Rioter Who Threatened To Shoot Pelosi Sentenced
One of the people who entered the U.S. Capitol on January 6 was sentenced to two months in prison Thursday.
Dawn Bancroft was inside the Capitol for approximately 30 seconds to one minutes, according to court documents. While attempting to exit the Capitol, Bancroft allegedly filmed herself saying she and Diana Santos-Smith, another woman charged in the riot, “broke into the Capitol” and “did our part.”
In September, Bancroft pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge in connection to her involvement in the January 6 riots. She had initially faced four charges.
During the Capitol riot, Bancroft made a video threatening to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the head.
“We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the frickin’ brain but we didn’t find her,” Bancroft said in the video made during the riots, according to a criminal complaint. Her defense attorney has stated Bancroft was not being serious when she made the comments and added that the video was meant to be a private message sent to one person.
ALERT: Judge sentences Jan 6 defendant Dawn Bancroft to 2 months prison. Judge says he was especially troubled by Bancroft’s selfie video in which she said “We were looking for Nancy to shoot her in the frickin’ brain” amid mobBancroft told judge video was “foolish”
â Scott MacFarlane
Judge Emmitt Sullivan delivered the sentence to deter Bancroft and others from that conduct, according to CBS reporter Scott MacFarlane.
Trump Again Teases 2024 Bid At Cpac Says The Time Is Coming For A Formal Announcement
Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly dropped hints that he intends to run for a second term in the White House in 2024, though he has yet to make any sort of formal announcement in that regard.
Trump did so yet again at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas this weekend and appeared to suggest that the time is coming soon for him to officially announce his plans for the next presidential cycle,Fox News reported.
A Quick Guide To The Liv Golf Series
A new series.The launch of new Saudi-financed LIV Golf series has resurfaced longstanding questions about athletes moral obligations and their desire to compete and earn money. Heres what to know:
What is LIV Golf?The series is an upstart professional golf circuit bankrolled by Saudi Arabias sovereign wealth fund. Its organizers hope to position it as a player-power-focused alternative to the PGA Tour, which has been the highest level of pro golf for nearly a century.
Why is the new series controversial?The event has created sparks within golf for upending the traditions and strictures of how the game is played. It has also become a lightning rod for human rights campaigners who accuse Saudi Arabia of using sports to launder its reputation.
Who is playing it?Many of the biggest names in golf, such as Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, have stayed away from LIV Golf. But several big names and former major champions, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson and Sergio García, joined. Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who was supposed to lead Europes team at the 2023 Ryder Cup, was removed as captain after announcing his move to the series.
What is attracting the players?The LIV Golf events are the richest tournaments in golf history. The first tournaments total purse was $25 million, and the winners share was $4 million. The last-place finisher at each event was guaranteed $120,000. That is on top of the appearance fees and nine-figure signing-on payouts some players have accepted.
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Democrats Start Planning ‘hawlin’ Hawley’ 5k Race
Missouri Democrats said Friday morning they are planning a 5-kilometer race inspired by a video of Missouri Senator Josh Hawley running in the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.
The video was shown during the House Jan. 6 Committee’s public hearing Thursday night.
The race, a date for which has not yet been announced, will be called the “Hawlin’ Hawley 5K,” according to a promotional image the Missouri Democratic Party shared on Twitter.
“We are coming, ya’ll!!! Keep your eyes peeled for registration information soon,” the state party tweeted.
We are coming, ya’ll!!! Keep your eyes peeled for registration information soon. #HawlinHawley
â Missouri Democrats
The video of Hawley shown by the select committee on Thursday was recorded after Hawley raised his fist to supporters of former President Donald Trump as they gathered outside the Capitol.
A photo taken of that moment shows how Hawley “raised his fist in solidarity with the protesters already amassing at the security gates,” said Rep. Elaine Luria, who co-led Thursday’s hearing. Luria said a U.S. Capitol Police officer told the select committee that Hawley’s raised fist “riled up the crowd.”
“Later that day, Senator Hawley fled after those protesters he helped to rile up stormed the Capitol,” Luria said. The select committee then played a short video of Hawley running across a hallway inside the Capitol, a clip that prompted brief laughter in the room and hours of memes shared online.
Trump’s July 4 Weekend Rally In Florida Attracts Crowd A Day Early
People are lining up more than a day early for former President Donald Trump’s July 4 weekend rally in Sarasota, Florida.
Video showed parked vehicles and tents at the Sarasota Fairgrounds with flags boasting messages supporting the 45th president. Dozens of people were present when WFLA 8 On Your Side, a local NBC affiliate, reported Friday on the gathering.
Washington Examiner this week that Trump is holding the Saturday event despite pleas from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to postpone the campaign-style rally roughly 200 miles from the Miami suburb where an international search and rescue mission is excavating bodies from the site of a partially collapsed seaside condominium.
DeSantis’s team denied that the Republican governor, who is widely seen as a top 2024 presidential contender, signaled to Trump he wanted the rally to be called off.
