Trump loyalists in Congress to challenge Electoral College results in Jan. 6 joint session (Update: Insurrectionists storm Congress)(And now what?) (2 Viewers)

[superchuck500]

I guess it's time to start a thread for this. We know that at least 140 members of Congress have pledged to join the objection. Under federal law, if at least one member of each house (HOR and Senate) objects, each house will adjourn the joint session for their own session (limited at two hours) to take up the objection. If both houses pass a resolution objecting to the EC result, further action can take place. If both houses do not (i.e. if one or neither passes a resolution), the objection is powerless and the college result is certified.

Clearly this is political theater as we know such a resolution will not pass the House, and there's good reason to think it wouldn't pass the Senate either (with or without the two senators from Georgia). The January 6 joint session is traditionally a ceremonial one. This one will not be.

Many traditional pillars of Republican support have condemned the plan as futile and damaging. Certainly the Trump loyalists don't care - and many are likely doing it for fundraising purposes or to carry weight with the fraction of their constituencies that think this is a good idea.

https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32717.pdf

 

[Optimus Prime]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorneys for President Donald Trump urged a federal judge on Friday to rule that Trump is entitled to presidential immunity from civil claims that he instigated a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta didn't rule from the bench after hearing arguments from Trump attorneys and lawyers for Democratic members of Congress who sued the Republican president and allies over the Jan. 6. 2021, attack.

Trump spoke to a crowd of his supporters at the “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House before the mob’s attack disrupted the joint session of Congress for certifying Democratic President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.

Trump's attorneys argue that his conduct leading up to Jan. 6 and on the day of the riot is protected by presidential immunity because he was acting in his official capacity.

“The entire point of immunity is to give the president clarity to speak in the moment as the commander-in-chief,” Trump attorney Joshua Halpern told the judge.

The lawmakers' lawyers argue Trump can't prove he was acting entirely in his official capacity rather than as an office-seeking private individual. And the U.S. Supreme Court has held that office-seeking conduct falls outside the scope of presidential immunity, they contend.

“President Trump has the burden of proof here,” said plaintiffs' attorney Joseph Sellers. “We submit that he hasn't come anywhere close to satisfying that burden.”

At the end of Friday's hearing, Mehta said the arguments gave him “a lot to think about” and he would rule “as soon as we can.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat who chaired the House Homeland Security Committee, sued Trump, his personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani and members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers extremist groups over the Jan. 6 riot. Other Democratic members of Congress later joined the litigation.

The civil claims survived Trump's sweeping act of clemency on the first day of his second term, when he pardoned, commuted prison sentences and ordered the dismissal of all 1,500-plus criminal cases stemming from the Capitol siege. Over 100 police officers were injured while defending the Capitol from rioters.

Halpern said immunity enables the president to act “boldly and fearlessly.”

“Immunity exists to protect the president's prerogatives,” he said...............

Federal judge weighs Trump's claim he is immune from civil litigation over Capitol attack

Attorneys for President Donald Trump have urged a federal judge to rule that Trump is entitled to presidential immunity from civil claims that he instigated a mob’s attack on the U.S.

apnews.com

 

[camdudetenger2018]

if the left wingers win the house and the senate at the 2026 mid terms imagine if they undos all of the j6 pardons that donnie j trump made and they sent them all back to mcu style supermaxs and stranger things style gulags

 

[zztop]

I'd bet orange diarrhea rolls out the red carpet for them and calls them heroes and patriots:

The former leader of the far-right group the Proud Boys and other defendants convicted for crimes connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol are set to return to Washington, D.C., for a march marking five years since the attack.

The event is billed as a memorial march honoring Ashli Babbitt and four others who died on or after Jan. 6

 

[faceman]

if the left wingers win the house and the senate at the 2026 mid terms imagine if they undos all of the j6 pardons that donnie j trump made and they sent them all back to mcu style supermaxs and stranger things style gulags

Pardons can't be overturned by a future President or a congress from the opposition party. Keep in mind a pardon
doesn't remove convictions. Those can be used against them if they are arrested for future crimes.

 

[MT15]

Reminder of the people who were all pardoned and what Trump did.

 

[zztop]

Officers who defended the Capitol on Jan. 6 say their struggles linger, 5 years after the riot

Five years after the Capitol riot, some of the police officers who fought off the rioters that day say they're still struggling with what happened.

apnews.com

Several officers who fought the rioters told The Associated Press that the hardest thing to deal with has been the effort by many to play down the violence, despite a massive trove of video and photographic evidence documenting the carnage.

Trump has called the rioters he pardoned, including those who were most violent toward the police, “patriots” and “hostages.” He called their convictions for harming the officers and breaking into the building “a grave national injustice.”

