Monthly Archives: January 2021

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asks a question at a Senate committee hearing in September. She is the first Republican senator to call on President Trump to step down. Alex Edelman/Pool/Getty Images hide caption

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, asks a question at a Senate committee hearing in September. She is the first Republican senator to call on President Trump to step down.

Updated at 7:05 p.m. ET

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska has become the first Republican senator to call on President Trump to resign in the wake of the deadly insurrection this week at the U.S. Capitol, according to two separate, blistering interviews with publications from her home state, the Anchorage Daily News and Alaska Public Media.

Murkowski joins a chorus of Democrats who have said Trump should step down, less than two weeks before President-elect Joe Biden's Jan. 20 inauguration.

"I allowed myself to refrain from speaking my truth," Murkowski told Alaska Public Media. "And I can't just be quiet right now."

Murkowski is one of a number of lawmakers who have found themselves at odds with Trump during his term in office, but her rebuke of his role in instigating a violent mob to overtake the Capitol is the strongest yet from a sitting Republican senator.

"People who were there to riot and who were encouraged that very morning by their president," she told the public media station. "Yes, I think he was responsible."

In an interview with the Anchorage Daily News, she was even more blunt.

"I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage," Murkowski told the newspaper.

"I think he should leave, " she continued. "He said he's not going to show up. He's not going to appear at the inauguration. He hasn't been focused on what is going on with COVID. He's either been golfing or he's been inside the Oval Office fuming and throwing every single person who has been loyal and faithful to him under the bus, starting with the vice president. He doesn't want to stay there. He only wants to stay there for the title. He only wants to stay there for his ego. He needs to get out. He needs to do the good thing, but I don't think he's capable of doing a good thing."

Murkowski's comments come just two days after violent, pro-Trump insurrectionists overtook the U.S. Capitol with the apparent goal of halting Congress' certification of Biden's White House victory.

Five people, including a Capitol police officer, died as a result of the ensuing bedlam.

Trump had earlier in the day addressed the mob from near the White House and encouraged them to walk to the Capitol during Congress' certification process.

"You'll never take back our country with weakness," he said to the crowd, many of whom carried Trump, Nazi and Confederate flags.

As rioters scaled the Capitol building, smashed windows and infiltrated congressional offices, forcing lawmakers to evacuate to safety, Trump issued a video message to his supporters asking for them to leave the building. In the video, posted to and eventually removed from Twitter, he called the rioters "very special people" and told them he loved them.

On Thursday evening, he condemned the violence but did not acknowledge his role in it.

"I will attribute it to the president, who said, even after his vice president told him that morning, 'I do not have the constitutional authority to do what you have asked me to do. I cannot do it. I have to protect and uphold the Constitution.' Even after the vice president told President Trump that, he still told his supporters to fight," Murkowski told the Anchorage Daily News.

"How are they supposed to take that? It's an order from the president. And so that's what they did. They came up and they fought and people were harmed, and injured and died," she said.

Murkowski said she has begun to question her place within the Republican Party, and her allegiance to it will depend on how the party is able to move forward after Trump leaves office.

"If the Republican Party has become nothing more than the party of Trump, I sincerely question whether this is the party for me."

As to why she did not think the president would be removed if he did not resign willingly, Murkowski told Alaska Public Media she did not think there was enough time to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows for the vice president to step in in the event that the president is deemed unfit for his duties, nor to carry through with impeachment proceedings.

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'He Has Caused Enough Damage': Republican Murkowski Says Trump Should Step Down : Insurrection At The Capitol: Live Updates - NPR

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Delaware Democrat, was shown approaching the group of colleagues and offering blue surgical masks. The video, shot from inside a safe room where the lawmakers gathered during the chaos, was published on Twitter by Punchbowl News.

Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Oklahoma Rep. Markwayne Mullin, Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry, Texas Rep. Michael Cloud and California Rep. Doug LaMalfa were captured unmasked and gathered closely together. They all refused the masks.

Mullin can be heard saying, "I'm not trying to get political here."

Rochester told CNN Friday she was "very concerned we were sitting in a super-spreader event but instead of sitting back and lamenting, I tried to go into action to try and persuade people to put them on."

"By the end of passing them out, I only had one left in my hand offering them to everyone," she said. "I was disappointed in those who didn't accept the masks but was encouraged by those who did. At least we were a little bit safer."

