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Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2021 0:30:54 GMT
Two-time Olympic gold medal swimmer Klete Keller was indicted on seven different charges on Thursday in connection with his alleged involvement in the riots at the U.S. Capitol last month, according to USA Today.
Keller, per the report, was charged in the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia for knowingly and unlawfully entering and remaining in a restricted area, interfering with official government business, engaging in disorderly conduct to disrupt a session of Congress and interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder, among other things.
Keller was recognized by an FBI agent, who said he identified him due both to his height — Keller is 6-foot-6 — and the Team USA jacket that he wore that day. He also reportedly had numerous social media posts supporting former President Donald Trump, though his accounts have been disabled.
The 38-year-old turned himself into authorities in Colorado nine days after the riots at the Capitol, and was released without bond. Keller, per the Washington Post, could face more than 15 years in prison.
Keller is allegedly one of the countless violent pro-Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 in an effort to somehow try and overturn the election results. Five people were killed in the attacks, including a police officer, and another 140 officers were injured. The House of Representatives has since impeached Trump for his involvement — which marks his second impeachment. The impeachment trial is currently ongoing in the Senate.
Keller won gold two times in his career, helping Team USA win the 4x200-meter freestyle relay at both the 2004 Games in Athens and the 2008 Games in Beijing alongside Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. He also won bronze twice in the 400-meter freestyle in Athens and at the 2000 Games in Sydney. The 4x200 relay team took silver in Sydney with Keller’s help, too. He retired after the 2008 Games, and had been working as a commercial real estate agent in Colorado.
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Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2021 19:34:22 GMT
The father of a MAGA-loving Georgia teen who allegedly shoved a police officer while forcing his way into the Senate chamber on Jan. 6 regrets bringing his son to D.C.—and pushing baseless voter fraud conspiracy theories on his family. “I feel responsible for bringing him up into that environment. I feel embarrassed that we drank in a lot of this rhetoric from so-called leaders that never materialized. I feel I should have known a little bit better at my age,” Joseph Cua said during a Friday bond hearing for his 18-year-old son, Bruno Joseph Cua. The teen from Milton, Georgia, faces several charges, including assault on a federal officer and civil disorder, for his role in the unprecedented siege. On Friday, U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge for the Northern District of Georgia Alan Baverman ordered Cua—who encouraged his social media followers to “fight” for former President Donald Trump in the two weeks ahead of the siege—to be held without bond pending his trial. Before handing down his detention ruling, Baverman slammed Cua’s parents for allowing their son to carry a weapon on Jan. 6 and blaming “leaders” for misleading them, when they should have been setting a better example for their son. “Mr. Cua said he is misled by leaders. Well, Mr. Cua is supposed to be the leader,” Baverman said. “These were not spontaneous youthful actions.” Photos show that on Jan. 6, after traveling to D.C. with his parents, Cua wore a MAGA hat and a sweatshirt adorned with an eagle inside the Capitol. He was captured in one New Yorker video in the midst of a crowd of rioters fighting their way onto the Senate floor. In one video of the riots, “Cua is seen outside the Senate chamber doors, in a physical altercation with USCP plainclothes officers, still holding a baton in his hand,” according to prosecutors. During a Friday hearing, Cua’s father testified on behalf of his son and attempted to take the blame for his son’s belief in baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 election. After realizing there would be no “big reveal” proving a widespread voting conspiracy stole the election, Joseph Cuo said he now feels embarrassed that he believed the “BS.” “I myself feel pretty embarrassed that a lot of us feel like this is what happened,” he said, adding that he no longer believes the election was stolen. “There was no big reveal and nothing came out.”
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Post by Admin on Feb 16, 2021 21:06:42 GMT
The latest evidence evincing Iced Earth guitarist and songwriter Jon Schaffer's involvement in the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol arrived this week in the form of video footage. In a clip, it appears that the musician participates in charging police officers at an entrance of the Capitol Building.
The previously unseen footage aired during a CNN broadcast on Monday (Feb. 15), as Blabbermouth reported. The video first emerged in materials presented by the House of Representatives managers in the second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump that concluded last week.
In the video, at around 25 seconds in, a man resembling Schaffer (blue hoodie, grey beard, yellow print on hat, fingerless tactical gloves also shown in a photograph of the Iced Earth guitarist that helped authorities identify him) is seen with others pushing through a corridor and clashing with officers.
The footage, unlike the still photo, gives a better view of how the man believed to be Schaffer conducted himself. He doesn't lead the charge or position himself at the front line of the attack — instead, he appears to hide behind others as rioters breach the entrance and tangle with the police.
Regardless, Schaffer is now detained on six federal felony charges for his participation in the deadly riot and affront on American democracy. After being placed on the FBI Website's Most Wanted list, Schaffer turned himself in on Jan. 17 and is expected to be extradited to Washington D.C. to handle further legal obligations.
The situation has led to a division among Iced Earth's lineup. While the band's other members issued conflicting statements in the immediate wake of the riot, singer Stu Block and bassist Luke Appleton officially announced they were both leaving the heavy metal group this week.
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Post by Admin on Feb 25, 2021 20:06:33 GMT
The U.S. Marshals have been criticized for a tweet mentioning Abraham Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, as followers of the radical QAnon movement push baseless claims that Donald Trump will be reinstated as president on that date next week.
The federal agency has been accused of failing to realize the significance of mentioning March 4 and apparently legitimizing the conspiracy theorists' predictions.
"On February 23, 1861, President-Elect Abraham Lincoln quietly slipped into Washington, D.C. to prepare for his inauguration on March 4," the U.S. Marshal's account tweeted on Tuesday. "Accompanying him was U.S. Marshal Ward Hill Lamon (D/DC), a friend and former law partner."
The tweet, which the agency also posted last year, merely states historical facts. Presidential inaugurations were held on March 4 until 1937, when Franklin D. Roosevelt's ceremony was the first to take place on January 20.
The March 4 date has added significance this year, however, because QAnon followers have convinced themselves, using arcane reasoning, that Trump will somehow return to power on that day.
There have been fears in Washington, D.C. that QAnon radicals will turn violent next Thursday when the prediction fails to materialise.
Thousands of National Guard troops are to remain in D.C. until March 12 in case there are similar scenes to the riots of January 6, when Trump supporters and QAnon followers attacked the U.S. Capitol.
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Post by Admin on Feb 26, 2021 3:34:49 GMT
The acting chief of the U.S. Capitol Police is testifying before Congress on Thursday as lawmakers press for answers about intelligence and procedural failures that allowed thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump to storm the Capitol last month.
Yogananda Pittman and the acting House sergeant-at-arms, Timothy Blodgett, faced questions from members of a House subcommittee investigating the riot on Jan. 6, when rioters invaded the Capitol aiming to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory over Trump.
Pittman told lawmakers that Capitol Police knew there was a possibility that armed extremist poised for violence could be heading to the Capitol that day, but the invasion was worse than expected and law enforcement was unprepared.
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