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Members of the commission investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, on Thursday asserted that President Donald Trump made no efforts to stop rioters even as Vice President Mike Pence attempted to order National Guard troops to quell the violence.

Not only did President Trump refuse to tell the mob to leave the Capitol, he placed no call to any element of the United States government to instruct that the Capitol be defended, said Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., during the panels wide-ranging Thursday night hearing on the event.

He did not call his secretary of defense on Jan. 6. He did not talk to his Attorney General. He did not talk to the Department of Homeland Security, Cheney added. President Trump gave no order to deploy the National Guard that day. And he made no effort to work with the Department of Justice to coordinate and deploy law enforcement assets.

The statements were backed up with testimony from Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, who said that Pence told Pentagon leaders to get the Guard down here, put down this situation.

In contrast, Milley said, Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Milley that military officials needed to kill the narrative that the Vice President is making all the decisions and worked against sending personnel to help with the escalating situation.

Questions over the reason behind delays in the deployment of National Guard troops to the Capitol complex have been a key point of contention in accounts of Jan. 6. Hundreds of pro-Trump supporters breached the Capitol building that day in an attempt to block certification of the 2020 U.S. presidential election results.

Five people died during the riot, and three Capitol Police officers died in the days following the attack.

Trump administration officials have blamed Democratic lawmakers for the delay in deploying military members on Jan. 6, saying requests for help didnt come until hours into the violence.

Thursdays hearing the first in a series of primetime events designed to offer a comprehensive account of the attack also featured testimony from several of those officers. They countered Trumps repeated assertions that the crowd that pushed past police lines that day were peaceful and lawful.

There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up, said Caroline Edwards, an officer working security that day.

I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in peoples blood I just remember that moment of stepping behind the line and just seeing the absolute war zone that the west front had become.

Thousands of National Guard troops were eventually deployed to Capitol Hill to clear out and secure the area, but not until hours after the rioters had pushed inside the Capitol building and ransacked multiple offices.

The assault forced both the House and Senate to suspend their certification proceedings and scramble to secure areas.

Officials have said Pence narrowly avoided direct confrontation with the crowd members, many of whom were chanting that he was a traitor for not overturning the election results a move that most legal experts have said was unconstitutional and impossible.

Milley described Pence as very animated, very direct, very firm in the need for Guard troops to help with crowd control as soon as possible. But he said other White House officials did not share the same opinion.

Committee members also noted other accounts of potential military misuse by the Trump administration, including a plan discussed weeks before the Capitol assault for military forces to seize voting machines and declare state elections invalid by executive decree.

Jan. 6 was the culmination of an attempted coup, a brazen attempt to overthrow the government, said committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. The violence was no accident. It represented Trumps last stand, a most desperate chance to halt the transfer of power.

The committee has two more hearings planned for next week to delve further into the instigation and response to the riots. Republican leadership in the House and Senate have refused to take part in the proceedings, labeling them politically motivated theater.

Leo covers Congress, Veterans Affairs and the White House for Military Times. He has covered Washington, D.C. since 2004, focusing on military personnel and veterans policies. His work has earned numerous honors, including a 2009 Polk award, a 2010 National Headliner Award, the IAVA Leadership in Journalism award and the VFW News Media award.

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Pence not Trump asked Guard troops to help defend Capitol on Jan. 6 ...

Marc Short, who served as chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence, blasted Donald Trump's claim that presidents can declassify something by thinking about it, calling the statement "absurd" on Saturday.

Short's comments came during an interview on CBS in response to statements the ex-president made on Fox News on Wednesday.

Last month, the FBI raided Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, seizing thousands of files including some that were marked classified, as part of an investigation into whether Trump potentially mishandled the materials when he left the White House last year. The former president has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in regard to the documents.

In his interview on Fox News, Trump said: "You can declassify just by saying it's declassified, even by thinking about it. Because you're sending it to Mar-a-Lago or to wherever you're sending."

"And it doesn't have to be a process. There can be a process, but there doesn't have to be. You're the president. You make that decision. So when you send it, it's declassified. Because I declassified everything," the ex-president added.

CBS journalist Catherine Herridge then asked Short about Trump's statement.

"Former President Trump told Fox, 'If you're the president of the United States you can declassify it just by saying it's declassified, even by thinking about it,' is that your understanding?" Herridge said.

