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9:39 AM 2/28/2021 – Experts concerned about Pope Francis’ trip to Iraq
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9:39 AM 2/28/2021 – Experts concerned about Pope Francis’ trip to Iraq
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4:05 PM 2/27/2021 – News Review
Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended his record in office Saturday as he addressed activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference. (Feb. 27)
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“What we have is a ceremonial chariot, probably the Pilentum referred to by some sources, which was employed not for everyday use or for agricultural transport, but to accompany community festivities, parades and processions.”
New York Daily News
A Louisiana state trooper has been placed on leave without pay after he put a Black man in handcuffs during a 2019 traffic stop, and then dragged him “on his stomach by the leg shackles,” according to internal State Police records.
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Joe: The Truth Should Be The Goal Of 9/11-Style Commission | Morning Joe | MSNBC
Watch live: Top U.S. Capitol security officials testify at House hearing on January 6 attack
Watch live on February 25 at 10 a.m. ET: Acting House Sergeant-at-Arms Timothy Blodgett and acting U.S. Capitol Police Chief Yogananda Pittman are testifying at a House subcommittee hearing on security failures during the January 6 siege.
Capitol security officials have blamed federal agencies for poor communication in the days leading up to the riot. Five people died and more than 140 law enforcement officers were hurt in the attack.
A report of a newly detected variant of the coronavirus is raising concerns. The mutation is believed to spread faster and possibly weaken the effectiveness of the current vaccines, according to a New York Times report. New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi spoke to PIX11 about the new variant, vaccine distribution in the city and efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.
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Some point to the quickening pace of coronavirus vaccine administration, some say it’s because of the natural seasonal ebb of respiratory viruses and others chalk it up to social distancing measures.
And every explanation is appended with two significant caveats: The country is still in a bad place, continuing to notch more than 90,000 new cases every day, and recent progress could still be imperiled, either by new fast-spreading virus variants or by relaxed social distancing measures.
The rolling daily average of new infections in the United States hit its all-time high of 248,200 on Jan. 12, according to data gathered and analyzed by The Washington Post. Since then, the number has dropped every day, hitting 91,000 on Sunday, its lowest level since November.
A former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention endorsed the idea that Americans are now seeing the effect of their good behavior — not of increased vaccinations.
“I don’t think the vaccine is having much of an impact at all on case rates,” Tom Frieden said in an interview Sunday on CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS.” “It’s what we’re doing right: staying apart, wearing masks, not traveling, not mixing with others indoors.”
However, Frieden noted, the country’s numbers are still higher than they were during the spring and summer virus waves and “we’re nowhere near out of the woods.”
“We’ve had three surges,” Frieden said. “Whether or not we have a fourth surge is up to us, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.”
The current CDC director, Rochelle Walensky, said in a round of TV interviews Sunday morning that behavior will be crucial to averting yet another spike in infections and that it is far too soon for states to be rescinding mask mandates. Walensky also noted the declining numbers but said cases are still “more than two-and-a-half-fold times what we saw over the summer.”
“It’s encouraging to see these trends coming down, but they’re coming down from an extraordinarily high place,” she said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Researchers at the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, publisher of a popular coronavirus model, are among those who attribute declining cases to vaccines and the virus’s seasonality, which scientists have said may allow it to spread faster in colder weather.
In the IHME’s most recent briefing, published Friday, the authors write that cases have “declined sharply,” dropping nearly 50 percent since early January.
“Two [factors] are driving down transmission,” the briefing says. “1) the continued scale-up of vaccination helped by the fraction of adults willing to accept the vaccine reaching 71 percent, and 2) declining seasonality, which will contribute to declining transmission potential from now until August.”
The model predicts 152,000 more covid-19 deaths by June 1, but projects that the vaccine rollout will save 114,000 lives.
Nearly 40 million people have received at least their first dose of a coronavirus vaccine, about 12 percent of the U.S. population. Experts have said that 70 percent to 90 percent of people need to have immunity, either through vaccination or prior infection, to quash the pandemic. And some leading epidemiologists have agreed with Frieden, saying that not enough people are vaccinated to make such a sizable dent in the case rates.
A fourth, less optimistic explanation has also emerged: More new cases are simply going undetected. On Twitter, Eleanor Murray, a professor of epidemiology at Boston University School of Public Health, said an increased focus on vaccine distribution and administration could be making it harder to get tested.
“I worry that it’s at least partly an artifact of resources being moved from testing to vaccination,” Murray said of the declines.
The Covid Tracking Project, which compiles and publishes data on coronavirus testing, has indeed observed a steady recent decrease in tests, from more than 2 million per day in mid-January to about 1.6 million a month later. The project’s latest update blames this dip on “a combination of reduced demand as well as reduced availability or accessibility of testing.”
“Demand for testing may have dropped because fewer people are sick or have been exposed to infected individuals, but also perhaps because testing isn’t being promoted as heavily,” the authors write.
They note that a backlog of tests over the holidays probably produced an artificial spike of reported tests in early January, but that even when adjusted, it’s still “unequivocally the wrong direction for a country that needs to understand the movements of the virus during a slow vaccine rollout and the spread of multiple new variants.”
Where most experts agree: The mutated variants of the virus pose perhaps the biggest threat to the country’s recovery. One is spreading rapidly and another, known as B.1.351, contains a mutation that may help the virus partly evade natural and vaccine-induced antibodies.
Fewer than 20 cases have been reported in the United States, but a critically ill man in France underscores the variant’s potentially dangerous consequences. The 58-year-old had a mild coronavirus infection in September and the B.1.351 strain reinfected him four months later.
No matter what’s causing the current downturn in new infections, experts have urged Americans to avoid complacency.
“Masks, distancing, ventilation, avoiding gatherings, getting vaccinated when eligible. These are the tools we have to continue the long trip down the tall mountain,” Caitlin Rivers, an epidemiologist at Johns Hopkins University, said on Twitter. “The variants may throw us a curve ball, but if we keep driving down transmission we can get to a better place.”
