Man with Confederate flag in Capitol riot turns himself in

Man with Confederate flag in Capitol riot turns himself in

]

A man who was seen in the Capitol holding a Confederate flag during last week’s riot by supporters of President Donald Trump turned himself in to authorities on Thursday.

Kevin Seefried and his son Hunter surrendered to the U.S. Marshals’ office Thursday morning in Wilmington, Delaware, the FBI confirmed to NBC News.

The FBI had circulated a photo of Kevin Seefried carrying the flag amid the pro-Tump mob on Jan. 6 and received a tip after Hunter Seefried had “bragged” about being at the Capitol last week with his father, according to court documents.

Both men are set to have a virtual appearance in front of a federal judge either Thursday or Friday, the FBI said. NBC News was unable to contact the Seefrieds through a phone number listed on public records.

The Seefrieds face one count each of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and depredation of government property, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

Kevin Seefried admitted to investigators in a voluntary interview that he had brought the Confederate flag from his home in Delaware, where it is usually displayed outside, according to charging documents.

Investigators allege that video evidence showed Hunter Seefried punched out broken glass in a window to get access the Capitol. Kevin Seefried told investigators that one of the rioters asked his son to help clear the window because he was wearing gloves, the document said.

The sight of the Confederate flag in the halls of the Congress raised particular alarm for citizens and lawmakers because of its affiliation with secession, civil war and slavery.

When the Senate reconvened last week after the attack to certify President-Elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., equated the mob with the Confederacy that tried to break apart the United States.

Story continues

“Our democracy is wounded, and I saw it when I saw pictures of yet another insurgency of a flag of another group that tried to challenge our nation," Booker said. “I saw the flag of the Confederacy there. What will we do? How will we confront this shame? How will we confront this dark second time in American history?”

Booker is one of three Black senators in Congress.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., also condemned the flag’s appearance in the Capitol, noting that it had not even entered the building during the Civil War. The congresswoman on Wednesday posted an Instagram video detailing her experience during the Capitol riot, calling it the “tragedy of white supremacy” that some would rather watch the country burn than have equality for all.

“We’ll never go back, I’ll tell you that right now,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We will never go back. The only way forward is a multiracial democracy that fights for the economic rights of all people and the civil rights of all people. Period.”

Federal authorities have charged several people seen in videos and photos posted to social media during the Capitol riot, including two men who were seen with plastic zip tie-style restraints and a man who was photographed putting his feet on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk.

The FBI has a dedicated website with photos of people they are seeking information about and a form to submit tips.

Kevin Seefried biography: 13 things about US Capitol rioter from Laurel, Delaware

]

Kevin Seefried is a white man from Delaware, United States. Here are 13 more things about him:

He lives in Laurel, Sussex County, Delaware. (a) The Confederate Battle flag was usually displayed outside his house in Laurel, which sits next to a dilapidated chicken house. (a) (b) He is the father of Hunter Seefried. (b) One of his neighbors in Laurel described him and his family as good people. (a) In the 1990s, he was convicted of misdemeanor terroristic threatening and offensive touching in Delaware. (c) On January 6, 2021, he and Hunter travelled from Delaware to Washington, D.C., USA to listen to Donald Trump‘s speech at the White House. Afterwards, he and his son participated in a march from the White House to the U.S. Capitol led by a person with a bull horn, which matches the description of their fellow rioter Jack Angeli. (b) At approximately 2:13 p.m. on January 6, 2021, he and Hunter entered the Senate Building in Washington, D.C. through a broken window and left the building at 2:36 p.m. That day, Trump’s supporters breached the building while a joint session of Congress was certifying the vote of the Electoral College and affirming Joe Biden‘s victory in the 2020 presidential election. He was 51 years old when he participated in the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. (d) While inside the U.S. Capitol building that day, he was photographed holding the Confederate Battle flag inside the building during the riot. (b) Hunter bragged about being in the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 with his father to a co-worker, who then informed the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (b) He was also photographed walking down the stairs next to his fellow rioter Aaron Mostofsky. (c) On January 12, 2021, he and Hunter participated in interviews with the FBI separately and voluntarily. (b) On January 14, 2021, he and Hunter were arrested in Delaware and charged with one count of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, one count of violent entry and disorderly conduct on the U.S. Capitol grounds and one count of depredation of government property. (e) He and Hunter appeared in the U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Delaware before Magistrate Judge Christopher Burke on January 14, 2021. (a) The judge released him and his son to home detention and prohibited them from travelling to Washington, D.C. except for court-related matters. (c) He and Kevin are expected to appear in federal court in Washington, D.C. on January 25, 2020. (f)

(This is a developing story. More details will be added.)

