Live updates: Pelosi says House will move on impeaching Trump if Pence doesn’t meet a deadline to remove him
Companies to cut off money to lawmakers who voted not to confirm Biden win, or pause giving altogether
The funding of U.S. political campaigns is being rocked as major firms such as Facebook, BlackRock, Marriott and Dow announced plans to halt some or all political contributions as a result of last week’s insurrection at the Capitol — a sign of corporate America’s growing uneasiness with the election doubts and violent attacks inspired by President Trump.
Major companies that collectively pour millions of dollars annually into campaigns through employee-funded political action committees are registering their worry and anger about last week’s chaos by pledging to reexamine their role in U.S. politics.
Facebook and Microsoft said they will halt all political donations while they review their giving. BlackRock made a similar announcement in a memo to its employees, noting its decision was spurred by “the horrific events in the nation’s capital.” Others, such as Marriott, announced more targeted action: a pause to the campaign cash flowing to Republicans who voted against confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s win.
75-year-old congresswoman tests positive for coronavirus after sheltering in place with unmasked lawmakers
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, a 75-year-old cancer survivor, has tested positive for the coronavirus after taking shelter in a room with lawmakers who refused to wear masks during last week’s violent takeover of the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.
“I received a positive test result for COVID-19, and am home resting at this time,” she said in a statement. “While I am experiencing mild, cold-like symptoms, I remain in good spirits and will continue to work on behalf of my constituents.”
Watson Coleman (D-N.J.) said she believes she contracted the virus while in protected isolation during the riot. Many lawmakers were held in a room together as the pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
On Sunday, Brian Monahan, the attending physician to Congress, told lawmakers that those in that room may have been exposed to someone with the virus.
“The time in this room was several hours for some and briefer for others,” Monahan said. “During this time, individuals may have been exposed to another occupant with coronavirus infection.”
He encouraged members who were in the room to get tested.
National Park Service suspends Washington Monument tours due to ‘credible threats’ surrounding inauguration
The National Park Service announced that it will temporarily halt tours of the Washington Monument starting Monday and at least through Jan. 24, amid concerns about “credible threats” surrounding Biden’s presidential inauguration.
The announcement noted that groups involved with last week’s attack on the Capitol “continue to threaten to disrupt the 59th presidential inauguration.”
The Park Service said it might also temporarily shutter other areas ahead of the inauguration, including access to roadways, parking areas, restrooms within the National Mall and Memorial Parks. The closures may extend after Jan. 24 “if the conditions persist.”
Pelosi gives Pence a deadline on seeking to remove Trump from office
Pelosi said Monday that the House will move forward with impeaching Trump for a second time if Pence does not seek to remove him under the 25th Amendment by Wednesday.
“The President’s threat to America is urgent, and so too will be our action,” the speaker said in a statement.
A House aide confirmed that an impeachment resolution that could be considered as early as Wednesday has 218 co-sponsors, enough to ensure passage in the Democratic-led chamber.
Pelosi issued her statement shortly after House Republicans, using a procedural move, on Monday blocked consideration of a separate resolution calling on Pence to initiative removal proceedings under the 25th Amendment. A vote on that measure is now expected Tuesday.
If the resolution passes as expected, Pence would have 24 hours to ask Trump’s Cabinet to join him in removing Trump, Pelosi said.
In her statement, Pelosi chastised Republicans for delaying consideration of the resolution regarding the 25th Amendment.
“The House Republicans rejected this legislation to protect America, enabling the President’s unhinged, unstable and deranged acts of sedition to continue,” she said. “Their complicity endangers America, erodes our Democracy, and it must end.”
D.C. police chief speaks in emotional terms about officers injured in mob attack on Capitol
D.C. acting police chief Robert J. Contee III spoke emotionally on Monday of the injuries that 56 of his officers suffered at the Capitol last week during the pro-Trump mob’s attack on the building.
“I’ve talked to officers who have done two tours in Iraq who said this was scarier to them than their time in combat,” he said.
Contee said one officer was beaten and Tasered by the rioters, who he believes were trying to steal a gun from the officer. They took several objects from him, Contee said, but he did not specify. The officer has since been discharged from the hospital.
“He’s obviously very shaken, very appalled, very angry,” Contee said.
Another officer was crushed by a door in an attack captured on video. “It makes me sick to my stomach to see that video,” Contee said. “That officer, obviously, he was afraid for his life.”
Bowser tells Americans to stay home for inauguration
Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) had a stark message to Americans on Monday: Do not attend Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration in Washington.
