#Matthew Pottinge

[sinoeurovoices]

博明：台灣應建構強大威懾嚇阻 拒中國於海峽「護城河」之外

隨著中國武力征服台灣的意圖日益明顯，前美國副國家安全顧問博明(Matthew Pottinger)警告稱，中國汲取俄羅斯入侵烏克蘭的教訓，一旦決定侵台，第一步就是發動全面戰爭，不會留有余力。他建議台灣應不計成本建構強大的威懾力，讓中國領導人習近平不至於因為過度樂觀而對台灣輕易發動戰爭。 博明星期四(6月13日)在台北出席《沸騰的護城河：保衛台灣的緊迫行��》(The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan )新書發表會。他強調，台灣與國際社會必須窮盡一切努力，做好最周全的準備，讓台灣海峽成為中國難以跨越的“護城河”。 博明指出，有了俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾·普京(Vladimir…

[kennak]

In the fall of 2020, the National Security Agency made an alarming discovery: Chinese military hackers had compromised classified defense networks of the United States’ most important strategic ally in East Asia. Cyberspies from the People’s Liberation Army had wormed their way into Japan’s most sensitive computer systems.Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.ArrowRightThe hackers had deep, persistent access and appeared to be after anything they could get their hands on — plans, capabilities, assessments of military shortcomings, according to three former senior U.S. officials, who were among a dozen current and former U.S. and Japanese officials interviewed, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the matter’s sensitivity.“It was bad — shockingly bad,” recalled one former U.S. military official, who was briefed on the event, which has not been previously reported.AdvertisementStory continues below advertisementTokyo has taken steps to strengthen its networks. But they are still deemed not sufficiently secure from Beijing’s prying eyes, which, officials say, could impede greater intelligence-sharing between the Pentagon and Japan’s Defense Ministry.The 2020 penetration was so disturbing that Gen. Paul Nakasone, the head of the NSA and U.S. Cyber Command, and Matthew Pottinger, who was White House deputy national security adviser at the time, raced to Tokyo. They briefed the defense minister, who was so concerned that he arranged for them to alert the prime minister himself.Beijing, they told the Japanese officials, had breached Tokyo’s defense networks, making it one of the most damaging hacks in that country’s modern history.The Japanese were taken aback but indicated they would look into it. Nakasone and Pottinger flew back “thinking they had really made a point,” said one former senior defense official briefed on the matter.A Chinese marine surveillance ship, bottom, is followed by a Japanese Coast Guard ship near disputed islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea in 2012. (Kyodo News/AP) Back in Washington, then-President Donald Trump was busy contesting Joe Biden’s election victory, and administration officials were preparing for a transition. Senior national security officials briefed incoming national security adviser Jake Sullivan during the handoff, but the incoming Biden administration faced a swirl of issues — including how to deal with a major Russian breach of U.S. agency networks discovered during the Trump administration — and some U.S. officials got the sense the Japanese just hoped the issue would fade away.AdvertisementStory continues below advertisementBy early 2021, the Biden administration had settled in, and cybersecurity and defense officials realized the problem had festered. The Chinese were still in Tokyo’s networks.Since then, under American scrutiny, the Japanese have announced they are ramping up network security, boosting the cybersecurity budget tenfold over the next five years and increasing their military cybersecurity force fourfold to 4,000 people.The stakes are high.Beijing, bent on projecting power across the western Pacific — an area it controversially claims as part of a historic maritime dominion, has increased confrontation in the region. It fired ballistic missiles into Japan’s exclusive economic zone last August after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy that China claims. It has embarked on a major nuclear weapons buildup. And it has engaged in dangerous air and naval maneuvers with U.S., Canadian and Australian ships and jets in the Pacific.Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi greets U.S. and Japanese officials at Yokota Air Base in Fussa, Japan, in August 2022. (Akio Kon/Bloomberg)China, which already boasts the world’s largest legion of state-sponsored hackers, is expanding its cyber capabilities. Since mid-2021, the U.S. government and Western cybersecurity firms have documented increasing Chinese penetration of critical infrastructure in the United States, Guam and elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific. The targets include communication, transportation and utility systems, Microsoft said in May.AdvertisementStory continues below advertisementChina-based hackers recently compromised the emails of the U.S. commerce secretary, the U.S. ambassador to China and other senior diplomats — even amid an effort by the Biden administration to thaw frosty relations with Beijing.“Over the years we have been concerned about its espionage program,” said a senior U.S. official. “But China is [also] developing cyberattack capabilities that could be used to disrupt critical services in the U.S. and key Asian allies and shape decision-making in a crisis or conflict.”In the face of this aggression, Japan has stepped up, moving beyond the traditional “shield and spear” arrangement in which Tokyo focuses on the country’s self-defense, while Washington provides capabilities that support regional security, including the nuclear umbrella that protects Japan and South Korea. Japan is developing a counterstrike capability that can reach targets in mainland China. It is buying U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles. And it is permitting the U.S. Marine Corps to place a new advanced regiment in remote islands southwest of Okinawa, a location that, along with the northernmost islands of the Philippines, allows the U.S. military proximity to Taiwan should a conflict with China erupt.AdvertisementStory continues below advertisement“Japan and the United States are currently facing the most challenging and complex security environment in recent history,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at a news conference with President Biden in Washington in January. He noted Japan’s new national security strategy boosting its defense budget and capabilities. “This new policy,” he said, “will be beneficial for the deterrence capabilities and response capabilities of the alliance as well.”U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has indicated to Tokyo that enhanced data-sharing to enable advanced military operations could be slowed if Japan’s networks are not better secured.“We see tremendous investment and effort from the Japanese in this area,” said a senior U.S. defense official. But work remains to be done. “The department feels strongly about the importance of cybersecurity to our ability to conduct combined military operations, which are at the core of the U.S.-Japan alliance.”President Biden arrives to deliver remarks on Russia at the East Room of the White House in 2021. (Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)Acknowledging the problemAs the Biden administration took office, it faced a maelstrom of cybersecurity crises.AdvertisementStory continues below advertisementThe United States was debating how to respond to the massive Russian “SolarWinds” hack, which was uncovered during the Trump administration and had sowed malicious code and enabled cyberspies to steal information from several major U.S. government agencies.Soon after, a Chinese compromise of Microsoft Exchange servers around the world — including at least 30,000 entities in the United States alone — threatened to cripple small and midsize businesses and state and local government agencies. Then, in the spring of 2021, a ransomware attack on Colonial Pipeline by a Russian criminal group shut down one of the nation’s largest fuel pipelines for six days.In the midst of this, Cyber Command offered Tokyo a team of cyber-sleuths to help assess the scope of the breach and begin to cleanse its networks of Chinese malware. The command’s “hunt forward” teams for several years had been helping partners in countries including Ukraine, North Macedonia and Lithuania dig for foreign intrusions.But the Japanese were wary. “They were uncomfortable having another country’s military on their networks,” said the former military official.Gen. Paul M. Nakasone, who leads U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, greets Japan's then-State Minister of Defense Yasuhide Nakayama, in Maryland in 2021. (Josef Cole/U.S. Cyber Command)The two sides came up with a compromise approach: The Japanese would use domestic commercial firms to assess vulnerabilities, and a joint NSA/Cyber Command team would review the results and provide guidance on how to seal gaps.AdvertisementStory continues below advertisementMeanwhile, White House national security staff and Tokyo’s National Security Council set up regular technical exchanges and video conference calls to keep on top of the issue. Defense officials in both capitals did the same.Share this articleShareUpon taking office, the Biden administration created a new cybersecurity position, and placed a senior NSA official in the job. Anne Neuberger had been appointed as a deputy national security adviser for cyber and knew about the Chinese breach coming in.But for much of the first year she was occupied with SolarWinds, Chinese compromises and Russian ransomware, and a presidential order to secure the federal software supply chain.Story continues below advertisementThen in fall 2021, Washington uncovered fresh information that reinforced the severity of China’s breach of Tokyo’s defense systems and that Japan was not making much progress in sealing it.A warning from WashingtonThat November, despite Japan being in pandemic lockdown, Neuberger and a handful of other U.S. officials flew to Tokyo and met with top military, intelligence and diplomatic officials, according to several people with knowledge of the trip.AdvertisementTo protect sensitive sources and methods, Neuberger could not explicitly tell the Japanese how U.S. spy agencies knew about the Chinese compromise. She tried in an oblique way to assure Tokyo that the Americans were not in their networks, but suspicions lingered. After all, the Japanese, like other allies, knew that the United States spies on partners.Story continues below advertisementIn 2015, the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks revealed that the NSA had spied on 35 targets in Japan, including cabinet members and the corporation Mitsubishi. Biden, then vice president, called then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to apologize for the trouble caused.In any case, Washington and Tokyo had no history of working together to address a sensitive intelligence threat.