Latest news with #CapitolRiots
Daily Mail
20-07-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Ghislaine Maxwell 'is not suicidal' and spends her days behind bars quietly helping educate fellow inmates
's life behind bars has been laid bare by one of her former cellmates. Jessica Watkins - who was imprisoned for her part in the 2020 Capitol riots - said Maxwell, 63, has rebranded herself as a teacher to other inmates. The 42-year-old transgender Army veteran said Jeffrey Epstein's former pal mostly keeps to herself as she serves her 20-year stretch for child sex-trafficking charges. Watkins, a former Oath Keeper, was imprisoned alongside the 63-year-old inside FCI Tallahassee. Maxwell notoriously helped Epstein exploit and abuse multiple minors over the course of a decade. Epstein's victims alleged they were procured by Maxwell and passed around his billionaire friends and associates who regularly visited his homes, which included his private island. He was eventually found dead in his cell from an apparent suicide while awaiting trial. Speaking with this week, Watkins said Maxwell mostly kept to herself inside the prison, a low-security facility in the Florida capital where she has modeled herself as a mentor to other jailbirds. It comes after Watkins said she wanted to get 'ahead of potential narratives' about Maxwell, insisting that 'she isn't suicidal in the least.' Recalling the first time she registered the disgraced socialite, Watkins said she had to do a double take to make sure it was her. She said: 'It's an open dorm, it's a big bay full of bunk beds, there is no cells. I walked by and I seen her there. 'I did a double take because I recognized her face immediately from the news. I was like "is that who I think it is?" 'My friend who was with me was like "I don't know - who is it?" I caught her up on the situation. Started asking around and it was definitely her.' Watkins, who had her sentenced commuted in January, said she and Maxwell would go speak several times a week, typically while exercising around the yard. She said that Maxwell brought up her own case a few times and only made one mention of Epstein, her former lover and boss, that she could remember. 'We don't talk about cases as inmates because people will think you're a snitch. It's an unspoken rule among inmates. You don't ask. '[Maxwell] did bring it up a couple times but it was very very hush hush. She didn't talk a lot about it. 'She did say that the DOJ had no interest in her until after, her exact words were until after Jeffrey, and then she paused for a second and said died. That was the only time he ever came up.' According to Watkins, Maxwell came across as being at ease inside prison, adding that she 'didn't seem unduly worried.' She added: 'The open dorm situation is very good. There's like 40 or 50 people around so if anybody tried anything, there's witnesses. She seemed very at ease, very calm and approachable.' Watkins said that anybody involved in child or sex cases is somewhat protected by the authorities. 'If someone is to retaliate against her they catch an entire indictment and can get like 10 years or something. 'I don't think she feared anything from the other inmates. She was also very helpful. She worked in the law library.' In the U.S., correctional facilities offer inmates the resources to access the courts and further understand their legal rights and options with in-house law libraries. Watkins said Maxwell worked inside the one in Tallahassee and provided fellow inmates with the right legal forms and offered advice, even running her own classes. 'She was very concerned about peoples' medical wellbeing and so she did have that kind side to her.' Despite this, Watkins added that Maxwell did make her uneasy, due to her being aware of the nature of her case. She added: '[Maxwell] made me nervous. Anytime she came around she made me nervous - but she was very nice.' Watkins said that outside of helping others with legal cases, Maxwell spent her time working out and reading books constantly - with a taste for classic literature. She never recalled seeing Maxwell with a tablet inside or ever spending time inside the TV room, deciding to work on her case or read instead. Watkins also took aim at the food available to inmates as being 'not fit for human consumption' while saying that she recalled Maxwell eating kosher meals. Maxwell is said to have kept to herself, and had one close friend who Watkins identified only as Lisa. Lisa told others she was a doctor before her prison stint. According to Watkins the facility had problems with drug use among inmates, particularly the prescription opioid Suboxone and crystal meth. Due to this, she said she and Maxwell bonded over not being hooked on the substances. 'We avoided most of the inmates cause they were high all the time and we didn't want to be around that. She would gravitate towards people who were also sober,' Watkins said. 'We walked the track one day and we were trying to calculate how many people were sober in the prison. I think we came up with 12.' The only other details of her private life Maxwell gave out was that her father had worked in the media, according to Watkins. Epstein and Maxwell were previously pictured alongside President Donald Trump, but the former socialite only mentioned the president once, Watkins noted. She said: 'There was something in the news about Trump having Jeffrey Epstein at Mar-a-Lago or something. 