SOURCES:

Murkowski Is Latest G.O.P. Senator to Signal Possible Support for Convicting Trump

]

Murkowski Is Latest G.O.P. Senator to Signal Possible Support for Convicting Trump The timing of the Senate’s impeachment trial remains unclear. President-elect Joe Biden unveiled a sweeping economic plan on Thursday that included additional $1,400 stimulus checks. The Secret Service will establish a security “green zone” in the capital ahead of Inauguration Day. Follow our live coverage of Biden’s presidency.

Murkowski signals she is open to convicting Trump as the timing of the Senate impeachment trial remains unclear. Senator Lisa Murkowski speaks at a news conference in the Capitol building. Credit… Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, said on Thursday that the House had acted “appropriately” in impeaching President Trump, signaling possible support for convicting him at a Senate trial in a statement that called his actions “unlawful” and said that they warranted consequences. Ms. Murkowski said the second impeachment of Mr. Trump stood “in stark contrast” to the first, which she and virtually every other Republican opposed. She said Mr. Trump had perpetuated “false rhetoric that the election was stolen and rigged” and launched a “pressure campaign against his own vice president, urging him to take actions that he had no authority to do.” And though Ms. Murkowski did not commit to finding the president guilty, saying she would listen carefully to the arguments on both sides, she strongly suggested that she was inclined to do so. “On the day of the riots, President Trump’s words incited violence, which led to the injury and deaths of Americans — including a Capitol Police officer — the desecration of the Capitol, and briefly interfered with the government’s ability to ensure a peaceful transfer of power,” Ms. Murkowski said. Her remarks came the day after the House — with support from 10 Republicans — impeached the president on a single charge of “incitement of insurrection,” and as Republicans faced the prospect of a trial that could begin as soon as next week. Republicans were racing to gauge the political dynamics of a vote to convict Mr. Trump, which would open the door to disqualifying him from holding office in the future. Most of them kept their powder dry publicly, but were privately struggling to reconcile their own disdain for the leader they supported loyally for years and their fear of a backlash from a political base more devoted to Mr. Trump than any other party figure. Though few Republicans had gone on record in such stinging terms, Ms. Murkowski was not alone in breaking from the president. Senators Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, Patrick J. Toomey of Pennsylvania and Susan Collins of Maine had spoken out harshly against Mr. Trump, leaving colleagues to speculate that they could vote to convict him and bar him from ever holding office again. Even Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, indicated to colleagues that he was undecided about whether to convict Mr. Trump, and privately told advisers he approved of the impeachment drive and believed it could help the party purge Mr. Trump. Others in the party, led by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, were pushing back hard against a conviction, warning it would harm the party and the country, as federal authorities cautioned about continued violent threats from pro-Trump extremists. With Mr. McConnell sending mixed signals about where he would come down, Republican strategists and seniors aides on Capitol Hill believed he could ultimately swing the result one way or another. If all senators voted, it would take 17 Republicans joining all Democrats to convict Mr. Trump. If they did, it would only take a vote by a simple majority of senators to disqualify Mr. Trump from ever holding office again.

