WASHINGTON: The top US spy’s chief of staff on Wednesday said the US intelligence community is investigating whether the FBI was involved in planning the January 6, 2021 assault on the Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.
“We’re looking into it right now,” Joseph Kent, chief of staff to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, said during a Senate intelligence committee hearing on his nomination to head the US National Counterterrorism Center.
He did not elaborate on which of the 18 US intelligence agencies is conducting the probe. Gabbard oversees the FBI’s intelligence functions.
A US Justice Department watchdog report released in December debunked claims by far-right conspiracy theorists who falsely alleged that FBI operatives were secretly involved in the Capitol attack.
The report found there were 26 FBI informants in Washington on the day of the attack. But, it said, the FBI did not authorize any to enter the Capitol or engage in violence.
Kent’s comments came in response to questions from Democratic Senator Mark Kelly about the attack by Trump supporters trying to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory.
Trump falsely claimed he lost the contest due to widespread voting fraud. In January, he pardoned more than 1,500 people charged in the assault by a mob of his supporters who stormed the Capitol in an unsuccessful effort to overturn his election defeat.
Kelly asked Kent, a former Green Beret and CIA officer and staunch Trump loyalist, what evidence he had to back up a post on what is now the social media platform X that the FBI and US spy agencies were involved in planning the assault on Congress.
“We’ve already identified that there were multiple confidential human informants run by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies that were present in the crowd that day, directing, removing barriers, those types of things,” Kelly said. “That has been investigated widely. We continue to look into that intelligence.”
He alleged that the FBI and law enforcement elements that he did not identify “attempted to suppress the fact” that informants were among the thousands of rioters.
Information that forewarned of violence indicated that there had been “some degree of intelligence infiltration” of groups who stormed the Capitol, he said.
Kent said that it “probably” was the bureau’s Washington Field Office that was involved and that it was “being looked into” by the intelligence community.
Asked for comment, a spokesperson for Gabbard’s office referred to her announcement on Tuesday that a new task force she has formed is “executing” Trump’s executive orders to rebuild trust in the intelligence community “starting with investigating weaponization, rooting out deep-seeded politicization, exposing unauthorized disclosures of classified intelligence, and declassifying information that serves a public interest.”
Gabbard campaigned for Kent during his failed 2022 run to represent Washington state’s 3rd congressional district.
He was quoted by local media as questioning the validity of Biden’s victory and called the Capitol attack an “intelligence operation,” and rioters charged in the assault “political prisoners.”
Several Democratic senators questioned Kent about his participation in a group chat on the Signal messaging app in which top Trump national security officials discussed plans for March 15 airstrikes against Houthi militants in Yemen.
Kent said that material posted in the chat was unclassified, but he declined to answer questions, saying the matter is the subject of litigation.
The Pentagon’s Inspector General’s office announced earlier this month that it was opening a probe into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of Signal to coordinate the strikes.
US intel investigating whether FBI was involved in 2020 Capitol riot
https://arab.news/na9fh
US intel investigating whether FBI was involved in 2020 Capitol riot
- Trump's aide Gabbard forms task force to investigate intelligence community weaponization
- Justice Department report debunks FBI involvement in Capitol attack
Macron urges regional investment as Albania nears EU goal
- “Here in Albania, clearly, you have the entry point in this region of Western Balkans,” Macron said
- Albania entered talks to join the European Union in 2022
TIRANA: French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday invited foreign investors to come to “stable” Europe, including to Albania, which he sees obtaining EU entry in 2027.
Europe “is a stable and reliable place,” he told economic forum “Priority Europe,” organized by the Future Investment Initiative (FII) institute of advertising executive Richard Attias.
“And in this crazy world, don’t underestimate the strengths of such qualities,” Macron said at the Tirana event aimed at connecting European leaders and innovators with sovereign wealth funds and Middle East, Asia and US business leaders.
“Here in Albania, clearly, you have the entry point in this region of Western Balkans, but much more broadly it’s a key point in the Mediterranean place and Europe.
“And in two years to come, as now he has a clear mandate, he will join the EU,” added Macron, referring to Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
Albania entered talks to join the European Union in 2022 and Rama said that the process could conclude with the country joining in 2027 if all goes to plan. “That would be incredible,” said Rama in an interview with AFP.
The country of some three million is by far the most pro-EU in the Balkans. In 2024, 92 percent of those questioned in a poll said they would vote “yes” if a referendum were held on EU membership-compared to 40 percent in Serbia.
The challenges of meeting accession requirements remain sizeable, notably in terms of combating corruption.
Several ministers and several senior officials, former president Ilir Meta, and the mayor of Tirana — a close Rama associate — are currently in detention on suspicion of embezzlement.
Zelensky will attend Pope Leo’s inaugural Mass, Vatican says
- Zelensky would be happy to meet other leaders on the sidelines of the inauguration
- Rubio said he would discuss on Saturday efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi
VATICAN CITY: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the inaugural Mass of newly elected Pope Leo on Sunday, along with many other world leaders, the Vatican said.
The Mass in St. Peter’s Square will formally install Pope Leo, who was born in Chicago but lived for many years in Peru, as the leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Roman Catholics.
US Vice President JD Vance, who clashed fiercely with Zelensky in the White House in February, will lead the US delegation, which also includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Zelensky would be happy to meet other leaders on the sidelines of the inauguration, a top aide told Reuters this week. When he went to the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis on April 26, Zelensky held face-to-face talks with US President Donald Trump in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Rubio said he would discuss on Saturday efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine with Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who served as the late Pope Francis’ envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
In remarks to reporters ahead of the meeting, the top US diplomat suggested the Vatican could be a venue to facilitate dialogue.
