump's accounts because his
posts violated their policies during riots at the U.S. Capitol. USA TODAY

1/28
85

Update: Facebook and Instagram on Thursday indefinitely blocked President Trnmp.fr.om
]2fil.ill19 on those !2liJ.if.orms. Twitter did not say when the president can resume tweeting.

In an unprecedented move, Twitter locked President Trump's account on Wednesday after
freezing three of his tweets about the riots at the U.S. Capitol so they could not be liked or
forwarded. A couple of hours later, Facebook followed with a 24-hour block.

The @realDonaldTrump Twitter account will be locked and those tweets must be removed.
At that point, the account will remain locked for 12 hours, Twitter said in a post on its Twitter
Safety account.

On Thursday, Twitter confirmed in an email to USA TODAY the tweets leading to Trump's
locked account have been deleted.

Future violations of the social networks rules - such as including inciting violence and
interfering in elections - could "result in permanent suspension of the @realDonaldTrump
account," T,vitter said on the thread.

Facebook later followed with its own more stringent response, after initially removing the
president's video, saying the company assessed a couple of policy violations, "which will
result in a 24-hour feature block, meaning he vvill lose the ability to post on the platform
during that time."

'Words of a president matter': ~grow for social media platforms to silence Trump a.s
rioters storm US Capitol

This comes after Trump shared a video on multiple platforms in which he told followers, "We
had an election that was stolen from us," in response to thousands of rioters storming the
U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

2/28
86

Twitter locked President Trump's account on Wednesday after freezing three of his tweets
about the riots at the U.S. Capitol so they could not be liked or forwarded. Trump must
remove the tweets to unlock the account. (Photo: Twitter)

He told followers to go home, but maintained his unfounded claim that the election was
"fraudulent."

This means that the account of@realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours
following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the
account vvill remain locked.

Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January_l, 2021

In a subsequent tweet, Trump said, about the riots: "These are the things and events that
happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped
away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with
love & in peace. Remember this day forever!"

3/28
87

Donald J. Trump•
~roalDonaldTwmp

These are the things and events that happen when a
sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously &
viciously stripped away from great patriots who have
been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with
love & in peace. Remember this day forever!
ft:) lhf$. dairn of eiec1:iot1 fralid \s dtsput~d~ and 1his Tvveet cHn"t oe repH~d to 1

\.:.,., Retweet11d, (lr W,ect (Jue tu a risk of v>ofence

s:o; PM · Jan 6, 2021 · Twitter for iPhon1t

A tweet from President Trump about the riots that happened at the U.S. Capitol on
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021. (Photo: Twitter)

Initially, Twitter labeled the president's tweet, noting that it could not be retweeted, liked or
replied to, though the option to "quote" the tweet remained. But later, it took the move to
lock his account. Facebook removed the video.

CLOSE X
The planned protests turned into riots after pro-Trump demonstrators stonned the U.S.
Capitol. USA TODAY

Guy Rosen, Facebook's VP of integrity tweeted that this was an "emergency situation and we
are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump's video."
He went on to say that the video was removed because, "on balance we believe it contributes
to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence."

This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency
measures, including removing President Trump's video. We removed it
because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk
of ongoing violence.

- Guy Rosen (@guyro) .!.anfilLry_!i, 2021

Prior to that many had called for social media networks including Twitter, where Trump has
88.7 million followers, to remove the president's accounts.

After Twitter took action, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., said, in a tweet cc'd to Twitter CEO
Jack Dorsey, the penalty was "not sufficient. He is a danger to our democracy and should be
banned from @twitter for the next 14 days."

4/28
88

12 hours is not sufficient. He is a danger to our democracy and should be
banned from @ ~ for the next 14 days.

Cc @jack https//tco/llCndGgzXK

Senator Joe Manchin (@Sen_JoeManchin) January_l, 2021

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, tweeted Trump's Instagram account was also locked for
24 hours.

Echoing Sen. Manchin, the "Real Oversight Board,.'.'. a Facebook watchdog organization not
affiliated with Facebook, said in a statement that social network actions taken against Trump
were "too little, too late. Donald Trump has breached Facebook's own terms and conditions
multiple times. His account is not just a threat to democracy but to human life .... Twenty-
four hours is not enough - there are 13 days until President-Elect Biden's Inauguration,
plenty of time for President Trump to wreak havoc."

Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: _@MikeSnider.

Police with guns clTawn watch as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S.
Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. J. Scott Applewhite, AP

Fullscreen

5/28
89

Rioters swarm the U.S. Capitol building as protests in Washington, DC as the U.S. Congress
meets to formally ratify Joe Bi den as the winner of the 2020 Presidential election on Jan. 6,
2021. Jasper Colt, USA TODAY

Fullscreen

Trump supporters receive aid after tear gas was deployed at rioters storming the U.S. Capitol
Wednesday afternoon as lawmakers inside debated the certification of the presidential
election. Jerry Habraken, USA TODAY

6/28
90

Fullscreen

Congress staffers barricade themselves after Trump supporters stormed inside the US
Capitol in Washington, DC on Jan. 6, 2021. Donald Trump's supporters stormed a session of
Congress held today, January 6, to certify Joe Biden's election win, triggering unprecedented
chaos and violence at the heart of American democracy and accusations the president was
attempting a coup. OLIVIER DOULIERY, AFP via Getty Images

Fullscreen

7/28
91

Trump supporters cover their faces after tear gas was deployed at rioters storming the U.S.
Capitol Wednesday afternoon as lawmakers inside debated the certification of the
presidential election. Jerry Habraken, USA TODAY

Fullscreen

A Trump supporter shows off her face paint at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon as
lawmakers inside debated the certification of the presidential election. Jerry Habraken, USA
TODAY

Fullscreen

8/28
92

Trump rioters storm the U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon as lawmakers inside debated the
certification of the presidential election. Jerry Habraken, USA TODAY

Fullscreen

Trump rioters storm the U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon as lawmakers inside debated the
certification of the presidential election. Jerry Habraken, USA TODAY

Fullscreen

9/28
93

Congress staffers barricade themselves after Trump supporters stormed inside the US
Capitol in Washington, DC on Jan. 6, 2021. OLIVIER DOULIERY, AFP via Getty Images

Fullscreen
Supporters of US President Donald Trump enter
the US Capitol's Rotunda on Jan. 6, 2021, in
Washington, DC. Demonstrators breeched
security and entered the Capitol as Congress
debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral
Vote Certification. SAUL LOEB, AFP via Getty
Images

Fullscreen

10/28
94

Suppmiers of US President Donald Trump protest inside the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in
Washington, DC. - Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress
debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. SAUL LOEB, AFP via
Getty Images

Fullscreen

11/28
95

Protesters gather outside the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Pro-
Trump protesters entered the U.S. Capitol building after mass demonstrations in the nation's
capital during a joint session Congress to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral
College win over President Donald Trump. Tasos Katopodis, Getty Images

Fullscreen

A protester yells inside the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Bi den's 306-232 Electoral
College win over President Donald Trump. Pro-Trump protesters entered the U.S. Capitol
building during mass demonstrations in the nation's capital. Win McNamee, Getty Images

Fullscreen

12/28
96

Protesters enter the U.S. Capitol Building on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress
held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win
over President Donald Trump. A group of Republican senators said they would reject the
Electoral College votes of several states unless Congress appointed a commission to audit the
election results. Win McNamee, Getty Images

Fullscreen

13/28
97

Fullscreen

A supporter of US President Donald Trump leaves a note in the office of US Speaker of the
House Nancy Pelosi as he protest inside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, January 6, 2021.
SAUL LOEB, AFP via Getty Images

Fullscreen

14/28
98

A rioter holds a Trump flag inside the US Capitol Building near the Senate Chamber on
January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-
elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. A group of
Republican senators said they would reject the Electoral College votes of several states unless
Congress appointed a commission to audit the election results. Win McNamee, Getty Images

Fullscreen

15/28
99

A supporter of US President Donald Trump sits inside the office of US Speaker of the House
Nancy Pelosi as he protest inside the US Capitol in Washington, DC, January 6, 2021. SAUL
LOEB, AFP via Getty Images

Fullscreen

16/28
100

Protesters enter the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress held
a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win over
President Donald Trump. Win McNamee, Getty Images

Fullscreen

Protesters enter the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Win
McNamee, Getty Images

Fullscreen

17/28
101

A protester sits in the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress
held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral College win
over President Donald Trump. Win McNamee, Getty Images

Fullscreen

Protesters attempt to enter the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6 after mass demonstrations
during a joint session of Congress to ratify President-elect Joe Biden's 306-232 Electoral
College win over President Donald Trump. Tasos Katopoclis, Getty Images

18/28
102

Fullscreen

A protester is seen hanging from the balcony in the Senate Chamber on January 06, 2021 in
Washington, DC. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Bi den's
306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. Pro-Trump protesters have
entered the U.S. Capitol building after mass demonstrations in the nation's capital. Win
McNamee, Getty Images

Fullscreen

19/28
103

A Capitol police officer looks out of a broken window as protesters gather on the U.S. Capitol
Building on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis, Getty Images

Fullscreen

Supporters of US President Donald Trump roam under the Capitol Rotunda after invading
the Capitol building on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. - Demonstrators breached
security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the 2020 presidential election Electoral
Vote Certification. SAUL LOEB, AFP via Getty Images

Fullscreen

20/28
104

Police hold back supporters of US President Donald Trump as they gather outside the US
Capitol's Rotunda on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. - Demonstrators breeched
security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the a 2020 presidential election
Electoral Vote Certification. OLIVIER DOULIERY, AFP via Getty Images

Fullscreen

House of Representatives members leave the floor of the House chamber as protesters try to
break into the chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Rep.
Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is at center. J. Scott Applewhite, AP

21/28
105

Fullscreen

Police keep a watch on demonstrators who tried to break through a police barrier,
Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm
President-elect Joe Bi den's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support
for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. Julio Cortez, AP

Fullscreen

22/28
106

U.S. Capitol police officers point their guns at a door that was vandalized in the House
Chamber during a joint session of Congress on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC.
Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Bi den's 306-232 Electoral
College win over President Donald Trump. A group of Republican senators said they would
reject the Electoral College votes of several states unless Congress appointed a commission to
audit the election results. Drew Angerer, Getty Images

Fullscreen

Supporters of US President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in
Washington, DC. Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress
debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. SAUL LOEB, AFP via
Getty Images

Fullscreen

23/28
107

Supporters of US President Donald Trump enter the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, in
Washington, DC.Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress
debated the a 2020 presidential election Electoral Vote Certification. MANDEL NGAN, AFP
via Getty Images

Fullscreen

Supporters of President Donald Trump enter the U.S. Capitol as tear gas fills the corridor on
Jan. 6, 2021. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Fullscreen

24/28
108

A supporter of US President Donald Trump sits at a desk after invading the Capitol Building
on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. SAUL LOEB, AFP via Getty Images

Fullscreen

Interested in this topic? You may also want to view these photo galleries:

Replay

• 1of34_
• 2 of 34.
• 3.fil.34.
• 4.fil.34.
• 5.fil.34.
• 6 of 34.
• .7..£l134.
• .8...Qf.34,
• .9..ill.34.
• 10 of34_
• 11of34_
• 12 of 34.
• 13.fil.34.
• l.4.fil.34.
• 15.fil.34.
• 16..o.f.34,
• 17-of 34.
• 18 of34_

25/28
109

Washington state rep joins list of Republicans voting to
impeach Trump

Morgan Gstalter January 13, 2021

Rep. Jaime Herrera BeutlerJaime Lynn Herrera
BeutlerU12ton becomes first member of Congress to vote to
impeach two 12residents The Hill's Morning Re12ort - Trump,
im12eached again; now what? Kinzingfil:..fil1ys he is 'in total
12eace' after im12eachment vote MORE (R-Wash.) late
Tuesday joined the growing list of GOP lawmakers who will
vote to impeach President Trum12Donald Tru11112Clinton,
Bush, Obama reflect on 12eaceful transition of 12ower on
Bi den's Inauguration Day: Arizona Re12ublican's brothers sa:v.
he is 'at least 12artially to blame' for Ca12itol violence Biden
reverses Trum12's freeze on .4 billion in funds MORE after a
violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol last week.

Beutler said in a statement that Trump "incited a riot" aimed at blocking a
peaceful transition to President-elect Joe BidenJoe BidenKat:v. Perr:v. and
her 'Firework' close out inauguration TV s12ecial Arizona Re12ublican's

1/3
110

brothers say he is 'at least partiallY- to blame' for Capitol violence Tom
Hanks: After years of 'troubling.r.aru;or,:Jn.a.JJguration Day 'is about
witnessing the permanence of our American ideal' MORE.

"Hours went by before the President did anything meaningful to stop the
attack," she wrote. "Instead, he and his lawyer were busy making calls to
senators who were still in lockdown, seeking their support to further delay
the Electoral College certification."

The Washington Republican noted that Trump launched a Twitter attack
.agai:n& Vice President Pence while some in the mob were chanting threats
to hang him.

She also denounced Trump's "pathetic denouncement of violence that also served as a vvink
and a nod to those who perpetuated it," noting how the president said he loved the protesters
and called them "sr,e.cia.l:'.

"The President's offenses, in my reading of the Constitution, were impeachable based on the
indisputable evidence we already have," Beutler said. "I understand the argument that the
best course is not to further inflame the country or alienate Republican voters. But I am a
Republican voter. I believe in our Constitution, individual liberty, free markets, charity, life,
justice, peace and this exceptional country."

"I see that my own party will be best served when those among us choose truth," she
continued. "I believe President Trump acted against his oath of office, so I will vote to
impeach him."

P.ic.twitter.com/hiLV:,:91WfG

I Jaime Herrera Beutler (@HerreraBeutler) Janua[Y. 13, 2021

Beutler joined several members of her caucus in calling for Trump to be impeached.

House Republican Conference Chair Liz CheneY-Elizabeth (Liz)..LY-Un
CheneyBudowskY-: Democracy won, Trump lost, President Eiden
inaugurated Liz Chene:,::.gets 2022 priman: challenger after voting to
impeach Trump The Hill's Morning Report - President Eiden, Vice
President Harris begin work todaY- MORE (Wyo.), Rep. Adam
KinzingerAdam Daniel KinzingerBudowskY-: Democracy won, Trum12 lost,
President Eiden inaugurated :Upton becomes first member of Congress to vote to impeach

2/3
111

two uresidents TI1e Hill's Morning Reuort - Trumu imueached again; now
what? MORE (R-Ill.) and Tuesday Group Co-Chairs ,John Katko,John
Michael KatkoReu. John Katko: WhY- I became the first Reuublican
lawmaker to suuuort imueachment NY Republican saY-s cybersecuritY-vvill
be a high.urioritY- for Homeland Security_uanel lipton becomes first
member of Congress to vote to imueach two presidents MORE (R-N.Y.)
and Fred UutonFrederick (Fred) Steuhen UutonUuton becomes first
member of Congress to vote to imueach two uresidents The Hill's Morning
Reuort - Trumu imueached again; now what? Kinzinger says he is 'in total
peace' after impeachment vote MORE (R-Mich.) all issued statements on
Tuesday saying the president's rhetoric the day of the riot met the threshold
of an impeachable offense.

The House is set to vote to impeach Trump for a second time on
Wednesday. The resolution, crafted by Reps. ,Jamie Raskin,Jamin (Jamie)
Ben Raskininauguration uarties lose the glitz and glamour in 2021 This
week: Tensions running high in Trump's final day1, Democratic lawmaker
fillY-S 'assassination uarty' hunted for Pelosi during riot MORE (D-
Md.), David CicillineDavid CicillineWashington state rep joins list of
Republicans voting to imueach Trump Growing number of GOP lawmakers
fillY- they suuuort imueachment Pelosi names 9 imueachment managers
MORE (D-R.I.) and Ted LieuTed W. LieuHouse Democrats introduce
measures to opuose Trump's bomb sale to Saudis Washington state rep
joins list of Republicans voting to impeach Trump Growing number of GOP
lawmakers say theY- supuort impeachment MORE (D-Calif.), charges
Trump with high crimes and misdemeanors for "willfully inciting violence
against the Government of the United States."

Tags Jaime Herrera Beutler David Cicilline Adam Kinzinger Donald Trum12
Jamie Raskin Liz CheneY- John Katko Fred Upton Mike Pence Joe Eiden
Ted Lieu Donald Trump Impeachment article of imueachment Efforts to
impeach Donald Trump

3/3
112

111512021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

Search
U.S.
World
Business
Tech & Science
Culture
Newsgeek
Sports
Health
The Debate
Vantage
Weather

Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by
Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot
BY ON 119121 AT 5:32 PM EST

You have free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this+ access to 5 extra articles

Ema!! address

https:/Jwww.newsweek.com/bar-association-urged-disqua!ify-giuliani-over-tria!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 1/12
113

1/1512021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

RUDY GIULIANI DONALD TRUMP 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

CAPITOL HILL

he New York State Bar Association has been urged to investigate and
disqualify President Donald Trump's attorney, Rudy Giuliani, for an
inflammatory speech in which he called for a "trial by combat" prior to
Wednesday's deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Democratic Representatives Ted Lieu and Mondaire Jones drafted a letter to the
association Friday, urging them to "open an immediate investigation" into Giuliani,
the former mayor of New York City.

Ted lieu.
@tedlieu

We will hold responsible everyone involved with the
attempted coup, including the attorney to @POTUS, Rudy
Giuliani.

Letter from Rep @MondaireJones and me to New York State
Bar requesting they investigate to disbar him.

SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this+ access to 5 extra articles

Ema!! address

https:/twww.newsweek.com/bar-association-urged-disqualify-giulian!-over-tria!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 2112
114

1/15/2021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

Before the pro-Trump mob stormed Capitol Hill, Rudy Giuliani said there
should be "trial by combat" in opposing @JoeBiden's win: "If we're wrong,
we will be made fools of. But if we're right, a lot of them will go to jail."
Well, look at how many rioters are now heading to jail.

2:45 PM· Jan 9, 2021

"We request that your office open an immediate investigation into the President's
attorney for his statements calling for a 'trial by combat' preceding a violent
insurrection at the Capitol in which five people died, including a U.S. Capitol
Police Officer, and Members of ~Q!l-9@.~~ and the Vice President were credibly
threatened with violence," the letter said.

"We believe the actions of Mr. Giuliani disqualify him from being a member in
good standing with the New York State Bar."

SnA::ikinn ::it thP 'Strm thA StA::il' r::illv in \1\/::i-=:hinntnn n r. nn \NArlnA<::rl::iv r,i1 rli::ini
SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this+ access to 5 extra articles

Email address

https://www.newsweek.com/bar-association-urged-disquallfy-giuliani-over-tria!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 3/12
115

1115/2021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

"Over the next 10 days, we get to see the machines that are crooked, the ballots
that are fraudulent. If we're wrong we will be made fools of, but if we're right a lot
of them will go to jail. Let's have trial by combat," he said.

"I'm willing to stake my reputation, the president is willing to stake his reputation
on the fact that we're going to find criminality there," he added.

Shortly after, a violent mob of the president's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol
building. The riot left five people dead, caused multiple injuries, and postponed
the election certification of President-elect Joe Biden.

SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this+ access to 5 extra articles

Email address

https://www.newsweek.com/bar-association-urged-disqua!ify-giuliani-over-tria!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 4112
116

111512021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

Lawmakers have urged the New York State Bar Association to investigate and disqualify President Donald Trump's
attorney, Rudy Giuliani, for an infiammatory speech he gave ahead of a deadly riot on Wednesday. Here, Giuliani,
speaks at a news conference on November 7, 2020 in Philadelphia.
BRYAN R. SMITH/GETTY

Lieu and Jones argued that through his language, Giuliani emboldened the
"agitated, armed crowd," to engage in violence.

"Immediately following his speech, a crowd of thousands descended upon the
Capitol and assaulted U.S. Capitol Police, forcibly entered the building, and
threatened to assault or kill elected officials," their letter read.

"We r,;:mnot ;:ind should not st;:ind for ;:i mAmher of our nrofAssion - no mattAr whn
SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have 3 free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this+ access to 5 extra articles

Email address

https://www.newsweek.com/bar-association-urged-d!squalify-giuliani-over-tria!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 5/12
117

1/15/2021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

On Thursday, Giuliani called the attack on the Capitol "shameful."

"The violence at the Capitol was shameful. It was as criminal as the rioting and
looting this summer which was not condemned strongly enough by the Left. This
violence is condemned in the strongest terms. Our movement values respect for
law and order and for the Police," he tweeted.

A number of politicians have blamed the attack on Giuliani, Trump and additional
allies who have peddled false conspiracies about election fraud for the past three
months.

SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this+ access to 5 extra articles

Email address

https://www.newsweek.com/bar-assodation-urged-disqualify-giuliani-over-tria!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 6112
118

i/15/2021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

1rump LO ui::, removeu nom 0111ce. vri rr1uay, nouse ;::,pi::,aKer l'l!ancy l""e1os1

warned that president that if he does not resign from office, Congress will bri!J.9
forth articles of impeachment.

Newsweek reached out to the New York State Bar Association and Giuliani for
additional comment, but did not hear back in time for publication.

READ MORE
• D.C. Riot Like 'Bad B-Movie,' Crossed Threshold: Former German Minister
• West Virginia Delegate Who Joined D.C. Capitol Riot Resigns Amid Charges
• Twitter Confirms It Halted 'Hang Mike Pence' as a Trending Topic
" Proud Boys Leader Posts Image of Fake 'Capitol Invasion' LEGO Set
• Trump May Have Encouraged 'Violent Acts' at Biden's Inauguration: Twitter
• Ex-Secret Service Agent Calls D.C. Riots a 'Breakdown in Risk Intelligence'

RE:Olll'ST REPRINT .t. LICENSING SUBMIT CORRECTION OR VIEW EDITORIAL GIJIDHINES
SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have 3 free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this + access to 5 extra articles

Email address

https://www.newsweek.com/bar-association-urged-disqualify-giuliani-over-tria!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 7/12
119

i/15/2021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

AdChoices Sponsored

SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this + access to 5 extra articles

Email address

https://www.newsweek.com/bar-association-urged-disqualify-giuUani-over-tria!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 8/12
120

1/15/2021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

Media Have Every Right to Cancel Trump

BY FROMA HARROP

After Parler Ban, Rein in Big Tech Now or Cease Being Free Citizens
RACHEL BOVARD

Trump's Parting Shot To China Should Be Full U.S. Recognition of Taiwan
BY JOSH HAMMER

'Republican Mob' Was Once an Oxymoron, Now It's a Reality
BY DANIEL PIPES

Biden and JFK: More Similar Than You Think
!!Y ANDY MANATOS

My Miscarriage and Roe v. Wade
BY MARY FORR SZOCH

To Reverse Trump's Policies, Biden Should Acknowledge Trump's Bigotry
llY AHIU\N ARUlANilNTHAM ANO MATTHEW SEGAL

Reflections on the Extraordinary Life of Sheldon Adelson
BY MATT BROOKS

SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily news!etter for more articles like this+ access to 5 extra articles

Email address

https://www.newsweek,com/bar-associaUon-urged-disqual!fy-giulianl-over-triakombat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 9112
121

1/15/2021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

Our Community

AdChoices Sponsored

SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this + access to 5 extra articles

EmaH address

https://www.newsweek.com/bar-association-urged-disqualify-giuliani-over-tria!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 10112
122

1/15/2021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

CHOOSE YOUR SUBSCRIPTION

PREMIUM
Newsweek magazine delivered to your door
Unlimited access to Newsweek.com
Ad free Newsweek.com experience
iOS and Android app access
Personalized daily newsletter

DIGITAL+
Unlimited access to Newsweek.com
Ad free Newsweek.com experience
iOS and Android app access
0,,,,,.,.,.,....,,....,1,..,.,,,...-1 ,-f.,,,lu ,..,,,.,.,,,.rnHar
SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily news!etter for more articles like this + access to 5 extra articles

Emal! address

https://www.newsweek.com/bar-association-urged-disqualify-giul!ani-over-tr!a!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 11/12
123

1/15/2021 Bar Association Urged to Disqualify Giuliani Over 'Trial by Combat' Speech Before D.C. Riot

SUBSCRIBE>

THE STARTING 5
See why nearly a quarter of a million subscribers begin their day with !he Starting 5.

Email address

0 2021 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC

ll w ~ t in
Editions: U.S. Edition Elt: Pakistan Polska Romania
About Us Corrections Contact Us Editorial Guidelines Advertise Copyright Terms & Conditions
Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Terms of Sale Arctiive Announcements

SUBSCRIBE NOW ,

You have 3 free articles remaining this month
Sign-up to our daily newsletter for more articles like this+ access to 5 extra articles

EmaH address

https://ltJWW.newsweek.com/bar-associaUon-urged-disqua!ify-gluliani-over-tr!a!-combat-speech-before-dc-riot-1560263 12112
124

Justice Department warns of national security fallout
from Capitol Hill insurrection

By SARAH FERRIS, MELANIE ZANONA, HEATHER CAYGLE and KYLE CHENEY

A supporter of President Donald Trump sits inside the office House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as
he riots inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Wednesday. I Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty
Images

The mob that rampaged inside the halls of Congress on Wednesday might have taken a lot
more than Americans' illusions of invulnerability.

"National security equities" may have been among the records stolen from the Capitol on
Wednesday when pro-Trump insurgents stormed the building and looted several
congressional offices, the Justice Department said in a briefing Thursday.

Michael Sherwin, the acting U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., said it will likely take
"several days to flesh out exactly what happened, what was stolen, what wasn't," noting that
"items, electronic items were stolen from senators' offices, documents and materials were
stolen, and we have to identify what was done to mitigate that [damage]."

Lawmakers and congressional staffers are demanding answers about how a federal complex
in the nation's capital with its own police force was overrun in broad daylight, leading to four
deaths and dozens of injuries.

But it's not only the physical security of members, staff and other employees that was
endangered by the breach congressional offices were ransacked, and at least one laptop,
belonging to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), was stolen, Merkley said. Rioters were
photographed sitting at a staffer's desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office and removing
a piece of Pelosi's mail from the building.

"We have to do a full review of what was taken, or copied, or even left behind in terms of bugs
and listening devices, etc.," said Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), raising the possibility that
foreign adversaries could have easily infiltrated the crowd that encircled the Capitol.

The House Chief Administrative Office said in a memo to staff on Thursday evening that "at
this time, there have been no indications that the House network was compromised," noting
that the office issued commands on Wednesday to lock computers and laptops and shut
down wired network access amid the protests. Classified national security information,
moreover, is supposed to be secured in Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities in
the capitol, which were not breached during the attack, congressional aides said.

1/4
125

But questions remain about whether the attackers were able to remove any physical
documents containing personal identifying information, legislative strategy or sensitive
logistical details. The failures of the Capitol Police, which prompted House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi to request the police chief's resignation on Thursday, and the risk that lawmakers
might again be targeted makes it all the more urgent that officials get fully apprised what
sensitive information - about members' schedules, for example, or inauguration plans -
was stolen, lawmakers said.

"If this were an organized, fully intent terrorist group - and there were certainly terrorist
activities yesterday, but I mean, al Qaeda style - they could have killed a lot of
representatives and god knows what else," Gallego said. "There has to be a full accounting of
what happened here."

Gallego is one of dozens of lawmakers, staffers, capitol employees and journalists who were
on the Hill on Wednesday when Capitol Police officers - a 2,000-person police force who
were mostly in regular uniforms rather than riot gear were swarmed by thousands of
Trump supporters who had marched to the Capitol at the president's urging to protest the
results of the 2020 election.

Standing between the mob and the Capitol building - where lawmakers had assembled that
morning to officially count the electoral votes for Eiden and ultimately declare him the
president-elect - were short, fairly lightweight barriers with "Area Closed" signs that
protesters were seen simply ripping off before they charged the fences and the officers
standing behind them.

2/4
126

A pro-Trump rioter carries the lectern of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi through the Rotunda
of the U.S. Capitol Building after a mob stormed the building on Wednesday. I Win
McNamee/Getty Images

Just over 100 people were arrested throughout the day, and dozens of Capitol Police and D.C.
Metro Police officers were injured, law enforcement officials said on Thursday.

But Capitol Police are now facing a reckoning after appearing to feed the rioters' perception
that they would not be severely punished for their behavior, as one congressional staffer said
videos have circulated online appearing to show a Capitol police officer taking selfies with
the protesters, and some Metro D.C. police officers were seen chatting and joking around
with protesters who had breached the perimeter.

"The fact is that it's explicitly because they were white dudes with the support of the
president that law enforcement basically did nothing," the staffer said.

One current Metro D.C. police officer said in a public Facebook post that off-duty police
officers and members of the military, who were among the rioters, flashed their badges and
I.D. cards as they attempted to overrun the building. "If these people can storm the Capitol
building with no regard to punishment, you have to wonder how much they abuse their
powers when they put on their uniforms," the officer wrote.

3/4
127

"I agree they would take over the Capitol in minutes," said another Democratic la,v:maker
when asked whether, on an average day with even looser security, an even more organized
and :militarized terrorist group might be able to breach the building. "Virtually every member
is asking how this could happen," he said.

The police on Thursday indicated that they were unprepared for the violence. D.C. Police
Chief Robert Contee said in a press conference on Thursday that there was "no intelligence
that suggested there would be a breach of the U.S. Capitol." And Capitol Police chief Steven
A. Sund, who is expected to resign on January 16 over the security failures, said in a
statement that while the Capitol Police had a "robust plan established to address anticipated
First Amendment activities ... these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; they
were criminal riotous behavior."

It remains unclear why the police force was not prepared for the protests to escalate, given
the repeated and explicit threats by many of Trump's supporters as recently as Tuesday
night - that they were prepared to use force if necessary to enter the Capitol.

Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio ), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee that oversees
Capitol Police funding, told reporters on Thursday that he was "livid" with police leadership
and said that while "the rank and file did everything they could," they were only able to hold
off the mob for just over an hour until they breached the building because there "was no
expeditious plan."

An investigation into the security failures, he added, has to be done "rather quickly because
we've got the inauguration coming in two weeks."

Olivia Beavers and Heather Caygle contributed reporting.

4/4
128

112112021 legal scholars, including at Federalist Society, say Trump can be convicted Reader View

WWW. politico. com /news/2021101 /21/lega!-scholars-federalist"society-trump-conv!ct~461089

Legal scholars, including at Federalist Society, say Trump
can be convicted
Natasha Berlrand

4-5 minutes

Former President Donald Trump waves as he disembarks from his final flight on Air Force One. I AP
Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta

Former President Donald Trump can be convicted in an impeachment trial for his role in inciting the
Capitol insurrection on Jan. 6 even though he is no longer in office, a bipartisan group of constitutional
law scholars wrote in a letter Thursday.

"We differ from one another in our politics, and we also differ from one another on issues of
constitutional interpretation," wrote the si9natories, which include the co-founder and other members of
the conservative Federalist Society legal group. "But despite our differences, our carefully considered
views of the law lead all of us to agree that the Constitution permits the impeachment, conviction, and
disqualification of former officers, including presidents."

More than 150 legal scholars signed on to the letter, which was obtained by POLITICO. They include
Steven Calabresi, the co-founder of the Federalist Society; Charles Fried, who served as solicitor
general under Ronald Reagan and is now an adviser to the Harvard chapter of the Federalist Society;
llya Somin, a law professor at George Mason University and adjunct scholar at the libertarian Cato
Institute; and Brian Kalt, a law professor at Michigan State University and leading scholar on the specific
question of whether former officials can be impeached.

The House impeached Trump last week, for the second time, in a 232-197 vote for "incitement of
insurrection" following the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob that left five people dead. As the
impeachment process moves into its next phase in the Senate, the signatories of the letter are seeking
to counter an argument that has been gaining steam among some Republican senators: that it would be
unconstitutional for the Senate to hold an impeachment trial for Trump now that he is a private citizen.

"The Senate lacks constitutional authority to conduct impeachment proceedings against a former
president," Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a statement last week. 'The Founders designed the
impeachment process as a way to remove officeholders from public office-not an inquest against
private citizens."

Many Republicans have taken a cue from the conservative former federal appeals Judge J. Michael
Luttig, who argued in the Washington Post earlier this month that "once Trump's term ends on Jan. 20,
Congress loses its constitutional authority to continue impeachment proceedings against him - even if
the House has already approved articles of impeachment."

The constitutional scholars who signed on to the letter disagree with that assessment, arguing that
because the Constitution's impeachment power has two aspects - removal from office and
disqualification from holding office again in the future - it must also be extended to former officials who
could try to run for reelection.

"Impeachment is the exclusive constitutional means for removing a president (or other officer) before his
or her term expires," they wrote. "But nothing in the provision authorizing impeachment-for-removal
limits impeachment to situations where it accomplishes removal from office. Indeed, such a reading
would thwart and potentially nullify a vital aspect of the impeachment power: the power of the Senate to
impose disqualification from future office as a penalty for conviction."

Trump had signaled befoie leaving office that he might try lo run for president again In 2024, and has
reportedly mulled forming his own political party. But if the Senate were to hold an impeachment trial
and convict him, he would be barred from holding public office ever again. That provision of the
impeachment power, the legal scholars wrote, "is an important deterrent against future misconduct."

chrome-extension://ecabifbgmdmgdllomnfinbmaellmc!nh/data/reader/lndex.html?id=162&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com%2Fnews%2F2021 .. 1/2
129

1/2112021 legal scholars, including at Federalist Society, say Trump can be convicted Reader View

"If an official could only be disqualified while he or she still held office, then an official who betrayed the
public trust and was impeached could avoid accountability simply by resigning one minute before the
Senate's final conviction vote," they noted. "The Framers did not design the Constitution's checks and
balances to be so easily undermined."

chrome-extens!on://ecabifbgmdmgdllomnfinbmaellmc!nh/data/reader/index.html?id=162&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww,politico.com%2Fnews%2F2021 ., 2/2
130

National Guardsmen briefed on IED threat to Capitol

National Guard units are being told to prepare for the possibility that improvised explosive
devices will be used by individuals plotting to attack the Capitol in the days surrounding the
Inauguration, according to two Guardsmen briefed this week.

The briefings indicate that Washington, D.C.-area law enforcement believe the IEDs planted
last week at the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee
headquarters were not an isolated incident. The individual who planted those bombs has yet
to be apprehended, and FBI agents have been going door to door in D.C. this week asking
residents for any photos or video they might have that could help identify the suspect, two of
the residents told POLITICO.

In addition to the IED threat, the Guardsmen are being briefed that protesters could be
heavily armed. Army: Secretary: Ryan McCarthy has authorized the National Guardsmen
protecting the Capitol, previously only carrying protective gear, to carry lethal weapons
including M-9 handguns. A "significant majority" of soldiers are also carrying M-4 rifles, one
of the Guardsmen said.

A Guard spokesperson declined to say whether law enforcement had briefed units at the
Capitol on an IED threat.

"Our primary objective is to provide support to local authorities," said spokesperson Tracy
O'Grady Walsh, noting that the Guard's mission during the inauguration is to provide crowd
management, traffic control, parking coordination and medical and logistical support to local
authorities. "The public's safety is our top priority."

.Jlp--1.Q.2.Q,ooo Guardsmen could be stationed around D.C. in the coming_day1,, at the request
of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department and other civil authorities. On Tuesday night,
hundreds of armed Guardsmen deployed to the Capitol ahead oflawmakers beginning a
second round of impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

It's not clear whether National Guardsmen are preparing to respond themselves to potential
IEDs, and the briefings about potential IEDs have left some uneasy, the people familiar with
the matter said.

Guard members are trained in the use of lethal and nonlethal force, the use of protective
equipment and "deescalation techniques," as is standard for civil disturbance response
missions, O'Grady Walsh said. Some Guard units, including Guard combat engineers,
infantry and military police units, typically train for IED response ahead of overseas
deployments, but not all Guardsmen are so trained.

1/2
131

"The most important element of defeating IEDs is knmving what to look for, knowing where
to look, and understanding how to either quickly defuse or mark them for eventual
destruction," said retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, noting that IED training
principally involves "early reconnaissance of anticipated routes by drones and engineers and
scouts, the use of intelligence to plot and predict potential locations of placement of IEDs
that would cause the most damage or destruction, and the interference of networks."

An unclassified intelligence bulletin compiled by the U.S. Secret Service, obtained by
POLITICO, warned that at least one right-wing extremist group, Patriot Actions for America,
"is organizing and encouraging a violent demonstration" on Jan. 16 at the Capitol.

The bulletin, which primarily relies on open-source information from social media and was
first reuorted by:The Daily Beast, said law enforcement is also tracking a separate "Million
Militia March" being planned by two other groups for Inauguration Day itself, warning that
"although no civil disobedience has been confirmed, organizers have encouraged attendees to
bring weapons to the event through the use of images of weapons on promotional materials
for the event. The group claims they will not attack, but defend."