Here are the highlights of Biden’s $1.9 trillion ‘American Rescue Plan.’ Video transcript Back bars 0:00 / 1:34 - 0:00 transcript Biden Outlines $1.9 Trillion Economic Rescue Package President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thursday proposed a spending package to combat the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus. The plan includes $1,400 direct payments to individuals and more generous unemployment benefits. During this pandemic, millions of Americans, through no fault of their own, have lost the dignity and respect that comes with a job and a paycheck. Millions of Americans never thought they’d be out of work — many of them never even envisioned the idea — are facing eviction, waiting for hours in their cars to feed their families as they drive up to a food bank. A growing chorus of top economists agree that the moment of crisis — in this moment of crisis, with interest rates at historic lows, we cannot afford inaction. Our rescue plan also includes immediate relief to Americans hardest hit and most in need. We will finish the job of getting a total of $2,000 in cash relief to people who need it the most. The $600 already appropriated is simply not enough. One in seven households in America, more than one in five Black and Latino households in America, report they don’t have enough food to eat. So we’re going to extend emergency nutritional assistance for 30 — for 43 million children and their families enrolled in the SNAP program through the rest of this year. To the millions of you just looking for a fighting chance in this economy, I promise you, we will not forget you. We understand what you’re going through. We will never, ever give up. President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thursday proposed a spending package to combat the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus. The plan includes $1,400 direct payments to individuals and more generous unemployment benefits. Credit Credit… Amr Alfiky/The New York Times President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Thursday proposed a $1.9 trillion rescue package to combat the economic downturn and the Covid-19 crisis, outlining the type of sweeping aid that Democrats have demanded for months and signaling the shift in the federal government’s pandemic response as Mr. Biden prepares to take office next week. The package includes more than $400 billion to combat the pandemic directly, including money to accelerate vaccine deployment and to safely reopen most schools within 100 days. An additional $350 billion would help state and local governments bridge budget shortfalls, while the plan would also include $1,400 direct payments to individuals, more generous unemployment benefits, federally mandated paid leave for workers and large subsidies for child care costs. “During this pandemic, millions of Americans, through no fault of their own, have lost the dignity and respect that comes with a job and a paycheck,” Mr. Biden said in a speech to the nation on Tuesday evening. “There is real pain overwhelming the real economy.” He acknowledged the high price tag but said the nation could not afford to do anything less. “The very health of our nation is at stake,” Mr. Biden said, speaking from Delaware. “We have to act and we have to act now.” Here are some of the highlights of Mr. Biden’s so-called American Rescue Plan: The “rescue” proposal would be financed entirely through increased federal borrowing, and flows from the idea that the virus and the recovery are intertwined.

The $20 billion “national vaccine program” he announced envisions nationwide community vaccination centers.

He also called for a “public health jobs program” that would address his goals of bolstering the economy and the coronavirus response while also rebuilding the nation’s public health infrastructure. The proposal would fund 100,000 public health workers to engage in vaccine outreach and contact tracing.

To address the racial disparities in health exposed by the coronavirus pandemic, which has disproportionately claimed the lives of people of color, he pledged to increase funding for community health centers, and also intends to fund efforts to mitigate the pandemic in prisons and jails, where African-Americans and Latinos are overrepresented.

Mr. Biden proposed a wide range of efforts to help those who have suffered the most under the economic shutdowns, including emergency paid leave to 106 million Americans, regardless of the size of their employer, and extending tax credits to many families to offset up to $8,000 in annual child care costs.

The plan gives billions of dollars in aid to renters struggling to keep up with mounting unpaid liabilities to landlords, and it would give grants to millions of the hardest-hit small businesses.

The proposal would temporarily increase the size of two tax credits in a manner that would effectively provide more cash from the government to low-income workers and families.

Mr. Biden called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, and he proposed extending expanded unemployment benefits through the end of September, with an extra $400 weekly supplement. Jim Tankersley and

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

People on terrorism watch list are said to have been part of crowd in Washington on the day of Capitol riot. A mob of Trump supporters overtake the Capitol last week. Credit… Jason Andrew for The New York Times Several people on a terrorist watch list were in Washington last week for pro-Trump events that ultimately devolved into the assault on the Capitol, according to a government official briefed on the Justice Department investigation into the riot. Most are suspected white supremacists, according to The Washington Post, which first reported on their status on the list. It was not clear how many people on the watch list were part of the mob that stormed the Capitol. But their presence in Washington last week adds to the urgent questions about security preparations for the events of Jan. 6, ahead of which thousands of supporters of President Trump had vowed to travel to Washington to disrupt, even violently, the congressional certification of the Electoral College results of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s win. The people were listed on the government’s main terrorism watch list, the Terrorism Screening Database, one of several databases of people that law enforcement and intelligence officials have deemed to be “known or suspected terrorists.” The tool has undergone explosive growth in the era following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. As the lists were rapidly growing over a decade ago, the F.B.I. distributed guidance to its field offices that says agents may nominate someone to be considered a “known or suspected terrorist” if they have particular negative information to support their suspicions, like an allegation that the suspect has terrorism ties that is corroborated by at least one other source. But mere guesses or hunches, the bureau said at the time, are not enough. The Terrorism Screening Database is maintained by the F.B.I.’s Terrorist Screening Center. Some of the data used by the Terrorist Screening Center comes from a larger database maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center, an interagency clearinghouse for intelligence about potential terrorist threats. Being on the watch list can restrict people from entering the country, deny them government benefits or contracts, and subject them to greater scrutiny at airports and by the police. A subset of the people on the watch list are also placed on the so-called no-fly list, which bars them from being aboard planes in American airspace. The vast majority of people included in the database are foreigners abroad, but some are American citizens or lawful permanent residents. Court records suggest that in 2017, the F.B.I.’s Terrorism Screening Database had about 1.2 million people in it, including about 4,600 such American or green-card holders. The government has said a broader database of terrorism suspects called the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment had about 1.6 million names in it, of which about 16,000 were Americans. Katie Benner and

