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US Monthly Headline News May 2022 - Page 6
By David LauterSenior Editor

Time was — not that long ago — that after a mass shooting, gun rights advocates would nod to the possibility of compromise before waiting for memories to fade and opposing any new legislation to regulate firearms. This time, they skipped the preliminaries and jumped directly to opposition. “The most effective tool for keeping kids safe is armed law enforcement on the campus,” Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said to MSNBC a few hours after a shooter killed at least 21 people in Uvalde, Texas. “Inevitably, when there’s a murder of this kind, you see politicians try to politicize it. You see Democrats and a lot of folks in the media whose immediate solution is to try to restrict the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. That doesn’t work.”
By Patrick Reilly

An off-duty US Customs and Border Protection agent fearlessly rushed into Robb Elementary School with his barber’s shotgun and rescued dozens of children and his daughter after his wife texted him that there was an active shooter. Jacob Albarado had just sat down for a haircut when he received the horrifying message from his wife, Trisha, a fourth-grade teacher at the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, he told the New York Times. “There’s an active shooter,” she wrote. “Help,” she sent before sending a chilling: “I love you.” He immediately leaped out of his seat, grabbed the barber’s shotgun and sped off toward the school. His daughter, a second-grader, was locked inside a bathroom while his wife hid under desks with her students, the Times reported.  
By Lee Brown

Deranged Texas killer Salvador Ramos had been trying to buy a gun for at least eight months — and openly chatted about his reputation as a likely school shooter in social media messages posted in the months before Tuesday’s attack, officials announced Friday. “Ramos asked his sister to help him buy a gun” as far back as Sept. 21, Texas Department of Public Safety director Col. Steven McCraw announced Friday as he detailed the killer’s online activity. “She flatly refused,” he said of the sibling, who is reportedly serving in the Navy. McCraw did not say what digital method they used to communicate. Then Ramos — who legally bought the rifle he used after turning 18 last week — had numerous group chats on Instagram in which they openly “discussed Ramos being a school shooter,” McCraw announced. That started on Feb. 28 — nearly three months before he slaughtered 19 kids and two teachers Tuesday at Robb Elementary in the second-deadliest school shooting in US history.
Alex Griffing

Former President Donald Trump defended his headlining speech at Friday’s National Rifle Association conference in Houston, Texas, which is taking place just days after a shooter murdered 21 people in a Texas elementary school. Trump joined his former counter-terrorism adviser Sebastian Gorka on his Salem Radio show and doubled down on his Friday speech saying, “It will be very interesting, interesting time to be making such a speech, frankly.” “Then on Saturday night, I am going to Wyoming to campaign against Liz Cheney, who is absolutely atrocious, the job she has done,” Trump continued, connecting the NRA speech with his political advocacy. “ Friday night, I will be in Houston, and I will be making a speech and discussing a lot of the things you would agree to,” he added. “You have to give that Second Amendment great protection because, without it, we would be a very dangerous country,” Trump concluded.
Matt Shuham

The Michigan Republican gubernatorial candidates who the state found submitted thousands of fraudulent signatures will be kept off of the Aug. 2 primary ballot for now, after the state board that decides candidate qualifications split along party lines. That includes the two frontrunners for the GOP’s nomination to run for governor, Perry Johnson and James Craig. Several are expected to go to court to get their names on the ballot. The state’s elections director said Thursday that, in order for elections to run on time, ballots would need to be finalized by June 3. The vote by the Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers — the same body that Donald Trump pressured to steal the election for him in 2020 — came after a parade of candidates and their lawyers cast themselves as victims of a ring of fraudulent signature-gatherers who took their money, but provided forged or otherwise invalid signatures in return.
By Alex Lang | Knewz

New York (Knewz) — A man called 911 more than 140 times and then threatened to harm a dispatcher after the “insurrection act.” The next day the suspect allegedly participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol. The man has pleaded guilty to the threats that seem to indicate a preplanned attack in Washington D.C. that is now part of American history. The suspect now faces up to five years behind bars. Recently, Jonathan Munafo pleaded guilty to communicating a threat in interstate commerce. He entered his plea in a Michigan federal court. On Jan. 5, 2021, Munafo called 911 in Calhoun County, Michigan, nearly 150 times and demanded to speak with a deputy sheriff about various issues but without an emergency, according to federal prosecutors.
Jon Jackson

Former Army prosecutor Glenn Kirschner on Thursday said he believes Donald Trump "committed the crime of treason" if a report is true that he said former Vice President Mike Pence should be hanged. Kirschner made the comments on his YouTube show, Justice Matters. In the video, he discussed a recently released account provided to the House select committee investigating the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. According to The New York Times' reporting of the account, Mark Meadows, then the White House chief of staff, told colleagues on January 6 that Trump said "something to the effect of: Maybe Mr. Pence should be hanged." "The evidence is mounting that Donald Trump didn't just incite the insurrection. He committed the crime of treason," Kirschner said. Kirschner, who is also an NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst, noted that the Times wrote it wasn't clear what tone Trump used with his reported comments. "What tone the president of the United States used when he was saying the vice president should be hanged? Does his tone matter?" Kirschner asked incredulously. He continued, "So, friends, based on this new reporting, let me state this as plainly and directly as I can: Donald Trump committed the crime of treason." He then cited the definition of treason from the United States Code, a compilation of general and permanent federal statutes. He read, "'Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them, is guilty of treason.'"
Timothy Bella

Police were reluctant to immediately engage with the gunman who spent an hour inside the elementary school in Uvalde, Tex., where he killed 19 children and two adults because “they could’ve been shot,” a lieutenant with the Texas Department of Public Safety said in a CNN interview. Law enforcement officers have faced mounting criticism from some parents who say police could have intervened sooner against 18-year-old Salvador Ramos in an effort from officers that was initially deemed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) as a “quick response.” Police who arrived at the school retreated as shots rang out, state authorities said Thursday, and it took an hour before a tactical unit led by federal Border Patrol agents went into a classroom and killed the gunman. Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Chris Olivarez defended the response in an interview Thursday with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, who asked the lieutenant to walk him through “what exactly law enforcement was doing for 60 minutes or so while the shooter remained in that classroom killing those kids
Passant Rabie