Greene's office responded in a statement to CNN, "Congresswoman Greene is a healthy adult who tested negative for COVID at the White House just this week. She does not believe healthy Americans should be forced to muzzle themselves with a mask. America needs to reopen and get back to normal."

The others did not respond to CNN's request for comment.

"I do think you have to anticipate that this is another surge event. You had largely unmasked individuals in a non-distanced fashion, who were all through the Capitol," Redfield told McClatchy.

CNN's Kristin Wilson contributed to this report.

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Republican members of Congress refuse to wear masks during Capitol insurrection - CNN

For a number of Republicans who have long been skeptical of Mr. Trump, the events of the last two months have been clarifying. From his initial refusal to concede defeat and his relentless attacks on Republican state officials, which undermined the partys hopes for winning the Georgia Senate seats, to savaging lawmakers and his own vice president just hours before the Capitol riot, Mr. Trump has proved himself a political arsonist.

Trump is a political David Koresh, said Billy Piper, a former chief of staff to the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, referring to the cult leader who died with his followers during an F.B.I. siege in Waco, Texas. He sees the end coming and wants to burn it all down and take as many with him as possible.

The violence in Washington appeared to embolden an array of Republican lawmakers, including some who took office only days ago, to condemn Mr. Trumps political recklessness and urge the party toward a different course. The partys humiliating double losses in Georgia, the day after Mr. Trump appeared at a rally there, also served to punctuate the growing peril for Republicans in the fastest-growing, more culturally diverse parts of the country, which are on track to amass more political power in the coming decade.

The party faces a threat to its financial base, too. Several of the most powerful business federations in Washington denounced the chaos this week in stinging language, including an extraordinary statement from the normally nonpolitical National Association of Manufacturers that suggested Mr. Pence invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office.

Representative Tom Reed of New York, who has emerged as a leader of more moderate Republicans in the House, said Thursday that the party needed to begin not worrying about base politics as much, and standing up to that base. He argued that Republicans should pursue compromise legislation with Mr. Biden on issues like climate change, and forecast that a sizable number of Republicans would take that path.

If that means standing up to the base in order to achieve something, theyll do it, Mr. Reed predicted.

Mr. Reed warned his party that the Democrats would depict the G.O.P. as a dangerous party in 2022 if they did not rebut that charge.

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Republicans Splinter Over Whether to Make a Full Break From Trump - The New York Times

More than a dozen Republican senators originally said they would object to at least one state's election results. After the violence that ensured Wednesday afternoon, that number was reduced by about half. Caroline Amenabar/NPR; Samuel Corum, Mandel Ngan, Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images hide caption

More than a dozen Republican senators originally said they would object to at least one state's election results. After the violence that ensured Wednesday afternoon, that number was reduced by about half.

Heading into Wednesday's joint session of Congress to tally the Electoral College vote results, lawmakers anticipated a long day peppered with objections hinged on baseless allegations of election fraud. More than a dozen Republican senators had said they would object to at least one state's election results.

They began with a debate over a challenge to Arizona's results. But after pro-Trump extremists brought violence and chaos to the Capitol, both chambers were forced into an emergency recess while the building was locked down.

When lawmakers reconvened hours later, a number of Senate Republicans abandoned their plan to cast objections.

Only six senators, all Republicans, sustained the Arizona objection.

Here's a look at those six senators who maintained their course.

Josh Hawley, Missouri

Hawley was the first senator to break ranks publicly last month and announce his plans to lodge objections during the joint session.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., had reportedly urged Republicans not to do so.

After thanking the U.S. Capitol Police for their efforts during the insurrection, Hawley defended his decision to object.

"What we are doing here tonight is actually very important because for those who have concerns about the integrity of our elections, those who have concerns about what happened in November, this is the appropriate means, this is the lawful place where those objections and concerns should be raised," he said.

The purpose of Congress convening is to formally tally the votes of the Electoral College, not litigate election matters. Concerns about state elections were already raised and rejected in courts.

Ted Cruz, Texas

Once a primary rival of Trump's, who even declined to endorse him at the 2016 Republican National Convention, Cruz has since become a staunch defender of Trump's presidency.

"I want to speak to the Republicans who are considering voting against these objections," Cruz said Wednesday afternoon during the debate over Arizona's Electoral College results.

"I urge you to pause and think, what does it say to the nearly half the country that believes this election was rigged if we vote not even to consider the claims of illegality and fraud in this election?"

