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The January 6 insurrectionPhoto: Brent Stirton (Getty Images)

For a guy who has spent the last month or so publicly wondering why a lot of people dont seem to like his latest annoyingly bleak comedy about how much our world sucks and how nobody cares and how nobody in power will do anything about it (a movie thats not explicitly about the ongoing COVID nightmare even though it might as well be), Adam McKay sure seems surprisingly eager to put his name on another bleak movie about how much our world sucks and how nobody cares and how nobody in power will ever do anything about it. This time, though, it at least wont be a comedy.

This is from Deadline, which says McKay is co-producing a film written and directed by Billy Ray from The Comey Rule (yet another thing about bad people in the recent past who have yet to pay for their crimes) about the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Yes, barely a year later and with the guy who may or may not have goaded the terrorists into trying to overthrow our struggling democracy set to run forand probably winthe presidency again soon, its simply the perfect time to make this movie!

Of course, people can make movies about depressing real-life topics, its just were all so tired. Do we have to start doing fan-casting for the goddamn QAnon shaman or whatever? Is some famous actor going to try and win an Oscar by playing a guy who took a shit in Nancy Pelosis desk? Ray says its a ground-level view of the insurrection about protestors who became rioters and cops who became defenders of democracy, so yeah, probably.

He also adds that someone else can tell the story of the chaos at the White House on that day, so we probably wont see Comey Rules Brendan Gleeson reprising his role as Trump and doing whatever he was doing that day (other than leaving all of his texts from Mike Pence unread). Additionally, Ray is working with Q: Into The Storm filmmaker Cullen Hoback (who filmed some of the insurrection) to get some insight into QAnon and what it was like on the ground that day.

The project is called J6 was initially developed as a Showtime limited series like The Comey Rule, but Ray reconceived it into a film after McKay came on board as a producer and envisioned it asas in his wordsthe definitive cinematic document on that gut-wrenching day. (A gut-wrenching day that we all saw happen in real time on television a year ago.) The Deadline story says Ray will be shopping the project around now, so theres no word on when or where it will come out.

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Adam Mckay and The Comey Rules Billy Ray are making a January 6 insurrection movie, unfortunately - The A.V. Club

WASHINGTON Investigators from both the Department of Justice and the House Jan. 6 committee appear to be edging closer to former President Donald Trump and his immediate family for their roles in the events leading up to that days violent assault on the Capitol.

In a federal court filing Tuesday, lawyer Bilal Essayli said prosecutors asked his client, Jan. 6 defendant Brandon Straka, about his connections to Trump personally.

The government was focused on establishing an organized conspiracy between defendant, President Donald J. Trump, and allies of the former president, to disrupt the joint session of Congress on January 6, Essayli wrote.

Straka, who spoke at a Stop the Steal rally in Washington the day before the Capitol attack, is awaiting sentencing for his involvement in the January 2021 insurrection, an attempt to overturn Trumps 2020 election loss. He was originally charged with a felony for egging on rioters to take away a police officers shield and to enter the building itself, but was allowed to plead to a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge in exchange for his cooperation.

Meanwhile, the Jan. 6 committee on Tuesday issued subpoenas to three of Trumps lawyers involved in spreading his lies that he had actually won the election and suggesting extraconstitutional and possibly illegal means of remaining in power. Among them is personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.

And the committee has also subpoenaed the phone call and text message logs of middle son Eric Trump, who spoke at the pre-insurrection rally near the White House and told the audience that Democrat Joe Biden had not actually won the presidency.

Eric Trump, through a spokeswoman for the family business, said Wednesday that he had nothing to conceal. The witch-hunt continues. This partisan committee is welcome to review my phone records, Eric Trump said in a statement. I have absolutely nothing to hide.

Bill Clark via Getty Images

In fact, the House committee is bipartisan, with two Republican members, although House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would not permit two other Republicans who had helped spread Trumps election lies from serving on the panel.

CNN and ABC have both reported that the committee has also subpoenaed the phone records of Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of eldest son Donald Trump Jr. He, Guilfoyle and Eric Trumps wife, Lara Trump, also spoke at the Jan. 6 rally, as did Giuliani.

The former president capped off that event with a 72-minute speech in which he repeated his false claims that the election had been riddled with fraud and that he had actually won, and then urged the tens of thousands in attendance to march on the Capitol to pressure lawmakers and his own vice president to install Trump for a second term. We fight like hell. And if you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore, he told them.

While federal prosecutors have charged some 700 Trump supporters in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack, the filing by Strakas lawyer is the first clear indication that investigators are looking for a link to Trump personally, and appears to back up a pledge by Attorney General Merrick Garland to pursue the investigation wherever it may go.