"That's absurd, obviously, and I think it would make it very difficult for the intelligence community to have a classification system if that was the case," Short responded.

"So you and the former vice president didn't operate on that standard?" Herridge asked.

"Of course not," Short said.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump's press office for comment.

Short has previously criticized the former president following the FBI's raid. Earlier this month, Short blasted Trump's lawyers after a report in The New York Times was published about how the attorneys may have misled federal investigators about whether Trump turned over all of the classified documents he took from the White House to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

"I think there's also a question about why Trump's lawyers apparently were so misleading, potentially lying in the affidavit saying they returned all the information," Short said at the time on Fox News. "There's a difference between playing a lawyer on TV and actually having good legal counsel."

This week, Trump suffered a loss amid the DOJ's investigation when an appeals court ruled federal officials are allowed to examine classified documents seized from the former president.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday granted the DOJ's request to stop an order handed down by a district judge that had prevented authorities from examining the classified documents and that ordered them to be handed to a third-party examiner. Of the panel of three justices, two of the judges were appointed by Trump and one by former President Barack Obama.

The ruling means that the government is no longer required to hand over documents marked classified to the "special master" that has been appointed in the case for review.

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Mike Pence Aide Blasts Trump Claim He Can Declassify by Thinking: 'Absurd' - Newsweek

On Sept. 11, six days before the nation celebrated Constitution Day, a woman stepped up to the visitor centers front desk at James Madisons Montpelier to buy tickets for a guided tour, an everyday occurrence.

But as she and her husband began strolling the grounds of the fourth U.S. presidents home in Orange County, Va., a few staff members realized these were no ordinary guests.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, had come to see where James and Dolley Madison lived.

Zeb Dillon Gray, one of the interpreters who manage the Madisons house, quickly rose to the occasion and gave the Pences a private, room-to-room tour of the familys stately brick mansion.

Upstairs, they stood in James Madisons study overlooking the Blue Ridge, where he studied scores of books his friend Thomas Jefferson shipped from France. There, the 36-year-old planter and Princeton graduate drew upon the Enlightenments ideas and created the Virginia Plan that formed the foundation of the U.S. Constitution during the constitutional convention of 1787 in Philadelphia.

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We were excited that former Vice President and Mrs. Pence took time to visit Montpelier when they were in the area on 9/11, during Constitution Month, Elizabeth Chew, The Montpelier Foundations interim president and CEO, said Saturday. We appreciate Mr. Pences recognition of the important work we are doing at Montpelier to honor Madisons gift to our nation.

The Pences enjoyed their tour, then paid their respects to President Madison in the brick-walled Madison Family Cemetery, a short walk across the estates green fields from the big house, staff members said.

There, they were joined by Montpelier Foundation Chairman James French and Chew, with whom they discussed a shared passion for Madisonian principles and the Constitution, Dr. Chew said in a statement Saturday.

The vice president said he came to Montpelier to pay homage to James Madison because he was inspired by him to support the peaceful transfer of power, Chew said. Montpeliers leadership and staff were impressed by the vice presidents reverence for the place and the legacy of James Madison, which so many work daily to preserve.

The Pences described the profound impact that Montpelierthe house and the groundshad on them, Chew said.

During their visit, the Pences told the staff they had long sought to visit Montpelier. They asked a guide to snap a photo of them in front of the Madisons home.

The next day, Pence tweeted several photos from their visit, writing, Inspiring stop last weekend at Montpelier the Home of President James Madison, the Father of the Constitution! Thanks again to the Great Staff for the Warm Welcome & all you do to Preserve the Legacy of our 4th President!

In the days afterward, Pence expressed on social media and again in a personal letter to the foundation how inspiring he found his time with us, Chew said. ... We greatly appreciate his kind words.

After a two-year-plus absence during the COVID-19 pandemic, Montpelier has brought back tours focusing in depth on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, Madisons two signal accomplishments. The historic site is offering those tours regularly.

Montpelier was once a place where James and Dolley Madison invited people of all political perspectives to sit down at their dinner table and talk, James French said in an interview Saturday. What were hoping to do here is re-establish that national dinner table where the American people can come and have conversations. The Pences visit is a perfect example of how were doing that.

