National

Aiming to address disinformation he says is "upending our society and literally killing Americans," Christopher Krebs, the federal cybersecurity official who challenged the president on election disinformation, will lead a new Aspen Institute commission he said will take a careful approach to an urgent problem. "America needs to pay attention to what's unfolding right now and work to ensure that we're not on the verge of a significant breakdown in democracy and civil society," Krebs told Insider in written remarks. Krebs will chair a new, bipartisan commission announced Wednesday by the Aspen Institute think tank — called The Commission on Information Disorder — and funded by a $3.25 million grant from Craigslist founder Craig Newmark. This new group intends to help connect the private and public sectors to help find solutions for these most complicated of policy issues. Krebs said the commission will pull different segments of society together so that government, tech, and industry can come together to study, discuss, and collaborate on the issue. "The way forward requires industry, government, and civil society taking a hard look at the deep divisions that allow these falsities to propagate, and to recognize that each has a core role to play. That is one of the primary goals of this new commission."

Full Article: Krebs: Disinformation 'upending our society' and killing Americans - Business Insider

National: Lawyers face fallout from fueling Trump’s false claims of election fraud | Peter Stone/The Guardian

Prominent lawyers who helped fuel Donald Trump’s baseless charges of election fraud to try and thwart Joe Biden’s win, are now facing potentially serious legal and financial problems of their own tied to their aggressive echoing of Trump’s false election claims, say former Department of Justice lawyers and legal experts. They include a federal investigation into the Capitol attack by a pro-Trump mob, possible disbarment and a defamation lawsuit. Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who led Trump’s conspiratorial drive to overturn the election and gave an incendiary talk to the Trump rally right before the march on the Capitol began, could be ensnared in a federal investigation of the attack and is facing a disbarment complaint in New York. Pro-Trump lawyers Sidney Powell and Cleta Mitchell have, respectively, been hit with a defamation lawsuit for making false claims, and losing her law firm post after coming under scrutiny for her work promoting Trump’s false claims. “I never saw allegations of misconduct that I think are as seriously unethical as the conduct of lawyers who have been propounding the false claims of President Trump,” said Mary McCord, who led the DoJ’s national security division at the end of the Obama administration until May 2017, and also served for six years on the DC Circuit’s Grievance Committee.

Full Article: Lawyers face fallout from fueling Trump’s false claims of election fraud | Law (US) | The Guardian

National: How antifa conspiracy theory traveled from fringe to floor of Congress | Aleszu Bajak and Javier Zarracina/USA Today

While much of America watched a mob of Trump supporters overrun police and break into the halls of Congress Wednesday afternoon, members of the far right chatted up an imaginary narrative of what was really going on. After weeks of planting the idea, dozens of extremists used social media to promote an idea with no basis in reality – that the people besieging the Capitol were actually far-left agitators disguised as Trump supporters. The trickle of claims became a flood in a matter of hours. It started in secretive corners of the web such as 4chan, but tweets and articles from more and more mainstream conservative news sites followed. It began spiking around 1 p.m., just after rioters started breaching barriers outside the Capitol. Soon, Fox News personalities were sharing the same speculation that circulated among believers in the discredited QAnon conspiracy theory. By 10:15 p.m., the “false flag” story reached the House floor that rioters had invaded earlier in the day. Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida told his shaken colleagues in a speech: “They were masquerading as Trump supporters and, in fact, were members of the violent terrorist group antifa.”

Full Article: How antifa conspiracy theory traveled from fringe to floor of Congress

National: Far-right groups make plans for continued attacks before and after Inauguration Day | Shane Harris, Souad Mekhennet and Razzan Nakhlawi/The Washington Post

President Trump’s incitement of his supporters before their attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6 has galvanized a nationwide extremist movement and fueled those determined to disrupt the transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden and violently challenge the legitimacy of the election for months — and possibly years, according to U.S. officials and independent experts. U.S. officials have warned authorities nationwide to be on alert for potential acts of violence at state capitols, as well as a possible second attack on the Capitol or on the White House. Law enforcement authorities have said extremists might use firearms and explosives and are monitoring online calls to rally in cities nationwide beginning Sunday. Security at the inaugural ceremony in Washington on Wednesday probably will be the most intense ever. At the center of the amorphous but increasingly motivated extremist movement sits the current president, now twice impeached, deprived of his social media megaphones but still exerting a powerful influence over his followers who take his baseless claims of election fraud as an article of faith.

