1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice, will speak with the House Jan. 6 panel



Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, has agreed to speak to the House select committee leading the probe into the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

The agreement has been confirmed by an attorney for Ginni Thomas and a source familiar with the committee's discussions who was not authorized to speak on the record.

The plan to interview Thomas was announced shortly after the committee confirmed it will hold another public hearing next Wednesday, Sept. 28.

Committee members have previously suggested that any interview with Thomas might be held behind closed doors. And with the panel aiming to hold their last investigative presentation next week, it's possible they could speak with her after that date.

The committee had asked to interview Thomas about her communications with lawyer John Eastman, who was part of a campaign pushing then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject the 2020 election results during Congress' count of the Electoral College votes.

Her attorney Mark Paoletta released a written statement saying, "I can confirm that Ginni Thomas has agreed to participate in a voluntary interview with the Committee. As she has said from the outset, Mrs. Thomas is eager to answer the Committee's questions to clear up any misconceptions about her work relating to the 2020 election. She looks forward to that opportunity."

The next hearing could wrap up the panel's public presentations

That session is now set for next week on Wednesday, Sept. 28, at 1 p.m. ET. This comes after the panel wrapped up blockbuster hearings earlier this summer focused on former President Donald Trump's role in the siege.

Committee members have said the hearing will cover new evidence that the panel has not yet shared with the public.

California Democratic Rep. Pete Aguilar, a member of the panel, said it could cover new evidence relating to Pence.

"There's new information that we've received since our hearings that is helpful to our investigation and we look forward to sharing what's appropriate," Aguilar told NPR. "We still feel ... it would make the most sense for the former vice president come speak with us and we're still hopeful that that can happen. But we feel there's information still worth sharing and we plan to do that next week."

Politico first reported that Pence could figure largely in next week's hearing.

The panel had previously been in talks with Pence's team to appear before the panel, but for months had not secured a deal for his testimony.

Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson earlier on Wednesday told reporters that the hearing will be similar in length to previous hearings.

"It will probably be about two hours like the others and each member will have an appropriate role in the process," Thompson said.

Thompson has previously predicted the panel will release a final report by year end and is weighing whether to release an interim report in the meantime.

A landmark in the committee's work

Another committee member, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., described the member participation for next week's hearing as "an all hands on deck effort."

"People can expect to see new findings that we have come into possession of since we suspended over a month ago," Raskin told reporters on Wednesday.

Raskin added that members of the panel are preparing for the hearing but also focused on the report they will release about their investigation.

"Fundamentally our job is to deliver a report to Congress and to the American people about the nature of this, an attack on our democracy and why it happened and what we need to do to fortify ourselves against [in the] future," he said.

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/21/1124388911/house-jan-6-hearing-set-final

[Rick Plant]

'It's terrifying': J6 Twitter whistleblower reveals identity despite risk of violence

The whistleblower who testified about Donald Trump's Twitter account before the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol revealed her identity on Thursday.

In July testimony, the former Twitter employee's voice was disguised to protect her, but she is now publicly coming forward.

"In July I shared shocking testimony from an anonymous Twitter employee about warning signs she saw of what was coming on Jan. 6," select committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) tweeted. "Today I’m honored to share her identity with you. Thank you, Anika Navaroli, for answering the call of the Committee and your country."

She told The Washington Post she fears social media disinformation poses an “imminent threat not just to American democracy, but to the societal fabric of our planet.”

“I realize that by being who I am and doing what I’m doing, I’m opening myself and my family to extreme risk. It’s terrifying. This has been one of the most isolating times of my life," she said. “I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe the truth matters."

She told the newspaper she sat for multiple interviews with congressional investigators.

"Navaroli is the most prominent Twitter insider known to have challenged the tech giant’s conduct toward Trump in the years before the Capitol riot. Now in her 30s and living in California, she worries that speaking up about her role inside Twitter on Jan. 6 could lead to threats or real-world harm," the newspaper reported. "Twitter for years dismissed calls to suspend Trump’s account for posts that many people argued broke its rules against deceptive claims and harassment; as a political leader, Twitter executives argued, Trump’s tweets were too newsworthy to remove."

