On January 6, Congress and Vice President Mike Pence met to certify the November presidential election result at the Capitol building. A riot began that afternoon after Trump and his allies held a rally earlier in the day, urging Congress to not certify the results.

Trump vowed to “never concede” and urged his supporters “to fight,” as he continued to push baseless claims of election fraud. As the mob breached the Capitol building, Trump tweeted saying Vice President Mike Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” and that the “USA demands the truth!” Later, he also tweeted, “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”

Unfortunately, four people are dead following violent protests on Wednesday and days later one capitol police officer Libengood, 51 years old, who responded to the riots has died. Considered accountable for the riot, President Trump’s social media accounts including Twitter and Facebook are permanently suspended. Many other social media companies besides Parler followed the same action.

House of Democrats are trying to pass a unanimous resolution calling Vice President Pence and the cabinet to use 25^th Amendment to invoke President Trump’s presidency or the House will approach a second preachment against Trump. Vice President has not presented his opinion on this option.

At the same time, house of democrats wants to fast pace to start the second impeachment against President Trump. However, The Senate is currently adjourned and cannot reconvene until Jan. 19, the day before Mr. Joe Biden’s inauguration. That means that an impeachment trail cannot begin until President Trump’s last full day in the office at the earliest. But if the the Senate proceeds to a trail and successfully convicts President Trump, that will prevent him running another presidential campaign in 2024. Some house representatives stated that it will be the best option that President Trump resign his seat before the inauguration which is unlikely to happen.

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Republican State Senator Nicole Ziccarelli of Pennsylvania just set a very dangerous precedent conveying that as long as you refuse to concede, the winning opponent will not be sworn in. This behavior entailed Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate majority to refuse to seat a Democratic state senator who narrowly won re-election over a challenger who won’t concede. The GOP majority removed Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who was to preside over the ceremony, and president pro temp Jake Corman took over instead and prevented Sen. Jim Brewster (D-Allegheny County) from being sworn in. According to Pensylvanias constitution, the incumbent has to concede in order for the new winning candidate to progress onto the process of being sworn in for duty. The dispute stems from Ziccarelli’s disapproval of mail-in ballots being counted as legitimate votes if dates are not included by the voter. Suggesting that the election results for this race should be invalidated due to the lack of uniformity between districts counting votes contingent on the voters inclusion of dates.

Pennsylvania Democrats are now drawing parallels between Senate Republicans’ decision and Trump’s longshot attempts to stay in the White House, with Fetterman arguing there’s “a straight line between the Trumpian approach and what happened today.” Trump has fought to overturn his election losses in Pennsylvania and other states, and despite losing almost all of his court cases, he is now urging Congress to vote down President-elect Joe Biden’s victory when Electoral College votes are counted on Wednesday. Brewster’s campaign is hoping for a decision in federal court within the next week, campaign lawyer Clifford Levine told Forbes. Senate Democrats have proposed seating Brewster on an interim basis while Ziccarelli’s challenges wind their way through court, Fetterman said, but Senate Republicans have rejected the idea, with a spokesperson for Corman arguing it was best to wait.

Wednesday’s events at the Capitol have sent shockwaves through the country, whether it be the decreasing support of Presidential allies, claims of fraudulent election becoming more scarce, or Missouri Senator Josh Hawley’s book being canceled.

Clearly these events are not all equal, but the Senator, after showing a fist of support for the rioters at the Capitol and pushing claims of election fraud, is having his book canceled by the publisher. He continued to be one of the six senators who raised an objection to certifying Joe Biden as president, after the attack had occurred.

Most shockingly, Hawley claims that this book cancellation is an infringement on his first Amendment rights, and is an “Orwellian” attack on his freedom of speech. According to Hawley, this is “the Left looking to cancel everyone they don’t approve of”. Of course, as a Yale Law graduate himself, he should know that forcing private companies to publish his content is not nearly the same thing as the first amendment. The first amendment protects against governmental control of freedom of speech, not book deals.

This is not the first time Hawley has been notably canceled. Former Senator John Danforth had supported Hawley for several years, even hoping for him to become a Presidential candidate in 2024. Fast forward to 2021, however, and Danforth reflects, “I did my best to encourage people to support him both for attorney general and later the U.S. Senate and it was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made in my life.”

After a heavy and history-making first week of 2021, Hawley must now not only deal with a tattered book deal, but a tattered reputation.

Secretary of State Alex Padilla was appointed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday, Dec. 22, 2020, as the state’s next U.S. senator to fill the seat being vacated by Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Harris was first elected in 2016, so Padilla will fill the seat by appointment until 2022 when an election will be held for the next full six-year term.

Newsom, who had been under intense pressure within California to choose a Black woman to replace Harris because of the lack of diversity in the US Senate, tweeted that Padilla’s appointment would make history but added that Padilla “is far more interested in changing history — especially for the working men and women of our state and country.”

