Eliana Willis

Ketanji Brown Jackson, US president Joe Biden’s nominee to become the first Black woman on the US supreme court, has stressed her patriotism in her opening statement during her Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. Jackson said she was blessed to be ‘born in this great nation.’ The 51-year-old judge pledged independence if confirmed by the Senate to the nation’s top judicial body and embraced a limited role for jurists. ‘My parents taught me that, unlike the many barriers that they had had to face growing up, my path was clearer, such that if I worked hard and believed in myself, in America I could do anything or be anything I wanted to be,’ Jackson said

Ketanji Brown Jackson vows to defend US constitution in opening remarks
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The Pentagon has accused Russian forces of committing war crimes in Ukraine, saying the Kremlin had carried out indiscriminate attacks as part of an intentional strategy in the conflict. ‘We certainly see clear evidence that Russian forces are committing war crimes and we are helping with the collecting of evidence of that,’ Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing. ‘But there’s investigative processes that are going to go on, and we’re going to let that happen. We’re going to contribute to that investigative process’

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Trump White House aide was secret author of report used to push ‘big lie’Report on Dominion voting machines produced after 2020 election was not the work of volunteer in Trump’s post-election legal team Weeks after the 2020 election, at least one Trump White House aide was named as secretly producing a report that alleged Donald Trump lost to Joe Biden because of Dominion Voting Systems – research that formed the basis of the former president’s wider efforts to overturn the election.The Dominion report, subtitled “OVERVIEW 12/2/20 – History, Executives, Vote Manipulation Ability and Design, Foreign Ties”, was initially prepared so that it could be sent to legislatures in states where the Trump White House was trying to have Biden’s win reversed.Trump lawyer knew plan to delay Biden certification was unlawful, emails showRead moreBut top Trump officials would also use the research that stemmed from the White House aide-produced report to weigh other options to return Trump to the presidency, including having the former president sign off on executive orders to authorize sweeping emergency powers.The previously unreported involvement of the Trump White House aide in the preparation of the Dominion report raises the extraordinary situation of at least one administration official being among the original sources of Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.The publicly available version of the Dominion report, which first surfaced in early December 2020 on the conservative outlet the Gateway Pundit, names on the cover and in metadata as its author Katherine Friess, a volunteer on the Trump post-election legal team.But the Dominion report was in fact produced by the senior Trump White House policy aide Joanna Miller, according to the original version of the document reviewed by the Guardian and a source familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.The original version of the Dominion report named Miller – who worked for the senior Trump adviser Peter Navarro – as the author on the cover page, until her name was abruptly replaced with that of Friess before the document was to be released publicly, the source said.The involvement of a number of other Trump White House aides who worked in Navarro’s office was also scrubbed around that time, the source said. Friess has told the Daily Beast that she had nothing to do with the report and did not know how her name came to be on the document.It was not clear why Miller’s name was removed from the report, which was sent to Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani on 29 November 2020, or why the White House aide’s involvement was obfuscated in the final 2 December version. Miller did not immediately respond to a request for comment.The Dominion report made a number of unsubstantiated allegations that claimed Dominion Voting Systems corruptly ensured there could be “technology glitches which resulted in thousands of votes being added to Joe Biden’s total ballot count”.Citing unnamed Venezuelan officials, the report also pushed the conspiracy theory that Dominion Voting Systems used software from the election company Smartmatic and had ties to “state-run Venezuelan software and telecommunications companies”.After the Dominion report became public, Navarro incorporated the claims into his own three-part report, produced with assistance from his aides at the White House, including Miller and another policy aide, Garrett Ziegler, the source said.Ziegler has also said on a rightwing podcast that he and others in Navarro’s office – seemingly referring to Trump White House aides Christopher Abbott and Hannah Robertson – started working on Navarro’s report about two weeks before the 2020 election took place.