Malcolm X family sues FBI, CIA, NYPD over his death – National & International News – FRI 15Nov2024

Malcolm X family sues FBI, CIA, NYPD over his death.

Trump picks Gaetz, Hegseth under fire for sex crimes allegations.

Military labeled Hegseth an “insider threat” after Jan. 6.

Malcolm X family sues FBI, CIA, NYPD over his death 

The Shabazz family, daughters of firebrand civil rights leader Malcolm X, has filed a $100 million federal lawsuit against the FBI, CIA and the New York Police Department (NYPD) nearly 60 years after their father’s assassination in Manhattan. The suit alleges that the agencies knew of the plot to assassinate Malcom X by members of the Nation of Islam and did nothing to stop it, and later acted to conceal the fact.

While the suit seeks monetary damages for the Shabazz family, it is primarily a fact-finding mission. Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Shabazz family, hopes to uncover evidence of a “corrupt, unlawful, and unconstitutional” relationship between law enforcement and Malcolm X’s assassins. 

Collusion and concealment 

In 1964, a year before his murder, Malcolm X converted to Sunni Islam and broke publicly with the Nation of Islam, for whom he had previously been an outspoken representative. A bitter and increasingly public feud ensued. It escalated to the point that Malcolm X and his family were receiving regular death threats from the NOI and its adherents. There have long been suspicions that NOI’s leadership at the time were infiltrated by, and possibly cooperating with, government informants. 

As the suit alleges, the NYPD colluded with federal law enforcement to arrest Malcolm X’s security detail days before the assassination. On the day when Malcolm X was set to address a 400-strong crowd at the Audubon Ballroom, the NYPD pulled their officers from the event. Federal agents who were present in the ballroom failed to protect Malcolm X, the suit alleges.

Three men, all NOI members, were arrested on the spot for Malcolm X’s assassination. One of the men, Talmadge Hayer, never denied his involvement, but maintained that the other two men were innocent. Those two men were exonerated in 2021 when a review found that the FBI and NYPD had withheld key evidence during their trials. 

The Shabazz family lawsuit hopes to force disclosures that will reveal the level of complicity of law enforcement in Malcolm X’s assassination.

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Trump picks Gaetz, Hegseth under fire for sex crimes allegations

Many of Trump’s potential Cabinet picks have raised concerns, even among fellow Washington Republicans. Some have pointed out certain candidates’ lack of apparent qualifications or unorthodox views. It is unclear if some candidates even have enough backing among Republican Senators to secure their posts. The two raising the most eyebrows are Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL), whom Trump has tapped for Attorney General, and Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth, Trump’s pick for Secretary of Defense.

Gaetz has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for allegations of sex trafficking and sex with minors. Although the Department of Justice previously declined to prosecute Gaetz, the Ethics committee continued to subpoena and interview witnesses. Yesterday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said that he does not want the committee’s report on Gaetz’s to be released. It’s hard to imagine Johnson seeking to block publication unless the committee’s findings were pretty damning.

Hegseth is more of an unknown quantity, although some troubling insights about his past are coming to light. Hegseth was accused of a 2017 sexual assault in California. It seems that charges over this incident never materialized, but it’s not clear why. Trump’s team was aware of these allegations before tapping him for DoD, but it seems they were not too concerned about it. 

Military labeled Hegseth an “Insider threat” after Jan. 6

Another story has emerged about Hegseth which may explain why Trump plucked him from relative obscurity to lead one of the government’s largest departments. Hegseth is a former member of the Minnesota National Guard who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and also at Guantanamo Bay. In 2021, he volunteered to be one of the 25,000 National Guard troops to be mobilized in Washington DC for President Joe Biden’s inauguration on January 20. This was, of course, in the aftermath of the January 6 riot at the Capitol.

Before the deployment, Maj. Gen. William Walker, then-commander of the Washington, DC, National Guard, received a concerning email from Master Sergeant DeRicko Gaither, the Guard’s head of physical security. MSG Gaither had been tipped off that Hegseth may be an “Insider Threat”. Gaither included a social media image of Hegseth showing two tattoos. Across Hegseth’s chest was a large Crusader cross, and his bicep bore the Latin phrase “Deus Vult” or “God wills it”, a rallying cry of the medieval Crusaders.

In recent years, Crusader imagery has been co-opted by far-right Christian fundamentalist extremists and white supremacists. This was exactly the sort of thing that military officials were on the lookout for as they vetted troops for the DC deployment. As a result, Hegseth was one of a dozen Guardsmen whose deployment for the 2021 inauguration was canceled. He was not told why at the time. When he later learned the reason, he left the service for good. 

Hegseth has criticized “woke” ideology in the military and has said he believes that Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Charles Q. Brown only got the position because he is Black. Hegseth has also spoken out against women serving in combat roles. One can only wonder what Tulsi Gabbard, a decorated combat medic and Trump’s pick for head of National Intelligence, would make of those remarks.