January 6 committee recommends criminal charges against Donald Trump

Published

2 years ago

December 19, 2022

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The committee investigating the January 6 storming of the US Capitol is recommending criminal charges against former President Donald Trump.

They include conspiracy to defraud the United States; obstructing an official proceeding (the certification of Joe Biden‘s election victory); conspiracy to make a false statement and inciting or assisting an insurrection.

The recommendation is mainly symbolic – with the US Justice Department responsible for deciding whether or not to prosecute Mr Trump.

But committee chair, Bernie Thompson, said: “We have every confidence that the work of this committee will help provide the road map to justice.”

A number of recommendations are made in the final report, which accuses Mr Trump of engaging in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the election.

Mr Thompson said “accountability” is the most important focus.

“We will also show that evidence we’ve gathered points to further action beyond the power of this committee or the congress to help ensure accountability in the law,” he said.

“Accountability that can only be found in the criminal justice system.”

Mr Thompson also criticised Mr Trump for “breaking” faith in the democratic system, telling the committee: “If we are to survive as a nation of laws and democracy, this can never happen again.”

Describing Mr Trump’s behaviour on the day of the riots, vice chair Liz Cheney said: “In addition to being unlawful… this was an utter moral failure and a clear dereliction of duty.

“Evidence of this can be seen in the testimony of President Trump’s own White House counsel and several other White House witnesses.

“No man who would behave that way, at that moment in time, can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again.

“He is unfit for any office.”

Ms Cheney said the committee’s work is only at the beginning, describing it as an “initial step” in addressing Mr Trump’s “efforts to remain in office illegally”.

Prosecutors are now considering the implications of the conduct described in the committee’s report, Ms Cheney added.

Trump’s daughter ‘not forthcoming’

Mr Trump’s daughter, Ivanka, a White House advisor during her father’s tenure, apparently knew more than she was prepared to divulge, the committee believes.

The executive summary of the report said Ms Trump was “not as forthcoming” as other aides, including then-White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, about the former President’s conduct.

The committee accused her of showing a “lack of full recollection of certain issues”.

Portions of former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s testimony “seemed evasive” and did not seem as forthright as other press office staff, the committee said.

Ex-Trump advisor, Hope Hicks, was also accused of not being forthcoming when grilled about whether she told the president he needed to encourage supporters to be peaceful.

‘A big scam’

Mr Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, claimed voting machines had flipped votes to President Biden.

However, the committee report alleges that Mr Giuliani admitted during his deposition: “I do not think the machines stole the election”.

Other Trump lawyers and supporters invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination when asked to show proof they found the election was stolen.

The committee panel said: “Not one of them provided evidence raising genuine questions about the election outcome.

“In short, it was a big scam”.

Trump ‘tried to contact witnesses’

The committee said it was aware of “multiple efforts” by Mr Trump to contact unnamed witnesses during the probe, with the Department of Justice made aware of at least one incident.

Some witnesses were also described as “unnecessarily combative” while testifying, with some failing to be credible when pleading ignorance of certain circumstances – in particular those whose jobs or income were linked to Trump-affiliated organisations.

Mr Trump has already launched a campaign to seek the Republican nomination for a second run in the White House in 2024.

Making an address from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, he said: “America’s comeback starts right now.”

He announced his leadership bid in November despite facing a number of investigations into the riot, which claimed the lives of five people including a police officer.

Mr Trump is said to have watched the violence unfolding on television in the White House dining room instead of intervening as supporters stormed Congress.

More than 140 police officers were injured during the disorder, which caused millions of dollars to the Capitol.

US

US election: The elderly couple whose marriage has been tested by Trump

Published

12 hours ago

November 1, 2024

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US election: The elderly couple whose marriage has been tested by Trump

When they made America truly great its backbone was forged in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The steel for 80% of Manhattan’s skyscrapers, many of the US Navy’s battleships, and even the entire San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge, all came from its blast furnaces in the hills north of Philadelphia.

Its mammoth steel plants stretched for almost five miles.

They lie empty and unused, now a huge open-air museum for guided tours led by former plant workers like Don Young.

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The 87-year-old has been married to Barbara for 20 years, but their marriage has been tested in recent months, as have many others in the most divisive presidential election in living memory.

Both Republicans, she is for Donald Trump, he is emphatically not.

Mr Trump, I pointed out, claimed he could make America great again. Did he believe him?

“No, I do not believe him. My wife does,” he said. “I’ve seen the rise of dictators in history.

“As much as I am a studier of the history of industry, I’m also a studier of the history of politics and world politics. And, you know, Mr Trump’s campaign literally, literally mirrors that of Adolf Hitler.”

His wife sees Mr Trump completely differently: “I absolutely do not agree with that. And I’m sorry to hear my husband say this. And I actually believe we have seen what President Trump can do and how our country was when he was in office.”

Trump ‘is the future for America’, Ms Young says

Their town has recovered from the collapse of Bethlehem Steel. But it’s the state of America that worries Ms Young now.