The Justice Department remains committed to holding all Jan. 6 perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law, whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy, Garland said on the eve of the insurrections first anniversary. We will follow the facts wherever they lead.

And House Jan. 6 committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, in a statement accompanying the subpoenas of Trumps lawyers, said the panel is seeking to understand the pressure campaign to overturn the election. The four individuals weve subpoenaed today advanced unsupported theories about election fraud, pushed efforts to overturn the election results, or were in direct contact with the former president about attempts to stop the counting of electoral votes, said Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat.

A year ago, Trump became the first president to refuse to turn over power peacefully to his successor. He spent weeks attacking the legitimacy of the November 2020 contest that he lost. Hours after polls closed and it appeared that Biden would be the winner, Trump stated that he had really won in a landslide and that his victory was being stolen from him. Those falsehoods continued with a string of failed lawsuits challenging the results in a handful of states.

After the Electoral College voted on Dec. 14, making Bidens win official, Trump instead turned to a last-ditch scheme to pressure his own vice president into handing Trump the election during the pro forma congressional certification of the election results on Jan. 6.

Trump asked his followers to come to Washington that day and told the thousands who showed up that they should march to the Capitol to intimidate Mike Pence into doing what Trump wanted. When you catch somebody in a fraud, youre allowed to go by very different rules, Trump said.

Having a mob presence at the Capitol was key to two possible scenarios Trump and his allies were pushing: One, pressuring Congress and Pence into declaring Trump the winner notwithstanding the actual election results, or, two, delaying the certification vote long enough for GOP lawmakers in states won by Biden to send their own slate of Trump electors.

The mob of supporters stormed the building and chanted Hang Mike Pence when the vice president did not do Trumps bidding. The riot left five people dead, including a Capitol Police officer, and four other officers took their own lives in the following weeks and months.

Though the House impeached Trump for inciting the attack, all but seven Senate Republicans, led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, chose not to convict him thereby letting Trump continue his political career even as he is the subject of several investigations.

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Both DOJ And Jan. 6 Committee Closing In On Trump And His Family, New Filings Show - HuffPost

Hang Mike Pence! was the chilling chant of the mob at the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Can the same constituency be persuaded to vote Mike Pence on 5 November 2024? He, for one, appears to think so.

The former vice-president this week travelled across New Hampshire, host of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary elections, to meet local activists, raise money and deliver a speech attacking potential opponent Joe Biden.

Pence, who has nursed White House ambitions since his teens, has also paid recent visits to the early-voting states Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada, implying that a run is more likely than not. But there is one problem.

Donald Trump.

The ex-president, whom Pence served faithfully or obsequiously, in the eyes of critics has not forgiven him for ignoring his plea to overturn the result of the 2020 election. That Pence, presiding over the Senate at it certified Bidens victory, had no such power has become irrelevant at this stage.

Pences continued insistence that he did his constitutional duty on 6 January has done little to assuage the sense of betrayal among livid Trump supporters. In June he was heckled as a traitor during a speech to a gathering of religious conservatives in Orlando, Florida hardly a positive omen.

His biggest challenge is the people that hes going to need to vote for him the Republican primary base are also the people who wanted to hang him on January 6, said Kurt Bardella, an adviser to the Democratic National Committee. I dont see how you overcome that.

Yet the former Indiana governor appears to be playing a long game, perhaps betting that Trumps influence over the party will wane over the next three years. He may also be calculating that the stand he made for democracy on 6 January a day on which he refused to flee the Capitol, taking cover in an underground car park will resonate with moderate Republicans and independents.

Mike Murphy, a Republican strategist in Indiana, said: Hes doing everything he needs to set himself up to run and, if Trump is not the nominee or is not running, I think hes clearly the frontrunner.

I think people are realising that he was an unlikely hero on January 6. In the end, even for people who disagree with him for many other policy positions hes taken, whether it was as a governor or as a vice-president, he did the right thing when the pressure was on on January 6.

Pences visit to New Hampshire was his second to the state, which has a huge say in choosing the party nominee, since leaving office. He attended holiday parties, raised money for state Republicans and posed for photos at at the Simply Delicious bakery in Bedford.

In a speech hosted by Heritage Action, a conservative policy advocacy organisation, the 62-year-old accused Biden of fuelling inflation and lambasted the presidents social and environmental spending plan, warning: Keep your hands off the American peoples pay cheques.

As is customary at this stage of an election cycle, Pence did not confirm or deny whether he was running for president, insisting that his priority was next years midterm elections for Congress.