Full Article: Far-right groups make plans for continued attacks before and after Inauguration Day - The Washington Post

National: ES&S Threatens Researchers for Exposing Valid Security Flaws | Karl Bode/Vice News

A major manufacturer of voting machine hardware has threatened researchers for highlighting proven privacy and security vulnerabilities in their products. Last week, Election Systems and Software (ES&S) fired off a cease and desist letter to SMART Elections, a New York State based non-partisan project designed to bring greater public awareness to the lack of security in electronic election equipment. In the letter, ES&S accuses the organization of “false, defamatory, and disparaging” comments related to the company’s ExpressVote XL touchscreen-enabled barcode voting system, which SMART Elections has been warning New York State officials suffers from design flaws that make it open to vote manipulation. “Security experts and good government groups say that the ExpressVote XL has a flawed design that makes it dangerously insecure, and that it is also glitchy and over-priced,” the group warned. “Many of them strongly oppose its use. Voters with disabilities have often struggled to use it.” ES&S didn’t take the criticism particularly well, and in its cease and desist letter claims the organization was engaged in “defamation and trade disparagement.” “We demand that you immediately and permanently cease and desist from communicating false allegations about ES&S, and immediately retract and correct the false, defamatory and disparaging accusations you have made against ES&S,” the company threatened. ES&S lawyers appear particularly annoyed by claims that the “ExpressVote XL can add, delete, or change the votes on individual ballots,” will “deteriorate our security and our ability to have confidence in our elections,” and is a “bad voting machine” in general. But many experts, including Princeton University professor Andrew Appel, say the accusations and criticism levied against ES&S are absolutely correct. “The ExpressVote XL, if hacked, can add, delete, or change votes on individual ballots — and no voting machine is immune from hacking,” Appel said. “That’s why optical-scan voting machines are the way to go, because they can’t change what’s printed on the ballot. And let me explain some more: The ExpressVote XL, if adopted, will deteriorate our security and our ability to have confidence in our elections, and indeed it is a bad voting machine. And expensive, too!”

Full Article: Voting Machine Company Threatens Researchers for Exposing Valid Security Flaws

National: McConnell Privately Backs Impeachment as House Moves to Charge Trump | Jonathan Martin, Maggie Haberman and Nicholas Fandos/The New York Times

Senator Mitch McConnell has concluded that President Trump committed impeachable offenses and believes that Democrats’ move to impeach him will make it easier to purge Mr. Trump from the party, according to people familiar with Mr. McConnell’s thinking. The private assessment of Mr. McConnell, the most powerful Republican in Congress, emerged on the eve of a House vote to formally charge Mr. Trump with inciting violence against the country for his role in whipping up a mob of his supporters who stormed the Capitol while lawmakers met to formalize President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory. In a sign that the dam could be breaking against Mr. Trump in a party that has long been unfailingly loyal to him, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican in the House, announced her intention to support the single charge of high crimes and misdemeanors, as other party leaders declined to formally lobby rank-and-file lawmakers to oppose it. “The president of the United States summoned this mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack,” Ms. Cheney said in a statement. “There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” Even before Mr. McConnell’s position was known and Ms. Cheney had announced her plans, advisers to the Senate Republican leader had already privately speculated that a dozen Republican senators — and possibly more — could ultimately vote to convict Mr. Trump in a Senate trial that would follow his impeachment by the House. Seventeen Republicans would most likely be needed to join Democrats in finding him guilty. After that, it would take a simple majority to disqualify Mr. Trump from ever again holding public office.

Full Article: McConnell Privately Backs Impeachment as House Moves to Charge Trump - The New York Times

National: House Sets Impeachment Vote to Charge Trump With Incitement | Nicholas Fandos/The New York Times

House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment against President Trump on Monday for his role in inflaming a mob that attacked the Capitol, scheduling a Wednesday vote to charge the president with “inciting violence against the government of the United States” if Vice President Mike Pence refused to strip him of power first. Moving with exceptional speed, top House leaders began summoning lawmakers still stunned by the attack back to Washington, promising the protection of National Guard troops and Federal Air Marshal escorts after last week’s stunning security failure. Their return set up a high-stakes 24-hour standoff between two branches of government. As the impeachment drive proceeded, federal law enforcement authorities accelerated efforts to fortify the Capitol ahead of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s inauguration on Jan. 20. The authorities announced plans to deploy up to 15,000 National Guard troops and set up a multilayered buffer zone with checkpoints around the building by Wednesday, just as lawmakers are to debate and vote on impeaching Mr. Trump. Federal authorities also said they were bracing for a wave of armed protests in all 50 state capitals and Washington in the days leading up to the inauguration. “I’m not afraid of taking the oath outside,” Mr. Biden said Monday, referring to a swearing-in scheduled to take place on a platform on the west side of the Capitol, in the very spot where rioters marauded last week, beating police officers and vandalizing the building.

Full Article: House Sets Impeachment Vote to Charge Trump With Incitement - The New York Times

Trump charged with impeachment count as FBI warns of armed protests | Tom McCarthy, David Smith and Lauren Gambino/The Guardian

Donald Trump is facing a historic second impeachment after Democrats in the House of Representatives formally charged him with one count of “incitement of insurrection” over the Capitol Hill riot. Five people died in the attack last week, including a police officer, which Trump prompted when he told supporters to “fight like hell” in his attempt to overturn election defeat by Joe Biden. Emerging video footage has revealed just how close the mob came to a potentially deadly confrontation with members of Congress. On Monday, security officials scrambled to ensure that Biden’s inauguration next week would not be marred by further violence. The US Secret Service will begin carrying out its special security arrangements for the inauguration this Wednesday, almost a week earlier than originally planned, although on Monday afternoon the acting secretary of homeland security, Chad Wolf, abruptly resigned, just days after calling the Capitol invasion “sickening”. Earlier, ABC News said it had obtained an internal FBI bulletin which detailed plans for “armed protests” and calls for the “storming” of state, local and federal courthouses and buildings across the country if Trump was removed from power before then. On Capitol Hill, the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said on Monday that she would move forward with impeaching Trump if Vice-President Mike Pence did not remove him from office under the 25th amendment to the US constitution. “The president’s threat to America is urgent, and so too will be our action,” she said in a statement.

