Month: November 2021

On Monday, the House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol issued six subpoenas to top-level members of the 2020 Trump reelection campaign, as well as individuals who promoted disproven conspiracies about the election and reportedly worked to find ways to overturn the results.

The committee demanded records and depositions from campaign manager William Stepien, senior adviser Jason Miller and executive assistant Angela McCallum. The committee also sent subpoenas to former President Trump’s attorney John Eastman, who reportedly advised Mr. Trump incorrectly that his vice president had the ability to reject electors from states and could overturn Joe Biden’s victory. The panel is also seeking information by subpoena from Michael Flynn, Mr. Trump’s one-time national security advisor who is believed to have attended an Oval Office meeting where attendees discussed seizing voting machines, declaring a national emergency and invoking some national security emergency powers to keep Mr. Trump in the White House, according to multiple reports. The committee also sent a subpoena to Bernard Kerik, an associate of Rudolph Giuliani, who reportedly funded command centers for the effort to overturn the 2020 election results.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi created the House select committee earlier this year to investigate the January 6 attack, when thousands of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol as Congress counted the electoral votes.  The riot led to the deaths of five people and the arrests of hundreds more. Mr. Trump, who encouraged his supporters to “walk over” to the Capitol during the Stop the Steal rally, was impeached by the House one week later for inciting the riot but was later acquitted by the Senate.

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On Monday, gun manufacturer Remington Firearms – the nation’s oldest arms maker, whose lines of shotguns and hunting rifles date back to 1816 – announced it will relocate its corporate headquarters from New York to Georgia, with plans to build a $100 million manufacturing center in the state. The arms maker said it will build an advanced manufacturing operation and establish a “world-class research and development center” in LaGrange, Ga., located about 70 miles southwest of the state capital. The company, officially known as RemArms LLC, is currently located in Ilion, N.Y.

RemArms CEO Ken D’Arcy said in a statement:  “We are very excited to come to Georgia, a state that not only welcomes business but enthusiastically supports and welcomes companies in the firearms industry.”  Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp praised the move, saying in a press release: “I am a proud owner of some of Remington’s first-class product, and now, I am excited to welcome them to their new home in the Peach State. As yet another big manufacturing win for our state, I look forward to seeing the oldest firearms manufacturer in America thrive in Georgia’s pro-business environment.” Kemp said the move will result in 856 new jobs created over a five-year period in Troup County, Ga.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/gun-maker-remington-moves-georgia-100m-856-job-81037632

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Officials confirmed on Sunday that Iraq’s prime minister was unharmed in an attack by an explosive-laden drone on his residence in Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone. Iraqi state media described the attack as an assassination attempt on the prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi.  Iraq’s Interior Ministry said the attack involved three drones, two of which were shot down by Iraqi security forces, while the third managed to hit the residence.  al-Kadhimi said in a televised video message that the residence “came under a cowardly attack, but thanks to God, me and all those who work with me are safe.” Al Kadhimi also called for calm and restraint in the wake of the attack.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but Iraqi officials in Baghdad indicated that pro-Iranian Shiite militias may be responsible; they’ve already conducted similar attacks on Baghdad’s Green Zone, the U.S. Embassy and the airport in Erbil. The assassination attempt came less than two days after heavily armed pro-Iranian militias threatened to hold the prime minister accountable for casualties resulting from a confrontation between Iraqi security forces and pro-militia demonstrators protesting recent election results, in which pro-Iranian militias suffered major losses in Parliament.

The attack represented the first serious assassination attempt of an Iraqi prime minister in the years since the American invasion of 2003.

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The names of some of the victims who died at the Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas have been revealed by authorities. At least eight people were killed and hundreds were treated for injuries after a sold-out crowd of nearly 50,000 people surged during rapper Travis Scott’s performance at the music festival Friday night, with the medical examiner asking for the public’s help identifying the eighth and final victim. City officials gave the ages of the victims as 14, 16, two 21-year-olds, two 23-year-olds, and one 27-year-old, in addition to the unknown individual.

Officials declared a “mass casualty event” outside NRG Park during the Astroworld Festival after the crowd surged toward the stage just after 9 p.m., overwhelming security forces. Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña told CNN the causes of death are pending and as of press time over a dozen people remain hospitalized, five under the age of 18.

The victims identified are: Brianna Rodriguez, a 16-year-old junior at Houston’s Heights High School; Illinois native Franco Patino, 21, a student at the University of Dayton in Ohio; Jacob Jurinek, a student at Southern Illinois University; Rodolfo Angel Peña, 23, a Texas native described as an aspiring model and psychology student, 14-year-old John Hilgert who attended Memorial High School in Houston, TX, and 27-year-old Danish Baig.

Houston authorities appealed to the public for help in identifying one of the eight victims, releasing a picture of the young man with dark hair and a goatee. As of press time, the 8th victim was identified by his father as Axel Acosta, a 21 student at Western Washington University.

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