Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) left an unmissable message for President Donald Trump outside the White House Friday, emblazoning the street and renaming a plaza in honor of Black Lives Matter.
Tiny Town In Washington Gets Ramboed Up, Traps Family Over False Antifa Scare
A family camping in the tiny town of Forks, Washington (yes, the town in the Twilight series) was trapped at their campsite by felled trees after being harassed and followed by people who thought they were members of antifa.
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Cuomo Now Admits He Was Wrong To Downplay NYPD’s Excessive Use Of Force
Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.) dramatically walked back his previous defense of the New York Police Department during a press conference Friday, admitting that video evidence documenting the excessive use of force to contain protests is verifiable and “undeniable.”
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On Troop Movements in DC And the Rush for Trump Loyalty
Before we get too far into the day I want to review information that has come out about the situation in Washington, DC and the President’s attempt to militarize the city in response to protests near the White House. As I noted last night, all the National Guard troops in the city or en route appear to be from states with Republican governors: They come from Utah, South Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri and Florida. What we learned yesterday is that the administration had been refused troops by governors in New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia.
Testimony: Shooter Used Racist Slur As Ahmaud Arbery Lay Dying
BRUNSWICK, Ga. (AP) — A state investigator testified Thursday that a white man was heard saying a racist slur as he stood over Ahmaud Arbery’s body, moments after fatally shooting the black man with a pump-action shotgun.
The inflammatory revelation came amid a week of angry nationwide protests over law enforcement biases against black victims that erupted after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
In a hearing to determine whether there was enough evidence to proceed with a murder trial, the lead Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent in the case testified that Travis and Greg McMichael and a third man in another pickup, William “Roddie” Bryan, used their trucks to chase down and box in Arbery, who repeatedly reversed directions and ran into a ditch while trying to escape.
Travis McMichael then got out of his truck and confronted Arbery, later telling police he shot him in self-defense after Arbery refused his order to get on the ground, GBI agent Richard Dial said. He said a close examination of the video of the shooting shows the first shot was to Arbery’s chest, the second was to his hand, and the third hit his chest again before he collapsed in the road in a subdivision in the port town of Brunswick.
“Mr. Bryan said that after the shooting took place before police arrival, while Mr. Arbery was on the ground, that he heard Travis McMichael make the statement, ‘f – – – ing n – – – er,’” Dial said.
Bryan gave investigators the information roughly a week after the McMichaels’ arrest, but there’s no indication he told Glynn County investigators before that, Dial added.
Lee Merritt, an attorney for Arbery’s family, told reporters outside the courthouse that prosecutors had warned the family before the hearing of the coming testimony about the slur.
“It was still very difficult to hear in the context of a prolonged chase, that after he murdered Ahmaud Arbery and stood over his body, he used that racial epithet,” Merritt said. The lawyer said Thursday’s testimony revealed that “racism was at the heart” of Arbery’s slaying.
Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones called the release of new details in court “very, very heartbreaking.”
“He was afraid,” Cooper-Jones said of her slain son. “Life had placed him in a position where I couldn’t protect him, and he wasn’t able to protect himself.”
At the conclusion of the probable cause hearing Thursday, Magistrate Court Judge Wallace Harrell found that there was enough evidence for the cases against all three defendants to proceed.
“Ahmaud Arbery was chased, hunted down and ultimately executed at the hands of these men,” prosecutor Jesse Evans told the judge. “He was on a run on a public road in a public subdivision. He was defenseless and unarmed.”
Under questioning by Jason Sheffield, an attorney for Travis McMichael, Dial said Travis told police he raised his shotgun at Arbery from roughly 90 feet (27 meters) away and told him to stop and get on the ground.
That’s when Arbery ran around the passenger side of Travis’ truck, and the two men met in front of it.
Dial said Travis told police Arbery “squared up” like he was going to attack.
“There’s a statement that he might have had his hand on his shirt,” Dial said. “Travis McMichael said his adrenaline was pumping and it all happened very quickly.”