Full Article: Trump charged with impeachment count as FBI warns of armed protests | US news | The Guardian

National: Supreme Court won’t fast-track Trump challenges to election results | Robert Barnes/The Washington Post

As expected, the Supreme Court refused Monday to fast-track a batch of challenges to the presidential election filed by President Trump and his allies. The rejections came without comment or noted dissent and were formal notifications of what already had become clear. Some of the petitions asking for the court to move quickly were filed in early December, and the court had not even called for responses from officials in the states where the results were challenged. President-elect Joe Biden will be sworn in Jan, 20, and the cases presumably will become moot after that. Among the cases the court declined to expedite were Trump v. Biden and Trump v. Boockvar, which challenged the results in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, respectively. Other cases filed by Trump allies objected to the outcomes in Michigan and Georgia. The Supreme Court has uniformly rejected challenges to the election results. On Dec. 11, it dismissed a bid by Trump and the state of Texas to overturn the results in those four battleground states won by Biden, blocking the president’s legal path to reverse his reelection loss. The court’s unsigned order was short, and it denied Texas’s request to sue the states over how they conducted their elections. Texas has not shown it has a legal interest “in the manner in which another state conducts its elections,” the order said. It dismissed all pending motions about the case.

Full Article: Supreme Court won't fast-track Trump challenges to election results - The Washington Post

National: Dominion lawsuit could be just start of legal action against Trump allies | Tonya Riley/The Washington Post

Dominion Voting Systems is suing pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell for more than $1.3 billion in damages, according a lawsuit filed in D.C. federal court by the company Friday. The company says that Powell has caused significant damage to its reputation and value by spreading unfounded conspiracy theories about it, including alleged ties to deceased Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez and rigging the election for President-elect Joe Biden. The lawsuit is seeking an injunction to remove all of Powell's statements determined to be false and defamatory. The unprecedented lawsuit could be just the first domino in a chain of lawsuits against Trump allies who have spread misinformation about voter fraud — possibly including Donald Trump himself. In its complaint, Dominion accuses Powell of working “in concert” with like-minded media outlets and allies. Dominion's lawyer Tom Clare told reporters last week the lawsuit against Powell “is just the first in a series of legal steps.” (The lawsuit also names her law firm and the organization she set up to fundraise for her litigation.) Dominion sent more than 20 individuals and media companies retraction demands or letters last month asking them to preserve relevant evidence. The recipients included Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and pro-Trump news network One America News. Those requests are often a precursor to litigation. “To be clear, none of this would have been possible without other individuals and without other media outlets that have their own responsibility,” Clare said. “And we’re looking at all of them.”

Full Article: The Cybersecurity 202: Dominion lawsuit could be just start of legal action against Trump allies - The Washington Post

National: ES&S voting machine company sends threats | Andrew Appel/Freedom to Tinker

For over 15 years, election security experts and election integrity advocates have been communicating to their state and local election officials the dangers of touch-screen voting machines. The danger is simple: if fraudulent software is installed in the voting machine, it can steal votes in a way that a recount wouldn’t be able to detect or correct. That was true of the paperless touchscreens of the 2000s, and it’s still true of the ballot-marking devices (BMDs) and “all-in-one” machines such as the ES&S ExpressVote XL voting machine (see section 8 of this paper*). This analysis is based on the characteristics of the technology itself, and doesn’t require any conspiracy theories about who owns the voting-machine company. In contrast, if an optical-scan voting machine was suspected to be hacked, the recount can assure an election outcome reflects the will of the voters, because the recount examines the very sheets of paper that the voters marked with a pen. In late 2020, many states were glad they used optical-scan voting machines with paper ballots: the recounts could demonstrate conclusively that the election results were legitimate, regardless of what software might have been installed in the voting machines or who owned the voting-machine companies. In fact, the vast majority of the states use optical-scan voting machines with hand-marked paper ballots, and in 2020 we saw clearly why that’s a good thing. In November and December 2020, certain conspiracy theorists made unsupportable claims about the ownership of Dominion Voting Systems, which manufactured the voting machines used in Georgia. Dominion has sued for defamation. Dominion is the manufacturer of voting machines used in many states. Its rival, Election Systems and Software (ES&S), has an even bigger share of the market. Apparently, ES&S must think that amongst all that confusion, the time is right to send threatening Cease & Desist letters to the legitimate critics of their ExpressVote XL voting machine. Their lawyers sent this letter to the leaders of SMART Elections, a journalism+advocacy organization in New York State who have been communicating to the New York State Board of Elections, explaining to the Board why it’s a bad idea to use the ExpressVote XL in New York (or in any state). ES&S’s lawyers claim that certain facts (which they call “accusations”) are “false, defamatory, and disparaging”, namely: that the “ExpressVote XL can add, delete, or change the votes on individual ballots”, that the ExpressVote XL will “deteriorate our security and our ability to have confidence in our elections,” and that it is a “bad voting machine.”

