The fallout from the attack on The Capitol in Washington continues.
Overnight a Capital police officer who fought with protesters and later collapsed at his station, died in hospital. Officer Brian Sicknick’s death is a murder. And If anyone thought President Trump might offer a pardon to the protesters he set in motion, that’s impossible now. And the hunt for many of those who violently entered the capital building is now underway.
There is now growing talk of another impeachment of Trump or invoking the 25th amendment. It’s being pushed by Dem House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a surprising number of Republicans are saying they would possibly support removal of The President. V.P. Pence is said to not support it. A 2nd impeachment would prevent Trump from running for office again.
President Trump issued a written video statement, reading from a teleprompter, he acknowledged a “new administration” would be sworn in on Jan 20. He said he had called out the national guard in response to the storming of the capital. Reports say otherwise. That in fact it was V.P. Pence who made that call as Trump watched the mayhem on TV. Trump didn’t concede. His W.H. Spokesperson McEnany looked rattled and shell shocked as she read a short statement condemning the violence and saying there would be a “orderly transition of power”. She didn’t take questions.
It hasn’t been orderly, and surely team Trump could have seen this coming with calls of false voting and his almost criminal attempts to get States, especially in Georgia, to reject free and fair election results. Trump helped radicalize his supporters with lies about the election. The discussion about how to mend these divisions hasn’t started but somehow it’s critical to legitimize The Biden Presidency, and restore faith in American democracy. Trump’s allegation of voter fraud won’t easily dissipate.
The Wall Street Journal editorial has called on Trump to resign. That’s Rupert Murdoch’s paper, the owner of Fox News. Notable.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-wsj/wall-street-journal-editorial-board-calls-on-trump-to-resign-idUSKBN29D02L
Resignations are aplenty; Two of Trumps cabinet, education and transportation secretaries has walked out. Steen Sund the Capital police chief would have been fired so he has resigned. The House Sergeant at arms who was responsible for security resigned after several law makers said he would be fired too.
Imagine the chaos as law makers were ushered into crowded hiding places and shelters within the building. It’s a shameful moment in U.S. history. Some of them now saying their Republican colleagues refused to mask, and several are now positive with Covid19.
The New York Times link: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/07/us/electoral-vote#video-trump
Here in Europe a chorus of condemnations of the violence including Britain P.M. Boris Johnson who called for a peaceful transition of power and an end to the “disgraceful scenes”. More from France’s Macron, Germany’s Merkel, even Trump ally Israeli P.M. Netanyahu.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election-2020/capitol-riots-dc-world-leaders-trump-johnson-trudeau-b1783532.html
Covid
Britain’s new variant of the virus which spread incredibly faster than others has now been found in some 22 other nations. The UK meantime says anyone entering The UK must now first test negative for Covid, and that includes British Nationals. For a second day in a row more than a thousand have died from corona virus in The U.K.
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/coronavirus-live-latest-updates-travellers-negative-covid-b756489.html
The roll out of vaccines is slow in Europe. Britain is ramping up to vaccinate 12.5 million people in the next 5 weeks. 1.5 have already been vaccinated says the Gov.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-55274833
The U.S. vaccination roll out in America should have been coordinated Nationally. It’s not and the rollout varies widely State by State.
Hong Kong
The arrests of pro democracy supporters by China is widening and further alarming observers. 53 were taken in Wednesday with police knocking on doors in the middle of the night and leading away among others, an American human rights lawyer. That will not sit well with the incoming Biden admin.
https://www.ft.com/content/871a6871-8120-4298-b468-1d2c6b537f5a
Back Story Hacking
On our podcast Back Story with Dana Lewis the massive computer hacking of thousands of businesses and The U.S. Gov by Russia.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/1016881/7180093
We interview Suzanne Spaulding, Senior adviser for Homeland Security and Director of the Defending Democratic Institutions project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies
Adam Darrah serves the Director of Intelligence at Vigilante in South Dakota, a US-based cyber intelligence firm.
And Glenn Chisholm is CEO at Obsidian which protects cloud services from account takeover, insider threat and identity sprawl and he has former NSA experts as advisors.
Check it out and share the podcast link.
Have a good day everyone. And please support this news letter by simply sharing it if you like it.