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Two men charged with ‘bear spray’ assault on officer who died after Capitol attack – live

March 15, 2021 by Staff Reporter

Charles Booker, the former state representative from Kentucky who ran a longshot campaign to face Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate leader, is mulling another bid for Senate. This time it would be against Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, also a Republican.

Charles Booker
(@Booker4KY)

I am strongly considering a run for United States Senate in 2022.

Good morning.

March 15, 2021

Booker’s campaign gained some traction as a liberal alternative to frontrunner Democrat Amy McGrath’s but Booker still lost in the primary. In the end McConnell easily won reelection.

Joe Biden does not think it would help more if Donald Trump publicly urged his supporters to take a Covid vaccine. Rather, the president said, it would be more helpful for local doctors and community figures to encourage taking the vaccine.

Biden made the remarks at an event this afternoon.

Geoff Bennett
(@GeoffRBennett)

Biden to @edokeefe Q about Trump and vaccine hesitancy within GOP: “I discussed it with my team, and they say the thing that has more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA folks is what the local doctor, the local preacher, the local people in the community would say.”

March 15, 2021

Kayla Tausche
(@kaylatausche)

NEW: Pres. Biden says he’s discussed politically motivated vaccine reluctance with his team and says opinions of local doctors and priests would have “more impact than anything Trump would say to the MAGA folks.”

March 15, 2021

An enduring question of the Biden administration so far is what will vice-president Kamala Harris’s portfolio be? Bloomberg’s Jordan Fabian reports that questioning hangs over her first official trip to promote the Biden administration’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package:


Kamala Harris embarked Monday on her first official trip as vice president to promote the just-signed $1.9 trillion stimulus law, a two-day swing that doubles as a chance to boost her own profile.

She’s traveling to Nevada and Colorado, both important presidential election states where Democratic senators are defending seats in next year’s midterms. The trip is part of a cross-country blitz planned by President Joe Biden and top administration officials to sell the relief package and ensure Democrats get credit for it from voters.

Since taking office in January, Harris has been under scrutiny as she carves out a role for herself as vice president — an office with few specific responsibilities that a former occupant, John Nance Garner, once called “a spare tire on the automobile of government.” Gaining important duties will be crucial for Harris, 56, should she choose to run for president again in the future.

With this week’s trip, Harris is developing a role as a key promoter for the stimulus, the first major legislation Biden signed into law. The White House views the plan as central to defeating the pandemic and engineering a strong economic recovery. Much of Harris’s focus has been on how the rescue package could help small businesses and women in the workforce.

A White House official downplayed the notion that the trip is intended to build Harris’s profile. The vice president sees it as a chance to encourage Americans to get a Covid-19 vaccine, the official said, especially people of color who are more likely to be hesitant.

Back in Ohio, as the primary fields form major donors are lining up as well. Peter Thiel, the libertarian conservative venture capitalist, pumped money into a super PAC supporting J.D. Vance.

Separately, the Republican megadonor Mercer family is also putting money behind Vance as well.

Jessie Balmert
(@jbalmert)

Update: The Mercers also made a “significant contribution.”

Big boost for Mr. Vance in what’s expected to be a crowded GOP field in Ohio to replace Sen. Rob Portman. https://t.co/ba6ATlJIRm

March 15, 2021

Again, not every candidate who will run has formally jumped into the race so support from a few big name donors could end up deciding who the nominee is.

Henry J. Gomez
(@HenryJGomez)

New #OHSen development: Mike Gibbons, an investment banker from the Cleveland area who ran relatively strong for an unknown despite losing the 2018 primary, launches a listening tour as a prelude to likely GOP bid in 2022. https://t.co/BhWuhlwmYA

March 15, 2021

Speaking of Cuomo, a new Siena College poll released on Monday, found that half of New York voters do not think he should resign (Cuomo himself has vowed to stay in office).

Here’s the key line:


The poll found voters by a margin of 50% to 35% believe Cuomo should not resign immediately. A similar margin, 48% to 34%, believe the governor can effectively continue his job as governor.

