1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

Trump's Willard hotel 'war room' targeted in new round of Capitol riot subpoenas

House investigators are zeroing in on former president Donald Trump's so-called "war room" at the Willard hotel with their latest latest round of subpoenas in the Capitol riot probe.

"The subpoenas, which could be issued as soon as next week, reflect the select committee's interest in events at the hotel just across from the White House, where Donald Trump's most loyal aides plotted to keep him in office," the Guardian reported Saturday, citing a source familiar with the matter. "The select committee is targeting about 20 individuals connected to the Trump command center at the Willard, among them the legal scholar John Eastman, who outlined ways to deny Joe Biden the presidency, the source said."

The source told the Guardian that House investigators are seeking to uncover the "centers of gravity" from which Trump and his allies conspired to block certification of President Joe Biden's victory.

"The select committee appears to be seeking a full account of what transpired in several suites at the Willard in the days leading up to 6 January and during a final 'war room' meeting the night before the Capitol attack," the Guardian reports. "The new line of inquiry centered on the Willard comes after the chairman of the select committee, Bennie Thompson, last week told reporters that he intended to subpoena Eastman, before later revealing that he had signed about 20 subpoenas."

The Washington Post reported last month that the war room, which Trump allies referred to as a "command center," was led by the former president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.

In addition to Eastman, the war room reportedly included former chief White House strategist Stephen K. Bannon, former New York City police commissioner Bernard Kerik, who was there as an investigator, and One America News reporter Christina Bobb, a lawyer who was volunteering for the campaign.

"Kerik said his firm billed the Trump campaign more than $55,000 for rooms for the legal team," the Post reported. "The three people familiar with the operation described intense work in the days and hours leading up to and even extending beyond 1 p.m. on Jan 6, when Congress convened for the counting of electoral votes."

https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-2655514234/

[Rick Plant]

Trump allies Michael Flynn, Jason Miller, John Eastman subpoenaed in Jan. 6 House probe

The House committee investigating the deadly Capitol invasion said it issued subpoenas to several high-profile allies of former President Donald Trump.

Also subpoenaed was John Eastman, who wrote a legally dubious memo arguing that Vice President Mike Pence could reject Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.

The group of six Trump allies named in the latest round of subpoenas issued by the Jan. 6 select committee are “tied to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election,” the panel said.

The House committee investigating the deadly Capitol invasion said Monday it issued subpoenas to several high-profile allies of former President Donald Trump, including former national security advisor Michael Flynn and former campaign advisor Jason Miller.

Also subpoenaed was John Eastman, the lawyer who spoke at Trump’s rally outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 before the riot began. Eastman is the author of an infamous memo that laid out a legally dubious case for Vice President Mike Pence to reject Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.

The other Trump associates to be issued subpoenas were Bill Stepien, the Trump 2020 campaign manager; Angela McCallum, national executive assistant to that campaign; and Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner who reportedly participated in a meeting at a Washington hotel the night before the invasion, wherein Trump’s allies brainstormed efforts to overturn the election.

Miller, along with former senior Trump advisor Steve Bannon and Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, was also reportedly involved in that Jan. 5 meeting at D.C.’s Willard hotel.

The group of Trump allies, the latest to be subpoenaed for documents and testimony by the Jan. 6 select committee are “tied to efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election,” the panel said.

The six figures’ depositions are scheduled to take place between the end of November and mid-December. MacCallum is set to be deposed first on Nov. 30, followed by Kerik, Flynn, Eastman and Miller, with the final deposition for Stepien scheduled for Dec. 13.

The committee “needs to know every detail about their efforts to overturn the election, including who they were talking to in the White House and in Congress, what connections they had with rallies that escalated into a riot, and who paid for it all,” Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said in a statement.

Thompson said the committee expects all witnesses to cooperate with its probe to “help ensure nothing like January 6th ever happens again.”

Less than three weeks earlier, the House voted to hold former Bannon in contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with a subpoena to hand over documents to the committee and sit for a deposition.

Robert Costello, an attorney for Bannon, had told the committee that Bannon would not comply with the subpoena in accordance with a directive from Trump’s counsel, who argued that the materials were protected by executive privilege.

The select committee rejected that claim. The Biden administration declined to invoke that privilege to prevent the Archivist of the United States from sending a tranche of records to the House investigators.

Trump has sued to block the congressional committee’s requests for records from the White House during his single term in office.

