Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gather near the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States, Jan. 6, 2021. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)
Richard “Bigo” Barnett was among the crowd of thousands of Trump supporters who stormed Congress on January 6, 2021.
Two years after the deadly Capitol storming by supporters of former President Donald Trump, a rioter who posed with his feet propped up atop former House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk has been found guilty of all charges.
Richard “Bigo” Barnett was among the crowd of thousands of supporters of Trump who stormed Congress on January 6, 2021, in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election result, reports the BBC.
The former House Speaker was forced to flee the chamber floor with other lawmakers as the protesters stormed their way into the building.
Armed with a stun gun, Barnett, a former firefigher, posed for photos after breaking into Pelosi’s office and boasted of stealing an envelope before leaving the premises.
He also wrote a note on her desk using a sexist slur, and used a bullhorn to brag to the crowd that “I took Nancy Pelosi’s office”.
File photo taken on Jan. 6, 2021 shows supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump gathering near the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie/IANS)
On Monday, a jury in Washington D.C. deliberated for less than three hours before convicting the 62-year-old of all eight charges against him, which include obstruction of an official proceeding; entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly weapon; and theft of government property.
Prosecutors argued that Barnett came to Washington D.C. from his home in Arkansas “prepared for violence”.
Barnett, who chose to testify in his own defence during the trial, argued that he was caught up “in the moment” and was “going with the flow”, the BBC reported.
After the verdict was read on Monday, Barnett said he did not get a fair trial because the jury was not made up of his “peers”.
His lawyer, Joe McBride, said he would appeal.
“Washington D.C., is not a state. He’s not surrounded by people of Arkansas, where he came from,” the BBC quoted McBride, referring to the city’s status as a district rather than one of the 50 US states, as saying.
The judge allowed Barnett to remain free until his sentencing hearing on May 3. He is facing decades in federal prison.
Barnett’s trial has been one of the most high-profile to stem from the riot.
Over 940 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the breach and nearly 500 have pleaded guilty so far.
The development came after a dramatic pressure campaign played out live on the House floor as Republican rebel Matt Gaetz was urged to vote for Mr McCarthy, reports Asian Lite News
The US House of Representatives elected Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy as Speaker on Saturday after a historic and embarrassing deadlock that kept the lower chamber from being fully functional days after the new Congress convened earlier this week.
McCarthy from California who has been the House Republican leader since 2019, will finally take the gavel after 15 rounds of voting since the 118th Congress convened on Tuesday, despite his party holding a majority in the chamber, reports the BBC.
The development came after a dramatic pressure campaign played out live on the House floor as Republican rebel Matt Gaetz was urged to vote for Mr McCarthy.
The Florida Congressman was among six holdouts who relented late on Friday.
This was the longest longest Speaker contest in 164 years.
Not since 1860 in the build-up to the American Civil War, when the US’ union was fraying over the issue of slavery, has the lower chamber of Congress voted so many times to pick a Speaker.
Back then it took 44 rounds of ballots.
I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up. And I will never give up for you, the American people. https://t.co/uLqPKa1maZ
Meanwhile, Democrat Representative Hakeem Jeffries has made history by becoming the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress.
The Speaker of the House is the second in line to the presidency, after Vice President Kamala Harris.
They set the agenda in the House, and no legislative business can be conducted there without them.
Speaking after his confirmation, McCarthy wrote on Twitter: “I hope one thing is clear after this week: I will never give up. And I will never give up for you, the American people.”
After the 13th ballot was adjourned,the Republican had insisted to reporters that he would “have the votes” to take the speakership on the next round, the BBC reported.
Friday was the first day that McCarthy’s vote count actually surpassed that of Jeffries.
In November 8, 2022 midterm elections, Republicans won the House by a weaker-than-expected margin of 222 to 212.
The intruder, 42-year-old David DePape, demanded “Where is Nancy?” before striking Paul Pelosi with a hammer. She was in Washington at the time…reports Asian Lite News
With control of the House still hanging in the balance, Speaker Nancy Pelosi stayed mum Sunday on her future plans but said congressional colleagues are urging her to seek another term as Democratic leader following a strong showing in the midterm elections.
Appearing in Sunday news shows, Pelosi said Democrats are “still alive” in their fight to win the chamber and that she will make a decision on whether to run for House leadership in the next couple weeks.
