Trump’s Inauguration Will Feature an Unbelievable Guest

Congress members might soon come face-to-face with one of their attackers.

Republican members of Congress have invited Russell Taylor, a January 6 protester who stormed the Capitol with a tactical vest and a knife strapped to his chest, to attend Trump’s second inauguration, Politico reported Wednesday.

Taylor pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months’ home detention and three years’ probation in May for his role in ransacking the building. Ahead of the riot, Taylor organized a group of “fighters” to attend pro-Trump events, planning for chaos. Some of Taylor’s “fighters” included individuals who identified as Three Percenters, or people who subscribe to the Three Percent ideology, which the Southern Poverty Law Center identifies as an “antigovernment militia movement.”

At the time of Taylor’s sentencing, U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said that he believed Taylor had testified truthfully and expressed sincere remorse, noting that the Californian could become a “poster child” for how January 6 cases “should be done.”

Chris Stewart, a former Republican representative from Utah, also asked that Taylor be allowed to attend the ceremony. “He is [a] caring father and reveres his family, his faith, and his love of our Country as his highest priority in life,” Stewart wrote in a letter to Lamberth. “I am honored to extend this invitation for him to attend the Inauguration as my guest.”

Stewart’s letter did not refer to Taylor’s actions on January 6 or their effect in delaying the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. It did, however, make mention of three other Utah lawmakers who are requesting Taylor’s presence at Trump’s inauguration, but did not specify which ones.

Donald Trump went on a wild social media tirade Wednesday after FBI Director Christopher Wray resigned from his position.

“The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “I just don’t know what happened to him.”

What happened to Wray was actually really simple. Last week, Trump nominated Kash Patel, a sycophantic fascist eager to go after a list of the president-elect’s “deep state” enemies, to lead the FBI. Rather than be formally dismissed or chased out by the president-elect after he was sworn in, Wray—a Trump appointee who was slated to hold the position for three more years—resigned Wednesday.

“We will now restore the Rule of Law for all Americans. Under the leadership of Christopher Wray, the FBI illegally raided my home, without cause, worked diligently on illegally impeaching and indicting me, and has done everything else to interfere with the success and future of America.” Trump wrote. “They have used their vast powers to threaten and destroy many innocent Americans, some of which will never be able to recover from what has been done to them.”

Trump was referring to the 2022 FBI raid of his residence at Mar-a-Lago, which was part of the investigation and eventual indictment into his alleged mishandling of classified documents. Judge Aileen Cannon tossed out the 42 felony charges against the president-elect in July, ruling that special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment to the case was unconstitutional, a decision criticized by legal scholars as unprecedented.

Trump continued, “Kash Patel is the most qualified Nominee to lead the FBI in the Agency’s History, and is committed to helping ensure that Law, Order, and Justice will be brought back to our Country again, and soon. As everyone knows, I have great respect for the rank-and-file of the FBI, and they have great respect for me. They want to see these changes every bit as much as I do but, more importantly, the American People are demanding a strong, but fair, System of Justice. We want our FBI back, and that will now happen. I look forward to Kash Patel’s confirmation, so that the process of Making the FBI Great Again can begin. Thank you!”

Wray announced his decision to step down Wednesday, telling his FBI employees that resigning was “the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work.” He will leave his position once Trump takes office in January.

Senator Kyrsten Sinema briefly showed up for work Wednesday to tank a Democratic nominee to the National Labor Relations Board, using her last days in office to hurt workers’ rights before Donald Trump is sworn in as president.

Sinema was joined by fellow departing Democrat turned independent Senator Joe Manchin in voting against Democrat Lauren McFerran’s appointment to a third term as chair of the board, resulting in a 49–50 vote. Two of the NLRB’s five members are Republicans, and two are Democrats, and its chairperson is chosen by the sitting president and breaks partisan ties.

If McFerran was confirmed, a Democratic board would have been in place until late 2026, able to uphold the NLRB’s mission of protecting the right to form a union and enforcing labor law. The appointment would have also allowed for more pro-worker decisions and policies, and protected against right-wing attacks on unions and labor rights.

