BOTH NUTJOB GEORGIA LIBS WIN. AND ELECTORAL VOTES CONTINUED

2020 AMERICAN ELECTION RESULTS BY STATE TRUMP VS LOSER LIBERAL SLEEPY (SLOPPY JOE) BIDEN.

ON D-67 OF THE TRUMP WIN OF THE PRESIDENCY. THU JAN 07,21.

Key dates for the Electoral College and what they mean-AEIdeas-DECEMBER 14,20

What are the key dates for the workings of the Electoral College?

November 3 — Election Day

Election Day is November 3. We may or may not know the winner of the presidential contest on election night, but we certainly will not have a final tally and certified results until weeks later. States vary widely in the time they allot for certifying their election results. Some may give a final certification the week after Election Day. Others may take over 30 days. And there is the possibility of recounts and judicial contests of elections which could extend the time to determine an official winner of a state.
Ballots are passed out to 16 Electors on the Michigan Senate floor for them to cast their formal votes for the president and vice president of the United States in Lansing, Michigan, U.S., December 19, 2016. REUTERS/Rebecca Cook

December 8 — Safe Harbor

December 14 — The meeting of the Electors

Two key dates loom in December. On December 14, presidential electors must have been selected by the states and will meet as a group in their states to cast electoral votes for president and vice president. But December 8 is also a significant date, the so-called “safe harbor” date. The Electoral Count Act sets this date as an important date for states to make their official selection of electors, as those electoral votes will be given greater protection from challenge when Congress counts the electoral votes in January. The Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore assigned great significance to this date in Bush v. Gore.

January 3 — The convening of the new Congress

January 6 — Congress counts the votes

January 20 — Inauguration Day. The new presidential term begins at noon.

On January 3rd, the new Congress will take office, and on January 6th it will meet to count the electoral votes and declare a president- and vice president-elect. On January 20th at noon, the current presidential term will end and the next one will begin.This is excerpted from the new fourth edition of After the People Vote, edited by John Fortier, senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and a member of AEI’s Election Watch team.John C. Fortier-AEI Adjunct Scholar-SENOIRFELLOWKarlyn Bowman-Senior Fellow

ITS 11.40PM-AND SINCE 8PM THE HOUSE AND SENATE HAVE BEEN DEBATING (THE FINISH FROM THIS AFTERNOON)-AND NOW THE ELECTORAL VOTE CONTINUES-AND NOW ARKANSAS-6, CALIFORNIA-55, COLORADO-9, CONNECTICUT-7, DELAWARE-3, DIS OF COLUM-3, FLORIDA-29, GEORGIA-16, (76 GOP VOTE AGAINST) (OBJECTION NO GOOD), HAWAII-4, IDAHO-4, ILLINOIS-20, INDIANA-11, IOWA-6, KANSAS-6, KENTUCKY-8, SO FAR BIDEN 128, TRUMP 82, LOUISIANA-8, MAINE-B-3-T-1-4, MARYLAND-10, MASSACHUSETTS-11, MICHIGAN-16, (71 GOP VOTE AGAINST) (OBJECTION DENIED), MINNESOTA-10, MISSISSIPPI-6 SO FAR BIDEN 178 TRUMP 97, MISSOURI-10, MONTANA-3, NEBRASKA-T-4-B-1-5, NEVADA-6, (56 GOP VOTE AGAINST) (OBJECTION DENIED), NEW HAMPSHIRE-4, NEW JERSEY-14, NEW MEXICO-5, NEW YORK-29, NORTH CAROLINA-15, NORTH DAKOTA-3, OHIO-18, OKLAHOMA-7, SO FAR BIDEN 237 TRUMP 157, OREGON-7, PENNSYLVANIA-20, (81 GOP VOTE AGAINST) (OBJECTION UPHELD)-2 HOUR DEBATE, ITS 12.16AM JAN 7,2021. THE SENATE IS WRAPPING IT UP FOR THE NIGHT. THEY WILL CONTINUE TOMORROW OR TODAY JAN 7,21. ITS 7.11AM AND DURING THE NIGHT THEY FINISHED OFF THE OTHER ELECTORAL VOTE COUNTS-RHODE ISLAND-4, SOUTH CAROLINA-9, SOUTH DAKOTA-3, TENNESSEE-11, TEXAS-38, UTAH-6, VERMONT-3, VIRGINIA-13, WASHINGTON-12, WEST VIRGINIA-5, WISCONSIN-10, WYOMING-3, FINAL TOTALS BIDEN 306-DONALD J TRUMP 232. CLINTON HITLER COMMUNIST NEWS NETWORK CNN IS LEADING THE WAY TO CALL FOR IMPEACHING OR DECLARING THE 25TH AMENDMENT AGAINST TRUMP - EVEN THOUGH THERES ONLY 13 DAYS LEFT TILL BIDEN TAKES OVER.ITS 7.23AM-JAN 7,2021.

