In an Instagram live stream, viewed by close to 2 million people, AOC said that during the fascist assault on the Capitol she thought she was going to die. "I did not know if I was going to make it to the end of that day alive... I didn’t even feel safe going to that extraction point because there were QAnon and white supremacist members of Congress who I felt would disclose my location and create opportunities to allow me to be hurt."
This is especially interesting in light of what Jim Clyburn told CBS News last Friday-- not just that the ease in which rioters were able to get into the Capitol 2 days earlier suggests that someone on the inside of the Capitol was "complicit" in the assault, but that the leaders of the coup attempt had inside help. "'I do believe that something was going on,' Clyburn told CBSN anchor Lana Zak. 'They knew where to go. I've been told … by some other Congress people that their staff are saying that they saw people being allowed into the building through side doors. Who opened those side doors for these protesters, or I call them these mobsters, to come into the building, not through the main entrance where magnetometers are but through side doors. Yes, somebody on the inside of those buildings were complicit in this.'"
Clyburn suggested his inner office was targeted by the mob because there was "activity outside of my inner office where most people don't know where that is."
"The office with my name on the door was not touched. But the office where I do most of my work in, they were on that floor and outside that door," the South Carolina Democrat said.
Clyburn also said he felt something was "amiss" Wednesday morning when he arrived at the Capitol and "the perimeter had not been established."
"There were no security people on the steps. They were all out in a place which I thought gave low security," he said, adding, "They were not just derelict. You could say they were complicit."
Mikie Sherrill is one of those right-of-center military women recruited by the DCCC to run in swing districts in 2018. She flipped a red New Jersey seat and immediately joined the Blue Dogs and ran up a putrid "F"-scored voting record. She's a DINO all the way... but on Tuesday evening she did a Facebook Live chat to explain why she voted to ask Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment that would have removed Trump from office. After explaining why, she said something quite extraordinary. Here are her exact words:
“We can’t have a democracy if members of Congress are actively helping the president overturn the elections results.
And so not only do I intend to see that the president is removed and never runs for office again and doesn’t have access to classified material, I also intend to see that those members of Congress who abetted him; those members of Congress who had groups coming through the Capitol that I saw on Jan. 5-- a reconnaissance for the next day; those members of Congress that incited this violent crowd; those members of Congress that attempted to help our president undermine our democracy; I'm going to see they are held accountable, and if necessary, ensure that they don't serve in Congress.”
She was accusing unnamed members of Congress-- likely Mo Brooks (R-AL), Gym Jordan (R-OH), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Paul Gosar (R-AZ) Marjorie Taylor Greene (Q-GA) and Lauren Boebert (Q-CO)-- of working out a plan of attack with the insurrectionists against specific members of Congress the day before Trump, Brooks, Giuliani and Trump, Jr. directed the mob to march on the Capitol and overthrow the government.
This morning, the Washington Post's Andrea Salcedo reported on Sherrill's experience of the attack on the Capitol: "That afternoon, Sherrill recounted, she learned from messages on her phone that Vice President Pence had been escorted to safety. Shortly after that, she said, Pelosi was rushed to a secure location. 'We attempted to continue the debate,' Sherrill said. 'That became impossible as crowds gathered and started banging on the doors, so we were told to get out the gas masks in case we had to egress.' Soon, Sherrill and her colleagues crouched on the floor for safety. She watched as some lawmakers called relatives 'afraid that would be the last call that they ever made.' Sherrill said she called her husband to let him know she would soon walk to a safe room. 'We were worried that at every corner we would find the mob,' Sherrill said, referencing the evacuation. Sherrill accused President Trump of inciting the attack to 'ensure that we could not have a peaceful transfer of power.' She also blamed GOP lawmakers who 'abetted' Trump, and 'those members of Congress who incited the violent crowd, those members of Congress that attempted to help our president undermine our democracy.'"
A new Morning Consult poll shows Trump ending his ill-starred presidency with his lowest-ever poll numbers-- a 34% approval rating. "Trump's slide means he will leave the Oval Office historically unpopular compared with most of his predecessors. Instead of going out as a popular figure, Trump is set to join George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon as presidents who exited with significant majorities disapproving of their job performance. Already nearly universally despised by Democratic voters, much of Trump’s polling drop has come from Republicans and independents. Three in four self-identified GOP voters still approve of the job Trump is doing as president -- 75 percent-- but that is down from 83 percent in the final Politico/Morning Consult poll of 2020, conducted in December. The drop among independents was similar: Fewer than three in 10 independent voters now approve of Trump-- 29 percent, down from 38 percent in December."
CBS News also released new polling data this morning, showing that a 55-45% majority of Americans feel Trump should be impeached immediately. "For most Americans (59%) and particularly Democrats and most independents, what happened is described as insurrection, and an attempt to overthrow the government. Republicans-- while disapproving of it-- are more apt to describe the events as a "protest that went too far" but fewer-- a third-- call it an insurrection. In general, a sizable 80% of Americans, from across the political spectrum, say the use of force and violence is always unacceptable in pursuit of political goals. (It may be of little comfort to them that 20% say it can be acceptable. Few in either party feel that way, but 26% of Republicans say so, 13% of Democrats do, and those who do are more likely to be younger and male.)
The emperor is buck-naked. It's very much worth watching Tim Snyder's appearance on Democracy Now this morning: