1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

Revelation at Alex Jones’ trial may have big implications for DOJ J6 investigation  — here's how



Eight years to the day after the fatal Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, 2020 presidential electors gathered in state capitols across America and confirmed Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the electoral college 306 to 232. Now a right-wing conspiracy theory that the mass shooting is a hoax may have a major impact on the investigation into the unsuccessful attempt to overturn the election.

Following the massacre, far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones falsely claimed that the gun massacre was and the devastated victims seen on TV were actors.

He was successfully sued by Sandy Hook families and is currently on trial in Texas before a jury determines the monetary amount the victims will be awarded. On Wednesday, the case took a bizarre turn.

"The legal team representing Infowars founder Alex Jones inadvertently sent the contents of his cellphone to a lawyer representing the parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook mass shooting, the parents’ lawyer said in court Wednesday," The Washington Post reported. "The apparent blunder, revealed by attorney Mark Bankston as Jones was on the stand in the damages phase of his defamation trial, unearthed previously undisclosed texts about the massacre and financial information about Infowars. Bankston, who represents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, told the far-right conspiracy theorist that his attorneys had 'messed up and sent me an entire digital copy of your entire cellphone.'"

Jones was not just involved in pushing the Sandy Hook conspiracy theories, but was also a prominent supporter of Trump's "big lie" of election fraud.

In November, the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol subpoenaed Jones.

"Alex Jones reportedly helped organize the rally at the Ellipse on January 6th that immediately preceded the attack on the Capitol, including by facilitating a donation to provide what he described as 'eighty percent' of the funding," the select committee said.

"Mr. Jones spoke at the January 5th rally on Freedom Plaza that was sponsored by the Eighty Percent Coalition. Mr. Jones has stated that he was told by the White House that he was to lead a march from the January 6th Ellipse rally to the Capitol, where President Trump would meet the group and speak," the select committee said. "Mr. Jones has repeatedly promoted unsupported allegations of election fraud, including encouraging individuals to attend the Ellipse rally on January 6th and implying he had knowledge about the plans of the former President with respect to the rally."

While the select committee has failed to obtain Jan. 6 text messages that were deleted by the Secret Service, Department of Homeland Security and Pentagon, every text message has both a sender and recipient and the select committee is already preparing subpoenas for the contents of Jones' phone.

Former Mike Pence advisor Olivia Troye said, "The Alex Jones text messages are apparently the ONLY set of texts that weren't somehow deleted..."

Read More Here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/08/03/alex-jones-sandy-hook-phone/

[Rick Plant]

Trump-installed DHS Inspector General was already on probation for 'unethical conduct': report

Joseph Cuffari the Dept. of Homeland Security Inspector General who neglected to timely inform Congress of losses of data on cell phones of Secret Service agents and DHS officials during the lead up to and the day of the 2021 insurrection was the subject of a report that found he violated ethics guidelines.

Cuffari "previously was accused of misleading Justice Department investigators and running 'afoul' of ethics regulations while he was a federal agent in charge of a DOJ inspector general field office in Tucson, according to a newly disclosed government report," The Washington Post reports Wednesday evening.

In that report "investigators said they did 'not believe' Joseph V. Cuffari’s explanation for why he failed to inform his supervisors — against federal rules — about his testimony in a lawsuit brought by a federal prisoner."

The authors of the report said, “We concluded Cuffari’s actions violated the IG manual’s prohibition on unethical conduct,” the Post states. Though never publicly released, the report "also noted that he may have violated guidelines by using his government email to lobby for a position as inspector general for the Arizona National Guard, among other issues."

There are now questions about Cuffari's vetting after being nominated by then-President Donald Trump to "one of the most important oversight jobs in government, experts said, and about his suitability to lead a staff of 750 auditors and investigators with oversight of an agency with a workforce of 240,000 and a $50 billion budget."

In addition to the wiped Secret Service cell phones, many are alarmed by news top Trump Dept. of Homeland Security officials and Pentagon officials' phones were also wiped after January 6.

The former Director of the United States Office of Government Ethics, Walter Shaub, on Wednesday afternoon called for Cuffari to be terminated.

"President Biden, fire this corrupt DHS inspector general. Cuffari must go!" tweeted Shaub, now a Senior Ethics Fellow at the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

On Monday, Politico reported Cuffari sent an email to his staff calling the criticism "meritless."

"Cuffari didn’t specify which criticisms were, in his view, without merit," Politico added. "But two hours after he sent his note, a pair of House committee chairs blasted out a letter saying they’d obtained evidence showing Cuffari’s office 'may have secretly abandoned efforts to collect text messages from the Secret Service more than a year ago.'

