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☆ Opinion | Tucker Carlson’s Text, and ‘an Internal Struggle With Morality’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

To the Editor:Re “The Text That Got Carlson Dismissed” (Business, May 3):How ironic that a text that included an unapologetic racist’s epiphany as to our common humanity was one of the causes for his firing. The trigger was Tucker Carlson’s comment that “it’s not how white men fight,” but his acknowledgment and repudiation of his own lust for the Trump mob to kill the “Antifa kid” showed an honesty and reflection absent among his fellow TV personalities on Fox. Michael K. CantwellDelray Beach, Fla.To the Editor:Your article correctly emphasized the racism inherent in the text message but completely failed to emphasize the human being who tried to identify with the victim and realized that the lust for violence was worth questioning. Did you decide that given his history, Tucker Carlson does not deserve any recognition for what was clearly an internal struggle with morality? If so, you may be right, but you have also done a significant disservice by not recognizing that very act as essential to our common survival.

☆ Capitol Rioter Sentenced to More Than 7 Years for Assaulting Police Officer
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Patrick McCaughey appeared on police body-worn camera footage at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. WASHINGTON—Among the most searing images of Jan. 6, 2021, was a police officer, bloodied and pinned inside a doorway, screaming for help as a rioter at the front of a pro-Trump mob pushed against him with a stolen riot shield. More than two years later, that rioter received one of the lengthiest prison sentences to date in a prosecution stemming from the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

☆ Mike Pence will testify before a grand jury about Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Oma Seddiq | Sonam Sheth | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Pence will not fight a court ruling ordering him to testify before a grand jury about Trump efforts to overturn the 2020 election. A federal judge ruled last month that Pence must testify about conversations he had with Trump leading up to January 6, 2021. Trump pressured Pence, both publicly and privately, to assist in his efforts to overturn Biden's 2020 election victory. Trump supporters could be heard chanting that they wanted to "hang Mike Pence" during the Capitol riot, according to video footage. They're literally calling for the vice president to be effing hung,'" Hutchinson testified.

☆ Mike Pence, who Trump supporters said they wanted to hang during the Capitol riot, is still defending Trump post-indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-31 | by ( Aditi Bharade | Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Following Trump's indictment, Mike Pence is still defending his former boss. Pence is still displaying loyalty to Trump — even after Capitol rioters threatened to hang him. Pence narrowly escaped the Capitol rioters, and has since rebuked Trump for endangering him and his family during the riot with "reckless" statements. "They were saying 'hang Mike Pence,'" Karl told Trump. "Mike Pence is an innocent man," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post in January.

☆ America’s Political Divide Over Jan. 6 Reaches Into FBI
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | Sadie Gurman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—The U.S. government’s sweep-up of Jan. 6 suspects has led to conflict within the Federal Bureau of Investigation over the agency’s expansive efforts to pursue charges against more than 1,000 people, according to a review of testimony by three former or suspended bureau employees before a House committee and other people familiar with the matter. The investigation into a pro-Trump mob’s Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, two weeks before President Biden’s inauguration, is the largest in FBI history in terms of the number of cases and national reach. Prosecutors have said they may indict another thousand people in addition to those already charged. Led by agents in Washington, all 56 field offices were enlisted to help trace the rioters in the months after the attack.

☆ White House lashes out at Tucker Carlson in extraordinary rebuke
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( David Goldman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —The White House lashed out at Fox News host Tucker Carlson Wednesday in an extraordinary rebuke of the late-night commentator who has been airing false depictions of the January 6, 2021, attack this week. Carlson, given access to about 40,000 hours of US Capitol security camera footage by Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has aired carefully selected clips to portray the pro-Trump mob as peaceful patriots. White House spokesperson Andrew Bates added to the condemnation Wednesday. The Capitol Police has continuously warned that release of all security footage from the Capitol could pose a potential security risk for the building. In one November 2020 exchange, Carlson said Trump’s post-election behavior was “disgusting.” And in another text message conversation, two days before the January 6 attack, Carlson said, “We are very, very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights.

