Bickering bogs down Capitol riot trial of Proud Boys leaders
The Proud Boys face up to 20 years in prison if convicted of seditious conspiracy. Prosecutors say it culminated with Proud Boys mounting a coordinated assault on the Capitol alongside hundreds of other Trump supporters. The Proud Boys trial is on a pace to last several weeks longer than last year's landmark trial for Oath Keepers group leaders and members, who were charged in a separate Jan. 6 case. A dozen of the first 14 prosecution witnesses in the Proud Boys trial have been FBI agents and other law enforcement officials. Jurors also have heard testimony from a former Proud Boys member who cut a plea deal with prosecutors and a British documentary filmmaker who was embedded with the Proud Boys on Jan. 6.
wftv.comBickering bogs down Capitol riot trial of Proud Boys leaders
The Capitol riot trial for Proud Boys leaders promised to be a historic showcase for some of the most compelling evidence of an alleged plot by far-right extremists to halt the transfer of presidential power after the 2020 election. Lawyers representing the five Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy have repeatedly sparred with U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly during breaks in testimony. Two defense lawyers at one point floated the idea of withdrawing from the case if Kelly did not rule in their favor on evidentiary matters.
news.yahoo.comJury selection for Proud Boys trial to resume next month
WASHINGTON — (AP) — Jury selection for the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants will resume in early January after a holiday break, according to court records. Jury selection is scheduled to resume on Jan. 3. Before jury selection started on Monday, Kelly denied a request by defense attorneys to postpone the start of the trial until the new year. The trial for the Proud Boys is expected to last at least six weeks. Tarrio, of Miami, was the national chairman of the Proud Boys on Jan. 6.
wftv.comQAnon follower who chased officer on Jan. 6 gets 5 years
He led a group that chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up a staircase. “Doug Jensen wanted to be the poster boy of the insurrection,” prosecutor Emily Allen said. Davis has argued Jensen was dressed as a “walking advertisement for QAnon" and not intending to attack the Capitol. Pence was presiding over the Senate on Jan. 6 as a joint session of Congress was convened to certify President Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. Approximately 900 people have been charged with federal crimes for their conduct on Jan. 6.
wftv.comMan pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy for Capitol attack
Jeremy Joseph Bertino, 43, has agreed to cooperate with the Justice Department's investigation of the role that Proud Boys leaders played in the mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a federal prosecutor said. Bertino also pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawfully possessing firearms in March 2022 in Belmont, North Carolina. The Civil War-era seditious conspiracy charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. More than three dozen people charged in the Capitol siege have been identified by federal authorities as leaders, members or associates of the Proud Boys. Proud Boys members describe the group as a politically incorrect men’s club for “Western chauvinists.” They have brawled with antifascist activists at rallies and protests.
wftv.comJudge refuses to dismiss alleged Proud Boys leaders' charges
Capitol Breach Proud Boys FILE - Proud Boys members Joseph Biggs, left, and Ethan Nordean, right with megaphone, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021. Nordean, Biggs, Rehl and Donohoe were indicted in March on charges including conspiracy and obstructing an official proceeding. Last Wednesday, a New York man pleaded guilty to storming the U.S. Capitol with fellow Proud Boys members. Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was a Proud Boys chapter president and member of the group’s national “Elders Council.” Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, is a self-described Proud Boys organizer. Several Proud Boys also entered the Capitol building itself after the mob smashed windows and forced open doors.
wftv.comJan. 6 riot defendant returned to jail for using internet
Capitol Breach QAnon Believer FILE - This undated photo provided by Polk County, Iowa Jail shows Douglas Jensen. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said that Doug Jensen, 42, of Des Moines, Iowa, had violated the strict conditions that were set when he released Jensen from jail on July 13, including prohibitions on accessing the internet and using a cellphone. Kelly said it was significant that Jensen's violations were caught during the first unannounced visit to his home by pretrial services officers. Jensen was among the first people to enter the Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack, crawling through a broken window. Before his July release, Jensen had spent six months in jail after he was arrested Jan. 8.
wftv.comIowa man charged in Capitol riot may be returned to jail
A prosecutor says an Iowa man seen in a videotaped confrontation with a police officer during the Capitol insurrection should be returned to jail until trial because he violated terms of his release by watching anti-government internet videos about the Jan. 6 attack.