President-elect Biden was briefed on Wednesday by senior FBI and Secret Service officials
about the threats surrounding the Inauguration, and will continue to receive daily briefings
on "security and operational preparations to ensure the transition unfolds smoothly," Biden's
transition team said in a statement.

Biden's national security team "is engaging with the current administration to gain as much
information as possible on the threat picture, and on the preparations being put in place to
deter and defend against violent disruptions or attacks," the statement said.

2/2
132

Bannon talk shows Trump attack on election could
damage GOP long-term

By Nathan L. Gonzales
Posted December 23, 2020 at 8:00am
ANALYSIS - Former vVhite House chief strategist Steve Bannon laid out the president's plan
to overturn the election results during a call for prayer on Sunday night in an effort that has
potential consequences for the GOP beyond January.

There are some Republicans ready to turn the page from President Donald Trump's time in
office. GOP leadership in the Senate is discouraging Republican senators from contesting any
states during the Electoral College ratification on Jan. 6. And there's other evidence of apathy
about Trump slowly starting to emerge. "I am counting the days until he is gone," a high-
ranking Republican in Congress - who has been an ally of the president - told ,Jonathan
Karl of ABC News.

But based on Bannon's comments, it's going to be harder (or take longer) for the party to
start a post-Trump chapter. While Bannon's disdain for Democrats is clear (and he called
Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams a "tough hombre") in his 45 minutes worth of remarks, he
trained most of his fire on Republicans.

"There's no need to talk about Insurrection Act. There's no need to talk crazy talk right now,"
Bannon told a group who gathered virtually for a Global Prayer for U.S. Election Integrity on
Sunday night, according to a recording that was broadcast on The Eric Metaxas Radio Show
on Monday. "We can do this with Republican legislatures and Republican governors."

1/4
133

Putting the burden for action on Republican state officials is the legacy of this fight.

While it's never quite clear how close Bannon is to the president at any given time, the former
Trump senior adviser's sentiments align with other reporting about the president's state of
mind.

Investigation could be lengthy
Overall, Bannon laid out a three-prong case to overturn the certified results: illegal voting,
mail-in ballots and voting machines. He admitted that the third leg of the stool was less of a
focus because the investigation could take "months, if not years" and time is of the essence.
Bannon didn't mention Newsmax's length)'. on-air statement about not having evidence to
back up its claims about Dominion and Smartmatic.

The other legs stand on a combination of GOP state legislators and governors in Arizona,
Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin calling ;1pecial sessions and decertifying
Bi den's electors. The goal is to get the former vice president under the 270 electoral vote
threshold needed to vvin, force a contingent election, and somehow allow the U.S. House of
Representatives to reelect Trump in a one-state-one-vote process though the law may not
work the way Bannon described it as working.

vVhile he praised work being done by GOP Reps. Paul Gosar and AndY- Bigg~ of Arizona,
Bannon called out Govs. Brian Kemp of Georgia and Doug Ducey of Arizona for failing to
support the cause and expressed frustration about Republicans' unwillingness to act at the
state level.

"Now is the time that people, and particularly Republican elected officials in the state
legislatures, the governorships and members of Congress, have to stand, and they have to
stand for the Constitution," Bannon said. "Besides your prayers, any amount of pressure you
can put on these people is what's necessary."

"They will not listen to the people," he continued about Republican elected officials. "We've
got to put pressure on them and we've got two weeks to do it."

Bannon, who has pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charge;, and could be angling for a
pardon from his fom1er boss, asserted that 20 percent of Trump voters had "had it" v,ith
Republican inaction.

At the end of the call, Metaxas said the entire analysis was "basically nonpartisan" because
Bannon called out leaders of both parties. The fact of the matter is that Republicans can't
afford to have 20 percent, or even 5 percent, of their voters not show up. It's a recipe for life
in the minority and out of the White House.

Loading the player...

2/4
134

Pressure on Georgia
Kemp is up for reelection in 2022. He was first elected in 2018, when he beat Abrams by 1.5
points. This year, Eiden won Georgia by less than half of 1 percent. Ducey won reelection by
14 points in 2018, but Republicans can't afford to have any slippage in Arizona now that
Democrats have won two consecutive competitive Senate races and Eiden won the state
narrowly. Eight states were decided by less than 5_PQinis in this year's presidential race.

Bannon's rhetoric and strategy could have near-term implications for the two Jan. 5 Senate
runoffs in Georgia. "I wouldn't lift a finger for Perdue or for Loeffler unless they did three
things that they haven't done," said Bannon. He demanded both senators immediately call
for a special session of the state legislature to hear evidence of voter fraud, publicly agree
with incoming Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama (who has suggested he'll contest the
results), and back Trump appointing special prosecutors to investigate election fraud and the
Eiden family.

Bannon isn't the only one describing a schism in the GOP. "The Republican Party is
splintered right now, and I think it will continue to splinter more depending on what
happens with President Trump," Rep.-elect Mmjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia told the
Christian Science Monitor. "If he's not in the White House over the next four years, you're
going to see his base, the MAGA base, continue to grow." If that base grows away from
Republicans, it will be difficult to regain control of the executive and legislative branches of
government. This tension within the GOP is the result of the party becoming primarily the
following of a person rather than an ideology.

To win the presidential race, targeting Republicans to act at the state level is not a terrible
strategy for Trump considering his team's lack of success in the courts up to this point. But
Republicans who think this will all go away after a Jan. 6 ratification or a Eiden inauguration
are fooling themselves.

Fight past Jan. 20
First of all, don't expect a concession. "He is not going to back down. He will never concede.
And I will tell you, in the small chance we don't win this, he will never sit on that stage and
participate in inauguration," according to Bannon. Of course, a Trump concession isn't
necessary, and the president's presence on the stage at the inauguration isn't required for
Eiden to take office. But it would be a historic moment.

Second, inauguration won't stop people who see this as a fight between good and evil. "We
will never ever ever allow Biden to really take control of this government. We will fight this
every day, we will fight this every day, even past Jan. 20," said Bannon.

There were other facts that Bannon just got wrong.

3/4
135

vVhen reminiscing about the surprise win in 2016, Bannon said Trump was down 12 to 14
points to Hillary Clinton in the middle of August. Trump was down 8 points on Aug. 15,
according to the Real Clear Politics national average, which is where he was for most of that
month.

Bannon claimed that Trump received almost 50 percent of the Hispanic vote in the recent
elections. According to the exit polli, Eiden won the Latino vote 65 percent to 32 percent. In
the same part of the conversation, Bannon predicted Republicans could receive between 50
and 60 percent of Hispanic vote in 2022, along with one-third of the Black vote (which would
be an increase from Trump's 12 percent this year) and a majority of the Asian vote (Eiden
won those voters 61-34 percent in November).

Nathan L. Gonzales is an elections analyst for CQ Roll Call.

Loading the player...

4/4
136

1115/2021 Highlights and analysis: Trump commits to 'orderly transition' after mob storms Capitol

Highlights and analysis: Trump commits to 1orderly transition'
after mob storms Capitol

- District of Columbia National Guard stand outside the Capitol on Wednesday night. John Minchillo / AP

Updated Jan. 7, 2021, 11: 45 AM EST

President Donald Trump early on Thursday committed to "an orderly transition" of power soon
after Congress confirmed President-elect Joe Biden's election win, and following the storming of
the Capitol by a mob of violent Trump supporters.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/blog/electorako!lege-certification-updates-n1252864 1/9
137

1/15/2021 Highlights and analysis: Trump commits to 'orderly transition' after mob storms Capitol

In a statement released by the White House, the president again made false claims about the
outcome of the election. Twitter suspended Trump's account for 12 hours Wednesday after he
continued to push conspiracy theories about the election after the chaos at the Capitol.

Overnight, Congress reconvened and counted the electoral votes Biden's victory. After some
objections, the count ofBiden's 306 votes to President Donald Trump's 232 was finished in
proceedings that lasted until 3:40 a.m.

This live coverage has ended. Continue reading about the aftermath of the rioting at the Capitol.

Read the highlights:

-The woman shot in the Capitol amid violent breach of the complex has died.

-Eiden condemns "insurrection."

-Jon Ossoff cldeats David Perdue in Georgia, handing control of the Senate to Democrats, NBC
News projects.

-Defying Trump, Pence says he won't overturn the 2020 election.

Sci ago / 12:00 PM EST

Photo: Workers build a wall around the Capitol

Workers install a fence in front of the Capitol on Thusday, the day after Trump supporters occupied the
building. Stephanie Keith / Reuters

SHARE THIS - f "'# i'f,ii

8d ago / 8: 12 AM EST

https://www.nbcnews.com/polltics/congress/blog/electoral-coUege-certification-updates-n1252864 2/9
138

1/15/2021 Highlights and analysis: Trump commits to 'orderly transition' after mob storms Capitol

SHARE THIS - f

NBC News
8d ago / 4:26 AM EST

Trump says 'there will be an orderly transition 011 January 20th'

President Donald Trump early Thursday said there would be "an orderly transition on January
20th."

The president released the statement through the White House minutes after Congress
confirmed President-elect Joe Biden's win.

In his statement, the president again made false claims about the outcome of the election but
said that this month will bring to end "the greatest first term in presidential history."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/blog/electoral-college-certification-updates-n 1252864 3/9
139

1/15/2021 Highlights and analysis: Trump commits to 'orderly transition' after mob storms Capitol

8d ago / 4:09 AM EST

Congress confirms Joe Biden's Electoral College win

Early Thursday, Congress finished counting the Electoral College votes and confirmed
President-elect Joe Biden's win after a chaotic day that resulted in four deaths and forced
lawmakers to evacuate the Capitol.

Despite the disruption and objections from Republicans to election results in Arizona and
Pennsylvania, members of the House and the Senate were able to certify the Electoral College
more than 14 hours after the process began.

Biden is scheduled to be inaugurated as the 46th president on Jan. 20.

https://www.nbcnews_com/politics/congress/blog/electoral-college-certification-updates-n 1252864 419
140

1i15/2021 Highlights and analysis: Trump commits to 'orderly transition' after mob storms Capitol

llohaMadani
Sci ago / 3:14 AM EST

Pennsylvania objection fails in the House

The objection to Pennsylvania's Electoral College votes failed in the House, moving the counting
process along after a series of delays during what was previously thought of as a simply
ceremonial event.

A total of138 House members voted to sustain the objection, and 282 members opposed the
motion.

While the Senate decided to forgo any discussion on the objection before voting to strike the
motion, House members engaged in two hours of debate. Legislators from both chambers can
now resume their joint session and finish counting the Electoral College votes.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R·Ky., previously said he did not expect any more
votes for the evening.

SHARE THIS · f liiSi

8d ago / 3:07 AM EST

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/blog/electoral-col!ege-certification-updates-n 1252864 519
141

1/15/2021 Highlights and analysis: Trump commits to 'orderly transition' after mob storms Capitol

Oregon's Merkley shows damage to Senate office

The trail of destruction and looting. What happened today was an assault by the
domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol, but it was also an assault on our
constitution.
[sound on] pic.twitter.com/BrELF7cMz1

- Senator Jeff Merkley (@SenJeffMerkley) January 7, 2021

SHARE THIS - f lii:!1/ii

NBC News
8d ago / 2: 14 AM EST

Capitol Complex declared all-clear

Early Thursday morning, Capitol Police declared the Capitol Complex all clear.

A notice was sent to congressional staff about 1:15 a.m. indicating that officials had cleared the
security threat after a mob stormed the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon.

The official notice indicating that normal operations could resume came as the House debated
objections to the election results in Pennsylvania.

SHARE THIS - f 'I/JI lii:!1iii

Sci ago / 1: 11 AM EST

Rep. Grace Meng on being barricaded in the Capitol: 'I texted everyone I loved'

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/blog/e!ectoral-co!lege-certification-updates-n1252864 6/9
142

1/15/2021 Highlights and analysis: Trump commits to 'orderly transition' after mob storms Capitol

!lohaMadani
8d ago / 1:38 AM EST

Pennsylvania objection fails in the Senate with no debate

Senators chose to skip all debate and immediately voted to strike down an objection to
Pennsylvania's Electoral College certification early Thursday.

Only seven senators voted to sustain the objection, while 92 opposed the motion.

The objection, raised by Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., and co-signed by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., came
after no senators co-signed objections to three other states' votes.

Hawley and Sen. Ted Cruz, R·Texas, both voted to sustain the objection. Sens. Tommy Tuberville
of Alabama, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Rick Scott of Florida, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming
and Roger Marshall of Kansas also voted in favor of the objection.

Members of the House continue to debate before voting on the objection.

SHARE THIS - f iii!lij

Dohal'lladani

https://vvww.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/b1og/electoral-col!ege-certification-updates-n 1252864 7/9
143

1i15/2021 Highlights and analysis: Trump commits to 'orderly transition' after mob storms Capitol

8d ago / 12:32 AM EST

Hawley objects to Pennsylvania certification

Sen. Josh Hawley, R·Mo., joined Republican House members in objecting to Pennsylvania's
Electoral College certification, forcing the congressional chambers to split into individual
sessions.

Although senators withdrew their objections for Georgia, Michigan and Nevada, Hawley co-
signed the opposition to Pennsylvania, as he had told his fellow lawmakers he planned to do
when the Senate reconvened earlier in the evening. But Hawley also said he intended to yield his
time in the two-hour debate.

It's unclear how long each chamber will debate the objection before moving to a vote.

Congressional rules say any objection to an Electoral College ballot certification must be signed
by both a senator and a member of the House. Rep. Scott Perry, R·Pa., joined Hawley's
challenge.

SHARE THIS - f ~

https://www.nbcnews.com/pol!tics/congress/blog/e!ectoral-co!!ege-certification-updates-n 1252864 819
144

1/15/2021 Highlights and analysis: Trump commits to 'orderly transition' after mob storms Capitol

lOA!l MORE POSTS

NBC News
'!I f

AFlO\JT CA NOTICE

CONTACT TERMS OF SER\'ICE

CAREERS NBCNEWS, cm1 SITE HAP

COUPONS ADVER.TISE

DO NOT Sl:LL MY PERSON,t..L INFORM,•1TION

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/blog/electoral-co!lege-certification-updates-n 1252864 919
145

Police Officer Who Responded to Capitol Riot Dies Off
Duty

January 10, 2021

WASHINGTON Four days after a violent mob stormed the Capitol, overrunning its police
force, an officer who was assigned to protect the Senate during the siege died off duty, the
Capitol Police announced on Sunday.

The Capitol Police union said that Officer Howard Liebengood, a 15-year veteran of the force,
"was among the officers who responded to the rioting at the U.S. Capitol" on Wednesday,
when insurrectionists incited by President Trump attacked the seat of American government.

"We extend our deepest sympathies to Officer Liebengood's family, and we mourn the death
of a friend and colleague who worked alongside us to protect the lives of the members of
Congress, their staff and all who serve at the U.S. Capitol," the statement from the union said.

Officer Liebengood, 51, had been a Capitol Police officer since 2005 and was assigned to the
agency's Senate division. His father, who shared his name, served as the sergeant-at-arms,
the chief security official, of the Senate from 1981 to 1983. Officer Liebengood is the second
Capitol Police officer to die in the aftermath of the riot.

In a statement on Sunday, the Capitol Police said only that Officer Liebengood's death took
place "off duty," but did not provide the cause or answer further questions.

1/2
146

His family also declined to comment, releasing a statement through their lawyer, Barry J.
Pollack: "Mr. Liebengood's family members wish to grieve privately as they mourn the
sudden and heartbreaking loss of Howard Liebengood. He will be sorely missed."

"We are reeling from the death of Officer Liebengood," said Gus Papathanasiou, the
chairman of the union. "Every Capitol Police officer puts the security of others before their
own safety, and Officer Liebengood was an example of the selfless service that is the hallmark
ofU.S.C.P. 'This is a tragic day."

The news rocked the force days after another officer, Brian D. Sicknick, died on Thursday of
injuries he sustained when he engaged with the mob that attacked the Capitol. At least four
civilians have died in connection ,vith the siege.

La,vmakers have demanded investigations and accountability based on arguably the most
significant security failure in decades. The chief of the Capitol Police, as well as the sergeants-
at-arms of both the House and the Senate, have been fired or resigned.

"The U.S. Capitol Police just announced the tragic death of Officer Howard Liebengood - for
whom I mourn," Representative Dean Phillips, Democrat of Minnesota, ¼Tote on Twitter on
Sunday. "Our officers need more than gratitude. They need authentic, capable leadership and
meaningful support, and I call on my colleagues to join me demanding it immediately."

Speaker Nancy Pelosi also offered condolences in a statement that called Officer Liebengood
"a patriot who dedicated his life to defending the Capitol and protecting all who serve, work
in and visit this temple of our democracy."

"His passing is a great tragedy that compounds the horror of this past week," Ms. Pelosi said.

Ian Koski, a former aide to Senator Chris Coons, Democrat of Delaware, posted to Twitter a
photo of Officer Liebengood smiling with a handful of cookies in December 2014.

"He was a real person and a good guy, and this is a terrible tragedy," Mr. Koski wrote.

2/2
147

111112021 Inside the Harrowing Day When the Capito! Went Into Lockdown - The New York Times

Senate Being Locked Down': Inside a Harrowing Day at the Capitol
Three New York Times journalists were at the Capitol when it was breached. Here's how they experienced
it.

By Nicholas Fan~os, Erin Schaff and El'f'!ily Cochrane

Jan. 7, 2021

WASHINGTON - Something was not right inside the Senate chamber.

Below the press balcony where I stood, looking down on the room like a fishbowl, Vice President Mike
Pence had just been rushed out without explanation.
"We do have an emergency;• bellowed a police officer with a neon sash who had appeared in the middle of
the chamber. Officers and doorkeepers raced around, slamming and locking the immense wooden doors.
There were panicked cries for senators to move further into the room.

Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, threw up his hands in exasperation.

"This is what you've gotten, guys;' he yelled, referring to a dozen or so Republican colleagues who were
challenging President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s victory, which Congress was meeting to affirm.

Now everything had ground to a halt and I had about 10 seconds to decide whether to run out or get
locked in myself. I stayed, deciding I should keep my eyes on the senators I was there to cover, no matter
what came next.

"Senate being locked down," I texted my editor.

One minute later: "This is frightening."

Senator Patrick Leahy, an avid amateur photographer, snapped a few frames. Senator Amy Klobuchar
blurted out that shots might have been fired. A hush fell over the room and sirens wailed outside.

In an instant, Capitol Police officers began herding the lawmakers down into the well of the Senate and
moving them out a back door.

"What about us?" someone near me yelled from the balcony. The police shouted for us to get to the
basement.
I dashed to grab my laptop and plunged with a handful of reporters down three floors, where a lone officer
held back a pair of doors leading to the Capitol Visitor Center, built after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as an
underground fortress of sorts. It, too, had been breached.

Looking left, we saw a stream of senators snaking out ahead into the narrow subterranean tunnels that
connect the sprawling Capitol campus.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/07/us/politics/capitol-lockdown.htm! 115
148

1/11/2021 Inside the Harrowing Day When the Capito! Went Into Lockdown ~ The New York Times

There was Senator Mitch McConnell, 78, the majority leader and a polio survivor, practically being
carried by his security detail, their hands beneath his arms to steady him as they hustled along. The body
man for Senator Chuck Schumer of New York had a firm grasp on his suit behind his neck. Trying to keep
the mood light, Senator Roy Blunt from my home state of Missouri teased that perhaps the interruption
would speed up the debate.
When we came up above ground, we were in a space I knew well from years of work on Capitol Hill, but
officers implored us not to share details of our location. We would be there for about four hours. Later,
after the Capitol had been cleared and secured, we retraced our steps, along with staff aides who carried
two mahogany boxes containing the Electoral College certificates.

NEW YORK TODAY: Compelling daily stories, transit news and a
glimpse at the lighter side of life in the city.

As Congress resumed its count and night turned to early morning, I found myself wandering alone
through an eerily silent Capitol, studying the remains of an abandoned occupation. The ornate tiled floors,
one of the building's treasures, were coated in a powdery residue of fire extinguishers and pepper spray.

The window entering the Speaker's Lobby, where I've spent hours cornering lawmakers was shattered.
Benches were upturned. Soft drinks littered the halls. On the first floor, I found a handful of syringes and a
defibrillator spent on someone - I wondered who - and left behind. -Nicholas Fandos, congressional
reporter

Trump loyalists incited by President Trump storming into the Capitol building on
Wednesday during a joint session of Congress convened to formally tally the results of the
election. Erin Schaff/The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2021 /01 /07/us/politics/capitol~lockdown. html 215
149

1/11/2021 Inside the Harrowing Day When the Capito! Went Into Lockdown - The New York Times

Facing a Moh and Police
I could hear protesters on the first floor of the Senate side of the Capitol, so I went downstairs, following
the noise. They came up to the Ohio Clock Corridor just outside the chamber where senators were
meeting, and were yelling that they wanted to get in. I was shocked they'd made it inside, and thought
this would be the big moment of the day: a small group of protesters having breached the Capitol
building.

The Presidential Transition

Latest Updates ,
Updated 10 minutes ago

• Melania Trump implores Americans to 'stop the violence' while also striking back at critics.

• The House vows to move swiftly on impeachment if Pence refuses to act.

• Wilham Burns, a career diplomat, is Biden's choice to head the C.I.A.

I was wrong.

I looked down the hall to the Rotunda and saw what looked like a hundred people running around, yelling
and pulling around a podium. I took a bunch of photos and then went to the ceremonial doors to the
Rotunda, where a single police officer guarded the door against a throng of hundreds outside.

The mob massed together and rushed the officer, forcing open the door, and people flooded in. I ran
upstairs to be out of the way of the crowd, and to get a better vantage point to document what was
happening. Suddenly, two or three men in black surrounded me and demanded to know who I worked for.

The Capitol was placed on lockdown on Wednesday after hundreds of extremist
protesters swarmed in. Erin Schaff/The New York Times
https://www.nytlmes.com/2021 /01 /07/us/politics/capitol-lockdown. html 315
150

1/11/2021 lnslde the Harrowing Day When the Capitol Went Into Lockdown - The New York Times

Grabbing my press pass, they saw that my ID said The New York Times and became really angry. They
threw me to the floor, trying to take my cameras. I started screaming for help as loudly as I could. No one
came. People just watched. At this point, I thought I could be killed and no one would stop them. They
ripped one of my cameras away from me, broke a lens on the other and ran away.
After that I was hyperventilating, unsure of what to do. I knew I needed to get away from the mob and
hide my broken camera so I wouldn't be targeted again. I ran into Speaker Nancy Pelosi's suite, but
people were vandalizing her office, so I kept moving. Walking out to her balcony facing west toward the
National Mall, I saw a mass of people covering the inaugural stage. I found a spot to hide my camera in
there, then stood watching the crowd from the balcony and filming from my phone, which was all I had
left.
"This will be the start of a civil war revolution;' a man next to me said.
At that point, the Capitol Police had started deploying pepper spray or tear gas, and I knew I needed to
find a place to hide. I didn't know where I could go since I no longer had my congressional credentials. I
ran to the third floor, opened the first door I saw and hid in a hallway. I called my husband, who told me to
stay calm and find a safer spot.
But then the police found me. I told them that I was a photojournalist and that my pass had been stolen,
but they didn't believe me. They drew their guns, pointed them and yelled at me to get down on my hands
and knees. As I lay on the ground, two other photojournalists came into the hall and started shouting
"She's a journalist!"
The officers told us it wasn't safe to leave, and helped us find a room to barricade ourselves in. The two
other photographers grabbed my hands and told me it would be OK, and to stay with them so they could
vouch for me. I'll never forget their kindness in that moment. -Erin Schaff, staff photographer

Sheltering in the House
A little after 2:15 p.m., aides in the House chamber began quietly warning us to prepare to take shelter. I
thought about how stupid I was to have left my bag at my desk on the opposite end of the Capitol, and
asked to borrow someone's computer charger just in case.
I watched as a security detail rushed Representative Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, off
the floor along with other members of leadership. Police officers began to shut the gallery doors.
"We now have individuals that have breached the Capitol building;' said a Capitol Police officer who had
stepped up to the rostrum. Remain inside and calm, he instructed.
I just kept updating my story, needing something to keep me distracted. Lawmakers were yelling. It
didn't feel real.

Tear gas had been deployed in the Rotunda, an officer said, and everyone needed to grab an emergency
hood from under his or her chair and prepare to put it on.

Suddenly, it seemed as if every lawmaker had a duffel bag in hand, pulling out aluminum bags and
emergency hoods, and staff members were distributing them out to reporters.

https:/!www.nytimes.com/2021 /01 /07/us/poUtics/capitol-lockdown. htmt 415
151

111112021 Inside the Harrowing Day When the Capitol Went Into Lockdown ~ The New York Times

You could hear banging outside, so I crouched behind a desk, the reality of the chamber being breached
sinking in. I ripped at the bag, struggling to pull out the hood, a sort of hybrid gas mask with a tarp, which
made a loud whirring noise and had a flashing red light. I peeked over the desk and could see
Representative Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona and a veteran, jacketless, standing on a chair and
yelling instructions on how to use the masks.

People banged on glass windows, crowds charged past the front columns, and others used
poles to batter an entrance to the building on Wednesday. Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Officers hauled a huge wooden chest as a makeshift barricade in front of the main doors to the House
chamber - the ones Vice President Mike Pence had just walked through, the ones through which they
had carried the chests with the elector certificates. The floor was empty, except for staff aides yelling at
everyone in the gallery to get out.

I grabbed my laptop, my phone and this whirring hood, clutched it all to my chest, and clambered up to
the back of the gallery where a line was forming to leave the chamber. There was a banister separating
the area into sections and we struggled to climb over. What's faster? Ducking under? Climbing over? As I
plotted my escape, I heard shouts of "Get down!" Everyone dropped to the floor.
Face down behind an auditorium chair, I could see a few officers with guns drawn at the barricaded
chamber doors. Representative Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, was trying to reason with
whomever was banging on the door. I started thinking about how I really wasn't shielded behind this
chair. Was it worth scuttling down a few steps to see if the TV equipment provided more cover? But then
would I be more exposed if people started shooting? I stayed put.

I sent a few "I love you" texts, otherwise frozen on the ground. I didn't know what might happen. I just
wanted them to know. -Emily Cochrane, congressional reporter

https://www.nytimes.com/2021 /01 /07/us/potitics/capitol-lockdown.html 515
152

Newhouse Statement on Impeachment

January 13, 2021

Press Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. -Today, Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA) released the foll0vving
statement:

"Last week, hateful and un-American extremists stormed the U.S. Capitol, attacking both the
structural embodiment of our Republic and the values we promote as citizens of this great
nation. This violent mob, intent on disturbing the constitutional duties of Congress, resulted
in the tragic loss of American lives, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer. The mob was
inflamed by the language and misinformation of the President of the United States.

1/2
153

TI1is is a pivotal and solemn moment in our country's history. I wholeheartedly believe our
nation - and the system of government it was founded upon - may well be in jeopardy if we
do not rise to this occasion. This is not a decision I take lightly.

Turning a blind eye to this brutal assault on our Republic is not an option.

A vote against this impeachment is a vote to validate the unacceptable violence we witnessed
in our nation's capital. It is also a vote to condone President Trump's inaction. He did not
strongly condemn the attack nor did he call in reinforcements when our officers were
overwhelmed. Our country needed a leader, and President Trump failed to fulfill his oath of
office.

I will vote yes on the articles of impeachment."

2/2
154

The Trump Administration Officials Who Resigned Over
Capitol Violence

[Follow our live news coverage on the p_rotests at the Cal).itol and across the country.]

Several Trump administration officials have announced that they are resigning after a mob of
Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, temporarily disrupting Congress as it
was certifying Joseph R. Biden Jr.'s Electoral College victory.

The officials included those in prominent positions in the "White House, and staff members
who have been working in the Trump adn1inistration since the beginning of the president's
term, in 2017. Some of the resignations came hours after President Trump OI2filliY-
~ g ~ p p o r t e r s to go to the Capitol to protest what he has falsely claimed was a
stolen election. The moves are being made with less than two weeks remaining in Mr.
Trump's term.

Here is a list of the administration officials who have resigned.

Education secretary

Betsy DeVos
Ms. DeVos, the education secretary, submitted a letter ofresignation to President Trump on
Thursday, @.Ying she would step down on Friday.

1/6
155

In the letter, Ms. DeVos called the mob that disrupted Congress as it was certifying the
election results on Wednesday "unconscionable for our country."

"There is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection
point for me," she wrote.

With her letter, Ms. DeVos became the second cabinet member to announce plans to resign
after violent protesters overwhelmed the police and stormed through the Capitol.

A billionaire Republican donor, Ms. DeVos was confirmed as education secretazy in Februan:
2017- with a tiebreaking vote in the Senate from Vice President Mike Pence.

Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao last year.Credit ... Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

Transportation secretary

Elaine Chao
Ms. Chao, the transportation secretary, announced her resignation on Twitter on Thursday,
becoming the first cabinet member to do so. The unrest at the Capitol, she wrote, "deeply
troubled me in a way that I simply cannot set aside." Ms. Chao, who is married to Senator
Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, said that her resignation would take effect
on Monday.

2/6
156

Image
Mick Mulvaney resigned from his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland on Wednesday
night.Credit ... Patrick Semansky/ Associated Press

Special envoy to Northern Ireland and former V\'hite House chief of staff

Mick Mulvaney
Mr. Mulvaney, Mr. Trump's former acting chief of staff, ~g~pecial envoy 1Q
Northern Ireland on Wednesday night, saying he "can't stay" after watching the president
encourage the mob that overtook the Capitol complex.

In an interview with CNBC Thursday morning, Mr. Mulvaney said he had called Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday night and told him: "I can't do it. I can't stay."

Mr. Mulvaney praised administration officials who had defended Mr. Pence, who oversaw the
tallying of the votes that certified Mr. Biden's victory despite pressure from Mr. Trump. Mr.
Mulvaney said he anticipated that there would be more resignations. "Those who choose to
stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they're worried the
president might put someone worse in," he said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Mr. Mulvaney, who was named acting chief of staff in 2018. wrote
on Twitter: "The President's tweet is not enough. He can stop this now and needs to do
exactly that. Tell these folks to go home."

Image
Matthew Pottinger had been Mr. Trump's deputy national security adviser since
2019.Credit...Andrew Harnik/Associated Press

deputy national security adviser

Matthew Pottinger
Mr. Pottinger has been Mr. Trump's deputy national security adviser since 2019. He was
formerly the administration's Asia director on the National Security Council, and was known
for his on-the-ground experience in China, where he advised Mr. Trump during his meeting
with President Xi Jinping in 2017. Mr. Pottinger has resigned, a person familiar with the
events said on Thursday.

Image
John Costello, one of the country's most senior cybersecurity officials, resigned
Wednesday.Credit...Cyberspace Solarium Commission

deputy assistant secretary at the Commerce Department

John Costello

3/6
157

Mr. Costello, one of the country's most senior cybersecurity officials, resigned on Wednesday,
telling associates that the violence on Capitol Hill was his "breaking point" and, he hoped, "a
wake-up call."

Image
Tyler Goodspeed, top row left, resigned on Thursday.Credit ... Evan Vucci/Associated Press

White House Council of Economic Advisers acting chairman

Tyler Goodspeed
Mr. Goodspeed, the acting chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers,
resigned on Thursday, citing Mr. Trump's incitement of the mob that stormed the Capitol.
"The events of yesterday made my position no longer tenable," he said in an interview, after
informing the vVhite House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, of his decision.

Image
Stephanie Grisham, left, the chief of staff to Melania Trump, submitted her resignation on
Wednesday. She is a former White House press secretary.Credit...AI Drago for The New York Times

First lady's chief of staff

Stephanie Grisham
Ms. Grisham, the former White House press secretary who served as chief of staff to Melania
Trump, the first lady, submitted her resignation on Wednesday after the violence at the
Capitol. She had worked for the Trumps since the 2016 campaign and was one of their
longest-serving aides.

Image
Rickie Niceta, left, social secretary to the first lady, with other members of Mrs. Trump's team,
resigned on Wednesday.Credit...Doug Mills/TI1e New York Times

social secretary

Rickie Niceta
Melania Trump chose Ms. Niceta, a former Washington event planner who helped coordinate
Mr. Trump's inaugural celebrations, as her social secretacy:in 2017-. Ms. Niceta has said she
was resigning, according to an administration official familiar with her plans who was not
authorized to speak publicly.

Image
Sarah Matthews, deputy White House press secretary, resigned on Wednesday.Credit ... Pool photo by
Al Drago/EPA, via Shutterstock

deputy v\?hite House press secretary

4/6
158

Sarah Matthews
Ms. Matthews, a deputy White House press secretary, submitted her resignation on
Wednesday, saying in a statement that she was "deeply disturbed by what I saw today."

Image
Elinore F. McCance-Katz, assistant secretary for mental health and substance use, announced her
resignation on Thursday.Credit ... Pool photo by Pete Marovich

Assistant Secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services

Elinore F. Mccance-Katz
Dr. Mccance-Katz, who served as assistant secretary for mental health and substance abuse,
announced her resignation on Thursday, citing the "violent takeover of the Capitol building."

"I believe that this behavior was totally unacceptable and, in my own heart, I simply am not
able to continue," she said in a statement. "I believe that we are given certain life situations
where we must make the difficult decisions and we get one chance to do it the right way."

Image
Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband, back row, third from right, announced he would resign
effective Friday.Credit. .. Leah Millis/Reuters

assistant attorney general

Eric S. Dreiband
Mr. Dreiband, who led the Justice Department's civil rights division since 2018, announced
he would resign effective Friday in a lengthy statement calling out "illegal bigotry" and "hate-
motivated violence."

"Our Constitution and civil rights laws embody the ideals that all persons have worth, and are
entitled to equal justice, respect, decency, peace and safety," Mr. Dreiband said. "It is the
duty of government to secure these rights, and it is the duty of the civil rights division to
protect all people in this nation against any violation of these rights, including hate-
motivated violence, exploitation, unlawful discrimination and bigotry."

Additional national security officials
On Friday, officials confirmed that five National Security Council officials had resigned over
the past few days.

The officials were Rob Greenway, senior director for Middle Eastern and North African
affairs; Anthony Ruggiero, senior director for weapons of mass destruction and biodefense;
Ryan Tully, senior director for European and Russian affairs; Mark Vandroff, senior director

5/6
159

for defense policy; and Erin Walsh, senior director for African affairs.

Reporting was contributed by Maggie Haberman, Annie Kami, Christine Hauser, Michael
Crowley and Michael Levenson.

6/6
160

1/15/2021 US Capito! Riot Incited by Trump ls His Latest Impeachable Offense - Bloomberg

I Testified at Trump's Last
Impeachment. Impeach Him Again.
The insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is exactly why Trump should have been removed from office a
year ago.

By Noah Feldman
January 7, 2021, 12,00 PM EST

A building wasn't the only thing damaged yesterday. Photographer: Bloomberg

It's perfectly logical to call for the immediate impeachment and removal of President Donald
Trump for inciting a mob to storm the U.S. Capitol and interrupt the process of declaring Joe
Eiden president. Attempting to interfere with the democratic process counts as a high crime and
misdemeanor under the Constitution.

But I would like to remind us all that the time to remove Trump was a year ago, when he actually
was impeached - precisely for attempting to corrupt the 2020 election. What Trump did on

https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/artic!es/2021-01-07/u-s-capitol-riot-indted-by-trump-is-his-latest-impeachab!e-offense 115
161

1/15/2021 U.S. Capito! Riot Incited by Trump ls His Latest Impeachable Offense - Bloomberg

January 6, 2021, was no more impeachable than what he did on July 25, 2019, when he phoned
Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and asked him to discredit Eiden.

Ethereum has a unique place in the digital
ecosystem Learn More

Video

Which distortion of democracy is worse? Trying to steal an election secretly, in advance, or
publicly inciting the interruption of a largely ceremonial process after the fact? The former could
have changed the outcome of the 2020 vote. The latter had essentially zero chance of blocking
Biden's ascent.

The Ukraine call was a serious and corrupt effort to misuse the office of the presidency to retain
power. It was election cheating, no more and no less. Trump's highly public post-election
conduct, including yesterday's incitement, has been repugnant and damaging, but it has not
been a realistic plan to abuse the presidency to remain in power.

MORE FROM CBSDFW

CBSDFW.com Staff

3/4
171

The CBS DFv\l team is a group of experienced journalists who along with our many CBS 11
reporters, bring you content on CBSDFW.com. More from CBSDFW.com Staff

4/4
172

" bjections" at the Joint
Session of ongress:
Countering the Lies

JANUARY 6, 2021
173

Voter
Protection
Program

The Voter Protection Program is a nonpartisan project that advances legal
strategies and recommendations to protect the vote and make sure every vote
is counted. We have a specific focus on the unique tools available to state
attorneys general, governors, secretaries of state, and law enforcement
officials. Our goal is to promote election integrity and ensure safe, fair, and
secure elections. For more information: www.voterprotectionprogram.org.
174

Voter
Protection
Program

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1
ARIZONA .............................................................................................................. 2
GEORGIA ............................................................................................................. 5
MICHIGAN .......................................................................................................... 12
NEVADA ............................................................................................................. 15
PENNSYLVANIA ................................................................................................ 20
WISCONSIN ....................................................................................................... 27
175

Voter
Protection
Program

INTRODUCTION

During the January 6, 2021, Joint Session of Congress, President Trump's supporters in the House of
Representatives and Senate have pledged to reject the electoral votes from several states based on
claims of-or, more often, mere allusions to-fraud.

The allegations are meritless. They are either (1) entirely without basis, (2) reflect a profound ignorance
of state election law and procedure, and/or (3) seek to argue that the results are unreliable simply
because there is no way definitively to prove a negative, that is, that there was no fraud.

The allegations are also past their sell-by date. For two months, President Trump and his supporters
have tested their theories in multiple courts of law, and they have ultimately lost every single time.
When offered opportunities to present evidence, they have failed. That they remain muddled does not
render the situation confusing: President Trump lost the election and nothing in the law or the facts can
change the outcome.

Nevertheless, these myths continue to hold sway over some. So, in this guide we offer a state-by-state
compendium of the falsehoods that have been circulating and attendant rebuttals. We do so to negate
the deleterious effects of the president's ongoing public conspiracy mongering and the lies that we
anticipate will be advanced at the Joint Session on January 6. The myths may persevere on the fringe,
but we will continue to fight them. Americans can rest easy knowing they are false. The election was
free, fair, and conclusive.
176

Voter
Protection
Program

ARIZONA

1. Ballot Duplication Errors
Myth:

Votes for Donald Trump were "!lipped" to Joe Biden during the ballot duplication process in Maricopa
County. During an inspection of a small sampling of ballots, there were several errors that took votes
away from Donald Trump. If that "error rate" were applied to all the ballots cast in Maricopa County,
Donald Trump would win the election.

Facts:
The Chair of the Arizona Republican Party, Kelli Ward, filed a Jg111(sJJji seeking to overturn the
presidential election results, claiming that ballot "duplication" errors in Maricopa County led to votes for
Donald Trump not being counted.

In Arizona, if a ballot is damaged or defective and cannot be read by the county's tabulation machines,
the ballot is sent to a bipartisan ballot duplication board. Duplication is also required for electronic
ballots-ballots sent by uniformed or overseas voters. The duplication boards review the ballot and
duplicate the voter's choices onto a new ballot. The board has the option to use software that auto-
populates the duplicated ballot based on a scanned image of the original ballot, then the board reviews
the duplicated ballot and makes any necessary corrections to match the original ballot. The board also
has the option to manually duplicate the ballot by filling in each vote bubble by hand. The duplicated
ballot is then run through the county's tabulation machines and counted. In total, Maricopa County
duplicated 27,869 ballots in this election.

Ward's lawsuit claimed that the duplication boards may have made errors when duplicating ballots
because the duplication software was "highly inaccurate" and required the duplication boards or
observers lo "catch" errors. She requested a "reasonable inspection," and the court allowed her to
inspect a sampling of 1,626 duplicated ballots. During the inspection, the parties identified nine
duplication errors. Six ballots originally cast for Trump had no vote or an overvote on the duplicated
ballot (+6 for Trump), and two ballots originally cast for Biden had no vote or an overvote on the
duplicate (+2 for Biden). One ballot had a vote for Trump, but the duplicated ballot was erroneously
marked as a vote for Biden (+2 for Trump).

These duplication errors resulted in a net gain of six votes for Donald Trump (+8 for Trump, +2 for
Biden), or an error rate of .37% in Trump's favor. Even if this error rate from the small sample size were
applied to the entire universe of duplicated ballots, Trump would net only 103 votes, which falls far short
of Joe Biden's ·"""'"'""'c.::-"'=->'..'S"'-s<'"-'·of victory in Arizona.
After a two-day evidentiary hearing, the trial court rej.?cted Ward's claims and upheld the election
results in Arizona. The court found that these few duplication mistakes were innocent human errors,
there was no evidence of fraud or misconduct, and the errors wouldn't make a difference in the
outcome of the election. Ward appealed, and the Arizona Supreme Court All seven justices
unanimously held that "the statistically negligible error presented in this case falls far short of warranting
relief" in an election contest, and Ward failed "to present any evidence of 'misconduct,' 'illegal votes' or
177

Voter
Protection
Program

that the Biden Electors 'did not in fact receive the highest number of votes for office,' let alone establish
any degree of fraud or a sufficient error rate that would undermine the certainty of the election results."

2. Signature Verification
Mvth:

Maricopa County did not let Republican poll observers stand close enough to properly observe election
workers while they verified signatures on mail-in ballots. Because observers were unable to see the
process up close, election workers may have counted ballots with fraudulent signatures. Without
sufficient oversight, these officials may have allowed ineligible voters, or even "dead people" to vote by
mail.

Facts:

Arizona has used mail-in voting for more than two decades. Before sending mail-in ballots to Arizona
voters, election officials take multiple steps to ensure that the voter is properly registered to vote, still
resides at the address listed on their voter registration records, and either requested an early ballot for
this election or signed up for Arizona's Permanent Early Voting List ("PEVL"). When county election
officials receive a mail-in ballot, they review the ballot return envelope to make sure it is signed, then
compare the signature to the signatures on file in the voter's registration record. The purpose of the
signature review process is to verify the voter's identity.

Arizona law does not require county election officials to allow observers to watch the signature
verification process, but Maricopa County allowed political party observers to do so in this election. In
Kelli Ward's lawsuit (described above) seeking to overturn the presidential election in Arizona, she
claimed that Republican poll observers did not get to sufficiently observe Maricopa County's signature
verification process for mail-in ballots. These observers claimed that they were standing ten to twelve
feet away and could not see the voters' signatures, even when using "binoculars."
Based on this alleged lack of observation access, Ward requested an "inspection" of mail-in ballots, and
the court allowed an inspection of a sampling of 100 ballot return envelopes. Ward hired an expert
witness to review the signatures on these 100 ballots to look for evidence of forgery. During the
inspection, no one (including Ward's expert) found any evidence of fraudulent signatures or any reason
not to count the mail-in ballots. The Maricopa County Elections Director confirmed that all 100
signatures matched the signatures on file in the county's voter registration records.

At the end of a two-day evidentiary hearing, the trial court IBiQQ,tQQ Ward's claims about alleged
insufficient "observation," in part because Republican poll observers never raised the claim at a time
when it could have been remedied, and instead waited until after Donald Trump lost the election. The
court also found that Maricopa County election officials "faithfully" followed Arizona's signature
verification requirements, and there was no evidence of fraud or misconduct. On appeal, the Arizona
Supreme Court unanimously and upheld Arizona's election results.
178

Voter
Protection
Program

3. Litigation Challenges
Myth:

Ongoing litigation alleges serious problems with Arizona's vote-count procedures, including regarding
fraud and ballot duplication.

Facts:
Arizona courts have decisively rejected these claims of fraud and the supposed issues with the election.
While it is true that a meritless petition for certiorari remains pending at the United States Supreme
Court, the issues raised revolve around state law. Both the Arizona trial court and Arizona Supreme
Court rejected the contest suit filed by Kelli Ward. The Arizona Supreme Court decided only state law
issues, and in fact expressly held that it "need not decide" if the "federal 'safe harbor' deadline applies
to this contest." The trial court held a hearing over two days and found her claims had no merit. The trial
court found no fraud, no misconduct, and no illegal votes. The court entered an order "confirming" that
President-Elect Biden had won the state's electoral votes. See Ward v. Jackson, No. CV2020-015285
(Ariz. Super. Ct., Maricopa Cnty. Dec. 4, 2020). The Arizona Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that
ruling, finding that "the challenge fails to present any evidence of 'misconduct,' 'illegal votes' or that the
Biden Electors 'did not in fact receive the highest number of votes for office,' let alone establish any
degree of fraud or a sufficient error rate that would undermine the certainty of the election results."
Ward v. Jackson, CV-20-0343-AP/EL, slip op. at 6 (Ariz. Dec. 8, 2020), pet. for cert. filed, No. 20-809
(U.S. Dec. 11, 2020).

Additionally, with respect to ballot duplication, it is reviewed by a two-person bipartisan ballot
duplication board. An inspection of duplicated ballots revealed nine errors, which resulted in a net gain
of only six votes for Donald Trump. Even if this "error rate" were applied in Trump's favor to the entire
universe of duplicated ballots in Arizona, Trump would net only 103 votes, which falls far short of Joe
Biden's 10,457-vote margin of victory in Arizona. The claim that ballot duplication errors could have
affected "over four hundred fifty thousand ballots statewide" is false. There were only 27,869 total
duplicated ballots in Maricopa County. As noted above, the inspection revealed only nine errors in
those ballots, and the Arizona Supreme Court held that even if that error rate were applied to all
duplicated ballots, it would not change the outcome of the election.
Moreover, just last night, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal of another meritless
election contest that was filed in Pinal County-Burk v. Ducey, CV-20-0349-AP/EL (Ariz. Jan. 5, 2021 ).
After "consider[ing] the record, the trial court's December 15, 2020 minute entry, and the
briefing," a four-member panel of the Court, concluded that the "contest here failed" because the
contestant "is not a qualified elector" and the contest "failed to file a timely contest that complied with
the election challenge statutes." As a result of this ruling, there are no other election contests pending in
an Arizona court.
179

Voter
Protection
Program

GEORGIA

1. Georgia's signature verification process
A Georgia statute requires election officials to compare the signatures of absentee voters on absentee
ballot envelopes to the voters' signatures on registration rolls and if the signatures do not match to
reject the ballots, subject to voters' ability to cure their ballots.'

In March 2020, pursuant to a settlement agreement, the Secretary of State agreed to require three
voting registrars to participate in signature verification before an absentee ballot was rejected and to
implement procedures to facilitate voters' ability to cure rejected signatures. The new signature
verification regulation was implemented for the 2020 general election.

Myth:

• Objectors reportedly will claim that the settlement agreement unlawfully altered the statutorily
prescribed process for reviewing signatures, making it much more difficult to challenge
signatures that appeared to be invalid.

• The Objectors have pointed to a lawsuit filed by Lin Wood which asserted that the settlement
agreement is unconstitutional because the Secretary of State unilaterally altered Georgia
election laws. 2 The Objectors claim that the lawsuit was dismissed by the lower court for largely
procedural reasons but that a petition is pending before the Supreme Court.

• President Trump has suggested that a substantial decrease in the percentage of absentee
ballots rejected in 2020 compared to 2018 demonstrates that the process failed to detect
fraudulently cast ballots.

Both federal and Georgia state courts have rejected the argument that the signature verification
procedures adopted after the settlement agreement violate the law and upheld the validity of the
procedure used for signature validation in the 2020 election. 3

• The courts held that the Georgia statute on signature verification gave the Secretary authority to
adopt implementing regulations and that the regulation issued by Secretary Brad Raffensperger
pursuant to the settlement is consistent both with the statute and with constitutional
requirements. 4

O.C.GA § 21-2-386(a).
See L. Lin Wood, Jr., v. Brad Raffensperger, eta/., 1-20-cv-04651-SDG (N.D. Ga.).
See Wood v. Raffensperger, 2020 WL 6817513 (N.D. Ga. Nov. 20, 2020), afl'd, 2020 WL 7094866 (11th Cir. Dec. 5,
2020); Trump v. Kemp, 1:20-cv-05310 (N.D. Ga. Jan. 5, 2021); Boland v. Raffensperger, Dist Ct Fulton County, Docket No.
2020CV 343018, aff'd, Case no. S21M0565 (Ga., Dec. 14, 2020).
4
Wood, 2020 WL 6817513 at *10; Trump, 1:20-cv-05310 at *22-*25; Boland, No. 2020CV 343018 at 5 n. 3, 5-6.
180

Voter
Protection
Program

• Steven Grimberg, a Trump-appointed federal district court judge in the Northern District of
Georgia, dismissed the Lin Wood lawsuit in an opinion that fully addressed the merits of Wood's
claims. 5 In other words, the dismissal was not for largely procedural reasons, as Objectors will
claim.

• The Trump-appointed judge found that requiring three registrars rather than one to examine
signatures before rejecting a voter's ballot was not only permissible under the statute and the
Constitution but was applied in a wholly uniform manner across the entire state and raised no
equal protection or due process issues. 6

• The opinion was unanimously affirmed by a panel of three federal appellate court judges,
including a judge appointed by Trump and a judge appointed by President George W. Bush. 7
While the plaintiff has asked the Supreme Court to review the case, there is no indication that
the Court will do so. The plaintiff asked the Court to consider the case on an expedited basis so
that it would be resolved before Georgia's runoff election on January 5 and before Congress met
on January 6. 8 The Court ignored the request.

• Both federal and state courts held that the signature verification process established pursuant to
regulation resulted in "more thorough verification."9

• Both federal and the state courts concluded that the validly adopted regulation should be
expected to result in fewer signature rejections not because it made it more difficult to challenge
unlawfully cast ballots, but because it was designed to "reduce the number of lawful ballots that
are improperly thrown out."' 0

• Trump-appointed Judge Grimberg found that "the percentage of absentee ballots rejected for
missing or mismatched information and signature is the exact same for the 2018 election and
the General Election" (.15%) despite the increase in the total number of absentee ballots
submitted.''

Moreover, courts rejected the argument that the process for matching signatures violated equal
protection or due process rights, finding that the theory on which such arguments were based had been
"squarely rejected." 12

In upholding the validity of the signature verification procedure, Judge Grimberg noted that the
settlement agreement had been publicly available and had been in effect for at least three elections
prior to the November 2020 election. 13 No party objected to the regulation before its adoption or its

Wood, 2020 Wl 6817513 at '10.
Id. at •g -•12.
Wood v. Raffensperger, 981 F.3d 1307, 1318 (11th Cir. 2020).
Motion for Expedited Consideration, Wood v. Raffensperger, No. 20-14418 (S. Ct.), filed Dec. 8, 2020.
Boland, No. 2020CV343018 at 5 n. 3; Wood, 2020 Wl 6817513 at '10.
10
Boland, No. 2020CV343018 at 5 n. 3; Wood, 2020 Wl 6817513 at •10.
11
Wood, 2020 Wl 6817513 at •10.
12
Id.at *8-*9.
13
Id. at'?.
181

Voter
Protection
Program

implementation, during the 2020 primary election, or at any time prior to the November election. Only
after the November election was this objection raised. 14

2. Alleged unlawful votes in the Georgia election

Myth:

The Objectors point to an election contesJ filed by the Trump Campaign in the Fulton County Superior
Court which alleges that numerous categories of people cast votes unlawfully, including:

• "As many as 2,560 felons with an uncompleted sentence." ( See Georgia contest 1161)

• 66,247 underage individuals. (1164)

• 2,423 unregistered people. (1167)

• 4,926 people who were registered to vote in both Georgia and another state. (111173-81)

• 1,043 individuals who had illegally registered to vote using a postal office box as their habitation.
(1187)

• 8,718 dead people. (11103)

• The majority of these numbers were generated by two so-called "experts," Matthew Braynard
and Bryan Geels.

o Braynard does not have the appropriate qualifications to issue expert testimony on these
topics, he does not follow standard methodology in the relevant scientific field, and the
survey underlying several of his opinions is fatally flawed. See _Report of Prof. Stephen
Ansolabehere for a thorough analysis of the flaws in Braynard's methodology. (Other
expert reports also rebutting these claims are available here at entry 62).

o Geels, on the other hand, is prone to misinterpreting minor errors that he found. As MIT
Professor Charles Stewart noted in his expert report: "The anomalies Mr. Geels
uncovers are generally minor typographical and clerical errors that are neither signs of
fraudulent behavior nor [of] lax control over election administration in the state." (See
Aoo_endix A for Stewart's expert report).

• The numbers of alleged unlawful votes were generated by cross-checking databases. Matching
voters' names from one database to entries in other databases (like change of address or death
records) is highly unreliable, in part because different people with identical names and birth
dates are not uncommon in large databases. Georgia's voter registration database includes

14
Id.
182

Voter
Protection
Program

about 7.7 million people. When it is cross-checked with databases containing hundreds of
millions of datapoints, numerous mistaken matches are inevitable.

o As Ansolabehere notes, clerical errors, inconsistencies, and typographical errors in fields
such as name, address, and date of birth can create significant errors in attempts to link
records across different lists. This includes the example of linking a voter file to National
Change of Address, telephone records, death registries, or across different states' voter
files. Both false positives (matches that should not have occurred) and false negatives
(matches that did not occur but should have) arise. 15

o With the slap-dash sort of effort made by the so-called experts, small inconsistencies
that are not in fact errors will result in false positives or false negatives. For example:
how does such cross-checking account for someone who may be "Elizabeth" in one list
but "Liz" in another? Or a name that appears with a "Jr." in one list but not in another?

• The methodological flaws of the Braynard and Geels reports were so readily apparent that even
basic spot checks revealed how error-filled the allegations were. During a hearing in the Georgia
legislature, one state representative, Bee Nguyen, laid out what her quick research found:

o Many of the so-called postal boxes which voters were alleged to have unlawfully
registered as their habitation were actually the mail centers at large condo complexes.

o Of the voters alleged to have voted in both Georgia and another state (the so-called
"double voters") Nguyen looked up the first 10 names on the list and found 8 of them
listed in Georgia property records as residents. Taking another name from the list-a
woman allegedly registered in Georgia and Arizona-she confirmed this person's
residence and voting record in Georgia, and she found another voter with the exact
same name listed in the Arizona voter rolls, born in the same year but with a different
birth date. She also identified another person on the list in a similar situation: voters had
the same name but different birth dates. One of the names on the list of people who had
allegedly voted in two states was a person who shared the same name with his father.
The Georgian voted in Georgia. His father voted in Maryland. There was no cross-border
voting.

• Repor!flJ.S. who have chased down the allegations also have found that they are riddled with
errors.

o For example, one of the so-called dead voters, "James Blalock," was in fact his live
widow, Mrs. James Blalock, voting while alive.

o And the dead Linda Kesler did not vote. The live Lynda Kesler did.

o Meanwhile Deborah Jean Christiansen, a Roswell, Georgia, resident who died in 2019
did not vote. Her voter registration was canceled in 2019, and the county did not mail her
a ballot for the Nov. 3, 2020 election. But a different woman also named Deborah Jean
15
See Ansolabahere, Flesponse to Matthew Braynard Expfill.B!"P-9.r!, at ,i 32.
183

Voter
Protection
Program

Christiansen, who was born in the same year, did vote in Cobb County, Georgia, in
2020. However, that woman has a different birthday and social security number.

• The allegation that people under-17 were allowed to vote misunderstands Georgia which
allows 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote as long as they turn 18 by election day.

3. Election Observers

Mvth:
• Objectors allege that certain Republican observers had a statutory right to observe the electoral
process yet have claimed they were not permitted to be present or were prevented from
effectively observing the process.

• Objectors also point to affidavits in which a handful of observers claim they observed ballots
voted for Trump placed in stacks of ballots being counted for Biden or otherwise being
mishandled.

Facts:
• The designation of poll watchers by political parties and establishment of procedures to permit
them to observe the electoral process is the responsibility of each of the 159 counties in
Georgia. There is no statewide monitoring of this function.

• Furthermore, in an election conducted in the midst of a pandemic, each of the 159 counties was
required to balance the close presence of poll watchers to election workers against the
requirements for social distancing essential for the protection of public health.

• Given the disparate circumstances existing in thousands of polling places in 159 counties and
the absence of detailed statewide standards and monitoring, compounded by the difficulty of
conducting an election in the midst of a pandemic, it would be surprising if some poll workers did
not believe that a different balance should have been struck between supervision and public
safety.

• Nothing in observers' claims was sufficient to establish that the integrity of the electoral process
had been compromised.

• As the Trump-appointed federal district court judge in Georgia found, there is no legal "authority
providing for a right to unrestrained observation or monitoring of vote counting, recounting, or
auditing."16

• No court has credited claims that ballots were mishandled or miscounted, and Georgia
conducted a hand audit of every ballot cast and two recounts. The audit and recounts would
have caught any significant error in tabulating ballots.

4. Court Cases Addressing Georgia's Election

16
Wood, 2020 WL 6817513 at •12.
184

Voter
Protection
Program

Myth:

The Objectors claim that lawsuits relating to the election have been dismissed on procedural grounds
and have failed to substantively examine the constitutional challenges and allegations of misconduct.

Facts:

Federal and state courts have thoroughly vetted the merits of constitutional challenges and allegations
of misconduct and have found that they are meritless.

Multiple courts have rejected claims that Georgia's election was unlawful or tainted by
misconduct on the merits. As one court explained, allegations of misconduct "rest on
speculation," not fact. 17

Objectors claim a lawsuit challenging the signature-verification settlement was dismissed on
procedural grounds. As noted above, a Trump-appointed judge fully examined the merits and
found that the signature-verification procedures adopted after the settlement were consistent
with state statute and the Constitution. 18 The opinion was affirmed by a panel of three federal
appellate court judges, including a judge appointed by Trump and a judge appointed by
President George W. Bush. 19 While the plaintiff has asked the Supreme Court to review the
case, there is no indication that the Court will do so.

Objectors point to a lawsuit involving voting software and the mishandling of ballots that was
purportedly dismissed for lack of standing. The case challenged the use of Dominion voting
machines in Georgia. In that case, the court found that the plaintiffs improperly filed the suit in
federal instead of state court, that plaintiffs lacked standing, and that plaintiffs waited too long to
bring the suit when they could have challenged the Dominion machines well before the
°
election. 2 Finally, the court found that it could not "substitute its judgment for that of two-and-a-
half million Georgia voters who voted for Joe Biden."21 In a very similar suit challenging use of
Dominion voting machines in Arizona, brought by the same attorney, the court reached the
merits and found that the complaint relied on implausible "innuendos" and "wholly unreliable
sources." 22 The court concluded: "Allegations that find favor in the public sphere of gossip and
innuendo cannot be a substitute for earnest pleadings and procedure in federal court." 23

Objectors also point to the Trump election challenge pending in Fulton County Court. They say
that the "case was dismissed for procedural reasons" and that the case "has not been assigned
lo a judge." In fact, the case was assigned lo a judge in Futon County, who ordered that the
case would proceed in the normal course. 24 Trump challenged the judge's authority to hear the

17
Boland, No. 2020CV343018; see also Trump, 1:20-cv-05310 at •22; In re Enforcement of Election Laws, No.
SPCV2000982-J3 (Ga. Sup. Ct. Chatham Cnty. Nov. 5, 2020).
18
Wood, 2020 WL 6817513 at •9 -•12.
19
Wood, 981 F.3d at 1318.
20
12m2020 Transcript, Pearson v. Kemp, No. 1 :20-cv-4809 (N.D. Ga.), available at
httQ2://WW'fL~<;:QD)ex1/i\J{joJJ·d1sm1sses-sidtW)':!LOWell-b1d-to-overturn-b1den-win-in-geQrqia/414ffba0-0d59-
4516-aee9-738b52f7!925/.
21
Id. at 43.
22
Bowyer v. Ducey, No. CV-20-02321-PHX-DJH, 2020 WL 7238261, at '14 (D. Ariz. Dec. 9, 2020).
23
Id. at '16.
24
Order on Case Status, Trump v. Raffensperger, No. 2020-cv-343255 (Ga. Sup. Ct. Fulton Cnty. Dec. 9, 2020).
185

Voter
Protection
Program

case in the Georgia Supreme Court, which refused to intervene. 25 The case has not resulted in a
ruling at this point. However, Trump filed a similar lawsuit in federal court, claiming the state
court was not acting expeditiously in resolving the matter. The federal court denied Trump's
motion for emergency relief, rejecting Trump's arguments and finding "the delay is [Trump's]
own doing." 26 Regardless, the allegations in the suit are meritless, as explained in point 2,
above.

25
Trump v. Raffensperger, No. S21 M0561 (Ga. Dec. 12, 2020).
26
Trump, 1 :20-cv-0531 0 at 16.
186

Voter
Protection
Program

MICHIGAN

1. Allegations that More than 10,000 Confirmed or Suspected Deceased Individuals Voted

A potential objection is that thousands of votes on behalf of deceased individuals were allegedly
counted.

Facts:

The Michigan Department of State (DOS) has already rebutted such claims in detail, explaining that,
"[b]allots of voters who have died are rejected in Michigan. even if the voter cast an absentee ballot and
then died before Election Day. Those who make claims otherwise are wrong, and the lists circulating
claiming to show this is happening are not accurate." Michigan Department of State, Deceased voters'
ballots are not counted, Michigan.gov (last visited Jan. 6, 2021 ), https://www.michigan.gov/documents/
sos/Dece11sed Voters Fact Check 707424 7.pdt_

The DOS notes that it "and news organizations have drawn samples and reviewed samples of lists
claiming to show votes cast by deceased individuals in Michigan," and they are "not aware of a single
confirmed case showing that a ballot was actually cast on behalf of a deceased individual." Id. Reasons
why these claims have proven to be inaccurate include:

• Many of the allegedly deceased individuals are alive and registered to vote in Michigan, but
simply have names similar to deceased individuals who are not registered in the Qualified Voter
File.

• "In some cases, because of a clerical error, a ballot will be recorded as cast by a deceased
individual when it was actually cast by a living individual with a similar name. For example, a
ballot that was cast by John A. Smith, Jr., who is alive, might be accidentally recorded as having
been received by John A. Smith, Sr., who is deceased." Id.

• "The Qualified Voter File might contain an erroneous birthdate or a placeholder birthdate that
might make it look like an individual must be deceased based on the birthdate, when in fact that
voter is alive. For example, an individual might have been born in 1990 but the birthdate was
accidentally entered as 1890. Or, if the birthdate is unknown, a placeholder birthdate such as
Jan 1, 1900 might be used." Id.

• "In some cases, a deceased individual is still registered to vote, but this does not mean the
individual actually voted. Michigan uses death data from the Social Security Administration
Master Death Index to regularly remove the names of individuals who are deceased from the
Qualified Voter File. In some cases, this process may not identify an individual who has died, in
which case that individual will stay on the voter rolls until the local election clerk identifies the
187

Voter
Protection
Program

deceased individual's record and cancels it. There are safeguards in place to ensure an
absentee ballot cannot be voted on behalf of another individual (deceased or otherwise),
including a signature match performed on the signed absentee ballot envelope." Id.

2. Antrim County

In King v. Whitmer, plaintiffs put forth a host of baseless allegations, including with respect to events
that occurred in Antrim County that were the result of human error and were quickly identified and
corrected. See First Amended Complaint, at 45-66, King v. Whitmer, No. 2:20-cv-13134-LVP-RSW
(E.D. Mich. Dec. 7, 2020), ECF No. 6.

As the Michigan Department of State explained in a November 7, 2020 fact sheet, the error "in reporting
unofficial results in Antrim County Michigan was the result of a user error that was quickly identified and
corrected; did not affect the way ballots were actually tabulated; and would have been identified in the
county canvass before official results were reported even if it had not been identified earlier." Michigan
Department of State, Isolated User Error in Antrim County Does Not Affect Election Results, Has no
Impact on Other Counties or States Michigan.gov (last visited Jan. 6, 2021 ),
https:/lwww.michi!mn.gov/docLJments/soslAntrim Fact Check 707197 ].Qdf. The human error
involved a failure to update all systems in such a way that they could properly communicate with one
another, the result of which was that ballots were tabulated correctly, but the unofficial reports were
erroneous. The error was swiftly corrected.

Furthermore, what happened in Antrim County does not have implications for the accuracy of results in
other counties because, as DOS explains, "[e]ven if the error had not been noticed and quickly fixed, it
would have been caught and identified during the county canvass when printed totals tapes are
reviewed." Id. Again, "[t]his was an isolated error, there is no evidence this user error occurred
elsewhere in the state, and if it did it would be caught during county canvasses, which are conducted by
bipartisan boards of county canvassers." Id.

3. Lack of a Pre-Certification Audit as Allegedly Contrary to Michigan Law

Myth:

Members of Congress may also object on the basis that there was no pre-certification audit of the
election results in Michigan, even though one was requested, demanded, or even allegedly promised.

Michigan's statutory scheme is clear that any audits, if appropriate, should happen alter the certification
is complete. See Costantino v. City of Detron No. 20-014780-AW (3rd Cir. Wayne Cly., Mich. Nov. 13,
2020). Canvassing the returns and certifying the results is a purely ministerial function.

Recounts, not audits, are the procedures provided by law to challenge the election result, and even
recounts do not delay certification. Michigan law makes clear that an audit "is not a recount and does
188

Voter
Protection
Program

not change any certified election results." MCL 168.31a(2). Accordingly, there is no valid basis to delay
certification for an audit, which explicitly has no bearing on the certification process.

On November 19, 2020, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued a s!sl1Q.(D.Q111 making clear
that her office was "on track to perform a statewide risk-limiting audit of November's general election,
which we've been building towards and planning for over the last 22 months, as well as local procedural
audits of individual jurisdictions." See also Michigan Department of State, Statewide audit will be paired
with audits in more than 200 jurisdictions Michigan.gov (last visited Jan. 6, 2021 ),
httos://www.michigan.gov/so111/0 4669.7-192-26847-547004-- 00.html. Under MCL 168.847, however,
this audit could only take place after statewide certification of the results, which is the predicate for the
release of ballots and voting equipment.

4. Absent Voter Counting Boards at the Detroit TCF Center

Objections may be raised concerning activities and events at Detroit's centralized Absent Voter
Counting Board ("AVCB") at the TCF Center on November 3 and 4, 2020. Allegations of suspicious,
fraudulent, or discriminatory activity at the TCF Center formed the core of many of the post-election
lawsuits filed in Michigan's state and federal courts. See, e.g., """!.!'-"''-"'"·"'' Costantino v. City of Detroit,
No. 20-014780-AW (Mich. 3d Cir. Wayne Cly., Nov. 13, 2020).

The thrust of the likely objection can be summed up as follows: Hundreds of Republicans filed affidavits
in various actions alleging widespread, allegedly suspicious activity at the TCF Center that may have
represented improper attempts to increase the number of votes for Biden (i.e., to "steal the vote"), and
Republican challengers were discriminated against and obstructed from meaningfully observing and
challenging the irregularities thus the true outcome is unknowable.

None of these allegations hold up to any scrutiny, and no court has found them credible.

In COf?.iru'J.tinio_J1·•. Q,[ty-'""'-·'"'·''·"""·"• No. 20-014780, slip op. at 3 (Mich. 3d Cir. Wayne Cty., Nov. 13, 2020),
Judge Timothy Kenny "analyz[ed] the affidavits and briefs submitted by the parties" and concluded that
the TCF election administrators "offered a more accurate and persuasive explanation of activity within
the [AVCB] at the TCF Center." The affidavits submitted in support of a motion for preliminary injunction
seeking to block certification of Wayne County's results were "decidedly contradicted" and "incorrect
and not credible." Id. at 12.

Highly respected and long-time State Elections Director Christopher Thomas-who served under
governors of both major parties-came out of retirement to serve as special consultant to Detroit and
led challenger relations at the TCF Center. He has explained in an affidavit submitted in Costantino that
"there was no fraud, or even unrectified procedural errors, associated with processing of the absentee
ballots for the City of Detroit," (Thomas Aff. at ,i 40) (attached her.eta as.Apps,nclix C), and that most, if
not all, of the alleged irregularities were actually election workers following proper procedure. The
misinterpretations of these actions by Republican challengers reflect a lack of understanding about the
basics of the election law and procedure and are indicative of the lack of training of those particular
Republican challengers.
189

Voter
Protection
Program

NEVADA
Many of the attacks on the validity of the vote count in Nevada were comprehensively addressed and
rejected after extensive examination of the factual record by Judge James Todd Russell of the First
Judicial District Court of the State of Nevada in his order of December 4, 2020. That order granted the
motion of the Biden electors to dismiss the statement of contest brought by the Trump electors, and
together with other cases, definitively rejected claims of wrongdoing. 27 Judge Russell's order was
unanl!IlQ!!filYJ ffir t on December 8, 2020. 28

1. Ballot Harvesting
Myth:

Nevada's expansion of mail-in voting resulted in illegal ballot harvesting and fraudulent votes for mail-in
ballots.

Facts:

Nevada courts found no fraud for any votes, including mail-in votes.

• "The Court finds there is no evidence that voter fraud rates associated with mail in voting are
systematically higher than voter fraud rates associated with other forms of voting .... [T]he illegal
vote rate totaled at most only 0.00054 percent."29

Nevada voters followed the law with respect to the collection of ballots.

• Secretary Cegavske, a Republican, defended the integrity of the election. In fact, Secretary
Cegavske issues her own "myth versus fact" document that debunks all these conspiracies. 30
She states that "we have yet to see any evidence of wide-spread fraud." 31 She noted that four
separate cases questioned the integrity of the election in Nevada. In all cases, "[a]fter examining
records presented, each case was discounted due to a lack of evidence." 32 She said that "we
have not been presented with evidence of non-citizens voting in the 2020 election." 33

2. Voter Fraud - Double Votes, Etc.

Fraud occurred at multiple points in the voting process at rates that exceed the margin of victory in the
presidential race. Voter fraud rates associated with mail-in voting are systematically higher than voter
fraud rates associated with other forms of voting. Some voters were permitted to vote twice and were
sent and cast multiple mail ballots. Some voters received and cast multiple mail-in ballots, other voters

27
Judge Russell's Order Granting Mot. to Dismiss Statement of Contest ("Russell Order") is available at
htt .//assets doa.Jmen clo
26 Law v. Whitmer, 2020 WL 7240299 (Nev. 2020). Available at Ai;,pendix B.
29
Russell Order at ,i,i 73-7 4.
30
NVSOS Facts v. Myths Sheet, available at ht\ps./lwww.nvsos..QQY&oslhome/showdocument?id=9191.
31
Id. at 1 (Fact #2).
32
Id. at 2 (Fact #4).
33
Id. at 2 (Fact #5).
190

Voter
Protection
Program

voted twice, votes from deceased voters were improperly cast and counted, and votes cast by persons
impersonating others were improperly counted.

Facts:

Nevada courts found, on the basis of both fact evidence and expert testimony, that there is no evidence
that voter fraud rates associated with mail voting are systematically higher than voter fraud rates
associated with other forms of voting. 34

• The expert witness put forward by the Plaintiffs to contest the election in Nevada state court
testified that he had no personal knowledge that any voting fraud occurred in Nevada's 2020
election. 35

Nevada courts found that the record did not support a finding that any Nevada voter voted twice
or that any individuals were sent and cast multiple mail ballots, that votes from deceased voters
were improperly cast and counted, or that ballots completed and submitted by persons
impersonating others were cast or counted. 36

Nevada courts also rejected claims that Nevada failed to maintain its voter lists properly. 37

Nevada courts concluded that there was no evidence that illegal votes were cast and counted or
that legal votes not counted at all due to voter fraud. 38

• The allegations of Jesse Binnall regarding fraud were rejected by multiple courts. "There is no
evidence that any vote that should lawfully not be counted has been or will be counted."39
Binnall was not denied meaningful discovery. In the contest case (the Law case), each party
could take up to 15 depositions, and the court held a full evidentiary hearing. 40 In the Kraus
case, the court conducted a "ten-hour evidentiary hearing" where the court specifically rejected
claims made by Binnall. 41 These cases were affirmed by the Nevada Supreme Court. 42

In total, at least 8 different lawsuits were brought in Nevada challenging the election. All were
rejected, and many discussed the merits. These cases are: (1) Law v. Whitmer; (2) Kraus v.
Cegavske; (3) Trump v. Cegavske; (4) Election Integrity Project of Nev. v. State ex rel.
Cegavske; (5) Stokke v. Cegavske; (6) Becker v. Gloria; (7) Rodimer v. Gloria; (8) Marchant v.
Gloria. 43

3. Non-Resident Voters

34
Russell Order at ,i,i 72-79.
35
Id. at,I78
36
Id. at,I,I92-94, 100-101, 102-103.
37
Id. at ,I,I 106-107.
38
Id at 1'!147-156.
39
Id. at ,i 45 (quoting Krause v. Cegavske, slip op. at 9).
40
Id. at 2:2-7.
41
Id. at,I 43.
42
See, e.g., id. at ,i,i 43-50.
43
Id. at ,i,i 49-54 (recounting cases).
191

Voter
Protection
Program
Myth:

Thousands of non-residents illegally voted. A comparison of the voting rolls with the list of voters in the
U.S. Postal Service's National Change of Address database demonstrates that thousands of voters
who were not residents of Nevada were permitted to vote.