☆ Tucker Carlson Capitol-Riot Segment Criticized by Democrats, Republicans
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Lindsay Wise | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Fox News received early access to the security footage shown in the segment. WASHINGTON—Democratic and Republican lawmakers criticized a Fox News segment that showed previously unaired footage of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying it played down the severity of the riot, in which a pro-Donald Trump mob tried to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the presidential election. On Monday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson aired several clips of footage focused on central figures of the day, including Jacob Chansley, the self-described QAnon Shaman. Mr. Carlson said that lawmakers had intentionally overstated the violence and that members of the Jan. 6 committee established to investigate the attack “lied about what they saw” in the footage.

☆ Federal Agencies Didn’t Share Some Threat Insights Before Jan. 6 Attack, Report Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

The GAO said a failure by multiple agencies to share information left law enforcement unprepared for the unprecedented attack on the Capitol. WASHINGTON—Federal agencies responsible for securing the Capitol failed to adequately share intelligence about potential violence ahead of Jan. 6, 2021, hindering the response to the pro-Trump mob that stormed the building and disrupted the peaceful transfer of power that day, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office. In a 122-page report, the nonpartisan GAO found that the FBI and Capitol Police identified “credible threats” in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, and received tips, including one about planning to confront Democratic lawmakers and block them from entering the building. But a failure by multiple agencies to “fully process” and share information left law enforcement unprepared for the unprecedented attack on the Capitol as lawmakers convened to certify the results of the 2020 election, the report said.

☆ Rupert Murdoch admits Fox News hosts 'endorsed' election lies and wanted to make Trump a 'non-person' after January 6 riot
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Rupert Murdoch conceded in a deposition that Fox News hosts pushed falsehoods about the 2020 election. Fox Corporation, which Murdoch leads, argues it isn't liable in Dominion's lawsuit anyway. At the same time, Murdoch denied that Fox Corporation itself endorsed these false claims. Dominion sued Fox News Network along with its parent company, Fox Corporation, in March 2021, also including Bartiromo, Pirro, and Dobbs as defendants. According to the filing, Rupert Murdoch said in his deposition he took care to strike a tone that wouldn't antagonize Trump.

☆ Ex-D.C. officer Fanone and veterans urge GOP House leaders to condemn political violence
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-05 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

WASHINGTON — Dozens of military veterans on Wednesday hand-delivered letters to top Republicans in the U.S. House, calling on them to publicly condemn political violence as the second anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol approaches. Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone wrote the letter, which was signed by more than 1,000 military veterans, active duty members, law enforcement officers and military families. Fanone, who was beaten and tased during the attack on the Capitol, delivered a copy to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s office. They want top Republicans in the House not only to condemn political violence but to hold accountable those who spread violent and hate-filled messages. A core of conservative House Republicans has rejected McCarthy’s attempts to be named speaker on multiple votes Tuesday and Wednesday.

☆ Ample Jan. 6 Evidence Helps Secure High Conviction Rate in Capitol Riot
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( Aruna Viswanatha | Sadie Gurman | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—In the two years since a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, prosecutors have secured guilty pleas from more than half the rioters they have charged, helping lead to a 99.8% conviction rate. Dustin Thompson tried to beat those odds. The 38-year-old Ohioan pleaded not guilty and took the stand to say he was only answering President Trump’s call that day to supporters to “fight like hell.” Now he is serving a three-year sentence after jurors convicted him on a number of charges, talking to his wife twice a day from a jailhouse iPad.

☆ Trump's biggest accomplishments and failures from his 1-term presidency
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-25 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

He repeatedly attacked the media, leading UN experts to warn that Trump's rhetoric raised the risk of violence against journalists. Though President Joe Biden was the clear winner of the 2020 election, Trump refused to concede. Even as world leaders began to congratulate Biden, a major sign of Biden's legitimacy, Trump continued to deny reality. After the violence, Trump released a video acknowledging that a new administration would take over, but he did not explicitly concede. Every president prior to Trump allowed for a peaceful transition of power after they'd served two terms or lost an election.

