Politics

(Reuters) – Former President Donald Trump on Thursday said he was giving financial help to some supporters involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on Congress and would look very favorably on giving pardons if he were again elected to the White House.

Thousands of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol after a fiery speech in which he repeated his false claims that his election defeat was the result of widespread fraud, an allegation repeatedly rejected by multiple courts, state election officials and members of Trump’s own administration.

“I will look very, very favorably about, about full pardons. If I decide to run and if I win, I will, I will be looking very, very strongly about pardons, full pardons,” Trump, who is considering a new run for president in 2024, told radio host Wendy Bell.

The onslaught on Congress, aimed at preventing certification of Democratic candidate Joe Biden’s victory in the November 2020 presidential election, led to several deaths and injured more than 140 police officers.

Around 850 people have been arrested for crimes related to the attack, including more than 250 charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

Several members of the right-wing group, the Oath Keepers, were charged with seditious conspiracy.

Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing regarding the events of Jan. 6 and said on Thursday he was providing help for some of those involved.

“I am financially supporting people that are incredible and they were in my office actually two days ago. It’s very much on my mind. It’s a disgrace what they’ve done to them,” he said.

(Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles and Katharine Jackson in Washington; editing by Richard Pullin)

source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former President Donald Trump and the ‘MAGA’ Republican politicians who follow in his footsteps are threatening the United States, President Joe Biden said on Thursday.

“Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans represent extremism that threatens the very foundations of our republic,” Biden said, speaking in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia.

“I will not stand by and watch elections in this country be stolen by people who simply refuse to accept that they lost,” Biden said.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Sandra Maler)

source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A New Jersey man accused of pepper spraying police officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, including one who died the next day, pleaded guilty on Thursday to felony assault charges, the Justice Department said.

Julian Khater and a childhood friend, George Tanios, had pepper and bear spray with them as they breached the Capitol grounds, the department said. Khater sprayed three officers directly in the face with the pepper spray, the department said.

Tanios, 40, who was originally charged with criminal counts including felony assault, pleaded guilty in July to lesser misdemeanor charges. Prosecutors had offered Khater, 33, a deal in which he would plea guilty to two felony assault counts.

Khater pleaded guilty to the two counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon during a hearing in U.S. District Court, the department said. He will be sentenced on Dec. 13, it added.

Khater faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine not exceeding $250,000, according to his plea agreement. Tanios faces a term of zero to six months in prison under U.S. sentencing guidelines.

One of the officers Khater is accused of spraying is Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who died of natural causes following multiple strokes the day after the attack. Tanios and Khater were not charged in connection with Sicknick’s death.

The two men were among thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump who stormed the Capitol in a failed bid to block Congress from certifying President Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

The Justice Department says it has arrested more than 860 people for crimes related to the breach of the Capitol, including over 260 who were charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.

(Reporting by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Richard Chang)

source

By Francisco Alvarado and Sarah N. Lynch

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (Reuters) -A federal judge on Thursday declined to rule immediately on whether to grant former President Donald Trump’s request to appoint a special master to review the documents the FBI seized from his home in August.

At a hearing in West Palm Beach, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon also said she would defer ruling now on whether to unseal a more detailed inventory of the seized property that the Justice Department has filed under seal with the court.

Media companies earlier this week asked for the sealed documents to be released publicly.

Thursday’s hearing came less than two days after prosecutors laid out fresh details about their ongoing criminal investigation into whether Trump illegally retained government records and sought to obstruct the government’s probe by concealing some of them from the FBI.

Trump’s attorneys in a filing late on Wednesday downplayed the government’s concerns about the discovery of classified material inside his home, and accused the Justice Department of escalating the situation even after he handed over boxes of documents to the National Archives and allowed FBI agents in June to “come to his home and provide security advice.”

“Simply put, the notion that Presidential records would contain sensitive information should have never been

cause for alarm,” his lawyers wrote.

A special master is an independent third party sometimes appointed by a court in sensitive cases to review materials potentially covered by attorney-client privilege to ensure investigators do not improperly view them.

