[ad_1]
Showdown with Parliament at the end of Trump’s term
© APA (AFP)
Following the assault on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump, preparations are accelerating for a second impeachment process against the president of the United States, who remains only a few days in office. Democratic Congressman Ted Lieu told CNN on Saturday: “We expect a vote in plenary next week.” Meanwhile, the US judiciary brought charges against three other people involved in the assault on parliament.
Lieu said he and his colleagues would prefer that the Republican resign or that Vice President Mike Pence move to impeach him. If nothing happens, Democrats would file a resolution impeaching Trump in the House of Representatives on Monday.
Lieu is a co-author of the draft resolution, which lists a single charge against Trump: “incitement to unrest.” Trump is accused of inciting his supporters at a rally; many of them stormed the Capitol afterwards. Trump continued his efforts to block the certification of the results of the presidential election that Trump lost, the draft said. With his behavior, Trump had shown “that he will continue to be a threat to national security, democracy and the constitution if he is allowed to remain in office.” Therefore, he must be removed from office and blocked for future government offices.
Lieu said the protesters, encouraged by Trump, wanted to provoke a “violent overthrow of Congress” while the election results were certified. There are several Republican congressmen who want to vote for the resolution. 180 Democratic deputies have already signed the draft resolution. The House of Representatives, which is controlled by Democrats, can initiate impeachment proceedings with a simple majority of 218 deputies.
However, the procedure will be decided in the United States Senate. The two-thirds majority required there for Trump’s impeachment is currently unpredictable. In addition, it is virtually impossible that the process in the Senate can be concluded before the inauguration of Democratic President-elect Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris on January 20.
The Senate will not meet for its next regular session until January 19. A memorandum from Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, distributed by the Washington Post, states that under current rules, the trial could not begin before 1:00 p.m. on January 20, one hour after the inauguration of Biden and the departure of Trump. Office.
Among the three new defendants in the assault on parliament were, according to prosecutors on Saturday, West Virginia politician Derrick Evans and well-known conspiracy theorist Jacob Anthony Chansley, who was noted in last Wednesday’s incident by his striking headdress made of fur and horns.
Chansley, also known as Jake Angeli, is charged with trespassing on the US Capitol as well as “disorderly conduct,” according to the Washington prosecutor. According to a prosecutor’s statement, Chansley was seen in his outfit consisting of “horns, a bearskin hat” and face paint in the red, white and blue colors of the American flag in photographs of the assault on the Capitol, which were released in the media. Chansley also carried a spear with an attached American flag.
Chansley describes himself as the “digital soldier” of the far-right conspiracy theory movement QAnon, whose supporters claim that outgoing US President Donald Trump is in a secret war against a global liberal cult of Satanist pedophiles. According to police, Chansley called the FBI on Thursday to confirm his presence in the United States Capitol area the day before. Chansley said he, along with a group of people from Arizona, “followed the president’s request to all ‘patriots'” to come to Washington on January 6.
The other two defendants were, according to the judiciary, MEP Evans, who was recently elected to Parliament in West Virginia, and a 36-year-old man from Florida who stole the lectern from the Democratic majority leader in the House of Representatives. Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
In response to numerous calls for resignation, Evans submitted his resignation to the governor of West Virginia on Saturday. He takes “full responsibility” for his actions, Evans wrote, according to local media. He hoped his resignation would help start the “healing process” in the United States “so that we can all move on and unite as ‘one nation under God.’
On Friday, the US Department of Justice announced charges against 15 people involved in the assault on the Capitol. According to the prosecutor, in many cases it was easy to identify the suspects as there were many photos and videos of the incident on the Internet. The politician Evans had live streamed his intrusion into the Capitol through the online service Facebook.
Meanwhile, Apple removed the social network Parler from the app store. The platform failed to take adequate measures to prevent the distribution of posts that incite violence, the iPhone maker said on Saturday. “We have suspended Parler until these issues are resolved.” Apple had given hints of input from users who had planned the siege of the Capitol on Wednesday, the service given 24 hours to submit a detailed plan “of moderation and filtering of this content.”
Apple bans the service until it renounces freedom of expression and introduces “comprehensive and invasive guidelines such as Twitter and Facebook,” US company Parler John Matze said of the measure. “They claim there is violence on the platform. The community disagrees because today we are number one in the Apple Store.” Google had already announced the day before that it would suspend the download of the application until the service had made the necessary regulations for dangerous content.
[ad_2]