With the combined threats both of spreading the coronavirus in a city that reached its highest average daily new case rate ever on Monday, and of violence from those who reject the election result, Bowser said, Americans who would ordinarily flock to Washington should stay home.
The right-wing groups threatening to mass before and during the inauguration are different from the protesters the city normally welcomes, Bowser said.
“People coming to demonstrate peacefully are very different from the people who stormed the Capitol,” she said.
When a reporter asked if she was scared of what might happen Jan. 20, Bowser said: “If I’m scared of anything, it’s for our democracy. Because we have … factions in our country that are armed and dangerous.”
In an effort to make the city inhospitable to guests, Bowser said she would also “likely” extend the mandated closure of indoor dining through Jan. 24 in the interest of public safety around the inauguration. The ban was implemented in December to address rising coronavirus cases and was set to end Jan. 15.
Bowser said she would decide Tuesday.
She said she will be briefed by the FBI daily on threats to the city.
22 Republican former lawmakers urge Trump’s impeachment
Twenty two Republican former House and Senate members are urging current members of Congress to move forward with Trump’s impeachment, aiming to bolster bipartisan support for a move that could occur this week.
“There is no excuse for nor defense of a President of the United States to actively orchestrate an insurrection on a separate but coequal branch of government,” a letter written by the group says. “Surely, the Founders would be sickened by the thought of such actions. As members of the branch that was under attack — not just politically but physically — you must remove the president from office.”
Notable signers include former House members Barbara Comstock (Va.) and Charlie Dent (Pa.), and organizers said they expect the number of those signing on to continue to grow.
“Congress must send a strong and clear message not just to this president but future presidents that this type of behavior will not be tolerated or accepted,” the letter says. “Frankly, the message also needs to be made clear to the American people that there is no place in politics for political violence.”
The letter argues that a central advantage of impeaching Trump and removing him from office would be to prevent him from holding federal office again.
Timothy Blodgett sworn in to serve as House sergeant-at-arms
Timothy Blodgett was sworn in Monday to serve as the new House sergeant-at-arms after Paul D. Irving resigned from the post following last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Outgoing Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund told The Washington Post that House and Senate security officials had hindered efforts to call in the National Guard in case backup was needed to address rioters. Sund said Irving did not like the “optics” of formally declaring an emergency ahead of planned demonstrations.
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich), who gaveled in the House pro forma floor session Monday morning, announced Blodgett would be sworn in and administered the oath of office after Irving’s letter of resignation was accepted.
Shortly after Blodgett was sworn in, House Republicans blocked a measure calling on Vice President Pence and Trump’s Cabinet to remove the president under the 25th Amendment.
Hillary Clinton: A Trump impeachment ‘alone won’t remove white supremacy and extremism from America’
Hillary Clinton, in a new op-ed published in The Washington Post, said she believes removing Trump from office is “essential” but adds that his departure would “not solve the deeper problems exposed” by last week’s attack on the Capitol.
The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee said she supports impeaching Trump, and she said members of Congress who “joined him in subverting our democracy should resign, and those who conspired with the domestic terrorists should be expelled immediately.”
“But that alone won’t remove white supremacy and extremism from America,” Clinton writes.
House Democrats formally introduced an article of impeachment Monday, and could vote later this week on impeaching Trump for an unprecedented second time.
Last Wednesday, pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, breaching barricades there and overrunning U.S. Capitol Police. Activists have described frustration with how the scene in Washington last week contrasts with the strong-arm tactics used against Black Lives Matter protesters.
“It’s sobering that many people were unsurprised by what occurred last week, particularly people of color, for whom a violent mob waving Confederate flags and hanging nooses is a familiar sight in American history,” Clinton wrote in the op-ed.
She called for immediate action, such as a push for new state and federal criminal laws to “hold white supremacists accountable” and to track “the activities of extremists such as those who breached the Capitol.”
The former secretary of state also called for the Biden administration to take action upon taking office, including by prosecuting those involved who broke laws, holding technology platforms to account and “making public more intelligence and analysis about domestic terrorism.”
Republicans block House measure calling on Pence and Cabinet to remove Trump under the 25th Amendment
House Republicans on Monday blocked a measure calling on Vice President Pence and Trump’s Cabinet to remove him under the 25th Amendment.
The procedural move by the GOP to block consideration of the measure under unanimous consent will force the full House to vote Tuesday on the resolution. The resolution pressures Pence to initiate proceedings to remove Trump in the wake of the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob and comes as calls for Trump’s impeachment grow.
The 25th Amendment gives the vice president, plus a majority of the Cabinet, the ability to remove the president from office if they determine he “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
The resolution, written by Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), calls on Pence “to immediately use his powers under section 4 of the 25th Amendment to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments in the Cabinet to declare what is obvious to a horrified Nation: That the President is unable to successfully discharge the duties and powers of his office.”
