Judge Steven King suspended by Judicial Inquiry Commission
On Tuesday, the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission (JIC) suspended Blount County Circuit Judge Steven D. King over allegations he violated the Alabama canons of judicial ethics. The JIC claims in the complaint that Judge King sent an anonymous complaint letter to the media claiming that a Warrior police officer and two Blount County Commissioners were unfit for office. Specifically, the complaint claims that in the anonymous letter, Judge King alleged that Blount County Commissioner Dean Calvert and the Warrior police officer used fraud to obtain property. The complaint also alleges that King claimed that the Warrior police officer had an adulterous affair while on vacation in Gulf Shores and that Calvert and the other County Commissioner allowed the Warrior police officer to have a liaison with the young woman in their hotel room – a hotel room paid for by taxpayers to attend the Association of County Commissioners meeting. The JIC claims that King provided the anonymous letter and documents, including proceedings from Blount and Etowah County court pleadings and recordings, to an attorney who practices in Blount County at a Pinson fast food restaurant. The attorney then mailed the packages out to 18 news outlets. The letter is not signed, and there is nothing in the documents confirming that the package came from Judge King. Locust Fork native and journalist Christopher Peeks spoke with Alabama Today about the situation. “It looks like Judge King enacted a scorched Earth policy,” Peek said. “He is not just trying to drain the swamp; he’s trying to blow the whole thing up.” The complaint makes clear that, according to the JIC, King’s alleged role in gathering the evidence against Commissioner Calvert, the other commissioner, and the officer, is a violation of the Alabama Judicial Code of ethics and thus grounds King’s removal from the bench. King is suspended following the JIC ruling and was already planning to leave the bench next month after 15 years of service on the court. Baldwin County Attorney Harry Still, a 2022 Republican primary candidate for Alabama Attorney General, talked with Alabama Today about the case. “I have a case before Judge King’s court, so was not going to comment on this complaint, but will since King has left the case,” Still said. “After reading this complaint, I admire Judge King and am shocked and appalled that this honorable jurist has been crucified and forced off the bench because he tried to do the right thing.” “It is crazy that the whistleblower judge is the one who is shamed and the one who loses his office here,” Still said. “I don’t know what the Judicial Inquiry Commission is doing here but playing politics.” Still is a contributor to a podcast that comments on state and Baldwin County political issues, among other topics. Tuscaloosa Attorney Luisa Reyes disagreed. “It is unfortunate that the events have transpired as they have,” Reyes told Alabama Today. “However, to maintain the integrity of the judicial system, a judge has to avoid impropriety and the appearance of impropriety. And it appears that in this instance, the judge acted more as a skilled attorney than in the aloof manner befitting his position.” The JIC complaint made no claims about the content of the merits of King’s claims of political corruption in Blount County. There is already an online petition circulating demanding that Calvert resign over recordings that appear to show him making racial slurs. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Paul DeMarco: Look for bills to weaken the Alabama criminal justice system in next legislative session
It may still be 2022, but the 2023 Alabama Legislature will be going into session in just a few months. The first session of a four-year legislative quadrennium is usually when lawmakers pass the most controversial bills. Tax increases, legislative pay raises, and other issues that state representatives and senators want to pass but would like the public to forget are brought forward in the first year because it is over three years away from their next elections. Despite the spike in crime both nationally and in Alabama, there will be a strong push to weaken the criminal justice system in our state by some lawmakers and soft-on-crime groups. There will be bills that force the parole board to release felons convicted of violent crimes early, repealing of the habitual felony offender law, and other legislation that would have the effect of reducing sentences that have been imposed by the courts. When Republican candidates for the legislature campaigned for office, none of them promised to open the prison doors and further endanger state citizens. Folks want laws that give more tools to law enforcement and prosecutors to put criminals in jail and keep them there, not less. We will see soon enough if these newly elected lawmakers, along with some incumbents, go back on their commitments to public safety. Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and can be found on Twitter at @Paul_DeMarco.