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis first proposed the law back in January of last year. In a major win for social media companies, a court of appeals upheld an order to block a Florida law that would’ve allowed politicians to sue online platforms if they were to get banned or have their content moderated. The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals sided with a district court’s ruling that deemed the Florida law unconstitutional just hours before it was meant to take effect, The Washington Post reports. The court ruled that social media companies are private actors, and therefore their actions are protected under the First Amendment. However, some of the law’s provisions could still be enforced, that includes allowing those who have been banned from the social media platforms to access their data for up to 60 days. The law was first proposed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in January 2021 shortly after Twitter banned former President Donald Trump. It was enacted in May 2021, and enforced a $25,000 fine on social media companies if they were to remove a candidate for statewide political office from their platforms. The law also allowed both the state and individuals to sue social media companies if they felt that they violated the law by moderating online content or “shadow banning” candidates.
BY EWAN PALMER

Anumber of Republicans are still scheduled to attend a National Rifle Association event in Houston, Texas, just days after the Uvalde school shooting. The NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) Leadership Forum will be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center from Friday to Sunday. The annual event by the pro-gun lobby group is being held as the debate on gun reform in the country has been reignited in the wake of the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School, which left 19 children and two teachers dead, as well as criticism of the influence the NRA has over lawmakers in the country. As with previous years, the NRA meeting will feature a number of Republicans as guest speakers, as well as the NRA's head, Wayne LaPierre, and Jason Ouimet, the executive director of the group's lobbying arm. The biggest name scheduled to speak is Donald Trump, who confirmed he will still be attending the event despite it being held just days after the Uvalde massacre.
Kevin Breuninger

Former President Donald Trump will deliver a headline speech in support of gun rights at a National Rifle Association event in Houston on Friday, days after a shooting massacre at a Texas elementary school stoked a fervent push to strengthen firearm laws. An 18-year-old gunman — wielding an AR-15-style long rifle that he had purchased legally — opened fire at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, killing 19 children and two adults, officials said. The massacre marked the deadliest school shooting in Texas history. Trump confirmed on social media on Wednesday afternoon that he would not cancel his appearance at the NRA’s annual “Leadership Forum” in light of the shooting. He suggested that he would offer “real solutions and real leadership” in his address at the NRA’s self-described “celebration of Second Amendment rights.”
Zachary Leeman

Amother of two students at the Uvalde, Texas Robb Elementary School where more than 20 were shot and killed is claiming that federal agents put her in handcuffs at the scene and other officers tased and pepper-sprayed parents they felt were interfering with the investigation. There have been major questions as to the exact timeline of events surrounding the shooting and the eventual takedown of the shooter, who was killed at the scene. Texas officials are still investigating the circumstances of the situation, but have suggested it took forty minutes to an hour for tactical officers to breach the school and confront the gunman, after other officers were fired upon, took cover, and began evacuating the rest of the school.
Kylie Cheung

Proving we will always blame literally anything but readily available assault rifles for mass shootings, in the wake of Tuesday’s horrific shooting in Uvalde, Texas, a young woman and a 15-year-old girl in Germany are being blamed for their contact with the gunman. Before 18-year-old Salvador Ramos attacked Robb Elementary School, it seems the last people he exchanged messages with were a random female Instagram user he had ominously tagged in a photo of assault rifles days earlier, and a 15-year-old girl in Germany who says they met on a livestreaming app called Yubo. Despite America’s unique and entirely preventable gun violence crisis, and policies that paved the way for the Uvalde shooting, this young woman and a teenage girl are being accused of complicity in the attack—and tragically seem to be internalizing the blame. Both have expressed remorse for not taking action, as if there’s anything either of them could have done once Ramos legally got his hands on assault rifles and ammunition.
The international press responds scathingly to the tolerance for gun violence in the US: ‘nothing fundamentally changes’
Jon Henley

Politicians and media around the world have reacted with horror, incomprehension and weary resignation to news that an 18-year-old gunman had murdered 19 children and two teachers in America’s 27th school shooting so far this year. The politicians mostly observed formalities; commentators, not so much. In devastated Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was “deeply saddened by the murder of innocent children”, adding that his people “share the pain of the relatives and friends of the victims, and of all Americans”. A police officer takes flowers from a resident to be placed at a makeshift memorial outside Robb elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, described the massacre as “cowardly” and said the French shared Americans’ “shock and grief – and the rage of those who are fighting to end the violence”. Pope Francis said he was “heartbroken”. In London, the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said the country’s “thoughts are with all those affected by this horrific attack”, while the foreign secretary, Liz Truss, said she was “horrified by the news”. Her thoughts were “with the people of Texas”. The press, however, did not mince words. “There’s carnage in a US school, relatives’ endless distress, a grave presidential speech – then nothing, till the next one,” said Le Monde in a savage editorial. “If there is still an American exceptionalism, it is to tolerate its schools being regularly transformed into shooting ranges, sticky with blood.”
Katherine Fung

Republicans hoping to take back the House this midterm cycle are trying to move past 2020, but former President Donald Trump is refusing to back down from his claims that the election was "rigged" and is warning his inner circle about breaking from him. On Thursday, Trump issued a stark warning to his allies, threatening to shun them if they admitted he was defeated by President Joe Biden in the last presidential election. Speaking about former presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, Trump said that he would have told her to "go back to her crazy husband," prominent Trump critic George Conway, had he known that Conway, who also served as Trump's 2016 campaign manager, believed he lost the election. "Kellyanne Conway never told me that she thought we lost the election. If she had, I wouldn't have dealt with her any longer—she would have been wrong—could go back to her crazy husband," Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform Truth Social. His remarks came days after Conway published her new memoir, "Here's the Deal," in which she sides with Trump over her own husband, writing that the former president defended her more times than her spouse did.
Nick Visser

Scott Pruitt, a former head of the Environmental Protection Agency during the Trump administration, regularly asked his federal security detail to speed and use sirens and emergency lights because he was running late to meetings, according to a federal report released Thursday. In one 2017 instance, a special agent drove Pruitt with the vehicle’s lights and sirens on through oncoming traffic. The administrator was running late for an agency meeting and needed to pick up his dry cleaning. “Can you guys use that magic button to get us through traffic?” Pruitt said during another instance, according to an account in the report. Other accounts include Pruitt saying “speed it up” and “we need to get there quicker,” which created an awkward environment in his vehicles, the document says. The report was prepared in June 2018, but only released this week. The New York Times was the first to report on the document. The Times added that the agents knew using the sirens and emergency lights — which are only to be used in emergency situations — violated federal policies, but found it hard to disobey Pruitt, who regularly ran late to events and meetings. A former aide to Pruitt described his requests to use the lights as “overly obnoxious, excessive and more dangerous to everyone.”
By Bob Brigham | Raw Story