'I guess she had done some interview and the media had asked her about President Trump, and she came back and said, "Well, like why are you interested in Trump and not the Clintons?" 'I guess they were far closer, I don't know. It was a passing statement. She never really elaborated on that.' Watkins insisted Maxwell was not suicidal, suggesting she was unlikely to meet the same fate as Epstein, who was found dead in a New York City jail cell in 2019. At the time of Epstein's death, which was ruled a suicide, he had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. His suicide fueled speculation he was assassinated as part of a cover-up to protect other high-profile individuals who were potentially complicit in his crimes. It was later suggested the well-connected financier maintained a list of clients to whom underage girls were trafficked.
Daily Mirror
19-07-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Top British firms donated to Republicans who denied 2020 US election result
Our investigation reveals that 24 firms with UK HQs have given over £1m to Republicans who questioned the 2020 election that Trump lost - sparking the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol More than 20 of Britain's biggest companies have donated to over 100 Republican politicians in the US who refused to certify the 2020 presidential election, The Mirror can reveal. BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Deloitte and British American Tobacco are among 24 UK headquartered-firms that have donated more than $1.7 million (£1.3m) to election-denying candidates since 2021 through in-house bodies which collect donations from staff. The donations come through the firms' Political Action Committees or PACs, which are often run by senior company execs and which channel staff donations to politicians. Under US law, companies are not allowed to donate directly and the companies contacted for comment stressed that their PACs operate independently and comply fully with US campaign finance rules. Employees of companies donate money to a PAC, companies themselves are not allowed to do so, but they do often pay for office costs such as rent, staff and fundraising activities. Employees who contribute to their firm's PAC can specify if they want the money to go to Republicans or Democrats and the PAC generally goes on to bankroll politicians or candidates who are viewed as supportive of their industry. These donations were made despite many of the largest corporations pledging not to donate to election denialists after the Jan 6 insurrection in which supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol. Firms who have PACs supporting Republican candidates we established in our joint investigation with the Democracy for Sale Substack include: Accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, who announced in January 2021 that it had 'suspended all political contributions to any member of Congress who voted to object to the certification of electoral votes' but its Political Action Committee has given $93k to a string of GOP candidates who refused to certify the election. PwC did not respond to a request for comment. British American Tobacco's US subsidiary's PAC has donated to Andrew Clyde who claimed the Capitol Riots looked more like a 'normal tourist visit' and voted against giving medals to police officers who responded to the riots. A BAT spokesperson said: 'It is a well-established practice in the U.S. political system for individuals, not-for-profits and private sector companies to make financial contributions to major political parties. BAT believes that engaging in the political process is an important way for us to advocate for policies that support our industry and overall economic growth.' The PACS of several firms including Deloitte, BAT, advertising giant WPP contributed to Steve Scalise, who spoke at a white nationalist conference with former KKK head David Duke. The PACs of firms including Deloitte, Rolls Royce and BAE have funded house speaker Mike Johnson, who played a leading role in attempts to overturn the 2020 election result, according to the New York Times. He voted against the Respect for Marriage Act in 2022, which federally protects same-sex marriages and interracial couples, and has said that America can only be saved it it returns to "eighteenth-century values". Defence firm BAE Systems announced in January 2021 that, 'In response to the deeply disturbing violence at the US Capitol on January 6th, our US political action committee has suspended all donations while we assess the path forward'. However, since then BAE Systems's PAC has donated $229,500 to Republicans who have refused to certify the 2020 elections, starting in April 2021. BAE Systems said: 'We do not make corporate contributions or donations to political parties. Eligible employees in the US can choose to contribute to the BAE Systems Political Action Committee, which must operate in full compliance with US federal laws and regulations.' After his re-election, President Trump has pardoned or commuted sentences for every defendant convicted for their roles in January 6, including those convicted of violence against Capitol police and the leaders of extremist groups. In