Tag: washington dc

Pelosi-appointed general recommends establishing permanent QUICK-REACTION TROOPS in DC to protect government from the governed

The retired Army general appointed by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to lead a security study after the January 6 Capitol riot has called for setting up a quick-reaction force to permanently stand ready for threats against government.

The so-called QRF would be staffed with National Guard troops who reside in Washington full-time, troops from National Guard units from around the nation who are sent to Washington on three- or six-month rotations, or officers drawn from federal law enforcement agencies, retired US Army Lt. General Russel Honore said in a draft copy of his report. The executive summary, obtained on Thursday by Fox News, didn’t specify how large the QRF should be.

Keep reading

As the Insurrection Narrative Crumbles, Democrats Cling to it More Desperately Than Ever

Twice in the last six weeks, warnings were issued about imminent, grave threats to public safety posed by the same type of right-wing extremists who rioted at the Capitol on January 6. And both times, these warnings ushered in severe security measures only to prove utterly baseless.

First we had the hysteria over the violence we were told was likely to occur at numerous state capitols on Inauguration Day. “Law enforcement and state officials are on high alert for potentially violent protests in the lead-up to Inauguration Day, with some state capitols boarded up and others temporarily closed ahead of Wednesday’s ceremony,” announced CNN. In an even scarier formulation, NPR intoned that “the FBI is warning of protests and potential violence in all 50 state capitals ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.”

The resulting clampdowns were as extreme as the dire warnings. Washington, D.C. was militarized more than at any point since the 9/11 attack. The military was highly visible on the streets. And, described The Washington Post, “state capitols nationwide locked down, with windows boarded up, National Guard troops deployed and states of emergency preemptively declared as authorities braced for potential violence Sunday mimicking the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump rioters.” All of this, said the paper, “reflected the anxious state of the country ahead of planned demonstrations.” 

But none of that happened — not even close.

Keep reading

The National Guard Has Been In DC For 50 Days, And It’s Still Unclear When Troops Can Return Home

Fifty days later, officials have offered mixed responses to questions about whether there remains a security threat warranting the current number of troops in the Capitol. It’s also unclear how long troops will be required to stay at their posts.

Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott asked officials during a Feb. 23 hearing why the National Guard was still in D.C., and if there was still a security threat.

“Do you have any threat assessment you’ve seen that there’s a reason we have the National Guard here today?” Scott asked. After receiving no response, he asked “Is that a no from everybody? No one has any reason, any idea why we have the National Guard here?” 

Keep reading

Capitol review to recommend adding more fencing, 1,000 officers: report

A review of Capitol security after the Jan. 6 riots is going to recommend adding more fencing around the building, as well as more than 1,000 Capitol Police officers, two sources with direct knowledge of the findings told CNN.

The draft proposal of recommendations comes just over a month after Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tapped retired Lt. General Russel Honoré to review security around the Capitol in the wake of a mob of former President Trump’s supporters laying siege to the building in an attempt to prevent the certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory.

At the time, Pelosi said Honoré’s review was to focus on “security infrastructure, interagency processes and procedures, and command and control.”

The additional 1,000 personnel, which could cost nearly $100 million, would include roughly 350 officers and expanded staffing in regional offices for when lawmakers are at home, one of the sources told CNN.

Keep reading

Utah teacher under investigation for tweeting that he hopes “more Republican senators are killed”

An investigation is underway after a Utah high school teacher posted a tweet following the Capitol riots calling for the killing of Republican senators.

The tweet was made by Parowan High School humanities teacher Brian Townsend. A concerned parent posted a screenshot of the tweet on an Iron County School District Facebook group, saying that Townsend’s tweet was “not appropriate” and “unacceptable.”

Townsend’s tweet, dated February 13, said, “I only hope that next time a president incites a riot at the Capitol, more Republican senators are killed.”