Jacqueline Dupree contributed to this report.
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CNN obtained a copy of the letter, addressed to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the ranking members of each party in the House and Senate. In it, Steven Sund details the intelligence briefing process and the delays Capitol Police had in getting aid once the assault on Congress was underway.
Sund’s account alleges a failure of the FBI, US Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security and the DC Metropolitan Police Department to anticipate violence on that day, and said it was reasonable to rely on that intelligence since earlier pro-Trump rallies had been similarly assessed and were not violent.
“The entire intelligence community seems to have missed this,” he wrote.
Sund also wrote it was clear to him that within minutes of the mob arriving at the west front of the Capitol, the “situation was deteriorating rapidly” and that the agency didn’t have the resources it needed to keep the Capitol secure without help from outside agencies.
An officer died during the fight for the Capitol, one later died by suicide and more than 140 others were injured. At least three other people died, including a woman shot by a Capitol Police officer as she climbed through a window into the Speaker’s Lobby. The assault on the capitol delayed the certification of election results and was the first time the building had been overrun since 1814.
Sund also provided a timeline for the aid he sought from local law enforcement agencies and National Guard units, and an accounting of the meetings he had after the perimeter had been breached while he sought assistance.
It took more than four hours for requested Guard troops to get sworn in at the Capitol, and more than 1,700 police officers from 18 nearby jurisdictions convened at the Capitol in the interim to clear the building of people and potentially hazardous materials. At least two officials, Army Lt. General Walter Piatt and House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, cited the “optics” or “visuals” of deploying the National Guard in their hesitance to deploy them, according to Sund’s accounting.
The tone of the letter at-times appeared defensive and Sund took issue with the use of the term “fail” to describe the US Capitol Police’s conduct that day.
“I do not believe that the US Capitol Police failed,” Sund wrote. “Greatly outnumbered and against tremendous odds, they kept the Members safe.”
The US Capitol Police force is part of Congress and has the sole responsibility for the building’s security. The agencies cited in Sund’s letter are part of the executive branch of government and don’t have authority to force USCP to take any action.
And if the US Capitol Police knew an armed insurrection was coming, it’s not clear that the best option would have been to staff up and prepare for battle, so the lack of intelligence is noteworthy but the responsibility to keep the building remained with US Capitol Police.
Sund said he did ask two of his supervisors, appointed by Congress, for more help before the day’s rally. They said no.
“I must add that I wish that before placing the blame on the USCP and on me as the Chief for the breach of the Capitol by an insurrectionist mob, more consideration would have been given to the impact of incomplete information provided by intelligence assessments, the denied National Guard request, and the subsequent delayed approval for National Guard assistance,” Sund wrote.
In the month since the insurrection, US Capitol Police have not held a single news conference. The department’s acting chief, Yoganada Pittman, testified to Congress in a closed-door session that was not not open to the public. Pittman was elevated to chief after Sund’s resignation and was a top deputy on the day of the insurrection. She also released a video statement on Friday afternoon, promising “significant changes to our operations, policies and procedures.”
None of the five members of Congress who received Sund’s February 1 letter have mentioned it or the information within it in publicly in the four days since it was sent.
What new details that have emerged have been through leaks from Congress, law enforcement agencies and the willingness of US Capitol Police officers to break department policy to speak with reporters.
A spokesperson for the FBI, the US Secret Service, and former Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving declined to comment. The chairman of the union representing US Capitol Police officers declined to comment.
Representatives for the Department of Homeland Security, DC Metropolitan Police and US Capitol Police did not respond to requests for comment. The former Senate Sergeant at Arms Michael Stenger could not be reached for comment.
As the police force prepared for the rally on January 6, two other recent pro-Trump rallies loomed in the minds of those responsible for securing the Capitol.
Both were located at the US Supreme Court building, next to the Capitol. Police referred to these as “MAGA I” and “MAGA II” and Sund wrote had police handled “both of those events successfully, utilizing an action plan that was based on intelligence assessments developed by us and our partner agencies.”
The inter-agency process used by Capitol Police to plan for these events resulted in an intelligence assessment and an action plan for both. Each event resulted in dozens of arrests. Four officers were injured in the first event and eight in the second.
Police expected “various extremist groups” at both events and a “likelihood of violence.” The action plan included use of the Capitol Police’s “civil disturbance” unit, the use of steel barriers for crowd control, extra security for Congress and coordination with other police agencies.
But the focus of the protests on the January 6 would be the Capitol building itself and Sund wrote that he expected the crowd to be different “in size and risk.”
The inter-agency process published an intelligence assessment of the event three days before the event, which included input from US Capitol Police intelligence officials as well as the FBI, US Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security and the DC Metropolitan Police Department.
On January 3, an assessment of the expected protests indicated the coming protest was “expected to be similar to the previous Million MAGA March rallies in November and December 2020, which drew tens of thousands of participants,” Sund wrote in his letter to Pelosi. The assessment indicated that the far-right Proud Boys and far-left Antifa groups were expected at the Capitol on the January 6 and “may be inclined to become violent.”
The assessment, reviewed by CNN, noted earlier arrests at the November and December rallies and the violence between pro-Trump and opposition groups. It noted an estimated increase in hotel bookings, up to double, compared to the December rally. It noted advice given to protesters to travel carry weapons and travel in large groups to discourage police from taking enforcement action.
The assessment noted the last-stand feelings surrounding the event, a concern over calls for protesters to show up armed, and that then-President Donald Trump had promoted two rallies where members of Congress were expected to speak and which were expected to draw the largest crowds.
It also noted a shift in who the protesters would target. In the previous two protests, Trump supporters clashed with counter protesters. But on January 6, Congress would be the target.
A day later, the US Capitol Police’s daily intelligence report assessed the risk of violence at these events as either “remote” or “improbable,” according to Sund’s letter. That day’s report noted “the Secretary of Homeland Security has not issued an elevated or imminent alert at this time.”
