Texas GOP Rep. McCaul rips Cruz for Cancun trip
Rep. Steve Scalise: Don’t blame Trump for Capitol riots
House Minority Whip Steve Scalise declined to blame former President Donald Trump for the violence that took place during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.
“Surely, there’s a lot of blame to go around,” the Louisiana Republican said Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week.”
The second highest-ranking member in Republican House leadership, Scalise has been an ardent defender of Trump since the former president left office. Scalise was among the 121 House members who objected to the final count of the Electoral College on Jan. 6.
“But at the end of the day, the people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, it was a disgrace. And they need to be held accountable,” Scalise emphasized, moving past the question of whether Trump bore responsibility for the attack.
A USA TODAY/Suffolk University poll found that 58% of Republican voters believe that antifa, or anti-fascist groups, were responsible for most of the violence that took place during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, despite a lack of any evidence to support that assertion. Federal investigators and multiple reports have found the rioters to be overwhelmingly pro-Trump, with many having ties to right-wing extremist groups.
“Joe Biden’s the president,” Scalise conceded, while casting aspersions on the legitimacy of the electoral process. He predicted doubts about the system would continue among many voters in the coming years.
“And I think that’s the biggest frustration many people have, is those states that didn’t follow the law, are they going to keep doing that in the future, or are we going to finally get back to what the Constitution calls out for electing our leaders?” Scalise questioned.
Many states and municipalities around the country changed their voting procedures due to the coronavirus pandemic, moves that were litigated before and after the 2020 election. The regulatory changes, which variously expanded and constrained voting rights in different areas, were enacted by both parties and survived court challenges.
– Matthew Brown
US communicating with Iran about release of detained Americans
National security adviser Jake Sullivan was adamant that the Biden administration would make the safe return of Americans detained in Iran a key point in upcoming negotiations.
“We intend to very directly communicate with the Iranians about the complete and utter outrage, the humanitarian catastrophe that is the unjust, unlawful detention of American citizens in Iran,” Sullivan told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.
Sullivan emphasized that “we will not accept a long-term proposition where they continue to hold Americans in an unjust and unlawful manner. It will be a significant priority of this administration to get those Americans safely back home.”
Iran has consistently said that talks will not resume until the U.S. lifts sanctions, a move the Biden administration says can only happen if Iran comes back into compliance with its commitments under the nuclear deal.
“The U.S. will not be able to rejoin the nuclear pact before it lifts sanctions,” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Sunday. “Once everybody implements their side of…
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