Full Article: ESS voting machine company sends threats

National: False fraud claims fanned Capitol riot. Now they’re fueling GOP efforts to restrict voting. | Ronald Brownstein/CNN

Even after President Donald Trump's disproven allegations of voter fraud fueled last week's deadly assault on the US Capitol, Republicans across an array of swing states are still touting his baseless allegations to advance measures that would make it tougher to vote. When Congress voted last week, in the immediate aftermath of the Trump-fueled riot, to finalize the Electoral College results declaring Joe Biden the winner of November's election, bipartisan majorities in both the House and Senate joined dozens of courts around the country in concluding that there was not meaningful fraud in the election. But despite those findings, Republicans in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Texas and likely other states including Michigan and Wisconsin are moving to roll back access to mail balloting, eliminate drop boxes, toughen voter identification laws and erect other barriers to the ballot in the name of improving voter security and restoring "faith" in the outcome. "We are seeing a continued use of the voter fraud lie and thoroughly debunked conspiracy theories over the integrity of this election to drive a vote suppression agenda," says Wendy Weiser, who directs the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University School of Law.

Full Article: Republicans still push false fraud claims to restrict voting - CNNPolitics

National: The GOP’s sudden and convenient distancing from Trump’s voter fraud claims | Aaron Blake/The Washington Post

The passengers and crew of the sinking ship that is the Trump administration are scurrying. After the failure of President Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election led to a violent attempted insurrection at the Capitol, plenty of Republicans who were unable to locate voices to speak out against him and his conspiracy theories for the past four years are suddenly finding their moral indignation strong enough to do so. That’s perhaps understandable, given the historic nature of what we saw Wednesday. As many have noted, though, it’s also thoroughly convenient now that Trump is finally, officially a lame duck. Resigning or speaking up with two weeks to go in an administration is a great way to insulate yourself from blame while forfeiting little more than the support of an outgoing president’s most devoted supporters and perhaps a single paycheck. And if there was one telling moment when it comes to how quickly Trump’s allies have evolved this week, it came Thursday from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.). In an interview, Cruz distanced himself from Trump’s comments. “I think yesterday, in particular, the president’s language and rhetoric crossed the line, and it was reckless,” Cruz told a local ABC station. “I disagree with it, and I have disagreed with the president’s language and rhetoric for the last four years.” Cruz added: “If you looked to what I have said, you will not find me say the same language or rhetoric.” Cruz was one of two ambitious GOP senators with potential 2024 designs — the other being Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) — who spearheaded the unprecedented attempt to reject the certified results from states which Trump narrowly lost. And he has something of a point: The defense of Trump’s election challenge often didn’t actually involve vouching for his far-flung conspiracy theories about voter fraud and the election being definitively “stolen.”

Full Article: GOP now conveniently disputes Trump's voter fraud claims - The Washington Post

National: State Capitols ‘on High Alert,’ Fearing More Violence | Neil MacFarquhar and Mike Baker/The New York Times

It was opening day of the 2021 legislative session, and the perimeter of the Georgia State Capitol on Monday was bristling with state police officers in full camouflage gear, most of them carrying tactical rifles. On the other side of the country, in Olympia, Wash., dozens of National Guard troops in riot gear and shields formed a phalanx behind a temporary fence. Facing them in the pouring rain was a small group of demonstrators, some also wearing military fatigues and carrying weapons. “Honor your oath!” they shouted. “Fight for freedom every day!” And in Idaho, Ammon Bundy, an antigovernment activist who once led his supporters in the occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, showed up outside the statehouse in Boise with members of his organization carrying “wanted” posters for Gov. Brad Little and others on charges of “treason” and “sedition.” “At a time of uncertainty, we need our neighbors to stand next to and continue the war that is raging within this country,” Mr. Bundy’s group declared in a message to followers. Officials in state capitals across the country are bracing for a spillover from last week’s violent assault on the U.S. Capitol, with legislatures already becoming targets for protesters in the tense days around the inauguration of the incoming president, Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Full Article: State Capitols ‘on High Alert,’ Fearing More Violence - The New York Times

