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A mob supporting then-President Donald Trump and his lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” storm the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021. (Photo: Probal Rashid/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Hundreds of congressional staffers in recent days have signed an open letter recounting the trauma of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and imploring senators to vote to convict former President Donald Trump for inciting the deadly insurrection.
“As congressional employees, we don’t have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol, but our senators do.”
--Congressional staffers
“On January 6, 2021, our workplace was attacked by a violent mob trying to stop the electoral college vote count,” the staffers wrote. “That mob was incited by... Trump and his political allies, some of whom we pass every day in the hallways at work.”
They continued:
Many of us attended school in the post-Columbine era and were trained to respond to active shooter situations in our classrooms. As the mob smashed through Capitol Police barricades, broke doors and windows, and charged into the Capitol with body armor and weapons, many of us hid behind chairs and under desks or barricaded ourselves in offices. Others watched on TV and frantically tried to reach bosses and colleagues as they fled for their lives... Six people died. A Capitol Police officer--one of our co-workers who guards and greets us every day--was beaten to death.
“The attack on our workplace was inspired by lies told by the former president and others about the results of the election in a baseless, months-long effort to reject votes lawfully cast by the American people,” the staffers wrote. “The use of violence and lies to overturn an election is not worthy of debate. Either you stand with the republic or against it.”
“As congressional employees, we don’t have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol, but our senators do,” they concluded. “And for our sake, and the sake of the country, we ask that they vote to convict the former president and bar him from ever holding office again.”
As of Wednesday morning, 360 House and Senate staffers had signed the letter.
\u201cMy first job out of college was as a Congessional Aide. I can only imagine these staffers\u2019 horror watching Jan 6th unfold. This is an open letter from Congressional staffers to the Senate, asking them to convict Trump.\u201d— Dr. Kathie Allen #OvereducatedWoman (@Dr. Kathie Allen #OvereducatedWoman) 1612368956
\u201c“On January 6, 2021, our workplace was attacked by a violent mob. That mob was incited by Trump and his political allies, some of whom we pass every day in the hallways at work.”\n\nWe stand in solidarity with Congressional staff https://t.co/4BnWXzqxFO\u201d— Working Families Party \ud83d\udc3a (@Working Families Party \ud83d\udc3a) 1612364596
The actions of congressional staffers have been told in the harrowing stories of lawmakers fleeing for their lives or hiding in silence during the terror of January 6.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) told MSNBC‘s Lawrence O’Donnell Monday how she sheltered with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) during the onslaught.
“I remember [Ocasio-Cortez] saying to me, ’I knew I shouldn’t have worn heels, how am I going to run?‘” said Porter. “And we went and we found her a pair of sneakers to wear from one of my staffers so that she could run if she needed to literally run for her life.”
In her latest Instagram Live video, Ocasio-Cortez said that a staffer she called “G”--legislative director Geraldo Bonilla-Chavez--told her to run and hide in a bathroom before helping Porter’s staffers barricade the California congresswoman’s office door “like all of those drills people had on school shootings.”
“I thought I was going to die,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
On Tuesday, House impeachment managers filed a trial memorandum laying out their case for convicting Trump for “incitement of insurrection against the republic he swore to protect.” The Democratic managers said Trump “summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Oral arguments in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial are set to commence on February 9. Conviction is highly unlikely; last week 45 Republican senators voted to invalidate the trial as “unconstitutional,” and in addition to all 50 Democratic senators, 17 Republicans would also need find Trump guilty of incitement.
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Hundreds of congressional staffers in recent days have signed an open letter recounting the trauma of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and imploring senators to vote to convict former President Donald Trump for inciting the deadly insurrection.
“As congressional employees, we don’t have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol, but our senators do.”
--Congressional staffers
“On January 6, 2021, our workplace was attacked by a violent mob trying to stop the electoral college vote count,” the staffers wrote. “That mob was incited by... Trump and his political allies, some of whom we pass every day in the hallways at work.”
