washingtontimes--2020-08-16--Robert O'Brien says Mideast deal due to Trump unorthodox approach

The normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates grew from persistent backroom diplomacy by President Trump , according to National Security Adviser Robert O ’ Brien , who said Sunday that Mr. Trump personally and repeatedly engaged the two sides to clinch the agreement .
Officials in Washington and Jerusalem over the weekend again suggested that other Gulf Arab powers , including Bahrain and Oman , may soon follow the UAE ’ s lead and recognize Israel , whose own leader went to lengths over the weekend to frame Thursday ’ s historic deal with the Emirates as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
All sides were trying to gauge the size of the tectonic shift marked by the UAE-Israeli deal , which opens the door to a broader alliance of Sunni Arab state and Israel against Iran and its regional allies .
Iran joined Palestinian leaders in angrily denouncing the accord , with Tehran saying it would have recalibrate its ties to the UAE in the wake of the news .
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that the normalization proves Israel does not need to make major concessions — such as giving @ @ @ @ @ @ @ territory claimed by the Palestinians — to successfully forge ties with key Arab nations .
Mr. O ’ Brien said Sunday Mr. Trump ’ s unorthodox approach to the Middle East stalemate deserved much of the credit for last week ’ s announcement , calling the Israel-UAE deal “ the result of very hard diplomacy , much of it being quarterbacked by the president of the United States himself.
” The UAE and Israel will now establish embassies in each other ’ s country , allow direct flights , and forge ahead with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The UAE became the third Arab nation — Egypt and Jordan are the others — to establish active diplomatic ties with Israel since its founding as a nation in 1948 .
Mr. O ’ Brien said the deal also “ took a lot of courage ” from Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and Mr. Netanyahu , but stressed it was Mr. Trump who “ pushed this over the finish line.
” His remarks , in an interview Sunday with NBC ’ s “ Meet the Press , ” came as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with the development that could reshape the region ’ s power structure by further isolating America ’ s chief foe there , Iran .
Iranian leaders , who have a long history of anti-Israeli rhetoric and demands for the abolition of the Jewish state , have spent the past three days expressing outrage over the UAE ’ s decision .
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf on Sunday called it brazen “ treason ” against Islamic and humanitarian values , according to Iran ’ s Tasnim News Agency .
In an address to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Emiratis for cavorting what Tasnim described as “ the criminal Zionist regime.
” Iran ’ s highest-ranking military commander went further , warning Abu Dhabi that it will face consequences if Iran ’ s interests are threatened as a result of the normalization .
Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Baqeri , the Iranian military ’ s chief of staff , made it clear that “ Iran will not tolerate any incident in the Persian Gulf or any threat to its security , whatsoever , and will hold the UAE culpable , ” Tasnim @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in vain to persuade Arab nations to accept Israel .
The Trump administration has elevated such efforts behind the scenes in recent years , attempting to find common ground between Jerusalem and Gulf Arab monarchies against their shared rival of Iran .
Mr. Trump ’ s son-in-law Jared Kushner , an architect of the administration ’ s overall Mideast policy , alluded to such efforts Sunday , but suggested the UAE-Israel breakthrough was as much a result of a wider regional “ paradigm shift ” facilitated by the president ’ s efforts to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where they align with those of others in the region .
The president “ recognizes that a lot of the approaches taken in the Middle East in the previous administrations just didn ’ t work and weren ’ t serving America ’ s interests , ” Mr. Kushner said in an appearance on Fox News .
“ What he did was he tried to align the different countries in the region around their common interests , as opposed to focusing on historic grievances.
” Mr. Kushner cited Mr. Trump ’ s decision to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Iran and move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as examples of the administration ’ s forward-leaning efforts .
He argued that such developments , along with a hard line against the Islamic State insurgency in Syria and Iraq , bolstered regional security and belied predictions by regional experts that they would only produce more instability .
But whether the UAE-Israel deal inspires other Arab powers , most notably Saudi Arabia , to follow suit and normalize with Jerusalem is an open question .
Regional analysts generally agree the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by how Israel deals with the sensitive issue of Jewish settlements on West Bank territory Palestinians have long sought for their own independent nation .
After Mr. Trump earlier this year released his Mideast plan , widely seen as heavily tilted toward Israel , Mr. Netanyahu said he would forge ahead with annexing parts of the West Bank .
But he put the plan on hold in the face of fierce international opposition and misgivings by White House officials .
In coordination with the UAE accord , Mr. Netanyahu said Israel had agreed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , without offering a time frame .
Mr. Netanyahu has insisted the annexation plans are on “ temporary hold ” at the request of the United States .
On Sunday , the Israeli prime minister said last week ’ s developments proved his critics wrong : Israel doesn ’ t need to retreat from the occupied West Bank land to make diplomatic progress with Arab powers , whose sympathy for the Palestinians , he said , was outweighed by their fear of a rising Iran .
The UAE , like most of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ties with Israel , saying recognition should come only in return for concessions to the Palestinians .
Its accord with Israel breaks that long-held tenet and could usher in agreements with other Arab states , undermining an Arab consensus that was a rare source of leverage for the Palestinians .
“ According to the Palestinians , and to many others in the world who agreed with them , peace can ’ t be reached without conceding to the Palestinians ’ demands , including uprooting settlements , dividing Jerusalem and withdrawal to 1967 lines @ @ @ @ @ @ @ video statement Sunday .
“ No more .
This concept of ‘ peace through withdrawal and weakness ’ has passed from the world.
” The Palestinians want the West Bank , east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip for their hoped-for state .
Israel captured the territories in the 1967 Mideast war , although it withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 .
“ Peace should be established on the basis of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital .
This is the Arab and international consensus and anything else @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Abu Rdeneh , a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas , according to a report by the Associated Press .
Mr. Netanyahu also reiterated Sunday his interpretation of the UAE deal : that annexation was only being suspended and that it was still on the table , so long as it was done in coordination with Washington .
UAE officials have indicated that the deal means annexation has been shelved entirely .
It is not clear how normalization will affect the Trump administration ’ s wider Israeli-Palestinian peace plan , which has struggled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ rolled it out early this year .
A key aspect of the plan has involved enticing wealthy Gulf Arab powers , including the Emiratis and the Saudis , to underwrite massive economic development for Palestinians .
A joint statement by the U.S. , Israel and the UAE said the Israel-UAE normalization will “ unlock the great potential in the region ” and fuel economic growth .
Mr. O ’ Brien suggested on Sunday that the opening of direct flights from the UAE to Israel could dramatically increase the flow of Arab visitors seeking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven .
It is one of the holiest sites in Islam .
When asked Sunday whether he believes Saudi Arabia may follow the UAE in normalizing with Israel , Mr. O ’ Brien said : “ Look , it ’ s possible that they could be next.
” The national security adviser went on to note that the two other “ great holy sites in Islam … are Mecca [ and ] Medina , and the king of Saudi Arabia is the keeper @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the great things about this agreement is you ’ re now going to have direct flights from those fantastic airports , both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai , into Ben Gurion [ Airport ] in Tel Aviv , ” Mr. O ’ Brien said .
“ And we ’ re going to have Arab and Muslim pilgrims coming to Jerusalem and going up to the Mount and worshiping at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
” “ We think that ’ s something that will be a great confidence-builder , ” he added .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that [ Saudi ] King Salman and [ Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ] see that development and realize that this would be great for Saudi Arabia , it would be great for the Arab people and for the Islamic world as well .
So , we ’ re hopeful .
“ We ’ ll have to see what happens , ” he said .
“ But we ’ re talking to a number of countries in addition to Saudi Arabia .
”