As America debates gun safety following another mass shooting, GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado was ridiculed for her public policy solutions to the problem. During an interview with Fox News personality Sean Hannity, Boebert called former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-TX) a "jerk" for confronting GOP Gov. Greg Abbott over Republicans' gun policies. "When 9/11 happened, we didn't ban planes, we secured the cockpits," Boebert said. Boebert, owner of "Shooters Grill" in Rifle, Colorado was quickly ridiculed for her policy perspective. Mark Medici, the publisher of the Express-News in San Antonio, began his reaction with an "actually" and noted, "the tragic events of 9/11 created an entire branch of government called homeland security and swiftly revolutionized air travel safety (TSA) in the United States in the course of 30-days that the rest of the world adopted." "There are so many things wrong with this, but I'll key in on this: airport security has gotten so much tighter since 9/11. I can't even wear shoes going through security anymore. When a few planes killed a bunch of people we made air travel safer. Why can't we do that with guns?" asked CBS Sports NBA reporter Sam Quinn.
by Dean Obeidallah

Donald Trump was right. I never thought I’d write those words, but he did warn us that there was a “giant scam” in Michigan involving the state’s election. Of course, Trump made that claim about the 2020 presidential election in the state, where he lost by over 150,000 votes. The bureau said the fraud was so widespread that after it struck the invalid signatures, five of the 10 candidates were lacking the requisite 15,000 valid signatures needed to remain on the ballot. While that assertion was false — per numerous audits, lawsuits and a 55-page report the Republican-led Michigan Senate released in 2021 debunking each of Trump’s election lies — there is actually a significant election scandal in the state. But it involves the 2022 election for governor and Republicans, including some who have peddled Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. Ah, karma. To get on this year's ballot for governor in Michigan, state law required candidates to collect at least 15,000 signatures from registered voters and submit them by the April 19 deadline. Securing that many valid signatures in a state of over 8 million registered voters shouldn’t be that hard. That is, apparently unless you are one of the 10 Republican candidates running to take on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The state’s Bureau of Elections, which reviews the submitted petitions to ensure the signatures are valid, said after examining the petitions of the GOP gubernatorial candidates that it found a “volume of fraudulent petition sheets” that it had never seen before. The bureau said the fraud was so widespread that after it struck the invalid signatures, five of the 10 candidates were lacking the requisite 15,000 valid signatures needed to remain on the ballot. This included the two front-runners: former Detroit Police Chief James Craig and businessman Perry Johnson.
By Matthew Chapman | Raw Story

On Friday, The Washington Post reported that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) was one of several lawmakers who wrote to the Biden administration in September demanding an end to the embargo on Russian ammunition imports. "The group sent a letter dated Sept. 3 to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen accusing the administration of using the sanctions as a means to enact gun control measures and arguing that it would exacerbate a shortage of ammunition," said the report. "'Wholesalers, retailers, small businesses, gun owners, and shooting sportsmen rely on ammunition imported from Russia and are rightfully concerned that this is an attempt at gun control,' the lawmakers wrote in the letter." The sanctions were first imposed in response to the 2020 poisoning of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny with the nerve agent Novichok. He survived this attempt but was imprisoned on dubious charges upon returning to Russia. 'Two weeks before the letter was sent, the lobbying arm of the NRA wrote about the sanctions, calling it an 'overreach' and 'crusade against law-abiding gun owners' by the Biden administration," said the report. "The letter mirrors the same points the NRA made in its article. The organization wrote that it is exploring all of its legislative, legal and policy options to block the policy."
By Josh Gerstein

The Justice Department has released portions of a previously unseen alternative version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on ties between former President Donald Trump and Russia. However, the 37-page report prepared at the direction of Mueller deputy Andrew Weissmann and released this week under the Freedom of Information Act is heavily redacted. Justice Department officials withheld large swaths of the document on grounds of ongoing investigations, privacy and protecting internal deliberations. The deletions are typically made by career officials at the Justice Department and the FBI, but the secrecy puts the Biden administration in the curious position of fighting to keep from public view evidence of alleged wrongdoing by top advisers to Trump. It appears that those blacking out the redacted document sought to delete any details not made public in the version of Mueller's report released in 2019 or in other public documents. The report focuses on the work of what was known within Mueller’s office as “Team M” a group of investigators and prosecutors focused on connections between Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and businessmen and politicians friendly to Russia. The report details contacts between Manafort, his campaign deputy and longtime business partner Rick Gates and pro-Russian business figures. It argues that Manafort, who worked for Trump’s campaign without pay, expected to improve his financial situation as a result of his ties to a potential Trump administration.
The arrest of a Texas cop watcher for filming in public is the most recent chilling example of how law enforcement across the country is attempting to roll back auditors' First Amendment rights. Jack Miller, also known as Texas Sheepdog, was filming outside the Olmos Park, Texas, City Hall when police arrested and charged him with multiple crimes. The ensuing five-day trial and jury verdict reveal that citizens' ability to film in public is facing new obstacles and concerted pushback from the government.
New York Times reports witnesses told Capitol attack committee about ex-president’s comment, made on day of January 6 riot
Martin Pengelly

Donald Trump reportedly reacted to chants about hanging his vice-president, Mike Pence, during the US Capitol attack by saying maybe the mob was right. The New York Times reported the bombshell White House comment on Tuesday. Two witnesses, the paper said, have confirmed to the House committee investigating the events of 6 January 2021 that Mark Meadows, then Trump’s chief of staff, described Trump “saying something to the effect of, maybe Mr Pence should be hung”. The Times said it was not clear if Trump was serious. Pence was at the Capitol to preside over certification of Joe Biden’s victory, the process the mob tried to stop after being told to “fight like hell” by Trump.
By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Senate Republicans blocked a bill titled the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act in Congress on Thursday that Democrats view as a response to a white supremacist's killing of 10 Black people this month and a potential gateway to a gun control bill. Two days after another mass killing of 19 young children and two teachers at a Texas school, senators voted 47-47 along party lines, short of the 60 senators required to launch debate, to reject the bill authorizing federal agencies to monitor and report jointly on domestic terrorism within the United States, including incidents related to white supremacy. Republicans said the legislation was unnecessary as Democratic President Joe Biden already had the authority to organize his administration's response to violent extremism. Democrats insisted the bill was needed to bolster the federal government's response to rising incidents of violent extremism at home. The outcome, which had been expected, cut off the chance for any immediate action on gun-control legislation to address a rising tide of mass shootings in the United States. Senators were due to leave Washington for a one-week Memorial Day holiday break.
By JAKE BLEIBERG, JIM VERTUNO and ELLIOT SPAGAT

