Internal investigation clears officer in fatal Capitol riot shooting
WASHINGTON — An officer who shot and killed a woman during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol as she began to climb through the broken part of a door leading into an area known as the Speaker’s Lobby acted lawfully and in line with police department policy, the U.S. Capitol Police said Monday.
Capitol Police announced the findings of their internal investigation into the fatal shooting of Ashli Babbitt on Monday. Officials said they had interviewed multiple witnesses and reviewed video and radio calls as part of the monthslong probe.
Federal prosecutors also cleared the officer of any wrongdoing after an investigation into the shooting and did not publicly name him. Capitol Police, concerned for his safety, have also not released his name.
The officer’s attorney, Mark Schamel, said his client is facing “many credible death threats” and other “horrific threats” and was forced from his home because of them.
Babbitt, a 35-year-old Air Force veteran from San Diego, was shot by the police lieutenant when she tried to climb through a door with the glass smashed out as she and others in the mob pressed to get into the Speaker’s Lobby outside the House chamber. She was unarmed.
Prosecutors said Babbitt was part of the mob that was trying to get into the House as Capitol Police officers were evacuating members of Congress from the chamber.
Proud Boys sentence:
The leader of the Proud Boys extremist group was sentenced to more than five months in jail on Monday for burning a Black Lives
Matter banner that was torn down from a historic Black church in downtown Washington and bringing two high-capacity firearm magazines into the nation’s capital days shortly before the Jan. 6 riot.
Enrique Tarrio told the court he was “profusely” sorry for his actions, calling them a “grave mistake.”
Tarrio, of Miami, was arrested as he arrived in Washington two days before thousands of supporters of then-President Donald Trump — including members of the Proud Boys — descended on the U.S. Capitol and disrupted the certification of the Electoral College vote. Tarrio was ordered to stay away from Washington, and law enforcement later said Tarrio was picked up in part to help quell potential violence.
Authorities say Proud Boys members stole the banner that read #BLACKLIVESMATTER from the Asbury United Methodist Church on Dec. 12 and then set it ablaze using lighter fluid and lighters.
Infowars charges: Owen Shroyer, the host of a program for the right-wing website Infowars, is in custody after being charged in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, officials said Monday.
Shroyer, who hosts “The War Room With Owen Shroyer” for the website operated by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, said on air Friday that he had to turn himself in to authorities Monday to face misdemeanor charges stemming from Jan. 6.
He was scheduled to appear in federal court in Texas.
Shroyer said in a video posted Sunday that he is “obviously completely innocent of the charges.”
Shroyer is charged with crimes including disorderly conduct and entering a restricted area of Capitol grounds. He was seen on the west side of the Capitol next to the inauguration stage as well as at the top of the stairs on the east side of the Capitol, according to court documents. He is not accused of going into the Capitol building.
Shroyer was outspoken in advance of Jan. 6 about wanting to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory, authorities said.
Georgia election law: A federal judge has found that a part of Georgia’s sweeping new election law that broadly prohibits the photographing of a voted ballot is likely unconstitutional.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Boulee on Friday granted a preliminary injunction on that section of the law, meaning it cannot be enforced for now. In the same order, he declined to block a number of other provisions that mostly have to do with monitoring or photographing parts of the election process.
The judge’s order came in a lawsuit filed by the Coalition for Good Governance, an election integrity group, and others. Boulee wrote that the plaintiffs in the lawsuit “have shown a substantial likelihood of success on the merits of their claim” that the broad ban on photographing a voted ballot in both public and nonpublic places violates their First Amendment rights.
The new law, known as SB 202, also adds a voter ID requirement for mail ballots, shortens the time period for requesting a mail ballot, results in fewer ballot drop boxes available in metro Atlanta and gives the State Election Board new powers to intervene in county election offices and to remove and replace local election officials.
There are eight federal lawsuits challenging parts of the 98-page law enacted earlier this year, including one filed by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Student freed: An Italian-Moroccan student has been freed by Moroccan authorities after she was detained on blasphemy charges after she arrived in June to visit relatives, Italian officials said Monday.
Italy’s Foreign Ministry said Ikram Nazih, 23, had been convicted of “offenses against religion” for having shared a satirical cartoon on Facebook in 2019. The Italian newspaper Domani, which had championed her cause, said the cartoon had transformed a verse of the Quran into a verse about whisky.
Domani said Nazih, who was born to Moroccan parents and is a student at the University of Marseille, had been detained upon arrival in June after she traveled to Morocco to visit relatives. It said she had been convicted June
28 and sentenced to more than three years after a religious group in Morocco had lodged a complaint against her for the Facebook post, which she had canceled.
Rights group on
Israel: Israeli airstrikes that demolished four high-rise buildings in the Gaza Strip during the war in May apparently violated international laws of war, a leading international human rights group said Monday, calling on the Israeli military to produce evidence justifying the attacks.
Human Rights Watch noted that although no one was harmed in the airstrikes, the attacks damaged neighboring buildings, left dozens of people homeless and destroyed scores of businesses.
In response to the report, the Israeli military accused Hamas and other militant groups of using the buildings for military purposes and turning their occupants into human shields.