ITS 9AM-AND THE MEDIA IS HAVING A HAY DAY BLAMING TRUMP FOR THE 3 HEART ATTACKS I BELIEVE AND ONE LADY SHOT AND KILLED ENTERING THE WHITEHOUSE WINDOW. AND THE DEMOLIBNUTCASE MEDIA IS ALL OVER THE MOB MENTALITY AND INSURRECTION BY TRUMP. THEIR ALL PLAYING THIS TO THE HILT. 5 WHITEHOUSE MEMBERS RESIGNED OVER YESTERDAYS PROTESTS. AND THE MEDIA IS COMPLAINING ABOUT THE WHITEHOUSE SECURITY. THE MEDIA ALSO STILL CALL YESTERDAY A COUP BY TRUMP AGAINST SLEEPY SLOPPY JOE BIDEN.  

Explained: What is the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution that could be used to remove Trump? 25th Amendment US Constitution: In the aftermath of Donald Trump supporters storming the US Capitol, many have urged Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.Written by Udit Misra , Edited by Explained Desk | New Delhi | Updated: January 7, 2021 11:23:02 am

In the immediate aftermath of Donald Trump supporters storming the US Capitol building, which houses both the US Senate as well as the House of Representatives, there are calls by many to either impeach President Trump or invoke the 25th Amendment.What is the 25th Amendment of the US Constitution? This amendment lays out how a US president and vice president may be succeeded or replaced.According to Cornell Law School, “The Twenty-fifth Amendment was an effort to resolve some of the continuing issues revolving about the office of the President; that is, what happens upon the death, removal, or resignation of the President and what is the course to follow if for some reason the President becomes disabled to such a degree that he cannot fulfill his responsibilities.”The amendment has four sections.According to Encyclopedia Britannica, while the first section codified the traditionally observed process of succession in the event of the death of the president—that the vice president would succeed to the office—it also introduced a change regarding the ascent of the vice president to president should the latter resign from office.“In the event of resignation, the vice president would assume the title and position of president—not acting president—effectively prohibiting the departing president from returning to office,” states Britannica.The second section of the amendment addresses vacancies in the office of the vice president.The third section of the amendment set forth the formal process for determining the capacity of the president to discharge the powers and duties of office.If the president is able to declare his/her inability, then the vice president takes over as the acting president.In case the president is unable to declare his/her incompetence, the fourth section of the amendment requires the vice president and the cabinet to jointly ascertain this and if they do so, then the vice president immediately assumes the position of acting president.It is this fourth section of the 25th Amendment that many are asking Vice President Pence to invoke against President Trump.When was it introduced and has it been used in the past? In the aftermath of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, the 25th Amendment was proposed by Congress on July 6, 1965, and ratified by the states on February 10, 1967.According to Cornell Law School, “The Watergate scandal of the 1970s saw the application of these procedures, first when Gerald Ford replaced Spiro Agnew as Vice President, then when he replaced Richard Nixon as President, and then when Nelson Rockefeller filled the resulting vacancy to become the Vice President.”However, the fourth section of the 25th Amendment has never been invoked.Trump has repeatedly asserted, although without any valid evidence, that the presidential election in November, in which he lost to Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden, was rigged.

The Hill-Democratic lawmakers call for Pence to invoke 25th Amendment, remove Trump from office-Joseph Choi 16 hrs ago