Red Snapper season to end on December 31
On Wednesday, the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) Marine Resources Division (MRD) announced that Alabama’s Red Snapper private angler season will close at midnight on December 31. MRD reports that Alabama anglers caught far fewer fish than the federal government allocates to Alabama fishermen. Alabama’s 2022 federal allocation of red snapper was 1.12 million pounds. Anglers have to this point, actually harvested less than 500,000 pounds during the 128-day season. “Every year, a variety of factors impact the effort in this fishery,” said Scott Bannon, MRD Director. “Those factors influence the number of days Alabama is open to fishing for red snapper. Good weather throughout the summer and fall provided anglers with more opportunities to participate this year. We also want to thank anglers for reporting their red snapper harvests through Snapper Check. It is an important tool in providing increased access to this fishery.” The size of the state’s red snapper allocation and the length of the season has been a point of contention between the state and federal regulators with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for years. MRD says that it will announce the 2023 season dates in the coming months once NOAA Fisheries finalize the 2023 quota. “It has been a good, long red snapper season in Alabama this year,” said Chris Blankenship, ADCNR Commissioner. “Under Alabama state management, we were able to provide maximum access in 2022. This is the sixth successful red snapper season under state management. It was good to see anglers reeling in red snapper throughout the summer and fall. ADCNR will continue fighting to ensure our citizens and visitors have access to the incredible red snapper fishery off the coast of Alabama.” NOAA has announced that private angler red snapper catch limits for red snapper will increase in 2023 as the numbers of red snapper have increased in the federal government’s most recent assessments. MRD has also announced that the state will close all Alabama waters to oyster harvesting on Friday at 2:00 p.m. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Nathaniel Ledbetter announces fourth and final round of committee chair appointments
On Wednesday, State Rep. Nathaniel Ledbetter, the House Republican Caucus nominee for Speaker of the Alabama House, announced the final seven representatives he plans to appoint as committee chairs if elected as the next Speaker. “These committee chairs will handle some of the most important issues that affect the daily lives of Alabamians – health, public education, election integrity, veterans affairs, accountability to taxpayers, and local measures,” Ledbetter said in a statement. “And because the ability to easily transport goods plays such a vital role in Alabama’s economic development efforts, the new House committee on ports and waterways will be especially important in keeping our state growing.” Ledbetter created the new House Ports, Waterways, and Intermodal Transit Committee. State Rep. Chip Brown will be the inaugural chair of this new committee. Brown was elected to the Alabama House in 2018. He previously held a seat on the agenda-setting Rules Committee and served on the body’s Economic Development and Tourism, Urban and Rural Development, Insurance, and Mobile County Legislation committees. Brown is a commercial realtor and entrepreneur and served in the Alabama Army National Guard. He was deployed with the U.S. Army at the Central Command Forward Operations Headquarters in Southwest Asia during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was also twice deployed as a military advisor in Afghanistan. Ledbetter said he created the new House committee because Alabama possesses more than ten percent of our nation’s freshwater. When combined with the expansion of the State Docks in Mobile, the Tennessee/Tombigbee Waterway, the ports of Huntsville and Birmingham, and the port being constructed in Montgomery, that transportation hub can be leveraged into one of the state’s strongest economic assets. State Rep. Phillip Pettus will remain as the House Fiscal Responsibility Committee Chair. Pettus also held seats on the Judiciary Committee, the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, and the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee in the previous quadrennium. Pettus is a retired Alabama State Trooper Captain. Following 25 years of service, he retired from the Alabama Department of Public Safety in 2013. State Rep. Bob Fincher will return as the House Constitution, Campaigns, and Elections Committee chair. Fincher was elected to the