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Donald Trump was at his Florida resort town on Saturday, beginning his life after the presidency as Joe Biden moved into the White House. But in Washington and beyond, the chaos of the 45th President’s last days in power continued to provoke nefarious aftershocks.
In another earth-shaking report, the New York Times said Trump conspired with a Justice Department official to fire the acting attorney general and then force Georgia Republicans to reverse his defeat in that state.
Former Acting US Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, meanwhile, made an extraordinary admission, telling Vanity Fair that when he took the job in November, he had three goals: “No shot. ‘Military state, no major war and no troops in the street.
The former special forces officer added: “The ‘no troops on the street’ thing changed drastically around 2:30 pm. [on 6 January]. So let’s go [the list]. “
It was the day a mob instigated by Trump made their way into the United States Capitol, in some cases allegedly looking for lawmakers to kidnap or kill. More than 100 arrests were made during the riot, which also saw Trump impeached a second time.
A deal between Democratic and Republican Senate leaders announced Friday night means Trump’s second trial will begin the week of February 8. If convicted, an unlikely prospect given his hold over his party but not impossible given statements by Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, Trump will most likely be barred from running again.
The president’s persistent and possibly illegal efforts to reverse his loss to Biden in Georgia have been widely reported. If he had succeeded, he would not have obtained enough electoral votes to reverse his general defeat.
The day Trump supporters broke into Capitol Hill killing five, 147 Republicans in the House and Senate filed objections to the constituency results. This attempt to overturn the elections also failed.
Law enforcement and the Pentagon’s response to the Capitol Riot have been called into question, regarding the ease with which security was breached and the time it took to bring the National Guard to the scene. A Capitol policeman died after facing rioters. Another gained national fame after driving attackers away from where lawmakers were hiding.
“We had meetings after meetings,” Miller told Vanity Fair. “We were watching him. And we’re just like, ‘Please God, please God.’ Then the bloody TV appears and everyone converges on my desk: [Joint Chiefs of Staff] President [Gen Mark Milley], Secretary of the Army [Ryan] McCarthy, the crew is just converging.
“We had already decided that we needed to activate the National Guard, and that’s where the fog and friction comes in.”
Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist installed as Miller’s chief of staff – and accused of obstructing Biden’s transition – said: “The mayor of DC finally said, ‘OK, I need more. ‘ Then the Capitol Police … a federal agency and the Secret Service made the request … and we did. And then we just went to work.
Miller called the accusations that the Pentagon was slow to respond “completely horseshit” and said, “I have to tell you, I can’t wait go out on the Hill and have these conversations with the senators and the representatives … I know when something doesn’t smell right, and I know when we cover our asses. Was there. I know for a fact that historians are going to look … at the actions we took that day and say, “These people played together.”
At the time of the inauguration, two weeks later, 25,000 guards were in the capital, an unprecedented demonstration that locked downtown Washington. The troops also protected state capitals from protests and pro-Trump plots that did not happen.
As the Capitol Riot failed to overturn the election, according to the Times, Trump’s alleged plot against Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen also failed.
The report details a “stunned silence” among DoJ leaders as they were briefed on steps Trump and “unassuming lawyer” Jeffrey Clark took to “cast doubt on election results and reinforce … legal battles and the pressure on Georgian politicians ”.
Rosen took over as Acting Attorney General following the resignation of William Barr, who was widely seen as a pal of Trump but crossed paths with the president saying there was no evidence of electoral fraud he alleged baseless, claims that were repeatedly dismissed out of court.
Georgia Republicans, including Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger – the recipient of a call of kindness and intimidation from Trump – have also refused to accede to the president’s demands.
According to the Times, DoJ leaders have decided that if Rosen is fired and replaced by Clark, they will quit en masse.
“For some,” the newspaper reports, “the plan evokes the so-called Saturday night massacre of the Nixon era, where Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy resigned rather than carry out the president’s order to fire. the special prosecutor responsible for the investigation. . “
Nixon resigned before he could be arraigned over the Watergate scandal. After the attack on Capitol Hill, Trump refused to resign. Vice President Mike Pence declined to invoke the 25th Amendment, which provides for the removal of a president deemed unfit for office.
Outside of office, Trump is vulnerable to federal and state investigations. A Washington Examiner reporter found him on Friday “at his usual table in the grill at Trump International Golf Club” in West Palm Beach.
“We’re going to do something, but not right away,” the president reportedly said, his first comment since leaving the White House, before an aide “stepped in and quickly, but politely, put an end to the interaction.” .
Ezra Cohen, another person appointed by Trump in the Pentagon, told Vanity Fair: “The president threw us under the bus. And when I say “we”, I am not talking only of us, the elected politicians or only of us, Republicans. He threw America under the bus. It has caused a lot of damage to the fabric of this country.
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