A copy of that daily intelligence briefing, reviewed by CNN, shows a scale of risk and each known event being assessed based on that scale. It’s not clear what, if anything, changed between the event assessment on January 3 and the daily intelligence report on January 4. No comparable risk-assessment scale was included in the event assessment on January 3.
“At no time during the previous MAGA I or MAGA II events did the crowd attempt to storm or attack the Supreme Court building, or the adjacent Capitol building, and based upon all available intelligence, nothing of that sort was expected to happen on January 6,” Sund wrote in his letter to Congress.
Sund said he ordered the department into an “all hands on deck” posture ahead of the event and expedited the shipment of riot helmets, meant to be available for the inauguration two weeks later. He also asked the Sergeant at Arms for both the House and Senate, who together with the Capitol Architect form the board that oversees the police department, to request the National Guard.
The sergeant for the House, Irving, said he “was concerned about the ‘optics’ and didn’t feel the intelligence supported it,” Sund wrote. The sergeant for the Senate, Stenger, suggested asking the Guard to be ready in case Sund needed them.
Irving and Stenger have since resigned. Sund also disclosed that members of Congress had been briefed on Capitol security before the event.
The day before the rally, Sund met with his oversight board and a dozen top police and military officials from across DC, to discuss both the January 6 rally and inauguration planning. No one present offered any new intelligence, Sund wrote.
“It should also be noted that the U.S. Secret Service planned to and did escort the Vice President of the United States to the Capitol on January 6, which it obviously would not have done if it believed there to be a threat of a violent insurrection at the Capitol building and on its grounds,” Sund wrote.
At 7:15 a.m. ET on January 6, lines had already formed to attend the then-President’s rally at the Ellipse south of the White House, but an on-scene supervisor told Sund the group was compliant and that he didn’t observe any “concerning issues.” Sund went to his agency’s command center, he wrote.
Just before 1 p.m., someone found a pipe bomb near the Republican National Committee headquarters, and US Capitol Police responded to that. At the same time, a group approached the west front of the Capitol and started attacking police “immediately.”
“Their primary goal was to defeat our perimeter as quickly as possible and to get past the police line. This mob was like nothing I have seen in my law enforcement career. The group consisted of thousands of well-coordinated, well-equipped violent criminals. They had weapons, chemical munitions, protective equipment, explosives, and climbing gear. A number of them were wearing radio earpieces indicating a high level of coordination,” Sund wrote.
Officers who worked that day and who spoke to CNN criticized the use of those barriers, noting that they’re meant for compliant crowds and could be easily used as weapons by those intent on violence. It’s not clear why those were the preferred method of crowd control when it was clear, by Sund’s actions, that there was at least some expectation of violence.
Sund wrote that he asked Irving and Stenger, the sergeants at arms, for the National Guard at 1:09 p.m. Irving said he “needed to run it up the chain of command,” Sund wrote. At 1:50 p.m., and without an answer from Irving and Stenger, he contacted Gen. William Walker, of the DC National Guard, and said he was expecting approval for his request. At 2:10 p.m., Irving authorized the formal request.
An hour into the fight, about 1:50 p.m., a second bomb was found, as well as a vehicle with Molotov cocktails and a gun, all near the Capitol grounds. This caused police to divert “extensive USCP resources” and the evacuation of two congressional buildings.
“I believe all of this was part of a coordinated plan related to the attack on the Capitol,” Sund wrote. It was at this time he asked for mutual aid from other police agencies, which resulted in 1,700 officers from 18 agencies converging on the Capitol.
While police were fighting to keep protesters out, other officers began to evacuate congressional leadership and directed officers to secure the House and Senate.
Twenty minutes after Sund’s supervisors approved the request for the Guard, Sund learned he needed Pentagon approval to deploy the Guard. It’s not clear why it wasn’t known prior to January 6 that this would be required in the event US Capitol Police would need the help.
At 2:22 p.m., according to a timeline released by the Department of Defense, the secretary of the Army, DC’s mayor and other police officials had a phone call to discuss additional guard support for US Capitol Police. Sund’s letter notes a phone call with officials about the same time.
According to Sund, Piatt said he didn’t like the “visual” of the Guard standing in a line with the Capitol in the background and asked if guardsmen could swap out position with Capitol Police. He also told Sund he would brief the secretary of the Army, and he would recommend against deploying the Guard, Sund wrote in his letter. Piatt has denied that he denied or delayed the request, and has emphasized that he did not have the authority to deploy the Guard.
Piatt has previously acknowledged
that he may have expressed concern about the “optics” of deploying more troops, but did not expressly remembering doing so.
At 2:30 p.m., Pentagon officials met separately to discuss the request. According to the Department of Defense timeline, the Pentagon approved deploying roughly 1,100 guard members to the Capitol about 3:04 p.m. At this point, US Capitol Police and DC Metropolitan Police had been fighting insurgents at the Capitol for two hours.
It appears the Guard wasn’t approved until Stenger, the Senate Sergeant at Arms, got then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to call the secretary of the Army, according to Sund’s letter.
The first guardsmen weren’t sworn in at the Capitol for more than four hours after the initial request Sund made to his supervisors, and more than three hours after Stenger and Irving approved the request, around 5:40 p.m. The Department of Defense timeline also notes the arrival of more than 150 guard members at the Capitol at 5:40 p.m.
“I still cannot fathom why in the midst of an armed insurrection, which was broadcast worldwide on television, it took the Department of Defense over three hours to approve an urgent request for National Guard support,” Sund wrote.
Incoming officers were given two assignments: secure the perimeter and foundation of the Capitol and clear the Capitol and conduct a “top to bottom sweep” of the building. The goal, Sund wrote, was to “facilitate the safe and expeditious return of the Members of Congress to complete their certification of the electoral votes.”
Almost five hours after the fight began, Sund briefed Pence on the security situation. Pence called Pelosi, and Sund advised that both chambers could reopen by 7:30 p.m., he wrote. Sund also briefed other members of congressional leadership around 6:30 p.m.