Alabama House in 2014. He previously held seats on the House Education Policy, Agriculture and Policy, and Local Legislation Committees. Fincher is a retired educator who taught at Woodland High School and New Hope Christian School and twice served as one of Alabama’s presidential electors. State Rep. Ed Oliver will chair the House Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. Oliver joined the Alabama House in 2018 and previously held seats on the Agriculture and Forestry Committee, the Fiscal Responsibility Committee, and the Health Committee. The former Chair of the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee –Rep. Dickie Drake was defeated in the May Republican primary. Oliver is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He served as a military helicopter pilot and inspector general and devoted 31 total years to active duty, reserve, and National Guard service. He was employed for 15 years as a civilian helicopter air ambulance pilot. State Rep. Alan Baker will return as the chair of the House Local Legislation Committee. During the prior quadrennium, Baker also served as vice chair of the House Education Policy and the agenda-setting House Rules Committee. Before his election to the Alabama House in 2006, Baker worked for 27 years as an educator and football coach in Alabama public schools. While coaching at T.R. Miller High School, he won five state championships in football and five in track. State Rep. Terri Collins will return as chair of the House Education Policy Committee. Collins sponsored and passed the landmark Alabama Literacy Act in 2019. Throughout the prior quadrennium, she held a seat on the House Ways and Means Education Committee and chaired the Alabama School Safety and Student Security Task Force. Elected to the House in 2010, Collins is a retired marketing executive and businesswoman who enjoyed a 16-year career in the banking industry in Decatur. Retaining Collins is by far the most controversial committee chair choice by presumed Speaker Ledbetter, as Collins has often incurred the anger of social conservatives for her defense of the controversial Alabama College and Career Ready Standards – which many on the ultra-right feel are too tightly aligned with the Barack Obama era Common Core educational standards. State Rep. Paul Lee will return as the chair of the House Health Committee. He has served as a member of the committee since first winning election to the Alabama House in 2010. Lee is a former Dothan city commissioner. He retired from Sony’s Magnetic Tape Division as a senior production specialist following 31 years of service. He is currently the executive director of Wiregrass Rehabilitation Center in Dothan. It is highly likely that Ledbetter will be elected as the Speaker of the House during the organizational session in January, as he is the choice of the House Republican Caucus, which holds a 77 to 28 supermajority in the Alabama House of Representatives. Ledbetter defeated State Rep. Steve Clouse for the open Speaker position in a vote by the Caucus during a November meeting. Ledbetter is the former mayor of Rainsville. He follows Rep. Mac McCutcheon as Speaker. McCutcheon chose not to run for the legislature again. If elected, Ledbetter will be the third Republican Speaker of the House since the GOP’s takeover of the state Legislature in the historic red wave election of 2010 following 135 years of uninterrupted Alabama Democratic Party legislature control. Ledbetter is part of a new generation of Republican lawmakers who have never experienced being in the minority. To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Steve Marshall joins 17 AGs, file brief in support of fishermen
Attorneys general from 18 states have filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of New Jersey fishermen challenging a federal regulation requiring them to pay for the cost of monitors who board their vessels during fishing trips. Led by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey, the attorneys general are urging the nation’s top court to take on the case and give guidance on the “Chevron deference,” a longstanding doctrine that grants federal regulatory agencies powers to issue mandates when Congress has not given clear guidance. Specifically, they’re urging the Supreme Court to either restrict the doctrine “in a way that is consistent with the separation of powers and the principles of federalism” or strike it down. They added a myriad of rulings has created uncertainty over it. “The confused status quo has real costs for the people who live and work within our borders,” the brief states. “Because the problems with Chevron keep