Up First from NPR - Jan. 6 Insurrection Revisited, Blinken to Israel, COVID Resurgence.

Episode Date: January 6, 2024

The FBI has arrested 1,200 people in connection with the Capitol riots and is still looking for more suspects. Secretary of State Antony Blinken makes another trip to the Middle East. Wastewater shows that COVID cases are on the rise, but fewer people are ending up in the hospital.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's likely the largest law enforcement investigation in U.S. history. Three years after the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol, the FBI is still making arrests. And asking for help to find suspects. I'm Scott Simon. I'm Ayesha Roscoe, and this is Up First from NPR News. About 80 people are still wanted for allegedly attacking law enforcement officers. We request the public's continued assistance in identifying individuals who committed crimes on January 6, 2021. We'll have more on that, plus in the Middle East. Secretary of State Blinken is expected to try again to get Israel to moderate its attacks on Gaza.

Also, COVID is surging again, but fewer people are ending up in the hospital. So please stay with us. We've got the news you need to start your weekend. Now Our Change will honor 100 years of the Royal Canadian Air Force and their dedicated service to communities at home and abroad. From the skies to Our Change, this $2 commemorative circulation coin marks their storied past and promising future. Find the limited edition Royal Canadian Air Force $2 coin today. The FBI has arrested more than 1,200 people in connection with the January 6th riot so far. NPR's Tom Dreisbach has been covering this investigation for three years. Welcome. Hey, thanks for having me. So I think people might be surprised that arrests are still being made in these cases three years later. Like,

where does this investigation actually stand right now? Yeah, I think it is pretty surprising to see how many cases are still happening to this very day. But, you know, keep in mind, this is believed to be the largest single criminal investigation in American history. The FBI estimates that around 2,000 people from every state in the country took part in the riot in some way. And outside researchers actually think that number is even higher. But the FBI is dealing with just an enormous number of tips from the public, tens of thousands of hours of video footage, social media posts. And this week, the top federal prosecutor in D.C., Matthew Graves, gave a presentation and said they still need help

finding suspects. On the occasion of this anniversary, we request the public's continued assistance in identifying individuals who committed crimes on January 6, 2021. Particularly, the roughly 80 still unidentified individuals who were believed to have committed acts of violence against law enforcement officers. And we should say these tips from friends, even family members, open source researchers online, these have been crucial in many of these cases to actually making arrests. And the government is working against the clock. If Trump wins the presidential election this year, he could end these investigations as soon as he takes office.

Even if these investigations continue, the statute of limitations for these crimes is set to run out on January 5th, 2026. That's five years after the attack. So there's quite a bit left to happen in this investigation still. But as we mentioned, there have already been more than 1,200 arrests. So where are those cases in the pipeline? Yeah, the majority of those folks who have been charged, around 900 or so people, have already pleaded guilty to one or more charges, or they've been convicted at trial. And there's a wide range of charges. I kind of put them into a few buckets mentally. You know, probably the largest are these relatively low-level people who entered the building,

nothing else. Then there's the people who the government says intentionally and corruptly obstructed the proceedings of Congress, you know, the counting of the electoral college votes. And then there's the people who committed violence against police. And at the most serious end are the people who have been convicted of seditious conspiracy against the United States. And the two major cases on that seditious conspiracy charge involve members of the far right extremist groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. And the two major cases on that seditious conspiracy charge involved members of the far-right extremist groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. And the government succeeded in securing convictions against the top leaders of both groups. And what kind of sentences have people gotten? Well, as you can imagine, with all 22 years in prison, and the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stuart Rhodes, sentenced to 18

years in prison. And there's also been fairly stiff sentences for people convicted of assault against police. Just this past week, there was a man convicted of assaulting cops with pepper spray and then fleeing, actually, after his trial. He was just sentenced to 10 years in prison. And then on the lower end, a round of third or so of defendants received no jail time at all. They may have a fine to pay, probation, sometimes requirements to fulfill like mental health treatment. Judges really have a lot of discretion at sentencing. And in addition to a lot of the conduct of the defendant, they're looking at things like whether someone has expressed remorse for what they did. And what's your sense?

