After the rioting by Trump supporters in Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021 which left four dead and desecrated the U.S, Capitol Building, Rep. Barbara Lee (California: 13th District) took to Twitter to call for President Trump to be impeached.
Rep. Barbara Lee Tweeted:
Trump is the single greatest threat to our democracy.
He is unfit for office and can’t be trusted for another minute as commander in chief.
He must be impeached and removed from office immediately.
U.S. Senator Cory Booker (NJ} released the following statement via Twitter on today's riots that led to a breach of the United Stares Capitol building for the first time since the War of 1812:
On August 24, 1814, the British stormed our Capitol and set fire to it.
Now the Capitol has again been breached and sieged.
Donald Trump incited this. He is responsible for this. And he is silent as this tragic moment continues.
And Donald Trump is being aided and abetted by a group of Republican House and Senate members.
This is on them, as well.
We must rise from this nadir of shame. We must repair our democracy. We must heal our nation.
CNN projected early Wednesday morning that Warnock beat incumbent GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler, with Black voters in the Atlanta metro area, the cradle of the Civil Rights Movement, and suburbs turning out to help Warnock win the seat.
Rev. Raphael Warnock will make history when he becomes Georgia's first Black senator and the first Black Democrat to represent a southern state in the Senate.
Once sworn in, Warnock will be the 11th African American to serve in the US Senate -- a group that includes former President Barack Obama, who served as a US senator from Illinois, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who is a US senator from California.
>b>Vote totals with 98% of precincts reporting
Raphael Warnock Democratic Party: 2,227,296
Kelly Loeffler Republican Party: 2,173,866SOURCE: CNN]
Members of the Proud Boys, a violent all-male group with ties to white nationalism, attacked and vandalized property of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historic Black church, on December 12, 2020, because of its congregants’ support for the Black Lives Matter movement. A lawsuit filed today in D.C. Superior court seeks to hold the Proud Boys, its leadership and certain of its members accountable.
“White supremacists like the Proud Boys, would rather see the country burn than to see it united together under justice and freedom for all,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Black churches and other religious institutions have a long and ugly history of being targeted by white supremacists in racist and violent attacks meant to intimidate and create fear. Our lawsuit aims to hold those who engage in such action accountable. We are proud to represent Metropolitan A.M.E. which has a long history of standing against bigotry and hate and whose courage and determination to fight back is a beacon of hope for the community.”
The defendants include Proud Boys International, LLC; Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys, who conspired with other Proud Boys members to plan, promote and participate in violent events throughout the summer and fall of 2020, including on December 12; and the unidentified individual Proud Boys members who joined in Tarrio’s conspiracy by attacking Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church and rampaging through downtown Washington D.C. on December 12.
“In 1807, members of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Philadelphia ratified the African Supplement, a document which declared their independence from the white supremacist Methodist Church, said Rev. William H. Lamar IV is the pastor of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church. “Today, 214 years later, we stand upon our ancestor’s firm foundation. White supremacists will not dictate the terms of our worship, theology, or our strident commitment to the liberation of humankind from violence, oppression, and exploitation. Our ancestors were victorious against the white supremacists who sought to instill fear in them and to control them. On January 1, 1816, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church an independent entity and our denomination was born. We, the descendants of these extraordinary women and men of God, will not allow white supremacist violence to go unchecked by the laws of the land. On January 4, 2021, I declare that we will be victorious against these white supremacists because God is with us, Jesus Christ is on our side, and our ancestors surround us. We are on the side of justice and justice will prevail.”
Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, like other nearby churches showing support for the Black Lives Matter movement, suffered from the defendants’ coordinated acts of violence when Proud Boys members climbed over a fence surrounding the church, came on to church property, tore down and destroyed a large Black Lives Matter sign the church was proudly displaying in what constituted clear acts of trespass, theft, and destruction of property.
The suit was filed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, on behalf of the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church.
“The Black Lives Matter movement is demanding the end of the denial in law and in practice of the humanity and dignity of Black people. The destruction of the sign proclaiming that Black Lives Matter at the Metropolitan AME Church and elsewhere throughout the City was an assault on the very notion of equity and justice,” said Jonathan M. Smith, executive director, Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.
The Proud Boys’ presence on December 12 and at previous attacks —and the acts of violence they incited—were no accident. For several months, Defendants have planned and carefully coordinated their efforts, both on the internet and in person. They exhorted each other with inflammatory language: “buy ammo [and] clean your guns” and “[t]onight we don’t sleep … Tonight we keep our enemies awake. Tonight, we become nightmares.”
Read the lawsuit here.
Rep. Johnson’s Resolution Censures and Condemns Trump for Blatantly Attempting to Overturn the Results of the November 2020 Presidential Election in Georgia.
Congressman Hank Johnson (GA-04) introduced H. Res XX this evening, censuring and condemning President Donald J. Trump for attempting to overturn the results of the November 2020 presidential election in the State of Georgia. He was joined by more than 90 colleagues.
On Saturday, January 2, 2021, President Trump called Georgia’s Secretary of State and asked him to illegally fabricate the votes needed for him to win the Georgia vote count. On Sunday, January 3, 2021, the entire audio of the call was reported in The Washington Post. The call lasted more than an hour and involved the President threatening Secretary Raffensperger with vague criminal prosecution threats if he didn’t cooperate. Rep. Johnson moved quickly to condemn President Trump's criminal actions and denounce his flagrant attempts to defraud a legal, fair, and free election.
Rep. Johnson tweeted: [the] president’s call to the Ga. SOS was far from “perfect.” In fact, it is a violation of state and federal law. Tomorrow, I will introduce a resolution of Censure. Trump should resign NOW!
The resolution garnered wide democratic support. Rep. Johnson was joined by Reps. Adams, Auchincloss, Barragan, Bass, Beatty, Beyer, Bishop, Blumenauer, Bonamici, Bourdeaux, Boyle, Bowman, Bush, Butterfield, Carson, Casten, Castor, Castro, Chu, Cicilline, Yvette Clarke, Cohen, Connolly, Cooper, Correa, Courtney, Danny Davis, Dean, DeLauro, Dingell, Doggett, Espaillat, Escobar, Eshoo, Dwight Evans, Foster, Chuy Garcia, Sylvia Garcia, Jimmy Gomez, Al Green, Hayes, Brian Higgins, Himes, Huffman, Jackson Lee, Jayapal, Mondaire Jones, Khanna, Kildee, John Larson, Brenda Lawrence, Barbara Lee, Andy Levin, Mike Levin, Lieu, Lowenthal, Lynch, Matsui, McCollum, McEachin, McGovern, McNerney, Meeks, Meng, Newman, Norton, Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pallone, Panetta, Pingree, Pocan, Pressley, Raskin, Rush, Scanlon, Schakowsky, David Scott, Sewell, Sherman, Speier, Suozzi, Swalwell, Takano, Mike Thompson, Tlaib, Rice, Norma Torres, Ritchie Torres, Velázquez, Watson Coleman, Welch.
Read the resolution below:
Resolution censuring Presid... by Councilman George L. Cook III
