Monthly Archives: February 2021

Impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump on February 9, 2021.

WASHINGTON (AP) Prosecutors in Donald Trumps impeachment trial said Wednesday they would prove that Trump was no innocent bystander but the inciter in chief of the deadly attack at the Capitol aimed at overturning his election loss to Joe Biden.

Opening the first full day of arguments, the lead House prosecutor said promised to lay out evidence that shows the president encouraged a rally crowd to head to the Capitol, then did nothing to stem the violence and watched with glee as a mob stormed the iconic building. Five people died.

To us it may have felt like chaos and madness, but there was method to the madness that day, said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

The trial can be viewed live in the C-SPAN/YouTube video player below.

The days proceedings were unfolding after an emotional start to the trial that left the former president fuming Tuesday when his attorneys delivered a meandering defense and failed to halt the trial on constitutional grounds. Some allies called for yet another shakeup to his legal team.

Trump is the first president to face an impeachment trial after leaving office and the first to be twice impeached. The Jan. 6 Capitol riot followed a rally during which Trump urged his supporters to fight like hell, words his lawyers say were simply a figure of speech. He is charged with incitement of insurrection.

Senators, many of whom fled for safety the day of the attack, watched Tuesdays graphic videos of the Trump supporters who battled past police to storm the halls, Trump flags waving. More video is expected Wednesday, including some that hasnt been seen before.

The prosecutors are arguing that Trumps words werent just free speech but part of the big lie his relentless efforts to sow doubts about the election results. Those began long before the votes were tabulated, revving up his followers to stop the steal though there was no evidence of substantial fraud.

Trump knew very well what would happen when he took to the microphone at the outdoor White House rally that day, almost to the hour that Congress gaveled in to certify Bidens win, said Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo.

This was not just a speech, he said.

Trumps supporters were prepped and armed, ready to descend on the Capitol, Neguse said. When they heard his speech, they understood his words.

Security remained extremely tight Wednesday at the Capitol, fenced off with razor wire and patrolled by National Guard troops.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would not be watching the trial.

Joe Biden is the president, hes not a pundit, hes not going to opine on back and forth arguments, she said.

The difficulty facing Trumps defense team became apparent at the start as they leaned on the process of the trial, unlike any other, rather than the substance of the case against the former president.

As the House impeachment managers described police officers maimed in the chaos and rioters parading in the very chamber where the trial was being held, Trumps team countered that the Constitution doesnt allow impeachment at this late date.

Even though the Senate rejected that argument in Tuesdays vote to proceed to the trial, the legal issue could resonate with Senate Republicans eager to acquit Trump without being seen as condoning his behavior.

Defense lawyer Bruce Castor said Tuesday he shifted his planned approach after hearing the prosecutors emotional opening and instead spoke conversationally to the senators, saying Trumps team would denounce the repugnant attack and in the strongest possible way denounce the rioters. He encouraged the senators to be cool headed as they assessed the arguments.

Trump attorney Schoen turned the trial toward starkly partisan tones, arguing the Democrats were fueled by a base hatred of the former president.

Full Coverage: Trump impeachment trialA frustrated Trump on Tuesday revived his demands to focus on his unsupported claims of voter fraud, repeatedly telephoning former White House aide Peter Navarro, who told The Associated Press in an interview he agrees. He is calling on Trump to fire his legal team.

If he doesnt make a mid-course correction here, hes going to lose this Super Bowl, Navarro said, a reference to public opinion, not the unlikely possibility of conviction.

Republicans made it clear that they were unhappy with Trumps defense, many of them saying they didnt understand where it was going particularly Castors opening.

While six Republicans joined with Democrats to vote to proceed with the trial, the 56-44 vote was far from the two-thirds threshold of 67 votes that would be needed for conviction.

As the country numbs to the Trump eras shattering of civic norms, the prosecutors sought to remind senators and the nation how extraordinary it was to have a sitting U.S. president working to discredit the election.

In hundreds of tweets, remarks and interviews as far back as spring and summer, Trump was spreading false claims about the election and refusing to commit to the peaceful transfer of power once it was over, they said.

As violence mounted in the states in the weeks and months before Trump supporters marched to the Capitol, he could have told loyalists to stand down. But he didnt.