Gov. DeSantis is focusing on his duties as governor and the tragedy in Surfside, and has never suggested or requested that events planned in different parts of Florida from the Stanley Cup Finals to President Trumps rally should be canceled, DeSantis press secretary Christina Pushaw said. He wants all Floridians to enjoy the holiday weekend and celebrate Independence Day however they choose, while keeping the Surfside families and first responders in their prayers.
“Look forward to the big Sarasota, Florida rally tomorrow night at 8PM!” Trump said in a tweemail on Friday.
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Bannon Will Not Testify In Contempt Trial
Steve Bannon will not testify in his contempt of Congress trial.
Bannon went to trial for ignoring a Congressional subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the events of Jan. 6.
Bannon’s team told the judge Thursday that it will not present a case to the jury. There will be no witnesses called, no evidence presented and no testimony from Bannon himself.
The defense is not required to present a case because the burden is on the Justice Department to prove its charges. The trial will go straight to closing arguments and jury instructions.
Bannon’s team began the day by filing a motion for acquittal, asking the judge to dismiss this case, according to pool reports from inside the courtroom.
“It’s abundantly clear that there was no evidence presented that the defendant is guilty,” Bannon’s attorney Evan Corcoran said, before the jury came into the courtroom.
He added that “no reasonable juror could conclude that Mr. Bannon refused to comply.”
The defense argued Wednesday that the deadline to appear before the committee was flexible.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Amanda Vaughn said the government did present sufficient evidence. She added that the dates to comply were clearly stated on the subpoena.
“The committee made clear in its letters to the defendant that those were the dates and they had violated them,” she said.
Capitol Riots Hurt National Security: Pottinger
Matthew Pottinger, a former White House security official, told the House January 6 committee that Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 presidential election played into the hands of the United States’ adversaries.
Pottinger, who served as Trump’s deputy national security adviser, told the probe Thursday, that any presidential transition is a “time of vulnerability” even “under the best circumstances.”
He said the United States’ “national security was harmed in a different way” by the January 6 insurrection.
“I think emboldened our our enemies by helping give them ammunition to feed a narrative that our system of government doesn’t work that the United States is in decline,” Pottinger said.
Pottinger said that while China, Russia and other autocratic governments have pushed that narrative, they “have been proven wrong every single time.”
“But nonetheless, January 6, helped feed a perception that, I think, emboldens our adversaries,” he said.
Additionally, Pottinger said the January 6 riot also sparked concern over the health of the U.S.’s democracy among its European and Asian allies.
“I think it’s incumbent upon us to put their minds at ease, to put our own hearts at ease, by investigating what happened on the sixth and making sure that it never happens again,” he said.
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Trump Announces Anchorage Rally For Dunleavy Palin And Tshibaka
Former President Donald Trump is coming to Anchorage to campaign for three Republican candidates running for statewide office.
The visit was announced in a statement Wednesday from Save America, a political action group founded by Trump after his loss in the 2020 election.
The group says Trump will hold a rally Saturday, July 9, at the Alaska Airlines Center in Anchorage. Hell be speaking in support of Gov. Mike Dunleavy, whos running for reelection, as well as U.S. House candidate Sarah Palin and U.S. Senate candidate Kelly Tshibaka.
Dunleavy faces several opponents in his bid for reelection, including Democrat Les Gara and independent former Gov. Bill Walker. Two other prominent Republicans running against Dunleavy are Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Charlie Pierce and Wasilla state Rep. Christopher Kurka.
Palin is running against Republican Nick Begich and Democrat Mary Peltola in the special election to fill the remainder of late Congressman Don Youngs term. Palin was an early supporter of Trumps during his bid for the White House and has continued to support him.
I was honored to receive President Trumps endorsement early on in this race, and Im excited to welcome him to the great state of Alaska, Palin said in a statement released soon after Trumps rally was announced.
Tickets to the rally are free. Trump is set to deliver remarks at 4 p.m.
Watch Trump’s Arizona Rally With Kari Lake
Former President Donald Trump is holding a rally this evening in Prescott Valley, Arizona, just one day after the House Jan. 6 Committee hosted its eighth public hearing in prime time.
Trump predicted in a Friday afternoon Truth Social post that the rally would draw a “big crowd.”
Coverage of the event is expected to start at 7 p.m. ET, according to C-SPAN, though doors to the Findlay Toyota Center opened at 11 a.m. local time to begin allowing crowds in.
Guest speakers are scheduled to begin delivering remarks at 4 p.m. local time, after which Trump’s Save America PAC said the former president will take the stage at 7 p.m.
The rally will be “a continuation of President Trump’s unprecedented effort to advance the MAGA agenda by energizing voters and highlighting America First candidates and causes,” the PAC said.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is one of the guest speakers expected to deliver comments in the hours before Trump’s speech. Trump endorsed Lake last September, saying at the time that she “will do a far better job than RINO Governor Doug Ducey.” Ducey and former Vice President Mike Pence were both campaigning on behalf of Lake’s Republican rival, Karrin Taylor Robson, earlier Friday.
