WASHINGTON (AP) – This time the fury surrounding the Capitol does not come from an insurgent mob but from within.
The anger on display is fiery: Democrat vs. Republican; Republican vs. Republican; lawmakers on both sides against the catastrophic security failure that left top government leaders vulnerable to last week’s violence and the coronavirus in their ranks.
Anger is raging even hotter over the passions aroused by Democrats ’new push to oust President Donald Trump.
It was a “bracelet” moment, a Democrat said. It is certainly historic.
The House is moving toward making Trump the first president to be indicted twice as part of an extraordinary effort to remove him from office before Democrat Joe Biden takes office on Wednesday. The accusation to be filed against him: “incitement to insurrection.”
Once again, the founders ’phrase,“ high crimes and misdemeanors, ”has been turned against Trump, who was acquitted by the Senate in his first impeachment process. And the temperers are protesting in the corridors and offices of Congress that are still cleaning up the garbage of the attackers.
The shaken limbs, long accustomed to protective bubbles, asked if they could pay their own bulletproof vests to taxpayers (yes they can). Democrats attacked a collection of old-fashioned Trumpers: Republicans who pressured the president’s false accusations of a fraudulent election even after the crowd, motivated by the same lies, was finally wiped out.
Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, among others, called for the expulsion or censorship of Republican members who argued Trump’s case to overturn voters’ will if those lawmakers refuse to resign. Democrats sought out Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and a selection of House lawmakers who had also tried to obstruct Biden’s election certification.
“Not holding those responsible for the insurgency accountable would be a profound injustice and would give the green light to future authoritarians,” Casey said.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland said: “They have a completely independent reality, completely separate from the world of facts, and that is the basis of fascism. When you add racism, anti-Semitism, conspiracy theory and magical thinking, this is an absolute powder keg in terms of attacking democracy. ”
There were also Republican to Republican signals. Much of it was aimed at House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California because it did not show enough leadership, according to some former lawmakers and also Republican Party congressional aides who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to discuss the issue publicly.
Some House Republicans are upset that McCarthy, one of Trump’s staunchest supporters in Washington, was defending him too hard and too long, making it difficult for Trump to dissociate after the siege of the Capitol.
Instead, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky explicitly criticized Trump’s push to annul Biden’s election, saying it would “harm our republic forever.” He did so even as the crowd broke into the Capitol and rushed into the chambers against the police in smaller numbers.
McCarthy acknowledged his Republican colleagues’ outrage at the attack in a letter to them on Monday declaring “I share your anger and your grief” and making sure they knew the mob threat was also his. it was close.
“Zippered straps were found on the desks of my office staff,” he wrote. “Windows were destroyed. Property was stolen. These images will never leave us.”
As if nerves weren’t raw enough for Trump’s actions and his loyal and tough ones, three Democrats who took refuge with members of the Republican House when they were encouraged to a safe room revealed that they had tested positive for COVID- 19. Some of the Republicans in that room during those hours had refused to wear masks.
In fact, one of the newly infected, Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, said that “several Republicans not only cruelly refused to wear a mask, but recklessly mocked their colleagues and staff who they offered “.
Representatives Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey and Brad Schneider of Illinois were the others who announced positive evidence after moving into the courtroom while everyone waited to see if more cases arrived.
Democrats were livid.
“In the midst of a deadly assault on our U.S. Capitol, some of our Republican colleagues laughed at the rules designed to keep not only their colleagues safe, but also to protect the lives of the teams of workers they maintain. things going on, law enforcement and staff throughout the Capitol, ”said Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich.
On Tuesday, the sergeant of the House Weapons Office issued a statement saying that all members and other people entering the chamber should be examined for prohibited items, including firearms, and any person who does not wear a mask on the floor of the house will be removed. The House also voted to impose fines on lawmakers without facial coverage.
The selection requirement is when at least one lawmaker, first-year Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., Has spoken openly about bringing her firearm through the city and Capitol grounds, which has infuriated Democrats with weapons control.
The new metal detectors located outside the House of Representatives also angered some Republicans, some of whom uttered obscenities or ignored the devices, claiming they were prevented from voting.
At a virtual meeting of the House Rules Committee, Democrats implored Republicans to stop transmitting Trump myths about stolen elections. Trump’s accusations have been refuted for weeks by judges and election officials, but they motivated the crowd and are still believed by legions of Trump supporters.
“When does the service to Donald Trump end?” demanded Democratic Rep. Joe Morelle of New York. “It has to be easy to answer.”
“When people talk, it’s over,” he continued. Otherwise, “we have nothing. There is no America. “
There were some indications that the top Republican in the House was backing his firm show of loyalty to Trump.
McCarthy had joined most House Republicans in December to support a demand to block Biden’s election, and again last week in two votes against to certify Biden’s victory. The lawsuit and the two votes failed. So far he has avoided making Trump public. But in a private conference Monday with GOP colleagues, he expressed his openness to censoring Trump.
McCarthy “expanded the president’s misinformation about large-scale election fraud,” he said in an interview last week with former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., Who often clashed with Trump. “It simply came to our notice then. Mitch does not fall into this category “.
“McCarthy is all about Trump,” said Paul Cook, who retired in January as a California GOP congressman and had differences with him over the years. “I think sometimes you have the biggest good in the country. It’s not always the party.”
To cook, it all comes down to the oath of office. “Take an oath, a lot of people forget the words,” he said.
In their swearing-in oath, lawmakers promise to defend the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”