UVALDE, Texas (AP) — Frustrated onlookers urged police officers to charge into the Texas elementary school where a gunman’s rampage killed 19 children and two teachers, witnesses said Wednesday, as investigators worked to track the massacre that lasted upwards of 40 minutes and ended when the 18-year-old shooter was killed by a Border Patrol team. “Go in there! Go in there!” nearby women shouted at the officers soon after the attack began, said Juan Carranza, 24, who saw the scene from outside his house, across the street from Robb Elementary School in the close-knit town of Uvalde. Carranza said the officers did not go in. Javier Cazares, whose fourth grade daughter, Jacklyn Cazares, was killed in the attack, said he raced to the school when he heard about the shooting, arriving while police were still gathered outside the building. Upset that police were not moving in, he raised the idea of charging into the school with several other bystanders. “Let’s just rush in because the cops aren’t doing anything like they are supposed to,” he said. “More could have been done.” “They were unprepared,” he added. Minutes earlier, Carranza had watched as Salvador Ramos crashed his truck into a ditch outside the school, grabbed his AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle and shot at two people outside a nearby funeral home who ran away uninjured.
jshamsian@insider.com (Jacob Shamsian,C. Ryan Barber,Laura Italiano)

Prosecutors for the Manhattan District Attorney's office have asked a New York judge to reject arguments from the Trump Organization and its CFO Allen Weisselberg to dismiss the pending criminal indictments against them. In a 129-page court filing made public Monday, they argue that Weisselberg's and the company's claims don't pass legal muster and misrepresent the role that Michael Cohen, a former company executive and personal lawyer for Donald Trump, played in the investigation. "This case, at its core, is ordinary," prosecutors wrote in the filing. "The Indictment is based on criminal tax evasion that took place in New York County and is of the sort this Office regularly prosecutes." Prosecutors brought the 15-count criminal grand jury indictment in July, alleging Weisselberg and the Trump Organization fashioned a scheme that permitted him to avoid taxes on $1.7 million worth of income. The new filing offers the most extensive look yet into the Manhattan DA probe of Trump's billion-dollar real estate and golf course business.
By MICHAEL R. SISAK, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump must answer questions under oath in New York state’s civil investigation into his business practices, a state appeals court ruled Thursday. A four-judge panel in the appellate division of the state’s trial court upheld Manhattan Judge Arthur Engoron’s Feb. 17 ruling enforcing subpoenas for Trump and his two eldest children to give deposition testimony in Attorney General Letitia James' probe. Trump had appealed, seeking to overturn the ruling. His lawyers argued that ordering the Trumps to testify violated their constitutional rights because their answers could be used in a parallel criminal investigation. “The existence of a criminal investigation does not preclude civil discovery of related facts, at which a party may exercise the privilege against self-incrimination,” the four-judge panel wrote, citing the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Colby Hall

Former President Donald Trump reportedly suggested that, after learning chants of “Hang Mike Pence!” during the January 6th attack on the Capitol, former Vice President Pence should be hung and complained about Pence’s safe exit from the Capitol building. This is according to a just-published New York Times report based on colleagues’ accounts of conversations with then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, as was relayed to the House Select Committee investigating the events of January 6th. Shortly after hundreds of rioters at the Capitol started chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” on Jan. 6, 2021, the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, left the dining room off the Oval Office, walked into his own office and told colleagues that President Donald J. Trump was complaining that the vice president was being whisked to safety.
By Daniel Dale and Andrew Kaczynski, CNN

(CNN) Herschel Walker, the former football star who is now the Republican nominee for a US Senate seat in Georgia, is piling dishonesty upon dishonesty on the subject of his college education. In December, Walker's campaign website falsely claimed that he had graduated from the University of Georgia, the school he left after his junior season to play professionally. (Walker's campaign deleted the claim after the Atlanta Journal-Constitution inquired about it.) In April, CNN's KFile team revealed that Walker himself had made the false graduation claim for years -- and that Walker had even asserted that he graduated in the top 1% of his University of Georgia class. But when Walker was challenged about his graduation deception in an interview last week with FOX 5 Atlanta anchor Russ Spencer, Walker declared he had never once said he graduated from the University of Georgia. Spencer told Walker that he has a "phenomenal life story," but that "in some instances you've exaggerated that story. You said that you graduated from UGA..." Walker interjected: "I never said that. They say that. And I said -- that's what you gotta remember. I never, I never have said that statement. Not one time. I've said that I studied criminal justice at UGA."

Facts First: Walker's claim that he "never" and "not one time" said he graduated from the University of Georgia is flat out false. Walker said on camera at least twice that he graduated from the school. Walker's promotional materials have also featured the false claim that he graduated.
Matt Novak

Amass shooter killed 19 children and two adults at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday. And Republican politicians took to Twitter in the wake of this tragedy to express their condolences. But if you look closely, you’ll notice something odd. Many of the messages were identical, as though they’re all just copying and pasting the same tweets from the last mass shooting. There seems to be a formula for how right-wing politicians are now responding to mass shootings on social media that goes something like this: I am [HORRIFIED, HEARTBROKEN, ETC] at the senseless tragedy in [LOCATION] today. We are [LIFTING THEM UP IN PRAYER, PRAYING FOR THEM] and thank the heroic efforts of [POLICE, FIRST RESPONDERS, ETC] on the scene. That’s it. No promise that laws will be passed to help stop these mass shootings from happening again; no recognition that the U.S. is the only wealthy country in the world where mass shootings happen frequently; no acknowledgement that children in other countries don’t have to participate in active shooter drills. The only thing politicians can muster is “thoughts and prayers” and “thank God for our cops.”
By ZEKE MILLER and CHRIS MEGERIAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lamenting a uniquely American tragedy, an anguished and angry President Joe Biden delivered an urgent call for new restrictions on firearms after a gunman shot and killed at least 19 children at a Texas elementary school. Biden spoke Tuesday night from the White House barely an hour after returning from a five-day trip to Asia that was bracketed by mass shootings in the U.S. He pleaded for action to address gun violence after years of failure — and bitterly blamed firearm manufacturers and their supporters for blocking legislation in Washington. ’“When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?” Biden said with emotion. “Why are we willing to live with this carnage? Why do we keep letting this happen?” With first lady Jill Biden standing by his side in the Roosevelt Room, the president, who has suffered the loss of two of his own children — though not to gun violence — spoke in visceral terms about the grief of the loved ones of the victims and the pain that will endure for the students who survived.
Giulia Carbonaro

