1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

The Jan. 6 Committee Has a Subpoena for Parler’s Founder

John Matze was once in charge of a platform that insurrectionists used to build support for Jan. 6. But he’s since had a falling out with titans of Trumpworld



The Jan. 6 committee has a subpoena for the former head of the pro-MAGA social network Parler who claims he was fired from the company in 2021 in part because of his push to remove extremists from the platform, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

John Matze, the founder and first CEO of Parler, is facing a subpoena from congressional investigators as part of their investigation into the insurrection. Matze has hired Nixon Peabody lawyer Brian T. Kelly, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney who prosecuted notorious Boston mobster Whitey Bulger, to represent him.

In an email to Rolling Stone, Kelly confirmed his representation of Matze in the matter but added that “No decisions have been made yet on how to proceed with respect to any inquiries from the January 6th Committee,” which has been investigating then-President Donald Trump’s responsibility for the deadly 2021 mob assault on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC.

A spokesman for the Jan. 6 committee did not respond to multiple phone calls and requests for comment on Wednesday.

In reaching out to Matze, the committee is hoping to hear from someone who was once in charge of a platform where a number of high-profile participants in the insurrection gathered to whip up support for the attack. Since the insurrection, however, Matze has fallen out with some of the titans of Trumpworld who invested in Parler.

In a lawsuit filed against Parler and investors in March 2021, MAGA mega donor Rebekah Mercer and right wing pundit Dan Bongino, Matze claimed he was “abruptly and unceremoniously” fired in late January 2021 after the company rejected his suggestions for “reasonable moderation policies.” Matze claimed his firing was part of “scheme to cheat” him out of his equity in the company and claimed that Mercer cared more about fashioning Parler into the “‘tip of the conservative spear’ for a brand of conservatism in keeping with [her] preferences” than maintaining it as a free speech platform.

The subpoena is part of the Jan. 6 committee’s broader investigation into the role that social media played in the insurrection. In April 2021, the committee announced it was requesting data from 15 social media companies, from mainstream tech giants like Facebook, Twitter, and Google to less mainstream sites like Gab, 4Chan, and Telegram, where far-right content is prevalent.

The requests — one of which was sent to Parler — demanded the companies turn over “records related to the spread of misinformation, efforts to overturn the 2020 election or prevent the certification of the results, domestic violent extremism, and foreign influence in the 2020 election” dating back to “spring 2020.”

It’s unclear as of yet what information the committee is seeking from Matze in addition to the data it has requested from Parler.

In April 2021, Matze launched a Gofundme page to help pay for his legal fees in the Parler suit as well as what he anticipated would be legal fees associated with a Congressional inquiry. “I also am likely heading into a congressional investigation into Parler, and it is uncertain whether Parler will indemnify me for the inevitable costs of defending this investigation,” he wrote.

On his Gofundme page, which has raised roughly $11,000 thus far, Matze said the insurrection has been “unfairly attributed to Parler, because it fit a convenient narrative.”

“I believe in transparency and Congress has asked for information that the public also wants to know. I plan to cooperate fully with Congress and tell the truth, but with legal counsel,” he wrote.

Parler’s press office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

While apps such as Facebook have been mentioned more often in court documents related to the insurrection, Parler has drawn particular scrutiny for its role in hosting prominent members of far-right groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. At the time of the insurrection, Parler was the most prominent right-wing social media app branding itself as a foil to the stricter moderation policies of apps like Facebook and Twitter.

The company’s lax approach to moderation and its backing from prominent pro-Trump pundits made it a go-to destination for a number of far-right users suspended from mainstream social media. But that approach backfired in the days leading up to the January 6 insurrection, when Parler users posted selfies and updates from the riot along with threats to kill newly elected Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock.

Days after the attack, activists scraped and published 35 terabytes of Parler user data posted to the platform, revealing over 500 videos of the attack uploaded by Parler users present on the grounds of the Capitol that day, according to data analyzed by ProPublica.

In a March 2021 letter to Congress, Parler defended its handling of violent content. The company said it “formalized its relationship with the FBI” following outreach from the Bureau in November 2020 and that it has referred violent content from its platform to the FBI for investigation over 50 times in the post-election period.