“Two weeks before the election, we were doing those reports hoping that we would pepper the swing states with those,” Ziegler said of the three-part Navarro report in an appearance last July on The Professor’s Record with David K Clements.The research in the Dominion report also formed the backbone of foreign election interference claims by the former Trump lawyer and conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, who argued Trump could, as a result, assume emergency presidential powers and suspend normal law.That included Trump’s executive order 13848, which authorized sweeping powers in the event of foreign election interference, as well as a draft executive order that would have authorized the seizure of voting machines, the Guardian has previously reported.The claims about Venezuela in the Dominion report appear to have spurred Powell to ask Trump at a 18 December 2020 meeting at the White House – coincidentally facilitated by Ziegler – that she be appointed special counsel to investigate election fraud.Miller’s authorship of the Dominion report was not the last time the Trump White House, or individuals in the administration, prepared materials to advance the former president’s claims about a stolen election and efforts to return himself to office.The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack revealed last year it had found evidence the White House Communications Agency produced a letter for the Trump justice department official Jeffrey Clark to use to pressure states to decertify Biden’s election win.TopicsUS elections 2020Trump administrationUS Capitol attacknewsReuse this content More

Proud Boys leader had plans to ‘storm’ government buildings on 6 JanuaryEnrique Tarrio possessed document titled ‘1776 Returns’, with details to invade and occupy seven buildings, New York Times says The former leader of the Proud Boys, a violent far-right nationalist group whose members were prominent in the January 6 riot, was found in possession of comprehensive plans to “surveil and storm” government buildings, prosecutors have said.Mug shot: Republican Josh Hawley told to stop using January 6 fist salute photoRead moreEnrique Tarrio, the group’s former chairman who was arrested last week and charged with conspiracy over the deadly attack, had a nine-page document entitled “1776 Returns”, named for the year of American independence, the New York Times reported.The document, mentioned only in general terms in Tarrio’s indictment, contained details of a complex plan for supporters of Donald Trump to invade and occupy at least seven House and Senate office buildings on the afternoon Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s election victory, according to Times sources.Trump has promoted the lie that the election was stolen and incited the attack on Congress as part of a wider effort to have the result overturned.The document features five sections, the Times reported: infiltrate, execution, distract, occupy and sit-in. The plan called for the recruiting of at least 50 Proud Boys and other Trump supporters to enter and occupy each building, “causing trouble” for security personnel who tried to stop them.Once inside, the instructions stated, the activists would be encouraged to chant slogans such as “We the People” and “No Trump, no America”. Supporters unable to gain access to the buildings would be encouraged to distract law enforcement and other authorities by “pulling fire alarms at nearby stores, hotels and museums”.In the days before 6 January, Proud Boys were to undertake reconnaissance of roads near the seven buildings, looking out for roadblocks and other obstacles.Questions remain over the origin of the document and whether Tarrio, 38, shared it with any of the individuals charged alongside him.They are Ethan Nordean, 31, of Auburn, Washington; Joseph Biggs, 38, of Ormond Beach, Florida; Zachary Rehl, 36, of Philadelphia; Charles Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, North Carolina; and Dominic Pezzola, 44, of Rochester, New York.But its existence lends context to the US justice department’s decision to charge Tarrio with conspiracy, even though he was not in Washington on the day of the riot.According to the indictment, Tarrio “nonetheless continued to direct and encourage the Proud Boys prior to and during the events of 6 January 2021” and later “claimed credit for what had happened on social media and in an encrypted chat room during and after the attack”.Tarrio has denied involvement in planning the riot. His lawyer, Nayib Hassan, declined comment to the Times.More than 770 people have been charged in connection with the Capitol riot, at least 30 members of the Proud Boys, court records show.Tarrio, from Miami, recently stood down as chair of the group, after being sentenced last year to five months in prison for burning a Black Lives Matter banner and unlawfully bringing weapons to a Washington protest.He was also exposed last year as a long-time informant for the FBI and local law enforcement agencies.TopicsUS Capitol attackThe far rightUS politicsUS crimeDonald TrumpnewsReuse this content More