Eighteen-year-old Salvador Ramos, who was named as the killer of the 19 children and two adults shot at a primary school in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday, bought two rifles on his 18th birthday, a Texas state senator said. State Senator Roland Gutierrez, who said he's in contact with local officials on the ground, said he was informed in a briefing by Texas Rangers that Ramos had bought two assault-style rifles from a store in Uvalde County earlier this month on his 18th birthday, the first day he could do so legally. ​​"It was the first thing that he did on his 18th birthday," Gutierrez said, as reported by NBC. "It's astounding to me." Texas legislation allows people who are 18 years old or older to to legally purchase long guns, including shotguns and rifles. Handguns can normally only be bought by people aged 21 years old or older, but a 2021 amendment to the Texas Government Code allows people who are 18 years old to be eligible for a handgun license if they meet all other requirements except the minimum age under federal law and are under protective orders related to family violence.
President demands gun reform, asking, ‘Where in God’s name is our backbone?’
Holly Bancroft, Namita Singh

A teenage gunman has murdered at least nineteen children and two teachers in a shooting at a Texas primary school only a week after another shooter killed ten people at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York. The gunman, who has been named as 18-year-old Salvador Ramos, was shot dead, apparently by police officers at the scene. One of the victims of the shooting has been named as fourth-grade teacher Eva Mireles. Her aunt said that she was “furious that these shootings continue” in a statement after the attack, adding: “These children are innocent. Rifles should not be easily available to all.” Five children who were killed in the attack have been named as Uziyah Garcia, 8, Xavier Javier Lopez, 10, Amerie Jo Garza, 10, Makenna Lee Elrod, 10, and Jose Flores, 10. Another teacher, Irma Garcia, has also been named by her family as a victim of the shooting. After the attack, Joe Biden urged Congress to end the “carnage” of gun violence in America, saying: “When in God’s name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?”
mloh@businessinsider.com (Matthew Loh)

A 7-year-old tweet on gun ownership by Texas Governor Greg Abbott has resurfaced in light of an elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday that left at least 19 children and two adults dead. "I'm EMBARRASSED: Texas #2 in nation for new gun purchases, behind CALIFORNIA. Let's pick up the pace Texans," Texas Governor Greg Abbott tweeted in October 2015, with a link to a blog article about Texas ordering 1 million guns that year. Critics of the Republican governor, who is running for a third term this year, have flooded the tweet with posts about the shooting at Robb Elementary School — the deadliest attack on an elementary school since Sandy Hook in 2012.
Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) "The anger that we're already feeling because of the tragedy, is only exacerbated when we find out that people are exploiting the generosity of great organizations," said Buffalo Council member. Ulysses Wingo of the Masten District. Donations intended for relief efforts in the Jefferson Avenue neighborhood have re-appeared on store shelves. "This is blatant," said Wingo. "It's happening right in front of our faces. They're taking the food that was intended to be consumed for free and they're going back to their stores and putting these items on their shelves." Wingo has received emails and messages from several people about such instances. He's asking people to take pictures or video when they see it and then submit it to his office. "The store's license will then be suspended by the Department of Permits and Inspections based on a hearing. If it's determined that food or donations were taken from a distribution center, their license will be revoked," said Wingo. It's not just food said the Council member. It's all types of products, including deodorant, soap, feminine products, diapers and paper products.
By Tom Boggioni | Raw Story

In a column for Slate, legal experts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern make the case that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his conservative gadfly wife Ginni are laying out a roadmap for Republicans to successfully steal the 2024 presidential election after Donald Trump failed to do so in 2020. Noting that there appears to be no appetite by the House Select Committee looking into the Capitol insurrection to call Ginni Thomas in to talk about her efforts to get election officials in Arizona to defy the will of the voters, the two analysts claim this will embolden conservatives by providing them with a path to future election interference. Writing, "there isseemingly nothing to be done about Justice Clarence Thomas’ refusal to recuse in cases that materially affect his spouse, even as he has already decided several matters surrounding the 2020 election … and also because that same spouse had written far more inflammatory, QAnon-style texts to Trump’s chief of staff urging him to set aside the 2020 contest, and nothing was done about that either," they added, "What’s past is prologue, and what was done sloppily in 2020 is being mapped out by experts for 2024."
Gary Craig, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

Afederal judge Monday sentenced a local white supremacist to eight years for illegal firearms possession, telling the man that he likely got the guns "as part of a racist agenda." The sentence for Stephen Pattison, a convicted felon who could not have guns, was less than the maximum sentence of 10 years sought by prosecutors but significantly over the sentence recommended by federal guidelines. The recommended sentence range, which judges do not have to follow if they find exceptional reasons not to do so, was 46 to 57 months. In the aftermath of racist and other violence, people often ask, "Were there warning signs, were there red flags?," U.S. District Judge David Larimer said Monday in sentencing Pattison. There are many "red flags" that could predict future violence from Pattison, Larimer said. Pattison, 33, had numerous racist social media postings, many in which he spoke of violence against Black people. While Pattison claimed he took illegal possession of a shotgun and rifle for his family to have — he was returning to prison for violating parole — prosecutors contended that it was evident from his social media that he was inclined to use the guns for racist-fueled violence.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson has pushed the racist “great replacement theory” on television more than 400 times. But after the conspiracy theory was cited by the Buffalo shooting suspect in his online manifesto, Carlson now insists that he does not know what the conspiracy is and that “the left” is responsible for pushing it. In this special report, MSNBC’s Ari Melber calls Carlson out for his hypocrisy, pointing to footage from Carlson’s own show as evidence, and highlights the double standard in his reporting of incidents of gun violence.
by Jacob Hess

Recent events including the Buffalo shootings and the leaked Supreme Court decision on abortion have rekindled conversation about “white nationalism” and “Christian nationalism.” It’s becoming more common to see all the words combined into “white Christian nationalism” and even used interchangeably with “white supremacy.”  In all this, it’s often taken for granted that people should know what’s being talked about, even though definitions are hardly ever given. What exactly is being referenced by these terms? And what’s the difference between a patriotic attachment to one’s country that is healthy and something else — and how do you know when you’ve shifted into that place? Millions of Americans have a deep love for their country, including many who are not religious.  And among people of faith, it’s a fairly common belief that God has blessed America throughout its history and used the country in ways that bless the world. Similar convictions have been shared by virtually every American president over the years, on both sides of the political spectrum. Yet there’s a growing sense in public discourse that the “blessings” in America’s past and present are actually worrisome “privilege” and that talk of American exceptionalism is inherently prideful, and a bad thing. In this narrative, America’s influence and wealth is ill-begotten, and more deserving of anguish and shame than gratitude.
insider@insider.com (Cheryl Teh)

