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McConnell Says Trump “Responsible For Provoking” Attack After Voting To Acquit; Trump Says MAGA “Has Just Begun”
This marks the second time in twelve months that Trump has survived impeachment.
Update (1650ET): In a rather stunning and head-scratchingly self-serving and hyprocritical moment, Leader McConnell spoke after the Senate acquitted former President Trump and threw him back under the bus while covering his own political ass.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in a floor speech following his vote to acquit, unleashed his harshest criticism for the former president:
“Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.”
“There’s no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. The people that stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their president,” McConnell said.
“And having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories and reckless hyperbole, which the defeated president kept shouting into the largest megaphone on the earth,” McConnell added.
McConnell also suggests that Trump can still be held to account in a court of law:
“President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he’s in office. He didn’t get away with anything yet.”“We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one.“
Was this the concession that Democrats demanded in order for them not to call witnesses? Or is this normal Washington gaslighting and the ongoing effort of establishment GOP to “unify” their party AWAY from Trump?
If the latter, judging by the twitter response, it’s having the exact opposite effect:
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Update (1605ET): Former President Trump has issued the following statement following his Senate acquittal (emphasis ours):
I want to first thank my team of dedicated lawyers and others for their tireless work upholding justice and defending truth.
My deepest thanks as well to all of the United States Senators and Members of Congress who stood proudly for the Constitution we all revere and for the sacred legal principles at the heart of our country.
Our cherished Constitutional Republic was founded on the impartial rule of law, the indispensable safeguard for our liberties, our rights and our freedoms.
It is a sad commentary on our times that one political party in America is given a free pass to denigrate the rule of law, defame law enforcement, cheer mobs, excuse rioters, and transform justice into a tool of political vengeance, and persecute, blacklist, cancel and suppress all people and viewpoints with whom or which they disagree. I always have, and always will, be a champion for the unwavering rule of law, the heroes of law enforcement, and the right of Americans to peacefully and honorably debate the issues of the day without malice and without hate.
This has been yet another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our Country. No president has ever gone through anything like it, and it continues because our opponents cannot forget the almost 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president, who voted for us just a few short months ago.
I also want to convey my gratitude to the millions of decent, hardworking, law-abiding, God-and-Country loving citizens who have bravely supported these important principles in these very difficult and challenging times.
Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to Make America Great Again has only just begun. In the months ahead I have much to share with you, and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people. There has never been anything like it!
We have so much work ahead of us, and soon we will emerge with a vision for a bright, radiant, and limitless American future.
Together there is nothing we cannot accomplish.
We remain one People, one family, and one glorious nation under God, and it’s our responsibility to preserve this magnificent inheritance for our children and for generations of Americans to come.
May God bless all of you, and may God forever bless the United States of America.
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Update (1542ET): To absolutely no one’s surprise he Senate has acquitted former President Trump of incitement with a final vote of 57-43, with seven Republicans breaking ranks to vote with the Democrats.
This marks the second time in twelve months that Trump has survived impeachment.
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Update (1300ET): After a couple of hours of ‘negotiations’ during which Sen. Cruz threatened to subpoena Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Trump’s lawyers said they would call “100s of witnesses”, a deal has been reached that means no witnesses will be called.
House impeachment managers dropped their request to obtain testimony from Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler after senators agreed instead to enter into the record an account of her secondhand account of a phone call between Trump and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy.
This agreement has averted the prospect of an avalanche of requests for testimony from both sides that would have extended the impeachment trial beyond its expected conclusion later today (and perhaps delayed any attempts at reaching a stimulus agreement).
As a reminder, Senator Lindsey Graham, who has been advising Trump’s legal team, said that if the Senate agrees to the request by House impeachment managers to depose Herrera Beutler, he’ll insist on “multiple witnesses”…starting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
He said she should be required “to answer the question as to whether or not there was credible evidence of pre-planned violence before President Trump spoke? Whether Speaker Pelosi, due to optics, refused requests by the Capitol Hill Police for additional resources like the National Guard?”
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Just when you thought Donald Trump’s second impeachment trials was over, five Republicans have joined their Democratic colleagues in a Saturday morning vote (55-45) to call witnesses – an unexpected development in this snap impeachment over Trump’s alleged role inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
GOP Sens. Collins, Graham, Murkowski, Romney and Sasse were the five.
The move – which was originally opposed by several Democrats, will allow them to strengthen their case. It is unclear what kind of delay this may cause, after impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team estimated it would be over on Saturday.
In response to the vote, Trump attorney Michael van der Veen answered that if witnesses are going to be called, “I’m going to need more than 100 witnesses, not just one,” adding “we should close this case out today,” but if that doesn’t happen, “Do not handcuff me by limiting the number of witnesses I can have.”https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-5&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1360631995030790145&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fpolitical%2Fmcconnell-says-hell-vote-acquit-trump-democrats-have-votes-call-impeachment-witnesses&siteScreenName=zerohedge&theme=light&widgetsVersion=889aa01%3A1612811843556&width=550px
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren suggested that a debate on the number of witnesses should not take place, saying “I don’t think there’s any limit right now, and that’s part of what will be debated.”