Democratic lawmakers called on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment on Wednesday and remove President Trump from office, blaming the president for inciting the rioters that violently breached the Capitol building.Mike Pence wearing a suit and tie: Democratic lawmakers call for Pence to invoke 25th Amendment, remove Trump from office © Getty Images Democratic lawmakers call for Pence to invoke 25th Amendment, remove Trump from office"Dear @VP @Mike_Pence: You need to start the 25th Amendment. @realDonaldTrump is detached from reality," wrote Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.)Dear @VP @Mike_Pence: You need to start the 25th Amendment. @realDonaldTrump is detached from reality. https://t.co/FkGBte8ZxB- Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) January 6, 2021-Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) tweeted, "Donald J. Trump should immediately be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate as soon as Congress reconvenes. This is dangerous & unacceptable."Donald J. Trump should immediately be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate as soon as Congress reconvenes.This is dangerous & unacceptable.- Ayanna Pressley (@AyannaPressley) January 6, 2021-Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) wrote: "This is outrageous, and the president caused it. We should impeach and convict him tomorrow."This is outrageous, and the president caused it. We should impeach and convict him tomorrow. - David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) January 6, 2021-Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) appeared to agree, sharing on Twitter that she was drawing up articles on impeachment."Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate," wrote Omar. "We can't allow him to remain in office, it's a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath."I am drawing up Articles of Impeachment.Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate.We can't allow him to remain in office, it's a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath.- Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) January 6, 2021-Progressive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) simply tweeted out, "Impeach," after the Capitol was secured by authorities.Impeach.- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2021-In a statement, Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.) similarly called for Trump's removal from office, calling the rioters "domestic terrorists.""The President has been encouraging these domestic terrorists since before the election," said Wexton. "He could have stopped them at any moment, but instead he whipped them into a frenzy and sicced them on the Capitol.""The Cabinet must remove him today or the House must impeach."The 25th Amendment states:"Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President."Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives for abuse of power at the beginning of last year, though he was acquitted by the GOP-controlled Senate.In an unprecedented move, the National Association of Manufacturers released a statement on Wednesday supporting the proposed move."Vice President Pence, who was evacuated from the Capitol, should seriously consider working with the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy," the organization said in its statement."This is not the vision of America that manufacturers believe in and work so hard to defend. Across America today, millions of manufacturing workers are helping our nation fight the deadly pandemic that has already taken hundreds of thousands of lives," it added.

Shocked by US Capitol attack, Rivlin urges Israelis to protect their democracy-President calls on population to abide by new lockdown due to begin Friday 12:01 a.m., says it’s needed so we don’t ‘kill each other’-By Judah Ari Gross-jan 7,21-Today, 5:35 pm

President Reuven Rivlin on Thursday called on Israelis to not fall victim to the types of internal divisions that led to the attack on the US Capitol building the day before.“Over recent years, with all of the election campaigns that we have had, and the painful questions that have been on the Israeli public agenda, the distance between us has grown perhaps greater than ever. But we must ensure that even if the gaps are deep, our democracy will protect us as a people, as a society and as a state,” he said.“The pictures of the disturbances from Capitol Hill are shocking. They remind us all that democracy, even when it is strong and deeply rooted, is not to be taken for granted,” Rivlin said.On Wednesday, a mob of loyalists to US President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol in Washington, DC, interrupting the effort by Congress to certify the President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory in November. Such a process has generally been a perfunctory matter, but due to Trump’s repeated, unsupported claims of voter fraud, the certification became a heated issue, drawing thousands of protesters.Over the course of Wednesday afternoon and evening, some supporters of the president occupied both chambers of Congress, vandalizing the building, looting property from the Capitol and congresspeople’s offices and clashing with police officers.Washington police chief Robert Contee said 52 people were arrested Wednesday, 26 of them on the grounds of the Capitol, for curfew violations, unlawful entry and weapons charges. He also said two pipe bombs had been discovered near the Capitol, one at Democratic Party offices and the other at Republican Party offices. One woman died.After several hours, Capitol Police officers cleared the building, allowing Congress to certify the results of the election.In his statement, Rivlin congratulated Biden on the certification of his victory.“I am sure that President-elect Biden will continue to strengthen the relations between us and the United States of America, our closest friend and the greatest democracy in the world,” Rivlin said.The president’s comments came hours before Israel was due to enter a national lockdown in light of a growing coronavirus outbreak.“I call on all public leaders — in all towns, from all segments of society, political leaders and spiritual leaders, mayors, heads of civil society organizations — please do your duty and stop the threat of anarchy. The lockdown, with all its restrictions as decided by the government, applies to us all,” he said.“We are going into lockdown so as not to kill each other!” Rivlin warned.The lockdown is scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. Friday, at which time existing restrictions will be tightened and enforced, with schools and nonessential businesses closed down for two weeks, in accordance with a vote by cabinet ministers on Tuesday night.Checkpoints will be set up on major highways and within towns and cities, with thousands of police officers operating them. Police will also work to ensure compliance with existing rules that limit Israelis from venturing beyond a kilometer from their homes, except for essential reasons, which have largely gone ignored and under-enforced.To encourage Israelis to embrace the lockdown, Rivlin released a Hebrew-language video, explaining the need for the new restrictions.“We are going into lockdown because the coronavirus wards and the hospital ICUs are close to overload. We are going into lockdown to protect our children. We, all of us and without exceptions, must follow its rules. All segments of society: Jews and Arabs, secular, religious and ultra-Orthodox,” he said.Rivlin warned that failing to do so amounted to “anarchy,” which the country had to avoid.“Disobeying the law, particularly the coronavirus regulations — and even more so, calling on others to disobey — is not only undermining our joint efforts to limit the spread of the disease, it is a tragedy that will remain with us, leading — heaven forbid — to deepening the schisms that have opened between the different groups in our society,” he said.Throughout the pandemic, segments of the country’s ultra-Orthodox and Arab populations have been found to flout the coronavirus restrictions, leading to harsh criticisms of those communities and their leaders.Rivlin hailed the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine — over 1.5 million Israelis have been inoculated as of Thursday — as a way for the country to return to normalcy.“There will be better days. We have gone through bad times in the past and overcome them. The effect of the vaccine is close at hand, and we will return to normality. Until then, we must be patient and disciplined, and do everything we can to minimize infection. God bless you all, my dear ones,” Rivlin said.

