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The Department of Justice is looking into whether federal charges can be brought against Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan over her failure to crack down on a so-called “autonomous zone” controlled for weeks by rioters. Attorney General William Barr has tasked the DOJ’s civil rights division with investigating whether charges can be brought against Durkan, The New York Times reported on Wednesday evening citing two people familiar with the discussions. Barr has also asked federal prosecutors to consider charging rioters with sedition and insurrection against the United States government, according to The Wall Street Journal. Rioters took over several city blocks...

Faced with growing pressure to crack down on an “occupied” protest zone following two weekend shootings, Seattle’s mayor said Monday that officials will move to wind down the blocks-long span of city streets taken over two weeks ago that President Donald Trump asserted is run by “anarchists.”

Fox News contributor Jason Chaffetz said on Tuesday that the Seattle protesters who occupied several blocks of public property, blocking the space from others, amount to “domestic terrorists.” “I think what the people are doing there is not just protesting. It’s not peacefully assembling,” the former Utah representative told “Outnumbered Overtime.” Chaffetz said that President Trump intervening in the protests is not warranted unless there is a federal level crime being committed. Chaffetz also said that addressing the Seattle protest should be solely within the purview of the local, county, and state jurisdictions of Washington. “I think it’s intimidation and...

A Facebook event calling for “American Patriots” to retake the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle (CHAZ) is gaining momentum. The event is scheduled for July 4 and has nearly 2,000 RSVPs and more than 15,000 expressing interest as of the time of this article’s publication. Here is what you need to know. The Facebook event is called “American Patriots Retake The Seattle Occupation Zone For America” and it’s scheduled for July 4 at 12 p.m. Pacific. The event’s cover photo reads: “Not Today Antifa” and has references to Berkeley, Portland, Charlottesville, and Boston. The description reads: On July 4th,...

"If they don't do the job, I'll do the job," President Trump said at the White House on Monday about the lack of leadership in Seattle. The city has been a scene of chaos the past several days after a group of protesters kicked police out of an area they've deemed separate from the United States and renamed their new habitat the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone. Gov. Jay Inslee has failed to address the rebellion, and Mayor Jenny Durkan tried to spin the anarchy into a positive, suggesting CHAZ could actually help turn Seattle into a "summer of love." "These...

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan and police chief Carmen Best are at odds over the city's handling of the self-declared autonomous zone set up by protesters spanning several blocks surrounding a police precinct. Best has accused the mayor of shirking her responsibilities as an elected official and allowing protesters to oust police officers from a precinct located inside the 6-block radius now deemed a "cop free zone." **SNIP** Attempts to identify the leaders of the organized demonstrations and negotiate a deal to allow officers back into the area have been unsuccessful. Best and Durkan appeared at a joint press conference on...

President Trump threatened to “take back” Seattle from protesters, tweeting that “ugly anarchists must be stooped.” In response, state and local politicians told him to go back to his bunker beneath the White House; and keep out of local business. Earlier this week, Seattle police left the area and demonstrators took over, cordoning off several blocks they declared the “Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone”, now the site of peaceful protests. Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said the police pullback was done “to proactively de-escalate interactions between protestors and law enforcement.” But Trump was unhappy with the move even though it at least...

Covertly taken photos of CIA interrogators that were shown by defense attorneys to al Qaeda inmates at the Guantanamo Bay prison represent a more serious security breach than the 2003 outing of CIA officer Valerie Plame, the agency's former general counsel said Wednesday. John Rizzo, who was the agency's top attorney until December, said in an interview that he initially requested the Justice Department and CIA investigation into the compromise of CIA interrogators' identities after photographs of the officers were found in the cell of one al Qaeda terrorist in Cuba. "Well I think this is far more serious than...

(CBS) QUINCY, Mass. A soldier killed in Afghanistan last week told her family they should press for answers if anything happened to her, reports CBS station WBZ-TV in Boston. Spc. Ciara Durkin, 30, of Quincy, Mass., was shot in the head last week outside a chapel near her office at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. The Department of Defense reported Durkin was not killed in action. Durkin's sister, Fiona Canavan, told the Patriot Ledger on Wednesday that when her sister was home three weeks ago, she told her about something she had come across that raised some concern with her. "She...

