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Alex Jones’ texts have been turned over to the January 6 committee, source says

Alex Jones' texts have been turned over to the January 6 committee, source says



CNN
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Approximately two years’ worth of text messages sent and received by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones have been turned over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday.

The messages were handed over to the committee by Mark Bankston, the attorney who represented two Sandy Hook parents who successfully sued Jones in Texas and won nearly $50 million in a civil trial that concluded last week.

Bankston would only tell CNN that he is “cooperating with the committee.” The select committee declined to comment.

During the trial, Bankston revealed that one of Jones’ lawyers had “messed up” and inadvertently sent him the two years of text messages. Bankston also said during the trial that the January 6 committee had expressed interest in the material.

Jones’ attorney Federico Andino Reynal asked the judge in the case to order Bankston to destroy the material and not transmit it to the House committee, but the judge declined.

“I’m not standing between you and Congress,” Judge Maya Guerra Gamble told Bankston when asked about sending Jones’ texts to the committee. “That is not my job. I’m not going to do that.”

The source wouldn’t provide details of the exact timeframe of when Jones sent and received the texts in question.

Jones was a central player on January 6. He was on restricted US Capitol grounds that day, riling up protesters, though he did not enter the building itself. He has rejected any suggestion that he was involved in the planning of violence, and claims he tried to prevent people at the Capitol from breaking the law.

Jones testified before the January 6 committee earlier this year, but he later said on his show that he repeatedly asserted his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent during the closed-door deposition.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who sits on the committee, said Sunday on CNN that the committee was still waiting to see the texts and was interested to learn more about Jones’ role in the events at the Capitol.

“Well, we know that his behavior did incentivize some of the January 6 conduct and we want to know more about that,” Lofgren said. “We don’t know what we’ll find in the texts because we haven’t seen them. But we’ll look at it and learn more, I’m sure.”

It is unclear if the Justice Department has received the texts as of Monday afternoon. A Justice Department spokesman did not comment to CNN about Jones’ texts.

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US

Dan Newhouse, Republican congressman who voted to impeach Trump, wins primary, CNN projects

Dan Newhouse, Republican congressman who voted to impeach Trump, wins primary, CNN projects


Washington
CNN
—

Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse and Democrat Doug White will advance to the general election out of the top-two primary in Washington’s 4th Congressional District, CNN projects.

Newhouse is one of the 10 Republican House members who voted for then-President Donald Trump’s impeachment in January 2021 following the attack on the US Capitol. Trump had endorsed Republican challenger Loren Culp in the district.

Washington holds open primaries in which all candidates, regardless of party, appear on the same ballot, with the top two finishers advancing to the November general election.

Despite facing anger from his own party over his impeachment vote, Newhouse had a number of factors going his way this week: The incumbent handily outspent his challengers, the field was large and fractured, and Washington state’s open primary system allowed people to vote for any candidate, regardless of affiliation.

Newhouse’s victory is a loss for Trump, who made defeating the 10 House Republicans who joined Democrats to impeach him a central goal to his post-presidency. By moving on from the primary, Newhouse is likely to keep his congressional seat from him. His district of him, which stretches from Washington’s borders with Oregon and Canada, overwhelmingly leans toward Republicans.

Aside from White and Culp, the field also included former NASCAR driver Jerrod Sessler and state Rep. Brad Klippert.

Local Republican operatives, many of whom censored and criticized Newhouse after his impeachment vote, worried that many people had moved on from impeachment and caused Republicans to focus on other issues as they went to the polls on Tuesday. Newhouse also seized on his agriculture expertise, using it to appeal in the largely rural district and draw some of the focus away from impeachment.

This story has been updated with additional background information.

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US

Al Qaeda leader Al-Zawahiri dead after drone strike on home in Kabul

Al Qaeda leader Al-Zawahiri dead after drone strike on home in Kabul

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed at the home of an FBI-wanted Taliban lackey who was once given a platform by the New York Times.

The jihadist, one of the planners of the Sept. 11 attacks, was taken out by a CIA-issued drone strike Sunday morning at a Kabul home belonging to senior Taliban official Sirajuddin Haqqani, according to initial reporting by Gray Lady herself.