Like, have people really expressed remorse for what they did? It's really all over the map. I don't think I can make any sort of sweeping judgment about that. There are definitely people you hear expressing a lot of regret for what they did. They said they get caught up in the moment or they feel like they were lied to by Trump and they regret what they did. And there are other people who are totally unrepentant, proud of what they did. Even there is this one case that I can think of where a defendant told his judge at sentencing that what he did was, quote, unacceptable and that he disgraced the country. He said he apologized to members of Congress and the Capitol Police.

And then after he got out of prison just recently, he has fully embraced the false conspiracy theories, calls himself a political prisoner and says that January 6th was a setup by the feds. And I think one factor in how people interpret their conduct that day is what former President Trump has said. He has fully embraced January 6th in his campaign for reelection. He says that day was beautiful. He calls the defendants patriots, promised them pardons in many cases. And I think that rhetoric has had an effect. That's NPR investigative correspondent Tom Dreisbach. Tom, thank you so much. Thanks, Ayesha. Anthony Blinken is meeting with foreign leaders in the Middle East this weekend.

The Secretary of State's visit comes as Israel's war with Hamas threatens to widen into a regional conflict. And that's after a top Hamas leader was assassinated in Lebanon. Many suspect Israel was behind the killing, though it hasn't claimed responsibility. Then there's Lauren Freyer, follows this from Tel Aviv. Lauren, thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me, Scott. The war in Gaza has been going on for three months. Is this possibly a new front on the border with Lebanon? I mean, that's certainly the fear. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated from both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border. There are air raid sirens blaring across northern Israel today. Lebanon's Hezbollah militia says it fired dozens of rockets across the border this morning, and it's calling this just an initial response to the airstrike that killed a Hamas leader this past week, as you mentioned, in Lebanon's capital, Beirut. Israel says it has sent tanks, artillery and airstrikes across the border into Lebanon for the past few days. Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Galant inspected troops yesterday at the

Northern Command, and then he recorded this video clip. In which he says Israel prefers a political settlement with Hezbollah rather than a military one, but that we are, quote, close to the point where the hourglass will turn. Those are his words. That's the northern border with Lebanon, Gaza in the south. What's the latest from there? So this week, Defense Minister Galan announced a new phase of Gaza fighting. Israel is withdrawing

thousands of troops from northern Gaza and says it's focusing on finding Hamas leaders and Israeli hostages that are believed to be held in southern Gaza. But you know, Israeli airstrikes and shelling continue pretty much all over the Gaza Strip. Health officials there say more than 120 people have been killed just in the past 24 hours alone. NPR's Gaza producer Anas Baba is in Rafah. That's the southernmost city in Gaza. It's actually where Israel told people to flee to. And now Israel is conducting airstrikes there. Yesterday, it hit a house. And our producer Baba spoke to a woman named Safa El Zagnoun, whose sister was killed there. She says this airstrike went straight into a room with women and children, and she asks, what did these women and children do to deserve

this? Now, Rafa, where she is in southern Gaza, has absorbed more than a million evacuees from elsewhere across the Gaza Strip. And Lauren, what are conditions like there? Horrible. Shortages of food, fuel, water. People are scavenging for material to make their own tents to sleep in. UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund, says 90% of infants and toddlers under the age of two in Gaza are now victims of what it calls severe food poverty. Now, Israel says it has eased its blockade on supplies entering Gaza, are now victims of what it calls severe food poverty. Now, Israel says it has eased its blockade on supplies entering Gaza, but aid agencies say not nearly enough aid is getting

