Daily Digest for January 8, 2021 Posted at 7:45 a.m. by Michael Olson |
Good morning,
The four Republicans in Minnesota's congressional delegation split on whether to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the Electoral College, but remained silent Thursday on whether President Donald Trump and other GOP leaders bear any blame for the violent attack at the U.S. Capitol that interrupted the proceedings.
Minnesota Democrats, however, held little back on a day when top Democratic leaders called for Trump's removal. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi joined them in calling on Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the Constitution's 25th Amendment to force Trump from office, saying Congress may otherwise proceed to impeach him.
Republican Reps. Michelle Fischbach and Jim Hagedorn both supported the challenges, while Tom Emmer and Pete Stauber did not. Emmer and Hagedorn didn't announce their positions until after the rioting.
While all four decried the violence, none suggested that Trump or others who sought to undermine confidence in the election results bore any responsibility for the insurrection.
Fischbach's spokesperson said she was not available for an interview. None of the three other Minnesota Republican representatives responded to interview requests. None of their public statements or tweets Wednesday and Thursday sought to hold anyone accountable.
With 12 days left in his term, President Donald Trump has finally bent to reality amid growing talk of trying to force him out early, acknowledging he'll peacefully leave after Congress affirmed his defeat.
A steady stream of Trump administration officials are beating an early path to the exits as a protest against the deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol this week even as others wrestling with the stay-or-go question conclude that they owe it to the public to see things through to the end.
Some of Trump's critics don't give those in the early exit caucus much credit for walking away from their jobs with less than two weeks left in the administration, seeing it as little more than a face-saving effort.
"Nobody is fooled by these last-second, come-to-Jesus conversions," said Rick Wilson, co-founder of the Lincoln Project, a group of Republicans fiercely critical of Trump.
🎧 11 a.m. Politics Friday special: Minnesota’s political observers reflect on what happened at U.S. Capitol |
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