Ryan Lucas
Appearances
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-27-2025 8PM EST
Oath Keepers founder and leader Stuart Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy and other crimes in connection with the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 and sentenced to 18 years in prison. President Trump, in one of his first acts back in office, commuted Rhodes' sentence to time served. On Friday, a judge barred Rhodes from visiting D.C., the U.S.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-27-2025 8PM EST
Capitol, or its grounds without the court's permission. The new Trump-appointed acting U.S. attorney pushed back, arguing that Rhodes and seven other Oathkeeper defendants were no longer subject to the court's supervision. Now, the judge has agreed that Trump's act of clemency does away with the defendant's supervised release and they are not bound by the travel restrictions.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-16-2024 7PM EST
At a hearing in federal court in Los Angeles, former FBI informant Alexander Smirnoff pleaded guilty to lying about bribes for the Bidens and to charges of tax evasion. According to a statement of facts that accompanied his plea deal, Smirnoff lied to his FBI handler, making up a story about a Ukrainian gas company paying millions of dollars in bribes to President Biden and his son Hunter.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-16-2024 7PM EST
That false claim later played a central role in the ultimately unsuccessful effort by House Republicans to impeach President Biden. Under Smirnoff's plea deal, prosecutors and his defense team have agreed to recommend a sentence of between four and six years in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for early January. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-23-2025 6PM EST
A person familiar with the situation told NPR the administration pulled the security protection for Pompeo and Hook on Wednesday. Mike Pompeo, Brian Hook, and John Bolton had received security details from the U.S. government because of threats from Iran. Iranian officials have publicly stated they want to avenge the death of Qasem Soleimani, an Iranian general who was killed in a U.S.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-23-2025 6PM EST
drone strike during Trump's first term in office. The Justice Department charged an Iranian national in 2022 with plotting to kill Bolton. Iran also has plotted against Trump, and the Biden administration beefed up Trump's security this past summer in light of those threats. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-15-2025 8PM EST
Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee say Pam Bondi is highly qualified to lead the Justice Department. They are touting her long career as a local prosecutor in Florida, as well as her eight-year stint as the state's attorney general. Democrats, however, have pressed Bondi on whether she will maintain the department's independence from the White House.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-15-2025 8PM EST
Under questioning, Bondi has said the department must act independently, but she argued, echoing committee Republicans, that the department unfairly targeted Donald Trump with two prosecutions, and she pledged that she will end what she called the weaponization of the department if she's confirmed as attorney general. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-17-2025 6PM EST
Court papers say the former CIA analyst took steps to cover his tracks, including deleting journal entries and destroying his cell phone and an Internet router, He used to send photos of classified documents. Rahman faces up to 10 years in prison for both counts. He's scheduled to be sentenced in May. Ryan Lucas, NPR News, Washington.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-17-2025 6PM EST
The 34-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of willful retention and transmission of classified national defense information. Asif William Rachman leaked two top-secret documents that contained classified information about Israeli preparations to attack Iran. At the time of the leak, Israel's intention to conduct military strikes was well-known, and it did later hit Iran with airstrikes.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
Right. Well, Jabbar was born in Texas. He grew up there. He served in the U.S. Army for many years as a human resource specialist as well as an IT guy. He also started a few businesses. Several of them appear to have had severe financial difficulties recently. He's been divorced several times.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
Now, the FBI has said that Jabbar was inspired to carry out this attack by the Islamic State terrorist group. He uploaded several videos to the internet in the hours immediately leading up to the attack. Talking about this, here's the FBI's Christopher Rea.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
Now, in addition to those videos, investigators also recovered an ISIS flag from the back of Jabbar's truck. Now, the FBI says Jabbar appears to have acted alone. And that's important because the bureau originally said he might have had help, accomplices. But after an initial investigation chasing down leads, it says it does not appear that Jabbar did have any accomplices.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
Well, there's an important distinction here between an attack that is directed by a terrorist group and one that is inspired by a terrorist group. In a directed attack, a terrorist organization is in contact with a person or a cell of people, say, in the United States and directs them, for example, to attack a specific target.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
In an inspired attack, in contrast, there doesn't need to be any direct contact. An individual instead can say, well, watch or read ISIS propaganda online. come to sympathize with the group's ideology or its worldview, and then decide to carry out violence to act in the group's name on their own. And in the case of the Islamic State, of ISIS, it has pushed this idea in its online propaganda.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
It's urged people to use whatever tools they have on hand, including cars, to attack soft targets, things such as public celebration like New Year's Eve. The FBI director told Congress this past summer, in fact, that this is the kind of threat that it's seen from foreign terrorist organizations now. And those sorts of attacks, U.S.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
counterterrorism officials often say are incredibly hard to stop because there isn't a big operation that the FBI can penetrate beforehand to disrupt it.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
Well, you're right. Terrorism is not a front page issue the way that it once was, certainly not like we saw after 9-11 and also not like a decade ago when the Islamic State was at its apex. But the Islamic State still has branches, affiliates around the world that are very much active.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
And as for the threat in the U.S., what I would say is that counterterrorism officials here have been saying for a while that the threat may not be at the level that it once was, but it also most definitely has not disappeared.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
FBI Director Christopher Wray has warned about the danger posed in particular by what the FBI calls homegrown violent extremists, people who radicalize on their own and decide to carry out an attack here in the U.S. Wray has also said that the threat level more broadly has really spiked after the Hamas attack on Israel in October of 2023.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
And I should note that the Justice Department has recently foiled what it says were plots on behalf of ISIS just in the past year, including one in Oklahoma and another in New York.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
Authorities say at this point in time, there is no evidence that those two incidents are linked in any way. Investigators have identified the driver of the Cybertruck as Matthew Leibelsberger. He was a master sergeant in the U.S. Army, a Green Beret, a decorated combat vet with multiple tours in Afghanistan.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
Authorities say that Leibelsberger shot and killed himself in the Cybertruck right before it exploded. As for the question of why, the FBI says Leibelsberger bore no animosity toward Trump. So it wasn't about that. It says their investigation so far suggests that Leibelsberger was likely suffering from mental health issues and also had some other family issues.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
Here's FBI Special Agent Spencer Evans.
Up First from NPR
Latest On New Orleans Attack; New Congress Comes Into Session; Carter's Funeral
Investigators also released experts of Leibelsberger's writings in which he says America is headed toward collapse, that this is a wake-up call. And he also says in one that he needs to cleanse his mind of brothers that he lost and relieve himself of the burdens of lives that he took.