And it is Mr Trump who can save it, she said.

“He is the future for America,” she said. “I don’t want to see people coming over our border. We’ve had women murdered and raped by illegal immigrants. Who wants their children dead as a result of fentanyl, which comes over the border?”

Trump is ‘going to run America into the ground’

Her husband’s view is diametrically opposed.

“I think he’s going to run America into the ground because he does not observe any of the Democratic norms that his predecessors have,” he said.

“He didn’t observe them when he was in office. And so that’s just a window on what will happen in this coming term.”

Pennsylvania will likely determine presidential election result

Their marriage mirrors the state of play in the place they live in.

Pennsylvania is on a knife edge, say the polls, split right down the middle and the outcome here will likely determine the result on election day in this most important of swing states.

They can agree on one thing. They cannot wait for this election to be over.

Mr Young said their marriage can survive a Trump victory. Ms Young thinks so too.

The closest, nastiest, most divisive presidential election in living memory will be over soon. The bitterness and division that has plagued it less so in this deeply polarised country.

US

Looting and violence breaks out after Los Angeles Dodgers win baseball’s World Series

Published

1 day ago

October 31, 2024

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Looting and violence breaks out after Los Angeles Dodgers win baseball's World Series

The Los Angeles Dodgers have won baseball’s World Series for the second time in five years but the celebrations were marred by looting and violence.

The Dodgers took the title by beating the New York Yankees 4-1 in the best-of-seven final in New York on Wednesday night, US time.

But soon after the match ended and jubilant Dodgers fans spilled on to the streets to celebrate, there were reports of a bus being set on fire, shops being looted and fireworks thrown at police in scenes of “absolute chaos” in downtown LA.

At around 10.45pm, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said it received reports of “looting at several stores in the area of 8th and Broadway”.

Ordering people to “leave the area immediately” on X, the force reposted a video of looters raiding a Nike store where a door had been removed so thieves could get in.

Several dispersal orders were issued for different locations in the city, including in streets close to the Dodger Stadium in the Elysian Park area.

A bus was set on fire as part of the disorder.

Eyewitness and LA resident Taylor Rosa, 27, told Sky’s US partner network NBC News it was “absolute chaos”, as people “got out of control and started looting and jumping on top of a bus”.

Among the comments on Instagram were “damn embarrassment” and “they act like the Dodgers lost”.

Multiple arrests were made throughout the night in Echo Park and the downtown area, according to the Los Angeles Scanner account on X.

The LAPD later spoke of a “hostile crowd” and that “various projectiles”, including rocks and bottles, were being thrown at officers.

Meanwhile, two Yankees fans missed the end of the series after they were banned for interfering with play during the fourth match, the New York team’s only win.

They grappled with the Dodgers’s Mookie Betts as he tried to catch a shot by the fence at the Yankee Stadium on Tuesday night.

As Betts leapt at the wall and caught the ball, one fan grabbed his glove with both hands and wrenched the ball out, as another grabbed Betts’s other hand.

They were thrown out of the game and banned from the next one.

The last time the Dodgers won the title, in 2020, the season was shortened by the COVID pandemic, which prevented them from staging a victory parade.

This year’s parade is to take place on Friday.

US

US election: Elon Musk summoned to court over $1m giveaways to registered voters

Published

1 day ago

October 31, 2024

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Elon Musk has been summoned to an emergency court hearing on Thursday over the $1m prizes he has been awarding registered voters in swing states.

The Tesla and X chief executive has been ordered by a judge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to address a civil case by the city’s top prosecutor to stop Mr Musk and his political action committee, America PAC, from giving the cash away.

The suit accuses Mr Musk of operating an illegal lottery and trying to influence voters in next week’s presidential election between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Mr Musk and his PAC are backing Mr Trump, the Republican nominee.

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The controversial billionaire promised to give $1m (£772,000) each day to resgistered voters in swing states who have signed his online free speech and gun rights petition.

The first $1m was awarded to a man named John Dreher during a campaign event in Pennsylvania on 19 October.

Both Mr Trump and Ms Harris have made repeated visits to the state as they fight for its 19 electoral votes.

Mr Musk is the world’s richest person and is worth $274bn (£210bn), according to Forbes, so the approximate $17m (£13m) he’s vowed to give away is a tiny fraction of his wealth.

The 53-year-old had donated $75m (£58m) to American PAC in the period up to mid-October.

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Documents filed by Philadelphia’s district attorney Larry Krasner also revealed that the lawsuit against Mr Musk had “triggered an avalanche of [social media] posts from Musk’s followers,” many of whom “made antisemitic attacks on Krasner”.

The attorney asked for enhanced security for the hearing, which was originally scheduled for Friday, after users on X had published Mr Krasner’s home address.

America PAC is one of several major political action committees in the US.

Such groups can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money in support of political candidates, on the condition that they do not coordinate with their campaigns or give money to them.

Mr Trump has said he will give Mr Musk a government job if he becomes president again.