The mob didnt come out of thin air, said Rep . Joaquin Castro, D-Texas.

The public scenes of attack were distilled in highly personal terms, first when Raskin broke down in tears Tuesday describing his family hiding in the Capitol that day. On Wednesday, Neguse, the son of immigrants, recalled telling his father how proud he was to return to Congress that night to finish the work of certifying the election. Castro said as a Democrat from Texas, he knew how hard it is to lose elections.

They also shared comments of the Capitol Police, including a Black officer who described racial epithets being hurled at him by the rioters.

Thats the question before all of you in this trial, is this America? Raskin told the senators.

It appears unlikely that the House prosecutors will call witnesses, and Trump has declined a request to testify. The trial is expected to continue into the weekend.

Trumps second impeachment trial is expected to diverge from the lengthy, complicated affair of a year ago. In that case, Trump was charged with having privately pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, then a Democratic rival for the presidency. It could be over in half the time.

The Democratic-led House impeached the president swiftly, one week after the attack. A Capitol police officer was among those who died.

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WATCH: Senators hear opening arguments on day two of impeachment trial - WBRZ

Impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump on February 9, 2021.

WASHINGTON (AP) Prosecutors in Donald Trumps impeachment trial said Wednesday they would prove that Trump was no innocent bystander but the inciter in chief of the deadly attack at the Capitol aimed at overturning his election loss to Joe Biden.

Opening the first full day of arguments, the lead House prosecutor said promised to lay out evidence that shows the president encouraged a rally crowd to head to the Capitol, then did nothing to stem the violence and watched with glee as a mob stormed the iconic building. Five people died.

To us it may have felt like chaos and madness, but there was method to the madness that day, said Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md.

The trial can be viewed live in the C-SPAN/YouTube video player below.

The days proceedings were unfolding after an emotional start to the trial that left the former president fuming Tuesday when his attorneys delivered a meandering defense and failed to halt the trial on constitutional grounds. Some allies called for yet another shakeup to his legal team.

Trump is the first president to face an impeachment trial after leaving office and the first to be twice impeached. The Jan. 6 Capitol riot followed a rally during which Trump urged his supporters to fight like hell, words his lawyers say were simply a figure of speech. He is charged with incitement of insurrection.

Senators, many of whom fled for safety the day of the attack, watched Tuesdays graphic videos of the Trump supporters who battled past police to storm the halls, Trump flags waving. More video is expected Wednesday, including some that hasnt been seen before.

The prosecutors are arguing that Trumps words werent just free speech but part of the big lie his relentless efforts to sow doubts about the election results. Those began long before the votes were tabulated, revving up his followers to stop the steal though there was no evidence of substantial fraud.

Trump knew very well what would happen when he took to the microphone at the outdoor White House rally that day, almost to the hour that Congress gaveled in to certify Bidens win, said Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo.

This was not just a speech, he said.

Trumps supporters were prepped and armed, ready to descend on the Capitol, Neguse said. When they heard his speech, they understood his words.

Security remained extremely tight Wednesday at the Capitol, fenced off with razor wire and patrolled by National Guard troops.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would not be watching the trial.

Joe Biden is the president, hes not a pundit, hes not going to opine on back and forth arguments, she said.

The difficulty facing Trumps defense team became apparent at the start as they leaned on the process of the trial, unlike any other, rather than the substance of the case against the former president.

As the House impeachment managers described police officers maimed in the chaos and rioters parading in the very chamber where the trial was being held, Trumps team countered that the Constitution doesnt allow impeachment at this late date.

Even though the Senate rejected that argument in Tuesdays vote to proceed to the trial, the legal issue could resonate with Senate Republicans eager to acquit Trump without being seen as condoning his behavior.

Defense lawyer Bruce Castor said Tuesday he shifted his planned approach after hearing the prosecutors emotional opening and instead spoke conversationally to the senators, saying Trumps team would denounce the repugnant attack and in the strongest possible way denounce the rioters. He encouraged the senators to be cool headed as they assessed the arguments.

Trump attorney Schoen turned the trial toward starkly partisan tones, arguing the Democrats were fueled by a base hatred of the former president.

