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Man who pleaded guilty to Jan. 6 charge asks court if he can go to Trump’s inauguration
A California man who pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to obstruct the Jan. 6, 2021, joint session of Congress to certify President Biden’s 2020 victory has asked the court for permission to travel to Washington, D.C., to attend President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20.
Russell Taylor, who was part of a group affiliated with the far-right, anti-government Three Percenters that was accused of plotting and planning to disrupt the electoral count, asked U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth if he can travel with his wife and children to Washington, D.C., and Maryland for the inauguration.
Government exhibit
Taylor’s lawyer, Dyke Huish, said in a court filing that Taylor was invited to attend the ceremony by retired Rep. Chris Stewart, of Utah. Huish stated that Taylor had completed his home confinement and was in compliance with his probation. He wrote that Taylor “does not pose any risk or concern for this travel request.”
Taylor admitted he had helped organize an effort on Telegram to travel to Washington on Jan. 6, to be “ready and willing to fight.”
A day before Jan. 6, 2021, he addressed a crowd, saying, “I will see all tomorrow at the front lines. We are taking our country back!”
On Jan. 6, Taylor wore an armored tactical vest and brought a stun baton with him to the Capitol and was among the initial groups of rioters trying to break through police lines. He recorded a video in which he was seen urging rioters to fight with and push forward against police. Later that day, he posted on Telegram, “I was pushing through traitors all day today. WE STORMED THE CAPITOL! Freedom was fully demonstrated today!”
Taylor, who had no prior convictions, flipped and cooperated with the Justice Department, testifying against a lead organizer, Alan Hostetter, a former police chief who was convicted of a conspiracy charge.
Prosecutors recommended a prison term of almost 4.5 years for Taylor, but Lamberth instead sentenced him to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service. Lamberth said he believed Taylor had testified truthfully and expressed sincere remorse, and he said Taylor’s cooperation had been “essential,” which earned him the chance to avoid prison time.
Taylor told the judge, “I thought about why I was there and the mistake I made on January 6th. I thought about being charged with a crime by a country that I do love.”
contributed to this report.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has donated $1 million to President-elect Donald Trump’s inaugural fund, a spokesperson for the social media giant confirmed to CBS News Wednesday night.
The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The move comes two weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg traveled to Florida and dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
At the time, Trump adviser Stephen Miller told Fox News that Zuckerberg had “made clear that he wants to support the national renewal of America under Trump’s leadership.”
Trump was removed from Facebook following the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol when it determined that his posts had potentially encouraged the violence that occurred that day.
The company restored his account in early 2023, but with certain “guardrails.” In July, those restrictions were lifted by Meta.
Trump has a combined 65 million followers on Facebook and Instagram.
In August, Zuckerberg submitted a letter to Congress claiming that the Biden administration in 2021 “repeatedly pressured our teams for months to censor certain COVID-19 content, including humor and satire.” He called “the government pressure wrong” and said he would push back against any similar efforts in the future.
Silicon Valley has been uneasy about the kind of the treatment it may get from a second Trump administration, and the donation may signal an attempt by Zuckerberg to thaw those tensions.
Trump’s choice of Brendan Carr, a prominent critic of big tech, to lead the Federal Communications Commission has potentially heightened those concerns.
CBS News has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment on the donation.
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he has tapped Kari Lake as director of the government-funded Voice of America, the nation’s largest international broadcaster.
The move comes after the 55-year-old Lake lost her Arizona Senate bid to Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego in November.
“She will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who I will announce soon,” Trump said in a post to his Truth Social platform.
Lake, a former longtime TV news anchor in Phoenix, is a fierce Trump loyalist who also lost her campaign for Arizona governor in 2022. During her campaigns, she often echoed Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election.
Anita Pouchard Serra/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Voice of America, which is part of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, broadcasts news internationally in 49 languages on radio, television and online to an audience of an estimated 354 million people per week, according to its website.
It has about 2,000 employees and an annual budget of approximately $260 million.
Lake’s appointment must still be confirmed by the Senate.
During Trump’s first term in 2020, USAGM’s editorial independence came into question after Trump named Michael Pack — a conservative filmmaker and close ally of one-time Trump adviser Steve Bannon — its CEO.
Pack subsequently made the decision not to renew the visas of 10 VOA journalists and dozens of others who work at networks under USAGM, increasing concerns by members of Congress and the international community alike over the potential of diminished editorial independence of the VOA news outlet.
John Lippman is currently the acting director of VOA, a post he’s held since October 2023, while Amanda Bennett is CEO of USAGM.
contributed to this report.
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