Extremists

The New York Daily News reports: NRA chief Wayne Lapierre said Wednesday hunting and shooting African wildlife is just part of his job. Testifying at a Texas bankruptcy court hearing convened as part of the pro gun-group’s effort to evade a move by New York officials to put it out of business, LaPierre said hunting water buffalo and elephants on …

Vox reports: In preparation for what is likely to be a contentious reelection fight, freshman Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has raised more than $3 million in the last three months, Politico reported Wednesday. It’s a shocking total, one that dwarfs the nearly $728,000 Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY) pulled in during the first three months of 2019, and it …

ABC News reports: At least one of the Capitol riot defendants has flipped against the Proud Boys, agreeing to provide information that could allow the Justice Department to bring a more severe charge against the group’s leadership, according to an attorney involved in the case. The development is the first indication that people charged in the insurrection are cooperating against …

The Dallas Observer reports: The QAnon-affiliated three-day convention is reportedly being organized by a Q power couple: John Sabal, also known as “QAnon John,” and his wife, Amy. The logo for the event contains an acronym that stands for “Where we go one, we go all,” a QAnon mantra cribbed from the 1996 film White Squall. Other QAnon conspiracy theory …

The Wisconsin State Journal reports: A criminal complaint filed on Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia charges Michael Fitzgerald, 42, with three counts: obstruction of law enforcement during civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. According to a statement filed in court …

The Daily Beast reports: A federal lawsuit alleging that former President Donald Trump, his lawyer, and far-right extremists at the U.S. Capitol conspired to deprive Americans of their civil rights by disrupting the count of Joe Biden’s electoral college victory with the Jan. 6 riot is expanding this week. Lawyers for the NAACP, which brought the suit early this year …

Media Matters has the transcript: They wandered freely through the Capitol, like it was their building or something. They didn’t have guns, but a lot of them had extremely dangerous ideas. They talked about the Constitution, and something called their rights. Some of them made openly seditious claims. They insisted, for example, that the last election wasn’t entirely fair. By …

The Guardian reports: A national online network of thousands of right wing, self-described “Oath Enforcers” is threatening to unleash harassment tactics on elected officials and government workers around the country, the Guardian can reveal. While the network’s founder insists that the group is neither violent nor a militia, internal chats indicate that some members are planning for confrontations with law …

Buzzfeed News reports: Federal prosecutors are in “advanced plea negotiations” with an alleged Capitol rioter with Oath Keeper ties in exchange for his cooperation with the ongoing investigation of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurgency, a new filing in federal court revealed Monday. The public filing had apparently been made in error — prosecutors had intended to file it under seal …

The New York Daily News reports: NRA leader Wayne LaPierre says he faced an unprecedented “security threat” in the wake of bloody rampages at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut and a Parkland, Fla., high school — and had to seek refuge aboard his Hollywood producer pal’s 108-foot yacht. In a chutzpah-rich deposition, the politically powerful gun-rights advocate said the fancy …

Law & Crime reports: Federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C. on Monday asked a federal judge to reconsider allowing a man accused of assaulting several police officers with a weapon during the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol to be released from jail ahead of trial. Prosecutors argue that Jack Wade Whitton poses a serious threat to the safety of …

The Associated Press reports: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear an appeal by Infowars host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who was fighting a Connecticut court sanction in a defamation lawsuit brought by relatives of some of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Jones was penalized in 2019 by a trial court judge for …

The Washington Post reports: The identity of Q, the supposed top-secret government operative and prophet of the extremist ideology QAnon, has for years been a fiercely debated mystery. But a possible slip-up in a new documentary suggests the answer was always the most obvious one: Ron Watkins, the longtime administrator of the message board 8kun, the conspiratorial movement’s online home. …

The South Florida SunSentinel reports: A license plate reader’s ping in Hollywood led police to a Dania Beach hotel room and an alleged insurrectionist who is facing several federal charges following the Capitol riots on Jan. 6 in Washington D.C. The FBI arrested Richard L. Harris on March 18 at the Comfort Suites for his alleged role in the storming …

Law & Crime reports: If former President Richard Nixon’s top officials could get a fair trial in Washington, D.C. during the time of Watergate, so can a Texas florist who taped herself boasting about entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6th. That is the argument put forward by federal prosecutors against Jenny Cudd, whose defense team recently painted the nation’s …

The Salt Lake Tribune reports: A Kaysville man who formerly worked as a Salt Lake City police officer has been arrested by the FBI for allegedly taking part in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Michael Lee Hardin, 50, was taken into custody without incident by members of the FBI’s joint terrorism task force, with assistance from …

The Daily Beast reports: A Florida college student was arrested Thursday for striking a police officer in the head with a skateboard during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, leaving him with a concussion, the FBI said in an affidavit. Grady Douglas Owens, a student at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, faces up to 36 years behind bars if …

The Washington Post reports: Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, his deputy and three members who guarded Roger Stone exchanged nearly 20 phone calls over three hours on Jan. 6, coinciding with the first assault on police barricades protecting the U.S. Capitol and spanning the time the three members breached the building, prosecutors charged Thursday. In a new indictment adding previously …

Via press release from the Justice Department: Two individuals associated with the Oath Keepers, a large but loosely organized collection of individuals who explicitly focus on the recruitment of current and former military, law enforcement and first responder personnel, were indicted yesterday in federal court in the District of Columbia for conspiring to obstruct Congress, among other charges. Joshua James, …

Buzzfeed News reports: With every pull-up, power snatch, and hotel-room burpee, Marjorie Taylor Greene used CrossFit to build her brand, from gym owner to the House of Representatives’ most visible far-right conspiracy theorist. Before and during her political rise, CrossFit’s headquarters ignored Greene’s existence and her praise of the company’s workout programs — until now. “CrossFit supports respectful fact-based political …