“People are campaigning and that’s a beautiful thing. And I’m not asking anyone for anything,” she said, referring to House Democratic leadership elections set for Nov. 30. “My members are asking me to consider doing that. But, again, let’s just get through the (midterm) election.”
“A great deal is at stake, because we will be in a presidential election,” Pelosi said.
Over the weekend, Democrats clinched control of the Senate following Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s victory in Nevada. But in the House, a majority remains unsettled with neither party having yet reached the 218 seats needed to control the 435-member chamber.
Pelosi, D-Calif., declined to predict whether her party will retain control of the House, saying she was “disappointed” with four Democratic losses in New York, including by Congressional Campaign Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney, which ultimately could make the difference.
“Nonetheless, we still think we have a chance to win this,” she said. “Nobody would have ever expected that we would be this close. Well, we expected it.”
On the GOP side, House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy is seeking to become House speaker if his party prevails, but the disappointing showing in the midterms has created turmoil for leaders and calls for a new direction. Former President Donald Trump’s effect on the 2022 races is also being hotly debated as he prepares to announce another run.
Pelosi on Sunday said she believed that President Joe Biden should run for a second term, citing his legislative accomplishments such as the bipartisan infrastructure law and the Inflation Reduction Act as well as the creation of millions of jobs under his watch.
“He has been a great president and he has a great record to run on,” she said.
The 82-year-old Pelosi, who has led Democrats in the House since 2003 and is the first female speaker, had struck a deal with House members to serve for two more terms as leader — or four years — after Democrats won control of the chamber in 2018. But she hasn’t announced her plans, nor have her top two deputies, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C. There has been some pressure from younger House members to pass the torch to new leaders.
Pelosi’s decision also comes after her husband was attacked late last month in the couple’s San Francisco home, suffering a skull fracture and other injuries. The intruder, 42-year-old David DePape, demanded “Where is Nancy?” before striking Paul Pelosi with a hammer. She was in Washington at the time.
Pelosi said Sunday that her husband’s recovery will be a “long haul, but he’s doing well,” though the trauma of the attack was “intensified” by Republicans’ “ridiculous, disrespectful attitude.” Top Republicans, including Trump, had downplayed the attack and spread misinformation about it.
“It wasn’t just the attack. It was the Republican reaction to it, which was disgraceful,” she said.
Pelosi said her decision on whether to run again for House leadership will be “about family” but “also my colleagues,” citing a need to move forward “in a very unified way” going into a new Congress and the 2024 campaign season. She stressed the opportunities for Democrats that lie ahead.
“Who would have thought two months ago that this red wave would turn into a little tiny trickle, if that at all?” she said. “But we never believed that. We believed.”
“There are all kinds of ways to exert influence,” Pelosi added. “Speaker has awesome power, but I will always have influence.”
Pelosi spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union” and ABC’s “This Week.”
Control of House remains in limbo
Control of the US House of Representatives remains in limbo, days after the November 8 midterm elections, according to poll projections.
Twenty of the 435 House races have yet to be called, with Republicans already taking in 211 versus 204 for Democrats. Many undecided contests are in California, where the counting of mail-in ballots continues. Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, and Oregon are among other states to have uncalled House races.
It takes at least 218 seats to claim control of the lower chamber, where Democrats have a slim majority this term. In the Senate, 35 of its 100 seats were up for grabs this year.
Democrats have been projected to retain majority status with at least 50 seats despite Georgia’s race headed to a runoff next month.
The upper chamber is currently divided 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast the tie-breaking vote in favour of Democrats.
The new Congress will convene for the first time on January 3, 2023. In this year’s midterm elections, 36 out of 50 states, as well as three US territories, elected governors.
Numerous other state and local elections were also contested. The total cost of 2022 state and federal midterm elections is projected to exceed $16.7 billion, according to a new OpenSecrets analysis released earlier this month.
“No other midterm election has seen as much money at the state and federal levels as the 2022 elections,” said Sheila Krumholz, OpenSecrets’ executive director. “We’re seeing record-breaking totals spent on elections up and down the ballot.”
Asked whether she had made a decision on whether or not to remain in Congress, Pelosi who rarely publicly discussed her future would only disclose that the attack on her husband had impacted her thinking….reports Asian Lite News
Pelosi says attack on husband weighs on her future plans House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday the brutal attack on her husband will impact her decision on whether to remain in Congress after the midterm election, as she called on Republicans to stop the misinformation that is fueling political violence and urged Americans to “vote to defend our democracy.”