The committee leaders said at the time of the contempt vote that dozens of witnesses and entities have been contacted as part of the probe, but that Bannon was the only person to completely defy one of its subpoenas.

On Friday, the panel warned ex-Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark that it will take “strong measures to hold him accountable” after he allegedly refused to answer any questions during a closed-door interview.

After the 2020 race was called for Biden, Clark had proposed that the Justice Department encourage key states to reject their presidential electors, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee report titled “Subverting Justice: How the Former President and His Allies Pressured DOJ to Overturn the 2020 Election.”

The select committee is tasked with investigating the facts and causes of the Jan. 6 invasion, when hundreds of Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol and forced a joint session of Congress to flee their chambers.

Shortly before the rioters broke into the building, Trump, who had spent months spreading a wide array of election-fraud conspiracy theories, told throngs of his supporters to march to the Capitol and pressure Republicans to reject the election results.

The attack led to multiple deaths and temporarily stopped lawmakers from confirming Biden’s electoral victory. Trump has never conceded to Biden, and he continues to proliferate debunked and baseless claims about the 2020 election being rigged against him — a falsehood dubbed the “Big Lie” by his critics.

The panel, comprising seven Democrats and two Republicans, was formed over the summer by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. An earlier bill to set up a “9/11-style” commission would have allowed Democratic and Republican leaders to each appoint half of the members, but Senate Republicans shot down that proposal.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/11/08/trump-allies-michael-flynn-jason-miller-john-eastman-subpoenaed-in-jan-6-house-probe.html

[Rick Plant]

This 'low-profile' Trump staffer just got subpoenaed by the Capitol riot committee -- here's why: reporter



One lesser-known staffer in President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign was included in the recent round of subpoenas by the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack.

According to reporter Betsy Woodruff, the fact that former Trump campaign staffer Angela McCallum was called proves that the House Committee is going into much greater detail about the lies about the 2020 election that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace noted that Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Liz Cheney (R-WY) have made it clear that they are asking a wide variety of witnesses to appear before the committee.

Wallace noted "the vast geographical scope of where they have investigators on the ground. Notably, it includes Georgia, but it also includes Pennsylvania and Arizona and Michigan. Tell me what stands out for the new batch of subpoenas. Then we will all get into some of the individual letters."

"The most low-profile person in this batch of subpoena is Angela McCallum, somebody who was doing work in connection with the Trump campaign," said Woodruff. "Contemporaneous news reporting out of Michigan, particularly from the site M-Live, documented the fact that McCallum actually reached out to members of the Michigan state legislature... on behalf of Trump campaign and urged them to overturn the election results in their state and try to install a different slate of electors."

Wallace noted that it's the one name that hasn't been covered by anyone in the media.

See the discussion below:

[Rick Plant]

Good! Violent insurrectionists belong in jail.

Judge refuses release of Jan. 6 defendant who allegedly sought to 'hang' Nancy Pelosi



A woman who is suspected of participating in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was ordered to remain in jail on Monday after a judge complained about her history of disrupting the courtroom.

NBC 4 correspondent Scott MacFarlane reported on Pauline Bauer as she appeared in court to ask for pre-trial release.

Bauer is accused of entering the U.S. Capitol on January 6 and threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

"Bring Nancy Pelosi out here now. We want to hang that f--*ing bi**h," she reportedly said.

Bauer has a history of interrupting court proceedings with rants about the "sovereign citizen" movement. The judge previously cited her disruptions as a reason for her detention.

According to MacFarlane, Judge Trevor McFadden immediately dismissed "frivolous" motions to dismiss her case.

And although many of her co-defendants have accepted misdemeanor plea deals, the U.S. government is insisting that Bauer plead to a felony. She has declined to accept the plea deal.

The defendant was not allowed to speak during her Monday hearing because of a history of derailing court proceedings with rants about the "sovereign citizen" movement, the judge said.

Bauer's attorney told the judge that she was at risk of losing her restaurant business in Pennsylvania, but the argument did not prove persuasive.

At Monday's hearing, McFadden said that he would rule on Bauer's release at a later date. She will await a Dec. 21 hearing in jail.

Bauer has written a letter promising to obey court orders if she is released.

"I, Pauline, from the House of Bauer, have learned the errors of my ways," she wrote to the judge.