Cuomo also continues to draw support from his base: 61% of Democratic voters, 69% of Black voters and 47% of voters in union households do not think he should step down.

The results come as Cuomo is facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment, inappropriate behavior as well as claims of bullying behavior.

Psaki is now getting a series of questions about Andrew Cuomo’s role as the chairman of the National Governors Association, which involves leading phone calls among governors. That questioning comes in light of reports that Cuomo allies and staff have been calling around to gauge loyalty to the New York governor.

Psaki said it’s “up to the NGA” to decide whether to keep Cuomo as the lead on those calls or the chairmanship.

During the Trump administration then-vice-president Mike Pence usually lead those calls.

Psaki was asked if the president has spoken to Cuomo. She responded with an emphatic “no.” She was also said no one in the White House has spoken to the governor on Biden’s behalf. To that she said “no” as well.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki is at the podium for the daily press briefing. She reiterated Joe Biden’s position that he wants to see a thorough investigation of governor Andrew Cuomo of New York with an added line.

Jeff Mason
(@jeffmason1)

The president finds the developments with regard to @NYGovCuomo “troubling,” @PressSec says, adding the investigation into the allegations needs to be quick and thorough.

March 15, 2021

That’s in light of more allegations against Cuomo emerging. Nevertheless, Cuomo has said he will not resign, despite growing pressure from even some prominent Democrats in the state.

Carl Hiaasen, the venerated Miami Herald writer, has filed his last column for the Florida paper, a stark warning about the state of local journalism in America.

Across 35 years of opinion writing, Hiaasen has covered everything from corruption among Miami power brokers to scandal in the Florida state capital, Tallahassee, to the wanton environmental destruction of the Everglades and other natural areas, an issue close to his heart.

In his final column for the Herald, Hiaasen addressed the impact of the long-running crisis in local journalism, as US newspapers close in droves and journalists are laid off with depressing regularity.

“Retail corruption is now a breeze, since newspapers and other media can no longer afford enough reporters to cover all the key government meetings,” Hiaasen wrote.

“You wake up one day, and they’re bulldozing 20 acres of pines at the end of your block to put up a Costco. Your kids ask what’s going on, and you can’t tell them because you don’t have a clue.”

@DVNJr anecdote about Carl Hiaasen is part of why I do miss newsrooms right now pic.twitter.com/17M97PaBw9

March 14, 2021

More from the Associated Press, this time on this morning’s report from the FBI about the dramatic Christmas Day explosion in Nashville, Tennessee…


The man who blew himself up inside his recreational vehicle on Christmas Day in Nashville, Tennessee was grappling with paranoia and conspiracy theories but there are no indications he was motivated by social or political ideology, the FBI said on Monday.

An FBI statement set out to resolve some of the lingering mysteries of an explosion that perplexed investigators and the public because it appeared to lack an obvious motive. Though the blast damaged dozens of buildings, it took place early on a holiday well before streets would be busy and was preceded by a recorded announcement warning a bomb would detonate.

The FBI concluded that the bomber, Anthony Quinn Warner, chose the location and timing so that it would be impactful while minimizing the likelihood of “undue injury”.


Nashville explosion: police release footage of blast – video

The report found Warner acted alone and set off the bomb to kill himself, driven in part by conspiracy theories and paranoia. The report also found that stressors included “deteriorating interpersonal relationships”.

“The FBI’s analysis did not reveal indications of a broader ideological motive to use violence to bring about social or political change, nor does it reveal indications of a specific personal grievance focused on individuals or entities in and around the location of the explosion,” the statement said.

Investigators quickly settled on Warner, identifying him through DNA recovered from the blast site. They concluded early on that he acted alone.

Despite online speculation that Warner may have been motivated by conspiracy theories about 5G technology, given the proximity of the explosion to an AT&T building and the resulting havoc to cellphone service in the area, the FBI statement gives no indication that that is the case.

Law enforcement actions received scrutiny in the days after the bombing when it was revealed that in 2019 Nashville police visited Warner’s home after his girlfriend reported that he was building bombs. The police did not make contact with him or see inside his RV.