Facts:

This claim was raised and rejected after evidentiary hearings in Nevada courts. 44

• The allegations were based on a superficial comparison of a list of voters with the USPS's
National Change of Address database. In other words, the Trump Campaign and its allies
claimed that any voter who had his mail forwarded to an out-of-state address somehow forfeited
their right to vote in the Nevada election. Nevada courts correctly rejected these allegations.

Both federal and state law guarantee the right of citizens to vote in Presidential elections if they
change their residence close to the date of the election. 45 Moreover, federal law prohibits the
disenfranchisement of voters based on the kind of cursory examination of voter rolls that formed
the basis of the Trump Campaign's allegations 46 and also guarantees the right of citizens to vote
in Presidential elections if they change residences close to the date of the election. 47

First, it is not unusual for voters to have other temporary addresses while still maintaining
Nevada residency. For example, military personnel stationed out-of-state commonly do so and
an examination of the information relied on by the Trump Campaign revealed that at least 157 of
the alleged-illegal voters had their mail forwarded to an Army Post Office ("APO") or other
military addresses. 48 Many residents also temporarily relocated during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Notably, Nevada is home to 180,000 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints. 49 Under the superficial and erroneous standards urged by the Trump Campaign, church
members undertaking missions out-of-state or in other countries would be disenfranchised
simply for having their mail forwarded to their temporary, out-of-state addresses. That is why
Nevada law specifically provides that a voter using an out-of-state address does not give up
their Nevada residence and is entitled to vote in Nevada.

Second, the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, 52 U.S.C. § 20302,
requires states to permit military personnel stationed out of state to vote in their home state's
federal elections.

Third, the Voting Rights Act guarantees the right of citizens to vote in Presidential elections if
they change residences close to the date (within 30 days) of the election. 50 Nevada law contains

44
45
,m
Id at 92-97.
Voting Rights Act of 1965, 52 USC§ 10502(e); Nev. Rev. Stat§ 298.250.
46
National Voter Registration Act, 52 USC§ 20507.
47
Voting Rights Act of 1965, 52 USC§ 10502(e).
48
See Associated Press, Nevada military voters tear they're part of unsupported fraud claim, RENO GAZETTE JOURNAL,
Nov. 13, 2020, available at http9 ://www.rni com/story/news1Qol1t1cs/2020/11113/nevada-m1l1tary_-fam11ies-drawn-1nto·:\10PS·
um,upport0d-ballot-fraud:Q!l1m/6280312002/.
•• See Newsroom, the Church o! Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Facts and Statistics, Nevada, available at
https./lnewsroomchurchofiesuschnst org/fact-and-statistics/state/Nevada.
50
Voting Rights Act of 1965, 52 U.S.C. § 10502(e).
192

Voter
Protection
Program

similar protections. 51

• Fourth, Nevada law specifically protects the voting rights of Nevada residents who have out-of-
state addresses in order to engage in military service, 52 attend educational institutions, 53 or for
work. 54 The Trump Campaign's theories, if adopted, would disenfranchise many Nevadans.

4. Deceased Voters
Myth:

Hundreds of votes were cast by deceased individuals.
Facts:

The Nevada courts reviewed and rejected this claim. 55

• The contestants' evidence was a hearsay declaration alleging only that a single vote from a
deceased wife was counted in the November election. 56

• The voting rejection log maintained by Clark County showed only two "voter is deceased"
entries. 57

• Testimony established that confirmed deceased individuals are removed from voter rolls. 58

5. Election Observers
Myth:

Clark County's policy for observation of ballot counting led to voter fraud. Members of the public were
denied the right to observe the processing and tabulation of mail ballots and were confined to a small,
taped-off area in a corner of the room.

Facts:

After an extensive evidentiary review, Nevada courts rejected allegations that Clark County's policy for
observation of ballot counting led to voter fraud or that illegal or improper votes were cast or counted or
that legal votes were not counted. 59

• After considering the evidence, the District Court adjudicating the contest of the election
concluded "the record does not support a finding that members of the public were denied the

51
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 298.250.
52
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 293.487.
53
Id.
54
Nev. Rev. Stat. § 293.497.
55
Russell Order at 1] 101.
56
Id.
57
Id.
58
Id.
59
Russell Order at 1]1] 140-156, 162.
193

Voter
Protection
Program

right to observe the processing and tabulation of mail ballots."60

• What little evidence proffered to support such claims was hearsay and was contradicted by
other testimony by the Plaintiff's own witnesses. 61

• The Supreme Court of Nevada affirmed all of the District Court's findings. 62

60
Id at,i,i 110-113.
61
Id. at,i 112.
62
Law v. Whitmer, 2020 WL 7240299 (Nev. 2020).
194

Voter
Protection
Program

PENNSYLVANIA

1. Constitutionality of Act 77

There may be objections lo Act 77 of the Pennsylvania Constitution, which was passed in 2019 by the
Republican-controlled state legislature and created no-excuse mail-in voting. See Act of Oct. 31, 2019,
P.L. 552, No. 77. Specifically, objectors may argue that Act 77 is unconstitutional because the
Pennsylvania General Assembly did not have the authority to enact a mail-in voting scheme without
amending the Pennsylvania Constitution. Petitioners in Kelly v. Commonwealth argued-after the 2020
primary and general election had taken place, and more than a year after Act 77 passed-that all
attempts to expand absentee voting by statute are invalid and "a constitutional amendment is required
to expand absentee voting beyond the categories provided in the Pennsylvania Constitution."
Emergency AppJication !or.Writ oUnLunction, Kelly v. Commonwealth, No. 20A98 (Dec. 3, 2020).

Facts:

This argument is without merit and does not in any way render the election outcome unreliable or
suggest that the outcome does not reflect the will of the voters. This is a technical legal argument that
fails for the following reasons.

First, the General Assembly can lawfully legislate on any matter not prohibited by the Pennsylvania or
federal constitutions. See Stilp v. Commonwealth, 601 Pa. 429, 435 (2009) ("[P]owers not expressly
withheld from the General Assembly inhere in it."). And the General Assembly has significant latitude
within these confines to prescribe how votes may be cast: "All elections by the citizens shall be by ballot
or by such other method as may be prescribed by law: Provided, That secrecy in voting be preserved."
Pa. Const. art. VII,§ 4. Maintaining secrecy is the Pennsylvania Constitution's only affirmative limitation
on the General Assembly's prerogative to determine "such other methods" of voting. Act 77 complies
with this limitation by requiring mail-in voters to use a secrecy envelope. See Pennsylvania Democratic
Party v. Boockvar, 238 A.3d 345, 380 (Pa. 2020) (finding secrecy envelope provision mandatory). And
the General Assembly has long enjoyed broad authority to "regulate elections" and a "wide field for the
exercise of its discretion in the framing of acts to meet changed conditions ... as may arise from time
to time." Winston v. Moore, 244 Pa. 447, 455 (1914).

Second, the Pennsylvania Constitution provides that the General Assembly must allow voters in four
enumerated categories to cast absentee ballots, but the General Assembly may also go further-by
exercising its broad power to "prescribe[]" the permissible "method[s]" of voting, Pa. Const. art. VII, §
4-and allow other categories of voters to vote by mail, including by allowing any voter to opt to cast a
mail-in ballot. Moreover, "mail-in" voting pursuant to Act 77 is a new, distinct method of voting
compared to "absentee" voting under Article VII of the Pennsylvania Constitution. Compare 25 P.S. §§
3091-3149.9 (governing "Voting by Qualified Absentee Electors"), with 25 P.S. §§ 3150.11-3150.18
(governing "Voting by Qualified Mail-In Electors). Indeed, the Pennsylvania Elections Code repeatedly
distinguishes between "mail-in" and "absentee" voting and regulates each category differently, including
in defining a qualified mail-in versus absentee elector and in regulating service-member absentee
195

Voter
Protection
Program

ballots. See 25 P.S. § 2602(2.6) (defining "qualified mail-in elector"); 25 P.S. § 3146. 7 (regulating
military service-member ballots). 63

Thus, unsurprisingly, the emergency application for injunctive relief in Kelly v. Commonwealth was
summarily denied by the U.S. Supreme Court. Order in Pending Case, Kelly v. Commonwealth, No.
20A98 (Dec. 8, 2020). While the petition for certiorari remains pending, the Court's decision on the
application for emergency relief forecloses any suggestion that the merits of the argument could affect
the current slate of presidential electors.

2. Ballot Receipt and Postmark Extension

A likely objection concerns the extension of time permitted for mailed ballots to be received and
postmarked in Pennsylvania. Objectors may argue that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision in
Pennsylvania Democratic Party v. Boockvar unconstitutionally extended the ballot receipt deadline. 238
A.3d 345 (Pa. 2020). In that decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court extended the deadline for
mailed ballots to be received by three days-from Election Day to 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 6,
2020-and established a presumption that mail-in ballots received without a legible postmark were
timely mailed. Id. at 386. Note that, as discussed below, fewer than 10,000 ballots are at issue, which
would not come close to changing the outcome in Pennsylvania.

Objectors may argue that those received-by deadlines are unconstitutional because they permit voters
to cast ballots after November 3, thereby extending the General Election past the time established by
federal law; and that the Electors and Elections Clause of the U.S. Constitution gives the Pennsylvania
General Assembly the authority to set the times, places, and manner of federal elections, and the state
supreme court unconstitutionally usurped this authority in its decision. See LSccs1,m2.Y1-92~2.11a.vi
Certiorari, Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar, No. 20-542 (Oct. 23, 2020).

Facts:

First, contrary to claims that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision permitted votes to be cast
after November 3, the court there expressly stated that extended ballot receipt deadlines would still
"require that all votes be cast by Election Day(.]" Pennsylvania Democratic Party, 238 A.3d at 365, n.
20, 371, n. 26.

What the Pennsylvania Supreme Court did permit, given the unprecedented circumstances brought
about by COVID-19 and the significant postal delays expected in the return of mail ballots, was a short
three-day extension of the receipt deadline for mail-in ballots, so that ballots cast by Election Day could
still be counted pursuant to the Free and Equal Elections Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution. Id. at
371-72. The court further concluded that voters should not be disenfranchised just because the USPS
postmark on their ballot envelope became illegible or absent once in the postal system. Id. at 365, n.
20, 371, n. 26.

63
For a more detailed account of these arguments, see QQQQ.sition of Respondents to Emergency Application at 19-21,
Kelly v. Commonwealth, No. 20A98 (Dec. 8, 2020).
196

Voter
Protection
Program

These determinations are fully consistent with federal law, which establishes when federal elections are
to be held but not what procedures states may use to determine whether a ballot was timely cast. See
Briel of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party Respondent in Opposition at 32-35, Republican Party of
Pennsylvania, No. 20-542 (Nov. 30, 2020).

Second, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision was constitutional. See Briof in OppJJsition to
-~"'"'"-'--'-'~£"'->'"-'·=' Republican Party of Pennsylvania, No. 20-542 (Oct. 26, 2020). Contrary to
objections that the court usurped the Pennsylvania legislature's authority, the court performed its
constitutional duty by interpreting the state constitution, rather than making or even interpreting
statutory election law. Id. at 24. Further, any argument that the state legislature is insulated from checks
on its election law-making authority is wrong and violates bedrock principles of federalism, separation
of powers, and checks and balances, see id. at 16-20, and the settled Pennsylvania state law principles
of the court's remedial powers, see Brietol !he.Pennsylvania Democra!ic_P;:uty Respondents.in
QpQQiilli.,m at 27-32, Republican Party of Pennsylvania, No. 20-542.

Third, the number of ballots received during the extended period-between 8 p.m. on Election Day and
the Friday after Election Day-is too small to make a difference to the election result. See Executive
Respondents' Brief in Support of Preliminary Objections at 6, Metcalfe v. Wolf, No. 636 M.D. 2020
(Dec. 8, 2020) (citing Bognet v. Secy Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, No. 20-3214, 2020 WL
6686120 (3d Cir. Nov. 13, 2020)); see also Department of State Provides Updates on Election Results,
Pennsylvania Pressroom (Nov. 13, 2020), https:l/www.media,pa.gQ\l'lp9 geslstale:
details.aspx?newsid-432 (noting that approximately 10,000 ballots cast on or before November 3 were
received during the extended period).

3. Notice and Cure of Deficient Ballots

There may be objections to the slate of electors sent by Pennsylvania based on the "notice and
opportunity to cure" procedure offered in some counties for ballots with minor deficiencies. The
Pennsylvania Election Code sets forth requirements for validly cast ballots, including that voters must
mark ballots in pen or pencil, place them in secrecy envelopes, and fill out a form on the outer envelope
of a vote by mail ballot. Election administrators in some counties contacted voters and provided them
an opportunity to cure minor, facial defects in their ballots ahead of the ballot receipt deadline.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar sent an email to counties encouraging them to assist
in curing ballots with the purpose of enfranchising as many Pennsylvanians as possible. As with other
alleged ballot issues discussed here, the number of ballots at issue is far too small to change the
outcome even if the challenges were valid, which they are not.

The Trump Campaign objected to the fact that some counties permitted voters to cure incomplete or
incorrectly completed ballots while other counties did not. For example, in Donald J. Trump for
President, Inc. v. Boockvar, plaintiffs argued that because notice-and-cure procedures were offered by
some counties, including Philadelphia County, but not by others, including Lancaster and York counties,
the equal protection rights of voters in the predominantly "Republican" counties without such
procedures were violated. No. 4:20 Civ. 02078, 2020 WL 6821992 (M.D. Pa. Nov. 21, 2020), aff'd sub
nom. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Secy Pennsylvania, 830 Fed. App'x 377 (3d Cir. 2020).
197

Voter
Protection
Program
This claim was rejected by the federal courts, including by a panel of the Third Circuit in an opinion
authored by Trump-appointee Judge Stephanos Bibas. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., 830 Fed.
App'x 377.

Facts:

First, making it easier for some people to vote does not burden the rights of others. "Defendant
Counties, by implementing a notice-and-cure procedure, have in fact lifted a burden on the right to vote,
even if only for those who live in those counties. Expanding the right to vote for some residents does
not burden the rights of others." Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., 2020 WL 6821992, at *12; see
also Texas League of United Latin Am. Citizens v. Hughs, 978 F.3d 136, 145 (5th Cir. 2020) ("How [the]
expansion of voting opportunities burdens anyone's right to vote is a mystery."). Indeed, every county in
Pennsylvania was free to provide notice-and-cure procedures to voters. And "counties may, consistent
with equal protection, employ entirely different election procedures and voting systems within a single
state." Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. v. Boockvar, No. 2:20-CV-966, 2020 WL 5997680, at *44
(W.D. Pa. Oct. 10, 2020) (collecting cases).

Second, the counties that employed notice-and-cure procedures did so to ensure the Commonwealth's
"longstanding and overriding policy" of "protect(ing] the elective franchise." Shambach v. Bickhart, 577
Pa. 384, 391 (2004). The deficiencies corrected by counties were garden-variety irregularities in ballots
and curing them does not give rise to Constitutional defects absent "intentional or purposeful
discrimination." Snowden v. Hughes, 321 U.S. 1, 8 (1944). "No county was forced to adopt notice-and-
cure; each county made a choice to do so, or not. Because it is not irrational or arbitrary for a state to
allow counties to expand the right to vote if they so choose, Individual Plaintiffs fail to state an equal-
protection claim." Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., 2020 WL 6821992, at *12.

Third, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has recently held that ballots with minor deficiencies, including
ballots that lack a handwritten name, address, or date do not have to be disqualified. "(T]he Election
Code does not require boards of elections to disqualify mail-in or absentee ballots submitted by
qualified electors who signed the declaration on their ballot's outer envelope but did not handwrite their
name, their address, and/or date, where no fraud or irregularity has been alleged." In re: Canvass of
Absentee and Mail-in Ballots, 2020 WL 6875017, at *1 (Pa. Nov. 23, 2020). This undermines the claims
that providing notice and cure for some minor, garden-variety deficiencies resulted in the tallying of
ballots that should not have been counted. As the Third Circuit noted about the Pennsylvania Supreme
Court's ruling: "That holding undermines the Campaign's suggestions that defective ballots should not
have been counted." Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., 830 Fed. App'x 377.

Fourth, the total number of ballots that were subject to notice-and-cure procedures is significantly
smaller than the vote margin in Pennsylvania. "Of the seven counties whose notice-and-cure
procedures are challenged, four (including the three most populous) represented that they gave notice
to only about 6,500 voters who sent in defective ballot packages. Even if 10,000 voters got notice and
cured their defective ballots, and every single one of them voted for Biden, that is less than an eighth of
198

Voter
Protection
Program

the margin of victory." Id. Accordingly, even assuming these ballots were invalid, it would not affect the
slate of electors sent by Pennsylvania. 64

4. Signature Verification

Objectors may argue that the Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth abrogated a signature
verification requirement for mail-in ballots. As background, before the election, Secretary Boockvar
sought a declaratory decision from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court clarifying whether the Election
Code authorizes or requires county election boards to reject absentee or mail-in ballots during pre-
canvassing and canvassing based on signature analysis where there are alleged or perceived
signature variances. In re Nov. 3, 2020 Gen. Election, 240 A.3d 591, 595 (Pa. 2020). The court
analyzed the Election Code and held that it did not authorize or require such verification. Id. at 611.

This issue is simple: The Election Code-which, again, a Republican-controlled state legislature revised
in 2019-does not provide for rejecting mail-in ballots based on signature verification. See id. at 610
("[A]t no time did the Code provide for challenges to ballot signatures."). The court noted that Act 77
also eliminated time-of-canvassing challenges by candidate or party representatives for votes by mail.
Id. A federal judge also concluded that there was no signature-comparison requirement here. See
Donald Trump for President, Inc. v. Boockvar, 2020 WL 5997680, at *58 (W.D. Pa. Oct. 10, 2020)
("[T]he Election Code does not impose a signature-comparison requirement for mail-in and absentee
ballots[.]"). It is notable that these cases involved straightforward statutory interpretation; this is not a
case in which a state court relied on a state constitutional provision to invalidate a law passed by a
state legislature.

Finally, here again, there is no allegation of fraud.

5. Observer Access

Myth:

There may be objections to observer access based on the allegedly "uneven treatment" of Trump and
Biden poll watchers and representatives. For example, in In re Canvassing Observation, plaintiffs
argued that poll watchers and observers were denied a "meaningful way" to observe the canvassing of
ballots because they were either placed too far from the canvass or their view was obstructed.
bQL_~.v.fc'L, at 4 (Pa. Nov. 17, 2020). Plaintiffs also alleged that "Democrats who control the Defendant

County Election Boards engaged in a deliberate scheme of intentional and purposeful discrimination ..
by excluding Republican and Trump Campaign observers from the canvassing of the mail ballots in

64
For a more detailed account of these arguments, see Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar's Brief in
Opposition to Motion for Injunctive Relief at 9-11. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., 830 Fed. App'x 377; and Donald J.
Trump for President, Inc., 2020 WL 6821992, at *11-13.
199

Voter
Protection
Program

order to conceal their decision not to enforce [certain ballot] requirements." Donald J. Trump for
President, Inc., 830 Fed. App'x 377.

The Trump Campaign and its surrogates have tried, unsuccessfully, to equate an alleged lack of
observer access with fraudulent results. There has been no credible evidence of significant voter fraud
presented in any form. The suggestion that the Trump Campaign and its surrogates were prevented
from detecting fraud, and that is tantamount to evidence that there must have been fraud, is absurd.

First, there is no evidence that Trump Campaign poll watchers were treated differently than Biden
campaign watchers. For there to be an equal protection violation, there must be allegations of
differential treatment. At most, the Trump Campaign cites minor, constitutionally insignificant
differences across counties in the location of observers, which were justified by differences among
counties with respect to size, staffing, and security. As the Third Circuit noted: "A violation of the Equal
Protection Clause requires more than variation from county to county. It requires unequal treatment of
similarly situated parties. But the Campaign never pleads or alleges that anyone treated it differently
from the Biden campaign." Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., 830 Fed. App'x 377.

Second, there is no right under federal or state law for observers to stand at a particular distance or
have a particular view of ballots. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court and the Third Circuit have rejected
such claims. As the Third Circuit noted: "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the Election Code
requires only that poll watchers be in the room, not that they be within any specific distance of the
ballots." Id. (citing In re Canvassing Observation, No. 30 EAP 2020, 2020 WL 6737895, at *8-9 (Pa.
Nov. 17, 2020)). Similarly, there is no federal right protecting the location or view of observers. Id.
(noting that the Campaign "cites no federal authority regulating poll watchers or notice and cure."). As
long as observers were allowed in the room, which they were, complaints about minor deviations in the
location and view of observers are legally insufficient. 65

6. Discrepancies in the Number of Ballots

Objectors may argue that discrepancies exist between the number of votes that should have been cast,
as measured by poll book signatures and lists of actual voters, and the number of ballots actually cast
in Pennsylvania. They may claim that these inconsistencies undermine the legitimacy of the election.

For instance, in Metcalfe v. Wolf, the plaintiffs alleged discrepancies based on analysis in a purported
expert report (the "Ryan Report"), see CQ!Il...QLajnl, No. 636 M.D. 2020 (Nov. 23, 2020). A group of
Pennsylvania lawmakers released an "analysis" of election data on December 28, 2020. See
Statement, PA Lawmakers: Numbers Don't Add Up, Certification of Presidential Results Premature and
In Error, b1tp;//www.rnpfrankry_an.com/News/1875_4/Latest-News/PA-_Lawmakers-Numbers-Don. The
analysis purports to show 202,377 more votes were cast than voters voting.

65
For a more detailed account of these arguments, see Secretary of the Commonwealth Kathy Boockvar's Brief in
Opposition to Motion for Injunctive Relief at 10-11. Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., 830 Fed. App'x 377; Donald J. Trump
for President, Inc., 2020 WL 6821992 at '13-15; and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc., 830 Fed. App'x 377.
200

Voter
Protection
Program

Facts:

The allegations based on the Ryan Report are clearly erroneous. The purported expert report of
Pennsylvania House Representative Francis X. Ryan, relied upon in support of ballot discrepancy
allegations, misleadingly asserts that there is an unexplained discrepancy of approximately 400,000
ballots between November 2 and November 4. The reason for the discrepancy is that Representative
Ryan simply elected not to count 400,000 absentee ballots and only counted mail-in ballots (these are
distinct categories in the Pennsylvania Election Code) in his totals.

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania also thoroughly rebutted the December 28, 2020, analysis. See
Response to December 28, 2020, Release of Misinformation by Group of GOP State House Me_mbers,
Penn. Dept. of State (Dec. 29, 2020), b11Q;,:/lwww.dosJliLllovlabout-uslDocumentslslatementsl2020-
12-29-Response-PA-GOP-Legislators-Misinformation.pd!. Its rebuttals include:

• The December 28 analysis is "obvious misinformation."

• The December 28 analysis compares "very different systems and data points with different
timeframes and incomplete information." It was "based on incomplete data from the
Department's Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors (SURE) system." Some counties have not
finished updating the SURE system. Furthermore, it is the "vote counts certified by the counties,
not the uploading of voter histories into the SURE system, that determines the ultimate
certification of an election by the counties to the Department, and then in turn, by the secretary
based on the county certifications."

• The House members did not seek complete data or request clarification.

• Evidence of "undervotes" for down-ballot races was entirely consistent with prior presidential-
year election cycles.

• "All vote counts are recorded on paper ballots in every county in the Commonwealth, that can
be audited or recounted to confirm the accuracy of an election."
201

Voter
Protection
Program

WISCONSIN

1. Claim: Wisconsin state executive officials usurped election authority rightly exerted by the
state legislature, thereby facilitating improperly cast votes based on "indefinitely confined"
status.

Objectors will argue that Wisconsin state officials used the COVID-19 pandemic to circumvent the
state law requiring first-time absentee voters to show or upload photo identification to obtain a ballot.
One of the few exceptions to this law is if a voter is "indefinitely confined." Objectors will argue that
these requirements had been set by the Wisconsin state legislature, but local election officials took it
upon themselves to effectively change election procedure.

Facts:

These arguments failed in several Wisconsin courts which held that the ballots of indefinitely confined
voters were cast legitimately under the state's laws and following the Wisconsin Election Commission
(WEC) guidance.

• A majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court (4-3) concluded that this claim was "meritless on its
face" and "wholly without merit." Trump v. Biden, Case No. 2020AP2038, QQi_l}iQJ1__at 3, 6. "The
Campaign's request to strike indefinitely confined voters in Dane and Milwaukee Counties as a
class without regard to whether any individual voter was in fact indefinitely confined has no
basis in reason or law." Id. (Other courts reached the same conclusion in earlier decisions and
were proven conclusively correct by the Wisconsin Supreme Court.).

o On March 31, the Wisconsin Supreme Court b!eld, in the context of a preliminary
injunction order, that the Dane County advice was incorrect but approved of the follow up
WEC guidance: "We conclude that the WEC's guidance ... provides the clarification on
the purpose and proper use of the indefinitely confined status that is required at this
time." (Slip Op at 2).

o This guidance, expressly approved by the Wisconsin Supreme Court both on March 31
and again in Jefferson v. Dane County, 2020 WI 90 (Dec. 14, 2020), is the document
that GOP talking points inaccurately say was issued "later" than the Supreme Court
order having the Dane County Clerk remove his Facebook post (which was online for
fewer than 3 days, more than 7 months before the November election).

• After a December 10 trial in Trump v. Wisconsin Elections CommissiQDJE.D. Wi§j, the court
dismissed the case. The judge in the case, Brett Ludwig, is a Trump appointee. The court found
that Trump's claims "fail as a matter of law and fact." Order at 22. In particular, it found that the
WEC properly issued the guidance concerning indefinitely confined absentee voters and that its
guidance "was not a significant or material departure from legislative direction" and that
"defendants acted consistently with, and as expressly authorized by, the Wisconsin Legislature."
Id. at 20.
202

Voter
Protection
Program

o President Trump appealed Trump v. WEC to the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed (in a
decision written by another Trump appointee, Judge Michael Scudder).

• The 150,000 votes allegedly cast pursuant to the "indefinitely confined" provision is pure
speculation. That is an estimate of how many ballots were requested, but not based on any
record of how many were cast and returned. Regardless, there is no evidence-or even a clear,
individualized allegation-that any "indefinitely confined" voter cast an invalid or fraudulent vote.
To the contrary, it_tµms out that most of the ballots requested under the indefinitely confined
statute were requested in counties that voted for Trump.

• Wisconsin law-as affirmed by a majority of the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a lawsuit brought
by the Republican Party of Wisconsin and decided after the election, see Jefferson v. Dane
County, 2020 WI 90 (Dec. 14, 2020)-entrusts individual voters to determine whether they
qualify to avail themselves of Wisconsin Statute § 6.86(2)(a).

• State law requires that clerks remove a voter from the list only "upon receipt of reliable
information that [a voter] no longer qualifies for this service." Wis. Stat. § 6.86(2)(b). Trump
failed to give a single example of a municipal clerk receiving such "reliable information" and
failing to remove a voter from the list. In fact, in Wisconsin Voters Alliance v. Wisconsin
Elections Commission, the plaintiffs offered sworn affidavits from nine county clerks who each
swore that if they had received reliable information that an elector was no longer "indefinitely
confined," they would have followed Wisconsin law and removed that elector from the absentee
ballot list. See Wisconsin \{_oters Alliance v. Wisconsin Elections Commission (Wis.) ,r81 &
Exhs. 17A-I.

Indefinitely confined voters' ballots complied with a number of additional safeguards that apply to mail-
in absentee ballots, including the requirement that each ballot be signed by the voter, witnessed by an
adult U.S. citizen, securely stored by the municipal clerk until Election Day, and carefully opened,
reviewed, and tabulated during a public canvas.

2. Claim: Wisconsin election officials in the state's most heavily Democratic counties cured
mail-in ballot defects in violation of state law.

In a legal filing submitted to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, the Trump campaign argued that election
officials and employees in the state's two largest and most heavily Democratic counties (Milwaukee and
Dane) filled in missing information on absentee ballots in violation of Wisconsin election law which
specifies that a mail-in ballot may not be counted if it is missing information on the secure envelope. In
addition, Wisconsin law prohibits a county clerk from issuing an absentee ballot without a written
application.

Facts:

There is no evidence that a single one of these ballots was fraudulently or invalidly cast.
203

Voter
Protection
Program

• The fact that a witness did not fully fill out the form is not suspicious. It may be a sign of haste. It
often happens when family members living under the same roof witness for one another. They
assume that the same address applies across the form.

• In fact, the actions taken by the clerks were in the service of preventing fraud. The only purpose
of having address information for the witness is to facilitate investigation of potentially invalid
absentee ballots. By looking up the information, the clerks were improving the integrity of the
system.

o There is no evidence that any of the clerks-who, to reiterate, were following WEC
guidance that originated under a Republican member of the WEC, was approved by the
WI DOJ under a Republican Attorney General and was unanimously adopted by the
WEC-filled in incorrect witness information.

o Indeed, the testimony demonstrated that if clerks had any doubt about the accuracy of
the information they were adding, they contacted the voter or returned the ballot lo the
voter.

• The relevant WEC directives telling clerks to fill in missing information were issued by the WEC
in October 2016 and April 2020 and were used in multiple elections without anyone ever
challenging them.

• Contrary to the myth above, which suggests that the Wisconsin Supreme Court refused on
purely procedural grounds to consider this argument, the objection was heard and rejected by
several Wisconsin courts.

o After a December 1O trial in LJJ!!1112.J(,_lt\1Lfil":QJ1filll.J::;lf!..(j1Q[i'.§3&LU..l11L/i§_LQ!J'll;:JL_\/Y.1.SJ, the
court dismi_ssed _th_e case as unable to succeed on December 12. The judge in the case,
Brett Ludwig, is a Trump appointee. The court found that Trump's claims "fail as a matter
of law and fact." Order at 22. In particular, it found that the WEC properly issued the
guidance which "was not a significant or material departure from legislative direction"
and that "defendants acted consistently with, and as expressly authorized by, the
Wisconsin Legislature." Id. at 20.

• President Trump appealed to the Seventh Circuit, which affirmed in a decision
written by Judge Michael Scudder, a Trump appointee.

o The Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected this argument in the recount appeal. See Trump
v. Biden, 2020 WI 91 (Dec. 14, 2020) (final decision in recount challenge that followed
the Wisconsin Supreme Court's initial rejection of the President's effort to ignore
Wisconsin procedure and take his issues with the recount directly to the Supreme
Court).

• On the merits, Justice Hagedorn deemed the claims baseless. "I do not believe
the Campaign has established that all ballots where clerks added witness
address information were necessarily insufficient and invalid; the addresses
provided directly by the witnesses may very well have satisfied the statutory
directive. The circuit court's findings of fact reflect that many of these ballots
204

Voter
Protection
Program

contained additions of the state name and/or zip code. I conclude the Campaign
failed to provide sufficient information to show all the witness certifications in the
group identified were improper, or moreover, that any particular number of ballots
were improper." Recount @Qeal, Concurrence of Justice Hagedorn, at 8 (PDF at
29). (Note: Justice Hagedorn was former Gov. Scott Walker's chief legal counsel
and also was the swing vote on the appeal.).

• The majority opinion contained additional rationales for rejecting this argument.

• First, it held that the argument was time-barred because the relevant
WEC directives telling clerks to fill in information were issued in October
2016 and April 2020, yet Trump's supporters waited to challenge them
until after the November 3 election. Notably, Trump raised this issue only
in Dane and Milwaukee Counties and once again was only seeking to
invalidate votes in areas not favorable to him. It is thus Trump who is
applying a double standard. '-'"'"·"Y''·'·'·''"'·"''·"'""' at 15-17. "[l]f the relief the
Campaign sought was granted, it would invalidate nearly a quarter of a
million ballots cast in reliance on interpretations of Wisconsin's election
laws that were well-known before election day. It would apply new
interpretive guidelines retroactively to only two counties." Id. at 15.

• Second, as the court concluded, "The claims here are not of improper
electoral activity. Rather, they are technical issues that arise in the
administration of every election. In each category of ballots challenged,
voters followed every procedure and policy communicated to them, and
election officials in Dane and Milwaukee Counties followed the advice of
WEC where given. Striking these votes now-after the election, and in
only two of Wisconsin's 72 counties when the disputed practices were
followed by hundreds of thousands of absentee voters statewide-would
be an extraordinary step for this court to take." Id. at 16-17.

With respect to the argument about applications for absentee ballots, amazingly the objectors are
arguing that a form that says it is an "Application" is not in fact an application. And the objectors believe
that hundreds of thousands of voters who in good faith applied for an absentee ballot using that form
should be disenfranchised for this reason.

• An application is an application. The first line of the EL-122 absentee ballot envelope reads:
"Official Absentee Ballot Application/Certification." The WEC's website clearly states that the EL-
122 form serves as an absentee ballot application and certificate and has said so for years. See
Governor Evers' Opposition to Petition for Original Action, at 33, Trump v. Evers, No.
2020AP001971-OA. And the form itself has been used as an official absentee ballot application
and certification since 2011. Id. at 33-34.

• There is no evidence that a single one of these ballots was fraudulently or invalidly cast. Nor is
there any evidence to substantiate allegations in the recount petition that counties other than
Milwaukee and Dane used separate applications instead of the WEC-provided form EL-122.
205

Voter
Protection
Program

• Trump's supporters assert that form EL-122 is not an application because it is not separate from
the certification. But nothing in Wisconsin law requires separate pieces of paper. Justice
Hagedorn's concurrence specifically rejected this argument "Section 6.86(1)(ar) contains no
requirement that the application and certification appear on separate documents, and the facts
demonstrate that the application was completed before voters received a ballot As best I can
discern from this record, EL-122 is a 'written application' within the meaning of §6.86(1 )(ar).
That it also serves as a ballot certification form does not change its status as an application."
'-'-"""-''"'--"-"""'"'' Concurrence of Justice Hagedorn, at 5 (PDF at 26). Thus, Justice Hagedorn
concluded "on the merits and the record before us, in-person absentee voters using form EL-
122 in Dane and Milwaukee Counties did so in compliance with Wisconsin law." Id. (Note:
Justice Hagedorn was former Gov. Scott Walker's chief legal counsel and also was the swing
vote on the appeal.).

• Finally, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected this argument because it was raised too late.
Indeed, as the court noted, the application form "was in place for over a decade. To strike
ballots cast in reliance on that form now, and to do so only in two counties, would violate every
notion of equity that undergirds our electoral system." Recount appeal at 15-16. Indeed, this
form was used when President Trump won Wisconsin in 2016, and President Trump's own
lawyer-Jim Troupis-used this form to cast his in-person absentee ballot in the November
2020 election_

3. Claim: The Madison City Clerk's office collected absentee ballots in violation of state law.

Wisconsin state law specifies that absentee ballots may only be returned by mail or be delivered in
person to the clerk's office. However, in September and October 2020, the city of Madison, Wisconsin
held events it called "Democracy in the Park," during which time it collected absentee ballots at multiple
locations in the city.

Objectors will emphasize that although Wisconsin state Republicans warned the city about this effort,
the city ignored the warning and collected over 17,000 ballots at these events.

There is no evidence that fraudulent votes were cast during these events or that votes were made any
easier to cast Nor is anyone arguing that election officials mishandled the ballots or broke the chain of
custody for ballots. Instead, the issue is whether Madison election officials were legally able to collect
ballots outdoors in the middle of a pandemic. Objectors want to throw out tens of thousands of ballots
cast by voters in good faith reliance on election officials' guidance.

• Trump cited no evidence that the Democracy in the Park events enabled illegal voting
practices. As with all absentee ballots, those returned in the parks had to be signed by the
voter and witnessed by an adult U.S. citizen.

• Ballots returned at the Democracy in the Park events were legally accepted in-person by
trained election officials in accordance with WEC guidance, using tamper-evident seals and
implementing a chain of custody log to ensure further security. See Governor Evers's
206

Voter
Protection
Program

Opposition to Petition for Original Action, at 57-58, Trump v. Evers, No. 2020AP001971-OA.
As the Wisconsin Supreme Court described the event: "sworn city election inspectors
collected completed absentee ballots. The city election inspectors also served as witnesses
if an elector brought an unsealed, blank ballot. No absentee ballots were distributed, and no
absentee ballot applications were accepted or distributed at these events." Recount Appeal
OpiniQll at 12.