☆ Pressure builds to keep Donald Trump off Facebook ahead of his possible reinstatement
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Nicole Gaudiano | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Left-leaning groups point to his Truth Social posts pushing false election fraud claims and QAnon content. Another study by Accountable Tech found more than 350 of Trump's Truth Social posts would violate Facebook's safety guidelines. He has said prefers Truth Social. "His activity on Truth Social speaks to his potential activity if he's allowed back on some of these more mainstream platforms, like Facebook," Gogarty said. Democratic members of Congress, meanwhile, are urging Meta to uphold Trump's suspension beyond January, arguing that the risk of violence persists.

☆ Factbox: What's in the U.S. Congress's Electoral Count Reform Act?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Here are details on the Electoral Count Reform Act, which lawmakers included in a year-end government funding bill:AIMS TO PREVENT ANOTHER JAN. 6The bipartisan effort would rewrite the 1887 Electoral Count Act, which lays out the process by which Congress tallies the state-by-state results from a presidential election and formally certifies the winner. Trump and his advisers had cited provisions of the 1887 law as they pressed Republican allies to overturn his loss. BIPARTISAN SUPPORTWhile other election-law reforms have foundered in Congress this year due to Republican opposition, the Electoral Count Reform Act has solid bipartisan support, at least in the Senate. Trump had urged his vice president, Mike Pence, to prevent lawmakers from certifying Biden's victory. Current law requires Congress to consider a challenge if only one lawmaker from each chamber raises an objection.

☆ Guilty: Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in the most significant January 6 case yet
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A jury found Oath Keepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes guilty of engaging in a seditious conspiracy. Three other members of the far-right group were found not guilty of joining in that conspiracy. Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy alongside Kelly Meggs, another member of the Oath Keepers. "Now, going forward, there are people higher up than the Oath Keepers who were potentially involved in the conspiracy," he told Insider. Just as he distanced himself from Oath Keepers who entered the Capitol, Rhodes sought to downplay the far-right group's references to quick reaction forces, or QRFs, in his testimony before jurors.

☆ Guilty: Capitol rioter who breached Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office was convicted at trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-21 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

A judge ordered Riley Williams detained ahead of her sentencing in February on January 6 charges. The jury failed to reach a unanimous verdict on a charge Williams helped steal a laptop from Pelosi. In previous jury trials, Capitol rioters have been found guilty on all charges they faced, including obstruction of an official proceeding. Williams "led an army" to Pelosi's office suite, prosecutors said, where she encouraged fellow rioters to steal a laptop the speaker used for Zoom meetings. The trial featured images of rioters ransacking Pelosi's office, with some suggesting that they steal a pair of pink boxing gloves that the House speaker kept on a table.

Elon Musk on Saturday reinstated former President Donald Trump's Twitter account. Musk polled Twitter users about whether to bring back the account, with 51% of respondents voting "yes." Trump's return to Twitter was widely anticipated after Tesla CEO Elon Musk closed a $44 billion deal to buy the company. "I do think it was not correct to ban Donald Trump," Musk said at a Financial Times conference in May. "I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH," Trump told Fox News in April, referring to the website Truth Social.

☆ Analysis: Twitter was already in disarray. Trump's return will only make it more chaotic
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-20 | by ( Seth Fiegerman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

(He also noted Trump’s return comes a day before the World Cup is set to kick off, a high-traffic event for the platform.) Instead, Musk tweeted a poll Friday, asking followers to vote whether or not to restore Trump’s account. But Trump also made Twitter into the center of the known media and political universe. Celebrities, world leaders, and a long list of critics and supporters often engaged with Trump directly on Twitter. But one answer seems clear: Musk appears to be betting that if users can’t turn away from the platform, neither can advertisers.