The normalization deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates grew from persistent backroom diplomacy by President Trump, according to National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien, who said Sunday that Mr. Trump personally and repeatedly engaged the two sides to clinch the agreement.
Officials in Washington and Jerusalem over the weekend again suggested that other Gulf Arab powers, including Bahrain and Oman, may soon follow the UAE’s lead and recognize Israel, whose own leader went to lengths over the weekend to frame Thursday’s historic deal with the Emirates as a major victory for his hard-line policies.
All sides were trying to gauge the size of the tectonic shift marked by the UAE-Israeli deal, which opens the door to a broader alliance of Sunni Arab state and Israel against Iran and its regional allies.
Iran joined Palestinian leaders in angrily denouncing the accord, with Tehran saying it would have recalibrate its ties to the UAE in the wake of the news.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said that the normalization proves Israel does not need to make major concessions — such as giving up controversial settlements on disputed West Bank territory claimed by the Palestinians — to successfully forge ties with key Arab nations.
Mr. O’Brien said Sunday Mr. Trump’s unorthodox approach to the Middle East stalemate deserved much of the credit for last week’s announcement, calling the Israel-UAE deal “the result of very hard diplomacy, much of it being quarterbacked by the president of the United States himself.”
The UAE and Israel will now establish embassies in each other’s country, allow direct flights, and forge ahead with collaborations on energy, tourism and communications. The UAE became the third Arab nation — Egypt and Jordan are the others — to establish active diplomatic ties with Israel since its founding as a nation in 1948.
Mr. O’Brien said the deal also “took a lot of courage” from Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and Mr. Netanyahu, but stressed it was Mr. Trump who “pushed this over the finish line.”
Iranian anger
His remarks, in an interview Sunday with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” came as the wider Middle East continued to reckon with the development that could reshape the region’s power structure by further isolating America’s chief foe there, Iran.
Iranian leaders, who have a long history of anti-Israeli rhetoric and demands for the abolition of the Jewish state, have spent the past three days expressing outrage over the UAE’s decision.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf on Sunday called it brazen “treason” against Islamic and humanitarian values, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency. In an address to parliament in Tehran, Mr. Qalibaf slammed the Emiratis for cavorting what Tasnim described as “the criminal Zionist regime.”
Iran’s highest-ranking military commander went further, warning Abu Dhabi that it will face consequences if Iran’s interests are threatened as a result of the normalization. Maj. Gen. Mohammad Hossein Baqeri, the Iranian military’s chief of staff, made it clear that “Iran will not tolerate any incident in the Persian Gulf or any threat to its security, whatsoever, and will hold the UAE culpable,” Tasnim reported.
Successive U.S. administrations have sought in vain to persuade Arab nations to accept Israel. The Trump administration has elevated such efforts behind the scenes in recent years, attempting to find common ground between Jerusalem and Gulf Arab monarchies against their shared rival of Iran.
Mr. Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, an architect of the administration’s overall Mideast policy, alluded to such efforts Sunday, but suggested the UAE-Israel breakthrough was as much a result of a wider regional “paradigm shift” facilitated by the president’s efforts to clarify America’s core interests and where they align with those of others in the region.
The president “recognizes that a lot of the approaches taken in the Middle East in the previous administrations just didn’t work and weren’t serving America’s interests,” Mr. Kushner said in an appearance on Fox News. “What he did was he tried to align the different countries in the region around their common interests, as opposed to focusing on historic grievances.”
Mr. Kushner cited Mr. Trump’s decision to withdraw America from 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as examples of the administration’s forward-leaning efforts. He argued that such developments, along with a hard line against the Islamic State insurgency in Syria and Iraq, bolstered regional security and belied predictions by regional experts that they would only produce more instability.
But whether the UAE-Israel deal inspires other Arab powers, most notably Saudi Arabia, to follow suit and normalize with Jerusalem is an open question.
Regional analysts generally agree the way ahead is likely to be shaped by how Israel deals with the sensitive issue of Jewish settlements on West Bank territory Palestinians have long sought for their own independent nation.
After Mr. Trump earlier this year released his Mideast plan, widely seen as heavily tilted toward Israel, Mr. Netanyahu said he would forge ahead with annexing parts of the West Bank. But he put the plan on hold in the face of fierce international opposition and misgivings by White House officials.
In coordination with the UAE accord, Mr. Netanyahu said Israel had agreed to put off the contentious annexation plans, without offering a time frame. Mr. Netanyahu has insisted the annexation plans are on “temporary hold” at the request of the United States.
Keeping the land
On Sunday, the Israeli prime minister said last week’s developments proved his critics wrong: Israel doesn’t need to retreat from the occupied West Bank land to make diplomatic progress with Arab powers, whose sympathy for the Palestinians, he said, was outweighed by their fear of a rising Iran.
The UAE, like most of the Arab world, long rejected official diplomatic ties with Israel, saying recognition should come only in return for concessions to the Palestinians. Its accord with Israel breaks that long-held tenet and could usher in agreements with other Arab states, undermining an Arab consensus that was a rare source of leverage for the Palestinians.
“According to the Palestinians, and to many others in the world who agreed with them, peace can’t be reached without conceding to the Palestinians’ demands, including uprooting settlements, dividing Jerusalem and withdrawal to 1967 lines,” Mr. Netanyahu said in a video statement Sunday. “No more. This concept of ‘peace through withdrawal and weakness’ has passed from the world.”
The Palestinians want the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip for their hoped-for state. Israel captured the territories in the 1967 Mideast war, although it withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005.
Palestinian leaders bristled at Mr. Netanyahu’s remarks on Sunday.
“Peace should be established on the basis of the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. This is the Arab and international consensus and anything else has no value,” said Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, according to a report by the Associated Press.
Mr. Netanyahu also reiterated Sunday his interpretation of the UAE deal: that annexation was only being suspended and that it was still on the table, so long as it was done in coordination with Washington.
UAE officials have indicated that the deal means annexation has been shelved entirely.
It is not clear how normalization will affect the Trump administration’s wider Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, which has struggled to gain traction since the White House rolled it out early this year.
A key aspect of the plan has involved enticing wealthy Gulf Arab powers, including the Emiratis and the Saudis, to underwrite massive economic development for Palestinians.
‘Great potential’
A joint statement by the U.S., Israel and the UAE said the Israel-UAE normalization will “unlock the great potential in the region” and fuel economic growth.
Mr. O’Brien suggested on Sunday that the opening of direct flights from the UAE to Israel could dramatically increase the flow of Arab visitors seeking to see the Al-Aqsa Mosque, from which the Prophet Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven.
It is one of the holiest sites in Islam.
When asked Sunday whether he believes Saudi Arabia may follow the UAE in normalizing with Israel, Mr. O’Brien said: “Look, it’s possible that they could be next.”
The national security adviser went on to note that the two other “great holy sites in Islam … are Mecca [and] Medina, and the king of Saudi Arabia is the keeper of those two sites.”
“One of the great things about this agreement is you’re now going to have direct flights from those fantastic airports, both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, into Ben Gurion [Airport] in Tel Aviv,” Mr. O’Brien said. “And we’re going to have Arab and Muslim pilgrims coming to Jerusalem and going up to the Mount and worshiping at the Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
“We think that’s something that will be a great confidence-builder,” he added. “And so, I’m hoping that [Saudi] King Salman and [Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman] see that development and realize that this would be great for Saudi Arabia, it would be great for the Arab people and for the Islamic world as well. So, we’re hopeful.
“We’ll have to see what happens,” he said. “But we’re talking to a number of countries in addition to Saudi Arabia.”
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.


washingtontimes--2020-08-16--Japan's economy shrinks at record rate, slammed by pandemic

TOKYO ( AP ) - Japan ’ s economy shrank at annual rate of 27.8 % in April-June , the worst contraction on record , as the coronavirus pandemic slammed consumption and trade , according to government data released Monday .
The Cabinet Office reported that Japan ’ s preliminary seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product , or GDP , the sum of a nation ’ s goods and services , fell 7.8 % quarter on quarter .
The annual rate shows what the number would have been if continued for a year .
Japanese media reported the latest drop @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But the Cabinet Office said comparable records began in 1980 .
The previous worst contraction was during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 .
The world ’ s third largest economy was already ailing when the virus outbreak struck late last year .
The fallout has since gradually worsened both in COVID-19 cases and social distancing restrictions .
The economy shrank 0.6 % in the January-March period , and contracted 1.8 % in the October-November period last year , meaning that Japan slipped into recession in the first quarter of this year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ consecutive quarters of contraction .
Japanese economic growth was flat in July-September .
Growth was modest in the quarter before that .
For the April-June period , Japan ’ s exports dropped at a whopping annual rate of 56 % , while private consumption dipped at an annual rate of nearly 29 % .
That was without any full shutdown of businesses to contain coronavirus outbreaks , which have worsened in the past month , pushing the total number of confirmed cases to over 56,000 .
Analysts say the economy is expected to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the pandemic is curbed .
Japan ’ s export-dependent economy relies heavily on growth in China , where outbreaks of the novel coronavirus began and have since subsided .
But demand has remained subdued .
Development of a vaccine or medical treatment for COVID-19 would also help , but prospects for such breakthroughs are unclear .
Since GDP measures what the economy did compared to the previous quarter , such a deep contraction will likely be followed by a rebound , unless conditions deteriorate further .
That doesn ’ t necessarily mean the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Some experts doubt air travel and other sectors will ever fully recover .
On the other hand , some companies have reaped the rewards of people staying at home , such as the Japanese video-game maker Nintendo Co. , whose recent profits have boomed .