Full Coverage: Trump impeachment trialA frustrated Trump on Tuesday revived his demands to focus on his unsupported claims of voter fraud, repeatedly telephoning former White House aide Peter Navarro, who told The Associated Press in an interview he agrees. He is calling on Trump to fire his legal team.

If he doesnt make a mid-course correction here, hes going to lose this Super Bowl, Navarro said, a reference to public opinion, not the unlikely possibility of conviction.

Republicans made it clear that they were unhappy with Trumps defense, many of them saying they didnt understand where it was going particularly Castors opening.

While six Republicans joined with Democrats to vote to proceed with the trial, the 56-44 vote was far from the two-thirds threshold of 67 votes that would be needed for conviction.

As the country numbs to the Trump eras shattering of civic norms, the prosecutors sought to remind senators and the nation how extraordinary it was to have a sitting U.S. president working to discredit the election.

In hundreds of tweets, remarks and interviews as far back as spring and summer, Trump was spreading false claims about the election and refusing to commit to the peaceful transfer of power once it was over, they said.

As violence mounted in the states in the weeks and months before Trump supporters marched to the Capitol, he could have told loyalists to stand down. But he didnt.

The mob didnt come out of thin air, said Rep . Joaquin Castro, D-Texas.

The public scenes of attack were distilled in highly personal terms, first when Raskin broke down in tears Tuesday describing his family hiding in the Capitol that day. On Wednesday, Neguse, the son of immigrants, recalled telling his father how proud he was to return to Congress that night to finish the work of certifying the election. Castro said as a Democrat from Texas, he knew how hard it is to lose elections.

They also shared comments of the Capitol Police, including a Black officer who described racial epithets being hurled at him by the rioters.

Thats the question before all of you in this trial, is this America? Raskin told the senators.

It appears unlikely that the House prosecutors will call witnesses, and Trump has declined a request to testify. The trial is expected to continue into the weekend.

Trumps second impeachment trial is expected to diverge from the lengthy, complicated affair of a year ago. In that case, Trump was charged with having privately pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Biden, then a Democratic rival for the presidency. It could be over in half the time.

The Democratic-led House impeached the president swiftly, one week after the attack. A Capitol police officer was among those who died.

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Senators hear opening arguments on day two of impeachment trial - WBRZ

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Republican Rep. Ron Wright of Texas, who had lung cancer and was hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19 last month, has died, his office said Monday. He was 67.

Wright died Sunday, spokesman Matt Langston said. He said he didnt know the cause of death, but the two-term congressman and his wife, Susan, had been admitted to a Dallas hospital in the previous two weeks after contracting COVID-19.

Wright announced shortly after being sworn in for a new term that he had tested positive for the coronavirus. He was also hospitalized last year over treatment for lung cancer complications.

Despite years of painful, sometimes debilitating treatment for cancer, Ron never lacked the desire to get up and go to work, to motivate those around him, or to offer fatherly advice, his office said in a statement.

Wright is the first sitting member of Congress to die after contracting COVID-19. In December, an incoming Republican member of the U.S. House, Luke Letlow of Louisiana, died of complications related to the virus only days before the 41-year-old would have been sworn into office.

Wright had said he tested positive for COVID-19 after coming into contact with an infected person, and he described his early symptoms as minor and said he would quarantine.

Langston said Wright never received a vaccination and was believed to have contracted the virus in Washington after he returned in early January for the swearing-in ceremony. Another Texas member of Congress, Republican U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, also announced that she had tested positive around that time.

Langston said Susan Wright was discharged from the hospital before her husbands death.

He emulated the very best of America, and we were fortunate to have had the opportunity to call him a colleague and a friend, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said.

President Joe Biden called Wright a fighter who battled bravely against both cancer and COVID-19, diseases that our nation will continue working tirelessly every day to defeat in the memory of all those we have lost. Similar tributes rolled in, including from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who mentioned the broader toll of the pandemic.

As we grieve Congressman Wrights passing, Members of Congress are united in sorrow and pray for the families and loved ones of the over 460,000 Americans who have been killed by the vicious coronavirus. Each death is a tragedy that breaks our hearts and demands strong, urgent action, Pelosi said in a statement.

Wright was among the 147 Republicans in Congress who voted to reject President Joe Bidens electoral victory. He was a longtime city councilman in Arlington, Texas, and won reelection to his House seat by 9 percentage points last year.