Yahoo News-Capitol riot was false-flag operation by leftists, Trump backers claim, with no basis-Caitlin Dickson·Reporter-Thu, January 7, 2021, 12:17 AM EST

As an angry mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, vandalizing offices, occupying the House and Senate chambers and sending legislators and staffers running for cover, several of President Trump’s key allies knew just where to cast the blame: on the loose-knit movement of left-wing agitators known as “antifa,” a favorite bogeyman of Trump and the right wing for the last several years.They were undeterred by video showing rioters in MAGA hats, carrying Trump 2020 flags, descending on the Capitol from a rally near the White House where Trump himself had exhorted them to disrupt the counting of Electoral College votes submitted by the states, the final step in certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s victory. To them, that just showed that the insurrection was actually a leftist false-flag operation meant to embarrass the president’s peaceful supporters.One of the first to push this narrative was Rep. Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican and part of a small group of Trump loyalists who’d pledged to challenge the Electoral College results from several states during Wednesday’s joint session of Congress in an ill-fated final attempt to undo Trump’s defeat. “Rumor: ANTIFA fascists in backwards MAGA hats,” Brooks tweeted from the locked-down Capitol where he was taking cover from the mob. “Time will tell what truth is.”Yet it was Brooks himself, addressing Trump supporters at the rally that morning, who had dramatically removed his camouflage cap and replaced it with a bright red one emblazoned with the words “Fire Pelosi” and urged fellow Republicans in Congress to back the effort to overturn the election results, declaring, “Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.”When the House eventually reconvened Wednesday evening, one of those colleagues, the firebrand Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, declared on the floor that he had seen “some pretty compelling evidence from a facial-recognition company showing that some of the people who breached the Capitol today were not Trump supporters, they were masquerading as Trump supporters, and in fact were members of the violent terrorist group antifa.”Antifa, which is short for anti-fascist, refers to a loosely-connected movement of militant left-wing activists who believe that using violence is justified in fighting white supremacists, neo-Nazis and other fascist or racist groups. Extremism experts and federal law enforcement officials have made clear that the threat of violence from white supremacists and other domestic extremist groups far outweighs that posed by anti-fascist activists. But Trump and his supporters have turned “antifa” into an all-purpose slur against any left-wing protests or demonstrations. This has the advantage that since antifa barely exists in any organized form, as FBI Director Chris Wray has testified, there is no one speaking for it to dispute or correct the charge. Over the summer, Trump sought to baselessly blame these “radical leftists” for any acts of violence or property damage that occurred during the largely peaceful wave of nationwide protests against police brutality and racism, and even vowed to formally label antifa as a domestic terrorist organization, despite having no legal authority to do so.As Trump’s supporters began converging on Washington Tuesday, Trump appeared to start laying the groundwork to blame antifa for any unlawful activities that might take place the next day. “Antifa is a Terrorist Organization, stay out of Washington. Law enforcement is watching you very closely!” he tweeted Tuesday evening. Not long after, the White House issued a (largely performative) memo calling on the Secretary of State to consider designating the amorphous group as foreign terrorists.Lawyer and Trump ally Lin Wood, who has become a devout proponent of the president’s baseless and conspiratorial voter fraud allegations, tweeted out several pixelated photos and screenshots Wednesday afternoon which he touted