TOKYO (AP) - Japan’s economy shrank at annual rate of 27.8% in April-June, the worst contraction on record, as the coronavirus pandemic slammed consumption and trade, according to government data released Monday.
The Cabinet Office reported that Japan’s preliminary seasonally adjusted real gross domestic product, or GDP, the sum of a nation’s goods and services, fell 7.8% quarter on quarter.
The annual rate shows what the number would have been if continued for a year.
Japanese media reported the latest drop was the worst since World War II. But the Cabinet Office said comparable records began in 1980. The previous worst contraction, a 17.8% drop, was in the first quarter of 2009, during the global financial crisis.
The world’s third largest economy was already limping along when the virus outbreak struck in China late last year. It has weakened as the pandemic gained ground, leading to social distancing restrictions and prompting many people to stay home when they can.
“In April, May, a state of emergency was issued, it was a situation where the economy was artificially stopped so to speak, and the impact was severe,” said Yasutoshi Nishimura, minister Economic and Fiscal Policy.
“These are tough numbers but they bottomed out in April and May, we would like to put all our efforts into returning to a growth trajectory,” Nishimura told reporters.
The economy shrank 0.6% in the January-March period, and contracted 1.8% in the October-December period last year, meaning that Japan slipped into recession in the first quarter of this year. Recession is generally defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction.
By comparison, the U.S. economy contracted at a rate of nearly 33% in the last quarter, while that in the UK skidded 20.4%.
Japanese economic growth was flat in July-September. Growth was minimal the quarter before that.
The recent downturn returned economic activity to the level last seen in the spring of 2011, just after the triple disasters of a massive earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant meltdown in the northeast.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office in late 2012 and has since seen the halting progress made under his “Abenomics” economic platform to spur inflation to restore sustained growth essentially drained away in the pandemic.
But as is true in the U.S. and many other countries, a combination of near-zero interest rates and massive asset purchases by the central bank have helped keep stock prices relatively steady. The benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 0.7% on Monday.
Japan faces multiple challenges in maintaining growth as its population ages and shrinks and companies opt to invest in faster growing markets outside the country. The main drivers of growth, consumer spending and exports, have been hamstrung during the pandemic.
For the April-June period, Japan’s exports dropped at a whopping annual rate of 56%.
Private consumption dipped at an annual rate of nearly 29% as shoppers stayed home, leaving malls and restaurants nearly empty of customers.
That was without any full shutdown of businesses to contain coronavirus outbreaks, which have worsened in the past month, pushing the total number of confirmed cases to over 56,000, with more than 1,100 deaths.
Analysts say the economy is expected to recover gradually, once the impact of the pandemic is curbed. Japan’s export-dependent economy relies heavily on growth in China, where outbreaks of the novel coronavirus began and have since subsided. But demand has remained subdued.
Development of a vaccine or medical treatment for COVID-19 would also help, but prospects for such breakthroughs are unclear.
Since GDP measures what the economy did compared to the previous quarter, such a deep contraction will likely be followed by a rebound, analysts said, unless conditions deteriorate further.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the economy will return to pre-pandemic levels. Some experts doubt air travel and other sectors will ever fully recover.
On the other hand, some companies have reaped the rewards of people staying at home, such as the Japanese video-game maker Nintendo Co., whose recent profits have boomed.
___
Yuri Kageyama is on Twitter https://twitter.com/yurikageyama


washingtontimes--2020-08-16--Rioters snared by own Facebook videos, grandma's review

It ’ s possible the feds may never have caught up with Javon Hardy without Facebook .
But prosecutors say he is the man in a Facebook Live video from the May riots in Rochester , New York , wearing a black hoodie and blue bandana and carrying a milk jug to a construction trailer .
Moments later , the trailer ignites and the man on the video says , “ If it ’ s not on fire , I didn ’ t do my job.
” Across the country in Portland , Oregon , investigators closed in on a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ was wearing at the protests , captured in an online video , and then matching it to a photo his grandmother posted of him wearing the vest in an online product review .
The Black Lives Matter revolution is , it turns out , being televised — and livestreamed , tweeted and otherwise shared online .
Now police are digging through the data and having stunning success in tracking down perpetrators months after the mayhem .
The Washington Times reviewed 23 cases brought in federal courts from Seattle to Tampa , Florida , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ justice demonstrations .
At least 14 of those cases showed indications that investigators used social media to help them make arrests .
The court documents also make clear just how much data they are collecting .
When a cop car was torched in Salt Lake City , investigators told a judge they had scoured at least five social media platforms and video from four news agencies , as well as security cameras and police body-cam footage , to build a database of more than 80,000 video clips and 1,700 images .
Watching all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ take more than 85 days , prosecutors said .
Multiply that by the number of cases in Seattle ; New York ; the District of Columbia ; Nashville , Tennessee ; Philadelphia ; Providence , Rhode Island ; and elsewhere , and you begin to get an idea of the amount of data the protests have produced — and that police officers have collected .
Even if the amount of data is massive , the basic tactic isn ’ t new , said Art Bowker , a cybercrime expert and co-author of Investigating @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and well-funded local departments are all up on the practice .
“ Law enforcement has been developing the capability for a long time , ” he said .
The wave of protests was ignited by the May 25 death of George Floyd , a Black man , in Minneapolis police custody .
Video footage showing him under the knee of a White officer was posted online .
Now it ’ s protesters who are being snared by online video — often by their recordings of their own behavior .
“ Everybody wants to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ told The Times .
“ Posting on the internet gives you that capability .
If you ’ re involved in some big event , you can say , ‘ Here ’ s what I was doing during this event.
’ If they ’ re doing something positive , that ’ s great , and if they ’ re doing something criminal , they just outed themselves.
” One of the more fascinating cases to emerge involves Gabriel Agard-Berryhill , who law enforcement said was caught on video posted by RT , a Russian-backed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ explosive device at the federal courthouse in Portland .
Agents trolling the internet came across a Twitter post that showed a product review for that vest .
The review was posted by “ grammaf , ” who wrote that she bought the vest “ for my grandson who ’ s a protester downtown , he uses it every night and says its does the job.
” She gave the vest a five-star rating .
She also posted a photo of her grandson posing in the vest while sitting on a car .
Investigators @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Facebook page they determined belonged to Agard-Berryhill .
It turns out he was eager to turn himself in and already had contacted his parole officer .
According to investigators , he said he was handed what he thought was a normal firework and realized he had messed up when he heard the massive explosion .
“ When asked whether his intent was to destroy anything or damage anything or if he threw the object in anger at the courthouse , Agard-Berryhill responded he wanted to keep it so he could set it off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unknown male said he had to throw it or give it back , ” wrote Amanda Johnson , an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol , Tobacco , Firearms and Explosives .
Agard-Berryhill said his grandmother indeed bought the vest he was wearing .
The sheer amount of data is helping prosecutors bring cases weeks after the events .
In Utah , the U.S. attorney ’ s office announced charges last week against Lateesha Richards from an incident on May 30 , when a Salt Lake City police officer was boxed in by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ car .
A mob then flipped her car and set it on fire .
Ms. Richards took a selfie in front of the scorched car , walked away and then returned with a piece of clothing that she tossed onto the fire to keep it burning , prosecutors said .
They said she then came back for another round of selfies along with Latroi Newbins , who , like Ms. Richards , has been charged with arson .
Investigators said they identified Ms. Richards from the video based in part on her neck @ @ @ @ @ @ @ argue that he was extinguishing the fire , not feeding it .
But prosecutors told the judge during a detention hearing that posing for the selfie undercuts that explanation .
“ That , your honor , is not consistent with someone who attempted to put out the fire .
That ’ s consistent with someone who is enjoying watching a Salt Lake City patrol car burn , ” said J .
Drew Yeates from the U.S. attorney ’ s office .
In Rochester , investigators said they tracked down Mr. Hardy after seeing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ into a construction trailer and then leaving before the trailer caught fire .
When cops spoke to him , they said , he initially claimed he tried to put out the fire .
When confronted with the video , he admitted he had set the fire , it went out , and he went back to reignite it , police said .
In Seattle , as protesters ousted police and created the self-styled Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone , a bystander posted online a video of a man who tried to start a fire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Zone .
Police saw the video and asked the public to identify the man .
One anonymous tip reported it was Isaiah Thomas Willoughby who , the tipster said , had even admitted to the burning on his Facebook page , but scrubbed the post after realizing the police were looking for him .
“ The person who started the fire is my nephew .
Come and get him , ” she said , according to court documents .
She confirmed that he had deleted social media posts , though investigators would later @ @ @ @ @ @ @ including one placing him at the location of the protests at the right time .
Criminal defense lawyers tell clients once they are arrested not to try to clean up their social media because it could be seen as a tacit admission of guilt — and is probably futile because investigators can usually recover the contents anyway .
Lawyers do suggest clients reject any new friend requests because investigators sometimes use that tactic to try to gain access to private posts .
Lawyers also tell clients to warn acquaintances not to “ tag @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a practice of attaching names to people in images , and it can make it much easier for authorities to connect a person to a location or event .
Mr. Bowker said some people believe they are protecting themselves by using their accounts ’ privacy settings .
But things they share with their own networks are often reshared by family or friends who don ’ t have the same privacy settings , giving investigators a way to peek at something the original poster thought was private .
In Pittsburgh , where local , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ task force probing recent riots , investigators are using facial recognition technology to match images to suspects , according to Public Source , a news organization that covers Pittsburgh .
The news outlet reported that social media was cited in 21 out of 32 cases brought in the city .
Experts ponder the psychology behind cases like that of Mr. Willoughby , who authorities say posted online that he started the fire at the Seattle police station .
Chelsea Binns , an assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is the intimacy of the technology .
“ Your phone feels very private to you , ” she told The Times .
“ If you ’ re holding your private phone and you ’ re posting something for millions of people to see , for some reason psychologically , it can feel more private.
” There is also an element of modernity , particularly for younger people .
“ Some people have just grown up with it and they ’ re used to posting their daily life , ” she said .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ investigators to flesh that out , but nevertheless the information is there.
” As social media has ballooned , so have the abilities of investigators .
While some make it easy to connect their posts to an event through use of hashtags , Mr. Bowker said , other programs can take search terms and scour the online world to track all the posts and comments and capture and archive the live feeds .
He said it “ would be neglect ” if investigators weren ’ t using it to solve crimes .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like Big Brother is out there doing something nefarious .
The social media is wide open , ” he said .
Years ago , some judges were skeptical of the utility of social media .
Mr. Bowker recalled cases when courts rejected evidence based on social media , saying just because it ’ s on the internet doesn ’ t mean it ’ s true .
That thinking has faded as the boundaries of what social media can prove are more established .
Still , it ’ s just one factor — usually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Bowker said .
“ It ’ s got to be authenticated and properly admitted , but police are getting up to speed on that , and courts are willing to look at it and not just dismiss it , ” he said .
Yet there are some limits , and in Portland police are bumping up against them right now .
Investigators say they are trying to track down a person they saw on social media videos throwing an improvised explosive device at protesters on Aug. 8 .
Protesters and their backers have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an arrest yet , but the Portland Police Bureau says it can ’ t make a case on the online information alone .
“ As of today , no in-person witness , someone who was actually there , has come forward to assist in the investigation , ” the police bureau said in a statement .

