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Kellyanne Conway house visited by police after nude picture of daughter seems on Twitter

Kellyanne Conway home visited by police after nude photo of daughter appears on Twitter

White House Advisor Kellyanne Conway speaks to reporters at the White House in Washington, United States on August 6, 2020.

Cheriss May | Reuters

New Jersey police reportedly visited the home of former Trump White House adviser Kellyanne Conway on Tuesday, the day after her 16-year-old daughter Claudia complained on social media about a topless photo of her that was briefly appeared on her mother’s Twitter account.

“I have no comment,” Kellyanne Conway told CNBC when asked about the police visit and how a photo of her daughter was posted on Twitter Fleet.

The New Jersey Department of Children and Families “is also investigating any concerns related to the incident” involving the Conway family, who live in the town of Alpine, Buzzfeed News reported Tuesday.

DCF informed CNBC that due to confidentiality rules, no pending or other investigations could be confirmed.

The New York Post reported Tuesday that four officers from the Bergen District Attorney’s Office and Alpine Police visited Conway’s home and spent an hour inside before leaving. The Post article contained a photo of the police at home.

Christopher Belcolle, Police Chief of the Alps, told the Post: “An investigation is underway. No additional information can be released.”

Belcolle did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.

In a statement to NBC News, Bergen County’s Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Rebein said, “We are unable to provide details, but we can confirm that the matter has been referred to our office and that every member of the Conway family has been unreservedly throughout the investigation was cooperative. “

Claudia Conway is a prolific user of the TikTok social media app, where she documented complaints and disputes with her mother.

Kellyanne Conway, who helped lead former President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, served as senior adviser to the White House until August when she resigned. Conway said she wanted to spend more time with her children.

“At the moment and for my beloved children, it will be less drama, more mom,” she said in a statement at the time.

The resignation came after public attention to Claudia Conway’s complaints about Kellyanne and her father George Conway, a Republican attorney who is a staunch Trump critic.

On Monday, Claudia spoke in a TikTok video about a topless photo of herself that was reportedly posted by Kellyanne Conway’s account as Twitter Fleet. Twitter fleets are usually deleted after 24 hours.

The photo was reportedly quickly deleted long before it normally would have been.

A Twitter spokesperson told CNBC, “Through technology and human review, we will proactively remove any images that violate Twitter rules.”

Twitter earlier this month put Trump’s account on hold, saying his tweets risked further violence after thousands of his supporters invaded the U.S. Capitol to overthrow Joe Biden’s election as president.

Claudia Conway warned Kellyanne Conway in the TikTok video on Monday before the photo that she, Kellyanne, could go to jail.

But Claudia said in other TikTok videos posted on Tuesday that she believed her mother’s account had been hacked and that she regretted posting the TikTok video that targeted Kellyanne.

She said she didn’t think her mom posted the picture.

Claudia also said she would take a break from social media to work on her relationship with her mother and the rest of her family.

George Conway tweeted one of his daughter’s videos on Tuesday morning.

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Politics

A person with a gun arrested by Capitol Police at a safety checkpoint calls it an ‘sincere mistake.’

A man with a gun arrested by Capitol Police at a security checkpoint calls it an ‘honest mistake.’

The US Capitol Police arrested a man at a security checkpoint in Washington on Friday after he flashed a personal identification card that an officer had labeled “unauthorized” and found an unregistered pistol and ammunition during a search of his truck.

A federal police officer said the man, Wesley A. Beeler, 31, was a contractor and that his ID was issued by the park police but not recognized by the police officer. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to discuss the arrest. Mr. Beeler has no known extremist relationships, the official said.

“It was an honest mistake,” Beeler told the Washington Post after he was charged with illegal possession of a firearm and released on Saturday afternoon. He said he did a security job in Washington, was late for work and forgot his gun was in his truck.

“I drove to a checkpoint after getting lost in DC because I’m a compatriot,” he told the Post. “I showed you the initiation badge that was given to me.”