Public opinion doesn't dictate who should win an election or if there should be additional investigations into fraud, an allegation that state election officials and Trump's own Justice Department have vehemently refuted.

Tommy Tuberville, Alabama

Tuberville fulfilled the pledge he made Tuesday to join Cruz in objecting to the results from Arizona. A retired football coach, Tuberville defeated Jeff Sessions, the former senator and attorney general, in the GOP primary and went on to win against Democratic incumbent Doug Jones in November.

Roger Marshall, Kansas

A former U.S. representative, Marshall defeated former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in the Republican Senate primary earlier this year and went on to win the Senate seat vacated by Pat Roberts. He secured endorsements from prominent Republicans, including McConnell.

John Kennedy, Louisiana

Elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016, Kennedy has been a frequent defender of Trump.

On Thursday, Kennedy condemned the rioters and reiterated that his plans to raise objections during the proceedings were on behalf of his constituents.

"I came to the Capitol yesterday to give them a voice," he said in a statement. "I joined several Senate colleagues in calling for a bipartisan commission to inspect election issues raised across the country. Our proposal was not successful, but our goal to ensure full confidence and transparency in our elections for all Americans is a noble one, and I'll keep pursuing it."

Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi

Hyde-Smith won her runoff election in 2018, becoming the first woman elected to the Senate from Mississippi. She was widely criticized for comments she made that surfaced during the campaign, including one in which she told a supporter, "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row." She has been an ardent supporter of Trump while in office.

The Senate rejected the Arizona challenge 93-6. The House rejected it 303-121.

Here are the 121 House members who supported the objection:

Here are the 121 representatives who sustained the objection to Arizona's Electoral College results. Caroline Amenabar/clerk.house.gov hide caption

House members also objected in the cases of Georgia, Michigan and Nevada, but no senator joined in the objection, thereby preventing debate.

The only other state disputed with support from both chambers was Pennsylvania; 138 House members, all Republicans, supported the objection, as did seven senators: Cruz, R-Texas; Hawley, R-Mo.; Hyde Smith, R-Miss.; Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.; Marshall, R-Kan.; Tuberville, R-Ala.; and Rick Scott, R-Fla.

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Here Are The Republicans Who Objected To The Electoral College Count - NPR

EAST LAMPETER TOWNSHIP, Pa (WHTM) Following the fall out from the storming of the Capitol, three supervisors from East Lampeter Township have announced theyre leaving the Republican party.

This means that Republicans no longer hold a majority on that board, which is one of the largest townships by population in Lancaster County.

In a joint statement from Corey Meyer, John Blowers, and Ethan Demme said events since November have been difficult for everyone.

The statement addressed to Kurt Radanovic, the county GOP chairman said the denial of of 2020 election results by local Republicans is outrageous and those actions fomented the seeds of sedition, resulting in the violence in Washington.

Demme, a former Republican Chairman in the county, said the Republican Party party is no longer the best way to promote conservatism, good government, and the rule of law.

The Republican Party is now the party of Trump and its going to stay that way for a while. Demme said. Any true reform will have to come from outside of the party.

My values didnt change, the way I am going to vote in township meetings isnt going to change, the things I am going to advocate arent going to change, Demme added. I am just going to be doing it from a different platform.

Demme and the other two supervisors says theyre not switching their party affiliation to Democrat, all three will be registered Independents.

In a statement Radanoic said its convenient those who are leaving the party are doing so in a year when they dont face voters, who in the recent election gave Trump a majority of the vote in East Lampeter Township.

We stand ready to ensure that republican majorities continue in East Lampeter Township the statement said.

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Republicans in East Lampeter Township switching parties following Capitol Hill chaos - ABC27

There have always been people like Donald Trump: self-centered, self-aggrandizing, believing that the rules apply only to the little people and that what happens to the little people doesnt matter.

The modern G.O.P., however, isnt like anything weve seen before, at least in American history. If theres anyone who wasnt already persuaded that one of our two major political parties has become an enemy, not just of democracy, but of truth, events since the election should have ended their doubts.

Its not just that a majority of House Republicans and many Republican senators are backing Trumps efforts to overturn his election loss, even though there is no evidence of fraud or widespread irregularities. Look at the way David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are campaigning in the Senate runoffs in Georgia.

They arent running on issues, or even on real aspects of their opponents personal history. Instead theyre claiming, with no basis in fact, that their opponents are Marxists or involved in child abuse. That is, the campaigns to retain Republican control of the Senate are based on lies.