Mug shot: Republican Josh Hawley told to stop using January 6 fist salute photoThe mug featured prominently on Hawley’s website on Tuesday despite a cease and desist letter issued by Politico The Republican senator Josh Hawley must stop using an infamous picture of him raising his fist to protesters at the US Capitol on January 6 on campaign merchandise, the news site Politico said.Trump accused of campaign finance violations in FEC complaintRead moreThe shot was taken on 6 January 2021 as Hawley, from Missouri, made his way into the Capitol for the certification of electoral college results in Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump.Supporters Trump told to “fight like hell” in defense of his lie about electoral fraud attacked the Capitol. The attempt to stop certification failed but Hawley was one of 147 Republicans to lodge objections regardless.A bipartisan Senate report connected seven deaths to the riot. Trump was impeached.12:30PM: Senator Josh Hawley pumps his fist at pro-Trump crowd gathered at the east side of the Capitol before heading into the joint session of Congress. #Jan6NeverAgain #TheBigLie pic.twitter.com/rEFsfLY4x9— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) April 16, 2021
In February, Hawley’s campaign started selling $20 mugs featuring the picture, with the caption “Show-Me Strong”, a play on Missouri’s “Show-Me State” nickname.The picture was taken by E&E News, which Politico bought in December. On Monday, Politico said it had sent a cease and desist letter and said: “We do not authorize [the picture’s] use by the Hawley campaign for the purpose of political fundraising, which the campaign has been put on notice of by legal counsel.“We are eagerly awaiting a response, but in the interim again respectfully ask that the campaign immediately cease and desist unauthorized use of the image.”A spokesperson for Hawley said: “We haven’t received any correspondence from Politico or anyone else, but we are in full compliance with the law. Perhaps Politico can show us the correspondence they sent to the many liberal groups who also used the photo.”Politico has allowed the Associated Press to use the photograph for editorial purposes.On Tuesday morning, the mug featured on the front of Hawley’s website.As reported by E&E News, a fundraising email in February said: “Liberals are so easily triggered, and this new mug is really whipping the left into a frenzy!”It also said the mug was “the perfect way to enjoy coffee, tea, or liberal tears! Check it out below, and order one for yourself or any woke friend or family member that you want to trigger!”Hawley told the Huffington Post: “It is not a pro-riot mug. This was not me encouraging rioters.”He also said he was not condoning violence when he raised his fist.“At the time that we were out there,” he said, “folks were gathered peacefully to protest, and they have a right to do that. They do not have a right to assault cops.”Hawley was widely criticised for the gesture, and in the aftermath of the riot saw Simon & Schuster cancel plans to publish his book.Josh Hawley attacks ‘woke capitalism’ and claims to be victim of cancel cultureRead moreIn the book, The Tyranny of Big Tech, Hawley said he had been “branded a ‘seditionist’ and worse. But like many others attacked by the corporations and the left, my real crime was to have challenged the reign of the woke capitalists”.Responding to a Guardian report, he wrote: “Oh dear. I’ve offended the delicate sensibilities of the Guardian! I didn’t get their approval before I wrote my book. Order a copy today and own the libs.”The book was released by a rightwing imprint distributed by Simon & Schuster.As the Guardian reported, according to public financial disclosure records, Hawley turned out to have “invested potentially tens of thousands of dollars in the very companies he denounces”.TopicsUS Capitol attackRepublicansnewsReuse this content More

Proud Boys leader arrested on US Capitol attack conspiracy chargeEnrique Tarrio was not physically in Washington on 6 January but is charged with directing, mobilising and leading crowd Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys far-right nationalist group, has been arrested and charged with conspiracy over the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.Jury begins deliberations in trial of Texas man who stormed CapitolRead moreTarrio, 38, faces counts of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstruction of an official proceeding, and two counts each of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and destruction of government property.The US Department of Justice (DoJ) said Tarrio was scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court in Miami on Tuesday.Tarrio was not at the Capitol during the insurrection. Two days before, he was arrested in Washington and accused of vandalizing a Black Lives Matter banner at a historic Black church. Also charged with possessing two high-capacity rifle magazines, he was released the following day and ordered to stay out of the capital.According to the DoJ, Tarrio “nonetheless continued to direct and encourage the Proud Boys prior to and during the events of 6 January 2021”.He later “claimed credit for what had happened on social media and in an encrypted chat room during and after the attack,” prosecutors said.Four other individuals have been charged: Ethan Nordean, 31, of Auburn, Washington; Joseph Biggs, 38, of Ormond Beach, Florida; Zachary Rehl, 36, of Philadelphia; Charles Donohoe, 34, of Kernersville, North Carolina; and Dominic Pezzola, 44, of Rochester, New York.