(Reporting by Francisco Alvarado in West Palm Beach, Fla., and Sarah N. Lynch in WashingtonEditing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)

source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A federal judge on Thursday declined to rule immediately on former President Donald Trump’s request to impose a special master to review the materials seized by the FBI following its search at his Florida home, according to media reports.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Dan Whitcomb and Francisco Alvarado; Editing by Chris Reese)

source

By Trevor Hunnicutt, Jarrett Renshaw and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will ask Americans to push back against extremism at the ballot box in a prime-time speech on Thursday as he ramps up attacks on politicians aligned with Donald Trump.

The speech in Philadelphia, the birthplace of American democracy, is part of a sharp turn for Biden as midterm congressional elections approach. It reflects a growing sense of urgency about anti-democratic trends in the opposition party, as well as the need to repel a Republican onslaught in November and build support for his 2024 re-election bid, aides say.

After devoting much of his energy in 2022 to high inflation at home and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and enduring two bouts of COVID-19 over the summer, Biden begun lashing out at Trump-aligned Republicans in recent days.

At a fundraiser last week in Maryland, Biden likened “an extreme MAGA philosophy” – standing for Trump’s Make America Great Again movement – to “semi-fascism.” On Tuesday, in the first of three visits within a week to the political battleground state of Pennsylvania, Biden assailed threats against the FBI after a search of Trump’s Florida home as “sickening.” He taunted Republican members of Congress who refused to condemn the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He did not mention Trump by name.

In Philadelphia, Biden will “talk about the core values” of America, “what is at stake in this moment and how we and how he is going to continue to protect equality and democracy,” White House press secretary Karine Jean Pierre said. He will also talk about “in a very direct way about what he sees as a threat at this moment in time,” she said.

Ahead of the speech, House of Representatives Republican leader Kevin McCarthy accused Biden of ignoring crime and inflation “to disparage hard-working Americans.” McCarthy plans to give a speech in Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pennsylvania, prior to the president’s remarks.

Jean-Pierre noted that McCarthy condemned the violent Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol led by Trump supporters soon after it happened. “We agree with Kevin McCarthy of January 6,” she said. “What we hear from him is a change of heart.”

A Democratic fundraiser said donors are closely watching the next few months to gauge whether to back Biden in a 2024 presidential run. Some have already decided that Biden should step aside to make way for fresh leadership, but others want to see if he can move the needle.

“If we can pull it off and retain the Senate, then there will be enough voices saying he has earned it and pave the way for reelection,” said a senior Democratic official. “If we don’t, the overwhelming sentiment will be ‘Pass the torch.’”

FREE ELECTIONS IN DANGER?

Biden will deliver the remarks in Independence Hall, where the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution were agreed.

Historians, legal scholars and some elected officials have cast the stakes in much starker terms than Biden’s political future, saying the country’s free elections and commitment to the rule of law hang in the balance.

They say losing Congress would not only make Biden a lame-duck president, it could turn control over certifying the results of the next presidential election to Trump sympathizers, some of whom never accepted Biden’s 2020 victory and who have pledged to overhaul local voting systems.

Biden ran for president on restoring the “soul of the nation” and, by implication, purging the values associated with Trump. Instead, Republican voters have mostly backed candidates aligned with the former president and more than half say they believe he rightfully won the election.

Confronted by threats after Trump’s loss, one in five election workers polled this year said they may quit before the next presidential election.

Biden has been planning the speech for a long time and is expected to speak for about half an hour, a senior White House official told reporters.

While he will talk about the direct threat to democracy from extremist Trump supporters and MAGA Republicans, the official said, “This is not a speech about the former president.

“It’s an optimistic speech. It is a speech about where we as a nation can go as a democracy.”

TRUMP AS UNIFIER – FOR DEMOCRATS

Absent the constant presence of Trump, many top Democrats believe they have lacked the message that knit together the geographically dispersed and racially diverse coalition of voters that elected Biden in 2020.

Support for Biden among all those key groups has cratered since his 2021 inauguration, with the president’s overall public approval falling near the lows of his term in office, to 38%, in a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Tuesday.

Those voters are increasingly anxious about the state of the country, inflamed by the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot hearings and an ongoing criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified documents that has led to violent threats against FBI agents who searched the former president’s Mar-a-Lago home.

In focus groups conducted by Democrats, these worries have rivaled inflation and the economy as top concerns for many voters, according to two people who have conducted such research for Democrats.