Investigators are eyeing any military members or police officers who were part of last week’s siege. Supporters of President Trump outside the door to the House chamber after breaching Capitol security during a riot last week. Credit… Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA, via Shutterstock Federal investigators working to apprehend and charge the hundreds of people connected to last week’s assault on the Capitol are focusing on any military and law enforcement personnel who may have been involved in the attack, according to a law enforcement official. Investigators also have yet to find any evidence that any member of Congress helped coordinate the siege, as one prominent leader of a pro-Trump group has claimed, but are scrutinizing those leads. The official cautioned that the investigation is sprawling and that all leads need to be carefully vetted. The F.B.I. and Justice Department have already arrested several suspects who were captured in photographs inside the Capitol, including Kevin Seefried, a man who was photographed holding a Confederate battle flag; Jake Angeli, a well-known QAnon conspiracy theorist who was seen carrying a spear and wearing a fur headdress with horns; and Robert Keith Packer, who was photographed wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt. Other insurrectionists moved through the chaos inside the building in tight military formation, using hand signals and wearing tactical gear, and investigators are seeking to determine whether they were working together or whether any had ties to law enforcement or the military. But the law enforcement official said that it was too soon to expect a raft of conspiracy charges. Such cases can be tough to prove in court, and investigators would need to seek additional evidence of coordination, such as financial ties, planning around logistics and travel or messages between any alleged group members. On Thursday, the Justice Department charged two off-duty police officers from Rocky Mount, Va., Jacob Fracker and Thomas Robertson, with unlawful entry and disorderly conduct in connection with the riots. Mr. Robertson said on social media that the media and the left were upset because “we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business,” according to the criminal complaint. “Keep poking us,” Mr. Robertson warned. In a nod to concerns that members of the military might have been involved in or supported the Capitol riots, the military’s Joint Chiefs of Staff issued an unusual message to all military personnel this week, reminding them that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. would soon be their commander-in-chief and that they must continue to defend the Constitution. The Defense Department declined on Thursday to directly address whether members of the military were involved in attacking the Capitol. “We in the Department of Defense are doing everything we can to eliminate extremism,” said Garry Reid, the Pentagon’s director for defense intelligence. He said that all members of the military, including members of the National Guard, go through extensive screening for participation in hate groups and militias.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

Federal authorities are said to be looking into Bitcoin donations made to people who breached the Capitol last week. Supporters of President Trump were forced off the Capitol grounds after a mob breached the building on Jan. 6. Credit… Jason Andrew for The New York Times Federal authorities are investigating several Bitcoin donations made to right-wing figures ahead of the assault on the Capitol last week, according to a person briefed on the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly about it. A single donor from France appears to have sent around $500,000 in Bitcoin in early December to several figures involved in far right activist circles, according to an investigation published Thursday by the cryptocurrency data firm Chainalysis. Authorities are looking into whether the donations were linked to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. The existence of the investigation was first reported by Yahoo News. The single largest donation that Chainalysis found, which was worth around $250,000 at the time, went to a Bitcoin wallet owned by Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist who was at the Capital building on Jan. 6 and who called for violence before the event. Mr. Fuentes has previously mocked journalists on Twitter who asked him about his involvement in the event. Other donations went to the right-wing social media network Gab and the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer, Chainalysis said. By Jan. 6, the value of the donations had grown because of the soaring price of Bitcoin. The donor appears to have been a French programmer with clear right-wing sympathies, Chainalysis found. The technology behind Bitcoin makes it possible to hold and send money in ways that governments are unable to regulate or stop. This has made it popular with rogue governments and terrorist groups, along with many right-wing activists who have been blocked from using traditional payment networks.

