Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

Trump's radical and violent cult is threatening the life of another person. 

Man behind J6 documentary needs 'two armed guards' due to Trump supporters' threats: BBC

Documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, whose film "Unprecedented" examines the final days of former President Donald Trump's White House, revealed this week that he needs armed security guards due to threats from Trump supporters.

In an interview with the BBC, Holder said that he's been getting multiple subpoena requests ever since he was called to testify earlier this month before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots.

"Well, my life changed about a week ago and I now literally have two armed guards outside this studio right now that follow me around everywhere," Holder told the BBC.

He then elaborated on accusations he's faced from conspiracy-minded Trump supporters.

"According to some, I’m an undercover FBI agent," he said. "Some think I’m an MI6 spy, and there’s all sorts of conspiracies and threats that are coming through."

Fellow Jan. 6 committee witness Cassidy Hutchinson has also received significant security due to threats she's faced ever since giving explosive testimony about the twice-impeached former president's actions before, during, and after the Capitol riots.

Watch video in link below:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-61986714

[Rick Plant]

Trump admin official: Return of mysterious conspiracy theorist could threaten the life of J6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson



The targeting of Jan. 6 star witness Cassidy Hutchinson by the mysterious internet account behind the QAnon conspiracy theory could pose a threat to her safety, a former deputy director of the FBI told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday

"Well, another person lining up against Cassidy Hutchinson is the online poster, q, whose completely absurd posts, which would be laughably cryptic and are actually never accurate are at the heart of the movement," CNN's Anderson Cooper reported. "After 18 months of silence, the Q account is back and on Wednesday, it aimed its conspiracies towards Hutchinson."

"It's really too stupid to even show the posts of this Q person, but they contain numerous cryptic questions and ended with asking who is Cassidy Hutchinson? And 'trust the plan,' which is a common Q catchphrase. the q stuff would be funny if it didn't have real-world consequences, the FBI says it's arrested more than 20 people involved in Capitol riots who said they followed Qanon."

Cooper replayed an interview with a former member of the cult who thought he himself was "worshipping Satan, drinking the blood of children" after the CNN anchor was mentioned by Q.

For analysis, Cooper interviewed former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

"Andrew, what is the significance of Q mentioning Hutchinson and what could be, do you think, the real-world consequences?" Cooper asked.

McCabe said, "There is no significance to the post beyond the fact that he included her name specifically. It's not because he said anything logical or factual, it's just the existence of her name in that post turns her into a target for people who ascribe to these beliefs."

He said the fact her name was listed is "very, very damaging to her in terms of the attention it will bring who believe in, who knows which of the Qanon conspiracies."

"And so if you toss this young woman's name into that conversation, into that froth, you run the risk that someone who is following these things and who's projecting their own rage and their dissatisfaction about whatever it is in life they're mad about is going to attach her to that and one of those people, maybe more than one, might decide to take the matter into their own hands and resort to an act of violence in the exact same way that the young man from North Carolina did about the nonsense around Comet Ping-Pong Pizza, the pizza restaurant here in Washington, D.C. when he had been digesting this material, got in his car, drove to D.C. on a Sunday with an AR-15 intending to shoot up the place."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

'More than a dozen' Trump allies offered free legal services by key political action committee



On Thursday, The New York Times reported that "more than a dozen" of former President Donald Trump's allies are being offered a free ride on legal fees by a key political action committee associated with the former president, as the January 6 Committee's investigation continues to probe the events of the Capitol attack.

"The arrangement drew new scrutiny this week after Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide in his White House, made an explosive appearance before the House panel, providing damning new details about Mr. Trump’s actions and statements on the day of the deadly riot," reported Luke Broadwater, Maggie Haberman, Annie Karni, and Alan Feuer. "She did so after firing a lawyer who had been recommended to her by two of Mr. Trump’s former aides and paid for by his political action committee, and hiring new counsel. Under the representation of the new lawyer, Jody Hunt, Ms. Hutchinson sat for a fourth interview with the committee in which she divulged more revelations and agreed to come forward publicly to testify to them."

According to the report, it is unclear whether firing the Trump-recommended counsel cleared the way for Hutchinson to testify — although some members of the committee are suspicious that that is what happened.

"According to financial disclosures, in May alone, Mr. Trump’s 'Save America' political action committee paid about $200,000 to law firms," said the report. "That including $75,000 to JPRowley Law, which represents Cleta Mitchell, a pro-Trump lawyer who has filed suit to try to block the committee’s subpoena, and $50,000 to Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White, which has represented Stephen K. Bannon, a close ally of the former president who refused to meet with the panel and has been charged with criminal contempt."

