'Striking legal question': State court debates whether cops who rioted on Jan. 6 can hide

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'Striking legal question': State court debates whether cops who rioted on Jan. 6 can hide
Capitol rioters on Jan. 6, 2021. (Shutterstock)

Justices on the Washington Supreme Court must decide whether police officers who attended former President Donald Trump's Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally have a right to anonymity, according to a new report.

Six Seattle Police department officers — two of them fired months after the historic Capitol riots in 2021— who attended the riots are at the heart of a new case covered Wednesday by Law & Crime's Brandi Buchman.

"A striking legal question came before justices," she writes. "Must their names — and those results — be revealed to the public?"

Per the report, married former officers Caitlin Everett and Alexander Everett were in the area where rioters were scaling the walls and local police scrambled to fend them off.

"The SPD police chief in 2021, Adrian Diaz, ordered all officers to come forward if they were at the Capitol or attended any related events so they could present themselves for formal scrutiny by the Office of Police Accountability, or OPA," writes Buchman.

"Diaz resoundingly declared it 'absurd' of the couple to suggest that the evidence [Office of Police Accountability] amassed did not show them trespassing directly in a zone where 'they should not be amidst what was already a violent, criminal riot.'"

"It does not appear that any criminal federal charges have been filed against the couple at this time," noted the report. "As for the four other officers, who are all currently on active duty, OPA investigators determined in a final report that three did not violate department policy while a fourth officer’s conduct was deemed inconclusive."

A former law student named Sam Sueoka made public records requests to reveal the officers' identities and more information about them, which prompted the officers to tell courts that they should have a constitutional right to keep that information private.

Lower courts ruled against them, but an appeals court found OPA should consider whether these requests violate the officers' rights — namely, because they were not charged with a crime, but the disclosure of their identities could cause people to associate them with the January 6 rioters, causing harm to their reputations.

A number of people who were arrested for involvement in the Jan. 6 attack are current or former law enforcement, including a former FBI special agent who called for Capitol Police to be killed.

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RFK Jr raked in over $250K in luxury donor gifts — including flights to Fiji

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accepted more than $250,000 worth of gifts from a single major donor last year, according to newly disclosed ethics filings reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The haul included two separate international flights: one running close to $97,000 for a Fiji round-trip, and another costing roughly $45,000 to travel to and from Greece.

The gifts all came from Gavin de Becker, a longtime security consultant who provided protective services to Kennedy and served as a significant donor during his 2024 presidential run. Beyond the flights, de Becker also gave Kennedy free use of his vacation home in Washington, D.C. De Becker owns property in Fiji, where one leg of Kennedy's travel was headed.

Kennedy, who has been controversial for his anti-vaccine conspiracy theories, disclosed the gifts, all received in 2025, in an annual financial ethics filing updated this week, which the Journal obtained through a records request.

An HHS spokeswoman said Kennedy follows federal ethics rules and has consulted with agency ethics officials regarding the gifts. De Becker did not respond to the Journal's request for comment.

However, the disclosure lands amid a broader pattern of scrutiny over how Kennedy and his inner circle handle both personal finances and access to his office.

Bloomberg reported this week that a nonprofit tied to Kennedy separately solicited payments from companies in exchange for access to top HHS officials at an upcoming event. Kennedy has also faced criticism for using a military aircraft for campaign-related travel, according to reporting from The New Republic, which noted the arrangement alongside separate scrutiny of Sen. Rand Paul's use of a private charter jet for Senate committee staff.

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Knife fight in the West Wing as scramble to replace Karoline Leavitt gets ugly

The race to replace Karoline Leavitt has morphed into a knife fight, with Trump-world sources trashing the contenders and a one-time frontrunner sunk by his own words, the Daily Mail reported Friday.

CNN commentator Scott Jennings had the job if he wanted it, sources told the outlet, after dining with chief of staff Susie Wiles. But White House staff surfaced what he wrote on the day of the Capitol riot in 2021, when Jennings said Trump had caused the insurrection with lies about the election being rigged. Disgraced former Rep. Matt Gaetz amplified it, posting that Jennings for press secretary was a bad idea.

And Trump insiders noticed.

Jennings apologized for those comments in 2024, but that didn't help, and neither did his defense of Sen. Mitch McConnell during the senator's long absence from Congress. A source familiar with Trump's thinking told the Mail the president was turned off by both, then quoted him.

"And the president also did say, 'Look, he's doing great for us on CNN. Maybe he's more valuable there," the source said.

Trump's former personal attorney Alina Habba has also fared poorly in the sweepstakes.

She told a conservative podcaster she would take the job if asked, but a source put her chances at zero percent, saying Trump feels she has flamed out at the opportunities he has already given her.

"Habba has a lot of connections within the White House, but the president is uninterested in giving her another job," a source told the Mail.

Other contenders include Roma Daravi, the Kennedy Center's public relations chief and a first-term alumna, who has been posting clips defending Trump since Leavitt announced her exit. Caroline Sunshine, a former campaign aide turned cable pundit, has drawn similar notice. Even so, neither has generated much interest from the president, a source said. One adviser called Sunshine disloyal over her criticism of last year's strikes in Iran.

Sunshine hit back at the remarks.

"White House officials are spending their days tracking my TV hits, tweets, and hairstyles? Perhaps if the White House was 100 percent focused on correcting the fake news about the President, he'd be getting better press. Get back to work," she sneered.

Leavitt, who stepped down Aug. 27 after announcing she wanted more time with her two young children, is now at Trump's political operation and advising him on her own replacement. Sources said there is no rush and no decision, and that the post could sit empty until after November.

That vacancy was conspicuous Friday, when Trump announced he was banning CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House with nobody at the podium to explain what the ban actually means. Jennings, meanwhile, remains on CNN, where colleagues have repeatedly cornered him over his Trump defenses.

Trump throwing away key swing state with his disastrous move: WSJ

President Donald Trump's tariff wars are threatening to put a key swing state Republicans are hoping to contest out of reach, the conservative Wall Street Journal editorial board warned on Friday.

In Michigan, Democratic public health official Abdul El-Sayed, an avowed progressive, is taking on Congressman Mike Rogers, and polls show a close race. Trump, however, has given El-Sayed an inadvertent gift with his constant meddling in trade policy, the board argued.

"Businesses that import goods embed the tariffs into their prices, sometimes in stealthy ways," wrote the board. For example, "Cox Automotive this spring found that Mr. Trump’s tariffs drove a 10.4% increase in the average suggested retail price for new cars. Michigan Smart Trade Alliance estimates tariffs have cost the state $26 billion since January 2025, or about $6,419 per household."

Canadian imports make up a huge portion of the tax revenue, the board noted: America's northern neighbor "exports about $40 billion in goods to Michigan every year. Vehicles and parts make up roughly half of that. Because of its significant car manufacturing, Michigan depends heavily on cross-border supply chains with Canada and Mexico. Michiganders understand that."

Trump has zeroed in on Canada in recent months, massively hiking tariffs there and even threatening trade war with Europe if they move forward with a Canadian partnership.

As all of this is going on, a Republican influence in the Upper Peninsula has a dire warning that campaign volunteering for Rogers is dangerously flaccid.

"You almost have to admire the cynicism of Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed on trade," said the board. "He is punching Republican Mike Rogers for not pushing back against Mr. Trump’s Canada tariffs and for previously supporting the North American Free Trade Agreement, which phased-out tariffs on, and boosted trade with, Canada. He’s attacking Mr. Rogers as both a protectionist and a free trader." It's ultimately Trump who made that possible, wrote the board: "Republicans could pay a big political price for Mr. Trump’s tariffs in November."

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