• The nitpicking over whether this event was an authorized "in person absentee voting site" -
which must occur in "offices" under Wisconsin law - or were ballot return sites which are
not location specific - was addressed by Justice H11gedorn, a conservative jurist who was
former Gov. Scott Walker's chief legal counsel and who also was the swing vote on the
appeal.

o In his concurrence, Hagedorn noted that the Trump Campaign once again was citing
the wrong statute. The Democracy in the Park events were not in-person absentee
voting sites because "[b]allots were not requested or distributed." Recount Appeal
Qnio_ip11_ at 1O and those two acts (requesting or distributing) are the core hallmarks
of a voting site.

o Instead, the Democracy in the Parks sites were legal ballot return locations: Under
the law, a voter must return the absentee ballot in a sealed envelope by mail or "in
person, to the municipal clerk issuing the ballot or ballots." Wis. Stat. §6.87(4)(b)1.
"The phrase 'municipal clerk' has a specific meaning in the election statutes. It is
defined as 'the city clerk, town clerk, village clerk and the executive director of the
city election commission and their authorized representatives.' Wis. Stat. §5.02(10)
(emphasis added). A sworn city election inspector sent by the clerk to collect ballots
would seem to be an authorized representative as provided in the definition."
Recount Appeal, Concurrence of Hagedorn, J. at 9 (PDF at 30). "In short ... I see no
basis to conclude the ballots collected at 'Democracy in the Park' events were cast in
contravention of Wisconsin law. This challenge fails." Id. at 11.

• Trump's campaign failed to challenge or stop these events at the time they were held.
Instead, they challenged the events months after they occurred and only after Trump lost the
election, attempting to nullify tens of thousands of legal votes in the process.

o Courts have repeatedly held that voters should not have their votes retroactively
nullified after the election for having followed the guidance, policies, and court
decisions in effect when they cast their ballot. See, e.g., Griffin v. Burns, 570 F.2d
1065, 1074-75 (1st Cir. 1978). Retroactively nullifying thousands of Wisconsin votes
that were lawfully cast under the rules in place at the time of the vote would violate
those voters' Due Process Clause rights. Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 554
(1964).

o But even if the challenge against these events had merit, Trump's belated post-
Election Day challenge was barred by the equitable doctrine of !aches when he
waited to complain about the widely publicized events until months after they had
occurred and after allowing more than 17,000 Wisconsin voters to take advantage of
207

Voter
Protection
Program

the program. Wis. Small Business United, Inc. v. Brennan, 2020 WI 69, 1!11, 393
Wis. 2d 308, 946 N.W.2d 101.

• Indeed, the Wisconsin Supreme Court rejected this argument because the
Trump Campaign's "delay in raising these issues was unreasonable in the
extreme, and the resulting prejudice to the election officials, other candidates,
voters of the affected counties, and to voters statewide, is obvious and
immense." Recount Appeal at 9.

• The Trump Campaign never challenged these events at the time. "Election
officials in Dane and Milwaukee Counties reasonably relied on the advice of
Wisconsin's statewide elections agency and acted upon it. Voters reasonably
conformed their conduct to the voting policies communicated by their election
officials." Id. at 13.

o The argument that the Trump Campaign could not have litigated before the election
is entirely spurious. After a lawyer for the Wisconsin Assembly Speaker and the
then-Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader sent a letter to the City of Madison
complaining about Democracy in the Park, several voters filed suit, seeking to
remove any cloud of confusion by obtaining a declaratory judgment that the program
complied with Wisconsin law. See Judge v. Board of Canvassers for the City of
Madison, No. 2020CV2029 (Dane Cnty. Cir. Ct. Sep. 30, 2020). As required by
Wisconsin law, the legislative officials received service of this lawsuit, and the suit
was widely reported. If the Trump campaign, the Republican Party of Wisconsin, or
anyone else wished to contest Democracy in the Park before the election, they could
and should have intervened in that suit.

4. Claim: The counting of the absentee ballots in the City of Milwaukee was illegal and possibly
fraudulent because poll observers were too far away and because there were fraudulent votes.

Objectors may allege that poll observers at the central count facility for absentee ballots in Milwaukee
were not allowed to get close enough to observe the counting, intimating that fraud occurred. This claim
was part of Trump's request for a recount.

This claim is wrong legally and factually.

First, on the law, objectors' complaints about inadequate access for poll observers are easily
dispatched. Wisconsin law grants municipalities discretion to limit observers. The statute
unambiguously provides "(t]he chief inspector or municipal clerk may reasonably limit the number of
persons representing the same organization who are permitted to observe under this subsection at the
same time." Wis. Stat.§ 7.41 (1 ). Likewise, election officials may remove an observer if the observer
causes a disruption to election activities or engages in electioneering. Wis. Stat. § 7.41 (3).
208

Voter
Protection
Program

Thus, while observers may be present during election operations, that right is not absolute and is
subject to reasonable limitations. Further, if there were violations of state law, the appropriate remedy is
to file a complaint with the WEC, see Wis. Stat § 5.06 and Wis. Admin. Code ch. EL 20, or for the
candidate or political party to seek a declaratory relief on Election Day, not to seek to reject an entire
state's electoral college votes.

Second, President Trump had the opportunity-of which he availed himself-to trigger a fully
transparent recount. The recount process includes participants from all campaigns and thereby cures
any alleged limitation on the participation of observers on Election Day.

Any illegal or fraudulent votes would have been caught in the recount. Even falsely assuming that the
Trump Campaign had a right to observe closer and that they could have observed closer, a recount
would have found any mistaken or fraudulent votes. The recount, however, actually increased votes for
Biden.
209

Sen. Lindsey Graham blames Trump for Capitol riots and
says the president needs to 'understand that his actions
were the problem'

Oma Seddiq 2021-01-07T22:44:45Z

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks during a news conference in Washington on Thursday,
Jan. 7, 2021.
Caroline Brehman/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

• Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday after
the riots at the US Capitol.
• "½'hen it comes to accountability, the president needs to understand that his actions
were the problem, not the solution," Graham said.
• Graham said he was "embarrassed and disgusted" about Wednesday's breach, and
described the perpetrators as "domestic terrorists" that need to be prosecuted.
• Visit Business Insider's homep.age for more stories.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham sharply criticized President Donald Trump on Thursday in
the aftermath of the riots at the US Capitol.

"When it comes to accountability, the president needs to understand that his actions were the
problem, not the solution," Graham said during a news conference, adding that the
president's legacy has been "tarnished."

1/3
210

"It breaks my heart that my friend, a president of consequence, would allow yesterday to
happen and it will be a major part of his presidency," he said. "It was a self-inflicted wound."

A prominent ally to Trump, the South Carolina senator was also critical of the president on
Wednesday evening, saying that "enough is enough" after rioters breached the Capitol
building and forced Congress to evacuate.

Graham echoed his sentiment on Thursday, and slammed Trump's legal team for pushing
false claims about the election after President-elect Joe Eiden was declared the winner.

"There's been a constant effort by people from the president's legal team to provide
misinformation, to distort the facts, to make accusations that cannot be proven. That needs
to stop," Graham said on Thursday.

"The rally yesterday was unseemly, it got out of hand, and a good friend of mine Rudy
Giuliani did not help," he added. Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer, led his campaign's
legal challenges against the 2020 election, all of which have failed. On Wednesday, before the
chaos erupted at the Capitol, Giuliani~ for "trial by combat."

Despite the criticism, Graham said he doesn't believe invoking the 25th Amendment, which
would remove Trump from office, is "appropriate at this point" and that he's "looking for a
peaceful transfer of power."

Before Wednesday, Graham had stood by Trump, did not publicly acknowledge his election
loss and even backed his allegations. When reporters on Thursday pressed him on topic,
Graham deflected the question.

"I said last night, Joe Eiden is the president, he won. The Constitution worked," Graham said.

A foe of Trump on the 2016 campaign trail, the senator grew close to the president over his
four years in office. As recently as December, the two went golfing.1Qgether at Trump's
property in Florida.

"I have absolutely no regrets of helping this president make us safer, more prosperous. I've
enjoyed my relationship with him," he said. "I hate that it ends this way."

Graham said he was "embarrassed and disgusted" over Wednesday's breach, and that he will
urge the Justice Department to prosecute the perpetrators, who he called "domestic
terrorists."

"The people sitting in the chairs [of the House and Senate chambers] need to be sitting in a
jail cell," Graham said. "The people who attacked the Capitol police need to be charged with
attacking a police officer. Sedition may be a charge for some of these people."

Newsletter

2/3
211

News and analysis from the beltway and beyond. Sign up for Insider Politics.

By clicking 'Sign up', you agree to receive marketing emails from Business Insider
as well as other partner offers and accept our Terms of Service and PrivacY-
0
PolicY-.

NOW WATCH:

More: Lindsey Graham Cill}g~ Donald Trump lI.SJ:.a]iliol

3/3
212

111112021 Barr condemns Trump: "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable" - Axios

J\XIOS Q

A message from Axles

Catch up on the top news of the day with
AxiosAM/PM 5 minutes. Subscribe for free.
by Mike. Allan

Jan 7, 202i ,. Politics & Policy

Barr condemns
Trump:
11
Orchestrating a
mob to pressure
Congress is
inexcusable"
Orion Rummler

•••
.§.klqtorr,•lncont•nt

https'.i/www.axios.com/trump-barr-capitol-mob-73da61 e7-370b-4cc8-873f-fa19a885a2cd.html 118
213

1111/2021 Barr condemns Trump: "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable" - Axios

J\XIOS Q

Attorney Ganeral Bil! Barr at a prees briefing on Dec. 21. Photo: Michael
Reynolds/poo!/AFP via Getty Images

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said in a statement
to the AP on Thursday that President Trump's
incitement of a march by his supporters on the U.S.
Capitol was a "betrayal of his office."

Why it matters: As one of the most loyal members of
Trump's Cabinet, Barr backed the president through
some of the most high-stakes controversies of his
tenure, including the use of force ag;iin5_1 protesErs
steps away from the White House and his
impeachment proceedings for abuse of power.

• Barr resigned last month after tensions boiled over
with Trump, who had grown angry with him over
his refusal to declare widespread voter fraud in the
election and expedite the release of the Durham
report.

• In his last press conference before departing the
Justice D e p a r t m e n t , ~ Trump
repeatedly on questions about Hunter Biden, voting
machines and Russia's hack of the U.S. government.

What he's saying: Barr told the AP that "orchestrating
a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable."

Flashback: In response to the siege, which led to over
a dozen arrests and several deaths reported by D.C.
§.!Qptomalncontent
police, Trump urged his supporters "to go home" in a
https:f/www.axios.com/trump-barr-capitol-mob-73da61 e 7-370b-4cc8-873f-fa1 9a885a2cd.html 218
214

1/11/2021 Barr condemns Trump: "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable" - Axios

J\XIOS Q

you feel. But go home, and go home in peace,"
said, after repeating false claims that the
election was stolen from him.

• •

https:/!www.axios.com/trump-barr-capito1-mob-73da61e7-370b-4cc8-873f-fa19a885a2cd.htm1 318
215

1/11/2021 Barr condemns Trump: "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable" - Axios

J\XIOS Q

Go deeper

Sara Fischer, David Nather
Jan 9, 2021- Politics & Policy

Trump, canceled

Twitter screenshot

Leaders in business, technology and culture are
pulling the plug on their support for President Trump
and some of his closest allies in the final days of his
presidency.

The big picture: Trump's political power, and his
popularity with a large swath of the Republican base,
always protected him from a backlash from business
and tech leaders until now. The Capitol siege proved
to be the final straw.

Go deeper (1 min. read) --->

•••
https://www.axios.com/trump-barr-capitol-mob-73da61e7-370b"4cc8-873f-fa19a885a2cd.html 4/8
216

1/11/2021 Barr condemns Trump: "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable" - Axios

J\XIOS Q

Rebecca Falconer
Jan 10, 2021 - Politics & Policy

Pelosi tells lawmakers to be ready to
return to D.C. next week over Trump
https:/!www.axios.com/trump-barr-capitol-mob-73da61e7-370b-4cc8-873f-fa19a885a2cd.html 5/8
217

1/11/2021 Barr condemns Trump: "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable" - Axios

J\XIOS Q

House Spanker Nancy Peloal during a newa conference on Thur~day. Photo:
Cnrolfne Brehman/CQ-Roll Cal!, Inc viu Getty Images

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told Democratic
lawmakers in a ~ e . . d Saturday night to "be
prepared to return" to Washington, D.C., next week.

Why it matters: Although Pelosi did not specifically
mention plans to instigate proceedings to impeach or
remove President Trump from office over last
Wednesday's deadlY- sieg!:;. on the U.S. Capitol, she said,
"There must be a recognition that this desecration was
instigated by the President."

Go deeper (1 min. read) ---.
••••
Axios
Updated Jan "IO, 2021 . Politice Ii Policy

GOP Sen. Toomey calls on Trump to
resign: "It's the best path forward"

https:l!www.axios.com/trump-barr-capitol-mob-73da61e7-370b-4cc8-873f-fa19a885a2cd .html 6/8
218

1i11/2021 Barr condemns Trump: "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable" - Axios

J\XIOS Q

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) told CNN's "State of the Union"
Sunday he believes President Trump should resign,
following his comment to Fox News on Saturday that
he believes the president "committed impeachable
offenses" over his actions before, during and after
Wednesday's deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol.

Why it matters: Toomey's comments come as some
Republicans have signaled they may be open to the
possibility of removing Trump from office over
Wednesday's riot. He is the second Republican senator
to call on Trump to resign, following Sen. Lisa
Murkowski.

Go deeper (1 min. read) ----,
••••
J\XIOS

About Subscribe
AboutAxios Axios nswsiiittars

Advertise with us Axioaapp

Axios podcasts

Events CoursGs

https'./!www.axios.com/trump-barr-capitol-mob-73da61e7-370b-4cc8-873f-fa19a885a2cd.htm1 7/8
219

1/11/2021 Barr condemns Trump: "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable" - Axios

J\XIOS Q

Privacy and terms

https://www.axios.com/trump-barr-capito1-mob-73da61e7-370b-4cc8-873f-fa19a885a2cd.html 818
220

Our Response to the Violence in Washington

December 15, 2020

Update on January 7, 2021 at 8:05AM PT:

We believe the risks of allo,ving President Trump to continue to use our service during this
period are simply too great, so we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook
and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks.

Update on January 6, 2021 at 6:28Pltf PT:

We've assessed two policy violations against President Trump's Page which
will result in a 24-hour feature block, meaning he will lose the ability to post
on the platfo1m during that time.

- Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) January_l, 2021

Originally published on January 6, 2021 at 4woPM PT:

Let us speak for the leadership team in saying what so many of us are feeling. We are
appalled by the violence at the Capitol today. We are treating these events as an emergency.
Our Elections Operations Center has already been active in anticipation of the Georgia
elections and the vote by Congress to certify the election, and we are monitoring activity on
our platform in real time. For those of you who are wondering, here are the actions we're
taking:

First, we have been searching for and removing the follmving content:

• Praise and support of the storming of the US Capitol
• Calls to bring weapons to locations across the US - not just in Washington but
anywhere in the US including protests
• Incitement or encouragement of the events at the Capitol, including videos and photos
from the protestors. At this point they represent promotion of criminal activity which
violates our policies.
• Calls for protests even peaceful ones if they violate the curfew in DC
• Attempts to restage violence tomorrow or in the coming days

As a part of this, we removed from Face book and Instagram the recent video of President
Trump speaking about the protests and his subsequent post about the election results. We
made the decision that on balance these posts contribute to, rather than diminish, the risk of
ongoing violence.

1/2
221

Next, we're updating our label on posts across our platforms that attempt to delegitimize the
election results. The new text reads: ",Joe Biden has been elected President with results that
were certified by all 50 states. The US has laws, procedures, and established institutions to
ensure the peaceful transfer of power after an election."

In recent days and weeks, we have also taken enforcement action consistent with our policy
banning militarized social movements like the Oathkeepers and the violence-inducing
conspiracy theory QAnon. We've also continued to enforce our ban on hate groups including
the Proud Boys and many others. We've already removed over 600 militarized social
movements from our platform.

We've had emergency measures in place since before the US elections like not recommending
civic groups for people to join. We're keeping them in place. Today we're implementing
several additional ones as well, including:

• Increasing the requirement of Group admins to review and approve posts before they
can go up
• Automatically disabling comments on posts in Groups that start to have a high rate of
hate speech or content that incites violence, and
• Using AI to demote content that likely violates our policies

We're continuing to monitor the situation and will take additional measures if necessary to
keep people safe.

2/2
222

Republican U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer Votes To Impeach
President Donald J. Trump

By Bill Chappell

U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, (R-Grand Rapids, MI-3)

Credit Pete Meijer campaign

U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer (R-Grand Rapids, MI-3) has issued this statement on Impeachment:

We saw profiles in courage during the assault on the Capitol. Police officers, badly
outnumbered, putting their lives on the line to save others. Members of Congress barricading
doors and caring for colleagues. A Vice President who fearlessly remained in the Capitol and
refused to bow to the mob.

There was no such courage from our President who betrayed and misled millions with claims
of a "stolen election" and encouraged loyalists that "if you don't fight like hell you're not
going to have a country any more." The one man who could have restored order, prevented
the deaths of five Americans including a Capitol Police officer, and avoided the desecration of
our Capitol shrank from leadership when our country needed it most.

As gallows were erected on Capitol grounds and members of the mob chanted "Hang Mike
Pence," the President assailed the Vice President regarding the certification vote, saying he
"didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our

1/2
223

constitution." The President also released a video expressing his admiration for those who
stormed the Capitol while Congress was still under attack.

It weighs on me that Gerald Ford held this seat for 25 years before he was elevated to the
Presidency. President Ford's pardon of Richard Nixon was a necessary step to move the
nation past the wounds of Watergate, but it followed Nixon's resignation and acceptance of
responsibility. Since last week, the President has accepted no responsibility for the violence
his rhetoric and actions inspired.

This vote is not a victory. It isn't a victory for my party, and it isn't the victory the Democrats
might think it is. I'm not sure it is a victory for our country. But it is a call to action for us to
reflect on these events and seek ways to correct them. I have wrestled with the division this
vote will cause.

I wrestled with the precedent it ½ill establish and I have concerns with due process. I have
wrestled with whether impeachment, an inherently political process, is a meaningful
mechanism of accountability for the seriousness of the President's actions.

But today, my job is to apply my best judgment to the article of impeachment that is on the
floor of the US Congress. With the facts at hand, I believe the article of impeachment to be
accurate. The President betrayed his oath of office by seeking to undermine our
constitutional process, and he bears responsibility for inciting the violent acts of insurrection
last week. With a heavy heart, I will vote to impeach President Donald J. Trump.

Tags:

Election 2020
Impeachment
U.S. Capitol

2/2
224

AP Definitive Source I Calling the 2020 presidential race
state by state
~ blog.ap.org/behind-the-news/calling-the-2020-presidential-race-state-by-state

The following is a chronology of AP's presidential race calls (all times Eastern). At this time,
Alaska, Georgia and North Carolina are too early to call.

Nov.3, 2020

19:00: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump wins Kentucky; Joe Biden wins Vermont.

19:30: WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump wins West Virginia.

19:36: WASHINGTON (AP) Joe Biden wins Virginia.

19:56: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump wins South Carolina.

20:00: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump vvins Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee,
Oklahoma; Joe Biden vvins Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New
Jersey, Rhode Island.

20:30: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump wins Arkansas.

20:52: WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump wins Indiana.

21:00: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump wins North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming,
Louisiana; Joe Biden wins New York, New Mexico.

21:00: WASHINGTON (AP)- Donald Trump vvins Nebraska.

21:27: WASHINGTON (AP) - Joe Biden wins the District of Columbia.

21:37: WASHINGTON (AP) - Joe Biden vvins Colorado.

21:59: WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump wins Kansas.

22:31: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump wins Missouri.

22:54: WASHINGTON (AP) Joe Biden vvins New Hampshire.

23:00: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump wins Idaho; Joe Biden wins California,
Oregon, Washington.

23:08: WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump wins Utah.
225

Nov.4, 2020

00:06: WASHINGTON (AP) Joe Eiden wins Hawaii.

00:13: WASHINGTON (AP) - Joe Eiden wins Minnesota.

00:19: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump wins Ohio.

00:20: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump wins Montana.

00:21: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump wins Iowa.

00:35: WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump wins Florida.

01:06: WASHINGTON (AP) - Donald Trump ·wins Texas.

02:51: WASHINGTON (AP) - Joe Eiden wins Arizona.

03:06: WASHINGTON (AP) - Joe Eiden wins Maine.

13:24: WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump wins 2nd Congressional District in Maine.

14:16: WASHINGTON (AP) - Joe Eiden wins Wisconsin.

17:58: WASHINGTON (AP)- Joe Eiden wins Michigan.

Nov. 7, 2020

11:25: WASHINGTON (AP) - Joe Eiden wins Pennsylvania.

11:26: WASHINGTON (AP) Joe Eiden elected president of the United States.

11:29: WASHINGTON (AP) Democrat Joe Eiden defeats President Donald Trump to
become 46th president of the United States.

11:54: WASHINGTON (AP)-Trump does not concede, promises unspecified legal
challenges.

12:13: WASHINGTON (AP) -Joe Eiden wins Nevada.

20:49: v\TILMINGTON, Del. (AP) - President-elect Joe Eiden appeals to Trump voters in
call for unity: 'Let's give each other a chance.'

Follow AP's coverage.

See more on AP's essential role in U.S. elections.
226

nenwtTocy J)ics in

Inside the assault on the Capitol: Evacuating the
Senate
Paul Kane

Jan. 6, 2021 at 9:50 p.m. EST

The officer stood dead smack in the middle of the floor of the United States Senate. Across his chest, an orange
POLICE sash. Hanging from his right shoulder, a semiautomatic weapon.

He said barely a word, just stared straight ahead at the backdoor entrance to the Senate Chamber.

lt was 2:15 p.m. Wednesday and the U.S. Capitol was under assault, the most brazen attack on Congress since
terrorists hijacked an airplane and attempted to slam it into the building more than 19 years ago. On Wednesday, a
pro-Trump mob crashed into the building iu a historic first that sent Washington into lockdown and prompted the
type of evacuation that congressional security officials have been planning since 9/11 but had never had to execute.

Moments before, I had been sitting in the Senate press gallery high above the Senate floor, watching Senate Minority
Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other senators debate
Republicans' unfounded objections to counting the electoral college votes that would seal President-elect ,Joe Biden's
convincing victory over President Trump.

Suddenly, Vice President Pence, who had been presiding over the chamber from the Senate dais, got a signal that it was
time to move.

A growing mob outside had breached the barricades and entered the Capitol. Pence was quickly ushered away by
Secret Service agents.

I bolted out of the press gallery hoping to find out whether Pence just needed a bathroom break from the tedious
proceedings. I bounded down the stairs to the second floor, where senators enter and exit the Chamber. Then I heard
it: Police clashing with rioters yet another floor below. I could hear a loud thwacking sound possibly a billy club
being wielded against the invaders.

I retreated back up to the third-floor press gallery in time to see Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) finish defending her
state's electoral count for Bid en. Then Capitol Police and staff ordered everyone into the Senate Chamber.

For our own safety.
227

I was ordered into a gallery that is reserved for family and close friends of senators Rep. Greg Pence (R-Ind.), the
vice president's brother, had just been there watching the proceedings. But l climbed over several rails and chairs to
get back to the usual press location, directly above where Pence had been sitting as the presiding officer.

Soon, the Senate was sealed off and the session was adjourned. Capitol Police raced around the two-story Senate
Chamber locking every set of doors.

Then Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) looked at her phone and announced: "Shots fired."

A veteran Capitol Police officer tried to calm the senators, telling them the report might not be accurate. But at 2:30
p.m., police ordered everyone out.

In the most dramatic moments of the siege, with armed officers in every corner of the Senate, police began barking out
instructions. They marched us all - a phalanx of senators, staff and press - through multiple office buildings in search
of the safest grounds to shelter on the Capitol complex.

We didn't know it at the time, but a similar scene was playing out ou the other side of the Capitol, where the House
Chamber was evacuated and lawmakers ran for cover in a secure location on their side of the building.

We were not allowed to take the stairs, because the mob was on the floors below. So into the elevators and down to the
basement we went, racing toward the Capitol Visitor Center. The CVC is a vast underground bunker of a structure that
finally got built after 9/11. It cost roughly $700 million and has multiple secure rooms and blast-resistant doors.

An officer, holding back two doors, ordered us to head toward the Russell Senate Office Building because the pro-
Trump mob had also breached the CVC.

Some senators ran; some walked. Security guards held Schumer by the shoulders to whisk him along.

In a sign of quick staff thinking, aides to the Senate parliamentarian rounded up several people to grab the boxes
containing the electoral college certificates submitted by the states - documents needed to certify Biden's victory.

By 2:45 p.m. most senators and a collection of aides and media had gathered in the secure room. An officer informed
us that we were safe but said it would take a while to secure the complex. In the meantime, they said they were trying
to find buses to get us to safer ground.

Back in the Capitol, police began a room-by-room search to find senators, staff and reporters who had been left behind.
One senior GOP aide, who has an office not far from the Senate floor, said he took a steel rod and barricaded his door
when the pro-Trump mob approached. For what seemed like 20 minutes, he said, rioters banged on his door, trying to
break in.

Others huddled in silence in small rooms with doors locked and cellphones turned off while the rioters walked past.

Inside the Senate's secure location, one senior officer ordered a set of underlings to go secure Sen. Tammy Duckworth
(D-Ill.), a double amputee who lost both legs while serving in the Iraq War. A recipient of the Army Commendation
Medal for her service flying Black Hawks, she hid in her office three floors above, unwilling to any strangers in. The
senior officer gave specific instructions of what to yell: "Senator Duckworth, Senator Klobuchar said come to the door."

A few minutes later, she appeared in the secure spot.
228

Somehow, Capitol food service operations still appeared to be up and running through the melee. At 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.,
hundreds of box lunches and bottles of water were rolled into the holding spot. Senators, staff, media and police
wielding automatic weapons grabbed lunches of chicken and beef.

Eventually, reporters were herded out of the main secure room and into an outside lobby. Senators stayed behind, and
began discussing what had gone wrong with the basic fabric of American democracy. Televisions were wheeled into the
senators-only room so they could watch the chaos unfold for themselves.

Pressure mounted on the few Republicans who had been objecting to counting Biden's electoral college votes, giving
life to the mob's delusions of four more years for Trump. Just before 5 p.m., Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) led a contingent of
GOP objectors into a separate room to discuss whether to go forward with their challenge in light of the mob violence.

Around 6 p.m., more senators began talking about returning to the Senate floor in a show of democratic force - an
idea that echoed a decision by many members to return to the Capitol's East Front steps the night of the 2001 terrorist
attacks. On that night, in a show of bipartisan support, Republicans and Democrats stood together and sang "God
Bless America."

At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Trump blamed lawmakers for the chaos. "These are the things and events
that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away," he tweeted.

A few minutes later, Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) walked past reporters. He was asked what he thought about
Tmmp's statement but walked away, saying nothing.

,Just before 6:45 p.m. four hours after senators fled the Capitol loud applause echoed from the secure room.
Congress had decided to reconvene.

As our group trekked back to the Capitol, someone shouted "make way, make way."

Nonpartisan staffers from the parliamentarian's office were carrying the boxes containing the electoral college votes
back to the Senate.

Biden would still be declared the winner.

Updated January 17, 2021

Complete coverage: Pro-Trump mob storms Capitol building

Security

live updates: State capitols, D.C. brace for potentially violent protests

Arrests: Here are some of the people charged

What happened on Jan. 6

Video timeline: 41 minutes of fear from inside the Capitol siege

Police turning in police: Off-duty police were part of the Capitol mob
229

Exclusive: Capitol Police intelligence report warned three days before attack that 'Congress itself' could be
targeted

Attacked with bear spray and their own batons: D.C. police describe brutal and chaotic
moments

Trump's second impeachment

Unprecedented: House hands Trump a second impeachment, this time with GOP support

Senate impeachment whip count: Where Democrats and Republicans stand
230

J)emocracy Dies in nnrkncss

Assessing the damage at the U.S. Capitol: 'You can see
the broken windows'
Paul Schwartzman

Jan. 7, 2021 at 7:06 p.m. EST

Outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, Sheridan Harvey took out binoculars and gazed hundreds of yards in the
distance, looking for evidence of the damage rioters had caused to a complex that is an enduring symbol of American
democracy.

"Yon can see the broken windows," Harvey, a retired Library of Congress reference librarian, told her friend Merritt
Chesley, a retired Foreign Service officer.

On Wednesday, Harvey had devoured an entire bag of Cheetos as the two women texted each other, both watching
news coverage of the mob that overwhelmed the landmark at the center of their neighborhood.

"What they're doing to our country is appalling, appalling, appalling," Chesley said.

"I was never afraid that the building would fall or that the rioters would take control," Harvey said. "But symbolically?
It was devastating."

Less than 24 hours after rioters desecrated a singular emblem of Washington power, the nation's capital struggled to
regain a sense of order as work crews cleaned up litter on the Capitol's grounds and tourists returned to admire its
gleaming dome.

Clusters of National Guard troops ringing the complex, along with newly installed security fencing, signaling that the
path to normalcy would not be simple or quick.

"It's reassuring to see it on a lovely, clear clay, on the one hand, and rm happy to see the National Guard," Laird
Treiber, 55, a retired Foreign Service officer who lives in the neighborhood, said as he walked his beagle past the east
side of the Capitol. "But what a shame. It's not something I would expect to see in my lifetime. It's the kind of thing you
see somewhere else, and it's usually a sign of real trouble."

Michael Kanter awoke Thursday at a downtown hotel, put on his reel "Make America Great Again" cap and headed
straight for the Capitol, where he had spent hours the clay before.
231

Instead of voicing more outrage over the election results, as he had when he marched with thousands of other
supporters of President Trump, Kanter said he wanted to make sure the building was secure.

The 67-year-old dentist from Florida still insisted the election was "stolen" from Trump, who has made unfounded
allegations about rigged voting for months. But Kanter described himself as upset that the Capitol had been vandalized
by hordes of his fellow Trump backers, who overtook police, broke windows and ransacked congressional offices.

"I wanted to see it quiet and peaceful," he said as he gazed at the building. "I just wanted to see the beauty of it."

As much as the White House, perhaps, the Capitol is a cultural icon, depicted on the $50 bill, in countless movies and
on postcards. Storming the complex as lawmakers were certifying the election results was akin to "violating a
cathedral," Georgetown University history professor Michael Kazin said.

"Our Constitution, the White House, the Mall, the Capitol - they're like a secular version of religion," Kazin said.
"Those are the places people know if they know anything about the country."

Over the course of U.S. history, the Capitol has been the setting for the attempted assassination of President Andrew
Jackson, three bombings and several shootings, including the 1998 slaying of two Capitol Police officers. During the
War of 1812, British troops torched the building while it was still under construction.

Yet Wednesday's attack was unprecedented because of the size of the mob, cheered on by Trump, that overwhelmed
the police and jammed the Capitol's hallways and stairwells.

"Most of these previous incidents was a person or a few people doing something dastardly," said Stephen Hess, a
senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who writes about government and the media. 'These were countless people,
swarming in and over the Capitol. It was a stampede. The vision of that was sickening."

Hess, 87, a D.C. resident who has been decoding the workings of Washington since the 1950s, said he was paralyzed
with astonishment as he sat in front of his television for hours watching the mob.

"The Germans bombed Britain, but they were Germans," he said. "In this case, it wasn't an invasion. They weren't our
enemy. They were our people - friends, inspired by our president. That's the horrible thing about it."

Many of the marauders wore Trump hats or carried Trump flags as they entered the building Wednesday. But on
Thnrsday, there were supporters of the president - like Kanter - who came back dovmtown and showed reverence for
the institutions of government.

Some picked up debris near the White House. At the Capitol, a woman who identified herself only as "Asia" said she
had marched Wednesday but retreated once the vandalism had begun. "I didn't want to be part of that," she said.

'Tm glad to see there's not a lot of trash," she said after emerging from a van with a Maine license plate, wearing a dirt-
bike helmet fashioned to look like a skull. "I believe in our country, but I don't believe in hurting each other. There's a
wav to do it. and we messed un."
232

A few yards away, Monica Squires, 35, said she did not think the pro-Trump crowd had done anything wrong. She had
traveled from California for the Trump rally and saw the mayhem on the Capitol grounds but said she did not enter the
building.

"The fact that I saw it 1,vith in my own eyes is really so cool," she said, after returning to the area Thursday in hopes of
running into Alex ,Jones, the right-wing conspiracy theorist. "I feel like I saw history. I don't see what happened as any
kind of desecration. I see it as the government should be afraid of the people. They should listen to our grievances. I
thought it was all kind of entertaining."

After the curfew imposed by D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) lifted at 6 a.m., the city's roadways filled with traffic and
Washingtonians emerged to buy groceries, walk their dogs and get fresh air.

Daniel Bell, a social-work student who lives in Cleveland Park, visited Black Lives Matter Plaza, near the White House,
because he wanted to see the remnants of Wednesday's "destruction." He found a largely vacant stretch of asphalt,
except for a handful of visitors, some of whom wore hats signaling support for Trump.

Bell, 27, who grew up in the District, said his ingrained sense of security in his hometow11 has been shaken by the
demonstrations in recent months. "My neighbors are kind and caring, but the people who visit?" he said. 'Tm not
feeling so safe right now. I've been terrified since November."

At 14th and U streets NW, where rioting erupted after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in 1968, Delontay
Ericson, 28, unloaded folding tables from his van to sell T-shirts emblazoned with the faces of President-elect ,Joe
Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala D. Harris.

On most days, Ericson said, he also offers shirts and flags promoting Trump, as well as items that invoke an obscenity
to express contempt for the president. But on Thursday, those items remained out of sight.

"All the Trump stuff stays in the bag," he said. "I'm a capitalist. I don't need no trouble today."

Updated January i4, 2021

Complete coverage: Pro-Trump mob storms Capitol bui]ding

Security

Threats: Far-right groups make plans for protests and assaults before and after Inauguration Day

U.S. Capitol riot, a Black lives Matter protest: A visual comparison of two starkly different
policing responses

What happened on Jan. 6

Exclusive: Dozens of people on FBI terrorist watch list came to D.C. the day of Capitol riot

Attacked with bear sorav and their own batons: D.C. oolice describe brutal and chaotic
233

moments

Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump's failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol

Trump's second impeachment

Unprecedented: House hands Trump a second impeachment, this time with GOP support

The GOP: Ten Republicans vote to impeach, giving the vote bipartisan bona fides that could win over Senate
234

Trump's election fight includes over 50 lawsuits. It's not
going well.

November 23, 2020

Nov. 23, 2020, 2:06 PM UTC / Updated Dec. 10, 2020, 5:42 PM UTC

By Pete Williams and Nicole Via y Rada

President Donald TrumP- and his allies have filed dozens of lawsuits across the country in an
.a!.tfilnP-1 to contest the election results.
Most of them have been shot down or withdrawn, and no court has found even a single
instance of fraud. Of at least 57 cases to have been filed, including some not directly involving
Trump but which could nonetheless affect his standing, at least 50 have been denied,
dismissed, settled or withdrawn.

Trump has aggressively ramped up his allegations of election fraud in the weeks since his
projected loss, tweeting dozens of debunked theories. Despite the Electoral College vote this
week certifying Biden's victory, Trump has still not conceded.

Just five cases remain active as of Dec. 17. Here is where things stand:

1/9
235

3rd U.S. Court of Appeals: In Bognet v. Boockvar, Republicans argued that the extended
mail-in ballot deadline challenged the constitution.

Status: Denied.

U.S. District Court, Eastern District: In Barnette v. Lawrence, the GOP lawsuit claimed that
Montgomery County wrongly allowed mail-in voters the chance to cure ballots.

Status: Dismissed.

U.S. District Court, Eastern District: In Trump v. Philadelphia County Board of Elections, the
Trump campaign argued that there was insufficient access by observers.

Status: Denied. The Trump campaign later admitted that there were a "nonzero
number of p_e_ople in the room" observing the vote count, including some affiliated with
the campaign. Judge Paul S. Diamond shot back, 'Tm sorzy., then what's Y-0ur
problem?"

U.S. District Court, Middle District: In Pirkle v. Wolf, four voter plaintiffs generalized
allegations of fraud, based on complaints issued by third parties.

Status: Withdrawn.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court: In response to the Canvass of Absentee and Mail-in Ballots,
Republicans claim that Philadelphia did not give election observers enough access.

Status: Denied. The court reversed the petition allowing an appeal. The court rejected
the Trump campaign's claim that mail-in ballots with minor flaws must be rejected.