He said Travis then fired the first shot into Arbery’s chest.
Sheffield argued that the pursuit began with a legitimate concern about past crimes in the neighborhood that escalated right before the shooting.
“Travis McMichael used self-defense when he was attacked by Mr. Arbery,” Sheffield said.
“I don’t think it was self-defense by Mr. McMichael,” Dial said. “I believe it was self-defense by Mr. Arbery.”
The testimony presented Thursday raises questions about the idea that the McMichaels and Bryan were legitimately carrying out a citizens’ arrest of a suspected burglar. It also could factor into a federal investigation into whether hate crime charges are warranted.
Dial testified that Greg McMichael told police that “he didn’t know if Mr. Arbery had stolen anything or not, but he had a gut feeling” that Arbery had committed prior break-ins in the neighborhood.
The investigator testified that police body camera footage showed a Confederate flag sticker on a toolbox in Travis’ truck and that investigators discovered at least two more racial slurs in messages on his phone.
In response to questioning from Bryan’s attorney Kevin Gough, Dial testified that he believes Bryan joined the chase because he saw a black man running down the street with a truck following and drew conclusions based on racial bias. There’s evidence of Bryan’s “racist attitudes in his communications,” Dial said, referring to comments found on his cellphone.
The investigator added that several residents of the subdivision where Arbery was killed told investigators they had seen him running in the neighborhood previously.
Dial said the three defendants are the only known witnesses to the shooting and investigators have found no other video of Arbery’s final moments other than what Bryan recorded.
Arbery was killed Feb. 23 after Travis McMichael, 34, and his father, Greg McMichael, 64, gave chase when they spotted the 25-year-old black man running in their neighborhood. Bryan said he saw them driving by and joined the chase, Dial said. It wasn’t until May 7 — two days after Bryan’s cellphone video leaked online and stirred a national outcry — that the defendants were charged.
The McMichaels both wore masks as they sat side-by-side watching the hearing onscreen at the Glynn County jail. The judge rejected defense motions to have them brought to the courtroom, citing emergency precautions because of the coronavirus pandemic. Bryan waived his presence at the hearing.
Mayor Asks Trump To Withdraw Federal Officers And Troops From DC’s Streets
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser asked President Trump Thursday to withdraw the federal law enforcement and military who in recent days have been patrolling the district’s streets.
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Buffalo Police Shove 75-Year-Old Protester To Ground, Prompting Outrage
NEW YORK (AP) — The latest night of protests in New York City sparked by the death of George Floyd at the hands of police was markedly calmer, while video of a police officer appearing to shove an elderly protester who falls and cracks his head in Buffalo drew widespread condemnation.
Video from WFBO showed a Buffalo police officer appearing to push the 75-year-old man who walked up to police clearing Niagara Square around the 8 p.m. curfew Thursday. The man falls straight backward and hits his head on the pavement, with blood leaking out as officers walk past.
Just about an hour ago, police officers shove man in Niagara Square to the ground (WARNING: Graphic). Video from: @MikeDesmondWBFO pic.twitter.com/JBKQLvzfET
— WBFO (@WBFO) June 5, 2020
The video quickly went viral on social media, spurring outrage. Buffalo police initially said in a statement that a person “was injured when he tripped & fell,” WIVB-TV reported, but Capt. Jeff Rinaldo later told the TV station that an internal affairs investigation was opened. The police commissioner subsequently suspended two police officers without pay, Mayor Byron Brown said in a statement.
The mayor of the western New York city, who expressed he was “deeply disturbed” by the video, said the unidentified man was in “stable but serious” condition at a hospital.
Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz tweeted Friday morning that a hospital official said the man was “alert and oriented.”
“Let’s hope he fully recovers,” Poloncarz added.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo endorsed the officers’ suspensions, tweeting that what was seen on video was “wholly unjustified and utterly disgraceful.” The office of State Attorney General Letitia James tweeted that they were aware of the video. U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer called for an investigation, according to a statement reported by WIVB-TV.