He told the Associated Press: To be honest with you, all of my focus is on 2022 because I think weve got a historic opportunity for not just a winning election, but a realignment election. So Im dedicating all of my energy to the process of really winning back the Congress and winning statehouses in 2022. And then in 2023, well look around and well go where were called.

The campaign-style tour did not go unnoticed by Trump, who released a statement that said: Good man, but big mistake on not recognizing the massive voter fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election. There is no evidence of any such fraud or irregularities.

Pence, however, may choose to borrow from the playbook of Glenn Youngkin, who recently won election as governor of Virginia by keeping Trump at arms length without overtly denouncing him, thereby reaping the best of both worlds: the party establishment and Make America Great Again (Maga) base.

There are already signs of Pence having his cake and eating it too. In a radio interview on Wednesday he repeated a now familiar line that he and Trump may never see eye to eye on the events of 6 January, but he also told several news outlets there were irregularities that happened at the state level in the election. He also insisted that he parted with his boss on good terms.

This Trump-lite approach might do just enough to satisfy the former presidents followers while promising other Republicans a lower political temperature.

Michael DAntonio, a Pence biographer, said: Whats weird is he earned his bona fides with Trump by being so craven in his loyalty and then he expressed his independence in that one moment when it really mattered. So he could make a play in both directions and say, Look, Im Donald Trump but without the violence.

There are signs of the Maga core cooling off or losing interest in politics, DAntonio added. I also knew a number of Trump voters who chose him in 2016 because of Pence. So Pence may have built up a lot of credibility with people. And I guess the last point is, you dont need to win 50% to get the nomination.

Some Republicans, including former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, have said they will not contest the primaries if Trump throws his hat in the ring. Others, such as ex-New Jersey governor Chris Christie, have rejected the idea that a Trump candidacy should prevent others running.

Florida governor Ron DeSantis, South Carolina senator Tim Scott and former secretary of state Mike Pompeo are seen as potential contenders to be party standard bearer. Pence, however, might hope that his status as a former vice-president would count in his favor, just as it did for Biden last year.

Clues to his intentions include the fact he is writing a book and recording a regular podcast: in the latest episode of American Freedom, the devout Christian says we hope and pray the supreme court will overturn Roe v Wade, its 1973 decision upholding a womans constitutional right to abortion.

Should he secure the nomination, however, Pence would be hard pushed to win over millions of Trump critics who have not forgotten how he failed to speak out or take a principled stand during four years of chaos. There are countless hours of footage of him giving speeches in which he mentions President Trump over and over again, praising his leadership and calling him my friend.

Bardella, a former Republican congressional aide, said: Mike Pence will be regarded for what he is, which is a coward void of any real moral conviction or principles.

The fact that he is turning around now, still trying to court the hearts and minds and votes of the very people who perpetrated the domestic terrorist attack on our country illustrates that he is the worst kind of political figure because, even though he may not believe these things, hes still pandering and catering to those elements. I dont believe that history will look back on him kindly at all.

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Pence appears to set up a presidential run can he win ...

Former US Vice President Mike Pence delivers a China policy speech at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, in Washington, DC, USA, 14 July 2021 (EPA)

Former Vice President Mike Pence purportedly refused to get into a vehicle with secret service agents amid the 6 January riots out of fear there was a conspiracy to vindicate the insurrection.

The claims come in an extract of Washington Post journalists Carol Leonnig and Philip Ruckers new book I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J Trumps Catastrophic Final Year, released this week.

According to the journalists, Mr Pence refused to evacuate the Capitol a number of times on 6 January as pro-Trump rioters stormed the building in a bid to prevent the certification of the 2020 election results.

Amid the riots Mr Pence was evacuated from the Senate chamber to his ceremonial office, where he remained protected by secret service agents alongside members of his family, the books account recalls.

However, his security reportedly thought Mr Pence was vulnerable because the second-floor office had windows that could be breached.

Tim Giebels, the lead special agent in charge of the former vice presidents protective detail, reportedly twice asked Pence to evacuate the Capitol to which Mr Pence refused, The Post said.

Im not leaving the Capitol, he reportedly told Mr Giebels. The last thing the vice president wanted was the people attacking the Capitol to see his 20-car motorcade fleeing. That would only vindicate their insurrection.

As the chaos continued to unfold, Mr Pence was said to have been ordered to leave the office and was escorted to a subterranean area that rioters couldnt reach and towards an armoured limousine.

Mr Pence then reportedly outright refused to get into the vehicle, saying his security detail would ignore his demand not to leave the building and would instead take off against his wishes.

