NEW YORK — At a packed news conference, Randy Mastro, the high-powered litigator hired by Gov. Chris Christie’s office, repeatedly declared that his investigation found Christie “had no knowledge beforehand” of the lane closings at the George…
[Image via CNN]
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Trump-loving Virginia State Sen. Amanda Chase sent out a message to followers this week attacking the Virginia Republican Party and warning them to not trust the results of its gubernatorial convention ballot counts.
Chase, a Republican candidate for Virginia governor who in the past has been forced to work from inside a plexiglass box over her refusal to obey the state legislature's mask rules, told her followers that the Virginia GOP will not deliver the "proper" results of its own upcoming gubernatorial convention, where she's pitted against six other Republican candidates.
"DO NOT TRUST THE PARTY TO DELIVER ACCURATE RESULTS!" reads the email, which was posted on Twitter by The Virginia Mercury's Graham Moomaw. "Who should you go to for the proper results? Me and my campaign!"
Chase also said her followers would know that the election was fixed if one of her rivals defeated her.
"Another hint to know if the results are fake are if Pete Snyder, who called [former President Donald Trump] a racist, 'wins,'" the email ranted. "If RPV declares him a victor it is FAKE NEWS!"
Chase is no stranger to spouting conspiracy theories about election fraud, as last year she called for the implementation of martial law after the electoral college certified President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election.
On Thursday, New England journalist Eoin Higgins reported in his Substack newsletter that a Boston Police sergeant who bragged about running down protesters with his patrol cruiser has been allowed to return to work, albeit in a limited capacity.
"Despite being under investigation after admitting on camera that he used a police vehicle as a weapon to run down protesters during an anti-racism demonstration last May, Boston Police Sergeant Clifton McHale is back in the squad room," reported Higgins. "'Sgt. McHale is on desk duty,' Boston Police Department spokesman Sergeant Detective John Boyle told me in an email. 'Each investigation is unique, but it is normal practice.'"
As Higgins noted, the investigation started after McHale was caught on body camera footage saying, "Dude, dude, dude, I f*ckin' drove down Tremont — there was an unmarked state police cruiser they were all gathered around," McHale tells an officer wearing a body camera. "So then I had a f*cker keep coming, f*cking running, I'm f*cking hitting people with the car, did you hear me, I was like, 'get the f*ck—'" After this point, he reversed himself and tried to claim he was joking.
Last year, The Boston Globe reported that McHale was also accused in 2005 of sexually assaulting an intoxicated woman in an alleyway while on duty after agreeing to escort her to her hotel. Following an investigation of that incident, he served a one-year, unpaid suspension.
The news comes as the trial of former Minneapolis officer Derek Chauvin for the killing of George Floyd continues, and as new outrage about the allegedly accidental shooting death of Daunte Wright has led to manslaughter charges against veteran officer and police union official Kimberly Potter.
A former Navy SEAL insists he and his son left the Capitol grounds before it was breached during the Jan. 6 insurrection -- but photos and videos show otherwise.
Shannon Rusch admits to marching on the Capitol alongside prominent Proud Boys members, but The Daily Beast reported evidence to dispute his protestations that he and his son did not take part in the siege.
"Video footage shows his son picking up what appears to be a dropped police baton as scuffles with cops intensified outside the building," the website reported. "Later, he is seen with the baton inside the Capitol, minutes after the building was first breached. And the ex-SEAL posted a video of himself on Capitol grounds on Jan. 6 with other Proud Boys, one of whom announced that 'we just stormed the fucking Capitol.' The ex-SEAL ... responds with approval."
The photo and video evidence was identified by a team led by John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto's Citizen Lab and the investigative group Deep State Dogs, and shows Rusch's son Trevor McDonald entered the Capitol around 2:15 p.m. with a first wave of Proud Boys to go inside.
Rusch posted photos of himself and his 21-year-old son in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 4 and 5, saying they had gone to protest Donald Trump's election loss and stand in "defiance of tyranny and to celebrate American freedom," tagging a number of conservative public figures in the social media posts.
"There is no one I'd rather be here with than my son for this historic event," Rusch tweeted on Jan. 5. "The calm before the strom.... [sic]"
McDonald can be seen in photos and videos from Jan. 6 wearing the same distinctive plaid jacket and red sweatshirt as he wore in his father's posts, and footage shows him picking up a dropped police baton during a clash with officers outside the Capitol and then holding the same weapon as he entered the building among the first group of rioters.
Video recorded by a livestreamer shows him shouting "woo" into the camera as he walked past inside the Capitol.
So far no evidence has turned up showing his father inside the Capitol, and neither man has been charged with a crime related to the insurrection.
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