“They earlier pleaded not guilty to charges,” the DoJ said, referring to an indictment in December.Tarrio’s arrest followed charges of seditious conspiracy against 11 members of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers militia, which were announced in January.Tarrio and the Proud Boys rose to prominence in support of Donald Trump and through violent confrontations with leftwing protesters.On 6 January 2021, Trump supporters gathered in Washington DC to protest against Trump’s election defeat by Joe Biden. Trump told them to “fight like hell” in service of his lie about electoral fraud. The Capitol was attacked. Seven people died around the riot and more than 100 police officers were hurt.More than 770 people have been charged. The first jury trial arising from the attack, involving a Texas man who was a member of the Three Percenters rightwing group, reached jury deliberations on Tuesday.The DoJ has faced intensifying pressure to more aggressively pursue those suspected of organizing and planning the Capitol attack. In a speech earlier this year, the attorney general, Merrick Garland, vowed to hold accountable all those responsible for the riot, whether or not they were present at the Capitol.In its announcement on Tuesday, the DoJ said: “From in or around December 2020, Tarrio and his co-defendants, all of whom were leaders or members of the Ministry of Self Defense [a Proud Boys group] conspired to corruptly obstruct, influence, and impede an official proceeding, the certification of the electoral college vote.“On 6 January, the defendants directed, mobilised and led members of the crowd on to the Capitol grounds and into the Capitol, leading to dismantling of metal barricades, destruction of property, and assaults on law enforcement.Proud Boys: who are the far-right group that backs Donald Trump?Read more“Although Tarrio is not accused of physically taking part in the breach of the Capitol, the indictment alleges that he led the advance planning and remained in contact with other members of the Proud Boys during their breach of the Capitol.“The indictment alleges that Tarrio nonetheless continued to direct and encourage the Proud Boys prior to and during the events of 6 January 2021, and that he claimed credit for what had happened on social media and in an encrypted chat room during and after the attack.”In August last year, Tarrio was sentenced to five months in prison. He has also been revealed to have previously been an FBI informant.Tarrio has denied organising violence on 6 January. The Times said a lawyer for Tarrio declined comment, as he was waiting to see the indictment.TopicsUS Capitol attackThe far rightUS crimenewsReuse this content More

Jury begins deliberations in trial of Texas man who stormed CapitolGuy Wesley Reffitt’s trial could set the stage for the trial of over 750 people charged with federal crimes related to the January 6 riot An armed Texas militia member led a “vigilante mob” that overwhelmed police officers and became the first group of rioters to breach the US Capitol last year, a federal prosecutor said on Monday at the close of the first criminal trial over the riot.A 12-member jury was scheduled to begin deliberating on Tuesday for Guy Wesley Reffitt’s trial on charges that he stormed the Capitol with a holstered handgun strapped to his waist and interfered with police officers guarding the Senate doors.Trump’s private schedule reveals no plans for him to join 6 January marchRead moreHe also is charged with threatening his teenage children if they reported him to law enforcement after the attack on 6 January 2021.Assistant US attorney Risa Berkower told jurors that Reffitt drove to Washington intending to stop Congress certifying Joe Biden’s electoral victory, to “overthrow Congress” and to drag lawmakers out of the building.Reffitt proudly “lit the fire” that allowed others in the mob to overwhelm Capitol police officers, the prosecutor said during the trial’s closing arguments.“They were in an impossible situation – outnumbered and, they feared, outgunned,” Berkower said of police.Reffitt, 49, from Wylie, Texas, didn’t testify at his trial, which started last Wednesday. Defense attorney William Welch didn’t call any defense witnesses after prosecutors rested their case.Welch urged jurors to acquit Reffitt of all charges but one. He said they should convict him of a misdemeanor charge that he entered and remained in a restricted area.