In a wide-ranging CNN interview, the Democratic leader did not disclose her future plans if the party loses the House majority, as many believe Pelosi and others will step down. Known for her stiff resolve, Pelosi’s voice cracked with emotion and she acknowledged she was “close to tears” as she described the trauma of the attack on her 82-year-old husband and the sadness she felt for the country.
“I’m sad because of my husband, but I’m also sad for our country,” Pelosi said.
“I just want people to vote and we will respect the outcome of the election, and I would hope that the other side will do that as well,” she said.
Pelosi was speaking for the first time publicly on the eve of the elections as the Democrats are struggling against a surge of Republican enthusiasm to keep control of Congress at a time of rising threats of violence against lawmakers and concerns over the U.S. election.
Asked whether she had made a decision on whether or not to remain in Congress, Pelosi who rarely publicly discussed her future would only disclose that the attack on her husband had impacted her thinking.
“I have to say my decision will be affected about what happened in the last week or two,” Pelosi said on CNN.
Top Republican leaders including allies of Donald Trump and even new Twitter-owner Elon Musk have mocked and downplayed the attack, despite the gravity of the assault on her husband.
“There has to be some message to the Republicans to stop to stop the disinformation,” she said. “We want the country to heal.”
Pelosi’s husband, Paul, was bludgeoned 11 days before the election by an intruder authorities said broke into the family’s San Francisco and was looking for the speaker before striking him in the head with a hammer at least once. The intruder told police he wanted to talk to Speaker Pelosi and would “break her kneecaps” as a lesson to other Democrats. Paul Pelosi suffered a fractured skull and other injuries in what authorities said was an intentional political attack.
“For me this is the hard part because Paul was not the target, and he’s the one paying the price,” Pelosi said.
Pelosi said the hammer hit her husband in two places, but did not pierce his brain. Pelosi said his recovery was “on a good path” but she acknowledged “it’s a long haul.”
Long a target of Republican attacks, Pelosi said the assault on her husband of nearly 60 years, with its echoes of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, was fueled by misinformation “that has no place in our democracy.”
Pelosi said she was sleeping at her apartment in Washington, having just returned from San Francisco, when there was a “bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,” on her door. It was about 5 a.m. on the morning of Oct. 28.
“I was very scared,” Pelosi told CNN in an interview. “I’m thinking my children, my grandchildren. I never thought it would be Paul.”
“We didn’t even know where he was or what his condition was,” Pelosi said, in excerpts of the interview. “We just knew there was an assault on him in our home.”
David DePape, 42, is being held without bail in San Francisco after entering a not guilty plea to attempted murder and other charges in San Francisco. He also faces federal charges of attempted kidnapping of an elected official.
The fringe activist who followed conspiracy theories broke into the Pelosi home, woke up Paul Pelosi and demanded to talk to “Nancy,” authorities said. When Paul Pelosi told the intruder his wife was out of town, DePape said he would wait. After Paul Pelosi called 911, officers arrived to see the two men struggling over a hammer before DePape struck Paul Pelosi at least once in the head with the hammer.
DePape later told police he wanted to kidnap the speaker and threatened to injure her “to show other members of Congress there were consequences to actions.”
The authorities’ stark narrative laid out in court filings in the case comes in contrast to the jokes and innuendo that conservatives and some Republican officials have spread about the Pelosis in the aftermath of the attack.
Pelosi has said little since the attack on her husband, cutting short her campaign appearances but spoke in a virtual call to grassroots activists late last week after Paul Pelosi was released from the hospital.
“People say to me, ‘What can I do to make you feel better?’ I say: ‘Vote!’” Pelosi told those on the call.
Her voice cracked at times as she said of her husband’s recovery, “It’s going to be a long haul.”
Video screenshot shows warplane aerial refueling as the air force and naval aviation corps of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) fly warplanes to conduct operations around the Taiwan Island, Aug. 4, 2022. The Eastern Theater Command on Thursday conducted joint combat exercises and training around the Taiwan Island on an unprecedented scale. (Xinhua/IANS)
China had launched the manoeuvres around the democratic self-governing island in response to the visit by leading US politician Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, reports Asian Lite News
In manoeuvres around Taiwan on Saturday, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is performing “what it believed to be a simulation of an attack on Taiwan’s main island”, according to the Defence Ministry in Taipei.
