Tag: Suspends

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Politics

Capitol Police suspends 6 officers, investigates dozens extra in probe of Jan. 6 riot

Capitol Police suspends 6 officers, investigates dozens more in probe of Jan. 6 riot

A US Capitol police car drives past the US Capitol in Washington, USA on January 26, 2021.

Al Drago | Reuters

The U.S. Capitol Police have suspended six paid officers and are investigating the behavior of more than two dozen others involved in responding to the deadly Capitol riot, the NBC News division said Friday.

The department’s investigation into the January 6 attack, which resulted in five deaths and triggered a joint session of Congress focusing on safety concerns, “is still under investigation,” spokesman John Stolnis said in a statement.

The USCP’s Personal Responsibility Office “is investigating the actions of 35 police officers as of that day,” six of whom are currently suspended for payment, the statement said.

Yogananda Pittman, who took office as incumbent chief shortly after Steven Sund resigned from the USCP following the Capitol violation, “has ordered that any member of her department whose conduct does not comply with the department’s code of conduct be subjected to appropriate discipline will be. “according to Stolnis.

The investigation’s update comes days after House spokeswoman Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Announced that Congress will set up an independent commission to investigate the storming of the Capitol by a group of supporters of former President Donald Trump should.

Pelosi’s office did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on the USCP statement.

Dozens of officials from across the country who took part in the riot or attended Trump’s rally nearby before the mob attacked the Capitol were investigated by their departments, according to an Associated Press poll last month. Some have been charged while others have been on leave, the AP reported.

The security failure that resulted in the Capitol being overrun by Trump’s supporters sparked a massive backlash against the USCP and its leadership. The department’s police union reportedly passed a vote of no confidence in the armed forces’ top leaders, including Pittman, earlier this month.

– CNBC’s Christian Nunley contributed to this report.

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Business

White Home Suspends Deputy Press Secretary for Threatening Reporter

White House Suspends Deputy Press Secretary for Threatening Reporter

President Biden and his press department have tried to change the tone of correspondents who endured years of hostility while covering the previous administration.

That effort was undercut last month when a White House deputy press secretary TJ Ducklo threatened a Politico journalist who covered his close personal relationship with a reporter who covered Mr Biden. On Friday after Mr Ducklo’s threat came to light, the White House announced that it had suspended him for a week without pay.

In a phone call on January 20, Mr. Ducklo told reporter Tara Palmeri, a writer of Politico’s Playbook newsletter, that he was “destroying” her after inquiring about his romantic relationship with Alexi McCammond, an Axios reporter would have.

Ms Palmeri asked about the relationship because it coincided with Mr Ducklo’s time as Mr Biden’s press secretary during the presidential campaign and the transition period between election day and inauguration. Axios reassigned Ms. McCammond after telling her superiors about the relationship in November, taking her out of coverage of Mr. Biden and putting her in one fell swoop, which includes Vice President Kamala Harris.

Mr Ducklo’s threats against Ms. Palmeri were reported by Vanity Fair on Friday and confirmed by two people who were aware of the phone call.

On Monday, Politico informed the White House that it would publish an article in Playbook about the relationship the next day. That night, People’s Politico hit the story and published a feel-good article titled “Reporters Cut Out on the President While Romance Blooms With Biden Aide For Cancer.” (Mr. Ducklo was being treated for lung cancer.)

Politico’s article appeared Tuesday morning under the heading “Open Secret”. Axios was charged with allowing a reporter to continue reporting on the White House while with a member of the administration.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement Friday that Mr. Ducklo “will no longer work with reporters at Politico” following his suspension.

“TJ Ducklo apologized to the reporter with whom he had a heated discussion about his personal life,” Ms. Psaki said in a statement. “He is the first to recognize that this is not the standard of conduct set by the president. In addition to his initial apology, he sent the reporter a personal note expressing his deep regret. “

Politico editor-in-chief Matt Kaminski and his editor-in-chief Carrie Budoff Brown said in a statement Friday that they raised concerns about the threatened statements made to the White House shortly after the phone call.

“No journalist at Politico – or any other publication or network – should ever be exposed to such unfounded personal attacks while doing his job,” the statement said.