Editorial: The only way to save American democracy now | Richard L. Hasen/Slate

What’s next to save American democracy? The events of the past week have left many in this country reeling and worried seriously for the fate of democratic governance in the United States. In one of the most destructive acts in American political history, President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday exhorted his supporters, some armed, to march to the Capitol as Congress began the formal task of counting Electoral College votes to confirm the election of his opponent, Joe Biden. Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building, leading to a bloody rampage and the death of a Capitol Hill police officer and four others. Members of Congress, staff, and journalists rightly feared for their lives from this domestic terrorism, as gangs of masked Trump supporters swarmed the House and Senate chambers carrying zip-tie handcuffs intended for our nation’s leadership. The Senate chamber was desecrated, as was the office of the speaker of the House. Trump supporters smeared feces in the halls of Congress. National Guard troops were delayed as reinforcements, reportedly because the president refused to authorize them, increasing the terror and damage. And after order was restored following this unprecedented assault on the seat of American governance, eight Republican senators and 139 Republican members of Congress still voted to sustain bogus objections to the Electoral College votes from Pennsylvania and Arizona. The Trump-based objections were based upon false claims of voter fraud and election irregularities. All of this occurred in the aftermath of the Georgia Senate elections, in which voters elected a Black preacher and a Jewish son of immigrants in runoff elections on Tuesday, flipping control of the Senate to Democrats—and after which Georgia Republicans plotted ways to make voting more difficult in future elections.

Full Article: The only way to save American democracy now.

New Jersey: Hardware, software bugs derail push for early voting | Jeff Pillets/NJ Spotlight News

Officials across New Jersey agree that 2020’s mostly mail-in election — the biggest and most complex in state history — was also the most successful, as 4.5 million people voted safely in the midst of a public-health crisis. Lawmakers had hoped to build on that success by moving quickly with a plan that would bring early in-person voting to New Jersey as soon as this year’s gubernatorial primary, scheduled for June 8. Early voting already takes place in more than half the states, but for now the bill is stalled. To make early voting happen, New Jersey needs to update its voter registration system. That system is a complex web of computer servers and software linking all 21 counties with agencies in Trenton, including the division of elections, Motor Vehicle Commission and central offices for state courts, corrections and human services. It’s supposed to keep accurate track of registered voters and their addresses. But documents reviewed by New Jersey Spotlight News, as well as interviews with election officials across the state, show that persistent bugs in the state network continue to undermine the voting process and frustrate frontline election workers. Periodic reports generated by KNOWiNK, the St. Louis-based voting-tech startup that receives $1.6 million a year to maintain the state system, list dozens of recurring technical issues that stymied county election workers as they worked to send out mail-in ballots and upload votes.

Full Article: Hardware, software bugs derail NJ push for early voting | NJ Spotlight News

Dominion sues pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, seeking more than $1.3 billion | Emma Brown/The Washington Post

Dominion Voting Systems on Friday filed a defamation lawsuit against lawyer Sidney Powell, demanding more than $1.3 billion in damages for havoc it says Powell has caused by spreading “wild” and “demonstrably false” allegations, including that Dominion played a central role in a fantastical scheme to steal the 2020 election from President Trump. For weeks, Powell has claimed that Dominion was established with communist money in Venezuela to enable ballot-stuffing and other vote manipulation, and that those abilities were harnessed to rig the election for former vice president Joe Biden. In a 124-page complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, Dominion said its reputation and resale value have been deeply damaged by a “viral disinformation campaign” that Powell mounted “to financially enrich herself, to raise her public profile, and to ingratiate herself to Donald Trump.” The defendants named in the lawsuit include Powell, her law firm and Defending the Republic, the organization she set up to solicit donations to support her election-related litigation. In an interview, Dominion CEO John Poulos said the lawsuit aims to clear his company’s name through a full airing of the facts about the 2020 election. Poulos said he would like the case to go to trial rather than settle. “We feel that it’s important for the entire electoral process,” he said. “The allegations, I know they were lobbed against us . . . but the impacts go so far beyond us.”

Full Article: Dominion sues pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, seeking more than $1.3 billion - The Washington Post

National: Outgoing Capitol Police chief: House, Senate security officials hamstrung efforts to call in National Guard | Carol D. Leonnig, Aaron C. Davis, Peter Hermann and Karoun Demirjian/The Washington Post

Two days before Congress was set to formalize President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund was growing increasingly worried about the size of the pro-Trump crowds expected to stream into Washington in protest. To be on the safe side, Sund asked House and Senate security officials for permission to request that the D.C. National Guard be placed on standby in case he needed quick backup. But, Sund said Sunday, they turned him down. In his first interview since pro-Trump rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol last week, Sund, who has since resigned his post, said his supervisors were reluctant to take formal steps to put the Guard on call even as police intelligence suggested that the crowd President Trump had invited to Washington to protest his defeat probably would be much larger than earlier demonstrations. House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving said he wasn’t comfortable with the “optics” of formally declaring an emergency ahead of the demonstration, Sund said. Meanwhile, Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger suggested that Sund should informally seek out his Guard contacts, asking them to “lean forward” and be on alert in case Capitol Police needed their help.