Fallout roundup 17 Capitol Police officers are under investigation one week after rampage. National Guard troops deployed to the U.S. Capitol prepare to head out for a shift change on Thursday. Credit… Jason Andrew for The New York Times With less than a week to go before the presidential inauguration, the police force charged with protecting the grounds of the Capitol is in crisis, as law enforcement agencies across the city brace for more potentially violent gatherings, based on intelligence reviewed in recent days. The chief of the Capitol Police and two other top security officials resigned after an angry mob of Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol last week. Three officers have been suspended, and 17 more are under investigation, according to a senior Congressional aide, including an officer who took selfies with people in the crowd and another who wore a “Make America Great Again” Trump hat and directed rioters into the Capitol. And lawmakers have demanded a full investigation into what some have referred to as a “severe systemic failure.” Currently, the Capitol complex, which is usually a bevy of activity, is cut off from its surroundings by National Guard troops and an imposing backdrop of seven-foot-tall, unscalable fencing. Here are other developments in the fallout from the Capitol siege: A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a bill in the House on Thursday to award Eugene Goodman, a Capitol Police officer, the Congressional Gold Medal because of his efforts to keep the violent mob of Trump supporters from accessing the Senate last week. Mr. Goodman was captured on video running up the stairs in the Capitol. The F.B.I. has warned police departments across the country to be on high alert for extremist activity and violence in their communities ahead of the inauguration next week. It also cautioned law enforcement agencies to look for armed militias and extremists who want to trigger a race war.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California on Thursday authorized the deployment of 1,000 National Guard troops and surrounded the state Capitol grounds in Sacramento with a six-foot, covered chain-link fence to “prepare for and respond to credible threats.”

The Government Accountability Office , a nonpartisan federal watchdog agency, signaled that it would look into what role, if any, members of Congress may have played in inciting the mob of Trump supporters who breached metal barricades and shattered windows on Jan. 6, seeking to overturn the results of the election.

The Girl Scouts of Greater New York announced this week that they were trying to get out of a 15-year lease in a Manhattan building owned by the Trump Organization. Meridith Maskara, chief executive of the Girl Scouts chapter, said it was “a matter of very high priority.”

A member of the Arizona House of Representatives filed a formal ethics complaint against another member who participated in the protest last Wednesday. Representative César Chávez, a Democrat, called on the House Ethics Committee to investigate Representative Mark Finchem, a Republican, and to recommend Mr. Finchem’s expulsion “should it find that he supported the violent overthrow of our government.”

PepsiCo announced on Thursday that it was suspending all donations from its corporate political action committee, adding to the list of dozens of companies that have come out with some sort of halt on political giving since last week’s violence at the Capitol. Eileen Sullivan and

Cheney facing internal backlash for impeachment vote as Republican rifts deepen over Trump. Representative Liz Cheney had issued a scathing statement the day before the impeachment vote repudiating President Trump. Credit… Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times A group of President Trump’s most strident allies in the House is calling on Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the No. 3 Republican, to resign from her leadership post after she voted to impeach Mr. Trump, dramatizing the bitter rifts within the party and setting up a messy internal feud that could define its future. Members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, including the chairman, Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, as well as Representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio and Matt Gaetz of Florida, are circulating a petition calling on Ms. Cheney to step down from her role as chairwoman of the House Republican Conference, arguing that her vote to impeach Mr. Trump had “brought the conference into disrepute and produced discord.” Ms. Cheney was one of 10 Republicans to break with the party on Wednesday and vote to charge the president with “incitement of insurrection” for his role in urging on a mob that stormed the Capitol. “One of those 10 cannot be our leader,” Mr. Gaetz said in an interview on Fox News’s “Hannity” on Wednesday evening. “It is untenable, unsustainable, and we need to make a leadership change.” Ms. Cheney has brushed aside calls to step down, saying that she was “not going anywhere” and calling her break with Mr. Trump “a vote of conscience.” Several Republicans, including some members of the Freedom Caucus, have begun to circle the wagons around her. “The entire party would be wise to heed the words of Ronald Reagan: ‘The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally, not a 20 percent traitor,’” said Representative Michael Burgess, Republican of Texas. “Yesterday, Republicans jumped on the calls for unity and healing no matter how they decided to vote. Removing Liz from her leadership position would be divisive and a distraction we cannot afford.” Representative Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, who also voted to impeach Mr. Trump, said that Ms. Cheney in the last week had “gained immeasurable respect,” and suggested that it was Republicans like Mr. Jordan who should be shoved aside in the wake of the siege and the impeachment it prompted. “Since the discussion is opened, though, we may have to also have a discussion about who in our party fomented this, and their roles as ranking members,” he said. The debate over Ms. Cheney’s leadership post reflects the deep fractures in the Republican Party over Mr. Trump, who has demanded total loyalty from his party and, up until recently, largely received it. While prominent figures have recoiled from Mr. Trump’s incendiary brand of politics in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot, worrying that it could spell ruin for their party, a large minority faction — many of them in the House — remains unwilling to abandon him. Republicans are scrambling to determine the political consequences of doing so, and whether they would pay a steeper political price for breaking with the president or for failing to. Senate Republicans are facing just such a dilemma as they contemplate how to vote in an impeachment trial that could start as early as next week. Both Representatives Kevin McCarthy of California, the minority leader, and Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the minority whip, voted against impeaching Mr. Trump, though Mr. McCarthy said the president bore responsibility for the siege and deserved a censure. Ms. Cheney, by contrast, had issued a scathing statement the day before the impeachment vote in which she said: “There has never been a greater betrayal by a president of the United States of his office and his oath to the Constitution.” But she chose not to speak during debate on the House floor. Many Democrats — who have long reviled her and her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney — quoted her approvingly in their own speeches.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story

