The armed forces of the United States are for democracy, not for insurrection. The Joint Chiefs of Staff published on Tuesday night an unequivocal condemnation message to the attack on Congress last week during the proclamation of the electoral victory of Joe Biden by supporters of Donald Trump that guarantees his alignment with the Constitution and the peaceful transfer of powers on January 20.
The violent riots of January 6 “were a direct attack on the US Congress, the Capitol building and our constitutional process,” they say in an unusual statement the chiefs of staff of the main branches of the US military.
As we have done throughout our history, the US military will obey legal orders of civilian leaders “and remains” fully committed to the protection and defense of the Constitution “from all enemies, foreigners and national “.
The National Guard on Capitol Hill. Photo: AFP
The army commanders consider the assault on the Capitol “contrary to the rule of law” and emphasize that freedom of expression does not mean that you can “resort to violence, sedition or insurrection.”
Any act that alters the constitutional process “is not only contrary to our traditions, our values and our oath but it is against the law,” concludes the statement, which confirms his commitment that Joe Biden becomes on January 20 at 46 .º commander-in-chief of the country at a time when the army, like several police departments in the country, are investigating the possible presence of some of its members, active or retired, in the riots.
Washington it has been fortified as never before for the inauguration. Despite the FBI’s warning of the risk of armed protests in the 50 capitols state and capital, the Democrat maintains plans to be sworn in on the stairs of Congress, the same stairs that Trump supporters took with violence last week.
Members of the National Guard on Capitol Hill. Photo: AFP
Although the FBI’s Washington bureau chief Steven D’Antuono said on Friday that they had “no indication” that the protest could lead to mass violence, an internal pre-protest report by the FBI was released on Tuesday. Virginia office in which it was noted that they had detected online conversations of several people calling “go to the war” at the Capitol on January 6.
They spoke, for example, of “breaking glass”, “breaking down doors” and “bloodshed” defenders of Black Lives Matter and anti-fascists, relates the document, published by The Washington Post.
“Stop calling this a rally or a protest and get ready to go to war. We either have our president or we die”, They commented on the eve of the events in forums in which some extremists even shared a map of the Capitol tunnels.
Second impeachment
Several Old Guard Republicans Announce Supporting Trump’s Impeachment The Justice Department has opened 160 cases and charged 70 people. The numbers, they assure, will grow exponentially in the coming days.
The FBI studies filing sedition charges against some of the protesters. The challenge, they admitted, is to prove that they intended to put into practice “the things they typed from their keyboards,” said District of Columbia Attorney Michael Sherwin.
The FBI did not rule out including the rioters present on Capitol Hill in the list of people who have forbidden to take airplanes in the US as claimed by Chuck Schumer, the next leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate. “The insurgents who entered the Capitol fall within the definition of threats to national security and they should be added immediately ”to the list to reduce their mobility, asked the Democrat.
The January 20 ceremony
Even before the attack on the Capitol, Biden’s inauguration ceremony was going to be much smaller than on previous occasions and essentially virtual, with few opportunities to interact with the public. due to the pandemic. The capital “is prepared” to guarantee the security of the act, said the former director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, concerned, however, about what could happen beyond Washington and the lack of means of the state police to face possible assaults .
For the first time in weeks, Trump spoke to the White House press pool, the rotating team of reporters that follows his movements, and he did. defiantly to defend his reaction to last week’s seditious insurrection and accuse Democrats of provoking “violence” with their plans to pass his second impeachment today, a challenge that could translate into his disqualification from holding public office.
“People thought what I said was totally appropriate,” Trump said. Photo: AFP
“It seemed to people that what I said was totally appropriate,” Trump said of his speech in the middle of the siege, when he reiterated his allegations of electoral fraud and called the insurgents “very special people” whom he “loves”, comments That provoked reactions of condemnation, not applause, not even among Republicans. Several ministers criticized his words. Three of them resigned days later.
Trump said he does not plan to resign, as the Democrats and a couple of Republican senators are asking him to do, because “we don’t want violence.” It is what will provoke, he warned, the plans of the Democrats to challenge him today for the second time, this time not for abuse of power or obstruction of justice, as a year ago, but for “Incitement to insurrection.”
Democrats have enough votes to carry out this impeachment, which they consider necessary as lesson to the president despite having only one week left in the White House.
The doubt is how many republicans they will join the initiative. Congresswoman Liz Cheney, daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, has advanced that she will vote in favor of impeachment: “There has never been more betrayal of a US president in office and his oath of the Constitution,” she said.
Some more members of the Lower House could follow in his footsteps, but it must not be forgotten that, despite the dramatic events, more than a hundred maintained their vote against Biden’s certification. In the Senate there are also movements. anxious about clear the trail of trumpism, Republican Leader in the Upper House, Mitch McConnell has made it known that does not object to the process.
“The lies of impeachment are the continuation of the greatest and most ruthless Witch hunt of the history of this country ”, warned Trump already in Texas, where he traveled to visit the new sections of the wall with Mexico.
His speech was riddled with dire warnings about the violence that may ensue if the process goes ahead. Trump showed up once more like a victim. This new impeachment “is causing a huge division and great pain beyond what many can understand, which is very dangerous for the US, especially in such a fragile moment,” he said after refusing to take responsibility for the events. January 6.
Copyright La Vanguardia
ap
.
