U.S. Capitol Archives - Tennessee Star

New Mexico County Refuses to Certify Election Results over Machine Concerns, Igniting Legal Battle

June 18, 2022June 17, 2022 Admin

A New Mexico county has been ordered by the state Supreme Court to certify its primary election results and threatened with legal action by the state attorney general after the county commissioners refused to do so over concerns about Dominion vote-counting machines.

The three Republican members of the Otero County Commission, in their role as the county canvassing board, decided to not certify the June 7 primary results because of their distrust of the Dominion machines, the Associated Press reported. The commissioners also voted last week to recount the ballots by hand, discontinue using the Dominion machines, and remove ballot drop boxes.

Feds to Sentence Aspiring Rapper Filming Music Video During January 6 Protest

February 8, 2022February 7, 2022 Peter D'Abrosca

According to CBS reporter Scott MacFarland, who has been covering sentencing of the defendants stemming from the mostly peaceful January 6, 2021 protest at the U.S. Capitol building, federal prosecutors are seeking nearly two years in prison for an aspiring rapper from Virginia who entered the Capitol that day.

“[Antionne] BRODNAX identified himself by date of birth and social security number, and admitted to the agents that he entered the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021,” a probable cause statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says. “BRODNAX also provided the following additional information. BRODNAX said he had traveled to Washington, D.C., prior to January 6, 2021, to shoot a music video. On January 6, 2021, BRODNAX saw a rally of which many participants descended on the U.S. Capitol Building. BRODNAX followed the crowd to the United States Capitol Building and entered the building after United States Capitol Police (USCP) moved the gates that blockaded the door.”

Commentary: ‘It’s Time to Stand Up for Ourselves and Our Country’

December 12, 2021December 11, 2021 Admin

Close up of Capitol with Trump and America flag in the wind

The first thing Victoria White noticed after emerging from the tunnel where she was severely beaten by two D.C. Metropolitan police officers on January 6 was the floor of the U.S. Capitol. Dressed in jeans and a light red turtleneck, shoeless, White was soaked with whatever toxic chemical gas the police sprayed on protesters.

“I noticed that this beautiful flooring was all wet, soaking wet, like a pipe burst,” she told me this week in one of three lengthy interviews about her harrowing experience at the Capitol protest. Water, however, was not the culprit; the floor probably was drenched because law enforcement had doused Americans with chemical spray for hours inside the U.S. Capitol building.

Trump Wishes Ashli Babbitt a Happy Birthday, Calls for DOJ to Reopen Investigation into Her Death

October 12, 2021October 11, 2021 Admin

Former President Donald Trump appeared in a video message to wish happy birthday to the late Ashli Babbitt, the woman fatally shot by a police officer at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 breach. Trump additionally took the opportunity to call for the Justice Department to reopen its investigation into her death.

The Capitol Police officer who fired the shot that killed Babbitt was formerly exonerated by the department following an assessment by the Office of Professional Responsibility that concluded his conduct was “lawful and within Department policy.”

Commentary: Democrats Repeat the Mistakes of 2016

September 29, 2021September 29, 2021 Admin

As we get to the midpoint between the last presidential election and next year’s midterms, all political sides are expending extraordinary effort to ignore the 900-pound gorilla in the formerly smoke-filled room of American politics. This, of course, is Donald Trump.

The Democrats are still outwardly pretending Trump has gone and that his support has evaporated. They also pretend they can hobble him with vexatious litigation and, if necessary, destroy him again by raising the Trump-hate media smear campaign back to ear-splitting levels.

Arizona Democratic Legislator Responds to Defamation Lawsuit Filed by Gosar, Finchem and Kern over January 6 Remarks

September 2, 2021September 1, 2021 Rachel Alexander

Rep. Charlene Fernandez (D-Yuma) responded to a defamation lawsuit filed against her by three Arizona Republican leaders by asking the court to dismiss it. U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04), Rep. Mark Finchem (R-Oro Valley) and former Rep. Anthony Kern (R-Phoenix) filed the lawsuit against her due to a letter she sent on February 12 to the FBI and Department of Justice along with the rest of the Democrats in the Arizona Legislature asking the agencies to investigate the men about their role on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol protest. The three were at the Capitol that day but did not participate in the unauthorized entry of the building or aggressive behavior.

Finchem told National File that “it’s been horrible” dealing with the accusations. “They’ve destroyed my character in the public eye. They’ve destroyed my reputation, and all of it is a big lie.”

Commentary: 1619 Project, Touted as Racial Reckoning, Ignores Democratic Party Racism

August 19, 2021August 18, 2021 RealClearWire

Democrats who advanced a bill in June to remove statues of white supremacists from the U.S. Capitol ignored a central fact about those figures: All of them had been icons of their party, from Andrew Jackson’s adamantly pro-slavery vice president, John C. Calhoun, to North Carolina Gov. Charles B. Aycock, an architect of the white-supremacist campaign of 1898 that ushered in the era of Jim Crow.

At a time when governments, sports teams, schools and other bastions of American society are rushing to expunge legacies of slavery or racism, this was another instance of the Democratic Party’s failure to acknowledge that it did more than any other institution in American life to preserve the “peculiar institution” — and later enforce Jim Crow-style apartheid in the Old South.