They continued:
Many of us attended school in the post-Columbine era and were trained to respond to active shooter situations in our classrooms. As the mob smashed through Capitol Police barricades, broke doors and windows, and charged into the Capitol with body armor and weapons, many of us hid behind chairs and under desks or barricaded ourselves in offices. Others watched on TV and frantically tried to reach bosses and colleagues as they fled for their lives... Six people died. A Capitol Police officer--one of our co-workers who guards and greets us every day--was beaten to death.
“The attack on our workplace was inspired by lies told by the former president and others about the results of the election in a baseless, months-long effort to reject votes lawfully cast by the American people,” the staffers wrote. “The use of violence and lies to overturn an election is not worthy of debate. Either you stand with the republic or against it.”
“As congressional employees, we don’t have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol, but our senators do,” they concluded. “And for our sake, and the sake of the country, we ask that they vote to convict the former president and bar him from ever holding office again.”
As of Wednesday morning, 360 House and Senate staffers had signed the letter.
\u201cMy first job out of college was as a Congessional Aide. I can only imagine these staffers\u2019 horror watching Jan 6th unfold. This is an open letter from Congressional staffers to the Senate, asking them to convict Trump.\u201d— Dr. Kathie Allen #OvereducatedWoman (@Dr. Kathie Allen #OvereducatedWoman) 1612368956
\u201c“On January 6, 2021, our workplace was attacked by a violent mob. That mob was incited by Trump and his political allies, some of whom we pass every day in the hallways at work.”\n\nWe stand in solidarity with Congressional staff https://t.co/4BnWXzqxFO\u201d— Working Families Party \ud83d\udc3a (@Working Families Party \ud83d\udc3a) 1612364596
The actions of congressional staffers have been told in the harrowing stories of lawmakers fleeing for their lives or hiding in silence during the terror of January 6.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) told MSNBC‘s Lawrence O’Donnell Monday how she sheltered with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) during the onslaught.
“I remember [Ocasio-Cortez] saying to me, ’I knew I shouldn’t have worn heels, how am I going to run?‘” said Porter. “And we went and we found her a pair of sneakers to wear from one of my staffers so that she could run if she needed to literally run for her life.”
In her latest Instagram Live video, Ocasio-Cortez said that a staffer she called “G”--legislative director Geraldo Bonilla-Chavez--told her to run and hide in a bathroom before helping Porter’s staffers barricade the California congresswoman’s office door “like all of those drills people had on school shootings.”
“I thought I was going to die,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
On Tuesday, House impeachment managers filed a trial memorandum laying out their case for convicting Trump for “incitement of insurrection against the republic he swore to protect.” The Democratic managers said Trump “summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Oral arguments in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial are set to commence on February 9. Conviction is highly unlikely; last week 45 Republican senators voted to invalidate the trial as “unconstitutional,” and in addition to all 50 Democratic senators, 17 Republicans would also need find Trump guilty of incitement.
Hundreds of congressional staffers in recent days have signed an open letter recounting the trauma of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and imploring senators to vote to convict former President Donald Trump for inciting the deadly insurrection.
“As congressional employees, we don’t have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol, but our senators do.”
--Congressional staffers
“On January 6, 2021, our workplace was attacked by a violent mob trying to stop the electoral college vote count,” the staffers wrote. “That mob was incited by... Trump and his political allies, some of whom we pass every day in the hallways at work.”
They continued:
Many of us attended school in the post-Columbine era and were trained to respond to active shooter situations in our classrooms. As the mob smashed through Capitol Police barricades, broke doors and windows, and charged into the Capitol with body armor and weapons, many of us hid behind chairs and under desks or barricaded ourselves in offices. Others watched on TV and frantically tried to reach bosses and colleagues as they fled for their lives... Six people died. A Capitol Police officer--one of our co-workers who guards and greets us every day--was beaten to death.
“The attack on our workplace was inspired by lies told by the former president and others about the results of the election in a baseless, months-long effort to reject votes lawfully cast by the American people,” the staffers wrote. “The use of violence and lies to overturn an election is not worthy of debate. Either you stand with the republic or against it.”