The publication infamously published an op-ed penned by Haqqani — the leader of the insurgent Haqqani Network in Afghanistan linked to brutal and deadly attacks — to ask for a peace agreement between US and Afghan leaders in 2020.

The paper was slammed by critics and even its own reporters for giving the global terrorist a microphone to thousands of readers to spew what many saw as thinly-veiled propaganda. The Times defended its decision to publish the piece at the time.

The home that Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed at belonged to senior Taliban official Sirajuddin Haqqani.
The home that Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed at belonged to senior Taliban official Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Bilal Sarwary/Twitter

Now the Times is being accused of “stealth-editing” their reporting on the killing of al-Zawahri to remove details of the initial report specifically naming Haqqani.

“According to one American analyst, the house that was struck was owned by a top aide to Sirajuddin Haqqani, a senior official in the Taliban government whom American officials say is close to senior Qaeda figures,” the Times wrote in his initial reporting.

However, that paper axed that paragraph without an editor’s note and later replaced it with language that failed to name Haqqani specifically, as first pointed out by Pluribus editor Jeryl Bier.

Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed at the home of an FBI-wanted Taliban lackey who was once given a platform by the New York Times.
The New York Times published an op-ed written by Sirajuddin Haqqani regarding a peace agreement between Afghan and the US.
Universal Images Group via Getty

“After the strike, members of the Haqqani network, a terrorist group that is part of the Taliban government, tried to conceal that Mr. Zawahri had been at the house and restrict access to the site, according to a senior administration official. But the official said the United States had multiple intelligence threads confirming that Mr. Zawahri was killed in the strike,” the Times wrote in the updated story.

Critics of the newspaper suggested the publication removed the initial paragraph linking Haqqani’s role in protecting al-Zawahri due to the backlash it received for publishing the Taliban leader’s op-ed.

Critics of the New York Times suggested the newspaper remove Haqqani's initial paragraph linking his role in protecting al-Zawahri.
Critics of the New York Times suggested the newspaper remove Haqqani’s initial paragraph linking his role in protecting al-Zawahri.
FBI

However, a Times spokesperson denied such a narrative in a statement to Fox News.

“We regularly edit web stories—especially breaking news stories—to refine the story, add new information, additional context or analysis,” the spokesperson told Fox.

In this case, we updated a complex piece of breaking international news with additional detail from open press briefings. There is absolutely no connection between the editing of this news item and any previous publication by Times Opinion.”

Ayman al-Zawahiri was one of the planners of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Ayman al-Zawahiri was one of the planners of the Sept. 11 attacks.
FBI

Haqqani, deputy leader of the Taliban, is on the FBI’s most wanted list for his alleged involvement in a January 2008 attack on a Kabul hotel that killed six people, including an American citizen. He is also believed to have coordinated and participated in cross-border attacks against the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan, according to the agency.

The FBI is offering up to a whopping $10 million for information leading directly to his arrest.

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US

Biden’s COVID sequel: back on the balcony, dog for company

Biden's COVID sequel: back on the balcony, dog for company

WASHINGTON (AP) — It’s back to the White House balcony and the Treaty Room for President Joe Biden as he contends with a “rebound” case of COVID-19.

Trapped in the White House for the second time in as many weeks, the president knows the drill this time: He’s got an office in the residence and his dog Commander to keep him company while he governs by Zoom and FaceTime.

Biden’s latest bout with COVID-19 came with a new wrinkle: how to announce a major counterterrorism operation in Afghanistan from isolation.

Biden, dressed in a dark suit and red tie, walked to a lecture that had been wheeled onto the balcony of the Blue Room on Monday evening and informed the American people of the killing of Ayman al-Zawahri, the top al-Qaida leader, in a US strike in Afghanistan over the weekend.

The White House allowed just one print reporter to watch Biden deliver his speech, by looking through a window in the adjacent Red Room. A TV cameraman filmed the president and a still photographer took photos — a smaller footprint than the group of journalists that is usually at the president’s appearances.

