Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin did not rule out the possibility on Thursday that President Trump would be investigated for comments he made egging on the Trump-supporting rioters who overran the Capitol on Wednesday.
Woman Shot During Riot Imbibed Steady Stream Of Trump World Conspiracy Theories
Ashli Babbitt, the woman shot by Capitol Police as she and other pro-Trump rioters tried to force their way deeper into the building Wednesday, appeared to consume a steady diet of heavily conspiratorial beliefs from all corners of the MAGA-verse.
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Yesterday Was Just The Beginning
This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis.
One of the most striking images yesterday was of a crowd of pro-Trump insurrectionists entering the Capitol for the first time, ambling about between the velvet ropes as if they were tourists, awed by the majesty of the building and contemplating dinner later on at Western Sizzlin’. Their wandering — not directed or motivated, seemingly without any plan for what to do after they got into the building — indicates a profound disbelief that they could ever be successful. It seems clear that no one, except Donald Trump and perhaps Rudy Giuliani, actually believed the mob would gain entry to the Capitol and delay the certification of the presidential election, least of all the rioters themselves. That disbelief is now dispelled.
This Is Where to Look
TPM Reader JB, a former Hill staffer, is 100% right. A serious threat to the Capitol would never have been left to the Capitol Police. The failure is almost certainly rooted in the fact that federal law enforcement and the military were reluctant to plan for a threat from the President’s own supporters.
To your correspondent BK’s comments today I have to add the point that a serious threat to the Capitol — which yesterday’s riot certainly was — would never have been left to the Capitol Police alone had it been foreseen.
Who Controls The D.C. National Guard? By Delegation, It’s The Pentagon
As confusion lingers about who ordered the D.C. National Guard into action on Wednesday, following a mysterious delay, one of the most troubling elements has been who was in control of the military unit as an angry pro-Trump mob descended on the Capitol.
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An Account From Hill Reporters As Protestors Breached The Capitol
The frantic and frenetic atmosphere within the Capitol as a mob of Trump-supporting rioters overran its usually well secured halls is evident in the raw, contemporaneous reports journalists sent out Wednesday as the breach was underway.
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Arrest and Prosecute All of Them
We often forget that we don’t only arrest and prosecute people to exact individual punishment or to protect public safety. Arrest and prosecution is also how society communicates to itself the parameters of acceptable behavior. Yesterday was many things. But a critical part of it was the result of years and decades of treating violent right-wing extremism as a sort of wingnut performance art, crazy but essentially harmless and to be indulged. Think of the original Bundy clan standoff and the later Malheur standoff. An insurrectionist told a Capitol Police officer yesterday “You didn’t take it back, we gave it back,” as he walked out of the Capitol.
You saw them. They were strutting and proud. They gave their names to reporters. They posed for pictures.
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Capitol Hill Police Offer First Account Of Failure To Protect Congress
After failing to prevent a torrent of Trump supporters from breaching the Capitol on Thursday, the Capitol police force issued its first statement on the event.
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So Who Actually Participated In The Siege Of The Capitol?
Confusion continues to reign over the several-hour siege of the nation’s legislature Wednesday, and the lack of arrests during the event itself only compounds the issue: We don’t have police records identifying hundreds or potentially thousands who took part in the attack.
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What We Know About The Insurrection Shooting
A woman was shot and killed on Wednesday as an angry mob of Trump supporters seeking to overturn the results of the election took over the Capitol building.
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