Trump cultists

Reuters reports: A Brazilian senator said on Thursday that a close ally of former President Jair Bolsonaro tried to persuade the senator to join a conspiracy to overturn the far-right leader’s electoral loss last year. Senator Marcos do Val told a news conference that he had been invited to a meeting on Dec. 9 with then-President Bolsonaro by his associate, …

Mediaite reports: House Speaker Kevin McCarthy broke from the MAGA wing of the Republican Party — and its most popular voices Donald Trump, Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene — by declaring that Jan. 6 rioter Ashli Babbitt was not murdered by a police officer. At her first Oversight Committee hearing on Wednesday, Greene claimed Babbitt was “murdered” and compared …

Raw Story reports: Hosts at right-wing network One America News last year helped lead the push to peddle conspiracy theories about the violent attack on Paul Pelosi, the husband of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) who was beaten by a hammer-wielding assailant in his own home. However, after police released video of their response to the incident, OAN has now conceded …

ABC News reports: A federal judge sentenced a U.S. Marine Corps veteran to more than five years in prison Wednesday for assaulting a line of police officers with chemical spray on Jan. 6, 2021. Daniel Ray Caldwell, 51, of The Colony, Texas, appeared before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly for sentencing on one count of assaulting police with a dangerous …

NBC News reports: The fiery back-and-forth took place in a House Judiciary Committee meeting where members set rules for the current Congress. It began after Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., offered an amendment that would give the committee the opportunity to begin each of its meetings with the Pledge of Allegiance. He said the rule would give members “the ability to …

Law & Crime reports: A Michigan couple who drove to Washington, D.C., from New York were forced to take a bus back home after losing track of their car while allegedly participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Isaac Thomas, 20, and Christina Legros, 22, were arrested in Michigan on multiple charges related to the incident, the …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s legal team is in settlement negotiation talks with three of the four former employees who filed a whistleblower lawsuit against him for firing them after they accused Paxton of criminal acts. Paxton’s lawyers, in a joint filing last week with attorneys for Mark Penley, David Maxwell and Ryan Vassar — Paxton’s …

The Huffington Post reports: Of the five Republicans McCarthy named to the ethics panel, three voted to overturn the presidential election by fueling the lie that it was stolen from Trump. They are the committee’s new chair, Rep. Michael Guest (Miss.), along with Reps. John Rutherford (Fla.) and Michelle Fischbach (Minn.). The other two GOP members are Reps. Dave Joyce …

The Bulwark reports: Donald Trump has slipped to his lowest point since he emerged on the political scene almost eight years ago. He remains a formidable force, to be sure, with a lock on approximately 30 percent of likely Republican primary and caucus voters nationally. But a majority of the GOP is ready to move on. In a head-to-head match, …

Washington DC’s CBS affiliate reports: A federal judge revoked the pretrial release for a Navy reservist awaiting trial on charges stemming from the Jan. 6 Capitol riot last week following his conviction in Virginia for possessing unregistered silencers. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ordered Hatchet Speed, of McLean, Virginia, back into custody on Friday after a jury in the Eastern …

Via press release from GOP Rep. Bob Good: Congressman Bob Good (VA-05) has introduced the No Taxpayer Funding for the Chinese Communist Party Act, which requires the Attorney General to provide a report to Congress within one year of enactment on the extent to which Communist China has benefited from taxpayer funded research. “Americans’ hard-earned money should not be funding …

The Washington Post reports: Arizona’s top election official has asked the attorney general to investigate Kari Lake, the Republican candidate who lost her bid for governor in 2022, over potential campaign violations involving the disclosure of voter signatures. The referral from Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) to Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) comes as Lake has doubled down on …

Reuters reports: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton must face an ethics lawsuit by state attorney regulators over a case he brought challenging results of the 2020 election, according to a court ruling posted on Monday. The ruling is a setback for Paxton, who had argued that his work as the top Texas state lawyer was beyond the reach of Texas …

Courthouse News reports: Putting the social media of five Proud Boys front and center in their seditious conspiracy trial, prosecutors called an FBI agent to testify Monday in front of a series of poster boards with their activity on Parler. FBI Special Agent Kate Camiliere testified that the posts from a Parler monicker called NobleLead belonged to Enrique Tarrio, the …

Florida Politics reports: The moderator for a House District 24 forum referenced candidate Jose Juarez by the name of a tequila, Jose Cuervo. Annie Marie Delgado, founder of Conservative Watch USA said it was a slip, and not intended as any kind of slight on the candidate. “Jose Cuervo— I mean Jose Juarez,” she said, eliciting a mix of laughs …

Rolling Stone reports: Prosecutors entered a handbook into evidence that has been provided to Proud Boys members. The guidelines outline everything from the groups ideology, communal initiation procedures, group songs and chants, to bizarre rules banning individual behavior including the wearing of fedoras … and masturbation. “This is our religion,” reads one rule. “A Proud Boy may not ejaculate alone …

NBC News reports: Arizona Republicans on Saturday selected former state treasurer and Donald Trump aide Jeff DeWit to be the party’s next chairman, turning to a familiar face with relationships across the fractured party after its worst election in decades. DeWit replaces firebrand Trump ally Kelli Ward, who helped the former president in his efforts to overturn his 2020 election …

Newsweek reports: Kari Lake, accompanied with MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, sat down with Steve Bannon on his War Room podcast on Friday to express disappointment in Ronna McDaniel’s reelection as RNC chair, and repeated demands for election integrity. “I heard that they [RNC] raised a couple hundred million for election integrity. We are asking the RNC to help us pay …

Courthouse News reports: A federal judge on Friday preliminarily declined to block members of the group Clean Elections USA from gathering within sight of ballot drop boxes following complaints that armed and masked members intimidated potential voters during the 2022 election. The Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans and Voto Latino filed a joint lawsuit against Clean Elections USA in October. …

The Washington Post reports: On Friday, a man who attacked Brian Sicknick with chemical spray at the Capitol was sentenced to 80 months — nearly seven years — behind bars. Julian Khater, 32, pleaded guilty in March to assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon. “There are officers who lost their lives, there’s officers who committed suicide after this, there’s officers …