How to Protect Elections | Oath Keepers’ Sedition Case | Chinese Spies, and more

FBI Says It Has ‘Credible Information of a Broad Threat’ to Synagogues In New Jersey  (John Miller, Rob Frehse and Christina Maxouris, CNN)
The FBI in Newark, New Jersey, said Thursday afternoon it has received “credible information of a broad threat to synagogues” in the state, according to a tweet from the office. “We ask at this time that you take all security precautions to protect your community and facility. We will share more information as soon as we can. Stay alert. In case of emergency call police,” the post said. In a second tweet, the agency said it was taking a “proactive measure” with that warning, while “investigative processes are carried out.” An online posting with antisemitic comments in a forum that is frequented by extremists is what prompted the FBI’s alert, a law enforcement source told CNN. While no specific target, timing or plan was mentioned, the nature of the post created enough concern on the part of the FBI that the agency decided to put a general warning out of an abundance of caution, the source said.

U.S. Charges More Than a Dozen People in China Espionage Cases  (Josh Gerstein and Kelly Hooper, Politico)
Attorney General Merrick Garland said the new actions would “disrupt criminal activity” of individuals working on behalf of China.

Justice Department Rests in Its Historic Seditious Conspiracy Case Against Oath Keepers  (Hannah Rabinowitz and Holmes Lybrand, CNN)
Federal prosecutors rested their case on Thursday against five alleged leaders of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, ending the initial phase of the first seditious conspiracy trial in over a decade. Over four weeks, government witnesses – including several FBI agents, US Capitol Police officers, current and former members of the Oath Keepers and a representative from Facebook who testified about social media messages celebrating the violence – testified to back up the Justice Department’s case that the five defendants plotted to stop the electoral college count on January 6, 2021. According to prosecutors, defendants Stewart Rhodes, Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell planned for an armed rebellion long before the US Capitol riot. Members of the group attended several other rallies in DC as “dry runs,” prosecutors say, and took action when the moment finally presented itself on January 6, going with the crowd to storm the Capitol. All five alleged members of the Oath Keepers have pleaded not guilty and will present evidence in their defense in the coming weeks. Some of the defendants have suggested they will testify in their own defense, including Rhodes, a Yale Law School graduate who founded the far-right extremist group. In presenting their case, prosecutors largely relied on the group’s own alleged chat messages on encrypted apps and their planning in the lead-up to January 6 – which their leader Rhodes allegedly saw as a hard constitutional deadline to stop Joe Biden from becoming president.

Latest QAnon Killer Had Murder Hit List  (Will Sommer, Daily Beast)
Rory Banks slipped out of his Sacramento-area house late one night in May 2021. He was ready to kill. The 44-year-old had two guns, four knives, pepper spray, and a hit list of registered sex offenders in his town.
Banks was driven by an unusual motivation, but one that’s become increasingly common across the United States in driving violence: QAnon.
Banks had become enthralled with the pro-Trump conspiracy theory online. He frequented Telegram, the social media app popular with QAnon users convinced world elites are engaged in Satanic pedophile-cannibal rituals. He put a Q sticker on his car.
Banks’ murderous QAnon hunt would end in tragedy for a man who had never met him. According to police and prosecutors, after leaving his house Banks would break into the home of Ralph Mendez, a 55-year-old man listed on California’s sex offender registry. Banks “executed” Mendez, according to a statement released by the prosecutors, killing him with shots to his head and torso.
In late October, a jury in California’s Yuba County found Banks guilty of Mendez’s premeditated murder. A year after the killing, Banks’ trial revealed the extent to which QAnon motivated him to kill—adding his name to a growing list of criminals driven to violence by the theory.
As a sign of how common QAnon violence has become, the jury verdict was delivered on the same day as the violent hammer attack on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband—violence committed by a suspect who, according to his blog, was also obsessed with QAnon.