Yesterday, the NUNA Team launched a media landscape and narrative tracking dashboard page as we continue to monitor media coverage of Wednesday’s events. The dashboard includes a full actions timeline of media coverage, inflection points, and initial key insights. Access the dashboard here, and check back throughout the day as we continue to update the timeline.
CNN Anchor and National Security Correspondent Jim Sciutto reported this morning that Assistant House Speaker Katherine Clark (D-MA) has stated that the House of Representatives will move forward with an impeachment vote against President Trump by the middle of next week if he is not removed by the Vice President and Cabinet via the 25th Amendment. Sources close to the Vice President say that he opposes using the 25th Amendment to remove the President at this time.
Under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, both the Vice President and a majority of the “principal officers of the executive departments” must submit to Congress a written declaration that the President is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” in order to remove the President from office. This has become increasingly unlikely in the last 24 hours, as two members of the Cabinet, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, have resigned from their positions – along with a number of other senior White House officials.
Bloomberg reports that President Trump has suggested to aides that he wants to pardon himself in the final days of his presidency, and has prepared a “sweeping list” of individuals he’s hoping to pardon. The list reportedly includes senior White House officials, family members, and prominent rappers. Bloomberg reports that President Trump hopes to announce the pardons on January 19, his final full day in office.
The DC Police Department announced yesterday afternoon that on January 7 they made 68 arrests, 56 officers were injured – two were hospitalized, – six firearms were recovered, and two pipe bombs were recovered. One of the injured officers, Brian D. Sicknick, died last night from injuries sustained “while physically engaging” with pro-Trump rioters. A spokeswoman for Capitol Police announced yesterday Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund is resigning, effective January 16, 2021.
Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden announced a handful of nominations to the Justice Department yesterday in addition to his pick for Attorney General, Judge Merrick Garland. His nominees include Lisa Monaco for Deputy Attorney General, Vanita Gupta for Associate Attorney General, and Kristen Clarke for Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. Read more about the nominees here.
The NUNA Media Clips will return to our regular programming next week. Please reach out to us for any assistance during this time.