A British teenage extremist has been jailed after his far-right videos were linked to two mass murders in the US.
Daniel Harris used an online platform called World Truth Videos to disseminate a “call to arms” for his violent racist beliefs, a court heard.
The 19-year-old from Glossop in Derbyshire was convicted of five counts of encouraging terrorism and one of possessing a 3D printer for the purposes of terrorism after a trial at Manchester Crown Court.
He was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years in jail, and a further 3 years on licence.
Prosecutors said US mass killer Payton Gendron was “encouraged and, in part, motivated to do what he did” by Harris.
Gendron murdered 10 black people in a mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, in May 2022 while livestreaming the attack. Within hours, Harris produced a video celebrating the killing spree.
Gendron, 19, had left a comment on one of Harris’s videos two months before the mass shooting, saying: “You are not alone my friend :)”.
The video included lessons to be learned from Brenton Tarrant, who livestreamed an attack in which he killed 51 people at mosques in New Zealand in March 2019.
Gendron had also taken an image from another of Harris’s videos and used it as the main image on his “manifesto”.
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Prosecutor Joe Allman said Gendron was “inspired” by Harris’s material.
The British teenager also influenced Anderson Lee Aldrich, the only suspect in a shooting at a gay bar in Colorado, the court was told.
Aldrich, 22, allegedly killed five people during an indiscriminate firearms attack in Colorado Springs, in November last year – while Harris was on trial in the UK.
Aldrich – who is yet to enter pleas over the Colorado shooting – “accessed material” produced by Harris, Mr Allman said.
The prosecutor told the court one of Harris’s videos was posted on the “brother site” to a website with links to what appeared to be a livestream of Aldrich preparing to carry out the attacks.
Mr Allman said: “The Crown say it demonstrates that individuals of the greatest concern have accessed the material produced by Mr Harris.”
Harris was described in court as an “influential online propagandist for a violent and deeply racist ideology”.
His videos glorified mass killings and were “tantamount to a call to arms to those who shared, or who could be persuaded to share Mr Harris’s world view,” Mr Allman said.
Under the pseudonym “BookAnon”, Harris’s videos “encouraged and gave instructions for carrying out acts of terror against those deemed not to be part of the white European race,” the court heard.
One video showed how to make an assault rifle using a 3D printer and when police raided Harris’s grandfather’s house, they found that he had begun making the parts himself.
‘Toxic rhetoric with untold influence’
After the teenager’s conviction, Detective Inspector Chris Brett said attempts were initially made to engage with Harris through the Prevent programme, which aims to stop people becoming terrorists.
“It soon became clear he was pretending to be deradicalised whilst encouraging terrorism online,” Mr Brett added.
“The threat he caused meant we had to act in order to ensure the safety of the wider public.”
Mr Brett said Harris “clearly demonstrated a disdain for law enforcement and public order, as well as an admiration for those who had committed atrocities in terrorist attacks overseas”.
“By posting these videos online, Harris’ toxic rhetoric could have had untold influence on countless people across the world – such actions will not be tolerated,” the senior officer said.
He added that officers made “the rather chilling discovery of attempts to make component parts of a firearm printed from his 3D printer” during a search, which “showed a clear intent to create a deadly weapon”.
The Senate has passed $95bn (£76.2bn) in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan after months of delays and rows – with Joe Biden set to sign the legislation later.
Once signed, the president will start the process of sending weapons to Ukraine, which has been struggling to hold its front lines against Russia.
The legislation would also send $26bn (£20bn) in wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian relief to citizens of Gaza, and $8bn (£6.4bn) to counter Chinese threats in Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific.
US officials said about $1bn (£802,000) worth of the aid could be on its way shortly, with the bulk following in the coming weeks.
In an interview with The Associated Press shortly before the vote, Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said if Congress had not passed the aid, “America would have paid a price economically, politically, militarily”.
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“Very few things we have done have risen to this level of historic importance,” he said.
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On the Senate floor, Mr Schumer said the Senate was sending a message to US allies: “We will stand with you.”
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Mr Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell argued there could be dire consequences for the US and many of its allies if Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression is left unchecked.
The pair worked with House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, to overcome seemingly intractable Republican opposition to the Ukraine aid.
The House approved the package in a series of four votes on Saturday, with the Ukraine portion passing 311-112.
The $61bn (£48.1bn) for Ukraine comes as the war-torn country desperately needs new firepower and as Mr Putin has stepped up his attacks.
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Zelenskyy ‘grateful’ for US package
Ukrainian soldiers have struggled as Russia has seized the momentum on the battlefield and gained significant territory.
Mr Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday the US will send badly needed air defence weaponry as soon as the legislation is passed.
“The President has assured me that the package will be approved quickly and that it will be powerful, strengthening our air defence as well as long-range and artillery capabilities,” Mr Zelenskyy said in a post on X on Monday.
A newspaper chief was Donald Trump’s “eyes and ears” and killed unfavourable stories about him in the run-up to the 2016 election, a court has heard.
Trump has made history as the first former US president to face a criminal trial.
He stands accused of paying hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels in an effort to cover up their alleged affair and falsifying business records in order to do so.
David Pecker, the former boss of publisher AMI, took the stand as the first witness in the trial, as he described participating in a “catch and kill” scheme with Trump and Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen to bury unfavourable press coverage during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Manhattan’s criminal court also heard Mr Pecker, who signed a “non-prosecution” agreement with prosecutors after AMI admitted to making hush-money payments, describe his role as being the “eyes and ears” for Trump.