Some of those people have expressed disappointment that Biden has not done more to address those concerns, giving Democrats more confidence that an anti-extremism message from the White House would appeal.

A person working with the Democratic Senate Majority PAC who declined to be identified said they fear the White House will put Biden too front-and-center in upcoming weeks. “We need this to be a referendum on extremism, not Joe Biden,” the Democrat said.

(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jarrett Renshaw; Editing by Heather Timmons and Jonathan Oatis)

source

WASHINGTON (AP) — A retired New York Police Department officer was sentenced on Thursday to 10 years in prison for attacking the U.S. Capitol and using a metal flagpole to assault one of the police officers trying to hold off a mob of Donald Trump supporters.

Thomas Webster’s prison sentence is the longest so far among roughly 250 people who have been punished for their conduct during the riot on Jan. 6, 2021. The previous longest was shared by two other rioters, who were sentenced separately to seven years and three months in prison.

Webster, a 20-year NYPD veteran, was the first Capitol riot defendant to be tried on an assault charge and the first to present a self-defense argument. A jury rejected Webster’s claim that he was defending himself when he tackled Metropolitan Police Department officer Noah Rathbun and grabbed his gas mask outside the Capitol on Jan. 6.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta sentenced Webster, 56, to 10 years in prison plus three years of supervised release, noting that along with Rathbun, “the other victim was democracy.” He allowed Webster to report to prison at a date to be determined instead of immediately ordering him into custody.

Federal prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 17 years and six months. The court’s probation department had recommended a 10-year prison sentence. Mehta wasn’t bound by the recommendations.

In a court filing, prosecutors accused Webster of “disgracing a democracy that he once fought honorably to protect and serve.” Webster led the charge against police barricades at the Capitol’s Lower West Plaza, prosecutors said. They compared the attack to a medieval battle, with rioters pelting officers with makeshift projectiles and engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

“Each individual attack on an officer at the West Plaza weakened the defensive line, fueled the crowd, and brought the rioters one step closer toward disrupting our democracy,” they wrote.

Defense attorney James Monroe said Webster was “swept up in the fervor of the large crowd” but didn’t join many other rioters in entering the Capitol. Monroe said the mob was “guided by unscrupulous politicians” and others promoting the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from the Republican incumbent.

“These forces championed by former President Donald Trump exerted an extraordinary amount of influence over those Americans present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 though their relentless disinformation,” Monroe wrote.

In May, jurors deliberated for less than three hours before they convicted Webster of all six counts in his indictment, including a charge that he assaulted Rathbun with a dangerous weapon, the flagpole.

Also Thursday, a New Jersey man pleaded guilty to using pepper spray on police officers, including one who later died. Officer Brian Sicknick suffered a stroke the day after the riot and died of natural causes. He and other officers were standing guard behind metal bicycle racks as the mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.

Julian Khater, 33, pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon. He could face up to 20 years in prison, though will likely face a sentence ranging from about 6 1/2 to 8 years at a hearing set for December.

The case against Khater and a second man have been among the more notable brought by the Justice Department. George Pierre Tanios brought the pepper spray in a backpack. Tanios previously pleaded guilty and is also set to be sentenced in December.

Webster had testified at trial that he was trying to protect himself from a “rogue cop” who punched him in the face. He also accused Rathbun of instigating the confrontation.

Rathbun testified that he didn’t punch or pick a fight with Webster. Rathbun said he was trying to move Webster back from a security perimeter that he and other officers were struggling to maintain.

Rathbun’s body camera captured Webster shouting profanities and insults before they made any physical contact. The video shows that Webster slammed one of the bike racks at Rathbun before the officer reached out with an open left hand and struck the right side of Webster’s face.

After Rathbun struck his face, Webster swung a metal flag pole at the officer in a downward chopping motion, striking a bike rack. Rathbun grabbed the broken pole from Webster, who charged at the officer, tackled him to the ground and grabbed his gas mask, choking him by the chin strap.

Webster drove alone to Washington, D.C., from his home near Goshen, New York, on the eve of the Jan. 6 “Stop the Steal” rally, where Trump addressed thousands of supporters. Webster was wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a Marine Corps flag on a metal pole when he joined the mob that stormed the Capitol.

Webster said he went to the Capitol to “petition” lawmakers to “relook” at the results of the 2020 presidential election. But he testified that he didn’t intend to interfere with Congress’ joint session to certify President Joe Biden ‘s victory.

Webster retired from the NYPD in 2011 after 20 years of service, which included a stint on then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s private security detail. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1985 to 1989 before joining the NYPD in 1991.

___

Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.

source

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Thursday rejected criticism from Republicans that President Joe Biden is dividing Americans by attacking ardent followers of former President Donald Trump, saying the party’s far-right wing is trying to dodge accountability.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre spoke after Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said “Joe Biden is the divider-in-chief and epitomizes the current state of the Democrat Party: one of divisiveness, disgust, and hostility towards half the country.”

The rhetorical crossfire took place as Biden, who last week referred to some Republicans as supporting “semi-fascism,” planned to speak about threats to democracy in a prime-time speech in Philadelphia.

At her daily briefing, Jean-Pierre referred to “ultra MAGA Republicans,” those who support Trump, whose signature slogan was Make America Great Again.

“We understand that we hit a nerve, we get that. We understand that they’re trying to hide. And we understand that ultra MAGA office holders want to play games here and dodge accountability,” she said.

She said these Republicans are pushing “radical” ideas like a national abortion ban and requiring all Americans to pay some form of tax.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

source

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Stoked by the largest surplus in state history, Missouri’s Republican-led Legislature devised a $500 million plan to send one-time tax refunds to millions of households. In a shock to some, GOP Gov. Mike Parson vetoed it.

Parson’s objection: He wanted a bigger, longer-lasting tax cut.

“Now is the time for the largest income tax cut in our state’s history,” Parson declared as he called lawmakers back for a September special session to consider a $700 million permanent tax reduction.

Upon its likely approval, Missouri will join at least 31 states that already have enacted some type of tax cut or rebate this year — an astounding outpouring of billions of tax dollars back to the people. Idaho lawmakers are convening Thursday to consider more tax breaks, and Montana lawmakers also are weighing a special session for tax relief.

Flush with federal pandemic aid and their own surging tax revenue, states have cut income tax rates for individuals and businesses, expanded tax deductions for families and retirees, pared back property taxes, waived sales taxes on groceries and suspended motor fuel taxes to offset inflationary price spikes. Many also have provided immediate tax rebates.

Republicans and Democrats alike have joined the tax-cutting trend during a midterm election year.

Yet divisions have emerged about how far to go. While Democrats generally have favored targeted tax breaks and one-time rebates, some Republicans have pressed for permanent income tax rate reductions that could lower tax bills — and state revenue — for years to come. Parson describes it as “real, lasting relief.”

Some budget analysts warn that permanent tax cuts could strain states during a future recession. The U.S. economy has shrunk for two straight quarters this year, meeting one informal sign of a recession.

“Quite simply, relying on the current surplus to fund permanent tax changes isn’t fiscally sustainable, or responsible, and will ultimately require cuts to state services,” said Amy Blouin, president and CEO of the Missouri Budget Project, a nonprofit that analyzes fiscal policies.

For some states, the current surpluses are unlike anything they’ve previously seen.

The 2022 fiscal year, which ended June 30 for most states, marked the second straight year of large growth in tax collections after economic shutdowns triggered declines early in the coronavirus pandemic. Many states reported their largest-ever surpluses, according to the National Association of State Budget Officers.

“I don’t think there’s been a time in history where states are better equipped to ride out a potential recession,” said Timothy Vermeer, senior state tax policy analyst at the Tax Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “A majority, if not all, of the rainy day funds are in a really healthy position.”

Income tax rate cuts have passed in 13 states this year, already equaling last year’s historic total, according to the Tax Foundation. Republicans control the legislatures in all of those states except New York, where Democrats who wield power accelerated the timetable for a previously approved tax rate reduction.

Republican-led Arkansas was the most recent to take action during an August special session. A new law will speed up a gradual income tax rate reduction enacted last year and provide a one-time inflationary tax credit. Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson described the $500 million package as “a transfer of wealth from the government to the taxpayer” that “could not have come at a more important time.”