While campaigning for congressman Mo Brooks in Alabama, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz appeared to mock other members of the GOP who have professed their "allegiance" to Trump in their primary races. Cruz showed up at a town hall event with Brooks on Monday, coming out strongly in support of the congressman in Brooks' Alabama Senate primary race.  "Here's my philosophy when it comes to Republican primaries. I support the strongest conservative who can win," Cruz said. "We're not tilting at windmills. We're fighting to save the country."  "Have you noticed in a Republican primary that every candidate in the primary comes before you and beats their chest?" Cruz said. "They say, 'I'm the most conservative soul that ever lived!' Just once, I'd love to see a Republican primary candidate stand up and say, you know, 'I'm a moderate establishment squish. I stand for nothing whatsoever,'" Cruz added. "That would at least be refreshingly candid and honest if they said that."  "And when it comes to Donald Trump, every Republican candidate on earth professes their allegiance to President Trump: 'I love Donald Trump! No, no, no, I love Donald Trump even more. No, no, I have Donald Trump tattooed on my rear end!'" Cruz joked.
jlahut@insider.com (Jake Lahut)

Fox News weekend host Howard Kurtz dedicated a segment on his Sunday show to defending colleague Tucker Carlson, marking the latest example of the network taking a top-down approach to backing its primetime star. Carlson, the face of the nation's most viewed cable news show, is again facing backlash and the heightened attention he's become accustomed to, this time following the May 14 Buffalo mass shooting and his well-documented echoing of white supremacist rhetoric and adjacent conspiracy theories, including the shooting suspect's self-professed embrace of the "great replacement" theory. "Now his comments on immigration and politics and those of anyone at this network are, of course, fair game for public debate," Kurtz said, with Mediaite first cataloging the segment. "But blaming him for the shooting is absurd. The latest case of a blood on your hands approach to finger pointing." Kurtz, who joined Fox News in 2013 after hosting "Reliable Sources" for CNN, dismissed comparisons to the suspect's online writings with Carlson's on-air rhetoric as "knee-jerk partisanship." He also compared Carlson to the late conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, falsely asserting that former President Bill Clinton blamed Limbaugh "in part" for the Oklahoma City bombing (Clinton only referred to "promoters of paranoia" and did not mention Limbaugh by name).
Robert P. Jones

In the wake of the massacre in Buffalo, we have all, naturally, tried to understand what could have caused someone to commit such a horrific act of violence. This young white man linked his motivations to fears about demographic and cultural changes in the U.S., dynamics that he believed were resulting in the replacement of “the white race.” The shooting has spurred a national discussion about the mainstreaming of these concerns, often summarized under the term “replacement theory.” Most of the attention has been given to the demographic component of this theory, while the cultural aspects have been overlooked. But the fear of cultural replacement has an unambiguous lineage that gives it specific content. At the center of the “great replacement” logic, there is—and has always been—a desperate desire to preserve some version of western European Christendom. Far too many contemporary analysts, and even the Department of Justice, have not seen clearly that the prize being protected is not just the racial composition of the country but the dominance of a racial and religious identity. If we fail to grasp the power of this ethno-religious appeal, we will misconstrue the nature of, and underestimate the power of, the threat before us.
Fatma Khaled

Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia recently complained about the focus on white supremacists and suggested that America should focus on other issues. "Jerrold Nadler was on the House floor and he was talking about white supremacy," she said during an appearance on Real America's Voice, Raw Story reported on Sunday. Greene was referring to Democratic New York Representative Jerrold Nadler's remarks on the House floor on May 18 where he called for a stricter response to hate crimes. "And he [Nadler] was bringing up the terrible shooting that happened in [Buffalo] New York, but totally ignoring the shooting that happened in California that I think involved an Asian man that was the shooter," she added in an apparent reference to the California church shooting in Laguna Woods last week that left one dead and 5 others injured. Authorities said that the suspect is an "Asian man in his 60s" who was later identified as David Wenwei Chou.
ydzhanova@businessinsider.com (Yelena Dzhanova)

A former correspondent with Fox News suggested on Saturday that law enforcement agencies will have to take action against Fox News and Tucker Carlson to "stop the lying." Carl Cameron, Fox's former chief political correspondent, told CNN's Jim Acosta that Carlson in particular has been "screaming fire in a crowded movie house for years."  "The fact of the matter is, if you disturb the peace by starting a riot in a movie theater, cops are going to arrest you and you might end up in jail or you might end up in something worse," Cameron said. "And that kind of stuff absolutely has to stop, whether it's the antitrust bill to take down and deplatform people who lie and put out falsehoods that cause damage and violent, violent hate — there ought to be something done about it," he continued. Cameron was referencing Carlson's remarks on the Buffalo shooting suspect from earlier this week. As Insider's Connor Perrett and Kieran Press-Reynolds reported, police say they found a document belonging to the Buffalo shooting suspect that was rife with conspiracy theories such as the white nationalist "replacement theory," which claims immigration by non-white people is an attempt to replace the white population in the US.
insider@insider.com (Cheryl Teh)

Former President Donald Trump this weekend re-shared a comment on Truth Social that appeared to predict or suggest a civil war in America in response to inflation. Trump re-posted a suggestion from a Truth Social user called "MAGA King Thanos," who commented on a screenshot of a tweet from El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele. In the tweet, Bukele wrote: "The most powerful country in the world is falling so fast, that it makes you rethink what are the real reasons. Something so big and powerful can't be destroyed so quickly, unless the enemy comes from within. Bukele's remarks came in response to a Bloomberg tweet on coping with inflation in the US if one earns under $300,000 a year. The post that Trump re-shared captured the Truth Social user's comment on Bukele's tweet, which read "Civil war."
Ewan Palmer

Donald Trump has been widely criticized for sharing a Truth Social post that read "Civil war." The former president set up the social media site after he was banned from mainstream platforms in the wake of the January 6 attack over fears he would incite further violence. The civil war comment, written by user "MAGA King Thanos," was in response to a screenshot of a March 20 tweet by El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, which was shared by former CBS News correspondent turned right-wing conspiracy theorist Lara Logan. In the tweet, Bukele wrote: "The most powerful country in the world is falling so fast, that it makes you rethink what are the real reasons. Something so big and powerful can't be destroyed so quickly, unless the enemy comes from within." Bukele's tweet cited a Bloomberg op-ed headlined "Inflation Stings Most If You Earn Less Than $300K. Here's How to Deal." In response to Trump's repost, the anti-Trump political group MeidasTouch tweeted: "The disgraced, twice-impeached former president just shared a post from another user on his social media platform calling for Civil War. This is beyond dangerous." Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of the most vocal critics of the former president in the GOP, also condemned Trump for appearing to advocate for civil war in the U.S. "Any of my fellow Republicans wanna speak out now? Or are we just wanting to get through 'just one more election first...? Kinzinger tweeted.
Jeremy Herb