“We were asking for an unprecedented level of access to their systems,” said one person familiar with the matter. “We were asking them to take their trust in us to a deeper level than we had before. And naturally any sovereign country would be cautious about that.”AdvertisementIn deliberate, measured fashion, Neuberger laid out what the United States knew. She made clear that the White House felt the problem needed to be fixed.“We’re not here to wag fingers,” said a senior administration official, describing the approach. “We’re here to share hard-won lessons.”Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser for cyber, at a news conference in 2021. (Oliver Contreras for The Washington Post) Neuberger found a partner in Japan’s newly appointed national security adviser, Takeo Akiba, who zeroed in on an entrenched bureaucracy. They were helped by the fact that Kishida was keen on advancing a campaign launched by Abe to bolster Japan’s defense capabilities. Tokyo set to work on a new cyber strategy, which sought to beef up spending and personnel and align cybersecurity standards with U.S. and international benchmarks.“The first step is acknowledging that you have a problem, and then second, acknowledging the seriousness of the problem,” said the senior U.S. defense official.Japan launched a Cyber Command, which monitors networks “24/7,” said a Japanese defense official. It has introduced a program to continuously analyze risks throughout the military’s computer systems. It is enhancing cybersecurity training and is planning to spend $7 billion over five years on cybersecurity.“The government of Japan intends to strengthen its cybersecurity response capabilities to be equal to or surpass the level of leading Western countries,” Noriyuki Shikata, Kishida’s cabinet press secretary, said in an interview. That goal — along with “active cyberdefense,” or a form of offense-as-defense hacking — is enshrined in Japan’s new national security strategy.On Tuesday, after this story was published, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said the government is responding to cyber attacks “through a variety of initiatives,” although he declined to describe any incidents in detail.“We have not confirmed that any confidential information held by the Ministry of Defense has been leaked,” Hamada said in a news conference. “There have been no incidents of cyberattacks affecting the execution of the SDF’s missions.”Chinese demonstrators walk outside the Japanese Embassy in The Hague in 2012. (Phil Nijhuis/AFP/Getty Images) ‘Spy heaven’For years before China audaciously hacked its networks, Japan was seen as a leaky vessel. During the Cold War, Soviet operatives used good old-fashioned tactics, capitalizing on people’s weaknesses for food, drink, money and gambling to cultivate Japanese journalists, politicians and intelligence officers.“They bragged to themselves that Japan was ‘spy heaven,’” said Richard Samuels, a political scientist at MIT, whose history of Japan’s intelligence community was published last year.After the Cold War ended, Japanese officials finally started waking up to the importance of tightening up access to intelligence. For one thing, the Americans were taking notice. A year before 9/11, a report produced by a Pentagon-funded think tank noted that despite the importance of the U.S.-Japan alliance, intelligence-sharing with Tokyo was far less than that with NATO partners.“Both within and beyond Asia, Japan faces more diverse threats and more complex international responsibilities, which call for intelligence that provides a better understanding of its national security needs,” stated the report, written by a bipartisan study group including foreign policy experts Richard Armitage and Joseph Nye.Japan's then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, with Joseph Nye after speaking at the John F. Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass., in 2015. (Michael Dwyer/AP)It urged Japanese leaders to build public and political support for a new law to protect classified information.“The Americans weren’t happy with how porous the Japanese intelligence community was,” said Samuels. “They did what you would expect, which was to share less. At a time when Japan needed more and better intelligence from its powerful ally, it wasn’t getting everything it needed, and it was told it’s because your intelligence community leaks. If you tighten it up, we can have a fuller and more robust exchange.”One of the most receptive to the message was Abe, scion of a prominent political family and twice prime minister. Abe, more than any modern political leader of Japan, paved the way for security reform in Tokyo.During his second tenure as prime minister in the early to mid-2010s, he sparked changes. The parliament passed a state secrets law that set stiff penalties for mishandling documents and for leaking information. Abe set up a National Security Council, modeled in part after the U.S. version, to advise the prime minister.Antiwar and civil-liberties activists protested the reforms, claiming they were infringing on privacy rights and voicing concerns about an expanding national security state. But by 2013, when the law was passed, the geopolitical landscape had shifted. The public had come to see that decades of a nominal commitment to self-defense had only emboldened a rising Beijing.China had aggressively responded to Japan’s nationalization of the Senkaku Islands, flooding the waters off the islands with Coast Guard vessels and maritime militia. In the South China Sea, it was turning remote atolls into military outposts seemingly overnight. President Xi Jinping had come to power, accelerating a vast military modernization. Meanwhile, North Korea continued provocative nuclear tests.Abe was assassinated in July 2022, but his legacy lives on. Over the last decade, attitudes toward China have hardened: Today, a majority of Japanese view the Chinese government unfavorably, while support for the U.S. alliance is at an all-time high.“Enhancing bilateral cooperation between Japan and the U.S. strengthens the cyber defenses of both nations,” Nakasone said in a statement to The Post. The United States is focused on helping Japan improve its cyber capabilities, he said, noting that the goal is for both nations to be able to ensure “a safe and secure Indo-Pacific region.”U.S. Army Green Berets with 1st Battalion, 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne), parachute onto a drop zone alongside members of the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force as part an exercise in 2021. (Staff Sgt. Anthony Bryant/U.S. Army Pacific Public Affairs Office)The future fightIn December 2022, Chris Inglis, then the White House national cyber director, flew to Japan to speak with counterparts. Part of his mission was to share what the U.S. government was doing to better secure its own systems as he was in the midst of drafting a national cybersecurity strategy. A pillar of that strategy, which was issued in March, was strengthening partner capacities.“My discussions were intended to be quite positive about what we could do together, how we could frame cyber strategies and national strategies that would be complementary,” Inglis said in an interview. “But we have to make sure that each of us makes the appropriate investments in cybersecurity foundations.”Administration officials admit that U.S. networks are far from 100 percent secure. Over the last two decades, cases abound of Russian, Chinese, Iranian and North Korean hacks. Sensitive commercial and classified material has been stolen, the NSA’s own top-secret hacking tools have been released into the wild, Hollywood studios have been coerced and embarrassed, and the United States’ democracy has been assaulted.The “attack surface,” as cybersecurity experts call it, is vast.Over the last 20 years, each successive U.S. administration has sought to do more to enhance American cybersecurity. New organizations have been created at the White House, Department of Homeland Security and Defense Department to deal with the issue. More money has been allocated. Authorities have been expanded. Efforts with the private sector, which owns and runs the majority of critical infrastructure, have been enhanced.“We can’t hold the Japanese to a standard that we ourselves can’t possibly meet,” said the defense official. “At the end of the day, we’re going to share information with them,” the person added. “We just want to do our best to keep our adversaries out.”