The Senate reconvened at 8 p.m. and the House at 9 p.m. Scores of people have been arrested and are facing federal charges in connection with the attack on the Capitol that day.
Toward the end of the letter, Sund acknowledged a breakdown in some systems, “all of which can be rectified with more resources, better training, updated policies, and accountability.” He did not specify which systems failed. But he again pointed to the lack of intelligence, noting officials didn’t predict an “armed assault” on the Capitol.
“What occurred on January 6th cannot be considered under any circumstances a protest, a rally, or civil disobedience,” Sund wrote. “This was a well-planned, coordinated, armed insurrection at the United States Capitol. The USCP does not have the manpower, the training, or the capabilities to handle an armed insurrection involving thousands of individuals bent on violence and destruction at all costs.”
In a statement to CNN on Saturday night, an Army spokesperson said that the “preparation and posture of the D.C. National Guard was based on the single request for assistance the Pentagon received from the D.C. Mayor for limited support, primarily for street closures and crowd control involving 340 DCNG at various locations around the district to facilitate and protect peaceful demonstrations.”
The Department of Defense Inspector General is now reviewing the details of the preparation for and response to January 6 attack on the Capitol, the statement continued.
“We intend to allow that process to proceed independently by not commenting further,” the Army spokesperson said.
This story has been updated with a statement from the Army.
CNN’s Daniella Diaz, Josh Campbell, Christina Carrega, Whitney Wild Zachary Cohen, Geneva Sands and and Evan Perez contributed to this rreport.
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Kasparov.Ru: Buryat shamans foreshadow a difficult year for Russia and a war in a neighboring state
The Tengeri Shaman Religious Organization has published a forecast for 2021.
Kasparov.Ru
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio updates on the city’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
#nyc
#coronavirus
#live
There’s been another assault and robbery in the New York City subway system, and police want your help finding the suspect. Katie Johnston reports.
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Каспаров.Ru: Бурятские шаманы предвещают тяжелый год России и войну в соседнем государстве
Каспаров.Ru
Мэр Нью-Йорка Билл де Блазио обновляет информацию о реакции города на пандемию коронавируса.
#nyc
#coronavirus
#live
В метро Нью-Йорка произошло еще одно нападение и ограбление, и полиции нужна ваша помощь в поисках подозреваемого. Кэти Джонстон сообщает.
Мэр Билл де Блазио проводит последний брифинг о реакции на коронавирус, внедрении вакцины и многом другом в Нью-Йорке.
Barclays Center и MSG станут первыми аренами в этом районе, которые вернут болельщиков на трибуны.
Несмотря на резкую критику в адрес губернатора Эндрю Куомо, связанного с домами престарелых во время пандемии, а также обвинения, которые он издевался над законодателями и оскорблял их, становится все более непонятным, какую цену заплатит губернатор.
После года протестов сотрудники полиции Нью-Йорка не будут вести ненасильственные вызовы службы экстренной помощи службам психического здоровья в некоторых частях Манхэттена благодаря новой программе.
Бруклинский рэпер Бобби Шмурда был освобожден из нью-йоркской тюрьмы во вторник утром после более чем четырех лет за решеткой, согласно базе данных заключенных Департамента исправительных учреждений штата Нью-Йорк.
Бывший офицер полиции Нью-Йорка, который в свое время охранял мэрию и особняк Грейси, якобы напал на полицейского Капитолия с металлическим шестом. Другой мужчина, активист Республиканской партии Квинса, как сообщается, пролез через разбитое окно в Капитолии и держал в руке мегафон. Об этом сообщает Джонатан Динст на канале NBC New York.
Тихановская заявила, что сейчас «поменялась картинка, поменялась форма протеста», но «протестное движение, протестные настроения никуда не ушли». По ее словам, сейчас «время такой партизанщины», нельзя «действовать открыто», так как «это прямая дорога в тюрьму». На вопрос, возобновятся ли весной массовые акции, Тихановская ответила: «Я думаю, что да», – передает РИА «Новости» .
Она сказала, что готова предоставить Лукашенко гарантии личной безопасности в случае его ухода с поста: «Как это обычно делается – маленький домик с охраной личной – да». Тихановская заявила, предоставление таких гарантий «стать итогом переговоров» с белорусскими властями.
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Каспаров.Ru
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio updates on the city’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
#nyc
#coronavirus
#live
There’s been another assault and robbery in the New York City subway system, and police want your help finding the suspect. Katie Johnston reports.
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Число заразившихся коронавирусом снизилось в мире с 15 по 21 февраля на 11%, количество летальных исходов – на 20% по сравнению с предыдущей неделей, сообщает ТАСС со ссылкой на бюллетень ВОЗ.
Снижение заболеваемости происходит шестую неделю подряд. При этом за данный период сократилось число случаев новых заражений на 11%.
Уточняется, что 21 февраля в мире насчитывалось 110 763 898 случаев заболевания COVID-19 и 2 455 331 случай смерти пациентов из-за коронавируса и его последствий.
Ранее в ВОЗ спрогнозировали окончание пандемии коронавируса. Представители организации уверены, что пандемия завершится в начале 2022 года, а худший сценарий уже позади. Отмечалось, что COVID-19 продолжит существование, но через год строгие ограничения станут не нужны.
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В середине декабря стало известно о хакерской атаке на ряд государственных и частных структур США. Нападению подверглись в том числе клиенты Microsoft и сама компания. Взлом произошел через заражение программного обеспечения компании SolarWinds. Кроме того злоумышленники атаковали как минимум девять федеральных агентств в Соединенных Штатах, включая министерства обороны, торговли, энергетики, внутренней безопасности и финансов, а также более 100 частных компаний. Общее количество пользователей зараженной программы может составлять порядка 18 тысяч.
В США уверены, что атаку организовали хакеры, подконтрольные российским спецслужбам.