Biden’s initial COVID-19 diagnosis left him with a lingering cough and runny nose, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. His rebound case from him — labeled such because he tested positive on Saturday just three days after being cleared from isolation with two negative tests last Tuesday and Wednesday — has left him antsy about returning to a normal schedule.

Biden’s rebound disrupted a trip home to Wilmington, Delaware, to meet with first lady Jill Biden, who has been there since Biden’s initial diagnosis. A trip Tuesday to Michigan to promote a $280 billion high-tech manufacturing bill he intends to sign was also scuttled.

Instead, Biden is stuck in COVID-19 isolation through at least Thursday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, and perhaps longer under the White House’s stricter protocols, which require a negative test to return to work.

“He’s someone who likes to be out there with the American people,” said Jean-Pierre on Monday. “He’s looking forward to being out there again.”

White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor said in a Monday letter that the president “continues to feel well” this time around, even as he tests positive.

Shortly after Saturday’s announcement that he was returning to isolation, the president tweeted a picture of himself masked, tieless and signing a declaration that added individual assistance for flood survivors in Kentucky.

He followed up by tweeting a 12-second video of himself on a White House balcony with Commander.

“I’m feeling fine, everything is good,” said Biden, a pair of aviator sunglasses in his hand. “But Commander and I got a little work to do.”

Minutes later, he called Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough on FaceTime as he visited with people camping outside the US Capitol in a bid for health benefits for military veterans exposed to toxic substances from burn pits during their service.

Biden tweeted that he had planned to visit the group in person on Saturday before he tested positive again, but instead sent McDonough with a delivery of pizza. I have invited the advocates to the White House once he’s cleared by his doctors to receive visitors.

“It doesn’t stop him from doing his job and doing the work of the American people,” Jean-Pierre said of the president’s rebound infection.

During his course of isolation, Biden told reporters that his canine companion served as his alarm clock while the first lady was away.

“Matter of fact, my dog ​​had to wake me up this morning,” he said last Tuesday. “My wife’s not here. She usually takes him out in the morning while I’m upstairs working out. And so, I felt this nuzzle of my dog’s nose against my chest about five minutes to seven.”

Biden has been working from the ornate second-floor Treaty Room or stepping onto the adjacent Truman Balcony overlooking the South Grounds and the Washington Monument.

A limited number of essential staff are with him in the residence, including security and medical personnel and a small number of aides, who remain masked for their protection. Biden’s usual in-person meetings, including his daily national security briefing, have shifted to virtual formats.

Plans for enabling a president to work in isolation were first developed when then-President Donald Trump tested positive for COVID-19 in October 2020, which required him to be admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. As the highly infectious omicron variant spread and cases closed in around Biden, his administration refined plans for Biden to carry out his duties while isolating at the White House, according to two aides.

Biden, 79, was treated with the antiviral drug Paxlovid after he first tested positive on July 21. He tested negative for the virus last Tuesday and Wednesday, July 26 and 27, and was then cleared to leave isolation while wearing a mask indoors. His positive tests of him put him among the minority of those prescribed the drug to experience a rebound case of the virus.

The CDC says most rebound cases remain mild.

Jean-Pierre said 17 people initially identified as close contacts of Biden when he first tested positive, as well as six people deemed at risk from his rebound infection, have continued to test negative for COVID-19.

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Australia

Man found guilty of possessing extremist material has ‘experienced social condemnation’ from community

A man with short brown hair wearing a black face mask, sunglasses and a suit

Lawyers for a Riverland man in possession of a white supremacy manifesto authored by the Christchurch mass shooter have told a court his multicultural community have “socially condemned” him.

Aidhan Kenneth Cooling, 28, will be sentenced in the Adelaide Magistrates Court next month after pleading guilty to possessing extremist material.

Prosecutor Jillian Lieschke today told Magistrate John Wells that police attended his Loxton property to check on firearms when they noticed books about German expansion and Adolf Hitler on a shelf.

“The accused police told his ideology was right-wing regarding race, and he was anti-government in relation to COVID directions,” she said.

She told the court that Cooling told police he met an elderly German man through his church, who left him possessions, including the books, when he died.

The court heard Cooling told police he “got bored” reading the Christchurch massacre manifesto and could not remember watching the video.