China hacked Japan’s classified defense cyber networks, officials say - The Washington Post

[naantokhi]

Isolé aux États-Unis, le président Donald Trump admet la fin de son mandat. Le président américain, Donald Trump, se trouve de plus en plus isolé après les émeutes de ses partisans au Capitole, mercredi 6 janvier 2021. Les scènes de chaos au Capitole resteront associées à la fin de mandat tumultueux du président américain Trump, qui apparaît désormais extrêmement isolé dans son propre camp. Le président a promis une transition ordonnée mais n’admet toujours pas les résultats du vote. Donald Trump admet la fin de son mandat Privé de ses comptes Facebook et Twitter, suspendus temporairement mercredi 6 janvier, le président Donald Trump a été contraint d’envoyer un communiqué de presse. Son texte a été partagé par l'adjoint au chef de cabinet de la Maison Blanche : « Même si je ne suis pas du tout d'accord avec le résultat de l'élection, il y aura une transition ordonnée. Bien que cela représente la fin du plus grand premier mandat de l'histoire présidentielle, ce n'est que le début de notre combat pour rendre sa grandeur à l'Amérique ». Il ne condamne donc pas les violences perpétrées au sein du Congrès et il ne reconnaît toujours pas sa défaite, précise notre journaliste du service International, Marie Normand. Il reconnaît juste la fin de son mandat de président, alors même qu’il apparaît isolé sur la scène politique après les émeutes à Washington. Donald Trump, abandonné par ses alliés À la Maison Blanche, les démissions se sont succédé avec notamment Stephanie Grisham, la cheffe de cabinet de la première dame, ainsi que Rickie Niceta et Sarah Matthews, deux membres de l'équipe de communication de Donald Trump, selon l'agence Reuters. Ce matin, CNN a annoncé la démission de son adjoint à la sécurité nationale, Matthew Pottinger. Selon plusieurs médias, il y a aussi le conseiller à la sécurité nationale, Robert O'Brien, qui envisagerait de démissionner, rapporte notre journaliste du service international, Stefanie Schüler. Des figures du Parti républicain, qui avaient toujours soutenu Donald Trump, l'ont également abandonné mercredi. Son vice-président, Mike Pence, qui lui a toujours été loyal, a déclaré refuser d'obéir à sa demande de ne pas certifier l'élection. Mitch McConnell, le patron des républicains au Sénat, a martelé de son côté que le Congrès ne se laisserait pas « intimider ». Il y a eu surtout l'allié de toujours, le sénateur Lindsey Graham, qui aurait déclaré : « Ne comptez plus sur moi. Trop, c'est trop ». L'utilisation du 25e amendement peu probable Durant la nuit, certains médias américains évoquaient même des ministres prêts à faire jouer le 25e amendement de la Constitution. Ce texte autoriserait le vice-président et une majorité du Parlement à déclarer le président « inapte ». Pour Tamara Boussac, spécialiste des États-Unis, qui intervenait sur RFI ce jeudi matin, cela semble une situation peu plausible : « La formulation de l’amendement est assez vague, c���est-à-dire que beaucoup l’interprètent comme une incapacité médicale, une incapacité physique à assumer ses fonctions de la part du président. Donc, ce n’est pas le scénario dans lequel on se trouve. Et il semble plus plausible en réalité que la fin de la présidence Trump se déroule sous haute sécurité à Washington, puisque la maire de Washington a annoncé un état d’urgence pour 15 jours, notamment à l’approche de l’investiture de Joe Biden. Mais il est plus probable que la présidence Trump se termine sans impeachment, sans démission, sans remplacement et qu’après, une nouvelle séquence s’ouvre. » Retrouvez nos éditions spéciales sur les événements à Washington : Irruption des partisans de Trump dans le Capitole à Washington réécoutez notre édition spéciale du 6 janvierRetour sur les émeutes pro-Trump au Capitole, réécoutez notre édition spéciale du 7 janvierBenjamin Haddad: «Les violences au Capitole sont le fruit de semaines de contestation de Trump»