Дональд Трамп отказался считать Россию причастной к нападению. Но на днях советник Белого дома по национальной безопасности Джейк Салливан заявил, что США в ближайшие несколько недель ответят на хакерскую атаку на компанию SolarWinds . Ответ будет включать сочетание нескольких инструментов, как он подчеркнул, “видимых и невидимых”.
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“За последние 15 лет Таганрогский залив покрывался льдом в среднем на 54 дня в год. Для юга это необычно много и ближе к похолоданию, — сообщил Матишов, но добавил, что нужно ориентироваться на данные за сто лет. — Если ее (объективной базы данных по погоде) нет — все прогнозы от лукавого. Как и с „аномально“ теплым летом. Это эмоциональное восприятие”.
Ученый напомнил, что климат на Земле цикличен. В качестве примера он привел ситуацию в 1878 году, когда судно “Вега” прошло весь Северный морской путь за один сезон. Еще один пример — штурм Арктики челюскинцами. “Они тоже смогли пройти Северный морской путь. Это уже в Беринговом проливе они попали в лед, их понесло в сторону Аляски, но Кольский залив-то прошли. У нас что, короткая память?”, — отметил профессор.
Ученый также предлагает обратить внимание на Антарктиду, где ледяной щит содержит 92% всех льдов на суше. “Если это холодное царство начнет по-настоящему таять, тогда можно говорить о непредвиденном потеплении. Уровень Мирового океана поднимется метров на 60. Именно антарктические льды, а не арктические могут устроить потоп. Но Антарктиду так просто не растопить. Это очень стабильная система. Причину ее постоянства еще предстоит выяснить, но факт остается фактом. В ближайшие эпохи ждать потопа не стоит”, — подметил он.
По мнению Матишова, в настоящее время идет похолодание, а не потепление. Об этом говорит нестабильность климата на европейской части России: холодные зимы, засухи, пожары, интенсивные осадки. “Мы движемся к малому ледниковому периоду. Но наступит он через тысячи лет. Такие изменения не заметны для человеческой жизни, только для эпох”, — заключил ученый.
По данным Гидрометцентра России, минувший январь оказался одним из самых холодных за всю историю метеорологических наблюдений в России. Морозы, мощные ураганы и снегопады были зафиксированы практически на всей территории страны, в том числе в аннексированном Крыму и на Кубани. Ухудшение погоды отметили также некоторых штатах США и странах Европы.
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Приблизительно 100 американских компаний и девять ведомств пострадали в результате взлома с использованием программного обеспечения Orion компании SolarWinds, в котором обвиняют «русских хакеров». О реальном масштабе кибератаки стало известно в ходе слушаний сената Конгресса США, передает The Guardian.
По словам президента Microsoft Брэда Смита, над взломом SolarWinds работали «по крайней мере тысяча очень квалифицированных, очень способных программистов». «Это самая масштабная и сложная операция, которую мы видели», — заявил Смит сенаторам.
Глава Microsoft сравнил программное обеспечение SolarWinds с системой здравоохранения. По его словам, взлом злоумышленниками этой программы был сродни отключения грабителем сигнализации у всех жителей вместо лишь одной квартиры, куда он хотел проникнуть. «Безопасность каждого оказалась под угрозой. Вот с чем мы столкнулись», — отметил Смит. Он добавил, что взломщики могли использовать до дюжины различных способов для проникновения в сети своих жертв.
14 декабря агентство Reuters сообщило, что российские хакеры якобы совершили атаку на министерство внутренней безопасности США и получили доступ к внутренним коммуникациям в ведомстве. При этом атаку заметили лишь почти через год — спустя примерно девять месяцев. Нападение было частью кампании, в рамках которой также взломали системы американского министерства финансов и Национального управления по телекоммуникациям и информации. Москва отвергает обвинения в хакерских атаках на американские ведомства и считает их безосновательными.
Быстрая доставка новостей — в «Ленте дня» в Telegram
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Andrew Weissmann tells Lawrence O’Donnell that Donald Trump’s tax returns will provide a wealth of information to the Manhattan District Attorney’s criminal investigation of the former president. “The government is going to need to show not only that tax returns or bank loan applications were wrong, but that Donald Trump or whoever they’re focusing on knew they were wrong and filed them nevertheless. Accounting records can be a gold mine in terms of proving all of that.” Aired on 02/23/2021.
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CBS2’s Lonnie Quinn has a look ahead at the potential for some more wintry weather and also a warm-up.
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CBS2’s Jessica Layton spoke to some of the families who have lost loved ones on the same day the White House remembered the fallen.
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By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.com
Published: | Updated:
The FBI is reportedly investigating members of Congress as ‘suspects’ in a probe of the January 6 insurrection and has swept up lawmakers’ phone data.
The Intercept reported Monday that within hours of the Capitol break-in the FBI began securing thousands of phone and electronic records connected to people at the scene.
Through special emergency powers, the FBI collected reams of private cell phone communications, some of which were from lawmakers and their staff.
The FBI is reportedly investigating members of Congress as ‘suspects’ as part of the bureau’s probe into the January 6 insurrection, The Intercept reported Monday, detailing the amount of cell phone data investigators have collected
The Intercept reported Monday that the FBI gathered a ton of cell phone data from the January 6 insurrection, though there could be legal issues with collecting data from members of Congress because there are protections insulating the legislative branch from the executive
FBI opens over 160 cases related to the storming of the Capitol
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Investigators are ‘searching cell towers and phones pinging off cell sites in the area to determine visitors to the Capitol,’ a retired senior FBI official told the news site.
The Intercept said investigators have relied on data ‘dumps’ from cell phone towers in the D.C. area to map out who was there.
From there, they are able to trace call records – but not the content of the conversations – from phones.
‘The data is also being used to map links between suspects, which include members of Congress,’ The Intercept said.
A number of Democrats suggested after the MAGA riot that some of their Republican colleagues may have been involved.
GOP lawmakers have denied these allegations.
A 2007 corruption case against former Rep. William Jefferson, a Louisiana Democrat, reinforced protections against the executive branch sweeping up records from Congress.