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court: In Hamm v. Boockvar, Republicans claimed that the
state wrongly allowed voters to cast provisional ballots to cure invalid mail ballots.

Status: Denied.

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court: Northampton Republicans challenged notifications of
votes that were canceled during prescreening.

Status: Withdrawn.

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court: In Trump v. Boockvar, the campaign challenged the
three-day deadline extension given to mail-in voters missing identification to supply proof of
identification.

Status: Relief granted. The court found that the secretary of state had no authority to
provide an extension. The secretary of state's office has said the total number of votes is
probably fewer than 100 statewide.

2/9
236

Court of Common Pleas, Bucks County: Both the Republican National Committee and the
Trump campaign challenged over 2,000 mail-in ballots.

Status: Denied.

Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas: In Trump v. Montgomery County Board of
Elections, the Trump campaign and the RNC challenged about 600 mail-in ballots that
lacked voters' addresses.

Status: Withdrawn.

U.S. Supreme Court: In Republican Party of Pennsylvania v. Boockvar, Republicans
challenged the extended mail-in ballot deadline.

Status: Active.

3rd Circuit Court of Appeals: In Trump v. Boockvar, the campaign is arguing that different
provisional ballot practices violate equal protection.

• Status: Denied.
• A federal judge on Saturday dismissed the suit in a scathing opinion: "This claim, like
Frankenstein's Monster, has been haphazardly stitched together," Judge Matthew
Brann wrote.
• The Trump campaign appealed the ruling earlier this week, but their appeal was
denied. The ruling states that "calling an election unfair does not make it so."

Pennsylvania Supreme Court: The Trump campaign appealed a Philadelphia County Board of
Elections decision to count five different categories of mail-in and absentee ballots.

Status: Denied. The court is reviewing whether the state election code allows curing
some mail-in ballots by casting provisional ballots.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court: In Ziccarelli v. Allegheny County Board of Elections, Nicole
Ziccarelli, a GOP legislative candidate, challenged 2,349 undated mail-in ballots.

Status: Denied.

Court of Common Pleas for Westmoreland County: Ziccarelli is also challenging a small
number of provisional ballots.

Status: Relief granted.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court: In Kelly v. Pennsylvania, a group of Republicans, led by Rep.
Mike Kelly, claimed that the state's no-excuse mail ballot law violates the state constitution.
They sought an order blocking certification of most mail-in votes or that directs the state
Assembly to choose the presidential electors.

3/9
237

Status: Denied. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the plaintiffs' appeal.

Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania: Metcalfe v. Wolf, repeats claims of voter fraud,
alleging that thousands of illegal ballots were cast and that drop boxes for ballots were
improperly allowed.

Status: Denied.

U.S. Supreme Court: In Texas v. Pennsylvania et al., the state of Texas filed suit against
Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin alleging that fraud and mistakes damaged
the presidential election in those states.

Status: Denied. 126 congressional Republicans, including House Republican leader
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., signed on to a brief asking that the Electoral College
selects a candidate for president by "counting only legal votes." The Supreme Court
rejected the case on Friday, citing a "lack of standing under Article III of the
Constitution."

Michigifil
U.S. District Court, Western District: In Johnson/Stoddard v. Benson, two Trump supporters
made generalized allegations of voter fraud.

Status: Withdrawn.

Michigan Supreme Court: In Johnson v. Benson, two Trump supporters made generalized
allegations of voter fraud.

Status: Denied. In a 4-3 decision, the Michigan Supreme Court denied relief.

U.S. District Court, Western District: In Trump v. Benson, the campaign claimed that Wayne
County denied election challengers proper access to watch election workers handle ballots.

Status: Withdrawn

Wayne County Circuit Court: In Constantino v. Detroit, two Republican poll challengers
alleged irregularities in the vote at the TCF Center.

Status: Denied.

Wayne County Circuit Court: In Stoddard v. Detroit, the plaintiffs claimed that ballots were
improperly duplicated by Democratic Party inspectors.

Status: Denied.

4/9
238

Michigan Court of Claims: In Trump v. Benson, the campaign sought to have more poll
observers watch the vote count.

Status: Denied. In her opinion, Judge Cynthia D. Stephens said that the case was
"inadmissible hearsay within hearsay."

U.S. District Court, Western District: In Ballyv. Whitmer, a group of voters disputed election
results in three counties based on allegations of voting irregularities and fraud.

Status: Withdrawn.

U.S. District Court, Eastern District: In King v. Whitmer, a group of Michigan Republicans
asked a federal judge to reverse Biden's victory in Michigan, an outcome that was formally
certified earlier this month.

Status: Denied.

Wisconsin
U.S. District Court, Eastern District: In Langenhorst v. Pecore, Republicans made
generalized allegations of voter fraud that relied on third-party accounts.

Status: Dismissed.

Wisconsin Supreme Court: In Wisconsin Voters Alliance v. Wisconsin Election Commission,
a conservative group claims that the five cities of Kenosha, Green Bay, Madison, Milwaukee
and Racine illegally accepted grants from Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerburg to improve
election systems. They also claim that officials failed to get voter identification for some mail-
in ballots.

Status: Denied.

U.S. District Court, Eastern District: In Feehan v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, former
Trump lawyer Sidney Powell is alleging fraud with voting machines.

Status: Dismissed.

Wisconsin Supreme Court: In Trump v. Evers, the Trump campaign seeks to invalidate mail
ballots it claims were improperly included during the canvas in Milwaukee and Dane
counties.

Status: Denied.

Wisconsin Supreme Court: In Mueller v. Wisconsin, the lawsuit claims drop boxes were
placed without proper authority and seeks nullification of any ballots placed in them. It
accuses Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency ofleading a

5/9
239

propaganda campaign to encourage their use, part of a "treacherous operation to interfere
with the presidential election."

Status: Denied.

U.S. District Court, Eastern District: In Trump v. Wisconsin Elections Commission, the
Trump campaign claims that state election officials made ballots and drop boxes available in
a manner not allowed by the state legislature.

Status: Dismissed.

Arizona
Maricopa County Superior Court: In Arizona Republican Party v. Fontes, the Republicans
sought a hand recount of the ballots cast in Maricopa County by precinct. The GOP does not
allege fraud, but it claims that the audit of votes did not meet state law.

Status: Dismissed.

Maricopa County Superior Court: In Trump v. Hobbs, the Trump campaign claimed that
using Sharpies to fill in mail-in ballots caused an overvote and invalidated ballots.

Status: Dismissed.

Superior Court for the State of Arizona: In Ward v. Jackson, Kelli Ward, the chair of the
Arizona Republican Party and a Trump elector, alleges misconduct in the elections
administration and seeks that the vote certification by Gov. Doug Ducey be annulled.

Status: Denied.

U.S. District Court: In Bowyer v. Ducey, involves Texas lawyer Sidney Powell and alleges
"massive election fraud" involving Dominion voting systems. These claims are similar to
those in other lawsuits.

Status: Denied. The plaintiffs filed an appeal.

Superior Court for the State of Arizona: In Stevenson v. Ducey, the plaintiffs contested the
election results.

Status: Dismissed voluntarily.

Arizona Superior Court: In Burk v. Ducey, the plaintiffs claim illegal ballots were counted in
the vote totals, while attacking the use of Dominion voting machines.

Status: Active.

6/9
240

Nevada
Clark County District Court: In Election Integrity Project v. Nevada, the plaintiffs claimed
that Nevada's vote-by-mail structure is unconstitutional. The suit was filed in September.

Status: Denied.

1st Judicial District Court, Carson City: In Law v. vVhitmer, Trump's six electors claimed
irregularities, including the improper use of scanning machines to verify signatures.

Status: Denied.

U.S. District Court: In Stokke v. Cegavske, the plaintiffs sought to stop the use of automated
signature matching in Clark County.

Status: Withdrawn.

Nevada Supreme Court: In Kraus v. Cegavske, the Trump campaign, the Nevada GOP and a
Republican voter and count-watcher named Fred Kraus sued to stop the use of automated
signature matching.

Status: Dismissed. The parties reached an agreement to allow for more observers.

Clark County District Court: In Becker v. Gloria, April Becker, a state Senate candidate,
challenged the use of automated systems to match mail-in ballot signatures and the mailing
of ballots to all registered voters.

Status: Denied.

Clark County District Court: In Marchant v. Gloria, Jim Marchant, a congressional candidate,
challenged the use of automated systems for signature-matching and for mailing ballots to all
registered voters.

Status: Dismissed.

Clark County District Court: In Rodimer v. Gloria, Daniel Rodimer, a state legislative
candidate, challenged the use of automated systems for signature-matching and mailing
ballots to all registered voters.

Status: Dismissed.

U.S. District Court, Northern District: In Wood v. Raffensperger, an Atlanta lawyer and
Trump supporter sought an injunction to prevent a statewide canvass, arguing that a consent
decree wrongly imposes an invalid procedure to verify voter signatures.

7/9
241

Status: Denied.

U.S. District Court, Northern Division: Pearson v. Kemp makes many of the claims alleged by
Texas lawyer Sidney Powell, including that voting machines made by Dominion Voting
Systems allowed Democratic officials to fraudulently add votes for Biden.

Status: Dismissed. The plaintiffs intend to appeal.

Fulton County Superior Court: In Wood v. Raffensberger, a conservative group is behind a
lawsuit claiming that thousands of illegal votes were counted and that funds contributed by
Mark Zuckerberg tainted the election. The suit seeks to invalidate the presidential election
results.

Status: Denied.

Fulton County Superior Court: In Boland v. Raffensperger, the plaintiff claims more than
20,000 ballots were cast by non-residents and that counties did not properly screen mail
ballot signatures. Seeks an audit or, if none is granted, decertification of the election results.

Status: Denied.

U.S. District Court, Southern District: In Brooks v. Mahoney, four Republican voters claimed
that a voting machine software glitch caused a miscounting of votes.

Status: Dismissed.

Chatham County Superior Court: The Georgia Republican Party and the Trump campaign
sought a reminder that mail-in ballots arriving late would not be counted.

Status: Dismissed.

Fulton County Superior Court: Boland v. Raffensperger claims more than 20,000 ballots
were cast by non-residents and that counties did not properly screen mail ballot signatures.
The complaint seeks an audit or, if none is granted, decertification of the election results.

Status: Denied.

Fulton County Superior Court: In Trump v. Raffensperger, the Trump campaign and a
Trump electorclaim thousand of ballots were cast by ineligible voters.

Status: Dismissed.

Minnesota

8/9
242

Minnesota Supreme Court: In Kistner v. Simon, several Republican candidates make
generalized claims of voting irregularities. The lawsuit sought to block the state's certification
of votes until an audit of the returns could be completed.

Status: Denied.

Minnesota District Court, 2nd Judicial District: In Quist v. Simon, the plaintiffs claim the
secretary of state created procedural changes that made the ballot counting process "overly
broad, arbitrary, disparate and ad hoc."

Status: Active.

Minnesota District Court, 2nd Judicial District: In Jensen v. Simon, the plaintiffs seek to
contest election results under the claim that invalid votes were counted.

Status: Active.

New Mexico
U.S. District Court: In Trump v. Toulouse Oliver, the Trump campaign claims the secretary of
state allowed ballot drop boxes without legislative authority. The plaintiffs ask the judge to
void Biden's elector certificate and "remand to the state of New Mexico legislature pursuant
to appoint electors."

Status: Active.

Pete Williams
Pete Williams is an NBC News correspondent who covers the Justice
Department and the Supreme Court, based in Washington.

Nicole Via y Rada
Nicole Via y Rada is a news associate for NBC News.

Rich Gardella contributed.

9/9
243

Pence Reached His Limit With Trump. It Wasn't Pretty.

January 13, 2021

WASHINGTON - For Vice President Mike Pence, the moment of truth had arrived. After
three years and 11 months of navigating the treacherous waters of President Trump's ego,
after all the tongue-biting, pride-swallowing moments where he employed strategic silence or
florid flattery to stay in his boss's good graces, there he was being cursed by the president.

Mr. Trump was enraged that Mr. Pence was refusing to try to overturn the election. In a
series of meetings, the president had pressed relentlessly, alternately cajoling and
browbeating him. Finally, just before Mr. Pence headed to the Capitol to oversee the electoral
vote count last vVednesdaY-, Mr. Trump called the vice president's residence to push one last
time.

"You can either go down in history as a patriot," Mr. Trump told him, according to two
people briefed on the conversation, "or you can go down in history as a pussy."

The blowup between the nation's two highest elected officials then played out in dramatic
fashion as the president publicly excoriated the vice president at an incendiary rally and sent
agitated supporters to the Capitol where they stormed the building - some of them chanting
"Hang Mike Pence."

Evacuated to the basement, Mr. Pence huddled for hours while Mr. Trump tweeted out an
attack on him rather than call to check on his safety.

1/5
244

It was an extraordinary rupture of a partnership that had survived too many challenges to
count.

The loyal lieutenant who had almost never diverged from the president, who had finessed
every other possible fracture, finally came to a decision point he could not avoid. He would
uphold the election despite the president and despite the mob. And he would pay the price
with the political base he once hoped to harness for his own run for the White House.

"Pence had a choice between his constitutional duty and his political future, and he did the
right thing," said John Yoo, a legal scholar consulted by Mr. Pence's office. "I think he was
the man of the hour in many ways for both Democrats and Republicans. He did his duty
even though he must have known, when he did it, that that probably meant he could never
become president."

Former Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, one of Mr. Trump's most outspoken Republican critics
and a longtime friend of Mr. Pence before they drifted apart over the president, said he was
relieved the vice president had finally taken a stand.

'There were many points where I wished he would have separated, spoke out, but I'm glad he
did it when he did," Mr. Flake said. "I wish he would have done it earlier, but I'm sure
grateful he did it now. And I knew he would."

Not everyone gave Mr. Pence much credit, arguing that he should hardly be lionized for
following the Constitution and maintaining that his deference to the president for nearly four
years enabled Mr. Trump's assault on democracy in the first place.

'Tm glad he didn't break the law, but it's kind of hard to call somebody courageous for
choosing not to help overthrow our democratic system of government," said Representative
Tom Malinowski, Democrat of New Jersey. "He's got to understand that the man he's been
working for and defending loyally is almost single-handedly responsible for creating a
movement in this country that wants to hang Mike Pence."

The rift between Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence has dominated their final days in office - not
least because the vice president has the power under the 25th Amendment to remove the
president from office with support of the cabinet. The House voted on Tuesday demanding
that Mr. Pence take such action or else it would impeach Mr. Trump.

Mr. Pence sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi late Tuesday refusing to act. But Mr. Trump
has been nervous enough about it that he finally broke five days of the cold shoulder to invite
his vice president to the Oval Office on Monday night to smooth over their split. The official
description of the hourlong conversation was "good"; the unofficial description was
"nonsubstantive" and "stilted."

2/5
245

The clash is the third time in 20 years that a departing president and vice president came to
conflict in their last days. After Vice President Al Gore lost his presidential campaign in
2000, he had a bitter fight with President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office over who was to
blame. Eight years later, just days before leaving office, Vice President Dick Cheney
castigated President George W. Bush for refusing to pardon I. Lewis Libby Jr., the vice
president's former chief of staff, for perjury in the C.I.A. leak case.

Mr. Trump came into office with no real understanding of how his predecessors had handled
relationships with their running mates. In the early days, when it became clear that there
would be no organizational chart or formal decision-making process, Mr. Pence made
himself a regular presence in the Oval Office, simply showing up with no agenda, often
walking into a policy discussion for which he had received no briefing materials.

He arrived in the West Wing each morning, received an update about when the president was
coming down from the residence and then simply stationed himself in the Oval Office for
most of the day. He was almost never formally invited to anything and his name was rarely
on official meeting manifests. But he was almost always around.

Calm and unflappable, Mr. Pence took on the role of confidant for cabinet secretaries and
other officials fearing Mr. Trump's ire, advising how to broach uncomfortable topics with the
president without triggering him.

Not angering Mr. Trump "was a key objective of his," observed David J. Shulkin, the former
secretary of veterans affairs. "He tried very hard to straddle a very tough line." But that
meant Mr. Pence's own views were often opaque.

"Were the policies and the statements being put out, were they ones that he completely
agreed with?" Dr. Shulkin asked. "Or was it his strategy that it is better to be in the room, it is
better to be a trusted party to help moderate some of those strategies and the way to do that
is not to publicly disagree? I think that was a really hard one to figure out, exactly where he
stood."

Mr. Pence ultimately discovered that loyalty to Mr. Trump only matters until it does not.
Tension between the two had grmNn in recent months as the president railed privately about
Mr. Pence. The vice president's allies believed Mr. Trump was stirred up in part by Mark
Meadows, the White House chief of staff, who told him that Pence aides were leaking to
reporters. That helped create a toxic atmosphere between the two offices even before Election
Day.

When Mr. Trump's efforts to overturn the election results were ITjected at eveIY- turn bY- state
officials and j]Jdg~, Mr. Trump was told, incorrectly, that the vice president could stop the
final validation of the election of President-elect Joseph R. Bi den Jr. in his role as president
of the Senate presiding over the Electoral College count.

3/5
246

The riot inside the U.S. Cariitol on WednesdaY., Jan. 6, followed a rally at which President
Trump made an inflammatory...s~ to his supporters, questioning the results of the
election. Here's a look at what happened and the ongoing fallout:

o As this video shows, poor planning and a restive crowd encouraged by President
Trump set the stage for the riot.
o A two hour pcriod was crucial to turning the rally into the riot.
o Several Trump administration officials, including cabinet members Betsy DeVos
and Elaine Chao, announced that theY- were stemiing down as a result of the riot.
o Federal prosecutors have charged more than 7-0 rieorile, including some who
appeared in viral photos and videos of the riot. Officials expect to eventually
charge hundreds of others.
o The House voted to imrieach the riresident on charges of "inciting an
insurrection" that led to the rampage by his supporters.

Mr. Pence's counsel, Greg Jacob, researched the matter and concluded the vice president had
no such authority. Prodded by Rudolph W. Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, two of his lawyers, Mr.
Trump kept pressing.

Mr. Pence's office solicited more constitutional opinions, including from Mr. Yoo, a
prominent conservative at the University of California at Berkeley who served in Mr. Bush's
administration.

In the Oval Office last week, the day before the vote, Mr. Trump pushed Mr. Pence in a string
of encounters, including one meeting that lasted at least an hour. John Eastman, a
conservative constitutional scholar at Chapman University, was in the office and argued to
Mr. Pence that he did have the power to act.

The next morning, hours before the vote, Richard Cullen, Mr. Pence's personal lawyer, called
J. Michael Luttig, a former appeals court judge revered by conservatives - and for whom Mr.
Eastman had once clerked. Mr. Luttig agreed to quickly write up his opinion that the vice
president had no power to change the outcome, then posted it on Twitter.

Within minutes, Mr. Pence's staff incorporated Mr. Luttig's reasoning, citing him byname,
into a letter announcing the vice president's decision not to try to block electors. Reached on
Tuesday, Mr. Luttig said it was "the highest honor of my life" to play a role in preserving the
Constitution.

After the angry call cursing Mr. Pence, Mr. Trump riled up supporters at the rally against his
ovvn vice president, saying, "I hope he doesn't listen to the RINOs and the stupid people that
he's listening to."

"He set Mike Pence up that day by putting it on his shoulders," said Ryan Streeter, an adviser
to Mr. Pence when he was the governor of Indiana. "That's a pretty unprecedented thing in
American politics. For a president to throw his own vice president under the bus like that and

4/5
247

to encourage his supporters to take him on is something just unconscionable in my mind."

Mr. Pence was already in his motorcade to the Capitol by that point. When the mob burst
into the building, Secret Service agents evacuated him and his wife and children, first to his
office off the floor and later to the basement. His agents urged him to leave the building, but
he refused to abandon the Capitol. From there, he spoke vvith congressional leaders, the
defense secretary and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff - but not the president.

A Republican senator later said he had never seen Mr. Pence so angry, feeling betrayed by a
president for whom he had done so much. To Mr. Trump, one adviser said, the vice president
had entered "Sessions tenitory," referring to Jeff Sessions, the attorney general who was
tortured by the president before being fired. (A vice president cannot be dismissed by a
president.)

On Thursday, the day after the siege, Mr. Pence stayed away from the White House, avoiding
Mr. Trump. The next day, he went in, but spent most of the day at the Eisenhower Executive
Office Building next door, where he held a farewell party for his staff.

But aides said Mr. Pence did not want to become a long-term nemesis of a vindictive
president, and by Monday he was back in the West Wing.

Unlike Mr. Trump, Mr. Pence plans to attend Mr. Biden's inauguration, then expects to
divide time between Washington and Indiana, possibly starting a leadership political
committee, writing a book and campaigning for congressional Republicans.

But no matter what comes next, he will always be remembered for one moment. "We're very
lucky that the vice president isn't a maniac," said Joe Grogan, Mr. Trump's domestic policy
adviser until last year. "In many ways, I think it vindicates the decision of Mike Pence to hang
in there this long."

5/5
248

Dc1110cracy ])fr_,;, in {)arbu•ss

Beaten, sprayed with mace and hit stun guns:
police describe injuries to dozens of officers during
assault on U.S. Capitol
Peter Hermann Julie Zauzmer

Jan. 11, 2021 at 7:22 p.m. EST

An officer was hit with a bat. Another was struck "1th a flagpole. A third was pinned against a statue. A fourth was
clobbered with a wrench. One became stuck between two doors amid a frenzied mob. Many were hit with bear spray.

The number of injuries suffered by police as they attempted to fend off supporters of President Trump who seized the
U.S. Capitol last week runs long. They include swollen ankles and wrists, bruised arms and legs, concussions and
irritated lungs.

How those injuries occurred is varied: pushed do"11 stairs, trampled by rioters, run over in a stampede, punched with
fists.

More than 58 D.C. police officers and an unlmown number of U.S. Capitol Police officers were injured in the hours-
long riot and assault on Wednesday as lawrnakers were formalizing the election victory for Joe Eiden as president It
was a battle in which police were outnumbered. One Capitol Police officer died in circumstances that remain unclear.

"I've talked to officers who have done two tours in Iraq, who said this was scarier to them than their time in combat,"
acting D.C. police chief Robert J. Contee Ill said Monday after speaking to an officer who was discharged from the
hospital after being beaten and injured witl1 a stun gun.

"He's obviously very shaken, very appalled, very angry," Contee said, adding that rioters stole items from the officer
and, he thinks, tried to get his firearm.

Videos circulating on the Internet show horrific scenes, including one of an officer, identified by the police union as
from the D.C. force, being dragged down stairs outside the Capitol and beaten by people with clubs, a crutch and a pole
with an An1erican flag attached. The officer was rescued by other officers swinging batons.

Another video, first shown on CNN, shows a D.C. officer pinned between two doors in a Capitol vestibule, screaming in
pain as rioters try to push his gas mask over his head as he was being crushed between colleagues and demonstrators
in the narrow entryway. Some rioters wrested away the officers' shields and used them to push back against the police.

It was not a brief moment. A longer version of that video shows hundreds of rioters pushing for more than 30 minutes
against D.C. police officers, who had rushed to help their colleagues on the Capitol force. Rioters shouted en masse,
"Heave ho," as they pushed in coordinated waves, screaming and cheering.

"It makes me sick to my stomach to see that video," Contee said. "That officer, ob,~ously, he was afraid for his life."
249

D.C. police said Monday that one District officer remained hospitalized. They described many of the injuries as sprains
and bmised arms and legs, but many others appear far more serious and caused by repeated blows from sticks, poles
and clubs and laser pointers shined into officers' eyes.

The Capitol Police, which had 1,400 officers at the building, also have members who suffered injuries. A number was
not available, but Eva M. Malecki, a spokeswoman for the agency, said injuries ranged from concussions to scrapes and
bmises. She said no Capitol Police officers remain hospitalized.

In a statement the day after the riot, then-Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, who resigned Friday, said officers were
attacked with metal pipes, chemical irritants and other types of weapons. Several Capitol Police officers were
hospitalized with serious injuries.

Three people among the demonstrators died during what police have described as "medical emergencies." Authorities
said a Capitol Police officer, Brian D. Sicknick, died of injuries sustained in the assault. Another Capitol Police officer
who had been at the Capitol during the riot t.ook his own life Saturday.

Greggory Pemberton, head of the D.C. police union, called the riot "a nightmare." He said one officer suffered an
apparent heart attack after be was hit six times ,,ith a stun gun, and another lost the tip of his right index finger,
possibly when it was cmshed.

He said many rioters came prepared, with enhanced versions of munitions carried by police. Bear spray, for example,
is a highly concentrated version of OC spray, also referred to as tear gas, that is stronger than the version police use to
tame violent demonstrations.

"It has a really nasty effect," Pemberton said, noting it can burn lungs. He said that although all but one injured D.C.
officer are out of the hospital, many face an extended recovery period.

Justin Jo,wenal and Katie Mettler contributed to this report.

Updated January 14, 2021

Complete coverage: Pro-Trump mob storms Capitol bui1ding

Security

Threats: Far-right groups make plans for protests and assaults before and after Inauguration Day

U.S. Capitol riot, a Black Lives Matter protest: A visual comparison of two starkly different
policing responses

What happened on Jan. 6

Exclusive: Dozens of people on FBI terrorist watch list came to D.C. the day of Capitol riot

Six hours of paralysis: Inside Trump's failure to act after a mob stormed the Capitol

Analvsis: What Trumo said before his suooorters stormed the Caoitol. annotated
250

Trump's second impeachment

Unprecedented: House hands Trump a second impeachment, this time with GOP support

The GOP: Ten Republicans vote to impeach, giving the vote bipartisan bona fides that could win over Senate

Comments are not available on this story.
Share your feedback by emailing the author. Have a question about our comment
policies? Review our guidelines or contact the commenting team here.
251

Inside the fight for the Capitol: US Capitol Police officers
recount being unprepared and 'betrayed'

January 19, 2021

By Peter Nickeas, CNN

Updated 9:00 AM ET, Tue January 19, 2021

(CNN)The day before the US Ca12itol was attacked, Capitol Police officers were ordered to
report to the department's equipment depot to pick up helmets, an officer who was there that
day told CNN. They didn't know why they were needed, but when they arrived, they were told
to return later. The helmets had yet to be scanned into inventory.

When officers finally secured helmets that Wednesday morning following roll call, they
weren't given direction for use or storage. The helmets are heavy, and it wasn't clear they'd
need them for the morning's protest. Some put them in their lockers, others kept them near
their fixed posts.
By afternoon, the officers in the Capitol were in a fight for their lives and for the seat of
American government. They were left to their own devices, outgunned, ,vithout adequate
protective equipment, unaware of backup, enclosed by people, many with weapons,
attempting to take over the government.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, January 6, 2021, at the
Capitol in Washington.

1/7
252

New details, provided by five US Capitol Police officers who spoke to CNN, provide a deeper
look at how department leadership left its officers unprepared and how the police force
charged with protecting Congress was overrun, leading to the most successful assault on the
Capitol in more than 200 years.
The officers who spoke to CNN felt betrayed by leadership. They spoke about the day's
events, their feelings and observations, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of losing their
jobs and a retributive command staff. Minority officers were hit with racial slurs by people
attacking the building.
Read More
And before the fight was over, officers were forced to shout that they were police to law
enforcement responding to rescue the building after it was lost. They weren't put in a
position to arrest the attackers, to defend themselves, or defend the Capitol. They weren't put
in a position to succeed.
The US Capitol Police handle dozens of protests and demonstrations and events each year.
They're as common "as stoplights in big cities," one officer said. They know how to plan, staff
and work these events. They've handled mass arrest situations and they've kept the Capitol
complex secure even after protesters crossed their lines -- such as when more than 7...Q..people
were arrested inside two Senate buildings during the first day of confirmation hearings for
Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
"There was no planning. No pre-planning. I just don't understand. For the life of me, why not
have the same precautions as we did with other demonstrations?" one officer said. "Our
management was completely ... nobody knew what the hell to do. Nobody was giving
direction on what to do."
"I feel betrayed," another officer said. "They didn't even put us in a position to be successful."
Steven Sund, the US Capitol Police chief, resigned after the assault. The sergeants at arms for
the House and Senate resigned after Sund. They account for two of the three-member board
that oversees US Capitol Police. The third, the Capitol Architect, is not involved in tactical
decisions and has not been ensnared by the scandal.
A retired general will lead an investigation into the security failures, Pelosi announced last
week. What happened that day is now the subject of congressional and federal criminal
investigations.
A spokeswoman for US Capitol Police didn't respond to CNN's request for comment. Neither
did the president of the labor union representing US Capitol Police officers.

Preparing for the day's events

Officers knew of a protest, and they knew the President was speaking. They were not in an
elevated posture of readiness and wore standard duty uniforms.
But the all-hands planning sessions that precede major events, used to brief front-line
officers on all the contingencies -- where to send people in case of sudden need to evacuate,
where to send people who need medical help -- never happened.
It wasn't that nobody had any sense things could go wrong. Days before the planned protest,
Sund asked the sergeants at arms to activate the National Guard, a request they denied, Sund

2/7
253

told CBS' "60 Minutes." His department's intelligence section also circulated a report
warning for potential violence, ~glru:l..report in The Washington.Tofil. Sund did not
respond to CNN's repeated requests for comment for this story.
For some officers, it was the first time they were assigned helmets. Not every US Capitol
Police officer is assigned riot gear that officers use in crowd or riot control settings, though
items like helmets, face-shields, body-shields, batons, and protective padding are all
standard kit for police in state-level and medium-to-large police departments.
Riot police prepare to move demonstrators away from the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on
January 6, 2021.
"It started like a normal day. It shouldn't have started like a normal day," one officer told
CNN. "The thing that struck me was getting messages from coworkers saying, 'How come the
members keep saying watch your back, be careful, you guys watch your six?' They knew what
was coming."
After the President spoke, a supervisor went on police radio to warn of protesters leaving
Trump's speech and heading toward the Capitol.
"Here they go. There's a large munber of Trump supporters, they're coming from the West.
We need perimeter on the West," one officer recalled hearing.
At first, it was just a crowd. The officers who spoke to CNN said they expected the normal
yelling, name-calling and occasional pushing against the bike-rack fencing that they've grown
accustomed to from years of policing demonstrations.
"It started like any other demonstration, except it was a lot of damn people," one officer told
CNN. "But when it went south, it went south in a hurry. There was not enough people to stop
what was coming. \\That hurt us was, these people, they planned for it. They knew we weren't
going to shoot. They knew they could get up on you and we're not going to shoot unarmed
people."
As the crowd set upon the Capitol, police rushed the workers setting up the inauguration
stage to safety. They evacuated in such a huuy that some left tools behind.
Before the violence, there was a call for a possible bomb. Someone showed pictures of the
device to a police officer who used their radio to alert others, and police officers and the
bomb squad had to respond. A few minutes later, they found another, and again more
officers had to respond to create a perimeter and evacuate people.
Police can't be in two places at once, and the officers handling the bombs couldn't help at the
Capitol. That's when the fighting started on the West front of the Capitol. Investigators later
determined the bombs were real, though it's not clear why they didn't detonate.
"They start throwing tear gas. Gas grenades. Flashbangs. Shooting cherry bombs, rubber
bullet type guns they were shooting us with," one officer said. "We have OC spray (another
term for pepper spray) but we're pleading for help, send us help."
Some of the group had blunt objects to break windows and projectiles to throw at officers,
including bricks, signs, fence posts, fire extinguishers, lumber and shields.
Biden Transition
• AnalY-sis: What does Biden's diverse Cabinet mean for a divided country:
• Biden crafts inaugural address to unify a country in crisis

3/7
254

• Biden administration braces for new wave of migrants as it rolls out new immigration
plans
• MAP: Full presidential election results

Some DC Metropolitan Police officers were already at the Capitol trying to hold a perimeter
outside the building. They had been monitoring the group from the Ellipse, where Trump
had spoken earlier.
''We were outnumbered as it was, but if MPD hadn't been there, they would have come right
in," an officer said. "They slowed the advance."
The officers described the violence as methodical and escalating. Officers were coming off the
line one at a time to decontaminate after getting sprayed or gassed. Gas lingered in the air.
The spray used by attackers had longer range than the spray officers had, so those on the
front lines weren't able to effectively use pepper spray against attackers.
Police hold off Trump supporters who tried to break through a police barrier, Wednesday,
January 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington.
Sometimes, small groups would pick an officer to fight, occupying the officer and any other
officer who joined to help.
TI1e breach of the first perimeter was fast, and police didn't have any real security barriers
out. The bike-rack style fencing is used more as a guide to keep people from stumbling into
restricted areas and they're light enough to be used as weapons by protesters if a protest
turns violent.
"Finally, our less-than-lethal teams came out and we're deploying gas, flashbangs, fighting
fire with fire. But they had masks, they were prepared. They had earpieces, they had radios.
It's not a coincidence that once those bombs were found, they started to advance on us," an
officer said.
There was a call for help at the West entrance to the Capitol, and the attackers watched the
police shift resources, leaving the East front scarcely guarded.
A breach of the perimeter on the East entrance followed shortly after the West perimeter
collapsed. Officers believe groups were communicating between the East and West fronts and
coordinating the timing of their attacks on officers.
"They're methodical, lobbing cheny bombs, little bit of this and that," one officer said. "The
people we were fighting. They had gas masks. They had earpieces. They had radios."
"Look, when they busted through the bike racks and green fencing at the bottom of
Pennsylvania Avenue, there was only like four people there. A woman, a supervisor, two
other officers," an officer told CNN. "They busted through that. (The female officer) hit her
head and had a concussion, she hasn't been back."

'You couldn't have arrested anybody'

The officers who spoke to CNN, don't recall ever being made aware of plans to take back the
Capitol. They remember hearing officers all over pleading for help, both in specific
emergency situations and in general to formulate a plan to clear the building of the attackers.
Neither recall being given orders about how or whether to arrest people.

4/7
255

Capitol police, once a decision is made to start mass arrests, will set up a square using bicycle
rack fencing, surround it with officers and put arrestees in flex-cuffs and into the pen for
holding until things calm dmvn. Then, officers can each handle paperwork on a handful of
arrestees.
That was not an option because, as the officer said, they were "getting their asses kicked."
"You couldn't have arrested anybody," one officer said. "You could not. We were surrounded.
Normally in mass-arrest situation, they comply under arrest. But (the attackers had) already
proven to us they wanted to beat our asses. No way arrests could have been affected at that
moment. Just get these people out and survive."
Even if the officers wanted to go into the crowd to grab a single problem actor, their lines
weren't sufficiently staffed to allow for a small squad of officers to wade in, grab someone and
drag them back behind the line for arrest.
"Everyone was screaming for help," an officer said. "At that point, (officers) were just
responding to '10-33' calls. Officer in trouble, needs help."
Protesters interact with Capitol Police inside the US Capitol Building.
Once the attackers were on the rotunda steps and near the doors, people started climbing the
walls. US Capitol Police don't normally staff the grounds outside those walls with more than
a couple officers because they weren't seen as entrances, so the people climbing were able to
break windows and get inside.
The officers at the doors didn't know people had already broken in behind them until
someone went over the radio with that information, one officer told CNN.
"They're over the radio saying they've breached the doors, they've breached windows and got
inside," one officer recalled. "They came in packs, and officers working inside are trying to
lockdown areas where members may be, trying to get members to secret hideaways and
tunnels where they'll be safe."
On scaffolding outside the Capitol, an officer climbed to try and arrest someone.
"You guys don't have the numbers," he told the police officer.
Sund told "60 Minutes" he requested the National Guard during the siege, and the office of
the Secretary of the Army delayed the request, citing the poor visuals of soldiers protecting
the Capitol.
"I don't like the optics of the National Guard standing the line 1Nith the Capitol behind them,"
is the answer Sund says he got from a representative of the secretary of the Aln1y. The chief
of the DC Metro Police Department has confirmed Sund's account to "60 Minutes."
The Pentagon has denied Sund's optics claims and said guards were approved within about
4ominutes.

'We wouldn't have won.'

Once inside, officers were getting surrounded and encircled, fighting protesters, trying to
beat people back. Flashbangs and gas were going off and officers weren't sure if it was police
or protesters.

