• Capitol Christmas Tree en route to spruce up Washington holiday

    Courtesy of US Forest Service and CapitolChristmasTree2012.org

    The Capitol Christmas Tree is harvested Friday at the White River National Forest.

    By NBC News staff

    Updated at 9:30 a.m. ET Sunday: Christmas is on its way to the U.S. Capitol.


    The 73-foot Engelmann spruce that will serve as the official U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree was cut down Friday in Colorado’s White River National Forest, NBCWashington.com reported Saturday.

    A crane lifted "Colorado’s gift to the United States" through the air before setting it on a huge flatbed truck, NBCWashington.com reported. Crews will wrap it up and prepare it for a national tour.

    But first, according to CapitolChristmasTree2012.org, "The People's Tree" was getting a community sendoff in Meeker, Colo.

    US Forest Service and CapitolChristmasTree2012.org

    Capitol Christmas Tree celebrants sign a tree banner Saturday in Meeker, Colo., as "The People's Tree" at right awaits transport to Washington, D.C.

    Saturday festivities included a street fair, tree banner signing, visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, a formal presentation ceremony by the U.S. Forest Service, government officials and three Ute Indian tribes, young singers and a parade and fireworks.

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    Last week, the Colorado state Forest Service harvested 75 subalpine fir trees from the Colorado State Forest near Gould to accompany the Capitol Christmas Tree, the Herald Times of Rio Blanco County reported. The companion trees will spend the holidays in U.S. government offices, the Herald said.

    The Capitol Christmas Tree and companions will travel through 10 states on custom-decorated Mack Trucks before arriving in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 26. Santa will blog the whole way.

    The tree also has a Facebook page.

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  • Massachusetts man gets 17 years for plot to bomb Pentagon, Capitol with model planes

    A Massachusetts man was sentenced to 17 years for a plan to attack the Pentagon with remote-controlled model planes. WHDH's Christa Delcamp reports.

    By NBC News wire services

    BOSTON - A Massachusetts man was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday for a plot to attack the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol building in Washington with explosives loaded into remote-control model airplanes.


    Rezwan Ferdaus, who was arrested in September 2011 and pleaded guilty in July to terrorism-related charges in a deal with prosecutors, told the court he had devoted a lot of time to self-reflection while in jail awaiting sentencing and that he accepted his fate.

    The 26-year-old was arrested after an FBI sting operation in which he requested and took delivery of plastic explosives, three grenades and six assault rifles from undercover FBI agents who he believed were members of the al-Qaida network.

    Ferdaus, a Muslim who has a physics degree from Northeastern University, delivered a long, soft-spoken statement in which he offered no apology for his actions but thanked his family and friends for supporting him.

    He spoke of "a world filled with injustices," but also said "no dehumanization can serve as justification for inhumanity in other places."

    The 17-year sentence, which also includes 10 years of supervised release, was the result of a July plea agreement worked out between his attorneys and prosecutors.

    Read more Security stories from NBC News

    Ferdaus pleaded guilty to charges of attempting to destroy and damage a federal building and attempting to provide material support to terrorists. Prosecutors dropped four other counts that could have raised the total possible sentence to 35 years.

    Before approving the sentence, Stearns told Ferdaus that he was impressed by his self-reflection.

    USAMA via AFP - Getty Images

    A remote-control model of a 1950s U.S. Navy Sabre jet fighter that prosecutors said belonged to Rezwan Ferdaus is seen in this undated photo released by the United States Attorney's Office District of Massachusetts.

    "You don't need any lecture from me. Your statement convinces me that you have the character and the capacity to search your own soul," Stearns said. "I'm going to leave it to you to finish that journey."

    Parents: Depression led to mental illness
    In a letter to Judge Richard Stearns, Ferdaus' parents, Showket and Anamaria Ferdaus, said he slipped into a depression during his senior year at Northeastern, which led to mental illness that was "obviously visible" to his family since late 2009.

    They said they tried to get him to see a doctor but he would not.

