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CNN —A man with numerous firearms and materials to make an explosive was arrested Thursday in former President Barack Obama’s Washington, DC, neighborhood after claiming on an internet livestream that he had a detonator, law enforcement officials told CNN. Taylor Taranto, who had an open warrant for his arrest related to the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack, was arrested by the Metropolitan Police Department and federal law enforcement. “There is no active threat to the community and this incident remains under investigation.”According to law enforcement officials, firearms and materials to make Molotov cocktails were found in Taranto’s car. There is currently no indication of a direct threat to the Obamas, law enforcement officials told CNN. In court filings related to the ongoing suit, Taranto admitted to being inside the Capitol during the attack, but denied any wrongdoing.

Persons: Barack Obama’s, Taylor Taranto, United States Capitol Police “, ”, Jason Bell, Jeffrey Smith, Taranto, Smith Organizations: CNN, Metropolitan Police Department, Team, United States Capitol Police, Terrorism Task Forces, MPD, Capitol, Capitol police Locations: Barack Obama’s Washington, DC, Taranto, ” Taranto

☆ Opinion | This Is Why Trump Lies Like There’s No Tomorrow
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-28 | by ( Thomas B. Edsall | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +6 min

Together, we are determined to defend and preserve government of the people, by the people and for the people. In conclusion, they argue,It is important to recognize that Trump was no puppet master and that his followers were far more than puppets. Instead, he was the unifier, activator, and enabler of his followers during the dark events of Jan. 6, 2021. The absence of a point at which Trump instructed his supporters to assault Capitol Hill makes the assault on Capitol Hill no less his responsibility. It remains unknown whether Trump will be charged in connection with his refusal to abide by all of the legal requirements of democratic electoral competition.

Persons: Trump, “ Trump, Haslam, ‘, Donald Trump’s exhortations, ”, “, ” Charles Stewart III, denialists, Stewart, Donald Trump Organizations: Capitol, America, Trump, United States Capitol, CNN, Republican, White House, Democratic Party Locations: Washington

Follow for live updates on the Trump CNN town hall meeting. Those objections intensified on Tuesday after Mr. Trump was found liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of the writer E. Jean Carroll. And foes of Mr. Trump will cringe at seeing him on air at all. He is backed by David Zaslav, the Warner chief executive, who has batted away objections to Wednesday’s Trump town hall. There is the awkward fact that Mr. Trump still has a pending $475 million defamation lawsuit against the network.

☆ Donald Trump … on CNN? A Live Town Hall Reignites a Debate.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Michael M. Grynbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Should a leading presidential contender be given the opportunity to speak to voters on live television? What if that contender is former President Donald J. Trump? Mr. Trump is set to appear on CNN on Wednesday night for a town hall in New Hampshire — his first live appearance on a major TV news network (besides those controlled by Rupert Murdoch) since 2020 — and a torrid media debate is swirling. Those objections intensified on Tuesday after Mr. Trump was found liable for the sexual abuse and defamation of the writer E. Jean Carroll. “Is @CNN still going to do a town hall with the sexual predator twice impeached insurrectionist?” Alexander S. Vindman, the Army colonel who was a witness in Mr. Trump’s first impeachment trial, wrote on Twitter.

[1/2] Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes is seen on video during the hearing of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the United States Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 9, 2022. The Justice Department is also seeking a sentence of 21 years for another Oath Keepers leader, Kelly Meggs, who was also found guilty in November of seditious conspiracy by a Washington, D.C., jury. The same Washington jury that convicted Rhodes and Meggs cleared three other co-defendants, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell, of seditious conspiracy. The charges of seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Four other members of the Oath Keepers were convicted in January of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the attack.

☆ Trump campaign uses newly restored Facebook page to fundraise off indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The archive shows at least three different Trump campaign fundraising ads that leverage the indictment. The Facebook ads, run through Trump's page, say they were paid for by the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee. The political action committee raises money for the Trump campaign and Save America, the former president's leadership PAC. The Facebook ad archive shows a majority of those who have seen that Friday fundraising ad alone are men and women over the age of 65. A Trump campaign spokesman did not respond to a request for comment when asked how much the former president's campaign has raised since the indictment.

