Donald Trump’s speech wrapped up after about 22 minutes, marking a rather short speech for the usually loquacious president.
Trump spent much of the speech boasting about his immigration policies and mentioning specific areas where he performed well in the presidential election, which he lost to Joe Biden.
The president briefly addressed the violence at the Capitol at the beginning of his speech, but he sounded rather passionless as he criticized the mob that stormed the Capitol and called for “peace” and “calm” in the country.
Speaking in Texas, Donald Trump briefly addressed the violent riot at the Capitol last week, which he incited by encouraging his supporters to march to the building as lawmakers certified Joe Biden’s victory.
The president lamented that “a mob stormed the Capitol and trashed the halls of government,” expressing respect for “America’s history and traditions”.
“It’s time for peace and for calm,” Trump said. “Respect for law enforcement is the foundation of the MAGA agenda.”
It’s worth noting that two Capitol Police officers have died since the pro-Trump riot at the Capitol.
Donald Trump is now speaking in Alamo, Texas, praising himself for his work on the border wall.
At the beginning of his remarks, the president briefly addressed the violent riot at the Capitol and calls for him to be removed from office.
“Free speech is under assault like never before,” the president said days after being suspended from Twitter. “The 25th amendment is of zero risk to me but will come back to haunt Joe Biden and the Biden administration.”
Trump then appeared to issue a threat to his opponents, saying, “As the expression goes, be careful what you wish for.”
The joint chiefs of staff is preparing a statement to service members reminding them of their duty to support the constitution and reject extremism,according to CNN.
Just in: Joint Chiefs of Staff preparing rare message to entire force of reassurance: reminding them the job is to support & defend Constitution and reject extremism. Its a significant step. JCS have sought to stay out of politics. Statement due to gravity of events.
The statement, which comes in response to the violent riot at the Capitol, is significant given that the joint chiefs usually try to stay out of politics.
The events of the past week have apparently made it clear that such a statement is necessary.
Former Michigan governor to be charged for Flint water scandal - report
Rick Snyder, the former governor of Michigan, and other senior officials are reportedly expected to be charged in connection to the Flint water scandal.
Former Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, his health director and other ex-officials have been told they’re being charged after a new investigation of the Flint water scandal, which devastated the majority Black city with lead-contaminated water and was blamed for a deadly outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease in 2014-15, The Associated Press has learned.
Two people with knowledge of the planned prosecution told the AP on Tuesday that the attorney general’s office has informed defense lawyers about indictments in Flint and told them to expect initial court appearances soon. They spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
Extremists move to secret online channels to plan for January 20 in Washington, DC, the day that Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th US president.
Members of the National Guard patrol outside the US Capitol today. Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Right-wing extremists are using channels on the encrypted communication app Telegram to call for violence against government officials on inauguration day next week.
Some are sharing knowledge of how to make, conceal and use homemade guns and bombs, NBC News is reporting.
The messages are being posted in Telegram chatrooms where white supremacist content has been freely shared for months, but chatter on these channels has increased, NBC adds, since extremists have been forced off other platforms in the wake of the January 6 siege of the US Capitol by a violent, pro-Trump mob.
Telegram is a Dubai-based messaging service that does little moderation of its content and has a sizable international user base, particularly in eastern Europe and the Middle East.
In the days since the Capitol attack for example, a US Army field manual and exhortations to ‘shoot politicians’ and ‘encourage armed struggle’ have been posted in a Telegram channel that uses ‘fascist’ in its name.
Chris Sampson, chief of research at the defense research institute Terror Asymmetrics Project on Strategy, Tactics and Radical Ideologies, said his group is focused on and concerned about users of the channel and has alerted the FBI about it. (TAPSTRI is run by Malcolm Nance, an NBC News terrorism analyst.)
‘When they start calling for assassinations, when they start calling for action versus sharing information, we flag them a little higher,’ said Sampson. ‘Some channels merely swap information, but then they accelerated into conversations of where to be.’......
....yesterday the FBI sent a memo to law enforcement agencies warning about possible armed protests at all 50 state Capitols starting January 16.
Read the full report here and here’s a recap of the Guardian’s news lead from last night:
Two House Democrats have introduced legislation that would impose $1,000 fines on members who don’t wear masks on Capitol grounds.
Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan and congressman Anthony Brown of Maryland argued the measure was necessary after three colleagues tested positive for coronavirus in the days after the Capitol riot.
As the riot unfolded, members were forced to shelter in place together, and several Republican lawmakers refused to wear masks during the lockdown.
Members refusing to mask and distance in the Capitol put other Members, aides, support staff and their families at risk
There must be consequences for selfish actions that endanger the lives of others. If Members jeopardize the safety of others they should face fines https://t.co/mKSC2Y5sqk
“It is not brave to refuse to wear a mask, it is selfish, stupid, and shameful behavior that puts lives at risk,” Dingell said in a statement. “We’re done playing games. Either have some common sense and wear a damn mask or pay a fine. It’s not that complicated.”