The arrest comes after police officers tried to fortify Washington ahead of the inauguration day on Wednesday, fearing extremists encouraged by President Trump’s supporters’ attack on the Capitol on January 6, may attempt violence cause. A militarized “green zone” is being established in the city center, members of the National Guard are flooding the city, and a metal fence is being erected around the Capitol grounds prior to the swearing-in of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Mr. Beeler of Front Royal, Virginia, drove to a security checkpoint less than half a mile from the Capitol compound on Friday evening and produced “an unauthorized personal induction badge” according to a statement from a Capitol police officer filed in a District court of Columbia on Saturday. The officer, Roger Dupont, said he checked the ID against a list and found that Mr Beeler was not allowed to enter the restricted area.

Officers searched his truck, which had several weapon-related bumper stickers, and found a loaded Glock pistol, 509 cartridges for the pistol, and 21 shotgun shells, police said. Mr Beeler had admitted having the Glock in the center console of the truck when asked if there were guns in the car, they said.

Mr. Beeler has been charged with five crimes, including possession of a gun and ammunition in Washington without proper registration. He and his lawyer did not respond to requests for comment on Saturday, but in his interview with The Post, Mr Beeler denied having 500 rounds of ammunition.

In an interview, Paul Beeler said Mr Beeler’s father, his son, a father of four, had been doing security near the Capitol grounds for the past few days and had other security duties in Washington over the years. Mr. Beeler has an active private security license in Virginia and is licensed to carry firearms while in use there, according to a state website.

“He was proud of the work he did with the police and the National Guard,” said his father. When asked if he believed his son would support a peaceful transfer of power, he said, “That’s why he’s there.”

The elder Beeler said he became concerned when his son didn’t return text messages on Friday night and called him Saturday morning thinking his son would be returning to Virginia after his shift. He and his wife discovered that Mr Beeler had been arrested when they received a call from a reporter, he said.

Police officials said they were alarmed by the chatter from far-right groups and other racist extremists threatening to target the nation’s capital to protest Mr Biden’s election victory. Federal authorities tried to prevent some people who violated the Capitol with weapons earlier this month from returning to the city, including by restricting their ability to board commercial aircraft, according to an administrative official.

For security reasons, Mr Biden has resisted requests to move the inauguration ceremony inside. His inauguration committee had already planned a reduced celebration with virtual components because of the corona virus.

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Business

Home terrorism has outdated the specter of worldwide terrorism, warns ex-NYC police commissioner

Domestic terrorism has superseded the threat of international terrorism, warns ex-NYC police commissioner

Former New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton warned CNBC’s The News with Shepard Smith that domestic terrorism has superseded the threat of international terrorism in the United States.

“For the past 20 years our greatest concern has been international terrorism – ISIS, Al-Qaeda,” Bratton said in an interview on Friday evening. “Now it is here, and it is us, and it is the citizens of the United States, some of whom are rebelling against everything we have believed in for the past 300 to 400 years.”

Former Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism officer Nate Snyder reiterated Bratton’s views on The News with Shepard Smith.

“When you talk about the lethality of the threat, domestic terrorism – that is, violent white supremacists, neo-Nazis, sovereign citizens, militia movements – has been the deadliest threat in the last decade compared to Al Qaeda and ISIS-inspired threats,” said Snyder.

State capitals across the country are at risk of violence in the days leading up to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration. FBI Director Christopher Wray urged state officials to take any extremist threat seriously during an inauguration safety briefing on Friday at FEMA headquarters.

“If we discover that a person poses a violent threat, we and our partners will use every legitimate authority and method to interrupt any attempt or attack,” Wray said. “Our attitude is aggressive; It will stay that way with the initiation. “

Wray said the agency was following “extensive” online chatter, including calls for armed protests. Some internet extremists have ignored President Trump’s call for peace, citing the fact that, according to Politico, he has still not officially admitted. There are also some extremists on the Telegram instant messaging platform who, according to the Washington Post, are calling for surprise attacks across the country.

Bratton told host Shepard Smith that it was “much, much more difficult” to fight domestic terrorism and that the US lacks the “tools to fight domestic terrorism” as it does in fighting international terrorism is. Snyder criticized the detrimental impact of the Trump administration’s policies on weakening the country’s ability to counter threats posed by neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and sovereign citizens.