As Axios notes, Trump himself is Democrats’ most desired witness, however the former president has already quashed that – saying he would not comply willingly. The Senate could subpoena him, however it’s unclear whether they would have enough support.
Instead, Democrats plan to call GOP Rep. Jamie Herrera Butler of Washington, who the NY Times reported on Friday said Trump ‘sided with the mob’ during a phone call as the attack was unfolding. Herrera Butler, who voted to impeach Trump in the House, was requested to testify by House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin.
In a statement on Friday night, Representative Jaime Herrera Beutler, Republican of Washington, recounted a phone call relayed to her by Mr. McCarthy of California, the minority leader, in which Mr. Trump was said to have sided with the rioters, telling the top House Republican that members of the mob who had stormed the Capitol were “more upset about the election than you are.”
She pleaded with witnesses to step forward and share what they knew about Mr. Trump’s actions and statements as the attack was underway. –NY Times
“To the patriots who were standing next to the former president as these conversations were happening, or even to the former vice president: if you have something to add here, now would be the time,” said Herrera Beutler in a statement.
According to her account, McCarthy ‘frantically’ called Trump on Jan. 6 and asked him to “publicly and forcefully call off the riot,” and that Trump replied that it was Antifa, not his supporters, who were responsible. When McCarthy pushed back saying that wasn’t true, Trump allegedly said “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.”
Senate Democrats who initially opposed witnesses include Kristen Gillibrand of NY, who said on Thursday: “We’ve heard from many witnesses based on their interviews and their video presentations, so, I feel like we’ve heard from enough witnesses.” Sen. Angus King of Maine said “I think the case has been made. I don’t know what witnesses would add.”
Once witnesses have testified, impeachment managers and Trump’s defense team will present closing arguments – with each side allotted two hours. A full vote on whether to convict or acquit will follow.
To that end, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has told his fellow Senate GOP in an email that he will vote to acquit the former president – writing “As I have said for some time, today’s vote is a vote of conscience and I know we will all treat it as such,” according to Politico‘s Burgess Everett.
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Mayor de Blasio Tells NYPD to Pay People Home Visits For “Hurtful” Comments
What could possibly go wrong?
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says NYPD officers should pay people home visits if they engage in “hurtful” behavior to others even if the action isn’t criminal.
What could possibly go wrong?
“Even if something is not a criminal case, a perpetrator being confronted by the city, whether it’s NYPD or another agency, and being told that what they’ve done was very hurtful to another person — and could, if ever repeated, lead to criminal charges — that’s another important piece of the puzzle,” de Blasio told reporters.
The Mayor failed to define precisely what he meant by “hurtful,” but since he framed it in the context of non-criminal behavior, he can only be referring to mean words.
De Blasio urged officers to “confront” people to tell them their behavior is “not appropriate,” urging alleged victims to make more reports to authorities.
He then even suggested that cops, instead of responding to actual crimes, should visit New Yorker’s homes to police their speech.
“I assure you, if an NYPD officer calls you or shows up at your door to ask you about something you did, it makes people think twice,” he said. “We need that.”
De Blasio made the comments in light of yet another contrived moral panic, this time over an alleged rise in “hate crime” towards Asians.
The narrative was bolstered after a gunman slaughtered eight people — including six Asian women — at massage parlors across Atlanta, Georgia.
The media has either glossed over or outright ignored the fact that two white victims also lost their lives and that the attack was motivated by the killer’s sex obsession and had nothing whatsoever to do with race.
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Government Stimulus Is Blowing Up a Massive Economic Bubble
How can millions of Americans be out of work while simultaneously on a spending binge?
We’re told we’re on the road to economic recovery. The $1.9 trillion stimulus is all we need to get us over the hump. But the truth is, Americans started spending like they were over the hump months ago. In fact, American consumers high on stimulus have been on a spending spree since last summer. The Federal Reserve printed money. Uncle Sam handed it out. American consumers spent it on imported goods.
This isn’t the formula for a genuine economy. It’s the formula for a giant bubble.
During the Great Recession, consumers cut spending. This is what you generally expect during an economic downturn. The economy contracts, people lose jobs, money gets tight and consumers spend less. You can see this in the numbers. Spending on durable goods plunged by 19% from the peak in October 2007 to the trough in April 2009. Meanwhile, spending on nondurable goods (food and gasoline) dropped by 10% during the Financial Crisis, from the peak in July 2008 to the trough in March 2009.
This spending cutback during an economic downturn creates what economists call “pent-up demand.” This helps drive spending upward during an economic recovery. You can see how the pent-up demand drove spending on durable goods post-recession in this graph produced by WolfStreet.
You can also see that consumer spending during the pandemic downturn took an entirely different trajectory. After a sharp but brief drop in the first months of the pandemic, spending surged.
In January alone, spending on durable goods spiked by 18.6% from a year ago, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. You might think this was the result of the mythical economic recovery as states loosen lockdown restrictions, but this spending spree has been going on since last June.
