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Trump's extreme-right backers angry and not going anywhere
Washington (AFP) - The American far right is angry: Angry at Joe Biden, angry at Donald Trump, angry at the enigmatic "Q" and angry with themselves. The online postings and chatrooms of extremists have been brimming with disappointment and dissent since the failed January 6 insurrection against Congress and the inauguration of Joe Biden as president. Followers of the QAnon conspiracy movement -- and its Delphic prophet Q -- are most in disarray, their millenarian predictions of chaos and doom accompanying Biden's elevation to the presidency not (or not yet) coming true. Ultranationalists like ...
AFP
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Facebook 'supreme court' to judge Trump suspension
San Francisco (AFP) - Facebook on Thursday said it is asking its independent experts to rule on whether former president Donald Trump's suspension for "fomenting insurrection" should stand. Facebook and Instagram suspended Trump after his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6, an attack on the seat of democracy that led to Trump's second impeachment. The leading social network is referring the decision to its independent oversight board -- known informally as the Facebook "supreme court" -- with the authority to make binding rulings even chief executive Mark Zuckerberg must abide by. ...
AFP
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Judge rejects request to restore web access to Parler platform
San Francisco (AFP) - A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request by the conservative-friendly social network Parler that would have forced Amazon's web hosting service to allow it back online. The tech giant had pulled Parler for incitements to violence on the platform, which was home to many supporters of former president Donald Trump and was actively used ahead of the January 6 siege of the US Capitol. Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein ruled that Parler failed to prove the need for an emergency injunction that would have forced Amazon to restore the social network. The judge said Parler cou...
AFP
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FBI offers $75,000 reward for Capitol pipe bomb suspect
Washington (AFP) - The Federal Bureau of Investigation increased to $75,000 its reward Thursday for help in identifying the person who placed two pipe bombs during the January 6 assault on the US Capitol. The person, seen in a security video wearing a loose grey hoodie and black gloves, with face covered by a coronavirus mask, is believed to have planted the bombs at the offices of the Democratic and Republican parties near the Capitol. The bombs did not explode but were seen as an indication of the possible planning and seriousness of the insurrectionary threat to the US legislature by suppo...
AFP
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YouTube extends ban on Trump channel ahead of inauguration
San Francisco (AFP) - Google-owned YouTube on Tuesday confirmed it extended a ban on new video being added to US President Donald Trump's channel due to the potential for inciting violence. The weeklong suspension of uploading or streaming live video to Trump's channel had been set to lift on the eve of President-elect Joe Biden taking the oath of office. "In light of concerns about the ongoing potential for violence, the Donald J. Trump channel will be prevented from uploading new videos or livestreams for an additional minimum of seven days," YouTube said in response to an AFP inquiry. "As w...
AFP
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FBI says Capitol rioter allegedly hoped to sell Pelosi laptop to Russia
Washington (AFP) - A young woman identified as having taken part in the storming of the US Capitol reportedly stole a laptop from top Democrat Nancy Pelosi's office and hoped to sell it to a Russian spy agency, according to an FBI criminal complaint. The complaint, filed late Sunday in a US District Court in Washington, seeks the arrest of Riley June Williams of Pennsylvania on grounds including "violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds." The Washington Post reported Monday night that federal authorities said they had arrested Williams, but the report included few details. Relyi...
AFP
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Covid concerns, razor wire and no Trump: An inauguration like no other
Washington (AFP) - With war-zone-like security, no crowds and coronavirus distancing for guests, Joe Biden's swearing-in as the 46th US president will be a muted affair unlike any previous inauguration. Where Washington is normally packed with hundreds of thousands of supporters, celebrities, socialites and lobbyists, the US capital is eerily quiet ahead of Biden's big day, which promises to be a mostly televised celebration of democracy. Coronavirus concerns were always going to dampen Wednesday's inauguration, but since departing President Donald Trump's supporters launched an insurrection i...
AFP
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Answers sought: was the US Capitol attack planned?
Washington (AFP) - Attackers in organized columns, a woman shouting instructions on a megaphone, and suspicious tours the day before: investigators are probing the possibility that the January 6 attack on the US Capitol was planned, with help from insiders. Disturbing videos, photos and online communications point to potential conspiracy. In one video, more than a dozen men wearing assault force-type garb push up the Capitol steps in a line, cutting through the dense crowd toward the building's doors. In another, a woman in a pink hat gives directions via megaphone to others inside the buildin...
AFP
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Pelosi tasks general with security review after US Capitol riot
Washington (AFP) - US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that retired general Russel Honore, who coordinated the Hurricane Katrina response, will oversee an immediate security review at the US Capitol following last week's deadly riot by a pro-Trump mob. She also said there was "strong interest" in Congress for a 9/11-style investigation of the unprecedented attack on the Capitol that has been described as an insurrection, and which led to the swift second impeachment Wednesday of President Donald Trump. "Justice is called for," she said. But Pelosi declined to reveal when she will send th...
AFP
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US rioters sought to 'capture and assassinate' lawmakers at Capitol: prosecutors
Washington (AFP) - US prosecutors now believe supporters of President Donald Trump planned to "capture and assassinate elected officials" in their siege of the Capitol building last week, according to a new court filing. The filing, submitted by Justice Department lawyers late Thursday, sought the detention of Jacob Chansley of Arizona, the QAnon conspiracy theorist pictured in the riot dressed as a horned shaman at the desk of Vice President Mike Pence. "Strong evidence, including Chansley's own words and actions at the Capitol, supports that the intent of the Capitol rioters was to capture a...
AFP
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