Connect with us

News

Up to 20 hours of footage relating to Tyre Nichols’ deadly beating yet to be released, prosecutor says | CNN

Published

on

Up to 20 hours of footage relating to Tyre Nichols’ deadly beating yet to be released, prosecutor says | CNN



CNN
 — 

As much as 20 hours of further footage regarding the lethal Memphis police beating of a 29-year-old Black man has but to be launched, a prosecutor stated Wednesday as his workplace contemplates whether or not to file extra fees within the case.

The unreleased footage surrounding Tyre Nichols’ brutal January 7 visitors cease most notably contains audio of what was stated after the beating and after an ambulance takes Nichols to a hospital, Shelby County prosecutor Steven Mulroy advised CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.

When that unseen video shall be launched publicly shall be as much as town of Memphis and Memphis police, he stated.

Town final week launched body-camera and surveillance footage displaying what Mulroy stated is “the related elements” of the preliminary cease and the beating at a second location. However the different footage may play a key investigative position.

Advertisement

The launched video already has contradicted what officers stated occurred within the preliminary police report filed after Nichols’ beating. And potential fees of “false reporting” associated to the preliminary police report are being investigated, Erica Williams, a spokesperson for Mulroy’s workplace, advised CNN Wednesday.

“The incident report that has gone public doesn’t match up on all fours with what one sees when one seems to be on the video that’s already been launched,” Mulroy stated Wednesday.

Such feedback are a sign that that is the newest instance of the arrest of a Black particular person through which the model of occasions given by authorities doesn’t match up with video or witness accounts. Different situations – such because the lethal encounters involving George Floyd, Ronald Greene and Walter Scott – have led to fees filed in opposition to legislation enforcement officers.

Final week’s launch of video of Nichols being repeatedly punched and kicked by police shook a nation lengthy accustomed to movies of police brutality – particularly in opposition to folks of colour – and spurred largely peaceable weekend protests from New York to Los Angeles.

On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris, the Rev. Al Sharpton and households of different Black folks killed in police encounters got here collectively for Nichols’ funeral, celebrating his life and making renewed requires police reform.

Advertisement

“There ought to be no different youngster that ought to undergo the way in which my son and all the opposite mother and father right here (who) have misplaced their kids” have, stated RowVaughn Wells, Nichols’ mom.

The preliminary police report filed in Memphis advised Nichols was violent. It additionally made no point out of the officers punching and kicking him.

It claimed Nichols “began to combat” with officers and at one level grabbed the gun of one of many detectives, two issues not seen in police movies launched final week. And regardless that the movies don’t seem to indicate Nichols preventing again, the report lists Nichols as a suspect in an aggravated assault.

The report additionally describes one of many officers on the scene – one in every of 5 now charged with second diploma homicide – as a “sufferer.”

Whereas authorities haven’t launched the police report, a photograph of a police report was posted by a controversial Memphis radio discuss present host. The police report account was first reported by The New York Occasions.

Advertisement

Up to now, 5 Memphis law enforcement officials, all of whom are Black, have been fired and charged with second-degree homicide. As well as, two different law enforcement officials have been placed on go away, the SCORPION unit they have been a part of was disbanded, three Memphis Fireplace Division personnel have been fired and two sheriff’s deputies have been placed on go away.

Mulroy has requested the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation to expedite its investigation, and all concerned within the encounter are being scrutinized as prosecutors think about further fees, he has stated.

These beneath scrutiny embrace personnel who confirmed up after the beating on the second scene and those that filed paperwork, Mulroy stated.

Nichols’ funeral on Wednesday noticed a celebration of the younger man’s life, but in addition a recognition of households of different Black folks killed and a united name for police reform.

Advertisement

His mom remembered him as “an exquisite particular person” and echoed others in calling for passage of the George Floyd Policing Act.

Harris additionally known as Nichols’ dying a second that calls for congressional police reform.