the US, foreign companies are not allowed to donate to politicians but, if they have an American subsidiary, they can donate through so-called PACs. PACs are lobbying organizations that make campaign donations to political candidates. Big companies have PACs that are often headed by a company executive, or someone working for them. The Treasurer of the Deloitte PAC is Patrick Givens, a Deloitte employee for the last 17 years. The Treasurer of the BAT's US subsidiary Reynolds' PAC, is Steve Kottak, a BAT/Reynolds employee for the last 21 years who is currently senior director in state and local government relations. The Treasurer of the PwC PAC is Roz Brooks, A PwC employee for the last 29 years. The amounts that PACs can give to a candidate are limited to no more than $5000 for the primary and another $5000 for the election itself. Some British-listed companies have donated huge sums to Republican causes. British American Tobacco gave more than $25m to conservative causes in 2024, including $10m to Make America Great Again PAC, Open Secrets has previously revealed. Christopher Avery, Director at the campaign group Donations and Democracy, said: "It is exceptionally disappointing that so many major UK companies have subsidiaries whose Political Action Committees have been directly funding the campaigns of politicians after they tried to overturn the results of a democratic election in the United States. Making donations to those politicians raises serious concerns about respect for democracy, human rights and the rule of law."
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fired Justice Department official warns we are "driving straight into an abyss"
A 17-year former Justice Department official is warning of a wave of retribution inside the agency. Patty Hartman, who served as a top public affairs specialist at the FBI and federal prosecutors' offices, told CBS News, "The rules don't exist anymore." Hartman, who was fired Monday via a letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi, is the fourth person connected to the agency's work on the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots to be terminated in the past month. "There used to be a line, used to be a very distinct separation between the White House and the Department of Justice, because one should not interfere with the work of the other," Hartman told CBS News. "That line is very definitely gone." Hartman isn't a prosecutor, but worked on the District of Columbia U.S. Attorney's Office public affairs team that distributed news releases about the more than 1,500 Jan. 6 criminal prosecutions. "I am not political. I do not serve a president or a party," she said. "I serve the American people, the Department of Justice and its mission and the citizens in the district where I work. I've been doing that for almost 20 years." The purge of Justice Department employees who worked on Jan. 6 cases began shortly after President Trump's second inauguration, when he installed a former Jan. 6 defense attorney, Ed Martin, as the acting top prosecutor in Washington, D.C. Multiple prosecutors were promptly terminated. The latest wave of firings included Hartman and three more prosecutors who helped handle some of the Jan. 6 cases. She said those firings appear to be a form of retribution from the administration. Mr. Trump and his supporters have downplayed the damage, injuries and trauma of the Capitol siege and have sought to recast convicted rioters as "political prisoners." The mass pardon of nearly all of the approximately 1,500 defendants shuttered the prosecutions in January. Hartman said her firing Monday took her by surprise. Her computer appeared to power itself down while she was in the middle of working on a press release, she said, and then an agency official handed a termination letter bearing Attorney General Pam Bondi's signature. She characterized her dismissal as an indication of a broader destabilization inside the Justice Department and Trump administration. In a social media post this week, she wrote, "We appear to be driving straight into an abyss that holds no memory of what democracy is, was, or should be." "The people in charge who are supposed to protect us — our fellow Americans who we elected, along with those who were appointed, and swore an oath to protect this nation and our Constitution — now use the Constitution as a weapon to suit their own ends. And the most terrifying fact is, their road map is very long," Hartman also wrote. She told CBS News she had been fired without due process and said she's considering a legal challenge over her termination. Hartman said the administration has "just thrown all of the rules out the window, like we are falling into a crevasse or an abyss, and I really, truly hope that the country can pull out of it." One of Hartman's colleagues, who asked for anonymity to avoid incurring retaliation for speaking publicly, told CBS News, "Patty's firing really pisses me off. It's so unconscionably petty and vindictive. Who is the constituency for firing Patty? Even the most rabid Jan. 6 apologists weren't calling for the firing of the woman who wrote the press releases." The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Social media content creator shows his hustle Udemy Is Powering Enterprise AI Transformation Through Skills Debate over Trump plan to increase logging on federal lands
