Confederate flag photo at Capitol riot leads to man’s arrest
From news services
A Delaware man photographed carrying a Confederate battle flag during a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol was arrested Thursday after authorities used the image to help identify him, federal prosecutors said.
A news release from the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia said Kevin Seefried, who was seen carrying the flag, was arrested with his son, Hunter Seefried, in Delaware. Prosecutors said both entered the Senate Building through a broken window before Kevin Seefried was seen carrying the Confederate flag in photos that caught attention from news outlets and social media.
Both were charged with unlawfully entering a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds and degradation of government property.
They were part of a larger group that verbally confronted members of the Capitol police over a 15-minute span and were documented on surveillance video, according to court documents written by an FBI special agent.
The men were identified after the FBI was told by a co-worker of Hunter Seefried that he had bragged about being in the Capitol with his father, court documents say. The FBI agent wrote that authorities compared Kevin Seefried’s driver’s license photo to images of him carrying the flag during the riot to confirm his identity.
They both spoke voluntarily to the FBI on Tuesday and admitted they had been present at the riot, according to court documents.
Information on whether the men have attorneys who can speak for them couldn’t immediately be found in electronic court records. A phone listing for the two men in Delaware rang unanswered Thursday afternoon.
Family separation: Justice Department leaders under President Donald Trump knew their 2018 “zero tolerance” border policy would result in family separations but pressed on with prosecutions even as other agencies became overwhelmed with migrants, a government watchdog report released Thursday has found.
The report from the inspector general for the Justice Department found that leadership failed to prepare to implement the policy or manage the fallout, which resulted in more than 3,000 family separations during “zero tolerance” and caused lasting emotional damage to children who were taken from their parents at the border. The policy was widely condemned by world leaders, religious groups and lawmakers in the U.S. as cruel.
President-elect Joe Biden has said Trump’s restrictive immigration policies are harmful, but it’s not clear yet what he will do when he gets in office to alter the system. About 5,500 children have been separated from their parents since Trump took office, and many of those parents were deported without their children.
Green Beret death: A U.S. Navy SEAL pleaded guilty Thursday to involuntary manslaughter for his role in the hazing death of a U.S. Army Green Beret while in Africa.
Chief Petty Officer Tony DeDolph, a member of the elite SEAL Team 6, also offered a detailed account of the night in which he and other service members initiated a prank known as a “tape job” on Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar.
DeDolph told a military judge that the men were trying to teach Melgar a lesson over perceived slights while they served in Mali in 2017. But the SEAL said they were soon “in a state of shock and deeply disturbed” after the duct-tape-bound Melgar remained unresponsive for several minutes.
DeDolph said his role in the prank was to cause Melgar to temporarily lose consciousness by placing him in a chokehold.
Pandemic probe in China: A global team of researchers arrived Thursday in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into its origins amid uncertainty about whether Beijing might try to prevent embarrassing discoveries.
The group sent to Wuhan by the World Health Organization was approved by President Xi Jinping’s government after months of diplomatic wrangling that prompted an unusual public complaint by the head of WHO.
Scientists suspect the virus that has killed more than 1.9 million people worldwide since late 2019 jumped to humans from bats or other animals, most likely in China’s southwest. The ruling Communist Party, stung by complaints it allowed the disease to spread, has suggested the virus came from abroad, but international scientists reject that.
Fifteen team members were to arrive in Wuhan on Thursday, but two tested positive for coronavirus antibodies before leaving Singapore and were being retested there, WHO said in a statement on Twitter.
The team includes virus and other experts from the United States, Australia, Germany, Japan, Britain, Russia, the Netherlands, Qatar and Vietnam.
DNC leadership: Jaime Harrison — a longtime Democratic Party official and fundraising powerhouse who failed in his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham — is President-elect Joe Biden’s choice to lead the national party, according to multiple party officials.
Harrison is expected to be elected without any significant opposition when the Democratic National Committee convenes Thursday in a virtual session, a day after Biden is inaugurated. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision hasn’t been announced.
Harrison, 44, served previously as South Carolina Democratic Party chairman. He ran for DNC chair in 2017, when Tom Perez was elected to become the party’s first Latino chairman. Harrison is Black.
Staying on at the Pentagon: Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist has been asked to serve as the acting secretary of defense for President-elect Joe Biden until a permanent Pentagon chief can be confirmed by the Senate, U.S. officials said
Thursday.
Officials said Norquist agreed, and that other defense officials were told of the selection Wednesday evening. Biden has chosen retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin to serve as his defense secretary, but Austin must receive a waiver from both the House and Senate to be considered for the job.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters not yet announced.
Under the law, a retired service member must be out of the military for seven years in order to be named defense secretary. A Senate confirmation hearing on Austin could be held as soon as Wednesday, but there could be no vote until a waiver is approved.
Norquist is a longtime federal adviser, particularly on financial matters. He has been deputy defense secretary since July 2019, but previously served as the Pentagon’s comptroller. He also served as the chief financial officer for the Department of Homeland Security.