[wafact]

House China Committee Will Call Trump Officials To Testify — And Face Questions Over Spy Balloons

Topline The House Select Committee on China will call Matthew Pottinger and H.R. McMaster—two former Trump Administration national security advisers who are well-respected on both sides of the aisle—to testify in its first hearing next week that comes amid growing tensions between the U.S. and China, CNN reported, citing unnamed sources. WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 21: Former deputy national security…

[usunezukoinezu]

“If Taiwan falls, we are in a different world, where the tide of authoritarianism becomes a flood.”

- Matthew Pottinger

[contemplatingoutlander]

Matthew Pottinger: On the peaceful transition of Government

During the 8th public January 6th committee hearing, former U.S. deputy national security advisor Matthew Pottinger provided some compelling commentary about what is and is not acceptable for a president to do in contesting an election. He made it clear that after the courts have ruled, one has to accept their decisions. To “continue to contest” the results is actually “challenging the Constitution itself” and “the societal norms that allow us to remain unified.”

This was a succinct indictment of what has been wrong all along with Trump’s behavior. 

Two Examples of Conceding for the Good of the Country

Pottinger goes on to describe two examples of former presidential candidates who gracefully conceded close elections because they cared more about keeping the country unified than their need to be president. 

It is noteworthy that both were vice presidents who had to preside over the counting of electoral votes for their lost elections, on their respective January 6ths. And neither interfered with that process.

Ironically, one of those former presidential candidates was Vice President Richard Nixon. But even Nixon, with all his corrupt need for power, still behaved in a more patriotic way than Trump did after losing an election. 

The other former presidential candidate was Vice President Al Gore. Pottinger says of Gore’s concession speech: 

“His speech is actually a pretty good model, I think, for any candidate of — for any office up to and including the president, and from any party to read, particularly right now.”

An excerpt from Al Gore’s 2000 election concession speech:

On the Oath of Office

Pottinger goes on to discuss the importance of the oath of office that presidents and other office holders take.

“You know, the oath that our presidents take, it's very similar to the oath of office I took as a US Marine officer and the — the oath I took as a White House official.

“It is to — to support and defend the Constitution. It's to protect the Constitution, to bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution. And it is a sacred oath. It's an oath that we take before our families. We take that oath before God. And I think that we have an obligation to live by — by that oath.

“And I do still believe that we have the most ingenious system of government on earth despite its imperfections. I don't envy countries that don't have this system that actually allows for a predictable, peaceful transfer of government every four to eight years. And it's not something that we should take for granted.”

[emphasis added]

________________

Transcript source for Matthew Pottinger’s testimony; transcript source for Al Gore’s concession speech

[yes-justice-seeking]

Open Letter to Matt/#博明，the Deputy National Security Advisor of the USA

Following my comment in Mandarin on your speech about May Fourth Movement 👇, here is an open letter to you in English from a Chinese Nobody.

My blog in Chinese:

中国，可以是一方乐土- #博明 #五四运动 纪念演讲之我见

Your speech:

https://berlinerbericht.de/2020/05/05/8884/

It is also this Nobody, me, 律政悟空，IForYou, who sees through Steve Bannon’s bold, bloody but also sloppy (Trump’s words) stroke that screwed #Trump, the United States and the world. 

As a Paralegal trained in Quebec, Canada, for the sole purpose of upholding the Human Rights and the Truth, here is my research about the facts and the timeline regarding the origin of the #COVID19 #pandemic. The FACTS and the TIMELINE speak for themselves 👇:

COVID19: Neither the CCP nor the WhiteHouse dare to say “Hold All Bloody Hands Accountable”…

The Source of the COVID19…

Who is Behind Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak?! 武汉非典，难道是一场蓄谋的超限战？！

Speaking of your speech, I have to say that your words touched most of the Chinese intellectuals: like Dr. 李文亮/Dr. LiWenliang and 鲁迅/LuXun，the #CCP may use them, exploit them, force them to serve the #CCP’s interests and then silence them financially, psychologically, eventually physically when their upholding is arbitrarily deemed harmful to the CCP. 

What you didn’t say is that the so-called #populism that mastered the present White House is in fact the extremalized #Communism or the american version of the CCP under a democratic cloak. 

Time for the facts to talk.

Stephen K. Bannon who is behind of the #populism called himself #Leninist during a conversation with the Daily Beast in 2013. 

https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannon-trumps-top-guy-told-me-he-was-a-leninist

He has been worshiping every single day the Unrestricted Warfare, the CCP’s military strategy book. The brazen piece of the CCP’s work is in his words "my Bible”.

It literally interpreted Stephen Bannon and GuoWengui’s strategy: “use the CCP to defeat it” AT THE COST OF PEOPLE’S LIVES. When GuoWengui’s henchman said “spry a new virus that is stronger than SARS” on August 12, 2019, when Epoch Times acclaimed the #COVID19 Out Break “happened at the convenient time and place”, they knew the consequence and felt excited! What a brutal and cold-blood creature! 