“As vice chairman of the USA, we demand that Congress go the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act. Joe Biden will signal it and we must always not delay,” Harris stated Wednesday.

That laws twice cleared the Home however it by no means went anyplace within the Senate. If handed, the act would arrange a nationwide registry of police misconduct to cease officers from evading penalties by shifting to a different jurisdiction.

“Why will we wish to see the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act handed? As a result of then you need to assume twice earlier than you beat Tyre Nichols. You assume twice earlier than you shoot at somebody unarmed,” Sharpton stated.

Advertisement

Sharpton known as out the 5 Black former officers charged in Nichols’ dying and invoked Martin Luther King Jr., who was killed in Memphis in 1968.

“Within the metropolis that Dr. King misplaced his life … you beat a brother to dying,” Sharpton stated.

“There’s nothing extra insulting and offensive to these of us that combat to open doorways, that you just walked by way of these doorways and act like the parents we needed to combat for to get you thru them doorways. You didn’t get on the police division by your self,” Sharpton stated. “The police chief didn’t get there by herself. Folks needed to march and go to jail and a few misplaced their lives to open the doorways for you and the way dare you act like that sacrifice was for nothing.”

Nichols’ household is trying to get justice, not only for them but in addition for all of the households, his stepfather, Rodney Wells, stated.

“This can be a steady combat that we’ve got to combat for. We have now to combat for justice. We can’t proceed to let these folks brutalize our children,” Wells stated.

Advertisement
tyre nichols sister funeral vpx

Tyre Nichols’ sister: ‘All I would like is my child brother again’

By tears, Nichols’ mom known as the tragedy her household suffered “unimaginable.”

“The one factor that’s retaining me going is the truth that I actually, really consider that my son was despatched right here on an project from God,” she stated tearfully at Wednesday’s funeral.

Advertisement

“I suppose now his project is completed and he’s been taken house,” she added.

Nichols’ sister shared reminiscences of him through the service and mirrored on his dying.

“I see the world displaying him love and preventing for his justice, however all I would like is my child brother again,” the sister, Keyana Dixon, stated by way of tears.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

News

The Pitched Battles for Partisan Control in State Legislatures

Published

on

The Pitched Battles for Partisan Control in State Legislatures

In Minnesota, Democratic legislators are threatening to stay away from the state capitol this week to prevent Republicans from trying to claim control of the House of Representatives.

In Michigan, Republican senators, who are just one seat behind the Democrats, want a special election as soon as possible to fill a seat they believe can be flipped.

And in Virginia, Democratic candidates in three special elections last week were pushing hard to retain their majorities in both legislative chambers, as Democrats try to enshrine abortion rights in the state’s constitution.

As state legislatures convene around the country this month, several knife-edge fights for partisan control have magnified the degree to which political polarization has become ingrained, not just in Congress, but in statehouses across the country.

The battle to gain the upper hand puts pressure in particular on Democratic lawmakers, who, unlike the past four years, face even higher stakes. They are already are playing defense as President-elect Donald J. Trump prepares to take office again, bolstered by the Republican takeover of Congress.

Advertisement

“With Trump and his MAGA allies in the states returning to office, building and defending Democratic power in the states is essential,” said Heather Williams, the president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee.

Republicans now control a majority of statehouses. But Democrats captured four state legislatures in 2022, and they parlayed that power into progressive laws related to abortion, voting rights and more.

In 2024, though, Republicans, arguing that Democrats had gone too far, regained the majority in the Michigan House, tied in the Minnesota House and made strong inroads in Vermont.

Since Election Day, the most dramatic battle has been unfolding in Minnesota. State Senator Kari Dziedzic, a Democrat from Minneapolis, died of cancer, leaving the chamber deadlocked at 33-33.

“There’s nothing that can be done until a special election happens,” Representative Lisa Demuth, the House Republican leader and speaker-designate, said in an interview. “The problem with saying, ‘Well, it’ll be in a couple of weeks, we should just act like we’re at 67 anyway’ — that’s not how math works.”