The Ministry said that numerous military aircraft and warships were operating near Taiwan and some of them had crossed the unofficial centre line in the 130-km-wide Taiwan Strait, which separates the mainland and the island and is mostly respected by both sides, reports dpa news agency.
In response, Taiwan’s military had sent aircraft, radioed warnings and mobilised missile defence systems to track the Chinese military aircraft.
The Mainland Affairs Council, Taiwan’s government agency on policy dealings with Beijing, strongly protested China’s simulation, asking to immediately stop the irresponsible provocation.
China had launched the manoeuvres around the democratic self-governing island in response to the visit by leading US politician Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. It was the highest-ranking visit from the US in a quarter of a century.
Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its territory and vehemently rejects official contacts between other countries and Taipei.
Photo taken on Aug. 5, 2022 shows a Taiwan military vessel as seen from a warship of the navy of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) during the navy’s combat exercises and training in the waters around the Taiwan Island. The Eastern Theater Command on Friday continued joint combat exercises and training in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island. (Photo by Lin Jian/Xinhua/IANS)
On Friday, the PLA had sent a “record number” of 68 military aircraft and 13 naval vessels into waters near the island, Taiwan’s military reported.
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu tweeted his condemnation of what he termed a “dangerous escalation of the military threat” that was “wrecking peace & stability in the region & must be condemned”.
As part of its military exercises, which are due to end on Sunday, the PLA also launched 11 ballistic missiles in Taiwan’s direction, one of which flew directly over the island and passed close to the capital Taipei for the first time, according to reports.
Five other missiles landed east of Taiwan in Japan’s exclusive economic zone, in a gesture that was widely seen as a warning to Tokyo to stay out of the conflict.
China has suspended dialogue with the US on climate action and on certain military matters, while it ceased cooperation on issues such as the fight against organized crime, drugs and the repatriation of illegal immigrants altogether.
A video screenshot shows a warplane conducting operations during exercises and training of the air force corps of the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) around the Taiwan Island, Aug. 5, 2022. The Eastern Theater Command on Friday continued joint combat exercises and training in the waters and airspace around the Taiwan Island. (Xinhua/IANS)
In addition, Beijing imposed unspecified sanctions on Pelosi and her immediate family members, accusing her of “seriously interfering in internal affairs”.
Speaking in the Philippines, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington had no desire to see the escalation of military tensions.
He urged Beijing to “focus on the fact that for 40 years plus, we’ve managed this problem, this challenge well and we’ve done it in a way that’s avoided any conflict”.
“I think that’s the expectations that countries … around the region and around the world have,” he added. “They certainly expect us, the US and China, to manage our differences responsibly and that’s what we’re determined to do.”
North Korea on Saturday condemned US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom.
In a statement, Jo Yong-sam, director general of the Foreign Ministry’s press and information department, also criticized Pelosi for talking about “strong and expanded deterrent” against threats from North Korea during her trip to South Korea earlier this week, reports Yonhap News Agency.
She made a two-day visit here from Wednesday following a trip to Taiwan. She had talks with National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo and a phone call with President Yoon Suk-yeol.
Pelosi then visited the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
It demonstrates the “hostile policy of the current U.S. administration towards the DPRK”, the North’s official said in the statement carried by Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency.
Pelosi, who is “the worst destroyer of international peace and stability had incited the atmosphere of confrontation with Russia during her visit to Ukraine in April, and incurred the wrath of the Chinese people for her recent junket to Taiwan”, Jo said.
He warned that it “would be a fatal mistake for her to think that she can go scot-free in the Korean Peninsula. The US will have to pay dearly for all the sources of trouble spawned by her wherever she went”.
Such a nuisance had been created out of thin air, knowing full well what it would mean for China, said Lavrov…reports Asian Lite News
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has criticised Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip.
This shows Washington’s desire to demonstrate US lawlessness to everyone, along the lines of “I do what I want,” he said on Wednesday during a visit to Myanmar, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.
Such a nuisance had been created out of thin air, knowing full well what it would mean for China, dpa news agency reported quoting Lavrov as saying.
Pelosi arrived in Taiwan the previous day.
China regards self-governing democratic Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic and it strictly rejects official contact by other countries with the island and had warned the US against the visit.
“America’s solidarity with the 23 million people of Taiwan is more important today than ever, as the world faces a choice between autocracy and democracy…reports Asian Lite News
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday, despite stern warnings from Beijing, making her the highest-level US official to visit the island in 25 years.