Keep reading

DC Elitists Call Cops On Truck With ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ Plates, Fearing It May Be An ‘Insurrection Vehicle’

RESIDENTS OF AN ELITE WASHINGTON, D.C. NEIGHBORHOOD TOOK TO AN INTERNET MESSAGE BOARD IN A STATE OF PANIC AFTER SPOTTING A WHITE MAN PARKING HIS WORK TRUCK ON THE SIDE OF A PUBLIC STREET, EVENTUALLY CALLING POLICE OVER FEARS THAT THE TRUCK WAS AN “INSURRECTIONIST” VEHICLE.

According to a recent report from The Washington Post, residents of the elite Adams Morgan neighborhood in Washington, D.C. took to the Next Door app – a hyper localized social media network described as a cross between Facebook and Craigslist – to accuse the vehicle’s driver of engaging in domestic terrorism, honing in on the color of the driver’s skin and the truck’s Gadsden Flag, “Don’t Tread on Me” license plates as evidence of impending doom.

“There’s this suspicious white truck that is parked on the corner of Belmont and 19th,” the thread’s original post claimed, describing the driver as a white male and making note of the truck’s “Don’t Tread on Me” tags, which are available to anyone with a vehicle registered in Virginia.

Keep reading

FBI SEIZED CONGRESSIONAL CELLPHONE RECORDS RELATED TO CAPITOL ATTACK

WITHIN HOURS OF the storming of the Capitol on January 6, the FBI began securing thousands of phone and electronic records connected to people at the scene of the rioting — including some related to members of Congress, raising potentially thorny legal questions.

Using special emergency powers and other measures, the FBI has collected reams of private cellphone data and communications that go beyond the videos that rioters shared widely on social media, according to two sources with knowledge of the collection effort.

In the hours and days after the Capitol riot, the FBI relied in some cases on emergency orders that do not require court authorization in order to quickly secure actual communications from people who were identified at the crime scene. Investigators have also relied on data “dumps” from cellphone towers in the area to provide a map of who was there, allowing them to trace call records — but not content — from the phones.

Keep reading

The False and Exaggerated Claims Still Being Spread About the Capitol Riot

What took place at the Capitol on January 6 was undoubtedly a politically motivated riot. As such, it should not be controversial to regard it as a dangerous episode. Any time force or violence is introduced into what ought to be the peaceful resolution of political conflicts, it should be lamented and condemned.

But none of that justifies lying about what happened that day, especially by the news media. Condemning that riot does not allow, let alone require, echoing false claims in order to render the event more menacing and serious than it actually was. There is no circumstance or motive that justifies the dissemination of false claims by journalists. The more consequential the event, the less justified, and more harmful, serial journalistic falsehoods are.

Keep reading

Judge refuses to ban Capitol riot suspect from Twitter and Facebook

A federal magistrate judge has turned down prosecutors’ effort to block a man accused of participating in the Capitol riot from using Twitter and Facebook, but ordered him to end his involvement with a business he founded that the Justice Department says promotes and glorifies violent protests.

The defendant, John Sullivan of Utah, has maintained that he attends raucous demonstrations as a journalist, sharing videos through his Insurgence USA website and social media platforms. Sullivan’s defense attorney even filed invoices with the court showing that CNN and NBC each paid Sullivan’s firm $35,000 last month for rights to video he filmed of chaotic scenes outside and inside the Capitol, including the deadly shooting of protester Ashli Babbitt by a U.S. Capitol Police officer.

However, prosecutors contend that Sullivan is not a mere bystander or chronicler of protests. Instead, they say, he actively encourages violence, telling viewers how to make Molotov cocktails and evade identification by police. He was arrested last month on charges stemming from the Jan. 6 riot, including interfering with police during a civil disorder. Sullivan was later hit with an additional charge: obstruction of Congress.

At a hearing on Tuesday afternoon on Sullivan’s release conditions, Washington-based Magistrate Judge Robin Meriweather split the difference between prosecutors seeking to eliminate Sullivan’s presence on the United States’ most popular social media platforms and a defense lawyer who decried what he said was an assault on his client’s constitutional rights.

“I am rejecting the broader prohibition on Twitter and Facebook and encrypted social media platforms,” Meriweather said, also ordering that Sullivan be taken off of 24-hour location monitoring via GPS.

Keep reading