Pauline Bauer returns to court at 10am in Jan 6 case

Bauer's previous hearings have careened off-the-rails, w/ disruptions, arguments & language associated w/ the "sovereign citizen" movement

She's in pretrial jail, for disruptions & failing to follow court orders

[Rick Plant]

WATCH: Bob Woodward claims to have evidence of a Trump conspiracy in CNN interview

In an interview with CNN "New Day" host Brianna Keilar, the Washington Post's Bob Woodward explained that his researcher has uncovered evidence that could be used in a conspiracy charge against Donald Trump and some of his closest allies.

Speaking with the CNN host, Woodward explained, "[Co-author] Robert Costa and I didn't discover this, but our assistant who is a lawyer, Claire McMullen, is just bombarding us with research and information. And she discovered on May 5th, John Eastman, in a podcast -- now, this is before our book came out -- specifically talked about the war room and the Willard [hotel] and said it was kind of coordinating all of the communication."

"Then in a very important legal point he said I would not normally talk about things like this, but I have been directed by the president of the United States -- at that time that was Trump, to tell and to talk -- so he's waived the privilege," he continued. "And traditionally judges will look at this and say, 'Hey, wait a minute, you're out talking about it, but also you're saying your client, the president of the united states specifically said talk, explain,' so how do you justify not talking to this committee or a grand jury and so you're kind of -- you've got one and a half feet in the door already."

"It is really fascinating," Keilar interjected. "The Willard, for the uninitiated, the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., it is near the White House and he's referring to this war room, this kind of coordination center that we heard Steve Bannon actually refer to before as well."

"I do want to talk about Michael Flynn," she continued. "You've reported extensively about some of what Michael Flynn has said that is obviously very interesting to this committee and that has to do with his discussion of invoking martial law."

"Yeah, he is the hard-liner in the Trump orbit," he replied, "and would be a key witness in this. Now, as we have discussed, the January 6th committee does not have a strong hand because there will be delaying moves and traditionally congressional committees can't get this kind of information and this goes back to the Nixon tapes case in 1974. So this is in the hands of the Justice Department and, again, Claire, our assistant, has been saying, 'look, go back and look at the Supreme Court decisions.' This is a clear case of a violation of what is called 371 Section conspiracy to defraud the U.S. If this is not a conspiracy to defraud the U.S., I don't know what is."

Watch below:

[Rick Plant]

Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Stephen Miller, Kayleigh McEnany

House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol released its sixth batch of subpoenas Tuesday targeting some of former President Trump’s highest-ranking staff, including White House adviser Stephen Miller and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.

The subpoenas to Miller and McEnany focus on the false statements they made promoting baseless claims of voter fraud.

“As a White House Press Secretary you made multiple public statements from the White House and elsewhere about purported fraud in the November 2020 election, which individuals who attacked the U.S. Capitol echoed on Jan. 6,” the committee wrote in its subpoena to McEnany.

The committee appeared to peg Miller as being at the center of an effort to craft voter fraud conspiracies and Trump's messaging ahead of the Jan. 6 rally where the then-president encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell.”

“You and your team prepared former President Trump’s remarks for the rally on the Ellipse on Jan. 6, you were at the White House that day, and you were with Trump when he spoke at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally,” the committee wrote.

Other aides subpoenaed show an effort by the panel to gain information about the activities of former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, who has also been sought for testimony by the committee.

The latest subpoenas include former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Christopher Liddell and Ben Williamson, a right hand man to Meadows.

“The Select Committee wants to learn every detail of what went on in the White House on January 6th and in the days beforehand. We need to know precisely what role the former President and his aides played in efforts to stop the counting of the electoral votes and if they were in touch with anyone outside the White House attempting to overturn the outcome of the election,” Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said in a statement.

“We believe the witnesses subpoenaed today have relevant information and we expect them to comply fully with the Select Committee’s investigation as we work to get answers for the American people, make recommendations on changes to the law to protect our democracy, and help ensure that nothing like January 6th ever happens again.”

The subpoenas come just a day after the committee demanded testimony from former Trump campaign aides and John Eastman, who crafted the strategy used to contest the election both at the state level and during Congress’s certification of the vote. The panel also subpoenaed Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor who sat in on a White House meeting about seizing voting machines.

Eastman’s memos became a blueprint for the Trump team in seeking avenues to unwind the election, likely igniting Trump’s focus on having former Vice President Mike Pence buck the largely ceremonial duty of certifying the 2020 election results.