“Members refusing to mask and distance in the Capitol put other Members, aides, support staff and their families at risk,” Brown added. “There must be consequences for selfish and reckless actions that endanger the lives of others.”
Brad Schneider, a Democratic congressman of Illinois, specifically called out Republicans who refused to wear masks as he announced his coronavirus diagnosis earlier today.
“Several Republican lawmakers in the room adamantly refused to wear a mask, as demonstrated in video from Punchbowl News, even when politely asked by their colleagues,” Schneider said.
“Today, I am now in strict isolation, worried that I have risked my wife’s health and angry at the selfishness and arrogance of the anti-maskers who put their own contempt and disregard for decency ahead of the health and safety of their colleagues and our staff.”
Secretary of state Mike Pompeo cancelled his Europe trip at the last minute today after Luxembourg’s foreign minister and top European Union officials declined to meet him, European diplomats and other people familiar with the matter said.
US secretary of state Mike Pompeo cancels last trip. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPA
The extraordinary snub to Washington came days after the violent and murderous rioting at the US Capitol by thousands of supporters of outgoing Donald Trump, who were egged on by the president beforehand and has since been accused by House Democrats with inciting an insurrection, amid a second impeachment.
Pompeo, a close ally of Trump, had sought to meet Jean Asselborn in Luxembourg, a small but wealthy NATO ally, before meeting EU leaders and the bloc’s top diplomat in Brussels, three people close to the planning told Reuters, the news agency writes.
Pompeo had originally planned to go to Luxembourg, but that leg of the trip was scrapped, one diplomatic source said, after officials there showed reluctance to grant him appointments. The Brussels leg was still on until the last minute.
But Pompeo’s visit schedule of his final trip in the Trump administration, in Brussels, was not going to involve any meetings with the EU or any public events at NATO.
A third diplomatic source said allies were “embarrassed” by Pompeo after the violence in Washington last week.
Luxembourg’s foreign ministry confirmed the previously planned stop there was now cancelled, but declined to give further details. The EU declined to comment.
Appalled by the January 6 storming of the US Capitol by pro-Trump rioters seeking to overturn the results of the November 3 US election, Asselborn had called Trump a “criminal” and a “political pyromaniac” on RTL Radio the next day.
The US State Department, in a statement, attributed the cancellation to transition work before President-elect Joe Biden takes office on January 20, even if until recently Pompeo had been reluctant to unequivocally recognise Biden’s win.
In Brussels, Pompeo was due to have a private dinner with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg tomorrow evening.
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg with Trump and other leaders in December 2019. Photograph: Francisco Seco/AP
Senate minority leader: 'Trump should not hold office one day longer'
Joanna Walters
New York Democrat and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is giving a press conference on the street in New York right now and lambasting the Donald Trump for his comments this morning when the US president refused to take responsibility for fomenting the mob attack on the Capitol last week.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer at the Capitol last week. Photograph: Pat Benic/UPI/REX/Shutterstock
Schumer called for those who took part in the riotous and lethal invasion of the Capitol last Wednesday, in an attempt to overturn the presidential election result, at Trump’s exhortation, should be put on the federal no-fly list to stop them getting on planes to go to create more havoc.
He then turned his attention to Trump’s comments this morning as the president left for a trip to the US-Mexico border, in Texas.
“He blamed the violence that he helped cause on others … he blamed so much on others,” Schumer said.
“What Trump did is a pathological technique used by the worst of dictators,” he added.
This morning, Trump said that his remarks to supporters at a rally near the White House, before the attack on the Capitol, at which he urged them to walk to the Capitol and “fight” to overturn his loss to Joe Biden were “totally appropriate.”
Q: "What is your role in what happened at the Capitol? What is your personal responsibility?"
President Trump: "If you read my speech...people thought that what I said was totally appropriate." pic.twitter.com/90Pdt8xFSz
Schumer said of Trump: “He causes this anger, he causes this divisiveness … it’s despicable. Donald Trump should not hold office one day longer.”
The House will debate and is expected to vote tomorrow on the article of impeachment Democrats there have introduced against Trump, and Schumer said he has asked Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to call the Senate (which is out of session until January 19) back into session earlier to put Trump on trial on the charge set to be brought against him by the House, and remove the president from office.
Donald Trump rejected responsibility for the violent riot at the Capitol that he incited. Speaking to reporters before leaving for Texas today, Trump said of his speech to supporters shortly before the riot, “People thought that what I said was totally appropriate.” In reality, members of both parties have criticized Trump for explicitly telling his supporters to march to the Capitol as lawmakers certified Joe Biden’s victory.
The House rules committee is debating a resolution calling on Mike Pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment and remove Trump from office. The full House is expected to vote on the resolution this evening, before debating the article of impeachment against Trump tomorrow morning.
Sheldon Adelson, the prominent Republican donor and Trump backer, has died. Adelson, a casino magnate and an early supporter of the president, was 87.