 

[Optimus Prime]

Five years ago tomorrow was the most shameful day in American history.

We must not allow Trump to persuade America that it did not happen or that he was innocent, or let him deflect the nation’s attention from the fifth anniversary of what occurred that day.

Less than three weeks ago, Jack Smith, the former special counsel to the Justice Department, appeared before the House Judiciary Committee and testified under oath:

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power.”

The sole reason Donald Trump is not now behind bars is that Smith dropped the case after Trump was elected to a second term, because the Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump v. United States — written by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by five other justices, three of whom were nominated by Trump — prevented the prosecution of a sitting president.

Let us ponder this for a moment.

Although the peaceful transfer of power lies at the heart of American democracy, Trump sought to overturn the result of the 2020 election. He is now president once again.…….

The most shameful day in American history

We will never forget, and we will not let the nation or the world forget.

robertreich.substack.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Approaching the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the official plaque honoring the police who defended democracy that day is nowhere to be found.

It's not on display at the Capitol, as is required by law. Its whereabouts aren't publicly known, though it's believed to be in storage.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has yet to formally unveil the plaque. And the Trump administration's Department of Justice is seeking to dismiss a police officers' lawsuit asking that it be displayed as intended. The Architect of the Capitol, which was responsible for obtaining and displaying the plaque, said in light of the federal litigation, it cannot comment.

Determined to preserve the nation's history, some 100 members of Congress, mostly Democrats, have taken it upon themselves to memorialize the moment. For months, they've mounted poster board-style replicas of the Jan. 6 plaque outside their office doors, resulting in a Capitol complex awash with makeshift remembrances.

"On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on Jan. 6, 2021," reads the faux bronze stand-in for the real thing. "Their heroism will never be forgotten."

In Washington, a capital city lined with monuments to the nation's history, the plaque was intended to become a simple but permanent marker, situated near the Capitol's west front, where some of the most violent fighting took place as rioters breached the building.

But in its absence, the missing plaque makes way for something else entirely — a culture of forgetting.

Visitors can pass through the Capitol without any formal reminder of what happened that day, when a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the building trying to overturn the Republican's 2020 reelection defeat to Democrat Joe Biden. With memory left unchecked, it allows new narratives to swirl and revised histories to take hold.

Five years ago, the jarring scene watched the world over was declared an "insurrection" by the then-GOP leader of the Senate, while the House GOP leader at the time called it his "saddest day" in Congress. But those condemnations have faded.

Trump calls it a "day of love." And Johnson, who was among those lawmakers challenging the 2020 election results, is now the House speaker.

"The question of January 6 remains – democracy was on the guillotine — how important is that event in the overall sweep of 21st century U.S. history," said Douglas Brinkley, a professor of history at Rice University and noted scholar.

"Will January 6 be seen as the seminal moment when democracy was in peril?" he asked. Or will it be remembered as "kind of a weird one-off?"

"There's not as much consensus on that as one would have thought on the fifth anniversary," he said.................

A Jan. 6 plaque was made to honor law enforcement at the Capitol. Its whereabouts are unknown

Some 100 members of Congress, mostly Democrats, have mounted poster board-style replicas of the Jan. 6 plaque outside their office doors.

www.pbs.org

 

[MT15]

That’s totally shameful. Just one more reason the GOP needs to be destroyed. They’ve lost their ability to govern, and are instead merely a vessel for pleasing Trump.

 

[camdudetenger2018]

WASHINGTON (AP) — Approaching the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the official plaque honoring the police who defended democracy that day is nowhere to be found.

It's not on display at the Capitol, as is required by law. Its whereabouts aren't publicly known, though it's believed to be in storage.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, has yet to formally unveil the plaque. And the Trump administration's Department of Justice is seeking to dismiss a police officers' lawsuit asking that it be displayed as intended. The Architect of the Capitol, which was responsible for obtaining and displaying the plaque, said in light of the federal litigation, it cannot comment.

Determined to preserve the nation's history, some 100 members of Congress, mostly Democrats, have taken it upon themselves to memorialize the moment. For months, they've mounted poster board-style replicas of the Jan. 6 plaque outside their office doors, resulting in a Capitol complex awash with makeshift remembrances.

"On behalf of a grateful Congress, this plaque honors the extraordinary individuals who bravely protected and defended this symbol of democracy on Jan. 6, 2021," reads the faux bronze stand-in for the real thing. "Their heroism will never be forgotten."

In Washington, a capital city lined with monuments to the nation's history, the plaque was intended to become a simple but permanent marker, situated near the Capitol's west front, where some of the most violent fighting took place as rioters breached the building.