multiplying, no one really knows whether it is still viable or how courts should apply its teachings.” The attorneys general filed their brief with the justices Thursday in the case of Loper Bright Enterprises Inc. v. Raimondo. The plaintiffs are challenging a policy set by the New England Fishery Management Council and approved by NOAA Fisheries to not only require at-sea monitors to be stationed on their boats but also pay $700 per day for the monitors. The monitors ensure fishermen comply with federal regulations regarding their harvest. In addition, they also collect scientific and economic data that federal agencies use to manage fisheries. However, the fishermen, represented by the Cause of Action Institute, claim the practice is a federal overreach threatening to put them out of business. Judges at the federal district and appellate levels have ruled in favor of the U.S. government in the case. The fishermen appealed to the Supreme Court last month. Since then, 14 briefs in support of their claims have been filed by nearly 40 groups. “This tremendous support highlights the broad agreement that the Supreme Court needs to revisit Chevron and ensure federal agencies do not usurp the constitutional authorities reserved for Congress and the courts,” James Valvo, executive director of Cause of Action Institute, said in a statement. Besides West Virginia, attorneys general from Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and Virginia signed the brief. The federal government has until Jan. 17 to respond to the New Jersey fishermen’s filing. Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
Kay Ivey awards $3.4 million to help sexual assault victims
On Wednesday, Gov. Kay Ivey awarded $3.4 million in grants to support organizations that assist victims of sexual assault across Alabama. The grants will enable the nonprofit agencies to provide a variety of services to victims, including advocacy, referrals, counseling and emotional support, safety services, assistance with navigating the criminal and civil justice system, and assistance with filing victims’ compensation claims. “Those who have been victimized in such heinous ways need professional help as they navigate the criminal justice system and begin to heal from such awful trauma,” Gov. Ivey said in a press release. “I commend these organizations as they work to help victims find the assistance they need on their road to recovery.” The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs is administering the grants from funds made available to Alabama by the U.S. Department of Justice. “ADECA stands with Gov. Ivey as she continues to support the work of these organizations that help victims of sexual assault in Alabama,” ADECA Director Kenneth Boswell stated. “Through ADECA’s partnerships with these organizations, victims will have the help they need to begin rebuilding their lives.” Gov. Ivey awarded the following grants: Tuscaloosa SAFE Center, Inc. (Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marengo, Pickens, Sumter and Tuscaloosa counties): $186,225 2nd Chance, Inc. (Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Etowah, Randolph and Talladega counties): $136,160 The WellHouse (statewide): $537,752 Montgomery Area Family Violence Program Inc./Family Sunshine Center (Autauga, Butler, Chilton, Crenshaw, Elmore, Lowndes, and Montgomery counties): $254,358 Crisis Services of North Alabama Inc. (Jackson, Limestone, Madison, and Morgan counties): $212,702 Alabama Coalition Against Rape (statewide): $213,156 Victim Services of Cullman Inc. (Cullman and Winston counties): $58,225 SafeHouse of Shelby County Inc. (Chilton, Clay, Coosa, and Shelby counties): $243,301 University of Alabama (Tuscaloosa County): $340,935 Rape Counselors of East Alabama (Chambers, Lee, Macon, Russell, and Tallapoosa counties): $145,160 One Place of the Shoals (Colbert, Franklin, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Marion, and Winston counties): $112,290 Baldwin Family Violence Shelter/The Lighthouse (Baldwin and Escambia counties): $64,915 Family Services of North Alabama (DeKalb and Marshall counties): $162,350 SAN, Inc./Turning Point (Bibb, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Lamar, Marengo, Pickens, Sumter, and Tuscaloosa counties): $42,975 Family Counseling Center of Mobile Inc. (Clarke, Mobile, and Washington counties): $209,145 Crisis Center Inc. (Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, St. Clair, and Walker counties): $473,680 ADECA manages a wide array of programs that support law enforcement and traffic safety, energy conservation, water resource management, economic development, and recreation.