Advertisement

She has also suggested that a Republican majority would refuse to seat Representative Brad Tabke, a Democrat who won re-election by 14 votes after 20 absentee ballots were lost. Six of those 20 voters later testified that they had voted for Mr. Tabke, giving him an insurmountable margin. A judge is expected to rule at any moment, but Ms. Demuth said there should be a special election, regardless of what the judge decided.

In response, Democrats have floated the possibility of boycotting the session, with the aim of denying the Republicans the necessary quorum — a majority of total members must be present — to kick it off.

Recent walkouts elsewhere have underscored the partisan divide. In Texas, House Democrats fled the state for Washington in 2021 to temporarily deny Republicans the two-thirds quorum needed to pass a restrictive voting measure.

In Oregon — which also has a two-thirds quorum requirement — Republican Senators intent on stalling bills on climate policy, taxes and abortion walked out so frequently that voters altered the state constitution to ban such absenteeism. Most Republican Senators were also barred from seeking re-election.

But a walkout of the kind being discussed in Minnesota would be without precedent, said Bill Kramer, the vice president and counsel of MultiState, a state and local government relations firm.

Advertisement

“I can’t remember any time where it’s been like this at the very start of session,” he said. “You put the rules in place, you elect a speaker, you elect committee chairs — all of those types of things which put in place the agenda procedurally for the next two years.”

In Virginia, two of the contests last week were for the Senate, and one for the House; before these special elections, Democrats were clinging to single-vote majorities in both chambers, which they claimed when they won the House in 2023. At stake, to some degree, was the agenda of outgoing Republican governor Glenn Youngkin, who is prevented by the state constitution from running for a second term.

Turnout was light for the election in Loudoun County, where one House race and one Senate race were on the ballot. Harish Sundaraman, 24, said he was voting for both Democrats, even though he did not fully subscribe to the party’s policies. He would have liked to have known a little more about the candidates, he said. But he was motivated by his views on abortion rights, which Democrats hope to advance in the coming legislative session.

“I thought if I vote Democrat in this local election, it might be helpful,” said Mr. Sundaraman, who works in information technology in Washington, D.C.

Ultimately, two Democrats and a Republican prevailed, leaving the balance of power unchanged.

Advertisement

Overall, Republicans now control the legislature in 28 states, and Democrats 18. (The other states are split, unresolved or led by a bipartisan coalition.)

A single vote can be momentous, even in states where one party dominates. In North Carolina, a legislator who unexpectedly switched her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican enabled Republican leaders to enact a 12-week limit on most abortions in 2023, overriding Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat.

Few sitting state legislators have had more experience with the whiplash of paper-thin margins than the members of the Pennsylvania House. After 2022, Pennsylvania was one of only two states where different parties held control of the legislature’s two chambers. Though Republicans held a comfortable majority in the Senate, the Democrats’ hold on the House was nerve-wrackingly precarious, at times vanishing altogether.

In 2024, despite losses by Democrats in the presidential race, a U.S. Senate seat and several Congressional seats, not a single seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives flipped. The Democrats thus maintained the same one-seat majority they had two years earlier.

Then, in December, a Democratic member had a medical emergency, and he has been in the hospital ever since. As it had multiple times in the previous two years, the House returned to a functional tie.

Advertisement

But when House members gathered on Tuesday, the first day of the new session, the election of a speaker went forward smoothly and relatively quickly, without the backroom deals and prolonged drama that had surrounded the vote two years ago. Partly as a result of compromises with Republicans over House procedural rules, the legislature promptly re-elected the previous Democratic speaker in a voice vote.

“I think everybody has learned their lesson,” said Representative Michael Schlossberg, a Democrat, describing himself as the “majority whip with no room for error.” The last two years have had their challenges, he said, but a narrow partisan margin does have its advantages, forcing compromise and discipline.