    "We took a very cautious approach. After all, he was over 18 and we could not force him to see a doctor. That is the American way. We felt helpless," they wrote in their letter.

    Islamist leader jailed for inciting deadly attack on US Embassy in Tunisia

    Ferdaus' attorney, Miriam Conrad, told reporters after the hearing that her client had shown no interest in terrorism before FBI investigators approached him.

    "There was no evidence ever produced that Mr. Ferdaus sought out contact with any outside groups before the government became involved or even after the government became involved," Conrad said.

    'Wanted to become a terrorist'
    Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Pirozzolo disagreed.

    "He was a person who decided that he wanted to become a terrorist," Pirozzolo said, adding that before the FBI investigation began, Ferdaus had tried to obtain weapons illegally from an area gun shop and performed surveillance on a train station in his hometown of Ashland, Massachusetts.

    "Those events predated the undercover operation that unfolded here," Pirozzolo said.

    NYT: The case of the biker, the jihadist and the 'terrorist bride'

    Ferdaus planned to carry out the attacks on the Pentagon, located in Arlington, Virginia, and the Capitol using a scale model of a U.S. Navy F-86 Saber fighter jet about the size of a picnic table, which he kept in a storage locker in suburban Boston, authorities said.

    Authorities said the public was never in danger from the explosives, which they said were always under the control of federal officials.

    The government had alleged that Ferdaus told undercover agents of his plans to commit acts of violence against the United States by "decapitating" its "military center" and killing "kafirs," an Arabic term meaning non-believers.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Would-be model plane bomber Ferdaus admits plan to attack Pentagon, Capitol

    Reuters / U.S. Department of Justice / Handout

    Rezwan Ferdaus, a Massachusetts man who allegedly plotted to fly explosives-packed model planes into the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol, has reignited concern about the risk of a home-grown militant attack in the United States.

    By NBC News wire services

    BOSTON, Mass. -- The Massachusetts man charged with plotting to attack the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol with remote-controlled model airplanes filled with explosives entered a guilty plea in a Boston federal court on Friday.

    Rezwan Ferdaus told a packed courtroom, including his distraught family members, that he would accept the plea deal for a 17-year prison term that was hammered out by his attorneys and prosecutors this month.

    Ferdaus' mother sobbed as her son was led away by U.S. Marshals at the end of the hearing.

    The charges against Ferdaus had carried a potential combined sentence of 35 years in prison. Sentencing will take place on November 1.

    Ferdaus, 26, of Ashland, Massachusetts, pled guilty to attempting to destroy and damage a federal building, and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.

    Reuters / U.S. Department of Justice / Handout

    A scale model of a U.S. Navy F-86 Sabre fighter plane in photo released by the U.S. Justice Department after being submitted to U.S. District Court in Massachusetts as part of a criminal complaint and affidavit filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Boston, September 28, 2011.

    He initially pleaded not guilty to a total of six charges after his arrest in September 2011. Authorities dropped four charges in exchange for the guilty plea.

    After entering his guilty plea, Ferdaus tried to lean over to comfort his crying mother but was quickly pulled away by U.S. Marshals. She sobbed uncontrollably and had to be supported by family members as her son was led out of the courtroom.

    Ferdaus was arrested after an FBI investigation during which he requested and took delivery of plastic explosives, three grenades and six assault rifles from undercover FBI agents that he believed were members of al-Qaida.

    At the time of his arrest, the physics graduate from Boston's Northeastern University had obtained one remote-controlled aircraft, a scale model of a U.S. Navy F-86 Sabre fighter jet about the size of a picnic table.

    He kept the model in a storage locker in suburban Boston rented under the name "Dave Winfield."

    Plan to 'decapitate' U.S. military center
    Authorities said the public was never in danger from the explosives and weaponry, which they said were always under the control of federal officials during the sting operation.

    The government had alleged that Ferdaus told undercover agents of his plans to commit acts of violence against the United States by "decapitating" its "military center" and killing "kafirs," an Arabic term meaning non-believers.


