Spike in FBI threats unsettles the right

Posted on (Updated by Emily Brooks

An uptick in threats to the FBI after it executed a search warrant at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate is unsettling the political right, with some calling on allies of the former president to tone down their rhetoric.

Barriers have been erected outside the perimeter of the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., while the FBI and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reportedly issued a joint bulletin Friday warning about spikes in threats that included a bomb threat at FBI headquarters and calls for “civil war” and “armed rebellion.”

Fox News host Steve Doocy on Monday urged the former president and others to “tamp down the rhetoric against the FBI” in light of the threats, while Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that Trump’s language was “inflammatory.”

“I don’t want to put any law enforcement in the bull’s-eye of a potential threat,” McCaul said.

The bulletin issued by DHS and the FBI cited an incident in which a man armed with an AR-15-style rifle allegedly fired a nail gun into an FBI office in Cincinnati last week, according to NBC News. He was fatally shot by police after a chase and standoff, according to Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Trump on Monday in an interview with Fox News did say the temperature on the issue needed to come down, adding that he’d told aides to reach out to the Department of Justice to help.

But in the same interview, Trump directed his wrath at the Justice Department and suggested that his supporters’ anger was justified. Trump said that Americans are “not going to stand for another scam,” said that the FBI can “break into a president’s house” in a “sneak attack” and suggested that the FBI “could have planted anything they wanted” during the search.

In another post on Truth Social, his social media platform, he claimed that his passports had been taken during the search. Passports were not included on a list of items mentioned as part of a warrant released on Friday, though some of the descriptions of what was seized were broad in nature.

The president’s account on the platform his own business launched is one of his most direct ways to reach supporters online now, since he lost access to his Twitter and Facebook accounts after his posts the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), a former FBI agent, told Margaret Brennan of “Face the Nation” on Sunday that he was concerned about the safety of FBI agents.

“Violence is never the answer to anything,” Fitzpatrick said. “We live in a democracy that's 246 years old, Margaret. That's not long, that's just a few generations, and yet we're the world's only democracy. And the only way that can come unraveled is if we have disrespect for our institutions that lead to Americans turning on Americans and the whole system becomes unraveled. And a lot of that starts with the words we're using.”

“I'm also urging all my colleagues to understand the weight of your words and support law enforcement no matter what,” he added.

Republicans have sought to differentiate between Biden appointees and rank-and-file FBI agents when raising concerns about potential politicization of the department.

“I won't smear the FBI, like the career FBI agents,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) said Friday. “But the political appointees running this stuff are very worrisome.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray was appointed by Trump in 2017.

Some Republicans have continued to use incendiary rhetoric to speak to their massive online bases. 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), using her official congressional account since her personal Twitter was suspended in January over COVID-19 misinformation, told her 1 million followers Monday that “Republicans must force” the “political persecution” to stop. Greene filed articles of impeachment against Attorney General Merrick Garland last week.

Katherine Keneally, a senior analyst at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD), said she is most concerned about the potential for extremist groups to capitalize on this moment to mobilize for future membership. 

“Specifically, any accelerationist groups that are seeing an uptick in people being upset at the FBI, a government agency, works very well for recruitment for an organization that wants to collapse the US government. So I think that's where my concern is, that these even more nefarious groups are going to use this as a catalyst moment for recruitment,” she said. 

According to a report compiled by ISD analysts, social media accounts believed to belong to the alleged Cincinnati gunman, Ricky Shiffer, suggest he was “motivated by a combination of conspiratorial beliefs related to former President Trump and the 2020 election (among others), interest in killing federal law enforcement, and the recent search warrant executed at Mar-a-Lago earlier this week.”

ISD researchers found that Shiffer was likely prepping for the attack for at least two days, based on posts from a since-removed Truth Social account believed to belong to him.

The researchers also found posts and photographs placing Shiffer at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, although it is not confirmed if he was present during the insurrection, and posts on the right-wing video site Rumble that show Shiffer encouraging users to “get in touch with the Proud Boys,” a far-right group. 

Keneally said the Ohio incident hasn’t been mentioned widely by other far-right users of online platforms, likely because it wasn’t successful. But researchers are still seeing general calls for violence targeting the FBI. 

Those monitoring the online vitriol, across mainstream platforms and fringe sites that cater to conservative users, warned that the posts from lawmakers and influencers online could incite their followers to take real-world action.

“It certainly plays a role in the radicalization process,” Keneally said.

“While they might not be directly calling for violence, the conspiratorial allegations certainly play a role in how these people are radicalized, and how they go down that path, regardless of whether it's an official stating, ‘kill the FBI,’ that's not what needs to be said to help radicalize. You just accused the FBI of ‘overstepping their boundaries,’ or like ‘taking away your constitutional rights,’ and that's what that's what people are mobilizing around,” Keneally said. 

Carl Paladino to jump into NY House race with Stefanik’s backing

Posted on (Updated by Emily Brooks

Businessman and former GOP New York gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino is set to jump into the race to represent New York’s 23rd District with the backing of House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.).

Paladino confirmed to The Hill Friday evening that he is running for the seat, saying that he heard that there were a few people thinking of running that he did not respect, but he did not name names.

“​​Representing the people of Western New York would be a great honor, and I think I could be most effective at doing that,” Paladino said.

The dust had barely settled after Rep. Chris Jacobs (R-N.Y.) abruptly ended his reelection bid on Friday over backlash to his support for an assault weapons ban when Stefanik came out with the endorsement.

According to The Buffalo News, Paladino said earlier Friday that if Jacobs dropped out that he would throw his hat in the ring for the seat.