Pelosi’s US Air Force-operated Boeing C-40C landed at Taipei’s Songshan Airport on Tuesday, marking the start of the third — and the most controversial — leg of her five-country Asia tour, dpa news agency reported.
Pelosi and her delegation of Democratic party lawmakers were met by Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and Sandra Oudkirk, the director of the American Institute in Taiwan, which serves as Washington’s de facto embassy.
The trip has drawn outrage from Beijing, which views the self-governing island as a breakaway territory that will one day be reunited with the mainland.
Pelosi is the third-highest ranking official in the US government, behind President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
For days, she has declined to confirm news reports that she would visit the island and Taiwan was not on her official itinerary.
People around the world monitored the progress of her flight on Tuesday, watching on flight tracking websites as her plane made its way from Kuala Lumpur toward Taipei, dpa news agency reported.
The flight path avoided the contested South China Sea and was escorted by eight US Air Force fighter jets as well as Taiwan Air Force fighter aircraft.
Chinese SU-35 fighter jets flew into the narrow Taiwan Strait, which separates the island from the mainland, shortly ahead of Pelosi’s arrival, Chinese state television reported.
Our visit is one of several Congressional delegations to Taiwan – and it in no way contradicts longstanding United States policy, guided by the Taiwan Relations Act of 1979, U.S.-China Joint Communiques and the Six Assurances.
Beijing had warned the United States that there would be a “very serious situation and consequences” if Pelosi visited.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told the press in Beijing on Monday that such a visit would be a “blatant interference in China’s internal affairs.”
“The Chinese side is comprehensively prepared for all eventualities.”
China’s leadership regards Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic and rejects official contacts between its diplomatic partners and the government in Taipei.
Taiwan, which has 23 million inhabitants, has long considered itself independent.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has heightened fears that China could annex the democratic island republic by force. Tensions over Taiwan have not been as high since the 1990s.
Pelosi’s delegation is expected to stay overnight in Taipei City`s Grand Hyatt Hotel, where protestors from the far-right and pro-China Alliance to Promote Chinese Unification had gathered. They were countered by the Taiwan State-Building Party, whose members held placards proclaiming “Democracies Strong Together”.
The capital city’s landmark Taipei 101 skyscraper, located near the five-star hotel, blazed “Welcome to Taiwan”.
Pelosi is expected to visit Taiwan’s Parliament on Wednesday and meet Yu Shyi-kun, the legislature’s leader, before holding talks with President Tsai Ing-wen.
Also on her schedule are meetings with Chinese, Hong Kong and Taiwanese human rights activists. She is expected to depart for Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday evening.
Ratcheting the tensions with China while the Ukraine war rages is the last thing Biden wants, while he cannot also openly oppose Pelosi’s independent move on Taiwan…reports Arul Louis
Speaker of the US House of Representatives Speaker, Nancy Pelosi will defy China and visit Taiwan, while also disregarding the American government’s advice creating a quandary for President Joe Biden’s administration, according to media reports.
National Security Council communications chief John Kirby warned on Monday that China was preparing for aggressive, retaliatory steps like firing missiles into the Taiwan Straits and intruding into Taiwan’s air defence zone or holding intrusive air or naval exercises.
But “we will not be intimidated”, he declared at a White House briefing.
“We will not take the bait or engage in sabre-rattling. At the same time, we will not be intimidated. We will keep operating in the seas and the skies of the Western Pacific as we have for decades.”
Simultaneously he tried to mollify Beijing, reiterating Washington’s commitment to the “One China” policy, which, he said, had been communicated by Biden and several senior officials to their counterparts in recent days.
Ratcheting the tensions with China while the Ukraine war rages is the last thing Biden wants, while he cannot also openly oppose Pelosi’s independent move on Taiwan.
While China has clearly made its opposition emphatic, Biden, who is making an overture to Beijing amid rising global tensions, has conveyed a Pentagon recommendation against Pelosi visiting Taiwan.
“I think that the military thinks it’s not a good idea right now,” he said recently.
China claims Taiwan is an integral part of it and Beijing’s officials said it views high-level visits there as an interference in its internal affairs, while US officials cautioned that it should not use the visit to escalate the already tense situation in the region.
Pelosi, who as Speaker is next in line of succession to the President after the Vice President, will be the highest-ranking US official to visit the island in 25 years when she goes there on Tuesday for an overnight visit, the reports quoting Congressional and Taiwanese officials said.