“The casual cruelty demonstrated by Buffalo police officers tonight is gut-wrenching and unacceptable,” John Curr, the Buffalo chapter director for the New York Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement, adding that it should be a “wake-up call” for city leaders to address police violence.
Calls and emails to Buffalo police from The Associated Press seeking comment Thursday night hadn’t been returned by Friday morning.
Meanwhile in New York City, protesters again stayed on the streets past 8 p.m., in defiance of the citywide curfew that’s set to remain in effect through at least Sunday. Nationwide, the tenor of the protests set off by the death of Floyd, a black man who died Memorial Day after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck, moved from explosive anger to a quiet yet forceful call for more to be done to address racial injustice.
The switch was largely mirrored in New York, which saw fewer violent clashes than in days past. But several videos posted to Twitter on Thursday night showed police aggressively confronting peaceful protesters — often resulting in arrest — in the Bronx and elsewhere. In other places, police watched but didn’t immediately move in, or made orderly arrests without the batons and riot gear of previous nights.
Miguel Fernandes said there were “a lot more nights to go” of marching.
“We’re still waiting for a conviction. We still haven’t gotten it,” Fernandes said. “All they’re doing is putting in charges. The system is not doing anything to make these guys pay for what they did.”
Earlier Thursday, a memorial service featuring Floyd’s brother Terrence Floyd was held at Brooklyn’s Cadman Plaza, where the night before police had used batons and pepper spray on protesters who remained after curfew, videos show.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Cuomo, both Democrats, said they hadn’t seen the widely shared videos, but Cuomo later tweeted that he was asking James to investigate as part of her ongoing look into police tactics during the protests.
NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea has defended his officers and the department’s overall use of force.
De Blasio was booed and heckled at Floyd’s memorial, where even some speakers took shots at the mayor, criticizing his management of the NYPD and response to the coronavirus pandemic. The mayor had previously praised the police for using “a lot of restraint” overall, but added that “if there’s anything that needs to reviewed, it will be.”
Shortly after midnight, the mayor tweeted that he had spoken to Shea after seeing a video of a delivery worker arrested. Food delivery is essential work, de Blasio said, adding in a second tweet that journalists covering protests, too, were essential workers.
De Blasio had previous condemned police for roughing up journalists, including two from the AP who were shoved, cursed at and told to go home by officers Tuesday night.
“Will get NYPD to fix this immediately,” he tweeted Thursday.
Both Cuomo and de Blasio have said protesters should abide by the curfew to deter the violence, vandalism and destruction that followed protests Sunday and Monday nights. But as darkness fell Thursday, cries of “George Floyd” and “No justice, no peace” continued to ring out from crowds, even as they shrank.
“It’s energetic,” Kenyata Taylor said. “It’s great to be alive, it’s history right now.”
___
AP journalists Jim Mustian, Jennifer Peltz, Michael R. Sisak, Karen Matthews, Deepti Hajela and Brian Mahoney in New York City and Marina Villeneuve in Albany contributed to this report.
New Trump Appointee to Foreign Aid Agency Has Denounced Liberal Democracy and ‘Our Homo-Empire’
This story first appeared at ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
A new Trump appointee to the United States’ foreign aid agency has a history of online posts denouncing liberal democracy and has said that the country is in the clutches of a “homo-empire” that pushes a “tyrannical LGBT agenda.”
In one post, Merritt Corrigan, who recently took up a position as deputy White House liaison at the U.S. Agency for International Development, wrote: “Liberal democracy is little more than a front for the war being waged against us by those who fundamentally despise not only our way of life, but life itself.”
Corrigan’s new position in the Trump administration, confirmed by two officials, has not been previously reported.
Corrigan previously worked for the Hungarian Embassy in the United States and tweeted that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is “the shining champion of Western civilization,” Politico reported last year. An embassy spokesman, Béla Gedeon, said Corrigan left her position there in mid-April.