Sinema’s vote came out of nowhere, as she had missed every single Senate vote in the past week through Tuesday, suggesting she had specific ideas about this appointment. Manchin told reporters after the vote that he opposed McFerran’s nomination because she supports the “joint-employer rule,” which states that an entity can be considered a “joint-employer” of another company’s employees if it has or influences control over the employees’ wages, hours, and working conditions, even if it is not the main employer.

“This is not a surprise to anyone,” Manchin said. Both Manchin and Sinema have a history of opposing pro-labor and pro-worker bills, from the Build Back Better Act to raising the minimum wage. Now, in their last month in office, they’ve paved the way for the right wing under Trump to gut labor protections with a compliant NLRB.

“It is deeply disappointing, a direct attack on working people, and incredibly troubling that this highly qualified nominee—with a proven track record of protecting worker rights—did not have the votes,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Donald Trump is slated to be named Time magazine’s 2024 “Person of the Year,” according to Politico.

The magazine expects to make the official announcement on Thursday morning, and the president-elect intends to ring in the New York Stock Exchange to celebrate. Trump was named “Person of the Year” after his victory in 2016 as well. This year’s runner-ups included Vice President Kamala Harris, Kate Middleton, Elon Musk, and Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump keeps a close watch on the naming each year. In 2013, when it was Pope Francis, he commented, “A joke and stunt of a magazine that will, like Newsweek, soon be dead. Bad list!”

He changed his tune in 2016 when he was “Person of the Year.” “It means a lot, especially me growing up reading Time magazine. And, you know, it’s a very important magazine,” he said.

The director of the Federal Bureau of Investigations, Christopher Wray, resigned from his post on Wednesday.

It’s been less than two weeks since Donald Trump announced his intention to replace Wray with Republican operative Kash Patel in a statement that failed to acknowledge the incumbent director’s requisite exit. Trump appointed Wray to the position seven years ago after ousting James Comey amid an investigation into whether the forty-fifth president’s advisers colluded with the Russian government during his 2016 presidential campaign. Wray’s term wasn’t slated to end until 2027.

“This is the best way to avoid dragging the bureau deeper into the fray, while reinforcing the values and principles that are so important to how we do our work,” Wray told FBI employees.

Wray said he will serve until the end of the current administration and then leave once Trump takes office in January.

“The resignation of Christopher Wray is a great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice,” Trump wrote on Truth Social following Wray’s announcement. “I just don’t know what happened to him. We will now restore the Rule of Law for all Americans.”

The 10-year term minimum for FBI directors is designed to insulate the position from the sway of political influence—but Wray will mark Trump’s second firing of the bureau’s top official during his time in power.

Speaking with NBC News’s Meet the Press, Trump said he wasn’t “thrilled” with Wray’s job at the country’s top law enforcement agency, suggesting that the FBI’s role in repossessing sensitive and classified documents from Trump’s Florida estate had marred his opinion of his appointee.

“He invaded my home,” Trump said on Sunday. “I’m suing the country over it. He invaded Mar-a-Lago. I’m very unhappy with the things he’s done, and crime is at an all-time high. Migrants are pouring into the country that are from prisons and from mental institutions, as we’ve discussed. I can’t say I’m thrilled.”

Of course, the FBI did not “invade” Mar-a-Lago—rather, the agency executed a court-approved search warrant to reclaim documents that Trump had taken from the White House after the end of his last presidency.

Patel, a Trump loyalist, hasn’t yet dished details on how he intends to change the FBI, though he has promised that sweeping reforms are on the way. Former intelligence officials have warned that Patel’s appointment could strip the FBI of its independence and that his leadership could oversee an era in which the agency is tasked with politically motivated investigations from the Trump administration.

“Kash Patel is the most qualified Nominee to lead the FBI in the Agency’s History, and is committed to helping ensure that Law, Order, and Justice will be brought back to our Country again, and soon,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Wednesday. “We want our FBI back, and that will now happen. I look forward to Kash Patel’s confirmation, so that the process of Making the FBI Great Again can begin.”

Patel himself has demonstrated a propensity for politically charged witch hunts. The nominee has promised to go after 60 people named on a so-called “enemies list” who he believes are members of the executive branch “deep state.” They include President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Comey, Hillary Clinton, and Obama-era FBI Director Eric Holder.

This story has been updated.