“I wouldn’t call it a broker, but it certainly is a place that I would think that both sides would be comfortable coming,” Rubio told reporters.
Among other leaders expected on Sunday are the presidents of Israel, Peru and Nigeria, the prime ministers of Italy, Canada and Australia, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European Commission President Ursula Von der Layen.
Many European royals will also be present, including Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia.
Russia will be represented by Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova, the Vatican said.
Indian state honors ‘elephant whisperers’ from Oscar-winning documentary with special village
- In 2023, ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ became the first Indian documentary to win an Oscar
- Indigenous communities have been integral as elephant caretakers in Asia
NEW DELHI: India’s elephant caretakers in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, whose roles were brought to global attention in an Oscar-winning documentary, were honored with a special village by the local government as part of an effort to recognize their dedication to the conservation of the mammals.
The story of a mahout couple in Tamil Nadu who devote themselves to caring for an orphaned baby elephant was central to “The Elephant Whisperers” film, which became the first Indian documentary to win an Oscar in 2023.
Since the documentary brought the role of the mahouts — a Hindi word for elephant caretakers — to the international spotlight, the Tamil Nadu government has been working to further empower and honor them.
On Tuesday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin inaugurated the Mahout Village at the state’s Theppakadu Elephant Camp. Dubbed the first of its kind, the special area comprises 44 houses for each of the mammals’ keepers and their families.
“The film ‘The Elephant Whisperers’ played an important part in building the houses for mahouts, there is no doubt about it,” Supriya Sahu, additional chief secretary for environment, climate change and forests in Tamil Nadu, told Arab News.
“We will make sure that the people, the indigenous community who take care of our elephants, are also suitably taken care of. That is the idea behind (this program). It’s a tribute to them.”
Built at a cost of about $670,000, the houses at Mahout Village use solar lights and fences, and were constructed in consultation with the mahouts. The area also comes with communal facilities, including a basketball court and a kids’ playground.
Mahouts have long been integral in wildlife conservation across many South and Southeast Asian countries.
India is home to some 30,000 Asian elephants, representing at least 60 percent of the species’ global population. Tamil Nadu itself is home to about 3,100 elephants.
With the buzz around “The Elephant Whisperers” following its Oscar win, Bomman and Bellie, the couple from the Kattunayakan tribal group who were featured in the film, had urged the government to consider building houses for the mahouts.
“One good thing that has happened is the documentary brought attention to the indigenous people who have been taking care of elephants for generations,” Bomman told Arab News.
“The houses are really a recognition for those who have been taking care of elephants and helped in the preservation of nature.”
For C. Maari, a 52-year-old mahout, the Oscar-winning documentary helped show the possibility of human-wildlife coexistence.
“The documentary no doubt highlighted our issues and the world outside came to know that humans and animals understand each other, and can coexist together if we don’t intrude in each others’ space,” Maari told Arab News.
He is hopeful that the new housing will help his community better take care of the elephants.
“I am really happy that I got the house. Earlier, we used to live in a hut without any facilities inside the jungle. We used to struggle for basic amenities, like toilets and other facilities,” he said.
“For generations, we have been friends with elephants and we understand their needs. Both of us have been surviving together for generations and the houses are the recognition of our contribution in maintaining the animal world.”
Putin eases access to Russian citizenship for Georgian breakaway regions
- Under the decree, applicants will no longer be required to permanently reside in Russia
- Georgia and Russia have no diplomatic relations since the 2008 war
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday signed a decree simplifying access to Russian citizenship for people from two Georgian breakaway regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia.
Under the decree, applicants will no longer be required to permanently reside in Russia to get citizenship, or prove their knowledge of the Russian language or culture.
Abkhazia and South Ossetia are recognized by most of the world as Georgian territory, but has been under de-facto Russian control since a brief 2008 war between Moscow and Tbilisi.
In Abkhazia, another pro-Russian president recently won an election after the previous one was ousted following tense protests over a bill giving Russians easier access to coastal property along the Black Sea.
Georgia and Russia have no diplomatic relations since the 2008 war, but critics accuse the current Georgian ruling party of being pro-Russian, and claim it came to power as a result of a rigged election.
Georgia, which shares a border with Russia, declined to join international financial and economic sanctions against Moscow over its Ukraine offensive, or to support Kyiv with military equipment.
Militants kill at least 23 in Nigeria attack, security sources say
MAIDUGURI: At least 23 farmers and fishermen were killed and others abducted by suspected Islamist militants in northeastern Nigeria’s Borno state this week, security sources and local residents told Reuters.
Nigeria has been grappling with a long-running insurgency in its northeast, primarily driven by the Islamist armed group Boko Haram and its offshoot, Islamic State West Africa Province.
The latest attack happened in the village of Malam Karanti on Thursday morning, the security sources and residents said.
A spokesman for Nigeria’s army did not respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment.
Local resident Sani Auwal said by phone that militants had gathered farmers and fishermen near the village and killed 23 people, many of them bean farmers. They spared an elderly man who later alerted the community, he said.
Another local resident Usman Ali said the community had tried to recover the bodies of those killed but had been chased back by the militants.
Last month Borno’s governor acknowledged that Boko Haram had renewed attacks and kidnappings in the state, reversing previous gains by security forces.