Mr Pecker said he would flag stories to Mr Cohen, who would check if they were true or not. This agreement was never put in writing but Mr Pecker divulged it to Dylan Howard, editor-in-chief of the National Enquirer, one of his publications.
Mr Pecker told the court of a meeting he attended in August 2015 with Trump, Mr Cohen, and Hope Hicks, the communications director for the former president.
‘I would be the eyes and ears’
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He said: “At that meeting with Donald Trump, they asked me what can I do to help the campaign.
“I said what I would do is I would run or publish positive stories about Mr Trump, and I would publish negative stories about his opponents.
“I said that I would also be the eyes and ears.”
In particular, Mr Pecker said that he would notify Cohen if he heard any negative stories relating to Trump and alleged relations with any women “because Mr Trump was well known as the most eligible bachelor and dated the most beautiful women”.
He added: “It was clear that, based on my past experience, that when someone was running for public office like this, it is very common for these women to call up magazines like the National Enquirer to try to sell their stories.”
The court heard of one such example where Mr Pecker paid $30,000 (£24,000) to buy a story about Trump allegedly fathering an illegitimate baby with a maid.
Mr Pecker said: “I immediately called Michael Cohen and told him exactly what I was told.
“I gave the name of the housekeeper in the penthouse and asked him to verify it first with the Trump Organisation payroll.”
Buying off negative press
Mr Pecker bought the story but said investigators found the story to be untrue and says Cohen told him it was “absolutely not true”.
He added: “I made the decision to buy the story because it could have been embarrassing to the campaign and Mr Trump.”
Hanging over today’s proceedings were allegations that Trump violated a gag order in social media posts and on his campaign website.
The gag order restricted Trump’s public speech on jurors, potential witnesses and some others involved in the case.
Prosecutors asked the judge to fine Trump $10,000 (£8,000) for ten online posts they say violated the order, but the judge hadn’t made a decision by the end of the day’s proceedings.
Political opponents targeted
However, alongside protecting Trump’s image, the court heard that Mr Pecker allegedly targeted his political opponents.
He said: “I would run a Hillary Clinton story as being the enabler to a womaniser.”
The prosecution asked: “Did you believe it helped Trump’s campaign?”
Mr Pecker told the court it was mutually beneficial because it led to newspaper sales and benefited Trump’s campaign.
The court was told that Mr Pecker’s publisher would also run stories about Trump’s Republican opponents “based on the success of some of the candidates”.
He added: “I would receive a call from Michael Cohen, and he would direct me and direct Dylan Howard which candidate and which direction we should go.”
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Also amid today’s proceedings, it emerged that Mr Pecker was one of the first people to encourage Trump to run for president.
In early 2015, Mr Pecker says he told Trump that 80% of the readership of the National Enquirer wanted him to run for president.
He received an invitation to the announcement that Trump would run, made in June 2015, which the court heard read: “No one deserves to be there more than you.”
More than 100 students and staff were arrested at New York University (NYU) last night as protests around the Israel-Hamas war reached a boiling point.
Recent days have seen an escalation of long-running largely pro-Palestinian protests in some of the country’s most prestigious educational establishments.
Protesters at NYU, Columbia and Yale have made various demands of their universities, including that they end their relationships with universities in Israel, take stronger action over the war and divest from military weapons manufacturers who have links to Israel.
It has led to growing tensions on campus which have become hotbeds for protest, as some Jewish students have said they have been left fearing for their safety.
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Mass demonstrations have swept US universities since the 7 October attacks by Hamas, and Israel’s responsewhich is reported to have killed over 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
Protests reached boiling point on Monday night as universities took action and police were called in.
At NYU, officers moved on the crowds shortly after they set the demonstration a 4pm deadline to disperse, and claimed that protesters were joined by people “whom we believe were not affiliated with NYU”.
Several tents had been set up in the plaza where many were protesting in. A group of pro-Israel counter-protesters had also been in the plaza Monday afternoon.
On Monday evening, a line of university staff members linked arms in front of the protesters to protect them from police before they were arrested and taken away themselves.
As demonstrators tussled with officers they chanted: “We will not stop, we will not rest. Disclose. Divest.”
Police appeared to use mace on protesters, with one student saying it was used “liberally”.
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A spokesperson for the NYPD confirmed that 120 people were taken into custody – 116 of whom were released with summonses for trespass, giving them a future date to appear before a judge or magistrate.
The remaining four were issued with desk appearance tickets for more serious offences – meaning they are required to appear at a criminal court on a future date.
NYPD deputy commissioner Kaz Daughtry said the university had requested for police to come to the campus, adding: “Our officers responded to the location without delay and dispersed the crowd – making numerous arrests, as necessary.”
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At Yale University in Connecticut, protests were reported to have grown to “include several hundred people – Yale undergraduates, graduate and professional students, and people with no Yale affiliation”, according to a statement from the university.
It added that the Yale Police Department issued summonses for 47 students.
Last week, more than 100 students at Columbia University in New York were arrested after the administration called to report the students as a danger to campus.
NYPD chief of patrol John Chell told the student newspaper there were no reports of violence or injuries and that the students were “peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever.”
Robert Kraft, a major donor to Columbia who is Jewish and the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, has threatened to pull his money from the university, saying: “I am not comfortable supporting the university until corrective action is taken.”
Pro-Palestinian protests have also been set up at the University of Michigan, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt.
The NYPD, NYU and Columbia have all been approached for comment.