“Unfortunately, during this administration, there has been a systematic atrophy of these efforts, not just from my previous office, but also from analysts in the department’s intelligence and analysis department who would focus primarily on tracking these threats,” said Snyder.

The National Park Service has closed the National Mall due to widespread safety concerns. The Army confirmed Friday that up to 25,000 National Guard troops will be in DC to ensure safety for Biden’s inauguration. That’s roughly five times the number of troops the US currently has in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Bratton said there should be more transparency when it comes to law enforcement providing information to U.S. citizens to keep them informed and keep them safe.

“I hope that after January 20th we will return to a situation where we can become more transparent and open and where American law enforcement can be where they need to be, on these podiums rather than with you speak some of us, ex-law enforcement officers, “Bratton said.

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Politics

Ex-firefighter Robert Sanford charged for assaulting police

Ex-firefighter Robert Sanford charged for assaulting police

A general view of Lehigh County Jail where retired firefighter Robert Sanford was due to appear before a federal judge on January 14, 2021 in Allentown, Pennsylvania in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Mark Makela | Reuters

A retired Pennsylvania firefighter was arrested and charged Thursday with crimes related to the January 6th Capitol riot in which he allegedly hurled a fire extinguisher that hit three Capitol police officers in the head.

55-year-old Robert Sanford was identified by a friend in a widespread video as the man who threw the fire extinguisher into a group of police officers surrounded by supporters of a ferocious mob President Donald Trump outside the Capitol.

The cops hit in the head did not include cop Brian Sicknick, who died a day after being hit by rioters.

The friend told the FBI Tuesday that Sanford, who recently retired from the Chester Fire Department, had told him that he was wanted as an attacker on the video, according to a document released by the US Attorney’s Office in Washington.

Sanford had also told his friend that he had traveled to Washington DC with a group of people on a bus to attend a January 6 rally on The Ellipse where President Donald Trump spoke and urged supporters to join him at his Efforts to help reverse Joe Biden’s presidential election victory, the document reads.

The group, including Sanford, “then followed the president’s instructions and went to the Capitol,” the document says.

At that time, Congress held a joint session to confirm Biden’s election as president.

Sanford, who lives in Boothwyn, Pennsylvania, has been charged with knowingly entering or staying in a restricted building or compound without legitimate authority to attack disorderly or disruptive behavior for reasons of the Capitol, civil disorder and certain officials, resistance to perform or hinder them while they are employed in the city fulfillment of official duties.

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Politics

Inaugural Safety Is Fortified in D.C. as Army and Police Hyperlinks Are Eyed in Riot

Inaugural Security Is Fortified in D.C. as Military and Police Links Are Eyed in Riot

The arrest of Mr. Sanford had nothing to do with the death of a Capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick, who was reportedly hit in the head by a fire extinguisher, according to two police officers.

Later that day, the charges against a man accused of beating a police officer on the Capitol grounds with an American flagpole were overturned. According to a criminal complaint, the man, Peter Stager, alleged that the victim of the attack was a member of Antifa, the loose collective of left-wing activists who have often grappled with far-right demonstrators, even though the words “Metropolitan Police” were clearly written on the officer’s uniform.

“Everyone there is a traitorous traitor,” Stager said in an apparent reference to the Capitol, according to a video obtained from the FBI. “Death is the only remedy against what is in this building.”

Even as they pursued new leads and suspects, federal investigators tried to investigate a fire charge brought up by several lawmakers this week: some members of Congress helped coordinate the attack.

On Wednesday, Representative Mikie Sherrill, a New Jersey Democrat and former naval pilot, and more than 30 of her colleagues called for an investigation into what they called “suspicious” visits by outside groups to the Capitol the day before the riot at a time when most Tours were restricted due to the coronavirus pandemic. On Thursday, another lawmaker, Representative Mary Gay Scanlon, Democrat of Pennsylvania, said she witnessed a tour of the building in person by “Trump supporters” prior to the January 6 attack.