An appeals court ruled the FBI improperly seized material from Jefferson’s office.
In a statement released on January 11, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse warned the Justice Department against investigating members of Congress’ role in the attack, saying that the Senate should do so instead.
‘Separation of powers principles generally, and the speech and debate clause particularly, restrict the executive branch’s ability to investigate members of Congress. That’s why the Constitution puts the houses of Congress in charge of disciplining their members,’ Whitehouse elaborated to the Intercept.
‘In the case of the January 6 insurrection, I’ve asked the Senate ethics panel to take a hard look at certain members’ behavior, including whether they coordinated or conspired with, aided and abetted, or gave aid and comfort to the insurrectionists,’ the Rhode Island Democrat continued.
In the original statement, Whitehouse suggested that the Senate Judiciary and perhaps Homeland Security Committees probe colleagues’ role in the insurrection.
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Whitehouse also said that Republican Sens. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson need to be removed from the committees investigating the insurrection.
Hawley and Cruz were among the GOP senators to back a House GOP effort to challenge Electoral College vote counts in certain states during the January 6 joint session to certify that President Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election.
Senator Josh Hawley objects to the verification of ballots
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A U.S. senator has to sign on to a House challenge in order for it to be debated.
Their actions gave what Democrats call ‘the big lie’ – that President Donald Trump was cheated out of a second term due to widespread voter fraud – more weight.
Since the insurrection, Johnson has downplayed the assault.
The FBI refused to comment to the Intercept on specific tools investigators were using in the probe of the January 6 insurrection, except to say the bureau received more than 200,000 tips.
The Justice Department declined to comment.
‘As with all our operations, the FBI conducts itself according to our legal requirements and established policies,’ the FBI told The Intercept.
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Then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and President Donald Trump missed no opportunity to bash China over the virus, trying to divert attention from Mr. Trump’s disastrous pandemic response. Setting aside this scapegoating, the origins of the coronavirus remain unknown. Did the virus leap directly from an animal host in nature to humans, which many scientists believe is highly likely, or from an inadvertent leak or accident at a Chinese laboratory, possibly the WIV? The answers will be important to prevent a future pandemic and must be pursued vigorously, even though China covered up the early stages of the pandemic and has advanced dubious theories to suggest it originated beyond China’s borders.
Mr. Pompeo issued a statement and fact sheet on Jan. 15 claiming the U.S. government “has reason to believe that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 and common seasonal illnesses.” Mr. Pompeo does not categorically claim the workers had covid, only raising the possibility of that or seasonal illnesses, such as influenza. Both are respiratory illnesses.
If true, it would be useful to know if any workers were quarantined or if there is cellphone mobility data to track what happened to them.
Mr. Pompeo said the U.S. information “raises questions” about Chinese denials that the laboratory was the source. A senior researcher at the WIV, Shi Zhengli, was working on “gain of function” experiments, which involve modifying viral genomes to give them new properties, including the ability to infect lung cells of laboratory animals that had been genetically modified to respond as human respiratory cells would. Mr. Pompeo noted that China “prevented independent journalists, investigators, and global health authorities from interviewing researchers at the WIV, including those who were ill in the fall of 2019.” Matthew Pottinger, who was deputy national security adviser under Mr. Trump and is a China specialist, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” Sunday the Jan. 15 statement was “very carefully crafted” and “scrubbed” by the administration. The statement also claimed the WIV had been engaged in secret projects with China’s military involving laboratory animal experiments.
When a World Health Organization team recently wrapped up its initial investigative visit to Wuhan, the team leader said the laboratory leak scenario was highly unlikely. However, State Department spokesman Ned Price said Feb. 9 that the Biden administration would “draw on information collected and analyzed by our own intelligence community to evaluate the report” from the WHO. Mr. Price emphasized the need for “full transparency.”
Full transparency is needed from China but also from the United States. The intelligence behind Mr. Pompeo’s statements should be declassified, with proper protection for sources and methods. The truth matters, and the United States should not hide any relevant evidence.
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For those who find themselves stuck inside worrying about the new variants of COVID-19 going around, the second wave of the virus in New York City might feel like deja vu.
Yet in some ways, this new surge has been much milder than the first. Far fewer New Yorkers have been hospitalized or died from COVID-19 this fall and winter than last spring, even though the number of total cases over the last three months was 40% more than the opening stanza of the pandemic. As the winter wave overwhelmed hospitals nationwide and thrust America’s death toll toward 500,000, medical centers in New York have been able to handle the surge.
So, what has changed? The fact that severe outcomes are less common raises thoughts of the city nearing herd immunity, but hospital leaders and infectious disease experts say the life-saving switch is due to more testing, better knowledge of the disease, and stronger preparation.
“We look at it in our breakdown of data as three phases,” said Dr. David Reich, president and chief operating officer of Mount Sinai Hospital. Spring saw a massive surge of COVID-19 patients before cases slowed–but didn’t cease–over the summer. October ushered in a second flood of cases that began cresting in early January.
But mortality rates in New York City steadily declined after peaking in May at 11%. The case-fatality rate kept dropping even during the last surge, and by early February, was down to 4%.
“There are a few possible reasons for that,” Reich said. “The first is that in the spring there was just nothing in the way of therapeutics and we had no idea what to do. People were given drugs that turned out to be useless like hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin and a few others.”
Now, Reich said, health care providers have a better sense of what works, even though research on certain practices and medicines remain ongoing. For instance, Mount Sinai has started giving some patients blood thinners because its staff observed clotting in a portion of COVID-19 patients.
“Even though the literature is still evolving, it looks like at least a subset of patients do better with anticoagulation,” Reich said. Similarly, he said, “The drugs people commonly refer to as steroids…seem to be effective to a certain extent in patients who are more advanced in the disease.”
Another factor in improved outcomes is that hospitals are less overwhelmed this time around because they are better prepared.