Last November, addressing a Young Americas Foundation event at the University of Iowa, Pence told the young conservatives he looked to the teachings of James Madison and the Bible to help him hold steady at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

A questioner in the audience, Jared, asked him, Who told you to buck President Trumps plan and certify the votes?

Pence responded, James Madisonknown as the Father of the Constitution, The Washington Post reported. The Hill headlined its story, Pence took inspiration from Madison, Bible on Jan. 6.

Referring to the oath he swore to uphold the Constitution, Pence also cited a Bible verse he said he leaned on: Psalm 15 says he who keeps his oath even when it hurts.

A believer in the peaceful transfer of power, when Congress met on Jan. 6, Pence refused to help overturn the 2020 presidential elections outcome.

As rioters chanted Hang Mike Pence, he escaped the mob sacking the Capitol, then returned hours later to preside over lawmakers certification of the Electoral College countas the Constitution requires.

I understand the disappointment in the election. You might remember I was on the ballot, Pence told the 500 or so people at the YAF event in Iowa. But youve got to be willing to do your duty. And the time may come that some of you are in that position, or one like it. And I just have a feeling, based on the shining faces Im seeing around here, youre going to be men and women who do your duty in that time as well.

September has been busy at Montpelier. For the first time, the presidential site has expanded its annual celebration of the U.S. Constitution from its traditional Constitution Day, on Sept. 17, to the entire month.

Large numbers of visitors, both on site and online, have attended special eventsincluding the opening of a new tour in the East Woods and a series of educational panels focused on the world-changing ideals of the Constitution and the Madison legacy, as seen from various historical perspectives.

The months high-profile speakers have included Charlottesville-based New York Times opinion writer Jamelle Bouie, presidential scholar Lindsay Chervinsky and prominent Montpelier Foundation board members.

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Mike and Karen Pence revere Madison, Constitution on Montpelier visit - Culpeper Star-Exponent

Call it the (spineless) Republicans lament: The things we do for the orange Jesus.

Those were the words muttered by one House Republican on Jan. 6, 2021, according to Rep. Liz Cheney, as he joined other Trump toadies in a party cloakroom to sign official objections to Joe Bidens electoral votes from key states. Those objections were just what then-President Trump and a growing mob outside the Capitol were demanding.

Cheney watched her colleague and thought, You know, youre taking an act that is unconstitutional. She recounted the episode Monday for an audience at the center-right American Enterprise Institute celebrating, fittingly, Constitution Day.

The MAGAmatons in Congress are still at it, of course, blindly following Trumps wishes even as their orange Jesus lament speaks to the disdain that so many have for the 2020 loser.

Opinion Columnist

Jackie Calmes

Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the national political scene. She has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.

On Wednesday almost two years after they acquiesed or even colluded in Trumps attempted coup and then ran for their lives nearly all House Republicans voted against a bill intended to block another such insurrection after the 2024 election.

The measure passed, 229 to 203, in the Democratic-controlled House with the support of just nine Republicans including Cheney all of them lame ducks, their congressional careers ended by party-primary defeats or decisions to retire in the face of MAGA voters anger at their failure to kowtow completely to Trump.

This bill is a BFD, as then-Vice President Biden famously said of other landmark legislation.

It would amend the 135-year-old Electoral Count Act, which Trump plotters misconstrued in a bid to let Congress overturn Bidens victory. The changes would clarify what had been understood for more than a century, until Trump: A vice president (say, Mike Pence on Jan. 6, 2021) merely presides over Congress certification of states electoral votes; he or she has no power under the law or the 12th Amendment to change those votes.

Also, the House bill would raise the threshold number of lawmakers who must object to a states votes before Congress will consider the issue from a single House and Senate member to one-third of each chamber. The bill would limit the grounds for objections. And a majority of the House and Senate would have to approve the objections.

Just two weeks ago, former federal Judge J. Michael Luttig, a prominent conservative advising members in the House and Senate on the issue, had all but given up on the bipartisan negotiations to fix the 1887 law. Then on Monday, Cheney and Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of San Jose, both members of the select House committee investigating Jan. 6, 2021, introduced their bill.

For a non-emergency bill to be filed one day in the House and passed two days later is exceedingly rare. Yet as Luttig says, the need to change the Electoral Count Act is an emergency. Trump and his allies remain a clear and present danger, Luttig told me. They will seek again to overturn an election that doesnt go their way.