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/08/03/homeland-security-joseph-cuffari-watchdog-report/

[Rick Plant]

Jan. 6 Committee Poised to Receive InfoWars’ Alex Jones Cell Records After Lawyer Flub

The bombshell admission that Jones’ lawyer accidentally released a trove of texts, photos and other records could produce a windfall for the Jan. 6 committee.



The House Jan. 6 committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol requested access to two years’ worth of digital records from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ cellphone on Thursday, according to an attorney representing parents who sued Jones over claims he made about the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

The attorney, Mark Bankston, said the committee requested the information after he revealed in court on Wednesday that Jones’ lawyer had mistakenly emailed him the last two years’ worth of texts from Jones’ phone, which include, among other things, “intimate messages with Roger Stone,” Trump’s former political adviser.

"I am under request from various federal agencies and law enforcement to provide that phone,” Bankston told Travis County District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble. “Absent a ruling from you saying, 'You cannot do that, Mr. Bankston,' I intend to do so."

The judge said the House committee could subpoena the contents of Jones' phone, denied a motion from Jones’ attorney for a mistrial and said she wouldn't seal the entire phone.

"They know about them,” Gamble said. “They know they exist. They know you have them. I think they're going there either way."

Jones, who owns the far-right website Infowars, is facing a jury in Austin in the first of three defamation trials to determine how much money he should pay the families of children killed in the 2012 school shooting after claiming for years on his show that it was a hoax created by gun control advocates and that the grieving families of the 20 children and six adults killed were actors.

The bombshell admission that Jones’ attorney accidently sent Bankston a trove of likely never-before publicly examined texts, photos and other records could produce a windfall for the Jan. 6 committee, which is in the process of holding a series of public hearings aimed at investigating former President Donald Trump’s efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.

The select committee, which has already assembled a mass of damning evidence and testimony, held its eighth hearing last month focusing on the messages and videos of right-wing activists, including Jones, who advertised Jan. 6 on Infowars as a day that would be “one of the most historic events in American history."

The committee subpoenaed Jones in November 2021, requesting documents and records related to his involvement with organizing and promoting the rally at the Ellipse and the march to the Capitol, as well as his role as a megaphone for the former president’s claims of election fraud.

Jones later said on his show that he exercised his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent “almost 100 times” when the committee deposed him in January.

Access to two years’ worth of cellphone records could change all that. The Jan. 6 committee has yet to schedule its next hearing as the House is in recess for the month of August.

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2022-08-04/jan-6-committee-poised-to-receive-infowars-alex-jones-cell-records-after-lawyer-flub

[Rick Plant]

Trial set for Sept 28 in Capitol breach case of Russell Alford

And as you'll see ... the defense wants prosecutors and witnesses to be "precluded" from using some "terminology" at trial.

[Rick Plant]

DOJ likely to shake loose 'damning evidence' against Trump that Pat Cipollone shielded from Jan. 6 committee

A grand jury subpoena issued to former White House counsel Pat Cipollone could derail Donald Trump's presidential bid before it gets off the ground.

The former president is reportedly mulling a 2024 campaign announcement in the belief that he could evade prosecution for the January 6 insurrection as a candidate, but the subpoena shows the Department of Justice is moving closer to Trump himself -- and federal prosecutors may be able to shake loose more evidence from Cipollone than the House select committee could, reported the Washington Post.

“Cipollone obviously thought many of Trump’s schemes were illegal or risked criminal liability,” New York University law professor Ryan Goodman. “The Justice Department can get from Cipollone what he told Trump directly and how Trump responded. That is likely to be damning evidence.”

The former White House counsel has already delivered explosive testimony to the panel about Trump and his allies' efforts to overturn the election, and other witnesses have testified that Cipollone warned those schemes were illegal, but the DOJ may be able prevail on him to disclose his private conversations with the president over which he invoked executive privilege.

“[DOJ] will insist there is no shield to his testimony, and if necessary will go to court to force his hand,” said former federal prosecutor Harry Litman, adding that Cipolline could establish “Trump’s knowledge that his conduct was illegal based on his own conversations with the president.”

Cipollone could also refute Trump's defense that he was merely taking advice from his lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman and understood the schemes were unlawful.

“That’s where Cipollone can come in to show how Trump was told various schemes were patently illegal,” Goodman said.

It's not clear whether the subpoena was from the grand jury investigating the fake elector scheme or the broader plot around, but either way is bad news for Trump.

“The investigation is focused on the president’s circle, and very likely the president," said trial lawyer David Lurie.

