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US Attorney: Looking at sedition and conspiracy cases 03:02 (CNN)Among the mob of extremists and Trump supporters that invaded the US Capitol last week in a deadly riot were former members of the very institution that is supposed to protect America from invasion: the US military.
They included 35-year-old Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran who d become infatuated with the QAnon conspiracy theory and on Wednesday was fatally shot by US Capitol Police as the mob tried to force its way toward the House chamber.
They included Larry Rendell Brock a 53-year-old retired Air Force Reserve officer from Texas who could be seen roaming the Senate chamber sporting a military helmet, green tactical vest and black-and-camo jacket while clutching a white flex cuff, which is used by law enforcement to restrain or detain subjects. He s been charged with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, and violent entry and disorderly conduct, according to the Justice Depar
Jan. 8, 2021 8:22 am ET
A bottleneck at the National Archives is delaying benefits claims for 32,000 military veterans, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The Covid-19 pandemic shut the National Personnel Records Center, a unit of the Archives, for months last year except for emergency requests. After briefly operating at low capacity, it once again closed in the fall for all but emergency requests.
A veteran’s record may need certification by the Archives as one of the first steps in the benefits process. Veterans who left the service after 2000 likely have digitized records that can be more easily accessed for certification purposes, but many older veterans’ records are kept in old-fashioned paper archives. When one of those veterans makes a claim, the center’s archivists have to retrieve those records by hand from among the 60 million maintained at the facility in St. Louis.
By NIKKI WENTLING | STARS AND STRIPES Published: January 8, 2021 WASHINGTON – Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie won’t resign in the aftermath of the takeover of the U.S. Capitol building, the agency said Friday. Two of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet members – Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Transportation Elaine Chao – stepped down Thursday. In their resignation letters, they condemned the attack at the Capitol, which happened as Congress was certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College win. A mob of Trump supporters smashed through security and breached the Capitol. The secretaries blamed Trump for using rhetoric that fueled the mob to storm the Capitol. Trump urged his supporters to travel to Washington for a “Save America” rally. In a speech Wednesday, he told them to march on the Capitol building to express their anger at the voting process.
2 Days After Riots, VA s Wilkie Is Last Cabinet Secretary to Respond to Capitol Siege
Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie speaks during a coronavirus task force briefing at the White House, Sunday, April 5, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
8 Jan 2021
Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie issued a statement Friday morning addressing the invasion of the U.S. Capitol, two days after a mob breached the building and two military veterans were killed, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer bludgeoned in the assault, according to law enforcement officials who spoke to The Associated Press.
As of Thursday evening, all U.S. Cabinet secretaries except Wilkie had issued strongly worded statements denouncing the violence, while two had resigned.