House impeaches Trump as Capitol riot probe continues

The New York state Capitol is seen on January 11 in Albany, New York.

The acting US attorney for the Northern District of New York, Antoinette Bacon, said there will be heightened security in Albany this weekend due to reports of possible protests in the area around the Capitol.

She made the comments in a joint news conference with the FBI on Thursday. 

The news comes after the attack on the US Capitol last week and in the wake of public reports that groups gathering at state capitols may be violent, Bacon said. 

Bacon added that state and local authorities will be sharing intelligence to keep the community safe “to ensure the violence that happened in DC doesn’t happen in Albany.”

He added that the FBI has been working with local authorities to arrest individuals that were involved in last week’s incident at the US Capitol, including arresting a Syracuse man yesterday.

“We remain dedicated to ensuring everyone who broke the law last week is held accountable,” Relford said.

Washington state is sending hundreds of National Guard troops to the US Capitol to provide support during the presidential inauguration, according to a tweet from the agency’s account.

Separately, Gov. Jay Inslee also authorized 750 members of the National Guard to be activated to help Washington State Police protect the state capitol in Olympia, State Police spokesperson Chris Loftis told CNN today.

Read the tweet:

More on this: Multiple defense officials tell CNN that the total request for National Guard is close to 30,000 members to support US Capitol Police, Park Police and Washington Metropolitan Police Department but officials believe that the actual number needed is closer to 20,000. The final numbers will be provided by the Secret Service.

The more than 20,000 National Guard members expected for Joe Biden’s inauguration is more than three times the number of active duty US troops currently in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria combined, a staggering statistic that underscores just how massive the security presence will be.

An Alaska Airline jet is parked at a gate at Dulles international Airport on June 16, 2018, in Dulles, Virginia.

Alaska Airlines joined other US carriers Thursday in announcing new rules on flights to and from airports around Washington, DC, leading up to Inauguration Day.

Starting tomorrow, the airline will temporarily ban checked firearms on planes bound for DC, and seat availability will be limited.

Passengers on all Alaska Airlines flights headed to Baltimore/Washington International Airport (BWI), Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) or Dulles International Airport (IAD) must also remain seated starting one hour before landing.

Passengers departing from those airports must also be seated for the first hour of their flights. The airline also noted in their statement that they are adding extra personnel to support compliance.

“We have procedures to ensure compliance prior to departure and takeoff, and for turn-back or diversions, should the circumstance warrant,” the airline said.

Alaska Airlines – which is based in Seattle, Washington – has 31 flights a week between the DC area and the West Coast.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy speaks at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on January 6.

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy does not support efforts to remove Rep. Liz Cheney as conference chair after her vote to impeach President Trump Wednesday, his spokesperson said.

Several House Republicans have been hammering Cheney, the party’s third-ranking House leader, for her vote to impeach Trump.

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, a staunch Trump ally on Capitol Hill, told reporters he thinks Cheney should be ousted from her leadership position after she said she’d support impeaching the President.

Illinois Republican Adam Kinzinger, who also supported impeachment, voiced his support for Cheney Wednesday night tweeting, “Liz has more support now than she did two days ago. She has gained immeasurable respect. Since the discussion is opened though, we may have to also have a discussion about who in our party fomented this, and their roles as ranking members.”

Cheney, who represents Wyoming and is the daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, on Wednesday dismissed pressure for her to resign after coming out in support of impeaching Trump.

Senator Lisa Murkowski speaks during a hearing in Washington, DC, on September 23, 2020.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, did not indicate how she will vote in a new statement released today, but she said she believes the House took the right step with impeachment vote.

“On the day of the riots, President Trump’s words incited violence, which led to the injury and deaths of Americans – including a Capitol Police officer – the desecration of the Capitol, and briefly interfered with the government’s ability to ensure a peaceful transfer of power,” she said in the statement. “Such unlawful actions cannot go without consequence and the House has responded swiftly, and I believe, appropriately, with impeachment.”

Read her full statement:

Despite last week’s insurrection, Facebook is continuing to show ads for weapon accessories, body armor, and other military gear on its site, according to the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), a nonprofit watchdog.  

TPP said it found evidence to suggest the ads are being shown to Facebook users who have shown interest in far-right and militia groups. 

The ads, which TTP says it saw on Facebook on Wednesday, included promotions for bulletproof vests and gun accessories. 