On Sunday Mitt Romney excoriated Ted Cruz and other congressional Republicans attempts to undo the presidential election, asking, Has ambition so eclipsed principle? But what principle does Romney think the G.O.P. has stood for in recent years? Its hard to see anything underlying recent Republican behavior beyond the pursuit of power by any means available.

So how did we get here? What happened to the Republican Party?

It didnt start with Trump. On the contrary, the partys degradation has been obvious, for those willing to see it, for many years.

Way back in 2003 I wrote that Republicans had become a radical force hostile to America as it is, potentially aiming for a one-party state in which elections are only a formality. In 2012 Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein warned that the G.O.P. was unmoved by conventional understanding of facts and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition.

If youre surprised by the eagerness of many in the party to overturn an election based on specious claims of fraud, you werent paying attention.

But what is driving the Republican descent into darkness?

Is it a populist backlash against elites? Its true that theres resentment over a changing economy that has boosted highly educated metropolitan areas at the expense of rural and small-town America; Trump received 46 percent of the vote, but the counties he won represented only 29 percent of Americas economic output. Theres also a lot of white backlash over the nations growing racial diversity.

The past two months have, however, been an object lesson in the extent to which grass roots anger is actually being orchestrated from the top. If a large part of the Republican base believes, groundlessly, that the election was stolen, its because thats what leading figures in the party have been saying. Now politicians are citing widespread skepticism about the election results as a reason to reject the outcome but they themselves conjured that skepticism out of thin air.

And whats striking if you look into the background of the politicians stoking resentment against elites is how privileged many of them are. Josh Hawley, the first senator to declare that he would object to certification of the election results, rails against elites but is himself a graduate of Stanford and Yale Law School. Cruz, now leading the effort, has degrees from Princeton and Harvard.

The point isnt that theyre hypocrites; it is that these arent people who have been mistreated by the system. So why are they so eager to bring the system down?

I dont think its just cynical calculation, a matter of playing to the base. As I said, the base is in large part taking its cues from the party elite. And the craziness of that elite doesnt seem to be purely an act.

My best guess is that were looking at a party that has gone feral that has been cut off from the rest of society.

People have compared the modern G.O.P. to organized crime or a cult, but to me, Republicans look more like the lost boys in Lord of the Flies. They dont get news from the outside world, because they get their information from partisan sources that simply dont report inconvenient facts. They dont face adult supervision, because in a polarized political environment there are few competitive races.

So theyre increasingly inward-looking, engaged in ever more outlandish efforts to demonstrate their loyalty to the tribe. Their partisanship isnt about issues, although the party remains committed to cutting taxes on the rich and punishing the poor; its about asserting the dominance of the in-group and punishing outsiders.

The big question is how long America as we know it can survive in the face of this malevolent tribalism.

The current attempt to undo the presidential election wont succeed, but it has gone on far longer and attracted much more support than almost anyone predicted. And unless something happens to break the grip of anti-democratic, anti-truth forces on the G.O.P., one day they will succeed in killing the American experiment.

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com.

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Opinion | How the Republican Party Went Feral - The New York Times

Even after a mob of Trump supporters swarmed and entered the Capitol on Wednesday, a handful of Republican senators and more than 100 Republican representatives stood by their decisions to vote against certifying the results of the presidential election.

Congress certified the election of Joseph R. Biden Jr. early Thursday, ending attempts to overturn the results in two states. Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri, Ted Cruz of Texas, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Roger Marshall of Kansas and John Kennedy of Louisiana voted to overturn the results in Arizona, while 93 senators voted against. Mr. Hawley, Mr. Cruz, Mr. Tuberville, Ms. Hyde-Smith, Mr. Marshall and Senators Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Rick Scott of Florida voted to overturn the results in Pennsylvania, while 92 voted against it.

The House rejected the Arizona challenge by a vote of 303 to 121 and rejected the Pennsylvania challenge by a vote of 282 to 138.

At least four Republican senators who had pledged to back the effort to throw out the election results reversed course after Wednesdays siege at the Capitol, saying the lawlessness and chaos had caused them to changed their minds.

Those included Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, who, after losing a special election on Tuesday, announced her reversal on the Senate floor late Wednesday. The events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider, and I cannot now, in good conscience, object, she said.