Full Article: Outgoing Capitol Police chief: House, Senate security officials hamstrung efforts to call in National Guard – The Washington Post

National: Justice Dept. Open to Pursuing Charges Against Trump in Inciting Riot | Katie Benner/The New York Times

The Justice Department said on Thursday that it would not rule out pursuing charges against President Trump for his possible role in inciting the mob that marched to the Capitol, overwhelmed officers and stormed the building a day earlier. “We are looking at all actors, not only the people who went into the building,” Michael Sherwin, the U.S. attorney in Washington, told reporters. Mr. Sherwin was asked whether such targets would include Mr. Trump, who exhorted supporters during a rally near the White House, telling them that they could never “take back our country with weakness.” Propelled by Mr. Trump’s baseless claims of election irregularities, the protesters had gathered to demonstrate against Congress’s certification of Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Electoral College victory and moved on to the Capitol after the president’s rally. Mr. Sherwin said he stood by his statement. “We’re looking at all actors,” he said. “If the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they’re going to be charged.” His comments were an extraordinary invocation of the rule of law against a president who has counted on the Justice Department to advance his personal agenda, and they came as former Trump officials and others condemned Mr. Trump’s actions. Former cabinet officials including Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Attorney General William P. Barr, once one of the president’s most important defenders, blamed him for Wednesday’s violence. Several officials resigned, and even some Republican lawmakers said Mr. Trump had gone too far.

Full Article: Justice Dept. Open to Pursuing Charges Against Trump in Inciting Riot - The New York Times

National: Trump’s Effort To Overturn The Election Should Be Investigated Like 9/11 | John F. Harris/Politico

What exactly has happened within top levels of the United States government since the presidential election of Nov. 3, 2020? Once the transfer of power to President-elect Joseph Biden is complete on Jan. 20, the immediate crisis will pass. But the questions about the actions of President Donald Trump and his surrogates in what now counts as one of the two or three most dangerous transitions in U.S. history will remain. No previous transition has raised similar doubts about whether the executive branch, including the military, is being run with a clear and lawful chain of command, with a psychologically competent individual at the top. It is imperative that a multitude of urgent questions be answered in a comprehensive way, by an independent body with subpoena power to review documentary evidence and compel testimony under oath. The crisis Trump initiated needs to be examined with the equivalent of the 9/11 Commission established after the 2001 terrorist attacks. At first blush, the comparison may seem overwrought. Obviously, nothing that has happened in the past ten weeks — including the grotesque and deadly mob takeover of the Capitol during the official certification of Biden’s victory — is of the same horrific, history-altering magnitude of 9/11. The similarity flows from the way that both events demand public understanding and accountability. Both events represented attacks on the basic functioning of U.S. institutions. Both revealed vulnerabilities in our customs and procedures that many people did not sufficiently appreciate until disaster struck.

Full Article: Trump’s Effort To Overturn The Election Should Be Investigated Like 9/11 - POLITICO

Narional: Code deployed in US cyber-attack linked to suspected Russian hackers | Andrew Roth/The Guardian

A Moscow-based cybersecurity company has reported that some of the malicious code employed against the US government in a cyber-attack last month overlaps with code previously used by suspected Russian hackers. The findings by Kaspersky investigators may provide the first public evidence to support accusations from Washington that Moscow was behind the biggest cyber-raid against the government in years, affecting 18,000 users of software produced by SolarWinds, including US government agencies. However, investigators from Kaspersky have cautioned that the code similarities do not confirm that the same group is behind both attacks. According to findings, published by the investigators Georgy Kucherin, Igor Kuznetsov, and Costin Raiu, a “backdoor” called Sunburst used to communicate with a server controlled by the hackers resembled another hacking tool called Kazuar, which had previously been attributed to the Turla APT (advanced persistent threat) group. Attacks by Turla have been documented from at least 2008, when the group was believed to have infiltrated US Central Command. Later, Turla was implicated in attacks on embassies in a number of countries, ministries, utilities, healthcare providers, and other targets. Several cybersecurity companies have said they believe the hacking team is Russian, and an Estonian intelligence report from 2018 says the group is “tied to the federal security service, FSB”. US intelligence agencies last week released a joint statement accusing Moscow of launching the attack, which they said was “ongoing” more than a month after being made public. Moscow has denied responsibility for the attack.

Full Article: Code deployed in US cyber-attack linked to suspected Russian hackers | Espionage | The Guardian

National: Trump’s voter fraud lies encouraged a riot. GOP allies are still giving them oxygen. | Jane C. Timm/NBC

After a mob stormed the Capitol based on President Donald Trump's election fraud lie, some top Republican allies have called for peace while still leveling the same baseless claims of widespread voter fraud that fanned the flames of violence. In almost the same breath as he condemned the rioters who temporarily disrupted Congress' normal process of affirming President-elect Joe Biden's win, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri., the first Republican to announce his intention to object to the certification, suggested that Biden's victory was illegitimate. “We do need an investigation into irregularities, fraud,” Hawley said before staring directly into the camera in a video that his office would promptly upload to YouTube and saying: “We do need a way forward together. We need election security reforms.” In a statement, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, condemned the violence, too. Still, he said, his calls for an investigation into voter fraud were the “right thing to do" before adding, “I very much wish Congress had not set aside these concerns.”

Source: Trump's voter fraud lies encouraged a riot. GOP allies are still giving them oxygen.

