Biden: Capitol rioters 'insurrectionists and anti-Semites,' should be prosecuted | The Times of Israel
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
US President-elect Joe Biden cited anti-Semitic expressions by rioters in the US Capitol this week in saying that his Justice Department should prosecute them.
"Yes," he said Friday when a reporter asked if his Justice Department should prosecute the marauders whose looting of the Capitol this week in hopes of stopping Congress's affirmation of Biden as president-elect resulted in five deaths.
"They should be treated as a bunch of thugs, insurrectionists, anti-Semites," Biden said while addressing reporters in his home state of Delaware after an event introducing some of his Cabinet choices.
Biden has until now said he would not advise his Justice Department, seeking to draw a distinction with President Donald Trump, who pressured his attorneys-general to leave his friends alone and to prosecute his enemies. On Friday, taking questions from reporters, Biden said he would leave the charges to the discretion of the Justice Department, although it was clear he believed prosecution was merited.
Biden suggested Trump too should face investigation for his speech on Wednesday, in which he encouraged protesters to march on the Capitol.
"The difference here is this had the active encouragement of a sitting president of the United States and the way in which the breakdown of security occurred needs to be investigated," he said.
Biden noted that a key reason he ran for president was that he'd "thought for a long, long time that President Trump wasn't fit for the job."
US President Donald Trump speaks at a rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)
"I've been saying for now, well, over a year, he's not fit to serve," Biden said. "He's one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America."
As to the rioters, he said: "These are a bunch of thugs, they're terrorists, domestic terrorists and that will be a judgment for the justice department as to what the charges should be, but the fact is they should be prosecuted."
He quoted a slogan on a t-shirt that appeared in reporting of the riots on Wednesday. "'Six million is not enough,' I mean come on," he said.
The reference was to 6MWE, "Six Million Wasn't Enough," referring to the Jews murdered in the Nazi Holocaust.
There was anti-Semitic and racist symbology at the storming of the Capitol, but the particular photo with the t-shirt Biden seemed to be referring to was erroneously identified on social media with the insurrection, and was taken at an earlier far-right event.
'Very special' people on capitol hill:
A man with a Camp Auschwitz shirt, on the back it says Staff. And a man with a shirt that says 6MWE, which means 6 million weren't enough. #Fascism2020#CapitolBuilding#Capitol#January6th#TrumpIsAFascist#MagaMadness#CoupAttemptpic.twitter.com/tGs9SPq1ta
— Ingeborg Nijzink (@IngeborgNijzink) January 7, 2021
Biden would not explicitly back efforts to remove Trump from the White House and insisted that impeachment was up to Congress. Instead, Biden said he was focused on the start of his own administration on Jan. 20, and he said his top three priorities are beating back the coronavirus, distributing vaccines fairly and equitably and reviving the struggling economy.
His comments laid bare the political balance Biden has worked to strike in the months since winning the presidential election. He has continued to sharply criticize Trump and nearly every facet of his administration but also worked to keep the public's attention focused on what the new administration will do rather than indulging recriminations against the last one.
Biden nonetheless conceded that Trump "exceeded my worst notions about him. He's been an embarrassment" and likened the "damage done to our reputation around the world" to "tin horn dictatorships." The president-elect also suggested that a key hurdle to removing Trump was that he has less than two weeks remaining in his term.
"If we were six months out, we should be doing everything to get him out of office. Impeaching him again, trying to evoke the 25th Amendment, whatever it took," Biden said. "But I am focused now on us taking control as president and vice president on the 20th and to get our agenda moving as quickly as we can."
Trump would be the only president to be impeached twice. The House impeached him in late 2019, but the Republican-led Senate acquitted him. Removal from office could also prevent Trump from running for president in 2024, or ever holding the presidency again.
Most Democrats, and many Republicans, put the blame squarely on Trump after hundreds of protesters broke into the Capitol on Wednesday and caused destruction and mass evacuations. The president had urged his supporters to protest as Congress was counting the electoral votes that confirmed Biden's win. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer.
Biden called what happened a "god-awful debacle" and said it had "the active encouragement of the president of the United States."