Senator James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, changed his position late Wednesday, releasing a joint statement with Senator Steve Daines of Montana that called on the entire Congress to come together and vote to certify the election results.

Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington also condemned the actions of the mob of Trump loyalists and said she would no longer vote against the vote certifications.

Thugs assaulted Capitol Police officers, breached and defaced our Capitol building, put peoples lives in danger and disregarded the values we hold dear as Americans, Ms. McMorris Rodgers said in a statement, which she released a day after declaring she would object to the vote counts. To anyone involved, shame on you.

Congressmen including Representative Lance Gooden, Republican of Texas, said the violence did not change his mind.

While Im disgusted with what I saw today, mob riots dont suddenly make this election secure. YES, of course, Im still objecting, he said in a tweet.

Ms. Hyde-Smith of Mississippi said that she voted against the certification of the election because the people she represents do not believe the presidential election was constitutional. I cannot in good conscience support certification, she said in a statement on Wednesday.

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Here are the Republicans who objected to certifying the election results. - The New York Times

WASHINGTON More than a dozen Democrats representatives and at least one Republican representative are publicly calling on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, and remove President Donald Trump from office just weeks before his term ends. A second Republican representative has said he would not oppose it, if it was invoked.

Its with a heavy heart I am calling for the sake of our Democracy that the 25th Amendment be invoked, said Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger on Twitter. Its time to invoke the 25th Amendment and to end this nightmare.

Later Thursday, Republican Representative Steve Stivers said "if the cabinet decided to do that, I would not oppose it," referring to the 25th Amendment.

Kinzinger and Stivers' video statements come hours after a formal letter, signed by 17 Democratic Representatives on the House Judiciary Committee, was sent to Pence late Wednesday night.

"It is with great sadness that we write to you following the incidents that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol today. As you presided over the U.S. Senate, angry supporters of President Trump attempted an insurrection, illegally storming and breaching the U.S. Capitol building to stop the certification of President-elect Biden's victory," reads the statement.

The lawmakers statement says President Trump remained silent as the world watched aghast as insurrectionists, who had been egged on by the President, threatened the safety of elected officials and staff and destroyed public property as they stormed the U.S. Capitol Wednesday afternoon.

They point out that the president revealed he is not mentally sound and is still unable to process and accept the results of the 2020 election.

In order to invoke the 25th Amendment, a majority of the 15 Cabinet Secretaries and the Vice President would need to agree and send formal documents to Congress for consideration and approval.

The amendment reads, Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

A large number of Republicans would also have to agree in order to approve the request once it is sent to Congress. It is not clear if that is likely to happen.

For the sake of our democracy, we emphatically urge you to invoke the 25th Amendment and begin the process of removing President Trump from power. President Trump has shown time and again that he is unwilling to protect our Democracy and carry out the duties of the office, the lawmakers end their letter.

The formal letters and calls from lawmakers joins others who have expressed similar calls to invoke the 25th Amendment, and echo sentiments shared Thursday by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer.

The National Association of Manufacturers released a statement Wednesday afternoon calling on Pence and others to consider the 25th Amendment.

"The outgoing president incited violence in an attempt to retain power, and any elected leader defending him is violating their oath to the Constitution and rejecting democracy in favor of anarchy. Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit. Vice President Pence, who was evacuated from the Capitol, should seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy," their statement reads.

The statement is notable, as the National Association of Manufacturers recognized Ivanka Trump last year with an industry award.

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Democrat and Republican representatives call on Pence to invoke 25th Amendment - The Denver Channel

The Senate and the House of Representatives convened on Wednesday to perform what is traditionally seen as a purely ceremonial vote: to certify each states presidential election results.

At a rally before the vote, Donald Trump continued to baselessly insist that the election results which he lost to Democrat challenger Joe Biden were rigged and the US president helped instigate a mob to storm the US Capitol building and halt the process.

The attack shocked many Americans but even after the pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol, a handful of Republican senators and more than a hundred Republican representatives continued to back Trumps false claims and objected to certifying the results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.

The list of Republican lawmakers who objected to both results includes Texas senator Ted Cruz, who ran against Trump in 2016 presidential election only to have Trump suggest that Cruzs father was involved in president John F Kennedys assassination. It also include Missouri senator Josh Hawley who is seen as a potential 2024 presidential candidate. And it includes the majority of Republican House members.

Heres the full list.

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The long list of Republicans who voted to reject election results - The Guardian