Exposing and propagandizing the CCP’s lying pattern must be the 1st step of the strategy; having a henchman worked at #Wuhan P4 lab is the key part of the strategy. Nevertheless, there is a sloppy part when the strategy was being carried out: GuoWengui and Bannon are being caught for “predicting” the unprecedented COVID19 crisis in numerous “coincident” occasions. The rapid variation of the corona virus or may be the CCP’s retaliation also went beyond their control. 

Let face the fact: Stephen Bannon, the bold, sloppy and bloody Leninist decided to use the CCP’s strategy to defeat it, turned himself and his gangsters to no less evil than the CCP and the two devils’ fight screwed Trump, the America and the world!

COVID19: Neither the CCP nor the WhiteHouse dare to say “Hold All Bloody Hands Accountable”…

https://twitter.com/naUFv0QtSWyBmwD/status/1219774346056650753

https://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2020/4/16/%E6%96%B0%E5%86%A0%E7%98%9F%E7%96%AB-%E5%9B%9E%E6%BA%AF%E8%AF%AF%E5%8C%BA-%E6%83%8A%E8%A7%81%E6%A0%B9%E6%BA%90-%E6%A0%B9%E6%9C%AC%E6%B2%BB%E6%84%88%EF%BC%887%EF%BC%89-403645.html

https://twitter.com/EmilieJiang/status/1253149306695102464

https://twitter.com/QuShuitai/status/1254205835422642176

Back to your speech, correct if I’m wrong, your plan is to demolish the CCP’s representative position of China and re-establish Taiwan as the legitimate government of China just like P.C. Chang’s role smoothly transferred from the representative of the Republic of China (ROC) to that of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The intention of using Mandarin to give your speech is to overcome the CCP’s firewall just like President Reagan’s call “Mr. Gorbachev, Tear Down This Wall!” 

It’s ironic for you to call for “populism” to Chinese people to overthrow the CCP at the anniversary of May Fourth Movement since this Movement is rather elitism because of its motto “Mr. Science” and “Mr. Democracy” that you mentioned in your speech. It is even more ironic that 70 years after, the CCP is being attacked by the so-called “beacon of democracy” who is using the essentially same “Communism” with a misleading name: “populism”.  You couldn’t come with a better strategy than the CCP’s tricks, could you? 

Bannon’s “populism” is like what we called 绿茶婊，or  “Lady Chatterley",  slut indeed but pretending as a lady!

What astonished me is that as the Deputy National Security Advisor of the US, U boldly liked and rted your friend( @Anthony1Osman)’s tweet in which he called to Chinese people:  “ Go to overthrow the CCP, if not, you will suffer, Nanjing (massacre) in 1937 will repeat again, it will be fun!”

https://twitter.com/Anthony1Osman/status/1260230341857402885

click to enlarge it

https://twitter.com/detecti28108231/status/1260304208651341824

On May 23, 2020, Matt’s account @rXPConchov and his friend @Anthony1Osman have been banned out by #Twitter. GuoWengui’s henchman said @rXPConchov was an account faked by the CCP warrior but many people say differently, Matt and the White House know better than others what’s going on 😏 ... ...

click to enlarge it

You, the White House’s representative proves that the White House is threatening the innocent Chinese people to go against the government that will cost their lives, otherwise, the White House, the so-called “beacon of democracy” will repeat the Nanjing Massacre in China! What terrorist you’re?! Note that Secretary of State Pompeo criticized China of “using coercion as its tools of statecraft”, so do you, the America! 

All proves that the present White House has no thing short than the CCP!

博明，贱招儿只能让你貝戋，不会让你高大上，对中共五毛、台湾的绿毛、以及对你，都是如此。

[notesfromachair]

The Season Finale

There are so many takeaways from Thursday’s season one finale of the Jan. 6th Trump Insurrection Hearings TV series. But before we get into the serious stuff, let’s understand that this 8th episode was, more than anything else, great TV.   As such it delivered not only plot, drama and prosecutorial bread crumbs, but something for EVERY type of viewer –especially us silly and superficial…

[jerseydeanne]

Lab leak is the 'most credible' source of the coronavirus outbreak, says top US government official, amid bombshell claims Wuhan scientist has turned whistleblower

Lab leak is the ‘most credible’ source of the coronavirus outbreak, says top US government official, amid bombshell claims Wuhan scientist has turned whistleblower

Donald Trump’s Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger spoke Mr Pottinger told politicians leak is emerging as ‘most credible source’ of virus He claimed the pathogen may have escaped through a ‘leak or an accident’ 

[pancakeke]

OK continuing this post on today’s events (1/6)

Twitter gave Trump a fun new banner

but then deleted 3 of his tweets and gave him a 12 hour ban. They said if he does it again he’s suspended.

Facebook deleted Trump’s video. An internal memo was sent to employees regarding the situation.

Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s lawyer, called for a “trial by combat” this morning.

Trump did not call in the National Guard, Pence had to do it with Congress. Trump resisted calling them in.

The woman shot in the Capitol has died.

DC police chief says rioters deployed ‘chemical irritants on police’ to gain access to US Capitol.

Pipe bombs were found at the headquarters for the DNC, RNC and grounds of the United States Capitol. They were detonated by bomb squads.

Rioters were stealing items from the Capitol building.

A rioter was seen with zip ties, potentially signaling he wanted to take hostages.

Rioters seized and destroyed equipment belonging to the Associated Press. They also turned a cable into a noose.

Police gingerly helped a member of the rioters out of the Capitol building and down its steps while holding her hand. Several videos have been posted showing police collaborating with rioters.

A Pro-Trump march took place in Tokyo.

Senator Tom Carper (D - DE) doesn’t believe any action should be taken against insurrectionists within the government.

Rep Michael Burgess (R - TX) has sponsored Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ bill to crack down on protests.

Virginia has issued a State of Emergency, along with a curfew.

First lady's chief of staff, former WH press secretary, and one of the longest serving Trump staffers Stephanie Grisham resigned over the protest.