It’s possible the feds may never have caught up with Javon Hardy without Facebook.
But prosecutors say he is the man in a Facebook Live video from the May riots in Rochester, New York, wearing a black hoodie and blue bandana and carrying a milk jug to a construction trailer. Moments later, the trailer ignites and the man on the video says, “If it’s not on fire, I didn’t do my job.”
Across the country in Portland, Oregon, investigators closed in on a man after spotting the distinctive vest he was wearing at the protests, captured in an online video, and then matching it to a photo his grandmother posted of him wearing the vest in an online product review.
The Black Lives Matter revolution is, it turns out, being televised — and livestreamed, tweeted and otherwise shared online. Now police are digging through the data and having stunning success in tracking down perpetrators months after the mayhem.
The Washington Times reviewed 23 cases brought in federal courts from Seattle to Tampa, Florida, over the past three months of racial justice demonstrations. At least 14 of those cases showed indications that investigators used social media to help them make arrests.
The court documents also make clear just how much data they are collecting.
When a cop car was torched in Salt Lake City, investigators told a judge they had scoured at least five social media platforms and video from four news agencies, as well as security cameras and police body-cam footage, to build a database of more than 80,000 video clips and 1,700 images.
Watching all the video from start to finish would take more than 85 days, prosecutors said.
Multiply that by the number of cases in Seattle; New York; the District of Columbia; Nashville, Tennessee; Philadelphia; Providence, Rhode Island; and elsewhere, and you begin to get an idea of the amount of data the protests have produced — and that police officers have collected.
Even if the amount of data is massive, the basic tactic isn’t new, said Art Bowker, a cybercrime expert and co-author of Investigating Internet Crimes. He said federal agencies and well-funded local departments are all up on the practice.
“Law enforcement has been developing the capability for a long time,” he said.
The wave of protests was ignited by the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis police custody. Video footage showing him under the knee of a White officer was posted online.
Now it’s protesters who are being snared by online video — often by their recordings of their own behavior.
“Everybody wants to be a star,” Mr. Bowker told The Times. “Posting on the internet gives you that capability. If you’re involved in some big event, you can say, ‘Here’s what I was doing during this event.’ If they’re doing something positive, that’s great, and if they’re doing something criminal, they just outed themselves.”
Thanks, Grandma
One of the more fascinating cases to emerge involves Gabriel Agard-Berryhill, who law enforcement said was caught on video posted by RT, a Russian-backed news outlet, as he tossed an explosive device at the federal courthouse in Portland.
The bomb-thrower was wearing a distinctive green vest.
Agents trolling the internet came across a Twitter post that showed a product review for that vest. The review was posted by “grammaf,” who wrote that she bought the vest “for my grandson who’s a protester downtown, he uses it every night and says its does the job.” She gave the vest a five-star rating.
She also posted a photo of her grandson posing in the vest while sitting on a car. Investigators then found that same photo on a Facebook page they determined belonged to Agard-Berryhill.
It turns out he was eager to turn himself in and already had contacted his parole officer. According to investigators, he said he was handed what he thought was a normal firework and realized he had messed up when he heard the massive explosion.
“When asked whether his intent was to destroy anything or damage anything or if he threw the object in anger at the courthouse, Agard-Berryhill responded he wanted to keep it so he could set it off with his friends somewhere, but the unknown male said he had to throw it or give it back,” wrote Amanda Johnson, an agent for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Agard-Berryhill said his grandmother indeed bought the vest he was wearing.
Burning cop car
The sheer amount of data is helping prosecutors bring cases weeks after the events.
In Utah, the U.S. attorney’s office announced charges last week against Lateesha Richards from an incident on May 30, when a Salt Lake City police officer was boxed in by protesters and had to flee from her car. A mob then flipped her car and set it on fire.
Ms. Richards took a selfie in front of the scorched car, walked away and then returned with a piece of clothing that she tossed onto the fire to keep it burning, prosecutors said. They said she then came back for another round of selfies along with Latroi Newbins, who, like Ms. Richards, has been charged with arson.
Investigators said they identified Ms. Richards from the video based in part on her neck tattoo.
Mr. Newbins has tried to argue that he was extinguishing the fire, not feeding it. But prosecutors told the judge during a detention hearing that posing for the selfie undercuts that explanation.
“That, your honor, is not consistent with someone who attempted to put out the fire. That’s consistent with someone who is enjoying watching a Salt Lake City patrol car burn,” said J. Drew Yeates from the U.S. attorney’s office.
In Rochester, investigators said they tracked down Mr. Hardy after seeing a Facebook Live video of someone going into a construction trailer and then leaving before the trailer caught fire.
When cops spoke to him, they said, he initially claimed he tried to put out the fire. When confronted with the video, he admitted he had set the fire, it went out, and he went back to reignite it, police said.
‘Come and get him’
In Seattle, as protesters ousted police and created the self-styled Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone, a bystander posted online a video of a man who tried to start a fire at an abandoned police station inside the Zone.
Police saw the video and asked the public to identify the man. One anonymous tip reported it was Isaiah Thomas Willoughby who, the tipster said, had even admitted to the burning on his Facebook page, but scrubbed the post after realizing the police were looking for him.
Other tipsters, including Mr. Willoughby’s aunt, also called.
“The person who started the fire is my nephew. Come and get him,” she said, according to court documents. She confirmed that he had deleted social media posts, though investigators would later find he had missed some photos, including one placing him at the location of the protests at the right time.
Criminal defense lawyers tell clients once they are arrested not to try to clean up their social media because it could be seen as a tacit admission of guilt — and is probably futile because investigators can usually recover the contents anyway.
Lawyers do suggest clients reject any new friend requests because investigators sometimes use that tactic to try to gain access to private posts.
Lawyers also tell clients to warn acquaintances not to “tag” them in photos. Tagging is a practice of attaching names to people in images, and it can make it much easier for authorities to connect a person to a location or event.
Mr. Bowker said some people believe they are protecting themselves by using their accounts’ privacy settings. But things they share with their own networks are often reshared by family or friends who don’t have the same privacy settings, giving investigators a way to peek at something the original poster thought was private.
In Pittsburgh, where local, state and federal authorities have a joint task force probing recent riots, investigators are using facial recognition technology to match images to suspects, according to Public Source, a news organization that covers Pittsburgh.
The news outlet reported that social media was cited in 21 out of 32 cases brought in the city.
Illusions of privacy
Experts ponder the psychology behind cases like that of Mr. Willoughby, who authorities say posted online that he started the fire at the Seattle police station.
Chelsea Binns, an assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said part of it is the intimacy of the technology.
“Your phone feels very private to you,” she told The Times. “If you’re holding your private phone and you’re posting something for millions of people to see, for some reason psychologically, it can feel more private.”
There is also an element of modernity, particularly for younger people.
“Some people have just grown up with it and they’re used to posting their daily life,” she said. “It’s hard for us as investigators to flesh that out, but nevertheless the information is there.”
As social media has ballooned, so have the abilities of investigators.
While some make it easy to connect their posts to an event through use of hashtags, Mr. Bowker said, other programs can take search terms and scour the online world to track all the posts and comments and capture and archive the live feeds.
He said it “would be neglect” if investigators weren’t using it to solve crimes.
“I don’t want to sound like Big Brother is out there doing something nefarious. The social media is wide open,” he said.
Years ago, some judges were skeptical of the utility of social media.
Mr. Bowker recalled cases when courts rejected evidence based on social media, saying just because it’s on the internet doesn’t mean it’s true. That thinking has faded as the boundaries of what social media can prove are more established.
Still, it’s just one factor — usually a starting point for identification, Mr. Bowker said.
“It’s got to be authenticated and properly admitted, but police are getting up to speed on that, and courts are willing to look at it and not just dismiss it,” he said.
Yet there are some limits, and in Portland police are bumping up against them right now.
Investigators say they are trying to track down a person they saw on social media videos throwing an improvised explosive device at protesters on Aug. 8. Protesters and their backers have complained that police haven’t made an arrest yet, but the Portland Police Bureau says it can’t make a case on the online information alone.
“As of today, no in-person witness, someone who was actually there, has come forward to assist in the investigation,” the police bureau said in a statement.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.