Wright had represented the 6th Congressional District in the Dallas-Fort Worth area since 2018. A special election will be called to fill his seat.

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Texas GOP Rep. Wright, who battled health issues, dies at 67 - The Associated Press

ENCINITAS Edgar Engert, known locally as Mr. Encinitas, passed away on Jan. 10 due to complications related to COVID-19. He was 84 years old.

The longtime philanthropist will be remembered for his many contributions to the city that aimed to bring everyone together.

Edgar was born on April 15, 1936, in Kreimbach, Germany. Following the difficult aftermath of WWII, his aunt invited him to move to America in 1958. Edgar and his wife Renate, who was pregnant with their first child at the time, jumped at the opportunity.

While leaving his family behind was difficult, Edgar knew that life in the United States would be his best chance at providing for them.

Edgar landed a job working for a flower grower in New York City, where he dedicated every penny earned towards bringing his family over from Germany.

In 1959, exactly one year after he had arrived in America, Edgar reunited with Renate, who arrived hand in hand with their daughter, Liane. His first son, Ron, was born one year later followed by the youngest, Jimmy, four years after that.

The family of five lived happily in New York for about a decade before ultimately packing their car and driving west to California in 1968, Liane explained. Two parents, three kids and a dog. Edgar had bought a three-bedroom home in Cardiff, just one mile from the beach.

At the time, Encinitas and Cardiff were tiny beach towns, a small strip of road lined with a handful of shops, but he knew this is where he wanted to settle down, Liane said.

When they moved to California, they knew they would never move back to Germany, she explained. They were so happy they moved here.

Edgar was a family man, always considering the needs of his wife and kids before his own. A close second to the family were his neighbors. He cared about how the people in the community were doing, and as the town grew, as it inevitably would, he tried to retain the hometown vibe, his son Ron told The Coast News.

He was proud of where he lived, he wanted to do better for the community, he said. Thats just how he was, Ron said.

Two of his biggest contributions to the city came in the form of festivities. Edgar brought Oktoberfest to Encinitas to share a portion of his German heritage and he started the citys Holiday Parade, which takes place every December, to bring the people together.

The joy that brought to the community brought him joy, Ron said. He loved bringing the community together.

Edgar was involved in a number of local organizations throughout the city, including the Encinitas Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club of Encinitas, Del Mar Fair Flower and Garden Show, San Diego Botanic Gardens, San Dieguito Heritage Museum and California State Florist Association.

After 40 years of dedicated service, Edgar became the longest-standing member on the board of the Magdalena Ecke Family YMCA. During his time as both YMCA staff and leadership, Edgar also served on committees for the Poinsettia Ball and Roof Raisers Golf Tournament. Edgar served in many capacities for the local organization, including florist, tour guide and volunteer docent at Ecke Ranch.

Paul Ecke III, who operated his familys 100-year-old poinsettia farming business for 20 years, said Edgar was a tireless worker.

Im very sad hes gone but Im also surprised because Edgar never seemed to stop, Ecke III told The Coast News. He never seemed to sleep, he was always working, spending time with his family and helping with charities. I guess Im still a bit in shock, I cant believe hes gone.

In 2006, Edgar received the YMCA of San Diego Countys Golden Triangle of Distinguished Service Award, honoring individuals each year for outstanding service.

According to Ecke III, Edgar was working as a grower in Long Island when he approached his father, Paul Ecke Jr., about working for the Ecke family business. There was no job available at the time but several months later, Edgar showed up on his fathers doorstep in Southern California with his family in the car and told him he was ready to work.

My dad had no choice but to hire him and he turned out to be a great employee, Ecke III said. Edgar never took no for an answer. He always made things happen. Edgar managed to get 26 hours in every day.

Through all of these endeavors, family and friends recall Edgar was always trying to give back to people in his community.

There wasnt anyone he ever met that wasnt a friend, Liane said.

Edgar often reflected upon his life. In his younger years, Edgar never thought he would be so fortunate to spend 63 years married to the love of his life, raising three children, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren along the way.

Edgar and Renate loved taking vacations and did their best to bring the whole family along.

I just want to make memories, Edgar told Liane. This is what lifes about making memories and being together.

Link:
Remembering the life of 'Mr. Encinitas' - Coast News