The ads appeared in the Facebook feed of an account TTP set up to resemble a far-right sympathizer. TPP used the account to join dozens of groups and pages dedicated to militia  groups and the far-right.

A Facebook spokesperson told CNN, “We don’t allow ads that praise, support or represent militarized social movements and ban ads that promote the sale or use of weapons, ammunition, or explosives.”

The spokesperson also said Facebook has removed pages and groups representing militarized social movements and is continuing to take those pages down.

BuzzFeed News first reported TTP’s findings. 

The U.S. Capitol stands on January 14 in Washington, DC.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Thursday authorized the deployment of 500 members of the Arkansas National Guard to Washington, DC, in advance of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             The Arkansas National Guard will arrive in Washington on Jan. 17 and return before the end of the month.   

A Washington State Patrol trooper walks through the rotunda of the state capitol in Olympia on Wednesday, January 13.

The Washington State Police is actively monitoring threats to the state capitol in Olympia and the agency is “preparing for anything,” spokesperson Chris Loftis told CNN today.

“What we’re seeing are evolving threats over time,” Loftis said.

He explained the agency has seen “some general threats that we can tie to specific individuals and specific groups” that have centered around coming to the capitol to “wreak havoc and harm and keep the operations of the capitol from occurring as they normally do.”

“We do follow all the social media chatter and some of these groups are quite brazen,” he added.

Loftis explained that many of these threats and groups look “to make the point that they feel the election has been stolen and that the Covid restrictions that we have had in the state and others are somehow unconstitutional.”

He said the agency is working with FBI, other local law enforcement agencies, and other state agencies through a “fusion center” in Seattle. 

In addition to resources brought in from all eight of Washington State Patrol’s districts, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee authorized 750 members of the National Guard to be activated, Loftis explained. As a result, “hundreds and hundreds” of personnel are at the state capitol around the clock.

“Our position in all of this is that we’re here to protect people’s rights to free speech and we’re here to protect the rights of assembly,” Loftis added. But he cautioned “if you come onto campus, with intent to harm, whether it’s the people the place or the process, we’re going to respond, as law enforcement always does.”

The New York Police Department Deputy Commissioner John Miller said “the temperature is high” as it pertains to the current intelligence surrounding the inauguration.

He said the NYPD will be sending 200 officers to Washington, DC, to assist federal partners with the policing during the inauguration. The officers will receive indoctrination and protocols and have special law enforcement powers for the time they are assisting federal counterparts. 

Miller said the idea the rioters were successful in getting into the Capitol, indicates it was a “significant milestone,” for the movement. 

He went onto say there’s indication that the arrests made across the country may have hampered that movement. 

“The city of New York will do anything and everything within our power to assist the federal government,” Miller continued. 

When asked which group out of the extremists concerns them the most, Miller said, “This is a loosely organized movement that largely gathers electronically and mobilizes electronically and the propensity of the violence sometimes boils down to the individual.”

Miller said the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force in New York is working on identifying and arresting individuals who took part in the lawlessness. 

Out of an abundance of caution, Miller said, New Yorkers will see additional police resources around City Hall from Jan. 17 onwards, although he stressed there are no credible threats to New York City.

Kevin Seefried carries a confederate flag in the US Capitol Rotunda on January 6 in Washington, DC.

Authorities have arrested two men, including one who was pictured in the US Capitol last week holding a Confederate flag during a riot, according to the Department of Justice. 

The men – Kevin Seefried and his son Hunter – were taken into custody Thursday in Delaware, according to a release. They are charged with entering restricted grounds and violent entry or disorderly conduct inside the Capitol, according to a criminal complaint in the DC District Court.

Both Seefrieds spoke to the FBI separately about taking part in the crowd that breached the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Prosecutors say the Seefrieds “entered the Senate Building through a broken window and, shortly thereafter, Kevin Seefried was photographed holding a Confederate Battle flag inside the Capitol Building.” 

Kevin Seefried told the FBI he had brought the Confederate flag with him to Washington from his home in Delaware, where he normally displays it outside. The father-son duo had come to the nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6 “to hear President Trump speak,” and marched to the Capitol following a person with a bullhorn, they told the FBI, according to the court record.

The FBI learned of the men’s names after one of Hunter Seefried’s coworkers reported he had bragged about being inside the Capitol building with his father. Hunter Seefried is alleged to have punched glass out of a window in the Capitol, according to court documents made public on Thursday.

This article has been updated to reflect that two men have now been charged.