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The chief of the Capitol police, who resigned over the 6 January attack, said the pro-Trump mob “came prepared for war”, at the first congressional hearing about law enforcement’s response to the siege. Steven Sund said he was astonished at delays from the Pentagon after police appealed for reinforcements at the Capitol and the deployment of the National Guard. Washington’s metropolitan police chief said he remembered Sund “literally pleading” for backup.
It came a day after Merrick Garland, Joe Biden’s nominee for attorney general, said he would expand the criminal investigation into the Capitol attack. In a confirmation hearing that set up Monday’s session, Garland told Congress that domestic terrorism would be a focus of his time in office, and warned the events at the Capitol were “not necessarily a one-off”. The attack left five dead, including a police officer, and a further two officers have since killed themselves.
The officers involved in Daniel Prude’s death won’t face charges
The police officers filmed holding Daniel Prude down, naked and handcuffed, in a Rochester street until he stopped breathing will not face criminal charges, a grand jury announced on Tuesday. Prude’s death occurred last March but did not enter public knowledge until a video was released six months later, sparking nightly protests in Rochester.
The state attorney general, Letitia James, said the incident showed that “serious reform is needed, not only at the Rochester police department but to our criminal justice system as a whole”.
Seven police officers were suspended over Prude’s death, but their lawyers said the officers were simply following training. They claim that the drug PCP, which Prude had used and which they said caused his irrational behaviour, was the cause of death, but a county medical examiner said the manner of death was homicide caused by “complications of asphyxia in the setting of physical restraint”, with PCP a contributing factor.
Canada has welcomed Biden’s leadership … with a little jab at Trump
Justin Trudeau praised Joe Biden’s efforts on the climate and welcomed the end of the Trump era on Tuesday, saying that “US leadership has been sorely missed over the past years”. Speaking during their first bilateral meeting, the Canadian prime minister praised Biden’s swift rejoining of the Paris climate agreement and added: “I have to say as we were preparing the joint rollout of the communique on this, it’s nice when the Americans are not pulling out all the references to climate change and instead adding them in.” Biden returned Trudeau’s compliments, saying the US “has no closer friend than Canada”.
The pair talked for two hours by video link and said afterwards that they planned to work closely on tackling coronavirus and the climate crisis. Trudeau also expressed his thanks to Biden for his support for the release of two Canadians who are being held in China.
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Biden’s pick for interior secretary got a grilling at her confirmation hearing yesterday, coming under fire for a tweet in October 2020 in which she said that “Republicans don’t believe in science”. If confirmed, Deb Haaland would make history as the first Native American to hold a cabinet position in the US.
In other news …
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Tiger Woods is “lucky to be alive” after a car crash in California, after he had to be removed from his vehicle by…
Read More: First Thing: Capitol rioters came prepared for war, ex-police chief says | US news