☆ TikTok creators, some U.S. Democratic lawmakers oppose ban on app
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( David Shepardson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/5] TikTok creators hold a news conference to speak out against a possible ban of TikTok at the House Triangle at the United States Capitol in Washington, U.S., March 22, 2023. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - TikTok creators and three U.S. Democratic Party lawmakers on Wednesday said they opposed any potential ban on the Chinese-owned short video sharing app that is used by more than 150 million Americans. Critics fear that TikTok user data in the United States could be passed on to China's government. Pocan said a "xenophobic witch hunt" is motivating some in Congress to seek a TikTok ban. Democratic Senator Mark Warner said two additional senators backed his bipartisan legislation with Republican John Thune to give the Biden administration new powers to ban TikTok.

Silicon Valley Bank had $209 billion in assets at the end of last year, while Signature Bank had some $110 billion. The failure of Silicon Valley Bank is a direct result of an absurd 2018 bank deregulation bill signed by (Republican former President) Donald Trump that I strongly opposed," Senator Bernie Sanders said in a statement. he added, saying awareness of the bank's recent growth and business model should have led Fed officials to anticipate trouble. In an op-ed for the New York Times, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren placed some of the blame at the feet of bank regulators, whom she accused of "letting financial institutions load up on risk." "There won't be legislation getting through Congress, and so regulators will be making the big decisions," he said.

☆ Trump's 2020 presidential campaign hired a research firm to probe the results for election fraud but found no evidence, with the findings kept away from the public: WaPo
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-12 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The Trump campaign commissioned a firm to probe the 2020 election, but researchers came up empty, per The WaPo. Roughly a dozen people at the Berkeley Research Group were part of a team analyzing Trump's claims. The research didn't deliver what the Trump campaign sought and the findings were kept undisclosed. The Trump campaign envisioned using evidence from the report to bolster the then-president's claims in the public arena and in court. An individual with knowledge of the findings told The Post that the Trump team pushed for at least a dozen hypotheses to be tested.

☆ Ted Cruz wants lawmakers who get the munchies to use crypto at Congressional vending machines
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Carla Mozée | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ted Cruz wants to support wider adoption of crypto allowing it to be accepted at vending machines in Congress. Cruz says foreign tourists will benefit as crypto payments would be free from costly transaction fees. Bitcoin on Friday was trading around $22,925, below the range of $36,000-$37,000 at the time Cruz bought the popular cryptocurrency in January 2022. Bitcoin and the broader crypto market have been suffering through a so-called crypto winter marked by a steep valuation slide. The cryptocurrency market's valuation this week pushed above $1 trillion for the first time since crypto exchange FTX collapsed in November.

☆ Ginni Thomas told the January 6 committee it was 'laughable' for anyone who knew Clarence Thomas to believe she'd be able to 'influence his jurisprudence'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-31 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Ginni Thomas affirmed that she did not speak with Clarence Thomas about 2020 election challenges. Thomas during her interview was unable to point to any specific instances of voter fraud in 2020. "Let me also add, it's laughable for anyone who knows my husband to think I could influence his jurisprudence. Ginni Thomas during her January 6 committee interview admitted that while she had concerns about voter fraud in the 2020 election, she couldn't pinpoint specific cases of such malfeasance. After the 2020 election, Thomas also emailed a range of GOP legislators in Arizona and Wisconsin — two key swing states where Biden narrowly outpaced Trump — where she also pushed them to help overturn Biden's victory.

Jonathan Ernst | ReutersThe Jan. 6 House select committee released its long-awaited final report Thursday, capping an 18-month probe of the 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol by a violent mob of supporters of former President Donald Trump. "Donald Trump's senior Justice Department officials — each appointed by Donald Trump himself —investigated the allegations and told him repeatedly that his fraud claims were false," Cheney wrote. "Donald Trump's White House lawyers also told him his fraud claims were false. Members of the Oath Keepers militia group among supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, January 6, 2021. U.S. President Donald Trump arrives to speak to supporters from The Ellipse near the White House on January 6, 2021, in Washington, DC.

