Donald Trump-incited insurrection did not stop the joint sitting of the US Senate & House of Representatives certification and counting of the electoral college votes in the 2020 presidential election

 

A member of the large Trump-incited mob which forced its way into the U.S. Congress while it was in session on 

6 January 2021. It was this individual who was part of a group which invaded the Senate Chamber and, who 

posed for photographs at the podium. Note the lethal tip to his flag-draped staff.

A little before 8:24am on 7 January 2021 (Sydney, Australia time), outgoing President Donald J. Trump tweeted a one minute video of himself speaking to his political base in which he addressed the armed mob of domestic terrorists - who even then had been violently invading the U.S. Congress for over three hours - in words to the effect that they were good people, patriots. 

Telling them "we love you, you're very special" - as he purported to call for "peace".

By that point on 6 January 2021 (Washington DC time) the scheduled joint sitting of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives had been suspended and one person in this violent mob had been fatally shot by police and reportedly another three people in the building had died from other causes.

Finally, the social media platform Twitter reacted to the very real danger Donald Trump presented to the citizens of America and its democratic institutions…..

This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump's video. We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.

— Guy Rosen (@guyro) January 6, 2021

This is an emergency situation and we are taking appropriate emergency measures, including removing President Trump's video. We removed it because on balance we believe it contributes to rather than diminishes the risk of ongoing violence.

— Guy Rosen (@guyro) January 6, 2021

This means that the account of @realDonaldTrump will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked.

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021

Our public interest policy — which has guided our enforcement action in this area for years — ends where we believe the risk of harm is higher and/or more severe.
https://t.co/ZcbhDEAYjH

— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) January 7, 2021

 

The Trump-incited insurrection in action on 6 January 2021.....

IMAGE: abc7

Pro-Trump mob invading the Capitol building....

IMAGE: Yahoo! News UK

IMAGE: IrishTimes

Capitol Hill security personnel attempting to keep the rampaging mob out 

of the House of Representatives chamber......

IMAGE: Twitter

People in the House of Representatives chamber gallery sheltering 

from the mob....

IMAGE: abc7

Members of Congress fleeing the House chamber....

IMAGE: NBC News

Despite the attempt to derail the joint sitting of both Houses convened to confirm the previously recorded electoral college votes (and it is 

rumoured an attempt by those domestic terrorists to steal the original electoral college vote forms) at 7.44pm on 7 January 2021 (Sydney, Australia time) the U.S. Congress confirmed that Joseph Biden and Kamala Harris are respectively President-elect and Vice President-elect of the United States of America with a majority of 306 electoral votes each.

The 46th inauguration of a duly-elected American president will proceed 

as planned on 20 January 2021.

Unless Trump's terrorists take another lethally violent step.

BACKGROUND

President Trump Save America rally January 6: full comments

https://youtu.be/8X0KIYInLHc

NOTE: 

As is usual, Facebook was slower to respond to the unfolding danger.

According to The Guardian on 8 January 2021: 

Donald Trump will be suspended from Facebook and Instagram indefinitely and at least until the end of his time in office, Mark Zuckerberg has said, as a consequence of his support for the rioters who stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday. 

The US president was initially suspended from the social network for 24 hours, as a result of two posts shared to the platform in which he appeared to praise the actions of the rioters. 

In a post to Facebook on Thursday, Zuckerberg said the suspension would last much longer. “The shocking events of the last 24 hours clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and lawful transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden,” Facebook’s chief executive wrote. 

“We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transition of power is complete.”

US President Donald Trump trying to pressure fellow Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to alter the 2020 presidential election results

 

"The real truth is that I won by 400,000 votes at least" 

[Donald J. Trump, 2 January 2021]

In a phone call on 2 January 2021, outgoing US President Donald J. Trump insisted he won the state of Georgia in the 2020 presidential election as well as the presidential election itself and, threatened vague legal consequences if votes were not "recalculated" and found for him - specifically 11,780 votes in Georgia

Here are excerpts from the hour-long call, which was obtained by The Washington Post.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3hrN0cP58Y

Audio of the full phone call can be found here at 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AW_Bdf_jGaA

The American Resistance has many faces and these are just some of them (19)

Successful resistance at state level.....

