Category Archives: US Capitol attack

FBI broke own rules in January 6 and BLM intelligence search, court finds

Posted on by

Critics decry ‘egregious’ abuse after Fisa court shows repeated violations related to vast foreign intelligence database

FBI officials repeatedly violated their own standards when they searched a vast repository of foreign intelligence for information related to the January 6 insurrection and racial justice protests in 2020, according court order released Friday.

FBI officials said the thousands of violations, which also include improper searches of donors to a congressional campaign, predated a series of corrective measures that started in the summer of 2021 and continued last year. But the problems could nonetheless complicate FBI and justice department efforts to receive congressional reauthorization of a warrantless surveillance program that law enforcement officials say is needed to counter terrorism, espionage and international cybercrime.

Continue reading...

Samuel Alito says leaked abortion draft made conservative justices ‘targets of assassination’ – as it happened

Posted on by

Ron DeSantis grew angry on Thursday when asked by a reporter in Israel about his time at Guantánamo Bay:

One interesting thing about this clip is that it’s been shared on Twitter both by DeSantis’s own media operation (which is posted above) and by Democrats looking to attack the presumptive candidate for the GOP presidential nomination. Make of that what you will.

Continue reading...

Mike Pence testifies to grand jury about Donald Trump and January 6

Posted on by

Former vice-president’s proximity to the ex-president during the Capitol attack makes him a key witness in the criminal inquiry

Mike Pence testified before a federal grand jury on Thursday in Washington about Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a source familiar with the matter, a day after an appeals court rejected a last-ditch motion to block his appearance.

The former vice-president’s testimony lasted for around seven hours and took place behind closed doors, meaning the details of what he told the prosecutors hearing evidence in the case remains uncertain.

Continue reading...

Proud Boys were ready for ‘all-out war’ before January 6, prosecutors argue

Posted on by

The neo-fascist group’s leader and four lieutenants are accused of seditious conspiracy to forcibly stop the transfer of power in 2021

Ready for “all-out war”, leaders of the far-right Proud Boys viewed themselves as foot soldiers for Donald Trump as he clung to power after the 2020 election, a prosecutor said on Monday at the close of a historic trial over the January 6 Capitol attack.

After more than three months of testimony, jurors began hearing closing arguments in the seditious conspiracy case accusing the former Proud Boys national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and four lieutenants of plotting to forcibly stop the transfer of power.

Continue reading...

Trump ‘dug himself a hole’ on classified documents and role in January 6 – Barr

Posted on by

Ex-attorney general says former president has ‘penchant for engaging in reckless behavior’ and why he’s facing indictments

Donald Trump “has a penchant for engaging in reckless and self-destructive behavior” and is facing a serious threat of a federal indictment over his handling of classified documents and his supporters’ deadly January 6 attack on the US capitol, his former attorney general William Barr said on Sunday.

“He’s dug himself a hole on the documents and also on the January 6 stuff,” Barr said of the former president during an interview on ABC’s This Week. “That was reckless behavior that was destined to end up being investigated. So it doesn’t surprise me that he has all these legal problems.”

Continue reading...

Mike Pence will not appeal order to testify to January 6 grand jury

Posted on by

Decision clears way for former vice-president to appear before panel looking into 2020 election interference and Capitol attack

The former vice-president Mike Pence will not appeal an order compelling him to testify in the US justice department investigation of Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election, attempts which culminated in the deadly January 6 attack on Congress.

The order was handed down last week. A spokesperson for Pence announced the decision on Wednesday, clearing the way for Pence to appear before a grand jury in Washington.

Continue reading...

US Capitol rioter who wore horned headdress to be released early

Posted on by

Jacob Chansley was sentenced to three years and five months in November 2021 but it is now due to be freed 25 May

The US Capitol attacker who infamously wore a horned headdress and was nicknamed the “QAnon Shaman” is no longer in federal prison over the deadly January 6 uprising.

Jacob Chansley, 35, was sentenced to three years and five months in prison on 17 November 2021 after pleading guilty to helping a mob of Donald Trump supporters try to prevent the congressional certification of the former president’s defeat to Joe Biden in the 2020 election.

Continue reading...

Mike Pence must testify before grand jury investigating January 6 – reports

Posted on by

A federal judge ruled the former vice-president must appear in the inquiry into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election

Former US vice-president Mike Pence must testify in front of a grand jury investigating Donald Trump’s election subversion and incitement of the January 6 attack on Congress, a federal judge reportedly ruled on Tuesday.

Multiple news outlets reported the ruling, which remained under seal.

Continue reading...

Trump’s verbal assaults pose risks to prosecutors and could fuel violence

Posted on by

Trump has resorted to ‘incendiary rhetoric’ to deter investigations and to rile up his base, experts say, and shows no sign of letting up

Donald Trump’s demagogic attacks on prosecutors investigating criminal charges against him are aimed at riling up his base and could spark violence, but show no signs of letting up as a potential indictment in at least one case looms, say legal experts.

At campaign rallies, speeches and on social media Trump has lambasted state and federal prosecutors as “thugs” and claimed that two of them – who are Black – are “racist”, language designed to inflame racial tension.

Continue reading...

Four Oath Keepers members convicted of obstruction in January 6 trial

Posted on by

The four were also convicted of conspiracy stemming from an insurrection at the Capitol in failed effort to keep Trump in office

Four people associated with the far-right Oath Keepers militia were convicted on Monday of conspiracy and obstruction charges stemming from the insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021 by extremist supporters of Donald Trump in a failed attempt to keep him in office, in the latest trial involving members of the antigovernment group.

A Washington DC jury found Sandra Parker, of Morrow, Ohio, Laura Steele, of Thomasville, North Carolina, William Isaacs, of Kissimmee, Florida, and Connie Meggs, of Dunnellon, Florida, guilty of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and other felony charges.

