Category Archives: FBI

FBI offer to release some Saudi files not enough, 9/11 families say

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Victims’ families demand comprehensive declassification review of all documents, particularly into Saudi Arabia’s role in attacks

Families of 9/11 victims say an FBI offer to release some documents from its investigation into the attack has not gone far enough, and are demanding a comprehensive declassification review of all relevant material, particularly on Saudi Arabia’s role.

The FBI offer on Monday followed a call by some victims’ families and first responders for Joe Biden to stay away from ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the attack next month, if the president failed to honour a campaign pledge to lift the secrecy surrounding the multi-agency investigations.

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The activists sabotaging railways in solidarity with Indigenous people

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People coming to the aid of the Wet’suwet’en nation to stop a pipeline are using direct action that is prompting terror charges

The night of 28 November, Samantha Brooks, 24, hunched over the railway tracks near Bellingham, Washington, about 32km (20 miles) south of the Canada-US border and installed a “shunt,” according to trial documents obtained by the Guardian.

Related: Dakota access pipeline: court strikes down permits in victory for Standing Rock Sioux

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FBI chief calls Capitol attack domestic terrorism and rejects Trump’s fraud claims

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Christopher Wray faces grilling from Democratic lawmakers over lead-up to 6 January insurrection

The FBI director, Christopher Wray, has said that the bureau considers the 6 January Capitol attack an act of “domestic terrorism” and suggested that “serious charges” were still to come in its continuing criminal investigation.

Testifying before Congress on Thursday, the director rubbished Donald Trump’s claims about a stolen presidential election. “We did not find evidence of fraud that could have changed the outcome of the election,” he told lawmakers on the House judiciary committee.

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Hundreds arrested in global crime sting after underworld app is hacked

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European and Australian police join forces with FBI to seize weapons, drugs and $148m in cash

A global sting in which organised crime gangs were sold encrypted phones that law enforcement officials could monitor has led to more than 800 arrests in 18 countries.

The operation by the FBI and Australian and European police, ensnared suspects in Australia, Asia, Europe, South America and the Middle East involved in the narcotics trade.

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White House says Republicans increased offer on Biden infrastructure deal by $50bn – as it happened

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That’s all from me today. Here’s a rundown of the day’s biggest stories:

At least 10 US states have siphoned millions of dollars from federal block grants, meant to provide aid to their neediest families, to pay for the operations of ideological anti-abortion clinics.

These overwhelmingly Republican-led states used money from the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (Tanf), better known as welfare or direct cash aid, to fund the activities of anti-abortion clinics associated with the evangelical right. The clinics work to dissuade women from obtaining abortions.

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FBI releases new video in hunt for dangerous suspects from Capitol attack – video

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Warning: some viewers may find the following footage distressing

The FBI has released new footage of the deadly 6 January US Capitol insurrection as it seeks to identify 10 suspects involved in what the agency says were 'some of the most violent attacks on officers'. Law enforcement are still pursuing more than 100 suspects from the attack, and the 10 suspects highlighted this week are considered among the most dangerous still at large

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FBI facing allegation that its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh was ‘fake’

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A Democratic senator has asked attorney general Merrick Garland to facilitate ‘proper oversight’ into concerns on the investigation

The FBI is facing new scrutiny for its 2018 background check of Brett Kavanaugh, the supreme court justice, after a lawmaker suggested that the investigation may have been “fake”.

Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democratic senator and former prosecutor who serves on the judiciary committee, is calling on the newly-confirmed attorney general, Merrick Garland, to help facilitate “proper oversight” by the Senate into questions about how thoroughly the FBI investigated Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearing.

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FBI chief calls Capitol attack ‘domestic terrorism’ and defends US intelligence

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Christopher Wray says ‘that attack, that siege, was criminal behavior, plain and simple … and has no place is our democracy’

The FBI director, Chris Wray, has condemned the 6 January riot at the US Capitol as an instance of “domestic terrorism”, while defending the bureau’s handling of intelligence indicating that violence was likely.

Related: Seditionaries: FBI net closes on Maga mob that stormed the Capitol

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FBI views Capitol insurrection as domestic terrorism, says Christopher Wray – video

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FBI director Christopher Wray has said the bureau views the Capitol insurrection as a clear act of domestic terrorism. Speaking during a Senate hearing on the 6 January riots, Wray said: ‘That attack, that siege, was criminal behaviour, plain and simple, and it’s behaviour that we, the FBI, view as domestic terrorism’

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Malcolm X family says letter shows NYPD and FBI conspired in his murder

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Ex-undercover officer claims in posthumous letter he was pressured to lure activist’s security men into committing crimes

Almost 56 years since the day Malcolm X was assassinated in New York City, lawyers and family members of the late civil rights and Black nationalist leader released new evidence they claim shows the NYPD and FBI conspired in his murder.