Judge agrees to free QAnon believer charged in Capitol riot
Capitol Breach QAnon Believer FILE - This photo provided by Polk County, Iowa Jail shows Douglas Jensen. “That said, he clearly disobeyed Officer Goodman and other officers, and he did position himself near the front of a mob as he ran up the stairs toward Officer Goodman," the judge said. Kelly noted that a video captured Jensen referring to the Capitol building as the White House. Few of the more than 500 people charged in the Capitol riot remain locked up while they fight the charges. The judge who ordered Timothy Hale-Cusanelli locked up pointed to his violent rhetoric and found him to be a threat to a government informant.
wftv.comJudge agrees to free QAnon believer charged in Capitol riot
A federal judge agreed on Tuesday to free an Iowa man from jail more than six months after his videotaped confrontation of a police officer inside the U.S. Capitol became one of the most menacing images of the Jan. 6 riots. Douglas Jensen, 41, was wearing a T-shirt bearing the letter “Q,” a symbol of the QAnon conspiracy theory, when he joined the mob that approached Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman inside the building and followed the officer up two flights of stairs. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said deciding whether to free Jensen from jail pending trial was a "close case," but he ultimately agreed to release the Des Moines resident on house arrest with electronic location monitoring.
news.yahoo.comLeaders of Proud Boys ordered jailed on Capitol riot charges
A federal judge has ordered two leaders of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group to be arrested and jailed while awaiting trial on charges they planned and coordinated an attack on the U.S. Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
US court: Iran owes $1.4B over ex-FBI agent presumed dead
Tensions remain high between the U.S. and Iran amid President Donald Trump's maximalist pressure campaign over Tehran's nuclear program. In a ruling dated Thursday, the U.S. District Court in Washington found Iran owed Levinson's family $1.35 billion in punitive damages and $107 million in compensatory damages for his kidnapping. The court cited the case of Otto Warmbier, an American college student who died in 2017 shortly after being freed from captivity in North Korea, in deciding to award the massive amount of punitive damages to Levinson's family. In a statement, Levinson's family called the court's award “the first step in the pursuit of justice.”“Until now, Iran has faced no consequences for its actions,” the family said. In December 2013, the AP revealed Levinson in fact had been on a mission for CIA analysts who had no authority to run spy operations.
Federal judge blocks rule limiting asylum claims by Central Americans
(CNN) - A federal judge in California late Wednesday issued a nationwide injunction against the Trump administration's new asylum rule that dramatically limits the ability of Central American migrants to claim asylum if they enter the US by land through Mexico. The ruling from US District Judge Jon Tigar, a Barack Obama nominee, came hours after another federal judge in Washington, DC, an appointee of President Donald Trump, had declined to block the rule. "This new rule is likely invalid because it is inconsistent with the existing asylum laws," Tigar wrote. The plaintiffs also argued that the rule harms their organization's ability to work with asylum seekers. The asylum rule immediately faced legal challenges last week.
Judge allows Trump administration's most restrictive asylum ban to continue
The decision allows the Trump administration to implement for now its most ambitious effort yet to unilaterally overhaul the asylum system. Before the rule, migrants who crossed into the U.S. illegally were allowed to claim asylum after being apprehended by Border Patrol officers. Late last year, Tigar halted a similar effort by the administration to prohibit migrants who cross the border illegally from being able to seek asylum. Central American asylum seekers wait as U.S. Border Patrol agents take them into custody on June 12, 2018 near McAllen, Texas. The families were then sent to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processing center for possible separation.
cbsnews.comTrump pushes on with immigration crackdown despite legal hurdles
REUTERS/Veronica G. CardenasThe ACLU, which has filed suit to block numerous Trump immigration policies in court, vowed to challenge the expedited deportations as well. The Trump administration has had mixed results trying to implement its most restrictive immigration policies. But the legal challenges contend that Trump cannot force those migrants to apply for asylum elsewhere unless the United States has a safe third country agreement with that country. Slideshow (7 Images)The Trump administration had previously given Mexico until July 22 to significantly lower migration flows but the deadline passed without comment from Washington. Guatemala, another country that could be forced to process asylum claims of migrants headed for the United States, previously rejected U.S. entreaties on a similar deal.
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