“That is what proof beyond a reasonable doubt looks like, but it ends there,” Welch said.Reffitt faces five felony counts: obstruction of an official proceeding, being unlawfully present on Capitol grounds while armed with a firearm, transporting firearms during a civil disorder, interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder and obstructing justice. The obstructing justice charge relates to his alleged threats against his children.Welch denied that Reffitt had a gun at the Capitol and said there is no evidence that he engaged in any violence or destructive behavior on January 6.“Guy does brag a lot,” Welch said. “He embellishes and he exaggerates.”“Yes, Guy Reffitt brags,” assistant US attorney Jeffrey Nestler countered. “And you know what he brags about? The truth.”Reffitt was arrested less than a week after the riot at the Capitol. He has been jailed in Washington for months.Reffitt is a member of the “Texas Three Percenters” and bragged about his involvement in the riot to other members of the group, according to prosecutors. The Three Percenters militia movement refers to the myth that only 3% of American colonists fought against the British in the revolutionary war.On Friday, jurors heard testimony from a self-described Texas Three Percenters member who drove from Texas to Washington with Reffitt. Rocky Hardie said he and Reffitt both had holstered handguns strapped to their bodies when they attended Donald Trump’s Stop the Steal rally just before the riot.On Thursday, Reffitt’s 19-year-old son, Jackson, testified that his father told him and his sister, then 16, they would be traitors if they reported him to authorities and said “traitors get shot”.On 6 January 2021, Reffitt had the holstered gun under his jacket, was carrying zip-tie handcuffs and was wearing body armor when he and other rioters advanced on police officers on the west side of the Capitol, according to prosecutors.“Every step he took up the railing, the crowd came with him,” Berkhower said. “The crowd was energized and cheered him on.”Reffitt is not accused of entering the building. He retreated after an officer pepper-sprayed him in the face, prosecutors said.National Archives turns over Trump White House logs to January 6 panelRead moreBerkower played surveillance video of the rioters who poured into the building while the then vice-president, Mike Pence, was presiding over the Senate. She said it was a dark day in American history, but not for Reffitt.“He was ecstatic about what he did, about what the mob did,” she added. “What the defendant did was not just bragging or hype.”Welch accused prosecutors of rushing to judgment.“Be the grown-ups in the courtroom. Separate the facts from the hype,” he told jurors.More than 750 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot. A verdict in Reffitt’s case could have an enormous impact on many others. A conviction could give prosecutors more leverage over defendants facing the most serious charges. An acquittal could embolden other defendants to seek more favorable plea deals or gamble on trials of their own.More than 220 defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanors and over 110 of them have been sentenced. Approximately 90 others have trial dates.TopicsUS Capitol attackLaw (US)newsReuse this content More

Texas man could become first Capitol rioter convicted by jury as trial endsDepartment of Justice lawyers make closing arguments against Guy Reffitt, first of 750 people charged with joining riot to face trial Federal prosecutors were on Monday expected to make closing arguments in the first jury trial of someone charged with joining in the deadly January 6 assault on the Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters.Department of Justice lawyers were set to wrap up their case against Guy Reffitt of Texas, the first of some 750 people charged with joining the riot to face trial in Washington.The charges against Reffitt include carrying a semi-automatic handgun while on Capitol grounds and obstructing justice by threatening his children with harm if they reported him to authorities.Some 200 defendants have pleaded guilty to charges relating to the attack, which sent lawmakers running for their lives. Reffitt’s trial is an important test case as the DoJ attempts to secure convictions from the hundreds of defendants who have not taken plea deals.They face charges ranging from unlawful picketing to seditious conspiracy, with which 11 people affiliated with the rightwing Oath Keepers were charged in January.A guilty verdict for Reffitt could motivate defendants to accept plea deals. A verdict in Reffitt’s favor could motivate hundreds who have not taken deals to risk a trial.Reffitt’s estranged son Jackson, now 19, turned him into the FBI and testified against him last week. If convicted of the most serious charges against him, Reffitt faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, though defendants rarely receive maximum penalties.Thousands of people stormed the Capitol on 6 January 2021, after a fiery speech in which Trump falsely claimed his election defeat was the result of widespread fraud, an assertion rejected by multiple courts, state election officials and members of his own administration. TopicsUS Capitol attackDonald TrumpUS crimeUS politicsnewsReuse this content More