Padilla thanked Newsom for the appointment in the release and added, “From those struggling to make ends meet to the small businesses fighting to keep their doors open to the health care workers looking for relief, please know that I am going to the Senate to fight for you. We will get through this pandemic together and rebuild our economy in a way that doesn’t leave working families behind.”

Padilla will be the first Mexican American and Hispanic Senator from California and the first male senator to represent the state since 1993. The son of a cook and house cleaner who immigrated from Mexico, “I am honored and humbled by the trust placed in me by Governor Newsom, and I intend to work each and every day to honor that trust and deliver for all Californians,” Mr. Padilla said in a statement.

Padilla attended local public schools and went on to graduate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.  He recently completed a five-year term as a member of the MIT Corporation (Board of Trustees).  Padilla is often asked how he moved from engineering to public service. He explains that in many ways they are similar; the goal of each is solving problems.

On behalf of CIMA Law group, we congratulate Padilla for the appointment.

According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, Ted Cruz was caught red-handed doing a very corrupt deal. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) lent a helping hand to two fracking billionaires by asking for changes to rules that would allow them to acquire a $35 million COVID-19 relief loan aimed at helping struggling businesses to stay afloat. The report notes that Texas billionaires Dan and Farris Wilks were on a buying spree as the coronavirus pandemic spread across the country by buying up bankrupt competitors and investing in others — only to find they were prohibited from taking advantage of the government-backed loan program as one of their many companies struggled. According to WSJ, they then reached out to Cruz for help and soon after the US Government changed the rules of its lending program in April. A Wilks Lending company, Pro-Frack Holdings LLC, applied for and received a 35 million dollar loan, federal records show. The Wilks brothers are long time financial backers of Mr.Cruz, and in fact have donated 15 million to a Super PAC called “Keeping the Promise”, that championed Mr.Cruz’s presidential campaign, making them the largest financial backers of his political career.

Not only does this behavior exhibit corruption, but also showcases corporate socialism. Ted Cruz depicts himself as a small government conservative yet his backdoor business dealings with these brotherly billionaire backers suggest otherwise. Many American voters also had brought up the hypocritical nature of his actions by referencing back to his populist representation of workers in his 2016 Presidential campaign run. Cruz’s underhanded exposure demystifies questioning of his political views on how an unlimited sum of money should be accessible within politics due to Freedom of Speech rights. Ultimately suggesting free capabilities into having direct access to money being provided by donors instead of the alternative Super PACs serve as under today’s restrictions. Cruz has found himself in a sticky situation, and now likely has an added vulnerability for democrats to poke at if he chooses to run again in the 2024 election.

According to Axios, President Donald Trump is furious at people in his circle he thinks are not supporting him. That includes Vice President Mike Pence, with Pence having a habit of not being around for Trump’s most damaging moments. Trump thinks that those who are not fighting in his corner are “weak, stupid, or disloyal” and “beneath contempt”. These comments show Trump’s short term appreciation for Pence’s support in investigating the legitimacy for a fair and non-fraudulent election with President-Elect Biden’s victory. Yet, as time goes on and Trump’s heaping amount of lawsuits have consistently failed in proving fraudulent voting, Pence has started to become cognisant of the radicalized message that is perpetuated which contests the sacredness of United States democracy.

Speculation has risen in providing explanations for Pence’s actions, and one credible thought experiment for this can be accredited to the Lincoln Project, an American political action committee formed in late 2019 by a number of former Republicans. A recent advertisement published by the Lincoln Project had reminded viewers that it is a part of the traditional process for the Vice President to swear in the incoming presidential elect into office, directly involved in the transition. Leaving room for question whether Trump would use that instance of Pence conducting his job properly as a form of betrayal of the highest degree. Pence is left with an ultimatum that is ultimately a no-win situation. Either follow Trump with a high chance of tarnishing his political career, or , leave his ally with a similarly high chance in having future republican prospects (Trumpists) reject him as legitimate candidate. 

Joe Biden made another pick for his administration and it is reportedly retired General Lloyd Austin to be his secretary of defense. If confirmed, Austin would become the first African American to head the Pentagon. Austin is the former chief of U.S. Central Command, where he oversaw U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria. After retiring in 2016, he joined the board of Raytheon and became a partner in Pine Island Capital Partners, a venture capital fund focused on military-related companies. Austin will need a legal waiver from Congress to take the position due to laws designed to preserve the civilian control of the military.

This cabinet pick for Biden has posed unintended controversy due to the American people’s concern to assign someone a role which poses a great risk for conflict of interest in occurring. Asserting that he is inclined to want to incentivize more war, and how he is on the payroll from a company that makes money from war. Even going as far as to stating that this is a prime example of how Washington D.C. doesn’t even realize how corrupt this sort of behavior has been normalized. The silver lining to this story is how the selection of Austin is being seen as a victory for anti war groups who had fought against the possible selection of Michèle Flournoy as defense secretary due to her past support of wars in Iraq, Libya and other countries.