Tag: Trump insurrectionists stormed the capitol

Officers maced, trampled: Docs expose depth of Jan. 6 chaos

Two firefighters loaned to Washington for the day were the only medics on the Capitol steps Jan. 6, trying to triage injured officers as they watched the angry mob swell and attack police working to protect Congress.

Law enforcement agents were “being pulled into the crowd and trampled, assaulted with scaffolding materials, and/or bear maced by protesters,” wrote Arlington County firefighter Taylor Blunt in an after-action memo. Some couldn’t walk, and had to be dragged to safety.

Even the attackers sought medical help, and Blunt and his colleague Nathan Waterfall treated those who were passing out or had been hit. But some “feigned illness to remain behind police lines,” Blunt wrote.  Continue reading.

Trump appointee arrested in connection with Capitol riot

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Federico Klein, a former State Department aide, was picked up Thursday on charges stemming from the Jan. 6 takeover of Congress.

The FBI on Thursday arrested Federico Klein, a former State Department aide, on charges related to the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, marking the first known instance of an appointee of President Donald Trump facing criminal prosecution in connection with the attempt to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s victory.

Klein, 42, was taken into custody in Virginia, said Samantha Shero, a spokesperson for the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

An FBI lookout bulletin issued two weeks after the Capitol assault included a photo of Klein, prompting two tipsters to contact the FBI and finger him as the man in that picture, according to an affidavit filed in federal court in Washington.

WATCH: QAnon Shaman’s mom defends her son’s honor while spewing conspiracy theories about 2020 election

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Martha Chansley, the mother of the so-called QAnon Shaman, defended her son’s actions during an interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes.

In an interview set to be aired on Sunday, Chansley grew defensive when asked whether she thought her son, 33-year-old Jacob Chansley, did anything wrong when he took part in a violent mob that stormed the United States Capitol building on January 6th.

“What do you mean by ‘wrong?'” she asked incredulously. “He didn’t — he went through open doors! He was escorted into the Senate! So I don’t know what’s wrong with that!” Continue reading.

Capitol Rioter Who Assaulted Police Traveled On Turning Point USA Bus

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A retired firefighter who threw a fire extinguisher at police officers during the January 6 Capitol insurrection was put under pretrial house arrest on Tuesday. Robert Sanford had surrendered himself to federal authorities on multiple charges nearly a week after the insurrection. HuffPo’s Ryan J. Reilly reported that according to Sanford’s attorney, the defendant traveled to Washington, D.C., on a bus organized by Turning Point Action, founded by Trump loyalist Charlie Kirk.

Following the insurrection, Kirk deleted a January 4 tweet saying his organization was sending 80 buses of Trump supporters to the “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6. A Turning Point Action spokesperson claimed that the organization had sent only seven buses to the capital and that the student protesters were not involved in the day’s violence.

During his January 4 podcast, Kirk stated, “Turning Point Action is being financially supportive of that rally. We are sending buses.” Continue reading.

D.C. Guard chief says ‘unusual’ restrictions slowed deployment of backup during Capitol riot

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The commanding general of the D.C. National Guard told lawmakers Wednesday that restrictions the Pentagon placed on him in the run-up to the Capitol riot and lag time in decision-making by his chain of command prevented him from more quickly sending forces to help quell the violence.

Maj. Gen. William J. Walker said his hands were tied by the Pentagon for more than three hours after he received a call from the Capitol Police chief saying a request for backup was imminent, delaying the arrival of military forces at the premises as lawmakers evacuated or barricaded themselves in offices during one of the biggest national security failures since the 9/11 attacks.

Walker described how he had troops ready and waiting to be sent to the Capitol but did not have sign-off from the Pentagon, which in directives ahead of the events had restricted his leeway to respond to contingencies. Continue reading.

Maskless Trump supporter turned in by his own family for being inside the Capitol during riot: report

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The FBI and federal prosecutors continue to make progress identifying people who were inside the U.S. Capitol during the fatal January 6th insurrection.