Continue reading...

YouTube reinstates Trump’s account after suspension over US Capitol attack

Posted on by

Platform says it ‘carefully evaluated the continued risk of real-world violence’ before reversing ex-president’s ban

Social media platform YouTube said on Friday it was lifting restrictions on Donald Trump’s official account which were imposed after the violent January 6 attack on Congress.

Leslie Miller, vice-president of public policy, told Axios Trump’s “ability to upload new content is restored”.

Continue reading...

More than a quarter of Republicans approve of Capitol attack, poll shows

Posted on by

Survey also reveals more than half of Republicans think January 6 was a form of legitimate political discourse

More than a quarter of Republicans approve of the January 6 Capitol attack, according to a new poll. More than half think the deadly riot was a form of legitimate political discourse.

The Economist and YouGov survey said 27% of Republicans either strongly or somewhat approved of the riot on 6 January 2021, which Donald Trump incited in an attempt to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden.

Continue reading...

Republican response to the January 6 Capitol attack divides party

Posted on by

Line are drawn between the extremist wing and those who distance themselves from portraying the rioters as ‘sightseers’

Some Republicans have rebuked efforts by Donald Trump and Fox News host Tucker Carlson to whitewash the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, underscoring a significant split in the party over attempts to downplay the events of the day.

Kevin McCarthy, the speaker of the House, turned over more than 40,000 hours of security footage from the Capitol to Carlson earlier this year. This week, Carlson aired selectively edited portions of that footage, falsely claiming the rioters were “sightseers” and “not insurrectionists”. At least 1,000 people have been arrested for their role in the January 6 attack. Five people died as a result of it.

Continue reading...

Mike Pence: history will hold Donald Trump accountable over Capitol attack

Posted on by

Former vice-president, speaking at Gridiron dinner, says it ‘mocks decency’ to portray January 6 as anything other than a ‘disgrace’

Mike Pence has offered a rebuke of his one-time boss Donald Trump, saying history will hold the former president accountable for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Pence, then vice-president, was in the Capitol when thousands of Trump supporters breached the building in an attempt to stop Congress certifying the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.

Reuters contributed reporting

Continue reading...

‘Sleaze-slinging’ Fox News denounced by family of January 6 officer who died

Posted on by

Condemnation of ‘so-called new network’ comes after Tucker Carlson shares footage from attack courtesy of Kevin McCarthy

The family of Brian Sicknick, the US Capitol police officer who died the day after the January 6 attack on Congress, condemned Tucker Carlson and Fox News as “unscrupulous and outright sleazy”, after the primetime host made his first use of security footage from the riot bestowed by Kevin McCarthy, the Republican House speaker.

A statement on Tuesday said: “The Sicknick family is outraged at the ongoing attack on our family by the unscrupulous and outright sleazy so-called news network of Fox News.”

Continue reading...

FBI searches for two Capitol attack defendants who have gone missing

Posted on by

Joseph Hutchinson and Olivia Pollock, whose brother is also a January 6 defendant, had ankle monitors that were removed or altered

The FBI is searching for a Florida woman who was supposed to stand trial on Monday on charges stemming from the January 6 Capitol attack as well as another riot defendant who has also gone missing, officials said.

A federal judge in Washington issued bench warrants for the arrest of Olivia Pollock and Joseph Hutchinson III last week after the court was notified that they had tampered with or removed the ankle monitors that track their location, said Joe Boland, a supervisory special agent with the FBI’s Lakeland, Florida, office.

Continue reading...

US Capitol rioter pleads guilty to stealing badge from beaten officer

Posted on by

Thomas Sibick pleads guilty to assault and theft charges for role in attack on the Washington DC police officer Michael Fanone

A New York man has pleaded guilty to stealing a badge and radio from a police officer who was brutally beaten as rioters pulled him into the mob that attacked the US Capitol in Washington over two years ago, court record show.

Thomas Sibick pleaded guilty on Friday to assault and theft charges for his role in the attack on the District of Columbia’s Metropolitan police department officer Michael Fanone during the January 6, 2021, insurrection when extremist supporters of then-president Donald Trump tried, unsuccessfully, to force Congress not to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential victory over him.

Continue reading...

Singin’ the coups: Donald Trump releases single with January 6 prisoners

Posted on by

Former president drops charity song on streaming sites recorded with men imprisoned for their role in attack on US Capitol

Donald Trump has released a charity single, recorded with a choir of men held in a Washington DC prison for their parts in the deadly January 6 insurrection he incited.

On Friday, Justice for All by Donald J Trump and the J6 Prison Choir was available on streaming platforms including Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.

Continue reading...

US court skeptical of bid to access congressman’s phone in January 6 inquiry

Posted on by

At issue is whether a protection afforded by the constitution applies to ‘informal’ fact-finding by members of Congress

A federal appeals court appeared skeptical on Thursday of the justice department’s interpretation of US Congress members’ immunity from criminal investigations and whether it allowed federal prosecutors to access House Republican Scott Perry’s phone contents in the January 6 investigation.

The department seized Perry’s phone in the criminal investigation last year and was granted access to its contents by a lower court, until Perry appealed the decision on the grounds that the speech or debate clause protections barred prosecutors from seeing his messages.

Continue reading...

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner subpoenaed in January 6 investigation – report

Posted on by

Special counsel looking into Trump’s efforts to overturn 2020 election subpoenas former president’s daughter and son-in-law

Former US president Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump have been subpoenaed by the special counsel Jack Smith to testify before a federal grand jury regarding the January 6 attack on the Capitol, the New York Times reported on Wednesday, citing sources.

Merrick Garland, the attorney general, appointed Smith in November last year to take over two investigations involving Trump, who is running for president in 2024.

Continue reading...