Welcome to WHAT NOW, a morning round-up of the news/fresh horrors that await you today.
Christopher Cantwell, the neo-Nazi who posted a weepy video saying he feared for his life after openly threatening the lives of counter-protesters at the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, has turned himself into the police to face felony charges.
Police at the University of Virginia had issued a warrant for Cantwell’s arrest for his role in the recent Unite the Right rally. He now faces three felony charges, CNN reported: two counts of illegal use of tear gas and one count of malicious bodily injury with a caustic substance. Cantwell turned himself into police in Lynchburg, VA, police said in a statement late Wednesday.
Cantwell was featured in a widely watched Vice News documentary about the far-right event, where he smugly said he’d prefer Donald Trump if he was “a lot more racist” and promised, “we’ll fucking kill these [counter-protesters] if we have to.” Thirty-two-year-old Heather Heyer, who was one of thousands of counter-protesters who turned out to the August 12 event, did end up being killed when a car plowed into the crowd.
In videos of the rally, Cantwell can be seen chanting “Jews will not replace us” and “white lives matter” with fellow white supremacists.
WHAT ELSE?
- After President Donald Trump appeared to change military policy regarding transgender troops in a series of tweets late last month, the White House is getting closer to making those directives a reality.
- In RUSSIA news: A newly unearthed email from Rick Dearborn, who’s now Trump’s deputy chief of staff, relayed an effort to set up a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. It’s not clear if that meeting ever happened, and neither the White House or Dearborn are commenting.
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