U.S. sending Patriots to Ukraine under $1.85B aid package
The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will provide $1.85 billion in military aid to Ukraine, rolling out funding for a Patriot missile battery as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Washington for his first known trip out of his country since Russia invaded in February. The White House announcement came just hours before Zelenskyy landed at Joint Base Andrews, just outside the capital. The package includes $1 billion in weapons and equipment from Pentagon stocks, including the Patriot battery for the first time, and $850 million in funding through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. Part of the USAI will be used to fund a satellite communications system, which likely will include the crucial SpaceX Starlink satellite network system owned by Elon Musk. “As Russia continues its brutal attacks against critical infrastructure in Ukraine, the United States welcomes President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to Washington, D.C. today to underscore our enduring commitment to the people of Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement, adding that the U.S. will be providing “critical new and additional military capabilities to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s ongoing brutal and unprovoked assault.” Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have pressed Western leaders to provide more advanced weapons, including the Patriots, to help their country in its war with Russia. The Patriot would be the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks. Also included in the package are two other key items. The Pentagon will send an undisclosed number of Joint Direct Attack Munitions kits, or JDAMs, to Ukraine. The U.S. also will fund satellite communications terminals and services, to shore up a potential vulnerability for Ukraine after Musk said his company could no longer afford to provide the services for free. The kits will be used to modify massive bombs by adding tail fins and precision navigation systems so that rather than being simply dropped from a fighter jet onto a target, they can be released and guided to a target. The satellite money would act as a hedge against the possibility that Musk again threatens to stop funding them. Musk shipped the first Starlink terminals to Ukraine just days after Russia invaded in February, and as of October, there were more than 2,200 of the low-orbiting satellites providing broadband internet to Ukraine. In October he asked the Pentagon to take over the costs for operating Starlink in Ukraine, and tweeted that it was costing SpaceX $20 million a month to support the country’s communications needs. The system has “been the game changer” in allowing Ukraine’s military and infrastructure to continue to operate, said John Ferrari, a senior fellow and space expert at the American Enterprise Institute. While Wednesday’s funding announcement is for satellite communications terminals and services and doesn’t specify Musk’s company, it would be difficult to introduce other systems onto the battlefield because they often won’t operate well together, Ferrari said. The decision to send the Patriot battery comes despite threats from Russia’s Foreign Ministry that the delivery of the advanced surface-to-air missile system would be considered a provocative step and that the Patriot and any crews accompanying it would be a legitimate target for Moscow’s military. But the White House is pushing back against the notion that delivery of the Patriot amounts to an escalation of U.S. involvement on behalf of Ukraine. A senior administration official, who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity, said that Joe Biden has been clear that his administration would “lean forward” in supporting Ukraine, but it is “not seeking to engage in direct war with Russia.” It’s not clear exactly when the Patriot would arrive on the front lines in Ukraine since U.S. troops will have to train Ukrainian forces on how to use the high-tech system. The training could take several weeks and is expected to be done at the Grafenwoehr training area in Germany. To date, all training of Ukraine forces by the U.S. and the West has taken place in European countries. Also included in the aid package are more rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS; 500 precision-guided artillery rounds for howitzers; 30 mortar systems and 10,000 mortar rounds; 37 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) Vehicles; 120 Humvees; six armored trucks; more than 2,700 grenade launchers and other weapons, an undisclosed number of HARM air-to-surface anti-radiation missiles; Claymore anti-personnel mines; demolition munitions and other equipment and body armor. The Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which pays for longer-range purchases, will fund more than 200,000 rounds of various types of ammunitions, satellite systems, and ongoing training and maintenance. This is the 28th time that the Pentagon has pulled weapons off the shelf to deliver quickly to Ukraine, often arriving within days to Europe and the war. Overall, the U.S. has provided about $21.3 billion in military aid and equipment since Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine on February 24. The aid comes as Congress is poised to approve another $44.9 billion in assistance for Ukraine as part of a massive spending bill. That would ensure that U.S. support will continue next year and beyond as Republicans take control of the House in January. Some GOP lawmakers have expressed wariness about the assistance. Republished with the permission of The Associated Press.