Per state criteria, hospitals had to maintain a certain number of empty beds in order to have surge capacity for a second wave. And hospital systems have also implemented new plans for moving patients between facilities in order to balance the patient load.
NYC Health + Hospitals, the city’s public hospital system, transferred nearly 500 patients among its 11 hospitals between November and the end of January.
This “steady movement of patients has helped the system manage capacity as facilities convert units to COVID-19-only units or move into the additional surge spaces that are part of our plan,” Dr. Mitchell Katz, President and CEO of NYC Health + Hospitals, wrote in a January 28th report to the hospital system’s Board of Directors.
“[In the spring], there weren’t enough critical care facilities in many circumstances to take care of acutely ill patients, so on top of everything else, the overwhelming of the hospital system was one of the contributing factors [in patient outcomes],” Reich said.
Katz noted that the city health system didn’t see the same spike in COVID-19 patients as it did in the spring, but rather a steady increase over recent months, which “has made this surge much different and more manageable.”
Patients arriving at the hospital are also generally less sick than they were at the start of the pandemic, Katz said. He noted that this, “combined with new therapeutics and other interventions, has reduced mortality significantly.”
Widely available testing for COVID-19 has likely made a difference in transmission and hospitalization rates.
“It’s the first step to actually interrupting further spread,” Dr. David Chokshi, the city health commissioner, said in December, adding, “Once someone tests positive, we very quickly help them isolate.”
A much smaller share of COVID-19 tests are coming back positive now than in the spring, although that figure is impacted by the fact that, early on, the few tests that were available were primarily given to people who were already experiencing severe COVID-19 symptoms.
Fewer positive tests and lower rates of severe symptoms raise the question of whether the New York region is close to achieving herd immunity. The more immune systems build defenses against COVID-19, the closer a community comes to interrupting the coronavirus’s ability to cause worse outcomes or spread from person to person. The vaccine campaign is aiding this quest, but a number of New Yorkers gained immunity last spring when the virus swept through essentially unimpeded.
“If there were no immunity by natural infection, we would be seeing a lot more people who have already been infected getting infected again,” said Jeffrey Shaman, an infectious disease specialist at Columbia University.
It’s still unclear exactly how much natural immunity comes with a coronavirus infection, or how long that immunity lasts. But so far, reinfections have been extremely rare, with one recent large-scale study of U.K health care workers reporting a rate of 1%. Among this group, the researchers estimated that prior infection reduced the odds of a second bout by 83%. While there have been documented instances of people getting reinfected with COVID-19, for the most part people getting sick now did not have it before, experts say.
As of February 19th, about 684,630 people have had confirmed cases of COVID-19 in New York City, but Shaman and other infectious disease experts say these diagnostic tests likely only capture a fraction of total cases. Based on a predictive model Shaman developed with other researchers at Columbia University, the total number of cases in New York City may be five times that amount.
That would mean some 2.8 million people in the city, or about a third of the population, have already been infected. Viviana Simon, a professor of microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, says her research lab also reports an estimate in that ballpark, with between 20% and 25% of city residents infected. Add another 400,000 city residents who’ve been fully vaccinated as of February 22nd, and you’re only tacking on another 3 percent or so.
“That’s not enough for herd immunity. It needs to be at least 75% to 80% for herd immunity, so vaccines will be essential for us,” Simon said.
Simon and Shaman attribute the milder second surge primarily to an increased volume of testing, meaning cases can be caught earlier before the disease spreads, and clinical interventions at hospitals. Better compliance with measures like social distancing and mask wearing may also have made a difference.
“The problem is that in winter the virus is more transmissible,” Shaman said. “It innately appears to transmit more efficiently in drier, colder air and people are indoors more and may be more complacent with controls.”
He said it’s still unclear whether COVID-19 will end up being a seasonal virus like the flu or follow another pattern.
Reich said that while the second wave hasn’t been as bad and Mount Sinai’s surge has already plateaued, it hasn’t been a picnic either. He added that more research on effective treatments is still needed because it is “still a scary disease” that kills one of every 10 hospitalized patients. “I wouldn’t want to take those odds for anyone I love,” Reich added.
“It’s hard on staff because it’s just such a long marathon for them,” he said. “There’s no light at the end of the tunnel just yet.”
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Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Dick Durbin said that Merrick Garland, the nominee for attorney general, if confirmed, would oversee a Justice Department at an ‘existential moment’ after it became the ‘Trump Department of Justice’ in the last four years.
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This time around, Judge Merrick Garland is getting his hearing.
Not only is President Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general receiving a Senate audience, but his confirmation seems very likely, a second difference from his 2016 nomination to the Supreme Court, which was stymied by then–Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
But there’s still an important question at stake in Garland’s nomination, and if confirmed, in his work as attorney general. The Trump presidency has both underscored and made more urgent a running debate over what exactly the U.S. Department of Justice is for.
“I think being attorney general has got to be the toughest job in the United States government, because you serve at pleasure of president, but you also have an obligation … to equal justice and impartial enforcement of the law,” Senator John Cornyn, the Republican from Texas, told Garland during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing this morning.
[Jane Chong: Donald Trump’s strange and dangerous “absolute rights” idea]
That neatly frames the dilemma. For years, the department has veered, sometimes aggressively, between being more or less in thrall to the White House. Under President Donald Trump and Attorney General Bill Barr, the department was arguably less independent than at any time since John F. Kennedy’s brother led it. Trump asserted an “absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department.” Barr, a long-time proponent of presidential power, generally endorsed and enabled Trump’s moves. Biden has promised to restore a greater degree of independence, and Garland’s prepared opening statement reads as an extended subtweet of the Trump-Barr Justice Department.
Trump complained that he didn’t “have an attorney general” when Jeff Sessions, his first pick for that role, recused himself from the Russia investigation. Trump also told The New York Times, “I don’t want to get into loyalty, but … I will say this: [Attorney General Eric] Holder protected President Obama. Totally protected him.” (Holder disputed this, saying, “I had a president I did not have to protect.”) But Garland, for his part, said that “the president nominates the attorney general to be the lawyer—not for any individual, but for the people of the United States.”