“As congressional employees, we don’t have a vote on whether to convict Donald J. Trump for his role in inciting the violent attack at the Capitol, but our senators do,” they concluded. “And for our sake, and the sake of the country, we ask that they vote to convict the former president and bar him from ever holding office again.”
As of Wednesday morning, 360 House and Senate staffers had signed the letter.
\u201cMy first job out of college was as a Congessional Aide. I can only imagine these staffers\u2019 horror watching Jan 6th unfold. This is an open letter from Congressional staffers to the Senate, asking them to convict Trump.\u201d— Dr. Kathie Allen #OvereducatedWoman (@Dr. Kathie Allen #OvereducatedWoman) 1612368956
\u201c“On January 6, 2021, our workplace was attacked by a violent mob. That mob was incited by Trump and his political allies, some of whom we pass every day in the hallways at work.”\n\nWe stand in solidarity with Congressional staff https://t.co/4BnWXzqxFO\u201d— Working Families Party \ud83d\udc3a (@Working Families Party \ud83d\udc3a) 1612364596
The actions of congressional staffers have been told in the harrowing stories of lawmakers fleeing for their lives or hiding in silence during the terror of January 6.
Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) told MSNBC‘s Lawrence O’Donnell Monday how she sheltered with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) during the onslaught.
“I remember [Ocasio-Cortez] saying to me, ’I knew I shouldn’t have worn heels, how am I going to run?‘” said Porter. “And we went and we found her a pair of sneakers to wear from one of my staffers so that she could run if she needed to literally run for her life.”
In her latest Instagram Live video, Ocasio-Cortez said that a staffer she called “G”--legislative director Geraldo Bonilla-Chavez--told her to run and hide in a bathroom before helping Porter’s staffers barricade the California congresswoman’s office door “like all of those drills people had on school shootings.”
“I thought I was going to die,” said Ocasio-Cortez.
On Tuesday, House impeachment managers filed a trial memorandum laying out their case for convicting Trump for “incitement of insurrection against the republic he swore to protect.” The Democratic managers said Trump “summoned a mob to Washington, exhorted them into a frenzy, and aimed them like a loaded cannon down Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Oral arguments in Trump’s Senate impeachment trial are set to commence on February 9. Conviction is highly unlikely; last week 45 Republican senators voted to invalidate the trial as “unconstitutional,” and in addition to all 50 Democratic senators, 17 Republicans would also need find Trump guilty of incitement.
This is a developing story… Please check back for updates…
Just over a week after unveiling a proposal for the Gaza Strip at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump said on social media Wednesday night that "I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan."
"This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace," he claimed on Truth Social. "All Parties will be treated fairly!"
"This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen," Trump added. "BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!"
Netanyahu—who faces an International Criminal Court warrant over his country's genocidal assault of Gaza—also took to social media, writing in Hebrew that it was "a great day for Israel" and he would "convene the government to approve the agreement and bring all our dear hostages home." The prime minister then thanked the Israel Defense Forces and Trump.
Trump's announcement came shortly after Drop Site News' Jeremy Scahill spoke with a Hamas official who confirmed that "from our side, yes," the Palestinians reached a deal, but they still needed to "finalize some points" with the mediators.
"It's over, it's over. It's been decided," a second source told the journalist. "Everybody's agreed on it. There are a few things that will be discussed, but it's over."
Hamas led an attack on southern Israel that killed over 1,100 people on October 7, 2023. Since then, Israeli forces have bombed and blockaded Gaza, whose health officials put the death toll at 67,183, with another 169,841 injured. Global experts have warned those are likely undercounts, given the thousands of people missing and presumed dead and buried beneath the strip's destroyed infrastructure.
Police in Texas—led by a county sheriff later charged with an unrelated felony sex crime—lied about their motive for using artificial intelligence-powered surveillance technology to search for a woman who allegedly self-administered a medication abortion, new documents obtained by 404 Media and Electronic Frontier Foundation revealed on Tuesday.