Now that the House has impeached Trump, what happens next? It is the first time in American history a president has been impeached twice. Credit… Erin Schaff/The New York Times Minutes after the House voted to impeach President Trump a second time, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, threw cold water on the prospect of the Senate beginning an impeachment trial before Mr. Biden’s inauguration next Wednesday. He endorsed a later start to the proceedings and in effect handed responsibility for the process to Democrats, who will soon control the chamber. “Given the rules, procedures, and Senate precedents that govern presidential impeachment trials, there is simply no chance that a fair or serious trial could conclude before President-elect Biden is sworn in next week,” Mr. McConnell said. “In light of this reality, I believe it will best serve our nation if Congress and the executive branch spend the next seven days completely focused on facilitating a safe inauguration and an orderly transfer of power to the incoming Biden administration.” Here’s what we know about what happens next. How does the impeachment process work? After the House has impeached the president — the equivalent of an indictment in a criminal case — members of the Senate consider whether to remove him, holding a trial in which senators act as the jury. The test, as set by the Constitution, is whether the president has committed “treason, bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors.” How can the Senate hold a trial if Trump is out of office? There is no precedent for the Senate holding an impeachment trial after a president has left office, but it has done so for other government officials. Democrats who control the House can choose when to send their article of impeachment to the Senate, at which point that chamber would have to immediately move to begin the trial. But even if the House transmitted the charge to the other side of the Capitol right away, an agreement between Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate would be needed to take it up before Jan. 19, a day before Mr. Biden is inaugurated. Since Mr. McConnell said on Wednesday that he would not agree, the trial cannot start until after Mr. Biden is president. That could clog the Senate floor in the early days of Mr. Biden’s administration, at a time when he will be eager to have the chamber confirm members of his cabinet. Would impeaching Trump disqualify him from holding office again? Conviction in an impeachment trial would not automatically disqualify Mr. Trump from future public office. But if the Senate were to convict him, the Constitution allows a subsequent vote to bar an official from holding “any office of honor, trust or profit under the United States.” That vote would require only a simple majority of senators. There is no precedent, however, for disqualifying a president from future office, and the issue could end up before the Supreme Court. Catie Edmondson and