WH Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Matthews resigned.

WH social secretary Rickie Niceta resigned.

National security adviser Robert O'Brien, deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger and deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell are all considering resigning.

Trump banned Pence chief of staff Marc Short from the WH.

Former WH Director of Communications urges Trump supporters to admit they lost.

Newly sworn in Rep Derrick Evans (R - VW) was among those who broke into the Capitol and posted video of himself doing so.

Former PA. state lawmaker Rick Saccone was among those who stormed the Capitol.

Rep Mary Miller (R - IL) posted a video of herself at a rally on the Capitol where a speaker brought up a way in which “Hitler was right”.

Only 15 or so people were arrested in DC so far. In comparison, 14,000+ arrests were made during the George Floyd protests.

Incomplete lists of:

People condemning the rioters: GOP Communication Director Michael Ahrens, Acting Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson lol, Rep Elise Stefanik (R - NY), Former WH Chief of Staff Reince Priebus

People who have issued statements against Trump’s behavior: Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, Trump's former Sec of Defense Jim Mattis, former president Barack Obama, Rep Liz Cheney (R - WY), Senator Richard Burr (R - NC), Former homeland security adviser Thomas Bossert, Sen Ben Sasse (R - NE), former President George W Bush, Sen Ed Markey (D - MA)

People calling for Trump to be impeached again: Rep Carolyn Bourdeaux (D - GA), Rep David Cicilline (D - RI), Rep Ilhan Omar (D - MN), supposedly 7 reps total but I can’t find everyone

People calling for use of the 25th amendment: Lucy McBath (D - GA), the National Association of Manufacturers

Congress floor staff rescued the electoral ballots before the rioters broke into the building. Congress reconvened to finish counting the electoral votes. DC metro police are patrolling the halls. Photo. Pence spoke out against the rioters. McConnell called them an “insurrection” while condemning their behavior.

Twitch removed the PogChamp emote after the real PogChamp guy was saying dumb shit on Twitter in support of the rioters.

And probably more but this is so long.

[sondakikadunyacomtr]

Sitemize "ABD'nin Ulusal Güvenlik Danışmanı Pottinger: Virüs Wuhan'daki hayvan pazarından değil Çin'e ait bir laboratuvardan sızdı" konusu eklenmiştir. Detaylar için ziyaret ediniz. ABD'nin Ulusal Güvenlik Danışmanı Pottinger: Virüs Wuhan'daki hayvan pazarından değil Çin'e ait bir laboratuvardan sızdı Son Dakika Son Dakika Dünya

[otford]

A bloody nose for journalists, self-inflicted

There’s a massive difference between

We should bomb North Korea! It might help in the midterm elections.

and

It might help in the midterm elections, but bombing North Korea is the wrong thing to do anyway. Let’s not.

So the fact that a National Security Council staffer was reported to have said that bombing North Korea “might help in the midterm elections”, in a South Korean newspaper editorial, should have been seen as ambiguous, and not something that could be immediately condemned, even for those who only speak English and know nothing about South Korean editorial practices. Practicing journalists, particularly with specialist knowledge of Korea, have no excuse for hyping the reported quote; and a sitting member of Congress has no excuse for leaping on it before having it confirmed and, just as importantly, clarified in context.

And yet: two practicing journalists with specialist knowledge of Korea hyped the reported quote, and a sitting member of Congress leapt on it. It started with an editorial in the Han Kje Lei (or Hankyoreh), a major daily based in Seoul. The phrase in question, attributed to Matt Pottinger and retranslated back into English from Korean, was picked up by Jonathan Cheng, the Wall Street Journal’s Seoul bureau chief:

Cheng’s post was then picked up by Anna Fifield, the Washington Post’s Tokyo bureau chief, who reports on Korea as well as Japan:

And finally, US representative Ted Lieu of metropolitan Los Angeles, a prominent administration critic, called for Pottinger’s ouster if the quote were true:

These are all people in serious positions. Two journalists didn’t check their facts. A US representative doesn’t know the difference between an NSC member and a staffer. (Members of the NSC are all high-ranking officials designated by the statute that created the council. Lieu knows their names and their offices.) Fifield’s tweet was followed, somewhat later, with a comment casting doubt and saying that she was looking into it, as though looking into it should somehow not come first, and as though a caveat in a follow-up post would have the same impact as a caveat in the original post. And when challenged by a fellow journalist who said he didn’t believe the report, Fifield then tried to distance herself, saying “I don’t either, but these kinds of ideas take hold in conspiracy-theory-crazy South Korea.” Why would she post something she didn’t believe? The dodge that it was somehow newsworthy because Koreans would believe it (but not her savvy readers in the US) is just embarrassing. Of course, the distancing was not at all credible.

A persuasive counterclaim (which Fifield sportingly shared) by anonymous Koreanist Oranckay (a word for “foreigner”, apparently), who reports having translated Korean editorials for years, dismissed the editorial as a reliable source of a direct quotation. The wording used, according to Oranckay, suggests that the editorial was only reporting the gist of what Pottinger said; and it was an editorial, with a point of view. When no straight news report, and no English-language source, confirmed the quote, the story fell apart quickly. Cheng retracted his tweet.

Cheng and Fifield, at least, took corrective action, as responsible journalists should. But as bureau chiefs, they should have been more responsible sooner. I don’t know Korean and can’t even verify Oranckay’s work history. It doesn’t matter. Even if it weren’t obvious that we shouldn’t get our Washington scoops from South Korean newspaper editorials, it was clear from the beginning that the quote was ambiguous, and Cheng, Fifield, and Lieu all failed to see this before they passed it on. When North Korean–US relations depend so much on language and even Twitter, a bit of caution from those of us who aren’t hotheaded heads of government might be in order.

  — O.T. Ford

[marchagainsttrump]

Matthew Pottinger was reported as saying in a recent closed-door meeting with US experts on Korean Peninsula issues that a limited strike on the North 'might help in the midterm elections - [ http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/830615.html ]

[nodynasty4us]

From the July 19, 2022 article:

select panel members describe Thursday’s hearing as only the last in a series. Committee members, aides and allies are emboldened by the public reaction to the information they’re unearthing about the former president’s actions and say their full sprint will continue, even past November

The only hard deadline, they say, is Jan. 3, 2023, when Republicans likely take over the House.