January 6 panel prepares to unveil final report on insurrection
An 800-page report set to be released Thursday by House investigators will conclude that then-President Donald Trump criminally plotted to overturn his 2020 election defeat and “provoked his supporters to violence” at the Capitol with false claims of widespread voter fraud. The resulting January 6, 2021, insurrection of Trump’s followers threatened democracy with “horrific” brutality toward law enforcement and “put the lives of American lawmakers at risk,” according to the report’s executive summary. “The central cause of January 6 was one man, former President Donald Trump, who many others followed,” reads the report from the House January 6 committee, which is expected to be released in full on Thursday. “None of the events of January 6 would have happened without him.” Ahead of the report’s release, the committee on Wednesday released 34 transcripts from the 1,000 interviews it conducted over the last 18 months. Included in the release is testimony from the onetime leaders of two extremist groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, both of whom were involved in planning ahead of the rioting. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted last month of seditious conspiracy for his role in the planning, and former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the extremist group are in court on similar charges this month. The report’s eight chapters of findings will largely mirror nine hearings this year that presented evidence from over 1,000 private interviews and millions of pages of documents. They tell the story of Trump’s extraordinary and unprecedented campaign to overturn his defeat and his pressure campaign on state officials, the Justice Department, members of Congress, and his own vice president to change the vote. A 154-page summary of the report released Monday detailed how Trump, a Republican, amplified the false claims on social media and in public appearances, encouraging his supporters to travel to Washington and protest Democrat Joe Biden’s presidential election win. And how he told them to “fight like hell” at a huge rally in front of the White House that morning and then did little to stop the violence as they beat police, broke into the Capitol, and sent lawmakers running for their lives. It was a “multi-part conspiracy,” the committee concludes. The massive, damning report comes as Trump is running again for the presidency and also facing multiple federal investigations, including probes of his role in the insurrection and the presence of classified documents at his Florida estate. A House committee is expected to release his tax returns in the coming days — documents he has fought for years to keep private. And he has been blamed by Republicans for a worse-than-expected showing in the midterm elections, leaving him in his most politically vulnerable state since he won the 2016 election. It is also a culmination of four years of a House Democratic majority that has spent much of its time and energy investigating Trump, and that is ceding power to Republicans in two weeks. Democrats impeached Trump twice — both times he was acquitted by the Senate — and investigated his finances, his businesses, his foreign ties, and his family. But the 18-month January 6 probe has been the most personal for the lawmakers, most of whom were in the Capitol when Trump’s supporters stormed the building and interrupted the certification of Biden’s victory. While the lasting impact of the probes remains to be seen — most Republicans have stayed loyal to the former president — the committee’s hearings were watched by tens of millions of people over the summer. And 44% of voters in November’s midterm elections said the future of democracy was their primary consideration at the polls, according to AP VoteCast, a national survey of the electorate. “This committee is nearing the end of its work, but as a country, we remain in strange and uncharted waters,” said the panel’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, at the meeting Monday to adopt the report and recommend criminal charges against Trump. “We’ve never had a president of the United States stir up a violent attempt to block the transfer of power. I believe nearly two years later, this is still a time of reflection and reckoning.” The “reckoning” committee members are hoping for is criminal charges against Trump and key allies. But only the Justice Department has the power to prosecute, so the panel sent referrals recommending the department investigate the former president on four crimes, including aiding an insurrection. While its main points are familiar, the January 6 report will provide new detail from the hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents the committee has collected. Transcripts and some video are expected to be released as well over the coming two weeks. Republicans take over the House on January 3, when the panel will be dissolved. “I guarantee there’ll be some very interesting new information in the report and even more so in the transcripts,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., told “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday. The summary of the report describes how Trump refused to accept the lawful result of the 2020 election and plotted to overturn his defeat. Trump pressured state legislators to hold votes invalidating Biden’s electors, sought to “corrupt the U.S. Department of Justice” by urging department officials to make false statements about the election, and repeatedly, personally tried to persuade Vice President Mike Pence to upend democracy with unprecedented objections at the joint congressional session, it says. Trump has tried to discredit the report, slamming committee members as “thugs and scoundrels” as he has continued to falsely dispute his 2020 loss. In response to the panel’s criminal referrals, Trump said that “These folks don’t get it that when they come after me, people who love freedom rally around me. It strengthens me.” The report will give minute-by-minute detail of what Trump was doing — and not doing — for around three hours as his supporters beat police and broke into the Capitol. Trump riled up the crowd at the rally that morning and then did little to stop his supporters for several hours as he watched the violence unfold on television inside the White House