How can this be? How can millions of Americans be out of work while simultaneously on a spending binge?
The government has been handing out money, that’s how.
And Americans have dutifully spent it. WolfStreet sums it up this way:
Give Americans some free money, and tell them it’s their duty to buy some stuff with it, preferable stuff imported from other countries, and they’ll buy some stuff with it, big and expensive stuff too, and they did buy a lot of stuff with it, more than they’d ever bought before, and their homes are full of stuff they bought in this eight-month-long record rollicking free-money spending spree.”
Even with millions out of work, incomes in the US have risen during the pandemic – and a lot of that income came from Uncle Sam’s handouts. Income from wages and salaries in January came in at $9.7 trillion, a modest 1.1% year-on-year increase. But income from unemployment benefits, stimulus checks, and other government support payments exploded to $2.9 trillion. According to WolfStreet, “along with income from interest, dividends, rental properties, farm income, income from Social Security and other transfer payments, total income in January, all together, jumped by 13% from a year ago to a record $21.5 trillion (seasonally adjusted annual rate).”
On top of that, a lot of Americans had money freed up because they didn’t have to pay rent or mortgages, or make student loan payments. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, 4.3 million mortgages were in forbearance at the height of the pandemic. Currently, 2.6 million mortgages remain in forbearance.
Give people lots of free money and they’ll spend it. As WolfStreet put it, demand wasn’t pent up during the pandemic, it was let out.
This time around, households didn’t go through two years of cutting back on goods purchases, as they’d done during the Financial Crisis.
This time around, there is a shortage of supply, including the now infamous semiconductor shortage, due to the surge in spending on goods, and inventories are tight, amid production snags and supply-chain problems. And given this demand, and the supply issues, prices of goods are rising.
Consumers have been awash with this money they didn’t need to work for. And they paid down credit card debts with it. And they spent part of it on goods.
Now another stimulus package with more free money is being prepared in Congress. If it passes, more free money will rain on consumers over the next two or three months.
This raises another question: if millions of Americans were not working but kept spending, who made all of the stuff that they bought?
That’s pretty clear from the numbers too. And it doesn’t exactly scream “booming US economy.”
The merchandise trade deficit is at a record level. In a nutshell, Americans are spending their printed money on imported goods. Peter Schiff summed up the US economy in a recent podcast.
We’re making so little that we’re importing a record amount of stuff. The world is basically, single-handedly supporting our economy by providing us with all of this stuff. How is it that we’re getting all this stuff? Are we making a lot of stuff and trading it for that stuff? No! We’re not making any stuff. The merchandise trade deficit is skyrocketing. We’re printing all this money and the Federal Reserve gives it out to Americans who aren’t productive, many of them who don’t even have jobs, but many Americans who do have jobs are in the service sector, so they’re not producing anything that they can trade, but they’re still using that money to buy the stuff other people that are living in actual viable economies, stronger economies that are saving and producing, and we’re buying all of that stuff with all the money that we’re printing. Meanwhile, we’re deluding ourselves into thinking that what we have here is a genuine economy. What we actually have is a genuine bubble.”
The problem with bubbles is they always pop.
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Xi Alerts Military “Be Prepared To Respond” In Current “Unstable & Uncertain” Situation
“We are facing mounting tasks in national defense… and we must comprehensively improve military training and preparedness …”
During the major annual legislative session in Beijing on Tuesday President Xi Jinping addressed top leaders of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), telling the military it must be “prepared to respond” in increasingly difficult and complex security challenges facing the nation.
“The current security situation of our country is largely unstable and uncertain,” Xi said in the address which comes two days after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gave his own fiery warning to the same assembly saying the US is “crossing lines” and “playing with fire” on Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan.
President Xi continued: “The entire military must coordinate the relationship between capacity building and combat readiness, be prepared to respond to a variety of complex and difficult situations at any time, resolutely safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, and provide strong support for the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist state,” according to the South China Morning Post.
Xi, who also serves as head of the Central Military Commission further affirmed the need for “high-level strategic deterrence and a joint combat system” and rapid defense tech innovation
His words were in agreement with the assessment of Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe who on Saturday once again urged a boost in combat readiness across the armed forces, saying that national security had “entered a high-risk phase”.
“We are facing mounting tasks in national defense… and we must comprehensively improve military training and preparedness for battle so as to increase our strategic capabilities to prevail over our strong enemies,” the nation’s top general said.
A particular example that’s been front and center at the ongoing meetings are recent US and Western allied naval maneuvers in an near China-claimed waters. In the China FM’s comments, Wang pointed out, “The US and other Western countries frequently stir up troubles in the region, trying to drive a wedge using the South China Sea issue. They have only one purpose: to sabotage peace and disturb regional stability,” Wang said.
His remarks in particular emphasized a warlike tone of battling “hegemony, high-handedness and bullying” from the United Sates and its allies, and “outright interference in China’s domestic affairs” in places like Hong Kong and Taiwan.
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