Cheney and Lofgren agree. They wrote this week in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that the continued lies from Trump and his followers including Republican candidates for Congress and for state and local offices responsible for elections raise the prospect of another effort to steal a presidential election, perhaps with another attempt to corrupt Congresss proceeding to tally electoral votes.

News of their bills sudden House passage, and of improved prospects for a version in the Senate, has gotten little attention. After all, its hard to break through amid the latest bombshells about one alleged Trump transgression or another financial fraud in New York real estate, the apparent theft of state secrets at Mar-a-Lago and his backers recorded tampering with voting equipment after the 2020 election.

On Thursday, sponsors of the separate Senate bill amending the Electoral Count Act secured their essential 10th Republican co-sponsor: Pennsylvania Sen. Patrick J. Toomey, who is retiring. With all 50 Democratic senators supporting the legislation, there are now the 60 votes necessary to avoid a Republican filibuster and pass the bill.

Even so, senators and House members must reconcile the differences in their respective bills. The Senate version is less strict, with looser grounds for objections to states electoral votes and fewer objectors required one-fifth of each chamber instead of one-third. The aim is to negotiate final language in time for a vote in Congress lame-duck session, after the midterm elections in November.

It would be an unexplainable and inexcusable disappointment to the country were Congress not to pass some version of whats on the table, Luttig said to ensure there would never be another Jan. 6.

In these polarized times, there was a nice moment after the House vote when Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) descended the dais and crossed the chambers well to where Cheney, now a pariah in her own party, had been chatting with Lofgren and several other Democrats. The liberal Pelosi warmly shook the very conservative Cheneys hand.

Sadly, even assuming a happy ending for a revised Electoral Count Act, thats not the takeaway from this legislative saga. Instead, what stands out is that Congress couldnt get unanimity in either house on its attempts to rewrite a badly drafted 19th century law that was at the center of a bloody attack on the lawmakers own corridors and, potentially, their lives.

As Luttig said to me, The Republican Party to this day will not go against Trump.

That its members are so blinded by orange should have the rest of us seeing red.

@jackiekcalmes

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Column: Congress is trying to stop its own members from another coup attempt - Los Angeles Times

Published 9:46 pm Friday, September 23, 2022

Lets not forget that Pres. Donald Trump is the only twice impeached president in the history of the U.S.A.

Most elected GOP congressional members saw him as a lump of clay to be molded. But it was apparent, and too late, that he did all the manipulating. The sign of a true sociopath. Ignoring his dangerous diagnosis came to a frightening reality in Charlottesville where the white nationalists, the Holocaust deniers, the Oath Keepers, and the KKK chanted White Lives Matter. His comment about good people on both sides threw oxygen on the flames allowing the malignant thought process to reach a fever pitch. This day was the beginning of potentially losing the democracy our republic was founded on.

As way too many in leadership positions did not call him out, this tells Trump that he is now the core of the Republican Party.

Remember this was the party of Lincoln. The party of family values, compassion, restraint, intelligence, empathy, thoughtfulness, truthfulness, loyalty, integrity, inclusiveness and fearlessness.

No one, including the self-proclaimed Christian Vice President Mike Pence, said he was wrong - why? They feared for their positions of control, affluence and superiority. Mitch McConnell needed Trumps signature on tax cuts for who? For the one percent and the biggest corporations. Not us mere mortals! Add the fact that most GOP members did not vote to convict at either impeachment. Trump saw this enabling behavior as his ticket to steal the election on Jan. 6. The GOP handed him a permission slip.

After the election, 99.9% of the GOP knew he had lost - as did he! But their refusal to speak out allowed for the first time, the GOP to become the anti-democracy party.

Be careful at the November election. Ask yourself if you want us to become a Banana Republic, led by oligarchs. Our politicians did not do the right thing. As a matter of fact, they fled and hid on Jan. 6. We need to, as the people of this nation, find strength in honesty and stop believing the lies. Vote your conscious. Dont forget: Dorothy, the Cowardly Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man once believed the man behind the curtain.

Roberta Mistretta

Austin, MN

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Letter to the Editor: An important November - Austin Daily Herald - Austin Herald