Chicago Tribune, 4 December 2018:

President Donald Trump has signed an executive order disbanding his voter fraud commission.

A White House statement is blaming the decision on numerous states that have refused to provide voter information to the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says that, "Rather than engage in endless legal battles at taxpayer expense," Trump has signed an order to dissolve the commission and asked the Department of Homeland Security to determine the administration's next steps.

Critics saw the commission as part of a conservative campaign to strip minority voters and poor people from the voter rolls, and to justify unfounded claims made by Trump that voter fraud cost him the popular vote in 2016.

Past studies have found voter fraud to be exceptionally rare. [my yellow highlighting]

 BACKGROUND

The Hill, 3 January 2018:

It was established months after Trump claimed without citing evidence that millions of people voted illegally in 2016, depriving him of a popular-vote victory against Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Vice President Mike Pence and Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a vocal supporter of voter ID laws, led the commission. It was made up of Republicans and Democrats.

The panel met twice, but was quickly bogged down amid states’ unwillingness to comply with its requests and lawsuits alleging it did not follow federal record-keeping laws.

The Government Accountability Office announced last October it was opening an investigation into the commission at the request of three Democratic senators who said the panel did not properly disclose its work.

Democrats and civil-rights groups described the commission as part of a broader conservative effort to deprive minorities of voting rights and a cover to back up the president’s claims.

"The claim of widespread voter fraud in the United States is in fact, fraud. The demise of this commission should put this issue to rest," Michael Waldman, president of the liberal Brennan Center for Justice, said in a statement.

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) celebrated the panel's end, calling it a "front to suppress the vote, perpetrate dangerous and baseless claims" that "was ridiculed from one end of the country to the other."

Some leading Republicans, including Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), also urged Trump last year to drop his claims of widespread fraud.

How US President Donald J Trump made one particular book an immediate best-seller

On 3 January 2018 excerpts from a soon to be published book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” were published in The Guardian newspaper.

The following day brought news of a letter to former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon…..

ABC News, 4 January 2018:

Trump attorney Charles J. Harder of the firm Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP, said in a statement, "This law firm represents President Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent."

In the letter to Bannon, Harder, writes, "You [Bannon] have breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, knowing that they would be included in Mr. Wolff’s book and publicity surrounding the marketing and sale of his book."

Along with a letter to Macmillan Publishers (Henry Holt & Company INC) and author Michael Wolff…..

CBS News, 4 January 2018:

President Trump's personal lawyer has issued a cease and desist letter to author Michael Wolff and Wolff's publisher over the release of explosive excerpts of "Fire and Fury: Inside Trump's White House." The letter demands that Wolff and the publisher halt all publication and apologize to the president for "defaming" him.

The letter from lawyer Charles Harder, dated Thursday, comes after excerpts of Wolff's book have cast the president and much of his White House in an unflattering light, portraying the commander-in-chief as someone who does not understand constitutional amendments, and is sometimes not taken seriously by key advisers. The letter accuses Wolff and Henry Holt and Company of publishing false statements about the president. 

"Your publication of the false/baseless statements about Mr. Trump gives rise to, among other claims, defamation by libel, defamation by libel, defamation by libel per se, false light invasion of privacy, tortious interference with contractural relations, and inducement of breach contract," the letter says. 

Mr. Trump, according to the letter, demands that publication of the book immediately cease, along with the publication of any excerpts or summaries. The letter also insists that a "full and complete retraction" be issued, along with an apology to Mr. Trump. 

The letter also demands a full electronic copy of the book "in searchable form" be given to Mr. Trump's lawyers.

Full text of letter here.

What happened after is that in the following order:

1. the book was published on 5 January 2018 ahead of the previously announced date and bookstores quickly sold out of hard copies on hand;

2. @RealDonaldTrump's thumbs began to work overtime as he began to tweet his displeasure commencing 6 January;

3. Steve Bannon blinked on 8 January and issued an ‘apology’; 

4. Also on 8 January lawyers for Macmillian Publishers formally replied to the 'cease and desist' letter; and

5. Macmillan Publishers (founded circa 1843) issued this pushback statement on 9 January

Macmillan Publishers’ CEO John Sargent, Twitter, 9 January 2018

The ball is now back with Donald Trump.

Will he be stupid enough to proceed to litigation?