as proof that “Trump supporters are peaceful” and antifa was responsible for storming the U.S. Capitol. One particularly egregious example featured an edited split screen of two images which he described as “Indisputable photographic evidence that antifa violently broke into Congress today to inflict harm & do damage. NOT @realDonaldTrump supporters.”Quite the opposite. In one photo is a man who had already been widely identified as Jake Angeli, a well-known promoter of the pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory. The other shows Matthew Heimbach, a longtime neo-Nazi and prominent figure in the white nationalist movement, with his arm around another man. While the photo of Angeli appears to have at least been taken during Wednesday’s siege on Congress, a reverse image search of the Heimbach photo suggests it was pulled from a 2018 post on an antifascist blog dedicated to exposing neo-nazis and white supremacists.Several others have latched onto the false-flag narrative, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, televangelist and Trump surrogate Pastor Mark Burns, and Fox News political analyst Brit Hume, as well as some popular QAnon promoters with large Twitter followings. Franklin Graham, a leading Trump supporter among evangelicals, also raised the specter of antifa, without evidence.Zack Vorhies, a self-described former YouTube and Google engineer-turned-whistleblower, who according to Vice is also a QAnon fan and anti-vaxxer, posted an interview with a man outside the Capitol who claims to have overheard antifa activists “dressed as Trump supporters” discussing how to make Trump fans look bad before smashing a window. The video had received over 100,000 views in just four hours.Of course, it’s impossible to know the identity and ideology of every single person who participated in Wednesday’s violence. But for weeks, the President has been urging his supporters from around the country to descend on Washington for what he promised would be a “wild” day of protests.At least three different pro-Trump groups obtained permits for protests that were scheduled to take place throughout the day Wednesday, while many others promoted the demonstrations online and coordinated caravans of Trump fans traveling to D.C. to show their support.Among those who’d publicly promised to gather in Washington on Wednesday were right-wing militia groups like the Oath Keepers and members of the Proud Boys, a self-described male chauvinist group with white nationalist ties that has been involved in a number of violent confrontations with counter-protesters and police at previous protests in D.C. and around the country.In fact, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio last week suggested that members of the far-right group would dress in all black for the occasion, a look typically associated with members of antifa.“[T]he Proud Boys will turn out in record numbers on Jan 6th but, this time, with a twist,” Tarrio wrote on Parler. “We will be incognito and we will spread across downtown DC in smaller teams.”While others were trying to divert the blame for the chaos that took place on Wednesday, Tarrio and others seemed to embrace it.“This is no longer Washington DC...This is the City of The People of the United States of America!” Tarrio posted on Parler this afternoon as images of the besieged Capitol building began flooding social media and TV news. “Come and Take it!” Tarrio, who was arrested in D.C. earlier this week on charges stemming from an earlier incident of vandalism at a historically Black church, and ordered by a judge to stay away from the city, directed his followers to another account that appeared to be posting live photos and videos from inside the Capitol.A separate account for @TheProudBoys posted a photo of a massive crowd of Trump supporters in D.C. with the caption “Doesn't look like they're destroying the capital. Looks like they're liberating it. God bless America and all her patriots.”Another Parler account promoting the “Stop the Steal” slogan used by Trump devotees protesting the election posted, “BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR DEMOCRATS.”_____

