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Last week’s attack on the Capitol may have involved a disturbing number of white nationalists out for blood, off-duty cops and military members, and (allegedly) members of Congress, but if it’s any consolation, most Americans are of the firm opinion that it sucked.
- Federal prosecutors have concluded that the mob that stormed the Capitol chanting “hang Mike Pence” was not just there to take incriminating Instagram pics. In court documents filed in the case against “QAnon Shaman” Jake Angeli (real name Jacob Chansley), prosecutors wrote that “strong evidence, including Chansley’s own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture and assassinate elected officials in the United States Government.” If only several hundred people could have said so beforehand, repeatedly, on the internet. (Prosecutors later struck that line from the filing, after the head of the investigation cautioned that we don’t really know what the guys with guns and zip-ties were planning.)
- We now know that Pence escaped to safety just seconds before he would have been discovered by the mob, underscoring how close the situation came to a total catastrophe. Inspectors general from across the federal government have launched a coordinated investigation into, in watchdog terms, “what the everloving fuck happened here.” The investigation will look into the policies and protocols that were in place before the breach, whether law enforcement agencies ignored key warnings and why, and the Pentagon’s delay in deploying the National Guard.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has asked retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré to lead a review of security at the Capitol complex, and the Capitol Police has opened an investigation into whether any members of Congress led mob members on a pre-riot reconnaissance tour of the building last week. On Thursday, Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-QAnon) strenuously denied accusations that she was an insurrection tour guide, before any Democrats had actually accused her, like the guilty character in a community theater murder mystery. Could be a good place to start.
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While Congress sniffs out its extremist co-conspirators whose names may or may not rhyme with Blauren Gogurt, police departments across the country will need to reckon with the in-house radicalization they’ve long ignored.
- At least 28 off-duty law enforcement were in attendance at the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington, DC, and at least 19 agencies in 13 states have since opened investigations into whether their officers violated internal policies or criminal law. Many of those officers posted about their participation on social media. A number of Black officers told reporters that it’s just the latest sign of a radicalization process they’ve been watching unfold in their departments for years, as some of their white colleagues, emboldened by Trump and protected by their unions, became more open about expressing racist views and bought into right-wing conspiracy theories.
- Dark stuff! Here’s the heartening thing: Violent insurrection turns out to be wildly unpopular. A new Pew Research Center poll found that Trump’s approval has cratered to 29 percent, the lowest of his presidency, and that a majority of Americans do not think he should remain a major political figure. That makes it all the funnier that Trump plans to leave the White House on Wednesday morning with the grandiose flourishes of a military band, red carpet, and military honors. One last humiliation for the road.
The investigations into the attack are likely to yield troves of awful new details, a troubling majority of Republicans still believe that Trump won the election, and right-wing threats around the Inauguration have necessitated the creation of a literal Green Zone in the nation’s capital. But an important majority of Americans understands that denying a peaceful transfer of power crossed an untouchable line, and as the insurrectionists are held appropriately accountable, that number will grow.
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We won! Now what? Next Friday, Crooked Media’s Editor-in-Chief Brian Beutler launches the second season of his podcast Rubicon to walk you through exactly that. Join Brian as he chronicles the dawn of the Biden era and guides you through the most consequential developments of the administration’s first 100 days.
The trailer is out now, and new episodes will drop every Friday starting January 22nd. So subscribe to Rubicon today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or anywhere you listen to podcasts →
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The coronavirus vaccine reserve was already depleted when Health Secretary Alex Azar announced that the Trump administration would release all remaining doses. The administration had already started shipping all available doses at the end of December, but what better way to wrap up this presidential term than promising millions of additional doses that don’t exist? Health officials who expected their vaccine supply to potentially double next week are now realizing they won’t be able to expand eligibility, just as the CDC warned that the more contagious coronavirus variant will become the dominant strain in the U.S. by some time in March. It’s a fittingly messy end to Operation Warp Speed’s reign of chaos, after waiting more than two months to approve a vaccine distribution plan, and blocking Biden officials from attending meetings or accessing a key data system for weeks.