“Federal authorities had help identifying the pony-tailed man wearing a ‘Keep America Great’ sweatshirt who popped up in numerous photographs inside the U.S. Capitol. Grayson Sherrill’s family turned him in,” the Charlotte Observer reported Monday.

“A newly unsealed complaint charges Sherrill with three felonies: knowingly entering and remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority; knowingly engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted area; and violent and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds,” the newspaper reported. “A series of photographs included in the federal complaint against him shows a dark-haired, pony-tailed man wearing jeans, combat boots and a red Trump sweatshirt moving through the Capitol carrying either a rod or cane-like object.” Continue reading.

Massive investment in social studies and civics education proposed to address eroding trust in democratic institutions

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It has been a bad 12 months for the practice of civics in America.

The U.S. Capitol attacked by thugs. An alleged plot to kidnap a state governor. Bogus claims of widespread election fraud. Violent protests in the streets. Death threats against public health officials. And a never-ending barrage of anger and misinformation on social media directed at, and by, politicians, leaders, pundits and an increasingly bitter and frustrated populace.

As the battles have raged, trust in institutions — government, media, the law — has plummeted.

So how did we get here? And how do we get out? Continue reading.

How Pro-Trump Forces Pushed a Lie About Antifa at the Capitol Riot

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On social media, on cable networks and even in the halls of Congress, supporters of Donald J. Trump tried to rewrite history in real time, pushing the fiction that left-wing agitators were to blame for the violence on Jan. 6.

At 1:51 p.m. on Jan. 6, a right-wing radio host named Michael D. Brown wrote on Twitter that rioters had breached the United States Capitol — and immediately speculated about who was really to blame. “Antifa or BLM or other insurgents could be doing it disguised as Trump supporters,” Mr. Brown wrote, using shorthand for Black Lives Matter. “Come on, man, have you never heard of psyops?”

Only 13,000 people follow Mr. Brown on Twitter, but his tweet caught the attention of another conservative pundit: Todd Herman, who was guest-hosting Rush Limbaugh’s national radio program. Minutes later, he repeated Mr. Brown’s baseless claim to Mr. Limbaugh’s throngs of listeners: “It’s probably not Trump supporters who would do that. Antifa, BLM, that’s what they do. Right?”

What happened over the next 12 hours illustrated the speed and the scale of a right-wing disinformation machine primed to seize on a lie that served its political interests and quickly spread it as truth to a receptive audience. The weekslong fiction about a stolen election that President Donald J. Trump pushed to his millions of supporters had set the stage for a new and equally false iteration: that left-wing agitators were responsible for the attack on the Capitol. Continue reading.

‘Three percenters’ truck at Capitol belongs to husband of congresswoman who said, ‘Hitler was right on one thing’

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An Illinois lawmaker married to a member of Congress, who was herself recently criticized for quoting Hitler, is facing his own rebuke for displaying the logo of an extremist movement on his pickup truck at the U.S. Capitol complex in Washington on Jan. 6.

A photo shared on Twitter on Wednesday showed that Chris Miller, a Republican member of the Illinois General Assembly, had a decal of the Three Percenters anti-government movement prominently displayed on his truck while it was parked at the East Front of the Capitol — an area that was highly restricted Jan. 6.

His wife, Rep. Mary E. Miller (R-Ill.), had been sworn in to her first term in the House just days earlier. Continue reading.

Capitol riot defendants facing jail have regrets. Judges aren’t buying it.

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For many accused of trying to block Congress from confirming the winner of the U.S. presidential election on Jan. 6, arrest was a reality check. Now they are getting another.

As defendants charged in the Capitol siege have been coming through court, some have been shifting blame onto former president Donald Trump, downplaying their actions or expressing remorse. But federal judges — particularly those who work a few blocks from the Capitol — aren’t buying it.

One judge called a defendant’s claim of civil disobedience “detached from reality.” Another verbally smacked down an attorney who tried to use QAnon — the sprawling set of false claims that have coalesced into an extremist ideology — to explain his client shouting “Kill them all!” Other judges have been giving defendants civics lessons on how democracy works. Continue reading.