Congress reconvenes to certify Biden’s victory just hours after pro-Trump rioters storm US Capitol-Griffin Connolly-Wed, January 6, 2021, 8:15 PM EST

The US House and Senate are back in session at the Capitol to certify the 2020 election results after an hours-long security crisis that saw hundreds of pro-Trump rioters overpower police to storm the building and interrupt official proceedings.“The violence was quelled. The Capitol was secured, and the people's work continues,” Vice President Mike Pence said as he gaveled the Senate back into session.Lawmakers will pick up where they left off around 2pm Wednesday afternoon by resuming consideration of a motion co-signed by dozens of Republican lawmakers to block the Electoral College votes in Arizona.Arizona is one of five states whose election results Republicans have planned to challenge to wipe away President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and keep Donald Trump in power for four more years.The cadre of Trump loyalists has cited widespread “election fraud” but has never once provided evidence that such fraud existed, with state and federal courts dismissing case after case over the last several weeks.Each chamber needs a majority of members to vote in favour of the objections to throw out the results. At the beginning of the day, 24 GOP senators (less than a quarter of the chamber) and roughly 150 House Republicans (out of 435 total House members) had pledged to support the objections, leaving the objections far short of a majority. It is unclear whether the riot at the Capitol, which Democrats and even many Republicans have blamed on Mr Trump for inciting, has changed any Republicans’ minds about how they will vote.Speaker Nancy Pelosi characterised the mayhem in Washington on Wednesday as a “time of great sadness” as she notified her colleagues that they would be summoned back to the Capitol to complete the American people’s business.“Today, a shameful assault was made on our democracy. It was anointed at the highest level of government. It cannot, however, deter us from our responsibility to validate the election of Joe Biden,” the speaker wrote in a Dear Colleague letter on Wednesday evening.Mr Pence will continue presiding over the joint session when each chamber completes debating and voting on Congressman Paul Gosar and Senator Ted Cruz’ objection to Arizona’s electoral tally.Mr Pence has defied Mr Trump’s pleas to block the electoral results and keep him in power.Earlier on Wednesday, the president made a final desperate plea to his vice president to block the certification of Mr Biden’s victory.“States want to correct their votes, which they now know were based on irregularities and fraud, plus corrupt process never received legislative approval,” the president tweeted, repeating his false assertions of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.“All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!” Mr Trump wrote.The scene at the Capitol earlier on Wednesday felt like something out of a movie or video game as throngs of protesters descended on an overwhelmed US Capitol Police force, shattered windows, and stormed through the halls and both chambers of Congress.At least one woman was shot and killed and several USCP officers were injured amid the chaos as rioters breached the Capitol building.Tear gas was deployed to disperse rioters who burst into various offices in the Capitol — including Ms Pelosi’s — and romped through the House and Senate chambers for a time.They stole podiums and congressional leaders’ mail. One rioter even left a menacing note on the speaker’s desk: “We will not back down,” he wrote in red Sharpie in all capital letters on a manilla folder.Calls have surged on Capitol Hill for Mr Trump to removed from office over his involvement in the riots.At a “Save America March” on the Ellipse just south of the White House early on Wednesday afternoon, the president encouraged thousands of supporters to march on the Capitol, telling them to be “strong.”“We will never give up,” Mr Trump said to roars of applause. “We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that’s what this is all about.”The president remained defiant throughout the day, refusing to concede the election. He also did not outright condemn the pro-Trump rioters he himself had encouraged to gather at the Capitol. In a video posted to Twitter that has since been taken down by the social media platform, Mr Trump told the rioters he “loves” them, although he urged them to “go home.”“You have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order,” he said.It wasn’t just Democrats on Capitol Hill who were incensed with the president for his inflammatory rhetoric that fueled Wednesday’s violence.While no Republican lawmakers have so far issued public statements about removing Mr Trump from office, several have explicitly denounced him for inciting the insurrection at the Capitol.Congresswoman Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the third-highest ranking House Republican, placed the blame for Wednesday’s mayhem squarely on the outgoing president’s shoulders.“We just had a violent mob assault the US Capitol. ... No question the president formed the mob, the president incited the mob, the president addressed the mob. He lit the flame,” Ms Cheney said.Senator Mitt Romney went a step further, saying that the Republicans who support Mr Trump’s bid to throw out the Electoral College results are equally complicit in perpetrating the insurrection staged on Wednesday at the Capitol.“What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States. Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy,” the Utah Republican said.

Associated Press-Warnock, Ossoff win in Georgia, handing Dems Senate control-STEVE PEOPLES, BILL BARROW and RUSS BYNUM-Wed, January 6, 2021, 2:42 AM EST