The president-elect's comments came hours after Trump said that he planned to skip Biden's inauguration, becoming the first president in more than 150 years — and just the fourth in US history — to do so. Biden said he'd be "honored" to have Vice President Mike Pence at the swearing-in, but didn't feel the same way about Trump.
That's "one of the few things he and I have ever agreed on," Biden said. "It's a good thing, him not showing up."
Tags
Who is online
98 visitors
I think Trump was always riding on the back of the tiger. At some point you will get off or fall off and the tiger will eat you.
His rise in national politics was always linked , to one extent or another depending on how you see it, to far right themes of racism and anti-semitism , and anti-government , attitudes and expressions.
People say Trump was not a racist, not an anti-semite, etc, but his unsolvable problem is that those types of people were his most vocal and loyal support, and in the end his association with such beliefs led to his downfall.
When Trump and his father denied renting to people of color, that made him a racist and nothing has changed. He won't rent at Trump Tower because he doesn't want his white renters to see black children in the lobby. When he would visit properties, black employees were hidden out of sight and if they wanted to use the bathroom, they would have to go elsewhere to do so....RACIST!
This man was seen inside the Capitol Building during the riot and is wanted by the FBI.
He’s going to punish people for a shirt?
Did he not learn anything about the first amendment while he was plagiarizing papers in law school?
I dont think Biden wants to prosecute anyone for what t-shirt they are wearing.
Regardless, at the same time Trump was tweeting and saying on a video that he loved the people who entered the Capitol Building and they loved him, the scraggly looking guy with the t shirt that promotes anti -semitic genocide was inside the Capitol trying to do Trump's bidding.
Arrest the tshirt guy for the actual crimes he committed. Punishing him for an offensive T-shirt would be an assault on the constitution, and a pretty ironic way for Biden to start his presidency.
I wasnt aware anyone wanted to prosecute him for the t-shirt.
( don't feed the pro Russian trolls )
I assumed you read your own seed.
" President-elect Joe Biden cited anti-Semitic expressions by rioters in the US Capitol this week in saying that his Justice Department should prosecute them."
[deleted]
I think you are reading something specific into the first sentence that really isnt there. He cited the anti-semitic expressions along with the larger charge that they were "marauders whose looting of the Capitol ..... resulted in five deaths."
To much for you, huh?
I think you are reading something specific into the first sentence that really isnt there.
. The reason cited for the prosecution is "anti-Semitic expressions."
e cited the anti-semitic expressions along with the larger charge that the
Even you admit it reads as a "charge" separate from the ones involving the looting.
The opposite. I think you have a few words memorized you imagine work as an insult so you constantly repeat them hoping to gain credit from some of your slower witted fellow travelers who can't see through the charade.
Why don't you try and craft a relevant, original argument instead of constantly repeating a canned slogan you probably copied of a meme?
I'll try to explain this to you
All of these sentences appear in this sequence in the Times Of Israel newspaper story. The sentence in red is a summary of the two sentences in blue. Or you could call it a preview of them if you want. In any case the red sentence prefaces the other two sentences and refers to them. You notice in the bottom blue sentence Biden says "They should be treated as a bunch of thugs, insurrectionists, anti-Semites,. That is specifically what the passage at the top US President-elect Joe Biden cited anti-Semitic expressions by rioters is referring to.
Don't feed the pro Russian trolls
Ironic that you can call people that, and I can't respond without being censored.
Send that schmuck on a vacation to the real Auschwitz for two weeks and have him endure the same living conditions and the same food the prisoners did. He would cave after one night there.
... maybe take a shower?
These people----these Putin lackeys--I'll call them what they are---will finally receive what they sow.
No, the bigot can't be arrested or prosecuted for wearing the shirt. It does show his idealogy and that is a violent idealogy. I believe that he will have a lot more to worry about than his bigoted shirt. Photos of him outside and inside the capitol building could lead to federal charges.
I doubt if there is a human that doesn't know what the shirt stands for.
The ADL had been warning officials for weeks and finally became so alarmed at what they were seeing that they went public with it.