A police officer said investigators had not yet found evidence that members of Congress were involved in planning the attack and warned that the investigation was extensive and that any evidence would need to be carefully checked.

The spate of arrests and investigations added an air of nervous activity to a city that appeared to be under siege. The National Mall area was overcrowded with military vehicles on Thursday and cut off from the surrounding area by metal fences. This created what the secret service agent responsible for opening security called a “safe bubble”.

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Business

Hong Kong Web site Doxxing Police Will get Blocked, Elevating Censorship Fears

Hong Kong Website Doxxing Police Gets Blocked, Raising Censorship Fears

With an Internet provider, China Mobile Hong Kong, the separation – a kind of drop action – indicates a direct involvement of the telecommunications company. “A drop action is a specially configured element of a DNS firewall environment,” April said. “This is not something that the owner could have intentionally or accidentally configured.”

China Mobile Hong Kong, a branch of China Mobile, the state-owned Chinese company, declined to comment. Two other companies tested by The Times, SmarTone and Hutchison Telecommunications, which are controlled by local conglomerates, did not respond to requests for comment sent via email.

Users from PCCW, another local operator, told The Times that their access to the site was also blocked. A spokesman declined to comment.

While site blocking may at first glance be similar to mainland China censorship, the methods are very different from China’s sophisticated system.

At China Mobile, SmarTone and Hutchison, the process of associating a website address with the series of numbers a computer uses to look up has been interrupted. The practice would be like listing an incorrect number under someone’s name in a phone book. If you know the correct number for that person, you can still call them.

On the Chinese mainland, on the other hand, the hardware of the Great Firewall – as Beijing’s system of filters and blocks is known – actively separates connections. In the phonebook comparison, the call would not be forwarded even if you had the correct phone number.

The blockades in Hong Kong are “very easy to bypass and clumsy,” said Professor Tsui. Still, he said, authorities may not want to control the internet as tightly as Beijing for fear of deterring the global banks and international corporations that have made the city their Asian headquarters.

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Business

Hong Kong Web site Doxxing Police Will get Blocked, Elevating Censorship Fears

Hong Kong Website Doxxing Police Gets Blocked, Raising Censorship Fears

With an Internet provider, China Mobile Hong Kong, the separation – a kind of drop action – indicates a direct involvement of the telecommunications company. “A drop action is a specially configured element of a DNS firewall environment,” April said. “This is not something that the owner could have intentionally or accidentally configured.”

China Mobile Hong Kong, a branch of China Mobile, the state-owned Chinese company, declined to comment. Two other companies tested by the Times, SmarTone and Hutchison Telecommunications, which are controlled by local conglomerates, did not respond to requests for comment sent via email.

Users from PCCW, another local operator, told The Times that their access to the site was also blocked. A spokesman declined to comment.

While site blocking may at first glance be similar to mainland China censorship, the methods are very different from China’s sophisticated system.

At China Mobile, SmarTone and Hutchison, the process of associating a website address with the series of numbers a computer uses to look up has been interrupted. The practice would be like listing an incorrect number under someone’s name in a phone book. If you know the correct number for that person, you can still call them.

On the Chinese mainland, on the other hand, the hardware of the Great Firewall – as Beijing’s system of filters and blocks is known – actively separates connections. In the phonebook comparison, the call would not be forwarded even if you had the correct phone number.

The blockades in Hong Kong are “very easy to bypass and clumsy,” said Professor Tsui. Still, he said, authorities may not want to control the internet as tightly as Beijing for fear of deterring the global banks and international corporations that have made the city their Asian headquarters.

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Politics

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick Dies from Accidents in Professional-Trump Riot

Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick Dies from Injuries in Pro-Trump Riot

A US Capitol police officer died Thursday evening from injuries sustained “during the physical confrontation” with pro-Trump rioters who descended on the US Capitol the day before the authorities.