ATLANTA (AP) — Democrats won both Georgia Senate seats — and with them, the U.S. Senate majority — as final votes were counted Wednesday, serving President Donald Trump a stunning defeat in his turbulent final days in office while dramatically improving the fate of President-elect Joe Biden’s progressive agenda.Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, Democratic challengers who represented the diversity of their party’s evolving coalition, defeated Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler two months after Biden became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state since 1992.Warnock, who served as pastor for the same Atlanta church where civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, becomes the first African American from Georgia elected to the Senate. And Ossoff becomes the state’s first Jewish senator and, at 33 years old, the Senate’s youngest member.This week’s elections were expected to mark the formal finale to the tempestuous 2020 election season, although the Democrats' resounding success was overshadowed by chaos and violence in Washington, where angry Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying Biden's victory.Wednesday's unprecedented siege drew fierce criticism of Trump's leadership from within his own party, and combined with the bad day in Georgia, marked one of the darkest days of his divisive presidency.Still, the Democrats' twin victories in Georgia represented a striking shift in the state's politics as the swelling number of diverse, college-educated voters flex their power in the heart of the Deep South. They also cemented the transformation of Georgia, once a solidly Republican state, into one of the nation’s premier battlegrounds for the foreseeable future.In an emotional address early Wednesday, Warnock vowed to work for all Georgians whether they voted for him or not, citing his personal experience with the American dream. His mother, he said, used to pick “somebody else’s cotton” as a teenager.“The other day, because this is America, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else’s cotton picked her youngest son to be a United States senator,” he said. “Tonight, we proved with hope, hard work and the people by our side, anything is possible.”Loeffler, who remains a senator until the results of Tuesday's election are finalized, returned to Washington on Wednesday morning to join a small group of senators planning to challenge Congress’ vote to certify Biden’s victory. She didn't get a chance to vocalize her objection before the violent protesters stormed the Capitol.Georgia’s other runoff election pitted Perdue, a 71-year-old former business executive who held his Senate seat until his term expired Sunday, against Ossoff, a former congressional aide and journalist.“This campaign has been about health and jobs and justice for the people of this state — for all the people of this state,” Ossoff said in a speech broadcast on social media Wednesday morning. “Whether you were for me, or against me, I’ll be for you in the U.S. Senate. I will serve all the people of the state.”Trump’s false claims of voter fraud cast a dark shadow over the runoff elections, which were held only because no candidate hit the 50% threshold in the general election. He raised the prospect of voter fraud as votes were being cast and likened the Republicans who run Georgia’s election system to “chickens with their heads cut off” during a Wednesday rally in Washington.Gabriel Sterling, a top official with the Georgia secretary of state’s office and a Republican, said there was “no evidence of any irregularities.”“The biggest thing we’ve seen is from the president’s fertile mind of finding fraud where none exists,” he said.Both contests tested whether the political coalition that fueled Biden’s November victory was an anti-Trump anomaly or part of a new electoral landscape. To win in Tuesday’s elections — and in the future — Democrats needed strong African American support.AP VoteCast, a survey of more than 3,700 voters in Tuesday’s contests, found that Black voters made up roughly 30% of the electorate, and almost all of them — 94% — backed Ossoff and Warnock. The Democrats also relied on the backing of younger voters, people earning less than $50,000 annually and newcomers to the state.The Republican coalition backing Loeffler and Perdue was the mirror opposite: white, older, wealthier and longtime Georgia residents.The coalition closely resembles the one that narrowly handed Georgia’s Electoral College votes to Biden in November, making him the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state in almost three decades.Trump’s claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election, while meritless, resonated with Republican voters in Georgia. About 7 in 10 agreed with his false assertion that Biden was not the legitimately elected president, AP VoteCast found.Election officials across the country, including the Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, as well as Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed that there was no widespread fraud in the November election. Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two tossed by the Supreme Court, where three Trump-nominated justices preside.Publicly and privately, some Republicans acknowledged that Trump’s monthslong push to undermine the integrity of the nation’s electoral system may have contributed to the GOP’s losses in Georgia.“It turns out that telling the voters that the election was rigged is not a great way to turn out your voters,” said Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, a Republican and a frequent Trump critic.Even with Trump’s claims, voters in both parties were drawn to the polls because of the high stakes. AP VoteCast found that 6 in 10 Georgia voters say Senate party control was the most important factor in their vote.Turnout exceeded both sides’ expectations. Ultimately, more people cast ballots in the runoffs than voted in Georgia’s 2016 presidential election.Former President Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, issued a statement praising the election of Georgia’s first African American senator and his ability to improve divisions in Washington.“Georgia’s first Black senator will make the (Senate) chamber more reflective of our country as a whole and open the door for a Congress that can forego gridlock for gridlock’s sake to focus instead on the many crises facing our nation,” Obama said.___Peoples reported from New York. Bynum reported from Savannah, Ga. Associated Press writers Haleluya Hadero, Angie Wang, Sophia Tulp, Ben Nadler and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Rabbis in DC and beyond rush to calm congregants after deadly riot at US Capitol-Violent, pro-Trump mob brings knee-jerk recall of historic anti-Semitism; rabbis send soothing prayers while also doing some soul searching about long-term stability in the US-By Gabe Friedman and Shira Feder-jan 7,21-Today, 5:04 pm