But in its absence, the missing plaque makes way for something else entirely — a culture of forgetting.

Visitors can pass through the Capitol without any formal reminder of what happened that day, when a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the building trying to overturn the Republican's 2020 reelection defeat to Democrat Joe Biden. With memory left unchecked, it allows new narratives to swirl and revised histories to take hold.

Five years ago, the jarring scene watched the world over was declared an "insurrection" by the then-GOP leader of the Senate, while the House GOP leader at the time called it his "saddest day" in Congress. But those condemnations have faded.

Trump calls it a "day of love." And Johnson, who was among those lawmakers challenging the 2020 election results, is now the House speaker.

"The question of January 6 remains – democracy was on the guillotine — how important is that event in the overall sweep of 21st century U.S. history," said Douglas Brinkley, a professor of history at Rice University and noted scholar.

"Will January 6 be seen as the seminal moment when democracy was in peril?" he asked. Or will it be remembered as "kind of a weird one-off?"

"There's not as much consensus on that as one would have thought on the fifth anniversary," he said.................

A Jan. 6 plaque was made to honor law enforcement at the Capitol. Its whereabouts are unknown

Some 100 members of Congress, mostly Democrats, have mounted poster board-style replicas of the Jan. 6 plaque outside their office doors.

www.pbs.org

crazy how its been alrighty 5 years

 

[Optimus Prime]

Ask any history teacher in Michigan how their lessons could be better and they will tell you that they need to incorporate more current events into the curriculum, East Kentwood High School history teacher Matt Vreisman insists.

State standards require social studies teachers to cover pre-Columbian history to the present, and incorporating modern historical events — such as the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection — is a challenge, adds Whitehall High School history teacher Brian Milliron.

Though Tuesday is the five-year anniversary of the event, Vriesman, Milliron and other teachers found a way to weave the insurrection into their advanced placement history classes months ago when they taught about the American Revolution, the establishment of the Constitution and the contentious presidential election in 1800.

John Adams, the nation’s second president and a Federalist, was the incumbent candidate but lost to Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president and the Democratic-Republican Party candidate. It was the nation’s first exchange of presidential power between rival political parties, and it was peaceful, and that established a precedent for a peaceful change of power every election since.

It’s during that lesson that Vreisman and Milliron teach their students about the anomaly after the 2020 election, when then-incumbent Republican President Donald Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden and violence erupted at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, as members of Congress met to certify the election results.

Milliron asks junior and senior students in his class what they remember and then fills in the blanks about what they don’t know.

“By connecting the present day event that kids literally saw to the stuff in their curriculum it helps them understand why we have a peaceful transfer of power and the negative effects when we don’t,” said Milliron.

Vriesman, who was the 2023 National History Teacher of the Year, also asks his students what they know about Jan. 6, shows them a PBS documentary about the day, talks about democracies that have failed throughout history and asks them to write a reflection about why a peaceful transition is important to a democracy.

“Connecting historical content to current events gives students authentic practice evaluating evidence, recognizing different viewpoints, and disagreeing respectfully about the most relevant issues of today,” said Vriesman.

He regularly weaves in major events that occurred during his students’ lifetimes that connect to different parts of American history.

“Our goal as social studies is to create informed citizens who are ready to engage in matters of substance. And current events hook students so much more.”..............

Michigan teachers weaving lessons on Jan. 6 uprising into history classes - Bridge Michigan

Some history teachers are using the contentious 1800 election and subsequent peaceful transition of power between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as a segue to the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol.

bridgemi.com

 

[camdudetenger2018]

Ask any history teacher in Michigan how their lessons could be better and they will tell you that they need to incorporate more current events into the curriculum, East Kentwood High School history teacher Matt Vreisman insists.

State standards require social studies teachers to cover pre-Columbian history to the present, and incorporating modern historical events — such as the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection — is a challenge, adds Whitehall High School history teacher Brian Milliron.

Though Tuesday is the five-year anniversary of the event, Vriesman, Milliron and other teachers found a way to weave the insurrection into their advanced placement history classes months ago when they taught about the American Revolution, the establishment of the Constitution and the contentious presidential election in 1800.

John Adams, the nation’s second president and a Federalist, was the incumbent candidate but lost to Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president and the Democratic-Republican Party candidate. It was the nation’s first exchange of presidential power between rival political parties, and it was peaceful, and that established a precedent for a peaceful change of power every election since.

It’s during that lesson that Vreisman and Milliron teach their students about the anomaly after the 2020 election, when then-incumbent Republican President Donald Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden and violence erupted at the U.S. Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, as members of Congress met to certify the election results.

Milliron asks junior and senior students in his class what they remember and then fills in the blanks about what they don’t know.

