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‘Umbrella man’ who sparked Minneapolis riots identified as racist biker gang member

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Umbrella man (YouTube)

Police have identified the so-called “umbrella man” who set off a chain reaction that led to days of rioting and looting during Minneapolis protests against George Floyd’s killing.

The man was identified as a 32-year-old white supremacist associated with the biker gangs Aryan Cowboys and Hell’s Angels, but his name was not released because he has not yet been charged, reported the Star Tribune.

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“This was the first fire that set off a string of fires and looting throughout the precinct and the rest of the city,” police arson investigator Erika Christensen wrote in a search warrant affidavit filed this week in court. “Until the actions of the person your affiant has been calling ‘Umbrella man,’ the protests had been relatively peaceful. The actions of this person created an atmosphere of hostility and tension. Your affiant believes that this individual’s sole aim was to incite violence.”

Christensen said the suspect was identified through an email tip received last week.

The masked man intended to incite further racial tension in the demonstrations that had remained peaceful to that point, but the resulting violence left two people dead and caused an estimated $500 million in property damage.

A livestream video recorded May 27, two days after Floyd’s killing by officers, showed the man walk up to an AutoZone store, smash the windows with a sledgehammer and then argue with protesters who asked him to stop.

The man had also painted “free sh*t for everyone zone” on the store’s glass doors.

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Police connected the man to an incident in Stillwater, Minnesota, where men wearing white supremacist clothes menaced a Muslim woman and her 4-year-old daughter at a restaurant.

The men in that incident were wearing leather vests marked with insignia of the Aryan Cowboys, Hell’s Angels and Outlaw Motorcycle Gang.

“Umbrella man” had been rumored to be a St. Paul police officer, but the department released video evidence they say shows that individual had not been in Minneapolis at the time of the Auto Zone vandalism.

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2020 Election

‘Potentially catastrophic’: Dem senator rages as Trump vaccination team says they won’t brief Biden

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Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) on Thursday reacted angrily after learning that President Donald Trump's vaccine distribution team is refusing to giving briefings to President-elect Joe Biden.

Writing on Twitter, Murphy said that Trump's continued refusal to let the president-elect receive any kind of briefings was putting America's public health at risk.

"Just off a conference call with Trump Administration vaccine distribution team," he wrote. "They confirmed that they have not briefed anyone on President-elect Biden's team and have no plans to do so. This is potentially catastrophic."

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Republicans rush to install conservative nominees who will outlast Trump: report

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In the run-up to Joe Biden taking over the role of the presidency, Republicans are moving to install a series of conservative nominees who will outlast President Trump, POLITICO reports.

"The effort played out in dramatic fashion this week, as Senate Republicans tried to muscle Judy Shelton onto the Fed by the narrowest of margins but fell short amid senators’ absences from the coronavirus. They’re also plotting a confirmation vote for Christopher Waller, Trump’s less controversial Fed pick," POLITICO's Marianne Levine and Burgess Everett write. "The last-minute push to confirm Shelton, Waller and others is a key part of the Senate GOP’s bid to wield power in the dwindling days of a Republican presidency — even if most in the party still won’t acknowledge Biden’s victory."

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2020 Election

He tried to reach out to Trump supporters to unify the country — it didn’t go well

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President-elect Joe Biden is desperately trying to bring America back together after President Donald Trump spent the past five years trying to drive people apart. Biden maintains that there are far more things that unite us than divides us. But anyone who has tried to "unify" with Republicans knows it can be difficult, if not impossible.

New York Times columnist Wajahat Ali tried it. Writing Thursday he described The Quran, which "asks Muslims to respond to disagreements and arguments 'in a better way' and to 'repel evil with good.'"

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