The officer, Brian D. Sicknick, was only the fourth member of the force to be killed on duty since it was founded two centuries ago. After the chaos of Wednesday’s siege and the accusations that filled the waves in the air the next day, there was silence on the Capitol grounds late Thursday as hundreds of police officers from numerous agencies lined the streets to pay tribute to their fallen comrade.

But the loss of life also underscored the failure of law enforcement to prevent the siege of the Capitol. And with the leaders of both political parties calling for an investigation, it seemed likely to lead to calls for profound changes to the Capitol Police.

The circumstances surrounding Mr. Sicknick’s death were not immediately clear, and Capitol Police said only that he “died of on-duty injuries”. At some point in the chaos – when the mob raged through the halls of Congress while lawmakers were forced to hide under their desks – he was hit by a fire extinguisher, according to two police officers.

“He went back to his department office and collapsed,” the Capitol Police said in the statement. “He was taken to a local hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.”

Mr. Sicknick, who joined the force in 2008, died on Thursday around 9:30 p.m., Capitol Police said in a statement. The Washington Police Department Homicide is one of several law enforcement agencies involved in an investigation into his death and the general circumstances surrounding the violence in the Capitol.

The officer’s death brings Wednesday’s deaths from Mayhem to five. One participant in the pro-Trump rampage, Ashli ​​Babbitt, was fatally shot and killed by a Capitol police officer inside the building while climbing through a broken window into the speaker’s lobby. Three other people died after allegedly experiencing medical emergencies in the Capitol area, police said.

It was unclear where Mr. Sicknick’s encounter with the rioters took place, but photos and a video posted by a local reporter on the night of the mayhem showed a man spraying a fire extinguisher outside the Senate Chamber, leaving a small number of Police officers enter the area on a nearby staircase.

Legislators in both chambers and by both parties promised to find out how those responsible for the security of the Capitol had allowed a violent mob to enter the building. The House Democrats announced a “robust” investigation into the law enforcement collapse.

Three of the leading security officials in Congress – Steven A. Sund, Capitol Police Chief, Sergeant Paul D. Irving, and Sergeant Michael C. Stenger – announced their resignation Thursday.

The NCOs are responsible for the security in the chambers and the associated office buildings, while Mr. Sund supervised around 2,000 employees of the Capitol Police – a force that is larger than that of many small towns.

Earlier on Friday, Ohio Representative Tim Ryan, a Democrat who heads the Home Funds Subcommittee that oversees the Capitol Police’s budget, expressed grief over the death of Mr. Sicknick in a Twitter post.

“This tragic loss is a reminder of the bravery of the law enforcement officers who protect us every day,” wrote Ryan.

The transition of the president

Updated

Jan. 8, 2021, 9:50 a.m. ET

Representative Rosa DeLauro, a Connecticut Democrat who chaired the House Appropriations Committee that opened a law enforcement review to the Capitol riot, said her “heart breaks at senseless death.”

“To honor his memory, we must ensure that the mob that attacked the People’s House and those who instigated them are brought to justice,” she said on Twitter.

Hundreds of police and rescue workers lined the streets by the Capitol for a moment of silence to honor Mr. Sicknick on Thursday evening. They stood in lines on Constitution Avenue and 3rd Street, saluting in silence as a police car drove through town for Mr. Sicknick, according to videos from local reporters.

Police said in their own statement that “the entire USCP division expresses its deepest condolences to the family and friends of Officer Sicknick for their loss and mourns the loss of a friend and colleague.”

Officials said around 50 police officers were injured when the mob flooded barricades, threw objects, smashed doors, broke windows and overpowered some of the police officers who tried to withstand the advancing crowd.

Capitol Police reported 14 arrests during the raid, including two people alleged to have assaulted a police officer. Local police arrested dozens of other people, mainly related to illegal entry and violations of the city’s curfew on Wednesday evening.

The Capitol Police are solely responsible for protecting the Capitol and the surrounding area.

Over the course of two centuries, the force has evolved and its mission has shifted and grown with the nature of the threats to the institution.

One event that had one of the most profound effects on the armed forces occurred on March 1, 1954, when Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire from the visitors’ gallery on lawmakers below and wounded five. Shortly afterwards, the police were issued weapons for the first time.