"It was not immediately clear whether those payments were for covering legal fees connected to the Jan. 6 inquiry, but people familiar with the matter said the PAC has paid for the representation of several former officials and aides in the investigation, including some high-profile ones such as Stephen Miller, who served as a senior adviser to Mr. Trump," the report noted.

Hutchinson gave bombshell testimony in a surprise interview earlier this week, including that Trump knew the rioters were armed and demanded they be allowed to march to the Capitol anyway because "they're not here to hurt me," and that the former president got into a physical altercation with a Secret Service agent after being told he couldn't visit the scene of the riot. Another Trump official, Tony Ornato, has denied this sequence of events, although other officials have accused him of a track record of dishonesty.

Read More Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/30/us/trump-jan-6-lawyers-witness-pressure.html

[Rick Plant]

Trump World prepping for 'worst-case scenarios' as investigations expand on multiple fronts: legal expert



MSNBC chief legal correspondent Ari Melber reported on Thursday that Donald Trump's political and legal operations are preparing for "worst-case scenarios" as investigations expand.

"We are tracking news in the insurrection probe with further fallout and cracks after that blockbuster testimony against Trump has really ricocheted around the nation. the testimony linked trump to the violence of that coup attempt, turbocharging Trumpworld anxieties as they prep for even worst-case scenarios," Melber reported.

"And there are more and more dominos falling on the right pause because of the power of this factual evidence.Take the Republican prosecutor we have cited before, Andrew McCarthy. He's a Fox News favorite who wrote a whole book defending Trump in the Mueller probe and accusing others of pushing the real collusion, which is one reason he is on Fox quite a bit and has a huge conservative legal following," he explained.

"He says, when you look at the evidence, as a criminal-legal matter, it is devastating against Trump and that the new evidence in that hearing makes a big difference. He is saying this in public and this week he is now emphasizing that really as far as he is concerned, for the first time, there is now direct evidence showing Trump committed crimes, and backed violence," Melber said.

Melber said it did not look like any of the investigations were winding down.

"So take it all together and what do you see coming in view? This is not the sign of some random kind of Washington process that is just winding down. The committee is not acting like that, the witness aren't acting like that, the Justice Department is not acting like that as it seizes phones and raids homes," Melber said.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Alberto Gonzales says DOJ must investigate Trump for at least 3 specific crimes

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales specified multiple potential crimes committed by Donald Trump that should be investigated by Merrick Garland, the man who currently holds his old job.

Gonzales, the Dean of Belmont University College of Law, was interviewed on Thursday afternoon by CNN's Jake Tapper.

Tapper noted a speech Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) gave on Wednesday evening at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

"The reality we face today as Republicans, as we think about the choice in front of us, we have to choose, because Republicans cannot be loyal to both Donald Trump and to the Constitution at this moment," Cheney said.

"Do you agree?" Tapper asked. "Do you see it that way?"

"I think that that is a very accurate statement, quite frankly," Gonzales replied.

He went on to say, "I believe that the Department is going to move forward with a more serious investigation now that this new information and there may be some indictments."

Tapper pushed him on which crimes may result in indictments.

"Have you seen evidence or at least possible evidence that leads you to wonder whether Donald Trump committed a crime?" Tapper asked. "And if so, which crime?"

"Yeah, I think that if you can tie him -- he knew about -- he knew the crowd was dangerous, he encouraged the crowd to go to the Capitol and he knew the crowd was armed, and he knew that the purpose of the -- what was going on in Congress, which was to certify the Electoral College count, and yeah, I think one might make the argument that there is certainly the beginnings of a case full of seditious conspiracy, obstruction of Congress," Gonzales replied. "So there are some things there that I think the attorney general will look at, along with witness tampering."

"So there is a lot there, Jake," he added.

Watch video below:

[Rick Plant]

'Complicit in everything': Questions raised about Jim Jordan after Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony



In a column noting the continuing interference Republican Party members are running for Donald Trump as the Jan 6th Committee exposes more evidence of the former president's links to the Capitol insurrection, political scientist Jeffrey C. Isaac from Indiana University, Bloomington, singled out Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) as the man who could be the key to more information about that day's events.

While Jordan has demurred when asked to testify under oath before the committee, Isaac said his participation is even more critical after comments made by Cassidy Hutchinson during her bombshell appearance on national TV where she kept referring to him as "Jim."

