Name: Angered by ‘attempted coup’ at the Capitol, Rep. Tim Ryan wants to probe Capitol Police force and remove President Trump from office
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Angered by ‘attempted coup’ at the Capitol, Rep. Tim Ryan wants to probe Capitol Police force and remove President Trump from office

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NEW!892sharesWASHINGTON, D.C. - Furious after pro-Trump demonstrators invaded the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to disrupt a joint session of Congress, Niles Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan said President Trump and members of the Capitol Police force that allowed the incursion should lose their jobs.Ryan, who heads an appropriations subcommittee that funds the Capitol Police department, called the attack “an attempted coup” that violates the nation’s norms and values, and said Trump incited it by urging his supporters to protest at the U.S. Capitol. Ryan said it’s a “real danger” for Trump to continue in office until Democratic President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20.“I think he needs to be removed from office, because we can’t trust him over the course of the next couple of weeks, not to continue to try to undermine our democracy in a very violent and significant way,” Ryan told reporters as police cleared demonstrators from the U.S. Capitol. “Somebody died today. Members of Congress were on the floor in the House of Representatives, with gas masks on. ... That is unacceptable.”Ryan said the fact that demonstrators got into the building shows “enormous strategic and planning failures” by the Capitol Police and other security forces around the U.S. Capitol, given that Trump had indicated there might be trouble when a joint session of Congress convened to tabulate the electoral votes that would show Biden defeated him in November’s presidential election. He said multiple police forces were supposed to be in place to prevent “these illegal acts.”“There was a strategic breakdown, for sure, and you can bet your ass we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” said Ryan. “I think it’s pretty clear that there’s going to be a number of people who are going to be without employment very, very soon, because this is an embarrassment.”Ryan said he was in his office on Capitol Hill while debates over accepting Arizona’s electoral votes proceeded on the House and Senate floors, when he got alerts on his phone about demonstrators entering the U.S. Capitol. He continued getting police alerts that urged him to lock his office doors and stay away from its windows, and warned of bomb threats at the nearby Democratic National Committee office. Still in his office, he watched live television feeds of demonstrators pushing their way into the buildings, and entering the U.S. Senate chambers.When he was shepherded into a room with other members of Congress to get a briefing on the situation, Ryan said he kept his mouth shut because he was so angry he feared what he might say.“I am so disappointed in some of these members of Congress who, in such a cynical, cynical way, threw gas on this fire, the claims of fraud by the President,” said Ryan. “The Jim Jordans, the Josh Hawleys, the Ted Cruzes of the world who thought this was some kind of cool political calculation, or a calculation to appeal to the Trump base. How cynical to put your own political career in front of our own democracy.”He predicted that even after Biden is inaugurated, Trump will continue to “take over the Republican Party,” and get involved in primary elections in Ohio and other states, but expressed hope that encouraging supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol might change the minds of some voters about him.Ryan said he intends to find out how demonstrators got into the Capitol by reviewing video footage. Some disturbing videos he’s seen so far show Capitol Police officers opening fencing and allowing protesters into barricaded areas, taking selfies with demonstrators and other behavior he found unacceptable. He also said he believed the matter would have been handled differently if the bulk of the protesters weren’t white.“We’ll be collecting all of that footage, we’ll be analyzing all of that footage and there’ll be plenty of it, as there always is nowadays, and drawing some conclusions,” Ryan pledged.In a separate interview with Ohio reporters, Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur agreed with Ryan’s assertion that the Capitol’s security system had failed, and Congress should examine every available bit of video footage “to get to the bottom of what actually happened” to figure out how lives were put at risk. She predicted “there will be many ,many court cases” to prosecute those who illegally entered the Capitol and vandalized it.When the disruption occurred, she was watching the debate in a third floor gallery off the U.S. House of Representatives floor to ensure social distancing when she began to hear “unusual noises,” and noticed that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence were being hustled away. After being locked in the gallery,, she was moved to a holding room where she remained while demonstrators were cleared from the building.Kaptur said has been troubled by Trump comments to his supporters that she believes encourage violence, such as telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” when he was asked about their tactics during a presidential debate in Cleveland. But she disagrees with Ryan’s assertion that congress should look into removing Trump from office with just a few days left in his term.“People can introduce whatever bills they want to, but between now and January 20 is a most critical moment,” said Kaptur. “When a president who is completing their term is preparing to leave and a new president has to assume office, we have to be focused on the proper management of our federal departments and agencies. We have to make sure that they’re funded and we have to have a peaceful transition of power. Today was not about that.”Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.

NEW!892sharesWASHINGTON, D.C. - Furious after pro-Trump demonstrators invaded the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to disrupt a joint session of Congress, Niles Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan said President Trump and members of the Capitol Police force that allowed the incursion should lose their jobs.Ryan, who heads an appropriations subcommittee that funds the Capitol Police department, called the attack “an attempted coup” that violates the nation’s norms and values, and said Trump incited it by urging his supporters to protest at the U.S. Capitol. Ryan said it’s a “real danger” for Trump to continue...

Angered by ‘attempted coup’ at the Capitol, Rep. Tim Ryan wants to probe Capitol Police force and remove President Trump from office

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