Parler’s laissez faire approach to extremist content led Apple and Google to dump the app from their mobile app stores three days after the insurrection. The tech giants said they booted Parler because the “egregious content” and “threats of violence and illegal activity” on the platform violated their terms of service. AWS, Amazon’s web hosting and cloud services arm, suspended Parler on similar grounds two days later, knocking the site offline entirely.

After a brief period offline, Parler has since returned to the Internet with stable hosting and access to the Apple App Store following pledges of stronger content moderation but remains unavailable in Google’s Play Store for Android devices.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jan6-parler-congress-bongino-trump-2020-1347418/

[Rick Plant]

Seditious conspiracy case grows in US Capitol attack. Justice Dept charges William Wilson, accusing him of conspiring with Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes to block lawful transfer of power.





Wilson pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy and agrees to cooperate with federal investigators.

This is another inroad into the Oath Keepers for the US Justice Dept.

Pressure now builds on the other defendants accused of seditious conspiracy.

Plea deal: "At the Phoenix Hotel, Rhodes gathered Wilson and others inside of a private suite. Rhodes then called an individual over speaker phone. Wilson heard, Rhodes repeatedly implore the individual to tell President Trump to call upon groups like the Oath Keepers to forcibly oppose the transfer of power. This individual denied Rhodes's request to speak directly with President Trump. After the call ended, Rhodes stated to the group, "I just want to fight."

So, an attempted phone call to Donald Trump, per Justice Dept.

Per plea agreement: "In late January 2021, Wilson intentionally discarded his only cell phone into the Atlantic Ocean to prevent law enforcement from discovering incriminating evidence about his participation in this conspiracy."

Per plea agreement: "Wilson heard Stewart Rhodes proclaim that they were in the midst of a "civil war."

Also, check this out. Plea deal specifies Rhodes was allegedly unlawfully on the grounds on Jan 6.



Phoenix Hotel on Capitol Hill was an epicenter of action, according to court documents and interviews.

Per this plea deal: Stewart Rhodes had a suite there on Jan 6

We know Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio was there earlier in week.

https://justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1480801/download

[Rick Plant]

Oath Keeper Says Leader Tried To Contact Trump On January 6

Oath Keepers founder William Todd Wilson tried to speak directly with President Donald Trump on the night of Jan. 6, 2021, and implored an intermediary to tell the president to use militia groups to stop the transfer of power, according to new reporting. Ryan J. Reilly joins Morning Joe to discuss

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Feds announce charges against Ed Kelley, 33, of Tennessee in US Capitol breach. Prosecutors say he was fourth person to enter thru broken Senate Wing Door window… and they say Kelley “was wearing a gas mask and green tactical helmet and had a backpack secured across his chest”.

Prosecutors allege Kelley was part of “altercation” with US Capitol Police officer throwing the officer to the ground.

[Rick Plant]

Kyle Young of Iowa pleads guilty in US Capitol riot case. Young was among those accused of assault on DC officer Michael Fanone.  Feds add this about Young:  “While in the tunnel area beneath the archway, he held a strobe light toward the police line and pushed forward.”

Justice Dept says Fanone was “wearing uniform, marked helmet & tactical vest was assaulted while he was in the mob by rioters, including Young. Young held the officer’s left wrist & pulled the officer’s arm away from his body. The MPD officer was then swept further in the crowd”

Iowan Kyle Young pleads guilty to assaulting D.C. police officer during U.S. Capitol riot



An Iowa man faces up to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Kyle Young had faced more than a dozen federal charges in connection with the Capitol riot, many in connection with an assault on D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone. On Thursday, Young agreed to plead guilty to a single charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding an officer.

A resident of the western Dallas County town of Redfield, Young was one of the first Iowans to be charged for taking part in the Capitol riot. That number grew to eight this week with the arrest of Chad Heathcote of Adel, who was charged with disorderly conduct and entering a restricted building.

What did Kyle Young do at the Capitol?

Unlike other Iowans facing charges, it's not clear if Young ever actually entered the Capitol. According to previous court documents, Young went to the Capitol with his 16-year-old son and was involved in heavy fighting with police on the Capitol's lower west terrace. It was there that the rioters seized Fanone, part of a line of officers defending a tunnel leading into the building, and dragged him into the mob.