Orban, a far-right politician, has cracked down on civil society, academic freedom and other liberties. USAID has recently partnered with Hungary to help Christians in Iraq, a pairing that some career USAID officials said they found unsettling.
Asked about Corrigan’s writing, acting USAID spokesperson Pooja Jhunjhunwala said the agency has a “zero-tolerance policy of any form of discrimination or harassment based on gender, race, sexual orientation, religion or any other possible distinguishing characteristic that can define any of us.”
“All employees are held to the highest of standards and are expected to treat one another with dignity and respect. Period,” she said. “This includes political appointees, civil servants, foreign service officers and contractors.”
Corrigan did not respond to emails asking about her past comments.
Politico reported last year that Corrigan wrote on her Twitter account that “our homo-empire couldn’t tolerate even one commercial enterprise not in full submission to the tyrannical LGBT agenda.” Corrigan’s Twitter account is now private.
In October, Corrigan wrote an op-ed in The Conservative Woman, a London publication, decrying “the false song of feminism” and calling for women to take up traditional roles of mother, wife and homemaker.
“A woman today is expected by society to come to marriage and motherhood in physical and spiritual decline, if ever,” she wrote. “This is the life women have been offered by those who would rather us toil away as isolated economic units for faceless corporations, far from the natural pleasures of the domestic, far from the guardianship of a loving husband, and far from the life-giving experience of motherhood.”
Corrigan’s biography on the website described her as a “conservative political strategist.” She was on the payroll of the Republican National Committee between 2016 and 2018, according to campaign finance records.
Her stated positions put her directly at odds with the stated goals of her new employer. USAID uses a “liberal democracy index” as one of its metrics in deciding whether a country is self-reliant, and it has an entire office dedicated to gender equality and women’s empowerment. The agency’s website says it is working for a world in which LGBT people are “respected and able to live with dignity, free from discrimination, persecution, and violence.”
Beirne Roose-Snyder, director of public policy at the Center for Health and Gender Equity, said, “An appointee who eschews gender equality, meaningful democracy and LGBTI rights cannot possibly fulfill the mission of USAID.”
Corrigan’s appointment is the latest example of the Trump administration bringing in officials to USAID whose stated views put them at odds with the agenda the agency says it promotes.
USAID’s new deputy chief of staff, Bethany Kozma, was previously an anti-transgender activist who wrote in 2016 that transgender girls are boys “claiming gender confusion.” Kozma was formerly a senior adviser for women’s empowerment at the agency.
And last week, The Washington Post reported that a Tea Party activist with a history of making and sharing anti-Islamic comments on his personal social media profiles would be the agency’s new religious freedom adviser. News of the appointment sparked criticism from Muslim groups in the U.S. and the Anti-Defamation League.
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Community Goes Full Feral With Anti-Antifa Hysteria
We should have more on this shortly. But it seems we have another case where anti-Antifa hysteria led members of one community in Washington state to go full feral and create a harrowing Deliverance type situation for a multi-racial family from Spokane who was looking to go camping. While stopping off to purchase camping supplies at Forks Outfitters in Forks, Washington, the family was confronted by “seven or eight carloads” of people demanding to know if they were with Antifa. This appears to have been in response to widespread rumors fanned in right wing media that “antifa” was sending formations into suburbs to loot subdivisions and rural homes. After the family decided to flee, they were then pursued by two of the vehicles with passengers apparently carrying automatic weapons. Camping that night the family heard gunfire and power saws down the road from there campsite and decided to leave. But soon they found that that self-styled anti-Antifa warriors had trapped them by cutting down trees to block the only road they could leave by. Local Facebook pages were lit up with reports about the success against Antifa. A group of high schoolers rescued the family by clearing the trees and the local Sheriffs department is now investigating.
Late Update: Here’s Kate Riga’s full report.
NYT Declares Cotton’s Warlike Op-Ed Against Protests ‘Did Not Meet Our Standards’
The New York Times denounced on Thursday Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) “Send In the Troops” op-ed that called on the military to crack down on nationwide unrest over the killing of George Floyd.
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