National: Election gambit blows up on Hawley and Cruz | Marianne Levine, Holly Otterbein and Burgess Everett/Politico

Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz have positioned themselves as heirs to President Donald Trump’s base. But their decision to embrace Trump’s election challenge is fueling major blowback — even as they remain largely unrepentant after this week’s deadly riot. Following the insurrection at the Capitol, the potential 2024 presidential candidates are facing Democratic calls to resign and charges from their own party that they incited violence in the name of political opportunism. Cruz said that such allegations were “ludicrous.” “What I was doing was the exact opposite of inciting violence,” the Texas Republican said in an interview. “What I was doing is debating principle and law and the Constitution on the floor of the United States Senate. That is how we resolve issues in this country without resorting to violence.” Hawley, who was photographed fist pumping protesters before they raided the Capitol, declined to be interviewed for this story. In questioning the election results, the senators aligned themselves with Trump and his most hard-core supporters’ baseless claims of widespread voter fraud. Some in Trumpworld are still cheering them on, and they may ultimately win support from the party’s base if they run for president. But after rioters stormed the Capitol in a bid to halt certification of Joe Biden’s election, Hawley and Cruz are facing immediate consequences. Hawley’s political patron, former Sen. John Danforth (R-Mo.), turned on him, calling his support the “biggest mistake I’ve ever made.” His top donor, David Humphreys, said he should be censured. Hawley’s book publisher dropped him, interfering with a key element of many presidential campaigns. Cruz, meanwhile, is facing a redux of the backlash he received for egging on a shutdown in 2013 over a failed effort to defund Obamacare.

Full Article: Election gambit blows up on Hawley and Cruz - POLITICO

Editorial: A reckoning is coming for President Trump’s Ohio enablers | The Cleveland Plain Dealer

The last time the U.S. Capitol was breached and attacked was in August 1814 by invading British forces during the War of 1812 -- when the British set fire not just to the then-partially built seat of U.S. government but also to the White House. More than 200 years later, it took a mob incited by a president of the United States to mount only the second such hostile assault, during which at least four protesters died -- a woman apparently shot to death by police and three who suffered what authorities described as fatal “medical emergencies.” Much of the attention is focused today on what the consequences should be for President Donald Trump himself for ginning up the conspiracy theories and lies about a stolen election that convinced his supporters that Trump had won -- and that they needed to act to help him overturn the injustice. At a lengthy warm-up rally shortly before the assault on the Capitol, President Trump repeated those lies to a mob of his supporters, urging them to march on the Capitol and to “get rid of the weak Congress, people, the ones that aren’t any good, the Liz Cheneys of the world; we got to get rid of them” -- U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Wyoming Republican and daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, being a key part of the House Republican leadership. Trump singled out Cheney because she stood up to him. Good for her. But what of Trump’s many GOP enablers, including those in solid-red Ohio? What should be their culpability for active partnership in the lies or for a toxic silence that let Trump’s false allegations that he’d won and that there had been a “steal” of the election metastasize and grow?

Full Article: A reckoning is coming for President Trump’s Ohio enablers - cleveland.com

National: Riot in the Capitol is a nightmare scenario for cybersecurity professionals | Tonya Riley/The Washington Post

Lawmakers and congressional staff were ushered into secure locations as a mob backing President Trump violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in hopes of overturning the election he lost. The assault – which only temporarily delayed the certification of president-elect Joe Biden's win – left many unanswered questions about security at the Capitol, including its cybersecurity. "There's an old saying, if an attacker has physical access to your computer, it’s not your computer anymore,” Katie Moussouris, CEO and founder of Luta Security, told me. A now-removed tweet from a right-wing journalist showed rioters had access to at least one unlocked computer in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, open to email appearing to belong to a staffer. It's unclear if the computer was a work or personal device, and my colleague Mike DeBonis confirmed no computers were taken from Pelosi's office. “Having shown that they’re willing to rummage through and destroy physical papers and run through the offices of our Congress right now with physical destruction, I would not be surprised if they were trying to access some of the computers that were left unlocked,” Moussouris says. (Some rioters boasted about looting offices for documents. One person, pictured earlier in Pelosi's office, told the New York Times's Matthew Rosenberg that he plucked an envelope from Pelosi's desk.) Bad actors could also try to guess the passwords of locked devices, which could be successful if the device lacked a strong password, Moussouris says. Anything more intensive, such as breaking into an iPhone, probably would require a third party. The government normally keeps its most sensitive classified information in separate spaces called sensitive compartmented information facilities. That's why the extent to which the mob posed a security risk to Congress depends on the expertise of the rioters, Moussouris said. Most, she guessed, are “not exactly cybercriminals.” But taking a laptop would give the thief more time to crack into the computer – or even potentially take to a professional to crack into. House IT officials did not respond for comment about steps they're taking to secure exposed devices. Important practices that all organizations should implement include having multi-factor password protection and a centralized mechanism to wipe devices of data, Moussouris told me.