He later testified before Congress that “as I was swarmed by a violent mob, they ripped off my badge, they grabbed and stripped me of my radio, they seized a munition that was secured to my body. They began to beat me with their fists and what felt like hard metal objects."

The rioters repeatedly shocked him with his own stun gun, causing him to suffer a heart attack and "significant and painful injuries," said prosecutor Cara Gardner. Fanone later identified Young as one of his assailants and said he was "100% sure" that at one point, Young put his hand on his holstered service weapon, threatening to kill him with his own gun.

Robbery charges Young faced for attempting to take Fanone's gun will be dismissed under his deal with prosecutors.

When Judge Amy Berman Jackson inquired Thursday, Gardner said prosecutors do not intend to pursue the allegation further.

"We haven’t made that determination (that Young didn't try to take the gun), but we have agreed that will not be part of the conduct we argue at sentencing," Gardner said.

The charge Young pleaded guilty to covers other conduct: that he used a strobe light and stick to menace or distract officers defending the tunnel, that he threw a heavy speaker toward the police line, striking and injuring another rioter, and that he grabbed Fanone's arm held it away from his body while other rioters assaulted the officer.

During the hearing, Young told the judge he agreed with the state's account of what he had done.

Sentencing set for August; up to eight years possible

Under the law, the maximum sentence for the crime Young pleaded to is eight years. Federal sentencing guidelines are likely to suggest a prison term ranging up to 6 1/2 years, or up to the full eight years if Jackson rules that an enhancement is appropriate because Fanone was restrained at the time of the attack.

If the final guideline maximum is less than eight years, prosecutors have indicated they intend to request an upward enhancement under a law governing conduct "calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion."

Young is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 25 in Washington, D.C. He has been detained since his arrest in April 2021, and will receive credit for the time already served.

He is the second Iowan to plead guilty to taking part in the attack. Daryl Johnson of St. Ansgar, who travelled to the Capitol with his son Daniel of Austin, Minnesota, pleaded guilty to civil disorder in January, and is scheduled to be sentenced in June. The cases against the six other Iowans remain pending.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/crime-and-courts/2022/05/05/kyle-young-iowa-pleads-guilty-jan-6-us-capitol-riot-assault-officer/9643695002/

[Rick Plant]

QAnon Shaman wants to withdraw guilty plea -- but faces 'extremely high' burden of proof to succeed



The Arizona man who proclaimed himself the “QAnon Shaman” while parading around inside the U.S. Capitol during the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection is attempting to get his plea deal thrown out.

Jacob Chansley, who instantly became one of the most recognizable figures in the riot because of his horned headdress and bare-chested display of body art, has hired two new attorneys and plans on petitioning the court to take the unusual step of letting him withdraw his plea of guilty to the felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding, according to WUSA9.

U.S. District June Royce Lamberth sentenced Chansley in November to 41 months in prison, at the time the longest sentence any defendant had received for participating in the riot.

"Less than two weeks after sentencing, though, attorneys John Pierce and William Shipley notified the court they would be replacing Watkins to pursue an appeal," according to the WUSA9 report. Pierce is a career civil attorney who briefly represented acquitted Kenosha, WI, shooter Kyle Rittenhouse. Shipley served for more than 20 years as a federal prosecutor. The two represent dozens of Jan. 6 defendants.

Shipley confirmed that they now intend to abandon the appeal and instead will try to convince Lamberth to allow Chansley's case to go back "square one."

“The remedy – IF successful – would be to vacate his conviction, and he would be back in the District Court as if he never pled guilty,” Shipley said.

Their argument is that Chansley received ineffective counsel from veteran Missouri attorney Albert Watkins leading up to the plea deal. But according to the non-profit Innocence Project the standard of proof for that gambit places an "extremely high burden" on defendants and almost never succeeds.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/qanon-shaman-drops-direct-appeal-will-try-to-have-plea-agreement-thrown-out-jacob-chansley-albert-watkins-john-pierce-william-shipley-arizona-horns/65-9d079f86-54bf-463e-a153-2e0fbafedfa1

[Rick Plant]

In his request for release from pretrial detention, accused Proud Boys Jan 6 conspirator Enrique Tarrio uses the phrase "entry on the Capitol"... when referring to the US Capitol siege.