On a day of rising rhetoric on Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters at the UN that if Pelosi visited Taiwan, the US expects China “to act responsibly, and not to engage in any escalation”.
If China tries to create a crisis or escalate tensions, that will “really be on Beijing”, he added, while distancing the Biden administration from Pelosi’s visit.
“We do not know what Speaker Pelosi intends to do, but again, that is entirely her decision and one that we respect one way or the other.” he said pointing out that “Congress is an independent, co-equal branch of government… the decision is entirely the Speaker’s”.
Speaking later at the UN, China’s Permanent Representative Zhang Jun, who took over as the Security Council President for this month, said that the Taiwan issue was a “red line” and the visit would be “dangerous and provocative”.
He said that China is fully prepared to “respond” and “will take firm and strong measures to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and the US has to bear all the aceserious consequences” of Pelosi’s visit.
During his phone call last week with Biden, China’s President Xi Jinping delivered a stern warning that in regard to Taiwan “those who play with fire will eventually get burned”.
China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said on Monday: “The People’s Liberation Army of China will never sit idly by, and we will make resolute response and take strong countermeasures to uphold China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
While he did not specify the action, a columnist at Chinese Community Party-linked newspaper Global Times had made the threat more direct in a now-deleted tweet asserting that Beijing has the right to “forcibly dispel Pelosi’s plane”.
At his White House briefing, Kirby said that “potential steps from China could include military provocations such as firing missiles in the Taiwan Strait or around Taiwan; operations that break historical norms such as large-scale air entry into Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone”, and “air or naval activities that cross the median line”.
China could also retaliate diplomatically and economically like claiming that the Taiwan Strait is not an international waterway as well as intensifying its disinformation campaign, he added.
Kirby said that Pelosi’s visit was not a change in US policy as members of Congress had visited Taiwan in the past and the trip should not be used as a pretext for a confrontation.
But Zhang said that the circumstances were different now from the time of the visit of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich in 1997 because “Taiwan independence elements are moving on the wrong path”.
Pelosi arrived in Singapore on Monday on a tour of Asia for which the official itinerary includes Malaysia, South Korea and Japan, with no mention of Taiwan, although she had hinted in the past that she could make a stop.
US Senate failed to get the support of 17 Republicans to have the 2/3rd majority required to convict former US President Donald Trump, a report by Ashok Nilakantan
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced her plans to establish a 9/11 style independent commission outside the Congress to probe the January 6, 2021 Capitol Hills insurrection, even as bipartisan Senators voted 57-43 to impeach the former president, but failed to get the support of 17 Republicans to have the 2/3rd majority required to convict Trump.
Trump was free to go on impeachment in the second vote of the senate.
Even as Trump got this reprieve with his ‘Trumpification’ of the Republican party, Pelosi announced plans for Congress to establish an outside and independent commission to investigate “the facts and causes” related to the attack on the US Capitol last year.
In a letter to her Democratic colleagues on Monday, the California Democrat said the commission will be modelled on the commission established after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
President Joe Biden responded to the Senate’s acquittal of Trump by reminding Americans that truth must be defended, saying the impeachment of the former President was a stark illustration of the danger posed to democracy by lies, misinformation and extremism.
And Biden said that although Trump was acquitted, his actions in the lead-up to the Jan 6 riots were not “in dispute”.
“This sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile. That it must always be defended. That we must be ever vigilant. That violence and extremism has no place in America. And that each of us has a duty and responsibility as Americans, and especially as leaders, to defend the truth and to defeat the lies,” Biden said in a statement.
Biden’s statement was preceded by Pelosi noting the recent work of retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who has “been assessing our security needs by reviewing what happened on January 6 and how we must ensure that it does not happen again”.
“As we prepare for the Commission, it is also clear from General Honore’s interim reporting that we must put forth a supplemental appropriation to provide for the safety of Members and the security of the Capitol,” Pelosi wrote.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Photo_Instagram via IANS)
Such a move will require legislation and will likely tee up partisan difficulties, NPR WNYC quoted her as saying.
Her letter to colleagues came several hours after four House Republicans sent a letter to Pelosi suggesting she may be responsible for the delay in the deployment of National Guard troops ahead of and during the insurrection.
The letter did not mention Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who on January 6 was still the Senate majority leader and would have also had a say in the Capitol’s security posture.
“Many important questions about your responsibility for the security of the Capitol remain unanswered,” the letter read.