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- Joe Biden has tapped former FDA chief David Kessler to lead the vaccine effort, which will no longer be called Operation Warp Speed, in favor of something less cursed. The Biden team’s plan to speed up the rollout includes adding vaccination sites, encouraging states to ditch complicated tiers of eligibility, and ensuring that health departments are able to build up their vaccination workforce.
- Georgia prosecutors seem to be gearing up to investigate Trump over his attempts to overturn the state's election results. :)
- “Acting President” Mike Pence called Kamala Harris to congratulate her on winning the election, only two and a half months after the fact. Anyway, from all of us here at Crooked Media, happy Thanksgiving.
- No real coup attempt is complete until the MyPillow guy is in the White House rambling about martial law.
- Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, and Michael Flynn all helped promote the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally. It’s always nice when a little shared project like trying to overthrow the U.S. government can bring old colleagues back together.
- The White House liaison to the Justice Department tried to get officials to dig up dirt on E. Jean Carroll, in the great American tradition of smearing women who speak up about sexual assault.
- The NRA has filed for bankruptcy as part of a plan to leave New York and reincorporate in Texas, in a bid to escape New York Attorney General Letitia James’s lawsuit seeking to dissolve the organization. (That tactic’s not likely to succeed.)
- A French donor made large bitcoin payments to far-right organizations and personalities just a month before the attack on the Capitol, suggesting the insurrectionists may have had foreign support.
- A group of ex-staffers for former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) has launched JOSH PAC (“Just Oust Seditious Hacks”) to block Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) from winning any future election. A perfect acronym, a flawless cause, 10/10, no notes.
- Mexico will not charge former Defense Secretary Salvador Cienfuegos with drug trafficking, after former Attorney General Bill Barr abruptly turned him over to Mexico for prosecution.
- Australia will let Joe the pigeon live, after discovering that he was not in fact an American pigeon who flew over from Oregon, posing a biosecurity risk, but rather a local pigeon with a convincing American accent.
- Biden’s German shepherd Major, the first White House shelter dog, will be honored with an Indoguration ceremony on Sunday, where he will presumably take the oath of pawffice (please don't unsubscribe).
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The Trump administration is scheduled to carry out its final execution on Friday night, completing a cruel, senseless killing spree. Until July, there had been no federal executions for 17 years. After tonight, there will have been 13—more federal executions in the last six months of Trump’s term than in the previous 67 years combined. Dustin Higgs, facing execution tonight, and Corey Johnson, who was killed on Thursday night, had won temporary stays of execution because they were recovering from coronavirus, their infections a result of the Trump administration’s decision to rush along previous executions during the pandemic. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority overruled those decisions, and now Higgs will be killed five days before the inauguration of a president who intends to eliminate the death penalty, at the insistence of a president who’s been impeached twice.
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Take Action with the ACLU to Demand the End of the Federal Death Penalty
The Trump administration has carried out an unprecedented number of federal executions this year. In its rush to kill people during a pandemic, the government has sidestepped due process, public health recommendations, and legal precedent. But the death penalty is always cruel and inhumane — it’s time we end it once and for all.
Just like the death penalty in the states, the federal death penalty is racist, arbitrary, and error-prone in its application. The ACLU is demanding that the Biden-Harris administration honor its pledge to end the federal death penalty. Add your name to join us.
We’re demanding that the new administration commute all federal death sentences while it works to end the federal death penalty once and for all. If you agree, click here to add your name and make your voice heard with the ACLU.
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Early vaccine data from Israel suggested that coronavirus infection rates in recipients begins to decline two weeks after the first dose.
About 6000 Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama will begin voting next month on whether to form the company’s first union.
Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) and Sen.-designate Alex Padilla (D-CA) plan to introduce legislation to fast-track citizenship for undocumented essential workers.
Just an exciting little list of all the things Joe Biden can do with even the narrowest Senate majority.
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