☆ Zelenskyy to meet with Biden, address a joint session of Congress on his first wartime trip to U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Christina Wilkie | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Security forces take measures around United States Capitol ahead of the official visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyin Washington D.C., United States on December 21, 2022. WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House Wednesday and then deliver an address to a joint session of Congress in the evening, his first trip to the U.S. since the start of Russia's invasion last February. Biden is scheduled to welcome Zelenskyy to the White House at 2 p.m. The two leaders will hold a bilateral meeting and then a joint press conference later in the afternoon. The Biden administration and Ukraine's many supporters in Congress also hope that Zelenskyy's visit will help firm up congressional support for the massive aid package.

WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee found that law enforcement agencies gathered “substantial evidence” of potential violence at the Capitol as Congress met to formalize Joe Biden's election as president, a member of the panel said at its final meeting Monday. But the executive summary of the committee's final report doesn’t address questions of why the FBI, U.S. Capitol Police and other law enforcement agencies didn’t do more to increase security that day. The executive summary, released Monday, avoids criticizing or reaching conclusions about law enforcement and intelligence shortfalls in the lead-up to the attack, which many law enforcement experts have called the biggest intelligence failure since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. A representative for the committee didn’t respond to a request for comment about the decision not to include more information about the role law enforcement played ahead of the Capitol attack. The committee's executive summary discusses information that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies received in the days before Jan. 6, saying some of the intelligence was shared with partners like the Capitol Police.

☆ A GOP strategist says Mike Pence 'could not go to a Trump rally and be safe' and calls the former VP 'a relic'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A GOP strategist told Politico that Mike Pence "could not go to a Trump rally and be safe." Pence continues to tease a potential 2024 presidential run, which would pit him against Trump. But among base Republicans, many of whom remain solidly behind Trump as the 2024 presidential election approaches, Pence has lost much of his luster. "Mike Pence could not go to a Trump rally and be safe," she told Wren. Brian Kemp of Georgia who have frustrated Trump in the past — while continuing to mull over a 2024 presidential bid of his own.

CNN —Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, told reporters the committee will hold its final public meeting on Monday and that the panel’s full report will come out December 21. Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi, said the committee will approve the panel’s final report on December 19 and make announcements about criminal referrals to the Justice Department, but the public will not see the final report until two days later. “We will do all of the business of the committee on the 19th,” Thompson said, which includes voting on the final report. During the public meeting, the full committee is expected to vote on adopting the subcommittee’s recommendations. Asked about the committee’s plans to hold a public meeting on Monday, Thompson said: “We looked at the schedule and it appears we can complete our work a little bit before that,” Thompson said of shifting the public meeting earlier next week.

☆ Biden to require new federal buildings to slash greenhouse gas emissions
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

A view of sunset in the evening hours in the United States Capitol, Washington D.C., on December 02, 2022. The Biden administration on Wednesday unveiled a new building performance standard that would require federal agencies to slash energy use and electrify equipment and appliances in 30% of their building space by the end of the decade. The move is the latest push by the White House to curb fossil fuel use in residential and commercial buildings, which comprise about 12% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Energy used in federal buildings for space heating, water heating, cooking and other needs comprise more than 25% of federal emissions, the White House said. The standard for federal buildings comes as a growing number of cities have voted to curb gas consumption in buildings.

☆ A razor-thin Senate buffer and 2024 chances are at stake in Georgia's runoff next week between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Early voting has started for the Georgia Senate runoff between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. A Warnock victory would usher in a 51-49 Democratic majority, while the GOP hopes for a 50-50 split. Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker speaks with supporters during a campaign rally in Milton, Ga., on November 21, 2022. Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont — who caucus with the Democratic Party, creating an equal split in the upper chamber. However, some Republicans would prefer that Trump remain at Mar-a-Lago, worried that he could cost them another Senate win.

☆ Republicans on verge of U.S. House majority in midterm elections
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) speaks during a news conference about the House Republicans "Commitment to America" outside the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C., U.S., September 29, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn HocksteinWASHINGTON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Republicans on Tuesday were closing in on majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives, a midterm victory tempered by the unexpectedly narrow margin they will hold over Democrats as they usher in two years of divided government. Republicans so far have won 215 seats in the 435-member chamber, Edison Research projected, with 218 needed for a majority. The anticipated House victory for Republicans will be far short of the "red wave" they had predicted for the Nov. 8 midterm elections, and some in the party have blamed Trump for the disappointing showing. As House speaker, McCarthy would be second in line of succession for the presidency after the vice president when Congress convenes in January.