Im not getting in the car, Tim, Mr Pence replied. I trust you, Tim, but youre not driving the car. If I get in that vehicle, you guys are taking off. Im not getting in the car.

According to RawStory, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said that sources with knowledge of the day said Mr Pence feared a conspiracy, feared that the Secret Service would aid Trump and his ultimate aims that day.

Story continues

She added: This is the most harrowing version of Mike Pences day Ive seen reported.

During the insurrection, Mr Pence was made a target of rioters fury following inflammatory statements by Donald Trump, with many heard shouting Wheres Mike Pence? and Hang Mike Pence.

Mr Trump and his supporters were angry at the vice president for refusing to block the electoral certification, a power he did not possess.

Mr Trump called on Mr Pence to overturn the results only hours before their certification saying: All Mike Pence has to do is send them back to the States, AND WE WIN. Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!

On the afternoon of 6 January the former president Tweeted: Mike Pence didnt have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.

Mr Pence and the other lawmakers who had been evacuated later returned to the Senate chamber to see out the certification of the election results.

The Independent has contacted Mr Pences political advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, for comment.

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Mike Pence refused to get in car amid 6 January riots ...

Mike Pence has equated Democratic efforts to pass voting rights protections with the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, writing in a staggeringly misleading and inaccurate op-ed that both were power grabs which posed a threat to the US constitution.

As vice-president to Donald Trump, Pence refused to overturn the 2020 election, rebuffing pressure to reject valid slates of electors at the Capitol on 6 January 2021.

Such an effort would have amounted to a coup dtat, the rightful winner of the presidential election Joe Biden denied the Oval Office.

Some rioters chanted Hang Mike Pence as they roamed the halls of Congress. Others erected a gallows outside.

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But in the Washington Post on Friday, Pence argued that Democratic proposals to expand voter access such as requiring mail-in ballot drop boxes, loosening voter ID requirements and allowing for same-day registration and voter access were just as unconstitutional as an attempt to upend constitutional procedure with violence.

The other Democratic proposal Pence said was akin to the Capitol siege was a proposal to restore a key piece of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that required places with a history of voting discrimination to get changes approved by the federal government before they go into effect.

Their plan to end the filibuster to allow Democrats to pass a bill nationalizing our elections would offend the founders intention that states conduct elections just as much as what some of our most ardent supporters would have had me do one year ago, Pence wrote.

The notion that Congress would break the filibuster rule to pass a law equaling a wholesale takeover of elections by the federal government is inconsistent with our nations history and an affront to our constitutions structure.

The characterization was inaccurate. The US constitution explicitly gives Congress a role in setting the rules for federal elections.

Article I, Section IV reads: The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.

Pence also falsely wrote that Democratic proposals would require states to adopt universal mail-in voting, a term typically used to describe the process in states like Colorado and Washington that automatically mail ballots to registered voters.

Legislation proposed by Democrats would require states to allow anyone who wants to vote by mail to be able to request a ballot, but would impose no requirement that states automatically send them to all voters.

The former vice-president has previously downplayed the Capitol attack by saying there was too much focus on one day in January. In his column for the Post, he said: Lives were lost and many were injured.

Seven people, law enforcement officers among them, died in connection with the attack. More than 100 officers were injured.

More than 700 people have been charged in connection with the attack. On Thursday, 11 members of the Oath Keepers militia were charged with seditious conspiracy.

Democrats charge that elections laws passed in Republican-run states since 6 January 2021 seek to restrict voting by groups liable to vote Democratic, African Americans prominent among them.

Biden has spoken forcefully on the issue, saying federal voting rights protections are needed to counter such racist moves. Republicans have protested the presidents rhetoric.

Republican legislators have also sought to make it easier to overturn election results, while Trump allies seek to fill key elections posts from which they would control the counting of votes in future elections.

Voting rights bills proposed by Democrats would increase protections for election officials who have faced an unprecedented wave of harassment over the last year. They would also prevent partisan actors from removing elections officials without cause and make it easier for voters to go to court to ensure valid votes are not rejected.

In short, Democrats aim to put in place legal standards to guarantee that no other vice-president is put in the position Pence was on 6 January 2021.

While Biden has made a strong push in support of the voting rights legislation, its prospects look dim. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin, staunch defenders of the filibuster, the 60-vote rule required to advance most legislation in the Senate, said on Thursday they would not vote to amend the requirement.

Because no Republicans support doing away with the filibuster, the Democratic voting rights bills cannot pass right now.

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Mike Pence equates voting rights protections with Capitol attack - The Guardian