On Tuesday, The Daily Beast reported that Pentagon officials denied a request in December to vaccinate National Guard troops for COVID-19 ahead of the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday.
"Sources said the request, made by officials in charge of planning the event, was rejected because most of the guardsmen called to help protect the inauguration fell outside of the first tier of the Department of Defense's population schema for the COVID-19 vaccine," reported Erin Blanco. "Despite the rebuff, inauguration event planners continued to press the issue, raising fears about the spread of the virus within the Capitol campus and among attendees, particularly if protesters at the event did not wear masks, officials said."
"National Guard spokespeople say they don't know how many of the guardsmen have been vaccinated," said the report. "Another official familiar with the matter, however, said some troops did receive their first shot when they showed up for duty at the Capitol. Meanwhile, dozens of National Guard troops working to help protect the inauguration have tested positive for the virus, according to a report by the Military Times."
The vaccine rollout has been dramatically behind schedule, with only a fraction of the doses administered as were planned by this point.
The Florida judge who signed off on the FBI's raid on Mar-a-Lago last week told the Justice Department it has until next Thursday to release a redacted version of the affidavit used to justify the search warrant, Axios reports.
As Axios points out, the affidavit's release will shed new light on the details behind the investigation into whether former President Donald Trump took classified materials from the White House at the end of his term.
"The government shall file under seal ex parte its redactions and any briefing it would like to include," Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart said, according to Axios.
Several US media outlets and Republican members of Congress have asked a Florida judge to release the affidavit behind the raid, which ignited a political firestorm in an already bitterly divided country.
The Justice Department noted in a filing with a US District Court that the search warrant and a receipt for items seized from Trump's Mar-a-Lago home during last week's raid have already been made public.
But it argued that the affidavit, which lays out the FBI’s argument for why the search warrant should be approved, presented a “very different set of considerations."
"There remain compelling reasons, including to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security, that support keeping the affidavit sealed," the department said.
It said the government had "a compelling, overriding interest in preserving the integrity of an ongoing criminal investigation," it said.
The affidavit, it added, contained "critically important and detailed investigative facts" as well as "highly sensitive information about witnesses, including witnesses interviewed by the government."
The Justice Department said that should the court order the release of the affidavit, the required redactions would "be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content."
Two days before supporters of former president Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol, the U.S. Secret Service discovered a “series of violent threats” made on social media, including against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and President Joe Biden, but did not pass them on to the Capitol Police until the evening of January 6 – after the violence of the insurrection had ended.
Let’s listen to former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow in a recent CNN interview describe just some of the issues now facing the Secret Service regarding their handling of the January 6th attacks.
“On January 4, Secret Service agents discovered a Parler account, which we’ve chosen not to name, posting a series of violent threats towards lawmakers," CREW reported. "Other profiles with the same name appeared on Twitter, MeWe, Bitchute, Youtube and Facebook.”
“January 6 starts #1776 all over again…Fight for EVERYTHING” the account posted on Dec. 31, 2020, and listed “Enemies,” including Pelosi. The list, which was posted by a Parler user, also included Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
A Twitter post from the same day as the threat against Pelosi stated, “TIPS FOR THE BRAVE AND COURAGEOUS PATRIOTS GOING TO DC TO FORCE CONGRESS TO REFUSE BIDEN’S RIGGED ELECTION.” The “tips” included admonitory comments such as “Keep MAGA gear hidden until AFTER checking in” at hotels, “DC is very BLUE and a hotbed for ANTIFA/BLM. Stay with the large group, especially at night,” and “be wary” of DC police officers.
“Biden will die shortly after being elected,” the account wrote Jan. 2nd. “Patriots are gonna tear his head off. Prison is his best case scenario.”
“We’re all on a mission to save America. Lone wolf attacks are the way to go,” read another post. “Stay anonymous. Stay alive. Guns up Patriots!!”
The Secret Service didn't pass along the threats to the Capitol Police until 5:55 pm on January 6, 2021, hours after the mob attacked the Capitol. Speaker Pelosi was at the Capitol on the 6th without any knowledge of the explicit comments which called for her harm.
The Secret Service has come under fire in recent months over deleted text messages from the days surrounding January 6th.
A former U.S. Attorney called for a full investigation into the U.S. Secret Service’s failure to share intelligence it had detailing the violent threats.
Joyce Vance, a former US Attorney who is now a law professor and NBC News legal analyst tweeted Wednesday, “This is deeply disturbing and requires a full investigation. The Capitol Police are responsible for protecting the Speaker.”
The U.S. Secret Service is an agency under the Department of Homeland Security. DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari is currently under investigation by two House Committee chairs, Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Bennie Thompson (D-MS), who on Tuesday accused him of “obstruction.”
Most convicted felons are locked up until their time is served, but not Riley Williams. According to PennLive, the 25-year-old Capitol attacker who stole House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's laptop will be allowed out of house arrest to attend the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire, a court order detailed.
Williams explained she's been doing some light cleaning while under home detention for the past year and a half.
“She is confined to her home 24/7 with exceptions. Every once in a while, if there is an activity that interests her, we ask if she can attend," her attorney explained.
But that 24/7 will be put on pause for 8 hours because Williams simply must be at the festival over the weekend.
Prosecutors have opposed any end to her home confinement but are amenable to Williams being able to go out and about every once in a while, her lawyer explained.
Williams was arrested on Jan. 18 mere weeks after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. She was later indicted on charges related to the stealing of Pelosi's laptop. Attackers went into Pelosi's office and wrecked her office, urinated and dedicated on her desk and terrorized staff hiding behind locked doors in a conference room.