Read More Here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/09/22/jan6-committee-twitter-witness-navaroli/



Watch Navaroli's testimony below:

[Rick Plant]

J6 committee wins — will get phone records of Arizona GOP boss who was a fake elector: report



The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has the right to see phone records for Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward and her husband, Michael, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

The subpoena from the House Select Committee on January 6th sought phone records from T-Mobile between Nov. 1, 2020, through Jan. 31, 2021, for four phone numbers associated with the Wards and Michael Ward’s business, Mole Medical Services. Both Wards were among the Arizona Republicans who were fake electors and signed a bogus document claiming that Donald Trump won the state in the 2020 election.

The Wards filed a lawsuit in February challenging a subpoena for the phone records, arguing that it was “overbroad,” the Wards said, because it is “unrelated to the enabling resolution of the issuing Committee” and doesn’t make a clear connection between the records and potential legislation.

They also argued that the subpoena violated the First Amendment rights of both themselves and the state GOP, and they claimed that the subpoena was illegal because the committee was in violation of House rules. And the Wards, who are both physicians, told the court that turning over the phone records would violate Arizona’s law protecting patient-physician privilege and HIPAA, the federal law governing privacy of medical information.

Federal Judge Diane Humetewa on Thursday rejected all of those arguments. She wrote in an 18-page ruling that the committee’s work has a valid purpose and is not illegal — thus barring a lawsuit against the federal government.

“That three-month period is plainly relevant to its investigation into the causes of the January 6th attack,” she wrote. “The Court therefore has little doubt concluding these records may aid the Select Committee’s valid legislative purpose.”

Humetewa also noted that the federal courts have no oversight role regarding the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, dismissing the argument from the Wards that the committee has fewer members than the authorizing resolution required.

The judge also flatly rejected the claim that the records would ensnare anyone who called or texted Kelli Ward would “become implicated in the largest criminal investigation in U.S. history” and be subjected to harassment or political persecution by Democrats, in violation of their First Amendment rights.

Humetewa said the argument was “highly speculative” and the Wards “provided no evidence to support their contention that producing the phone numbers associated with this account will chill the associational rights of Plaintiffs or the Arizona GOP.” They also provided no more than “conclusory allegations” that complying with the subpoena would lead to harassment of themselves or anyone else.

The judge also dismissed the claims that state and federal medical privacy laws would be breached if the phone records are turned over. Even if the state law applied — and Humetewa said it doesn’t — its authority overridden by Congress’ constitutional authority to conduct investigations that could lead to legislation. She also said the Wards’ claims that a phone number would expose confidential information was “implausible.”

And Humetewa said the Wards cited no case law to support their argument that the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, protects their phone records. Further, she said the subpoena was issued to T-Mobile, not the Wards, and the mobile phone company is not bound by HIPAA.

Read the dismissal:

https://www.azmirror.com/blog/the-j6-committee-can-get-phone-records-for-azgop-leader-kelli-ward-and-her-husband/

[Rick Plant]

Secret Service warned Capitol Police of neo-Nazi threats a week prior to insurrection



A new investigation has revealed that Secret Service was monitoring threats against the U.S. Capitol made by at least one neo-Nazi group prior to Jan. 6.

According to CREW, the threats in question were made by a member of Vorherrschaft Division on a far-right extremist messaging site called Telegram. Initially spotted by SITE Intelligence Group, the statements made in an apparent attempt to organize violent maneuvers against the Capitol were then relayed to Capitol Police by Secret Service, at which point they were told "Thanks bro!"

"We need boots on the ground and voices loud enough to be heard for miles. That's the only way things are going to change…," read one of the messages warned about. In yet another, like-minded organizers were urged to "push for more nationalist policies and attitudes."

After spotting these communications, SITE Intelligence Group, "a non-governmental organization tracking online activity of white nationalists and extremist groups" recognized them to be an imminent threat as they're trained to spot and inform relevant officials of these very things. But once the intel was passed on the Secret Service, and then Capitol Police, there seems to have been a lapse in a general sense of preventative urgency.