Drew Hammill, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, called the Republicans’ letter a “transparently partisan attempt to lay blame on the Speaker”.
“The Speaker has and will continue to take action to ensure accountability and enhance the security of the Capitol,” he said in a statement.
“Following the insurrection, the House Sergeant at Arms, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Chief of the Capitol Police were removed from their positions. It is the job of the Capitol Police Board, on which these three individuals sat, to properly plan and prepare for security threats facing the US Capitol.”
Senator Chris Coons, a close ally of President Biden, told ABC’s ‘This Week’ that he supports a September 11-style commission to probe further into the events leading up to the attack.
“There’s still more evidence that the American people need and deserve to hear,” the Delaware Democrat said.
“The 9/11-style commission is the way to make sure that we secure the Capitol going forward, and that we lay bare the record of just how responsible and abjectly and violating of his constitutional oath President Trump really was.”
Following the January 6 attack, heightened security measures were deployed around the complex, including the requirement of members to walk through metal detectors and various forms of fencing secured around the Capitol’s perimeter.
Trump, facing conviction and impeachment in the Senate committee probing the Capitol insurrection, escaped impeachment as the Senate voted 57-43 to acquit former him during his second impeachment trial.
Even though the yearlong hearings by the Senate committee gathered mounting evidence to convict Trump, it had no legal powers to do so as it’s only a fact-finding commission that can recommend a trial.
That’s why Pelosi has quickly moved to appoint a 9/11 style commission that’s independent of Congress and from the outside to find the causes of the riots. Trump is up against the wall again.
Seven GOP Senators voted with Democrats — the most bipartisan impeachment vote in US history — but fell short of the 17 needed to convict the former Ppresident, according to CNBC news. .
Of those seven Republicans, two are retiring and only one — Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski — faces her state’s voters in the next election cycle in 2022.
Following Trump’s second acquittal in an impeachment trial, House Democratic managers are defending their decision not to forge ahead with seeking witnesses to help make their case.
Members on both sides of the aisle were anticipating a surprise Senate vote to allow witnesses threatened to upend the speedy trial. But after a two-hour break, the House managers relented, and they and Trump’s defence team reached a deal that would prevent them from going down the prolonged path of seeking to add witnesses to the trial.
Instead, they allowed a statement released by Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, in which she relayed a conversation she said the House GOP leader had with Trump, to be entered into the trial record.
The House impeachment managers defended that choice, arguing that continuing the trial with witnesses wouldn’t have been strategically advantageous.
“We have no regrets,” lead House impeachment manager Jamie Raskin, told NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’.
“We left it totally out there on the floor of the Senate, and every Senator knew exactly what happened. We could have had a thousand witnesses but that could not have overcome the kinds of silly arguments that people like McConnell and Capito were hanging their hats on,” he added.
Senator Stacey Plaskett was vitriolic in saying the Trump trial needed “More Senators with spines, not more witnesses”.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell West Virginia GOP Senator Shelley Moore Capito both cited constitutional concerns in their decision to vote to acquit Trump.
The Senate vote raises further questions about Trump’s role in the Republican Party going forward. In a statement after the verdict, Trump said: “Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to ‘Make America Great Again’ has only just begun.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, an ally of the former President, told Fox News that he had spoken with Trump, and that he’s eager to help the GOP win the House and Senate back in 2022.
But Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy, who was one of the seven Republicans who broke ranks with their party in voting to convict the trump, told ABC’s ‘This Week’ that Trump’s “force wanes” in the GOP.
Cassidy is facing backlash in Louisiana over his vote, including the state GOP voting to unanimously censure him. But he said people want to hold their leaders accountable and that’s what his vote to convict was based on.
File photo shows US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi confronting then President Donald Trump at a reportedly explosive White House meeting. In the image, leading Democrat Pelosi is standing up at a large table, surrounded by male Congressional leaders and top military officials, pointing her finger towards the President, who is seated opposite her and appears stunned.
“I have the privilege of having the facts before me, and being able to spend several days deeply going into those facts. As these facts become more and more out there, if you will, and folks have a chance to look for themselves, more folks will move to where I was,” he explained.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell excoriated Trump for his actions on the day of the attack on the US Capitol, calling them a “disgraceful dereliction of duty”.
But he said ultimately he did not vote to convict the former President because of constitutional concerns. “There’s no question, none, that President Trump was practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day,” McConnell said shortly after the 57-43 Senate vote that ended in the former President’s acquittal.