in. One UN official says Gaza is now, quote, a place of death and despair. These are the conditions in which U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is arriving. What's he going to do there? Today, he's in Turkey, Crete, and then Jordan. This is part of a regional tour that will include stops here in Tel Aviv and in Ramallah in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, too. You know, it comes amid tensions on the Israel-Lebanon border, as I mentioned, but also possible tensions in the U.S.-Israel relationship. Blinken is expected to urge Israel to curtail its military campaign in Gaza

and also take part in talks about laying plans for Gaza's rebuilding and who will be in charge there. And Piers Lauren Freer in Tel Aviv. Thanks so much. You're welcome, Scott. If you're sneezing or sniffling, you're not alone. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that it's peak season for respiratory viruses. With most of the country experiencing high or even very high levels of cold, flu, and COVID.

NPR health correspondent Ping Wong joins us. Ping, thanks so much for being with us. Thanks for having me. Excuse me. What's out there? Well, there is a lot, a lot of virus out there, Scott. We are, as you mentioned, in the thick of winter respiratory virus season. So there's RSV, there's flu, there's COVID, there's common cold viruses, and they all get a boost during the holidays when people travel and gather. I talked

to Amy Kirby, who runs the National Wastewater Surveillance Program at CDC, and she says if you look at the wastewater data, COVID levels right now are even higher than they were last season. But still, she says, we are still very far below the levels that we were seeing in 2022 with the Omicron peak. So we're not looking at that kind of, you know, really massive wave of infections. This is much more on par with what we saw last year. And even though the level of COVID is higher than it was last year at this time, other COVID metrics like ER visits and hospitalization rates, those are lower this year,

the CDC says. Does that mean we're changing what I'll refer to as our relationship with COVID? In some senses, yes. I mean, what it means right now is that COVID infections are causing serious disease less often than they did in previous years. But COVID still is the most serious virus right now. Last week, for instance, it put 35,000 new people in the hospital. At least 1,200 people died from it. And that is a lot more than flu. So far this season, hospital capacity has been generally stable, which is good news because that means that people who need care can generally get it. What about the new COVID variants, though? Okay. So the dominant variant right now is one called JN1. Here in the U.S., it was first detected in September, and by Thanksgiving, it was responsible for around 8% of U.S. cases. Now it's up to 60%. And JN1 is considered an Omicron variant, though there's

been some debate over whether it deserves its own Greek letter since it has a lot of genetic differences. But the symptoms are about the same, and the tests, the vaccines, and the treatments that we currently have do work against it. What should people be doing now, given all of this? Well, public health officials are really leaning into encouraging people to use the tools we have. So that starts with awareness. You know, there are maps that the CDC and local health departments are putting out that can help people figure out how much virus is circulating where they live. And it's not too late to get vaccinated. You know, half of U.S. adults have not gotten a flu shot this season. Four out of five haven't gotten the COVID booster. And this is especially important for older adults who are at

higher risk of dying from these illnesses. And lastly, if you are sick, like a lot of people are right now, the advice is to stay home so you don't spread it on. Get tested in case you qualify for some prescription medications that can help you get better, and to generally just take good care of yourself and the people around you. Thanks very much, NPR health correspondent Ping Wong. You're welcome, Scott. And that's up first for Saturday, January 6, 2024. I'm Ayesha Roscoe. And I'm Scott Simon. Fernando Nara and

Hiba Ahmad produced today's podcast. Russell Lewis, Barry Hardiman, Melissa Gray at McNulty, Scott Hensley, and Matthew Sherman edited. Our director is Andrew Craig. Our technical director is Hannah Glovna. And we had help from Carly Strange, Nisha Hynas, and Phil Edfors. Evie Stone is our senior supervising editor. Sarah Lucy Oliver is our executive producer. And Jim Kane is our deputy managing editor. Tomorrow on Up First, we visit three communities facing climate dangers and ask how they're answering the question, should I stay or should I go?

And for more news, interviews, books, music, sometimes just plain fun, you can tune into Weekend Edition this weekend, hence the name. You can find your NPR station at stations.npr.org.