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Debunking January 6 Conspiracy Claims, Pence Urges 'New Leadership' In GOP

Debunking January 6 Conspiracy Claims, Pence Urges 'New Leadership' In GOP

During a conversation with CNN host Jake Tapper Sunday — one day after the third anniversary of January 6 — ex-Vice President Mike Pence shot down the right-wing conspiracy theory that the FBI instigated the attack on the US Capitol.

Per CNN, "A recent Washington Post poll showed a third of Republicans believe the conspiracy" — which Donald Trump "echoed just days ago."

Pence told Tapper, "We’ve been assured again and again that it was not the case. They simply need to look to the facts that the Capitol Hill Police endured great hardship and great harm."

Then news outlet notes the former Trump official "said the upcoming Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary offered Republicans the chance to 'give our party a fresh start and give us new leadership to lead our party forward in the election and beyond."

Pence also emphasized his gratitude "forthe FBI’s efforts to arrest to arrest those who 'ransacked our Capitol and did violence against police officers that day,' demanding those who participated in the attack be held to 'the fullest extent of the law.'"

CNN's full report is here.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

CNN Reports Secret Service Agents Confirm Hutchinson Testimony

CNN Reports Secret Service Agents Confirm Hutchinson Testimony

Secret Service agents are coming forward to say that for months after the January 6 insurrection, they heard stories very similar to the account former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said she was told by a Trump loyalist and White House aide. The right-wing pro-Trump propaganda machine latched on to parts of her story in which she said she was told the outgoing president lunged at an agent, and “grabbed at” the steering wheel of the presidential limo, which on January 6 was an SUV.

Trump “angrily demanded to go to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, and berated his protective detail when he didn’t get his way,” CNN reports, citing “two Secret Service sources who say they heard about the incident from multiple agents, including the driver of the presidential SUV where it occurred.”

That directly supports Hutchinson’s remarks before the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack in her surprise bombshell testimony last Tuesday. “The sources tell CNN that stories circulated about the incident,” CNN adds, “in the months immediately afterward the US Capitol attack and before she testified this week.”

CNN also reports that “one source, a longtime Secret Service employee, told CNN that the agents relaying the story described Trump as ‘demanding’ and that the former President said something similar to: ‘I’m the f**king President of the United States, you can’t tell me what to do.’ The source said he originally heard that kind of language was used shortly after the incident.”

Hutchinson had told the committee that a Trump aide, Anthony Ornato, had told her Trump got into the presidential limo, which was not “The Beast,” as right-wing propagandists are claiming, but an SUV, and said: “I’m the f-ing president! Take me up to the Capitol now!”

“The president reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel,” Hutchinson also told the committee, citing Ornato as her source. Referring to Secret Service Special Agent Robert Engel, she said, “Mr. Engel grabbed his arm, said, ‘Sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. We’re going back to the West Wing. We’re not going the Capitol.’”

“Mr. Trump then used his free hand to lunge towards Bobby Engel,” Hutchinson then added. “When Mr. Ornato had recounted this story to me, he had motioned towards his clavicle.”

Watch CNN’s report from Friday below or at this link:

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Top Aide Quits After Greene’s Public Meltdown On Capitol Steps

Top Aide Quits After Greene’s Public Meltdown On Capitol Steps

Reprinted with permission from AlterNet

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) lost her most senior staffer on Friday after she made a scene on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

NBC News reported Greene "instigated a shouting match with a group of House Democrats who were holding an event outside the U.S. Capitol on Friday."Greene screamed that Democrats support "murder" for supporting abortion rights.

Following the incident, Greene announced that her chief of staff had "advised" her that he would no longer be working in her office.

"I want to thank my Chief of Staff, Patrick Parsons, for helping me take the fight to the Socialist Democrats as I've transitioned into Congress. He's advised me he will be moving back into the political arena to help elect America First conservatives who can fight alongside me," she posted to Twitter.


Chicago Cop Charged In Capitol Riot, Accused Of Entering Senator’s Office

Chicago Cop Charged In Capitol Riot, Accused Of Entering Senator’s Office

CHICAGO — A Chicago police officer was arrested Friday on federal charges of breaching the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and entering a Democratic senator's office with the violent mob, later texting to a friend that he'd “knocked out a commie." Officer Karol Chwiesiuk, 29, was charged in a criminal complaint in U.S. District Court in Washington with five misdemeanor counts, including entering a restricted building, disrupting government business, and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds with intent to impede congressional proceeding. The 19-page complaint alleges Chwiesiuk broke into Oregon Sen. Jef...