...

Typically, when congressional inquiries reach their codas, top investigators depart. So far, the Jan. 6 panel’s main teams remain fully staffed, with the only notable exits coming from former Rep. Denver Riggleman and senior investigative counsel John Wood, who left to run for Senate as an independent in Missouri.

[artielu]

[Yes, this is long, but it is worth your time to read the whole thing.]

January 6, 2021 (Wednesday)

Today the Confederate flag flew in the United States Capitol.

This morning, results from the Georgia senatorial runoff elections showed that Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff had beaten their Republican opponents—both incumbents—by more than the threshold that would require a recount. The Senate is now split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats, so the position of majority leader goes to a Democrat. Mitch McConnell, who has bent the government to his will since he took over the position of majority leader in 2007, will be replaced.

With the Democrats in control of both Congress and the Executive Branch, it is reasonable to expect we will see voting rights legislation, which will doom the current-day Republican Party, depending as it has on voter suppression to stay in power.

Trump Republicans and McConnell Republicans had just begun to blame each other for the debacle when Congress began to count the certified electoral votes from the states to establish that Democrat Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. The election was not close—Biden won the popular vote by more than 7 million votes and the Electoral College by 306 to 232—but Trump contends that he won the election in a landslide and “fraud” made Biden the winner.

Trump has never had a case. His campaign filed and either lost or had dismissed 62 out of 63 lawsuits because it could produce no evidence for any of its wild accusations. Nonetheless, radical lawmakers courted Trump’s base by echoing Trump’s charges, then tried to argue that the fact voters no longer trusted the vote was reason to contest the certified votes.

More than 100 members of the House announced they would object to counting the votes of certain states. About 13 senators, led by Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), agreed to join them. The move would slow down the count as each chamber would have to debate and take a separate vote on whether to accept the state votes, but the objectors never had anywhere near the votes they needed to make their objections stick.

So Trump turned to pressuring Vice President Mike Pence, who would preside over the counting, to throw out the Biden votes. On Monday, Trump tweeted that “the Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.” This would throw the blame for the loss onto Pence, but the vice president has no constitutional power to do any such thing, and this morning he made that clear in a statement. Trump then tweeted that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”

It seemed clear that the voting would be heated, but it was also clear that most of the lawmakers opposing the count were posturing to court Trump’s base for future elections. Congress would count Biden’s win.

But Trump had urged his supporters for weeks to descend on Washington, D.C., to stop what he insisted was the stealing of the election. They did so and, this morning, began to congregate near the Capitol, where the counting would take place. As he passed them on the east side of the Capitol, Hawley raised a power fist.

In the middle of the day, Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani spoke to the crowd, telling them: “Let’s have trial by combat.” Trump followed, lying that he had won the election and saying “we are going to have to fight much harder.” He warned that Pence had better “come through for us, and if he doesn’t, that will be a sad day for our country.” He warned that Chinese-driven socialists are taking over the country. And he told them to march on Congress to “save our democracy.”

As rioters took Trump at his word, Congress was counting the votes alphabetically by state. When they got to Arizona, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) stood up to echo the rhetoric radicals had been using to discredit the certified votes, saying that public distrust in the election—created out of thin air by Republicans—justified an investigation.

Within an hour, a violent mob stormed the Capitol and Cruz, along with the rest of the lawmakers, was rushed to safety (four quick-thinking staffers brought along the electoral ballots, in their ceremonial boxes). As the rioters broke in, police shot and killed one of them: Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran from San Diego, QAnon believer, and staunch Trump supporter. The insurrectionists broke into the Senate chamber, where one was photographed on the dais of the Senate, shirtless and wearing a bull costume that revealed a Ku Klux Klan tattoo on his abdomen. They roamed the Capitol looking for Pence and other lawmakers they considered enemies. Not finding them, they ransacked offices. One rioter photographed himself sitting at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s desk with his feet on it.

They carried with them the Confederate flag.

Capitol police provided little obstruction, apparently eager to avoid confrontations that could be used as propaganda on social media. The intruders seemed a little surprised at their success, taking selfies and wandering around like tourists. One stole a lectern.

As the White House, the FBI, the Justice Department, and the Department of Homeland Security all remained silent, President-Elect Joe Biden spoke to cameras urging calm and calling on Trump to tell his supporters to go home. But CNN White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins later reported that she spoke to White House officials who were “genuinely freaked… out” that Trump was “borderline enthusiastic” about the storming of the Capitol because “it meant the certification was being derailed.”

At 4:17, Trump issued his own video, reiterating his false claims that he had been cheated of victory. Only then did he conclude with: “Go home, we love you, you’re very special.” Twitter immediately took the video down. By nighttime Trump’s Twitter feed seemed to blame his enemies for the violence the president had incited (although the rhythm of the words did not sound to me like Trump’s own usual cadence): “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!”

Twitter took down the tweet and banned the president for at least twelve hours for inciting violence; Facebook and Instagram followed suit.

As the afternoon wore on, police found two pipe bombs near the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., as well as a truck full of weapons and ammunition, and mobs gathered at statehouses across the country, including in Kansas, Ohio, Minnesota, California, and Georgia.

By 5:00, acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller issued a statement saying he had conferred with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, Vice President Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Representative Steny Hoyer (D-MD) and had fully activated the D.C. National Guard.

He did not mention the president.

By late evening, Washington, D.C., police chief Robert J. Contee III announced that at least 52 people had been arrested and 14 law enforcement officers injured. A total of four people died, including one who died of a heart attack and one who tased themself.

White House Counsel Pat Cipollone urged people to stay away from Trump to limit their chances of being prosecuted for treason under the Sedition Act. By midnight, four staffers had resigned, as well as Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger, with other, higher level officials also talking about leaving. Even Trump adviser Stephen Miller admitted it was a bad day. Quickly, pro-Trump media began to insist that the attack was a false-flag operation of “Antifa,” despite the selfies and videos posted by known right-wing agitators, and the fact that Trump had invited, incited, and praised them.