DemoRATS once again prove they have a mental disorder: So-called Congresswoman Jackson was asked by Linda Vester her opinion about Sen. Durkin and Gitmo. Not surprising, Jackson started droning on as if a programmed Android supporting Sen. Durkin's comments. Linda Vester couldn't get a word in edgewise. Finally Linda got in that Jackson was conducting a 'filibuster.' Jackson finally shut her leftist piehole long enough to tell Linda Vester, "I don't like being interrupted."

Poll: Few get Ryans confused By Kurt Erickson Statehouse bureau chief SPRINGFIELD -- For months, Republican Jim Ryan has complained that more people would support his bid for governor if they realized he was not related to the scandal-plagued predecessor with the same last name. But a poll that sought to clarify his perceived problem shows that only 1 percent to 2 percent of those surveyed were confused about the two Republicans. The survey, conducted for The Pantagraph and WEEK-TV of Peoria, found Democrat Rod Blagojevich is favored by voters over Jim Ryan 53 percent to 39 percent. Once voters...

Poll finds only one statewide race is close Birkett, Madigan in statistical tie for attorney general By DOUG FINKE STATE CAPITOL BUREAU DuPage County State's Attorney Joe Birkett, a Republican, holds a slim lead over Democratic state Sen. Lisa Madigan in the race for Illinois attorney general, a new Copley News Service poll shows. The poll also found that incumbents in races for treasurer, secretary of state and comptroller hold substantial leads over their challengers - a result aided by the fact that at least two-thirds of those polled say they've never heard of the challengers. The power of incumbency...

Poll shows Blagojevich could win By Kurt Erickson Statehouse bureau chief SPRINGFIELD -- A new poll shows that Illinois may be headed toward electing its first Democratic governor in three decades. With less than two months to go before the Nov. 5 election, a sampling of 599 likely voters taken on Sept. 8-10 shows that 52 percent would vote for Democratic U.S. Rep. Rod Blagojevich. Republican Attorney General Jim Ryan, who is struggling to overcome voter confusion about his last name, would receive 36 percent of the vote in the poll. It was conducted for The Pantagraph and WEEK TV...

BY STEVE NEAL SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST John McCain, who may well be the most respected member of the U.S. Senate, is also a genuine independent. That's why his intervention in the Illinois race for the U.S. Senate could have an impact on the outcome. According to the 2002 Almanac of American Politics, McCain ''is the closest thing American politics has to a national hero, a presidential candidate in 2000 who was admired by voters of both parties.'' McCain, an Arizona Republican and decorated Navy fighter pilot, won Michigan's presidential primary with Democratic and independent crossover votes. In the April 29 edition...

Durbin lacks the profile of a winner April 24, 2002 BY STEVE NEAL, SUN-TIMES COLUMNIST His re-election isn't a done deal. Sen. Richard J. Durbin's potential vulnerability was exposed in the March 19 primary when nearly a third of Democratic voters shunned him. Durbin, 57, who is favored to win a second term in the general election, got the lightest vote among the four slated Democratic candidates who were unopposed in last month's primary. As the sitting U.S. senator, he had the top ballot position and should have led the Democratic ticket. But he fell short of those expectations....

Rep. Rod Blagojevich, D-Ill., overcame a poor showing in Chicago and its suburbs to eke out a narrow victory over former Chicago schools chief Paul Vallas and capture the Democrat gubernatorial nomination Tuesday. Attorney General Jim Ryan posted a convincing victory on the Republican side, besting conservative legislator Patrick O'Malley and liberal Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood. The results set up a general election contest between two former Golden Gloves champions, prompting some wags to dub the November gubernatorial campaign a heavyweight championship bout. On the Democrat side, with 96 percent of the vote counted, Blagojevich led Vallas 37 percent to...