Garland’s statement also praised “policies that protect the independence of the Department from partisan influence in law-enforcement investigations; that strictly regulate communications with the White House; … that respect the professionalism of DOJ’s career employees; and that set out principles of federal prosecution to guide the exercise of prosecutorial discretion.” These are all areas where Trump far overstepped norms—if not necessarily the law—in meddling with the department.
Garland told senators that he believes (and says Biden has pledged) that prosecutions and investigations should be handled independently of the White House, but policy questions are dictated by the president (as long as they are constitutional, he was quick to point out). As to whether a president could order an investigation to be opened or closed, Garland said: “This is a hard question of constitutional law, but I do not expect it to be a question for me.”
[David A. Graham: Bill Barr’s departure reveals the hollowness of Trumpism]
If the new job might allow Garland to sidestep tough constitutional-law questions, it will present plenty of challenges of its own. Justice Department independence has always been more of a political continuum than a clear binary. Janet Reno, who served as Bill Clinton’s attorney general, got drawn into highly political fights, such as the one over Elián González, the boy whose mother died while attempting to escape Cuba with him, and who was ultimately returned to his father on the island. Under George W. Bush, the Justice Department fired seven U.S. attorneys for insufficient political fealty, and stocked the Civil Rights Division with political hacks. Investigations concluded that while inappropriate, neither of these moves was illegal. Moreover, the interference in both cases was not directly in the realm of investigations or prosecutions, where Garland drew his line.
Garland is looking further back for a predecessor who can be a role model: Edward Levi, whom Gerald Ford appointed attorney general after the Watergate scandal. Levi was viewed as a paragon of integrity and independence who did not bow to political pressure and who restored the department’s standing. He also instituted many of the norms for insulating the department that Trump shredded. Garland cited Levi when Biden nominated him, and he is touting endorsements from Levi’s sons, both accomplished lawyers in their own right.
A different way to think about Garland’s vision for the role is that he’d be somewhat akin to the head of an independent federal agency. There are a number of commissions and other bodies where the president appoints a leader and the Senate confirms her, but once she’s in office, she serves a set term rather than at the pleasure of the president, and is not subject to presidential direction.
“I do not regard myself as anything other than the lawyer for the people of the United States,” Garland said. Noting that some senators had asked why he’d leave a lifetime appointment on the federal bench to become attorney general, he explained the decision as one designed to serve the long-term interests of the department’s work: “This is an important time for me to step forward because of my deep respect for the Department of Justice and its critical role in ensuring the rule of law.”
This idea of the role is naturally similar to being a federal judge. After nearly 25 years on the bench, Garland isn’t accustomed to working for anyone or having to worry about political considerations. (Garland worked at the Justice Department under Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton and was an assistant U.S. attorney in D.C.)
But politics will intrude, and soon. The second questioner at today’s hearing was the ranking member Chuck Grassley, who asked Garland for assurances that he wouldn’t meddle with John Durham, a U.S. attorney appointed to investigate the origins of the FBI’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Garland said he had no plans to meddle, but wouldn’t commit.) Garland also faced questioning about how he would handle White House pressure about an investigation into Hunter Biden, the president’s son. (Garland said Joe Biden had assured him it would be up to the Justice Department.)
Senator Ted Cruz complained during today’s hearing that under President Barack Obama, “the Department of Justice was politicized and weaponized in a way that was directly contrary to over a century of tradition of the Department of Justice being apolitical, and not a partisan tool to target your opponents.” It is rich to hear such complaints from Cruz and other Republicans who tacitly or explicitly endorsed Trump’s handling of the department, especially Trump’s efforts to get friends such as Roger Stone and Paul Manafort off the hook from prosecution. (Is there any doubt that Trump would have tried to intervene if his children had been the target of a Justice Department investigation? And does anyone think most Republican senators would have publicly objected?)
But Cruz’s remarks hint at where Garland’s vision of the department might run into friendly fire. While Garland has pledged to aggressively prosecute those involved in the January 6 insurrection in Washington, the anti-Trump “Resistance” wants to see the Justice Department forcefully pursue Trump, his family, and his cronies. Biden has already renounced any role in making such decisions, leaving the matter to his attorney general—which means that it will be Garland who has to grapple with demands for these politically incendiary moves.
Meanwhile, the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party has raised questions about Garland’s bench record on civil liberties, deeming him too friendly to law enforcement, and about whether he is sufficiently committed to an expansive approach to voting issues. (The picks of Vanita Gupta and Kristen Clarke, who have strong progressive records on these issues, for top DOJ jobs may ease those worries.) More broadly, there’s been a movement in progressive circles toward a new vision of prosecutors who are more politically engaged and working for social justice. While that effort has been focused mostly at the local level, Garland’s old-school approach to prosecution is not in step with it.
[David A. Graham: Joe Biden’s restoration campaign]
More broadly still, questions about the role of the Justice Department serve as a proxy for questions among Democrats about how government should work. On one side are those who believe that Biden’s administration should strive to return to the pre-Trump status quo. On the other are those who despise Trump’s policies but believe that going back to the supposedly good old ways will just enable the next Trump. Instead, they contend, Democrats should seek to wield the same tools Trump did, only for good. Anything less amounts to unilateral disarmament.
Biden has staked his place in the first camp. He managed to defeat a more forward-looking Democratic field on that promise, then won the presidency on it. It stands to reason that he’d pick an attorney general who agrees. But Biden is already facing pressure from restive parts of his coalition, and if he’s confirmed, Garland will also face demands to be more political and to get his hands dirtier.
“I do not plan to be interfered with by anyone,” Garland told the Judiciary Committee today. No attorney general does, though. The question is how he reacts when the plan falls apart.
What role did the retired FBI agents play in Capitol riot? – GS
Oath Keepers – GS
Retired FBI agents and Oath Keepers – GS
Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI and Oath Keepers – GS
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