Full Article: The Cybersecurity 202: Riot in the Capitol is a nightmare scenario for cybersecurity professionals - The Washington Post

National: How bad was the US Capitol breach for cybersecurity? | Zack Whittaker/TechCrunch

It’s the image that’s been seen around the world. One of hundreds of pro-Trump supporters in the private office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after storming the Capitol and breaching security in protest of the certification of the election results for President-elect Joe Biden. Police were overrun (when they weren’t posing for selfies) and some lawmakers’ offices were trashed and looted.As politicians and their staffs were told to evacuate or shelter in place, one photo of a congressional computer left unlocked still with an evacuation notice on the screen spread quickly around the internet. At least one computer was stolen from Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office, reports say. Most lawmakers don’t have ready access to classified materials, unless it’s for their work sitting on sensitive committees, such as Judiciary or Intelligence. The classified computers are separate from the rest of the unclassified congressional network and in a designated sensitive compartmented information facility, or SCIFs, in locked-down areas of the Capitol building. “No indication those [classified systems] were breached,” tweeted Mieke Eoyang, a former House Intelligence Committee staffer. But the breach will likely present a major task for Congress’ IT departments, which will have to figure out what’s been stolen and what security risks could still pose a threat to the Capitol’s network. Kimber Dowsett, a former government security architect, said there was no plan in place to respond to a storming of the building.

Full Article: Decrypted: How bad was the US Capitol breach for cybersecurity? | TechCrunch

National: Several State Lawmakers Joined, Observed US Capitol Turmoil | Cuneyt Dil/Associated Press

A West Virginia lawmaker who filmed himself and supporters of President Donald Trump storming into the U.S. Capitol is facing bipartisan calls for his resignation as federal prosecutors step up their pursuit of violent perpetrators. State Del. Derrick Evans was among lawmakers from at least seven states who traveled to Washington, D.C., for demonstrations rooted in the baseless conspiracy theory that Democrat Joe Biden stole the presidential election. Wearing a helmet, Evans ultimately joined a screaming mob as it pushed its way into the Capitol building, and livestreamed himself joyfully strolling inside. It’s unclear if Evans was the only elected official to participate in what Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and many others called a “failed insurrection.” It's also not known if any of them will be prosecuted. Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano said he helped organize a bus ride to the demonstrations but left the U.S. Capitol area after the eruption of violence, which he called “unacceptable.” The top Democrat in the Pennsylvania Senate, and eight of his colleagues, want him to resign, saying his actions and words disputing the election's integrity encouraged a coup attempt and inspired the people behind it. Tennessee state Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver said Wednesday night that it had been an “epic and historic day.” The Republican lawmaker told The Tennessean she was “in the thick of it” but hadn’t seen any violence. Weaver did not respond to emailed questions from The Associated Press about whether she entered the Capitol. Incoming Nevada state Assemblywoman Annie Black, a Republican, said she marched from the White House to the U.S. Capitol, where she saw men on megaphones revving the crowd to storm the security barrier. She said she retreated to avoid being associated with the mob.

Full Article: Several State Lawmakers Joined, Observed US Capitol Turmoil | West Virginia News | US News

National: QAnon and the storm of the US Capitol: The offline effect of online conspiracy theories | Marc-André Argentino/Quartz

What is the cost of propaganda, misinformation, and conspiracy theories? Democracy and public safety, to name just two things. The US has received a stark lesson on how online propaganda and misinformation have an offline impact. For months, Donald Trump has falsely claimed the November presidential election was rigged and that’s why he wasn’t re-elected. The president’s words have mirrored and fed conspriacy theories spread by followers of the QAnon movement. While conspiracy theorists are often dismissed as “crazy people on social media,” QAnon adherents were among the individuals at the front line of the storming of Capitol Hill. QAnon is a decentralized, ideologically motivated, and violent extremist movement rooted in an unfounded conspiracy theory that a global “Deep State” cabal of satanic pedophile elites is responsible for all the evil in the world. Adherents of QAnon also believe that this same cabal is seeking to bring down Trump, whom they see as the world’s only hope in defeating it.

Full Article: The attack on the US Capitol shows the real danger of QAnon — Quartz

National: U.S. Capitol Police officer dies after attack on Congress | Narianne Levine and Sarah Ferris/Politico

A U.S. Capitol Police officer has died after engaging with rioters in Wednesday’s violent insurrection. "Brian D. Sicknick passed away due to injuries sustained while on-duty," the U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement late Thursday. "He returned to his division office and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries." Sicknick had served in the USCP since 2008 and was recently in the First Responders' Unit. Four other people died during Wednesday’s siege of the Capitol. One of them was a 35-year-old woman who was shot inside the Capitol as she climbed through a window. Three others died due to medical emergencies. More than 50 law enforcement officials were injured and several were hospitalized, USCP said earlier Thursday. The growing number of deaths from the unprecedented attack on Capitol Hill comes as the enormous complex faces a reckoning over its security, including the operations of its roughly 1,800-member police force. On Thursday, Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund, Senate Sergeant-At-Arms Michael Stenger and House Sergeant-At-Arms Paul Irving all resigned.

Full Article: U.S. Capitol Police officer dies after attack on Congress - POLITICO

National: Capitol Attack Leads Democrats to Demand That Trump Leave Office | Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman/The New York Times