February 2 political news

Here are today’s political news briefs.

Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell (KY) criticized the QAnon movement or fake theories about 9/11 or school shootings last night in a statement that is a rebuke to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). Greene is a supporter of QAnon or a bizarre idea that California wildfires were caused by space lasers from Jewish banks. She has also supported people on social media who said Nancy Pelosi or Barack Obama should be killed.

McConnell said the “loony lies” are a cancer for the Republican Party and the lies have nothing to do with the challenges facing American families or GOP issues.

Greene responded on Twitter that the “real cancer” is weak Republicans who accept losses. She also said she will meet with former president Donald Trump in Florida and that Trump supports her 100%.

We are seeing a widening split within the Republican Party after Trump’s election loss and the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

2.2 Impeachment managers and Trump lawyers write arguments

Today House impeachment managers, who will act as prosecutors in next week’s trial in the Senate, said former President Trump is singularly responsible for the Capitol riots. They said Trump created a powder keg, struck a match, and wanted to gain personal advantage from the havoc. The lead prosecutor is Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md).

Trump’s legal team responded that the Senate does not have the authority to hold a trial against the 45th President because he is no longer in a public office. Trump’s lawyers said his speech (on January 6) is protected speech according to the First Amendment and that he was expressing his opinions that the election is suspect.

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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) said last night on Instagram Live that she is a survivor of sexual assault and that she experienced trauma again when attackers entered the Capitol. She said when she hid in a bathroom, she heard a man’s voice yelling, “Where is she?” She said it was a Capitol police officer who looked at her in anger. She said she ran to another office while she could hear rioters starting to break into the Capitol and then hid in an office of another representative for five hours. She criticized people who told her that she should “move on,” saying it is what abusers say.

Alexey Navalny, a political foe of Russian President Putin, was today ordered to serve two and a half years in a prison camp. He was poisoned with a nerve agent last year while he was on a flight in Russia and was taken to a hospital in Germany, where he recovered. He returned to Russia two weeks ago and was immediately arrested and accused of violating his parole from a previous charge of embezzlement. Many suspect the criminal charges and arrests are politically motivated because he is Putin’s main critic and is very popular. There have been massive protests across the country in support of Navalny with over 5,000 protesters arrested. Navalny said today in court before he was sentenced that Putin is a person who prefers to kill his opponents instead of debating or holding elections.

The Biden administration has formally declared the Myanmar military takeover a coup, which means the U.S. must cut its foreign assistance to the country. The U.S. is expected to order sanctions against Myanmar.

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/536850-mcconnell-says-taylor-greene-a-cancer-to-gop-country

https://www.axios.com/impeachment-trump-trial-brief-house-managers-228c070e-9235-4d4f-a6f9-b049eb0773ec.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/01/nyregion/aoc-sexual-assault-abuse.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/02/politics/myanmar-state-department-coup-determination/index.html

https://abcnews.go.com/International/moscow-court-holds-hearing-jail-putin-critic-years/story?id=75618038

https://twitter.com/biannagolodryga/status/1356616523180294147