Tag: Donald Trump

Capitol rioter Proud Boy being ‘threatened’ in jail by fellow inmates: attorney

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On Thursday, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that a key high-ranking member of the Proud Boys being held in a jail in Seminole County, Florida is alleging to have been “threatened” by other inmates in the facility while awaiting trial for his involvement in planning the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Joseph R. Biggs, 37, was a leader among the Proud Boys in planning ‘an organized and violent attack’ upon the country’s democracy and its Capitol building on Jan. 6, according to federal prosecutors,” the paper reported. “And word that Biggs is locked up in a subsection of the Seminole County Jail, which holds about 150 federal inmates in other cases, has been getting around, according to J. Daniel Hull, who represents Biggs. ‘I do worry about somebody wanting to test Joe Biggs’ mettle,’ Hull said. ‘I think that’s going to be coming up more and more.'”

Biggs has been charged as part of a conspiracy — videos taken of the incident shows his fellow Proud Boys violently stampeding into the Capitol. Continue reading.

Anatomy of an insurrection: How military veterans and other rioters carried out the Jan. 6 assault on democracy

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More than six months after the storming of the US Capitol, more than 550 people have been arrested, with an estimated 800 people surging into the building during the hours-long assault. Members of the Oath Keepers, a loosely organized right-wing paramilitary, and Proud Boys street fighters galvanized by then-President Trump’s call to “stand back and stand by” have been indicted on conspiracy to disrupt Congress, which delayed the certification of Joe Biden as president by almost six hours.

“Every single person charged, at the very least, contributed to the inability of Congress to carry out the certification of our presidential election,” prosecutors wrote in memorandum filed with the court on Tuesday.

The slow-moving tedium of prosecutorial legal machinery and the GOP campaign to deflect responsibility can make it easy to lose sight of the big picture of what transpired on Jan. 6. But based on an aggregate review of individuals cases, along with other sources, a Raw Story analysis of the critical events in the Jan. 6 siege reveals a striking degree of coordination, sustained and intentional violence, planning and preparation, and determined effort to disable the United States’ critical governance apparatus by participants, including many with recent military experience. Many of the rioters who played critical roles in breaching the Capitol came away from the experience vowing to wage war against the United States. Few among those who are being prosecuted have expressed any remorse for their actions. Continue reading.

Trump was so weak with COVID he dropped his overnight bag at Walter Reed after only carrying it a few feet: new book

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Previous stories have revealed that former President Donald Trump’s COVID-19 infection was far worse than had originally been reported. It was revealed earlier that Trump was on supplemental oxygen at the White House, but his oxygen rate dropped so low that White House staff grew concerned. That’s when Trump was given the option of walking out to the helicopter or being wheeled out in front of the press.

In Michael Bender’s new book, “Frankly, We Did Win This Election: The Inside Story of How Trump Lost,” it was revealed that Trump was so ill that chief of staff Mark Meadows was asking staff to pray for him. 

White House reporters were worried that Trump might come over to them, not knowing just how bad he was. They made a pact, the book says, that they would ask him to maintain his distance for their protection. Continue reading.

Judge loses patience with MAGA rioter: ‘I can no longer give the defendant the benefit of the doubt’

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A federal judge on Thursday lost patience with an accused Capitol rioter who expressed “no regrets” about his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Brandon Fellows, a former grocery store worker from Schenectady, New York, was ordered back to jail while awaiting trial after a federal judge ruled he had violatedthe terms of his pretrial release by calling his probation officer’s mother.

“I can no longer give the defendant the benefit of the doubt,” said District Court Judge Trevor McFadden. “I’ve tried, but we are where we are.” Continue reading.

Trump used Melania’s phone to circumvent John Kelly’s demand to listen to his calls: new book

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Among the bizarre factoids in Michael Bender’s new book, “Frankly, We Did Win This Election,” was the ways in which new President Donald Trump worked to circumvent all of the traditional rules and security barriers put in place.