5/7
256

Lawmakers and staffers locked themselves in offices. At some point, one officer recalled the
deputy chief (now chief) give an order over police radio to lockdown the Capitol. That means
doors get secured with magnetic locks across the campus -- the Capitol and outlying office
buildings. Members of congressional leadership were whisked away by officers who work
dignitary protection.
Two men who walked into the Capitol after it had been breached told FBI agents that an
officer, who appeared to respond out of fear, shook one of their hands and said, "It's your
house now, man."
One officer was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher and later died. A woman climbing
through a window inside the building leading to the Speaker's Lobby was shot by an officer,
the only apparent use of deadly force by US Capitol Police that day.
One officer said he wouldn't have begrudged any officer for firing their gun, but they were
outgunned. "I got 16 bullets in my handgun, 28 in my long gun. Then what?" he said.
"At that point, I wasn't looking for arms. But there were arrests with guns, a cooler of
Molotov (cocktails was) found. We recovered 9 or 10 guns, found or taken off people.
Guarantee so many more had 'em," he said. "You don't want to start a gunfight and have a
bloodbath. We wouldn't have won."
"They knew they could get up on you without you shooting 'em," said another officer. "And
there's so many. You could go hands on if you want, but there's too many people."
One officer saw two attackers flash law enforcement badges once inside. One said, "We're
doing this for you, buddy."
An arrestee inside was freed after a group surrounded officers. He had already been cuffed,
cleared for weapons and was on the ground when the group freed him, cuffs still on.
"(He) had that one guy cuffed thinking, OK, but there was no direction. ½'hat do you do?
v\'ho do you go to? there was no direction and the crowd snatched him from (the officer)," an
officer told CNN. "½'hat can you do? Gonna get into a gunfight over that guy?"

'I was just trying to survive.'

"The day ended when we got the reinforcements," one of the officers said. "But hours had
gone by. It was a bad day."
The officers described reinforcements coming in, dozens at a time, in helmets and riot gear
with rifles drawn. Police from DC, Fairfax County, Montgomery County, Prince George's
County all mustered SWAT teams or other on-call officers to help secure the Capitol.
"You hear them going in and out of rooms and people are screaming 'blue, blue, blue,' so they
know it's a friendly," one of the officers told CNN.
"I'm a Black officer. There was a lot of racism that day. I was called racial slurs, and in the
moment, I didn't process this as traumatic," the other officer said, referring to racial epithets
he received from some attackers. "I was just trying to survive. I just wanted to get home, to
see my daughter again. I couldn't show weakness. I finally reached a safe place, surrounded
by officers, I was able to cry. To let it out. To attempt to process it."
The next day, officers came to work bandaged and taped from the chaos the day before. The
job of securing the capitol remains and there's an inauguration in a few days.

6/7
257

Others haven't returned, some with serious injuries like concussions.
About a week after the assault, the department's Internal Affairs section sent an email to
officers asking to report colleagues for use of force that may have been outside Capitol Police
policy. The officers who spoke to CNN found this offensive, considering the failures of
planning and degree to which officers had to fight for the Capitol.
"I want to report the chief to (Internal Affairs) for getting one of our officers killed. I want to
report command staff for keeping everything a fucking secret. Can I put that in a tip line? I
don't care if an officer spit on one of those people," an officer said. "At that point they
deserved everything they got and then some."
CNN's David Brooks and Kristin Wilson contributed to this story.

7/7
258

{knwcrncy Dies in nark.,w;;s

A House Republican wanted proof of incitement. Here
are four rioters who came to D.C. because of Trump.
By Philip Bump

Jan. 13, 2021 at 5:18 p.m. EST

Hours into the debate over impeaching President Trump for inciting the violence that erupted in Washington last
week, Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.) stood up to make a point he felt had been overlooked.

"I rise with a very simple question," Mast began. "On Jan. 6, thousands broke the law by taking siege of our Capitol
here with us inside. Has any one of those individuals who brought violence on this Capitol been brought here to answer
whether they did that because of our president?"

He paused for effect, awaiting an answer he knew would not come.

"It appears I will receive no answer," he said after about 30 seconds. He stepped away from the lectern.

Mast's point was apparently twofold: first, that there had been no witness testimony preceding the impeachment vote
and, second, that there was not evidence that Trump's actions had, in fact, incited the violence that occurred.

The first argument is accurate. The second is debatable.

During a speech from outside the White House shortly before the Capitol was overrun, Trump did call on the people in
attendance to march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol and claimed both that he sought peaceful protest and
encouraged his listeners repeatedly to "fight" on his behalf. There has not been documentation that those who were in
attendance and entered the Capitol did so explicitly because they felt that Trump wanted them to, but there is
documentation that the effort to breach the Capitol began shortly after Trump's speech concluded.

There is also documentation that multiple people who stormed the Capitol were ouly in Washington because Trump
had called for them to be.

Drew Harwell.
@drewharwell

Very telling video of rioters outside the Capitol shouting at
police: "We were invited here. We were invited by the
president of the United States"
259

2:22 PM · Jan 13, 2021

32.1K 17.SK people are Tweeting about this

The best known is Jacob Chansley, or the "QAnon Shaman," who appeared in the Capitol wearing fur and a hat with
horns. When Chansley, who's been arrested and charged in connection with the riot, was interviewed by the FBI (at his
initiation), he told investigators that "he came as a part of a group effort, with other 'patriots' from Arizona, at the
request of the President that all 'patriots' come to D.C. on January 6, 2021."

Tmmp made that request repeatedly, including v.~th multiple tweets on Jan. 1. ("January 6th. See you in D.C.," one
said.) His first mention of it on Twitter came on Dec. 19, when he elevated a document alleging rampant voter fraud
and told his followers that there would be a "[b]ig protest in D.C. on January 6th."

"Be there," he added, "will be wild!"

How seriously was that taken? One of the people being sought by the FBI for having invaded the Capitol had the phrase
emblazoned on a T-shirt as seen in a wanted poster from the Bureau.

Brandon Fellows, another rioter who illegally entered the Capitol, told Bloomberg News that he came to Washington
specifically because of that tweet.

"We were there for one common cause," Fellows said, "which is making a statement that the government is crushing
down on us."

Douglas Sweet, who was arrested and charged with unlawful entry, told the television station WTKR that he went to
the Capitol because "Tmmp asked all the patriots to show up, so I did."

"I didn't go with any malice or intention of malice of those that committed those the fights -the tear gas and just, you
260

Know, mrowmg stun at ponce, ne tota me stanon. ·· 1nat wasn t m my game prnn at rui.

One of the more infamous participants during the riot was Larry Brock, who was photographed on the floor of the
Senate wearing military gear and holding flex cuffs, a form of zip-tie designed to serve as handcuffs. Brock, who was
also arrested and charged in the riot, is an Air Force veteran and spoke with the New Yorker's Ronan Farrow.

"The President asked for his supporters to be there to attend, and I felt like it was important, because of how much I
love this country, to actually be there," Brock told Farrow. He also claimed that he "assumed he was welcome to enter
the building," a claim that seems hard to believe given his equipment and the obvious chaos through which he made
his way.

Again, none of these individuals is testifying under oath before the House that they were incited specifically to engage
in the violent occupation of the Capitol because of Trump. Each of them, though, is saying that they were in
Washington because of Trump, and each ended up being part of the crowd that did storm the Capitol.

It's unlikely that this will change Mast's view of the impeachment effort.
261

Democrncy f)ies in

After inciting mob attack, Trump retreats in rage.
Then, grudgingly, he admits his loss.
By Philip Rucker, Ashley Parker and Josh Dawsey

Jan. 7, 2021 at 8:44 p.m. EST

President Trump spent more than 24 hours after instigating a mob to violently storm the Capitol trying to escape
reality.

Cloistered in the White House, Trump raged uncontrollably about perceived acts of betrayal. He tuned out advisers
who pleaded with him to act responsibly. He was uninterested in trying to repair what he had wrought. And he
continued to insist he had won the election, even as his own vice president certified the fact that he had not.

Only after darkness fell in Washington on Thursday, after the Capitol had been besieged by death and destruction and
a growing chorus oflawmakers had called for his immediate removal from office, did Trump grudgingly accept his fate.

"Now Congress has certified the results," Trump said in a video recorded in the White House's Diplomatic Reception
Room late Thursday afternoon. "A new administration will be inaugurated on ,January 20th. My focus uow turns to
ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation."

This was not a concession so much as a grudging acknowledgment that his presidency would end. Trump did not talk
of winners and losers, nor did he utter the word "concede," hut it was the closest he seemed willing to go.

Some of his advisers had pleaded with him to give this kind of speech in November, after it was clear he had lost. Those
appeals only intensified this week. During his 2-minute, 41-second speech, Trump read from a script that he agreed to
ouly after a pressure campaign from Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, legal counsel Pat Cipollone and members of his
family, officials said.

"My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results," Trump said. "My only goal was to
ensure the integrity of the vote. In so doing, I was fighting to defend American democracy."

Yet it was Tmmp's assault on American democracy over the past two months, culminating with Wednesday's attack at
the Capitol, that left him as isolated as he has ever been in his four years as president. An array of top aides
including Transpmtation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, both original members of his
Cabinet abruptly resigned. Many more privately discussed whether to follow suit. Some of those who stayed on kept
their distance from the vengeful president, and none stepped forward to defend his complicity in the attack - not even
Whitf'. Honse nress secretarv Kavlf',l!!h McEnanv. his nrofossional rlefonrlf's.

I \up NEWSLETTER I WEEKDAYS I
A 5-minute breakdown to track the presidential transition Sign Up 7
262

"This is everything that everyone's been blocking for four years, the role of buffering Tmmp," said one of the
president's advisers. "It's horrible. People are miserahle. They can't wait for the two weeks to be over. Eve1yone's
taking one day at a time t1ying to get him through the next two weeks without massive problems."

The portrait that emerged from interviews with administration officials and Trump advisers and associates, many of
whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid, is of a president indignant, unmoored and psychologically
fragile - one who some aides believe has sabotaged his legacy and threatens the orderly transfer of power to
President-elect ,Joe Eiden.

One administration official described Trump's behavior as that of"a total monster." Another said the situation was
"insane" and "beyond the pale."

"He is alone. He is mad King George," said a Republican in frequent touch with the White House. "Trump believes that
he has these people so intimidated they wouldn't dare mess with him. I think Trump doesn't understand how
precarious his situation is right now."

One after another on Thursday, former Trump officials broke their silence to condemn the president, some in sharp
terms. William P. Barr, who resigned last month as attorney general, called Trump's conduct "a betrayal of his office
and supporters," adding in a statement to the Associated Press that "orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is
inexcusable."

Two of Trump's former White House chiefs of staff joined the chorus. Mick Mulvaney resigned from his post as U.S.
special envoy to No1thern Ireland, telling CNBC, "We didn't sign up for what you saw last night. We signed up for
making America great again. We signed up for lower taxes and less regulation. The president has a long list of
successes that we can be proud of. But all of that went away yesterday."

,John F. Kelly went even further, saying on CNN that what happened at the Capitol "was a direct result of him
poisoning the minds of people with the lies and the fraud." He urged the Cabinet to meet to discuss invoking the 25th
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to remove Trump from office. Scores of Democratic lawmakers, as well as Rep.
Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), called for the same.

Some senior administration officials have been discussing doing so out of fear that Trump could take actions resulting
in further violence and death ifhe remains in office for even a few more days, said a person involved in the
conversations.

A former senior administration official briefed on the talks confirmed that preliminary discussions of the 25th
Amendment were underway, although this person cautioned that they were informal and that there was no indication
of an immediate plan of action.

Under the 25th Amendment, the president can be removed from office by the vice president plus a majority of the
Cabinet, or by the vice president and a body established by Congress, if they determine he "is unable to discharge the

I llJl) NEWSLETTER I WEEKDAYS I
A 5-minute breakdown to track the presidential transition Sign Up
263

according to two people familiar with the talks.

Vice President Pence worked directly with acting defense secretaty Christopher C. Miller and the .Joint Chiefs of Staff
chairman, Gen. Mark A. Milley, as well as with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Senate Minority Leader Charles
E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), concerning the unrest at the Capitol and
military deployments, the people said.

As for Trump, one of the people said, "he was completely, totally out ofit." This person added, "He made no attempt to
reach out to them."

Instead of exercising his commander-in-chief duties to help protect the Capitol from an attempted insurrection, Trump
watched the attack play out on television. Though not necessarily enjoying himself, he was "bemused" by the spectacle
because he thought his snppotters were literally fighting for him, according to a close adviser. But, this person said, he
was turned off by what he considered the "low-class" spectacle of people in ragtag costumes rummaging through the
Capitol.

Considerable internal anger was directed toward Meadows, according to four aides, both because of what many view as
his incompetence in managing the White House and because of his willingness to prop Trump up while indulging his
false election-fraud claims.

People who interacted with Trump said they founct him in a fragile and volatile state. "A lot of people don't want to talk
to him," a senior administration official said. "He's in a terrible mood constantly, and he's defensive, and everyone
knows this was a horrible mistake."

Tmmp spent Wednesday afternoon and evening cocooned at the White House and listening only to a small coterie of
loyal aides - including Meadows, Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, personnel director .Johnny McEntee and policy
adviser Stephen Miller. McEnany also spent time with the president. ,Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and
senior adviser, was described as disengaged.

Trump's "got a bunker mentality now, he really does," said a close adviserto the president.

During the Capitol occupation, aides said, Trump resisted their entreaties to condemn the rioters and refused to be
reasoned with.

"He kept saying: 'The vast majority of them are peaceful. What about the riots this summer? What about the other
side? No one cared when they were rioting. My people are peaceful. My people aren't thugs,'" an administration
official said. "He didn't want to condemn his people."

"He was a total monster today," this official added, describing the president's handling of Wednesday's coup attempt as
less defensible than his equivocal response to the deadly white-supremacist rally in 2017 in Charlottesville.

Some aides were mortified that Trump was so slow, and resistant, in telling his supporters to vacate the Capitol, and
they believed he did irreparable damage to his presidency and legacy.

Aides and a range oflawmakers begged Trnmp to call on his supporters to stop rioting. Some former aides echoed

I b)p NEWSLETTER I WEEKDAYS I
A 5-minute breakdown to track the presidential transition Sign Up
264

White House aides tried to get Trump to call in to Fox News Channel, but he refused. He at first did not want to say
anything but was persuaded to send tweets. Then they scripted a video message for him to record, which he agreed to
distribute on Twitter. But the president ad-libbed by including references to false voter fraud claims that they had
asked him not to include, the administration official said. Twitter later locked his account, enraging the president.

"He didn't want to say anything or do anything to rise to the moment," the official said. 'Tie's so driven by this notion
that he's been treated unfairly that he can't see the bigger picture."

This official described Trump as so mad at Pence that "he couldn't see straight." Several White House aides were upset
that the president chose to attack Pence when the vice president, secured at an undisclosed location at the Capitol, had
just been in harm's way.

A former senior administration official briefed on the president's private conversations said: "The thing he was most
upset about and couldn't get over all day was the Pence betrayal. ... All day, it was a theme of, 'l made this guy, I saved
him from a political death, and here he stabbed me in the back.'"

Trump's fury extended to Pence's chief of staff, Marc Short. The president told aides he wanted to bar Short - who was
with the vice president all day at the Capitol - from the White House grounds, according to an official with knowledge
of the president's remarks.

Short has told others he would not care ifhe were barred.

Tmmp also brooded about the decisions by Facebook and 1\vitter to suspend his accounts. An adviser likened the
president's social media accounts to his "security blanket and oxygen." White House spokesman ,Judd Deere
condemned the moves and said in a statement., "Big Tech is out of control."

Meadows and Cipollone, among others, tried to persuade Trump to record a video condemning the violence. pledging
to prosecute the rioters and committing to a peaceful transfer of power, officials said. They argued that his image and
future political prospects could be permanently damaged otherwise.

Cipollone also warned the president that he could have legal liability for having encouraged the riots, a detail first
reported by the New York Times, and urged him to clean it up. He and other lmvyers helped the president understand
that once he leaves office, he and his family would have considerable legal exposure on multiple fronts, an adviser said.

By the end of the day Thursday, Trump had relented, having seen some of his biggest supporters abandon him and
considered the prospect of impeachment.

Deputy national security adviser Matthew Pottinger was among those who resigned in the wake of the Capitol riot.
Although national security adviser Robert C. O'Brien was said Wednesday night to be considering resigning, he, as well
as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Director of National Intelligence ,John Ratcliffe, received outreach from former
national security officials and executives urging them to stay in their jobs.

The message conveyed was that leaving would create a vacuum that foreign enemies might seek to take advantage of,

I lUj) NEWSLETTER I WEEKDAYS I
A 5-minute breakdown to track the presidential transition Sign Up
265

Trump's support rapidly eroded in the Senate, where a senior Republican aide described the mood among GOP
senators as "pretty apoplectic."

McConnell, who has been estranged from the president in recent weeks, has told fellow senators and other confidants
that he does not plan to speak with Trump again.

Even Sen. Lindsey 0. Graham (R-S.C.), one of Trump's staunchest allies and golfing partners, broke with the
president.

"When it comes to accountability, the president needs to understand that his actions were the problem, not the
solution," Graham said at a Thursday news conference. While he said he did not believe invoking the 25th Amendment
was necessary "now," he thinks that "if something else happens, all options would be on the table."

Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday night, Graham was similarly blunt. "Trump and I, we've had a hell of a
journey- I hate it being this way," he said. "All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough."

But Trump has found admiration elsewhere. At the Republican National Committee meeting in Amelia Island, Fla.,
where the president had been expected to tape a speech, he instead called into a morning session Thursday to speak to
RNC members for a minute or so, RNC members said.

The crowd greeted him with applause and joy, acting as if Wednesday's breach at the Capitol had never taken place.

Shane Harris contributed to this report.

Updated January 7, 2021

Election 2020: Bidcn dcfoats Trump

The latest: Congress affirms Biden's presidential win following riot at U.S. Capitol

Graphic: How members of Congress voted on counting the electoral college vote

live updates: Trump pledges 'orderly transition' after Biden is declared winner at the end of a violent day

25th Amendment: Senior officials have discussed removing Trump. Here's how that could work.

Election results under attack: Here are the facts

Full election results

!up NEWSLETTER I WEEKDAYS I
A 5-minute breakdown to track the presidential transition Sign Up
266

I l\ljJ NEWSLETTER I WEEKDAYS I
A 5-minute breakdown to track the presidential transition Sign Up
267

This timeline is intended to memorialize the planning and execution efforts of the Department of
Defense to address the Violent Attack at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The timeline is as follows:
Thursday, December 31, 2020 (New Year's Eve)

• Mayor Muriel Bowser and Dr. Christopher Rodriguez, D.C. Director of Homeland Security
and Emergency Management Agency, deliver a written request for D.C. National Guard
(DCNG) support to D.C. Metro Police Department (MPD) and Fire and Emergency Service.
Saturday, January 2, 2021

• The Acting Secretary of Defense (A/SD) confers with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff(CJCS) and the Secretary of the Army (SECARMY) on the Mayor's written request.
Sunday, January 3, 2021

• DoD confirms with U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) that there is no request for DoD support.
• A/SD meets with select Cabinet Members to discuss DoD support to law enforcement
agencies and potential requirements for DoD support.
• A/SD and CJCS meet with the President. President concurs in activation of the DCNG to
support law enforcement.

Monday, January 4, 2021

• USCP confirms there is no requirement for DoD support in a phone call with SECARMY.
• The A/SD, in consultation with CJCS, SECARMY, and DoD General Counsel (GC), reviews
the Department's plan to be prepared to provide support to civil authorities, if asked, and
approves activation of 340 members of the DCNG to support Mayor Bowser's request.
o Support provided in response to Mayor Bowser's request includes support at:
• Traffic Control Points: 90 personnel (180 total/2 shifts); Metro station
support: 24 personnel (48 total/2 shifts); Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil
Support Team: 20 personnel; and Internal Command and Control: 52
personnel.
o A/SD also authorizes SECARMY to deploy a Quick Reaction Force (40 personnel
staged at Joint Base Andrews) if additional support is requested by civil authorities.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021

• Mayor Bowser delivers a letter addressed to the Acting Attorney General, A/SD, and
SECARMY confirming that there are no additional support requirements from the D.C.
• 255 DCNG arrive in D.C. and begin to manage traffic control points alongside local law
enforcement.
Wednesday, January 6, 2021
0830: A/SD and CJCS review DoD plan to support law enforcement agencies and request an
exercise regarding DoD contingency response options.
268

1130: A/SD participates in table-top exercise regarding DoD contingency response options.
1305: A/SD receives open source reports of demonstrator movements to U.S. Capitol.
1326: USCP orders evacuation of Capitol complex.
1334: SEC ARMY phone call with Mayor Bowser in which Mayor Bowser communicates
request for unspecified number of additional forces.
1349: Commanding General, DCNG, Walker phone call with USCP Chief Sund. Chief Sund
communicates request for immediate assistance.
1422: SECARMY phone call with D.C. Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Dr. Rodriguez, and MPD
leadership to discuss the current situation and to request additional DCNG support.
1430: A/SD, CJCS, and SECARMY meet to discuss USCP and Mayor Bowser's requests.
1500: A/SD determines all available forces of the DCNG are required to reinforce MPD and
USCP positions to support efforts to reestablish security of the Capitol complex.
1500: SEC ARMY directs DCNG to prepare available Guardsmen to move from the armory to
the Capitol complex, while seeking formal approval from A/SD for deployment. DCNG
prepares to move 150 personnel to support USCP, pending A/SD's approval.
1504: A/SD, with advice from CJCS, DoD GC, the Chief of the National Guard Bureau
(CNGB), SEC ARMY, and the Chief of Staff of the Army, provides verbal approval of the
full activation ofDCNG (1100 total) in support of the MPD. Immediately upon A/SD
approval, Secretary McCarthy directs DCNG to initiate movement and full mobilization.
In response, DCNG redeployed all soldiers from positions at Metro stations and all
available non-support and non-C2 personnel to support MPD. DCNG begins full
mobilization.
1519: SECARMY phone call with Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi about the nature of
Mayor Bowser's request. SEC ARMY explains A/SD already approved full DCNG
mobilization.
1526: SEC ARMY phone call with Mayor Bowser and MPD police chief relays there was no
denial of their request, and conveys A/SD approval of the activation offull DCNG.
1546: CNGB phone call with the Adjutant General (TAG) of Virginia to discuss support in
Washington D.C. TAG said Governor had ordered mobilization of forces at 1532.
1548: SECARMY departs Pentagon for MPD HQ.
1555: CNGB phone call with TAG of Maryland to discuss support in Washington D.C. TAG
said governor ordered the mobilization of the rapid response force. TAG reports Governor
had ordered mobilization of the rapid response force at 1547.
1610: SECARMY arrives at MPD HQ.

2
269

1618: A/SD, CJCS, SECARMY, and CNGB discuss availability of National Guard (NG) forces
from other States in the region. A/SD gives voice approval for out-of-State NG forces to
muster and to be prepared to deploy to D.C.
1632: A/SD provides verbal authorization to re-mission DCNG to conduct perimeter and
clearance operations in support ofUSCP. SECARMY to provide public notification of
support.
1640: SECARMY phone call with Governor of Maryland. Governor to send Maryland NG
troops to D.C., expected to arrive on January 7, 2021.
1702: Departure of 154 DCNG from D.C. Armory in support ofUSCP. Arrive at Capitol at
1740, swear in with USCP, and begin support operations.
1745: A/SD signs formal authorization for out-of-State NG to muster and gives voice approval
for deployment in support ofUSCP.
1814: USCP, MPD, and DCNG successfully establish perimeter on the west side of the U.S.
Capitol.
1936: A/SD provides vocal approval to lease fences in support of the USCP for security of the
Capitol building.
2000: USCP declares Capitol building secure.

Note: This document has been updated to more appropriately reflect the characterization of
events at the U.S. Capitol on January 61h_

3
270

1117/2021 Remarks by President Trump Before Air Force One Departure I Joint Base Andrews, MD I The White House

REMARKS

Remarks by President Trump Before Air Force One
Departure I Joint Base Andrews, MD
Issued on: January 12, 2021

Joint Base Andrews
Prince George's County, Maryland

10:27 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: I think that big tech is doing a horrible thing for our country and to our country.
And I believe it's going to be a catastrophic mistake for them. They're dividing and divisive, and
they're showing something that I've been predicting for a long time. I've been predicting it for a
long time, and people didn't act on it.

But I think big tech has made a terrible mistake, and very, very bad for our country. And that's
leading others to do the same thing, and it causes a lot of problems and a lot of danger. Big
mistake. They shouldn't be doing it. But there's always a counter move when they do that. I've
never seen such anger as I see right now, and that's a terrible thing. Terrible thing.

And you have to always avoid violence. And we have - we have tremendous support.

Q What is your role, sir?

THE PRESIDENT: We have support probably like nobody has ever seen before. Always have to avoid
violence.

https://www.whitehouse.gov!briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-air-force-one-departure-jotnt-base-andrews-md-011221 / 112
271

1117/2021 Remarks by President Trump Before Air Force One Departure I Joint Base Andrews, MD I The White House

Q Mr. President, what is your role in what happened at the Capitol? What is your personal

responsibility?

THE PRESIDENT: So if you read my speech- and many people have done it, and I've seen it both in
the papers and in the media, on television - it's been analyzed, and people thought that what I
said was totally appropriate.

And if you look at what other people have said - politicians at a high level- about the riots during
the summer, the horrible riots in Portland and Seattle, in various other- other places, that was a
real problem - what they said.

But they've analyzed my speech and words and my final paragraph, my final sentence, and
everybody, to the T, thought it was totally appropriate.

Okay, thank you. Thank you.

END

10:29 A.M. EST

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-air-force-one-departure-joint-base-andrews-md-011221 I 212
272

111712021 Remarks by President Trump at the 45th Mile of New Border Wall I Reynosa-McAllen, TX l The White House

REMARKS

- IMMIGRATION

Issued on: January 12, 2021

Mexico-United States Border
Reynosa-McAllen, Texas

2:10 P.M. CST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you, everybody. Great honor to be here. We
worked long and hard. Please sit down. We've worked long and hard to get this done. They said it
couldn't be done, and we got it done. One of the largest infrastructure projects in the history of our
country.

I'm honored to be here in the Rio Grande Valley with the courageous men and women of Customs
and Border Patrol. These people are incredible. They're really incredible. I've gotten to know you
very well over the last four years. Many of you are friends from all of the work we did in designing
the wall. We got it exactly as you wanted it- everything- including your protective plate on top.
I'd say, "Why did we put that?" And they said, "We need it for extra protection." Climb plate. And
we have everything you want. It's steel. It's concrete inside the steel. And then it's rebar- a lot of
heavy re bar inside the concrete. And it's as strong as you're going to get and strong as you can
have. But we gave you 100 percent of what you wanted. So now you have no excuses. I didn't want
you to have any excuses. (Laughter.)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-45th-mi!e-new-border-wa!l-reynosa-mcaUen-tx/ 119
273

1/17/2021 Remarks by President Trump at the 45th Mi!e of New Border Wall I Reynosa-McAllen, TX j The V\/hlte House

And you set records. And we can't let the next administration even think about taking it down, if
you can believe that. I don't think that will happen. I think when you see what it does and how it's
so important for our country, nobody is going to be touching it. And you are very proud of it, and
you're proud of the work you did, because we really designed it together.

We're joined together to celebrate a great achievement: the extraordinarily successful building of
the wall on the southern border.

Before we begin, I'd like to say that free speech is under assault like never before. The 25th
Amendment is of zero risk to me but will come back to haunt Joe Biden and the Bi den
administration. As the expression goes: Be careful what you wish for. The impeachment hoax is a
continuation of the greatest and most vicious witch hunt in the history of our country, and it is
causing tremendous anger and division and pain -far greater than most people will ever
understand, which is very dangerous for the USA, especially at this very tender time.

And now I'd like to briefly address the events of last week. Millions of our citizens watched on
Wednesday as a mob stormed the Capitol and trashed the halls of government. As I have
consistently said throughout my administration, we believe in respecting America's history and
traditions, not tearing them down. We believe in the rule of law, not in violence or rioting.

Because of the pandemic - horrible, horrible invisible enemy - and despite our tremendous
success developing a vaccine years before it was thought evenly remotely possible. Nobody
thought it was going to be possible. They said would take five years. "Sir, it will take seven years:'
All of our scientists were saying- our advisors, "It will take 7 years, 5 years, 10 years maybe!' Well,
we did it just like I said we would. And we had it out years and years before they thought it was
possible. And we're now delivering it to states, including your state, where your governor and
government are doing a terrific job in getting it administered in Texas. And Florida is doing great.
Some of them are doing great. Some aren't doing as well, but they have all they can handle. And
we get it to them as fast as they need it, and even faster.

But they're calling it a "medical miracle." And this has been a difficult year and a very difficult
election. The pandemic has made it a very, very difficult year for our country and virtually every
country all over the world.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-45th-mile-new-border-wall-reynosa-mcaHen-tx/ 2/9
274

1/17/2021 Remarks by President Trump at the 45th Mile of New Border Wall I Reynosa-McAllen, TX l The White House

Now is the time for our nation to heal, and it's time for peace and for calm. Respect for law
enforcement and the great people within law enforcement- so many are here - is the foundation
of the MAGA agenda. And we're a nation of law, and we're a nation of order. That is why we're here
today, to talk about what we must do to uphold the rule of law in America and how we must
continue to support our law enforcement heroes, which is exactly what you are. Do you feel like a
hero? Yeah, I think you do. Right? (Applause.) You do and you are.

I want to thank Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan, who's been incredible.
Where is Mark? Mark? Stand up, Mark. Great job. Fantastic. (Applause.)

Chief Patrol Agent Brian Hastings. Brian, thank you very much. Great job. (Applause.) He's so
happy with it. He said, "Sir, this really works."

And most importantly, the brave law enforcement officers who risk their lives every day to protect
our families and our country.

I also want to thank a tremendous gentleman, a friend of mine, Tom Homan. He's a great American
patriot, and he was with us right from the beginning. (Applause.) Right, Tom? You knew exactly
he said, "We need a wall," when they were saying, "No, no, we need drones. We need drones." I
said, "Why? So you can watch the people pour into our country illegally?" And I want to thank you
very much, Tom. What a - what a professional job you've done.

All of you people, incredible. Everyone here today is part of an incredible success story. This is a
real success story.

When I took office, we inherited a broken, dysfunctional, and open border. Everybody was pouring
in at will.

Working alongside the heroes in this great outdoor space, looking at our wall, we reformed our
immigration system and achieved the most secure southern border in U.S. history. It is at a level
that it's never been before.

We took on the cartels, the coyotes, and the special interests, and we restored the rule of law. For
years, politicians ran for office promising to secure the border, only to get elected and to do the
absolute exact opposite. They even promised a wall. If you remember, about 10 years ago, they
https://www.whitehouse.gov/brlefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-45th-mi!e-new-border-wall-reynosa-mcaUen-tx/ 3/9
275

1/17/2021 Remarks by President Trump at the 45th Mile of New Border Wall I Reynosa-McAllen, TX j The White House

promised a wall but they couldn't get it built. It wasn't easy getting it built. Getting it financed was
tough. Getting it built was even tougher. All the different chains of title and all the different things
we had to go through - very, very complex and very difficult, but we got it done. But they had it
years ago. You remember that better than anybody. Right? And they never got it done. They
never, ever completed the task. And then, ultimately, the money was sent back to the federal
government. Spent, but no wall was built.

But unlike those who came before me, I kept my promises. And today we celebrate an
extraordinary milestone: the completion of the promised 450 miles of border wall. Four hundred
and fifty miles. Nobody realizes how big that is. (Applause.)

I remember when I first came down, about a year and a half ago: We're under construction, and I
started walking, and I'm looking at the wall, and I'm walking and walking. And I'm used to, like, a
development project where you could walk a wall. You know, 10 acres, 5 acres, 2 acres, 1 acre.
Then I realized that's a long time; that's a big walk. A lot of it a lot of the wall you have is
incredibly natural. It's you have the mountains. You have the rivers. You have some very
powerful water areas. You have some areas that are virtually impossible to get by. So we didn't
need walls everywhere, but where we needed them because it's been so successful that we've
added nearly 300 miles. And that's currently under construction. This was our original wish: to get
these areas done where it was such trouble. And now we have it. It's either in construction or pre-
construction - an additional 300 miles.

In every region that we've built the wall, illegal crossings and drug smuggling have plummeted.
Absolutely plummeted. In the Rio Grande Valley, crossings have dropped nearly 80 percent. In
Yuma, Arizona, illegal entries have been slashed by 90 percent. Nationwide, ICE and Border Patrol
have seized over 2 million pounds offentanyl, heroin, meth, and other deadly narcotics, saving
thousands and thousands of lives.

We've arrested nearly 500,000 illegal aliens with criminal records - some with very serious criminal
records of the type you don't want to know about, like murder.

We removed nearly 20,000 gang members from the United States, including 4,500 members of MS-
13 probably the worst gang of them all. Through the landmark reforms we've put into place, we
have ended the immigration chaos and reestablished American sovereignty. Our most important
reform was ending catch and release not easy to do; you're dealing with Congress; it's very, very
https://www.whitehouse.gov/brlefings-statements/remarks-presJdenHrump-45th-mi!e-new-border-wall-reynosa-mcaUen-tx/ 4/9
276

1/17/2021 Remarks by President Trump at the 45th Mi!e of New Border wall I Reynosa-McAllen, TX! The V\/hite House

difficult - which is the functional equivalent of open borders, but even worse: It's catch and release
them. It means release into our country, not into another country.

This policy was exploited by vicious criminal organizations, who understood the laws better than
our people understood them for years, to spread misery and suffering and drugs all across the
hemisphere.

Now, instead of "catch and release," we have "detain and remove." It's called "detain and remove."
Doesn't that sound better? One of the biggest loopholes we closed was asylum fraud. Under the
old, broken system, if you merely requested asylum, you were released into the country. The most
ridiculous thing anyone has ever seen. And we were taking in some people that you didn't want to
have in your country.

We instituted a series of historic policy changes to shut down asylum fraud, and that's what we did.
This includes the groundbreaking agreement with Mexico known as the "Migrant Protection
Protocols;' or MPP.

Under this agreement, if an illegal alien requests asylum, they have to wait in Mexico until their
case is heard. They used to wait here. And when they were waiting, they would say "bye-bye," and
they'd disappear somewhere into our country, and essentially we'd never find them again, would
never see them again.

This one measure alone ended a humanitarian crisis and saved countless lives, and especially, I
have to say, lives from crime.

I want to thank the great President of Mexico. He is a great gentleman, a friend of mine. And
President Obrador- he is a man who really knows what's happening. And he loves his country,
and he also loves the United States. But I want to thank for his friendship and his professional
working relationship.

We actually had 27,000 Mexican soldiers guarding our borders over the last two years. Nobody
thought that was possible. And they made it very, very difficult, and that's why the numbers were
able to plunge, even during the construction of the wall.

https;//www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-presidenHrump-45th-mi!e-new~border-wa!l-reynosa-mca!!en-tx/ 5/9
277

1/17/2021 Remarks by President Trump at the 45th Mile of New Border Wall I Reynosa-McAllen, TX l The White House

And, by the way, one of the big elements of the wall that make it so successful is we can have far
fewer people working. Now, they can be working on other things other things related to crime
and drug prevention and a lot of other elements they're working on, because we saved massive
numbers of people. And included here we have the most sophisticated camera systems and most
sophisticated electronic systems anywhere in the world.

We implemented three historic agreements with the Northern Triangle; that's Guatemala,
Honduras, and El Salvador. Under these critical asylum cooperation agreements, the burden of
illegal immigration is now shared all across the region. Now, when an illegal immigrant is arrested
at our border, they can be sent to a neighboring country instead of into a U.S. community.

Prior to my getting here, countries wouldn't accept them. They would say, "No, no, no." I said,
"Well, you got to take them." First month I'll never forget these gentlemen, right here, came to
me. They said, "They won't take them back."

They came. They may be murderers. They may be cartel heads. They may be some really vicious
people. The countries didn't want them back. And I stopped all payments to those countries. I
stopped everything going to those countries. And after it was stopped for about a month you
remember? - after it was stopped for about a month, they called. They said, "We'd love to have
them back." And I never gave them as much money as they were getting, by the way, but they got
some. (Applause.) It was amazing.

And you people know better than anyone: They wouldn't take them back. We'd have planes flying
over, loaded up with people that we didn't want here. And they'd say, "Don't ever even think about
landing that plane." And they'd take them by boat, and they'd take them by bus, and they wouldn't
let them into their countries. And all of a sudden, they say, "Welcome back. We love having you."

So it was a great thing. And now they do take them back. And the relationship with those countries
- the Triangle -the relationship is a much better one than it was before.

In addition to our agreements with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador, we have
systematically reformed the regulatory code to return asylum to its original legal meaning and
purpose not a free ticket for entry.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-45th-mrle-new-border-wa!l-reynosa-mca!!en-tx/ 6/9
278

1/17/2021 Remarks by President Trump at the 45th Mile of New Border Wall I Reynosa~McAllen, TX j The White House

A recent comprehensive report by the Department of Homeland Security and Justice show how
effective our reforms have been and how disastrous their removal would be. It would be a disaster
for our country. I know they're thinking about removing them. I hope they don't do that. I hope
they don't do that. It'll be a absolute travesty for our country.

