Day: March 14, 2021

Federico “Freddie” Klein, a Trump State Department official and campaign staffer, was charged with assault and theft in 2013, according to charging documents obtained by VICE News. The former State Department official accused of brawling with Capitol Police during the Jan. 6 riot had a number of previous run-ins with the law—including a 2013 assault charge. Less than four years before he joined the State Department as a Trump administration political appointee, Federico “Freddie” Klein allegedly assaulted a woman, stealing two items from her car after wrestling her out of the way during an altercation. According to charging documents obtained by VICE News from the Baltimore County circuit court, a woman named Carol Anderson who volunteered with the anti-abortion group American Life League told police that she had an argument with Klein on July 25, 2013, that turned physical. (…) “Umm, I think I’ll take this, too,” then reached in and, to taunt her, stole a mask she wore during the protests. He then hopped into the car of another pro-life protester she claimed had previously threatened her to stay away from a protest.  Klein was initially charged with second-degree assault, robbery, and theft under $1,000. The charges were reduced to second-degree assault and theft under $100 in 2014, and then the case was basically put on ice. It was classified as “stet,” which attorneys say is essentially an agreement between the prosecution and defense to put the trial on indefinite hold, and often used as a way to avoid trying it unless the defendant winds up in further legal trouble.

via vice: Trump Official Charged in Capitol Riots Had a Rap Sheet and Still Got Top-Secret Clearance

He allegedly referred to them as “savages” who hang out in “Section 8 housing”, threatened them with an air rifle— and called the cops on them. An upstate New York business owner who called the cops on BLM protesters—after he allegedly hurled racial epithets and threatened them with an air rifle—will be the first person charged under a new law that makes it a crime to weaponize police against Black people. A lawsuit filed by the state’s high-profile attorney general, Letitia James, alleges that David Elmendorf, the former owner of Bumpy Freeze in Schenectady, threatened to harm peaceful demonstrators who protested outside his ice cream shop last June during the nationwide outrage over the police killing of George Floyd. Elmendorf has been charged with a number of hate crimes related to the standoff, most notably for telling local authorities that demonstrators were armed and threatened to kill him. In reality, he was the one who allegedly threatened to shoot a group of more than 50 protestors with a .22-caliber rifle and run them over with his truck, all while hurling racist epithets, the state’s lawsuit alleges. This marks the first time the state is enforcing a law passed by the Legislature giving the AG the authority to bring charges against a person who files a false police report with the intent of getting someone in trouble on the basis of their race. The provision was introduced following the high-profile encounter between Christian Cooper, a Black birdwatcher, and Amy Cooper, a white woman, in Central Park last year. The encounter, in which Amy Cooper threatened to call the police on Christian Cooper after he asked her to keep her dog on a leash, received national attention and became a prime example of how emergency services could be weaponized against Black people.

via vice: This Shop Owner Allegedly Lied About Being Threatened by BLM. He’s Now Facing a Hate Crime.