Al Jazeera
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
‘Terrible thing': Trump defends Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro against coup trial
United States President Donald Trump has taken to social media to defend his fellow right-wing leader Jair Bolsonaro, a former Brazilian president who faces criminal charges for allegedly plotting a coup d'etat. On Monday, Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social that Bolsonaro's indictment was an example of political persecution. 'Brazil is doing a terrible thing on their treatment of former President Jair Bolsonaro,' Trump said. 'I have watched, as has the World, as they have done nothing but come after him, day after day, night after night, month after month, year after year! He is not guilty of anything, except having fought for THE PEOPLE.' Trump went on to compare his own legal troubles to Bolsonaro's. Both leaders have been accused of trying to undermine their country's elections, following losses. In Trump's case, the accusations concern his 2020 race against Democrat Joe Biden. Though Trump lost, prosecutors say he and his allies conspired to defraud voters by pressuring officials to say that he won. That lie culminated in an attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, as Trump's supporters sought to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election results. Trump later faced a federal indictment in Washington, DC, and a state-level indictment in Georgia over his actions. The federal charges, however, were dropped once he took office for a second term in January. Bolsonaro, meanwhile, currently is facing criminal trial for allegedly masterminding a scheme to retain power after his 2022 election loss to Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. In the lead-up to the election, Bolsonaro spread falsehoods about the accuracy of Brazil's voting machines, and afterwards, he refused to publicly concede defeat. Thousands of his supporters likewise stormed the government buildings in Brazil's capital Brasilia to protest the outcome. Prosecutors say police unearthed evidence of a scheme wherein Bolsonaro and his allies plotted to hold onto power by means of a coup, one that would have seen Lula and other officials assassinated. Both Trump and Bolsonaro have denied wrongdoing. In Monday's posts, Trump said both of their cases reflected a politically motivated 'WITCH HUNT' designed to dim their popularity among voters. 'This is nothing more, or less, than an attack on a Political Opponent — Something I know much about! It happened to me, times 10,' Trump wrote. 'The Great People of Brazil will not stand for what they are doing to their former President.' He appeared to end his post with a call for Bolsonaro's re-election: 'The only Trial that should be happening is a Trial by the Voters of Brazil — It's called an Election. LEAVE BOLSONARO ALONE!' Bolsonaro, however, has been barred from running for office for eight years, a period which expires in 2030. In 2023, in a separate case, Brazil's Superior Electoral Court issued the punishment after it found Bolsonaro had abused his power by using government offices to spread doubt about the country's voting machines. Trump and Bolsonaro have long faced comparisons to one another. They both took office for a first term in 2017, and both lost their initial re-election attempt. Bolsonaro, a former army captain, has been referred to as the 'Trump of the tropics'. Critics have long speculated that Trump may seek to intervene in Brazil's prosecution of the far-right leader, through political pressure. Earlier this year, for example, the Trump Media and Technology Group joined a lawsuit in Florida against Brazil's Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, arguing that a recent decision from the judge amounted to the censorship of right-wing voices. De Moraes has overseen the criminal case against Bolsonaro and is considered a target of ire for Brazil's right. In a social media response on Monday, President Lula indicated that Trump's social media missive could be viewed as an attempt to interfere with the Brazilian justice system. Though he mentioned neither Trump nor Bolsonaro by name, Lula, a left-wing leader, rejected the advice of those who sought to influence the ongoing trial from abroad. 'The defense of democracy in Brazil is a matter for Brazilians to deal with. We are a sovereign country. We do not accept interference or tutelage from anyone,' Lula wrote. 'We have solid and independent institutions. No one is above the law. Especially those who threaten freedom and the rule of law.' Bolsonaro, on the other hand, took to social media to thank Trump explicitly for his words of support. 'I thank the illustrious President and friend. You went through something similar. You were relentlessly persecuted, but you won for the good of the United States and dozens of other truly democratic countries,' Bolsonaro wrote, reflecting on how 'happy' he was to see Trump's note. Bolsonaro used the occasion to once again proclaim his innocence and blast his political opponents as puppeteering the trial. 'This process to which I am responding is a legal aberration (lawfare), clear political persecution,' he said. The former president could face up to 40 years in prison if convicted.