    Prosecutors said Ferdaus began planning jihad, or holy war, against the United States in 2010 after becoming convinced through jihadi websites and videos that America was evil. He later contacted a federal informant and began meeting to discuss the plot with undercover agents.

    Counterterrorism experts and model-aircraft enthusiasts say it would be nearly impossible to inflict large-scale damage using model planes.

    But both inside and outside court Friday, prosecutors described an elaborate plan they said Ferdaus was committed to carrying out.

    Assistant District Attorney Stephanie Siegmann said that if the case had gone to trial, prosecutors would have used recordings on which Ferdaus is heard detailing the plot.

    Siegmann said there were two main parts of his plan: to blow up the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol using remote-controlled planes and to kill American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan using improvised explosive devices detonated by modified cellphones.

    The planes, measuring 60 to 80 inches in length and capable of speeds greater than 100 mph, would be guided by GPS and packed with 5 pounds each of plastic explosives.

    Siegmann said Ferdaus traveled to Washington, D.C., to scout out his targets and later gave the undercover agents surveillance photos and maps. She said Ferdaus told them his plan "ought to terrorize" and "ought to result in the downfall of this entire disgusting place."

    Siegmann said Ferdaus modified 12 cellphones so they could act as an electrical switch for an IED.

    After giving the first device to the undercover agents, the agents lied and told him it had been used in Iraq and killed three U.S. soldiers.

    Siegmann said Ferdaus was "visibly excited" to learn his device had been used successfully and said, "That was exactly what I wanted."

    Ferdaus told Judge Richard Stearns that he was being treated for mild depression and anxiety before he was arrested and is now taking anti-anxiety medication.

    During an earlier court hearing, Ferdaus' lawyers suggested that the FBI ignored signs of mental illness in Ferdaus while investigating him. An FBI agent acknowledged that the FBI had received reports about bizarre behavior by Ferdaus, including a report to Hopkinton police about one incident in which authorities say he stood in the road not moving and appeared to have wet his pants.

    When asked Friday whether Ferdaus' mental health was taken into account when making the 17-year sentencing recommendation, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Pirozzolo cited Ferdaus' composed responses to the judge's questions and the judge's comment that Ferdaus is "obviously an intelligent and well-educated young man."

    "He answered clearly; he was lucid," Pirozzolo said.

    Siegmann said the defense didn't request a mental examination. 

    Ferdaus is a Muslim born and raised in Massachusetts to parents of Bangladeshi descent.

    Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Congressional office buildings hit by rash of thefts

    By NBC News' Luke Russert

    Cash, signed historical objects, computer equipment and other expensive electronics have been stolen in a rash of break-ins and thefts at some House office buildings, sources tell NBC News.


    Nothing stolen jeopardizes national security, the sources say. There was no information on which offices were targeted, and no suspects have been named.

    But the thefts are annoying for House members: Under House rules, members can be stuck with paying to replace stolen items from their office budgets. Many feel that's unfair, saying that security is the job of the Capitol police, not their office personnel.

    In a statement, the Capitol police said it was investigating the break-ins.

    Watch the most-viewed videos on msnbc.com

    On Thursday, the House Administration Committee issued a letter telling members how to seek relief from liability for stolen items:

    Dear Colleague:

    In response to the recent reports of theft occurring around the Capitol Complex, the Committee on House Administration would like to assure Member offices that the United States Capitol Police (USCP) has taken immediate action to increase surveillance and police patrol activity throughout the House office buildings. 

    To assist the Capitol Police in their efforts, the Committee asks that all offices remain vigilant and immediately report any suspicious activity to the USCP Criminal Investigations Section .... 

    Additionally, the Committee requests that offices immediately report stolen items to the USCP House Division at x5-0400.

    If House equipment has been stolen from your congressional office, you may seek relief from personal liability for the item(s) by submitting a request to the Committee with a copy of the police report.  Please note that Members are not subject to personal reimbursement liability or fees if granted a waiver.

    If you have additional questions related to the procedures for stolen items, please do not hesitate to contact the Committee ....