☆ Ohio Man Who Blamed Trump for Storming of Capitol Gets 3 Years in Prison
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Vimal Patel | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

An Ohio man who said that Donald J. Trump was responsible for his decision to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and steal a bottle of bourbon and a coat rack was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison, the authorities said. In sentencing the man, Dustin Byron Thompson, 38, Judge Reggie Walton of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia told Mr. Thompson, who apologized and said that he was ashamed of his actions, that he could not understand how someone with a college degree could “go down the rabbit hole” and believe so strongly in a lie, according to The Associated Press. Judge Walton had previously said that he found Mr. Thompson’s explanation that Mr. Trump was responsible for Mr. Thompson’s behavior “disingenuous.”Mr. Thompson was convicted by a jury in April of a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding and five misdemeanors, including theft of government property. Mr. Thompson, an unemployed exterminator from Columbus, based his defense on the argument that he had been following orders from Mr. Trump last year when he broke into the building with a pro-Trump mob and stole the items after the former president’s speech at a rally that day.

☆ A federal judge compared the January 6 mentality to 'Nazi Germany' at the sentencing of a Capitol rioter
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Walton made the comment as he sentenced a Capitol rioter who blamed Trump for January 6. The rioter, Dustin Thompson, was sentenced to three years in federal prison. Judge Reggie Walton made the remark at the sentencing of Dustin Thompson, a Capitol rioter who blamed Trump for his involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Following Thompson's conviction, Walton and federal prosecutors accused him of lacking candor while testifying under oath. In his own remarks to Walton, Thompson said he was "deeply ashamed" and apologized to the Capitol Police and "everyone" in the United States.

Senate Democrats’ main super PAC says it’s planning to spend more than $4 million in television ads to boost Warnock. But McConnell endorsed Walker in the primary, after which Democrats unloaded on the Republican nominee in a brutal ad campaign. The Dec. 6 Georgia runoff between Walker and Warnock won’t decide the balance of power in the Senate, now that Democrats are assured control. After Republicans failed to win control of the Senate this week, top McConnell and Scott allies pointed fingers. Roberts, who retired after the 2020 election, said McConnell and Scott must set aside their differences to win Georgia.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday declined to block the release of Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward’s phone records to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. The justices rejected an emergency request filed by Ward, meaning that phone records associated with her T-Mobile cellphone will be disclosed to the House committee. The committee is pursuing only Kelli Ward’s records. At the Supreme Court, Ward argued that the subpoena violates her right to freedom of association under the Constitution’s First Amendment. Those actions have come under scrutiny by the Justice Department as well as the Jan. 6 committee.

☆ Who is Donald Trump's new billionaire son-in-law Michael Boulos?
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-14 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tiffany Trump, 29, married billionaire Michael Boulos, 25, in Mar-a-Lago over the weekend. According to The New York Times, Boulos proposed in the Rose Garden with a 13-carat diamond worth $1.2 million. According to Town and Country, Michael Boulos has served as a director at some of his father's companies. Meanwhile, Michael's mother, Sarah Boulos, is the founder of the Society for the Performing Arts in Nigeria, according to Town and Country. When Tiffany Trump began to bring Boulos to events with her family in late 2018, Maples told Town and Country: "I adore Michael!"

☆ A Capitol rioter pleaded guilty to assaulting police with a skateboard despite yelling, 'We will not concede,' on January 6
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( C. Ryan Barber | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Feds said the son hit a police officer with a skateboard emblazoned with the words "White Fang." The father was charged with fighting a police officer over a baton at the Capitol doors. Prosecutors alleged Grady Owens struck a police officer with a skateboard on the west lawn of the Capitol. Owens' father was arrested two weeks after, on April 16, in Austin, Texas, according to court records. Grady and Jason Owens each face a maximum sentence of 8 years in prison, according to the US attorney's office in Washington, DC.

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson has won re-election to a third term in Wisconsin, NBC News projects, narrowly defeating Democrat Mandela Barnes. “The votes are in,” Johnson said in an email statement that was released before NBC News and other news outlets made the call. But a successful rebrand, as well as unrelenting attacks against Barnes on crime and criminal justice issues, appeared to help Johnson's standing among voters. His campaign focused heavily on promises to protect abortion rights and Social Security benefits. In the final weeks, Johnson focused on crime in particular, unleashing a barrage of negative ads that highlighted rising crime rates and singling out things Barnes had said about criminal justice reform.

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