☆ Pence blasts Trump's 'reckless' statements on Jan. 6: They 'endangered me and my family'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Colbi Edmonds | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The former vice president said in an interview with David Muir of ABC's "World News Tonight" that Trump’s tweet “angered” him. “I mean, the president’s words were reckless and his actions were reckless,” Pence told Muir in an excerpt of the interview released Sunday. He added, “The president’s words that day at the rally endangered me and my family and everyone at the Capitol building,” according to ABC News. In his tweet that afternoon, Trump said Pence "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution." In the interview, Pence said that after Trump's tweet, "I turned to my daughter, who was standing nearby, and I said, 'It doesn’t take courage to break the law.

☆ Trump files suit against January 6 committee to block their subpoena for his testimony
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Trump's legal team filed suit Friday against the Jan. 6 committee to block him from testifying. The former president's lawyers argue Congress does not have the authority to subpoena a president. "But the Subpoena issued by the Committee to 'President Donald J. Trump' does not arise from an impeachment inquiry," the filing reads. "For the reasons explained below, the Committee lacks authority to issue the Subpoena and, in any event, President Trump is not required to comply." Trump's legal team and representatives for his post-presidential office did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.

☆ Florida Sen. Rick Scott, who led the campaign arm to elect GOP senators, called the 2022 midterms a 'complete disappointment'
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-12 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sen. Rick Scott on Friday called the 2022 midterm results a "complete disappointment" for the GOP. Scott said GOP'ers didn't offer a positive vision to counteract their critiques of President Biden. The Florida lawmaker told Fox News host Sean Hannity that GOP voters simply did not turn out in sufficient numbers on Election Day to counteract Democratic voters across the country. Election Day ... our voters didn't show up. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Mike Lee of Utah — issued a letter this week asking for colleagues to delay a Senate GOP leadership vote on Wednesday.

☆ An elephant-sized demon cat is said to appear at the US Capitol before national emergencies, according to reports as far back as 1862
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-31 | by ( Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

A demon cat is said to appear near the grounds of the US Capitol, the White House Historical Association says. Long considered a prophecy of coming tragedy, the first reported sighting of the demon cat was in the United States Capitol in 1862, during the Civil War. From then on, it was seen in the Capitol building basement before national emergencies, according to the White House Historical Association. "I can put enough pieces together to know where the legend came from," Livengood told Atlas Obscura. The White House Historical Association did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Ex-White House aide Alyssa Farah Griffin says Donald Trump's possible return to Twitter after Musk purchase will hurt him: 'It's going to remind voters of how unhinged he was'
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-29 | by ( John L. Dorman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

"The View" cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin said Trump's potential return to Twitter would hurt him. Trump was banned from Twitter last year and for most of 2022 has been utilizing Truth Social. But the former Trump aide warned that the ex-president's presence on the social media platform would hurt him. "There's a lot of good stuff that's come from social media, but people give in to their basic instincts when they're hidden behind anonymity." "I don't think his crazy statements get as much pickup on Truth Social as they did on Twitter.

☆ Factbox: Threats and attacks on members of Congress
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Oct 28 (Reuters) - The assault on U.S. businessman Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in their San Francisco home early on Friday morning comes amid a rising number of reported threats against members of Congress. According to data provided by the United States Capitol Police, a law enforcement agency charged with protecting members of Congress, cases related to "concerning statements and threats" jumped from 3,939 in 2017 to 9,625 in 2021. Aug. 29, 2022 - A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty to threatening to shoot and kill an unnamed member of Congress, federal prosecutors said. Four of the people who stormed the Capitol died on the day of the attack. June 14, 2017 - U.S. Republican Representative Steve Scalise, then-Majority Whip, was shot in the hip and taken to the hospital after a gunman opened fire on Republican members of Congress at a baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia, for their annual congressional charity game with Democratic members.

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