    Sincerely, Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA)Rep. Robert Brady (D-PA)

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  • Connecticut Senate votes to repeal state's death penalty

    State Senators in Connecticut voted 20-16 on Thursday in favor of repealing the death penalty. WVIT's Liz Dalhem reports.

    By Miranda Leitsinger, Staff Writer, NBC News

    Updated at 10:00 a.m. ET: With the Connecticut Senate voting early Thursday to repeal the death penalty, the state is poised to become the fifth in five years to end the practice.

    Legislative action was delayed last year amid the high-profile prosecution of a death penalty case involving a brutal home invasion that left a mother and her two daughters dead. But after a debate that stretched into the early morning hours Thursday, the Senate voted 20-16 to approve legislation that would replace the death penalty with life without parole.

    “Connecticut’s criminal justice system has taken a historic step forward. In a system of justice that is no(t) perfect, we must not employ a penalty that requires perfection. The punishment of life in prison without the possibility of release makes more sense,” Senate President Donald E. Williams, Jr., a Democrat, said in a statement. “These inmates will face conditions that are similar to and in some cases more severe than conditions on death row. It is a punishment and sentence that is certain and final.”

    The bill will now head to the House of Representatives, where observers say it is likely to pass. Gov. Daniel Malloy has said he would sign the legislation because it is forward looking, and not retroactive to those already sitting on death row.

    Senate leadership held a press conference at the Capitol Wednesday ahead of the vote, with families of murder victims joining them. Senate Republican opponents organized their own news conference, which was attended by the lone survivor of the home invasion case in Cheshire and families of other murder victims.

    “For those who say that we should execute those 11 (currently on death row) but none going further, the only way to keep that promise … is to keep our death penalty law,” Republican State Sen. John McKinney said. “I also think we need to talk about the message it sends that some who murder viciously the families in Connecticut should face the death penalty but others should not. Are we … saying that those families and the lives of those victims are somehow less important? For me, that is a wrong and terrible message to send.”

    A recent Quinnipiac University poll found that the state's voters are against repealing the death penalty by a margin of 62 percent to 31 percent. A 2011 poll showed that 48 percent of those surveyed preferred the death penalty over life in prison with no chance of parole (43 percent) in first-degree murder cases.

    "As we've seen in past Quinnipiac University polls, Connecticut voters still think abolishing the death penalty is a bad idea," said Douglas Schwartz, poll director. "No doubt the gruesome Cheshire murders still affect public opinion regarding convicts on death row."

    AP Photo/Jessica Hill

    Episcopal Bishops Laura Ahrens, left, and Bishop Ian Douglas rally at the state Capitol with religious leaders who oppose the death penalty in Hartford, Conn., on Tuesday.

    'Clear trend'
    If the legislation passes the House and is signed by the governor, Connecticut would be the fifth state in five years to repeal the death penalty, joining 16 others that have no capital punishment. California voters will decide in November whether to also do away with it.

    “This was a courageous and historic vote, but it was also in line with a growing trend away from the death penalty around the country. Connecticut’s legislature has come to the same conclusion that other legislatures have recently made: the death penalty is too risky, too expensive, and too unfair to continue," Richard Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), said in a statement.

    A bill to repeal Connecticut's death penalty passed in 2009, but then Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed it. Last year, the bill made it through the joint House and Senate Judiciary Committee. But it died before a full Senate vote after a few senators withdrew their support because a second man charged in the Cheshire home invasion case was about to go on trial, said Ben Jones, executive director of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty.

    But it is now possible to have the death penalty debate not amid the “heated nature of a capital trial," so "people are able to think about it more at a systematic level,” said Shari Silberstein, executive director of Equal Justice USA.

    Joshua Komisarjevsky and Steven Hayes were convicted in the 2007 Cheshire killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley, 17, and Michaela, 11. The girls were tied to their beds and doused in gasoline before the house was set ablaze; they died of smoke inhalation; their mother was strangled.