As for lessons for his counterparts in other states, he offered this: “Do not confuse short-term advantage with long-term advantage.”

And, mentioning various maneuvers for partisan gain that had ultimately backfired, he added: “Don’t get too cute.”

Courtney Mabeus-Brown contributed reporting from Loudoun County, Va.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Israel-Hamas ‘breakthrough’ raises hopes of Gaza ceasefire deal

Published

on

Israel-Hamas ‘breakthrough’ raises hopes of Gaza ceasefire deal

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

US-led mediators have sent the final draft of a ceasefire proposal to Israel and Hamas after a “breakthrough” in talks over a deal to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of hostages.

People familiar with the matter said it left the warring parties the closest they have been to ending the 15-month conflict since at least July, when an earlier push to secure an agreement broke down.

“The final deal is now with all sides for approval,” a diplomat briefed on the Doha-based talks said, adding a “breakthrough” had been made around midnight on Monday. “The next 24 hours will be pivotal to reaching the deal.”

Advertisement

It came after a flurry of diplomacy involving US president-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, Israeli spy chief David Barnea and Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

The US, Qatar and Egypt have struggled for months to broker a deal to end the conflict and secure the release of about 100 hostages held by Hamas in the besieged strip, over a third of whom are no longer believed to be alive.

But the talks gathered momentum after the election of Trump, who has repeatedly demanded all hostages be released before his inauguration on January 20. He has warned that otherwise there will be “all hell to pay”.

A person familiar with the latest talks said: “We are 98 per cent close.”

Mediators have previously expressed hopes they were closing in on a deal, only to have them dashed by Israel and Hamas refusing to make the necessary concessions to push an agreement over the line. 

Advertisement

But US President Joe Biden said on Monday “we’re at the brink” of a ceasefire for hostage deal “finally coming to fruition”. 

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said it was a “pivotal point in the negotiations”, adding: “We are close to a deal and it can get done this week.”

The mediators now have to wait for responses from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and Hamas’s leadership. 

In a statement, senior Hamas officials said they stressed the Palestinian militant group’s “keenness to reach an agreement to stop the war on Gaza” in discussions with a senior Turkish official. 

A second person familiar with the talks said Israel was waiting for Hamas’s leadership to approve the latest proposal, before the parties “go into closing negotiations”.

Advertisement

A shift in Netanyahu’s position came down to the fact that ending the war had become a priority for Trump, the person added, saying “the only difference is Trump. Netanyahu does want to align with Trump” and get a deal.

Mediators have been seeking to broker a multiphase agreement to end the conflict that erupted after Hamas militants rampaged through southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and seizing 250 hostages, according to Israeli officials.

Israel’s thunderous retaliatory offensive in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 people, Palestinian officials said, and reduced much of the besieged strip to wasteland. 

Disagreements between the two sides have included where Israeli troops redeploy, the return of displaced Palestinians to the strip’s north, and how many and what category of Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange for hostages.

Israel has also demanded that Hamas identify which hostages are still alive.

Advertisement

Hamas has insisted any deal end with a permanent ceasefire and Israeli troops fully withdrawing from Gaza, something Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected.

The latest talks have been based on the multiphase proposal, which would lead to an initial six-to-eight week truce, during which about 34 hostages, including women, the elderly and wounded would be released.  

Several hundred Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli jails in return.

Netanyahu is expected to face resistance from far-right allies in his ruling coalition who are opposed to halting the war and releasing Palestinians convicted of terrorism offences. Analysts expect the premier to have the votes to approve a deal. 

Far-right ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have previously threatened to topple Netanyahu’s government if an agreement was finalised.

Advertisement

Their opposition is believed to have been decisive in scuttling past rounds of talks, according to people familiar with the matter.

Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, said on Monday an impending deal was a “catastrophe” and “surrender”.

He urged Israel to “conquer and cleanse the entire strip” and “open the gates of hell on Gaza” until Hamas capitulated and released the hostages. 