Biden will keep a Trump appointee at the Pentagon until Austin is confirmed, and will name a new spokesman. John F. Kirby, a retired Navy rear admiral, will be the Biden administration’s Pentagon spokesman. Credit… Win Mcnamee/Getty Images A low-profile deputy defense secretary will be the lone Trump holdover running the Pentagon until President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s defense secretary pick is confirmed, according to transition officials. Mr. Biden is also planning to install John F. Kirby — the former spokesman for John Kerry when he was secretary of state, Chuck Hagel when he was defense secretary and Mike Mullen when he was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — as the next Pentagon press secretary. David L. Norquist, who is now the No. 2 civilian at the Pentagon, will be Mr. Biden’s first acting defense secretary — if only for a few days — transition officials said Wednesday. The transition team has been pushing to get Mr. Biden’s choice for the top post, a retired Army four-star general, Lloyd J. Austin III, confirmed as soon as possible. But unlike the other top national security nominees on the Biden team, Mr. Austin will have to jump through three Congressional hoops before he is confirmed. The Senate and House must approve a waiver for him to serve at the helm of the Pentagon since he has not been retired from military service at least seven years, and then he must be confirmed by the Senate. Mr. Biden has decided that instead of bypassing Mr. Norquist and plucking Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy to run the Pentagon until there is a confirmed defense secretary, he will adhere to standard tradition. Under federal law, a confirmed deputy secretary automatically assumes the duties of the secretary during an absence. The decision to keep Mr. Norquist until a defense secretary is confirmed was first reported by Politico. Mr. Kirby, for his part, is a veteran government public affairs officer and a respected figure at the Pentagon. A retired Navy rear admiral, Mr. Kirby made a jump from the Pentagon to the State Department in 2015, and worked closely with Mr. Kerry during the Iran nuclear negotiations and for the last two years of the Obama administration. Mr. Kirby worked with Mr. Austin when they were both on the Joint Staff under Admiral Mullen, during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He also spent a year as the Pentagon spokesman under Mr. Hagel, and has been the spokesman for the Navy as well as for retired Admiral Mullen when he was chairman.

Inauguration security With heightened security underway, officials try to offer assurances that the inauguration will be safe. National Guard troops deployed to the Capitol stood guard on Thursday near where the inauguration will happen next week. Credit… Jason Andrew for The New York Times In a briefing with Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday, federal law enforcement officials sought to assure the public that the inauguration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Jan. 20 would be safe after the widely publicized security failures that allowed supporters of President Trump to violently storm the Capitol last week. Christopher Wray, the director of the F.B.I., acknowledged that the bureau was “seeing an extensive amount of concerning online chatter” surrounding the inauguration — including plans for armed protests both in Washington and at state capitol buildings around the country — and said agents were trying to distinguish real threats from “aspirational” plotting. Mr. Wray added that the F.B.I. had arrested more than 100 people and identified more than 200 suspects since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, and said, “Anyone who plots or attempts violence in the coming week should count on a visit.” James Murray, the director of the Secret Service, said he had been asked how Americans could be confident in inauguration security given the violence last Wednesday, which led to several deaths. “I would point very keenly to the level of planning and coordination we’ve been carrying out for more than nine months,” Mr. Murray said, adding that he believed the security measures the Secret Service had planned for the inauguration would have prevented the Capitol attack had they been in place at the time. The Secret Service, which is leading the effort to secure the presidential inauguration, said on Thursday that it would establish a “green zone” in downtown Washington this weekend, shutting down traffic and train lines as National Guard troops continue to flood into the increasingly militarized city. Most of the streets around the Lincoln Memorial and the scene of the deadly siege of the Capitol would be shut down from Saturday morning until the day after the inauguration. A “green zone” will also be established in the downtown area, with National Guard troops in place to verify entering residents or business owners. The Memorial bridge connecting Washington to Arlington, Va., will also be closed and multiple train stations in downtown Washington will be temporarily inaccessible, according to the statement. The area around the National Mall on Thursday resembled a city under siege, with multiple military vehicles stationed at intersections and steel fencing erected along streets near the Potomac River. As of Thursday afternoon, there were about 7,000 National Guard members deployed from D.C. and 13 states. About 20,000 overall were expected to be in Washington for the inauguration. Beyond the official preparations, a group of Washington community organizations, including the city’s Black Lives Matter chapter, called on area hotels to close in the lead-up to the inauguration to signal to Trump supporters that “white supremacists are NOT WELCOME in D.C.!” And after some of the rioters last week targeted reporters and photographers in the Capitol, the Committee to Protect Journalists advised anyone covering the inauguration to avoid wearing press lanyards and to carry as little equipment as possible. Since the attack on the Capitol, Mr. Trump has begrudgingly and inconsistently pledged a peaceful remainder of the transition period — something he refused to commit to for more than two months after he lost the election. Mr. Pence tried to assure Americans more explicitly. “We are going to ensure that we have a safe inauguration, and President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris are sworn in as the president and vice president of the United States in a manner consistent with our history and traditions,” he said. Maggie Astor, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and

Advertisement Continue reading the main story