Read More Here:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/03/trump-danger-pat-cipollone-justice-department-subpoena/

[Rick Plant]

Liz Cheney schools Fox News host after he goes to bat for 'indefensible' fake Trump electors scheme



The scheme to overthrow the 2020 presidential election using fake Trump electors in states President Joe Biden carried has been broadly panned as illegal by legal experts. Even John Eastman, the far-right lawyer who drafted the memo outlining the scheme, admitted in private to Trump that there was no real basis for it in law.

But according to Fox News commentator Mark Levin, it was a perfectly valid scheme. On Monday, he told his viewers, "That is to be resolved by the United States Congress. That is not a crime either. You might not like it. You might think it's weird, you might think it's unethical, but it's not a crime."

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), one of two Republicans on the House January 6 Committee and a key voice against Trump from the right, begged to differ, criticizing Levin's remark in a Twitter thread on Tuesday.

"The Eastman memos & fake elector scheme are indefensible," wrote Cheney, tagging Levin's account. "On the memos: Eastman took the opposite legal position a month before the election; he knew all 9 Justices would rule against him; & he admitted it was illegal in an Oval Office meeting & afterwards. White House lawyers said it was illegal too. The fake electoral slates were obviously false, and were transmitted to multiple federal officials for purposes of obstructing the electoral count. None of this is ambiguous."

"Watch the hearings, and read the opinion of the federal judge who concluded that Eastman and Trump likely violated two criminal statutes," concluded Cheney.

This comes amid recent reports that the Justice Department is zeroing in on Trump in its investigation into various schemes to overturn the election.

Read Here: https://twitter.com/RepLizCheney/status/1554451948115468298

[Rick Plant]

Lawsuit seeks Rep. Maddock’s removal from Nov. ballot for allegedly ‘engaging in insurrection’


State Rep. Matt Maddock and Michigan GOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock attend a right-wing rally at the state Capitol, Feb. 8, 2022 | Laina G. Stebbins

A lawsuit seeks to remove state Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford) from the Nov. 8 general election ballot due to what were called “his violations of his oath of office and attempts to illegally overturn the 2020 election while pushing the Big Lie.”

The suit, filed with the Michigan Court of Appeals (COA), was brought by Oakland County voter Lee Estes, who alleged that Maddock “has ‘engaged in insurrection’ in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment and therefore is ineligible to serve as a candidate for or a member of the Michigan Legislature.”

A similar suit brought by Estes sought to disqualify GOP gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley from Tuesday’s ballot, but was eventually rejected by the COA as having been filed less than 28 days before the primary, and thus “did not speedily request relief.”

Kelley, who is charged for his actions during the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection attempt, ended up finishing fourth in the gubernatorial race, behind right-wing commentator Tudor Dixon, businessman Kevin Rinke and chiropractor Garrett Soldano. Kelley has refused to concede and claimed to the Advance, without evidence, that there were.”unprecedented oddities” in the election.

As it did with the Kelley lawsuit, the liberal advocacy group Progress Michigan assisted with research and financial support for the latest litigation.

“Before, during and after the November 2020 election, Matt Maddock was one of the ringleaders who sought to use illegal means – in violation of his oath of office – to try to overturn a free and fair election,” said Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan. “Actions have consequences and Maddock’s actions surrounding the 2020 election demand accountability. He’s spread lies and misinformation, attempted to subvert the will of voters, and betrayed the oath he swore to uphold.”

Progress Michigan further alleges Maddock helped organize a “mob that descended upon the former TCF Center in Detroit in an illegal attempt to stop the counting process, spread misinformation and lies about the election results, signed onto clearly frivolous lawsuits, and was part of a cadre of Republican activists and elected officials who posed as fake electors in a plot to overturn the results of the November 2020 election.”

Maddock was one of 11 Republican House members to put their names to briefs in a failed lawsuit that sought to overturn election results and one of five GOP legislators who attempted to enter the Michigan Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, with a slate of 16 fake Republican electors. One of whom was his spouse, Michigan GOP Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock. They are close allies of Trump.

Matt Maddock did not respond to a request for comment.

Maddock will face Democratic candidate Sarah May-Seward in the November election, after both ran unopposed in their respective primaries on Tuesday.

May-Seward told Michigan Advance that she supported the decision to bring the matter to court.

“Elected officials should be held to their Oath of Office and the Constitution,” she said. “If the court finds that Matt Maddock violated either of these, he should accept the rule of law.”

https://michiganadvance.com/blog/lawsuit-seeks-rep-maddocks-removal-from-nov-ballot-for-allegedly-engaging-in-insurrection/