Warner took steps in the weeks leading up to the bombing that suggested he didn’t expect to survive. For instance, he gave away his car, telling the recipient he had cancer, and signed a document that transferred his home to a California woman for nothing in return. He told an employer he was retiring.

A neighbor who made small talk with Warner recalled that he said something to the effect of, “Oh, yeah, Nashville and the world is never going to forget me.”

The Associated Press has more on the new arrests connected to the death of Brian Sicknick, the Capitol police officer who died as a result of the attack by Trump supporters on 6 January:


Investigators initially believed that Sicknick was hit in the head with a fire extinguisher … [but] investigators now believe Sicknick may have ingested a chemical substance, possibly bear spray, that may have contributed to his death, officials have said.

Julian Khater is the man in a video obtained by the FBI that showed him spraying Sicknick and others with bear spray, according to court papers. The act hasn’t been directly tied to Sicknick’s death.

“Give me that bear [expletive],” Khater said to George Tanios on the video, according to court papers. Sicknick and other officers were standing guard near metal bike racks, the papers say.

Khater then says “they just [expletive] sprayed me” as he’s seen holding a white can with a black top that prosecutors said “appears to be a can of chemical spray”.

…Sicknick collapsed later on and died at a hospital on 7 January. The justice department opened a federal murder investigation into his death, but prosecutors are still evaluating what specific charges could be brought in the case, the people said.

The medical examiner’s report on Sicknick’s death is incomplete. Capitol police have said they are awaiting toxicology results.

Two men have been charged in the death of Brian Sicknick, the police officer who died after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol on 6 January, in support of the former president’s attempt to overturn his election defeat by Joe Biden.

A portrait of Brian Sicknick.

A portrait of Brian Sicknick. Photograph: Carol Guzy/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock

The Washington Post and other outlets report that Julian Elie Khater, 32, of Pennsylvania and George Pierre Tanios, 39 and from West Virginia, were arrested by the FBI on Sunday and expected to appear in federal court on Monday.

They are charged with assaulting Sicknick with bear spray, which Kater is reportedly alleged to be seen discharging into the officer’s face on footage of the riot.

Sicknick, 42 and one of five people to die as a direct result of the assault, died in hospital on 7 January. A police statement then said he “was injured while physically engaging with protesters” and “returned to his division office and collapsed”.

His body subsequently lay in state at the Capitol. The cause of his death has not been released – initial statements that he suffered blunt force trauma after being hit with a fire extinguisher were walked back.

According to the Be Bear Aware Campaign, humans exposed to the pepper-based spray, meant to be used against dangerous and charging bears, can experience “chest pain, cold sweat, or shallow breathing” while “asthma sufferers may experience acute stress”.

Cory Booker, a Democratic senator from New Jersey, paid tribute to Sicknick in remarks on the Senate floor, calling his death a “crime” that “demands the full attention of federal law enforcement.”.

“When white supremacists attacked our nation’s capital,” Booker said, “they took the life of one of our officers. They spilled his blood, they took a son away from his parents. They took a sibling away from their brothers.”

More than 300 people have been arrested for their part in the Capitol riot. Donald Trump was impeached for a second time for inciting the insurrection – and acquitted when only seven Republican senators decided he was guilty.

Here’s what happened today so far.

  • Former governor Eric Greitens of Missouri is eying a political comeback by running for the US Senate. Republicans aren’t happy about it.
  • Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is flexing his political muscle through his chairmanship of the Senate Budget Committee.
  • The race for US Senate in Ohio is a perfect sample of some of the dynamics at play in both the Republican and Democratic primaries.
  • Senators Mitt Romney of Utah and Ted Cruz of Texas both have op-eds out on boycotting the Olympics in Beijing.

Fauci is stressing not to be fixated on the “elusive number of herd immunity” because it’s still a somewhat anomalous number. Rather, he said in closing out the conference that the country should be focused on getting as many people vaccinated as possible.

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Filed Under: POLITICS, US Tagged With: Biden administration, Coronavirus, Joe Biden, US news, US politics

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