Exactly 17 years later, on March 1, 1971, an explosion broke through a toilet on the ground floor of the Senate wing. The Weather Underground, a militant left-wing group that carried out a series of bomb attacks in the late 1960s and 1970s, took responsibility. The incident resulted in all visitors having to be checked for weapons and explosives.

The first recorded death of a member of the armed forces was in 1984 when Sgt. Christopher Eney, 37, was killed during a training drill.

The last time a Capitol police officer was killed on duty was in the summer of 1998 when police officer Jacob J. Chestnut and Detective John Gibson of Russell Eugene Weston Jr., a man tormented by visions of an oppressive covenant, Government were fatally shot.

Mr. Weston, shot and injured in the incident, stormed into the heart of the nation for law and order. It all happened in a matter of minutes and reached its bloody conclusion when it reached the majority whip office complex on the first floor.

A fourth person, Angela Dickerson, 24, a tourist, was injured but recovered.

President Bill Clinton called the shooting at the eastern front entrance to the nation’s legislative forum “a moment of ferocity on the doorstep of American civilization”.

Legislators of both parties said at the time that they were hoping the bloodshed would allow a moment for reflection when partisan divisions could begin to heal.

Two decades later, the fourth Capitol Police officer in history was killed.

Emily Cochrane and Katie Benner contributed to the coverage.

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World News

Greater than 50 cops have been harm at pro-Trump riot that additionally killed 4

More than 50 police officers were hurt at pro-Trump riot that also killed 4

At least 50 police officers were injured in the Capitol riot, which also killed four after supporters of President Donald Trump broke into the building to prevent the confirmation of Joe Biden’s election victory.

One woman was shot dead by a police officer while another woman and two men died of “medical emergencies,” police said. Authorities later identified the woman who was shot as Ashli ​​Babbitt, who was described in media reports as a pro-Trump, 35-year-old California native, and an Air Force veteran.

“When protesters forced their way to the House of Representatives Chamber, where members of Congress were seeking refuge, a sworn USCP official fired his service weapon and hit a grown woman,” said Steven Sund, police chief of the US Capitol, in a statement on Thursday. “Medical assistance was immediately provided and the woman was taken to the hospital, where she later succumbed to her injuries.”

The officer was put on administrative leave pending investigation based on Capitol Police guidelines, he said.

Robert Contee, chief of the city police, said investigators were trying to establish details of the other three deaths.

“This is a tragic incident and I would like to express my condolences to the families and friends of the victims,” ​​said Contee.

Sund said more than 50 officers from his squad and DC police were injured, and several were hospitalized.

More than an hour after the riots began on Wednesday, Trump urged his supporters to remain peaceful, claiming that “WE are the party for law and order”. He later showed sympathy for the rioters.

Police had responded to violent incidents across the Capitol complex, including two reports of pipe bombs classified as dangerous and harmful, Sund said. The devices were deactivated and handed over to the FBI.

When rioters tried to force their way into the chamber of the house, a Capitol cop fired her gun and hit Babbitt, Sund said. She was taken to a hospital where she died, he said.

The officer who shot her has been put on administrative leave pending an investigation, according to the department’s guidelines, the chief said.

“The violent attack on the US Capitol was unlike any I have seen in my 30 years in law enforcement here in Washington, DC,” said Sund. “The USCP had a solid plan in place to address the anticipated First Amendment activity. Make no mistake about it – this mass riot was not First Amendment activity; it was criminal riot.”

Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a curfew from 6 p.m. Wednesday through 6 a.m. Thursday. The mayor also announced an extension of a “public emergency” for the next 15 days, which would be inaugurated on January 20.

“If you want to cause trouble on the streets of Washington DC, you will be arrested,” Bowser said.

“To our fellow Americans, I know that I am speaking for all of us when I say that we have seen an unprecedented attack on our American democracy, instigated by our President of the United States, and it must be held accountable,” she said.

“His constant and divisive rhetoric led to the heinous acts we saw today, and unfortunately it resulted in a loss of life that will forever tarnish what could have been and what should have been a peaceful transfer of power,” she said .