Netanyahu met with both Ben-Gvir and Smotrich on Sunday in an effort to persuade them not to leave the government over a ceasefire agreement.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

A TikTok ban could hit the U.S. in days. What to know — and how to prepare

Published

on

A TikTok ban could hit the U.S. in days. What to know — and how to prepare

The Supreme Court is considering whether to block a law that effectively bans TikTok in the U.S. starting Jan. 19.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images


hide caption

toggle caption

Advertisement

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

The fate of TikTok — and its 170 million American users — hangs in the balance, as the Supreme Court considers the constitutionality of a law that would ban the platform in the country if its China-based owner, ByteDance, doesn’t sell off its U.S. operation by Jan. 19.

If the court upholds the law — as a lower court did last month — TikTok’s days in the country would be numbered.

“On January 19th, as I understand it, we shut down,” TikTok lawyer Noel Francisco told justices during oral arguments on Friday.

Advertisement

That doesn’t mean the viral video app will automatically disappear from peoples’ phones, or that individuals will risk punishment just for logging in.

But it will get harder for the platform’s users in the U.S. to access the app, says Kate Ruane, director of the Free Expression Project at the Center for Democracy and Technology (which joined an amicus brief supporting TikTok and its users’ protected speech).

“I think the biggest obvious result of this law going into effect is that … it’s going to require more technical savvy to access TikTok,” Ruane told NPR. “And that in and of itself is going to be too big of a barrier for lots and lots of people to continue to access TikTok, or to continue to try to use TikTok as a service.”

TikTok officials say it is possible that on Jan. 19, when U.S. users try to open the app, a prompt will show up indicating the service is no longer available in the country. This is what happens when someone tries to launch TikTok in India, which banned the app in 2020. 

It’s also possible users will be able to access the app but it may be buggy, operate slowly or crash often, the TikTok official said.

Advertisement

Here’s what could happen and how to prepare.

Fine print: How the law would actually work 

The Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act (PAFACA), which President Biden signed into law in April 2024,, grants the government the authority to ban foreign-owned apps that it deems a threat to national security.

The bill passed with considerable bipartisan support, as many lawmakers worry that the Chinese government could access Americans’ data — through TikTok’s parent company — and use it to surveil them, spread misinformation and sway public opinion.

While the law concerns TikTok, it actually targets the companies that make the platform accessible in the U.S., including app stores like Apple’s App Store and Google Play, and cloud service providers like Oracle.

The fine print makes it illegal for any such entities to “distribute, maintain, or update (or enable the distribution, maintenance, or updating of) a foreign adversary controlled application” either through a marketplace or internet hosting services.

Advertisement

In mid-December, Democrats on a House committee dealing with competition between the U.S. and China sent letters to the CEOs of Apple and Google warning the companies to take steps to ensure they can “fully comply with this requirement” by the deadline — which would have an immediate impact on users.

“If you already have [TikTok] on your phone, it’s not going to disappear from your phone on January 19th or January 20th,” Ruane says. “It will, however, very likely disappear from application stores.”

That means users will no longer be able to download the app or any updated versions of it.

And without the ability to update, the platform won’t be able to fix bugs, add features or address security concerns. Eventually, Ruane says, it may also become incompatible with the operating system of certain phones.

“Over time … the service that you get with the application will be worse and worse and worse,” she adds, though it’s too soon to tell whether that will be a matter of days, weeks or months.

Advertisement

Action items: Preparations and potential workarounds for TikTok users 

As Jan. 19 and the potential TikTok ban approach, experts like Ruane recommend that users download their data and save any videos that they want to be able to access in the future.

“The other thing is to remember that even after this law takes effect, if it does, it will not be illegal for them to continue to use TikTok if they have it on their phones already — or even if they manage to acquire it from some other source than an app store,” she says. “This law will not apply to individual people accessing TikTok.”

