USPP was informed that Trump would make a visit of Lafayette Park "after protesters had been removed from the area."
And yet the report guilelessly concludes that the manner of timing of how the protesters were cleared had nothing to do with Trump's plans for a photo op.
There are not many redactions in the report, but this section here was redacted. An unnamed (but presumably WH) official made some kind of undisclosed request regarding the operation to clear the protesters – a request that the USPP acting chief rejected, for unspecified reasons.
Also redacted is what appears to be a description of statements made by AG Barr during a meeting at 2pm that day. The purpose of the meeting is conspicuously omitted, but from context, it was at least in part about how to handle the protesters at Lafayette.
At 6:10pm, shortly before Trump's speech, Barr arrived at the WH and asked USPP operations commander why the Lafayette protesters had not ALREADY been cleared out.
During the convo with Barr, the op commander is on video "hanging his head" & being consoled by another official.
In sum, USPP launched its operation to clear Lafayette just two minutes after Barr had arrived at the WH and expressed his displeasure that the protesters had not yet been removed, and demanded to know if "those people" would still be there when Trump came out for his speech.
Yet the OIG report concludes that this is merely a coincidence, and there is no connection between the Attorney General asking why the protesters had not yet been cleared from the park, and the USPP's decision to immediately launch an operation to clear protesters from the park.
The OIG's report does not dispute, though, that the USPP's operation to clear Lafayette was a total clusterfuck.
The OIG concluded that the clearing of Lafayette was a chaotic, uncoordinated mess that failed to follow the operational plan.
But OIG says USPP officials botched the operation all on their own, and their poor choices were not influenced by Trump's imminent plans for a photo op.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
For @just_security, I wrote a deep dive into the evidence Giuliani was indeed a foreign agent who – on behalf of Ukrainian nationals – lobbied Trump and other officials to fire Yovanovitch.
But instead of registering under FARA, he tried to disguise his status as foreign agent.
Giuliani has indicated his defense will be that, in seeking the ambassador's removal, he was acting only on Trump's behalf, and not for any Ukrainians: "My sole concentration... was to find evidence that proved [Trump] was innocent of Russian collusion."
But the evidence shows Giuliani was acting on behalf of both Ukrainian nationals *and* Trump. He saw that both sides wanted something, and that both sides were in a position to help the other.
And his FARA trouble results from his role in arranging a quid pro quo between them.
At one point, a large crowd of rioters is blocked from moving further into the building by Capitol police.
Then at 24:40, a rioter with a bullhorn announces: "We have permission to go into this room... We can go into this room if we are calm and we commit no violence, ok?"
The Trump mob does not obey; they start to push through. For a moment, a few officers try to bar the way.
Then a rioter chastises a cop: "I would just stop, bro, dude, you're not helping... you're going to get me hurt and other people."
Then it appears police let them through.
While securing permission to move further into the Capitol, one rioter tells the Capitol police standing in the way:
"That's what I'm trying to tell you... you've got to stand down. The people out there that tried to do that, they got hurt, I saw it."
If Trump were remaining in power, this wouldn't change anything for Trump's enablers. They'd make the same clucking noises they made after Charlottesville, and then continue on by Trump's side exactly as they had before.
Even now, Republicans are pointedly refusing to break with Trump, or even blame him for what happened, let alone condemn him. The exceptions to this are so few they hardly exist – the VT governor, Romney, Sasse, that Illinois Rep who is basically Amash-lite, maybe 1 or 2 more?
Some condemn "the violence" and "the lawlessness," and give passionate defenses of the Electoral College while noting that without it Republicans may never win the presidency again. The truly bold among them may venture to say that Trump's comments "aren't helpful."
May this be the last Trump rally I ever watch, but one last time, here we go.
Trump begins his griping right from the get-go: "I told Kelly, if you lose, you lose, and that's acceptable. But when you win in a landslide and they steal it, that's unacceptable."
Trump, after heaping some fawning praise on his VP: "I hope Mike Pence comes through for us. Of course, if he doesn't come through with us, I won't like him quite as much."
He screwed up earlier and used the word "Democratic" in its correct grammatical context, so he's having an off night.
All right, let's do this. I'm watching Fox tonight. For old time's sake.
Tucker is on with @JennaEllisEsq. Only caught the end of it, but the discussion is very abstract, with generic invocations of transparency and right to vote, etc. Very detached air to the whole exchange.
My Pillow commercial, drink.
"We still have a path to victory," Tucker's subdued next guest insists. He then complains about the failure of a judge to recognize the Trump campaign's "right" to view various election activities.