Ms Lieschke said Cooling also had Nazi memorabilia, literature and items with the Swastika on it, including a flag and a shirt.

“Right-wing, supremacist messages and material were located on his devices,” she said.

Manifestos incite hatred

The court heard Cooling also had a white supremacy manifesto, which has been used to influence attacks all over the world, including the Christchurch mass shooting in 2019.

Ms Lieschke said it was also used to inspire an attack on a 2011 youth summer camp in Norway, on a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 and helped influence the 2022 Buffalo supermarket shooting in the US.

The four attacks have claimed a combined 155 lives.

A large building with columns facing the street
Magistrates John Wells says possessing extremist material is a serious offence.(ABC News: Che Chorley)

Mr Wells said Cooling had not been charged with anything other than possessing the documents, but understood the background was important for sentencing.

“The point you’re making is that this is not trivial, and the manifesto has been used by very dangerous and violent men and I should not treat it as a bit of political theatre,” he said.

“It is very serious and can be used as a justification for catastrophic violence.”

Ms Lieschke agreed, saying other members of the community need to be deterred from possessing these manifestos which incite hatred and violence.

Cooling disavows right-wing ideas

Jason Evitats, for Cooling, told the court his client had matured since his arrest and had experienced “social condemnation” by the Riverland community, which is multicultural.

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Categories
US

AP sources: US operation killed al-Qaida leader al-Zawahri

AP sources: US operation killed al-Qaida leader al-Zawahri

WASHINGTON (AP) — A CIA drone strike has killed al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri in Afghanistan, according to five people familiar with the matter.

Current and former officials began hearing Sunday afternoon that al-Zawahri had been killed in a drone strike, but the administration delayed releasing the information until his death could be confirmed, according to one person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter .

White House officials declined to confirm al-Zawahri was killed but noted in a statement that the United States conducted a “successful” counterterrorism operation against a significant al-Qaida target, adding that “there were no civilian casualties.”

President Joe Biden is expected to discuss further details of the operation in a 7:30 pm EDT address to the nation.

An American ground team was present in Afghanistan to support the strike and has since pulled out, a senior intelligence official said.

Al-Zawahri’s loss eliminates the figure who more than anyone shaped al-Qaida, first as Osama bin Laden’s deputy since 1998, then as his successor. Together, he and bin Laden turned the jihadi movement’s guns to target the United States, carrying out the deadliest attack ever on American soil — the Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackings.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon made bin Laden America’s Enemy No. 1. But he likely could never have carried it out without his deputy. Bin Laden provided al-Qaida with charisma and money, but al-Zawahri brought tactics and organizational skills needed to forge militants into a network of cells in countries around the world.

Their bond was forged in the late 1980s, when al-Zawahri reportedly treated the Saudi millionaire bin Laden in the caves of Afghanistan as Soviet bombardment shook the mountains around them.

Biden planned to speak from the balcony off the White House Blue Room as he remains in isolation in the residence while he continues to test positive for COVID-19.

Speaking on Aug. 31, 2021, after the last US troops left Afghanistan, Biden said the US would not let up on its fight against terrorism in that country or elsewhere.

“We will maintain the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries,” he said. “We just don’t need to fight a ground war to do it.” Previewing the strike that would occur 11 months later, Biden said at the time, “We have what’s called over-the-horizon capabilities, which means we can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground — or very few, if needed. ”

There have been rumors of al-Zawahri’s death on and off for several years. But a video surfaced in April of the al-Qaida leader praising an Indian Muslim woman who had challenged a ban on wearing a hijab, or headscarf. That footage was the first proof in months that he was still alive.

A statement from Afghanistan’s Taliban government confirmed the airstrike, but did not mention al-Zawahri or any other casualties.

It said it “strongly condemns this attack and calls it a clear violation of international principles and the Doha Agreement,” the 2020 US pact with the Taliban that led to the withdrawal of American forces.

“Such actions are a repetition of the failed experiences of the past 20 years and are against the interests of the United States of America, Afghanistan, and the region,” the statement said.

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Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor, James LaPorta, Zeke Miller and Aamer Madhani in Washington and Rahim Faiez in Islamabad contributed reporting.

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