Posing the question, "Was it merely the excessive anger and violence that boiled over? Were they [GOP lawmakers] basically onboard with Eastman’s legalistic fantasies that the Electoral College vote count might might be obstructed with only a minimum of disruption and violence?" he pointed the finger at the controversial Ohio Republican who is in line to the chair of the House Judiciary Committee if the GOP takes the House in November.

"There was a moment in Hutchinson’s testimony when this question briefly sprang into view. She commented that 'Jim' had been trying to reach Meadows by phone as the Capitol was being breached. 'Jim' was Representative Jim Jordan, one of the more notable Trumpists in Congress. The substance of the conversations between Jordan and the White House remains unknown, because Jordan has refused to cooperate with the committee," he wrote before making his case.

'"Jim' was one of the most violent and adamant promoters of Trump’s Big Lie," he accused. "After the violence of Jan. 6th subsided, Jim led the effort on the floor of the Senate to delay and obstruct the counting of the Electoral Votes, and was perhaps the most vocal and visible of the 147 Congressional Republicans who voted to overturn Biden’s victory.

Jim was as vociferous in his opposition to Trump’s second impeachment as he was to Trump’s first impeachment."

Adding, "In the months since Joe Biden’s inauguration, Jim has waged a relentless rhetorical war against the Democratic party and promised that if the Republicans retake the House in November, he will use his position as incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to organize a series of public hearings to investigate the Bidens, hearings that would surely make the Benghazi inquisition of Hillary Clinton in 2015 seem like a picnic," he suggested, "Perhaps it is the case that as the violent mob approached his position, 'Jim' was frantically trying to convince Mark Meadows to get Trump to do something to prevent the crowd from assaulting him and his friends. Or perhaps not."

"But whatever the case it hardly matters, because 'Jim' was innocent of nothing and complicit in everything that transpired that day," he concluded.

You can read more here:

https://www.thebulwark.com/keep-your-eyes-on-the-prize-defeating-trumpism/

[Rick Plant]

Secret Service stories about Trump demanding to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 have been circulating for over a year: report



According to sources speaking to CNN, then-President Donald Trump demanded to go to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 ahead of the riot and berated Secret Service agents when they refused his request.

The sources say circulating rumors about the incident were similar to the testimony given to the Jan. 6 committee from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who said she heard a story about how Trump allegedly lunged at a Secret Service agent and tried to grab hold the steering wheel of the presidential vehicle.

The details reportedly differ, but the sources say they were told that an angry confrontation did occur. The source, a longtime Secret Service employee, said the agents described Trump as "demanding" and that he said something similar to: "I'm the f***ing President of the United States, you can't tell me what to do."

"He had sort of lunged forward -- it was unclear from the conversations I had that he actually made physical contact, but he might have. I don't know," the source said. "Nobody said Trump assaulted him; they said he tried to lunge over the seat -- for what reason, nobody had any idea."

The source says the story has been circulating since February of last year. Other stories about Trump breaking and throwing things during fits of anger circulated as well.

In a blockbuster appearance before the House committee investigating last year's attack on the US Capitol, Hutchinson delivered what opponents hope will be the evidence needed to run Trump out of town.

"This is the smoking gun," Sol Wisenberg, a former deputy to Bill Clinton impeachment investigator Ken Starr, told The New York Times of Hutchinson's testimony.

"There isn't any question this establishes a prima facie case for his criminal culpability on seditious conspiracy charges."

Trump and his allies have sought to discredit her testimony.

The New Jersey native had honed her interest in the business of government, studying for a political science degree in Virginia before interning for senior Republicans in Congress.

Hutchinson took a role at the White House's legislative affairs office and was promoted to be the principal aide to Meadows in March 2020, allocated a desk just a few steps from the Oval Office.

Working daily with lawmakers and White House officials at all levels, she was "in a position to know a great deal about the happenings in the White House," committee chair Liz Cheney said in her introduction.

Trump took to his Truth Social app, to fire off a 12-post rant dismissing Hutchinson as low-level and calling her a "total phony."

But several of her former colleagues vouched for her, arguing she was perfectly placed to report on activity at the very top.

Alyssa Farah Griffin, the White House director of strategic communications in Trump's final year in office, told CNN that Hutchinson was on a first-name basis with most members of congressional leadership.

"She would text with them. So she's seen everything," Farah Griffin said. "She's been in so many rooms."

AFP