JTA — Ruth Friedman could tell that Wednesday’s pro-Trump protests in Washington, DC, might be volatile when she boarded a plane home to DC from her grandmother’s funeral on Tuesday.The flight was full of people in MAGA gear on their way to Washington to protest the results of the presidential election, as US President Donald Trump had urged them to. As the plane landed, she recalled, one man shouted “Who’s here to support President Trump?” Other people on the flight cheered and chanted “USA! USA!”“I felt pretty freaked out because I’m Jewish,” said Friedman, who helps lead Ohev Sholom – The National Synagogue in Washington, DC, an Orthodox congregation. “I really just tried to keep my head down. I really was genuinely afraid to engage.”But by Wednesday afternoon, Friedman said she recognized that her congregants would need her to grapple with the violent protests during which Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building. She just hadn’t yet figured out how.“My only real message right now is prayers for safety. I think it’s too early for me to know what an actual message [to congregants] would be because this is so representative of so many problems on so many different levels,” Friedman said. “So I would just like to focus on the immediate, we are praying for safety, and not try to have a grander message right now.”Rabbis and other Jewish spiritual leaders in Washington and beyond took a range of approaches on Wednesday to help their communities come to terms with the scenes they saw playing out on their TVs. Some rabbis recorded brief video messages to convey a sense of hope — and to confirm that they were safe — while others attempted to organize impromptu events for congregants. T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, a liberal rabbinic group, put together a structured event of song, Torah commentary and political dialogue that gathered over 500 people on Zoom.Friedman’s colleague, Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, sent psalms to worried congregants who reached out to him throughout the day, tailored to their specific concerns.“We try and see what peoples’ anxieties are and apply the proper psalm for that situation,” he said. “There’s a lot of anxiety in our country right now, and so people are looking to our tradition for meaning and for guidance.”The disorientation was pronounced throughout DC, where Mayor Muriel Bowser imposed a curfew from 6 p.m. until 6 a.m. Friday. The city’s Kesher Israel Orthodox synagogue canceled its nightly service, which has been held outdoors throughout the coronavirus pandemic, even as Rabbi Hyim Shafner said things felt normal in the Georgetown neighborhood where his synagogue is located, and in the Foggy Bottom and Dupont Circle neighborhoods where many of his congregation members live.“The coffee shops were occupied and people were shopping. It’s less than a mile from the White House but it’s a different world,” he said.Still, he couldn’t let the day go by without communicating with his congregation. In an email to synagogue members, he noted how the week’s Torah portion — about how the Egyptian Pharoah enslaved Jews after feeling that they were growing too powerful — connected to the moment.In an interview, he said his faith in the safety of the country, particularly for Jews, was rattled.“I’m watching the Capitol and people are smashing the windows, climbing in and sitting in the seats of the Senate … with their feet up on the desk. There’s something incredibly disquieting about that, as I’m sure it was for many Americans,” he said. “But I think as a Jew we have to also see that in another light and say, ‘Oh, maybe the sands under our feet are not as solid as we always assume them to be.’”Other local Jews worried about the immediate safety of their rabbis and synagogue buildings. Rabbis Aaron Alexander and Lauren Holtzblatt of the city’s Adas Israel Congregation rushed to go live on Facebook at 5 p.m., after footage of protesters flipping over tables and breaking windows had widely circulated on social media.“Unfortunately, we’ve done a number of these livecasts over the past 10 months,” Holtzblatt told the hundreds of people watching, many of them Jews concerned about violence spreading.“Our first reaction was to go live immediately,” Alexander told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency over the phone, “so people can not only read our words but can see our faces.” He noted that many have reached out to him to check on the synagogue building, which remains safe and empty but is being continually monitored.Love from DC-A quick word from Rabbis Holtzblatt & Alexander from Washington, D.C.Posted by Adas Israel Congregation – Washington, DC on Wednesday, January 6, 2021“We’re all sort of holding our breath,” Alexander said. “Some [rioters] will be leaving the city, some people will refuse to leave the Capitol area and some people will go back to their hotels.”In an email to JTA, Holtzblatt said her community was “very concerned” about what happened at the Capitol and noted that she is praying for a peaceful transfer of power.Other rabbis sounded similar notes. Temple in Falls Church, Virginia, just outside of the city, held a virtual “gathering for democracy.” During the T’ruah event, titled “Standing Up for Democracy: A Gathering for Prayer & Action,” Rabbi Sharon Brous of IKAR in Los Angeles offered a stinging rebuke of Trump, Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and white supremacists whom she said have “been taught that God loves them more.”The Conservative movement’s Rabbinical Assembly released a statement calling on “all American political and religious leaders” to condemn the day’s events. The Reform movement’s Central Conference of American Rabbis released a prayer for peace.From his synagogue in Washington, Shafner, an Orthodox rabbi, said he felt like the American Jewish consciousness could shift as a result of the day’s events.“We feel obviously very safe in America, I think we feel like America’s different, it’s a great democracy,” he said. “We have to also remember that we are visitors here in America. Is it really different? I don’t know. I hope it is. But these are the moments when I think there should be self-doubt.”