Former Secretary of Defense James Mattis laid the blame for today’s attack squarely at the feet of Trump himself: “Today’s violent assault on our Capitol, and effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump. His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice.”

The attempted coup drew condemnation from all but the radical Trump supporters in government. Former President George W. Bush issued a statement “on insurrection at the Capitol,” saying “it is a sickening and heartbreaking sight.” “I am appalled by the reckless behavior of some political leaders since the election,” he said, and accused such leaders of enflaming the rioters with lies and false hopes. Senator Mitt Romney (R-UT) was more direct: “What happened here today was an insurrection incited by the President of the United States.”

Across the country tonight are calls for Trump’s removal through the 25th amendment, impeachment, or resignation. The Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee have joined the chorus, writing to Pence urging him to invoke the 25th. Angry at Trump’s sabotaging of the Georgia elections in addition to the attack on our democracy, prominent Republicans are rumored to be doing the same.

At 8:00, heavily armed guards escorted the lawmakers back to the Capitol, thoroughly scrubbed by janitors, where the senators and representatives resumed their counting of the certified votes. The events of the afternoon had broken some of the Republicans away from their determination to challenge the votes. Fourteen Republican senators had announced they would object to counting the certified votes from Arizona; in the evening count the number dropped to six: Cruz (R-TX), Hawley (R-MO), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), John Kennedy (R-LA), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).

In the House, 121 Republicans, more than half the Republican caucus, voted to throw out Biden’s electors from Arizona. As in the Senate, they lost when 303 Representatives voted in favor.

Six senators and more than half of the House Republicans backed an attempt to overthrow our government, in favor of a man caught on tape just four days ago trying to strong-arm a state election official into falsifying the election results.

Today the Confederate flag flew in the United States Capitol.

[Heather Cox Richardson is a Professor of History at Boston College. She has daily posts on Facebook that summarize the day's political events and puts them in historical context. The Facebook post link's first comment are her citations to sources.]

[pancakeke]

1/7 news

First, because a lot of people were trying to call me out for saying Trump told his supporters to go wreck shit up at the Capitol, here is a video where he tells them to go “fight like hell”. Also before this Giuliani was on stage calling for a “trial by combat”.

Congress certified Biden’s win. Trump acknowledged it though the Twitter account of an aide (as his own account was still under a 12 hour ban).

The US broke 4,000 covid deaths in a single day.

While sheltering in the Capitol, 50 GOP senators refused to put on masks despite repeated requests.

A 7 foot tall “nonscalable” walls are being erected around the Capitol and will remain for the next 30 days (photo).

Records were stolen from the Capitol, possibly including “national security equities”.

The President of Zimbabwe criticized sanctions the US put on his country citing concerns about their democracy.

Biden admitted that if the rioters were members of Black Lives Matter they would have been treated differently by police.

Trump told the Georgia Secretary of State he will drop the lawsuits his campaign has filed against the office. He’s said it’s because he’s getting an “out of court settlement” ???

Gov. Larry Hogan said requests to send in the Maryland National Guard were rejected for 90 minutes. Two offers made by the Pentagon to send members of the National Guard and FBI to aid were also rejected by the Capitol police. The Capitol Police issued a short statement about the events of the 6th.

A Metro DC police officer said that off duty officers and members were part of the rioters and flashed their badges as they pushed into the Capitol.

House Homeland Security Committee is now asking the FBI and TSA to add perpetrators to the no-fly list.

A US Capitol Police officer involved in the riots at the Capitol has died.

Twitch disabled Trump’s account.

Shopify suspended all Trump shopfronts.

Youtube is removing all videos making false election claims and giving the creators strikes starting today.

Trump tweeted a new video acknowledging that there will be a new administration. He also claimed to be “outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem” of the rioters despite yesterday telling them “We love you, you’re very special” in a now-deleted video. Trump also lied in this new video, claiming he called the National Guard immediately. Pence was the one who called in the National Guard after Trump was suspected to be blocking calls from others. Trump resisted making this new video until becoming worried he could face legal action for inciting the riot.

Trump suggested pardoning himself before leaving office. A WH top lawyer warned him he could face legal exposure for the riot given he had urged his supporters to march to the Capitol and “fight.”  DOJ says it won't rule out pursuing charges against President Trump for his possible role in the riot.

Pence opposes using the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office and has not discussed using it with anyone. Pelosi and Schumer called Pence to discuss this with him but did not hear back. Democrat members of the House Judiciary Committee as well as others also urged him to use it.

The Articles of Impeachment drafted by the House of Representatives currently has 112 cosponsors (there are 435 reps total).

Jeb! blamed Trump for the riot and told him to concede the election.

Rep Adam Kinzinger (R - IL) called for the use of the 25th amendment.

Senator Doug Mastriano (R - PA) organized his own march on the Capitol.

Senator Josh Hawley (R - MO) had his book cancelled by a publisher because he joined the rioters.

Rep Cori Bush (D - MO) has drafted a discussion to expel sedacious members from the House of Representatives.

President of the Chicago police union John Catanzara defended the rioters (article with his quotes in a non-tweet format).

Mo Brooks (R - AL) is claiming the rioters are all antifa. He also calls them “fascist antifa” ??

Tucker Carlson is distancing himself from Trump lmao

Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan called for Trump to resign or be removed from office.

Resignations:

Secretary of Transportation (and wife of Mitch McConnell) Elaine Chao

Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos resigned, citing Trump’s responsibility in inciting the riots

Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund is resigning on the 16th due to his failure to secure the Capitol

Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger resigned after Mitch McConnell requested his resignation. Pelosi also called for his resignation after not hearing from him all day.

Tyler Goodspeed, acting chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers

Deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger

White House social secretary Rickie Niceta

Mick Mulvaney, former chief of staff and then envoy to Northern Ireland

John Costello, Senior cybersecurity official.

Stephanie Grisham, former White House press secretary and chief of staff to Melania Trump

Sarah Matthews, deputy White House press secretary

In regards to DeVos’s resignation, the American Federation of Teachers (the second largest teachers union) issued the statement "Good Riddance."