washingtontimes--2020-08-16--California judge orders virus testing at immigration center

LOS ANGELES ( AP ) - A judge in California ordered immediate testing of all detainees and staff at an immigration detention center where COVID-19 was spreading for weeks while officials refused to test for the virus .
Federal District Court Judge Vince Chhabria ordered the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to conduct quick-result testing of everyone in the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield , The Los Angeles Times reports .
At least 54 of the 104 detained people remaining at the facility are positive for the virus .
Initial results from quick tests Saturday found 11 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chhabria ’ s order also directed about 140 staff members at Mesa Verde to be tested during their next shift , and weekly thereafter .
The order followed results Friday showing nearly half of the detainees tested earlier in the week were positive for COVID-19 .
Deputy Public Defender Emi MacLean of the San Francisco public defender ’ s office said the judge cited the “ deliberate indifference ” of ICE and GEO Group , the private company managing the facility .
The public defender ’ s office represents detainees at the facility @ @ @ @ @ @ @ order followed a series of hearings in a class-action lawsuit filed in April that sought to ensure the facility was taking adequate measures to ensure the detainees ’ safety .
As the litigation proceeded , ICE tested only those who showed symptoms of possible infection and reported there were none , MacLean said .
For most people , the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms , such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks .
For some - especially older adults and people with existing health problems @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , including pneumonia , and death .
The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested , and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick .

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A judge in California ordered immediate testing of all detainees and staff at an immigration detention center where COVID-19 was spreading for weeks while officials refused to test for the virus.
Federal District Court Judge Vince Chhabria ordered the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to conduct quick-result testing of everyone in the Mesa Verde ICE Processing Facility in Bakersfield, The Los Angeles Times reports.
At least 54 of the 104 detained people remaining at the facility are positive for the virus. Initial results from quick tests Saturday found 11 more positive cases, MacLean said.
Chhabria’s order also directed about 140 staff members at Mesa Verde to be tested during their next shift, and weekly thereafter.
The order followed results Friday showing nearly half of the detainees tested earlier in the week were positive for COVID-19.
Deputy Public Defender Emi MacLean of the San Francisco public defender’s office said the judge cited the “deliberate indifference” of ICE and GEO Group, the private company managing the facility.
The public defender’s office represents detainees at the facility in San Francisco Immigration Court.
The order followed a series of hearings in a class-action lawsuit filed in April that sought to ensure the facility was taking adequate measures to ensure the detainees’ safety. As the litigation proceeded, ICE tested only those who showed symptoms of possible infection and reported there were none, MacLean said.
For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some - especially older adults and people with existing health problems - it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.
The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.


washingtontimes--2020-08-16--FBI declassified documents in Trump-Russia probe reveal pattern of duplicity