Commentary: Video Shows U.S. Capitol Police Gave Protesters Okay to Enter

May 18, 2021May 17, 2021 Admin

Screen capture of video footage from Jan. 6 Capitol riot

A newly-obtained video shows United States Capitol Police officers speaking with several January 6 protestors—including Jacob Chansley, the so-called “Q shaman”—inside the Capitol that afternoon.

One officer, identified in the video and confirmed by charging documents as Officer Keith Robishaw, appears to tell Chansely’s group they won’t stop them from entering the building. “We’re not against . . . you need to show us . . . no attacking, no assault, remain calm,” Robishaw warns. Chansley and another protestor instruct the crowd to act peacefully. “This has to be peaceful,” Chansley yelled. “We have the right to peacefully assemble.”

Nation of Islam Says Follower Who Mowed Down Capitol Police Officer Had ‘Such Great Potential’

April 8, 2021April 7, 2021 Admin

The Nation of Islam says it is “saddened” by the death of a follower who was fatally shot Friday after mowing down a police officer with his vehicle outside the U.S. Capitol.

“We are saddened by the loss of this brother with such great potential,” the group said in a statement on Tuesday regarding Noah Green.

Dreaded QAnon March 4 Uprising Fails to Materialize in the Capitol

March 6, 2021March 5, 2021 Admin

A right-wing plot to storm the Capitol and remove lawmakers did not materialize on Thursday, after the FBI, DHS, and Capitol Police issued bulletins warning that they had intelligence identifying “credible threats” to that effect.
In dozens of reports, the corporate media hyped the “potential threat” of a QAnon uprising in our nation’s Capitol.

In response, the House of Representatives suspended its Thursday session and Capitol Police and National Guard troops went on “high alert.”

Pentagon Reportedly Reviewing Request for National Guard to Remain at U.S. Capitol for 60 Additional Days

March 6, 2021March 5, 2021 Admin

The Pentagon is reviewing a Capitol Police request for the National Guard to remain stationed at the US Capitol for an additional two months, citing concerns about security and potential violence, defense officials told the Associated Press.

The National Guard was stationed at the Capitol following the violent breach Jan. 6 where five people died, the AP reported. Law enforcement has remained on high alert at the Capitol since Thursday after intelligence operatives uncovered a “potential plot” by far-right militia groups to storm the building.

FBI Confirms No Firearms Were Found During January 6 Capitol Protests

March 6, 2021March 5, 2021 Admin

A leading counterterrorism official at the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed on Wednesday that, despite frequent and baseless claims that the protests at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th was supposedly an “armed insurrection,” no firearms were recovered in the aftermath of the protests, as reported by the Epoch Times.

Jill Sanborn, the FBI’s counterrorism chief, confirmed this significant detail during sworn testimony before the Senate. When asked by Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) how many firearms were confiscated from the protesters who were arrested, Sanborn said “to my knowledge, none.” Sanborn then went on to claim, without evidence, that “we knew they would be armed, we had intelligence that they would be coming to D.C., but we did not have intelligence that they would be breaching the Capitol.”

Michigan National Guard Whistleblowers Say Troops Are Being Fed Undercooked Meals That Make Them Sick

March 4, 2021March 3, 2021 Admin

Whistleblowers stationed with the Michigan National Guard at the U.S. Capitol say troops are feeling demoralized after being fed disgusting meals that have made more than a dozen soldiers sick, sending some to the hospital.

FBI Billboards Nationwide Demand Tips on Suspects Who Allegedly Breached U.S. Capitol on January 6

February 12, 2021February 11, 2021 Chris Butler

FBI officials have erected several billboards throughout the United States seeking information about anyone at large who helped breach the U.S. Capitol on January 6. According to witnesses, FBI officials have placed many of these billboards along the nation’s interstates. The billboards ask for tips and inform people that they may submit information about suspects through either a website or a toll-free telephone number.

Knoxville Democrat Reported State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver to Law Enforcement for Being in Washington, D.C.

January 15, 2021June 9, 2021 Laura Baigert

A long-time Democrat from Knoxville reported Republican State Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver to Washington D.C. law enforcement for being at the Capitol on January 6.

The story was reported Thursday by The Tennessee News Journal (TNJ).

Tennessee Man Charged in Connection with Events at U.S. Capitol

January 11, 2021January 10, 2021 Chris Butler

Federal officials on Sunday charged a 30-year-old Tennessee man for allegedly participating in riots at the U.S. Capitol last Wednesday. This, according to a press release that officials with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia published on their website.

Rep. London Lamar Files Bill To Investigate Tennesseans Participating in January 6 Events in DC and Remove Elected Officials from Office

January 11, 2021June 9, 2021 Laura Baigert

Rep. London Lamar (D-Memphis) filed a bill for the upcoming legislative session beginning Tuesday that calls for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) to investigate Tennesseans suspected of participating in seditious or treasonous acts at the federal Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on January 6, and clarifies that such acts committed by state elected officials constitutes their removal from office.

The proposed legislation was filed Friday, after Lamar took to her state representative Facebook page the day prior in a post titled “The Line Has Been Drawn” which accused President Trump and his supporters of engaging in acts of sedition and treason to promote white supremacy.

Feds Suggest One or More People in West Tennessee Breached U.S. Capitol This Week

January 9, 2021January 8, 2021 Chris Butler

The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee hinted Friday that they are investigating one or more people in that area of the state for this week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol. United States Attorney D. Michael Dunavant announced this in a press release.