During a pro forma floor session Monday, Rep. Alex Mooney (R-W.Va.) objected to considering the measure under unanimous consent.
GOP campaign committee acknowledges violence at Capitol but says impeaching Trump would be divisive
In a signal of how many GOP lawmakers are likely to respond to the Democratic-led impeachment effort, the National Republican Congressional Committee acknowledged in a statement Monday that last week’s violence at the Capitol “has no place in our democracy” but said efforts to remove Trump from office would be divisive.
“The violence we saw unfold in our nation’s capital last week has no place in our democracy,” Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) said in a statement. “It was a disgusting and dangerous spectacle that ultimately cost people their lives.”
Emmer said, “We must come together to heal our nation,” but added that an effort led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to impeach Trump “will further divide us.”
“It is a politically motivated effort by Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats that will fracture our nation even more instead of bringing us together,” he said.
While Democrats have largely blamed Trump for the current political climate, Emmer said that “Congress as a whole bears responsibility for fomenting the type of vitriol that has been dividing our nation over the course of many years and it has to stop.”
House Democrats introduce article of impeachment, charging Trump with ‘incitement of insurrection’
House Democrats formally introduced an article of impeachment on Monday, charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection.”
The resolution cites the president’s false statements claiming widespread voter fraud during the presidential election — statements Trump repeated in the two months leading up to last week’s joint session of Congress.
The House could vote later this week on impeaching Trump an unprecedented second time, a consequence of events last Wednesday when a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol.
“He also willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action at the Capitol,” the resolution reads. It adds: “Thus incited by President Trump, members of the crowd he had addressed, in an attempt to, among other objectives, interfere with the Joint Session’s solemn constitutional duty to certify the results of the 2020 Presidential election, unlawfully breached and vandalized the Capitol, injured and killed law enforcement personnel, menaced Members of Congress, the Vice President, and Congressional personnel, and engaged in other violent, deadly, destructive, and seditious acts.”
Impeachment proceedings could have consequences for the initial weeks of the Biden administration, as a Senate trial could delay confirmations for Biden’s Cabinet picks and stall the new administration’s agenda.
In a sign of how Democrats have struggled with how to proceed with the push for impeachment, Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), a Biden ally, suggested Sunday that the House could vote this week to impeach the president but wait a few months before submitting the articles to the Senate for trial.
As of Sunday, Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who drew up the resolution alongside Reps. David N. Cicilline (D-R.I.) and Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.), said 210 members had signed on as co-sponsors.
“This was an attempted coup to overthrow the government, and we have a responsibility as Congress to respond to that,” Cicilline said. “We have a particular responsibility to hold everyone accountable who was involved in any way from the president on down. That’s what we intend to do.”
He said he expected some Republicans to support the resolution.
Analysis: Dominion lawsuit could be just start of legal action against Trump allies
Dominion Voting Systems is suing pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell for more than $1.3 billion in damages, according a lawsuit filed by the company Friday in D.C. federal court.
The company says that Powell has caused significant damage to its reputation and value by spreading unfounded conspiracy theories about it, including allegations of ties to deceased Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez and rigging the election for Biden. The lawsuit seeks a narrow “permanent injunction requiring the removal of all the Defendants’ statements that are determined to be false and defamatory,” as well as a prohibition against repeating such statements.
The unprecedented lawsuit could be just the first domino in a chain of lawsuits against Trump allies who have spread misinformation about voter fraud — possibly including Trump himself.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger backs effort to impeach Trump
Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) is the latest lawmaker to announce her support for impeaching President Trump following last week’s siege on the U.S. Capitol.
“The President of the United States has trafficked in conspiracy theories, lied about the outcome of the election he knows he lost, and incited his supporters to engage in violence and destruction,” Spanberger, a moderate Democrat, said in a Monday statement, announcing she would co-sponsor the articles of impeachment. “He willfully brought brutality to the U.S. Capitol as insurrectionists invaded the building.”
She wrote that Trump “must be held accountable for the gross violation of his oath and the betrayal of his office,” and said lawmakers will move forward if Vice President Pence does not “do his duty and invoke the 25th Amendment.”
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who helped craft the draft impeachment resolution, said one day earlier that more than 210 members had signed on as co-sponsors.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pledged Sunday to move forward with impeachment if the president is not removed from office first. She said Democrats would first pass a resolution urging Pence and the Cabinet to remove Trump under provisions of the 25th Amendment before going forward with impeachment.
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