Extremists

Pittsburgh’s NBC News affiliate reports: A Ross Township woman was charged Thursday, accused of taking part in the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Jennifer Marie Heinl is facing several federal charges including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. According to court documents, Heinl is affiliated with …

CNBC reports: Twitter has once again suspended the account of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., her office said Friday, as House Democrats move to expel the conspiracy-embracing lawmaker from Congress. Greene, who has previously promoted the baseless pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy and supported calls for violence against Democrats, said in a campaign message that Twitter suspended her account around 1 a.m. …

Law & Crime reports: A former member of the U.S. Army Special Forces and military contractor was arrested on Wednesday and charged with felony assault on a police officer using a deadly or dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. In a criminal complaint unsealed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., federal authorities accused …

Karin Zidan reports at Right Wing Watch: Sidney Powell—the pro-Trump attorney who became a heroine in the far-right QAnon movement for pushing fantastical “Kraken” election-fraud lawsuits—will headline a “Make American Free Again” virtual summit later this week. The event, which takes place on Sunday, March 21, will bring together a group of so-called “patriots’ to discuss the “imminent threat to …

The Arizona Mirror reports: Weeks after Republican Congressman Paul Gosar gave a speech to a gathering of white nationalists, he is scheduled to appear on Patriots’ Soapbox, a leading QAnon talk show. “He has taken a stand against the conservative establishment to support #AmericaFirst and he never wavered,” Radix Verum, host of a show called Digging Deeper on Patriots’ Soapbox, …

The Hill reports: The FBI on Thursday released new footage of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, asking the public for help identifying rioters who assaulted police officers during the insurrection. The videos show assailants attacking officers with fists, clubs, unknown chemical sprays and even a device that resembles a baton stun gun or cattle prod. In one clip, …

Law & Crime reports: According to online court records, Robert Scott Palmer, 53, of Largo, Fla., is charged with assaulting, resisting, or impending officers or employees; civil disorder; and entering in or remaining upon restricted buildings or grounds with relation to the Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol Complex in Washington, D.C. The FBI posted images showing the man’s …

The Intercept reports: As the Biden administration turns its attention to an infrastructure system beset with problems, a strange new issue has emerged: conspiracy theorists. That’s according to a detailed intelligence report, produced by the New York Police Department and obtained by The Intercept, which finds that cellphone towers and other critical infrastructure have become an attractive target for conspiracy …

CNBC reports:  A Texas man wanted by the police was stopped by the U.S. Secret Service and arrested Wednesday afternoon near the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris, authorities said. Police said they found a rifle and ammunition in that man’s car, which was parked some distance away in a garage in downtown Washington. The man, Paul Murray, 31, of …

The New York Times reports: F.B.I. agents have arrested two organizers for the Proud Boys in Philadelphia and North Carolina, and prosecutors filed new charges against two other prominent members of the far-right group in Florida and Washington State as federal authorities continued their crackdown on its leadership ranks. With the new conspiracy indictment, prosecutors have now brought charges against …

Law & Crime reports: A Pennsylvania woman stormed the U.S. Capitol, blamed Antifa, said it was inappropriate for authorities to try to repel “women and children,” and otherwise took steps to wipe evidence from her electronic devices after the Jan. 6 breach, federal court documents allege. According to a statement of facts on file in the U.S. District Court for …

The Associated Press reports: White supremacist propaganda reached alarming levels across the U.S. in 2020, according to a new report that the Anti-Defamation League provided to The Associated Press. There were 5,125 cases of racist, anti-Semitic, anti-LGBTQ and other hateful messages spread through physical flyers, stickers, banners and posters, according to Wednesday’s report. That’s nearly double the 2,724 instances reported …

Forbes reports: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, in a letter to Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin and Gen. Daniel Hokanson, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, alleged a “dangerous and troubling trend” of National Guard troops being used to “harass members of Congress and their staff.” Greene specifically accused San Nicolas of using more than two dozen National Guard troops to …

Law & Crime reports: Federal authorities say they identified a Montana man as one of the people who took part in the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol after multiple videos showed him inside the Capitol Complex wearing a hat bearing the name of the firearms training school that he started in 2018. As a result, Andrew Cavanaugh, the …

The Washington Post reports: A 21-year-old Michigan man is possibly facing 40 years in prison if convicted for threatening to kill President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), authorities said. Joshua Docter was charged “with one count of threat of terrorism and one count of using a computer to commit a crime, both 20-year …

The Daily Beast reports: Shot over the past three years, Cullen Hoback’s excellent Q: Into the Storm (March 21 on HBO) is a complex story about free speech, social media, anti-establishment fury, white nationalist intolerance, crackpot fantasy, and anarchist villainy, all of which contributed to the rise of the infamous conspiracy theory, which during Donald Trump’s presidency took hold of …

Reuters reports: Steve Bannon, the former adviser to ex-U.S. President Donald Trump, has lost a legal battle to set up a right-wing Catholic political academy in an abbey in Italy. The Council of State on Monday ruled against the Dignitatis Humanae Institute (DHI), backed by Bannon, which wanted to start the school in an 800-year-old monastery south of Rome. Over …

The Richmond Dispatch reports: A former Old Dominion University student who joined up with white supremacists in a swatting conspiracy that targeted a Black church, his own university and a Cabinet officer, among others, was sentenced to nearly three years in prison Monday. The 33-month sentence for John William Kirby Kelley, 20, of Vienna, Virginia, essentially splits the difference between …

The Fresno Bee reports: The Fresno Police Department is investigating one of its own officers after he joined the Proud Boys on Sunday morning to counter protest the sale of the iconic Tower Theatre to a church. Officer Rick Fitzgerald was spotted in the YouTube footage posted by Eddie Block, a Madera man who is a former Proud Boy. Block’s …

The Washington Post reports: U.S. authorities have arrested and charged two men with assaulting U.S. Capitol Police officer Brian D. Sicknick with bear spray during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot but have not determined whether the exposure caused his death. Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania, and George Pierre Tanios, 39 of Morgantown, W.Va., were arrested Sunday and are expected …