“Carl is a job creator and conservative outsider who will be a tireless fighter for the people of New York in our fight to put America First to save the country,” Stefanik said in a tweet posted on Friday evening.

Paladino said that Stefanik asked if he would mind if she endorsed him as soon as she heard he was running. 

“She's a great girl,” Paladino said. “She’s got she got her head right where it belongs when it comes to leading for her people,”

Paladino, a real estate developer and ally of former President Trump, made national headlines in December 2016 when he sent racist remarks about former President Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama to local Buffalo, N.Y., outlet Artvoice.

He claimed at the time that he sent the comments in error.

He said that he would like to see Michelle Obama “return to being a male and let loose in the outback of Zimbabwe where she lives comfortably in a cave with Maxie, the gorilla.” Paladino added that he hoped President Obama would die of mad cow disease. Paladino apologized to “the minority community” for his comments.

At the time, Paladino sat on the Buffalo city school board. In August 2017, he was removed from that position after he was accused of improperly disclosing information about teacher contract negotiations.

Before that, Paladino was the Republican nominee for New York Governor in 2010.

During that campaign, he alleged without evidence that Democrat Andrew Cuomo, who would win that gubernatorial race, was unfaithful to his ex-wife when they were still married.

Stefanik and Paladino did not always appear to be so close. In a March 2016 email to supporters, he called Stefanik a “fraud” for not supporting Trump.

Stefanik has since come to publicly and forcefully support Trump, including by being part of his impeachment defense team during the first impeachment proceedings against him in 2019.

Updated 7:54 p.m.

Paul Ryan to campaign for Tom Rice, who voted for Trump impeachment

Posted on (Updated by Emily Brooks

Former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) will campaign for Rep. Tom Rice (R-S.C.), one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach former President Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

“Tom Rice is a man of principle, a man of conviction, and a leader who always puts South Carolina’s interests first. He is a legislative workhorse with a long track-record of supporting policies that grow the economy, rein in out-of-control spending, and expand opportunities for families and businesses,” Ryan said in a statement.

“Tom is a tireless and effective advocate for South Carolina. He will make a big impact when Republicans retake the House majority in 2022 and I’m looking forward to traveling around the 7th district with him.”

Ryan will appear at a luncheon for Rice in Florence, S.C., on Wednesday.

Rice, an accountant who has spent a decade in Congress, took Ryan’s spot on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee after Ryan became Speaker in 2015. He is now ranking member on the committee’s Oversight Subcommittee.

His vote to impeach Trump came as a surprise to most political observers.

"I have backed this President through thick and thin for four years. I campaigned for him and voted for him twice. But, this utter failure is inexcusable," Rice said in a statement following the impeachment vote.

Trump endorsed South Carolina state Rep. Russell Fry in the primary against Rice, touting him as a “leading fighter on Election Integrity.”

Rice, Trump said while endorsing Fry, “abandoned his constituents by caving to Nancy Pelosi and the Radical Left” and “actually voted against me on Impeachment Hoax #2.”

Five other GOP candidates are running in Rice’s primary. 

Rice has led the field of candidates in fundraising, closing the first quarter of the year in March with nearly $2 million in cash on hand. All other candidates had less than a half million dollars at that time.

But an internal poll from Fry’s campaign from early May found Fry leading Rice 39 percent to 23 percent among likely GOP primary voters.

South Carolina’s primaries are scheduled for June 14.

Mullin legislation would expunge Trump Jan. 6 impeachment

Posted on (Updated by Emily Brooks

Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) is leading a resolution that aims to erase former President Trump’s second impeachment after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and repeats numerous arguments to cast doubt on the integrity of the 2020 election.

A copy of Mullin’s draft bill obtained by The Hill said that the incitement of insurrection impeachment charge “contains a subjective account of that which transpired at the Capitol on January 6, 2021” and “omits any discussion of the circumstances, unusual voting patterns, and  voting anomalies of the 2020 Presidential election itself.”

Mullin, a former mixed martial arts fighter, leaped into action to barricade doors to the House chamber during the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, making his move to erase Trump’s impeachment after the attack particularly notable.

In the several paragraphs the resolution spends addressing the 2020 election, it says that Trump won 18 of 19 so-called bellwether counties that have traditionally corresponded with the winner of the presidential election and that Trump won more votes than he did in 2016. It mentions voting rules changes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recount efforts being "vociferously opposed" by officials in some states.

The fifth-term congressman is running for Senate in Oklahoma, as Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is retiring. Trump has not endorsed in that race, and Inhofe endorsed his former chief of staff Luke Holland.

Mullin is expected to introduce the bill on Wednesday. His office sent an email to House Republican congressional offices on Tuesday seeking support for the resolution, multiple GOP offices confirmed. The Daily Beast first reported Mullin’s planned introduction of the impeachment expungement proposal.

This is the second resolution from Mullin to expunge a Trump impeachment. He previously introduced a measure in March to expunge the Dec. 18, 2019, impeachment of Trump over his encouraging Ukraine to investigate the business dealings of Hunter Biden, the son of President Biden, while discussing military aid to Ukraine. That measure got co-sponsorship from seven Republicans, including Rep. Ronny Jackson (Texas), Rep. Barry Moore (Ala.) and Rep. Greg Steube (Fla.). 

The Senate failed to reach the two-thirds majority required to convict Trump both times he was impeached.

The new resolution also takes issue with the process of the impeachment after Jan. 6, noting a lack of hearings and its hasty release. The fact that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts did not preside over the Senate impeachment trial, it says, was “perfecting the entirety of the process as nothing more than an unconstitutional exercise in futility, moot, and fantastical political theater.”

Mullin declined to comment until after official introduction of the bill.