In May, 404 Media's Joseph Cox and Jason Koebler reported that the Johnson County Sheriff's Office tapped into 83,000 automatic license plate reader (ALPR) cameras manufactured by Flock Safety while conducting a nationwide search for an unnamed woman who authorities said took abortion medication in alleged violation of a 2021 state ban that empowers anti-abortion vigilantes to sue anyone who “aids or abets” the medical procedure.
Since thata law's passage—and the right-wing US Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization the following year—Texas has passed additional forced birth laws banning nearly all abortions as well as targeting providers who mail abortion pills from other states.
According to Cox and Koebler, Johnson County Sheriff's deputies accessed Flock cameras in states where abortion is legal, including Illinois and Washington. Johnson County Sheriff Adam King told 404 Media at the time that his department searched for the woman because "her family was worried that she was going to bleed to death, and we were trying to find her to get her to a hospital.”
“We weren’t trying to block her from leaving the state or whatever to get an abortion,” King said. “It was about her safety.”
NEW: Cops in Texas told 404 Media in May they used Flock to find a woman who self-administered an abortion out of concern for her safety. Documents now show police were conducting a “death investigation” and discussed whether they could charge her with a crime: www.404media.co/police-said-...
[image or embed]
— 404 Media (@404media.co) October 7, 2025 at 6:30 AM
King's office, forced birth advocates, and Flock Safety subsequently attempted to gaslight those who reported that deputies searched for the woman as part of a probe into potential violations of state laws.
However, new documents and court records obtained by the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and shared with 404 Media show that Johnson County Sheriff's deputies initiated a "death investigation" of a "nonviable fetus" and discussed prosecuting the woman for allegedly self-administering an abortion.
"To no one's surprise, they were full of shit," Jessica Valenti and Kylie Cheung wrote Tuesday for Valenti's Abortion, Every Day Substack.
As EFF's Dave Maas and Rindala Alajaji noted:
In recent years, anti-abortion advocates and prosecutors have increasingly attempted to use “fetal homicide” and “wrongful death” statutes—originally intended to protect pregnant people from violence—to criminalize abortion and pregnancy loss. These laws, which exist in dozens of states, establish legal personhood of fetuses and can be weaponized against people who end their own pregnancies or experience a miscarriage.
In fact, a new report from Pregnancy Justice found that in just the first two years since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs, prosecutors initiated at least 412 cases charging pregnant people with crimes related to pregnancy, pregnancy loss, or birth—most under child neglect, endangerment, or abuse laws that were never intended to target pregnant people. Nine cases included allegations around individuals’ abortions, such as possession of abortion medication or attempts to obtain an abortion—instances just like this one. The report also highlights how, in many instances, prosecutors use tangentially related criminal charges to punish people for abortion, even when abortion itself is not illegal.
"By framing their investigation of a self-administered abortion as a 'death investigation' of a 'nonviable fetus,' Texas law enforcement was signaling their intent to treat the woman’s self-managed abortion as a potential homicide, even though Texas law does not allow criminal charges to be brought against an individual for self-managing their own abortion," Maas and Alajaji added.
Valenti and Cheung asserted that "this is what cruel, abusive men seeking to exert power over women do: harass them over their abortions."
They were referring not only to the Texas woman's "vindictive, controlling partner" who tipped off police—and was later convicted of pistol-whipping and choking her—but also to King, who, despite being recently arrested and indicted on four felony sexual harassment charges, was allowed to return to work part-time. King was also previously indicted in August for alleged sexual harassment and corrupt influence for allegedly retaliating against a witness.
"These are the kind of men who target women for their abortions," Valenti and Cheung wrote. "It’s a trend that AED warned about in our 2025 predictions: that the anti-abortion movement would increasingly rely on aggrieved and abusive men to do their dirty work."