The FBI has rung up a striking record of falsehoods and misleading testimony during the bureau ’ s Russia investigation of Donald Trump , according to a public records examination .
The stakes on FBI misconduct hit a new high last week when Sen. Lindsey Graham , South Carolina Republican and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman , denounced the agency .
He said a bureau witness told senators a “ bunch of lies ” in 2018 by bucking up the credibility of the infamous Steele dossier .
That closed-door testimony was heard a year after the dossier ’ s main source @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were basically secondhand anecdotes from Moscow friends .
“ Somebody needs to go to jail for this , ” Mr. Graham told Fox News .
From the top down , FBI officials have misinformed judges , independent investigators and Congress .
The pattern of duplicity is revealed in investigative reports , court files and a steady stream of declassified documents turned over to Republican lawmakers by the Trump administration ’ s Justice Department and the Director of National Intelligence .
One one occasion , an FBI agent showed up at the official intelligence @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but the agent ’ s concealed purpose was to see whether Mr. Trump would make an “ admission ” in its Russia probe , a government report said .
As a backdrop : When disgraced former agent Peter Strzok in August 2016 picked four Trump campaign associates for investigation , he privately assured a colleague that Mr. Trump would not become president .
“ No .
No .
He won ’ t .
We ’ ll stop it , ” he messaged .
The first hint that something went sideways inside the FBI @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , California Republican , forced the bureau to turn over documents on how it spied on the Trump campaign .
After digging more , he began referring to the FBI ’ s anti-Trump Crossfire Hurricane unit as “ dirty cops.
” For the first time , Mr. Nunes showed that the bureau relied on former British spy Christopher Steele ’ s dossier — a Russian-sourced opposition research paper financed by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton ’ s presidential campaign — as the prime piece of evidence used to obtain four wiretap warrants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that the dossier was filled with baseless accusations against Mr. Trump and his allies .
In December , Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz released a scathing report on those FBI wiretaps .
Meanwhile , House and Senate Republicans had ramped up their own probes .
Special counsel Robert Mueller concluded in March 2019 that he could not establish an election conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin .
Attorney General William Barr in May 2019 appointed U.S. Attorney John Dunham to investigate FBI conduct under the Obama Justice Department .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ record history .
⦁ Agents withheld from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act judges the fact that Carter Page , the wiretap target , worked for the CIA as an official informant from 2008 to 2013 .
Kevin Clinesmith , then an FBI lawyer assigned to Crossfire Hurricane , altered a CIA email that affirmed his informant status by adding the words “ not a source.
” Trying to convince a judge that Mr .
Page was a Russian agent would have been complicated by disclosing that he was a trusted and official CIA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ included in the last of four wiretap warrants , may also have prompted judges to ask why the FBI did not insert that fact in the previous three affidavits .
The Justice Department announced last week that Mr. Durham has opened his first case , filing a false statement charge against Mr. Clinesmith , who has agreed to plead guilty .
Mr. Clinesmith was not alone in FISA subterfuge .
Before the FBI sought its first wiretap in October 2016 , “ Case Agent 1 ” in the New York Field office knew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But the agent supplied the Justice Department , the Horowitz report said , “ with inaccurate information that failed to disclose the extent and nature of Page ’ s relationship with that agency.
” ⦁ Agents asserted to judges that dossier creator Mr. Steele ’ s previous information as an FBI informant had been corroborated and used in criminal trials .
It had not .
Under FISA requirements , agents need judges to find “ probable cause ” to believe Mr .
Page was a Russian agent .
Bucking up Mr. Steele @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their coveted wiretaps .
⦁ Mr. Steele quoted a “ Source E ” as saying there was a “ well developed conspiracy of co-operation ” between the Kremlin and Mr. Trump .
The FBI presented no evidence for this other than Mr. Steele and the unknown “ Source E. ” At the time , and subsequently , the FBI had no evidence of this supposed conspiracy .
Mr. Steele told the FBI that Source E was a “ boaster ” and “ embellisher , ” but the FBI never included that caveat in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ FBI repeated to judges the dossier assertion that Mr .
Page and campaign manager Paul Manafort worked with the Russians .
Agents left out the fact that Mr .
Page told the FBI ’ s own informant ( later identified as Stefan Halper ) that he had never met Mr. Manafort .
Not only was this proved true , but Mr .
Page also told the informant that he never met the two dossier-named Russians .
The agent described as “ Case Agent 1 ” left these denials out of his report for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the tape recording ’ s transcript .
⦁ Although not noted in the Horowitz report , the FBI made another inaccurate statement to the FISA court judges .
The agency said Mr. Steele ’ s main source was “ Russian-based ” — a crucial fact in convincing a judge that the material was well-founded .
In fact , the “ primary sub-source , ” later identified as Igor Danchenko , lived in the U.S. and worked at the liberal Brookings Institution .
He made trips to Moscow to connect with friends who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Horowitz spread around the blame for FBI misconduct on FISA but saved his most biting criticism for “ Case Agent 1 , ” a New York City field office agent who interrogated Mr .
Page .
“ As noted throughout this report , Case Agent 1 was primarily responsible for some of the most significant errors and omissions in the FISA applications , ” said Mr. Horowitz , implying that the agent was not honest with his investigators .
“ While we found no documentary or testimonial evidence that this pattern of errors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we also did not find his explanations for so many significant and repeated failures to be satisfactory , ” his report said .
Mr. Horowitz summed up the FBI ’ s transgression : “ The Crossfire Hurricane team failed to inform [ Justice ] Department officials of significant information that was available to the team at the time the FISA applications were drafted and filed .
Much of the information was inconsistent with , or undercut , the assertions contained in the FISA applications.
” In the past two years , a number @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public via two main sources : the U.S. District Court case file of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn , and three Senate Republicans who requested and won the release of the documents .
Attorney General William Barr named U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen to review the Flynn prosecution , which resulted in a flow of new FBI documents filed in open court .
The Mueller prosecution team had asserted to the trial judge that no favorable information existed that had not been turned over to Flynn .
Legal observers have drawn the conclusion that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ file before Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to agents , including Mr. Strzok , in December 2017 .
Meanwhile , Senate Republicans were at work on other issues .
⦁ Mr. Graham on Aug. 9 made an FBI disclosure : the talking points for secret FBI testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in early 2018 .
Mr. Graham said the testimony contains lies .
The FBI talking points vouched for Mr. Steele ’ s dominant dossier source , Mr. Danchenko , a foreign policy analyst described in news reports as both @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bureau ’ s objective that day was to brief the committee on three interviews its agents had conducted with Mr. Danchenko in January 2017 at the Washington field office .
“ He did not cite any significant concerns with the way his reporting was characterized in the dossier to the extent he could identify it , ” the talking points said .
Mr. Graham on Fox News identified the presenter as agent Bill Priestap , who headed FBI counterintelligence .
The FBI also said , “ At minimum our discussions with [ Mr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ not fabricated by Steele … and that Steele and [ Mr. Danchenko ] utilized reasonably sound intelligence tradecraft.
” Mr. Graham ridiculed the presentation .
He said the 2017 interviews showed the primary source relied on a group of friends , some of them drinking buddies , who had no firsthand knowledge and relied on second- and thirdhand gossip .
He also said the source , contrary to the talking points , said Mr. Steele embellished information he provided .
The FBI talking points , which are redacted , do not appear to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gave agents in March .
He was much more critical of Mr. Steele , saying he told him his information was “ just talk ” and his sources were not worth a “ grain of salt , ” according to the Horowitz report .
⦁ Republican senators have accused the FBI of being dishonest about the dossier ’ s Russian disinformation .
They did not know about this Russia angle until Richard Grenell , as acting director of national intelligence , declassified several footnotes in the Horowitz report .
Once opened to daylight @ @ @ @ @ @ @ warned the FBI in early 2017 that Russian intelligence knew of Mr. Steele ’ s anti-Trump project , had penetrated Mr. Danchenko ’ s sources and had fed them false reports about supposed criminal conduct by the campaign .
Yet this is not what the FBI told Mr. Horowitz ’ s team .
Mr. Priestap told the inspector general that “ the FBI didn ’ t have any indication whatsoever ” in early 2017 that Russia was running a disinformation campaign through Mr. Steele .
What ’ s more , Crossfire Hurricane ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ general that he had “ no information … that Steele ’ s election reporting source network had been penetrated or compromised.
” Sen. Chuck Grassley , Iowa Republican and a former Judiciary Committee chairman , called these statements “ grossly inaccurate.
” “ We are deeply troubled by the Crossfire Hurricane team ’ s awareness of and apparent indifference to Russian disinformation , as well as by the grossly inaccurate statements by the FBI official in charge of the investigation and its supervisory intelligence analyst , ” wrote Mr. Grassley and Sen. Ron @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee , in an April letter to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray .
⦁ Former FBI Director James B. Comey told Fox News anchor Bret Baier that the dossier didn ’ t play a pivotal role in persuading a judge to grant permission to spy on Mr .
Page .
“ My recollection was there was a significant amount of additional material about Page and why there was probable cause to believe he was an agent of a foreign power , and the dossier was part of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it or a critical part of it , ” said Mr. Comey , whose signature attested to two of the four Page wiretap warrants .
The Horowitz investigation later contradicted Mr. Comey .
The inspector general ’ s report said the dossier was the critical piece of evidence for a judge to base “ probable cause.
” A Justice Department official had rejected the bureau ’ s bid to wiretap Mr .
Page .
That changed when the dossier and its salacious and sensational claims reached Crossfire Hurricane in September 2016 .
⦁ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the crucial issue of whether agents who interviewed Flynn on Jan. 24 , 2017 , thought he was lying .
In secret testimony in March 2017 , he told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that “ the agents … discerned no physical indications of deception .
They didn ’ t see any change in posture , in tone , in inflection , in eye contact .
They saw nothing that indicated to them that he knew he was lying to them .
… I think there is an argument to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a close one.
” In December 2018 , the former FBI director testified to a House task force , “ There ’ s no doubt he was lying.
” The Justice Department cited his March testimony in its motion to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to dismiss the case .
Mr. Comey , fired by Mr. Trump in May 2017 , has written a memoir defending his conduct .
He will publish a second book , “ Saving Justice : Truth , Transparency and Trust , ” in January .
On Twitter , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republicans .
“ First Mueller Report , then the IG , and now Senate Republicans , ” he said .
“ There really was a Russian attack in 2016 and those who investigated it were professionals .
Facts remain stubborn things.
” And he said , “ The DOJ has lost its way .
But , career people : please stay because America needs you .
The country is hungry for honest , competent leadership.
” ⦁ A new document shows the FBI disguised a meeting with Mr. Trump in New York during @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when in fact it was a spying mission to evaluate Flynn , who also attended .
The FBI ’ s post-session memo , obtained by Mr. Grassley and Mr. Johnson , was labeled “ Crossfire Hurricane.
” The FBI agent who attended was Joe Pientka , a team member .
Mr. Pientka later told Mr. Horowitz ’ s investigators that he attended to assess Flynn ’ s “ overall mannerisms .
That overall mannerisms and then also there was anything specific to Russia , or anything specific to our investigation that was mentioned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had an investigation , right .
And any of the other two individuals … if they [ made ] any kind of admission , or overhear , whatever it was , I there to record that.
” Those “ other two individuals ” included the future president .
The mission to spy on the Trump team was approved by Mr. Clinesmith , the FBI memo shows .
In his report , Mr. Horowitz disapproved — he used the word “ chilling ” — of mixing a candidate intelligence defensive briefing with an investigation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , “ The transfer of information , the exchanges questions and answers that can occur , and the effectiveness of this process rely an expectation of trust and good faith among the participants .
The FBI ’ s use of briefings for investigative purposes potentially interferes with this expectation could frustrate the purpose of future counterintelligence briefings.
” Sidney Powell , Flynn ’ s attorney , makes several arguments to why his guilty plea and the case should be dismissed .
One is that the Mueller team squeezed him into admitting guilt .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” his son , she said .
There was a side deal not to prosecute and to keep the arrangement secret , she said in a court filing this April .
In addition , she argues , Flynn was innocent but never knew the FBI had the evidence for this .
⦁ Unknown to Flynn , agents met the day after interviewing him with a Justice Department official whose notes say : Flynn was “ telling truth and believed it ” ; “ no false statement ” ; “ being forthright.
” Another @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inaccurate but believes that [ Flynn ] believes that what he said was true.
” This , Ms. Powell argues , proves he is not guilty .
The Justice Department motion to dismiss the case says , “ The evidentiary problems that have emerged create reasonable doubt as to whether Mr. Flynn knowingly and willingly lied to investigators during the interview.
” ⦁ The FBI created another document that exonerated Flynn but was unknown to him until a month ago .
On Jan. 4 , 2017 , the Crossfire Hurricane team wrote a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ no wrongdoing .
In other words , in the FBI ’ s overriding assignment to find out whether Flynn colluded with Russia in the election , he came out clean .
⦁ Yet another newly disclosed document , notes from a strategy session before the Jan. 24 interview , show that FBI agents talk about how they could get Flynn to lie or be fired .
In other words , up to that point he had not committed a crime and the FBI seemed to be trying to create one , his supporters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ motion to dismiss that when Flynn pleaded guilty “ he did so without full awareness of the circumstances of the newly discovered , disclosed , or declassified information as to the FBI ’ s investigation of him.
” The FBI declined to comment to The Washington Times on Mr. Graham ’ s allegations or on other criticisms brought by Republicans .
The FBI did comment on a subpoena issued by Mr. Johnson : “ The FBI has received Chairman Johnson ’ s August 6th subpoena .
The FBI has already been producing documents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Committee , which are directly responsive to this subpoena .
As always , the FBI will continue to cooperate with the Committee ’ s requests , consistent with our law enforcement and national security obligations , ” the bureau said .