Nationwide, inflation is at a 40-year-high, raising prices on most good and services and squeezing incomes.

At least 15 states have approved one-time rebates from their surpluses, including 10 led by Democratic governors and legislatures, four by Republicans and one — Virginia — with split partisan control.

Democratic-led California, which posted a record $97 billion surplus, is sending rebates of between $200 and $1,050 to individuals earning less than $250,000 annually and households earning less than $500,000.

All four GOP-controlled states providing rebates — Georgia, Indiana, Idaho and South Carolina — also made permanent income tax rate cuts.

Though often popular, tax rebates do little to fight inflation and “may actually be counterproductive” by enabling additional consumer spending on items in scarce supply and thus contributing to higher prices, said Hernan Moscoso Boedo, an economist at the University of Cincinnati.

Still, big surpluses coupled with inflation make rebates a tempting option for politicians, especially during an election year.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican facing a re-election challenge from Democrat Stacey Abrams, has been among the most aggressive tax-cutters. He signed legislation gradually reducing the income tax rate from 5.75% to 4.99%. He also signed a measure providing a $1.1 billion tax rebate, with up to $250 for individuals and $500 for couples. He has proposed an additional $2 billion in income and property tax rebates. And after a law temporarily suspending the state’s gas tax expired in May, Kemp extended the gas tax break through mid-September.

“We’re trying to help Georgians fight through this tough time,” Kemp said.

In Colorado, legislative staff estimate it will cost $2.7 million to carry out legislation expediting an income tax refund of $750 for individuals and $1,500 for couples. The constitutionally mandated refund of surplus revenue was originally due to be paid next year but is being distributed now — along with a letter from Democratic Gov. Jared Polis touting it as inflation relief.

Polis, who is up for re-election in November, had been a previous critic of the automatic refund provision. His Republican challenger, Heidi Ganahl, is accusing him of “hypocrisy.”

Idaho Gov. Brad Little, a Republican, has called the Legislature back for a special session starting Thursday to consider more tax breaks.

He’s proposing to use part of the state’s projected $2 billion budget surplus for a $500 million income tax rebate this year. He also wants to cut more than $150 million annually by creating a flat 5.8% income tax rate starting next year. That comes after the state reduced the top tax rate each of the last two years.

“Folks, this is conservative governing in action,” Little said while asserting the tax cuts still would leave enough money to boost education funding by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Montana lawmakers are weighing whether to convene a special session later in September to provide tax breaks from a budget surplus. A proposal calls for giving $1,000 rebates to homeowners who paid property taxes during the past two years. It also would provide income tax rebates of $1,250 for individuals and $2,500 for couples.

Montana’s Republican House and Senate majority leaders said in a joint statement that the rebates would offer help “as soon as possible with expenses such as gas, groceries, school supplies and so much more.” But some lawmakers, including term-limited GOP Rep. Frank Garner, have expressed reluctance.

“My first concern is if this proposal is driven by an imminent emergency or by those wanting to write checks to voters because their emergency is merely an imminent election,” Garner wrote in an opinion column.

___

Associated Press writers Jeff Amy in Atlanta; Jim Anderson and Jesse Bedayn in Denver; Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark.; Amy Beth Hanson in Helena, Mont.; and Keith Ridler in Boise, Idaho, contributed to this report.

source

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday filed its latest response to former president Donald Trump’s lawsuit over the FBI’s search of his home, though some of its filings were made under seal because they include more details about the items seized from his Florida estate.

“When producing the documents, neither counsel nor the custodian asserted that the former President had declassified the documents or asserted any claim of executive privilege,” the department argued in a filing in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida.

“The government also developed evidence that government records were likely concealed and removed from the Storage Room and that efforts were likely taken to obstruct the government’s investigation.”

The Justice Department’s filings come ahead of a Thursday court hearing before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in West Palm Beach. She is weighing Trump’s request to appoint a special master who would conduct a privilege review of the documents seized from Mar-a-Lago on Aug. 8, many of which are labeled as classified.

A special master is an independent third party sometimes appointed by a court in sensitive cases to review materials potentially covered by attorney-client privilege to ensure investigators do not improperly view them.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Dan Whitcomb in Los Angeles; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis and Kim Coghill)

source