Washington Post:"...The accounts of people who said they were inspired by the president to take part in the melee inside the Capitol vividly show the impact of Trump's months-long attack on the integrity of the 2020 election and his exhortations to supporters to 'fight' the results...On multiple occasions, he urged his supporters to come to Washington and to apply public pressure on Congress to change the election results...'Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!' he tweeted on Dec. 19. 'The BIG Protest Rally in Washington D.C., will take place at 11.00 A.M. on January 6th. Locational details to follow. StopTheSteal!' he wrote on New Year's Day. On the morning of Jan. 6, as Congress prepared to convene in the Capitol, Trump's son Donald Jr. delivered a fiery speech to the thousands of Trump supporters assembled on the Ellipse. Trump's personal attorney, Rudolph W. Giuliani, called for 'trial by combat.'In his address to the crowd, Trump did not overtly call for them to try to enter the building or commit violent violence. But he emphasized the need for strength and repeatedly called for the crowd to fight on his behalf.'Our country has had enough,' he said. 'We will not take it anymore, and that's what this all about. To use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal' He falsely claimed that 'all Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify, and we become president, and you are the happiest people.' And he said that if Pence allowed the vote to move forward, Biden would become president..."
The Atlantic:"On the West Lawn of the Capitol Wednesday, a man in a pom-pom beanie clamored for blood. 'Execute the traitors!' he shouted into a megaphone.'I wanna see executions!'...Four rioters died as a result of Wednesday's insurrection at the Capitol. The mob beat a police officer with a fire etinguisher, law-enforcement sources told the New York Times; the officer later died. Some of them had bigger plans too: Before thr potest, pro-Trump radicals had posted online about their intentions to kill Vice President Mike Pence. They brought zip ties and wore Kevlar vests. Rioters erected a wooden gallows next to the Capitol Reflecting Pool, and police discovered two pipe bombs on Capitol Hill. The violence could have been even worse. Some of the rioters clearly wanted it to be. And Wednesday's attack may have had another, more insidious effect: to embolden extremists. Already, Trump-supporting zealots online are promising to return to Washington around Inauguration Day. 'President Trump has ignited fire within people,' a protester named Maria told me on Wednesday afternoon, before either of us knew that rioters had broken into the Capitol.'Some of these guys...they're ready to go to war or die for their country today. This is not going away anytime soon.'...Law enforcement is preparing for future violence. This week, the Army announced that it will deploy 6,000 National Guard troops for Joe Biden's inauguration. But far-right extremists are not deterred—far from it. They are already reportedly plotting more rallies, incuding a return to Washington D.C. before or on the inauguration, this time with more guns... "
NBCNews:"Telegram, a Dubai-based chat app that has attracted a surge of new users, including some far-right Trump supporters fleeing purges at other sites, has begun a rare purge of American extremist content. At least 15 Telegram channels...have recently been banned, according to a tally by NBC News. Content has been censored on several others. Some pro-Trump zealots have moved to Telegram in recent days to plan violence on Jan. 20 the day Joe Biden is scheduled to be inaugurated. One of the deleted channels, which proclaimed itself to be 'eco-fascist,' started in early June, hosting white supremacist content from its beginning. In the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, its users posted Army manuals with bombmaking and munitions-making information. Megan Squire, a professor of computer science at Elon University and a senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center...said that while Telgram's approach to moderating extremist content tends to be 'scattershot,' many of the recent bans are new..."
Reuters:"Wall Street's main indexes finished lower on Friday, weighed down by big U.S. banks after their earnings reports, while the energy fell sharply due to a regulatory probe into Exxon Mobil Corp. The S&P 500 banks index lost ground as shares of Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup Inc tumbled even though they had posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter profits. The gank sector had rallied sharply in recent days. Wells Fargo, down 7.8%, was among the biggest drags on the S&P 500, along with Exxon MObil, down 4.8%. 'Financials and energy have been disappointing...that's bringing down the whole market,' said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance in Charlotte, North Carolina. 'This is the year for financials, energy, materials, industrials. So if there is a day when they're not leading, it's not good news for the market..."
ABCNews:"Former Defense Secretary James Mattis has directly blamed President Donald Trump for having fomented the security breach at the U.S. Capitol Wednesday...'Today's violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump,' said Mattis, who served as Trump's first secretary of defense, in a statememt provided to ABCNews.'His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice,' he added.'Our Constitution and our Republic will overcome this stain and We the People will come together again in our never-ending effort to form amore perfect Union, while Mr. Trump will deservedly be left a man without a country.'
Retired Marine General Joseph Dunford, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Trump, issued a rare statement regarding Wednesday's violence. His comments are noteworthy, as he has kept his opinions on political events quiet since his retirement. 'I bleieve our leaders who have continued to undermine a peaceful transition in accordance with our Constitution have set the conditions for today's violence,' he said in a statement provided to ABC News. 'This is an outrageous assault on our democracy and a sad day for our Nation,' Dunford added.'It's time for all Americans and particularly our elected officials to put our Country first. As many have said, we're better than this.'..."