LANSING CAPITOL

It’s a brief in support of a lawsuit filed by the other states.

READ: Michigan AG asserts Lansing Capitol is unsafe as expected armed protest loomsThings were calm at the Capitol in Lansing Saturday night. Authorities installed six-foot barriers around the Capitol Building in preparation of armed protests Sunday. “I’m feeling much better regarding the events this weekend,” Nessel said. Michigan State Police troopers -- joined with members of the National Guard and Lansing police -- are ready for anything and everything. More: Michigan law enforcement on armed Capitol protests this weekend: ‘We will be prepared’

MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI – A Muskegon County commissioner who also is chair of the local Republican party is under fire from Democrats for continuing to back President Trump and for calling on Trump supporters to “stay the course, hold the line.”A statement from the Muskegon County Democratic Party condemns Zach Lahring, saying “all elected Republicans who blindly obeyed Trump are culpable for this explosion of rage and violence.” The Democratic Party chair called on Lahring to resign if he continues to support Trump. “During the last four years, our local elected Republicans have been scared to stand up to Donald Trump,” Ryan Bennett, chair of the Muskegon County Democratic Party, said in the prepared statement. If they’re not willing to stand up to their own party chair, then they should resign,” Bennett said. While two busloads of people from the Muskegon area were at the nation’s Capitol Jan. 6, Lahring told MLive he wasn’t among them. Scolnik said he had received “dozens” of messages from people telling him to denounce Lahring and Republican freshman county commissioner Malinda Pego.

DETROIT – On Monday, the Michigan State Capitol Commission voted unanimously to ban the open carry of guns at the Lansing Capitol building. Details: Michigan commission votes to ban open carry of guns from Capitol buildingThat comes just days after the siege at the US Capitol and months since a group armed with assault rifles made its way inside the Michigan Capitol building. Democratic lawmakers had requested an outright ban of all guns from inside the Capitol building, including the concealed carry guns. The Michigan State Capitol Commission has not done enough to protect lawmakers, school kids, tour groups and others inside the state’s Capitol, House Democratic leaders said Monday. “The ban on open carry firearms is long overdue and it is my hope we see further action.”Read more

MUSKEGON COUNTY, MI – Republicans from Muskegon County who took buses to Washington, D.C., last week were “shaken” by the violence, according to the Republican Party chairman who insists rioters who broke into the Capitol were supporters of the left-wing antifa. Zach Lahring, chair of the Muskegon County GOP, was at the Lansing Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, but met with those who traveled from Muskegon to the nation’s Capitol last week. He contends the local Trump supporters were not part of the “chaos” at the Capitol and he said he still believes the election shouldn’t have been certified by Congress. Lahring also said Trump supporters aren’t going away. “It’s our view that most of those people weren’t Trump supporters,” Lahring said.