The FBI has rung up a striking record of falsehoods and misleading testimony during the bureau’s Russia investigation of Donald Trump, according to a public records examination.
The stakes on FBI misconduct hit a new high last week when Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican and Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, denounced the agency. He said a bureau witness told senators a “bunch of lies” in 2018 by bucking up the credibility of the infamous Steele dossier.
That closed-door testimony was heard a year after the dossier’s main source secretly told agents that his anti-Trump claims were basically secondhand anecdotes from Moscow friends.
“Somebody needs to go to jail for this,” Mr. Graham told Fox News.
From the top down, FBI officials have misinformed judges, independent investigators and Congress. The pattern of duplicity is revealed in investigative reports, court files and a steady stream of declassified documents turned over to Republican lawmakers by the Trump administration’s Justice Department and the Director of National Intelligence.
On one occasion, an FBI agent showed up at the official intelligence briefing given to then-candidate Donald Trump, but the agent’s concealed purpose was to see whether Mr. Trump would make an “admission” in its Russia probe, a government report said.
As a backdrop: When disgraced former agent Peter Strzok in August 2016 picked four Trump campaign associates for investigation, he privately assured a colleague that Mr. Trump would not become president. “No. No. He won’t. We’ll stop it,” he messaged.
The first hint that something went sideways inside the FBI surfaced in 2018 when Rep. Devin Nunes, California Republican, forced the bureau to turn over documents on how it spied on the Trump campaign. After digging more, he began referring to the FBI’s anti-Trump Crossfire Hurricane unit as “dirty cops.”
For the first time, Mr. Nunes showed that the bureau relied on former British spy Christopher Steele’s dossier — a Russian-sourced opposition research paper financed by the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign — as the prime piece of evidence used to obtain four wiretap warrants lasting a year. Subsequent investigations showed that the dossier was filled with baseless accusations against Mr. Trump and his allies.
In December, Justice Department Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz released a scathing report on those FBI wiretaps. Meanwhile, House and Senate Republicans had ramped up their own probes.
Special counsel Robert Mueller concluded in March 2019 that he could not establish an election conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Attorney General William P. Barr in May 2019 appointed U.S. Attorney John Dunham to investigate FBI conduct under the Obama Justice Department.
The Washington Times has examined the public record history.
Horowitz report
⦁ Agents withheld from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act judges the fact that Carter Page, the wiretap target, worked for the CIA as an official informant from 2008 to 2013.
Kevin Clinesmith, then an FBI lawyer assigned to Crossfire Hurricane, altered a CIA email that affirmed his informant status by adding the words “not a source.”
Trying to convince a judge that Mr. Page was a Russian agent would have been complicated by disclosing that he was a trusted and official CIA source. The CIA email, if included in the last of four wiretap warrants, may also have prompted judges to ask why the FBI did not insert that fact in the previous three affidavits.
The Justice Department announced last week that Mr. Dunham has opened his first case, filing a false statement charge against Mr. Clinesmith, who has agreed to plead guilty.
Mr. Clinesmith was not alone in FISA subterfuge. Before the FBI sought its first wiretap in October 2016, “Case Agent 1” in the New York Field office knew of Mr. Page’s CIA work. But the agent supplied the Justice Department, the Horowitz report said, “with inaccurate information that failed to disclose the extent and nature of Page’s relationship with that agency.”
⦁ Agents asserted to judges that dossier creator Mr. Steele’s previous information as an FBI informant had been corroborated and used in criminal trials. It had not.
Under FISA requirements, agents need judges to find “probable cause” to believe Mr. Page was a Russian agent. Bucking up Mr. Steele’s past inaccurately helped agents get their coveted wiretaps.
⦁ Mr. Steele quoted a “Source E” as saying there was a “well developed conspiracy of co-operation” between the Kremlin and Mr. Trump. The FBI presented no evidence for this other than Mr. Steele and the unknown “Source E.”
At the time, and subsequently, the FBI had no evidence of this supposed conspiracy. Mr. Steele told the FBI that Source E was a “boaster” and “embellisher,” but the FBI never included that caveat in its Page warrant applications.
⦁ The FBI repeated to judges the dossier assertion that Mr. Page and campaign chairman Paul Manafort worked with the Russians.
Agents left out the fact that Mr. Page told the FBI’s own informant (later identified as Stefan Halper) that he had never met Mr. Manafort. Not only was this proved true, but Mr. Page also told the informant that he never met the two dossier-named Russians.
The agent described as “Case Agent 1” left these denials out of his report for wiretap affidavits even though they were contained in the tape recording’s transcript.
⦁ Although not noted in the Horowitz report, the FBI made another inaccurate statement to the FISA court judges.
The agency said Mr. Steele’s main source was “Russian-based” — a crucial fact in convincing a judge that the material was well-founded.
In fact, the “primary sub-source,” later identified as Igor Danchenko, lived in the U.S. and worked at the liberal Brookings Institution. He made trips to Moscow to connect with friends who supplied the unverified anti-Trump claims.
Mr. Horowitz spread around the blame for FBI misconduct on FISA but saved his most biting criticism for “Case Agent 1,” a New York City field office agent who interrogated Mr. Page.
“As noted throughout this report, Case Agent 1 was primarily responsible for some of the most significant errors and omissions in the FISA applications,” said Mr. Horowitz, implying that the agent was not honest with his investigators.
“While we found no documentary or testimonial evidence that this pattern of errors by Case Agent 1 was intentional, we also did not find his explanations for so many significant and repeated failures to be satisfactory,” his report said.
Mr. Horowitz summed up the FBI’s transgression: “The Crossfire Hurricane team failed to inform [Justice] Department officials of significant information that was available to the team at the time the FISA applications were drafted and filed. Much of the information was inconsistent with, or undercut, the assertions contained in the FISA applications.”
Newly declassified files
In the past two years, a number of internal FBI papers have reached the public via two main sources: the U.S. District Court case file of retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, and three Senate Republicans who requested and won the release of the documents.
Mr. Barr named U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Jensen to review the Flynn prosecution, which resulted in a flow of new FBI documents filed in open court.
The Mueller prosecution team had asserted to the trial judge that no favorable information existed that had not been turned over to Flynn. Legal observers have drawn the conclusion that the FBI itself must have concealed its file before Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to agents, including Mr. Strzok, in December 2017.
Meanwhile, Senate Republicans were at work on other issues.
⦁ Mr. Graham on Aug. 9 made an FBI disclosure: the talking points for secret FBI testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in early 2018. Mr. Graham said the testimony contains lies.
The FBI talking points vouched for Mr. Steele’s dominant dossier source, Mr. Danchenko, a foreign policy analyst described in news reports as both a Ukrainian and a Russian.
The bureau’s objective that day was to brief the committee on three interviews its agents had conducted with Mr. Danchenko in January 2017 at the Washington field office.
“He did not cite any significant concerns with the way his reporting was characterized in the dossier to the extent he could identify it,” the talking points said.
Mr. Graham on Fox News identified the presenter as agent Bill Priestap, who headed FBI counterintelligence.
The FBI also said, “At minimum our discussions with [Mr. Danchenko] confirm that the dossier was not fabricated by Steele … and that Steele and [Mr. Danchenko] utilized reasonably sound intelligence tradecraft.”
Mr. Graham ridiculed the presentation. He said the 2017 interviews showed the primary source relied on a group of friends, some of them drinking buddies, who had no firsthand knowledge and relied on second- and thirdhand gossip.
He also said the source, contrary to the talking points, said Mr. Steele embellished information he provided.
The FBI talking points, which are redacted, do not appear to touch on a follow-up interview Mr. Danchenko gave agents in March. He was much more critical of Mr. Steele, saying he told him his information was “just talk” and his sources were not worth a “grain of salt,” according to the Horowitz report.
⦁ Republican senators have accused the FBI of being dishonest about the dossier’s Russian disinformation. They did not know about this Russia angle until Richard Grenell, as acting director of national intelligence, declassified several footnotes in the Horowitz report.
Once opened to daylight, the notes showed that intelligence agencies warned the FBI in early 2017 that Russian intelligence knew of Mr. Steele’s anti-Trump project, had penetrated Mr. Danchenko’s sources and had fed them false reports about supposed criminal conduct by the campaign.
Yet this is not what the FBI told Mr. Horowitz’s team.
Mr. Priestap told the inspector general that “the FBI didn’t have any indication whatsoever” in early 2017 that Russia was running a disinformation campaign through Mr. Steele.
What’s more, Crossfire Hurricane’s supervisory intelligence analyst told the inspector general that he had “no information … that Steele’s election reporting source network had been penetrated or compromised.”
Sen. Charles E. Grassley, Iowa Republican and a former Judiciary Committee chairman, called these statements “grossly inaccurate.”
“We are deeply troubled by the Crossfire Hurricane team’s awareness of and apparent indifference to Russian disinformation, as well as by the grossly inaccurate statements by the FBI official in charge of the investigation and its supervisory intelligence analyst,” wrote Mr. Grassley and Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican and chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, in an April letter to FBI Director Christopher A. Wray.
⦁ Former FBI Director James B. Comey told Fox News anchor Bret Baier that the dossier didn’t play a pivotal role in persuading a judge to grant permission to spy on Mr. Page.
“My recollection was there was a significant amount of additional material about Page and why there was probable cause to believe he was an agent of a foreign power, and the dossier was part of that, but was not all of it or a critical part of it,” said Mr. Comey, whose signature attested to two of the four Page wiretap warrants.
The Horowitz investigation later contradicted Mr. Comey. The inspector general’s report said the dossier was the critical piece of evidence for a judge to base “probable cause.”
A Justice Department official had rejected the bureau’s bid to wiretap Mr. Page. That changed when the dossier and its salacious and sensational claims reached Crossfire Hurricane in September 2016.
⦁ Republicans say Mr. Comey gave different testimony on the crucial issue of whether agents who interviewed Flynn on Jan. 24, 2017, thought he was lying.
In secret testimony in March 2017, he told the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence that “the agents … discerned no physical indications of deception. They didn’t see any change in posture, in tone, in inflection, in eye contact. They saw nothing that indicated to them that he knew he was lying to them. … I think there is an argument to be made that he lied. It is a close one.”
In December 2018, the former FBI director testified to a House task force, “There’s no doubt he was lying.”
The Justice Department cited his March testimony in its motion to Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to dismiss the case.
Mr. Comey, fired by Mr. Trump in May 2017, has written a memoir defending his conduct. He will publish a second book, “Saving Justice: Truth, Transparency and Trust,” in January.
On Twitter, he has criticized Mr. Barr and Senate Republicans.
“First Mueller Report, then the IG, and now Senate Republicans,” he said. “There really was a Russian attack in 2016 and those who investigated it were professionals. Facts remain stubborn things.”
And he said, “The DOJ has lost its way. But, career people: please stay because America needs you. The country is hungry for honest, competent leadership.”
⦁ A new document shows the FBI disguised a meeting with Mr. Trump in New York during the campaign as a foreign-threat intelligence briefing when in fact it was a spying mission to evaluate Flynn, who also attended.
The FBI’s post-session memo, obtained by Mr. Grassley and Mr. Johnson, was labeled “Crossfire Hurricane.” The FBI agent who attended was Joe Pientka, a team member.
Mr. Pientka later told Mr. Horowitz’s investigators that he attended to assess Flynn’s “overall mannerisms. That overall mannerisms and then also there was anything specific to Russia, or anything specific to our investigation that was mentioned by him, or quite frankly we had an investigation, right. And any of the other two individuals … if they [made] any kind of admission, or overhear, whatever it was, I there to record that.”
Those “other two individuals” included the future president.
The mission to spy on the Trump team was approved by Mr. Clinesmith, the FBI memo shows.
In his report, Mr. Horowitz disapproved — he used the word “chilling” — of mixing a candidate intelligence defensive briefing with an investigation into the same candidate.
He said, “The transfer of information, the exchanges questions and answers that can occur, and the effectiveness of this process rely an expectation of trust and good faith among the participants. The FBI’s use of briefings for investigative purposes potentially interferes with this expectation could frustrate the purpose of future counterintelligence briefings.”
More Flynn disclosures
Sidney Powell, Flynn’s attorney, makes several arguments to why his guilty plea and the case should be dismissed.
One is that the Mueller team squeezed him into admitting guilt. Prosecutors “made baseless threats to indict” his son, she said. There was a side deal not to prosecute and to keep the arrangement secret, she said in a court filing this April.
In addition, she argues, Flynn was innocent but never knew the FBI had the evidence for this.
⦁ Unknown to Flynn, agents met the day after interviewing him with a Justice Department official whose notes say: Flynn was “telling truth and believed it”; “no false statement”; “being forthright.”
Another note says, “yes false and inaccurate but believes that [Flynn] believes that what he said was true.”
This, Ms. Powell argues, proves he is not guilty.
The Justice Department motion to dismiss the case says, “The evidentiary problems that have emerged create reasonable doubt as to whether Mr. Flynn knowingly and willingly lied to investigators during the interview.”
⦁ The FBI created another document that exonerated Flynn but was unknown to him until a month ago. On Jan. 4, 2017, the Crossfire Hurricane team wrote a memo saying its five-month counterintelligence probe found no wrongdoing. In other words, in the FBI’s overriding assignment to find out whether Flynn colluded with Russia in the election, he came out clean.
⦁ Yet another newly disclosed document, notes from a strategy session before the Jan. 24 interview, show that FBI agents talk about how they could get Flynn to lie or be fired. In other words, up to that point he had not committed a crime and the FBI seemed to be trying to create one, his supporters say.
The government says in its motion to dismiss that when Flynn pleaded guilty “he did so without full awareness of the circumstances of the newly discovered, disclosed, or declassified information as to the FBI’s investigation of him.”
The FBI declined to comment to The Washington Times on Mr. Graham’s allegations or on other criticisms brought by Republicans.
The FBI did comment on a subpoena issued by Mr. Johnson:
“The FBI has received Chairman Johnson’s August 6th subpoena. The FBI has already been producing documents and information to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, which are directly responsive to this subpoena. As always, the FBI will continue to cooperate with the Committee’s requests, consistent with our law enforcement and national security obligations,” the bureau said.
• Rowan Scarborough can be reached at rscarborough@washingtontimes.com.


