BREAKING: Here's a rundown of the latest developments in the Marjorie Taylor Greene scandal—which threats to permanently associate the Republican Party with QAnon, a domestic terror threat. I hope you'll read on, RETWEET, and consider subscribing to PROOF. sethabramson.substack.com/p/gop-on-verge…
(PS) If the GOP doesn't act sometime today, I'd be surprised if #GQP isn't trending by tomorrow. The GOP now faces *two* existential crisis: whether it permanently becomes the party of QAnon *this* week and whether it permanently becomes the party of insurrectionists *next* week.
(UPDATE) I've now updated the article above with the breaking news that House Republicans will attempt to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota from her committee assignments as retaliation for Democratic efforts to hold Greene responsible for supporting a domestic terror movement.
BREAKING NEWS (CNN): Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) Removed From All House Committees (Budget, Education and Labor)
(PS) The vote was bipartisan, as three Republicans crossed the aisle to vote to remove Greene from both her House committees. Technically there are a few Republicans who have not voted yet (less than 20), so that number (3) could increase.
(UPDATE) The number of Republican votes in favor of removing Greene from her House committees has just risen to five (5).
I wrote weeks ago that House managers would have to be prepared to establish links between Trump's team and the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and Three Percenters or else lines of argument like these by Trump would go unresponded to
Mind you, his argument fails for other reasons too
(PS) People have to remember that it's not just the *facts* included in a defense, but what picture you are painting with that defense. What Trump is implying here is that the insurrection would have happened even if he had never spoken. That's outrageously false and he knows it.
(PS2) Unfortunately, many don't understand what a complete defense looks or sounds like because they've never watched a trial start to finish. So some will think that evidence certain Trump supporters wanted to breach the Capitol before Trump spoke is an actual defense. It's not.
Let's speak with clarity about what Trump wants, from a trial-strategy standpoint.
He wants his attorneys to argue that the insurrection was justified because the election was stolen from him. He wants to argue to Congress that the Biden administration should be overthrown.
(MORE) I understand the readership for the article below is necessarily going to be smaller because it's only for full subscribers to PROOF, but my recent essay is one example of a trial attorney outlining not just potential defenses but what they *mean*. sethabramson.substack.com/p/donald-trump…
(PS) My worry is that when we frame what Trump wants to do as a silly lark that's unserious, we gloss over the fact that he wants his lawyers to lie to Congress, that he wants to justify sedition, and that he wants to use his trial to foment insurrection. It's dangerous and sick.
BREAKING: Trump's lawyer says Trump's defense during his second impeachment trial must be that the insurrection was "planned."
This confirms that the House impeachment managers will have to address the fact that the two men below—Bannon and Giuliani—helped plan the insurrection.
(UPDATE) Another war council attendee has responded to PROOF. David Bossie contacted me and others to say he wasn't there; Tommy Tuberville has lied about attending; Charles Herbster won't answer questions; and now Daniel Beck is upset I repeated verbatim things he said publicly.
(PS) As readers who've read my three articles on the January 5, 2021 meeting at Trump's private residence at Trump International Hotel in D.C. know, there's no "connect the dots" here. I've relayed what is publicly known and confirmed, and outlined the information still required.
(PS2) If Daniel Beck wants to issue a statement detailing every person at the January 5 meeting; what was discussed there; why he was invited; why he attended Trump's speech but (against Trump's explicit request) not the march—et cetera et cetera—I'm happy to publish it at PROOF.