“Again he must be held accountable.”

The crowd of Trump supporters boarded the Capitol shortly after the trial began to count the votes of the electoral college and confirm Biden’s victory over Trump. Biden got 306 votes, 36 more than he needed, while Trump got 232.

In the run-up to the joint congressional session, Trump gave many of these supporters a fiery uproar at a rally on the White House ellipse, less than two miles from the Capitol. Trump falsely claimed in that speech, as he has repeatedly done since the November 3 elections, that the race had been stolen from him for widespread fraud.

Trump highlighted Vice President Mike Pence, who led the event in Congress, and called on him to reject key election votes in order to overturn the election.

Pence, who had no legal authority to do so, denied Trump’s demands, saying he would perform his mostly ceremonial duties in accordance with law and the constitution.

Dozens of Republicans in the House and Senate had vowed prior to the event to object to the major battlefield nation’s electoral rolls that Biden had won. Objections to Arizona’s votes were raised shortly after the session began at 1:00 p.m. ET, delaying the process as the House and Senate split up to debate and vote on the challenge.

Paramedics perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation on a patient on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images

But the debates quickly stalled when thousands of Trump supporters gathered outside broke the ranks of police officers and infiltrated the Capitol.

Lockdowns and evacuations were in place as the chaos set in. Rioters broke windows and destroyed property as they streamed into the building. They walked freely through the convention halls, entered the legislature offices, occupied the Senate Chamber, and climbed walls and fittings.

Lawmakers evacuated the Chambers of the House and Senate and did not return until about six hours later. Some of the Republicans who had vowed to object to votes abandoned those plans in the face of the violent unrest.

Congress continued counting the votes and ended around 3:40 a.m. on Thursday.

With the siege of the Capitol underway, Trump took to Twitter to initially attack Pence for refusing to reject an election. Shortly thereafter, he followed suit with tweets urging his supporters to “please support our Capitol police and law enforcement agencies”.

Later that afternoon, he urged his followers to “go home now” while showing sympathy and falsely reiterating that the election had been stolen. These tweets were removed from Twitter, which temporarily suspended his account.

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Health

A pharmacist accused of sabotaging vaccine doses is a conspiracy theorist, the police say.

A pharmacist accused of sabotaging vaccine doses is a conspiracy theorist, the police say.

A pharmacist arrested for deliberately sabotaging more than 500 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in a Wisconsin hospital was “a licensed conspiracy theorist” who believed the vaccine could harm people and “alter their DNA”, so the police in Grafton, Wisconsin, where the man was employed.

Police said Steven Brandenburg, 46, who worked the night shift at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, twice removed a box of Moderna vaccine from the refrigerator for 12 hours, rendering it “unusable.” .

“Brandenburg admitted to having done this on purpose, knowing that it would reduce the effectiveness of the vaccine,” said police.

The attempt to destroy valuable doses of the vaccine came over the holidays as the state worked to quickly deliver vaccines to the health front. As of Saturday, the state had received 159,800 doses of vaccines and administered 64,657, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although the Moderna product is sometimes described as a “genetic” vaccine, it does not alter a person’s genes in any way.

The vials, which held 570 doses of vaccine and were valued at $ 8,000 to $ 12,000 according to prosecutors, were discovered on Dec. 26. Five days later, Mr Brandenburg was arrested for crimes of reckless endangerment and property damage, although prosecutors said Monday the charges could be dropped on a single misdemeanor if the vials, which have yet to be tested, are still usable.

Prosecutor Adam Gerol said Mr. Brandenburg was “quite cooperative and admitted everything he did”. He said that, according to employees, Mr. Brandenburg had already brought a gun to work twice.

In a decision signed on Monday, a family court temporarily granted his wife Gretchen Brandenburg sole custody of the two daughters of Mr Brandenburg and determined that the children were in “immediate danger of physical or mental harm”.

Ms. Brandenburg filed for divorce last June. At a hearing in July, her lawyer testified that his client was afraid of Mr. Brandenburg’s temper.