One such rule was that then-chief of staff John Kelly listen in on all of Trump’s calls. Traditionally, calls are made through the White House system, but Trump apparently wasn’t about to do that. 

“When John Kelly, a retired, four-star Marine general whom Trump had recruited into his administration, invoked his chief of staff authority to listen in on any call that was patched through to the president from the West Wing switchboard, Trump gave friends the number to Melania’s phone to circumvent this official channel,” Bender wrote. Continue reading.

Leaked Kremlin documents suggest Putin holds blackmail leverage over Trump — and that’s why Russia backed him

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A leaked document appears to confirm rumors that the Kremlin holds blackmail leverage over former president Donald Trump.

Russian president Vladimir Putin personally authorized a secret spy agency to back “mentally unstable” Trump for U.S. president during a Jan. 22, 2016, closed session of that country’s national security council, according to what appears to be leaked Kremlin documents obtained by The Guardian.

“It is acutely necessary to use all possible force to facilitate his [Trump’s] election to the post of U.S. president,” the paper says. Continue reading.

Man who dangled from Senate balcony pleads guilty in Capitol riots, will cooperate against others

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An Idaho man photographed hanging from the Senate balcony and sitting in the presiding officer’s chair in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony obstruction of Congress, admitting to joining a group who came to Washington armed with firearms, knives and body armor to support President Donald Trump.

Josiah B. Colt, 34, became the latest defendant to agree to cooperate in the breach investigation, seeking to pare down a possible recommended five-year prison sentence.

Though Colt is not accused of being part of a larger militia-like group, he admitted in plea papers to joining at least two men from Nevada and Tennessee who arranged travel, raised funds, bought paramilitary gear and recorded themselves before breaking in to the building and rushing to the Senate just evacuated by lawmakers. Continue reading.

Trump went on profane rant about ‘krauts’ after getting into argument with Angela Merkel: bombshell book

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CNN on Wednesday reported that a new book written by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker claims that former President Donald Trump used an ethnic slur to rant about Germans after getting into an argument with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

While discussing the new book — titled I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year — reporter Jamie Gangel paraphrased an excerpt that detailed Trump’s “strained” relationship with Merkel, with whom he regularly clashed over foreign affairs.

While discussing the new book — titled I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year — reporter Jamie Gangel paraphrased an excerpt that detailed Trump’s “strained” relationship with Merkel, with whom he regularly clashed over foreign affairs. Continue reading.

Joint Chiefs chairman feared potential ‘Reichstag moment’ aimed at keeping Trump in power

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In the waning weeks of Donald Trump’s term, the country’s top military leader repeatedly worried about what the president might do to maintain power after losing reelection, comparing his rhetoric to Adolf Hitler’s during the rise of Nazi Germany and asking confidants whether a coup was forthcoming, according to a new book by two Washington Post reporters.

As Trump ceaselessly pushed false claims about the 2020 presidential election, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, grew more and more nervous, telling aides he feared that the president and his acolytes might attempt to use the military to stay in office, Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker report in “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.”

Milley described “a stomach-churning” feeling as he listened to Trump’s untrue complaints of election fraud, drawing a comparison to the 1933 attack on Germany’s parliament building that Hitler used as a pretext to establish a Nazi dictatorship. Continue reading.

House Dems launch investigation into Arizona ballot review

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The oversight committee is seeking a wide range of information from Cyber Ninjas, the firm overseeing the Arizona effort.

The House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into the ballot review being run by the Republican-controlled state Senate in Arizona, the committee announced on Wednesday.

“Americans’ right to vote is protected by the Constitution and is the cornerstone of our democratic system of government,” Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who helms the subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties, said in a statement. 

The committee is seeking a wide range of information from Cyber Ninjas, the firm overseeing the Arizona effort, including communications it had with Maricopa County officials, former President Donald Trump or his representatives, and those who have advanced election-related falsehoods such as Sidney Powell, Mike Lindell and Lin Woods. Continue reading.