    George Ruhe / AP

    Authorities outside the home of Dr. William Petit, a noted specialist in diabetes, in Cheshire, Conn., on Monday July 23, 2007. Intruders broke into his home, held the family hostage and killed his wife and two daughters.

    The lone survivor of the invasion, Dr. William A. Petit Jr., along with his sister, Johanna Petit-Chapman, oppose the repeal.

    “We believe in the death penalty because we believe it is really the only true just punishment for certain heinous and depraved murders. One thing you never hear the abolitionists talk about is the victims, almost never, the forgotten people. The people who died and can’t be heard to speak for themselves,” Petit said at a press conference. “I think prospective (not retroactive) repeal of the death penalty is false. There’ll be multiple appeals for people already on death row.”

    Williams, the Senate president, said before the vote that similar legislation has withstood judicial reviews.

    "We're very respectful of those who are in favor of the death penalty," he said. "Yet those folks who have already been convicted and are serving under the prior rules of conviction do not have their sentences altered."

    If the legislation becomes law, it would apply to capital offenses committed on or after the effective date of the act. It creates new conditions for those convicted of “murder with special circumstances” -- previously capital crimes -- including being moved to a new cell every 90 days and only having two hours a day out of their cell.

    There are 11 inmates on Connecticut's death row. The state has carried out one execution since 1976. Connecticut’s Office of Fiscal Analysis estimated that the state spends $5 million a year on the death penalty system, according to the DPIC.

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  • Police arrest 68 people protesting education cuts inside Calif. state capitol

    Police carry one of the dozens of protesters arrested inside the state capitol in Sacramento, California, on Monday.

    By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

    SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- A day of boisterous protests over cuts to higher education that included thousands of students swarming the state Capitol ended with dozens of arrests after demonstrators refused to leave the building.

    Authorities on Monday evening arrested 68 people, most of whom will be charged with trespassing, the California Highway Patrol said. Four people were arrested earlier in the day.

    Police started pulling out protesters who remained in the Capitol rotunda around 7:30 p.m. (10:30 p.m. ET), more than an hour after they began warning them with a bullhorn to leave. 

    NBC Sacramento reported that some protesters identified themselves as being part of the Occupy Sacramento group.

    Protesters chanted "We're doing this for your kids," as one by one they were lifted by the arms, handcuffed with plastic ties, and led away.

    Students angry over steep tuition increases and fewer courses at California's public universities and colleges waved signs and chanted, "They say cut back; we say fight back."

    Tuition has nearly doubled in the past five years, to $13,000 for resident undergraduates at University of California schools and to $6,400 at California State University schools. Community college fees are set to rise to $46 per unit by this summer, up from $20 per unit in 2007.

    Democratic lawmakers addressed the group and lamented the deep cuts to higher education they have made in recent years.

    "We were expecting to have a good future, but things are looking uncertain for a lot of families," said Alison Her, 19, a nursing student at California State University, Fresno. "I'm the oldest in my family, and I want my siblings to be able to go to college, too."

    Public schools 'eroded year after year'
    After the rally, hundreds of students lined up to enter the Capitol and filled conference rooms and hallways inside. Some met with lawmakers to lobby for increased funding for higher education, while others headed for the rotunda.

    CHP officers allowed several hundred students to settle on the black and white marble floor of the rotunda before all four hallway entrances to the area were blocked. Another hundred students sat down in a hallway, communicating with fellow protesters by call and response, in a manner characteristic of the Occupy movement, The Daily Californian reported.

    Several lawmakers watched from a second-floor balcony as the protesters were later arrested.

    Outside the Capitol, hundreds of protesters who had lingered into the evening disbursed after the arrested protesters were taken away in vans. Officers in riot gear guarded the underground exits where they were taken out.

    Earlier in the day, three women were arrested for disobeying an officer's order after trying to unfurl a banner on the second floor. A man was arrested outside the building for being in possession of a switchblade knife, the CHP said.

    Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement that the protest highlights the need for California voters to approve a tax increase he has proposed for the November ballot.