Related: 'The humanity of black characters is often forgotten': behind Oscar-tipped One Night in Miami

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Two Proud Boys arrested over Capitol attack, including one who smashed window

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  • Dominic Pezzola was filmed using shield to break window
  • Federal authorities have charged more than 150 in violence

Federal law enforcement officials have arrested two members of the Proud Boys, a rightwing nationalist extremist group, for their role in the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January.

The riot is now the subject of a second impeachment trial of Donald Trump, who is accused of inciting the rightwing mob at a rally that immediately preceded the assault. Federal authorities have charged more than 150 people in the onslaught.

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FBI vets thousands of troops amid fears of insider attack on Biden inauguration

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  • Extra checks to prevent repeat of 6 January attack on Capitol
  • National guard plays down fears of extremism within ranks
  • US politics – live coverage

Thousands of military personnel guarding Joe Biden’s inauguration as US president on Wednesday are being vetted by the FBI amid fears of an insider attack.

Related: Texas woman who attacked Capitol says she was following Trump's orders

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James Comey: Donald Trump should not be prosecuted after leaving office

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  • Fired FBI director: next attorney general must ‘foster trust’
  • President has insulted Comey and threatened him with jail

Donald Trump should not be prosecuted once he leaves the White House no matter how much evidence has been amassed against him, the former FBI director James Comey writes in a new book.

Related: Trump call to Georgia secretary of state electrifies voters in Senate runoffs

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FBI tracked down Ghislaine Maxwell using cellphone data

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Newly unsealed court documents show FBI use GPS and data use to narrow her whereabouts to an area measuring about 1 sq mile

Ghislaine Maxwell, the Jeffrey Epstein associate facing child trafficking charges, was tracked down to her remote hideaway by the FBI using data from her mobile phone, according to court documents.

Maxwell was arrested at the 156-acre property in Bradford, New Hampshire, on 2 July last year, a day after a request was made for a search warrant to “employ an electronic investigative technique … to determine the location of the cellular device”.

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Lead FBI investigator in Blackwater case likens Iraq massacre to My Lai

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John M Patarini says in letter to New York Times he is ‘disgusted with the president’s actions’ after Trump pardons

The mass shooting in Baghdad for which Donald Trump pardoned four American mercenaries was “a massacre along the lines of My Lai in Vietnam”, the lead FBI investigator in the case said, pronouncing himself “disgusted with the president’s actions”.

Related: 'Our blood is cheaper than water': anger in Iraq over Trump pardons

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Nashville: FBI combs wreckage as mystery surrounds Christmas Day blast

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  • Three people lightly injured and possible human remains found
  • Unclear if or how remains are linked to downtown explosion

Mystery surrounds the motivation behind the detonation of an apparent bomb on the streets of downtown Nashville that rocked Tennessee’s biggest city on Christmas morning as investigators continued to comb the wreckage for clues.

Three people were lightly injured in the blast and some possible human remains have been found near the site of the RV that exploded and caused serious damage to Nashville’s historic core. But it is not clear if or how the remains are linked to the incident.

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Hacking campaign targeted US energy, treasury and commerce agencies

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‘Significant and ongoing’ cyber attack, suspected to be the work of Russia, poses a grave risk to ‘critical infrastructure entities’ as well

The US government continues to reel from a large and sophisticated hacking campaign that affected top federal agencies, including the energy department, the treasury and commerce departments, and is even said to have targeted the agency responsible for the country’s nuclear weapons stockpile.

Authorities expressed increasing alarm over the hack, suspected to be the work of Russia, warning that it poses “a grave risk” to federal, state and local governments, as well as “critical infrastructure entities”.

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Eight charged in alleged Chinese plot to coerce family to return from US

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  • Five individuals arrested, with three believed to be in China
  • Chinese government allegedly plotted to pressure ex-official

Eight people have been charged with conspiring to work on behalf of China’s government in a plot to coerce a Chinese family in the US to return to their home country to face charges.

Five of the individuals charged, including an American private investigator, were arrested on Wednesday in New Jersey, New York and California. The rest are believed to be in China, top justice department officials said in a news conference.

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Russia and Iran obtained US voter data in bid to sow unrest before election, FBI warns

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In rare news conference, the director of national security says Iran has sent spoofed emails to intimidate voters

Russia and Iran have obtained some US voting registration information and are attempting to sow unrest in the upcoming election, the government’s national intelligence director said in a rare news conference Wednesday night.

“We have already seen Iran sending spoofed emails, designed to intimidate voters, incite social unrest and damage President Trump,” said John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence.

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Far-right plotters ‘discussed kidnapping Virginia governor Ralph Northam’

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  • FBI agent makes claim in Michigan court hearing testimony
  • Six men were charged with plot to kidnap Michigan governor

Members of anti-government paramilitary groups discussed kidnapping Virginia governor Ralph Northam during a June meeting in Ohio, an FBI agent testified on Tuesday during a court hearing for a group of men accused of plotting to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor.

Related: How the domestic terror plot to kidnap Michigan's governor unravelled

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