While Donald Trump has maintained a laser focus this primary season on ousting those Republicans who crossed him over the 2020 election – especially in Georgia on Tuesday – the Republican effort to elevate proponents of dubious election fraud allegations in the government runs deeper than the former President. Emails obtained by CNN reveal how the push extended to a federal election advisory board and resulted in the 2021 appointment of one of Trump’s legal advisers who helped his failed efforts to pressure Georgia officials into overturning the state’s election results. The emails, obtained by CNN through a Freedom of Information Act request, show conservatives were working even before the 2020 election to gain a seat for an ally on the advisory board of the Election Assistance Commission, an independent government agency that provides voluntary election guidelines for states. The story of how Cleta Mitchell – the legal adviser who took part in Trump’s phone call where he asked Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough votes for him to win – was appointed to that board underscores how a core faction of Republicans has focused on pushing unsupported claims of widespread voter fraud even before Trump convinced much of the Republican Party to buy into his election lies that the 2020 election had been stolen.
Zeleb.es

George W. Bush is back! Or at least his gaffes have returned. The former President of the United States shocked a Dallas audience on May 18 by accidentally ‘admitting’ the faults of the Iraqi invasion.
Did Biden hurt Elon Musk feelings because he did not speak about Tesla. S

insider@insider.com (John L. Dorman)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk in a series of tweets last week claimed the Biden administration "has done everything it can" to "ignore" the automotive and clean energy company while also railing against the Democratic party. During an exchange with Pod Save America cohost Jon Favreau, who served as the director of speechwriting for former President Barack Obama, Musk responded to the Democratic commentator's criticism of his switch from backing Democrats to supporting the GOP. Musk initially opined on Wednesday that Democrats used to represent "kindness," but said they no longer held that mantle. "In the past I voted Democrat, because they were (mostly) the kindness party," he tweeted. "But they have become the party of division & hate, so I can no longer support them and will vote Republican. Now, watch their dirty tricks campaign against me unfold." Favreau on Friday took issue with Musk's characterization and issued a sharp rebuke to the businessman over his political change of heart. "Hey man, if you want to support a bunch of electric vehicle-hating climate deniers, that's on you," he wrote. "Not sure it helps the cause that you and your team have dedicated much of your lives to, but I guess you'll get some attention on Twitter, so there's that!"
John L. Dorman

Thomas Barrack, a billionaire private equity investor who chaired former president Donald Trump's 2017 inaugural committee, altered the official GOP platform for the 2016 Republican National Convention in an effort to minimize connections between the Saudi Royal Family and the 9/11 hijackers, according to The Daily Beast. The Department of Justice updated its indictment against Barrack — who in July 2021 was arrested and charged with illegal lobbying, obstruction of justice, and lying to the FBI — to reveal the extent of his role at the party's convention, which was held in Cleveland that year. Barrack was released shortly after his arrest last year on a $250 million bond. The revised indictment revealed that an individual listed as "Person-1" sent an email to Barrack to alter the Republican messaging at the convention. "We need to talk about language for me to put in [the national political party] platform at national convention. Can be much more expansive than what we did in speech," said the individual. "Platform language [should be] based on what you hear from your friends."
by Joan McCarter, Daily Kos Staff

The highest ranking Republican official in U.S. government, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, repeatedly refused to denounce “replacement theory” in a press conference Tuesday afternoon. That puts him in company with New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the third in command among House Republicans who seems to be an adherent of the white nationalist conspiracy theory. The slaughter of 10 Black Americans in Buffalo by a white nationalist terrorist and the reaction to that carnage clarifies a whole hell of a lot about the Republican Party of 2022 and the individual members of it. Especially McConnell, who controls half of the Senate and is the one person with the most power to turn the white supremacist GOP ship around. He won’t do it. Asked repeatedly Tuesday about his responsibility as a party leader to condemn the theory, he refused, dancing around the question instead by calling the shooter a “deranged young man,” refusing to acknowledge the motivation behind the massacre. The most he would do is condemn generic racism. “Look—racism of any sort is abhorrent in America and ought to be stood up to by everybody, both Republicans, Democrats, all Americans,” McConnell said.
The Justice Department just dropped a bombshell allegation against billionaire developer and former Republican National Committee finance chair Steve Wynn.
By Casey Michel, author of "American Kleptocracy"

Earlier last week, the Justice Department dropped a bombshell allegation against one of the key figures in former President Donald Trump’s circle. According to the Justice Department, billionaire developer Steve Wynn — a man who has known Trump for years and who served as the finance chair of the Republican National Committee during Trump’s first year in office — also worked as a foreign agent on behalf of the Chinese government. As such, the Justice Department is seeking to have Wynn register as a foreign agent. According to a lawsuit filed by the Justice Department, Wynn used his perch to liaise with other foreign agents working on behalf of China to try to convince Trump to target an unnamed Chinese dissident, including by revoking the dissident’s visa and placing him on the U.S.’s no-fly list. Wynn’s primary contact in the operation was Trump fundraiser Elliott Broidy, who pleaded guilty in 2020 to working as an unregistered agent on behalf of China — and who at one time served under Wynn as the RNC’s deputy finance chair. (Wynn stepped down as RNC finance chair in 2018 following sexual misconduct claims.) The lawsuit goes into granular detail, highlighting, for instance, multiple text messages between Broidy and Wynn’s wife it says were sent on her husband’s behalf. The fate of the unnamed dissident was a “matter of upmost importance” to Chinese President Xi Jinping, Broidy says in the texts. Wynn also spoke directly multiple times with then-vice minister Sun Lijun on the matter, with the now-former Chinese official asking directly for Wynn’s help. Broidy later texted that Sun was “extremely pleased and said that President Xi Jinping appreciates [Wynn’s] assistance.”
Opinion by Savannah Morning News

"Another 10 law-abiding, innocent civilians enjoying life just shopping killed by a right-wing, white supremest lunatic because of his learned racist behavior. Where are all of the good guys with guns?" "When it appears that everything wrong is what defines our world today, then senseless gun violence becomes a way of our letting off steam, hate or lust." "If you are not a Native American, you are an immigrant!" "I hope Herschel Walker wins the Georgia Primary next Tuesday. I would like it if in the next 20 years he ran for the Senate or Vice Presidency" "Please bring back Palmer's to Wilmington Island" "Tucker Carlson is no different than Charles Manson!" "That was an interesting story about refilling plastic containers. Any suggestions for what to do with plastic coffee containers (not k-cups) and prescription bottles?"
Jennifer De Pinto, Fred Backus, and Kabir Khanna