In Crew's reporting they highlight that "Vorherrschaft Division is a neo-Nazi group and one of several white nationalist groups organizing on Telegram. The group was never one to take lightly, but the Secret Service appears to have paid it only passing attention."

In addition to the threats made by neo-Nazis, Secret Service received several tips from a "concerned citizen" that "two people, including a subject who previously made threats against Joe Biden, were flying to DC to attend Trump's rally and 'incite violence,' according to Crew, "and that another individual would be driving to DC with ballistic helmets, armored gloves and vests, rifles and suppressors."

https://www.salon.com/2022/09/22/secret-warned-capitol-police-of-neo-nazi-a-week-prior-to-insurrection/

[Rick Plant]

Clarence and Ginni Thomas facing increased scrutiny ahead of J6 testimony: report
https://www.rawstory.com/j6-clarence-ginny-thomas/

[Rick Plant]

Mueller prosecutor: Garland showing increased willingness to go after top figures linked to the Jan. 6 attack



Andrew Weissmann, a former FBI lawyer and prosecutor on special counsel Robert Mueller's team, said that he believes there has been a change of "will" at the Justice Department has changed in the Jan. 6 investigations.

Thus far, the DOJ has been focusing on the 900-plus people who were in the Capitol, attacked police officers and broke through doors and windows. Weissmann explained that the House Select Committee investigating the attack started their probe at the top, where DOJ started at the bottom.

"The Justice Department would argue that they have not caught up so much that they are -- they were not trying to catch up, but their investigation start from a very different place," said Weissmann. "We can see that they are basically looking at everything. They are looking at the actions taken by Trump's closest inner circle ahead of the rally on Jan. 6 to see what was going on there. We know they are looking at seditious conspiracy because they have already charged two of those cases. It is unclear whether or not they have found any connections between those people charged who are members of far-right nationalist groups including oath keepers and proud boys with anybody close to the ee's inner circle. And also looking at placing people in key swing states to having them falsely always that Donald Trump won in those states."

He noted that there has obviously been movement on the fake electors' piece of the Jan. 6 because the 40 subpoenas were handed out to a number of lawmakers and political operatives that were part of those involved.

He also cited a comment from former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance who said that the investigation is going to take a while and that it is in the early stages of this piece of it.

"It will take a long time now for the FBI to come through whatever it is that people give them to find the information responsive to their investigation. So they are moving, but still, I think fairly early to middle stages of the investigation," he said.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Former firefighter who injured cops pleads guilty to felony for Jan. 6 Capitol riot



A Pennsylvania man who had served 26 years as a firefighter pleaded guilty today to assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon – a fire extinguisher he threw at their heads -- during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Robert Sanford Jr., 57, of Chester, Penn., pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon, the Department of Justice reported today. The crime carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, but under the plea agreement, Sanford might be sentenced in the Level 26 range of 63 to 78 months as proscribed by federal sentencing guidelines.

That will depend upon whether the judge in the case accepts the prosecutor’s argument that the sentencing should be enhanced because of injuries caused to the officers, according to the terms of the plea deal. If the judge does not, the punishment range would be 46 to 57 months. Financial penalties also could apply. Judges are not bound to follow the guidelines.

Video footage from the riot shows Sanford drawing a fire extinguisher back in his right hand and hurling it at the heads of officers, the FBI alleged in its criminal complaint.

“The object appears to strike one officer, who was wearing a helmet, in the head. The object then ricochets and strikes another officer, who was not wearing a helmet, in the head. The object then ricochets a third time and strikes a third officer, wearing a helmet, in the head. Immediately after throwing the object, (Sanford) moves quickly in the opposite direction.”

Sanford also threw a traffic cone in the direction of officers and screamed that they were “traitors,” it was alleged. Sanford was a 26-year veteran of the Chester Fire Department who left the force in February, according to earlier reporting from the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Sanford is to be sentenced on Jan. 17, 2023.

You can read the FBI statement of facts here: https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-firefighter-extinguisher/