    "The students today are reflecting the frustrations of millions of Californians who have seen their public schools and universities eroded year after year," said Brown, a Democrat. "That's why it's imperative that we get more tax revenue this November."

    Brown's initiative would fund education and public safety programs by temporarily raising income taxes on people who make more than $250,000 a year and temporarily increasing the sales tax by half a cent.

    The University of California Student Association has endorsed a rival initiative that would tax millionaires and earmark the revenue for education. The California Federation of Teachers and state PTA support that initiative.

    Buses brought hundreds of students in for Monday's march from as far away as the University of California, Riverside, 450 miles south of Sacramento.

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    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

  • Would-be suicide bomber at US Capitol arrested in sting operation, authorities say

    Investigators say the man accused of plotting to bomb the U.S. Capitol never had any explosives. NBC's Pete Williams reports.

    By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

    Updated at 5:31 p.m. ET: WASHINGTON — The FBI and Capitol police arrested a man who thought he was going to carry out a suicide bombing Friday at the U.S. Capitol as part of a larger al-Qaida terror campaign but who was in fact dealing with undercover operatives, federal officials told NBC News.

    The man, Amine El Khalifi, 29, a Moroccan who has been living in the U.S. for 12 years, was arrested about noon ET near the Capitol after he received what he thought was a MAC-10 automatic weapon and a vest packed with explosives from people he believed were supporters of al-Qaida, sources told NBC News. In fact, the gun was disabled, the vest had inert material and the people were FBI agents.

    "At no time was the public or congressional community in any danger," Capitol Police said in a statement.

    As outlined in a Justice Department press release, El Khalifi was charged with attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction against property that is owned and used by the United States. The office of the U.S. attorney for Eastern Virginia said he could face life in prison if convicted. 

    The Associated Press, quoting a counterterrorism official, reported that police were close to arresting an associate of El Khalifi's on charges unrelated to the conspiracy. Like El Khalifi, the associate was said to be a Moroccan living in the U.S. illegally.

    James McJunkin, assistant director of the FBI's Washington field office, stressed that El Khalifi allegedly "followed a twisted, radical ideology that is not representative of the Muslim community in the United States." 

    Yearlong investigation
    The criminalcomplaint alleges that a confidential source told the FBI that El Khalifi attended a meeting on Jan. 11, 2011, in Arlington, Va. — a suburb of Washington — where one of the participants produced an AK-47 assault rifle, two revolvers and ammunition. The informer said El Khalifi agreed that the "war on terrorism" was a "war on Muslims" and said the group needed to be ready for war.

    On Dec. 1, El Khalifi was introduced by a man he knew as "Hussien" to a man he knew as "Yusuf," who was actually an undercover law enforcement officer. Through December and January, El Khalifi plotted a bombing attack, the complaint alleges, proposing U.S. military offices, a synagogue, Army generals and a restaurant frequented by military officials as targets, it says.

    The complaint says El Khalifi "indicated his desire" to "kill people face-to-face," conducted surveillance to determine the best time and place for the bombing and bought materials as part of the operation.

    El Khalifi understood that his attack would be part of a larger al-Qaida operation that would include his bombing and a second attack against a military installation by others in al-Qaida, according to the charges.

    The crucial turn came on Jan. 15, when El Khalifi announced  that he had changed his plans and wanted to carry out a suicide bombing at the Capitol, according to the complaint, which said that as part of the sting, El Khalifi "detonated" what he believed was a real bomb at a quarry in West Virginia, using a cell phone as the trigger. He said he wanted a bigger explosion and chose Friday as the day of the operation, according to the affidavit.

    Over the next month, El Khalifi conducted surveillance of the Capitol Building and asked "Hussien" to remotely detonate the bomb he would be wearing if he was stopped by security, it alleges.

    Jonathan Dienst of WNBC in New York contributed to this report by NBC News justice correspondent Pete Williams and M. Alex Johnson of msnbc.com. Follow M. Alex Johnson on Twitter and Facebook.

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