washingtontimes--2020-08-16--Iowa 'hurting' after storm, seeks nearly $4B in disaster aid

Iowa homes , cornfields , utility companies and government agencies have losses estimated at nearly $ 4 billion from Monday ’ s unusual storm , Gov .
Kim Reynolds said Sunday as she announced she ’ s filing an expedited presidential major disaster declaration with the federal government seeking that much money to rebuild and repair .
The derecho with hurricane-force wind gusts exceeding 100 miles per hour destroyed or extensively damaged 8,200 homes and 13 million acres of corn , about a third of the state ’ s crop land , she said .
More than a half million @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aftermath of the storm .
As of Sunday evening utility companies reported about 83,000 people remained without power .
Alliant Energy reported about 2,500 utility poles were damaged beyond repair and ITC Midwest , which owns power lines , reported about 1,200 miles of lines torn down by the winds .
About 500 miles had been repaired by Sunday .
The storm left at least three people dead in the state .
The money Iowa is seeking from the federal government includes $ 3.78 billion in agriculture losses , $ 100 million for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homes and $ 45 million for public assistance .
“ From cities to farms , Iowans are hurting , many still have challenges with shelter , food , and power , ” Reynolds said .

Iowa homes, cornfields, utility companies and government agencies have losses estimated at nearly $4 billion from Monday’s unusual storm, Gov. Kim Reynolds said Sunday as she announced she’s filing an expedited presidential major disaster declaration with the federal government seeking that much money to rebuild and repair.
The derecho with hurricane-force wind gusts exceeding 100 miles per hour destroyed or extensively damaged 8,200 homes and 13 million acres of corn, about a third of the state’s crop land, she said.
More than a half million people were without electricity in the immediate aftermath of the storm. As of Sunday evening utility companies reported about 83,000 people remained without power.
Alliant Energy reported about 2,500 utility poles were damaged beyond repair and ITC Midwest, which owns power lines, reported about 1,200 miles of lines torn down by the winds. About 500 miles had been repaired by Sunday.
The storm left at least three people dead in the state.
The money Iowa is seeking from the federal government includes $3.78 billion in agriculture losses, $100 million for private utilities, $82 million for homes and $45 million for public assistance.
“From cities to farms, Iowans are hurting, many still have challenges with shelter, food, and power,” Reynolds said.


washingtontimes--2020-08-16--Over $700K raised for slain boy's funeral in North Carolina

WILSON , N.C. ( AP ) - More than $ 700,000 has been raised for the funeral service expenses of a slain 5-year-old boy in North Carolina whose death has captured national attention .
The donations poured into a GoFundMe page organized by Gwen Hinnant , who identifies herself on the website as Cannon Hinnant ’ s grandmother .
“ This family has faced unimaginable pain because of this senseless act of violence , ” the post read , “ We offer our sincerest appreciation in this extremely difficult time , # justice for Cannon.
” Cannon ’ s funeral @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the 5-year-old was fatally shot in the family ’ s driveway as he rode his bike , news outlets reported .
A neighbor , 25-year-old Darius Nathaniel Sessoms , has been charged with first-degree murder in his death .
A day before the funeral , police in North Carolina warned about false information circulating on social media about the case , including posts that resembled news releases from investigators .
“ These are fraudulent posts , ” the Wilson Police Department said in a statement while encouraging people to report the fake Facebook @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The department repeated the ask on its Facebook page Saturday and told people to avoid sharing the posts .
Some have taken to social media to claim that race was a factor in Cannon ’ s death .
Cannon was white and Sessoms is Black .
Cannon ’ s father , Austin Hinnant , said he had been disturbed by these posts .
“ This is no racial issue , ” Austin Hinnant told The Wilson Times .

WILSON, N.C. (AP) - More than $700,000 has been raised for the funeral service expenses of a slain 5-year-old boy in North Carolina whose death has captured national attention.
The donations poured into a GoFundMe page organized by Gwen Hinnant, who identifies herself on the website as Cannon Hinnant’s grandmother.
“This family has faced unimaginable pain because of this senseless act of violence,” the post read, “We offer our sincerest appreciation in this extremely difficult time, #justice for Cannon.”
Cannon’s funeral service was held Thursday, days after the 5-year-old was fatally shot in the family’s driveway as he rode his bike, news outlets reported. A neighbor, 25-year-old Darius Nathaniel Sessoms, has been charged with first-degree murder in his death.
A day before the funeral, police in North Carolina warned about false information circulating on social media about the case, including posts that resembled news releases from investigators.
“These are fraudulent posts,” the Wilson Police Department said in a statement while encouraging people to report the fake Facebook posts to the social media company. The department repeated the ask on its Facebook page Saturday and told people to avoid sharing the posts.
Some have taken to social media to claim that race was a factor in Cannon’s death. Cannon was white and Sessoms is Black. Cannon’s father, Austin Hinnant, said he had been disturbed by these posts.
“This is no racial issue,” Austin Hinnant told The Wilson Times.