CBS News
03-07-2025
- Politics
- CBS News
Tennessee man pardoned for Jan. 6 offenses gets life in prison in separate case accusing him of trying in incite "civil war"
A Tennessee man pardoned by President Trump in January for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol will nevertheless serve a life sentence for plotting to attack FBI agents and seeking to incite a "civil war," according to prosecutors. Edward Kelley, who was the fourth U.S. Capitol rioter to enter the building on Jan. 6, 2021, faced a separate prosecution for targeting federal agents while he was being investigated for his role in the Capitol attack. The Justice Department argued Kelley created a "kill list" of FBI agents and others who investigated his role in the Jan. 6 siege. Prosecutors said Kelley "distributed this list — along with videos containing images of certain FBI employees identified on the list — to a co-conspirator as part of his 'mission.'" A jury convicted Kelley of conspiracy charges in November, and a federal judge in the Eastern District of Tennessee sentenced Kelley to life in prison on Tuesday. Though Kelley was among the more than 1,500 Capitol riot defendants pardoned on January 20, 2025, the pardon did not extend to Kelley's conspiracy case in Tennessee. Last month, prosecutors argued, "Edward Kelley is remorseless and has shown neither a capacity nor desire to rehabilitate. On the contrary, Kelley not only believes the actions for which he was convicted were justified but that his duty as a self-styled 'patriot' compelled him to target East Tennessee law enforcement for assassination." Prosecutors also said, "The proof at trial established that Kelley targeted law enforcement because of their anticipated role in the civil war that Kelley hoped to initiate and because of his animus towards those who participated in his May 2022 arrest and search of his home." They argued Kelley viewed "the FBI as the enemy and, as such, were valid targets in the civil war because they served as the 'eyes and ears' of the government." The Justice Department also said, "The defendant identified 36 individual federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel to target for assassination. He created a list of his targets which included names, titles, and cell phone numbers." Kelley is one of several Jan. 6 defendants who face prison time in separate criminal cases, including some who have been arrested again after their pardons were issued. A Florida defendant was arrested later in January 2025 on a gun charge. A Texas defendant who was freed from prison by the Trump pardon was later arrested, suspected of attempted child solicitation. A portion of a legal document showing alleged images of and allegations against Edward Kelley surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack. Department of Justice Kelley's role on Jan. 6, 2021, was distinct. Security camera photos showed he was the fourth person to unlawfully enter the Capitol building at the forefront of the mob and he was accused of being part of a group that assaulted an officer. He was also among the group that confronted lone officer Eugene Goodman outside the U.S. Senate chamber as Senators evacuated to safety. The Justice Department press release issued Tuesday to announce Kelley's prison sentence did not make a reference to Jan. 6. Prior announcements in his case, from 2022, specified Kelley's alleged role in the Capitol siege.