“By connecting the present day event that kids literally saw to the stuff in their curriculum it helps them understand why we have a peaceful transfer of power and the negative effects when we don’t,” said Milliron.

Vriesman, who was the 2023 National History Teacher of the Year, also asks his students what they know about Jan. 6, shows them a PBS documentary about the day, talks about democracies that have failed throughout history and asks them to write a reflection about why a peaceful transition is important to a democracy.

“Connecting historical content to current events gives students authentic practice evaluating evidence, recognizing different viewpoints, and disagreeing respectfully about the most relevant issues of today,” said Vriesman.

He regularly weaves in major events that occurred during his students’ lifetimes that connect to different parts of American history.

“Our goal as social studies is to create informed citizens who are ready to engage in matters of substance. And current events hook students so much more.”..............

Michigan teachers weaving lessons on Jan. 6 uprising into history classes - Bridge Michigan

Some history teachers are using the contentious 1800 election and subsequent peaceful transition of power between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson as a segue to the Jan. 6 riot at the US Capitol.

bridgemi.com

i wonder which verisons the teachers are teaching the students

 

[LA 2 L.A.]

That’s totally shameful. Just one more reason the GOP needs to be destroyed. They’ve lost their ability to govern, and are instead merely a vessel for pleasing Trump.

I could make a joke about a certain type of adult toys, but I promise not to compare the Republican party to adult toys that are vessels for pleasing men.

 

[Optimus Prime]

The only thing more shameful than Jan 6th is that we re-elected the forking guy behind it

 

[Optimus Prime]

Nathan Tate had told almost no one about that day five years ago. He worried people might not believe him. Or they’d think he sounded weak. Or Tate would laugh, because that’s what he does when he’s nervous, even though nothing about Jan. 6 was funny to him.

Looking out at his classroom of 23 middle-schoolers — kids shifting in their seats and doodling in their workbooks — he wasn’t sure what they already knew. They were third-graders in 2021. This lesson could be the first time they heard about it from someone they trusted.

“Let’s talk,” the social studies teacher said.

In the unraveling narrative of Jan. 6, 2021, so many people claim to know the truth: The rioters who say they were protesting a stolen election. Republican leaders who have recast members of the violent mob as patriots. The quarter of Americans who say it is “probably” or “definitely” true that the FBI instigated the attack. The president who called it a “day of love.”

Here in his classroom, nearly 250 years after the birth of American democracy, Tate wondered if he had the power to persuade a room of teenagers to reject all that.

He chose his words carefully. Since January 2021, more than 40 states had taken steps to restrict how teachers discuss certain subjects. Educators in Florida, Tennessee, Texas and elsewhere had been fired for talking about race and social movements. The Smithsonian had been ordered to scrub displays that could be construed as divisive, race-centered or “anti-American.” Harriet Tubman’s photo had disappeared from a government website.

History is scripted by those in power, Tate knew, and under the Trump administration, the story he’d lived as a D.C. police officer on Jan. 6 had been rewritten. He’d been hailed as a hero for protecting democracy, until the whole narrative turned inside out. Who were the good guys anymore? And who got to decide?

Boston Tea Party and the Capitol riot, he explained, happened when citizens believed their government no longer represented them.

“There’s a powerful connection between the two moments in American history,” said Tate, 36, “one that helped create democracy.”

“We know democracy is what?” Tate asked. “Who has the power?”

The students called out: “The people.”

Tate’s job was to teach these young people how the U.S. government was designed to work. The class had already covered the origins of the American Revolution. Still to come were the separation of powers, the right to vote and the peaceful transition of power.

Jan. 6 wasn’t technically in the curriculum. But it had been a violent attempt to overturn an election — the worst assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812. Four people died during the attack, and one officer suffered two strokes and died a day after he confronted rioters. Four policemen later died by suicide.

As Tate prepared the PowerPoint on the Boston Tea Party and the use of violence in protests, he thought: How could he ignore an urgent lesson he was primed to teach? One where he was also a primary source?

Tate held the clicker in his hand and pressed play, showing the students footage from a documentary about the insurrection. On the screen were officers in ballistic helmets equipped with face shields and batons, pushing back the rioters. At 19 minutes and 45 seconds, he paused.

The students, often chatty and easily distracted, sat stone silent.

“Right there,” Tate said, zooming in on the middle of the frame, on his own face................

He was attacked on Jan. 6. Can he make sense of it for the kids he teaches?​

https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2026/01/06/capitol-jan6-riot-attack-teacher/

 

[MT15]

Never forget what they did and who promoted it.

 

[Optimus Prime]

 

[Optimus Prime]