With midterm primaries helping set the direction for the Democratic and Republican parties, most Americans, including many of the parties' own voters, aren't terribly happy with the parties or what they're talking about. Given that Sunday's CBS News poll finds most aren't happy with the direction of the country either, the major political parties aren't providing much solace. For starters, the Democratic Party — which controls Congress and the presidency — is not seen by a majority as either "effective" or "in touch," which are, no doubt, important measures for a party in power. The Democratic Party is more apt to be described as "weak," a label applied by a slight majority of Americans, than it is "strong." The Republican Party, for its part, is described by a slight majority as "extreme," a term Americans apply to the GOP more so than to Democrats, though neither really escapes the label. Independents are more likely to call the GOP extreme. The GOP is described as "strong" more often than as "weak," but it is also described by Americans more often as "hateful" than as "caring" — by double digits.
salarshani@businessinsider.com (Sarah Al-Arshani)

Republican senators are trying to block legislation that passed in the House that would give more government resources towards preventing domestic terrorism following a fatal shooting at a Buffalo supermarket, the Hill reported. On Wednesday, the House narrowly passed the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022 mostly along party lines, with a 222-203 vote. The legislation would create offices at the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice and the FBI that would track and investigate domestic terrorism threats. The passage in the House came days after a gunman opened fire at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, killing 10 people. Authorities said the suspect, an 18 year-old white man, drove hours to the predominantly black community and was motivated by hate. The suspect is allegedly a white nationalist who believes in the replacement theory, according to a manifesto posted online.
Emma Roth

Larry Ellison, one of the world’s richest people and co-founder of the Oracle software company, was involved in a November 2020 call to develop plans to contest the results of the US presidential election, according to a report from The Washington Post. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Fox News host Sean Hannity, Donald Trump’s attorney Jay Sekulow, and True the Vote attorney James Bopp Jr., also participated in the call. As reported by the Post, details of the call surfaced in a court filing associated with a legal battle between True the Vote, a nonprofit organization that promotes baseless claims about election fraud, and Fair Fight, a voting rights organization led by Georgia politician Stacey Abrams. Last year, Fair Fight filed a complaint against True the Vote, alleging the group attacked voter eligibility in Georgia.
Jim Acosta

Aformer aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows “covered new ground” this week in her deposition before the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, a source familiar with the meeting said. Cassidy Hutchinson was subpoenaed to appear in front of the committee on Tuesday. It was her third session answering the panel’s questions. The source familiar with Hutchinson’s deposition declined to offer many details about the meeting to avoid getting ahead of the committee’s findings from its investigation into the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. But the source said Hutchinson spent time going over “new ground” during the session.
mjankowicz@businessinsider.com (Mia Jankowicz)

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy said that the state's poor maternal mortality rate is only an "outlier" because of the high proportion of Black women in the state, according to Politico. Cassidy's comment was featured in Politico's in-depth exploration of Louisiana's maternal death rates, which are among the worst in the country. The state ranks 47 out of 48 states assessed for maternal deaths, state officials said. Cassidy told the outlet that this is partly because "about a third of our population is African American; African Americans have a higher incidence of maternal mortality. "So, if you correct our population for race, we're not as much of an outlier as it'd otherwise appear." He continued: "Now, I say that not to minimize the issue but to focus the issue as to where it would be. For whatever reason, people of color have a higher incidence of maternal mortality." Overall, according to Louisiana's Department of Health, "four black mothers die for every white mother" in the state. It outpaces a three-to-one ratio nationwide, which is already the worst in the developed world, Politico reported.
By Alex Lang | Knewz

New York (Knewz) — A former pastor and basketball coach had sex with a teen he was supposed to be taking to vacation bible school and now faces life in prison. This week, Joshua Henley, 33, pleaded guilty in a federal court in Tennessee to charges that he produced child porn, took a minor across interstate lines with the intent to engage in sexual activity and other charges. Investigators said in 2018, Henley was the pastor at Holladay Church of Christ in Benton County, Tennessee. He also coached an elementary school’s girl’s basketball team. In April 2021, the pastor took a job at a church in Indiana. Then in June, he drove to Tennessee to pick up a teen and took her back to Indiana so she could help at the vacation bible school, according to federal prosecutors. While in Indiana, Henley had sex with the girl who had just turned 15 years old.
David Covucci

The Daily Dot has obtained a radio interview from Jan. 6, 2021, from WBHF in Cartersville, Georgia, in which Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) says, “about a dozen” people were present in his congressional office in Washington, D.C. the day before the Capitol riot. Yesterday, Loudermilk said in a statement that “a constituent family” visited him the day before the Capitol riot. That is an updated version of a previous statement by Republicans on the Committee On House Administration—which Loudermilk is a member of—that originally stated “there were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on" given by him or other Republicans in advance of the Capitol riot. But in the interview—given as the riot was winding down—Loudermilk made it clear that he met with people who were planning to protest on Jan. 6, and that he discussed how they wanted to be in the crowd that day to protest the results of the 2020 election. Yesterday, the January 6th Select Committee sent a letter to Loudermilk, requesting his testimony. In the letter, they noted that “Republicans on the Committee on House Administration ... claimed to have reviewed security footage from the days preceding January 6th and determined that '[t]here were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on.' However, the Select Committee’s review of evidence directly contradicts that denial.” Loudermilk, as has become the norm for the GOP, has repeatedly downplayed his party’s involvement in the day.
By BRIAN SLODYSKO, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Herschel Walker, the football legend and leading Republican Senate candidate in Georgia, often boasts of his work helping service members and veterans struggling with mental health. In interviews and campaign appearances, the former Dallas Cowboy and Heisman Trophy winner takes credit for founding, co-founding and sometimes operating a program called Patriot Support. The program, he says, has taken him to military bases all over the world. “About fifteen years ago, I started a program called Patriot Support,” Walker said in an interview with conservative commentator Hugh Hewitt last October. “People need to know I started a military program, a military program that treats (thousands) of soldiers a year,” he told Savannah TV station WTGS in February. But corporate documents, court records and Senate disclosures reviewed by The Associated Press tell a more complicated story. Together they present a portrait of a celebrity spokesman who overstated his role in a for-profit program that is alleged to have preyed upon veterans and service members while defrauding the government.
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