In a remark shortly before the swearing-in ceremony for members of his administration last month, Mr Biden said he would not hesitate to fire employees who behaved disrespectfully.

“If you ever work with me and I hear that you are treating another colleague with disrespect, speak to someone, I promise I will fire you immediately,” warned Mr. Biden. “No ifs and buts. Everyone has the right to be treated with decency and dignity. That has been very missing in the last four years. “

At a White House briefing Friday, Ms. Psaki defended the decision to suspend Mr. Ducklo instead of firing him, despite describing his behavior as “totally unacceptable”. She didn’t explain why he wasn’t suspended until Vanity Fair reported on the exchange.

Categories
Business

YouTube Suspends Trump’s Channel for at Least Seven Days

YouTube Suspends Trump’s Channel for at Least Seven Days

OAKLAND, Calif. – YouTube announced Tuesday that President Trump’s channel had been banned because of concerns about the “ongoing potential for violence.” This was the latest move by one of the major tech companies to restrict the president online.

In a post on YouTube’s official Twitter account, Google’s own video page announced that Mr Trump’s account was banned after one of his recent videos violated the Incitement to Violence Policy.

That meant Mr Trump couldn’t upload any new content to his channel for at least seven days, which had around 2.8 million subscribers. YouTube also said it has indefinitely disabled all comments on its channel.

Older videos that did not violate any guidelines remained active on his channel.

Many tech companies have moved to curb Mr. Trump online since a violent presidential-instigated crowd of his supporters stormed the Capitol last week. Subsequently, Facebook suspended the president from Instagram and his core social network at least until the end of his term in office. Twitter followed by the permanent suspension of Mr. Trump’s account to deprive him of his favorite social media platform, which he had more than 88 million followers on. Other sites, like Snapchat, Reddit, and Twitch, have put Mr. Trump under pressure.

Big tech companies have also withdrawn support for other websites that host right-wing content. On Monday, Parler, a social networking site that had become popular with Trump supporters for its casual approach to freedom of expression, went dark after Amazon shut down computer services. Apple and Google had previously removed Parler from their app stores. Parler said they were looking for a way to get back online.

The moves were praised by liberals and others, who said the actions were long overdue because Mr Trump used the websites to spread falsehoods and incite violence. But conservatives have said that tech companies have censored Mr Trump and suppressed right-wing voices, raising questions about how much power tech companies have over online discourse.

The video that led to YouTube’s suspension comes from Mr. Trump’s remarks on Wednesday prior to a trip to Texas to visit a partially completed section of his long-promised wall along the Mexican border.

In his first address to reporters since last week’s events, Trump said that a speech he gave at a pre-riot rally in the Capitol was “entirely appropriate” and that Congress’s efforts to indict and condemn him “Anger would have enormous causes.”

YouTube’s seven-day suspension was an “important and necessary first step,” said Jim Steyer, executive director of Common Sense Media, a nonprofit news media monitoring group. “While it is disappointing that it took a Trump-instigated attack on our Capitol to get here, all major platforms seem to be finally rising,” he said.

During his presidency, Mr. Trump used YouTube differently from Twitter or Facebook. His YouTube channel is mostly filled with clips from speeches and rallies, as well as videos of supporters defending him on Fox News. The videos lack the carbon copy of his up-to-the-minute comment on Twitter and Facebook.

YouTube’s suspension comes after months of being pulled by the company. In the weeks following the November 3 election, Mr Trump’s channel was filled with videos showing him and his supporters questioning the outcome. YouTube refused to respond to these videos despite critics calling for it. The questioning of the election results is not a violation of his guidelines.

Last month, after most states confirmed their election results, YouTube announced it would remove videos that misleadingly stated that there had been widespread election fraud or election errors. However, the company said it would not punish channels for posting such content with suspensions until January 21, after inauguration day. YouTube said it removed thousands of videos spreading misinformation about the 2020 election.

Several videos were removed from Mr. Trump’s channel last week, including the one praising rioters and urging them to leave the Capitol. The Company, cited the spread of electoral misinformation.

A day later, YouTube removed the grace period and said it would “strike” channels for violating policies on election fraud. Channels that receive a strike will not be able to upload new videos for a week. After three strokes there can be a canal permanently banned from YouTube.