The rally will stream live on YouTube. Some networks began covering the rally before it officially started, showing the crowds awaiting the arrival of Trump and other scheduled speakers.
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Secret Service Under Scrutiny Over Jan 6 Texts
The committee has suggested the Secret Service may have acted unlawfully following claims text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, had been lost.
Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari received only one text exchange from the Secret Service after requesting a month’s data from 24 agents.
But the Secret Service said the messages were erased in an agency-wide system migrationâsomething the panel believes may have violated the Federal Records Act’s data preservation procedures.
National Archives and Records Administration has directed the Secret Service to investigate the potential “unauthorized deletion” of text messages and to deliver a report on the matter in 30 days. Secret Service said it will co-operate.
“The Select Committee is seeking additional Secret Service records as well,” the January 6 committee tweeted on Wednesday.
The procedure for preserving content prior to this purge appears to have been contrary to federal records retention requirements and may represent a possible violation of the Federal Records Act.The Select Committee is seeking additional Secret Service records as well.
Trump ‘just Watched’ Riot Former Sergeant Says
Former President Donald Trump “just watched” the riot as it unfolded at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, according to former U.S. Capitol Police Sergeant Aquilino Gonell.
Gonell tweeted Thursday morning about Trump’s actions on that day ahead of the House Jan. 6 Committee’s eighth public hearing, which is expected to focus on what Trump did during the riot.
“Today we will learn how bigly our mightiest, fearless leader came to the rescue and saved the Capitol,” Gonell tweeted in a preview of the select committee’s hearing, which is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. ET. “Oh wait…,” he added.
Today we will learn how bigly our mightiest, fearless leader came to the rescue and saved the Capitol. Oh waitâ¦.
â Staff Sergeant Gonell, Aquilino
“By oath, He had a duty to act,” Gonell tweeted a couple of minutes later. “He didn’t act. Dereliction of duty.”
â Staff Sergeant Gonell, Aquilino
Gonell later shared a link to an opinion article written by retired generals and admirals that The New York Times published Thursday morning. The article declared the former president’s actions on January 6 a “dereliction of duty.”
While we were fight for our lives and to protect the Capitolâ¦he was watching tv. The Oath breaker just watched.
â Staff Sergeant Gonell, Aquilino
Gonell was at the Capitol on the day of the riot. He suffered injuries that day that have left him unable to continue his work with the U.S. Capitol Police.
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More From Donald Trump
Previously, former President Donald Trump headlined the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Texas on Friday, May 27.
In a post via Truth Social, Trump said he would be keeping his “longtime commitment” to speak at the event in Houston because the country needs “real solutions and real leadership at this moment.”
The news comes after a mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas left at least 19 students and two teachers dead.
According to NPR, attendees were not able to carry guns during his address and were searched with magnetometers before entry by Secret Service.
He showed his support for Republican candidate Harriet Hageman, who is campaigning against Liz Cheney.
Over the years, Trump and Cheney have not seen eye-to-eye and have called each other out on several occasions.
In October 2021, Trump went as far as calling her a “smug fool” after she backed a criminal contempt vote against former White House aide Stephen Bannon, The Hill reports.
“Low-polling Liz Cheney is actually very bad news for the Democrats, people absolutely cannot stand her as she fights for the people that have decimated her and her father for many years,” Trump said at the time.
“She is a smug fool, and the great State of Wyoming, together with the Republican Party, fully understands her act. To look at her is to despise her,” he continued.
“He crossed lines no American president has ever crossed before,” Cheney said during an appearance on This Week, via ABC News.
Trump Has 2 Events This Weekend
President Donald Trump will attend two events this weekend: a charity ball at Mar-A-Lago, his mansion in Palm Beach, Florida, and a Super Bowl gathering at his Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach.
Trump will spend Saturday and Sunday nights attending private events where his presence, and the attendant press coverage of the president, stand to directly benefit the properties bottom lines. Given that Trump earns income from both of these properties, his decision as president to attend events there creates the appearance that he may be using the presidency to increase the visibility, prestige and financial value of his clubs.
This is the first weekend the president has spent in Florida since his inauguration last month. According to the White House, Trump also plans at least three weekend phone calls with foreign leaders from New Zealand, Italy and Ukraine.
Trump is scheduled to spend Saturday night at the International Red Cross Ball, held this year at Mar-A-Lago. The annual event has been hosted at Mar-A-Lago in the past. According to news reports and a review of Red Cross tax forms, the organization pays fees for such facilities, and catering that can run to more than $300,000.
Below, Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attended the Red Cross Gala at Mar-A-Lago in 2008.
It was unclear exactly what the Super Bowl event would entail, and who would be invited to attend. The White House did not respond to questions late Friday from The Huffington Post.
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