To that end the committee has questions for Nicholas Luna, who served as Trump’s personal assistant and was reportedly in the Oval Office the morning of Jan. 6 when the former President was on a phone call to Pence pressuring him not to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Miller, a powerful aid throughout Trump administration, especially in the immigration sphere, is also set to be asked about Eastman’s plans, including an effort to get states to encourage states to select alternate electors. Eastman held a meeting with some 300 state legislators in a bid to carry out this plan.

The subpoenas also show an increasing interest in the activities of Meadows, who appears to have been involved in multiple aspects of Trump’s plan to push back on the election results.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a special assistant, has been asked to testify about her work arranging a trip for Meadows to travel to Georgia to attend an election audit. Her letter suggests she is “potentially in a position” to inform the committee about Meadows's contact with election officials there; his efforts to contact Department of Justice officials as Trump sought to pressure DOJ to involve itself in the election; and his contacts with Jan. 6 rally organizers.

Liddell and Williamson are asked about similar themes, though Williamson’s subpoena also asks about a report indicating he and Meadows were contacted by former White House communications director Alyssa Farah and asked to persuade Trump to issue a statement condemning the attack at the Capitol as it was playing out.

The committee is also seeking testimony from those with more knowledge about Trump’s efforts at DOJ.

A letter to Molly Michael, special assistant to Trump and Oval Office Operations Coordinator, asks about her role in sending election fraud claims to various officials on behalf of the president, including sending an email to former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen “from POTUS” discussing unfounded election irregularities in Michigan.

Another letter to Kenneth Klukowski seeks more information about the activities of Jeffrey Clark, a mid-level DOJ official that Trump weighed installing as attorney general after he proposed DOJ send a letter to Georgia and other states encouraging them to delay certification of their election results due to alleged fraud.

“You communicated with Mr. Clark about that letter, and Mr. Clark contacted you before he attended a meeting at the White House during which he tried to oust Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and assume the role of acting United State attorney general,” the subpoena states.

Also subpoenaed is John McEntee, the White House personnel director.

The committee said McEntee would likely be familiar with Oval Office conversations as Trump, Pence and Rudy Giuliani discussed the audit process in Georgia and “listened as Giuliani suggested seizing Dominion voting machines because of fraud.”

The committee has sought testimony from top DHS officials Chad Wolf and Ken Cucchinelli about the potential for seeing voting machines and on Monday subpoenaed Michael Flynn after he likewise attended a meeting on the topic.

But McEntee is also sought for his efforts in seeking to halt the transition process.

“You were also involved in communications with officials in various federal agencies regarding loyalty to former President Trump and you specifically discouraged a number of individuals from seeking employment after the election as it would appear to be a concession of President Trump’s defeat,” the committee wrote.

Lastly the committee subpoenaed Keith Kellogg, Pence’s National Security Advisor, including sitting in on a meeting where Trump said Pence “need[ed] to send the votes back.”

It also seeks his insight on Trump’s reaction to the rally throughout the day, noting that he reportedly “urged Mr. Trump to send out a tweet to his supporters at the U.S. Capitol to help control the crowd.”

The slew of subpoenas is likely to raise more executive privilege objections from Trump.

Trump has already encouraged Meadows, his former communications guru Dan Scavino, Kash Patel, chief of staff to the then-defense secretary and Steve Bannon, who was not a White House employee at the time of the attack, to defy the committee and refuse to testify.

While three are reportedly in negotiations with the committee, Bannon has since been censured by the committee and referred to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution. DOJ has not yet acted on the matter.

Trump is also seeking to block release of his presidential records to the committee, claiming it would violate his executive privilege and that the committee lacks a valid legislative aim.

The committee has steadfastly rejected those arguments, saying only the sitting president has the authority to exert executive privilege, and President Biden has already agreed to release the records.

Lawmakers on the committee have also pledged to introduce legislation to prevent another similar attack.

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/580784-jan-6-committee-subpoenas-stephen-miller-kayleigh-mceneny

[Rick Plant]

Trump fumes after Jan. 6 committee unleashes a barrage of subpoenas
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-fumes-subpoenas-jan-6/

[Rick Plant]

'Monumental' legal ruling is a 'huge setback for Donald Trump'
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-capitol-riot-2655531041/