The report conclusively proves, once and for all, that aliens released at the border remain at large in
the country and do not return home. They won't go home. And you rarely find them. It's very
tough to find them.

So we have aliens released in our country, many of whom are serious criminals. And we've stopped
that. Don't ever start that process again. By contrast, under our policies, 98 percent of aliens that
remain in DHS custody are removed. Simply put, if you enter the United States illegally, you are
apprehended and immediately safely removed from our country. Without this core principle, there
is no border, there is no law, there is no order.

My administration also instituted vital public health measures on the border. In response to the
China virus, under Title 42 of the U.S. Code, illegal immigrants are being promptly removed to
protect the health of border agents, other migrants, and local communities, and the public at large.
Removing these protections would invite a public health catastrophe of epic proportions.

As you probably know, in Tijuana, various parts of Mexico, the COVID - it's got about 24 names I
can call it, from "COVID" to "China virus." I can call it the "plague." I call it the "China plague." A lot
of different names. But we always call it the "invisible enemy:' But the invisible enemy has been
very tough on Mexico, and we have areas along the border where we're in great shape because
right there, because of that, that we're in great shape. But on the other side, in Mexico, they're
suffering greatly with the virus. It's been incredible what we've achieved. And we didn't do the wall
because of COVID; we did the wall because of security and drugs and other things. But it turned out
that, in the middle of it all, along came this horrible plague.

We inherited a dangerously lawless border. The people that work here are unbelievably brave. I've
seen what they have to endure, what they have to go through. They're tough, they're strong, and
they're great patriots, great Americans.

We fixed it and we secured it. We empowered our wonderful ICE and Border Patrol to fulfill their
oaths and sworn officers. They became sworn officers of the law. And they love their job. It's a
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-45th-mile-new-border-wall-reynosa-mca!!en-tx/ 719
279

1/17/2021 Remarks by President Trump at the 45th Mile of New Border Wall I Reynosa-McAllen, TX j The White House

tough job. It's a nasty job. They're not paid what they should be paid, to be honest, but we got you
up. We got you up. But these are incredibly talented people that could probably do a lot better, in
terms of economics, than they do here. But they love what they do, and they love their country.

We also put into place vital measures to protect American workers, keep out terrorists, and stop the
abuse of our welfare system - where they'd come up, go on our welfare system, and live for years
on American welfare without ever having a job.

We also have, and we had - but we have them all the time - we have terrorists from the Middle
East coming into our country through the southern border. That was before what you see right
here, because it was easier to come into our country through the southern border than it was
through airports or any other means. So they'd land in South America, and they'd work their way
up, and they'd come into our country. And these are not people from the countries that you would
suspect. These are people from some very seriously dangerous places in the Middle East. And the
numbers are far greater than anybody would understand. Really far greater.

Removing any of these measures would hamstring our workers, endanger our country, and cost
taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

No matter our party, we should all agree on the need to protect our workers, our families, and our
citizens of all backgrounds, no matter who they are. In particular, if our border security measures
are reversed, it will trigger a tidal wave of illegal immigration - a wave like you've never seen
before. And I can tell you that, already, waves are starting to come up from 2,000 and 1,000 and 500
miles away. We see what's coming.

And they're coming because they think that it's gravy train at the end; it's going to be a gravy train.
Change the name from the "caravans," which I think we came up with, to the "gravy train," because
that's what they're looking for - looking for the gravy.

This will be an unmitigated calamity for national security, public safety, and public health. It would
destroy millions and millions of jobs and claim thousands of innocent lives. The policies I put into
place are uniformly and strongly supported by the men and women of ICE and Border Patrol. We
worked on them together,just like we did on the wall. We worked on the policies together because
nobody knows this whole world better than the incredible people right in front of me. To terminate

https;//www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-45th-mile-new-border-wall-reynosa-mca!!en-tx/ 8/9
280

1/17/2021 Remarks by President Trump at the 45th Mile of New Border Wall I Reynosa-McAllen, TX j The White House

those policies is knowingly to put America in really serious danger and to override the great career
experts that have worked so hard - those from DHS.

At this very moment, smugglers and coyotes are preparing to surge the border if our policies are
loosened or removed. I mean, they're literally waiting - big, big groups of people. Some of them
very unsavory, I might add.

This is an entirely preventable tragedy. It's waiting to happen. The safety of our nation must come
before politics. We have many disagreements in the country, but we should all agree: the urgent
need to secure our borders, protect our homeland, and allow law enforcement to fulfill its mission
without political interference.

ICE and Border Patrol agents swore a sacred oath to uphold the law, and no political appointee
should ever order them to violate that oath. These are real experts. They really get it.

And I'll tell you who else gets it: The Hispanic population of our country gets it. Because not only
did I win Texas in historic numbers, but I won border towns, which are largely Hispanic, and people
were amazed to see that. And the numbers, they say, were -the Governor of Texas called Greg
- great guy, great governor- called. He said, "You had numbers that nobody has had since
Reconstruction. "Reconstruction" means "Civil War." And largely Hispanic. They understand it
better than anybody, and they want law enforcement to help them - help them live safe lives.

The laws that Congress passed must be upheld. To the men and women of ICE, Customs and
Border Protection, and all across DHS, law enforcement in general: You have earned the everlasting
gratitude of our nation. You have no idea how much our nation loves you and respects you. I don't
think you do have an idea, but it's true. I only hope and pray that your voice will be heard, honored,
heeded, and respected long into the future.

God bless you. God bless law enforcement. And God bless America. Thank you very much. Thank
you. Greatjob. (Applause.)

END 2:31 P.M. CST

https://www.whitehouse.gov1briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-45th-mile-new-border-wa!l-reynosa-mcallen-tx/ 919
281

President Donald Trump Farewell Address Speech
Transcript
rev.com/blogltranscriptslpresident-dona!d-trump-farewel!-address-speech-transcript

President Donald Trump: (00:00)
My fellow Americans, four years ago we launched a great national effort to rebuild our
country, to renew its spirit, and to restore the allegiance of this government to its citizens. In
short, we embarked on a mission to make America great again for all Americans. As I
conclude my term as the 45th President of the United States, I stand before you truly proud
of what we have achieved together. We did what we came here to do, and so much more. This
week we inaugurate a new administration and pray for its success in keeping America safe
and prosperous. We extend our best wishes, and we also want them to have luck, a very
important word.

President Donald Trump: ( 00:55)
I'd like to begin by thanking just a few of the amazing people who made our remarkable
journey possible. First, let me express my overwhelming gratitude for the love and support of
our spectacular First Lady Melania. Let me also share my deepest appreciation to my
daughter, Ivanka, my son-in-law Jared, and to Baron, Don, Eric, Tiffany, and Lara. You fill
my world with light and with joy. I also want to thank Vice President Mike Pence, his
wonderful wife, Karen, and the entire Pence family. Thank you as well to my chief of staff,
Mark Meadows, the dedicated members of the White House staff, and the cabinet, and all of
the incredible people across our administration who poured out their heart and soul to fight
for America.

President Donald Trump: ( 01:48)
I also want to take a moment to thank a truly exceptional group of people, the United States
Secret Service. My family and I will forever be in your debt. My profound gratitude as well to
everyone in the White House military office, the teams of Marine One and Air Force One,
every member of the armed forces, and state and local law enforcement all across our
country. Most of all, I want to thank the American people. To serve as your president has
been an honor beyond description. Thank you for this extraordinary privilege. And that's
what it is, a great privilege and a great honor. We must never forget that while Americans
will always have our disagreements, we are a nation of incredible, decent, faithful, and peace-
loving citizens who all want our country to thrive and flourish and be very, very successful
and good. We are a truly magnificent nation.

President Donald Trump: (02:50)
All Americans were horrified by the assault on our capital. Political violence is an attack on
everything we cherish as Americans. It can never be tolerated. Now more than ever, we must
unify around our shared values and rise above the partisan rancor and forge our common
282

destiny. Four years ago, I came to Washington as the only true outsider ever to win the
presidency. I had not spent my career as a politician, but as a builder looking at open skylines
and imagining infinite possibilities. I ran for president because I knew there were towering
new summits for America just waiting to be scaled. I knew the potential for our nation was
boundless as long as we put America first. So I left behind my former life and stepped into a
very difficult arena, but an arena, nevertheless, with all sorts of potential if properly done.

President Donald Trump: (03:51)
America had given me so much and I wanted to give something back. Together with millions
of hardworking Patriots across this land, we built the greatest political movement in the
history of our country. We also built the greatest economy in the history of the world. It was
about America first because we all wanted to make America great again. We restored the
principle that a nation exists to serve its citizens. Our agenda was not about right or left. It
wasn't about Republican or Democrat, but about the good of a nation, and that means the
whole nation. With the support and prayers of the American people, we achieved more than
anyone thought possible. Nobody thought we could even come close. We passed the largest
package of tax cuts and reforms in American history. We slashed more job-killing regulations
than any administration had ever done before.

President Donald Trump: (04:51)
We fix our broken trade deals, withdrew from the horrible Trans-Pacific Partnership and the
impossible Paris Climate Accord, renegotiated the one-sided South Korea deal. And we
replaced NAFTA with the groundbreaking USM CA, that's Mexico and Canada, a deal that's
worked out very, very well. Also and very importantly, we imposed historic and monumental
tariffs on China, made a great new deal with China. But before the ink was even dry, we and
the whole world got hit with the China virus.

President Donald Trump: (05:31)
Our trade relationship was rapidly changing. Billions and billions of dollars were pouring
into the US but the virus forced us to go in a different direction. The whole world suffered,
but America outperformed other countries economically because of our incredible economy
and the economy that we built. Without the foundations and footings, it wouldn't have
worked out this way. We wouldn't have some of the best numbers we've ever had. We also
unlocked our energy resources and became the world's number one producer of oil and
natural gas by far. Powered by these policies, we built the greatest economy in the history of
the world. We reignited America's job creation and achieved record-low unemployment for
African-Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, women, almost everyone. Income
soared, wages boomed. The American dream was restored and millions were lifted from
poverty in just a few short years. It was a miracle.

President Donald Trump: (06:42)
The stock market set one record after another, with 148 stock market highs during the short
period of time, and boosted the retirements and pensions of hardworking citizens all across
283

our nation. 401(k)s are at a level they've never been at before. We've never seen numbers like
we've seen, and that's before the pandemic and after the pandemic. We rebuilt the American
manufacturing base, opened up thousands of new factories, and brought back the beautiful
phrase Made in the USA. To make life better for working families, we doubled the child tax
credit and signed the largest-ever expansion of funding for childcare and development. We
joined with the private sector to secure commitments to train more than 16 million American
workers for the jobs of tomorrow.

President Donald Trump: (07:40)
When our nation was hit with the terrible pandemic, we produced not one, but two vaccines
with record-breaking speed and more will quickly follow. They said it couldn't be done, but
we did it. They called it a medical miracle. And that's what they're calling it right now, a
medical miracle. Another administration would have taken three, four, five, maybe even up
to 10 years to develop a vaccine. We did it in nine months. We grieve for every life lost and
we pledge in their memory to wipe out this horrible pandemic once and for all.

President Donald Trump: (08:20)
When the virus took its brutal toll on the world's economy, we launched the fastest economic
recovery our country has ever seen. We passed nearly $4 trillion in economic relief, saved or
supported over 50 million jobs, and slashed the unemployment rate in half. These are
numbers that our country has never seen before. We created choice and transparency in
healthcare, stood up to big pharma in so many ways, but especially in our effort to get
favored nations clauses added, which will give us the lowest prescription drug prices
anywhere in the world. We passed VA Choice, VA Accountability, Right to Try, and landmark
criminal justice reform.

President Donald Trump: (09:07)
We confirmed three new justices of the United States Supreme Court. We appointed nearly
300 federal judges to interpret our Constitution as written. For years, the American people
pleaded with Washington to finally secure the nation's borders. I am pleased to say, we
answered that plea and achieved the most secure border in US history. We have given our
brave border agents and heroic ICE officers the tools they need to do their jobs better than
they have ever done before and to enforce our laws and keep America safe. We proudly leave
the next administration with the strongest and most robust border security measures ever
put into place. This includes historic agreements with Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El
Salvador, along with more than 450 miles of powerful new wall.

President Donald Trump: (10:05)
We restored American strength at home and American leadership abroad. The world
respects us again. Please don't lose that respect. We reclaimed our sovereignty by standing
up for America at the United Nations and withdrawing from the one-sided global deals that
284

never served our interests. And NATO countries are now paying hundreds of billions of
dollars more than when I arrived just a few years ago. It was very unfair. We were paying the
cost for the world. Now the world is helping us.

President Donald Trump: (10:43)
And perhaps most importantly of all, with nearly $3 trillion, we fully rebuilt the American
military, all made in the USA. We launched the first new branch of the United States Armed
Forces in 75 years, the Space Force. And last spring, I stood at Kennedy Space Center in
Florida and watched as American astronauts returned to space on American rockets for the
first time in many, many years.

President Donald Trump: (11:13)
We revitalize our alliances and rallied the nations of the world to stand up to China like never
before. We obliterated the ISIS caliphate and ended the wretched life of its founder and
leader al-Baghdadi. We stood up to the oppressive Iranian regime and killed the world's top
terrorist, Iranian butcher, Qassem Soleimani. We recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel
and recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. As a result of our bold diplomacy
and principled realism, we achieved a series of historic peace deals in the Middle East.
Nobody believed it could happen. The Abraham Accords opened the doors to a future of
peace and harmony, not violence and bloodshed. It is the dawn of a new Middle East, and we
are bringing our soldiers home. I am especially proud to be the first president in decades who
has started no new wars.

President Donald Trump: (12:13)
Above all, we have reasserted the sacred idea that in America the government answers to the
people. Our guiding light, our North star, our unwavering conviction has been that we are
here to serve the noble everyday citizens of America. Our allegiance is not to the special
interests corporations or global entities, it's to our children, our citizens, and to our nation
itself. As president my top priority, my constant concern has always been the best interests of
American workers and American families. I did not seek the easiest course. By far, it was
actually the most difficult. I did not seek the path that would get the least criticism. I took on
the tough battles, the hardest fights, the most difficult choices because that's what you
elected me to do. Your needs were my first and last unyielding focus. This, I hope, will be our
greatest legacy.

President Donald Trump: (13:16)
Together, we put the American people back in charge of our country. We restored self-
government. We restored the idea that in America no one is forgotten because everyone
matters and everyone has a voice. We fought for the principle that every citizen is entitled to
equal dignity, equal treatment, and equal rights because we are all made equal by God.
Everyone is entitled to be treated iNith respect, to have their voice heard, and to have the
government listen. You are loyal to your country and my administration was always loyal to
you.
285

President Donald Trump: (13:54)
We worked to build a country in which every citizen could find a great job and support their
wonderful families. We fought for the communities where every American could be safe and
schools where every child could learn. We promoted a culture where our laws would be
upheld, our heroes honored, our history preserved, and law-abiding citizens are never taken
for granted. Americans should take tremendous satisfaction in all that we have achieved
together. It's incredible.

President Donald Trump: (14:26)
Now, as I leave the white house, I have been reflecting on the dangers that threaten the
priceless inheritance we all share. As the world's most powerful nation, America faces
constant threats and challenges from abroad. But the greatest danger we face is a loss of
confidence in ourselves, a loss of confidence in our national greatness. A nation is only as
strong as its spirit. We are only as dynamic as our pride. We are only as vibrant as the faith
that beats in the hearts of our people. No nation can long thrive that loses faith in its own
values, history, and heroes for these are the very sources of our unity and our vitality.

President Donald Trump: (15:12)
What has always allowed America to prevail and triumph over the great challenges of the
past has been an unyielding and unashamed conviction in the nobility of our country and its
unique purpose in history. We must never lose this conviction. We must never forsake our
belief in America. The key to national greatness lies in sustaining and instilling our shared
national identity. That means focusing on what we have in common, the heritage that we all
share. At the center of this heritage is also a robust belief in free expression, free speech, and
open debate. Only if we forget who we are and how we got here could we ever allow political
censorship and blacklisting to take place in America. It's not even thinkable. Shutting down
free and open debate violates our core values and most enduring traditions.

President Donald Trump: (16:13)
In America, we don't insist on absolute conformity or enforce rigid orthodoxies and punitive
speech codes. We just don't do that. America is not a timid nation of tame souls who need to
be sheltered and protected from those ,1rith whom we disagree. That's not who we are. It will
never be who we are. For nearly 250 years in the face of every challenge, Americans have
always summoned our unmatched courage, confidence, and fierce independence. These are
the miraculous traits that once led millions of everyday citizens to set out across a \\rild
continent and carve out a new life in the great West. It was the same profound love of our
God-given freedom that \\rilled our soldiers into battle and our astronauts into space.

President Donald Trump: (17:08)
As I think back on the past four years, one image rises in my mind above all others.
vVhenever I traveled all along the motorcade route, there were thousands and thousands of
people. They came out \\Tith their families so that they could stand as we passed and proudly
wave our great American flag. It never failed to deeply move me. I knew that they did not just
286

come out to show their support of me. They came out to show me their support and love for
our country. This is a republic of proud citizens who are united by our common conviction,
that America is the greatest nation in all of history.

President Donald Trump: (17:48)
We are and must always be a land of hope, of light, and of glory to all the world. This is the
precious inheritance that we must safeguard at every single turn. For the past four years, I
have worked to do just that. From a great hall of Muslim leaders in Riyadh to a great square
of Polish people in Warsaw, from the floor of the Korean Assembly to the podium at the
United Nations General Assembly, and from the forbidden city in Beijing to the shadow of
Mount Rushmore, I fought for you. I fought for your family. I fought for our country. Above
all, I fought for America and all it stands for, and that is safe, strong, proud, and free.

President Donald Trump: (18:39)
Now, as I prepare to hand power over to a new administration at noon on Wednesday, I want
you to know that the movement we started is only just beginning. There's never been
anything like it. The belief that a nation must serve its citizens will not dwindle, but instead,
only grows stronger by the day. As long as the American people hold in their hearts, deep and
devoted love of country, then there is nothing that this nation can not achieve. Our
communities will flourish. Our people will be prosperous. Our traditions will be cherished.
Our faith will be strong and our future will be brighter than ever before. I go from this
majestic place with a loyal and joyful heart, an optimistic spirit, and a supreme confidence
that for our country and for our children, the best is yet to come. Thank you and farewell.
God bless you. God bless the United States of America.
287

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IS INTERVIEWED BY FOX'S BRIAN KILMEADE AT THE ARMY-NA VY
FOOTBALL GAME

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IS INTERVIEWED BY FOX'S BRl4N KILMEADE
AT 11IEARll4'f-NAVT FOOTBALL GAME
Political Transcript Wire
December 14, 2020 Monday

Length: 1168 words
Dateline: Lanham

Body
-----·
FULL TEXT

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IS INTERVIEWED BY FOX'S BRIAN KILMEADE AT THE
ARMY-NA VY FOOTBALL GAME

DECEMBER 14, 2020

SPEAKERS: PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST

[*] (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KILMEADE: So let's -- let's look at this. Let's play this out. lf they continue to not have success in the
courts, and the six that get certified and transmitted and the Vice-President, your Mike Pence, certifies it.
Would you encourage the Republican lawmakers to stand up and protest then 9

TRUMP: Look, I just left Washington to go to the Army-Navy game. There are thousands and thousands
of people out there. I had nothing to do with it. I didn't know -- really know they were forming -- they're
forming.

KILMEADE: Oh no, I'm talking about Congressional leaders.

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Oh, no, no, I'm just saying the spirit, the liveliness --

KILMEADE Right

Page 1 of 4
288

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IS INTERVIEWED BY FOX'S BRIAN KILMEADE AT THE ARMY-NA VY
FOOTBALL GAME

TRUMP: -- the whole thing, even the fundraising, the money that's pouring in to fight this. It's one thing
to say, you know, you ran a great race. Congratulations. I'm OK with that. But they didn't. They didn't run
a good race.

They ran a horrible race from the basement. They ran a race where he didn't even run. But what they did
is, they cheated. They cheated like nobody's ever cheated before that we know of.

KILMEADE Right.

TRUMP: Now, if you look at it it's not even four or five states. It's five cities. Milwaukee, right? Detroit,
Philadelphia, Atlanta -

KILMEADE Right.

TRUMP: -- take those -- Pittsburgh you could add. So it's five cities. It's four cities. It's even three cities
because Tdon't need five.

KILMEADE: But

TRUMP: Just one second, they cheated like nobody's ever cheated before. And they got caught. Just like
the spying on my campaign --

KILMEADE Right.

TRUMP: -- campaign got caught. They cheated like nobody's cheated before. And they got caught. So
nobody can go in and say oh, congratulations on running a good race. They didn't run a good race. They
cheated. They dropped hundreds of thousands of ballots.

KILMEADE: Right.

TRUMP: They did things that nobody's ever seen.

KILMEADE: True.

TRUMP: And we caught them.

KILMEADE: But you -- but you guys have been unable to prove it as of now. If something happens --

TRUMP: Excuse me. Excuse me. We've proven it. But no judge has had the courage including the
Supreme Court. I am so disappointed in them. No judge including the Supreme Court of the United States
has had the courage to allow it to be heard.

The Supreme Court, all they did was say we don't have standing. So they're saying essentially that the
president of the United States and Texas and these other states, great states, they don't have standing.
They didn't go into the evidence. If you would look at the evidence, thousands of pages of evidence, we
have over l,000 affidavits --

KILMEADE: Right.

TRUMP: -- from people that saw tens of thousands of ballots --

KILMEADE: Got you.

Page 2 of 4
289

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IS INTERVIEWED BY FOX'S BRIAN KILMEADE AT 1HE ARMY-NAVY
FOOTBALL GAME

TRUMP: -- no but here's the point. They're trying -- they're winning these things on little technicalities
like a thing called standing. They're saying the President of the United States does not have standing.

KILMEADE: Right. So that was decided last night. So would you show up at the inauguration? Will you

TRUMP: I don't want to talk about that. I want to talk about this. We've done a great job. I got more votes
than any president in the history of our country -- in the history of our country, right9 Not even close, 75
million far more than Obama, far more than anybody. And they say we lost an election. We didn't lose. If
I got IO million fewer votes, they say I couldn't have lost.

KILMEADE: This is --

TRUMP: -- just so you understand, they stuffed -- in a sense, it's a modem-day version of stuffing the
ballot box.

KILMEADE: This has also been a historic week. Number one, the vaccine's going to start rolling. What
is going to be going through your mind as FedEx, UPS, those flights go to 600 separate sites in all 50
states, a vaccine rolling in9 What's going to be going through your mind 9

TRUMP: If I wasn't president, according to almost everybody, even the enemy. If I wasn't president you
wouldn't have a vaccine for five years, OK? I pushed the FDA and companies and everybody else
involved like nobody's ever been pushed before. And now you have it rolling out.

And frankly, they could have done it last week. They could have even done a week sooner had they heard
from me. But, this has been a great -- a really medical -- they call it a medical miracle.

And it's going to have a tremendous impact, 95 percent effective. We have Modema coming out next
week, very soon. We have Johnson & Johnson, a one-shot vaccine coming out. All great companies.

KILMEADE: What about an aid package for the the American people? What could you do to get the
$900 billion out from Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnel19

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: It's moving along. Well, I want to do it - I'm pushing it very hard. And to be honest with you, if
the Democrats really wanted to do the deal, they'd do the deal. They should do it right now. I want to see
checks going for more money than they're talking about going to people.

KILMEADE: Hunter Biden this week has confirmed two investigations on him. One on Jim Biden. Do
you feel that the word is you're disappointed that William Barr knew about this in the Spring?

TRUMP: Everybody is. Who isn't disappointed 9

KILMEADE Right.

TRUMP: Joe Biden lied on the debate stage. He said there's nothing happening, nothing happening and
Bill Barr should have stepped up. I'll tell you what, say what you want about Robert Mueller. When
BuzzFeed put out a phony article -- I think it was BuzzFeed -- but BuzzFeed put out a phony article, Bob
Mueller stepped out, and he said that article was a phony.

Page 3 of4
290

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP IS INTERVIEWED BY FOX'S BRIAN KILMEADE AT THE ARMY-NA VY
FOOTBALL GAME

And then there was ultimately proven there was no collusion. No -- after two years, no collusion. But Bob
Mueller stood up and he -- he interjected that this article was false. Bill Barr should have done the same
thing.

KILMEADE: Jonathan Turley said that he had no choice, that he would have been like -- he would have
been like James Corney again.

TRUMP: All he had to do is say an investigation's going on. And by the way, l don't want to see anything
bad happen to Hunter Biden. Whatever it is, it is the facts. But I don't want to see anything bad to Hunter
Biden.

And I purposely stay out of it. But when you affect an election, Bill Barr frankly did the wrong thing.
When they are saying things, making statements and the press is purposely not reporting it, Bill Barr, I
believe, not believe, I know, had an obligation to set the record straight, just like Robert Mueller set the
record straight.

You know, he set it straight. A ve1y bad thing was said and it was false article, a false statement which
you know, usually they are with the -· with the media. But this was a false statement. And Robert Mueller
stood up and he said that is a false statement. And that was a great thing. I'm going to go.

KILMEADE: Go get them.

TRUMP: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

END

Load-Date: December 15, 2020

Page 4 of 4
291

1118/2021 Remarks by President Trump on the Election I The White House

REMARKS

Trump on
on: November 5, 2020

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

6:48 P.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. I'd like to provide the American people with an update on our
efforts to protect the integrity of our very important 2020 election. If you count the legal votes, I
easily win. If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us. If you count the
votes that came in late - we're looking at them very strongly. But a lot of votes came in late.

I've already decisively won many critical states, including massive victories in Florida, Iowa,
Indiana, Ohio, to name just a few. We won these and many other victories despite historic election
interference from big media, big money, and big tech.

As everybody saw, we won by historic numbers. And the pollsters got it knowingly wrong. They got
it knowingly wrong. We had polls that were so ridiculous, and everybody knew that at the time.
There was no blue wave that they predicted. They thought there was going to be a big blue wave;
that was false. That was done for suppression reasons. But instead, there was a big red wave.

And it's been properly acknowledged, actually, by the media. They were, I think, very impressed,
but that was after the fact That doesn't do us any good.

We kept the Senate, despite having twice as many seats to defend as Democrats. And in a really
much more competitive states, we've - we did a fantastic job with the Senate, and I think we're

https:/fwww.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-e!ectlon/ 1(/
292

111812021 Remarks by President Trump on the Election I The Vv'hite House

very proud of what's happened there. We had many more seats to defend.

They spent almost $200 million on Senate races in South Carolina and Kentucky alone - two races
- and hundreds of millions of dollars overall against us. At the national level, our opponents' major
donors were Wall Street bankers and special interests. Our major donors were police officers,
farmers, everyday citizens. Yet for the first time ever, we lost zero races in the House. I was talking to
Kevin McCarthy today. He said he couldn't believe it: zero races. Very unusual thing. Zero. And
actually won many new seats with, I think, many more on the way.

This was also the year of the Republican woman. More Republican women were elected to
Congress than ever before. That's a great achievement. I won the largest share of non-white voters
of any Republican in 60 years, including historic numbers of Latino, African American, Asian
American, and Native American voters the largest ever in our history. We grew our party by 4
million voters, the greatest turnout in Republican Party history.

Democrats are the party of the big donors, the big media, the big tech, it seems. And Republicans
have become the party of the American worker, and that's what's happened. And we're also, I
believe, the party of inclusion.

As everyone now recognizes, media polling was election interference, in the truest sense of that
word, by powerful special interests. These really phony polls - I have to call them phony polls, fake
polls -were designed to keep our voters at home, create the illusion of momentum for Mr. Biden,
and diminish Republicans' ability to raise funds. They were what's called "suppression polls:'
Everyone knows that now. And it's never been used to the extent that it's been used on this last
election.

To highlight just a few examples: The day before election, Quinnipiac - which was wrong on every
occasion that I know of- had Joe Bi den up by 5 points in Florida, and they were off by 8.4 points.
And I won Florida easily. Easily. So, they had me losing Florida by a lot, and I ended up winning
Florida by a lot. Other than that, they were very accurate. They had him up 4 points in Ohio, and
they were off by 12.2 points. And I also won Ohio the great state of Ohio very easily.

The Washington Post had Biden up 17 points in Wisconsin, and it was basically even. They were off
by about 17 points, and they knew that. They're not stupid people. They knew that. Suppression.

https;//www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-e!ection/ 217
293

1118/2021 Remarks by President Trump on the Election I The VVhite House

There are now only a few states yet to be decided in the presidential race. The voting apparatus of
those states are run, in all cases, by Democrats.

We were winning in all the key locations by a lot, actually. And then our number started
miraculously getting whittled away in secret, and they wouldn't allow legally permissible
observers. We went to court, in a couple of instances, and we were able to get the observers put in.
And when the observers got there, they wanted them 60, 70 feet away, 80 feet, 100 feet away - or
outside the building to observe people inside the building.

And we won a case - a big case. And we have others happening. There are a lot of- lots of
litigation. Even beyond our litigation, there's tremendous amount of litigation generally because of
how unfair this process was, and I predicted that. I've been talking about mail-in voting for a long
time. It's it's really destroyed our system.

It's a corrupt system. And it makes people corrupt even if they aren't by nature, but they become
corrupt; it's too easy. They want to find out how many votes they need, and then they seem to be
able to find them. They wait and wait, and then they find them.

And you see that on Election Night. We were ahead in votes in North Carolina by a lot-
tremendous number of votes. And we're still ahead by a lot, but not as many because they're
finding ballots all of a sudden. "Oh, we have some mail-in ballots."

It's amazing how those mail-in ballots are so one-sided, too. I know that it's supposed to be to the
advantage of the Democrats, but in all cases, they're so one-sided.

We were up by nearly 700,000 votes in Pennsylvania. I won Pennsylvania by a lot, and that gets
whittled down to - I think they said now we're up by 90,000 votes. And they'll keep coming and
coming and coming. They find them all over. And they don't want us to have any observers,
although we won a court case. The judge said you have to have observers.

Likewise, in Geor- - and they're appealing. Actually, they're appealing. We won a case that we want
people to watch and we want observers, and they're actually appealing, which is sort of interesting.
I wonder why they'd appeal that all we want to do is have people watch as they do the vote
tabulations.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-pres1dent-trump-etection/ 317
294

1118/2021 Remarks by President Trump on the Election I The White House

Likewise, in Georgia, I won by a lot - a lot- with a lead of over - getting close to 300,000 votes on
Election Night in Georgia. And, by the way, got whittled down, and now it's getting to be to a point
where I'll go from winning by a lot to perhaps being even down a little bit.

In Georgia, a pipe burst in a faraway location, totally unrelated to the location of what was
happening, and they stopped counting for four hours, and a lot of things happened. The election
apparatus in Georgia is run by Democrats.

We also had margins of 300,000 in Michigan. We were way up in Michigan; won the state. And in
Wisconsin, we did likewise fantastically well. And that got whittled down. Every- in every case,
they got whittled down.

Today, we're on track to win Arizona. We only need to carry, I guess, 55 percent of the remaining
vote - 55 percent margins. And that's a margin that we've significantly exceeded. So we'll see what
happens with that, but we're on track to do okay in Arizona.

Our goal is to defend the integrity of the election. We'll not allow the corruption to steal such an
important election or any election, for that matter. And we can't allow silence -anybody to silence
our voters and manufacture results.

I've never had - I've been doing a lot of public things for a long time; I've never had anything that's
been as inspirational by people - calling, talking, sending things to us. I've never seen such - such
love and such affection and such spirit as I've seen for this. People know what's happening, and
they see what's happening, and it's before their eyes.

And there are many instances which will be reported very shortly. There's tremendous litigation
going on. And this is a case where they're trying to steal an election, they're trying to rig an election,
and we can't let that happen. Detroit and Philadelphia - known as two of the most corrupt
political places anywhere in our country, easily - cannot be responsible for engineering the
outcome of a presidential race - a very important presidential race.

In Pennsylvania, Democrats have gone to the State Supreme Court to try and ban our election
observers, and very strongly. Now, we won the case, but they're they're going forward. They
don't want anybody in there. They don't want anybody watching them as they count the ballots,
and I can't imagine why. There's absolutely no legitimate reason why they would not want to have
https://www.whitehouse.gov/brlefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-election/ 417
295

1/18/2021 Remarks by President Trump on the Election I The White House

people watching this process, because if it's straight, they would be - they should be proud of it.
Instead, they're trying, obviously, to commit fraud. There's no question about that.

In Philadelphia, observers have been kept far away- very far away - so far that people are using
binoculars to try and see, and there's been tremendous problems caused. They put paper on all of
the windows so you can't see in, and the people that are banned are very unhappy and become
somewhat violent.

The 11th Circuit ruled that, in Georgia, the votes have been in by Election Day - that they should be
in by Election Day, and they weren't. Votes are coming in after Election Day. And they had a ruling
already that you have to have the votes in by Election Day. To the best of my knowledge, votes
should be in by Election Day, and they didn't do that.

Democrat officials never believed they could win this election honestly. I really believe that. That's
why they did the mail-in ballots, where there's tremendous corruption and fraud going on. That's
why they mailed out tens of millions of unsolicited ballots without any verification measures
whatsoever. And I've told everybody that these things would happen, because I've seen it happen. I
watched a lot of different elections before they decided to go with this big, massive election with
tens of millions of ballots going out to everybody- in many cases, totally unsolicited.

This was unprecedented in American history. This was by design. Despite years of claiming to care
about the election security, they refuse to include any requirement to verify signatures, identities,
or even determine whether they're eligible or ineligible to vote. People are walking in that they
have no idea; they're just taking numbers. They're writing down things - the workers - and doing
a lot of bad things. And we have a lot of information coming and litigation that you'll see that will
shake even you people up, and you've seen it all.

The officials overseeing the counting in Pennsylvania and other key states are all part of a corrupt
Democrat machine that you've written about - and, for a long time, you've been writing about the
corrupt Democrat machine. I went to school there, and I know a lot about it. It hasn't changed. It's a
long time ago, and it hasn't changed. It's gotten worse.

In Pennsylvania, partisan Democrats have allowed ballots in the state to be received three days
after the election, and we think much more than that. And they are counting those without even
postmarks or any identification whatsoever. So you don't have postmarks; you don't have
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-etectlon/ 5(1
296

1/18/2021 Remarks by President Trump on the Election I The White House

identification. There have been a number of disturbing irregularities across the nation. Our
campaign has been denied access to observe any counting in Detroit. Detroit is another place.

So you don't have postmarks; you don't have identification. There have been a number of
disturbing irregularities across the nation. Our campaign has been denied access to observe any
counting in Detroit. Detroit is another place - and I wouldn't say has the best reputation for
election integrity.

Poll workers in Michigan were duplicating ballots. But when our observers attempted to challenge
the activity, those poll workers jumped in front of the volunteers to block their view so that they
couldn't see what they were doing, and it became a little bit dangerous.

One major hub for counting ballots in Detroit covered up the windows, again, with large pieces of
cardboard. And so they wanted to protect and block the counting area. They didn't want anybody
seeing the counting, even though these were observers who are legal observers that were
supposed to be there.

In Detroit, there were hours of unexplained delay in delivering many of the votes for counting. The
final batch did not arrive until four in the morning and - even though the polls closed at eight
o'clock. So they brought it in, and the batches came in, and nobody knew where they came from.
We've also been denied access to observe in critical places in Georgia.

In multiple swing states, counting was halted for hours and hours on Election Night, with results
withheld from major Democrat-run locations, only to appear later. And they certainly appeared,
and they all had the name "Biden" on them, or just about all- I think almost all. They all had the
name "Bi den" on them, which is a little strange.

I challenge Joe and every Democrat to clarify that they only want legal votes. Because they talk
about votes, and I think they should use the word "legal" - "legal votes." "We want every legal vote
counted." And I want every legal vote counted. We want openness and transparency - no secret
count rooms, no mystery ballots, no illegal votes being cast after Election Day.

You have Election Day, and the laws are very strong on that. You have an Election Day. And they
don't want votes cast after Election Day, and they want the process to be an honest one. It's so

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-etection/ 617

Full text shows the first 300 of 1726 pages; the complete document is the PDF above.

File and source

File: CDOC_cdoc-117hdoc9_cdoc-117hdoc9-vol2.pdf
Size: 77,465,655 bytes
SHA-256: 417c29e89e93524b0fcdfdee55b29beecbf1e68f6fb5178b7683717114ef06a3
Our copy: CDOC_cdoc-117hdoc9_cdoc-117hdoc9-vol2.pdf
Original: www.govinfo.gov