The response was an epic failure and hopefully, we'll find out what the hell happened.
In the meantime arrest as many of these rioters as possible.
The legislator that was at the capital from West Virginia was arrested today.
There is no debate as to what this means.
Do you think Trump will pardon his whole private army that broke into the Capitol building?
Buzz, after the last couple of days I'm not sure of anything revolving around the insurrection. IMO, if he could he would.
I sure as hell can't blame you for that. I'm scared about what that maniac might do right now myself.
Same here Buzz. They may be secure on the surrounding ground area, but, what about from the air?
I fear that in spite of the security they are planning to set up, I have a gut feeling that some kind of remote device or object, or a person, will be used to try and assassinate Biden, Pence, Harris and Pelosi. Others that may be targets are McConnell, Schmur, Romney and a few other Repubs Trump feels have betrayed him. They may even lob explosives into the area where the inauguration is taking place in order to take out as many as they can.
But, you can bet Trump will not go quietly into that good night, he must have his revenge, and he will hide out in the WH bunker like the coward he is, thinking that he will be able to reclaim his Presidency when all those he views as his enemies are dead. And no matter how much security they have around the inauguration area, there is always a way, and who knows if the people assigned to protect Biden are actually Trump supporters.
Sure, these are all 'ifs', but, Trump and his supporters have already shown the world how sneaky and manipulative he is, so I for one would not put anything past any of them.
That is just my own opinion.
It has already crossed my mind that Biden should be behind bulletproof glass shielding at the inauguration.
That might work, unless a sniper has bullet proof glass penetrating ammo. I am sure they will be taking all sorts of security steps, and I hope it will be enough to keep Biden safe from a snipers special ammo.
The level of Trumps anger and vindictive crave for revenge is beyond anywhere logical, so they will need to think like a professional sniper and take the necessary precautions. And there are also ex-military men and women taking part in the mobs who are trained in the use of highly deadly weapons that are easily made available to them by their great Leader, Trump. He will not accept failure this time.
I do believe that the balcony where the oath of office is given is lined with bulletproof shielding for the event. Designed to prevent a shot from ground level as the federal government already controls all the buildings and rooftops in the area that have line of sight access. The Secret Service has been doing that for quite some time now I believe.
Snuffy, I have watched movies where secret service officers have become turncoats, and Trump has OBVIOUSLY had the effect of mesmerizing people into such an absolute loyalty to him that withstands his most heinous behaviour, and how many times have I pointed out on this site that Life Imitates Art just as Art Imitates Life. I truly fear what can still happen.
American fascism has been primarily racist... but its xenophobia has also struck Brown people of all origins.
Trump himself has not been openly anti-Semitic, although he has used the usual dogwhistles.
Worldwide,fascism has always carried a dose of anti-Semitism. It is not at all surprising to see openly anti-Semitic rioters in Trump's army.
I assume you mean some of Trump's "fine people" who rant that Jews will not replace them.
Yes.
My sister can only see Israel. Trump has indeed unblocked that forty-year logjam... but even the most fervent Israel supporter cannot see NOTHING ELSE!
Who have always been the victims of every fascist regime? The Jews!
I think I must be missing something from your first sentence, and I cannot interpret your double negatrve.
My sister has worked for the advancement of Israel all her life. So her values-system is simple: "If it's good for Israel, it's good, and if it's bad for Israel it's bad."
Trump is good for Israel, so Trump is good.
Anything and everything else that Trump may have done is unimportant, but it must be justified because Trump is good..
At first I was a Trump supporter when he kept his promises about moving the Embassy to Jerusalem, but because of what he then started doing I realized what he was and saw it getting worse and worse and since my brain isn't frozen solid like those who STILL support him I made a complete U-turn in my feelings
At first I was a Trump supporter when he kept his promises about moving the Embassy to Jerusalem, but because of what he then started doing I realized what he was and saw it getting worse and worse and since my brain isn't frozen solid like those who STILL support him I made a complete U-turn in my feelings
That's why I wrote to her: there are people like you. I keep hoping...
From what I've seen so far, not on THIS site.