They continued:
Since November, top Texas-based anti-abortion activists have bragged about recruiting men to sue over their partner’s abortions. Jonathan Mitchell is one of the anti-abortion attorneys leading that charge: after his client Marcus Silva sued his ex’s friends over her abortion, he tried to use the case to blackmail her into resuming a sexual relationship. At this point, even Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is reportedly recruiting men for this purpose.
"This isn’t about a few bad actors—but the predictable outcome of living in a reproductive police state bent on surveillance and punishment," Valenti and Cheung said. "And in a moment when pregnancy criminalization is on the rise, it’s vital we understand how this police state operates."
The willingness of Republicans including US Vice President JD Vance to embrace the tracking of women who have or are seeking abortions has raised alarms among reproductive rights advocates.
"Reproductive dragnets are not hypothetical concerns. These surveillance tactics open the door for overzealous, anti-abortion state actors to amass data to build cases against people for their abortion care and pregnancy outcomes," Ashley Kurzweil, senior policy analyst in reproductive health and rights at the National Partnership for Women & Families, told 404 Media Tuesday.
“Law enforcement exploitation of mass surveillance infrastructure for reproductive health criminalization promises to be increasingly disruptive to the entire abortion access and pregnancy care landscape," Kurzweil added. "The prevalence of these harmful data practices and risks of legal action drive real fear among abortion seekers and helpers—even intimidating people from getting the care they need."
US Attorney General Pam Bondi generated alarm on Wednesday when she said the Trump administration is going to take the "same approach" to Antifa as it has to drug cartels—as the military bombs boats in the Caribbean it claims are smuggling drugs.
Antifa encompasses autonomous anti-fascist individuals and loosely affiliated groups who lack a national organizational structure or leadership. Still, as the increasingly authoritarian administration works to quash dissent on all fronts, President Donald Trump last month signed an executive order designating the Antifa movement as a domestic terrorist organization.
During a related roundtable on Wednesday—held as the administration worked to deploy the National Guard in Democrat-led cities—Bondi said that "we're not gonna stop at just arresting the violent criminals we can see in the streets. Fighting crime is more than just getting the bad guy off the streets; it's breaking down the organization brick by brick, just like we did with cartels."
Glancing toward Trump, she continued: "We're going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa: Destroy the entire organization from top to bottom. We're going to take them apart. Thanks to your bold leadership, and the designation of Antifa as a terrorist organization—which is exactly what they are—Americans will no longer tolerate their unhinged violence."
Lawyer and radio host Dean Obeidallah warned: "Please understand that this is Trump regime explaining how they will use the government to prosecute Democrats. Page 1 of the fascist playbook is imprison political opponents so that the fascist has one-party rule."
Others noted the violence the administration has already taken. Zeteo reporter Prem Thakker said: "My gosh. After the US bombed multiple boats in the middle of the ocean, murdering people on grounds that they were allegedly 'carrying drugs,' the US attorney general says, 'Just like we did with cartels, we're going to take the same approach…with Antifa.'"
Zeteo founder Mehdi Hasan said, "So he is going to drone strike American citizens?"
HuffPost's SV Dáte similarly asked, "So the US military will be summarily killing them from above now?"
Trump has recently announced four bombings of boats he claimed were running drugs, without releasing any evidence. Those US military attacks have killed at least 21 people. Critics in Congress and beyond argue the strikes are illegal under federal and international law.
On Tuesday, top Democrats from key committees in the US House of Representatives demanded further information about the bombings and reminded Trump: "Congress has the sole constitutional responsibility to declare war and to authorize the use of force. You have failed to secure such authorization for these strikes."
Also on Tuesday, Bondi appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where lawmakers grilled her on a range of topics. Asked about legal justification for the boat bombings by Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), she declined to comment.
Ahead of Bondi's Senate testimony, watchdog groups and hundreds of former employees of the US Department of Justice expressed alarm about her leadership of the DOJ.
“We’re seeing the erosion of the Justice Department’s fabric and integrity at an alarming pace," says a letter signed by 282 former DOJ officials. "Our democratic system cannot survive without the primary institution that enforces the law.”