One of the most-discussed workarounds is something called a virtual private network, or VPN, which encrypts users’ location data and makes it look like they are accessing content from another country.

They are commonly used in countries with strict internet restrictions to access blocked social media platforms, streaming services and other geographically limited content.

“Even as the application degrades on your phone, you may still be able to access it through a virtual private network on a web browser,” Ruane says.

Advertisement

There are also ways to download TikTok outside the Google and Apple app stores, through processes respectively known as “sideloading” and “jailbreaking.”

But they’re not without potential complications or consequences: Apple, for example, won’t honor warranties for jailbroken iPhones. Ruane thinks the extra steps will deter many TikTok users.

“It is a barrier to accessing the application and it is also something that you would have to weigh, like ‘Is it really worth it to me to access TikTok, to do all of this or learn how to do all of these required technical things?’” she says. “And I think for a fair number of users who are just casually using the application, the answer will probably be no.”

Uncertainties: How the Trump administration could fight a ban  

It’s no coincidence that the potential ban would take effect on Jan. 19, the last full day of Biden’s term. That puts the ball in the court of President-elect Donald Trump, who has his own strong views on TikTok.

While Trump previously disparaged the app as a national security threat and even tried to ban it during his first term, he has since become a staunch defender of the platform and even asked the Supreme Court last month to pause the start date of the law in question.

Advertisement

As Ruane sees it, Trump has three choices for how to proceed once in office, and all of them are complicated.

For one, he could try to convince Congress to repeal the original 2024 law that requires ByteDance to divest TikTok, which both the House and Senate passed with overwhelming support.

“That’s pretty straightforward, but it’s also politically incredibly difficult to do because it would require the changing of votes for many, many, many members of Congress,” Ruane says.

Trump’s second option is to direct the Justice Department and attorney general to not enforce the law, essentially giving Google, Apple and others the option to continue providing services to TikTok.

But Ruane says that’s also easier said than done, as lawyers within those companies would still see — and likely seek to avoid — “gigantic legal risk” in flouting the law, which includes hefty penalties.

Advertisement

“So if anybody uses your service to access TikTok and you are in violation of the law, it’s $5,000 per person that does that,” Ruane says. “If you were to take the president up on his offer and continue to provide services to TikTok, even though you’re technically in violation of the law, that’s $5,000 times hundreds of millions of people.”

The third potential option has been posited by Alan Rozenshtein, an associate law professor at the University of Minnesota Law School and research director at Lawfare. As he told NPR’s Fresh Air in December, Trump could “just declare that the law no longer applies.”

Trump could choose to use his broad authority under the statute to determine that ByteDance has engaged in a “qualified divestiture” of TikTok after all, as long as it has taken certain steps to that effect.

“There’s a scenario in which ByteDance could move some papers around, shift some assets from one corporation to another corporation, do some fancy legal work, and that would give Trump enough, basically, cover to declare that TikTok is no longer controlled by ByteDance,” Rozenshtein said.

That’s not an airtight approach either, Ruane says, since it could be challenged in court either by competitors or the entities involved.

Advertisement

One option under discussion among TikTok stakeholders is bringing back a national security agreement known as Project Texas, which involves tapping Austin-based Oracle to host all U.S. user data. Oracle would also oversee all data flows between TikTok’s U.S. operation and Beijing. The plan would also allow the federal government to invoke a “kill switch” that would shut down TikTok if terms of the agreement were violated.

The deal initially had support in the Biden administration, but talks stalled. People close to talks about TikTok’s future say it is possible Trump brings Project Texas back, with Trump potentially determining that the agreement makes TikTok in compliance with the divest-or-ban law.

At the end of the day, Ruane says it’s unclear what, if anything, Trump may do to try to bring back TikTok — an app she says is “not immediately replaceable,” even as new and existing platforms are sure to vie for its many displaced users.

NPR’s Bobby Allyn contributed reporting.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending