JFK Assassination Forum
Off Topic => News - Off Topic - Weird & Wacky => Topic started by: Rick Plant on September 24, 2021, 11:40:49 PM
-
In this thread we will discuss the GOP attempted coup and insurrection which is now under investigation by the U.S. House bipartisan committee.
-
Donald Trump Jr. must 'definitely' be subpoenaed — this former GOP congresswoman explains why
One of the most prominent Republicans who investigated President Bill Clinton in the 1990's called for the House select committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots to subpoena Donald Trump, Jr.
Former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) rose to prominence a quarter century ago as the senior counsel on the House Committee on Government Reform. In 2000, she led opposition research into Vice President Al Gore for George W. Bush's successful campaign for president. After working in private practice, she served three terms representing Virginia in Congress.
MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace interviewed Comstock to hear her analysis of the investigation into January 6th after the select committee issued four subpoenas to top Trump advisors.
"Barbara, I set this up with sort of a nod to your history as an incredibly competent and tough investigator," Wallace said. "And I want to come back to you on the same question. What is it you want to know about these men individually and in terms of what ties them together in the planning of and the conduct during the insurrection?"
"Well, I think we need to get every, you know, email, every text, every document that's out there because I don't particularly expect them to be very forthcoming," Comstock replied.
Comstock explained why the former president's eldest son needs to be subpoenaed.
"I think people like Trump, Jr. definitely needs to be subpoenaed. Remember, he was in that tent right before Donald Trump went out to speak," she explained.
"He's there with Mark Meadows saying, 'Hey, you know how to fight, you're fighting.' He obviously knows a lot of what went on in that lead up as do other members of the family and certainly members of the family who knew exactly what was going on on January 6th and from the entire time from election night until then," Comstock said.
-
New subpoenas show House panel 'looking beyond just the attack' to nail Trump for insurrection: analysis
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNzUzNDY1NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NjA0MDU1NX0.EIQRYXxMSeyYmm8uXd2Re_wZMqwYm9Z6WewhhMeN4Gs/image.jpg)
A round of new subpoenas show the House select committee is investigating events that led up to the Jan. 6 insurrection and lawmakers have a pretty clear idea of which Donald Trump loyalists played the biggest role in the attack.
The panel requested records and testimony from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, former Trump deputy chief of staff and director of social media Dan Scavino, and former Pentagon official and Trump loyalist Kashyap Patel -- and the subpoenas show lawmakers are looking beyond the insurrection, reported Rolling Stone.
"Among other things, those requests show the committee is investigating the communications various security agencies had with the White House and with each other," wrote Hunter Walker for the magazine. "It is also examining personnel changes at some of those agencies, including the installation of Patel, a Trump loyalist who was placed at the Pentagon in the days after the election, and the firing of Homeland Security cybersecurity chief Christopher Krebs, who loudly refuted Trump's suggestion there was election fraud at play in his defeat."
The committee also wants to see records related to gathering and sharing intelligence before the attack, as well as security plans for the Capitol and any changes made to the way agencies monitor social media for threats before the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the attack.
"Those record requests also indicate the committee is looking beyond just the attack on January 6," Walker wrote. "The committee specifically requested records related to demonstrations against the election that were staged by Trump supporters in D.C. on November 14, 2020, December 12, 2020, and January 5 of this year. It also asked for documents related to attempts that Trump associates (including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Sidney Powell) made to allege election fraud, as well documents related to efforts to solicit Justice Department intervention in multiple states."
The FBI's investigation has so far focused on the Trump supporters who stormed into the Capitol, while the congressional probe seems to be focusing on individuals who can describe the former president's actions on that day and what steps they took to prevent an effective response.
"In the statement announcing those subpoenas, the committee indicated it was interested in Patel both for his role in 'discussions among senior Pentagon officials prior to and on January 6th, 2021, regarding 'security at the Capitol' and to a reported effort to place him at the Central Intelligence Agency last December in the aftermath of the election," Walker wrote. "Bannon, a former White House official and on-again-off-again Trump confidant, was cited by the committee for a reported conversation he had with the former president last December 30th, where he pressed Trump 'to focus his efforts on January 6th,' and for allegedly attending 'a gathering at the Willard Hotel on January 5th, 2021, as part of an effort to persuade members of Congress to block the certification of the election the next day.'"
"Meadows, who was Trump's White House chief of staff, was cited by the committee for reportedly communicating 'with officials at the state level and in the Department of Justice as part of an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election or prevent the election's certification' and for being in touch with organizers of pro-Trump rallies in Washington on January 6," Walker added. "The subpoena announcement indicated Scavino, a former caddy at Trump's golf club who became his social media guru on the campaign trail, attracted the committee's interest due to his promotion of the January 6 rallies and because he was reportedly present 'during a discussion of how to convince Members of Congress not to certify the election for Joe Biden' with Trump the day before the Capitol attack."
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-investigation-2655095087/
-
When did Kevin McCarthy call Trump on Jan. 6 ? Here's why it matters
On Friday, writing for The Washington Post, Aaron Blake highlighted the massive scope of the House January 6 committee's investigation suggested by the subpoenas of Trump allies and the possibility the White House could turn over additional records — and, if they do, the most important questions the committee could answer.
"Should the Biden White House do this — which hasn't been fully decided and would be subject to a court challenge — it would be significant," wrote Blake. "However little regard Biden's White House might have for Trump's, even White Houses of opposing parties generally avoid this kind of thing. No White House wants to potentially undermine its claims to executive privilege or to set a precedent that its inner workings could one day be disclosed by its successors."
But one of the most significant questions the move could answer, wrote Blake is the timeline of when House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had his infamous phone call with Trump — and what it could reveal.
"If the call to McCarthy came earlier, it would suggest Trump's response was even more delayed. If it came later, it would suggest Trump's callousness about the scenes lasted well into the situation," said Blake. "Even if we might not know the full content of these calls, in other words, the timing of them would fill out the picture of Trump's slow response and possibly how much he liked what he was seeing, even as the situation progressively spiraled out of control.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/24/white-house-might-give-up-goods-what-trump-did-jan-6-what-would-that-mean/
-
Legal expert shreds Trump's executive privilege claims: 'You can't tell your lawyer you're going to commit a crime'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNzUzNDYyNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0ODY4Mjg0NH0.7OLZpQimwSGcnFff97R5EqdXgYoZ-JQ9R12KdjR2Mg0/image.jpg)
As a House select committee investigates the Capitol insurrection, former president Donald Trump's attorneys are widely expected to argue in court that "executive privilege" prevents administration officials from testifying and documents from being turned over.
However, one former high-ranking federal prosecutor said Friday he believes judges will ultimately reject many of Trump's "executive privilege" claims.
Elliot Williams, a CNN legal analyst who served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice, explained that presidents should enjoy executive privilege, so they can have candid conversations with advisers without being sued or subpoenaed every time.
However, Williams said Trump faces two major obstacles when it comes to arguing executive privilege in response to subpoenas from the House select committee investigating the insurrection.
"The problem here for president Trump is that, No. 1, a lot of these communications were in the capacity of him as candidate Trump, not president Trump, and those just aren't going to be protected communications," Williams said. "And No. 2, it can't be a shield for wrongdoing. You can't tell your lawyer you're going to commit a crime, and then say that those are privileged communications. It's the same thing here. He can't have had conversations that teed up wrongdoing, and then claim that he's hiding behind a privilege. So he can make the argument — it's going to be really tricky — because it's hard legally to separate the man from the candidate from the president, but that's going to happen in the courts over the next couple of weeks."
Watch below:
-
Trump supporters were breaching the Capitol as Homeland Security claimed 'no major incidents of illegal activity'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNzU1ODUxMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTM5NjM5M30.y08twu6hf9PhHxk_Qq_76pG65qjQAxA94cMYgHTIPyk/image.jpg)
A Homeland Security whistleblower came forward Sunday to reveal that under President Donald Trump's administration, he and other DHS officials were ordered to downplay possible threats on the United States from Russia and white supremacists and to play up incidents at the border.
The misinformation stretched even further, according to Politico reporter Betsy Woodruff Swan, who revealed Tuesday that DHS sent out reports saying everything was fine during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"There are no major incidents of illegal activity at this time," read an internal Army email sent to senior leaders at 1:40 p.m. on Jan. 6. It was referring to an update they had received moments before from DHS's National Operations Center (NOC).
The email was obtained from a public records request by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
"These emails raise serious questions about the response to the threat of January 6th," Swan cited spokesperson Jordan Libowitz, from CREW.
The documents show that the first report from DHS on Jan. 6 at 1:30 p.m. EST didn't even have to do with the mass of Trump supporters marching with weapons to the Capitol. That communication was about the National Guard troops deployed in Wisconsin "in anticipation of prosecutorial decision" in the case of the police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times. They said that there was 851 National Guard personnel ready on hand. They weren't needed there.
The second item on the report says: "In the last 2 hrs - There are no major incidents of illegal activity at this time."
They also mentioned what they characterized as "non-issues," such as a suspicious package at a Metro station near the Capitol. Threats by the Proud Boys "to shut down the water system in the downtown area," weren't credible. It then mentioned, "Protestors near 16th & Pennsylvania Ave reportedly with baseball bats; exaggerated report."
It then commented on two buildings being evacuated because of a bomb threat against the Capitol Hill Club. That was the pipebomb found in front of the Republican Party headquarters and the one found at the Democratic National Committee. The FBI believes that the bombs were placed to explode and distract police from the U.S. Capitol so insurrectionists could get into the building without any barriers.
See the documents and read the full story from Betsy Woodruff Swan here.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/28/dhs-pentagon-jan-6-capitol-riot-514527
-
There are only 824 days until 2024!
-
There are only 824 days until 2024!
Yes, and another GOP defeat like in 2018 and 2020!
-
Bob Woodward’s book reveals damning details about Josh Hawley’s role in Trump’s attempted coup: Missouri newspaper
Sen. Josh Hawley's hometown newspaper bashed the Missouri Republican for encouraging and supporting an attempted coup to keep Donald Trump in the White House.
The Kansas City Star editorial board lists all the Trump administration officials and others who pushed back against baseless claims of election fraud, as described in Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's book, "Peril," but noted that Hawley continued to side with the defeated president.
"You know who never caved to reality, or ever tried to protect the republic instead of his Republican self?" the board writes. "Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, that's who. Yes, we knew that, but 'Peril' reminds any who might have forgotten that in putting his ambition ahead of all else, Hawley was a standout both before and during the attempted coup."
The book's authors say as much.
"'The risk became real,' the book says, 'when Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, a Yale-law educated freshman and former Supreme Court law clerk for Chief Justice John Roberts, announced on Dec. 30 that he would object to the Electoral College certification on Jan. 6, becoming the first senator to do so,'" the board writes
Hawley stood by himself in the hours after Trump supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol intended the stop or delay the certification of Joe Biden's election win, as both the Star reported at the time and "Peril" showed months later, and the newspaper noted with disdain that the senator told colleagues Roy Blunt and Ted Cruz that he would side with the insurrectionists when the floor vote came.
"Hawley played a big role in the Big Lie," the board writes. "And since so many Missourians love him for it, he may be the rare national Republican who hopes his constituents will read this book, and see how willing he was to distinguish himself."
https://www.rawstory.com/josh-hawley-jan-6/
-
Capitol riot committee subpoenas 11 high-profile Trump allies -- and it wants to grill them about their funding
The U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol has issued subpoenas for 11 additional Trump supporters being investigated for their role in overturning the 2020 election, which was won by President Joe Biden.
Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) announced the subpoenas in a statement released online on Wednesday evening.
"The Select Committee is investigating the facts, circumstances, and causes of the January 6th attack and issues relating to the peaceful transfer of power, in order to identify and evaluate lessons learned and to recommend to the House and its relevant committees corrective laws, policies, procedures rules, or regulations. The inquiry includes examination of how various individuals and entities coordinated their activities leading up to the events of January 6, 2021," Thompson wrote.
Women for America First (WFAF), which organized the rally preceding the insurrection, is among the groups being investigated. Intriguingly, the committee is also demanding "a range of records that include materials dealing with the planning, funding, and participation in the events."
Here is the full list, with descriptions from the select committee:
Amy Kremer, founder and Chair of WFAF.Kylie Kremer, founder and Executive Director of WFAF.
Cynthia Chafian, submitted the first permit application on behalf of WFAF for the January 6th rally, and founder of the Eighty Percent Coalition.
Caroline Wren, listed on permit paperwork for the January 6th rally as "VIP Advisor."
Maggie Mulvaney, listed on permit paperwork for the January 6th rally as "VIP Lead."
Justin Caporale, of Event Strategies, Inc., listed on permit paperwork for the January 6th rally as "Project Manager."
Tim Unes, of Event Strategies, Inc., listed on permit paperwork for the January 6th rally as "Stage Manager."
Megan Powers, of MPowers Consulting LLC, listed on permit paperwork for the January 6th rally as "Operations Manager for Scheduling and Guidance."
Hannah Salem, of Salem Strategies LLC, listed on permit paperwork for the January 6th rally as "Operations Manager for Logistics and Communications."
Lyndon Brentnall, of RMS Protective Services, listed on permit paperwork for the January 6th rally as "On-Site Supervisor."
Katrina Pierson, former Trump campaign official, reportedly involved in the organization of the January 5th and 6th rallies and was in direct communication with the former President about the rallies.
The select committee had previously subpoenaed former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Communications Daniel Scavino, former Defense Department official Kashyap Patel, and former Trump advisor Stephen Bannon.
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-select-committee-subpoenas-2655193873/
-
823 days to go! 2024 gets closer every minute! Biden's polls numbers are cratering with each new disaster.
-
Leaked document blows the lid off secret group where GOP big shots link up with right-wing extremists
A leaked document reveals the secret membership list for a shadowy right-wing group that links elite Republicans and conservative activists with anti-abortion and anti-Islamic extremists.
The membership list for the Council for National Policy (CNP) showed influential figures in Donald Trump's administration alongside leaders of organizations classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as hate groups, reported The Guardian.
"This new CNP list makes clear that the group still serves as a key venue where mainstream conservatives and extremists mix," said Heidi Beirich, of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. "[SNP] clearly remains a critical nexus for mainstreaming extremism from the far right into conservative circles."
The group was founded in 1981 by right-wing Christian leaders Tim LaHaye, Howard Phillips and Paul Weyrich, who had also been deeply involved with the Moral Majority, to gain influence within Ronald Reagan's administration, and the has gone on to host George W. Bush and Mitt Romney as GOP presidential candidates and Trump, when he was in office last year.
The CNP reportedly instructs members not to reveal their affiliation or even identify the group, whose executive committee chairman Bill Walton was shown on video obtained by the Washington Post last year describing the election as a "spiritual battle" pitting "good versus evil."
The leaked membership list shows anti-Muslim extremists Frank Gaffney, founder and executive chairman of the Center for Security Policy, and Brigitte Gabriel, founder and chairman of Act For America, along with anti-LGBTQ extremists, Michael Farris, president and CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom; Brad Dacus, founder and president of the Pacific Justice Institute; Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council; Matthew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel; and Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.
Anti-immigrant extremists James and Amapola Hansberger, co-founders of Legal Immigrants For America, also showed up on the list, and so did anti-abortion extremist Margaret Hartshorn, chair of the board of Heartbeat International.
One newcomer was Charlie Kirk, founder and president of the youth organization Turning Point USA, and and pro-Trump conspiracist Jerome Corsi was listed as a member of CNP's board of governors.
Conservative heavyweights were also listed as members, such as L. Brent Bozell III, founder of the Media Research Center; Eugene Mayer, president of the Federalist Society; Lisa Nelson, chief executive of the American Legislative Exchange Council; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Return; and Daniel Schneider, executive director of the American Conservative Union.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) was named as a member, along with corporate leaders from Boeing, Cinemark Holdings, Coors Brewing, Forbes and Morgan Stanley, as well as GOP megadonors and conservative media figures.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-alfa/
-
Trump's lawyer wrote 'bone-chilling' instructions for a coup – but you probably never heard about it: columnist
Writing in The Washington Post this Thursday, columnist Margaret Sullivan says there's a good chance you haven't heard of the Eastman memo, which -- according to her -- just goes to show how how lazy the mainstream press has become about the attempted coup on Jan. 6.
It also shows how easily a coup could succeed the next time around, she writes.
The Eastman memo, which was unearthed in Bob Woodward and Robert Costa's new book, was written by Trump legal adviser John Eastman — "a serious Establishment Type with Federalist Society cred and a law school deanship under his belt — it offered Mike Pence, then in his final days as vice president, a detailed plan to declare the 2020 election invalid and give the presidency to Trump," Sullivan writes, adding that it's basically a tutorial on how to run a coup in six easy steps.
Sullivan describes the memo as "an instruction manual for a coup."
She adds that "it's downright bone-chilling to think that this lawyer and legal scholar who was enough of an insider to have a speaking role at Trump's 'Stop the Steal' rally on Jan. 6, had gamed it out like this."
Several news outlets did cover the memo, including New York magazine, CNN, and the Washington Post, Sullivan notes. "But the news coverage wasn't nearly widespread or prominent enough to make 'the Eastman memo' a household name or to strike that legitimate fear into the hearts of citizens.
Read the full op-ed over at The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/sullivan-eastman-memo/2021/09/29/68d93000-211f-11ec-9309-b743b79abc59_story.html
-
Of course this coup was planned. These maga Trump scumbags hate America. They tried to overthrow the US Government and kill members of Congress.
Trump Extremists Brought Numerous Guns on January 6, Evidence Shows
Rioters at the Capitol carried concealed pistols, allegedly stockpiled weapons nearby, and called for overthrowing the US government
For more than eight months, Republican lawmakers have sought to rewrite the harrowing events of January 6. They have continually whitewashed the assault on the US Capitol despite copious footage showing mobs of Trump supporters ransacking Congress, threatening to kill Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and viciously attacking scores of police officers with chemical spray, fire extinguishers, hockey sticks, and flagpoles. The attack led to several deaths and was followed by the suicides of several police officers who defended the Capitol.
“It was not an insurrection,” Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia declared at a House hearing in May, suggesting that most participants were engaged in “a normal tourist visit.”
“By and large it was peaceful protest,” said Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin after the May hearings.
This attempted political cover-up has hinged on another specific claim: that no one who stormed the Capitol brought guns.
“This didn’t seem like an armed insurrection to me,” Johnson said five weeks after the attack, adding, “When you think of armed, don’t you think of firearms?” During the May hearings, Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona claimed “zero firearms” were found among suspects charged with breaching the Capitol. “There were no guns whatsoever,” former President Trump declared repeatedly during a Fox News interview in July.
Evidence of numerous firearms among January 6 perpetrators shows those claims to be false. A Mother Jones investigation drawing on public video footage, congressional testimony, and documents from more than a dozen federal criminal cases reveals that various Trump supporters descended on DC that day armed for battle with guns and other potentially lethal weapons. At least three people arrested in connection with the insurrection are facing charges for carrying firearms on Capitol grounds. At least eight others carried knives or tasers at the Capitol, including two defendants who allegedly committed assaults with tasers, according to FBI and court documents. Multiple others arrested downtown and in the vicinity of the Capitol had rifles, pistols, explosive materials, and large supplies of ammunition. And communications among numerous January 6 suspects detailed in court documents indicate that many of their fellow insurrectionists were armed with guns.
Evidence disclosed in court filings suggests that some defendants may have decided against bringing guns to the Capitol due to strict DC gun laws. But many other participants that day apparently were undeterred.
“Over the radio I heard our gun recovery unit working constantly,” testified DC Metropolitan police officer Daniel Hodges during late July hearings held by the House Select Committee investigating January 6.
“Multiple gun arrests were made from January 5th through the 7th against those attending, likely had attended, or planned to attend Donald Trump’s gathering.” (A spokesperson for the DC police declined to specify the total number of firearms arrests stemming from January 6, but it appears to be at least six.) In his testimony, Hodges also described fearing that law enforcement would have been perilously outnumbered had they acted more aggressively against suspected armed extremists. “Unfortunately, due to the course of events that day we will never know exactly how many were carrying firearms and other lethal weapons.”
“The people that were around me were all carrying too”
Among the defendants who face weapons charges is Trump supporter Christopher M. Alberts of Maryland, who is accused of multiple federal crimes, including engaging in physical violence at the Capitol and unlawfully carrying a semiautomatic pistol and a large-capacity ammunition device. Appearing in January 6 video footage recorded by an unknown person in the crowd outside the Capitol, Alberts wore a tactical vest and called for overthrowing the US government. “If the government is no longer for the people,” he shouted, “it is your duty to overthrow that government and reinstate a new government, for the people.”
According to court documents, Alberts later tried to flee from DC police, who arrested him carrying a Taurus G2C 9mm pistol and more than two dozen rounds of ammunition. An attorney for Alberts did not respond to multiple requests for comment about Alberts’ alleged crimes and the January 6 footage of him, which Mother Jones authenticated using public records, previous news reporting, and video footage of Alberts, who had long protested publicly in support of Trump.
Another person charged with unlawfully carrying a handgun is Guy Reffitt of Texas, whom the government alleges is a Three Percenter militia member who wore a helmet and body armor as he confronted police defending the Capitol. According to FBI wiretap evidence contained in court documents, Reffitt boasted to family and fellow militia members after returning to Texas in January that he and other insurrectionists brought guns to the siege. “The people that were around me were all carrying too,” he said. “I had every constitutional right to carry a weapon and take over the Congress, as we tried to do. We went in, they scurried like rats and hid. That’s how it works.” Reffitt and his attorney did not respond to requests for comment.
Mark Sami Ibrahim of California, who was on personal leave on January 6 from his job as a special agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration, was indicted in July on four federal charges stemming from his alleged activity outside the Capitol. Multiple images contained in the criminal complaint against him show Ibrahim posing for photos while displaying his badge and DEA-issued pistol; according to the complaint, he later made a false statement to a federal investigator, saying he “never exposed” his badge and gun at the Capitol. Among the charges against Ibrahim—who the complaint says was not on DEA duty and “had no role as a law enforcement officer” on January 6—are that he knowingly was on restricted Capitol grounds without lawful authority while carrying “a deadly or dangerous weapon or firearm.” Ibrahim, who said during an appearance on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show in March that he did nothing illegal and had since been fired from the DEA, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did his attorney.
The identities of other individuals who carried guns on Capitol grounds remain unclear. One person who wore a star-spangled cowboy hat and is wanted by the FBI, in connection with an assault on a journalist, appeared in footage recorded by Vice News in which he revealed a pistol in his front waistband.
As the scene grew more tense and chaotic that day, escalating calls for violence could be heard around the Capitol. “If you have a weapon, you need to get your weapon,” announced one unidentified man repeatedly through a bullhorn. Elsewhere among the mob, another unidentified man urged opening fire on a police officer guarding a building entrance: “Shoot that mo********er! Shoot him!” the man shouted. “Either you let us in or you die!”
Oath Keepers’ hidden “arsenal” on January 6
In a sweeping conspiracy case stemming from the insurrection, federal prosecutors have indicted 17 members of the Oath Keepers militia network, a loose-knit group of far-right political extremists who claim to have thousands of backers among law enforcement and military veterans. According to court documents, at least seven Oath Keepers involved in the events of January 6 stockpiled firearms in a northern Virginia hotel for potential use by a “quick reaction force” on behalf of Trump inside DC. Three others discussed participating in that effort, court filings show.
Evidence submitted by prosecutors includes video surveillance images from the Comfort Inn Ballston, located about 7 miles from the Capitol, allegedly showing some of the men transporting guns in and out of the hotel between January 5 and January 7. The quantity of weapons and ammunition the Oath Keepers stored there is not publicly known, but it included rifles in cases carried through the hotel lobby on luggage carts—some shrouded in bedsheets—that were retrieved by Oath Keepers the day after the insurrection, according to court documents.
(https://www.motherjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/jan-6-guns-2.jpg)
(https://www.motherjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/jan-6-guns-3.jpg)
The Oath Keepers began planning to mobilize shortly after Trump’s November 2020 election defeat. According to court filings, during a post-election video call two months before the insurrection, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes warned that “a bloody, bloody civil war” could be imminent—which he said would be welcome and “give Trump what he needs.”
“We want him to declare an insurrection, and to call us up as the militia,” said Rhodes, an un-indicted co-conspirator in the case whom Mother Jones and other media have confirmed is referred to as “PERSON ONE” in the federal indictment. Rhodes has not been charged, though he said in March that he thought he might be arrested, according to BuzzFeed News. Court filings show that in a series of communications through video chats and encrypted messaging platforms multiple Oath Keepers discussed coordination of weapons for their January 6 “ops” in DC. Although some talked about not bringing firearms into the city initially, the group was preparing for battle against Trump’s political enemies, including “antifa.” (FBI Director Chris Wray testified to Congress in March that people associated with antifa, a term generally referring to leftists who oppose fascism and in some cases have committed violence, had no role in the events of January 6.)
A lawyer for the militia group told Mother Jones that Oath Keepers transported a cache of firearms from North Carolina to a hotel near downtown DC
Evidence disclosed by prosecutors includes a message from Oath Keepers conspiracy defendant Brian Ulrich, a 43-year-old Georgia resident, who stated in the group’s “Leadership Signal Chat” on December 31 that he planned to bring “a separate backpack with my ammo load” and a common type of semiautomatic rifle: “I will be the guy running around with the budget AR.”
“[W]e have a s***load of [quick reaction force] on standby with an arsenal,” messaged Oath Keeper Joshua James, a 33-year-old Alabama resident, responding to an offer from an unidentified individual to “coordinate help” from “friends not far from DC with a lot of weapons and ammo.”
Kellye SoRelle, a lawyer who represents the Oath Keepers organization and is close with Rhodes, told Mother Jones in an interview that an Oath Keeper member transported a cache of firearms by truck from North Carolina to the Comfort Inn Ballston shortly before the assault on the Capitol. The member who transported the weapons then stayed at the hotel to oversee the stockpile, SoRelle said. (That Oath Keeper member has not been charged; although Mother Jones corroborated various details from SoRelle’s account, we were unable to confirm that member’s identity.) SoRelle herself may be a subject of growing scrutiny from federal prosecutors; as Mother Jones was first to report recently, the FBI seized SoRelle’s personal phone on September 7 as part of an ongoing “seditious conspiracy” investigation focused on January 6.
The Oath Keepers’ armed mobilization followed what prosecutors in court documents called “paramilitary training” undertaken by some defendants in fall 2020. Four Oath Keepers from Florida who currently face conspiracy and other charges—married couple Kelly and Connie Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, and Joseph Hackett—participated last September and October in a firearms course in Leesburg, Florida, as Mother Jones previously reported. In one of those sessions, an instructor coached the militia members on how to “drop” adversaries by shooting them in the heart, lungs, or head.
As Oath Keepers traveled with guns toward the nation’s capital to help “stop the steal” and ostensibly go to war with antifa, several of the Florida members spent the night of January 4 at the home of the leader of the network’s North Carolina chapter, Doug Smith, where they planned to practice at a firing range, according to SoRelle. Smith, who has not been charged, could not be reached for comment. The Oath Keepers drove up to northern Virginia the next day, when members began stashing weapons in the hotel just across the Potomac from downtown DC.
(Where not specified, all Oath Keepers identified in this story or their lawyers either declined to comment or did not respond to inquiries from Mother Jones.)
Since June, three Oath Keepers have pleaded guilty to conspiracy and other charges, including Graydon Young of Florida and Mark Grods of Alabama. As part of a plea deal in mid-September, Jason Dolan of Florida admitted that he drove with other unidentified Oath Keepers from Florida to the nation’s capital, bringing an M4 rifle that he dropped off with at least one of his co-conspirators at the Comfort Inn Ballston. Dolan further admitted to storming the Capitol with fellow Oath Keepers and obstructing Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election by “intimidating and coercing government personnel.”
Dolan also admitted he tried to hide evidence of his crimes by deleting data from his cellphone, including “photographs he had taken while inside the Capitol and encrypted communications with at least some of the co-conspirators.”
To date, more than 600 people have been arrested and charged with federal crimes in connection with January 6. Stark footage and accumulating criminal evidence make clear that the assault on the Capitol, grim as it was, teetered on the brink of turning far worse.
The FBI’s wanted list in connection with that day remains hundreds of people long, including an unknown individual suspected of planting pipe bombs outside the headquarters of both the Democratic and Republican national committees the night before the insurrection. Federal judges overseeing some January 6 cases have warned that the threat is far from gone, with one judge observing in a pretrial detention ruling that the “steady drumbeat” of lies from Trump and other GOP figures about the 2020 election could continue to incite violence. At a political rally in Georgia in late September, Trump added a brazen new twist, suggesting that investigation of the January 6 insurrection was just another partisan “hoax.”
" We had thousands of weapons and fired no rounds yet showed numbers. The next time we will not be so cordial.”
In a 2021 counterterrorism budget request made public in June, Justice Department leaders stated that further acts of political violence from domestic terrorists are highly likely. The FBI announced in late September that it has more than doubled its domestic terrorism caseload.
Some January 6 defendants, including additional Oath Keeper members charged with conspiracy, have lied to investigators and went to significant lengths to destroy evidence of their communications related to the insurrection, according to court documents. Others have kept weapons in their homes in violation of pretrial orders. And some defendants have threatened future attacks.
"We took the Capital and put the POS Capital Hill on it’s [sic] heels,” said Reffitt, the defendant from Texas, in a message to fellow Three Percenters a week after the attack, according to a filing from prosecutors. “This has only just begun and will not end until we The People of The Republic have won our country back. We had thousands of weapons and fired no rounds yet showed numbers. The next time we will not be so cordial.”
In June, defendant and former cop Thomas Robertson of Virginia, who faces charges for going inside the Capitol and was fired by the Rocky Mount police department, violated the terms of his pretrial release by possessing an array of guns and an explosive device in his home, prosecutors allege. That same month, Robertson, whose attorney did not respond to a Mother Jones inquiry, posted some ominous comments online.
“They are trying to teach us a lesson. They have. But its [sic] definitely not the intended lesson,” he wrote, according to court documents. He added, “I have learned very well that if you dip your toe into the Rubicon…cross it. Cross it hard and violent and play for all the marbles.”
https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2021/09/trump-extremists-guns-january-6-insurrection-congress-domestic-terrorism/
-
Maddow plays new Capitol riot audio that changes much of what we know about Jan 6 attacks
MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Thursday explained the significance of new audio recordings of U.S. Park Police on January 6th.
The "new, never before heard police radio recordings" were obtained by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
"These are recordings that, among other things, show that as the National Park Police, that police force, was overwhelmed, they at one point had a number of their officers backed up inside of the Washington Monument for their own protection and that sort of extreme pressure on those police officers happened as early as 9:30 in the morning on the day of the Capitol attack," Maddow explained.
"Now, as far as I know, we had not previously understood the Trump crowd on the mall and on the Capitol grounds as early as the 9:00 a.m. hour was already fighting with police to the point of overwhelming them," she noted, playing clips from the recordings.
Maddow interviewed Rep. Jaime Raskin (D-MD) about the new recordings. Raskin, who sits on the select committee investigating the attacks, said he had not previously heard the recordings.
Watch:
-
Only 822 days to go. That means one fewer day for another Biden disaster. The economy is next.
-
Hacked Oath Keepers Records Show Active Members Of Law Enforcement And The Military Tried To Join The Group After Jan. 6
In the days after the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, the Oath Keepers gained notoriety almost overnight as a symbol of right-wing extremism in America.
Images of members in battle armor pushing their way into the Capitol went viral, clips of the group’s leader challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election surfaced, and within weeks FBI agents began arresting Oath Keepers members as part of the largest and arguably most important conspiracy case to come out of the insurgency.
Some active police officers and members of the US military apparently liked what they saw. In some cases ignoring strict policies prohibiting their membership in such groups, many reached out to the Oath Keepers seeking information, according to leaked emails from the group.
“I was wondering what was required to become an oath keeper,” one soldier wrote to the group’s main email address on Jan. 19. He noted that he was “active duty army, 7 years in” and stationed at Fort Hood, Texas.
“I’m not liking what the world is coming to and have a growing concern for our nation,” the person added. “Please let me know how I can get involved.”
On Feb. 4, scarcely a week after three Oath Keepers were indicted for their role in the Capitol riots, an email came in from someone identifying himself as Scott Langton, “a current Washington State Police Officer looking for information,” who added that he was “not looking to be on some Liberal hit list.”
Records confirm that there is a Scott Langton currently serving in the Ferndale, Washington, police department, and that he has been sued at least twice for allegedly committing civil rights and use of force abuses while in uniform. One of those cases settled and the other is currently pending in federal court.
Two weeks later, someone named Benjamin Payne wrote to the Oath Keepers, identifying himself as “active LEO” — or law enforcement officer — and a “lifetime member” of the group. He said he was trying to get in touch with Louisiana leadership for the group. Records and social media confirm there is a Benjamin Payne who works for the Denham Springs, Louisiana, police department; he was sued last week in federal court for alleged civil rights violations. That suit is pending.
Throughout 2021, as federal cases against Oath Keepers continue to grow, interest among some in law enforcement or the military has not appeared to wane. In June, for example, someone calling themselves “active duty LE” in South Carolina wrote to the organization, asking, “how do I join?” And just over two weeks ago, someone claiming to be a Navy yeoman stationed in Fargo, North Dakota, inquired about getting involved with the group.
“Greetings, I am active duty Navy,” the person wrote under the name Ray Triboulet. “I love what my country is supposed to be and this tyrannical idiocy is crushing the freedom out of me and mine. Any opportunity y’all have for me to do something please let me know.” Navy records show there is a Ray Triboulet currently stationed in North Dakota.
None of these police officers or service members responded to requests for comment, and it is unclear what came of their inquiries or whether they ended up joining the group.
According to spokesperson Patricia Kreuzberger, the Navy “does not and will not tolerate supremacist or extremist conduct.” Any reports of misconduct will be investigated, she said, noting that the Department of Defense policy “prohibits military personnel from actively advocating supremacist, extremist, or criminal gang doctrine, ideology, or causes.”
An Army spokesperson said that under its policies “all credible allegations of Soldiers who actively participate in any type of extremist activity will be investigated.”
Ferndale Police Chief Kevin Turner said the department prohibits membership in groups such as the Oath Keepers. “Joining or participating with extremist organizations is not tolerated,” he said.
The Denham Springs Police Department did not respond to a request for its policies on extremist groups.
The emails were obtained by BuzzFeed News after an anonymous group claimed to have hacked the Oath Keepers’ servers and released the records to a group called Distributed Denial of Secrets, which posted much of the data publicly and shared some additional files with journalists and researchers.
Although the hacked Oath Keepers data does not appear to be complete, it provides an unprecedented glimpse inside the workings of the secretive organization, which was founded in 2009 by former Army paratrooper Stewart Rhodes and gets its name from the oath to uphold the constitution sworn by all law enforcement and military personnel.
Rhodes did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the leak.
He and others in Oath Keepers leadership have long claimed that the group includes members drawn from law enforcement and military personnel, but because membership rolls were not public, the scope of such involvement was not known. In May, BuzzFeed News analyzed data from the Oath Keepers website indicating that some 3,000 people appeared to have been added to membership lists in the last two months of 2020, compared to 1,650 members in the first three months of 2021.
BuzzFeed News’ analysis of the newly leaked data, which includes membership lists, emails, and group chats, found more than 500 people associated with the organization who were identified in internal files as military or law enforcement personnel or whose email addresses indicated they may be or previously were employed by the military, state or local police, sheriff’s departments, or federal law enforcement. The leaked membership data does not appear to have been updated past mid-2020; many of the memberships appear to date back at least a decade, and some seem to have been inactive for years.
The group has previously inserted itself into moments of civil unrest, from disaster relief to Black Lives Matter demonstrations, but the events of Jan. 6 brought a higher degree of scrutiny to its activities. Rhodes, who frequently appears on Infowars and other far-right platforms, encouraged members to go to Washington. He was there in person on Jan. 6, and although he did not enter the Capitol, evidence in federal court shows he was in close touch with multiple Oath Keepers during the siege of the building.
To date, 21 people associated with the group have been charged in federal court for alleged crimes on Jan. 6, including Jeremy Brown, a former Green Beret who was arrested this week. Four have pleaded guilty.
The leaked records — which include chat logs, membership rolls, donation receipts, and other information about the Oath Keepers — are largely limited to data from the past 15 months. Between March 2019 and July 2020, for example, the Oath Keepers appear to have received just over $66,000 in donations, with one donor in Texas giving exactly $1,776 — presumably in reference to the date of American independence.
Emails and chats sent in the wake of Jan. 6, meanwhile, reveal hundreds of people demanding that their memberships be canceled or their names removed from Oath Keepers mailing lists. Two Oath Keepers handling the group’s IT in that period saw their inboxes swamped by members complaining that they couldn’t log in or had other technical problems.
Collectively, the records paint a picture of organizational chaos slowed by technological snafus, poor communication, and a fragmented, aging membership unsure in many cases of what the group is up to.
The records also reveal significant anti-government sentiment from Oath Keepers membership, unwillingness to accept the results of the presidential election, and sustained interest from active duty police and military service members.
A separate review by Gothamist found “dozens of names” connected to police, court, and corrections officers in New York State, spurring Mayor Bill de Blasio to open an investigation into the matter.
BuzzFeed News could not determine the current status of all the individuals it identified. Dozens appear to have purchased lifetime memberships to the Oath Keepers, which can cost upward of $1,000; others appear to have stopped paying dues and are listed as “expired,” while email communications indicate that some may have died and their family members asked for their names to be expunged from the group’s mailing lists.
When contacted by BuzzFeed News, some on the email rolls acknowledged having been members of the Oath Keepers in the past but said they had since left the group.
A deputy with the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department in Northern California, for example, said he had joined the Oath Keepers years ago because the idea of supporting the Constitution appealed to him, but he “started getting some weird stuff and let it go.”
He said he “never even thought about it after I quit getting emails” and hasn’t heard from anyone associated with the group in years.
An active officer for the Department of Defense Police reached out to the Oath Keepers via email just two weeks after Jan. 6, describing himself as “very pro-Trump and committed to defending the Constitution of the United States” and asking for more info on the group.
But the man, who said he has since retired, told BuzzFeed News he decided not to join the Oath Keepers after the person who called him in response to his email struck him as strange. The man described his decision not to follow through as akin to looking at a product on Amazon and deciding not to buy it.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kenbensinger/oath-keepers-hacked-emails
Multiple cops and soldiers asked Oath Keepers if they could join after Capitol riot: hacked data
Hacked data obtained by Buzzfeed News shows that several active-duty military and police officers asked to join the Oath Keepers militia in the days after the riots at the United States Capitol building.
One email sent to Oath Keepers leadership came from a man who identified himself as Scott Langton, who said he was a "current Washington State Police Officer looking for information" and who also expressed worry that contacting the Oath Keepers would put him on a "liberal hit list."
One active duty army soldier, meanwhile, emailed the group on January 19th and asked, "I was wondering what was required to become an oath keeper."
The soldier said he wanted to get involved because "I'm not liking what the world is coming to and have a growing concern for our nation."
The Oath Keepers were identified as one of the major groups present at the January 6th riots, and several members have been arrested for taking part in the violent demonstration intended to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory.
BuzzFeed writes that "interest among some in law enforcement or the military has not appeared to wane" when it comes to joining the group, even as "federal cases against Oath Keepers continue to grow."
https://www.rawstory.com/oath-keepers-capitol-riot/
-
New report details the dangerous weaponry brought by Capitol rioters — despite claims they were unarmed
Republican lawmakers have spent months gaslighting the American public on what transpired at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Although harrowing footage captured the deadly series of events that transpired, Republicans have adamantly attempted to downplay the incident and cover up multiple aspects of the insurrection.
One fact that hasn't received enough coverage — and has also been falsely denied by many figures on the right — is the serious weaponry brought by some of the insurrectionists.
According to Mother Jones, some of Trump's extremist supporters actually did carry guns into the federal building. "A Mother Jones investigation drawing on public video footage, congressional testimony, and documents from more than a dozen federal criminal cases reveals that various Trump supporters descended on DC that day armed for battle with guns and other potentially lethal weapons," the publication reports.
Multiple individuals are also facing charges of carrying firearms on U.S. Capitol grounds. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and court documents, "at least eight others carried knives or tasers at the Capitol, including two defendants who allegedly committed assaults with tasers." A number of others were also arrested in downtown Washington, D.C. Those individuals reportedly had " rifles, pistols, explosive materials, and large supplies of ammunition."
Despite the existence of evidence, Republican lawmakers have repeatedly pushed back against those claims. "This didn't seem like an armed insurrection to me," said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) just weeks after angry Trump supporters stormed the Capitol. He added, 'When you think of armed, don't you think of firearms?'
During the hearings back in May, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) also claimed law enforcement officers found "zero firearms" on riot suspects. Former President Donald Trump had also echoed the same claim. "There were no guns whatsoever"' Trump said when he appeared on Fox News in July.
However, the defendants in the case appear to have made their intentions quite clear. One defendant, in particular, is Guy Reffitt of Texas. Facing a charge for unlawfully carrying a handgun, Reffitt sent a message to fellow members of the extremist organization known as the Three Percenters. He suggested that incidents like the Capitol insurrection are only the beginning of their efforts to take back the country.
"We took the Capital and put the POS Capital Hill on it's [sic] heels," said Reffitt, according to court documents filed by prosecutors. "This has only just begun and will not end until we The People of The Republic have won our country back. We had thousands of weapons and fired no rounds yet showed numbers. The next time we will not be so cordial."
https://www.rawstory.com/new-report-details-the-dangerous-weaponry-brought-by-capitol-rioters-despite-claims-they-were-unarmed/
-
These neo nazi and white supremacist hate groups all support Donald Trump and Trump backs them as his supporters. Not only were these thugs involved in the 1/6 Insurrection, they are plotting to cause more violence in the United States These scumbags always existed, but Donald Trump gave them cover and welcomed them to be out in the open to be violent. The GOP says nothing and welcomes these scumbags as voters.
Neo-Nazis wanted to assassinate Virginia house speaker and bust mass murderer Dylann Roof out of prison: prosecutors
On Friday, according to The Virginian-Pilot, prosecutors detailed new allegations in their case against a pair of neo-Nazis, Patrik Mathews and Brian Mark Lemley — alleging that they debated a plan to assassinate the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates before breaking Charleston Emanuel African Methodist Church shooter Dylann Roof out of death row.
"They have been jailed since their January 2020 arrest at a Delaware apartment where the FBI had installed a closed-circuit television camera and microphone," reported Michael Kunzleman. "The surveillance equipment captured them talking about planning an attack during a gun rights rally in Richmond, destroying rail lines and power lines, and how Mathews 'briefly considered' trying to assassinate a Virginia lawmaker, prosecutors wrote in a court filing Thursday. After Mathews found a home address for the speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, he and Lemley 'pondered' an attack on the speaker's route to work because they concluded that there probably wasn't a good sniper location near the lawmaker's home, prosecutors said."
The speaker, Eileen Filler-Corn, is Jewish.
"The FBI also heard Lemley and Mathews talk about trying to free Roof, who was sentenced to death for killing nine members of a Black church congregation in South Carolina in 2015," said the report. "They discussed how many people it would take to break into the maximum-security prison in Terre Haute, Indiana, where Roof is an inmate, how many guards would be there and how a shootout would happen, prosecutors said. 'Can you imagine Dylann Roof broked out of jail?' Mathews said, according to prosecutors. 'The Base would be known as the guys who broke out Dylann Roof.'"
Mathews and Lemley, veterans of the Canadian and U.S. Armed Forces, respectively, are members of a white supremacist terror cell calling itself "The Base", which believes in accelerating the destruction of society through mass violence. Another Base member who had a farmhouse full of swords in Michigan was recently arrested, and federal agents busted more members at a training ground in Georgia.
According to previous reports, prior to his arrest Mathews' ineptitude had become such a liability to his fellow terrorists that they had been plotting to kill him.
Law enforcement efforts to bring down The Base come amid other white supremacist threats, including a group known as "BSN" full of former Marines who tried to attack the U.S. power grid.
https://www.rawstory.com/neo-nazis-dylann-roof/
-
Newly arrested MAGA rioter offered to give a 'Mr. Stone' a ride to Washington DC: criminal complaint
The newly unsealed indictment against former Republican congressional candidate and alleged MAGA rioter Jeremy Brown offers hints that he tried to communicate with longtime Trump associate Roger Stone.
Specifically, the indictment references a message that Brown posted on Parler ahead of his trip to Washington, D.C., that directly referenced a "Mr. Stone."
"Mr. Stone, this is Jeremy Brown," the post began. "I am headed to D.C. on or about [January 3] in our RV with myself and some others... If you need transportation or Security, we can adjust to pick you up."
Stone, like Brown, lives in Florida and was an organizer for the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the Capitol riots.
Stone was given a full pardon by former President Donald Trump late last year after he was convicted in 2019 on multiple counts related to his effort to obstruct special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
See an image of the Parler message below.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-roger-stone/
-
'We're not going to play these games': House riot committee member serves notice to subpoenaed Trump aides
Appearing on MSNBC on Saturday morning with host Ali Velshi, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) left no doubt that the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th Capitol riot will use every legal tool in the box to compel members of Donald Trump's inner circle to appear before his committee and reveal what led up to the insurrection that sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives.
Admitting he fully expects Trump's associates to attempt to avoid appearing, the Maryland Democrat warned them not to "try the patience" of the committee members.
"I want to start by understanding this concept of criminal referrals because most of us will never be subpoenaed to Congress so we won't really know what are you supposed to do and what does the threat of criminal referrals mean?" host Velshi prompted.
"Those are two different things," Raskin explained. "The criminal referral is if our select committee on January 6th comes in possession of evidence related by criminal conduct by people that the Department of Justice is currently unaware of, we will refer it to them. In other words, if we have crimes that took place that the DOJ didn't know about we will send it to them for subpoenas, we have all of the same authority that a court would have to issue subpoenas."
"So if you get one of these subpoenas, that is not an optional thing." he continued. "That is legally mandatory and we can coerce your cooperation through criminal contempt or civil contempt or what's called the powers of Congress where we can call people before Congress and fine them and use our own sanctions and that hasn't been done for a long time, but I don't think anybody should be testing our patience at this point."
"I want to get greater clarity on the criminal referral that I asked you, you said we're going to subpoena them, they're going to follow the law," Velshi pressed. "That's it. If any of them think they can slither away from this, they should be worried about the information we've already got. when he said we'll offer criminal referrals is that for not showing up or not giving the information that you requested or is that the fact that they may be underlying criminal activity."
"It could be both," the Democratic lawmaker replied. "When we come to people that have committed crimes on January 6th, we will turn that over, but at the same time, the chairman has signaled our determination to get all of the information we're asking for. It's just not discretionary or optional. It's the government's subpoenas or documents from you: you have to testify unless you will assert a Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and we don't think that that exists."
"In other words, we will immunize you from the use of any information you give us, but you do still have to testify," he added. "The point is we're not going to play these games like they did during the Trump Administration."
Watch below:
-
The House riot committee 'is on the right track' with focus on Katrina Pierson: former Trump official
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNzU4NjMwMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY5MTIzMjgzOH0.6lWcYFaG3Fcc_K2rs6mpLyumvgNDpLgvoLrlLM7N1bc/image.jpg)
Appearing on MSNBC on Saturday afternoon, former Donald Trump White House adviser Omarosa Manigault-Newman said the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th Capitol riot is on the right track by focusing on Trump aide Katrina Pierson if they want to get to the bottom of White House involvement in the insurrection.
Speaking with host Alex Witt, Manigault-Newman said investigators need to "follow the money" and that Pierson -- who has been subpoenaed -- could provide a treasure trove of damaging information.
"What about the House select committee that's investigating the January 6th attack on the Capitol, issuing 11 more subpoenas, all for people who helped organize the rally right before the mob went on the attack?" host Witt began. "Among them, 2016 Trump campaign spokesperson Katrina Pierson. I've interviewed her. I know that you know her. Are you surprised by this?"
"I'm not really surprised because not only was Katrina one of the organizers, but she was behind the money, you know, and every scandal, it's 'always follow the money,'" Manigault-Newman replied. "And because she was so involved with raising money and organizing the events, I believe the committee is right in subpoenaing her. She's going to have a lot of information, and she had a lot of insight on what they knew and when, and I truly believe because of Donald Trump's violent instincts that he knew that things would probably get out of hand."
"So yes, Katrina should be very concerned, and we'll see what happens, but the committee is on the right track," she added.
Watch below:
-
Yawn. Rehash of old news while Biden's numbers continue to tank with each new disaster. The only thing going up under Biden's administration are inflation and the number of pandemic cases.
-
Yawn. Rehash of old news while Biden's numbers continue to tank with each new disaster. The only thing going up under Biden's administration are inflation and the number of pandemic cases.
LOL. Covid cases are going down and Trump's inflation disaster is finally getting under control thanks to President Biden.
'I flatly disagree': Judge rejects claim by Trump-appointed colleague that MAGA rioters getting unfair treatment
United States District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Tanya Chutkan on Monday drew a sharp contrast with one of her Trump-appointed colleagues.
Politico reports that Chutkan rejected claims made last week by fellow D.C. Judge Trevor McFadden, who last week said that accused Capitol rioters are being subjected to worse treatment than rioters who were arrested last summer while taking part in Black Lives Matter protests.
"Some have compared what took place on Jan. 6 with other protests that took place throughout the country through the past year and have suggested that the Capitol rioters are being treated unfairly," she said during a sentencing hearing. "I flatly disagree."
Chutkan then expanded on her reasoning for rejecting the comparison.
"What happened... was nothing less than a violent mob trying to prevent the orderly, peaceful transfer of power as part of an election," she said. "That mob was trying to overthrow the government... That is no mere protest."
McFadden last week criticized the Capitol rioters for trying to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election, but he alleged there was a disparity in how they were treated compared to people who have committed similar offenses.
"I think the U.S. attorney would have more credibility if it was even-handed in its concern about riots and mobs in this city," he said.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-judge/
-
That's good. Anyone who defies a congressional subpoena will go to jail.
Jan. 6 Committee chair: Witnesses who defy subpoenas will face criminal contempt referrals
https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/jan-6-committee-chair-witnesses-who-defy-subpoenas-will-face-criminal-contempt-referrals-122559045788
-
Mike Pence's role ahead of the Jan. 6 riot lands under House investigation
The House select committee on Jan. 6 will be investigating former vice president Mike Pence's role in the attempted insurrection.
New reporting about White House legal adviser John Eastman's memo outlining plans for a coup shows Pence was more deeply enmeshed than previously known in the scheme to keep Donald Trump in office despite his election loss, and committee member Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-MD) wants to learn more about his role, reported the Washington Post.
"It's an important part of the historical record to determine how close Trump actually came to achieving his scheme of getting Pence to declare unilateral power to reject electoral college votes," Raskin told Post columnist Greg Sargent.
Eastman told the New York Times that he urged Pence and his chief counsel Greg Jacob shortly before Jan. 6 that the vice president could delay counting electors when Congress met to certify the election, thus sending the process back to GOP-controlled state legislatures that could send rogue electors for Trump and set off a contingent election in the House.
"I think Jacob was looking for a way for he and Pence to be convinced to take the action that we were requesting, and so I think he continued to meet with me and push back on the arguments and hear my counters, what have you, to try and see whether they could reconcile themselves to what the president had asked," Eastman told the Times.
Pence ultimately decided he did not have the power to enact this scheme, but lawmakers have requested all executive branch documents and communications related to Jacob and are considering changes to the Electoral Count Act to prevent another vice president from corruptly interfering with election results.
"The structural weaknesses exposed by this episode are a looming danger for the republic," Raskin said. "We need to act within the electoral college paradigm to do whatever we can to make sure the vice-presidential role remains an administrative and ministerial one."
https://www.rawstory.com/mike-pence-jan-6-2655219301/
-
Still nothing new. How long can you milk this old story to deflect from the unfolding disasters? Meanwhile Old Joe's poll numbers are crashing like the Hindenburg. It's brutal to watch him in late stage dementia. I feel sorry for the guy to be used like that by his family and political party.
-
LOL. Covid cases are going down and Trump's inflation disaster is finally getting under control thanks to President Biden.
Cases were up under Biden by 300% around Labor Day despite the widespread availability of the Trump vaccine from day one of his presidency. So by "going down" you are less than a 300% increase? Still significantly higher than under Trump even without the vaccine. And the inflation disaster is "getting under control." LOL. Inflation indexes hit record highs over the summer. It is out of control just like the border, Afghanistan and crime. Just denying reality and demonstrable facts doesn't fool anyone.
-
Cases were up under Biden by 300% around Labor Day despite the widespread availability of the Trump vaccine from day one of his presidency. So by "going down" you are less than a 300% increase? Still significantly higher than under Trump even without the vaccine. And the inflation disaster is "getting under control." LOL. Inflation indexes hit record highs over the summer. It is out of control just like the border, Afghanistan and crime. Just denying reality and demonstrable facts doesn't fool anyone.
False.
Cases in red states were surging because right wingers refused to wear masks and get vaccinated like they were supposed to. Plus right wing Governors ended mask mandates which increased the covid transmission rate. That's a Republican failure. But you falsely accuse Biden for Republican failures. That's why President Biden took the initiative to mandate vaccines to end this pandemic. You should be thanking him.
Blue states have the virus under control because of high vaccination rates and mask mandates.
Afghanistan was Trump's deal he made with the Taliban in 2020 where he released 5000 Taliban terrorists from prison. Biden was not President then.
The economic crisis occurred under Trump in 2020. His economic disaster basically caused another Great Depression which then led to inflation. Every credible economist said that was going to happen in late 2020. Trump is the worst jobs "president" in the modern era and has the worst job loss since Herbert Hoover. President Biden took over in late January during Trump's economic disaster and began creating millions of new jobs. Trump destroyed the economy and it will take a while to fix.
All you're doing is denying reality. You take Trump's disasters and then accuse President Biden of creating them. That is hilarious since Trump handed Biden all those disasters to deal with.
-
False.
Cases in red states were surging because right wingers refused to wear masks and get vaccinated like they were supposed to. Plus right wing Governors ended mask mandates which increased the covid transmission rate. That's a Republican failure. But you falsely accuse Biden for Republican failures. That's why President Biden took the initiative to mandate vaccines to end this pandemic. You should be thanking him.
Blue states have the virus under control because of high vaccination rates and mask mandates.
Afghanistan was Trump's deal he made with the Taliban in 2020 where he released 5000 Taliban terrorists from prison. Biden was not President then.
The economic crisis occurred under Trump in 2020. His economic disaster basically caused another Great Depression which then led to inflation. Every credible economist said that was going to happen in late 2020. Trump is the worst jobs "president" in the modern era and has the worst job loss since Herbert Hoover. President Biden took over in late January during Trump's economic disaster and began creating millions of new jobs. Trump destroyed the economy and it will take a while to fix.
All you're doing is denying reality. You take Trump's disasters and then accuse President Biden of creating them. That is hilarious since Trump handed Biden all those disasters to deal with.
Perhaps cases are surging in the border states due to the hundreds of thousands of unvaccinated illegals that have been released throughout that area in just last few months. Almost 1 million people! Among Americans, the highest percentage of unvaccinated groups are minorities and young people. The leftist media ignores this, of course, because it doesn't play into their desired political narrative that Trump supporters are responsible for the spread of the virus. Anyone can look the actual numbers up. It's not a matter of opinion or political bias. Your Afghanistan defense is delusional. Trump made an agreement but it was premised on the satisfaction of various conditions. None of which occurred. Biden, who was not bound by that agreement, rushed to end the war in Afghanistan for political purposes to be out by Sept. 11. As a result, he is directly responsible for the chaos and deaths that resulted from his incompetence and weakness.
-
Perhaps cases are surging in the border states due to the hundreds of thousands of unvaccinated illegals that have been released throughout that area in just last few months. Almost 1 million people! Among Americans, the highest percentage of unvaccinated groups are minorities and young people. The leftist media ignores this, of course, because it doesn't play into their desired political narrative that Trump supporters are responsible for the spread of the virus. Anyone can look the actual numbers up. It's not a matter of opinion or political bias. Your Afghanistan defense is delusional. Trump made an agreement but it was premised on the satisfaction of various conditions. None of which occurred. Biden, who was not bound by that agreement, rushed to end the war in Afghanistan for political purposes to be out by Sept. 11. As a result, he is directly responsible for the chaos and deaths that resulted from his incompetence and weakness.
Deny, deflect, blame as usual.
There are no "unvaccinated illegals released". That's more right wing disinformation.
Trump caused the Afghanistan disaster because he made the deal with the Taliban and signed an executive order before he left office in disgrace.
All the covid charts shows that right wing red states has the lowest vaccination which are all Trump supporters.
Afghanistan: Former advisor to Mike Pence warned in 2020 that Trump was setting up another 'Benghazi'
"Perhaps by design, perhaps by incompetence, perhaps out of sheer spite or arrogance, Trump has created the circumstances for another Bay of Pigs, Black Hawk Down, or Benghazi," James Golby, who served as a special advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, wrote in a November article for The Atlantic. Those were all situations, he wrote, "where the United States inserted itself into overseas conflicts enough to draw lethal opposition but without sufficient strength to protect its people."
https://www.businessinsider.com/kabul-ex-pence-adviser-warned-trump-setting-up-another-benghazi-2021-8
-
Deny, deflect, blame as usual.
There are no "unvaccinated illegals released". That's more right wing disinformation.
Trump caused the Afghanistan disaster because he made the deal with the Taliban and signed an executive order before he left office in disgrace.
You believe that all approximately one million illegals that have been released into the US in the last 8 months (according to the Biden administration's own numbers) were vaccinated? And it is right wing disinformation to suggest otherwise? We are to believe that among a million poor immigrants crossing the border from Mexico, Haiti, and Central America, that all were vaccinated and have not contributed to the surge of cases in the states where they have been released in the tens of thousands? That is completely delusional. It is more likely that none were vaccinated. Again, Trump's agreement with the Taliban was not binding on Biden. Nor were the conditions of that agreement met before Biden ordered the withdrawal. The decision to get out was appropriate. Trump was the only recent president to have the courage to stand up to the military. The implementation under Biden resulted in disaster and chaos. He forever owns that fiasco. Like JFK owns the Bay of Pigs. Biden's incompetence will go down in the history books.
-
You believe that all approximately one million illegals that have been released into the US in the last 8 months (according to the Biden administration's own numbers) were vaccinated? And it is right wing disinformation to suggest otherwise? We are to believe that among a million poor immigrants crossing the border from Mexico, Haiti, and Central America, that all were vaccinated and have not contributed to the surge of cases in the states where they have been released in the tens of thousands? That is completely delusional. It is more likely that none were vaccinated. Again, Trump's agreement with the Taliban was not binding on Biden. Nor were the conditions of that agreement met before Biden ordered the withdrawal. The decision to get out was appropriate. Trump was the only recent president to have the courage to stand up to the military. The implementation under Biden resulted in disaster and chaos. He forever owns that fiasco. Like JFK owns the Bay of Pigs. Biden's incompetence will go down in the history books.
:D :D :D
Afghanistan was Trump's disaster and he left it for Biden.
The people dying from COVID-19 in hospitals are white unvaccinated Trump supporters. There are no illegals dying from COVID-19 anywhere. Another fake right wing disinformation talking point debunked.
Criminal Donald tried to use the military to illegally size power.
-
Capitol rioter breaks down in tears as he pleads guilty to felony assault on law enforcement
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTgzODgwMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY5NTc5MzE1NH0.H97jHjLigQWKp-paIfB4_EmRxsL65RfwLOYhqkqmtCg/image.jpg)
On Tuesday, WUSA9 reported that Robert Palmer, a man from Tampa, Florida who pleaded guilty to attacking Capitol Police with a fire extinguisher at the January 6 Capitol riot while dressed in a red, white, and blue Trump jacket, was in tears at his sentencing hearing, while his defense attorney expressed his client's regret for participating in the attack.
Palmer was originally arrested in March by federal agents, in part with the help of Huffington Post investigators.
"Palmer told the US District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan he was the one identified in Department of Justice images who threw a wooden plank at police, sprayed a fire extinguisher at officers until it was empty, then threw the empty fire extinguisher canister at the line of police. "Before his court hearing, Palmer was not acting as tough as the man in DOJ photos, sobbing onto the shoulder of his defense attorney Bjorn Brunvand moments before the two men entered the court for Palmer to plead guilty to felony assault on law enforcement."
According to the report, Brunvand said of Palmer's breakdown, "That was Mr. Palmer being remorseful for what he did on January 6th. And also, afraid of what's to come."
More than 650 people have been charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol so far, with a number of them already pleading guilty or being sentenced. Many were turned in by their family or acquaintances.
Watch the original report below:
-
:D :D :D
Afghanistan was Trump's disaster and he left it for Biden.
The people dying from COVID-19 in hospitals are white unvaccinated Trump supporters. There are no illegals dying from COVID-19 anywhere. Another fake right wing disinformation talking point debunked.
Criminal Donald tried to use the military to illegally size power.
What does it mean to say there are "no illegals dying from COVID-19 anywhere"? You believe that illegal immigrants are impervious to the virus from some reason and that only Trump supporters can get sick? That is downright bizarre even from you.
To compound Biden's fiasco in Afghanistan, we also learn today that the suicide bomber who killed 13 American soldiers and dozens of Afghan citizens was released from the Bagram airbase prison after it was hastily abandoned on Biden's orders. Biden then compounded this incident by directing the military to retaliate with a drone strike that killed more innocent civilians including seven children. None of whom were terrorists. And tried to cover it up as a successful strike to cover for his previous weakness. But that is all somehow Trump's fault. LOL.
-
What does it mean to say there are "no illegals dying from COVID-19 anywhere"? You believe that illegal immigrants are impervious to the virus from some reason and that only Trump supporters can get sick? That is downright bizarre even from you.
To compound Biden's fiasco in Afghanistan, we also learn today that the suicide bomber who killed 13 American soldiers and dozens of Afghan citizens was released from the Bagram airbase prison after it was hastily abandoned on Biden's orders. Biden then compounded this incident by directing the military to retaliate with a drone strike that killed more innocent civilians including seven children. None of whom were terrorists. And tried to cover it up as a successful strike to cover for his previous weakness. But that is all somehow Trump's fault. LOL.
There are no illegals dying from COVID-19 inside hospitals anywhere. That's a bogus right wing propaganda talking point.
The man who ordered the release of 5000 Taliban terrorists and removed our troops is Donald Trump.
Own it.
-
Trump is committing a criminal conspiracy in plain sight — and DOJ needs to take action: ex-prosecutor
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNzYxODMxNS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY4NDQxNTYzNX0.yhh3ejj9ODFFCfwFQPo_Y-RJjGkDHzQtFdC4E6BZpUE/image.jpg)
The United States Department of Justice should be opening an investigation into alleged efforts by former President Donald Trump to block the investigation being conducted by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a former federal prosector.
Glenn Kirschner explained the situation on the latest episode of his "Justice Matters" podcast.
He noted a new report by the Guardian.
"The former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and other top aides subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack are expected to defy orders for documents and testimony related to 6 January, according to a source familiar with the matter," the Guardian reported. "All four Trump aides targeted by the select committee – Meadows, deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, strategist Steve Bannon and defense department aide Kash Patel – are expected to resist the orders because Trump is preparing to direct them to do so, the source said."
Kirschner offered his analysis.
"Now friends, let's be clear, Donald Trump telling these individuals — his criminal associates in a very real sense — not to testify against him, not to testify at the select committee hearing investigation the January 6th attack, is no different that a mob boss telling his capos, his underbosses, his consigliere, do not testify against me," he explained.
Kirschner noted that Trump pardoned Bannon for a scam to rip off MAGA supporters with a border wall fundraising effort. He explained how Trump essentially let Bannon get away with keeping the money, and is now reportedly asking Bannon to impede the investigation.
"When will the Department of Justice begin indicting these people for the crimes that they continue to commit in the harsh light of day?" he asked.
Watch:
-
'This is because of you!' Adam Schiff recalls furious Dems screaming at Republicans as the Jan. 6 attack unfolded
Oct. 6 marks another anniversary of the attack on the U.S. Capitol and the House committee investigating the attacks are having hearings, issuing subpoenas and doing some questioning behind closed doors.
Writing about his experience Wednesday, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) recalled the shouting matches that broke out as the Capitol came under siege. He noted how everyone began to put on their plastic masks and that Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) had to tell folks to breathe slowly because the fan didn't circulate air quickly enough to ensure people hyperventilating wouldn't pass out.
"This is because of you!" Schiff said Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) yelled from the gallery at Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), who was speaking when the chamber was stopped.
"Shut up!" the GOP members shot back.
"Call Trump, tell him to call off his revolutionary guards," Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN) yelled.
"Phillips wasn't wrong," wrote Schiff. The attack was caused by what has become known as "the big lie," he said, the belief by Republicans that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election and was entitled to the White House. Despite exhaustive efforts, Republicans haven't been able to provide evidence to back up any of their allegations.
"Because of the pandemic, Phillips, Cohen, and other members had been required to wait in the gallery before their chance to speak, and they were the most exposed," Schiff explained. "Down on the House floor, we could barricade ourselves in, but upstairs there are multiple doors to the gallery and little to prevent the rioters from entering."
Some members were crying, afraid for their lives, hiding in the front row. There's a notorious photo of Rep. Jason Crow (D-WI), an Army Ranger, reached to hold the member's hand.
Just a "normal tourist visit"
Representative Jason Crow comforting Representative Susan Wild in the House chamber on Jan. 6. Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call, via AP Images
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_foIFxXoAURNSi?format=png)
Members congress shelter in the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErE6QBJW8AkzEwj?format=jpg)
Schiff recalled people screaming to lock doors and officers not knowing which. Police found a route out to get everyone to safety and Schiff said he stayed behind to let others go ahead. His young staffer was concerned and asked why he wasn't leaving. He wasn't panicked, but that's when the loud "thud" sounds came against the doors.
"You need to get out!" Schiff recalled a police officer shouting. "Move!"
"You can't let them see you," he said that a Republican member said to me.
"He's right," another Republican member said. "I know these people, I can talk to them, I can talk my way through them. You're in a whole different category."
He said that in the moment he was "oddly touched" by the Republican members with concern. But he'd been getting death threats for years
"That feeling soon gave way to another: If these Republican members hadn't joined the president in falsely attacking me for four years, I wouldn't need to be worried about my security, none of us would. I kept that thought to myself."
He remembered one Republican who grabbed a wooden post with hand sanitizer on it to use as a weapon.
"Are you that worried?" Schiff asked him. The member confessed he was, noting, "I think I just heard gunshots."
"I was just elected. I replaced John Ratcliffe. I'm Pat Fallon."
Schiff promised the new member it wasn't always like that.
He went on to write that he remembered when he knew Republicans accepted Trump's guilt in the Jan. 6 attack but made the decision that they wouldn't do anything about it.
He said that during the Senate trial members would walk past him or speak directly to him, but the intelligence from Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) staffers revealed questions they were getting. He explained that for years Republicans would confide in him and other Democrats about the "misgivings" they had about Trump. They were people who would go on Fox News and bash Schiff while saying the opposite in private. Some even told him to keep doing what he was doing with his investigation.
"And it became clear that many Republicans felt someone needed to do it, someone needed to put a stop to it all, even if they couldn't, or wouldn't," he wrote.
And the question wasn't so much "Why should he be removed?" as "Why should I be the one to remove him? Why should I risk my seat, my position of power and influence, my career and future? Why should I?"
He had to figure out how to convince Republicans not that they should convict Trump but why they should risk their own seats to remove a president who was already gone. In the end, they weren't willing to do it.
Read the full essay here:
SCREAMING MATCHES, OXYGEN MASKS, AND WILD STAMPEDES: A CONGRESSMAN DESCRIBES JANUARY 6 FROM THE HOUSE FLOOR
This is because of you!” a Democrat yelled at a Republican as protesters battered at the doors and Capitol police officers urged lawmakers to “move!” In Adam Schiff’s new book, Midnight in Washington, he recounts the horrific scene—and the events that enabled it
BY ADAM SCHIFF
OCTOBER 6, 2021
Please grab a mask!” a Capitol Police officer shouted from the well of the House floor. Up until this point, I still wasn’t sure what was happening outside the chamber and whether we were at serious risk. There were rioters in the building, that much I knew. How many of them, or how great a threat they posed, it was impossible to tell. I looked around at my colleagues to see if they were as perplexed as I was, and besides, what were we supposed to do in an emergency? I suddenly wished I had been paying more attention at freshman orientation twenty years earlier.
Sensing our confusion, the officer continued: “Be prepared to don your mask in the event the room is breached.” He told us that we did not need to put the masks on yet, but tear gas was being deployed, so we should get them ready. “Be prepared to get down under your chairs if necessary. So, we have folks entering the Rotunda and coming down this way...Just be prepared. Stay calm.” I pulled a rectangular canvas pouch from under my seat and unzipped it. Inside was a strongly sealed plastic container with no obvious opening. I flipped it from side to side and upside down, trying to open the damned thing. Finally figuring it out, I helped the members around me open theirs, and we removed the plastic hoods. These hoods didn’t resemble the gas masks you see police wearing during a riot; instead, they were a large polyethylene bag that you pulled over your head, with a small motor attached to circulate and filter the air. As you removed the hood from its packaging, the motor began running, and suddenly there was a din of dozens of these hoods buzzing, which only added to the growing sense of alarm.
“When you put on the hood,” one of my colleagues and a former Marine, Ruben Gallego of Arizona, shouted, “breathe slowly.” Ruben was standing behind me, and he could see the panic spreading from member to member. “Take slow, steady breaths. Your impulse will be to hyperventilate, but you need to breathe slowly.” This was very helpful advice. I have a bit of claustrophobia, and the idea of pulling a bag over my head already had my pulse quickening. I resolved to wait until the last moment before I had to don the thing, since I wasn’t smelling tear gas, not yet. “Breathe slowly when you put it on,” Ruben intoned again, “or you will pass out. That is how people can die from wearing these.” Okay, that wasn’t so helpful.
"This is because of you!” yelled Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota from the gallery at Representative Paul Gosar, who had been at the microphone. “Shut up!” came the Republican reply. “Call Trump, tell him to call off his revolutionary guards,” screamed Representative Steve Cohen of Tennessee. He was also in the gallery, above me and to the right, his face red with anger. Other members tried to settle things down and not allow the recriminations to spread, but Phillips wasn’t wrong. We were here for what should have been the ceremonial certification of the 2020 presidential election results, but instead we were now in danger. For months, GOP members of Congress had propagated the president’s big lie about the elections, and you could draw a direct line between those lies and the threat we all now faced. Because of the pandemic, Phillips, Cohen, and other members had been required to wait in the gallery before their chance to speak, and they were the most exposed. Down on the House floor, we could barricade ourselves in, but upstairs there are multiple doors to the gallery and little to prevent the rioters from entering.
“Lock the gallery doors!” someone shouted from down below, but it wasn’t clear to police upstairs which doors in the gallery remained open. “Not those doors—those doors!” came another excited shout. “Those doors over there!”
A police officer returned to the well again: He told us that they had secured an escape route and he wanted us to exit the chambers and proceed immediately down the stairs. Now. There are two sets of double doors behind the Speaker’s chair and raised dais, and the doors to our right were pulled open. Members and staff quickly moved toward the exit and I was suddenly aware of just how many people had been on the floor, in the cloakroom or elsewhere, as they crowded by the exit and created a real logjam. I waited by my seat, still feeling relatively calm and wanting to give other members and staff a chance to go first. Besides, so many of the Republican members were not wearing masks, I wasn’t eager to be jammed in with them shoulder to shoulder on my way out the doors. Eventually, I wandered over to the GOP side of the chamber and waited there alone, several rows above the well, until a young staff member approached me, perplexed why I wasn’t leaving.
"Are you okay, Mr. Schiff?” she asked. I was astonished. She was all of about twentysomething and she was asking me if I was okay. What a remarkable calm amid the chaos. “I’m fine,” I said, “just don’t want to add to the melee. Thought I would let others go ahead.” And then, as an afterthought, I asked her—“Are you okay?” She nodded.
Suddenly I could hear the crowd of insurrectionists outside the chamber. They had migrated from the Senate side of the building and were approaching the House floor from Statuary Hall, on the opposite side of the chamber from where members were exiting. And from the noise, it sounded like a lot of them.
Just then came a tremendous thud—something had been thrust against the doors not twenty yards away from me, battering them. Thud. A moment later, again: thud.
“You need to get out!” a police officer shouted. “Move!”
I made my way down to the well and joined the remaining members and staff filing out, looking back at the doors being hammered to the rear of the chamber, glass now shattering. Police officers pushed large cabinets in front of the doors and would soon draw their weapons.
“You can’t let them see you,” a Republican member said to me. “He’s right,” another Republican member said. “I know these people, I can talk to them, I can talk my way through them. You’re in a whole different category.” In that moment, we were not merely members of different political parties, but on opposite sides of a much more dangerous divide. At first I was oddly touched by these GOP members and their evident concern. But by then, I had been receiving death threats for years, and that feeling soon gave way to another: If these Republican members hadn’t joined the president in falsely attacking me for four years, I wouldn’t need to be worried about my security, none of us would. I kept that thought to myself.
As I made my way out of the back of the chamber, I took another look at the Republicans walking out with me. One had grabbed a wooden post with a hand sanitizer dispenser attached to it and was carrying it like a club, in case he needed it to defend himself against the rioters. “Are you that worried?” I asked him, as we began filing down the stairs from the Speaker’s lobby and through the corridors below the Capitol. “Yes,” he said agitatedly. “I think I just heard gunshots.” He was right—only fifty feet away from the stairs, on the other side of the lobby, Ashli Babbitt, a fourteen year veteran of the Air Force, had just been shot to death by a Capitol Police officer. In all the commotion, I had just assumed it was a tear gas canister.
“How long have you been here?” I asked the Republican.
“Seventy-two hours,” he replied.
“What?”
“I was just elected. I replaced John Ratcliffe. I’m Pat Fallon.”
I looked him in the eye and said: “It’s not always like this.”
It was not always like this, it must be said, because the Republican Party has also not always been like this. The four years of the Trump presidency destroyed many friendships, and not a few marriages. But it also destroyed the Republican Party—once devoted to robust alliances, a healthy mistrust of executive power, and the expansion of democracy around the world—and turned it into something else: a party willing to tear down the institutions of its own government, a party willing to give aid and comfort to a malign foreign power that wishes to destroy us, a party hostile to the truth.
This was only possible because many of the Republican members of Congress, people I served with for years, liked, and respected—turned out to prize power and position, even if it meant imperiling the country. I remember precisely the moment during the first impeachment trial when it became so tragically apparent to me that Republicans accepted the President’s guilt but were unwilling to do anything about it. Especially tragic, because we might have avoided the terrible trauma that was to come.
“They think we’ve proven him guilty,” my staff told me just before I would make a closing argument on the second day of the trial. “They need to know why he should be removed.”
I didn’t have time to ask who “they” were. We had been getting feedback during the course of the trial, sometimes directly from senators who would walk past us in the small lobby behind the Senate floor, going to and from lunch, or on a break, or who would wander up to our small table on the Senate floor when the day’s presentations were done. But the best sources of information came from Senator Schumer’s staff, passed on to my staff in whispers and handwritten notes. Were these questions coming from Democratic senators, like Joe Manchin from West Virginia, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, or Doug Jones of Alabama? If so, we were in trouble.
Or was this feedback coming from Republican senators, several of whom had kept their cards close to the vest? If the Republican senators were asking, that meant their minds were still open to conviction, and that was good, even though at this point in the trial they had yet to hear the defense case.
And still, what were “they” really asking? If senators believed that we had proven Trump guilty of withholding hundreds of millions of dollars of military aid from an ally at war in order to coerce that nation into helping him cheat in the upcoming election, wasn’t that enough? Had the bar become so high with this president? It was like a juror in an extortion case asking the judge, “Okay, he’s guilty, but do we really need to convict?”
But as I walked to the lectern, I suddenly understood, in a way I hadn’t fully appreciated until that moment, that this was the central question: Why should he be removed? He was the president of their party. He was putting conservative judges on the court. He was lowering their taxes. Why remove him? I had watched during breaks in the trial as the president’s Senate defenders took to the airwaves to proclaim his innocence, and I had believed them—not their claims about the president’s conduct, but that they believed what they were saying, that they believed there had been, to quote the president’s mantra of defense, no quid pro quo. But I could see now that that wasn’t it at all.
For the past three years, Republicans had confided, to me and to many of my Democratic colleagues, their serious misgivings about the president. Some would go on Fox News and bash me, only to urge me privately to keep on with the investigation. And it became clear that many Republicans felt someone needed to do it, someone needed to put a stop to it all, even if they couldn’t, or wouldn’t. And the question wasn’t so much “Why should he be removed?” as “Why should I be the one to remove him? Why should I risk my seat, my position of power and influence, my career and future? Why should I?”
There was only half an hour left of our case that day when I made those seven short paces from the House managers’ table to the lectern, and I had no idea how I was going to answer that question. I had prepared to go through the record of the president’s call again, the one in which he says “I want you to do us a favor, though”—because I had discovered there was so much more to that transcript, so much more now that we understood the whole scheme. I had planned to go through it line by line. But the call record now seemed insignificant, compared to the question: Why should I?
Most of the senators were listening politely after a long day, but their concentration was wandering, and so was mine. I was doing a kind of extreme multitasking, reading and speaking about the call but thinking about the question I needed to answer, and all the other questions it presumed: What made this man so dangerous? What had he done to the country? How, in three short years, had he been able to so completely remake his own party, get it to abandon its own ideology, get my friends and colleagues to surrender themselves to his obvious immorality? How had he caused us to question ourselves, our values, our commitment to democracy? How had he been able to convince so many of our fellow citizens that his views were the truth?
When I could delay no longer, I told the senators, “This brings me to the last point I want to make tonight.” At the end of the trial, I said, I believed we would have proven the president guilty—that is, that he had done what he was charged with. But it was a slightly different question, I acknowledged, than whether he really needed to be removed. And all of a sudden, every senator seemed to be watching, alert and keenly interested in the answer. The moment stretched on in silence. “This is why he needs to be removed,” I said at last, and did my best to tell them.
In the year and a half since, I have thought a lot about what I might have said differently to persuade the senators of what a danger the now former president posed then, and poses still. Whether there was any course we might have taken, not just in the trial but in the years that preceded it, to prevent what was coming: a violent insurrection at the Capitol, a wave of antidemocratic efforts, and a full-out assault on the truth.
There is now a dangerous vein of autocratic thought running through one of America’s two parties, and it poses an existential danger to the country. In this we are not alone. All around the world, there is a new competition between autocracy and democracy, and for more than a decade, the autocrats have been on the rise. This trend toward authoritarianism began before Donald Trump and will not have spent its force when he steps off the political stage for good. It will require constant vigilance on our part to ensure it does not gain another foothold in the highest office in our land.
The actions of our government, like the broader sweep of history, are not taken on their own; they are not the product of impersonal forces operating without human actors and agency. We made Donald Trump possible. We the voters, yes, but we in Congress even more so. He would not have been able to batter and break so many of our democratic norms had we not let him, had we not been capable of endless rationalization, had we not forgotten why we came to office in the first place.
Midnight is the darkest moment of the day everywhere in the world. But it is also the most hopeful, because everything that comes after holds the promise of light. America has a genius for reinvention, and we must use it. As Lincoln said, we must “disenthrall ourselves” to save our country. From the same forces of bigotry that divided and nearly defeated us in the Civil War, yes, but from something new to the American landscape as well: a dangerous experimentation with a uniquely American brand of authoritarianism. We must all confront the question: Why should I?
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/adam-schiff-describes-january-6-from-the-house-floor
-
Trump's coup plot was worse than anyone knew
It seemed odd last December when then-Attorney General Bill Barr resigned before the end of President Trump's term. Barr had been such a loyal soldier throughout, defending Trump's misdeeds and corrupting the Department of Justice (DOJ) on his behalf over and over again. Barr had broken DOJ protocols repeatedly as well, most recently ordering the department to investigate claims of voter fraud before any suit or legal proceedings had been initiated. But it all fell apart when Barr said in an interview that he had not actually seen any evidence of such fraud. The president was very displeased. Barr later told him to his face that the claims were "nonsense" and a major rift developed between the two.
Nonetheless, Barr apparently still tried to appease Trump and later told the U.S. Attorney in Georgia to look into Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani's wild claims and make it a priority. But within a few days, Trump announced that Barr would be leaving his post and he was gone by the end of the month, replaced by his deputy Jeffrey Rosen.
I don't think we know the full scope of what was going on with Barr and Trump during this period despite Barr's self-serving recitations to several authors of books on the final days. But it's clear that he knew that Trump was out of control and he decided to jump off the sinking ship before it went under.
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee released an interim Senate Judiciary Committee Report covering the testimony of various high-level Department of Justice officials during that period between the election and the insurrection and it is a blockbuster. It's titled "Subverting Justice: How the Former President and His Allies Pressured DOJ to Overturn the 2020 Election," which pretty much says it all.
We knew quite a bit of this already. There was earlier reporting about how Trump had called Acting Attorney General Rosen to instruct him to "just say the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen." And we knew that an obscure Justice Department lawyer in the civil division by the name of Jeffrey Clark had somehow found his way into Trump's inner circle and was pushing some corrupt schemes to overturn the election which Trump liked very much. But until this report we didn't know the scale of this plotting to get the DOJ to step in and use its muscle to carry out Trump's coup.
Trump worked hard to twist Rosen's arm. He had Clark calling him with threats that he was going to replace him and demanding that he send a letter to Georgia and other states to advise them of "serious irregularities" in their elections, telling them to call special sessions of their legislatures and deal with the electoral votes however they chose. Chief of Staff Mark Meadows was haranguing him as well demanding that he look into Giuliani's crazy conspiracy theories, as well as odd lawyers involved in Trump lawsuits around the country, one of whom told Rosen "you're going to force me to call the President and tell him you're recalcitrant," as if that would frighten him into compliance.
Trump himself inappropriately called Rosen and his deputy nine times, and met with him personally several more, the final denouement coming just days before the January 6th insurrection in which he literally said, "one thing we know is you, Rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election." As usual, he said the quiet part out loud.
The report is damning. The president of the United States tried for weeks to get the Attorney General to overturn the election. That is the definition of an attempted coup.
The ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chuck Grassley, R-Ia, issued a GOP rebuttal to the report. It is truly mind boggling and makes you wonder if the Republicans even bothered to read it. It suggests that Trump was right to be skeptical of Rosen and Donohue because of Carter Page and the FBI and some other irrelevant nonsense from the Russia investigation. This was pure red meat for their base, of course. But this line is so fatuous you have to wonder if they were just trolling for laughs:
"The available evidence shows that President Trump did what we'd expect a president to do on an issue of this importance: He listened to his senior advisers and followed their advice and recommendations,"
Yes, we expect our presidents to refuse to admit they lost elections and plot a coup to stay in power. It's perfectly normal. And yes, he did back down on firing Rosen and replacing him with his lackey — only once his White House counsel's office and the entire top level of the Department of Justice said they would quit en masse if he did it. I guess you can call that "advice and recommendations" but Trump's White House counsel had another term for it: "a murder-suicide pact."
And anyway, once that part of the plot was foiled, he just switched to plan B — the right-wing lawyer John Eastman's plot to have Pence refuse to count the electoral votes. At the same time, he had his crack legal team of Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani all over the country filing half-baked, embarrassing lawsuits and was egging on activists to come to the Capitol on January 6th saying it was going to be "wild." He was juggling several coup plots at the same time. And he's still at it today, calling for "forensic audits" even in states he won! This deranged plot is still unfolding even though he's been out of office for nine months.
That Senate Republicans would actually defend these actions is outrageous. It's also chilling.
It's quite clear that that brief moment after January 6th when the Republicans seemed shaken by Trump's incitement of a violent insurrection passed very quickly and they have comfortably settled back into rationalizing their complicity by saying that it's no harm no foul if the president tries to extort foreign leaders to help him sabotage a rival's campaign or plan a coup to overturn an election if he doesn't manage to pull it off.
Grassley is appearing with the former president at a rally this weekend where Trump will no doubt insist that he actually won the election. Grassley won't blink an eye, apparently believing that if Trump gets back in power, it will be perfectly fine if he behaves exactly the same way as he did during those insane final weeks of his term. This is how pathetically corrupt and compromised the GOP's moral reasoning has become. According to one of the major political parties in the country, attempted coups are now normal politics in America. And as a result we can be quite sure this isn't the last time that will happen. The only question is whether they can corral enough accomplices to actually succeed next time.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-s-coup-plot-was-worse-than-anyone-knew/
-
Throw her in jail. Being unvaccinated is not an excuse. Who cares about her business losses. She chose to take part in an insurrection. Throw her in jail.
Unvaccinated Capitol rioter begs judge to not send her to jail over fear of getting Covid
On Friday, NBC4 Washington reporter Scott MacFarlane reported that Dona Bissey, an Indiana woman who participated in the January 6 Capitol insurrection, is imploring a judge not to sentence her to prison — in part because she is afraid she will contract COVID-19.
"Simply put, if Ms. Bissey is incarcerated at the D.C. Jail or in the BOP, which has seen 259 inmate deaths and over 43,000 infections from COVID-19, she is extremely likely to suffer severe illness or even death," wrote an an attorney representing Bissey in the filing. The attorney acknowledged that his client "has not helped her chances of fighting the virus by remaining unvaccinated."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA92ANHVIAkl1eN?format=jpg)
Bissey, who has described herself in filings as "God-fearing" and "law-abiding" despite having been involved in an attack on the U.S. Capitol, has asked instead for 18 months probation. She has also lamented in her filings that she is being "shunned" in her small Indiana town upon her neighbors learning she was a Capitol rioter, and that her hair salon has suffered "huge losses" in business.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-2655254594/
-
Scumbag Steve Bannon will be arrested for defying a congressional subpoena. These criminals are NOT above the law. Private citizen Donald Trump has no executive privilege.
Steve Bannon says he 'stands with Trump' and will defy subpoena from Jan 6 committee
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon says he will defy a subpoena from the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, CNN reports. According to a source speaking to CNN, Bannon's rationale for defying the subpoena is that he "stands with Trump."
Four associates of Trump were sent subpoenas by the House select committee. But as The Washington Post reported this Thursday, Trump's legal team sent a letter instructing them not to comply, citing "executive and other privileges, including among others the presidential communications, deliberative process, and attorney-client privileges" as justification.
In addition to Bannon, Mark Meadows, Dan Scavino, and Kash Patel are among the former Trump advisors to be subpoenaed.
Speaking to the Post, Trump spokesperson Taylor Budowich said that the records request is "outrageously broad" and "lacks both legal precedent and legislative merit."
"Executive privilege will be defended, not just on behalf of President Trump and his administration, but also on behalf of the Office of the President of the United States and the future of our nation," Budowich said, according to the Post.
https://www.rawstory.com/steve-bannon-2655256230/
Jan. 6 committee will 'swiftly consider' criminal referral for Steve Bannon over subpoena defiance
The House select committee will "swiftly consider" making a criminal referral for Steve Bannon if he continues to defy their subpoena.
Bannon's lawyer told House investigators that former President Donald Trump had instructed him not to comply on the basis of executive privilege, but committee chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) said they would not wait for a court to settle the dispute, reported Politico.
"We will not allow any witnesses to deny a lawful subpoena or attempt to run out the clock, and we will swiftly consider a criminal contempt of Congress referral," the pair said in a statement.
The lawmakers said former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former Defense Department chief of staff Kash Patel have been engaging with the committee, while longtime Trump aide Dan Scavino still has not been served with his subpoena.
All four were ordered to turn over documents by Thursday and appear next week for testimony.
NEWS: Jan. 6 committee will "swiftly consider" whether to advance a criminal referral due to Bannon's noncompliance with a subpoena.
Meadows and Kash Patel are engaging with the committee
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBMdsPeXMAAP1sM?format=jpg)
-
Capitol Police whistleblower delivers scathing rebuke to two of its senior leaders on Jan. 6
The whistleblower alleges, among multiple serious allegations, that former acting chief Yogananda Pittman lied to Congress about an intelligence report Capitol Police received before that day’s riot
A former high-ranking Capitol Police official with knowledge of the department’s response to the Jan. 6 attack has sent congressional leaders a scathing letter accusing two of its senior leaders of mishandling evidence and failing to respond properly during the riot.
The whistleblower, who requested anonymity for privacy reasons and left the force months after the attack, sent the 16-page letter late last month to the top members of both parties in the House and Senate. His missive makes scorching allegations against Sean Gallagher, the Capitol Police’s acting chief of uniformed operations, and Yogananda Pittman, its assistant chief of police for protective and intelligence operations — who also served as its former acting chief.
The whistleblower accuses Gallagher and Pittman of deliberately choosing not to help officers under attack on Jan. 6 and alleges that Pittman lied to Congress about an intelligence report Capitol Police received before that day’s riot. After a lengthy career in the department, the whistleblower was a senior official on duty on Jan. 6.
The whistleblower’s criticism went beyond Capitol Police leaders to Congress. Without naming specific lawmakers, his letter accuses congressional leaders of having “purposefully failed” to tell the truth about the department’s failures.
USCP letter to Congress p.4
(https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21080866/pages/letter-p4-xlarge.gif)
POLITICO obtained the letter detailing the allegations, which is circulating among Capitol Police officers, and is publishing portions of it here. To protect the whistleblower’s identity, POLITICO is not publishing the letter in full.
“The truth may be valued less than politics by many members of the congressional community to include those that have made decisions about the leadership of the USCP post January 6th, but I believe the truth still matters to real people and certainly the men and women of the U.S. Capitol Police,” the whistleblower wrote.
A spokesperson for the Capitol Police sent a statement in response to the letter that begins: “A lot has changed since January 6. Although there is more work to do, many of the problems described in the letter have been addressed.”
The spokesperson added that the department “has implemented, and continues to implement, many of the critical recommendations called for in” a Senate inquiry into Jan. 6, a separate review conducted by retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, and multiple probes by its own inspector general.
“The letter from the former employee echoes the thoughtful recommendations in those reports,” the Capitol Police spokesperson continued. “USCP leaders, under new Chief Tom Manger, are committed to learning from prior mistakes and protecting our brave officers, who fought valiantly on January 6, so we can continue to carry out the Department’s critical mission. The men and women of this Department are committed to that critical mission. Our goal is to work as a team, to move forward, and advance the work that keeps the U.S. Capitol and the people who work here safe.”
The letter was sent to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. The House Administration Committee’s Republican staff was also sent a copy.
The whistleblower accused Pittman of lying to Congress about a key intelligence report the department received in late December. That report noted that a blog called "thedonald.win" posted a map of the Capitol campus, and that commenters on the site called for protesters to carry guns and confront members of Congress on Jan. 6.
Pittman told congressional investigators in April that a cohort of senior officials in the department were also aware of that intelligence before the attack. The whistleblower claimed in his letter, however, that other officials did not receive the intelligence report, and that Pittman lied when she said they did.
USCP letter to Congress p.12
(https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21080866/pages/letter-p12-xlarge.gif)
“These officials were the only officials that had all the intelligence information for the 6th,” the whistleblower wrote, regarding Gallagher and Pittman.
“The single most important piece of intelligence information ... was never shared with any members of USCP leadership,” the whistleblower added, asking: “Why did they approve the operational plan for the 6th if they knew the intelligence?”
A senior law enforcement official said that other people in the department actually did have the intelligence, but that it clearly should have been distributed more widely. The Capitol Police spokesperson disputed the allegation that Pittman lied to Congress and noted that the department has changed its internal and external intelligence-sharing practices because of the attack.
However, the report in question wasn’t the only key piece of intelligence that didn’t reach the right people in the department, according to the whistleblower. Gallagher and Pittman also had information showing groups that received permits to hold events surrounding the Capitol on Jan. 6 were all front operations for Stop the Steal, the whistleblower wrote.
Stop the Steal was a movement promoting the conspiracy theory that nefarious forces stole the election from Trump. The movement’s organizers promoted a rally on the National Mall that preceded the attack on the Capitol.
That was “game changing information,” the whistleblower added, but operational commanders — meaning, the law enforcement officers in the field supervising police activity — never learned about it.
USCP letter to Congress p.5
(https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21080866/pages/letter-p5-xlarge.gif)
In the whistleblower’s view, Gallagher and Pittman had all the intelligence needed to justify demanding reinforcements from the National Guard, closing the doors to the Capitol and using tougher but less-than-lethal weapons on the morning of Jan. 6. But they didn’t share that intelligence with the right people, the whistleblower wrote, and instead approved a woefully inadequate security plan.
The whistleblower also said he spent hours during the attack in the Capitol Police’s Command Center with Pittman and Gallagher, claiming that they did little to stop the violence. The whistleblower's presence in the command center on Jan. 6 was confirmed by two other law enforcement officials and a third person who was there during the attack.
Those three people gave different accounts of how long the whistleblower was there. One of the people said he was there for six hours, another said he was there for “several” hours and a third said he was there for less than two hours.
“What I observed was them mostly sitting there, blankly looking at the TV screens showing real time footage of officers and officials fighting for the Congress and their lives,” the whistleblower wrote.
“It is my allegation that these two with intent and malice opted to not try and assist the officers and officials, blame others for the failures, and chose to try and use this event for their own personal promotions,” he added. “This was done not after the event but while officers and officials were still fighting the demonstrators.”
USCP letter to Congress p.10
(https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21080866/pages/letter-p10-xlarge.gif)
They watched “mostly with their hands in their laps,” he added, and “did not try to help or assist as officers and officials were literally fighting for each other, their lives and the Congress.”
The two law enforcement official who confirmed Pittman and Gallagher's presence in the command center disputed the claim that they passively watched the attacks. Those officials said Gallagher focused on bringing in support from the National Guard and law enforcement partners, and that Pittman focused on the evacuation and protection of members of Congress and the vice president.
The whistleblower, however, wrote that officials and officers have resigned from the department en masse because Pittman and Gallagher haven’t been held accountable for what happened that day.
“This concerted effort to protect the two members of the Department without question the most responsible for the tragic events of January 6th is repulsive,” the whistleblower wrote.
And the whistleblower lambasted congressional leadership for letting Gallagher and Pittman maintain their senior roles in the police department even as a new chief took over at the Capitol Police.
“t is immensely embarrassing to the congressional leadership and staff that they selected the two individuals most responsible for the 6th to lead the Department after the 6th,” he wrote in his conclusion. “Especially since some entity selected them without any investigation. To hold them accountable would require this same group to admit they were wrong.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/08/capitol-police-whistleblower-rebuke-jan-6-515696
-
Yes, throw everyone in jail who has a dissenting view. Investigate them, arrest them, censor them. You can even shoot an unarmed woman and later claim it was justified due to her political views. That's the modern leftist view of America. Divide Americans by race, gender, income, and vaccine status and declare them the enemy. It sounds a whole lot like Communist China.
-
'Dooms him to the trash bin of history': Heartland newspaper bashes Trump's attempted coup in scathing editorial
Reflecting on new reports that Donald Trump was going to extraordinary lengths to undermine the 2020 presidential election results, the editorial board of the highly influential St. Louis Post-Dispatch slammed both the former president and his die-hard supporters.
With the editor's setting the stage by reporting, "The report makes clear that a handful of top administration officials heroically averted this attempted coup by threatening mass resignations if Trump carried out his scheme," they suggested, "As more and more of these details emerge, Republicans who continue to support Trump's false and toxic claims of electoral victory should think hard about how history will view him — and them."
According to the editorial, "The interim report by the Senate Judiciary Committee shows how Trump's Jan. 6 incitement of a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol was only his most publicly visible attempt to overturn an election he clearly lost. In the days prior, Trump was maneuvering behind the scenes, trying to weaponize his Justice Department to validate his already-disproven claims of election fraud."
They then drew a parallel to Watergate which eventually brought down the presidency of fellow Republican Richard Nixon, saying Trump's attempt to subvert democracy is miles worse and that he and his enablers should forever live in infamy.
"No rational American today would defend Nixon's actions — and he was merely trying to get away with covering up an illegal wiretap, an objectively less damnable offense than trying to overturn a valid national election," they charged. "With every new revelation, Trump's attempted coup against democracy further dooms him to the trash bin of history. Those who still don't understand that might well find themselves joining him there."
You can read the whole piece here.
https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-history-will-harshly-judge-trumps-coup-attempt-and-those-who-defend-it/article_38697341-a37e-518b-9aa0-96f9d35a0ffb.html
-
Jim Jordan handed the House riot commission the keys to subpoenaing him: report
According to a report from Politico, members of the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection are preparing to go into battle with some of their colleagues over their actions on that day and that may put some Republicans in an awkward spot.
One such GOP lawmaker is combative Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who may have inadvertently handed committee members wanting to talk to him about his multiple conversations with former president Trump, the legal pathway to compel him to testify under oath.
As Politico's Kyle Cheney and Olivia Beavers wrote, "The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack has so far avoided directly roping in fellow lawmakers, even as it homes in on Trump's inner circle. Yet each of its investigative steps so far has further underscored the roles that Trump's staunchest House GOP allies played in his bid to throw out the election results," before adding, "Those Republicans connected the former president to willing partners in the Justice Department who might fuel inflated claims of fraud. They huddled with Trump to deliver counsel. And they spoke with Trump by phone on Jan. 6 as he watched his own 'Stop the Steal' rally morph into a violent riot that overtook the Capitol."
According to the report, Jordan will likely find himself under the microscope and -- if he can't get around being subpoenaed by his colleagues -- he only has himself to blame.
"That reality became more explicit this week, when Senate Judiciary Chair Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) asked the House to investigate Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) for helping Trump pressure the Justice Department to overturn the election. Perry played a key role in linking Trump with a Justice Department official who was willing to aid the former president's quest to overturn the election, Senate Judiciary Democrats found. Their report also referenced Rep. Jim Jordan's (R-Ohio) contacts with the White House during that timeframe," Politico is reporting.
In Jordan's case, his participation into investigations of Democratic foes and the FBI provided a legal pathway that will likely come back to bite him.
"The question of whether to engage with the select panel is a particularly resonant one for Jordan, the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee. He made his name as an aggressive conservative investigator when Republicans dug into allegations of impropriety at the FBI and Justice Department during the 2016 presidential election. At that time, House Republicans fiercely defended the power of the subpoena to compel testimony from executive-branch officials," the report states. "Now Jordan and several of his colleagues are in uncharted territory, facing possible subpoenas from within their own branch."
You can read more here:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/09/jan-6-investigators-republican-colleagues-515691
-
I said this was extremely dangerous last year when Criminal Donald ordered his violent right wing militia thugs to storm the Michigan Capitol. That was a "test run" for the 1/6 insurrection coup attempt. Once again, I was 100% correct.
GOP's 'domestic army': How Michigan Republicans allied with paramilitary extremists and paved the way for insurrection
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1443979569799774208/BP-JYxp4?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Although Michigan is one of the 2016 Trump states that Joe Biden flipped in 2020, it is also a state that has had a disturbing amount of activity from far-right militia extremists — including those who planned to kidnap Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last year, subject her to a "trial" for treason and execute her if found guilty. Journalists David D. Kirkpatrick and Mike McIntire, in an article published by the New York Times on February 8, takes an in-depth look at the extremism of Michigan's paramilitary militias and their relationship to the Michigan GOP — a relationship that helped pave the way for the violence of January 6.
"Michigan has a long tradition of tolerating self-described private militias, which are unusually common in the state," Kirkpatrick and McIntire explain. "But it is also a critical electoral battleground that draws close attention from top party leaders, and the Republican alliance with paramilitary groups shows how difficult it may be for the national party to extricate itself from the shadow of the former president and his appeal to this aggressive segment of its base."
In April 2020, the Times reporters recall, armed militia members protested coronavirus restrictions in Lansing, Michigan and stormed the Michigan Capitol Building. According to Kirkpatrick and McIntire, "That intrusion into the Statehouse now looks like a portent of the assault halfway across the country months later at the United States Capitol."
Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin has said that in light of the events in Michigan in 2020, "We knew there would be violence" on January 6. When Republican politicians in Michigan condone militia members carrying assault rifles during their protests, Slotkin warned, that "normalizes violence."
Kirkpatrick and McIntire report, "Six Trump supporters from Michigan have been arrested in connection with the storming of the (U.S.) Capitol. One, a former marine accused of beating a Capitol Police officer with a hockey stick, had previously joined armed militiamen in a protest organized by Michigan Republicans to try to disrupt ballot counting in Detroit. The chief organizer of that protest, Meshawn Maddock, on Saturday was elected co-chair of the state Republican Party — one of four diehard Trump loyalists who won top posts."
However, Maddock has condemned the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building and told the Times, "When it comes to militias or the Proud Boys, I have no connection whatsoever to them."
Prominent Michigan Republicans who have allied themselves with militias, according to Kirkpatrick and McIntire, include Ryan Kelley — who has announced a gubernatorial run — and Londa Gatt, a Proud Boys supporter who has described the extremist group as "true patriots." Jeff Timmer, a former director of the Michigan GOP and a conservative critic of former President Donald Trump, is troubled by the alliance between militia members and Michigan Republicans and told the Times, "It is like the Republican Party has its own domestic army."
JoEllen Vinyard, a professor at Eastern Michigan University and expert on political extremism, is also troubled by the Michigan GOP's relationship with militia groups and told the Times, "I think there is a fair amount of sympathy in the Republican Party for these people that wasn't there in the past. It's a much closer relationship now."
Maddock's causes have ranged from fighting coronavirus restrictions in Michigan to trying to help Trump overturn the presidential election results in that state. And although she distanced herself from militias and the Proud Boys in her statement to the Times, she has remained a devout Trump supporter.
"When attempts to stop the counting failed, Ms. Maddock, in December, led 16 Republican electors trying to push into the Michigan Capitol to disrupt the casting of Democratic votes in the Electoral College," Kirkpatrick and McIntire note. "During a 'Stop the Steal' news conference in Washington the next day, she vowed to 'keep fighting.' Marching toward the (U.S.) Capitol on January 6, she tweeted that the throngs were 'the most incredible crowd and sea of people I have ever walked with.'"
https://www.rawstory.com/michigan-gop/
-
FBI raids home of Proud Boys' Philadelphia chapter leader as part of Capitol riot-related probe: report
The vice president the of Philadelphia chapter of the Proud Boys had his home in Newark, Delaware, raided by then FBI this Friday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Aaron Whallon Wolkind, 37, had his computer, phone, and other electronics seized by federal agents who were looking for evidence related to the alleged planning of the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Although Wolkind was handcuffed during the raid, he was not arrested or charged. According to Wolkind's lawyer, Jonathon Moseley, agents "took all of his computer and computer devices and phones, including an old broken phone."
"The search warrant permitted agents to seize records and information related to people who 'collaborated, conspired, or assisted,' or 'communicated about matters' including their whereabouts, during the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, or the 'legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election,' the filing says. They could also collect 'clothing items' associating Wolkind with the Proud Boys, it said. The offenses cited on the warrant are the same criminal charges Rehl is facing," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Read the full report over at the Philadelphia Inquirer.
https://www.inquirer.com/news/philadelphia-proud-boys-raid-aaron-wolkind-20211011.html
-
Even the East German Stasi lacked your enthusiasm to lock up political opponents, suppress free speech, and undermine democracy. You should be proud Baghdad Rick. Democracy is not going to be your friend in the upcoming election. A red wave is coming in the aftermath of Old Joe's endless disasters. He is living in a doll house with the entire world laughing. When the shelves are bare soon even the few supporters that are left will be jumping ship. And who could be surprised? Old Joe is a lifelong establishment politician with no accomplishments. None.
Richard always brightens my day with a good laugh. :D Thumb1:
I thought you believed in law and order Richard? When someone commits a serious crime they are supposed to be arrested. That's how our laws work. It appears Richard wants a set of rules for one group but when the Republicans and their supporters commit treason, defy subpoenas, or are involved in financial crimes he wants them to get off the hook.
The "disasters" you speak of were all created by Criminal Donald and Americans know that because they elected President Biden in an election blowout to clean up the mess left by the orange criminal. The laughing stock was Criminal Donald who was laughed out of the U.N. and don't forget the entire world was dancing in the streets when Criminal Donald lost. Never in the world history has that happened when a U.S. President lost an election.
The 81 million that voted for President Biden is NOT going to vote for insurrectionist seditious GOP Republicans. The GOP is in the minority and they simply don't have enough votes. That was proven in 2020. There will be millions of new first time voters 18-21 who will join the effort in defeating the GOP. President Biden is at 50% approval rating and his agenda is massively popular. We all heard about the imaginary "red wave" in 2018 and 2020. Where was it? But keeping going with the phony 2022 "red wave" narrative. The GOP keeps on losing and as long as they are married to Criminal Donald, they will keep on losing.
-
1/6 was coordinated, funded, and planned with right wing militia groups behind the attack.
Members Of Right-Wing Militias, Extremist Groups Are Latest Charged In Capitol Siege
https://www.npr.org/sections/insurrection-at-the-capitol/2021/01/19/958240531/members-of-right-wing-militias-extremist-groups-are-latest-charged-in-capitol-si
-
Black flag: Understanding the Trumpists' latest threatening symbol
Trump zealots have begun flying black U.S. flags, which signal no quarter for enemies. It's a threat of violence
(https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/1200/https://media.salon.com/2021/01/capitol-riot-trump-supporter-0119211.jpg)
Trump supporters near the US Capitol following a "Stop the Steal" rally on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. The protesters stormed the historic building, breaking windows and clashing with police. Trump supporters had gathered in the nation's capital today to protest the ratification of President-elect Joe Biden's Electoral College victory over President Trump in the 2020 election. (Selcuk Acar/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
It's an old truism that the "real bad men" (and bad women) "move in silence and violence." That's certainly true for the most dangerous and most effective of Donald Trump's allies, henchmen, henchwomen, and other followers. But for Donald Trump himself, and most of his political cult, that rule does not apply.
Trump and his followers were loud, exuberant and enthusiastic on Jan. 6. The lethal attack on the Capitol had been publicly announced weeks in advance, and should have come as no surprise. Trump's rallies and gatherings continue to celebrate violence and the prospect of revenge — and specifically of "getting even" with Trump's "enemies."
Steve Bannon, Trump's former campaign chairman and White House strategist, has now threatened to recruit Republican-fascist "shock troops" with the apparent goal of undermining the U.S. government, and by implication multiracial democracy, if and when Trump and the Republicans regain control of both Congress and the White House.
On a daily basis Fox News and other elements of the right-wing disinformation propaganda machine use stochastic terrorism and other techniques to radicalize their audience into committing acts of political violence. To this point, the Democratic Party and the political and news media class in general have remained in denial, and largely passive in response.
In one troubling new development, Trump supporters have begun flying all-black American flags, in an implicit threat to harm or kill their opponents — meaning nonwhite people, "socialist liberals," Muslims, vaccinated people and others deemed to be "enemies" of "real America." As media critic Eric Boehlert recently noted, the liberal opinion site Living Blue in Texas is sounding the alarm about the specific meaning of the black flag and the Republican-fascists support for terrorism and other political violence. That post, "Are Your Republican Neighbors Planning on Killing You?", merits lengthy quotation:
It didn't take long to find hundreds of videos where these Trumpers and so-called patriots were hanging black American flags. ...
Black American flags are the flags that mean "no quarter shall be given." They are the opposite of the white flag of surrender.
According to the people on TikTok and the Sun (British tabloid), the black American flag originated in the civil war and was flown by the Confederates.
It means that they will not surrender, will not take prisoners, and are willing to die for their cause. It means they will execute their enemies.
Who are their enemies? Pretty much any non-Conservative. You know, Democrats, Liberals, LGBTQ, BIPOC, and the vaccinated. ...
So, we're the enemy, and they're openly professing to want to execute us. … So, why are they doing this
Covid vaccinations, mostly. They believe that Joe Biden has declared a civil war on them by mandating that employers with over 100 employees and the military have vaccinations.
Yes, they say civil war, and they say it's already started. But, unfortunately, many of them also live in states where masks and vaccines are required by state governments, healthcare, and law enforcement.
An alarming number of military members have been making Tik Toks talking about how they are being discharged because they refuse the vaccine. It's alarming because there is probably an equal number of guys on there talking about the civil war plans and actively using Tik Tok to recruit these military and ex-military members.
The biggest message they have been sending out is, "it's time" or "the time is now." ...
Although showing guns on Tik Tok is supposed to be against community guidelines, they show lots of videos of their guns, shooting them, wearing them, or sitting on their bed.
They primarily use Tik Tok as a recruiting tool and let others know their willingness to commit violence. Then they tell people to message them or where to find them on Telegram.
However you interpret these videos posted by Trump followers and other neofascists — which could be mainly performative — it is clearly true that the American right is increasingly willing to accept or condone violence as a means of expanding and protecting their social and political power. (Salon did not find licensed news photographs of these flags, and has made the editorial decision not to reproduce the images mentioned above, which are easy to find on social media.)
Public opinion polls and other research have repeatedly shown that millions of Republican voters and Trump followers would support the use of violence to remove Joe Biden from office because of the "Big Lie" and their belief that that he is not a legitimate president. Similarly, a large proportion of Republicans believe that the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 were "patriots" whose use of violence was justified.
And a new poll from the University of Virginia's Center for Politics even suggests that more than 50 percent of Trump supporters want "red states" to secede from the Union. Republican elected officials and other right-wing opinion leaders have continued to escalate their threats of political violence against Democrats and other targeted groups.
In a recent speech to the North Carolina Faith and Freedom Coalition's "Salt & Light" conference, Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., issued what sounded like a declaration of war:
It is time for the American Christian church to come out of the shadows to say, "No longer are we going to allow our culture to be determined by people who hate the things that we believe in…. We are going to stand valiantly for God's incredible inherent truths that predate any version of government. Because, my friends, if we lose this country today, if we bend the knee to the Democrats today, our country will be lost forever, our children will never know what freedom is. It's our duty to stand up, Let us stand united as men and women of faith to fight for our country.
During an interview with MSNBC's Joy Reid, terrorism and national security expert Malcolm Nance said that Cawthorn's video "picks up on the themes that are not just coming from the Steve Bannon level and Donald Trump level, they are coming from the Republican street — and that Republican street is armed. They're angry. They have been fed an entire line which makes them believe that America is no longer America and that they no longer want the America that the rest of us, the 60 percent of the country, live in. And they`re willing to take up arms for it."
Nance also noted that Cawthorn's propaganda video is thematically similar to the type of propaganda used by Islamic terrorist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaida to radicalize and recruit members.
During an interview with Scientific American magazine, Dr. Bandy Lee, the principal editor of the 2017 bestseller "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump," explained how a mentally pathological leader can "infect" his followers and perhaps even an entire nation:
I have outlined two major emotional drives: narcissistic symbiosis and shared psychosis. Narcissistic symbiosis refers to the developmental wounds that make the leader-follower relationship magnetically attractive. The leader, hungry for adulation to compensate for an inner lack of self-worth, projects grandiose omnipotence — while the followers, rendered needy by societal stress or developmental injury, yearn for a parental figure. When such wounded individuals are given positions of power, they arouse similar pathology in the population that creates a "lock and key" relationship….
"Shared psychosis" — which is also called "folie à millions" ["madness for millions"] when occurring at the national level or "induced delusions" — refers to the infectiousness of severe symptoms that goes beyond ordinary group psychology. When a highly symptomatic individual is placed in an influential position, the person's symptoms can spread through the population through emotional bonds, heightening existing pathologies and inducing delusions, paranoia and propensity for violence — even in previously healthy individuals. The treatment is removal of exposure.
Trump and his regime gave permission and encouragement to his followers and other supporters to engage in antisocial and other anti-human behavior on a national scale. Once such a process has begun, and those forces are unleashed, it is not easy to stop. Fascism is not a simple machine with an on-and-off switch. In practice, fascism is given life and takes corporeal form through its followers, with each one being a potential carrier of the pathology.
As Hussein Ibish warned in a recent article in the Atlantic, "The cancer of political violence is not an endemic American disease. At the moment, it is a Republican disease. No one but Republicans themselves can cure it. Until they do, the violence of the right is only going to keep swelling and crashing. From a Middle Eastern perspective, this is all appallingly familiar."
Fascism is a highly virulent social disease that usually destroys the host body – but not before spreading the disease to many other people. In fact, if the original host dies, he or she can be elevated to the status of martyr for "the cause," serving to inspire existing followers and lure in new ones.
Ultimately, Donald Trump, like other fascist and authoritarian leaders, is the symptom of a sick society. Trumpism is not actually the core disease. For America to counteract the deep underlying illness that has made Trumpism possible will require a long-term cultural and moral reckoning. Anything less, and the disease of American fascism will only go dormant until it is resurrected again — perhaps in a more dangerous and virulent form.
https://www.salon.com/2021/10/12/black-flag-understanding-the-trumpists-latest-threatening-symbol/
-
Yes, throw everyone in jail who has a dissenting view. Investigate them, arrest them, censor them. You can even shoot an unarmed woman and later claim it was justified due to her political views. That's the modern leftist view of America. Divide Americans by race, gender, income, and vaccine status and declare them the enemy. It sounds a whole lot like Communist China.
Nice phony narrative.
Dissenting views has nothing to do with it and you know it. These MAGA thugs tried to overthrow the US Government so of course they will be jailed. Defying a congressional subpoena is a crime and the punishment is imprisonment. Those are American laws so deal with it. The only division came from Criminal Donald and the right. They have divided us on race, gender, political affiliation, and made a deadly virus a political issue. Criminal Donald called the free press "the enemy" and his thugs declared Liberals the enemy. That's right wing fascism.
Why was the "unarmed woman" illegally breaking through the Capitol window after she was warned several times by Capitol Police to retreat? It's her own fault she was shot.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E_3qbm9VUAM3uGo?format=jpg)
-
US Marshals may be called to round up former Trump aides who disobey Jan. 6 subpoenas: House investigator
A member of the U.S. House select committee explained how Donald Trump's allies might be rounded up and arrested if they continued to defy congressional subpoenas in the Jan. 6 investigation.
Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," where she called for fines or jail time for former Trump advisers who flout orders for their testimony and documents related to the insurrection, and she revealed what questions the committee had for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and others served with the subpoenas.
"I want to know how much planning was involved, who was involved in the planning, who funded it, how they -- what their intent was when they came into that day, and then what they knew as that day unfolded and the safety and security of people like the vice president and members of Congress were at risk, [and] what they did, either to respond or not respond on that occasion," Murphy said.
If those individuals don't show up for their scheduled testimony, Murphy said they could be taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals Service.
"We have engaged with a wide variety of law enforcement offices, including the U.S. Marshals, in order to issue the subpoenas," Murphy said. "We will use everything, as you said, with all due respect, we will use all of the agencies and all of the tools at our disposal to issue the subpoenas and enforce them."
-
‘They will be prosecuted’: Adam Schiff describes how select committee will crack down on Trump obstruction
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol will aggressively hold Trump associates accountable for refusing to cooperate, member Adam Schiff (D-CA) explained on MSNBC on Wednesday.
"What will you do if the deadline comes and goes for two witnesses who have been subpoenaed and they don't show up?" anchor Nicolle Wallace asked.
"We will move to hold them in criminal contempt," Schiff replied.
"So our committee will produce a report about the efforts that were made to get them to testify," he explained. "We will submit that report and we will call for a vote on the House floor that will send it to the Justice Department."
"Our expectation is they will be prosecuted," he continued. "I think part of the reason why some of these witnesses feel like they can thumb their nose at Congress and the power of the subpoena is for four years that's exactly what they did. And they had an attorney general in Bill Barr who would not enforce the subpoenas because anyone covering up for the president was doing Bill Barr and the president's work and they were not about to hold them accountable."
"But that is a very different situation than today," he noted. "Today we have an attorney general that respects the rule of law, who upholds the principle no one is above the law and we expect those subpoenas to be enforced and enforced with prosecution," he said.
Watch:
-
Capitol riot committee subpoenas Trump DOJ official who was instrumental in election coup attempt
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/ex-senator-questions-why-trump-s-doj-flack-isn-t-being-called-up-today-on-charges-in-front-of-the-dc-bar.png?id=27661205&width=980&height=551)
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol has subpoenaed former Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark.
In a statement, the committee said Clark was "reportedly involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and interrupt the peaceful transfer of power. The subpoena seeks deposition testimony and records from Mr. Clark as part of the Select Committee's investigation into the events of January 6th and the causes of that day's violence."
The statement then elaborated on why it wanted Clark to testify.
"According to a report released last week by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, there is credible evidence that, while serving as an official at the Department of Justice, Mr. Clark was involved in efforts to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Mr. Clark proposed delivery of a letter to state legislators in Georgia and others encouraging to delay certification of election results. Moreover, he recommended holding a press conference announcing that the Department was investigating allegations of voter fraud despite the lack of evidence that such fraud was present. Both proposals were rejected by Department senior leadership for lacking a factual basis and being inconsistent with the Department's institutional role," the committee said. "The subpoena requires Mr. Clark to produce records and testify at a deposition on October 29th, 2021."
Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) explained why Clark was subpoenaed.
"The Select Committee needs to understand all the details about efforts inside the previous administration to delay the certification of the 2020 election and amplify misinformation about the election results. We need to understand Mr. Clark's role in these efforts at the Justice Department and learn who was involved across the administration. The Select Committee expects Mr. Clark to cooperate fully with our investigation," Thompson said.
https://www.rawstory.com/jeffrey-clark/
-
Trump is in a 'seriously tough spot' with Biden blocking his executive privilege claim: CNN legal analyst
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/full-tape-of-trump-demanding-georgia-secretary-of-state-find-votes-to-hand-him-a-win.jpg?id=27662202&width=980&height=551)
On CNN Wednesday, former federal prosecutor Elie Honig broke down the difficulties former President Donald Trump will face in trying to assert executive privilege over communications with officials subpoenaed by the House January 6 Committee.
"Just regarding the news from Kaitlan Collins that the White House formally rejected the request to assert executive privilege," said anchor Anderson Cooper. "Absent an intervening court order. Do you think this will end — ultimately, end up with a, you know, a legal fight?"
"I do think it will, Anderson," said Honig. "This move by the Biden administration puts Donald Trump in a very tough spot. Now, Trump has two options. One, he can do nothing and let it be which means 30 days from now, those documents go over to the committee. Or two, Trump can go to court and ask a court to block those documents from going over. But that's a serious uphill climb, legally."
Honig then proceeded to explain how Trump's demand lacked legal precedent.
"It's fairly clear that while a former president can have some say in executive privilege, generally speaking, it's the current president who gets to decide," said Honig. "That makes sense. We've actually seen Barack Obama and George W. Bush exercise or not exercise executive privilege on behalf of their predecessor. So Trump's got a serious uphill climb. It seems the real object here, Anderson, is to get it in the courts and delay. And we have seen courts take months, even years, to resolve these disputes in the past. Courts need to do better, they need to do it quicker. They need to prioritize if these cases land before them so they don't drag on forever."
Watch below:
-
If Steve Bannon Defies the January 6 Committee's Subpoena, He Should Be in Handcuffs: He has no claim to executive privilege whatsoever, and Congress must assert itself
(https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/bannon-1634150380.jpeg?crop=1.00xw:1.00xh;0,0&resize=980:*)
In the plague-spotted orchard of Trumpian malfeasance, which the House of Representatives is trying to defoliate before it poisons everything in the garden, Steve Bannon, the last heir to House Harkonnen, is the low-hanging fruit. There is no reason on god’s despoiled earth why he shouldn’t be made to testify under oath about everything that happened on January 6. He wasn’t working for the president* at the time, so there’s no question of executive privilege. He was a private citizen when he allegedly played a role in orchestrating an insurrection meant to overturn a national election. Steve Bannon is the easy one.
He has until October 14 to turn over everything the special investigative committee’s subpoena demanded. Assuming he ignores the deadline, at 12:01 a.m. on October 15, he should be in cuffs and in the back of a car with two U.S. marshals, on his way to the pokey. From Reuters:
The committee has already threatened criminal contempt charges against Bannon for refusing to cooperate with the inquiry into the attack, in which a mob of Trump's supporters stormed the seat of the U.S. government. Those subpoenaed will have the opportunity to cooperate, but if they do not, the committee will enforce its subpoenas, Cheney, a Republican, told reporters at the U.S. Capitol. She leads the committee along with its chairman, Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson.
"In general, people are going to have to appear, or, you know, we will move contempt charges against them,” Cheney said. She said the entire committee was in agreement on that point. Cheney said the committee expected to have depositions from Meadows and Patel later this week. "We'll see if they show up. If they show up, we'll be prepared," she said.
The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they’re Mixmasters compared to watching Congress and the Department of Justice move on this matter. I have been staunchly in the camp of take the time you need. I have believed from the jump that there’s more going on underground at the DOJ than we know about. But even my patience gauge is blinking red. It’s not enough to be doing something. The country needs to see you doing something. It needs to see that to build its confidence that justice is coming. It also needs to see it as a kind of vicarious triumph over all the worst cynicism and corruption that attended the last administration*. A Steve Bannon perp walk would do nicely.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a37952095/steve-bannon-january-6-commission-subpoena/
-
Good. Another MAGA scumbag goes to jail.
Kentucky man who sought to 'occupy' the US Capitol during Jan. 6 riot will go to jail
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/01/15/PLOU/91660d53-f28d-4ff9-af6c-c0513d3b89d2-bauer2.JPG?width=300&height=542&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
A Kentucky man who said he entered the U.S. Capitol with his cousin during the Jan. 6 riot in Washington, D.C., to "occupy the space" was sentenced Wednesday to 45 days in jail for his role in the violent insurrection.
Robert "Bob" Bauer, 44, of Cave City was initially charged the week after the deadly riot in January with entering and remaining in a restricted building and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Federal prosecutors later added two more charges: disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building and violent entry and disorderly conduct at the grounds and in a Capitol building.
But under a plea deal, Bauer and his cousin ended up facing only the charge of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
That charge is a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in prison, a maximum $5,000 fine and up to a year of supervised release.
The Department of Justice had recommended Bauer serve 30 days in jail and pay $500 in restitution for damage to the Capitol, according to court documents, while Bauer and his attorney requested no jail time and one year of probation.
Judge Tanya Chutkan, with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ended up sentencing both Bauer and his cousin, Edward Hemenway of Winchester, Virginia, to a term of 45 days in jail along with 60 hours of community service and the $500 restitution amount.
Both men will be allowed to turn themselves in to the Bureau of Prisons to start their sentences, Chutkan said.
While she noted neither Bauer nor his cousin assaulted any officers at the Capitol, Chutkan said they took photographs of themselves in the building and "clearly celebrated" their presence at the riot.
US Capitol riot arrests: What we know about the Kentucky people charged
"There has to be consequences" for those who play a role in trying to "disrupt the peaceful transfer of power," Chutkan said.
The Capitol riot resulted in the deaths of five people, with hundreds of police officers injured and at least four officers who defended the building later dying by suicide.
Some of the 600-plus defendants charged in connection with the events of Jan. 6 have received jail time or probation, while handfuls of others — including over a dozen Kentuckians — still await sentencing.
Bauer's attorney, Meredith M. Ralls, wrote in a memo prior to Wednesday's sentencing that he cooperated with federal investigators and took responsibility for his actions "immediately after January 6 by posting on Facebook."
"His remorse did not come after being apprehended, but before being apprehended. He even took steps to 'out' himself to authorities," Bauer's attorney wrote. "While many people post on social media out of pride, Mr. Bauer took a fatalistic attitude and posted his January 6 activities so that he would be found by law enforcement. He knew that FBI agents would be looking for people who were involved in the Capitol breach, and he did not want to hide from them as they sought those involved."
Chutkan pushed back Wednesday on Ralls' claim that Bauer posted to social media to alert the authorities, noting many other Jan. 6 defendants had posted photos and videos to Facebook.
"I don't think they were crying out to be apprehended," Chutkan said, asking why Bauer did not just call the FBI if he wanted to alert them.
Bauer, offered a chance to speak during the hearing, told Chutkan when he returned to his cousin's home after the riot, "we turned on the news."
"We didn’t see everything that went on that day," Bauer said. "When I saw ... all that chaos and all that violence, that’s when I realized the true gravity of it."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth C. Kelley said although Bauer took responsibility for his actions, he was well aware of "Do not enter" signs at the Capitol and observed officers getting attacked by the crowd as they pushed inside.
After spending 17 minutes inside the Capitol, Bauer also posed for a photo on top of a government vehicle while raising his two middle fingers in the air, Kelley said.
"Each rioter’s actions, from the most mundane to the most violent, contributed to the violence and destruction at the Capitol on Jan. 6," Kelley told the judge Wednesday. "... He had opportunities to leave the Capitol, but he chose not to leave."
The FBI had initially received an anonymous tip about Bauer and his wife's attendance at the Capitol riot that sought to disrupt Congress in certifying President Joe Biden's victory over former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, according to a criminal complaint.
In separate interviews with the FBI, both Bauer and his cousin said they walked down Pennsylvania Avenue with a crowd of people from the "Stop the Steal" rally.
Hemenway told the judge neither he nor Bauer were "really 100% Trump supporters," and he then choked up when describing Bauer losing his job as a result of his criminal case.
"We are ashamed and wholeheartedly regret it," Hemenway said.
When they arrived at the Capitol grounds, Bauer's wife refused to go in and went back to the hotel room, while Bauer and Hemenway went inside the Capitol, according to the complaint. Bauer's wife was not charged in the riot.
Bauer and Hemenway told the FBI after rushing into the building with the crowd, one Capitol Police officer greeted them with a hug and handshake and told them, "It's your house now," according to the complaint.
Bauer told the FBI he “believed that the policeman was acting out of fear," the complaint said.
Photos taken on Bauer's phone and included in court documents show the two men inside the Capitol, and at some point in the Crypt, or basement, of the building. In one photo, they're seen giving the middle finger.
In a video from Bauer's phone obtained by the FBI, Bauer is in the Capitol chanting, "Our house! Our house!" with a large crowd behind him.
Bauer, in his police interview, said he went into the Capitol to "occupy the space" and had no intention of assaulting law enforcement or hurting anyone.
Hemenway, meanwhile, told the FBI he entered the building out of "stupidity" and "curiosity."
Bauer said people in the crowd were angry about officials who were alleged pedophiles (a debunked conspiracy theory) and about losing their businesses during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, according to the complaint.
In the memo submitted prior to the sentencing hearing, Bauer's attorney said the man and his wife "originally came to the D.C.-Virginia area to visit family, and decided to attend the protest on the Ellipse as part of that trip."
"Mr. Bauer only decided to turn from the Ellipse and head towards the Capitol when then-President Trump directed the crowd to proceed in that direction," the memo said. "Mr. Bauer did not come to D.C. prepared for a riot ... yet he understands that he is nonetheles responsible for following that group."
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/crime/2021/10/13/us-capitol-riot-kentucky-man-robert-bauer-sentenced-insurrection-case/8434252002/
-
REVEALED: Police warned Secret Service that Trump supporters might 'come armed' on Jan. 6
A newly uncovered email shows that Washington's Metropolitan Police Department warned federal law enforcement agencies on Jan. 5 that Donald Trump supporters who planned to attend his "Stop the Steal" rally the following day were being urged on social media to "come armed."
"Social media reporting is urging individuals attending the events on January 6 to come armed. No threats have been identified," the email stated.
CNN reported Thursday that the email "provides additional evidence that law enforcement dramatically misread the situation in the critical days before the riot," adding that the document "could prove useful to a House committee investigating the riot."
The email, obtained by the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), was sent from the FBI's field office in DC to the Secret Service, according to CNN. It provided a short summary of a Metropolitan Police Department briefing.
"The email noted that eight firearms were recovered and five arrests were made at a pro-Trump event in November 2020," CNN reported. "Further, the document shows how local law enforcement knew DC-area hotels were sold out, indicating that a large crowd would be in the city around that time. The extremist Proud Boys group is also highlighted in the document, although it says 'the number expected' to attend the rally was 'unknown.'"
The email is among numerous documents uncovered recently that suggest the Capitol insurrection was not an intelligence failure.
https://www.rawstory.com/revealed-dc-police-warned-secret-service-that-jan-6-protesters-were-being-urged-to-come-armed/
-
Another MAGA scumbag is arrested and also needs to be kicked out of the Army. Insurrectionist anti American traitors are not allowed.
Capitol rioter who joined Army after insurrection arrested at Fort Bragg
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=27664261&width=800&height=450)
An active-duty soldier has been arrested at Fort Bragg on charges that he participated in the Capitol insurrection.
Spc. James Phillip Mault, 29, of Brockport, New York, joined the Army in May, the Fayetteville Observer reports.
Mault is accused of spraying a chemical agent at police who were attempting to stop a mob of Capitol rioters from entering the building on Jan. 6, according to a newly unsealed criminal complaint.
Col. Joe Buccino, a Fort Bragg spokesman, confirmed that Mault was arrested at the base on Oct. 6.
According to the Fayetteville Observer, Buccino said "it was important to note that Mault joined the Army in May, several months after the incident."
"This thing he allegedly did happened before he was a soldier," Buccino said.
In addition to spraying police with a chemical agent, Mault is accused of ripping down a barricade that allowed rioters to access the Capitol grounds. Although his actions were captured in numerous videos, Mault denied assaulting anyone or damaging property when he was first interviewed by FBI agents on Jan. 18.
"Mault described being caught up in the crowd and the mass of people pushed him closer and closer to the Capitol Building. Mault claimed to have no choice but to move forward because of the press of people behind him," the complaint states.
An anonymous tipster identified Mault to the FBI, pointing out the decal on his hard hat from the Ironworkers Local 33 Rochester, New York. Mault, who became known to online investigators as #IronWorkerGuy, told FBI agents he "wore his hard hat from work because he was aware of ANTIFA attacking Trump supporters after events in Washington, D.C. and the helmet would provide some level of protection."
One video from the insurrection reportedly shows Mault cheering on his friend, Cody Mattice, after Mattice was pepper-sprayed by police.
"And you f***ing took it like a man! I f***ing love you dude!" Mault screams in the video.
Mault and Mattice, who was also arrested last week, allegedly traveled from New York to Washington with several other friends on a bus driven by Mault's father.
Mault and Mattice are charged with assaulting law enforcement, entering a restricted building with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct inside a restricted building with a dangerous weapon, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and an act of violence inside Capitol grounds, according to a Department of Justice news release.
https://www.rawstory.com/military-capitol-riot/
-
'We ain't playing nice no more!' New video shows ‘zip-tie guy’ Capitol rioter storming building with his mother
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=27666000&width=1200&height=675)
A newly released video shows "zip-tie guy" Capitol rioter Erik Munchel and his mother making their way through a crowd of insurrectionists as they entered the building and proceeded upstairs to the Senate chamber on Jan. 6.
The 50-minute video, taken from a cellphone attached to the front of Munchel's vest, was recently unsealed by a federal judge, the Tennessean reports.
"(I'm going to) take my weapons off before I go in there," Munchel can be heard telling his mother, Lisa Marie Eisenhart, as they stand outside the Capitol, in a montage from the video published by the newspaper.
But apparently Munchel never did so, because later in the video as they approach the Capitol he says, "This is probably the last time I'll be able to enter the building with armor and weapons."
Munchel is accused of carrying a taser inside the Capitol, and he and Eisenhart wore tactical military gear.
At one point, Eisenhart can be heard telling her son, "This sh*t is on the news, that guy was saying."
"Oh yeah, duh," Munchel responds. "They are going to use this against us as hard as they can. But we ain't playing f*cking nice no godd*mn more."
"I guess they thought we were playing," Munchel yells later in the video. "This is our godd*mn country!"
As Munchel and Eisenhart push their way through the crowd, one fellow rioter announces that "Congress is shut down."
"Tear gas package was thrown in the Congress," the rioter says, as the crowd cheers and Eisenhart laughs.
"Oh my God. That is one of my best days to know that they got tear-gassed," Eisenhart says.
Still outside the Capitol, other fellow rioters comment that Eisenhart and Munchel look "ready to go" in their military gear, and ask if they are members of the far-right Proud Boys.
"No, we're not Proud Boys," Eisenhart responds.
"We're proud Americans," Munchel adds.
As they pass another rioter who is walking away from the Capitol, Eisenhart asks, "Did you get flash-banged and pepper-sprayed?"
"I got maced," the man responds. "I punched two of them (police officers) in the face."
"Good," Eisenhart responds. "While everyone else was on the couch, you guys were training and getting ready."
"Absolutely," the maced rioter says.
After they enter the Capitol, Munchel appears to have second thoughts. "What's your goal here, mom?" he says.
After they walk upstairs and head down a hallway, Munchel can be heard telling other rioters, "Don't vandalize anything, or y'all are Antifa."
Then Munchel discovers a pile of zip ties that would result in iconic photos from the insurrection showing him hopping over seats in the Senate gallery while carrying a handful of the plastic tactical handcuffs.
"Zip ties! I'm gonna get me some of them motherf*ckers!" Munchel says in the video, as both he and Eisenhart grab some of the restraints.
Munchel has said he picked up the handcuffs after a Capitol police officer left them behind, but prosecutors allege he could have used them to take lawmakers hostage.
After they enter the Senate gallery, Munchel can be heard shouting, "I want that f*cking gavel!"
Nashville's Channel 5 reports that, "After passing through the gallery, the pair quickly begin looking for an exit, with little comment on their way out."
Munchel and Eisenhart are awaiting trial of charges of obstructing an official proceeding, entering a restricted area and violent entry related to the insurrection. They were released from jail pending trial in March.
Recently, federal prosecutors asked a judge to bar Munchel from consuming any alcohol, after he was evicted from an apartment where he had been couch-surfing, and violated the conditions of his pretrial release.
Watch the video from the Tennessean and Channel 5's report below:
https://www.rawstory.com/zip-tie-guy-capitol-riot-video/
-
Steve Bannon thinks he's above the law. He's about to find out that he's not when he gets arrested.
House Capitol attack committee seeks contempt charges after Steve Bannon defies subpoena
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/oct/14/capitol-attack-house-committee-investigation-bannon-biden-us-politics-live
January 6 panel moves to hold Steve Bannon in criminal contempt
https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/14/politics/steve-bannon-deposition-deadline/index.html
-
'Be very careful — you're not president anymore': Former Bush AG warns Trump against obstructing Capitol riot probe
On Thursday's edition of CNN's "The Lead," former George W. Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales warned former President Donald Trump that his power to obstruct the House's probe of the January 6 Capitol riot is significantly diminished now that he's no longer in office.
"Trump faces an order to provide documents within 30 days after the Biden White House rejected his attempt to blanketly assert executive privilege," said anchor Jake Tapper. "What happens if Trump doesn't supply?"
"I think we'll find ourselves in somewhat the same position," said Gonzales. "You know, if Trump were a sitting president, there would be a great deal of deference given to the president in terms of making himself available for deposition or to provide testimony. Not so with respect to a former president."
Gonzales then turned to address Trump directly.
"I think if I were advising President Trump, I would say be very careful here because you are not president anymore, and the privileges and protections that you enjoyed while in office simply do not exist when you are out of office," said Gonzales. "So it remains to be seen."
-
'Traitors get shot': Capitol rioter accused of threatening kids could be first to stand trial
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=27677016&width=800&height=450)
A gun-toting Capitol rioter from Texas — who's accused of threatening to kill his children if they turned him in — could soon become the first person to stand trial on charges stemming from the insurrection.
Guy Wesley Reffitt, an oil worker with ties to the Three Percenters militia group, appeared in federal court on Friday and sought to have his case moved from Washington to Texas, invoking Watergate.
However, U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich rejected Reffitt's motion for a change of venue, saying he had "not come close" to demonstrating that such a move is necessary.
After Reffitt, through his attorney, declined to waive his right to a speedy trial, Friedrich scheduled the proceeding for Nov. 15.
"(A)ppears Guy Reffitt will be the 1st #CapitolRiot defendant to go to trial on November 15 – one month from today," WUSA9's Jordan Fischer reported. "Witnesses and exhibit lists are due to the other parties by November 1."
"Parties need to be prepared for opening statements on November 17," Fischer added. "Trial is expected to take 5 days. Guy Reffitt says it is his desire to go to trial on November 15 knowing he has not received all of the evidence the DOJ says may be available in his case."
Reffitt is accused of transporting a rifle and a semi-automatic handgun from Texas to Washington — where he allegedly planned to use them during the insurrection. According to federal prosecutors, he illegally carried the handgun on Capitol grounds. Prosecutors also allege Reffitt played a "significant and dangerous role" at the front of the first group of rioters to challenge a police line trying to secure the building.
After returning home to Wylie, Texas, Reffitt allegedly told his son and daughter: "If you turn me in, you're a traitor and you know what happens to traitors … traitors get shot."
https://www.rawstory.com/guy-wesley-reffitt/
-
The Oath Keepers were instrumental in taking part in the 1/6 insurrection.
Dozens of Oregon law enforcement officers have been members of the far-right Oath Keepers militia
An analysis by OPB of hacked data uncovers police officers, sheriff’s deputies and military in Oregon who had joined the far right militia group since 2009.
In early summer 2018, it looked as though Oregon voters might get a chance to ban assault weapons in the state.
It was barely two months since a shooter had killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
The proposed Oregon ballot measure met stiff legal challenges and was kept off the ballot, but not before militia groups like the Oath Keepers used the proposed gun restrictions as a rallying cry to bring hundreds of people out to a gun rights rally in Salem.
And those recruitment efforts by the Oath Keepers appear to have had some effect.
Not long after the pro-gun rally in Salem, Portland police officer Joseph Webber appears to have joined the Oath Keepers militia, an anti-government, anti-immigrant extremist group that was thrust into the national security spotlight for its role in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection.
According to data leaked earlier this month and reviewed by OPB, Webber — who is still a Portland police officer — is among more than two dozen current and former police officers, sheriff’s deputies, corrections officers, and members of the military in Oregon who appear to have joined the Oath Keepers militia since the group was founded in 2009. OPB compared data in the Oath Keepers leak against public records, social media and state law enforcement certification information to verify the information.
Reached by phone on the same number appearing in the leaked database, Webber denied joining the group before hanging up. He didn’t respond to follow-up text messages.
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said he expects officers to follow the bureau’s conduct and professionalism policies whether on or off duty. Potentially applicable policies include a prohibition against associations with people advocating criminal behavior or actions which might discredit the bureau or city.
Lovell told OPB this case has been referred to internal affairs for investigation.
The hacked Oath Keepers data was sent to the transparency group Distributed Denial of Secrets, which provided the information to journalists and researchers. In several cases across the country, journalists and citizen sleuths have been able to confirm law enforcement and military members using the leaked data. New York City police officers and a detective in the Hudson County prosecutor’s office were in the leaked data, prompting investigations from those two agencies.
The data include names, membership join dates and contact information for nearly 40,000 people across the country who at one point paid dues to the organization, including more than 1,000 names in Oregon and Southwest Washington. Except where people paid the approximately $1,000 for a lifetime membership, it’s not clear from the data if people are still members.
Oath Keepers in Oregon law enforcement
The earliest law enforcement officer in the state to join was Multnomah County Sheriff’s Deputy Phillip Farrell, who signed up in 2009, according to the hacked records. Farrell retired from the Sheriff’s office in 2014 and, until 2019, worked as an instructor at Oregon’s corrections officer academy, according to his LinkedIn, where he recently liked a cartoon of a U.S. Border Patrol agent on horseback. The cartoon — a reference to recently controversial actions taken by Border Patrol — stated the agent is not a villain and that the Haitian immigrant depicted is a lawbreaker, not a victim.
(https://opb-opb-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/Nv5HmMZI4W-1hdrFv1Y9BLQkZpo=/767x0/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/opb/KUZH3XIE35ADFL3WSVSKJUOPA4.png)
In this screenshot from retired Multnomah County Sheriff's Deputy Phillip Farrell's LinkedIn, a cartoon depicting U.S. Border Patrol and a Haitian immigrant says the Border Patrol officer is not a villain and the Haitian immigrant depcited is a lawbreaker, not a victim.
Farrell did not respond to multiple phone calls and text messages.
Multnomah County Sheriff Mike Reese, who did not take office until after Farrell retired, called membership in an anti-government organization like the the Oath Keepers reprehensible.
“MCSO has a number of policies addressing members’ behavior(s) that may bring discredit to the Office of Sheriff and/or could be criminal, discriminatory or harassing in nature,” department spokesperson Chris Liedle added in an email.
In some cases, people who signed up for the Oath Keepers listed skills or experience they could contribute to the group.
"I currently work in a highly stressful environment,” one recently retired corrections officer from Oregon wrote. “I am professionally trained in restraint applications, use of chemical agents, taser deployment, basic first aid and firearms. I have the skills to de-escalate highly volatile situations.”
Current Nyssa, Oregon, police officer Nicholas Codiga joined the Oath Keepers in 2015, according to the leaked data. Codiga, who used to work for the Warm Springs Police Department, also appears to have shared content mocking Indigenous people on his social media accounts. In one Facebook post, a man who appears to be Codiga is photographed putting his face through a cutout that has long black braids, an orange prison jumpsuit and is holding a “WSPD detention center” sign.
OPB reached Codiga by calling the phone number in the leaked data. After confirming his identity, he hung up as soon as a reporter mentioned the Oath Keepers.
(https://opb-opb-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/Vjw_J6PWpfPVKc3FLbCv54IYPEc=/767x0/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/opb/ZJIA2HNWWBGU5P6XEXWZEGZM6E.jpg)
In this screenshot from Nyssa police officer Nicolas Codiga’s Facebook account, a man who appears to be Codiga is photographed putting his face through a cutout that has long black braids, an orange prison jumpsuit and is holding a “WSPD detention center” sign. Codiga, worked previously for the Warm Springs Police Department.
The Nyssa Police Department also hung up on OPB immediately after a reporter identified themselves. Nyssa City Manager Jim Maret said Codiga is transferring to a different law enforcement agency next month, but declined to say where. Maret said he didn’t know of a city policy prohibiting membership in militia groups.
Coos County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Shane Shobar joined the Oath Keepers in 2013 and wrote to the group, “I come from a long line of military members that have served from WWII to present time.”
Reached by phone, Shobar said he is no longer a member.
“That was years ago, and it was just co-workers and I talking about it, but that was it,” Shobar told OPB. He said patriotism motivated him to join. Asked if he thought being a member of an anti-government militia might conflict with his role as a law enforcement officer, Shobar said he didn’t give it any thought.
Shobar is currently a defendant in a federal civil rights lawsuit, along with Coos County Sheriff Craig Zanni and jail medical staff, over allegations that an inmate’s medical needs were ignored, leading to the person suffering kidney failure, nerve damage and permanent incontinence.
Zanni, who has been sheriff of Coos County since 2010, did not respond to multiple emails requesting comment.
Joining the Oath Keepers is as easy as submitting your name and contact information along with payment, which ranges from $50 to $1,500. The group also asks for a copy of a member’s DD214, verifying their military service, or other proof that they are a first responder. According to the Oath Keepers’ website, prospective members are then “vetted” and gain access to a “members only” online forum.
Former military police officer and current corrections officer at Snake River Correctional Institution Jerod Edmondson told OPB that when he joined the Oath Keepers in 2014, it was because he thought it was a veterans organization. He said he is not still a member and wasn’t aware of the group’s anti-government views when he joined.
Edmondson appears to have shared content on his Facebook page calling for “all illegals” to be deported, suggesting George Soros paid protesters “to riot and burn down Ferguson,” and that Muslim members of Congress are trying to destroy the country from within.
(https://opb-opb-prod.cdn.arcpublishing.com/resizer/MBvFphWD6GUwq6QUl01pPdpCJHs=/767x0/smart/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/opb/3WOU4H2WNFE47DHU5V3ZUANOMI.png)
A Facebook screenshot of former military police officer and current corrections officer at Snake River Correctional Institution Jerod Edmondson. The post calls for “all illegals” to be deported, suggesting George Soros paid protesters “to riot and burn down Ferguson,” and that Muslim members of Congress are trying to destroy the country from within.
Edmondson is among six current and former Oregon corrections officers who appear to have joined the militia.
The Oregon Department of Corrections said employees have constitutionally protected speech rights that include off-duty political speech.
“The speech interests of our employees, while significant, are not absolute and there are limitations, including for off-duty speech and/or conduct,” DOC spokesperson Jennifer Black said in a statement. She added speech could be an issue if it affects the department’s mission or “business interests.”
Ties to extremism
The Oath Keepers militia was founded by Army veteran and Yale Law School graduate Elmer Stewart Rhodes in 2009. The group recruits people with experience in law enforcement and the military to prepare for what the organization characterizes as an inevitable armed conflict with the U.S. government.
The organization has been involved in or planned a number of criminal and violent actions over the past decade, according to University of Albany Assistant Professor Sam Jackson, who wrote a book on the Oath Keepers.
“It’s really problematic if you have members of law enforcement saying, for example, that they’re not going to comply with federal court orders because they think those federal court orders are unconstitutional,” Jackson said.
The Oath Keepers gained national attention in 2014 when the group helped back Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy in an armed standoff with federal officers. Three months later, Lake Oswego police officer Vaughn Bechtol appears to have joined the organization. Bechtol is one of six Oregon law enforcement officers who joined in the months following the Bundy Ranch standoff, according to the hacked data.
"I read their mission statement at the time about military and law enforcement officers upholding their oath of office. I felt that lined up with my values,” Bechtol told OPB in an email. “As I did more research into the group after signing up, I realized they did NOT represent my values. I have never participated in any events, meetings, or discussions with any member of that group and I firmly stand against what they represent now after the atrocities of Jan. 6.”
Lake Oswego Police Department policies don’t explicitly mention militia groups but include multiple prohibitions against on- or off-duty behavior which would discredit the department.
“We expect our officers to share the responsibility of embodying our values while serving our community,” Assistant City Manager Madison Thesing said in a statement.
Thesing said violations of policy are investigated but did not specify if this incident would be.
“Some people might have joined Oath Keepers with a minimal understanding of the group,” Jackson said. “But if you had any real level of engagement with the group you would see their promotion of conspiracy theories, their calls to prepare for violence… Do we really want members of our law enforcement community to be absentmindedly joining civic organizations even if they ... aren’t a pernicious extremist organization like the Oath Keepers? I would hope that the people who we are entrusting with firearms and arrest privileges have better discernment than that.”
Oregon Oath Keepers also participated in another armed federal dispute in 2015 at Sugar Pine Mine in Southern Oregon.
Codiga is one of two Oregon law enforcement officers who joined around the time of the Sugar Pine Mine standoff, according to the data.
Core to the Oath Keepers’ ideology are a list of 10 hypothetical orders they say they will not obey, including any orders to disarm Americans, to force Americans into concentration camps, to invade any states, to support foreign peacekeepers on U.S. soil, or to subject civilians to military tribunals.
The group has been closely aligned with extremist causes since its inception following the election of Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president. Oath Keepers founding member and former board member Richard Mack is the founder of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a group that believes county sheriffs are the highest government authority and have the right to ignore state and federal laws.
A number of Oregon sheriffs have aligned themselves with Mack’s movement over the years. In 2013, then-Linn County Sheriff Tim Mueller led eight other Oregon sheriffs in sending a letter to then-Vice President Joe Biden stating they would refuse to enforce any new federal gun laws. More recently, sheriffs from across the state took a page from Mack’s movement and told Gov. Kate Brown they would not enforce state mask mandates, though no state officials asked law enforcement to enforce COVID-19 health guidelines.
Some on the leaked list of Oregon officials, like Shobar and his former colleague, retired Coos County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Robert Kramer, joined the militia in 2013. At the time, local chapters in Southern Oregon were taking on community service projects and championing popular local political issues, according to High Country News.
“I’m into defending the country but not physically overthrowing it at this point,” Kramer told OPB, adding that he only went to one Oath Keepers meeting.
Kramer, who retired in 2018, said he didn’t like that people were “stepping outside of the legal bounds” on Jan. 6., and he said the attacks on law enforcement at the Capitol “cut me a bit.”
Though Kramer said he is no longer a member of the Oath Keepers and was never active in the group, his views line up with at least one of their core beliefs: The U.S. government is waging a war against its own citizens.
“I really do believe with this administration and what they’re doing, they’re trying to push us into some kind of civil war,” Kramer said. “And I think they want to do that so they can come down hard on us.”
Present threat
Oath Keepers in Oregon told Gov. Kate Brown in a 2019 Facebook post that she was risking a civil war after she ordered the Oregon State Police to bring back 11 Republican senators who had fled the statehouse to block climate change legislation from passing. That same month, militia threats forced the state Senate to close for a day.
Approximately 22 Oath Keepers have been charged for their role in the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington, D.C., though none of those people reside in Oregon. In the investigation’s largest single indictment, at least 18 Oath Keepers face conspiracy charges for their alleged role in plotting to thwart the certification of the Electoral College vote. Five have pleaded guilty and court documents suggest Rhodes, who hasn’t been charged, is a central focus of the investigation.
While some Oregon law enforcement officers joined the Oath Keepers years ago, the leaked data suggests others like Webber and retired Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office reserve deputy Todd Steward joined well after the militia group had firmly established itself and its views on the national stage.
Clackamas County Sheriff Angela Brandenburg told OPB she supports the state Legislature’s recently passed legislation HB 2936, which states “membership or participation in hate groups, racial supremacist organizations or militant groups erodes public trust in law enforcement officers and community safety.”
“The Legislature has made it clear to every law enforcement organization in the state that it is a conflict for law enforcement personnel to be a member or participate in these groups,” Brandenburg said. “My office will uphold this standard of conduct.”
Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said officers have different backgrounds and life experiences. He said Webber’s potential membership in a militia is a reminder “that laws and our directives mandate that police do not act on any personal beliefs, but must uphold the Constitution at all times.”
Rep. Janelle Bynum was the chief sponsor of HB 2936, which strengthened law enforcement background checks and allows departments to check applicant social media accounts. But it’s not always possible to screen for something like membership in a militia organization.
“It’s not just a policing issue, it’s a community issue,” Bynum said. “What is an acceptable level of association with people who believe in white supremacy or racial superiority? The true change comes from within. Some of it you can mandate but not most of it.”
https://www.opb.org/article/2021/10/15/dozens-of-oregon-law-enforcement-officers-joined-far-right-oath-keepers-militia/
-
More right wing disinformation. And when you resort to calling me names it proves you have no argument. Thumb1:
Suddenly no concern about an angry mob of "thugs" attacking police officers and forcing their way into a governmental building? Shocking. I'm sure it has nothing to do with political bias. Where are the videos and desire to "lock them up." The CNN headlines etc. LOL. Such hypocrisy.
-
Accused Capitol rioter threatened his children with violence if they reported him to police: prosecutors
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=27678114&width=980&quality=85)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Texas man charged with participating in the deadly Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot by supporters of former President Donald Trump threatened his teenage son and daughter with violence if they reported him to police, according to federal investigators.
Guy Reffitt, of Wylie, Texas, faces five federal criminal charges, including bringing guns to the Capitol and using physical force and the threat of physical force against his children to stop them from providing information to investigators.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich held a pretrial hearing in the case on Friday. Reffitt is jailed in Washington awaiting trial. During the riot, police used pepper spray to halt Reffitt outside the Capitol.
Prosecutors have subpoenaed his son, daughter and wife.
The FBI said in a criminal complaint that Reffitt after the riot told his son that he would "do what he had to do" if the son reported him to police, which the son interpreted as a threat to his life. The complaint also said Reffitt threatened to "put a bullet through" his daughter's cellphone.
The 18-year-old son told the New York Times that Reffitt told him: "You're a traitor. And you know what happens to traitors. Traitors get shot."
Prosecutors have said Reffitt traveled to Washington with an AR-15 rifle and a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber handgun. The complaint noted that his wife said Reffitt is a member of the "Three Percenters" right-wing militia.
Defense lawyer William Welch told the judge that Reffitt wants to go forward with a trial beginning Nov. 15 even though the prosecution said it is still going through mountains of evidence.
The rioters had sought to prevent the formal congressional certification of Trump's 2020 re-election loss.
Although Reffitt never actually entered the Capitol, prosecutors have said he charged at police officers on the stairs outside the building and that they "unsuccessfully tried to repel him" with nonlethal projectiles "before successfully halting his advances with pepper spray."
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/accused-us-capitol-rioter-threatened-his-children-prosecutors-say-2021-10-15/
-
Capitol Siege Defendant Who Admitted Tasing Michael Fanone Files Court Documents Suggesting He Was ‘Acting Upon’ Donald Trump’s ‘Authorization’
(https://am24.mediaite.com/lc/cnt/uploads/2021/10/GettyImages-1234240271.jpg)
A defendant who admitted tasing Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone during the Jan. 6 breach of the U.S. Capitol Complex has filed court papers that indicate he may seek to blame former president Donald Trump for what occurred. The documents also contain a 195-page transcript of an FBI interview where the defendant, who said he was a former Trump campaign volunteer, told agents he became radicalized by listening to InfoWars host Alex Jones.
Daniel Rodriguez is one of several defendants accused in the attack on Fanone. Rodriguez provided notice that he “may” assert a defense of “public authority.” That notice is a precursor to a possible argument at trial that he was acting “on behalf of” a “law enforcement agency or federal intelligence agency” when he stormed the Capitol and admittedly attacked Fanone. Thus, the documents tee up a possible defense but do not directly employ it.
Under federal procedural rules, Rodriguez’s notice was required to contain the following information:
(A) the law enforcement agency or federal intelligence agency involved;
(B) the agency member on whose behalf the defendant claims to have acted; and
(C) the time during which the defendant claims to have acted with public authority.
Accordingly, Rodriguez’s public defenders answered as follows:
(A) “The Executive Branch,”
(B) “Former President Donald Trump,” and
(C) the date of Jan. 6, 2021.
The defense lawyers also launched into a brief bit of advocacy involving the relevant law.
“It offends due process to convict an individual who was acting upon authorization of a government official,” Rodriguez’s counsel argued while addressing the relevant rule of criminal procedure at play (Rule 12.3, for those keeping track) and attempting to simultaneously link Trump to the siege. They then briefly cited the relevant case law:
The genesis of the authority defense is the decision in United States v. Barker, 546 F. 2d 940 (D.C. Cir. 1976).
In United States v. Barker, defendants were recruited to participate in a national security operation led by a White House official, whom the defendants had previously known as a CIA agent. Barker, 546 F.2d at 949. In reversing the defendants’ convictions, the appellate court carved out an exception to the mistake of law rule that would allow exoneration of a defendant who relied on authority. Id. at 947-49.
The defense noted that it was unclear in the Washington, D.C. Circuit how the “public authority” defense tactic may play out. The defense said it wished to at least assert the possible strategy “out of an abundance of caution” at this stage in the proceedings just in case they chose to pursue it.
The Defendant’s Purported Confession
A 195-page transcript of law enforcement interviews with Rodriguez indicates that the defendant confessed to tasing Fanone. His attorneys want the admission thrown out of court.
“I just came up to the steps again, and I saw them pulling him out, and I tased him,” Rodriguez said of the tug-of-war that left the D.C. officer (who, mind you, voted for Trump himself) fearing for his life.
Fanone was “dragged down the Capitol’s marble stairs, beaten with pipes and poles, tear-gassed and stun-gunned,” Time reported. He pleaded for his life when the crowd “threatened to shoot him with his own gun, telling the rioters he had kids.”
The officer suffered a mild heart attack allegedly triggered by Rodriguez’s stun gun, the Washington Post reported. He was knocked unconscious but survived to testify before Congress.
The transcripts reveal how the FBI pressed Rodriguez about what happened:
Q. How many times did you tase him?
A. Oh, just once.
Q. Where’d you tase him at? Like, on his body? Where?
A. Neck.
Q. In the neck? Did you do it twice?
A. No. No, for sure —
Q. Because the video shows it twice.
A. No. No. The video — if the video shows it twice, it’s a replay or something.
The defendant eventually called his own critical thinking skills into question when pressed further:
Q. The disparity is in between your story and what happened to Officer Fanone and what’s on video. I can show you the video of you tasering him twice.
A. It was not twice.
Q. I’ll show it to you in just a minute.
A. Show it to me, please.
Q. I will. But the disparity between what you’re saying happened, describing, oh, I’m such a benevolent man coming up to a poor officer who’s struggling to keep — to survive, thinking he’s going to die. Let me help him out. Let me taser him. Is that really the story you want to be written about you? Is that in all of my benevolence, I decided I was going to taser this man who is struggling for his life in that moment and thinking he’s going to die. Four daughters.
A. No. I wasn’t trying to kill him. I didn’t want him to die.
Q. Then, tell us what happened. Don’t leave the story be this crappy story that you’re telling us right now, that you were just there to help him and taser him.
A. No, I wasn’t — I was —
Q. Danny.
A. I’m not smart.
Q. Think about your mom.
A. . No. I’m just not smart. I’m not lying to you guys. I’m not lying (indiscernible).
Elsewhere, Rodriguez suggested that listening to InfoWars helped push him over the edge:
Q: What happened in your life? Like, how did you start going to these rallies?
A. InfoWars.
Q. InfoWars? So, like, Alex Jones stuff?
He expounded later in a veritable monologue:
I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that we were doing the wrong thing. I thought we were doing the fucking right thing. I thought we were going to be — I’m so stupid. I thought I was going to be awesome. I thought I was a good guy. I wanted to — you know, my whole life, I’ve been, oh, fuck the police. I really have.
And I started to be — I got involved — I came back from Arizona and I lived here and I — I came back home to California and I got involved with some of the — some bad people, some gang members and I start — I wanted to grow weed. I was growing weed. I got involved with the wrong people. I’m telling you, like, people — killers, like, tattoos all over their face, like, not good people.
And I was growing weed with them and I was like, yeah, this is cool. They all got low riders and this and that, and I was like, oh, this is that lifestyle that’s for me. But it wasn’t. I didn’t fit in. I’m a good person trying to — and I wanted to be a bad person, and it just didn’t work for me. And I kept getting robbed and they kept taking from me.
And then Trump — and I was listening to InfoWars and I was, like, getting patriotic and I was — and I ended up leaving all those people behind me and I ended up being homeless.
[ . . . ]
I was homeless and I went — and I called my mom and I told her I needed somewhere to stay. I needed to come back home and move in. And I was already — Trump was already, like — this is 2015, and I was already into InfoWars and Alex Jones, and he’s backing up Trump. And I’m like, all right, man. This is it. I’m going to — this is — I’m going to fight for this. I’m going to do — I want to do this.
Rodriguez elsewhere said he campaigned for Trump in the Whittier, Calif. area by manning telephones and going door to door.
The 195-page transcript was filed in court by Rodriguez’s own attorneys. They’re arguing that the FBI didn’t read Rodriguez his Miranda rights when they initially questioned him and that the FBI botched reading Rodriguez his rights when they finally chose to do so.
Rodriguez is charged with the following: one count of impeding, obstructing, or interfering with a law enforcement officer during the commission of a of civil disorder that obstructs an official proceeding; one count of assaulting a federal officer with a dangerous weapon; one count of theft of government property; one count of destruction of government property; and three slightly separate iterations of knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building without lawful authority.
Click Link To Read the relevant documents below:
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-siege/capitol-siege-defendant-who-admitted-tasing-michael-fanone-files-court-documents-claiming-he-was-acting-upon-donald-trumps-authorization/
-
Where are the updates on the leftists who stormed the Department of the Interior? Can our democracy survive that violent Biden insurrection?
-
Trump melts down ahead of Jan. 6 committee vote on contempt charges for Bannon
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/debate-should-have-never-been-allowed-to-happen-due-to-trumps-mental-health-violence-expert.jpg?id=27703765&width=980&height=527)
More hot air coming from an insignificant loser.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-statements-today/
-
Republicans are living in a fantasy world if they think Trump wasn’t involved in Jan. 6: Washington Post reporter
Washington Post reporter Robert Costa thinks that there's no real way for Republicans to claim former President Donald Trump didn't have any involvement in the Jan. 6 rally and the riot that followed. The reason, he explained, is that Trump was actually involved.
Speaking to MSNBC on Tuesday, Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND) tried to blame the media for being "obsessed" with Trump, instead of acknowledging that the former president is being held accountable for his behavior.
Costa said that it's easy to simply "go back to the facts," in this case.
"Republicans can have their opinion, but the facts are very clear," he explained. "President Trump was intimately involved with planning the effort and coordinating the effort to block Biden's certification, to overturn the election. Many players around him in his inner circle, Dan Scavino, Steve Bannon, were working with him to try to block Biden's certification."
He cited his recent book with Bob Woodward, Peril, that is actually cited in subpoena documents, proving that Trump spoke over the phone to Bannon, Scavino and others on Jan. 5. Bannon also spoke to several members of Congress in a Washington hotel on Jan. 5.
"Whether you're a Republican or Democrat, you might choose to look away, but the facts still exist," Costa said. "Another point here, executive impressive privilege is not a guarantee. It is a modern phenomenon. When you look at U.S. v. Nixon during Watergate, presidents have been proven in the past to not have this kind of wholesale say over whether their documents or tapes are protected under the law. It's going to be really interesting to see what the Supreme Court does. Is an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, considering criminal activity and documents that need to be shared?"
The host suggested that one way that Republicans may learn that it's a serious issue is if Glenn Youngkin loses in the Virginia governor's race this year.
See the clip below:
https://www.rawstory.com/republican-trump-involved-january-6/
-
Did I miss the updates and ersatz outrage at the radical liberals who stormed the Department of Interior just this week? When will there be investigations and impeachments?
-
MAGA Domestic Terrorism
Trumpist Senators ‘Hid From Colleagues in Closet’ as Capitol Riot Raged Around Them
https://www.thedailybeast.com/tommy-tuberville-says-maga-senators-hid-from-colleagues-in-closet-as-capitol-riot-raged
-
Nobody is above the law.
Jan. 6 committee votes to refer Bannon to DOJ for criminal prosecution
https://news.yahoo.com/january-6-committee-votes-to-refer-bannon-to-doj-for-criminal-prosecution-001519473.html
-
Legal expert blasts GOP as ‘a pathetic and dangerous cult’ for whipping votes against Bannon criminal referral
House GOP Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) announced on Thursday that the Republican caucus would whip votes against holding Donald Trump advisor Steve Bannon in contempt for refusing to cooperative with the congressional investigation of the Capitol riot.
On Tuesday, the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol unanimously voted for a criminal referral of Bannon to the Department of Justice, setting up a floor vote.
"House GOP leaders are recommending a 'no' vote on the criminal contempt referral for Bannon, Scalise announced in conference this morning, per a source in the room. Not the same as a formal whip against the resolution, but it still shows GOP leaders leaning in hard against it," CNN's Melanie Zanona reported.
Harvard Law professor emeritus Laurence Tribe said the decision was not a surprise.
"No surprise there. Until the GOP becomes a genuine political party again and not just a pathetic and dangerous cult, it will continue to vote 'no' on every effort to restore truth and to prevent another coup and insurrection," Tribe said.
https://www.rawstory.com/steve-bannon-criminal-referrl/
-
Trump supporter gets harsher sentence than DOJ recommended after making 'offensive' argument to judge
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-capitol-riot-was-driven-by-white-people-who-fear-minorities-are-taking-over-their-rights-analysis.jpg?id=27721051&width=980&height=551)
A judge on Thursday slapped a Trump supporter with a harsher sentence than what the Department of Justice asked for after making what the judge described as an "offensive" argument.
BuzzFeed News reports that Troy Smocks, a Black Trump supporter who encouraged his fellow Trump fans to "prepare our weapons" and "go hunting" for Democrats on right-wing social media website Parler, was sentenced to 14 months in prison by US District Judge Tanya Chutkan.
Smocks tried to argue to Chutkan, who is also Black, that he is being treated unfairly due to the color of his skin.
"Smocks told Chutkan that he believed he had been treated more harshly than white Trump supporters who were charged with misdemeanor crimes for going into the Capitol," writes BuzzFeed. "He claimed to be the only Black person charged in connection with Jan. 6 to face pretrial detention, but Chutkan noted that wasn't true."
Smocks travelled to Washington D.C. on January 6th but was not charged with taking part in the Capitol riots.
Smocks then compared himself to civil rights protesters in the 1960s who were arrested for protesting against segregation -- and at this point, Chutkan stepped in and said his arguments were "offensive."
"People died fighting for civil rights, people were gassed, they were beaten, they were tortured mentally and physically," Chutkan told him. "For you to hold yourself up as a soldier in that fight is really quite audacious."
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-supporter-sentenced/
-
Liz Cheney catches fellow GOP Rep. Jim Banks in a deceptive Jan. 6 plot
Liz Cheney publicly called out her fellow Republican congressman for lying on Thursday.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., was caught red-handed by Cheney, a Republican congresswoman from Wyoming, sending letters to federal agencies claiming he was the ranking GOP member on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. In fact, Banks was rejected from serving on the committee because he voted to overturn election results — a demand made by violent rioters that day.
Cheney, the committee's vice-chair, called Banks out for his blatant falsehood as she entered his misleading letters into the official Congressional record.
"I would like to introduce for the record a number of letters the gentlemen from Indiana has been sending to federal agencies, dated September 16, 2021, for example, signing his name as the ranking member of the committee he's just informed the House that he's not on," Cheney said during a Thursday speech from the House floor.
Banks was apparently attempting to deceive federal agencies into revealing information that was shared with the committee.
In one of the letters to Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, Banks asked that the department "provide me any information that is submitted to the Select Committee."
"Additionally, please include me on any update or briefing that you provide," he continued.
The legal justification Banks appears to be using centers around the idea that he was at one point nominated by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to serve as the committee's ranking Republican member — and an assertion the "minority party in Congress retains rights to the same information that is provided to the majority party."
Speaker Nancy Pelosi immediately rejected both Banks' placement and that of Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, over their stated intentions of stonewalling any investigation into the events of Jan. 6. At the time, Pelosi cited widespread dismay among Democrats due to the "statements made and actions taken by these members."
Both Banks and Jordan voted to overturn election results in several states on the evening of Jan. 6 — and continue to support Trump's Big Lie to varying degrees.
https://www.rawstory.com/cheney-banks/
-
Two North Carolina lawmakers linked to Oath Keepers -- is this who Republicans want to be?
North Carolina Republicans tried to distance themselves from the type of radical extremism that led to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. But a leaked membership roster reveals that at least two state lawmakers are affiliated with the Oath Keepers, a right-wing militant group whose members are among those charged in connection to the Capitol insurrection.
North Carolina Reps. Mike Clampitt, a Republican from Bryson City, and Keith Kidwell, a Republican from coastal Beaufort County, are both listed as members of the group, according to ProPublica. Clampitt was elected to the state legislature for one term in 2016 and then again in 2020. Kidwell has served since 2019, and is the House deputy majority whip. Clampitt and Kidwell joined the Oath Keepers in 2014 and 2012, respectively, ProPublica’s analysis showed.
That information should concern every North Carolinian. The Oath Keepers are one of the country’s largest anti-government extremist groups, whose self-described mission is to defend the Constitution. In practice, that looks like armed standoffs with authorities and, of course, participating in storming the U.S. Capitol. The organization is a threat, and that’s not just our opinion; it’s the FBI’s, which has described the Oath Keepers as a “large but loosely organized collection of militia who believe that the federal government has been co-opted by a shadowy conspiracy that is trying to strip American citizens of their rights.”
Anyone who identifies as an Oath Keeper or member of any anti-government paramilitary group has no place in elected office. So why aren’t Republicans coming out and saying so?
The revelation that state lawmakers would belong to such a group is alarming, if not entirely surprising. Some Republicans in the state legislature have previously shown a willingness to rub elbows with the far right — such as when Kidwell and other legislators met with the North Carolina Sons of Confederate Veterans in 2019, for example — but for lawmakers to be members of these groups themselves is additionally concerning.
Kidwell also serves as chairman of the newly reorganized House Freedom Caucus, which has propagated theories of voter fraud in the 2020 election. During the 2021-22 session, Kidwell has introduced legislation such as a bill to allow concealed carry by elected officials at the legislature, a bill to allow certain faculty and school staff to carry weapons on school grounds and a bill called the “Second Amendment Preservation Act.”
Clampitt stands by his Oath Keepers affiliation, according to ProPublica. Clampitt appears to be a Confederate sympathizer who has previously supported legislation to repeal the portion of the state’s constitution that prohibits secession.
Kidwell did not comment on the inclusion of his name on the roster, but said he doesn’t think the information should be in the public domain, according to an article published jointly by Raw Story and Triad City Beat. Kidwell, Clampitt and House Speaker Tim Moore did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this editorial.
The Oath Keeper revelations are one piece of a larger, more worrisome trend. In addition to Clampitt and Kidwell, ProPublica’s analysis identified 46 other state and local government officials on the Oath Keepers roster. Far-right groups aren’t just on the fringes of politics anymore. Slowly but surely, they’re making their way to the mainstream, emboldened by politicians who give legitimacy to their conspiracies whether they belong to these groups or not.
It’s hard for Republicans to distance themselves from the Capitol rioters when members of their own party belong to a militant group — and when their baseless claims about election fraud helped incite the riots in the first place. Both Kidwell and Clampitt have said they don’t condone violence, but those are empty words when they’ve aligned themselves with a vigilante group that thinks violence is the path to justice.
This is a tipping point for North Carolina Republicans, who have, for the most part, avoided the level of election fraud conspiracy we’ve seen in states like Arizona and Pennsylvania. But that’s changing notably with Madison Cawthorn, and having two North Carolina lawmakers belong to Oath Keepers without so much as a “that’s not who we are” statement from leadership is exactly the kind of normalization that should alarm North Carolinians. There’s a fine line between party loyalty and complicity. Republicans need to decide which side of it they want to be on.
https://www.rawstory.com/editorial-2-north-carolina-lawmakers-linked-to-oath-keepers-is-this-who-republicans-want-to-be/
Oath Keepers in the State House: How a militia movement took root in the Republican mainstream
North Carolina state representative Mike Clampitt swore an oath to uphold the Constitution after his election in 2016 and again in 2020. But there's another pledge that Clampitt said he's upholding: to the Oath Keepers, a right-wing militant organization.
Dozens of Oath Keepers have been arrested in connection to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, some of them looking like a paramilitary group, wearing camo helmets and flak vests. But a list of more than 35,000 members of the Oath Keepers — obtained by an anonymous hacker and shared with ProPublica by the whistleblower group Distributed Denial of Secrets — underscores how the organization is evolving into a force within the Republican Party.
ProPublica identified Clampitt and 47 more state and local government officials on the list, all Republicans: 10 sitting state lawmakers; two former state representatives; one current state assembly candidate; a state legislative aide; a city council assistant; county commissioners in Indiana, Arizona and North Carolina; two town aldermen; sheriffs or constables in Montana, Texas and Kentucky; state investigators in Texas and Louisiana; and a New Jersey town's public works director.
ProPublica's analysis also found more than 400 people who signed up for membership or newsletters using government, military or political campaign email addresses, including candidates for Congress and sheriff, a retired assistant school superintendent in Alabama, and an award-winning elementary school teacher in California.
Three of the state lawmakers on the list had already been publicly identified with the Oath Keepers. Other outlets have alsoscouredthelist, finding police officers and military veterans.
People with law enforcement and military backgrounds — like Clampitt, a retired fire captain in Charlotte, North Carolina — have been the focus of the Oath Keepers' recruiting efforts since the group started in 2009. According to researchers who monitor the group's activities, Oath Keepers pledge to resist if the federal government imposes martial law, invades a state or takes people's guns, ideas that show up in a dark swirl of right-wing conspiracy theories. The group is loosely organized and its leaders do not centrally issue commands. The organization's roster has ballooned in recent years, from less than 10,000 members at the start of 2011 to more than 35,000 by 2020, membership records show.
The hacked list marks participants as annual ($50) or lifetime ($1,000) members, so not everyone on the list is currently active, though some said they viewed it as a lifelong commitment even if they only paid for one year. Many members said they had little contact with the group after sending in their dues but still supported the cause. Others drifted away and disavowed the group, even before Jan. 6.
The list also includes at least three people who were arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and who federal prosecutors did not identify as Oath Keepers in charging documents: Andrew Alan Hernandez of Riverside, California; Dawn Frankowski of Naperville, Illinois; and Sean David Watson of Alpine, Texas. They pleaded not guilty. These defendants, their attorneys and family members didn't respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department also declined to comment.
According to experts who monitor violent extremism, the Oath Keepers' broadening membership provides the group with two crucial resources: money and, particularly when government officials get involved, legitimacy.
Clampitt said he went to a few Oath Keepers meetings when he joined back in 2014, but the way he participates now is by being a state legislator. He has co-sponsored a bill to allow elected officials to carry concealed guns in courthouses, schools and government buildings, and he supported legislation stiffening penalties for violent demonstrations in response to last year's protests in Raleigh over George Floyd's murder. Clampitt said he opposes violence but stood by his Oath Keepers affiliation, despite the dozens of members charged in the Capitol riot.
“Five or six years ago, politicians wouldn't be caught dead hanging out with Oath Keepers, you'd have to go pretty fringe," said Jared Holt, who monitors the group for the Atlantic Council's Digital Forensic Research Lab. “When groups like that become emboldened, it makes them significantly more dangerous."
The State Lawmakers
Then-state Delegate Don Dwyer from Maryland was the only elected official at the Oath Keepers' first rally, back in April 2009. Dwyer was, by his own account, a pariah in Annapolis, but he was building a national profile as a conservative firebrand. He claimed to take direction from his own interpretation of the U.S. Constitution and a personal library of 230 books about U.S. history pre-1900.
The Oath Keepers' founder, a former Army paratrooper and Yale Law School graduate named Stewart Rhodes, invited Dwyer to speak at the group's kickoff rally — they called it a “muster" — in Lexington, Massachusetts, the site of the “shot heard round the world" that started the Revolutionary War in 1775.
“I still support the cause," Dwyer told ProPublica. “And I'm proud to say that I'm a member of that organization." He left politics in 2015 and served six months in prison for violating his probation after a drunk boating accident.
Dwyer said he was not aware of the Oath Keeper's presence at the Capitol on Jan. 6. “If they were there, they were there on a peaceful mission, I'm sure of it," he said. Informed that members were photographed wearing tactical gear, Dwyer responded, “OK, that surprises me. That's all I'll say."
Among the current officeholders on the list is Arizona state Rep. Mark Finchem, who was already publicly identified with the Oath Keepers. Finchem was outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 but has said he did not enter the building or engage in violence, and he has disputed the characterization of the Oath Keepers as an anti-government group. He is currently running to be Arizona's top elections official, and he won former President Donald Trump's endorsement in September.
Serving with Clampitt in the North Carolina assembly, deputy majority whip Keith Kidwell appeared on the Oath Keepers list as an annual member in 2012. Kidwell declined to comment, calling the membership list “stolen information." A spokesperson for the state house speaker declined to comment on Kidwell's and Clampitt's Oath Keepers affiliation.
The membership list also names Alaska state Rep. David Eastman as a life member and Indiana state Sen. Scott Baldwin and Georgia state Rep. Steve Tarvin as annual members. Eastman confirmed his membership and declined to answer further questions. Baldwin's spokesperson said he was unavailable to comment.
Tarvin recalled signing up at a booth in White County, Georgia, in 2009 when he was running for Congress. He lost that race but later became a state lawmaker. He didn't view the Oath Keepers as a militia group back then.
Tarvin said he stands by the pledge he signed and said he isn't aware of the Oath Keepers' involvement in the Capitol breach on Jan 6. His congressional district is now represented by Andrew Clyde, who helped barricade a door to the House chamber on Jan. 6 but later compared the riot to a “normal tourist visit."
Kaye Beach, who is listed as an annual member in 2010, is a legislative assistant to Oklahoma state Rep. Jon Echols, the majority floor leader. Beach sued the state in 2011, arguing that the Bible prohibited taking a driver's license photo of her. She eventually lost at the state supreme court. Beach and Echols did not respond to requests for comment.
Two other lawmakers have long been public about their affiliation with the Oath Keepers.
Arizona state Sen. Wendy Rogers announced her membership a few years ago. She responded to Trump's 2020 loss by encouraging people to buy ammo and recently demanded to “decertify" the election based on the GOP's “audit" of Maricopa County ballots, even though the partisan review confirmed President Joe Biden's win.
Idaho state Rep. Chad Christensen lists his Oath Keepers membership on his official legislative biography, in between the John Birch Society and the Idaho Farm Bureau.
Rogers and Christensen didn't respond to requests for comment.
South Dakota state legislator Phil Jensen appeared on the list as an annual member in 2014, using his title (then state senator) and government email address. His affiliation was reported Tuesday by Rolling Stone. He did not respond to a request for comment.
South Dakota state Sen. Jim Stalzer, listed as an annual member in 2015, told Buzzfeed he has “totally broken" with the Oath Keepers.
The Candidates
Virginia Fuller first encountered the Oath Keepers in 2009 at a meeting in San Francisco featuring Rhodes, the group's founder. Fuller liked Rhodes' message of upholding the Constitution, she told ProPublica. For a while she corresponded with one of the group's leaders but they eventually lost touch, and she moved to Florida and ran unsuccessfully for Congress on the Republican ticket in 2018.
Rhodes and other leaders of the Oath Keepers embraced Trump's lies about election fraud and promoted Jan. 6 as a last chance to make a stand for the republic. Asked about Jan. 6, Fuller said, “There was nothing wrong with that. The Capitol belongs to the people."
The Oath Keepers rose to prominence when handfuls of heavily armed members showed up at racial justice protests in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, and their profile grew thanks to a series of standoffs between right-wing militants and federal agents in the Western U.S.
At the 2016 funeral for a rancher who officers shot while trying to arrest him, Stan Vaughan met several Oath Keepers and became an annual member. Vaughan, a one-time chess champion from Las Vegas, ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for the Nevada State Assembly in 2016, 2018 and 2020. Even though Vaughan ran in a predominantly Democratic district, he had the support of his party's establishment, receiving a $500 campaign contribution from Robin Titus, the Assembly's Republican floor leader. Titus did not respond to requests for comment. Vaughan said he'll probably run again once he sees how new districts are drawn.
Vaughan said he wouldn't join the Oath Keepers today. It's not their ideology that bothers him or their involvement in the Jan. 6 riot. Rather, he said he has concerns about how the group's leaders spend its money.
One Oath Keeper seen on Jan. 6 wearing an earpiece and talking with group leaders outside the Capitol was Edward Durfee, a local Republican committee member in Bergen County, New Jersey, who is running for state assembly in a predominantly Democratic district. Durfee has not been charged and said he did not enter the building.
“They were caught up in the melee, what else can I say? For whatever reason, I didn't go in," Durfee said. “They brand you as white supremacists, domestic terrorists. I don't know how we got in this mix where there's so much hatred and so much dislike and how it continues to get fomented. It's just shameful actually."
The Local Party Officials
When Joe Marmorato, a retired New York City cop who moved upstate, signed up for an Oath Keepers annual membership in 2013, he described the skills he could offer the group: “Pistol Shooting, police street tactics, driving skills, County Republican committee member." Marmorato later rose to vice chairman of the Otsego County GOP, but he recently resigned that post because he's moving. Reached by phone, Marmorato stood by the Oath Keepers, even after Jan. 6. “I just thought they're doing what they're supposed to be doing. I know most of them are all retired police and firemen and have the best interests of the country in mind," he said. “No matter what you do, you're vilified by the left."
Steven K. Booth, a twice-elected Republican county commissioner and state senate candidate in Minnesota in the 2000s, said he wants to run for office again if his wife agrees to it. He's still active in the local GOP. Booth joined the Oath Keepers as an annual member in 2011 and said he hasn't heard from them in years. He said he wasn't aware of their role in Jan. 6 but he's concerned that some Capitol breach defendants are being held in jail. “That seems kind of weird to me," Booth said. “I also think it's kind of weird that nobody is doing anything about all the fraud we were told about in the last election either."
Asked about the possibility of Booth running for office again, local GOP chair Rich Siegert started talking through openings Booth could aim for. Booth's Oath Keepers affiliation did not give Siegert pause. “When tyranny comes, that's when you stop and say you've got to do something about it," said Siegert, who heads the party in northern Minnesota's Beltrami County. “To go out and get violent and kill people like they did in the early days, I'm not really in favor of that. How do you get the attention of liberals and get them to listen? Firing guns, I don't know, it's what they do in some countries. Define what 'radical' is."
Not all party officials shared Siegert's view. Richland County, South Carolina, GOP chair Tyson Grinstead distanced his committee from Patsy Stewart, who is listed as an Oath Keepers annual member in 2015. “Personally," Grinstead said, “I don't think there's a place for that in our party."
Stewart has been a delegate or alternate to the GOP state convention and is currently a party precinct officer in Columbia, South Carolina. She didn't respond to requests for comment. In recent months, Trump supporters have flooded into precinct positions in South Carolina and other states as part of an organized movement inspired by the stolen election myth, ProPublica reported in September.
The Poll Worker
When Andy Maul signed up for the Oath Keepers as an annual member around 2010, he touted his role in the Pittsburgh GOP. Maul, who declined to comment, became the chairman of his city council district starting around 2016. But other local party leaders chafed at Maul's confrontational style and lack of follow-through.
“Andy was getting a little out there," said Allegheny County chairman Sam DeMarco, who had to ask Maul to take down some of his inflammatory social media posts. “If you want to be associated with our committee, you have to represent mainstream traditional Republican values and not be affiliated with fringe groups."
Maul left the local party committee in 2020, but he continued serving as a poll worker. According to the county elections department, Maul was the “judge of elections" in charge of his precinct in every election since 2017, including this year's primary in May.
In Pennsylvania, the judge of elections in every precinct is an elected position. If no one runs, as often happens, the local elections office appoints someone to fill in, so a person can sometimes land the job “if you have a pulse and you call them," said Bob Hillen, the Pittsburgh Republican chairman.
“If I opposed people based on their views for being a judge of elections or anything, that would eliminate a whole lot of people," Hillen said. “I'm a city chairman, I don't have time to think about all those things like that."
The Democrat
Around 2005, Marine veteran Bob Haran joined the Minuteman Project, a group of armed people who took it upon themselves to patrol Arizona's border with Mexico. Haran resented that critics called the group vigilantes and Mexican hunters. All they did, he said, was call the Border Patrol.
Haran held positions in the local GOP and had run for the state House as a Republican. During the tea party wave, Haran became frustrated with the new activists' anti-government tilt and turned to the Constitution Party, a minor party that's to the right of the GOP. Haran rose to be the state chairman and secretary. By the time he became an Oath Keepers annual member in 2016, Haran was looking for a new political home.
When Trump rode down a golden escalator to launch his presidential campaign by calling Mexican immigrants “rapists," Haran took offense. He faulted the government for failing to secure the border, but he didn't blame people for seeking better lives for themselves and their families. Haran grew up in Coney Island, near a middle-class apartment complex built by Trump's father, and he remembered Trump as a braggadocious playboy, not as the successful self-made businessman he later played on TV. Haran said he was appalled as Republicans fell in line behind Trump.
Then, Haran did something unusual, even among never-Trump Republicans: He became a Democrat.
Haran doesn't agree with the Democrats on everything, but he said he feels welcome in the party. He's still passionate about guns and immigration, but he also supports environmental protections and universal health care. Above all, he wanted to help get rid of Trump. In 2020, he joined his local precinct committee and started regularly attending party meetings.
Haran was so excited to see Trump leave office that he tuned in to watch the Electoral College certification process on Jan. 6. He couldn't believe how fast the Trump supporters reached the Senate floor, or how Oath Keepers were attacking the Constitution they swore to defend.
Haran thought back to when he ran for office as a Republican, in 2000, and lost. “I called my opponent and congratulated him: I would have won except he got more votes," Haran said. “I conceded, which is bestowing legitimacy on my opponent, which is more important than anything."
He finds it disturbing that Trump and other Republicans today won't do that anymore. “They were anti-government," Haran said of the GOP, “but now they're being anti-democracy."
https://www.rawstory.com/minnesota-oath-keepers/
-
MAGA rioter who boasted he was 'invincible' gets arrested after being ratted out by fellow insurrectionist
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=27711978&width=800&height=450)
A Capitol rioter who said he wasn't worried about getting caught by the FBI because he was wearing a mask throughout the insurrection has been arrested.
Landon Mitchell was identified by a former co-worker who accompanied him to the Capitol, Luke Wessley Bender.
Bender was arrested in July after a high school classmate tipped off the FBI.
"On Jan. 6, Landon Mitchell bragged to a Facebook friend that he 'breached the Capitol' and was 'one of the very first in' when a pro-Trump mob stormed the halls of Congress. He appeared in video on the floor of the U.S. Senate, went through a senator's desk and took to the dais, where he posed next to the so-called QAnon Shaman," the Huffington Post reports. "Later, when a friend feared that the FBI might arrest Mitchell, he wrote that he was 'invincible' and 'not too worried' because he 'was masked up the whole time' he was inside the Capitol."
Mitchell later bragged to another friend that he appeared in footage from the insurrection that was published by the New Yorker magazine — but he said only the back of his head was visible.
"Thank God for giving me the foresight to put my mask up," he wrote, according to a criminal complaint.
Mitchell also posted photos and videos of himself inside the Senate chamber on Facebook.
When discussing his presence within the Capitol on January 6, Mitchell stated that 'people are fed up with how crooked the government has been and they pretty much been laughing at us thinking we wouldn't do anything about it,'" the complaint states. "He continued, "we[']re not happy. They learned that today.'"
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-arrests-2655330879/
-
Republicans are anti American and Pro Insurrection. They are now asking for help to fund these thugs who tried to overthrow the US Government. "Good families" don't try to overthrow the US Government.
Minnesota Republican seeks financial support for two men charged in Jan. 6 Capitol attack: 'They are a good family!'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/we-ve-always-talked-about-the-big-one-riot-squad-cops-open-up-about-disastrous-response-to-capitol-insurrection.jpg?id=27733205&width=980&height=551)
A GOP state senator on Friday asked his Facebook followers to donate to the legal defense fund of a family facing felony charges in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
State Sen. Mark Koran, R-North Branch, shared the link to an online fundraiser organized by Rosemarie Westbury, whose husband and son, Robert Westbury and Isaac Westbury, were charged earlier this month with several counts of civil disorder and assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon, among other charges. Another family member, Jonah Westbury, was also charged in connection with the storming of the Capitol.
“Here's a local family in Lindstrom who can use some help," Koran wrote. “They attended the Jan 6th Rally and have been accused and charged with a variety of crimes. Some very serious and some which seem to be just to punish opposing views."
He added: “They are a good family!"
Koran did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on his fundraising plea.
A spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Jeremy Miller, R-Winona, also did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.
Koran's defense of the alleged Lindstrom rioters stands in stark contrast to Minnesota Republicans' frequent law-and-order message, as well as their condemnations of people who destroyed property during the demonstrations and rioting that followed the police murder of George Floyd in May 2020.
Koran was among Republicans who supported enhanced penalties for people charged with attempted murder of a police officer.
Koran, who ran unsuccessfully earlier this year for chair of the Minnesota Republican Party, has not dispelled false assertions that the 2020 election was fraudulent. Pressed by the Reformer last summer on whether President Joe Biden was duly elected, he said: “He's been inserted as the president."
Rosemarie Westbury wrote that her family “is being targeted by this illigitimate (sic), tyrannical government."
So far, she has raised $200 of her $50,000 goal. “We have an attorney who is willing to stand up for us, but this isn't going to be an inexpensive endeavor."
According to the charging documents, Isaac Westbury and Aaron James, another person charged in the case, used a police shield to “forcibly assault, resist, oppose, impede, intimidate and interfere" with an officer. They are also charged with carrying a dangerous weapon into the U.S. Capitol as they allegedly tried to “impede the orderly conduct of government business and official functions."
To date, eight Minnesotans have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
https://www.rawstory.com/gop-state-senator-says-men-charged-in-jan-6-capitol-are-good-family-and-need-financial-support/
-
As new evidence emerges it has been revealed that Donald Trump's inner circle and MAGA GOP members of Congress were all involved in the planning of Donald Trump's insurrection and coup attempt. These anti American traitors will go to prison for treason against the United States when it's all said and done. It's hitting the fan folks!
Republican Paul Gosar told Jan. 6 rioters they'd get a blanket pardon from Trump: report
https://www.rawstory.com/paul-gosar-linked-capitol/
Mark Meadows was a 'regular figure' on Jan. 6 planning calls with organizers: report
https://www.rawstory.com/mark-meadows-involved-jan-6-organizing/
Katrina Pierson served as liaison between Jan. 6 insurrectionists and the White House: report
https://www.rawstory.com/katrina-pierson-linked-jan6/
Pro-Trump activists reveal Republican elected officials who participated in planning of Jan. 6 rallies: report
https://www.rawstory.com/insurrectionists-reveal-republican-involved-jan-6/
This mother-daughter duo planned the Jan. 6 rally. Now the House committee wants to hear from them, too.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/10/24/january-6-rally-organizers-called-before-congressional-committee/8536515002/?gnt-cfr=1
-
More evidence of the GOP planned and coordinated 1/6 attempted coup and insurrection.
Legal expert says this is the ‘clearest case for prosecuting’ Trump for the Jan. 6 attack
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-capitol-riot-2655365155/
‘Folks knew crimes were about to be committed’: Dem lawmakers furious over Republicans’ involvement in Jan. 6
https://www.rawstory.com/folks-knew-crimes-were-about-to-be-committed-dem-lawmakers-furious-over-republicans-involvement-in-jan-6/
'Call your lawyer': Legal experts weigh in on bombshell report naming GOPers involved in Jan. 6 rally planning
https://www.rawstory.com/just-three-words-call-your-lawyer-legal-experts-weigh-in-on-bombshell-report-naming-republicans-involved-in-jan-6/
Marjorie Taylor Greene fumes after explosive report links her to Jan. 6 ‘Stop the Steal’ rally
https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-capitol-riot-2655365687/
MAGA rioter's lawyer says he didn't plan to take part in violence despite wearing tactical gear to Capitol
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-court-hearing/
-
Trump-loving lawmakers must be investigated for assisting Capitol rioters -- because they clearly had inside help: columnist
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/goper-boebert-facing-furious-backlash-for-new-ad-targeting-nancy-pelosi.jpg?id=27778457&width=980&height=551)
The U.S. Department of Justice must investigate reports that members of Congress and their staffers had extensive contacts with two organizers of the "Stop the Steal" rallies that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The organizers claim they met directly with Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and staffers for Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Madison Cawthorne (R-NC) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX), and justice correspondent Elie Mystal wrote in The Nation that the Justice Department must determine what role any of them might have played in coordinating the deadly riot.
"The Department of Justice should be leading the criminal investigation into the attack on the Capitol," Mystal wrote. "That is the entity that can not merely catalog but actually punish the insurrectionists."
Congress has a constitutional duty to subpoena documents and testimony about the riots to help pass new laws to ensure another attack cannot happen, but only the Justice Department can hold the conspirators accountable -- and so far, Mystal argued, they have not.
"We know the Justice Department is shirking its responsibilities and leaving Congress to do all the heavy lifting, because we have a good idea of whom its investigators haven't interviewed," he wrote. "There is no credible way to investigate the events of January 6 unless investigators talk to key players like Steve Bannon, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, and others in the Trump orbit (like Don Jr.) who may have played a role in planning the event. Any investigation that was seriously committed to getting to the truth would have already interviewed Mike Pence, key congresspeople's staffs, and the congresspeople who had telephone conversations with Trump on the day of the coup attempt."
It's clear the department hasn't gone after those individuals because they haven't gone on Fox News to complain, and Mystal said investigators must learn who helped plot the insurrection because it's obvious that someone in the know gave that assistance.
"The failure of the DOJ to investigate the planning of the putsch is all the more shameful given the publicly available evidence that the insurrectionists may have had help on the inside," Mystal wrote.
Some of the rioters were straight the Senate parliamentarian's office, which is difficult to find without directions, and ransacked the place with a specific goal in mind.
"The insurrectionists somehow got there and began looking for the hard copies of the electoral votes that Congress was meant to certify that day," Mystal wrote. "Had they gotten their hands on those votes, even for a moment, they would have broken the chain of custody of the Electoral College count and at least delayed the certification of the election, as was their goal."
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-insurrection/
-
FBI takes custody of noose from MAGA riot gallows
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-gallows-set-up-by-the-capitol-rioters-screengrab.png?id=27789537&width=800&height=450)
On Tuesday, NBC4's Scott MacFarlane, the chief reporter covering the trials of the January 6 Capitol insurrectionists, reported that the FBI has taken custody of the noose from the makeshift gallows set up outside the Capitol during the MAGA riots.
@MacFarlaneNews: "The noose from the gallows erected near US Capitol on January 6 is in the possession of the FBI Washington field office, per multiple law enforcement sources."
As the gallows was put out, some of the rioters chanted "Hang Mike Pence." The former vice president, as with most officials, had to be evacuated promptly.
An earlier report in April detailed the planning that went into these shows of force, with people on the message board TheDonald.win, debating whether to bring gallows or guillotines to erect outside of the Capitol.
MacFarlane's report comes amid news of ongoing prosecution of several of the rioters, with Thomas Sibick of Buffalo — accused of stealing the badge and radio from D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone — facing a hearing over pre-trial detention on Tuesday.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-gallows/
-
This MAGA insurrectionist is tired of sitting in jail so now she wants to sing a different tune. These loons are pathetic.
'Sovereign citizen' who stormed Capitol tells judge she only blew up in court because she was under a lot of stress
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-rioter-melts-down-in-uniquely-and-profoundly-self-destructive-episode.png?id=27535222&width=1200&height=675)
On Wednesday, NBC4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane reported that Pauline Bauer, a so-called "sovereign citizen" who was jailed ahead of trial for her involvement in the January 6 Capitol insurrection, is now seeking for an appeals court to release her from pre-trial detention.
Bauer, a pizzeria owner from Pennsylvania, is accused of shouting "Bring Nancy Pelosi out here now. We want to hang that f*cking b*tch. Bring her out," while forcing her way into the Capitol with the crowd. She was kept in prison after outbursts in court, proclaiming to the judge that the court has "no dominion over a living soul," and that "I have a right to my self-determination!" She has also delivered lengthy, typo-ridden manifestos to the court proclaiming she had a right to be in the Capitol, and has called searches of her home "illegal."
Now, she is taking a different strategy: telling the court that she was under stress when she did all those things.
"When Ms. Bauer appeared before the Court on September 17, she had been working multiple days in a row, putting in 14 to 16 hours days [sic] and was suffering from lack of sleep," said the filing. "Ms. Bauer has also been receiving ugly hate mail ... Counsel respectfully requests that the Court take these circumstances into consideration and release Ms. Bauer to return to her productive and generous activities."
The "Sovereign Citizens" are a loose-knit movement of far-right activists who believe that the U.S. government, and most of its laws, are illegitimate, and that they alone have the right to decide what laws, taxes, and other functions of civil society apply to them. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the movement has roots in a racist and anti-Semitic Christian Identity group that believed nonwhite people are non-human and county sheriffs are the highest-ranking legitimate government authority. Its adherents have been linked to terrorist acts.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-pauline-bauer-2655396690/
-
And more and more new evidence of Trump's coup.
New video of pro-Trump lawyer is 'completely damning': legal expert
https://www.rawstory.com/john-eastman-coup-memo-2655406354/
-
Capitol cop resigns after being accused of aiding MAGA rioter
On Friday, POLITICO reported that Michael Riley, the Capitol Police officer facing charges for his alleged role in obstructing the investigation of the January 6 Capitol riot, has resigned from the force.
"Riley, who was suspended after federal prosecutors indicted him earlier this month, allegedly urged a participant in the Capitol breach — just days after the attack — to delete incriminating social media posts. He later deleted his own messages with the alleged rioter, who was arrested in January, about two weeks after Jan. 6," reported Kyle Cheney. "Riley was arrested on Oct. 15 and suspended. He has pleaded not guilty to the two counts of obstruction. Riley's legal team, from the D.C. firm Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White, confirmed his resignation and indicated he plans to fight the charges."
His attorneys told POLITICO, "[T]he evidence will show that it is not a felony for one person to suggest to another that they take down ill-conceived Facebook posts."
In addition to this Capitol officer, a number of current and former military and law enforcement from around the country have been implicated in the attack, with some defiant and unrepentant about their roles. One of the groups involved in the attack is the Oath Keepers, an extremist organization that radicalizes law enforcement to far-right causes.
https://www.rawstory.com/michael-riley-capitol-police/
-
Expert: Jailing Capitol rioters together could lead to a new 'American terror group'
In a column for the Daily Beast, former CIA counterterrorism analyst Aki Peritz warned federal authorities to separate accused Capitol rioters while they are being held in custody pending court appearances lest they start planning another insurrection as part of a newly-formed domestic terrorist group.
Noting reports that accused insurrectionists are being held a separate unit from the other inmates D.C. Correctional Treatment Facility where they reportedly are singing the National Anthem together as well as publishing their own jailhouse newsletter, Peritz, the author of "Disruption: Inside the Largest Counterterrorism Investigation in History," explained that raises serious concerns for him.
"These seemingly small, communal actions of incarcerated men awaiting trial are exactly how other radical groups organized and forged their identity in prisons. Some of these groups then became effective forces that have challenged armies and governments," he explained before adding, "...by mixing the hardcore ideologues with others who may be wavering in their anti-democratic feelings under adverse conditions—and by not giving them an offramp for their beliefs—the D.C. jail might inadvertently be the petri dish for a future American terror group."
Writing that prisons have long been "incubators" for terrorist groups, the counter-terrorism expert claimed they are likely to unleash a wave of terror once released -- and therefore will need to be monitored.
"Radical groups even exploit prison sentences as symbolic acts in their greater struggles. A jail sentence paradoxically provides a degree of gravitas to a subset of individuals, easing their way to recruit new people on the outside to the cause," he elaborated. "Which brings us back to the Jan. 6 insurrectionists in the D.C. jail. Some indeed might have realized the error of their ways. But those who might want to turn away from Jan. 6-style radicalization in the D.C. jail may be at greater risk inside the facility, since they are housed with the people dedicated to deepening their ideological commitment."
Warning that it unlikely D.C. jailers are "monitoring the Jan. 6 folks' activities," Peritz added, "It's hard for a radical ideology to exist for long without committed human infrastructure. But we've seen that multiple federal politicians publicly support the insurrectionists, calling them 'political hostages' who are being 'persecuted" for their beliefs.'"
He then added a cautionary, "Thus, between the identities strengthened inside a correctional facility, and the obvious slice of political support outside it, we may be seeing the emergence of a new, radical group—with a national network and skilled ideological operatives—ready to menace the streets of America in the years to come."
https://www.rawstory.com/captol-rioter-domestic-terrorists/
-
REVEALED: Kayleigh McEnany's binders of notes among documents Trump is trying to keep from House riot committee
According to a report from Politico, the National Archives revealed more specifics on which documents former president Donald Trump is attempting to keep away from the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection.
In a Saturday morning court filing, the list includes former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany's talking point notes along with call logs of Trump's phone calls and notes taken by aides.
As Politico's Kyle Cheney wrote, "... the former president has sought to block about 750 pages out of nearly 1,600 identified by officials as relevant to the Jan. 6 investigation. Among them are hundreds of pages from 'multiple binders of the former press secretary [Kayleigh McEnany] which is made up almost entirely of talking points and statements related to the 2020 election.'"
Pointing out that Trump is also trying to block the release of "daily presidential diaries, drafts of election-related speeches," Cheney adds that multiple files the former president is trying to keep out of the committee's hands include those belonging to, "former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, adviser Stephen Miller and deputy counsel Patrick Philbin."
In the court filing, attorneys representing Archivist David Ferriero wrote, "These records all relate to the events on or about January 6, and may assist the Select Committee's investigation into that day, including what was occurring at the White House immediately before, during and after the January 6 attack."
Pushing back at Trump's efforts to keep the documents away, the filing added, "Even assuming the applicability of executive privilege, however, the documents may assist the Select Committee in understanding efforts to communicate with the American public, including those who attacked the Capitol on January 6, on the subjects of alleged voter fraud, election security, and other topics concerning the 2020 election."
https://www.rawstory.com/kayleigh-mcenany-2655452134/
-
Adam Schiff on Jan 6th, Republican lies big and small — and prosecuting Donald Trump
Rep. Adam Schiff, the California Democrat who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, is not the type of person who uses hyperbole just to create soundbites. This former prosecutor has a clear record of sober, measured public rhetoric. So we should all take note when Schiff states that the Department of Justice "should be doing a lot more" when it comes to investigating "any criminal activity that Donald Trump was engaged in," as he did in our recent Salon Talks conversation. In describing the former president's long list of possible or apparent crimes, Schiff said, "I don't think you can ignore the activity and pretend it didn't happen."
I spoke to Schiff about his new book, "Midnight in Washington: How We Almost Lost Our Democracy and Still Could," which is currently at No. 1 on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list. The clear message Schiff has for America is this: "We came so close to losing our democracy," and that threat is far from over. One of his main motivations in writing the book, Schiff said, is a sense that most people don't "feel a sufficient sense of alarm" over the threat posed by Trump and much of today's Republican Party.
To that end, Schiff opens the book with a gripping retelling of the Jan. 6 act of "domestic terrorism," as the FBI has officially labeled that attack. Schiff says he felt compelled to give that personal account in order "to bring the reader inside that chamber, let them know what it was like to hear the doors being battered, the windows breaking as this mob was trying to get in."
Schiff also discussed what it was like to become a "villain" in Trump's world, as the recipient of a barrage of crude insults launched by the former president and his supporters. Schiff says his sense of humor helped him cope with those slings and arrows, but it was more difficult to face the death threats from those incited by Trump.
Watch the full interview with Schiff here, or read a transcript of our conversation below to hear more about Schiff's warning and call to action. "We don't have the luxury of despair," he told me. "It needs to motivate us to be active."
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length
Your book opens with a retelling of Jan. 6. You paint a great picture — first of all with your sense of humor, but also of the fear involved and how this was very real. Can you share a little bit about what you went through, and other members went through, with gas masks being handed out and everything else. There are Republicans, as you may have heard, who are trying to depict Jan. 6 as a "tourist visit." So I think the reality needs to be relayed to people about what really went on from the inside.
This is one of the reasons that I wanted to write this down. I wanted to bring the reader inside that chamber, let them know what it was like to hear the doors being battered, the windows breaking as this mob was trying to get in.
I wasn't on the floor the whole time. I had been assigned by the speaker to be one of a handful of managers to oppose the Republican efforts to decertify the election. I really was focused on what I was speaking, what I was saying, what the Republicans were saying. Then I looked up and the speaker was missing from her chair, which struck me because I knew from the preparations she planned to preside the entire time. Soon thereafter two Capitol police rushed onto the floor, grabbed [Majority Leader] Steny Hoyer, and whisked him off the floor so quickly. I remember thinking I'd never seen Steny move that fast.
It wasn't long before we started to get messages from the Capitol police, one after another, of increasing severity, that they were rioters in the building, that we needed to get out the gas masks from under our seats, that we should get prepared to get down on the ground, and ultimately that we needed to get out, and that a way had been paved for us to get out. But I still hung back because there was now a real scrum to get out the door behind the chamber. I still felt relatively calm and was waiting for other people to go ahead. A couple of Republicans came up to me on the floor and said, "Basically, you can't let them see you." One of them said, "I know these people, I can talk to these people, I can talk to my way through these people. You're in a whole different category."
At first, I was kind of touched that they were worried about my safety. And then, you know, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that if they hadn't been lying about the election, I wouldn't need to worry about my safety. None of us would. One of them, when I finally did head to the doors when they were really starting to break glass to get in, and I walked out with a Republican who was holding a wooden post — it wasn't just the Democrats were worried here — he was holding a post to defend himself. And I said to him, because he had a member pin on, but I didn't recognize him, "How long have you been here?" He said, "72 hours. I just got elected."
As you mentioned I used my sense of humor in dark moments to try to alleviate the stress. So he says he'd been there for 72 hours. I looked at him and I said, "It's not always like this." But I tell you, the anger after that day only grew. What I was most angry at was not the insurrectionists who really believed the Big Lie, although I was furious at them too. It was what I described as the insurrectionists in suits and ties, these members that I work with that knew it was a big lie. And even after that brutal attack, when we went back in the chamber with blood still on the floor outside of the chamber, they were still trying to overturn the election. That to me was unforgivable.
To watch it play off from our side, on TV, was stunning. For me, I'm Muslim and the same people on the right had demonized my community for years, saying we knew who the terrorists were and we weren't turning them in because we were soft on terrorism. All of these are lies. Now we actually have Republicans literally defending terrorists by name. You have Donald Trump defending the terrorists, the same man who wanted to ban Muslims from entering the country. I find that hard to process intellectually because it's just so devoid of any decency whatsoever. You mentioned a Republican congressmen saying to you, "These people might hurt you or kill you." They know their base, they know how dangerous they are. So what do we do?
I thought the most powerful speech that day came from a source I was not expecting. It came from Conor Lamb [a moderate Pennsylvania Democrat], this former Marine, generally very soft-spoken. When we went back on the floor after that insurrection to finish the joint session, he talked about how these people had come in and attacked the Capitol and they'd done so because of the big lies being pushed on the other side of the aisle, and how a lot of them had walked in free and walked out free. And he said, "I think we know why they were able to simply walk away."
What he was saying, of course, was that because of their color, because of who they were, because they were white nationalists and not people of color, that they were treated very differently. It was an inescapable truth. This was not just an insurrection against our form of government. It was also a white nationalist insurrection with Confederate flags and people wearing Auschwitz T-shirts. This too was a very sobering thing for me, which was to see where this was coming from and realizing just how far our country still had to go.
In your book, you share things about your family and growing up. One thing stuck out and it's a small thing: You write that in 2010, you were on a plane flight with Kevin McCarthy, a fellow member of the House from California, a Republican. It was before the midterms and you had a conversation. Then he literally goes out and fabricates something, claiming you had told him, "Republicans are going to win this." That was a lie and you went and confronted him. And I was stunned by his reaction, considering this is the man who might be the next speaker of the House. Can you share a little bit about that story?
Yes, and I tell this story because sometimes little vignettes tell us a lot about what people are made of. One of the most frequent questions I get from people is: When you talk to Republicans privately, do they really believe what they say publicly? And the answer, all too often, is no, they don't. They don't believe what they're saying publicly and they will admit it. In this particular case, I was seated next to McCarthy just by coincidence on United Airlines, flying back to Washington. We were having a nothing conversation about who was going to win the midterms. I said I thought Democrats would win. And he said he thought Republicans were going to win. Then the movie started and I was like, "Thank God the movie started."
So we get to D.C. and we go our separate ways and he goes off and does a press briefing and he tells the press, "Oh, Republicans are definitely going to win the midterms. I sat next to Adam Schiff on the plane and even he admitted Republicans were going to win the midterms." The next morning, when that came out, I was beside myself and I went up to him, I made a beeline for him on the House floor. And I said, "Kevin, I would have thought if we're having a private conversation, it was a private conversation. But if it wasn't, you know, I said the exact opposite of what you told the press."
He looks at me and says, "Yeah, I know Adam. But you know how it goes." And I was like, "No, Kevin, I don't know how it goes. You just make stuff up and that's how you operate? Because that's not how I operate." But it is how he operates, and in that respect, Kevin McCarthy was really made for a moment like this, when the leader of his party had no compunction about lie after lie after lie. You say what you need to say, you do what you need to do. The truth doesn't matter. What's right doesn't matter. And someone like that can never be allowed to go near a position of responsibility like the speaker's office.
You also write about being the brunt of Trump's attacks, over and over. Were you able to laugh it off? What was it like to be a Trump villain? Was it more fun to be villain than a hero like they say in the movies?
You know, much of the time I was able to laugh it off, and my family helped me laugh it off. In fact, I remember walking down the street in New York with my daughter, who lives in Soho. I was wearing blue jeans and a canvas jacket and sunglasses, and I was getting stopped. And I was astonished that I was getting stopped and eventually it started to get annoying to my daughter, because there's only one center of attention in our family, and it's her, not me. So finally, Lexi says, "Enough already." I said to her, "I'm just shocked that people can recognize me." She looks at me and she says, "Well, you know, Dad, it's the pencil neck." This is what you get from your own kid.
I do want to say, on a more serious note, that I found it so upsetting that he would demean his office by engaging in these kinds of juvenile taunts. It just brought the presidency down. But the more serious thing were the not-so-veiled threats he would make, calling me a traitor and saying, "Well, we used to have a way of dealing with traitors." At one point he met with, I think, the president of Guatemala and said, "Well, you know, you used to have a way in your country of dealing with people like Adam Schiff." Something along those lines. And, you know, that reaches people that are not well. I get death threats, and that part, you really couldn't laugh off.
In the book, you write that after Jan. 6 there was no need for impeachment hearings just to have the vote: "No investigation would be necessary given we were all witnesses to his crimes," speaking of Trump. When you think back on that now, do you think the Department of Justice should be doing more in terms of criminal prosecution of Donald Trump and the people around him?
I do think the Justice Department should be doing a lot more than what I can see — which is, with respect to some things, nothing at all. What I would point to most specifically is Donald Trump on the phone with the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, essentially trying to browbeat him into finding 11,780 votes that don't exist. I think if you or I were on that call, or any of my constituents, they would have been indicted by now. I understand the reluctance on the part of the attorney general to look backward, but you can't have a situation where a president cannot be prosecuted and when they leave office they still can't be prosecuted — that they're too big to jail, somehow.
I think that any criminal activity that Donald Trump was engaged in needs to be investigated. It may be ultimately that the attorney general makes the decision after investigating that for what he thinks is the country's best interests it makes sense not to go forward with a particular charge. But I don't think you can ignore the activity and pretend it didn't happen.
Last week we had the vote in the House on charges of criminal contempt against Steve Bannon. Then it goes to the Justice Department. Do you have any sense what they will do? If they choose not to indict Bannon or to prosecute him, would you be calling for changes in the DOJ?
Well, first of all, I think they are going to move forward. That's my personal opinion. It's my hope and expectation. I say that because of a couple of things. They have repeatedly made it clear now, as they did to Mr. Bannon but in other contexts as wel,l that they are not asserting executive privilege, that the public interest here far outweighs any claim of privilege. So Steve Bannon had no basis in which to simply refuse to appear. I also think that because the Justice Department itself has not resisted our efforts to interview high-ranking, former Justice Department individuals, they understand the importance of this. Should he not go prosecuted, it will essentially send a message that the rule of law doesn't apply to certain people close to the former president. And I just cannot imagine that's a message that the Justice Department wants to send.
Rolling Stone recently reported about certain members of the House, including perhaps Rep. Paul Gosar [of Arizona], meeting with some of the Jan. 6 organizers. It's not completely clear because it's from anonymous sources, but there was an allegation that Gosar promised blanket pardons to people through Donald Trump. I know you're on the Jan. 6 committee, will you be investigating that?
Yes, we will be investigating these issues to see whether the public reports are accurate or not accurate, what role members of Congress played or didn't play. We are determined to be exhaustive. Nobody gets a pass, so yes, we will be looking into all these things. Look, you can't dismiss those allegations as being too incredible to be true because Donald Trump was dangling pardons to people like Paul Manafort. He was attacking those who did cooperate, like Michael Cohen, calling him a rat. The idea that they would dangle more pardons cannot be excluded. And if members of Congress played a role in that, then the public has a right to know. Ultimately Congress and the Justice Department will have to figure out what the consequences need to be.
There was reporting in the Washington Post on the Willard Hotel war room and there were things in it I had never seen, including that Donald Trump and his allies in early January, after all the appeals were done, recounts had been done, the Electoral College had voted, and Trump was on the phone with over 300 state legislative officials in battleground states, telling them essentially to decertify the results. Could that potentially rise to a crime?
That ultimately would be a decision the Justice Department would have to make, whether it violated specific statutes and whether they could meet their burden of proof. But what we are most focused on is this violent attack on the Capitol, just the last stage in an effort to essentially bring about a coup. When all the litigation failed, when all the efforts to coerce the vice president failed, when the efforts to get Brad Raffensperger to find votes that didn't exist failed, then that was the plan: to use violence to intimidate the vice president or the Congress into not doing its job, to interrupt that peaceful transfer of power. Was that the plan all along, and what role did the president play, and people around him?
I think the biggest black box in terms of unknowns, is what was the president's role in all this. We know he incited the insurrection, and that was sufficient grounds to impeach and remove him. But what role did he play? How much was he aware of the propensity for violence, the participation of white nationalists? How much was he celebrating as he opened those doors and windows and heard the sound of the crowd the night before that they would use violence if necessary to make sure that he stayed in the office?
You're a former prosecutor. If Donald Trump is not punished some way criminally for his actions, what would stop Trump or a democratic demagogue one day or another president from mimicking the same conduct, thinking you can get away with this? This was a scene of two-prong coup attempt, one behind the scenes and one right in our face on Jan. 6, how could this be permissible in the United States of America?
It's a very good question and I think you can draw a straight line between the Trump's Russia misconduct in which he invited a foreign power to help them cheat in an election and then lied to cover it up. And feeling he gotten away with that after Bob Mueller testified, and that leading the very next day to his Ukrainian misconduct and new and different ways to try to cheat in the next election. And when he got acquitted and escaped accountability for that in the first trial, you can draw a straight line to the insurrection and even worse ways to help to try to cheat in the election.
If he were to ever take office again, where does that straight line continued to go? So, yes, I think the danger is real and what's going on around the country right now in which the Republicans are running with the big lie to strip independent elections officials of their duties and give them over to partisans seems to be the lesson they learned from the failed insurrection, which is next time, if they couldn't find a Secretary of State in Georgia to come up with votes that don't exist, there'll be sure they have someone there who will. And to me, that's why I titled the book "How Close We Came to Losing Our Democracy and Still Could." Because the danger that we still could is all too real.
In the book, you quote from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" talking about what we saw and went through and with Donald Trump. If this were a play on a stage now I can condemn it as an improbable fiction, but unfortunately it was real where we lived through this. And at this point I'm thinking of "Hamlet" and our democracy: To be, or not to be. It really seems that's where we are, and that it's that dire. Do you get a sense that enough Democrats, enough people in the media, share the dire view of the trajectory of our nation and where we're going? Where just because this republic has been here for 240-plus years doesn't mean it will be here for eternity, and that something needs to be done to save it?
I don't think people feel a sufficient sense of alarm. It's one of the main motivations for me to write this book. I got together recently with a couple of friends of mine. They're both a husband and wife married for decades. They're in their mid 90s. And I asked them, have you ever seen anything like the present? And they told me, "Look, we remember World War II, the Great Depression. We remember Korea and Vietnam, the Civil Rights struggles, the Cuban Missile Crisis. We've never been more worried about the future of our country and democracy than we are today. Because during all those former crises, we always knew we would survive and we would survive as a democracy. But right now we just don't know." And people do need to feel that sense of urgency, not despondent state, not despair we don't have the luxury of despair. It needs to motivate us to be active.
I paint a portrait of a lot of the heroes that came through this period of time, Marie Yovanovitch and Fiona Hill and others. We need to use them to inspire us to act. We can't all be Marie Yovanovitch, but in our own way we can figure out what we can do to come to the rescue of our democracy in this dark hour.
https://www.rawstory.com/adam-schiff-donald-trump-2655455765/
-
Trump ignored warnings 'Pence is in trouble' so he could watch the Capitol riot on TV: WaPo reporter
Appearing on MSNBC on Sunday morning, Washington Post reporter Robert Costa was asked to explain what was going on in the White House as the Jan 6th Capitol riot unfolded.
Noting the battle that was going on between Vice President Mike Pence's lawyer and Donald Trump attorney John Eastman over who was at fault for the insurrection that followed the "Stop the Steal" rally, Costa said the former president was unfazed when an aide told him Pence's life was in danger.
"I just want to confirm he was talking during the siege, on the 6th while Mike Pence was potentially hearing chants from the marauders in the Capitol saying, 'Hang Mike Pence?' That's the kind of exchange that was going on as he was literally hiding for his life?" host Witt asked.
"It's not just Eastman who's reacting like that," Costa recalled. "It's Eastman interacting with Greg Jacob, Pence's lawyer, being disappointed by Pence's conduct."
'You also see President Trump," he continued. "Trump, he's in the Oval Office and he's confronted by [National Security Advisor] Keith Kellogg, 'Pence is in trouble over at the Capitol,' and Trump just keeps watching television, as almost an idle person as this insurrection unfolds. And yet Trump, of course, had been very aggressive in pushing Pence in the days prior."
Watch below:
-
Coup-promoting Trump DOJ official will talk with Capitol riot committee on Friday
Former Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division Jeffrey Clark, a key figure in former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, is reportedly meeting with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots.
According to CNN's Zachary Cohen, Clark "is expected to appear tomorrow for an interview with the January 6th Select Committee," where he is expected to be interviewed about his efforts to keep Trump in the White House despite losing decisively to President Joe Biden last year.
Clark is talking with the committee even though Trump has directly instructed former administration officials to ignore any subpoenas that come from the House select committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots.
The committee subpoenaed Clark last month on the grounds that he was "reportedly involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and interrupt the peaceful transfer of power."
The subpoena went on to say that it was seeking "deposition testimony and records from Mr. Clark as part of the Select Committee's investigation into the events of January 6th and the causes of that day's violence."
According to the subpoena, Clark "proposed delivery of a letter to state legislators in Georgia and others encouraging to delay certification of election results" and he also "recommended holding a press conference announcing that the Department was investigating allegations of voter fraud despite the lack of evidence that such fraud was present."
https://www.rawstory.com/jeffrey-clark-capitol-riot-2655496868/
-
Amazing how all these right wingers feel that they are above the law.
Jenna Ryan, Texas realtor who tweeted she was 'definitely not going to jail,' gets 60 days in jail
Ryan was one of a group of Texans who took a private plane to Washington, D.C., on January 6 and eventually entered the U.S. Capitol Building.
WASHINGTON — A Texas real estate agent who infamously claimed her blonde hair and white skin would keep her out of jail was sentenced Thursday to 60 days behind bars for her role in the January 6 Capitol riot.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper told Jenna Ryan, of Frisco, Texas, it was clear she knew what she was doing when she left her hotel to travel to the Capitol after watching coverage of the riot on Fox News.
“You knew it when you walked out of your hotel room and said, ‘We’re going to war and we’re going to be breaking windows,’” Cooper said.
Ryan and several friends – including two, Jason Hyland and Katherine Schwab, who have been charged in the January 6 case – took a private jet from Texas to attend former President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6. At the Capitol, Ryan entered the building with other members of the mob and was later filmed at the front of a crowd encouraging the assault. She also posed for a photo next to a broken window, which she posted with the caption, “Window at The capital [sic]. And if the news doesn’t stop lying about us we’re going to come after their studios next…”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDW2lapUcAIUOop?format=jpg&name=small)
After returning to Texas, Ryan did a number of interviews with the media, including one with NBC in which she claimed she felt “like a martyr” and another with Fox in which she described her presence at the Capitol as “something noble.” Ryan, who has a large social media following, also posted multiple times about her role in the riot, saying in one message, “I deserve a medal for what I did.”
In her most infamous post, Ryan responded to another Twitter user that she was “definitely not going to jail. Sorry I have blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and I’m not going to jail.”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDW97f6WUAEClLv?format=png&name=small)
In court Thursday, her attorney, Guy Womack, attempted to downplay the significance of her posts.
“She’s a social butterfly,” Womack said. “She goes online and posts things.”
Cooper said he had to take those posts – and a letter Ryan wrote to him that talked more about her social media following than her regret for what she’d done – into account, but he also noted that it wasn’t her posts or her interviews that he was sentencing her for.
“No one is being prosecuted for coming to Washington,” Cooper said. “No one is being prosecuted for the belief that the election was stolen. If you had the good sense not to leave your hotel room, or not go in once you saw what was happening, you wouldn’t be here.”
In part because of the attention her own media appearances drew to the case, Cooper said people would be looking to her sentence to see what the penalty was for attacking democratic institutions.
“I think that sentence should show them we take it seriously,” he said.
Cooper ultimately agreed with the Justice Department’s recommended sentence and ordered Ryan to serve 60 days behind bars. She will also have to pay the standard $500 in restitution required in all January 6 misdemeanor plea deals.
Ryan pleaded guilty in August to one Class “B” misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building. She is one of more than 100 defendants who have now entered guilty pleas in connection to the riot.
After her sentencing Thursday, Ryan and her attorney spoke with WUSA9 Chief Investigative Reporter Eric Flack. She told him she was remorseful she entered the Capitol "for two minutes," and then blamed the media attention around her case for her sentence.
"I'm disappointed that I’m being used as an example, because other people that walked in for two minutes may not have the same thing, but because I’m a public person and I have a Twitter account, I’m being punished for that," Ryan said. "Because the media are doing what you’re all doing now, I’m being punished for this. And it’s actually causing my incarceration. I think that’s a travesty. I think that everybody should be able to tweet without being persecuted and treated like crap.”
Asked if she wishes she hadn't posted some of the things she did, Ryan said yes.
"Yes, I regret ever tweeting," she said.
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/jenna-ryan-texas-realtor-who-tweeted-she-was-definitely-not-going-to-jail-gets-60-days-in-jail-white-skin-blonde-hair-donald-trump-guy-womack/65-fb717bf2-3a07-4581-9486-bb9d8e144abd
-
Capitol riot investigators to issue 20 new subpoenas — but not to GOP lawmakers ‘yet’
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/we-ve-always-talked-about-the-big-one-riot-squad-cops-open-up-about-disastrous-response-to-capitol-insurrection.jpg?id=27899628&width=980&height=551)
Mississippi Democratic Congressman Bennie Thompson, chair of the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection, announced Thursday that he has signed 20 new subpoenas that will go out "soon," possibly by Friday.
"Thompson would not confirm if former Trump lawyer John Eastman, who CNN has reported the committee plans to subpoena, is a part of that group, but said of the next batch of the subpoenas: 'Some of the people have been written about. Some of the people haven't been written about,'" according to CNN. "Asked if there are lawmakers the committee is planning to subpoena, Thompson said: 'Not yet.'"
Also Thursday, Wyoming Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney, vice chair of the committee, said members have already interviewed 150 people.
"We've had, actually, over 150 interviews with a whole range of people connected to the events, connected to understanding what happens, so that just gives you a sense," Cheney told Politico. "It is a range of engagements — some formal interviews, some depositions … There really is a huge amount of work underway that is leading to real progress for us."
According to Politico, Cheney's comments suggested that the public has seen only "the tip of the iceberg" in terms of the committee's investigation.
"This new number is an indication that the vast majority of the committee's work is happening out of public view," the site reported. "Though the panel has announced a flurry of subpoenas against former top aides to President Donald Trump and organizers of a rally that preceded the Jan. 6 insurrection, little is known about the voluntary interviews that have been conducted so far."
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-committee-subpoenas-2655497415/
-
MAGA rioter gave House committee evidence of contacts with 'state-level GOP officials': report
A MAGA rioter has reportedly told the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol that they had contacts ahead of the riot with "state-level GOP officials who worked with former President Donald Trump as he attempted to overturn the 2020 election."
According to Politico, the rioter has interviewed with the committee twice within the last week and "described knowledge of contacts between GOP officials in a key state Trump lost and allies of the former president in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack."
The rioter is scheduled to talk with the committee again in the coming days and Politico's sources say they have already been asked questions that "ranged from the defendant's knowledge of those who organized travel to Washington for the Jan. 6 event as well as details about the preparation of legal affidavits in support of Trump's false claims of voter fraud."
The Capitol riot committee so far has interviewed more than 150 people in its efforts to uncover the full picture about what led up to the deadly events on January 6th.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-committee-testimony-2655498095/
Committee interviews Jan. 6 rioter who witnessed state GOP contacts with Trump allies
Investigators are trying to connect the dots between protesters who broke into the Capitol and whether they coordinated with Republican officials.
Congressional investigators probing the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol are examining the contacts between one of the rioters who breached the Capitol and state-level GOP officials who worked with former President Donald Trump as he attempted to overturn the 2020 election.
The rioter, who interviewed with the committee twice in the past week, described knowledge of contacts between GOP officials in a key state Trump lost and allies of the former president in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack. The person interviewed was one of the 650-plus defendants charged in the attack, and discussed those contacts in a voluntary interview with congressional investigators.
A source familiar with the previously unreported interviews said committee investigators asked the defendant to return for a second interview after discussing details about these pre-Jan. 6 interactions. Questions from investigators ranged from the defendant’s knowledge of those who organized travel to Washington for the Jan. 6 event as well as details about the preparation of legal affidavits in support of Trump’s false claims of voter fraud.
POLITICO has agreed not to identify the defendant or state, out of the defendant’s fear of retaliation. Still, it’s a sign that the Jan. 6 committee is obtaining facts about Trump’s activities from unexpected sources: The defendants who breached the Capitol in his name.
More than 100 Capitol riot defendants have pleaded guilty for their roles in the attack, most to misdemeanor crimes. The Jan. 6 select committee began soliciting voluntary testimony last month from these rioters . That request appears to have begun bearing fruit. At least three convicted rioters have cooperated or signaled their intent to speak to the committee, including Leonard Gruppo, who provided testimony on Oct. 12, according to court records. And more may be coming: Judge Beryl Howell, chief of the district court of Washington D.C., recently credited Gruppo during his sentencing for cooperating with Congress.
The defendants’ interviews are part of more than 150 that the committee has conducted in recent days as it seeks details about Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results. The panel has taken an expansive approach to its probe, subpoenaing top Trump aides like former chief of staff Mark Meadows, demanding testimony from the organizers of a Jan. 6 pro-Trump rally that preceded the Capitol attack and interviewing former DOJ officials who Trump pressured to help reverse his defeat.
According to the source familiar with the testimony of the defendant who interviewed this week, the defendant was also pressed to describe reasons for attending Trump’s Jan. 6 rally and then marching to the Capitol — and the answers made clear that the defendant and others traveled in response to Trump and marched to the Capitol at his direction. Many also left after he told them to go home — an invocation that came hours after lawmakers begged him to call off his supporters but got no response.
Gruppo’s attorney, Daniel Lindsey, offered a similar accounting of his client’s interview with the panel.
"He gave them specifics about why he went to Washington, what he did and all the events of that day,” Lindsey said. “Mr. Gruppo is a great man and it was an honor to represent him. Even the greatest of us make mistakes. Former President Trump has left chaos, damage and heart ache in his wake and he has shown no responsibility for all the lies.”
Prosecutors charged Gruppo with misdemeanor offenses for entering the Capitol illegally. In their sentencing recommendation, prosecutors say Gruppo drove with his wife from New Mexico to attend Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally on the morning of Jan. 6.
The retired army lieutenant colonel, entered the Capitol despite obvious signs that police were attempting to turn them back, and prosecutors say Gruppo deleted evidence from his phone after seeing negative press coverage of the attack.
During sentencing, Howell rejected prosecutors’ request to sentence him to 30 days in prison. Rather, she gave him a sentence of probation and said he had demonstrated remorse “particularly by talking to members of Congress on the select committee.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/04/january-6-committee-rioter-interview-519580
-
LISTEN: Judge laughs as Trump’s attorney defends claim that FBI cleared ex-president of wrongdoing on Jan 6
Lawyers for former President Donald Trump filed a legal brief this Tuesday falsely claiming that the FBI and the Senate have cleared him of wrongdoing in regards to the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
The attorneys say that Trump did nothing wrong by falsely claiming two separate investigations came to that conclusion.
"Notwithstanding their allegations and insinuations of conspiracy," the legal brief says of the bipartisan special committee, "investigations by the FBI and the Senate Committee on Government Affairs and Homeland Security rebuff their contentions of wrongdoing by Trump Administration officials."
While the lawyers presented their argument to Judge Tanya S. Chutkan on Thursday, her response indicated that she wasn't buying their argument.
"What's your basis for that assertion?" she asked Trump's lawyers.
"Just a published article," one of the lawyers said, "from Reuters ... quoting the FBI..."
"You cite an article ..." Chutkan began before chuckling in apparent disbelief. "I mean, that's your only support for that statement?"
Listen to the audio below:
https://www.rawstory.com/judge-laughs-at-trumps-attorney/
-
Jeffrey Clark refused to answer questions during Capitol riot testimony -- and contempt charges 'on the table'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/ex-senator-questions-why-trump-s-doj-flack-isn-t-being-called-up-today-on-charges-in-front-of-the-dc-bar.png?id=27911619&width=980&height=551)
Former Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division Jeffrey Clark, a key figure in former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, apparently refused to answer questions during his Friday testimony before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots.
Politico reports that Clark cited attorney-client privileges and former President Donald Trump's assertions of executive privilege as justifications for refusing to answer the committee's questions.
However, as Politico notes, "any such privilege lies with the client to assert, and even if Trump were Clark's client under these circumstances, the former president has already declined to block Clark's testimony."
Select Committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) tells Politico's Kyle Cheney that criminal contempt charges against Clark are "on the table" after his refusal to cooperate.
The House of Representatives last month referred criminal contempt charges against Trump ally Steve Bannon after he completely refused to comply with its subpoena.
The committee subpoenaed Clark last month on the grounds that he was "reportedly involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election and interrupt the peaceful transfer of power."
According to the subpoena, Clark "proposed delivery of a letter to state legislators in Georgia and others encouraging to delay certification of election results" and he also "recommended holding a press conference announcing that the Department was investigating allegations of voter fraud despite the lack of evidence that such fraud was present."
https://www.rawstory.com/jeffrey-clark-capitol-riot-2655506122/
-
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/
-
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
-
This 'low-profile' Trump staffer just got subpoenaed by the Capitol riot committee -- here's why: reporter
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/angela-mccallum-and-donald-trump-photos-dcinternship-and-shutterstock.jpg?id=27931983&width=800&height=450)
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:
-
Good! Violent insurrectionists belong in jail.
Judge refuses release of Jan. 6 defendant who allegedly sought to 'hang' Nancy Pelosi
(https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/07/12/06/45335407-0-image-a-69_1626067984948.jpg)
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.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDrpeI3XoAIohhO?format=png&name=900x900)
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
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDmhU42X0AQzTkW?format=jpg&name=small)
-
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:
-
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
-
Trump fumes after Jan. 6 committee unleashes a barrage of subpoenas
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-fumes-subpoenas-jan-6/
-
'Monumental' legal ruling is a 'huge setback for Donald Trump'
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-capitol-riot-2655531041/
-
Trump kids in trouble? DC insider predicts a new ‘pressure point’ in Jan. 6 probe
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-family/
-
MAGA rioter arrested for 'whacking' police with a flagpole -- after being identified by another suspect
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-arrests-2655534375/
-
Lock these criminals up!
Mark Meadows did not appear for deposition with January 6 committee
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/12/politics/mark-meadows-january-6-deposition/index.html
January 6 committee considers holding Mark Meadows in criminal contempt for not complying with subpoena
https://www.businessinsider.com/january-6-committee-considers-holding-mark-meadows-in-criminal-contempt-2021-11
Steve Bannon indicted for refusing to comply with Capitol attack subpoena
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2021/nov/12/trump-capitol-inquiry-latest-mark-meadows-contempt-us-politics-biden-democrats
-
Trump just handed 'more disturbing evidence' to riot committee in interview with ABC's Karl: impeachment attorney
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-insurrection-evidence/
-
‘This is the rule of law striking back’: Legal experts cheer DOJ’s Steve Bannon indictment
https://www.rawstory.com/steve-bannon-indicted-2655546223/
-
Which is why Criminal Donald is fighting against having her notebooks turned over to the Jan 6 committee. An innocent man would have no problem turning over books if there wasn't any incriminating evidence. Only a guilty man would fight tooth and nail from having it see the light of day.
Kayleigh McEnany’s notebooks could be a smoking gun in Capitol riot probe: analyst
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/kayleigh-mcenany-defends-trump-hiring-record-by-comparing-him-to-lincoln-even-when-officials-are-dumb-as-a-rock-whacko.jpg?id=27964471&width=980&height=650)
Of the 16 people subpoenaed this week in the House's Capitol riot probe, former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany stands out as potentially key, according to MSNBC analyst Betsy Woodruff Swan.
"We know the select committee has also subpoenaed many notebooks that she had that were part of the messaging that was being pushed out," Woodruff Swan said Saturday. "Of course, we know what the administration's public messaging was in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. Their messaging fanned the flames of the deranged conspiracy theories that resulted in the attack on the Capitol."
However, Woodruff Swan said McEnany's notes could "shed light more broadly" on the Trump administration's strategy, goals, and expectations regarding Jan. 6.
"That's the question that always comes back to me as I look at everything that (Trump adviser Steve) Bannon and (former president Donald) Trump and their sordid allies had in mind in those weeks before Jan. 6," Woodruff Swan said. "What did they think was going to happen? What did they expect? What were they hoping the outcome would be when they had that massive gathering on the mall and then gave speeches that were so incredibly incendiary?"
Watch below:
-
Jenna Ellis also needs to be subpoenaed by the Jan 6th committee and disbarred as a lawyer.
Trump attorney Jenna Ellis also penned legal memo urging Pence to overturn the election: ABC's Karl
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-attorney-jenna-ellis-fired-as-colorado-prosecutor-for-making-too-many-mistakes.jpg?id=27966824&width=980&height=524)
According to an excerpt from Jonathan Karl's upcoming book, "Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show," former Donald Trump attorney Jenna Ellis also penned a legal memo detailing how former vice president Mike Pence could overturn the 2020 presidential election.
While it was previously reported that attorney John Eastman had provided the Trump White House with what has become known as the "Coup memo," the new report from ABC's notes Ellis also provided legal guidance.
According to the report, "Ellis, in the memo, outlined a multi-step strategy: On Jan. 6, the day Congress was to certify the 2020 election results, Pence was to send back the electoral votes from six battleground states that Trump falsely claimed he had won. The memo said that Pence would give the states a deadline of '7pm eastern standard time on January 15th' to send back a new set of votes, according to Karl."
The report continues, "Then, Ellis wrote, if any state legislature missed that deadline, 'no electoral votes can be opened and counted from that state,'" adding, "Such a scenario would leave neither Biden nor Trump with a majority of votes, Ellis wrote, which would mean 'Congress shall vote by state delegation' -- which, Ellis said, would in turn lead to Trump being declared the winner due to Republicans controlling the majority of state delegations with 26."
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-coup-2655548721/
-
We now have THREE coup memos: John Eastman, Jenna Ellis, & John McEntee. Mark Meadows knew about all of them. Pair these with the Clark letters to the states trump intended to rob of their electoral votes, & we have a clear violation of 18 U.S. Code § 2384 - Seditious conspiracy.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FELwG7sVEAA35D1?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Mark Meadows was in the middle of Trump's 'harebrained' schemes -- including the coup: ABC's Karl
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mark-meadows.jpg?id=27971712&width=764&height=450)
According to ABC's Jonathan Karl, the House committee investigating the January 6th insurrection will likely focus like a laser on former Donald Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows who was personally involved in many of Donald Trump initiatives -- legal or not.
Speaking with MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, who called the last days of the Trump White House a "clown show," Karl said Meadows seemed to have his fingers in the middle of much of what Trump wanted done.
"It looked like a clown show except these people were in the White House and trying to overthrow the United States government or overturn an election of an American president when every judge said there was nothing to these charges," the Morning Joe host commented. "What was your takeaway talking to Donald Trump and digging into this as deeply as you did? "
"Well, first of all, I think that the role of Mark Meadows that was mentioned by Mika Brzezinski is important."
"This was the white house chief of staff, this was one of his campaign lawyers outlining a very specific plan with dates and times that was all centering on Mike Pence obeying the orders of Donald Trump, and it was a plan that if Pence had gone along with, would have resulted in a much bigger constitutional crisis than what we saw" Karl explained. "And Joe, what I found is that's just one example of where this could have gone off the rails and almost did go off the rails even in a more spectacular way than it did."
"Mark Meadows played a role throughout this, and Joe and Mika, I document this chapter and verse," he continued. "The role that Meadows played during the transition to chase down, to pursue every hare-brained scheme Donald Trump had; every conspiracy theory to try to undo what is really the central miracle of American democracy, a peaceful transition of power."
"Meadows was pressuring the Pentagon, the Justice Department into doing this in the end with Mike Pence -- much of this not known at the time," Karl elaborated. "He just played this role of trying to use all means necessary to effectuate what would have been a coup -- it was a coup overturning a proper election."
Watch below:
-
Jan. 6 insurrection was 'treason': DC insider says we haven't faced anything this bad 'since the Civil War'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/pro-trump-intellectuals-exposed-for-supporting-violent-insurrection-ahead-of-january-6-riots.jpg?id=27984209&width=980&height=648)
There seems to be no realistic prospect that Donald Trump and members of his inner circle, along with Republican collaborators in Congress and other financiers and organizers of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol will ever be punished for their many and obvious crimes. For that matter, the foot soldiers of the Trump regime are not being prosecuted to the full extent of the law either.
Donald Trump is continuing to rally his movement behind the Big Lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and that Joe Biden is a usurper. Trump is also targeting any Republican candidates or elected officials he deems disloyal. The Republican Party and its propaganda machine are accelerating an internal purge with the goal of purifying Trump's political personality cult. Some observers have suggested that this means Trump's movement is becoming weaker, but the opposite is true.
Trump's disgraced former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, played a key role in Trump's coup attempt, literally advocating that the military be deployed to enforce martial law and invalidate the 2020 election. If that idea had been carried through, American democracy would have been effectively suspended for an indefinite period.
Flynn continues to make public threats against American democracy, suggesting last weekend that the U.S. should have "one religion." Some months ago, Flynn appeared to endorse the idea of a military coup, similar to the one that occurred recently in Myanmar, presumably as a way of returning to power.
It has recently been reported that Trump's coup attempt was more advanced and broader in scope than was known at the time. Former Trump campaign lawyer Jenna Ellis apparently sent detailed instructions to Mike Pence's chief of staff, outlining a plan to derail certification of the electoral votes in Congress. The idea was to throw the election into the House — something that has not happened since the early 19th century — presumably resulting in a second term for Trump.
Steve Bannon, Trump's former campaign chairman and White House strategist, surrendered to federal authorities this week on charges of contempt of Congress for his refusal to testify before the House committee investigating Jan. 6. Bannon is not likely to be deterred by this prosecution, wishful thinking among the hashtag-resistance aside. Instead, as Salon columnist Heather Digby Parton has observed, Bannon will use this new moment in the limelight as political theater, to the delight of his neofascist fan base.
Why are Attorney General Merrick Garland and the other leaders of the Department of Justice so reluctant to use the full force of the law against the Trump regime and other Republican fascists? Is the Biden administration's desperate desire to appear "apolitical" endangering democracy and the rule of law? What, if anything, does the Bannon prosecution mean in the larger context of the Trump regime's criminal acts? or not – for its approach to the Trump regime's crimes more generally?
In an attempt to answer these questions I recently spoke with Richard Painter, who was White House chief ethics counsel under President George W. Bush. He is also a frequent guest on MSNBC, CNN and other news networks. His most recent book, co-authored with Peter Golenbock, is "American Nero: The History of the Destruction of the Rule of Law, and Why Trump is the Worst Offender."
This conversation has been edited for clarity and length:
Why are Donald Trump and his co-conspirators not in jail for their likely or evident crimes connected to Jan. 6 and the coup plot? Are there no consequences for what they did?
The Department of Justice has not even started to investigate the higher-ups in connection to Jan. 6. The Jan. 6 committee [in Congress] cannot prosecute anything. They are also having a difficult time getting the documents and testimony they need for their investigations. Donald Trump is resisting every step of the way. In the end we will just have to wait and see what the committee comes up with when they finish their work.
I am very disappointed in the Department of Justice. It is being too deferential to Donald Trump. There has been some improvement, with the Department of Justice deciding that the Trump White House documents are not privileged. But again, the Department of Justice is not investigating Donald Trump and other senior people in the White House who may have been involved in the events of Jan. 6.
It is unfortunate that the Department of Justice has decided to go that route, because whether or not a crime is prosecuted should not be a political judgment call. If someone commits a crime — including insurrection and sedition, or inciting insurrection — it should be prosecuted. I am very upset the Department of Justice has not appointed a special prosecutor to focus on Jan. 6 as well as other alleged criminal acts committed by the Trump administration.
One of the common excuses and deflections is that we must be patient because the law moves slowly. There are levels of "slow." But how do we explain the lack of urgency being shown by the Biden administration and the Department of Justice?
They need to appoint a special prosecutor. I do not expect Merrick Garland and Biden's other appointees to prosecute Donald Trump and his cronies in connection with the events of Jan. 6. That would look too political. This is not a question of things taking too long — they have not even started their work.
Garland is trying to avoid the appearance of looking "political" by aggressively pursuing the Trump administration and its allies. But a coup and insurrection are by definition political acts. Please help me sort out Garland's logic.
There is one type of politics in a representative democracy, and there is another type of politics in an authoritarian dictatorship or a country that has otherwise descended into chaos. The making of the law and the passing of laws is a political process, where Congress is involved in agreeing what the law is. Once we have a law and someone violates it as a criminal act, then they need to be prosecuted.
In a society where the law is deemed to just be political, it can be taken to an extreme. The law becomes discretionary and tied to political ideology. That's where you end up with a dictatorship, such as with Nazi Germany.
In a well-functioning representative democracy, once the law has been enacted through the political process, if someone violates it — for example, by inciting a coup or an insurrection — that person or persons is prosecuted. That is the political system I thought we lived under here in America. We should expect that prosecutors are going to do their job.
And it's critically important, because the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, Section Three, says that anyone who's taken an oath of office to support the United States who then engages in an insurrection, or gives aid and comfort to an insurrection or rebellion, is disqualified from public office.
Therefore, we could have a number of people, perhaps including the former president, Donald Trump, who are actually disqualified from public office because they gave aid and comfort to an insurrection on Jan. 6.
Steve Bannon, who is publicly implicated in the 2020 coup plot, has finally been indicted for refusing to testify before the Jan. 6 committee. What does this mean in terms of the Department of Justice and its refusal to go after Donald Trump and the other coup plotters?
The Department of Justice had little choice but to prosecute Bannon — his contempt of Congress is obvious. It might as well not be a crime, if Bannon is not prosecuted.
I see little change in attitude at the Department of Justice on the big picture: They must appoint a special prosecutor to investigate and prosecute any crimes leading up to and after the 2020 election. It is inexplicable that the Department of Justice has not done so.
I have no idea whether others in Trump's inner circle will cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee. Unlike Bannon, most were White House staffers at the time, so there is a claim of executive privilege — by Trump, not by Biden — that needs to be soundly rejected by the courts on appeal. They probably cannot be prosecuted until those appeals are exhausted.
Jan. 6 and the related events before and after that day constitute the actions of a cabal who were involved in what, by all common-sense definitions, was a conspiracy. Again, this gets to the question of urgency. That language is being actively avoided by the mainstream news media and political leaders.
Yes, that is what was taking place. We went through this when Donald Trump became president by collaborating and colluding with the Russians. What we have here is not ,collusion with the Russians but instead collusion and collaboration with domestic terrorists or insurrectionists who planned to overthrow the United States government. We have not had to deal with something of this magnitude since the Civil War, and it needs to be properly investigated.
What message is being sent if Trump, the coup plotters and his foot soldiers are not punished?
The message is that you can get away with the most egregious crimes, including insurrection and sedition, so long as you have enough political power that people do not want to stop you or otherwise interfere with you.
That is not how a representative democracy is supposed to function. We need to revisit the question of whether the most powerful people in this country are going to be held accountable under the Constitution and our criminal laws just like everyone else.
It also seems as if those who participated in the January insurrection and the Capitol assault are receiving relatively minor punishments, under Department of Justice guidelines and instructions.
The people who showed up on Jan. 6 and invaded the Capitol should be held accountable. They should not be punished with small fines and little jail time. This was an attempted coup. It was violent. People were killed. Those who were involved should be serving time in jail. Extraordinarily light sentences are being handed out in view of what happened here, which was an attempt to overthrow the government. That is considered treason in many respects, and is one of the most serious felonies imaginable. These are not misdemeanors. These are not minor felonies. I would think people would be getting some serious jail time.
The people who are behind the events of Jan. 6 are not even being investigated, much less prosecuted. I don't believe that crowd just came out of thin air. Those events were not spontaneous. There were individuals and groups pushing them to be there and organizing and inciting those events. None of those people are being held responsible, and that may ultimately include the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump.
At some point the full truth of Jan. 6 and the Trump regime's coup plot will be revealed to the American people and the world. I am deeply concerned that these investigations will take so long that people will be so exhausted that they no longer care. In essence, the reaction will be, "So what?" If the Trumpists and coup plotters are able to escape serious punishment, then it will mean the end of the country's democracy, because another coup is almost guaranteed to happen. Am I being too pessimistic and cynical?
That is a grave risk. People must be held accountable for their actions. These events can't be discounted or minimized as being "just a crazy insurrection" with a bunch of "crazy guys," where in the end some people are sent to prison for a small length of time and are then let out, as though nothing is going to happen again that the public needs to be worried about.
That is like the mistake that Weimar Germany made in 1923, when Hitler and his followers had the Beer Hall Putsch and thought they could take over the German government. They were all tried and sent to jail. Hitler did one year or so in prison. Then he gets out and he is elevated by the right-wing extremists as a hero. Ten years later, Hitler is sitting in the chancellor's office running the whole country.
When people engage in a coup attempt like this and are allowed to come back, it will be much worse the second time around.
https://www.rawstory.com/richard-painter/
-
Jon Karl reveals the office ransacked most on Jan. 6 and what it exposes about the insurrection
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/abc-s-jon-karl-tells-the-view-about-the-shocking-answer-lost-during-latest-briefing-because-trump-lashed-out-at-reporters-instead.png?id=27979603&width=980&height=527)
While speaking to the Washington Post about his new book "Betrayal," ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl revealed that one of the offices most ransacked in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 tells a lot about the aims of the attackers.
While it's clear that many of President Donald Trump's supporters were caught up in the moment, it was also clear that a subset of those had very specific goals to accomplish on Jan. 6.
According to Karl, the Senate Parliamentarian's office was the most pillaged among the other rooms in the Capitol. CNN's Ali Zaslav posted a video of the office at the time. Karl explained that it was clear those going through the office were looking for something specific and he thinks it was the Electoral College ballots.
The book describes the ceremony of Jan. 6, with "three dark and shiny mahogany boxes brought in by the parliamentarian's office to be carried along as the senators walked over to the House. The boxes looked like relics from a time long past—each one held shut by wide leather straps with brass clasps and locked with a skeleton key."
It was then that back at the rally in the White House Ellipse, Trump announced that he was going to lead his supporters to the Capitol building. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) was responsible for the day's events as the chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.
"I thought it was the case that the president can come on the Senate floor anytime he wants to, but the president can come on the House floor only when invited," Blunt told Karl. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) didn't invite Trump to the House, nor was she about to. Blunt explained that if Trump was headed to the Capitol it would only be in the Senate, and members weren't there as they were headed to the House for the joint session that counts the Electoral College ballots.
A small group was already outside of the Capitol, but a large crowd of Trump's supporters was en route to the building. Around then, the FBI and Capitol Police responded to reports of explosive devices outside of the Democratic and Republican Party headquarters.
As the chambers were being evacuated, a Parliamentarian staffer had the wherewithal to save the ballots as they raced from the chamber, Karl recalled. Wherever the members and staff were evacuated, the ballots were with them. Karl explained that if the insurrectionists were able to steal the ballots they could always be replaced, but the Constitution is specific about votes being done by certain dates and signatures being received and authorized by certain dates. There's no legal framework to deal with what could unfold if the ballots were taken by the attackers. It would clearly go to the Supreme Court, he explained, but who would do that? What kind of lawsuit would be filed?
While the staffer ensured it didn't happen, after the insurrection it was discovered that a website that posts historical maps of the Capitol was being read all over the country.
A Washington, D.C. history website that posts photos, maps and other information about the Capitol saw a dramatic increase in readership in the days leading up to Jan. 6.
Elliot Carter, who runs the website WashingtonTunnels.com, was worried that people were trying to find escape routes or entry points to the building for the attack. His concern made its way to leadership in the U.S. Capitol Police.
"These people were suddenly obsessed with the Capitol building," Carter said in August.
While it's possible the attackers wanted to figure out escape routes for officials, the fact that the Parliamentarian's office was the most destroyed makes Karl think this was part of the plan all along.
"Betrayal" is on sale now.
-
Feds seeks four years in prison for Capitol rioter 'QAnon Shaman'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=27983639&width=980&quality=85)
The U.S. Capitol rioter nicknamed the "QAnon Shaman" for his horned head-dress faces a judge on Wednesday who could sentence him to more than four years in prison for his role in the deadly Jan. 6 attack by former President Donald Trump's followers.
Prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth to impose a 51-month sentence on Jacob Chansley, who pleaded guilty in September to obstructing an official proceeding when he and thousands of others stormed the building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election.
"Defendant Chansley's now-famous criminal acts have made him the public face of the Capitol riot," prosecutors said in asking for the 51-month sentence. That would be the stiffest imposed on any Capitol rioter, after a former mixed martial artist filmed punching a police officer during violence was sentenced last week to 41 months in prison.
Chansley's attorneys have asked the judge for a sentence of time served for their client, who has been detained since his January arrest.
While in detention, Chansley was diagnosed by prison officials with transient schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression and anxiety. When he entered his guilty plea, Chansley said he was disappointed Trump had not pardoned him.
Trump was impeached by the House of Representatives and acquitted by the Senate on a charge of inciting the Jan. 6 riot for a fiery speech that preceded it in which he told his followers to "fight like hell."
Four people died in the violence. A Capitol Police officer who had been attacked by protesters died the day after the riot and four police officers who took part in the defense of the Capitol later took their own lives. About 140 police officers were injured.
Defense lawyer Albert Watkins said the U.S. Navy in 2006 had found Chansley suffered from personality disorder but nonetheless declared him "fit for duty."
https://www.rawstory.com/qanon-shaman-2655750452/
-
'QAnon shaman' Jacob Chansley gets 41 months in prison for storming US Capitol
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/qanon-shaman-jacob-chansley.jpg?id=27985697&width=980&height=551)
Jacob Chansley, the so-called "QAnon shaman," was ordered to spend more than three years in federal prison for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The 34-year-old Chansley wore a fur hat with horns and carried a spear when he stormed into the U.S. Capitol to protest Donald Trump's election loss, and Judge Royce Lamberth imposed the 41-month prison term recommended by prosecutors, reported HuffPost.
"If the defendant had been peaceful on that day, your honor, we would not be here," said assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall.
Chansley's attorney had argued for leniency, citing his client's mental health issues, but prosecutors pointed out that he left a threatening note for then-vice president Mike Pence and attempted to stop him from certifying President Joe Biden's election win.
The Arizona man had pleaded guilty in September to one felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding.
https://www.rawstory.com/jacob-chansley-capitol/
-
The GQP Party is all in for sedition, treason, and insurrection! Another right winger has been caught partaking in an attempt to overthrow the US Government.
Former GOP candidate arrested after bragging he was a 'key player' in breaking police lines at MAGA riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rioters-january-6th-afp.jpg?id=27987807&width=980&height=647)
On Wednesday, WUSA9 reported that a former Republican candidate for the New York State Assembly has been arrested, along with his brother, after bragging on social media that he was "one of the key players" in breaking the Capitol Police line at the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Arrest warrants for Gregory Purdy, his brother Matthew Purdy and a third defendant, Robert Turner, were authorized by a federal judge earlier this month," reported Jordan Fischer, Eric Flack, and Stephanie Wilson. "In addition to the four misdemeanor counts they all share, Gregory Purdy and Turner are additionally charged with civil disorder, obstruction and assaulting, resisting or impeding police."
The court documents state that Purdy travelled with members of his family to Washington D.C. for the January 6th "Stop the Steal" rally. Prosecutors allege that Purdy then led the charge against Capitol police officers trying to stop demonstrators from breaching the Capitol building.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FEVWFHcXsBAxckb?format=png&name=900x900)
MORE: The affidavit for Greg Purdy is now available. In it, the FBI says Purdy posted that he and his group were "key players" in the mob pushing past police barriers (which he calls "peaceful pushes"). In one post he wrote "peep my war cry." #CapitolRiot
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FEbJsafXIAUqjni?format=png&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FEbJtBHWUAQytBV?format=png&name=900x900)
According to the affidavit, Purdy said that he believed it was his job to "uphold the Constitution and do a f****** rebellion." He also boasted about the progress he was making against police officers, writing on social media, "This was after the last videos after we successfully got through their first force!!! Look at the f****** blood on the ground."
Purdy is far from the only politician to have participated in the attack. Former West Virginia state Rep. Derrick Evans resigned shortly after being elected when he was arrested for his involvement. Many others, including members of Congress like Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) and Mo Brooks (R-AL), reportedly helped Trump plan the "Stop the Steal" rally which fed people into the riot.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-arrests-2655751483/
-
Trump and his allies are just as guilty as the QAnon Shaman: op-ed
In her column for the Washington Post this Thursday, Jennifer Rubin contends that the recent sentencing Jacob Chansley, also known as the "QAnon Shaman," to more than three years in prison for his role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol was "a direct rebuke to former president Donald Trump and his apologists."
But Rubin says former President Donald Trump was just as guilty, considering that he had beaten the drum for weeks, spread the "big lie" about a stolen election, and demanded his followers "stop the steal" as Congress was certifying the 2020 election's results.
"Penalties for the crimes committed that day are needed to send a message to purveyors of the Jan. 6 whitewash," Rubin writes. "District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth handed out a punishment at the low end of the sentencing guidelines. But his message was clear: 'What you did was terrible. You made yourself the epitome of the riot.'"
Rubin adds that is obvious that "the decline" of the GOP "has accelerated" since the Jan. 6. "With a handful of exceptions, the House Republican caucus has tried to prevent a full investigation of Jan. 6 and remains aligned with Trump."
Given that Trump and his allies are still denying the violent nature of Jan. 6, Rubin writes that "criminal investigation and prosecution must ensue for everyone involved to the extent that facts and the law allow."
Read her full op-ed at The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/11/18/insurrectionists-are-finally-receiving-justice-gop-is-more-unhinged-than-ever/
-
Lock her up!
REVEALED: Kimberly Guilfoyle bragged about raising millions for Jan. 6 rally
Series: The Insurrection
The Effort to Overturn the Election
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/kimberly-guilfoyle-was-six-minutes-of-sheer-hell-i-ll-never-get-back-gop-strategist.jpg?id=27994088&width=980&height=530)
Kimberly Guilfoyle, a top fundraiser for former President Donald Trump and the girlfriend of his son Donald Trump Jr., boasted to a GOP operative that she had raised $3 million for the rally that helped fuel the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
In a series of text messages sent on Jan. 4 to Katrina Pierson, the White House liaison to the event, Guilfoyle detailed her fundraising efforts and supported a push to get far-right speakers on the stage alongside Trump for the rally, which sought to overturn the election of President Joe Biden.
Guilfoyle's texts, reviewed by ProPublica, represent the strongest indication yet that members of the Trump family circle were directly involved in the financing and organization of the rally. The attack on the Capitol that followed it left five dead and scores injured.
A House select committee investigating the events of Jan. 6 has subpoenaed more than 30 Trump allies for testimony and documents, including Pierson and Caroline Wren, a former deputy to Guilfoyle. But Guilfoyle herself has so far not received any official scrutiny from Congress.
Guilfoyle's attorney, Joe Tacopina, denied that Guilfoyle had anything to do with fundraising or approving speakers. He said the text from Guilfoyle “did not relate to the Save America rally" on Jan. 6 and the “content of the message itself" was “inaccurate" and “taken out of context." He did not respond to additional questions asking about the accuracy and context of the message.
Reached by phone, Pierson declined to comment.
The text messages show that Guilfoyle expressed specific concerns that she might not be allowed to speak on stage at the Jan. 6 rally. Pierson responded that Trump himself set the speaking lineup and that it was limited to people he selected, including some of his children and Amy Kremer, a grassroots activist who organized the event.
Guilfoyle replied that she only wanted to introduce Trump Jr. and had "raised so much money for this."
"Literally one of my donors Julie at 3 million," she added.
Guilfoyle was referring to Julie Jenkins Fancelli, a Publix supermarket heir who Guilfoyle had developed a professional relationship with during the campaign.
Until now, Wren has been the only person identified as having worked with Fancelli. As ProPublica reported last month, Wren also boasted in private conversations with colleagues of raising $3 million for the events of Jan. 6.
It remains unclear whether that amount was really raised and, if so, how the majority of it was spent. Some of the money raised from Fancelli flowed to dark money groups that supported the rally, according to wire transfers described to ProPublica, planning documents and interviews with insiders.
In a statement from her attorney, Wren acknowledged helping to produce the rally but did not provide further details about her role in fundraising.
“To Ms. Wren's knowledge, Kimberly Guilfoyle had no involvement in raising funds for any events on January 6th," the statement said. “They were both present at a peaceful rally with hundreds of thousands of Americans who were in DC to lawfully exercise their first amendment rights, a primary pillar of American democracy."
The texts between Guilfoyle and Pierson and interviews with Trump officials also suggest that Guilfoyle attempted to influence the lineup of speakers scheduled to appear at the event.
On the night of Jan. 5, Trump Jr., Guilfoyle and Wren attended an event at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, where Trump donors mingled with prominent figures in the movement to overturn the election, according to interviews and social media posts from attendees.
Around the time of that event, Wren called rally staff and urged them to allow speaking roles for Ali Alexander, a far-right provocateur and leader of the Stop the Steal movement; Roger Stone, a former Trump advisor; and conspiracy theorist and InfoWars leader Alex Jones, according to a former campaign official who was told details of the call by people who listened to it.
Trump aides had already deemed the men too radical to go on stage, worrying they might embarrass the president.
During the call, Guilfoyle voiced her support for the controversial speakers, the former campaign official was told. She also specifically demanded that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who had sued to challenge election results in four other states, address the crowd. Alexander later said on a newscast that he also received a call from Guilfoyle that same evening.
Tacopina, Guilfoyle's lawyer, said she did not urge staffers to change the speakers. "Your contention that Ms. Guilfoyle approved a speaking list for January 6th is patently false," he wrote. He threatened to “aggressively pursue all legal remedies available" against ProPublica.
But the texts show Guilfoyle and Pierson talking about a “leaked" speaking list — an apparent reference to an article about the Jan. 6 rally published by the conservative news website Breitbart the day before.
That list included Alexander, Stone and Paxton, among others.
“All I know is that someone leaked a list of 'speakers' that the WH had not seen or approved," Pierson wrote. “I've never had so much interference."
Guilfoyle responded: “Yea and this the list we approved."
Tacopina did not answer further questions about what Guilfoyle meant in the text where she said "we" had approved a speaking list.
Untangling the relationship between Guilfoyle, Wren and Fancelli is key to understanding the financing of the events of Jan. 6.
In January 2020, Guilfoyle was appointed national chair of the Trump Victory finance committee, a leading fundraising vehicle for Trump's reelection campaign. She brought Wren on as her deputy.
Guilfoyle, through her relationship with Trump Jr., had access to the family and a certain star power that appealed to donors. Wren, by all accounts a relentless, high-energy worker, brought fundraising expertise and a Rolodex of wealthy Republicans willing to invest handsomely to keep Trump in office. The duo ultimately brought in tens of millions of dollars toward Trump's reelection.
The pair focused primarily on ramping up the campaign's “bundling" program, a method of fundraising that relies on volunteers collecting money from their personal networks.
Fancelli, a reclusive member of one of the country's richest families, was one of those volunteers, according to interviews and internal Trump Victory records. Splitting her time between Florida and Italy, Fancelli raised at least $72,000 from her friends and family.
She stood out to Wren and Guilfoyle, who in 2020 considered her for a role as Florida state co-chair for the bundling program, according to an internal Trump Victory planning document reviewed by ProPublica. The document highlighted Fancelli as a person Guilfoyle should contact personally.
Tacopina said Guilfoyle had never seen any such document "nor is aware of its supposed existence."
On or just before July 14, 2020, Guilfoyle called Fancelli directly, according to a different set of text messages reviewed by ProPublica. The next day, Fancelli made her largest federal political contribution to date, according to campaign finance records: $250,000 to Trump Victory.
By election night, she had chipped in $565,000 more, records show.
Tacopina did not address the July 2020 phone call in his statement and did not respond to questions about Guilfoyle's relationship with Fancelli. Fancelli did not respond to requests for comment.
After the election, Wren became the main fundraising consultant for a newly formed super PAC run by two of Trump Jr.'s closest aides. The super PAC, called “Save the US Senate PAC," placed ads starring Trump Jr. in which he encouraged Georgians to vote Republican in the bitterly contested runoff elections that would result in Democratic control of the Senate.
That PAC was primarily funded by LJ Management Services Inc., a company closely linked to Fancelli's family foundation. It gave $800,000 to the PAC in several installments, records show.
In late December, Wren became involved in the rally preparations for Jan. 6.
Wren told multiple organizers interviewed by ProPublica that she was carrying out the wishes of the Trump family. Some believed her and feared that defying her would upset the Trumps. Others suspected she was exaggerating.
“Caroline kept talking about her connections to Don Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle," said Cindy Chafian, a rally organizer who told ProPublica she was put in touch with Wren and Fancelli by Alex Jones. “I thought she was full of crap."
As ProPublica previously reported, Wren told Dustin Stockton, another rally organizer, that she had raised $3 million for Jan. 6 and “parked" funds with three Republican dark money groups supporting the rally.
In one case, Wren routed roughly $150,000 from Fancelli to the Republican Attorneys General Association's Rule of Law Defense Fund, which then purchased a robocall instructing Trump supporters to come to Washington and march on the Capitol after the president's speech. The robocall was purchased in order to satisfy the conditions of the donation, a person familiar with the transaction told ProPublica.
ProPublica also reported that Wren had pressured rally organizers to allow Jones and other far-right leaders to speak on stage before the president. The effort grew so intense and volatile that on the morning of Jan. 6, a senior White House official suggested rally organizers call the U.S. Park Police on Wren to have her escorted off the Ellipse. Officers arrived but took no action. Wren has previously declined to comment on the incident.
Around the same time, Guilfoyle sat with Trump and other members of his inner circle in the Oval Office and discussed the growing throngs outside, according to The Washington Post. “They're just reflecting the will of the people," she reportedly told the president. “This is the will of the people."
On stage later that morning, Guilfoyle gave a rousing speech introducing Trump Jr. “We will not allow the liberals and the Democrats to steal our dream or steal our elections," Guilfoyle told the crowd.
Trump Jr. then exhorted the crowd to send a message to the Republican members of Congress who “did nothing to stop the steal."
Trump Jr. did not respond to an emailed request for comment.
Jones and Alexander left the rally early. Wren escorted the men away from the White House as they prepared to lead the march on the Capitol.
As the Capitol plunged into chaos later that day — police officers outnumbered and overrun, lawmakers huddled behind makeshift bunkers, tear gas enshrouding the building — Guilfoyle boarded a private jet.
She was off to Florida with at least two major Trump donors, Nebraska gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster and California entrepreneur Richard Kofoed, who had chartered the jet. The plane left Dulles International Airport at 3:47 p.m., according to aviation records. It dropped Herbster off on Florida's Amelia Island before heading for West Palm Beach. Wren listed both Kofoed and Herbster as her VIPs for the rally in planning documents. Planning documents show Cassidy Kofoed, Richard Kofoed's 23-year-old daughter, also worked with Wren on preparations for Jan. 6.
Herbster confirmed that he was on board the plane with Guilfoyle. Richard and Cassidy Kofoed did not respond to requests for comment.
In response to questions about the flight, Tacopina said that Guilfoyle lived with Kofoed and his wife at a rented property in Mar-a-Lago from approximately December 2020 through July 2021.
Guilfoyle has continued her role as a major Trump fundraiser. In October, she was put at the helm of Trump's super PAC, called Make America Great Again, Again!
https://www.propublica.org/series/the-insurrection
-
What a joke!
Jailed MAGA rioter seeks release because it’s ‘not healthy’ to be ‘stuck in a bubble’ with other insurrectionists
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rioter-rob-gieswein-at-the-united-states-capitol-building-on-january-6th.jpg?id=26773690&width=800&height=449)
A violent Capitol rioter is seeking his pretrial release from the DC Jail, arguing that it's "not healthy" to be "stuck in a bubble" with other insurrectionists who share his views.
Robert Gieswein is member of the Three Percenters militia group who's accused of assaulting police officers at the Capitol after traveling to Washington from Colorado "prepared for battle," according to media reports.
In a handwritten letter to U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan filed in court on Thursday, Gieswein wrote that he read a recent Vice News article about the "Patriot Wing" of the DC Jail, where he is housed with other hardcore perpetrators of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
"I am not an expert in anything, but I do know it's not healthy to spend every day in here like it's Groundhog's (SIC) Day, with people with the same viewpoint, in the same situation, because we are all portrayed by much of the media as one type of person," Gieswein wrote. "It is natural in this environment for the conversation to turn to January 6, and for us to look to each other for strength."
Gieswein added that he does participate in nightly singalongs of the national anthem that take place in the Patriot Wing — because it helps him remember that he loves his country.
"And I am saying nothing against the other men in here," he wrote. "Still, most of us do share a lot of the same views, and it's easy to get stuck in your bubble in this environment. ... Outside, I could choose to seek out other perspectives."
Gieswein wrote that he tries to watch "many news sites for perspective" — from CNN to Steve Bannon's War Room.
"But it seems like they try to rile everybody up to make money," he wrote. "What I am missing in here is time away from a bubble, and a real chance to talk to real people I trust who may have different perspectives on January 6."
Read the full letter below:
(https://html.scribdassets.com/97ya8ir5kw987dq1/images/1-174b074c99.jpg)
https://www.vice.com/en/article/akvwjp/january-6-rioters-jailed-together-forming-rituals-fanbase
-
One of the best articles that I've read which details Trump's coup and insurrection with all the players involved.
Trump Insurrection Timeline: First the coup — and then the cover-up
https://www.rawstory.com/insurrection-act/
-
GOP-linked nonprofit funneled millions to white supremacists and Jan 6th organizers
According to a report from the Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger, a dark money nonprofit with ties to the Koch family has been funneling millions of dollars into organizations promoting white supremacy as well as supporters of Donald Trump linked to the Jan 6th insurrection.
Based upon an IRS filing from Donors Trust, reported upon by CNBC, the Beast explains that the nonprofit took in $360 million last year to disperse as it sees fit.
According to the report, beneficiaries of donations have been linked to the organizers of the Jan 6th rally -- that turned into a riot at the U.S. Capitol -- as well private universities.
Calling Donors Trust the "dark money ATM of the right," the report states the organization that does not have to reveal who gives it money, "... gave more than $2 million to groups linked to white supremacists, including the VDARE Foundation."
Government ethics expert Norm Eisen claimed, after reviewing the IRS filing that it is "profoundly concerning for the future of our democracy."
With the Beast reporting, "the group channeled major support for entities which fought to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 victory and organized the Jan. 6 rallies in Washington, D.C." Eisen claimed, "The Donors Trust is taking advantage of the dangerous opacity of our tax and related laws and regulations to fund alleged white supremacist and white nationalist associated groups, those who were bad actors in wrongly attempting to spread misinformation about or overturn the legitimate 2020 election results, and even groups that were responsible for the rally that helped trigger the Jan. 6 insurrection."
According to the Beast's Sollenberger, "Donors Trust posted record numbers in 2020. The group, which has hauled in more than $1 billion since 2016, raised more than $360 million last year, while spreading around $182 million across 339 organizations. Donors Trust itself held on to about $174 million in contributions, bringing its total assets to $607 million."
The GOP Dark Money Group Giving Big to White Supremacists
Donors Trust raised $360 million last year. They’ve been spreading around that money to white supremacist organizations, Jan. 6 organizers, conservative causes, and universities
Efforts to overturn the election. Jan. 6 organizers. White supremacist groups. And more than a dozen private and public universities.
They all have one thing in common: They received anonymous funding funneled through a single conservative dark money behemoth.
That’s the news in the latest IRS filing from Donors Trust—a conservative, Koch-aligned nonprofit which does not need to reveal the names of its donors and has been called the “dark money ATM of the right.”
The disclosure, first obtained by CNBC, shows the group channeled major support for entities which fought to overturn President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory and organized the Jan. 6 rallies in Washington, D.C.
Donors Trust also gave more than $2 million to groups linked to white supremacists, including the VDARE Foundation.
Norm Eisen, a government ethics expert and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, analyzed the filing with colleagues and remarked that it was “profoundly concerning for the future of our democracy.”
“The Donors Trust is taking advantage of the dangerous opacity of our tax and related laws and regulations to fund alleged white supremacist and white nationalist associated groups, those who were bad actors in wrongly attempting to spread misinformation about or overturn the legitimate 2020 election results, and even groups that were responsible for the rally that helped trigger the Jan. 6 insurrection,” he told The Daily Beast.
But the same vehicle that quietly fuels white supremacist rhetoric also fanned money out to major educational institutions, including state public schools like the University of Texas, Virginia Tech, Michigan State University, and Florida State University. Leading private colleges like Georgetown, Vanderbilt, and a conservative think tank headquartered at Brown University also drew anonymous support.
At the same time, the fund shipped millions of dollars to right-wing organizations agitating for education reform, including to groups pushing unfounded fears about critical race theory.
The Donors Trust primarily funds right-leaning, libertarian, and free-market advocates. It describes itself as “a charitable savings account”—a go-between that allows wealthy donors to deposit money in lump sums, where it gets invested at tax-free growth. They can later direct contributions at any time while remaining anonymous.
These donor-advised funds are common across the ideological spectrum, and “act as a clearinghouse of donated money,” according to Phil Hackney, a nonprofit law expert at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law.
“Donors can contribute to these organizations and take a charitable deduction, and they let the group hold the money, invest it, and then contribute to other charitable organizations when the donor advises them to do so,” Hackney explained.
Donors, particularly wealthy ones, often seek anonymity from the public, “particularly where they’re donating to controversial causes,” he said.
Donors Trust posted record numbers in 2020. The group, which has hauled in more than $1 billion since 2016, raised more than $360 million last year, while spreading around $182 million across 339 organizations. Donors Trust itself held on to about $174 million in contributions, bringing its total assets to $607 million.
While the group’s 501(c)3 tax status affords anonymity, reporting has identified several major conservative backers over the years, like the Koch and Bradley families. The biggest single donor this year contributed $158 million, and eight individuals accounted for $270 million in donations—75 percent of the total.
Asked about the money raised for white supremacist and anti-democratic groups, Donors Trust president and CEO Lawson Bader provided a statement touting the fund’s financial success, claiming the organizations they support are “worthy causes” and that the donations “serve the public good.”
“2020 was a year of great uncertainty and change. Despite this, donors stepped up to support public charities, especially those embroiled in alleviating and addressing the vast economic and health challenges facing the country,” the statement said. “Many account holders held ‘rainy day’ charitable funds in their respective accounts, which made it possible for many to extend their generosity and serves as a reminder about the essential nature of donor-advised fund providers during times of crisis.”
Bader, who pulled a $390,000 salary in 2020, said the $186 million distributed last year was “to serve the public good.” He claimed the group has, since its 2001 inception, “distributed more than $1.5 billion to thousands of worthy causes and institutions focused on science, medicine, religion, public policy, the arts, civics and health.”
A representative from a public relations firm that serves the company told The Daily Beast that the organization exists to give legitimate groups “a seat at the table” and “not to advance any cause,” including “those they may disagree with.”
But that appears to contradict with the mission statement on the group’s IRS filing, which states that its purpose is “to promote liberty through limited government, personal responsibility, and free enterprise by providing financial support to other publicly supported charities that share in its purpose.”
It is unclear from Bader’s statement which goals the Donors Trust organization shares with some of its “worthy causes,” including groups that have been associated with white identity and white supremacist movements, like VDARE, Young Americans for Liberty, and the New Century Foundation.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, VDARE, which received $70,000 last year and nearly $2 million in 2019, “regularly publishes articles by white supremacists.” YAL, which received $1.3 million through Donors Trust in 2020, has been affiliated with the white nationalist and the neo-Nazi organization Identity Evropa. The group removed its president after multiple women leveled allegations of sexual assault in January. And another $600,000 went to the New Century Foundation, which SPLC, the Anti-Defamation League, and academics consider a white supremacist group.
The Donor Trust’s self-described efforts to “serve the public good” included bankrolling an array of groups which challenged the 2020 election and seeded unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. Those organizations received nearly $10 million in anonymous cash last year, according to an analysis of the filing.
Two of those entities played key roles in the events surrounding Jan. 6. One of them, the Tea Party Patriots, was listed as a rally organizer and received $250,000. The second, Turning Point—the right-wing youth group run by Charlie Kirk—provided buses to D.C. and participated in the “March to Save America” ahead of the event. Turning Point groups took in a total $780,000 from trust contributions in 2020.
Articles on the VDARE website also rejected Donald Trump’s loss and “cheered on” the rioters.
The Center for Security Policy, a group founded by anti-Muslim activist and conspiracy theorist Frank Gaffney—who also disputed the election results—received $1.1 million. After the riot, CSP told CNBC that Gaffney no longer ran the organization. But Gaffney also appears on the board of a Texas-based group called Propter Strategies, which was incorporated in June 2020 and raised $5 million last year through Donors Trust, split evenly between Propter’s “Delta Project” and the “Internal Security Project.”
While plenty of the disbursements went to traditional conservative groups, those groups have also increasingly been voyaging into far-right causes, like “election integrity.”
Take, for example, the group FreedomWorks.
FreedomWorks has been a Koch-funded, libertarian-leaning advocacy group for almost two decades.
But after the election, the nonprofit FreedomWorks reportedly led protests against voter fraud. And in the wake of the Capitol riot, it partnered with Newsmax on a Sunday show called “Save Our Nation.” FreedomWorks received roughly $1.1 million in Donor Trust money last year, including for the Keep Elections Great Project and an initiative identified on the IRS filing as “Save Our Country.”
Additionally, FreedomWorks recently hired attorney and conservative activist Cleta Mitchell, who lost her job at Foley Lardner after participating in Trump’s phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Mitchell also now serves on the board at the Conservative Partnership Institute, a think tank which is also now pushing ideological election reforms and took in more than half a million dollars through Donors Trust last year.
Another traditional conservative cause—the Thomas More Society, which is a law firm that routinely files suits on behalf of right-wing interests, like abortion, gay marriage, and now, overturning the 2020 election—saw more than $2 million come its way through the dark money group.
About $1 million of that money was earmarked for the Amistad Project, an aggressive initiative created in August 2020 which litigated the election both before and after votes were cast, including challenges in five states. Donald Trump’s former election lawyer Jenna Ellis served as the society’s special counsel at the time.
And the Government Accountability Institute, a nonprofit co-founded by Trump loyalist Steve Bannon and backed by right-wing billionaire financier Rebekah Mercer, raked in $1.6 million through the fund last year. The GAI has pushed voter fraud claims, including in a “flawed” 2017 report that has since been removed from the White House website.
Still, these groups make up only a small slice of Donor Trust’s grants. The fund, which over the years has received major financial support from Republican megadonors, backs a panoply of influential conservative think tanks, nonprofits, and activists.
A number of universities, which accept anonymous direct donations, also draw support through the backchannel. The top recipient last year was George Mason University, a public institution in Virginia and home to the conservative Mercatus think tank and Antonin Scalia School of Law. GMU pocketed several million dollars in anonymous gifts, and it is unclear whether any donors have independently revealed themselves to the school.
"We need a tax and legal system that prevents these kinds of abuses of secrecy to undermine democracy,” Eisen said. “If we had a proper set of rules that applied to everyone, then the hidden donors, whoever they may be, would probably be ashamed to be associated with organizations that engage in this kind of activity. In the absence of those across-the-board fair and reasonable principles, we can’t benefit from the famous Brandeis maxim that ‘sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.’”
The Donors Trust public relations representative also pointed out that the group only funds “legit” organizations, who have the blessing of the IRS. But last year, Donors Trust gave $1.4 million to Fair Lines America, a group that was targeted in a watchdog complaint that July for misleading the IRS about $225,000 in 2018 revenue from Donors Trust.
Still, Donors Trust contributors support a number of smaller and apolitical groups as well. For instance, last year the fund raised $25,100 for the Special Olympics, and $15,000 for the Institute for the Study of Mongolian Dinosaurs.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-gop-dark-money-group-donors-trust-giving-big-to-vdare-white-supremacists?ref=home
-
Leaked Texts: Jan. 6 Organizers Say They Were ‘Following POTUS’ Lead’
Rally planners coordinated closely with the White House before Jan. 6 and readied a dinner party while the Capitol was under siege, according to leaked group text messages obtained by Rolling Stone
At 5:30 pm on Jan. 6, police were in their third hour of battle with supporters of former President Trump on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Meanwhile, about a mile away in a suite at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel, Amy Kremer, a conservative activist who organized a major pro-Trump rally near the White House that preceded the violence, apparently had hors d’oeuvres on her mind.
Kremer sent her fellow rally organizers a text preceded by three siren emojis. It was an urgent update.
“We ordered dinner again tonight. Sorry, but we forgot to take orders in the chaos of the event this morning, so we just ordered the same thing as last night. I figured that was better than not eating. Lol,” Kremer wrote. “Cheese & Charcuterie should be here at 6PM and dinner around 7PM.”
An emergency curfew took effect and National Guard troops arrived at the Capitol to clear the remaining crowds at roughly the same time Kremer and her fellow organizers received their cured meats. Three sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigations into the rally, told Rolling Stone that, along with food, people were drinking champagne in the suite while rioters skirmished with law enforcement at the Capitol complex.
Kremer’s insurrection night dinner order was detailed in a series of text messages and group chats from January 6 rally organizers that were obtained and reviewed by Rolling Stone. The messages included months of discussions as Kremer’s “March For Trump” group staged a bus tour around the country to protest the former president’s election loss. The conversations revealed new details of the rally organizers’ coordination with the Trump White House.
Kremer’s Jan. 6 rally took place on the White House Ellipse as Trump’s election loss was being certified at the U.S. Capitol. The event featured a speech by Trump where he urged the crowd to “fight like hell,” and indicated he expected them to march to the Capitol complex. Some of the audience at the rally began making the approximately mile-and-a-half long trek to the Capitol as Trump concluded his remarks. The barricades at the Capitol were breached minutes before the former president finished the speech.
Two sources who were involved in planning the Ellipse rally previously told Rolling Stone they had extensive interactions with members of Trump’s team, including former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. The text messages provide a deeper understanding of what that cooperation entailed, including an in-person meeting at the White House. Rally organizers also described working with Trump’s team to announce the event, promote it, and grant access to VIP guests. A spokesperson for the former president did not respond to a request for comment on the record.
Group chats also provided a glimpse of tensions between rally planners. And the conversations showed how their core group reacted to the chaos that erupted that day in real time, including Kremer rejecting calls to hold a press conference denouncing the violence.
Rolling Stone reviewed the text messages in a phone where they were originally received and timestamped. The messages from Amy Kremer and her daughter, Kylie Jane Kremer, came from phone numbers that have been used by both women. We are publishing excerpts of these messages as they were originally written including some typos.
Kremer, who began her political career as a Tea Party activist, is the chairwoman of Women For America First, the pro-Trump organization that obtained the permit for the Ellipse rally. Kylie is the group’s executive director.
Along with Women For America First, Amy Kremer was also a leader of March For Trump, a group that was launched in 2019 to protest against Trump’s first impeachment. In late November of 2020, after Trump’s loss to President Joe Biden, March For Trump began a bus tour with events around the country, where Kremer and other conservative activists promoted false conspiracy theories about the election and called for the results to be overturned. On Nov. 28, 2020, the day before the bus tour began, Kremer texted fellow activists in a group chat.
“Welcome to the March for Trump bus tour,” Kremer wrote. “We are going to save the world!”
Two days later, Kremer texted some of the organizers to let them know she was temporarily getting off the bus to travel to Washington for a White House meeting.
“For those of you that weren’t aware, I have jumped off the tour for the night and am headed to DC. I have a mtg at the WH tomorrow afternoon and then will be back tomorrow night,” wrote Kremer. “Rest well. I’ll make sure the President knows about the tour tomorrow!”
The message describing Kremer’s White House meeting is one of several where she and Kylie, indicated they were in communication with Trump’s team. Both Amy and Kylie Kremer did not respond to requests for comment on the record. Chris Barron, a spokesperson for the Kremers, called Rolling Stone to insist elements of this reporting are untrue.
“You are printing things that are 100 percent factually untrue that we can prove are not true,” Barron said. “You are printing things that are absolutely, factually untrue and, beyond being factually untrue, for anybody who knows Amy are like hilariously preposterous.”
Barron repeatedly declined to answer specific questions about which aspects of the story he wanted to dispute.
The texts reviewed by Rolling Stone reveal that on December 13, 2020, Kremer texted the group to say she was “still waiting to hear from the WH on the photo op with the bus.” On January 1, before the Ellipse rally was publicly announced, Kylie sent a message to another group chat that said she was still working on the permits and “just FYI – we still can’t tweet out about the ellipse.”
“We are following POTUS’ lead,” Kylie wrote, using an abbreviation for the president.
Two days later, on January 3, March For Trump activist Dustin Stockton texted one of the team’s groups to ask who was “handling” rally credentials for VIPs. “It’s a combination of us and WH,” Kylie replied.
Stockton’s fiancee, Jennifer Lawrence, had a similar question when she asked a chat group where media credential requests for the Ellipse rally were going after being submitted on the group’s website.
“To campaign,” Kylie responded in an apparent reference to Trump’s re-election team. “They are handling all.”
Stockton and Lawrence did not respond to requests for comment on the record.
On January 3, Trump tweeted an announcement that he would be attending the Ellipse rally. Trump also retweeted posts from Lawrence and Kremer advertising the event. Some of these messages were excitedly shared in a March For Trump group chat.
“Whoop whoop,” wrote Greg Locke, a Tennessee pastor who was a fixture on the bus tour. Locke added a heart, praying hands, and “100” emoji for good measure. Locke did not respond to a request for comment on record.
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack has subpoenaed documents and testimony from both Amy and Kylie Kremer. The pair were asked to give depositions on Oct. 29. The committee has indicated it will consider criminal contempt referrals against individuals who defy its subpoenas. A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment on whether the Kremers have complied with the subpoena.
Multiple members of Trump’s inner circle — including former White House officials — have also been subpoenaed by the committee as it examines the role the former president’s team played in the events of January 6. An attorney familiar with the investigation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the ongoing probe, told Rolling Stone the congressional investigators have obtained “tons of” group chats from organizers.
As the big rally approached, the group chats grew even more excited. On the morning of January 5, Kremer texted the organizers and declared “we are about to be part of a pivotal and historic moment in our nation’s history.”
“Thank you for taking this journey with Women For America First. I love you all and am grateful for each of you,” Kremer wrote, adding, “Let’s go save the Republic!”
But the conversations weren’t all celebratory. The group chats also revealed some of the tensions behind the scenes of the efforts to protest Trump’s election loss.
Kremer and Women For America First weren’t the only ones involved in planning events to protest the election result. Another group, Stop the Steal, which was led by far right activist Ali Alexander, held its own rallies around the country and planned a “Wild Protest” outside the Capitol on January 6. Two sources who were involved in the Ellipse rally planning previously told Rolling Stone they had concerns Alexander’s event could turn violent due to his apparent ties to militia groups and its location directly outside the Capitol. Those sources claimed Alexander initially agreed he would not hold the “Wild Protest” and would allow the Ellipse rally to be the only major pro-Trump event in D.C. on January 6.
The March For Trump group chat conversations hint at some of the tensions between Kremer’s group and the “Wild Protest” planners. On the 6th, the group chats indicate Kremer’s group had a dispute with Alexander over VIP seats at the Ellipse rally.
“Ali trying to rearrange our women for america seats,” wrote one of the group’s volunteers. “Stop that s**t,” replied Stockton.
Alexander did not respond to a request for comment on record.
The group chats also show some of the drama that played out within Kremer’s team. On Dec. 31, as the members of the group realized the “Wild Protest” seemed to be moving forward, Kylie posted a series of angry messages accusing the people who were riding the bus of focusing on irrelevant issues and not sufficiently appreciating the work being done to plan the Ellipse event. Kylie dismissed the “Wild Protest” as “all the people who aren’t invited or POTUS won’t be associated with.”
“How do yall not get it? Seriously. Everyone needs to get off that damn bus because you are all going crazy focused on things that don’t matter.”
A volunteer responded that the group’s supporters were uneasy about a lack of guidance since the Ellipse rally plans had not yet been tweeted. Kylie replied with a pair of messages noting how rare it is for events to take place on the Ellipse. She added that she was working with colleagues and “Team Trump” to get the event squared away.
“I am very frustrated and feel like you guys have NO IDEA the hoops we have been jumping through 24-7 lately. Google events at the Ellipse. Send me pictures that you can find of anything other than the Christmas tree light or menorah lighting that are official WH events. THEY DONT HAPPEN,” Kylie wrote. “Y’all this has got to stop. The back and forth. If anyone doesn’t like what … team trump and I are doing then you don’t have to come to January 6th.”
There were also multiple messages indicating alcohol was a source of controversy among some of the organizers. In one group chat message on Dec. 27, 2020, Kremer admonished her daughter for drinking.
“Kylie, you need to slow your roll on the wine RIGHT NOW,” Kremer wrote. “We have so much work to do and not enough time to get it done.”
At another point, Kremer sent a message to the group declaring, “There will be no more drinking on this trip.”
There was plenty of drinking on Jan. 6 at Kremer’s Willard suite, according to multiple sources. The text messages include a menu for a dinner for the organizers on the night before the rally. Menu options included a “Willard Burger” with truffle aioli, red wine braised Angus short rib Beef Bourguignon, steak frites, and a salmon filet with aged balsamic. Based on Kremer’s text about the charcuterie plate, she chose options from the same menu for the organizers on the evening of Jan. 6. The options in the Willard suite also included champagne that Kremer’s guests were drinking just as her organization issued a press release denouncing the violence and calling the group “saddened and disappointed.”
Pam Silleman, the coordinator for the Napa Tea Party in California and one of the VIP guests invited to the event, previously told the website The Uprising, which is written by this reporter, that she drank champagne in the suite with the Kremers and other organizers after the Ellipse rally as the storming of the Capitol played on TV. A member of the March For Trump team suggested some in the suite were “totally sloshed that night.”
According to the March For Trump team member, the Kremers booked one of the nicest suites at the hotel and had a variety of special requests for staff, including fresh lightbulbs. And the team member further suggested the lavish spread at the Willard may have attracted the attention of law enforcement.
"I got the call from someone at the FBI asking why I used my card at the Willard in DC. … It was an exorbitant bill. The suite they were in, it was ungodly expensive because Kylie had to have the presidential suite. That was what made her comfortable,” the March For Trump team member says. “She had to have her waffles every morning. She would check the lightbulbs at every hotel. She would have maintenance change the lightbulbs.”
Another person who worked on the rally and spoke on the condition of anonymity claimed there were approximately 12 to 15 people in the suite on the evening of Jan. 6 and that it was “stocked up with wine.”
“She was sh**faced that night Kylie Kremer was,” the person says.
On the morning after January 6, the group chats show some of the Ellipse rally organizers wanted to hold a press conference or make a statement denouncing the violence. Shortly before noon, Kremer replied that she felt her initial Women For America First statement was sufficient.
“I don’t think it is wise for us to talk to the press or have a press conference. Our statement yesterday was strong enough and we need to leave it at that,” Kremer wrote to the group chat on January 7. “Nothing god will come from us talking to CBS or any other mainstream media outlet. I hope you guys understand and agree.”
About twenty minutes later, Kremer had another problem on her hands at the Willard. She texted the group for urgent help.
“Someone pls come let me out of my bathroom,” Kremer wrote. “I’m locked in here."
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/j6-white-house-rally-organizers-trump-cooperate-1260849/
-
Good! More anti American traitors are being subpoenaed. Criminal Roger Stone doesn't have Criminal Donald to protect him anymore.
Capitol riot committee subpoenas Alex Jones and Roger Stone
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots has issued subpoenas to Trump allies Alex Jones and Roger Stone, reports Politico's Kyle Cheney.
Both Jones and Stone encouraged their supporters to attend the January 6th "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the riots.
Stone was convicted in 2019 of several charges related to his efforts to obstruct special counsel Robert Mueller's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. He was subsequently pardoned by former President Donald Trump.
Jones last week lost a massive defamation case filed by families of children who were murdered in the 2012 massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. Jones had falsely accused the parents of being "crisis actors" who lied about their children being murdered as a pretext for taking away Americans' guns.
In addition to Stone and Jones, the committee also subpoenaed Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich, as well as pro-Trump activists Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence.
https://www.rawstory.com/roger-stone-alex-jones/
-
'What liars!' Morning Joe busts GOP apologists after Jan 6 rioter admits he brought a gun to kill Nancy Pelosi
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough blasted Republicans who downplayed the violent threat from the Jan. 6 insurrectionists after new proof emerged of their violent intentions.
Mark Mazza, a 56-year-old Indiana man charged with carrying a loaded firearm to the U.S. Capitol riot, suggested to investigators that he intended to kill House speaker Nancy Pelosi during the chaos, and the "Morning Joe" host unloaded on GOP lawmakers who have insisted those Donald Trump supporters were merely protesters or even tourists.
"We have another person who was there with a gun proving what liars those Republican apologists are, saying they looked like a bunch of tourists," Scarborough said. "This criminal defendant, said he went to Jan. 6 with a gun if he had found Nancy Pelosi, they'd be talking to him about something else completely different."
"This whole idea that people were going after Mike Pence and saying, 'Hang Mike Pence,' that it was, like, a football cheer or something or people screaming, 'Nancy, where are you, Nancy' -- no, it's very clear this was not a group of tourists," Scarborough added. "There were people inside this group that were mobs, rioters who wanted to find and kill Nancy Pelosi and wanted to find and kill the sitting vice president of the United States."
-
Roger Stone looks like he's 'at the red-hot center' of planning Capitol demonstrations: CNN legal analyst
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol building subpoenaed Trump ally Roger Stone on Monday, and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said that it appeared the committee was zeroing in on "Stop the Steal" organizers.
Appearing on CNN, McCabe broke down why he thought it was so significant that both Stone and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones were summoned by the committee.
"I think they could be right at the red-hot center of it," McCabe said. "The committee has kind of telegraphed what they are thinking with each round of subpoenas that we see coming out. And for my money, what seems clear is they are focused intently not on, specifically, the mayhem of the insurrection on January 6th, but on the days leading up to January 6th. They are trying to get to who was at the center of planning this activity."
McCabe went on to say that the committee appeared to be looking at who spent money to bring Trump supporters to Washington D.C. and whether they coordinated with the Trump White House.
Most importantly, said McCabe, they need to answer "the ultimate question," which is, "Was the violence part of the plan?"
Watch the video below:
-
FBI arrests Capitol rioter who pepper-sprayed cops and then left for basic training in the Air Force
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28023673&width=800&height=450)
A Trump supporter who allegedly sprayed police with pepper spray and damaged property at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 before leaving for basic training in the U.S. Air Force has been arrested by the FBI, HuffPost reports.
"At the time, BILYARD was attending basic training for the United States Air Force but has since separated from the Air Force and moved back home to Cary, North Carolina," an FBI special agent wrote in an affidavit unsealed Tuesday.
Aiden Bilyard, who was arrested in Raleigh, North Carolina, has been charged with felony civil disorder, assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon, destruction of government property, entering and remaining in a restricted building with a deadly or dangerous weapon, disorderly conduct with a deadly or dangerous weapon, as well as other misdemeanors.
Online sleuths and the FBI relied on public Facebook posts by Bilyard's mother that showed him wearing the same Harvard sweatshirt he wore to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/aiden-bilyard-capitol-riot-air-force_n_619d3479e4b044a1cc0dc38c
-
Older brother of MAGA rioter from posh Chicago suburb gets indicted with him five months later
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-rioter-from-posh-chicago-suburb-promises-judge-he-ll-obey-his-mom-at-family-s-mansion.jpg?id=28023006&width=980&height=551)
A 27-year-old man from a wealthy suburb of Chicago has joined his younger brother as a defendant in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Mark Kulas Jr., 27, of Lake Forest, was charged in a criminal information made public Monday in U.S. District Court in Washington with one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct on the grounds of a government building," the Chicago Tribune reported.
"He was charged five months after his brother, Christian Kulas, 24, was hit with similar counts alleging he posted video of himself on Instagram storming the Capitol building during the Jan. 6 siege while wearing a designer coat and pro-Trump hat.
"Both Mark and Christian Kulas are scheduled to plead guilty Dec. 6 before U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan, records show. The charge they're facing carries a maximum sentence of a year in prison."
As reported at Raw Story June 8, Christian Kulas was most notable for the promises he made to a judge related to his release pending disposition of his case:
"Kulas' mother agreed to be responsible for her son returning for upcoming court appearances.
"Yes, I understand I must listen to everything my mother says your honor," Christian Kulas told the judge during a hearing conducted by phone Tuesday.
"Attorneys indicated Kulas would be staying at his parents' home in Kenilworth. Public records indicate it is $4.5 million mansion that sits on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan. His father agreed to remove two guns from the premises.
Christian Kulas' designer fashion statement at the riot was quite distinctive, as we reported:
"The individual depicted in the video is laughing. The individual is wearing a dark baseball type hat with "KEEP AMERICA GREAT" in bright orange letters on the hat. The individual was also wearing a dark coat with a Burberry print around the hood of the coat."
The specific charges against Mark Kulas were not spelled out in the charges made public Monday, the Tribune reported. Here's more from the newspaper:
"The Kulases are sons to the wealthy owner of a North Shore maid service, Kulas Maids, and attended Lake Forest High School. The FBI began receiving tips about Kulas' participation three days after the attack, according to the complaint. An informant who went to middle school and high school with Kulas later identified him from the videos and said it was his voice talking about storming the Capitol.
"Zana Weismantel, 22, who said she went to high school with Christian, was one of many people to identify and condemn Kulas on their social media accounts soon after the siege took place. She told the Tribune in June he became the talk of the town once his name and photo hit the internet.
"I do know that a lot of people were fully aware," she said. 'It's a small town. It traveled really quickly.'"
https://www.rawstory.com/older-brother-of-maga-rioter-from-posh-chicago-suburb-gets-indicted-with-him-five-months-later/
-
Jan 6 committee subpoenas Oath Keepers and Proud Boys
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/proud-boys-leader-and-former-fbi-informant-now-calls-the-fbi-the-enemy-of-the-people.jpg?id=28023439&width=980&height=551)
The House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol released another round of subpoenas Tuesday.
According to the request, the committee is calling on Proud Boys International, L.L.C., Henry "Enrique" Tarrio, the Oath Keepers, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, and Robert Patrick Lewis/1st Amendment Praetorian to hand over documents related to the Jan. 6 attack.
According to the committee, they'll be seeking information because they believe "the individuals and organizations we subpoenaed today have relevant information about how violence erupted at the Capitol and the preparation leading up to this violent attack. The Select Committee is moving swiftly to uncover the facts of what happened on that day and we expect every witness to comply with the law and cooperate so we can get answers to the American people."
The committee explained that the Proud Boys called for violence leading into the attack and at least 34 of their members have already been indicted by the Justice Department
"Many individuals associated with the Proud Boys repeatedly spread the former President's unsupported claim that the 2020 election was stolen and suggested the use of force against police officers and government officials," the release said.
Tarrio, the former Proud Boys chair, was blocked from coming into Washington, D.C., however, the committee explained that he too helped his organization plot the events.
The Oath Keepers group was also involved with 18 members indicted by a federal grand jury for "planning a coordinated attack to storm the Capitol, including by traveling to Washington, D.C., with paramilitary gear and supplies," said the release.
Oath Keepers president Elmer Stewart Rhodes suggested this group should "engage in violence to ensure their preferred election outcome," the committee explained.
The 1st Amendment Praetorian claims to be an organization that provided security at 2020 election protest rallies. The group's Twitter account suggested that violence was imminent in a message sent on Jan. 4.
The chair of the group, Robert Patrick Lewis, tweeted Jan. 6 tweeted: "Today is the day that true battles begin."
After the attack on the Capitol, Lewis claimed he was involved in "war-games" to continue the efforts to overthrow the government.
Read the full statement:
SELECT COMMITTEE SUBPOENAS GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS LINKED TO VIOLENT ATTACK ON THE CAPITOL ON JANUARY 6TH
Nov 23, 2021
Bolton, MS—Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) today announced that the Select Committee has issued five subpoenas as a part of its investigation into the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and its causes. The committee is demanding information from groups involved in violence both leading up to and on January 6th and testimony and records from individuals who may have information about the attack.
Chairman Thompson issued the following statement:
“The Select Committee is seeking information from individuals and organizations reportedly involved with planning the attack, with the violent mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6th, or with efforts to overturn the results of the election. We believe the individuals and organizations we subpoenaed today have relevant information about how violence erupted at the Capitol and the preparation leading up to this violent attack. The Select Committee is moving swiftly to uncover the facts of what happened on that day and we expect every witness to comply with the law and cooperate so we can get answers to the American people.”
The Select Committee issued subpoenas for records and testimony from three organizations and a number of associated individuals.
Members of Proud Boys International, L.L.C., called for violence leading up to January 6th, and at least 34 individuals affiliated with the Proud Boys have been indicted by the Department of Justice in relation to the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Many individuals associated with the Proud Boys repeatedly spread the former President’s unsupported claim that the 2020 election was stolen and suggested the use of force against police officers and government officials. Henry “Enrique” Tarrio was Chairman of the Proud Boys during the January 6th attack on the Capitol. Though Mr. Tarrio was prevented from entering Washington, D.C., on January 6th, he was allegedly involved in the Proud Boys’ preparation for the events at the Capitol.
Individuals associated with the Oath Keepers organization were similarly involved in planning and participating in the violent attack on the Capitol on January 6th. Eighteen members of the Oath Keepers were indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly planning a coordinated attack to storm the Capitol, including by traveling to Washington, D.C., with paramilitary gear and supplies. Elmer Stewart Rhodes is President of the Oath Keepers. Prior to January 6th, Mr. Rhodes repeatedly suggested the Oath Keepers should engage in violence to ensure their preferred election outcome. On January 6th, Mr. Rhodes was allegedly in contact with several of the indicted Oath Keepers members before, during, and after the Capitol attack, including meeting some of them outside the Capitol.
1st Amendment Praetorian is an organization that provided security at multiple rallies leading up to January 6th that amplified the former President’s unsupported claim that the election was stolen. On January 4th, the 1st Amendment Praetorian Twitter account suggested that violence was imminent. Robert Patrick Lewis, Chairman of 1st Amendment Praetorian, was listed as a speaker on the permit for the January 5th rally on Freedom Plaza. On January 6th, Mr. Lewis tweeted: “Today is the day that true battles begin.” The day after, Mr. Lewis claimed that he was involved in “war-gaming” to continue efforts to overturn the election results.
The letters to the witnesses can be found here:
Proud Boys International, L.L.C.
Henry “Enrique” Tarrio
Oath Keepers
Elmer Stewart Rhodes
Robert Patrick Lewis/1st Amendment Praetorian
https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases/select-committee-subpoenas-groups-and-individuals-linked-violent-attack-capitol
-
Eric Trump and Lara Trump reportedly used burner phones to communicate with January 6th organizers, meaning they didn’t want the planning to be traced back to them. That's something you do in a criminal plot. The 1/6 committee will certainly subpoena them under threat of criminal indictment.
Jan. 6 Organizers Used Anonymous ‘Burner Phones’ to Communicate with White House and Trump Family, Sources Say
A key planner of the Jan. 6 rally near the White House insisted the burner phones be purchased with cash, a source says
Some of the organizers who planned the rally that took place on the White House Ellipse on Jan. 6 allegedly used difficult to trace burner phones for their most “high level” communications with former President Trump’s team.
Kylie Kremer, a top official in the “March for Trump” group that helped plan the Ellipse rally, directed an aide to pick up three burner phones days before Jan. 6, according to three sources who were involved in the event. One of the sources, a member of the “March for Trump” team, says Kremer insisted the phones be purchased using cash and described this as being “of the utmost importance.”
The three sources said Kylie Kremer took one of the phones and used it to communicate with top White House and Trump campaign officials, including Eric Trump, the president’s second-oldest son, who leads the family’s real-estate business; Lara Trump, Eric’s wife and a former senior Trump campaign consultant; Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff; and Katrina Pierson, a Trump surrogate and campaign consultant.
The member said a second phone was given to Amy Kremer, Kylie Kremer’s mother and another key rally organizer. The team member said they did not know who the third phone was purchased for.
“That was when the planning for the event on the Ellipse was happening, she needed burner phones in order to communicate with high level people is how she put it,” the March For Trump team member tells Rolling Stone, referencing Kylie Kremer.
Kylie and Amy Kremer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on record.
According to the three sources, some of the most crucial planning conversations between top rally organizers and Trump’s inner circle took place on those burner phones. “They were planning all kinds of stuff, marches and rallies. Any conversation she had with the White House or Trump family took place on those phones,” the team member said of Kylie Kremer.
Spokespeople for President Trump and Meadows also did not respond to a request for comment. Eric Trump, Lara Trump, and Pierson did not respond to requests for comment.
Burner phones — cheap, prepaid cells designed for temporary usage — do not require users to have an account. This makes them hard to trace and ideal for those who are seeking anonymity — particularly if they are purchased with cash. The use of burner phones could make it more difficult for congressional investigators to find evidence of coordination between Trump’s team and rally planners.
The House select committee on the January 6 attack has been examining what role Trump and his allies played in what the committee has described as “efforts to subvert the rule of law, overturn the results of the November 3, 2020 election, or otherwise impede the peaceful transfer of power.” As part of that effort, the committee has subpoenaed documents from the Kremers, other “March For Trump” organizers, rally planners, and top Trump advisers including members of his White House staff and campaign team. The committee has received “thousands of pages of records” and, according to an attorney familiar with the investigation, that includes “tons” of group text conversations. (The committee declined to comment.) Rolling Stone reviewed group texts from the rally planners that show the Kremers claiming they worked with the White House Trump’s team to plan the Ellipse event.
Kylie and Amy Kremer helped lead the nationwide “March For Trump” bus tour where speakers promoted false conspiracy theories about last November’s election and called for the results to be overturned. That tour culminated on January 6, with the large “Save America” rally on the White House Ellipse, which took place as Trump’s loss was being certified at the U.S. Capitol. The Kremers also lead an organization called “Women for America First,” which obtained the permit for the Ellipse rally.
Trump spoke at the Ellipse rally on January 6 and said they should “walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” to the Capitol which is located about 1.5 miles away from the Ellipse. In his remarks, the former president told the crowd to both “fight like hell” and to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” As the speech concluded, crowds of Trump supporters breached barricades at the Capitol complex. Some supporters proceeded to break into the building and spend hours attacking Capitol police and threatening violence against lawmakers, an attack that delayed the certification of President Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
There was no evidence the Kremers and the other rally organizers encouraged or planned violence in the group text messages reviewed by Rolling Stone. However, critics have argued Trump and the leaders who encouraged thousands of his supporters to come to Washington as the vote was certified deserve some blame for the violence because of their pre-Jan. 6 rhetoric and the fiery content of the former president’s speech at the Ellipse rally.
The three sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation into the January 6 Capitol attack, say Kylie asked the aide to buy the three “burner phones” as the group passed through Palm Springs, California about a week before the Ellipse event. Based on the group’s website, which has since been deleted, the tour began on December 27, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada before moving on to California.
There could still be some evidence of direct communications between Kylie Kremer and the White House in more traditional phone records. The team member says that there were rare exceptions in which Kylie Kremer used her regular phone to communicate with Trump officials. “She talked with Mark Meadows on her personal phone once, but mainly on the burner phone,” the team member says.
The sources who spoke to Rolling Stone about the phones also describe an incident that occurred around last Christmastime as the “March For Trump” bus tour kicked off in Las Vegas — just before the phones were allegedly purchased. According to the sources, the group stayed at the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, which is co-owned and managed by the former president’s real estate company. The team member said the group hoped to park their bus, which was emblazoned with logos, a picture of Trump, and a message declaring “PROTECT ELECTION INTEGRITY” in front of the hotel. However, the team member said hotel management initially declined due to political sensitivities and a lack of space in front of the building.
“The hotel manager said, ‘There’s no way in hell you can have that here unless you can have a member of the Trump family on the phone,’” the team member recalls.
Photos reviewed by Rolling Stone showed the bus parked prominently in front of the hotel’s main entrance. According to the team member, it was able to park because of calls from the Kremers to the Trump family.
“Amy and Kylie,” the team member says, “got Eric and Lara on the phone right away.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jan-6-rally-organizers-trump-white-house-1262122/
-
GOP's 'domestic army': How Michigan Republicans allied with paramilitary extremists and paved the way for insurrection
https://www.rawstory.com/michigan-gop/
-
How Charlottesville set the stage for Jan. 6 -- and helped launch some of the biggest players in the Capitol riot
Days after neo-Nazi James Fields Jr. murdered antiracist activist Heather Heyer in a horrific car-ramming attack in Charlottesville, Va., the Daily Caller, a website founded by Tucker Carlson, quietly removed articles by contributor Jason Kessler.
Kessler was the primary organizer of the Unite the Right rally, which saw neo-Nazis chant, "Jews will not replace us," as they carried torches to the Rotunda at the University of Virginia on Aug. 11, 2017 and again the following day as they marched through Charlottesville.
More than four years later, the ideas that galvanized the Unite the Right rally are no longer considered too radioactive for mainstream conservative media. Carlson himself embraced the Great Replacement theory — responsible for fueling massacres in Pittsburgh; Christchurch, New Zealand; Poway, Calif.; and El Paso, Texas — on his Fox News show in April 2021. He accused Democrats of "trying to replace the current electorate" in the United States "with new people, more obedient voters from the Third World."
There are distinct differences in messaging between Unite the Right, in which white supremacists used Confederate symbols and neo-Nazi aesthetics to nakedly promote white nationalism, and the Jan. 6 insurrection, in which Trump supporters filtered similar aims through QAnon, paranoid anticommunism, and a perverted version of patriotism.
Amy Spitalnick, executive director of Integrity First for America — the nonprofit that won the civil lawsuit against the organizers of Unite the Right — is among those who see distinct similarities between the two events.
"The four years in between have shown us how much of this extremism has moved into the mainstream," she said. "If you look at the tools and tactics, there are many, many parallels, from the use of social media to plan the violence to explicit discussion of the use of free speech instruments like flagpoles as weapons, to the immediate finger-pointing to 'antifa, blaming them for the violence that far-right extremists were responsible for to even some of the ideology.
"While Charlottesville was explicitly white nationalist with holocaust imagery, and with KKK and Nazi paraphernalia like the tiki torches that are meant to evoke dark periods of our history, on January 6th when you think about 'stopping the steal,' it also speaks at its core to this same idea: There's a plot to steal the country from largely white Christians," Spitalnick continued. "That idea that Jews will not replace us is at the core of Unite the Right, but it's also at the core of Jan. 6. We've seen how these ideas have been mainstreamed, from Tucker Carlson giving replacement theory a home on Fox News every night to Republican politicians talking about it."
The two dozen leaders and organizations that were in trial earlier this month in Charlottesville have not been the primary drivers of far-right radicalization over the past four years. While the defendants who were the central organizers of Unite the Right have been financially hobbled by ongoing litigation, some of those who attended the rally played important roles in organizing support for the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Nicholas Fuentes, who attended the rally as an 18-year-old Boston University student, gushed on Facebook on Aug. 12, 2017: "The rootless transnational elite knows that a tidal wave of white identity is coming. And they know that once the word gets outs, they will not be able to stop us. The fire rises!"
More than three years later, Fuentes was recruited to bring the legion of young, white men known — known as "Groypers" — that follow him into the #StopTheSteal coalition. Introduced by #StopTheSteal organizer Ali Alexander, Fuentes ascended a stepladder and addressed Trump supporters outside of the Georgia State Capitol in Atlanta on Nov. 21, 2020.
"This is an intergenerational struggle of the real American people that constitute this country over and against the global special interests that have taken it over," Fuentes said, electrifying the crowd. "If we are unsuccessful in our struggle to secure President Trump another term in office, then that will institute and introduce the rule of global corporations over this country.
"What is at stake is nothing short of our civilizational inheritance," Fuentes continued, using language strikingly similar to that of Richard Spencer, the marquee leader at Unite the Right. "We Americans have inherited the greatest civilization in the history of the world, and we're not giving it up without a fight." Launching into a transphobic rant accusing global elites of harboring "sick plans" for Americans, Fuentes then falsely equated immigration with criminality, claiming that the globalists "want dirt and scum and crime on these streets." He declared: "This is not a Third World country; this is the United States of America!"
The Proud Boys, which also emerged from the alt-right movement that rode Trump's coattails, are likewise intertwined with the organizing efforts surrounding Unite the Right, though they evaded legal liability in Charlottesville.
As well as being a contributor to the Daily Caller, Kessler was also member of the Proud Boys. As the complaint in the civil suit noted, prior to Unite the Right, Kessler organized a "Proud Boys" event in Charlottesville in which he was initiated into the gang by being beaten in an alley until he could name five breakfast cereals. The plaintiffs introduced into evidence an article published by defendant organization Traditionalist Worker Party entitled, "Proud Boys are Cordially Invited to Unite the Right."
But shortly before Unite the Right, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnis publicly disavowed the event. Many Proud Boys, including future national chairman Enrique Tarrio, attended anyway. Shane Reeves, a Proud Boy from Colorado posted a photo of himself on Facebook providing a security escort for Augustus Sol Invictus at Unite the Right. Invictus led the short-lived Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights, formed as the "tactical defense arm" of the Proud Boys. Both Invictus and Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knight were defendants in the Charlottesville lawsuit. Although they did not show up in court to represent themselves during the trial, the plaintiffs are seeking a default judgement against them.
"It is still an overwhelming experience to process, and the men I met that day I consider brothers for life," Reeves wrote in the Facebook post.
As other far-right groups dealt with the legal fallout and public-relations backlash after Unite the Right, over the ensuing four years the Proud Boys would engage in escalating street violence against left-wing adversaries, build ties with the GOP, and supply foot soldiers to the effort to prevent Joe Biden from taking office. Dozens of Proud Boys face federal charges in connection with the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
"The clearest winners from Unite the Right were the Proud Boys," said Alexander Reid Ross, a doctoral fellow at the Center for Analysis of the Radical Right. "They backed out. There's a part of the alt-right within the Unite the Right coalition that was able to bring that legacy further into fascism. That was the Proud Boys.
"McInnis recognized astutely in a sense that with the National Socialist Movement getting involved, it was going to be a debacle," Ross continued. "It was always going to be associated with the Nazi movement, and not just the broad right wing. He disassociated at the last minute. But the Proud Boys are interwoven with Unite the Right. Tarrio was there, as well as the Fraternal Order of the Alt-Knights."
At least one person who attended Unite the Right has also been charged in connection with the storming of the US Capitol: Tim Gionet aka Baked Alaska.
The plaintiffs introduced evidence showing a text message between Kessler and Gionet, who is prominent far-right live-streamer.
On. Aug. 8, 2017, Gionet tweeted a photo of himself pointing a pistol at a camera, accompanied by the misogynistic text: "Get in b*** we are saving the world." On Jan. 6, 2021, Gionet live-streamed himself inside a Capitol office saying, "America First is inevitable. F*** globalists, let's go."
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who serves on the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, is among those who have drawn a tight connection between that event and Unite the Right.
"The events in Charlottesville in 2017 were a nightmare and a precursor and a foreshadowing of everything that would unfold over the next four years, culminating in the violent insurrection against the union on January 6th, the attack on our US Capitol," Raskin said during an online fundraiser for Integrity First for America on Sept. 30.
The most horrific aspect of Unite the Right — James Fields' deadly car attack — has unfortunately become a common feature in white vigilante response to antiracist protests.
As the civil complaint detailed, the tactic was already gaining mainstream acceptance prior to August 2017. In January 2017, Fox News' opinion website tweeted out a video entitled "Reel of Cars Plowing Through Protestors Trying to Block the Road" that had originally appeared on the Daily Caller.
"One thought that perhaps the car attack in Charlottesville would diminish that strategy, and the Daily Caller deleted the post," Ross said. But in 2020, there was an unprecedented number of car attacks — 129 since the beginning of the George Floyd protests in May 2020, and an additional five since the beginning of 2021.
"The Charlottesville car attack is a propaganda of the deed," Ross said. "It publicized the act; people see it as possible and sort of proliferate it."
While Biden's election marks a victory for progressives, many observers continue to see far-right politics making inroads in American politics. Ross said that in the aftermath of Unite the Right, the Proud Boys were perfectly positioned to push forward the process of fascism.
"Their mission is to restore Western civilization to the seat of power culturally," he said. "Their approach to doing it is a performance: If they can beat up enough of the people who disagree with them, they show can they're superior and spread the myth of the crusading knights of Western civilization. It's kind of like what the Klan did. They're more inclusive than the Klan; they don't exclude Catholics. But the underpinning of their ideology is white nationalist."
Whatever the seeds of right-wing radicalization, there's little doubt that extremism has taken a tighter hold since Unite the Right.
"I think people are sleeping on the idea that there's a wide swath of America that is radicalized," said Shawn Breen, an independent researcher who has tracked many of the participating groups since before and after Unite the Right rally. "Not necessarily due to these groups. They've been radicalized by proxy, by Trump and the GOP. People that weren't receptive to these groups then would be a lot more receptive now."
In a number of respects, the GOP base and what was known as the alt-right in 2017 have arrived at the same place.
"I think you can watch Tucker Carlson, and see many of the alt-right's positions put plain and simple," Ross said. "He goes off on the Great Replacement. He says white Americans are being replaced by immigrants. He specifies white conservative Americans being replaced by immigrants."
Another point of convergence is admiration for Hungary.
Mike Peinovich, who was dismissed as one of the original defendants in the Charlottesville lawsuit, went on to co-found the National Justice Party, which is modeled after the ruling Fidesz party in Hungary. And in August, Carlson traveled to Hungary to meet the country's authoritarian leader, Viktor Orban.
"The positioning of Hungary as an international center for conservatism — that is deeply disturbing," Ross said. "This is a deeply authoritarian situation in Hungary. It's admired for sure by the alt-right today with the National Justice Party. You can see the alt-right and the Republican Party reconverging over the dual exigency of illiberal populism."
So far, at least, Ross said, Carlson has refrained from explicit antisemitism.
"Tucker Carlson will simply use liberals as a stand-in for the role played by the Jews," Ross said. "He talks about [liberal financier George] Soros a lot. He promotes conspiracy theories, but he doesn't make those the obvious center of his politics; it's more obscure. That might be changing. We've seen in the US an increase in attacks on Jews. We've seen major sports stars and comedians come out with antisemitic extremism. I think we're witnessing a frightening increase in antisemitism in the mainstream of the United States. I think they're preparing the ground for openly antisemitic populism."
In her closing remarks during the Sept. 30 fundraiser, Spitalnick said the goal of the lawsuit against the neo-Nazis who organized the Unite the Right rally was multifaceted.
"This case is about making clear the consequences of violent hate, about winning accountability for our plaintiffs, who survived the unthinkable; for the community of Charlottesville, which was violently targeted by the extremists who descended on their city from around the country," she said. "It's about setting a precedent serving as an example of how you can bring violent extremists to justice, and deterring others from participating in the next violent act."
But Spitalnick wanted to make sure the last point didn't get overlooked.
"And it's about helping to wake up our country to the crisis of white supremacy and hate," she said.
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-charlottesville/
-
Capitol riot organizers' body-cam footage may come back to haunt them: reporter
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-gop-has-lost-its-mind-republicans-fleeing-the-party-after-capitol-insurrection.jpg?id=28112477&width=980&height=551)
Appearing on MSNBC Saturday afternoon with host Alex Witt, Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell revealed that the House select committee that recently subpoenaed organizers of the January 6th protest that turned into a riot have every intention of demanding new video taken by the insurrectionists -- many of whom were wearing body cams.
According to Lowell, the recent round of subpoenas handed out to Roger Stone and members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys could turn up more valuable information about the events of the day.
"What do investigators want to know from these groups? What kind of information could they provide?" host Witt asked.
"Well, the January 6th committee, as you know, is trying to see if there was a connection between the [Donald] Trump White House, possibly Trump himself, and the attack on the Capitol," the journalist explained. "And, of course, the people that attacked the Capitol were led by these paramilitary groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, and if you look into the subpoenas that were issued, I think Tuesday, you see kind of what the committee is trying to get at."
"They want the documents, they want testimony as usual," he elaborated. "They're also looking for body cam footage. These guys wore body cams everywhere. If there were incriminating conversations or meetings, then the committee wants to get ahold of that as well."
"That makes sense," Witt replied. "What about the subpoenas that were issued to five political operatives that were associated with Trump; the most notable is Roger Stone, Alex Jones as well. What does that tell you about the direction of the investigation and the kinds of questions they could answer, and what do you think the odds are, Hugo, that they actually cooperate?"
'Well, I think these subpoenas are really interesting," he replied. "If you look at the subpoena for these two guys, like Roger Stone, Alex Jones, what becomes clear is that the committee has noted that these two guys, huge figures in Trump world were invited to speak at the rally before the January 6th attack, and they were also invited to lead the march from the rally to the Capitol, but curiously, they didn't attend either."
"I think the fact that chairman Bennie Thompson mentioned this in the letter shows where the committee is going with this, and they want to know did these guys, you know, who are connected to the people -- that are connected to Trump world operatives, possibly even to president Trump himself, did they have advance knowledge of what might go down at the capitol and was that the reason why they didn't participate? I think this is the central question," he explained.
Watch below:
-
Key Jan. 6 organizer to comply with Capitol riot subpoena: 'I don't want to go to jail'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=28113270&width=800&height=450)
Jan. 6 organizer Ali Alexander, who calls himself the "founder" of former president Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" movement, announced Saturday that he will comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
"You may have missed the news that I've been subpoenaed by the the Democrats' partisan Jan. 6 committee," Alexander said in a video posted to the right-wing social-media platform Telegram. "This is a midterm issue that they want to run on, and what they want to do is paint me as the black face for a white supremacy movement that doesn't actually exist."
Speaking in front of a poster of singer Johnny Cash flashing the middle finger, Alexander added that he respects his "fellow patriots" who are defying the committee, but called it "an expensive right" — claiming that it would cost between $250,000 and $500,000 to fight the subpoena.
"I frankly don't have that money to spend on legal bills, so for this unselect committee, I will actually be privately deposed in December," Alexander said. "I've asked to make it public testimony. They won't cooperate with that request."
"The only reason I'm going is that I don't want to go to jail," he added. "So under the threat of imprisonment and spending tens and tens and tens of thousands of dollars on lawyers, I will be privately deposed before this committee in December, and I will make public whatever I can."
In a post accompanying the video, Alexander wrote that he plans to submit to the committee "photographic and video evidence of agitators sabotaging his January 6th peaceful protests."
Referring to himself in the third person, Alexander wrote: "He will also present evidence to the Committee that President Trump was betrayed by someone in his inner circle. Someone made the decision to take instructions for patriots out of the Ellipse Rally. Ali says he's not backing down and the Democrat Committee has already threatened to imprison him."
Watch below:
-
Editorial: It's long past time for the Senate ethics panel to address Hawley's Jan. 6 actions
Ten months after a group of Senate Democrats lodged ethics complaints into the conduct of Republican Sens. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas regarding their roles in sparking the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the Senate Ethics Committee has shown no sign of movement. Both senators tell Politico they haven’t even been contacted by the committee.
The House recently moved with appropriate speed to censure Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Arizona, for promoting a cartoon fantasy in which his character kills a fellow member of Congress.
Jan. 6 wasn’t a fantasy; it was real, and the culpability of these two senators must be determined.
Hawley and Cruz were the only two senators to object to certification of Joe Biden’s clear victory in the 2020 election results, citing (with zero evidence) supposed concerns about the election’s integrity. That was the same baseless, toxic nonsense then-President Donald Trump had been spewing since before the election. Such talk whipped up the mob of Trump loyalists to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Hawley was the first senator to object to certification, which is the only reason there had to be a floor vote on the issue. That vote provided the rallying point for the mob. Without that, the attack might not have even happened.
More than a dozen Republican senators initially said they would join Hawley in voting against certification. But after the mob attacked, most of them realized the damage the charade had done to the country and backed off, voting to certify an election in which — again — there wasn’t a single valid indication of significant irregularities. But not Hawley. Even after the violence, he persisted in voting with just five other senators to continue promoting Trump’s big lie that Biden’s win was illegitimate.
Hawley even had the nerve to give a glowering Senate floor speech later that night condemning the violence — an arsonist standing among the ashes. If he had an ounce of honor, he’d have heeded our Jan. 7 call for his resignation (we certainly weren’t alone on that). But at this point, why even talk about honor?
Hawley, of course, now claims victimhood, alleging the ethics complaint would punish him for exercising his official power to object to election results. But the complaint, filed in late January, specifically cites the Code of Ethics for Government Service, which requires that elected officials put “loyalty to the highest moral principles and to country above loyalty to persons, party, or Government department.” Just because there’s a mechanism in place allowing senators to object to election results doesn’t mean it’s OK for Hawley to abuse that process for crass political gain.
Hawley and Cruz have the right to defend themselves from the allegations — but so far, they haven’t even had to. The Ethics Committee should stop sitting on this.
https://www.stltoday.com/opinion/editorial/editorial-its-long-past-time-for-the-senate-ethics-panel-to-address-hawleys-jan-6/article_3ca27f48-21fa-5eca-ab0f-3856bb9b5c79.html
-
Lauren Boebert needs to be subpoenaed to explain her 'violent revolution' Jan 6th tweets: MSNBC contributor
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/lauren-boebert.jpg?id=28121296&width=726&height=450)
During an MSNBC "The Sunday Show" panel on the chaos being created by far-right Republican Party lawmakers, SiriusXM radio host and political commentator Dean Obeidallah suggested it is about time the House committee investigating the Jan. 6th Capitol riot to subpoena Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and grill her over her suspicious tweets she made that day.
With host Jonathan Capehart wondering who is next to be subpoenaed, Obeidallah immediately mentioned the controversial Boebert who is currently under fire for inflammatory comments she made about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
"I think you're going to see some," the radio host began. "I think it's really important that the DOJ has indicted Steve Bannon. It sends a very clear message we're not playing games. This is a congressional subpoena and you're going to go to jail potentially if you don't comply with it."
"I hope Congress will consider subpoenaing Lauren Boebart," he continued before quoting one tweet from the Republican on Jan 6th that stated, "Today is 1776."
"1776, that's code for violent revolution to overthrow the government so Trump can stay in power," he explained. "I hope that Congress doesn't stop with just some of the Proud Boys which they are subpoenaing and the Oath Keepers. But Lauren Boebart, she tweeted 'Today is 1776' when she knew that was code for violent revolution for those on the right. I want that answer."
Watch below:
-
'This is not going well for Bannon': MSNBC legal analyst says Trump ally on track for stinging defeat
Former Solicitor General Neal Katyal explained that Trump ally Steve Bannon is going to be highly unsuccessful in his efforts to beat criminal contempt charges.
In a Sunday filing by the Justice Department, prosecutors said Bannon's attorney, Evan Corcoran, refused their attempts to negotiate on some kind of agreement. According to the 10-page filing, the prosecutors alleged Bannon's lawyers were using their filing as a press release instead of a legal filing.
"The prosecutors called Steve Bannon's filing frivolous, so Bannon claimed that he wanted to make certain documents public and the Justice Department wasn't letting him," said Katyal. "And the Justice Department's response today was to call it frivolous and basically say, 'Oh, no, you didn't!' They point out that Bannon never even asked the Justice Department to try and make these documents public, and so this dispute is not going to go well for Bannon. Judges don't like it when parties can't work out stuff among themselves... and that's particularly true here, given Bannon's specific claim."
At its heart, Katyal said that Bannon is complaining that he can't publicly discuss certain documents.
"I have a very easy suggestion for him if he's worried about that: Testify," he continued. "This guy is afraid to go and tell the truth about what happened under oath, and that's what all of these legal skirmishes are about. That's the part that's frivolous. So, I think he's going to lose these claims and it's going to embolden the House investigators."
See the full conversation below:
-
Jan 6 committee to vote on a criminal referral of Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol has announced it will vote on holding Trump-era Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark.
"According to a report released last week by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, there is credible evidence that, while serving as an official at the Department of Justice, Mr. Clark was involved in efforts to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Mr. Clark proposed delivery of a letter to state legislators in Georgia and others encouraging to delay certification of election results. Moreover, he recommended holding a press conference announcing that the Department was investigating allegations of voter fraud despite the lack of evidence that such fraud was present. Both proposals were rejected by Department senior leadership for lacking a factual basis and being inconsistent with the Department’s institutional role," the committee announced on October 13.
https://www.rawstory.com/jeffrey-clrk/
-
Jan 6 committee has interviewed over 250 people: Congressman
Rep. Pet Aguilar (D-CA) revealed that over 250 witnesses were interviewed, so far, by the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
Speaking to MSNBC's Rachel Maddow on Monday, Aguilar explained that people like Steve Bannon, Jeffrey Clark, and former Donald Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows are outliers in those willing to come forward and speak to the committee.
"We've said all along we want to tell the full and complete story, and in order to do that we're going to need documents and interviews," said Aguilar. "So, clearly that is what's helpful about the document requests and national archives request. We're pleased with the timeline the court is addressing this, and Doug Letter and the team here will be arguing that before the Court of Appeals tomorrow. So, we're excited to move to that next step, but it's helpful and important to the work that we need to have those documents."
Maddow asked about those few members of the Trump inner circle who have refused to testify and what the next steps will be for those people.
"Mr. Clark is in a small group that has continued to stonewall us," Aguilar said of the former Justice Department deputy who penned a kind of guide to justify Vice President Mike Pence refusing to certify the 2020 election. "He has not produced any documents. He came to the deposition but refused to answer questions and exerted both executive privilege and attorney-client privilege, which is a little confusing. And so we're going to proceed, and so that's what the business committee meeting on Wednesday evening will be about is referral of the criminal contempt. We feel that he has shown just an unwillingness to come forward and to testify, and we feel that over 250 people have come before us and given -- submitted interviews and this should be no different, including his two superiors at the time, acting Attorney General [Jeff] Rosen and Deputy Attorney General [Richard] Donahue, so we've received a lot of information."
He went on to note that the Senate Judiciary Committee report detailed Clark's attempts to delegitimize the election and that he should be willing to talk to them as well.
See the video below:
-
MAGA rioter who talked of desire to commit 'assassination' hit with conspiracy charges
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/daniel-rodriguez.jpg?id=28129214&width=1778&height=997)
A Capitol rioter who is already facing serious charges for Tasering Capitol Police Officer Michael Fanone was hit with new conspiracy charges on Monday.
As reported by NBC 4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane, federal prosecutors alleged in a superseding indictment unsealed Monday that an unidentified witness has told a grand jury that MAGA rioter Daniel Rodriguez told them that he would "assassinate Joe Biden" if he had the opportunity and would "rather die than live under a Biden administration."
Federal prosecutors go on to accuse Rodriguez and other defendants of engaging in a conspiracy whose goal was to "stop, delay, and hinder Congress's Certification of the Electoral College vote" and then to "corruptly alter, destroy, mutilate, and conceal a record, document, or other object to prevent evidence of their unlawful acts on January 6, 2021 from being used in an official proceeding, that is, the grand jury investigation into the attack of the Capitol on January 6, 2021."
READ MORE: Ex-Trump official warns former colleagues that they're defying the Capitol riot probe at their own peril
Rodriguez was arrested this past spring after being identified as the Capitol rioter who Tasered Michael Fanone.
In an interview with the FBI, Rodriguez claimed that he Tasered Fanone in order to "protect" him from other Capitol rioters whom he claimed would have hurt him even worse.
Read the full indictment here (PDF).
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-conspiracy-charges/
Ex-Trump official warns former colleagues that they're defying the Capitol riot probe at their own peril
Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Monday, former Trump official Miles Taylor warned his one-time colleagues against defying the Capitol riot committee -- and especially singled out former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, whom he said was attempting to use his position at the DOJ to justify a coup d'etat.
"Jeffrey Clark was stirring up the department to turn against the government it was set up to serve," Wallace agreed. "He was plotting a coup and putting together the pieces, including overturning the result of an election. Do you think someone like Clark should be retaining lawyers for other legal issues he may face?"
Taylor said he hoped that Clark was smart enough to hire a top legal team, but what he's seen from most of the former Trump advisers is that they're doubling down on being defiant, even though the Jan. 6 committee has proved that it isn't messing around, he said.
"I mean, they are taking the subjects to the mat and making sure that the law is enforced," said Taylor. "Congress's ability to subpoena someone and interview them is one of its most crucial oversight powers. If that oversight power is undermined, it fundamentally undermines the checks and balances. And whether you are a Democrat or a Republican, you shouldn't want that to be the case. People like Steve Bannon, Mark Meadows, Jeffrey Clark — they are going to pull every legal trick in the book to prevent their cases from going forward. That's their right. Everyone in this country gets due process."
He went on to call for "rational Republicans" willing to fight for America.
Wallace pushed back, saying that she doesn't believe there are many of those left.
"The disinformation has already permeated and rotted to its base from its roots -- the grassroots, literally, of the party, all way to its highest leaders, Kevin McCarthy. I think, if — you talk about decent Republicans, I count two," she said. "Only two! We started with Adam Kinzinger. The right has already predetermined what they are going to do about this."
Taylor agreed, saying that the Republican Party looks like "The Walking Dead" at this point.
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said that she is worried at how slow the Justice Department is going when it comes to people at the highest levels of power who attempted to overturn the election and unmake American democracy simply because they didn't like the result.
"My message to the Department of Justice is 'Get on it!'" she exclaimed. "Do not act like feds here. Act like state prosecutors. Go fast! Do not take the time -- don't give the other side a month to answer a pleading. Go to the judges. We saw this Supreme Court go quickly when they wanted to hear the Texas case."
See the full discussion below:
-
Former top Trump aide Mark Meadows is cooperating with the Jan. 6 committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28135030&width=800&height=450)
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows is cooperating with the committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, CNN reports.
"Mr. Meadows has been engaging with the Select Committee through his attorney," Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said in a statement. "He has produced records to the committee and will soon appear for an initial deposition. The Select Committee expects all witnesses, including Mr. Meadows, to provide all information requested and that the Select Committee is lawfully entitled to receive. The Committee will continue to assess his degree of compliance with our subpoena after the deposition."
Speaking to CNN, Meadow's lawyer George Terwilliger said that Democrats and Republicans have reached an understanding on the exchange of information moving forward.
"As we have from the beginning, we continue to work with the Select Committee and its staff to see if we can reach an accommodation that does not require Mr. Meadows to waive Executive Privilege or to forfeit the long-standing position that senior White House aides cannot be compelled to testify before Congress," Terwilliger said. "We appreciate the Select Committee's openness to receiving voluntary responses on non-privileged topics."
While Meadow's cooperation is welcome news, the extent of his cooperation remains to be seen.
"It's not incorrect to say he has cooperated to some extent, but he hasn't completely fulfilled his obligation and we need to see what happens. But Meadows doesn't want to be held in contempt," a source told CNN.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/30/politics/mark-meadows-january-6-committee/index.html
-
Mark Meadows will testify before Capitol riot committee next week: Liz Cheney
https://www.rawstory.com/mark-meadows-capitol-riot-2655891596/
-
Adam Schiff is 'skeptical' about the newly cooperative Mark Meadows -- here's why
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is skeptical of Mark Meadows' cooperation with the House select committee investigating the U.S. Capitol riot.
The former White House chief of staff spent Jan. 6 alongside Donald Trump as the former president's supporters stormed the Capitol to stop the certification of his election loss, and Schiff told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that Meadows could be a key witness for the bipartisan committee -- if he fully cooperates in good faith.
"He is producing documents, I can't speak to the contents yet," Schiff said. "In terms of whether he is cooperating, time will tell when he comes in to be deposed. We'll find out whether this is a gambit or whether he is serious about cooperating with the committee. We don't know. I have to say, I'm a bit skeptical, given his track record, but we are going to find out very soon."
"We think he has a lot to offer the committee, but I think at this point, it is still too early to tell whether this is a legal strategy to avoid being held in criminal contempt or whether we're seeing the road that Steve Bannon is on," he added. "He made a decision to change course. We'll find out when he comes for the deposition. If he tries to assert privilege over things that are not privileged, it is clearly a legal stratagem. We don't think there is any meritorious claim of privilege here, and we have to decide what to do if he makes assertions."
That includes a referral to the Justice Department for contempt of Congress charges.
"We won't take anything off the table," Schiff said.
-
FBI arrests MAGA rioter who attacked cops with flagpole and wrote about it in his diary
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28144733&width=800&height=450)
A 71-year-old Pennsylvania man has been charged by the Department of Justice with assaulting police officers during the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Like many other MAGA rioters that day, Howard Charles Richardson of King Prussia was captured on video as part of the crowd fighting with law enforcement outside the building. But Richardson was also betrayed by an unusual witness, according to the Feds: His own diary.
The FBI visited Richardson October 25 at his home, according to the criminal complaint against him. Here’s how that went:
‘Agents executed a search warrant for Richardson's residence and person. During the search, agents located two red hats and a black and blue windbreaker with a "Brigantine Beach" logo on the upper left chest, which matches the jacket Richardson is seen wearing (at the riot). Agents also found a day planner that Richardson acknowledged was his. Richardson wrote that he parked at 11:00 a.m., was at the front of the Capitol building at 12: 15 p.m., "gates were breeched" at 1:00 p.m., "moving up to steps" at 1:30-1 :45 p.m., and "got pepper sprayed" at 2:00 p.m. He noted that he "started to leave" the Capitol at 3:30 p.m. (U.S. Capitol surveillance footage in fact shows RICHARDSON, identified by the same blue windbreaker and khaki pants, walking away from the Capitol building at approximately 3: 10 p.m. on January 6.)”
The FBI also cited more conventional video evidence against Richardson, as reported in a DOJ new release:
“Video footage depicts Richardson in a group near the bicycle rack-style barricades outside the Capitol. At approximately 1:38 p.m., carrying a metal flagpole with a blue flag attached, he approached an officer with the Metropolitan Police Department. In the video, Richardson can be heard yelling, “here it comes,” before swiftly approaching the officer’s position and striking the officer with the flagpole three times. He only stopped swinging after the flagpole broke in his hands.”
Richardson is charged with engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, civil disorder, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon, among other charges.
You can read the FBI complaint against Richardson here.
https://www.rawstory.com/fbi-arrests-maga-rioter-who-attacked-cops-with-flagpole-and-wrote-about-it-in-his-diary/
-
Federal judge blasts Trump and his allies for 'stoking the flames of fear' before Capitol riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28143443&width=800&height=450)
This Wednesday, a federal judge said that the individuals behind the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the Capitol riot should be held accountable for stoking "the flames of fear," POLITICO reports.
Although U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson didn't mention former President Donald Trump by name, she said the efforts of Trump's allies stoked "discontent and explicitly encouraged [attendees] to go to the Capitol and fight for one reason and one reason only: to make sure the certification of the election didn’t happen.”
Jackson made her comments as she was sentencing Capitol riot defendant Russell Peterson. As POLITICO points out, Jackson is the latest judge to suggest Trump's influence helped spark the events of Jan. 6.
"No one was swept away to the Capitol. No one was carried,” she said to Peterson. “There may be others who bear greater responsibility and should be held accountable. But this is not their day in court. It’s yours.”
Peterson was sentenced to 30 days in jail and $500 in restitution.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-capitol-riot-2655904572/
-
Trump DOJ official to plead the 5th -- and Capitol riot committee will 'hang it around his neck'
CNN legal analyst Elie Honig on Wednesday told CNN's Erin Burnett that the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots was about to make things very uncomfortable for former Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark.
Even though the committee voted to move forward with criminal contempt charges against Clark on Wednesday, the former Trump official is nonetheless slated to appear before the committee soon, where he is expected to assert his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination.
Burnett pointed out that "it's going to sound damning" if Clark pleads the Fifth on every question at the hearing, and Honig replied that this is exactly why the Capitol riot committee wants to make him do it.
"The committee wants to make Jeffrey Clark own it," he explained. "The want to hang that Fifth Amendment [response] around his neck. Make him said it over and over, 'I take the Fifth, I take the Fifth, I take the Fifth.'"
Honig went on to explain that Clark is well within his rights to assert his Fifth Amendment rights -- but only if he believes that speaking truthfully could implicate him in a crime.
Burnett then played a supercut of all the times former President Donald Trump attacked aides of one-time Democratic rival Hillary Clinton for asserting their Fifth Amendment rights.
Watch the video below:
-
'Big warning signs' for indicted Capitol rioters after a Wednesday court hearing: reporter
On Wednesday, NBC4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane, a leading reporter covering the Capitol riot trials, reported that one of the latest cases portends "big warning signs" for participants in the attack.
"Some big takeaways, perhaps some very big warnings, for U.S. Capitol riot defendants today in an otherwise low-level case," said MacFarlane. "Today was sentencing day for Russell Peterson, his day to ask for leniency. Peterson pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in his case, unlawful picketing at the Capitol. He faced up to six months in jail at sentencing, and he ended up getting one month."
Even though the defendant got just one month in jail, MacFarlane said that the judge's remarks during the hearing were nonetheless an ominous sign.
"The judge says Peterson wrote a letter to the court that seemed genuine, seemed to show remorse, and Peterson said very little during the proceedings, saying only that he's sorry and that this is his cross to bear," MacFarlane explained. "Genuine remorse seems to benefit defendants. And the judge went further and said, 'For a lot of other January 6th defendants, their minds haven't changed, their ways haven't changed, they're not showing remorse.'"
MacFarlane added that, according to his own reporting, "at least 40 January 6th defendants are in the D.C. jail as of tonight in pretrial detention, and according to lawyers and some who've served time there, they're almost cult-like in the January 6th wing, segregated from the rest of the population, and that it's a radicalizing dynamic in that jail, and that minds aren't being changed in that wing."
In other words, he said, these defendants should expect the law to come down much harder on them.
"What's more, the judge said this," added MacFarlane. "Donald Trump and the White House rally may have stoked the mob, may be partly responsible for that mob, but that the defendants are, in her words, 'adults,' and they bear responsibility for what they did that day. Another possible warning for the defendants not to assume Donald Trump will be a get-out-of-jail-free card."
Watch video in link below:
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-hearing-2655906762/
-
MAGA rioter with middle-finger tattoo arrested after girlfriend tags him on Facebook
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=28151921&width=800&height=450)
An accused Capitol rioter who swung a stick at police on Jan. 6 was arrested Thursday after online sleuths tracked him down based partly on the tattoo on his middle finger saying, "F*ck you."
Justin Jersey of Flint, Michigan, who became known as #Fingerman, was shown attacking officers while wearing a University of Michigan sweatshirt in video circulated by the FBI over the summer. At the time, he was listed as No. 106 on the FBI’s Capitol wanted page.
"Jersey was friends with another Capitol riot defendant, Trevor Brown, and Jersey’s girlfriend publicly tagged the two men in a post about Jan. 6 on Facebook," the Huffington Post's Ryan Reilly reports. "Online sleuths found an Instagram image of Jersey that showed what appeared to be a 'FUCK YOU' tattoo on his left middle finger — which can also be spotted in images of him swinging a stick at officers — erasing any doubt about the identification."
Reilly added on Twitter, "Tattoos are the unsung heroes of the Jan. 6 probe, probably followed closely by freckles and moles."
According to the Detroit News, which first reported Jersey's arrest, he is facing six charges, including assault, civil disorder, breaking into a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct, violent entry and engaging in physical violence.
The assault charges are punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison.
"Jersey made a brief appearance Thursday in federal court and is being held without bond pending transfer to federal court in Washington, D.C.," the newspaper reported.
Watch the video of Jersey assaulting officers below:
https://www.rawstory.com/maga-rioter-arrested-2655912624/
-
Pardoned Trump ally will only agree to hand over documents if he can testify publicly to Jan 6 committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/bernie-kerik-photo-kerik-group-wikipedia.jpg?id=28150622&width=800&height=450)
Bernie Kerik, a former New York City police chief and friend to Rudy Giuliani, has agreed to hand over documents to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, but only if they agree to let him testify publicly. The committee wants information about the "command center" that was stationed at the Willard Hotel during the attack, reporter Betsy Woodruff Swan wrote Thursday.
When Kerik was first called his lawyers sent out a letter to the committee saying that he wasn't even there. The problem is that President Donald Trump's campaign gave $225,000 in payments to the firms owned by Kerik and Giuliani. Those funds include more than $50,000 for rooms and suites at the Willard. The committee also cited the book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa, which discusses Giuliani's attendance, but doesn't mention Kerik.
“If you were not personally responsible for this fabrication and false statements, then someone on your staff was and should be held accountable,” the letter continues. “Someone either intentionally fabricated this claim, or someone failed at the simple task of carefully reading the sources before writing a letter claiming that the sources ‘have revealed credible evidence.’”
A week after the statement was released, Kerik said that he will comply with the subpoena, hand over the documents they're seeking and he will testify.
He then gave mixed messages, saying that whatever work Kerik did is covered by lawyer/client privilege because Giuliani's firm was working for the Trump campaign. Kerik, who isn't a lawyer, has his own company, The Kerik Group. If he was paid through that and not through Giuliani he may not have a case to claim lawyer/client privilege.
Kerik was among the pardons that Trump issued before leaving office. He was sentenced to four years in prison, pleading guilty to eight felony charges including tax fraud and lying to White House officials during his failed nomination to be the first Secretary of Homeland Security by George W. Bush.
Read the full report:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/11/23/bernie-kerik-january-6-apology-523259
-
Trump's coup was not defeated and America's democracy crisis is now worsening
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-s-coup-was-not-defeated-and-america-s-democracy-crisis-is-worsening/
-
WATCH: MAGA rioter starts sobbing in front of FBI agents when asked about Trump calling him to DC
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28137575&width=800&height=429)
Newly released video shows an emotional MAGA rioter crying in front of FBI interrogators after being asked about former President Donald Trump calling him to Washington D.C.
The video, which was posted on Twitter by NBC 4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane, shows Capitol rioter Danny Rodriguez being grilled by the FBI about the reasons he came to Washington to take part in the siege of the United States Capitol.
"How did he let you guys know to come to D.C.?" asked one agent.
"He was the commander-in-chief and the leader of our country," an emotional Rodriguez recalled. "And he was calling for help! I thought he was calling for help! I thought he was..."
At this point, Rodriguez started openly sobbing.
"I thought I was doing the right thing," he continued.
Rodriguez is currently facing multiple criminal charges, including conspiracy, assaulting a police officer, entering a restricted building, and theft and destruction of government property.
Watch the video below:
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-crying-video/
-
House probe will hold public hearings in 2022 detailing Jan. 6 Capitol riot and Trump White House response ‘in vivid color,’ Liz Cheney says
The House panel investigating the Capitol riot aims to hold lengthy public hearings next year detailing “in vivid color” the events of Jan. 6, including in former President Donald Trump’s White House.
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney said the select committee aims to conduct “multiple weeks of public hearings” sometime in 2022, a year of crucial midterm elections.
Less than a day earlier, the panel voted to advance contempt proceedings for ex-Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark over his alleged defiance of a subpoena.
The House panel investigating the deadly invasion of the U.S. Capitol aims to hold lengthy public hearings next year detailing “in vivid color” the events of Jan. 6, both at the Capitol and in former President Donald Trump’s White House, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said Thursday.
Cheney, the vice chair of the select committee and one of its two Republican members, said the panel aims to conduct “multiple weeks of public hearings” sometime in 2022, a year of crucial midterm elections where the GOP hopes to retake majority control of at least one chamber of Congress.
Those hearings will lay out “exactly what happened every minute of the day on Jan. 6 here at the Capitol and at the White House and what led to that violent attack,” Cheney said in a House Rules Committee hearing.
Cheney revealed the plans less than a day after the select committee voted to advance contempt proceedings for former Department of Justice official Jeffrey Clark over his alleged defiance of a subpoena for documents and testimony.
The investigators on Wednesday evening unanimously voted for a report recommending that the House hold Clark in contempt. Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said Thursday morning that his panel would not yet rule on that report, because Clark was being given another chance to appear before the investigators on Saturday.
Clark is the second Trump associate to be accused of contempt of Congress for refusing to comply with the committee’s subpoenas. The first, former White House senior advisor Steve Bannon, was held in contempt by the House and subsequently indicted on two criminal counts by a federal grand jury. He has pleaded not guilty.
Cheney’s consistent denouncements of Trump over the Capitol riot, and her participation in the Jan. 6 committee itself, have made her a target of criticism from the former president and from many of her Republican colleagues.
Cheney was stripped of her leadership role after she refused to stop criticizing Trump for spreading the false conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was rigged against him.
Hundreds of Trump’s supporters, many of whom claimed they wanted to reverse President Joe Biden’s victory in the election, stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 and forced Congress into hiding.
Trump has never conceded to Biden, and continues to spread baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud even as he hints he may run for president again in 2024. Trump was impeached in the House for inciting the attempted insurrection, but he was acquitted in the Senate where 60 votes are required for conviction.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/02/jan-6-probe-will-detail-capitol-riot-and-trump-white-house-response-in-public-hearings.html
Cheney warns of consequences for Trump in dealings with Jan. 6 committee
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chairwoman of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, suggested Wednesday that former President Trump could be held responsible for any falsehoods exchanged with the panel.
“President Trump continues to make the same false claims about a stolen election with which he has misled millions of Americans. These are the same claims he knows provoked violence in the past. He has recently suggested that he wants to debate members of this committee,” Cheney said.
“This committee's investigation into the violent assault on our Capitol on Jan. 6 is not a game. When this committee convenes hearings, witnesses will be called to testify under oath. Any communications Mr. Trump has with this committee will be under oath. And if he persists in lying, then he will be accountable under the laws of this great nation and subject to criminal penalties for every false word he speaks.”
Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) previously said “no one is off limits” when asked if the committee may eventually subpoena Trump.
Cheney’s comments came at a business meeting where the panel forwarded its second referral for criminal contempt to the full House, in this case for Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official who was central to Trump’s efforts to pressure the department to act on his baseless claims of voter fraud.
If Trump, like Clark, failed to appear before the committee following a subpoena, a contempt report would detail all the exchanges between him and his attorneys and committee staff. If he appeared, he could face charges if he lied to congressional investigators. It’s the same charge his confidant Roger Stone, now also subpoenaed by the committee, faced before being pardoned by Trump.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/583933-cheney-warns-of-consequences-for-trump-in-dealings-with-jan-6
-
These MAGA lowlifes think of themselves as "Patriots". There is nothing "patriotic" about these right wing domestic terrorists.
Recently arrested Capitol rioter texted with Proud Boys leader -- a signal of broader coordination
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/ronald-loehrke-urges-other-rioters-to-continue-their-assault-on-the-capitol.png?id=28159767&width=618&height=306)
Federal court documents allege that one of two men recently arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol communicated in advance with a Proud Boys leader, pointing to a wider organizational footprint in the execution of the effort to overwhelm the Capitol and prevent transfer of the presidency from Donald Trump to Joe Biden.
Ronald Loehrke, 30, was arrested today in Cummings, Ga. and charged with obstruction of law enforcement, unlawful entry on restricted buildings and grounds, and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, according to the government. James Haffner, 53, was arrested in South Dakota on Wednesday, on the same complaint. He faced the same charges, along with an additional charge of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.
The two men marched with the Proud Boys and were part of the mob that overwhelmed US Capitol police officers during the initial breach at the northwest pedestrian path. The government alleges that shortly after the crowd broke through the police line, Loehrke helped another rioter over the barricade and then waved protesters towards the Capitol. As thousands of rioters surged over a toppled fence, a statement of offenses in the case alleges that Loehrke and Haffner made their way to a line of officers equipped with riot gear at the west plaza outside the Capitol.
According to the document, Loehrke chastised the other rioters for allowing themselves to be “stopped by twenty-five officers.”
“Don’t back down, patriots!” Loehrke reportedly shouted while Haffner stood nearby. “The whole f***ing world is watching. Stand the f**k up today!”
The statement of offense indicates that Loehrke and Haffner then made their way to the east side of the Capitol, potentially indicating a broader coordinated strategy to breach the building from multiple sides. Several members of the Proud Boys, who are charged with conspiracy, ascended the scaffolding stairs.
Another Proud Boy, Dominic Pezzola, who has been indicted along with two others in a separate conspiracy case, used a stolen police shield to break out a window, allowing the first wave of rioters to enter the building.
The statement of offense in support of the charges against Loehrke and Haffner includes text messages exchanged in late December 2020 between Loehrke and Proud Boys leader Ethan Nordean that hint at a coordinated plan for Jan. 6 extending beyond the Proud Boys.
A Seattle-area leader of the Proud Boys, Nordean was propelled to fame within the organization when he delivered a knockout punch to a left-wing counter-protester during a 2018 protest in Portland, Ore. On Jan. 6, 2021, Nordean led the Proud Boys march, along with Joe Biggs. Nordean, Biggs and two other Proud Boys leaders are charged together in a separate conspiracy case.
The government alleges that Nordean texted Loehrke, whose number was saved in his cell phone as “Ron (Lisa’s friend),” on Dec. 27, 2020, asking if Loerke was coming to Washington, DC. Loehrke, who also lived in Seattle at the time, responded affirmatively. The government alleges that Nordean then texted Loehrke to tell him that he wanted him “on the front line” with him, and Loehrke responded that he planned to bring three “bad mother f***ers” with him.
Two photos included in the statement of offense show Loehrke at the Washington Monument, where the Proud Boys mustered before marching to the Capitol. Biggs is pictured in both photos and Lohrke can be seen shaking hands with a third unidentified individual.
After diverging from the larger Proud Boys group and heading towards the east side of the Capitol, the statement of offense alleges that Loehrke and Haffner dismantled three sets of barricades. After dragging aside the third set, the government alleges that Loehrke encouraged the other rioters by saying words to the effect of, “Let’s go! Get in there!”
The government alleges that the two men ascended the east stairs and as they stood a few rows back from the mob attempting to break through the Columbus Doors, Haffner sprayed an aerosol substance at the Capitol police officers. Soon after, the rioters breached the doors, and Haffner and Loehrke followed them in.
Inside the Capitol, the government alleges that Loehrke engaged in a confrontation with a Capitol police officer, citing a Getty Images photograph, and made it inside of Sen. Jeff Merkley’s office.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-arrests-2655919505/
-
Prosecutors say Capitol rioter who traveled to DC with guns 'sought to remove Pelosi'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28158369&width=800&height=450)
Prosecutors say a Capitol rioter who brought a gun to D.C. on Jan. 6 was targeting both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, CNN reports.
Guy Reffitt, who is a member of the Texas Three Percenter militia, "specifically targeted at least two lawmakers -- the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, and then-Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell -- whom he sought to physically remove or displace from the Capitol building," according to a filing from prosecutors.
Court documents say Reffitt drove to D.C. with an AR-15 and a handgun in his car. When he entered Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, he was wearing body armor, carrying his handgun, and had plastic handcuffs.
Reffitt made headlines in October when his son spoke publicly about how his dad threatened family members with death if they turned him in to the FBI.
https://www.rawstory.com/guy-reffitt-2655918472/
-
LA man allegedly ran chat forum to advocate violence, collected weapons for Capitol riot
LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- A Los Angeles man accused of joining the Jan. 6 Capitol breach in Washington, D.C., was arrested on charges of conspiracy and other crimes, according to the Department of Justice.
Edward Badalian, 27, of Los Angeles, was charged in an indictment with conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, tampering with documents or proceedings, and other offenses, prosecutors said. The indictment was unsealed Monday in the District of Columbia.
Badalian was arrested Nov. 17 in Los Angeles and was arraigned Nov. 23 in the District of Columbia.
Badalian is charged along with Daniel Rodriguez, 39, of Fontana. Rodriguez was indicted in March on charges including the assault of Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone. He was subsequently charged with conspiracy along with Badalian. Rodriguez has been in custody since his arrest on March 31, according to prosecutors.
According to the indictment, Badalian, Rodriguez and others created a Telegram group chat in fall 2020 called the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang and used it to advocate violence against groups and individuals that either supported the 2020 presidential election results, supported what the group perceived as liberal, or communist ideologies, or held positions of authority in government,'' according to the Department of Justice said.
Prosecutors contend the defendants conspired to stall the congressional certification of the presidential election results, and they collected weapons and tactical gear and stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
In the 10 months since Jan. 6, more than 675 individuals have been arrested for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including 210 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
https://abc7.com/jan-6-capitol-riot-insurrection-edward-badalian-officer-michael-fanone/11286586/
-
'Absolute liars': Mike Flynn's brother implicated in Army coverup of Jan. 6 failures in scathing memo
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/gen-charles-flynn.png?id=28170835&width=800&height=450)
A former National Guard official issued a scathing 36-page memo accusing Michael Flynn's brother and another U.S. Army general of lying to Congress about the military response to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Col. Earl Matthews, who served in the National Security Council and Pentagon during Donald Trump's administration, ripped the Defense Department's inspector general for what he calls an erroneous report that protects a top Army official who delayed sending the National Guard to the U.S. Capitol, reported Politico.
“Every leader in the D.C. Guard wanted to respond and knew they could respond to the riot at the seat of government,” Matthews' memo reads. "[Instead, D.C. guard officials sat] stunned watching in the Armory" as Trump supporters stormed the Capitol.
Matthews sent the memo to the House select committee earlier this month, and provided detailed recollections of the response to the riot by Gen. Charles Flynn, who served as deputy chief of staff for operations on Jan. 6, and Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, the director of Army staff -- who he called “absolute and unmitigated liars” for their own accounts of that day in congressional testimony.
The memo accuses both Flynn and Piatt of lying about their response to requests for the D.C. Guard to be quickly sent to help police at the Capitol, and claims the Pentagon inspector general issued a report last month that was “replete with factual inaccuracies,” and he said the Army was trying to rewrite history with a document that's “worthy of the best Stalinist or North Korea propagandist.”
Matthews, who now serves in the Army reserves, has publicly called for the inspector general to retract the Jan. 6 report, which he described as "inaccurate" and "sloppy work."
“Our Army has never failed us and did not do so on January 6, 2021,” Matthews told Politico. “However, occasionally some of our Army leaders have failed us and they did so on January 6th. Then they lied about it and tried to cover it up. They tried to smear a good man and to erase history.”
https://www.rawstory.com/charles-flynn-jan-6/
-
'We all know they're lying!' Morning Joe busts Pentagon 'coverup' of Trump links to Jan. 6 riot
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough reacted to the latest bombshell revelations about the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Col. Earl Matthews, a D.C. National Guard official at the time, issued a scathing 36-page memo accusing Gen. Charles Flynn, who served as deputy chief of staff for operations on Jan. 6, and Lt. Gen. Walter Piatt, the director of Army staff, of lying to Congress about their response to the U.S. Capitol riot -- and the "Morning Joe" host said investigators must unravel the coordination between Donald Trump's White House and the Pentagon on that day.
"It's more important to know what happened between the White House and the Pentagon," Scarborough said. "Why was there such delay? Why didn't the National Guard get moving? We all know Donald Trump, the commander in chief, was loving what he was seeing. We all know he gutted the Pentagon and he had fired a lot of the top people there. There were not a lot of independent thinkers at the Pentagon at that time."
The late Colin Powell appeared on the program shortly after the insurrection and told the hosts that he was baffled by inaction as the riot unfolded, but Scarborough said even civilian observers could see the response was woefully inadequate.
"I am no expert in what's going on at the Pentagon, obviously none of us are Colin Powell, but anybody that saw what happened that morning and now is hearing the Pentagon saying, 'Nothing to see here, move along, move along' -- we all know they're lying. We all know they're covering up. We need a tick-tock, a second-by-second accounting of where the Pentagon was, why they were dragging to their feet, why they let our Capitol, why Trump's leaders inside the Pentagon and why the commander in chief himself, why did they let our Capitol get ransacked and ravaged, torn to shreds excrement spread on the walls -- the people's house defiled."
"We understand Donald Trump enjoyed the show," he added. "I'm just curious what was happening inside the Pentagon."
https://www.rawstory.com/pentagon-jan-6/
-
Marc Short's cooperation could be a game-changer for Capitol riot probe: former FBI deputy director
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mike-pences-chief-of-staff-belittles-former-staffer-on-msnbc-after-she-comes-out-against-trump.png?id=24829848&width=800&height=400)
On CNN Monday, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe weighed in on the news that Marc Short, a longtime top aide of former Vice President Mike Pence, is cooperating with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack.
"You can't overstate the value of having a prominent, connected Republican acknowledging the ought authority of the committee and doing the right thing," said McCabe, who was previously targeted for retaliation by the Trump administration. "To the extent that other witnesses are looking for some sort of a sign as to how to respond to subpoenas they may receive, the example of Marc Short might be very influential."
"Let's remember," McCabe added, "we're not putting on a case for trial. No one is being prosecuted here. The committee is trying to construct a narrative of what happened. They don't need every person who was in attendance at every interesting meeting. They just need one. With Marc Short, they now have a key witness who was in some key events. This might open up a lot of information."
Watch below:
-
Capitol riot committee scores what could be a 'pivotal witness' who 'is not loyal to Trump': CNN legal analyst
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/full-tape-of-trump-demanding-georgia-secretary-of-state-find-votes-to-hand-him-a-win.jpg?id=28175268&width=980&height=551)
Marc Short, the former chief of staff of former Vice President Mike Pence, is now reportedly cooperating with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots, and CNN legal analyst Elie Honig said that could be a major breakthrough in the probe.
Appearing on Erin Burnett's show Monday, Honig explained how Short could deliver damning new information about Trump's actions leading up to and during the January 6th riots.
"Marc Short could really be a pivotal witness," he said. "Here's what we know about him: He is completely loyal to Mike Pence. He is, importantly, not loyal necessarily to Donald Trump. He's spoken publicly critically about Donald Trump for his role on January 6th."
Honig then outlined some crucial pieces of information Short could give to the committee.
"First, that January 4th meeting... in the Oval Office," he said. "I mean, let's not lose sight of how important that is. Donald Trump and this lawyer, John Eastman are trying to pressure Mike Pence... And then, key moments on January 6th, he is with Mike Pence."
Honig finished up by predicting Short could make "a big difference" in the committee's findings.
Watch the video below:
Former Pence chief of staff cooperating with January 6 Committee as probe gains 'momentum'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/pence-chief-of-staff-marc-short-tests-positive-for-covid-19.jpg?id=24701050&width=800&height=430)
On Monday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," correspondent Jamie Gangel broke down the significance of former Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff Marc Short cooperating with the House January 6 Committee.
"We learned the committee subpoenaed Marc Short a few weeks ago, but unlike some other Trump officials, he is not fighting the subpoena," said Gangel. "Short's cooperation ... is a significant development because he is a firsthand witness to many critical events. He was with Mike Pence at the Capitol on January 6th. He was also in the Oval Office on January 4th when former President Trump tried to convince Pence not to certify the election results."
She then suggested that Short's cooperation could open the door to more Pence loyalists testifying at the committee.
"Our sources say that Short's assistance signals a greater openness among Pence's inner circle, with one source telling me the committee is getting, quote, 'significant cooperation with Team Pence,' and another source telling me that Short's help is an example of the momentum the investigation is having behind the scenes," continued Gangel. "I do think it's important for context to remember this: Short is considered one of Pence's most loyal aides. He has worked with him off and on for more than a decade. It is hard to imagine that Marc Short would cooperate with the committee without Pence's blessing."
"That's really an important point, Jamie," said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "Why is Short's cooperation as a result so, so significant?"
"We've heard a lot about Trump officials, allies of Trump claiming executive privilege or saying they'll take the fifth," said Gangel. "This marks a significant break for the committee, because Marc Short is a firsthand witness and he's willing to cooperate, according to our sources. He knows firsthand what was going on in the days leading up to January 6th. He knows what happened at the Capitol on January 6th. It's hard not to imagine that Marc Short, who was then chief of staff to Mike Pence, he's there in the Capitol, was not calling or texting someone like Mark Meadows ,who was chief of staff to Donald Trump, when the riot was going on."
"He is likely to be able to provide information about conversations, phone calls, texts that were going on in real time on January 6," added Gangel. "Just as one example, he may be able to tell the committee what the communication was when they were reaching out, trying to find out why did it take so long for Trump to come out and tell the rioters to stop."
Watch below:
-
Jan. 6 Committee files subpoenas for phone records of over 100 people including many Trump associates
The House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack has officially issued subpoenas to wireless companies for the phone records of over 100 people, a "substantial" number of them Trump associates, in an effort to piece together the actions of Donald Trump and his inner circle on the day of the violent insurrection.
The records do not include actual voice or text content, but rather who called or texted whom, when, for how long, CNN reports, and possibly from where.
Included in the massive list is Mark Meadows, the former Trump White House chief of staff.
The data should give the Committee "the ability to draw a web of communications before, during and after the January 6 attack on the US Capitol."
CNN adds that one subpoena it reviewed "requests 'all call, message, Internet Protocol and data connection detail records associated with the phone number' from November 1, 2020 through January 31, 2021. The letter also asks for information related to phone numbers, IP addresses and devices that the account in question has communicated with."
https://www.rawstory.com/bank/jan-6-committee-files-subpoenas-for-phone-records-of-over-100-people-including-many-trump-associates/
Capitol riot committee 'quietly issued an unknown number of subpoenas' to key Trump officials: report
On Tuesday, the Huffington Post reported that the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack has been doing an enormous amount of work "beneath the radar" that has not been made public — and have "quietly issued an unknown number of subpoenas" to former Trump administration officials.
This suggests that the committee's public steps, which include securing the cooperation of former Mike Pence chief of staff Marc Short and threatening a contempt referral against Trump chief of Staff Mark Meadows, could barely scratch the surface of the committee's activity.
“'While we’ve announced roughly 40 subpoenas, the select committee has heard from 275 witnesses, both individuals complying with subpoenas and those participating with our investigation voluntarily," one unnamed aide told Huffington Post reporter S.V. Date. "We’ve taken in more than 30,000 pages of records, received hundreds of tips, and are making rapid progress in this phase of our investigation."
According to the report, "while the committee in August released letters to 35 telecommunications and technology companies asking them to preserve records of certain individuals, the names of those people were not released, and it was not until Meadows’ lawyer told the committee his client would not be cooperating that it became clear that Meadows — who was with Trump all that day — was among them."
Meadows recently reneged on his offer to cooperate with the committee, claiming that the House investigators were not respecting the former president's executive privilege.
All of this comes amid fears that if Republicans win control of the House in 2022 and the committee has not yet arrived at its final conclusions, they will move to shut down the committee.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-committee-subpoenas-2655939772/
Capitol riot committee warns Mark Meadows he's headed for 'criminal prosecution'
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riot has apparently lost patience with former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows.
On Tuesday afternoon, the committee released a statement slamming Meadows for backing out of cooperating with them despite writing publicly in his new book about former President Donald Trump's response to the riots.
"Mark Meadows has informed the Select Committee that he does not intend to cooperate further despite his apparent willingness to provide details about the January 6th attack, including conversations with President Trump, in the book he is now promoting and selling," the committee said. "The Select Committee has numerous questions for Mr. Meadows about records he has turned over to the Committee with no claim of privilege, which include real-time communications with many individuals as the events of January 6th unfolded."
The committee then warned Meadows of severe consequences should he remain defiant.
"Tomorrow’s deposition will go forward as planned," the committee said. "If indeed Mr. Meadows refuses to appear, the Select Committee will be left no choice but to advance contempt proceedings and recommend that the body in which Meadows once served refer him for criminal prosecution.
https://www.rawstory.com/mark-meadows-criminal-contempt/
Trump will 'be furious' when he realizes how many documents Meadows already turned over: CNN reporter
On Tuesday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," correspondent Jamie Gangel broke down the significance of former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows handing over a significant number of documents, even as he moved to renege on his pledge to cooperate.
"Let's start with your new reporting," said anchor Erin Burnett. "What is included in what Meadows did hand over? The roughly 6,000 pages of documents, what is in there, as far as you know?"
"So let's remember, this was voluntary, no claim of privilege," said Gangel. "We are told by the committee that in those documents Meadows has handed over include messages sent and received during the riot, texts, e-mails, calls, while the events of the insurrection were actually going on on January 6th. Committee member Zoe Lofgren told us earlier today the records include, quote, 'volumes of material,' including real-time communication."
"So, look, Erin, we don't know yet the details of who Meadows was communicating with that day," added Gangel. "But we do know a lot of people had Meadows' cell phone. So, think about it. White House officials, rally organizers, Trump loyalists, members of Congress. All should be aware that if they were communicating with Meadows, texting, emailing on January 6th, the committee may already have those documents. I just want to add one thing. If Donald Trump is as mad about Mark Meadows' book as we're hearing, he's going to be furious when he realizes that Meadows handed over all these records with no claim of privilege."
-
Reclusive Publix heiress became obsessed with Alex Jones — and wound up funding Jan. 6: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/u-s-capitol-during-insurrection.jpg?id=28190055&width=980&height=551)
The reclusive heiress of the Publix supermarket chain helped finance former president Donald Trump's Jan. 6 rally after she became obsessed with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, according to a report from the Washington Post.
Julie Fancelli, 72, contributed $650,000 to three organizations that helped stage and promote the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceeded the Capitol insurrection, making her the largest publicly known donor to the event.
"In the weeks leading up to the rally, Fancelli frequently emailed to her relatives and friends links to Jones’s talk show, according to two people with knowledge of the emails who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private communications," the Post reports. "Jones was a leading proponent of false claims that Trump’s reelection had been foiled by election fraud and that Congress could refuse to certify Biden’s victory."
Fancelli, who reportedly splits her time between Florida and Tuscan, Italy, had planned to attend the Stop the Steal rally and stay at the Willard hotel in Washington, but ultimately opted not to travel due to COVID-19.
"Fancelli was a regular listener to Jones’s show and had an assistant make contact with him at his office in Austin to find out how she could support Trump’s attempt to undermine Biden’s victory, the person said," the Post reports. "She and Jones talked by phone at least once between Dec. 27 and Jan. 1, the person said."
Jones, who did attend the rally, has received a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Captiol insurrection.
Fancelli’s brother-in-law Barney Barnett, a retired Publix executive who describes himself as a conservative Republican, told the newspaper: “I am not tantalized by that fellow (Jones), but apparently she is, and a lot of other people are addicted, to the detriment of the country. Julie is one of the finest people I know, and I am sorry she got tied up with this guy.”
Fancelli’s sister, Nancy Jenkins, added: “He’s kind of a rabble rouser, and I don’t listen to that. I listen to the regular news. That guy is crazy. Everybody knows Trump lost.”
With some shoppers threatening boycotts, Publix has tried to distance itself from Fancelli, saying in statement that the company is "deeply troubled" by her involvement in Jan. 6.
Fancelli, who rarely speaks to the media, previously told the Post in a statement: “I am a proud conservative and have real concerns associated with election integrity, yet I would never support any violence, particularly the tragic and horrific events that unfolded on January 6th.”
One prominent Republican fundraiser from Florida questioned whether Fancelli even knew she was "writing checks for Jan. 6." But the narrative of an innocent grandmother who unwittingly bankrolled an insurrection is undercut by Fancelli's continued donations to far-right causes this year.
"In September, she gave $5,800 to Rep. Matthew M. Rosendale of Montana, who was among 21 House Republicans who opposed awarding the congressional gold medal to police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on Jan 6," the Post reports. "In July, Fancelli gave $1,000 to an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of Lakeland, Fla., who thanked the right-wing One America News for 'correctly' referring to Trump as the president after Biden’s inauguration."
Read the full story:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/publix-heiress-capitol-insurrection-fancelli/2021/12/08/5144fe1c-5219-11ec-8ad5-b5c50c1fb4d9_story.html
-
MAGA rioter who called Biden 'stupid' bragged about assaulting cops on social media: feds
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/tim-levon-boughner.jpg?id=28191057&width=1200&height=676)
A Michigan man who attacked Capitol police officers with a chemical spray and bragged later on social media that “I f***ed those cops up” has been arrested by the FBI.
Tim Levon Boughner, 41, of Romeo, Michigan is being held without bond pending a detention hearing on Thursday on a variety of charges in connection with the January 6 insurrection. The FBI cited video evidence of Boughner’s attacks and the assistance of his body art in helping confirm his identity.
But the FBI arrest report also indicated that Boughner was quite chatty on social media before and after his alleged activities at the Capitol.
As early as November 8, 2020, Boughner posted this on his Facebook account: “Trump 2020. This ain't over.”
On November 28, he posted “All ex presidents get secret service when they leave White House. Trump won’t be leaving for 4 more years.” On December he added, “stupid Biden will not be president”.
On December 20, 2020, he replied to a comment saying “they have to keep us busy and blind on what is really happening in our country. I can’t believe I’m saying this but we are going to be at war. USA will be dealing with all the evils in this world. They tried to use the flu too steal our country.”
On January 3, 2021, Boughner asked a Facebook friend, “Are you ready to go to DC Tuesday?” He subsequently stated “I got a open spot if you want to go.” Later, Boughner stated in the same conversation “Never will there be anything like this again bro. Might even get lucky and stomp some *ss. Lmao”.
On January 5, Boughner posted, “I’m on my way to Washington DC. To make sure Biden’s doesn’t become president.”
On January 6, he posted, “Tear gassed peppered sprayed guy got next to me got the rubber bullet. I grabbed a can from them and started spraying. I got it on video lol”. Boughner subsequently stated “That was wild. We made it to the senate floor till National guard started fight back”; a statement which indicates Boughner entered the Capitol Building.
Also that day, Boughner posted “F***ed those cops up,” the report states.
On February 17, Boughner posted on the account, “Biden’s not the president,” the FBI stated, and then noted that he subsequently posted, "I have to share. My life has not been the same since this day. I got pull threw (sic) something amazing. I still don’t know how I ended up on the capital (sic) steps having a pepper spray fight with the capital police (sic)."
A notable aside in the criminal complaint is that Boughner came to the Capitol with his siblings Amber and Adam. There is no allegation in the complaint that they joined him in breaching the Capitol and they have not been charged to date, according to the Department of Justice website.
But Tim Boughner did show up on his sister’s Facebook page, labeled “Target Account 2” in the FBI complaint.
“Amber, Adam, and Tim Boughner crossed a fence line as they approached the United States Capitol Building; as they did, Amber stated that the time was 1:36 (presumed to be 1:36 PM EST). A loud noise was heard in the background which Adam stated was gunshots (perhaps blanks). Tim Boughner can be seen walking away from Amber and Adam as Tim Boughner moved through the crowd. Adam stated “He’s mad. He’s my brother.”
Boughner is charged with engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, civil disorder, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon, among other charges.
You can read the full FBI complaint here (PDF).
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-arrests-2655954437/
Prosecutors recommend up to 4 years for armed MAGA rioter who threatened to kill Nancy Pelosi
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/cleveland-meredith.png?id=26476469&width=800&height=450)
On Wednesday, NBC4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane reported that federal prosecutors are recommending up to 4 years for Cleveland Meredith, a Georgia man who threatened to "put a bullet in" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser during the January 6 Capitol attack.
Meredith showed up with a Glock 19, 9mm pistol, Taver X95 rifle with a telescopic sight, high-capacity magazines, and more than 2,500 rounds of ammunition and has been described as having mental health issues and a history of violent incidents, including an episode in 2018 in which he allegedly brandished a gun at his mother and daughter during a fit of road rage.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGHYqRMXEBECKhH?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGHYqROWUAUCWZc?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGHZ8N-XEBEvgRL?format=jpg&name=900x900)
In May, Meredith told federal judge Amy Berman Jackson that he was "just having fun" — which she did not consider a credible excuse for his behavior. He has subsequently pleaded guilty to sending threatening communications.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-sentence-2655952268/
-
Here's a flashback to January 6, 2021.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGMqxiuUUAAMfjd?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Donnie looks increasingly senile in his recent photos with his fake grin. And here's another criminal that Donnie hired for his corrupt administration. A felon with a record and a guy who hits his girlfriend.
Former Trump aide responds to Jan. 6 subpoena by threatening to ‘disband’ House committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/ohio-republican-with-criminal-rap-sheet-likely-to-ride-trump-s-endorsement-to-congress-experts.png?id=27075276&width=980&height=549)
Max Miller, a former Trump aide who's now running for Congress in Ohio, is reportedly being subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
Miller, who's been endorsed by Trump, wrote on Twitter on Thursday that he will “accept service of this subpoena, but I will defend my rights — just as I will defend the rights of my constituents when elected."
"Upon taking office, I will make sure one of my first votes is to disband this partisan committee that has weaponized its powers against innocent Americans,” he added. “Ohioans are tired of watching D.C.’s witch hunts and political theater while the country burns. Sadly, it’s the only card the Democrats can play, because their policies are destroying our nation."
According to Cleveland.com, Miller's campaign "did not respond to inquiries on how he’ll respond to the subpoena and whether he had any role in the January 6 rally in Washington whose participants eventually breached the U.S. Capitol."
"At the time of the riot, Miller worked as a White House senior advisor to Trump," the site noted.
Miller is running for the seat being vacated by GOP Rep. Anthony Gonzalez, who recently announced his retirement after voting to impeach Trump for inciting the insurrection.
Miler recently sued his ex-girlfriend, former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham, after she accused him of domestic abuse in her new book. Politico reported in July that Miller and Grisham's 18-month relationship ended after he "pushed her against a wall and slapped her in the face in his Washington apartment after she accused him of cheating on her."
Miller also has a criminal record that includes speeding, underage drinking and disorderly conduct.
https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/12/ohio-congressional-candidate-max-miller-says-hes-being-subpoenaed-by-the-committee-probing-the-jan-6-riot.html
-
Capitol attack panel obtains PowerPoint that set out plan for Trump to stage coup
Presentation turned over by Mark Meadows made several recommendations for Trump to pursue to retain presidency
Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over to the House select committee investigating the 6 January Capitol attack a PowerPoint recommending Donald Trump to declare a national security emergency in order to return himself to the presidency.
The fact that Meadows was in possession of a PowerPoint the day before the Capitol attack that detailed ways to stage a coup suggests he was at least aware of efforts by Trump and his allies to stop Joe Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January.
The PowerPoint, titled “Election Fraud, Foreign Interference & Options for 6 Jan”, made several recommendations for Trump to pursue in order to retain the presidency for a second term on the basis of lies and debunked conspiracies about widespread election fraud.
Meadows turned over a version of the PowerPoint presentation that he received in an email and spanned 38 pages, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Guardian reviewed a second, 36-page version of the PowerPoint marked for dissemination with 5 January metadata, which had some differences with what the select committee received. But the title of the PowerPoint and its recommendations remained the same, the source said.
Senators and members of Congress should first be briefed about foreign interference, the PowerPoint said, at which point Trump could declare a national emergency, declare all electronic voting invalid, and ask Congress to agree on a constitutionally acceptable remedy.
The PowerPoint also outlined three options for then vice-president Mike Pence to abuse his largely ceremonial role at the joint session of Congress on 6 January, when Biden was to be certified president, and unilaterally return Trump to the White House.
Pence could pursue one of three options, the PowerPoint said: seat Trump slates of electors over the objections of Democrats in key states, reject the Biden slates of electors, or delay the certification to allow for a “vetting” and counting of only “legal paper ballots”.
The final option for Pence is similar to an option that was simultaneously being advanced on 4 and 5 January by Trump lieutenants – led by lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, as well as Trump strategist Steve Bannon – working from the Willard hotel in Washington DC.
The Guardian revealed last week that sometime between the late evening of 5 January and the early hours of 6 January, after Pence declined to go ahead with such plans, Trump then pressed his lieutenants about how to stop Biden’s certification from taking place entirely.
The recommendations in the PowerPoint for both Trump and Pence were based on wild and unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, including that “the Chinese systematically gained control over our election system” in eight key battleground states.
The then acting attorney general, Jeff Rosen, and his predecessor, Bill Barr, who had both been appointed by Trump, by 5 January had already determined that there was no evidence of voter fraud sufficient to change the outcome of the 2020 election.
House investigators said that they became aware of the PowerPoint after it surfaced in more than 6,000 documents Meadows turned over to the select committee. The PowerPoint was to be presented “on the Hill”, a reference to Congress, the panel said.
The powerpoint was presented on 4 January to a number of Republican senators and members of Congress, the source said. Trump’s lawyers working at the Willard hotel were not shown the presentation, according to a source familiar with the matter.
But the select committee said they did find in the materials turned over by Meadows, his text messages with a member of Congress, who told Meadows about a “highly controversial” plan to send slates of electors for Trump to the joint session of Congress.
Meadows replied: “I love it.”
Trump’s former White House chief of staff had turned over the materials to the select committee until the cooperation deal broke down on Tuesday, when Meadows’ attorney, Terwilliger, abruptly told House investigators that Meadows would no longer help the investigation.
The select committee announced on Wednesday that in response, it would refer Meadows for criminal prosecution for defying a subpoena. The chairman of the select committee, Bennie Thompson, said the vote to hold Meadows in contempt of Congress would come next week.
“The select committee will meet next week to advance a report recommending that the House cite Mr Meadows for contempt of Congress and refer him to the Department of Justice for prosecution,” Thompson said in a statement.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/10/trump-powerpoint-mark-meadows-capitol-attack
-
Jenna Ellis freaks out after Politico publishes her Trump coup memos
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-attorney-jenna-ellis-ridiculed-after-she-flees-lin-woods.jpg?id=26567974&width=980&height=524)
Pro-Trump attorney Jenna Ellis reacted angrily on Friday after Politico published her memos advocating that former Vice President Mike Pence refuse to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election.
As described by Politico, Ellis argued that "Pence, while presiding over lawmakers’ counting of electors, should simply halt the process when their alphabetical proceeding reached Arizona" and then "declare that the state failed to meet the legal standard for certifying its own electors and 'require the final ascertainment of electors to be completed before continuing.'"
In a statement to Politico, Ellis denied that she argued Pence should overturn the election, but rather said that he should halt its certification and send the matter back to the states.
"At no time did I advocate for overturning the election or that Mike Pence had the authority to do so," she said. "As part of my role as a campaign lawyer and counsel for President Trump, I explored legal options that might be available within the context of the U.S. Constitution and statutory law.”
Shortly afterward, Ellis lashed out at the publication for publishing her memos, even though they meet the definition of being newsworthy given that they recommended the disruption of the constitutional process of certifying a presidential election.
"Wondering how Politico thinks it’s responsible or ethical journalism to publish attorney-client privileged documents," she said. "They admit they are the first to publish in their entirety the two Ellis memos, which both have the banner 'ATTORNEY-CLIENT PRIVILEGED.' Trump hatred persists."
https://www.rawstory.com/jenna-ellis-memos/
-
New January 6 subpoenas show first direct line between Trump and 'Stop the Steal' organizers: CNN's Ryan Nobles
On Friday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," reporter Ryan Nobles explained that the new set of subpoenas issued by the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack show a firmer link between the "Stop the Steal" rally organizers and former President Donald Trump.
"The select committee issued a new round of subpoenas today," said anchor Wolf Blitzer. "Who do they target?"
"This round of subpoenas today, Wolf, are not necessarily too many household names, but their role in what took place in the days leading up to January 6th are very important," said Nobles. "Among them, Robert 'Bobby' Peede Jr., Max Miller, who is of course running for Congress right now in Ohio, Brian Jack, Bryan Lewis, Ed Martin, and Kimberly Fletcher."
Nobles then documented the importance of each witness to the committee's work.
"Peede and Max Miller are of particular interest," he explained. "This is the first time they've talked about a direct link to the rally organizers, people that planned rallies on January 4th, 5, and 6th. Many of those who participated in those rallies ended up storming the Capitol. And they both joined Katrina Pierson, who is also under subpoena, in a meeting with the former president in the executive dining room at the White House, where they discussed plans for the rallies. Now, we don't know exactly what took place in the conversation surrounding that, but this is one of the first times that we're hearing about the president in a room with rally organizers, discussing plans for that day, Wolf."
Watch below:
-
REVEALED: Militia group abruptly changed its name as Capitol riot probe was closing in
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-gop-has-lost-its-mind-republicans-fleeing-the-party-after-capitol-insurrection.jpg?id=26430737&width=980&height=551)
A far-right paramilitary group linked to Donald Trump's one-time national security adviser, Michael Flynn, abruptly changed its name shortly before its leader was subpoenaed by the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
The 1st Amendment Praetorian — which has provided bodyguards to Flynn and other conspiracy theorists, including on the eve of the insurrection — has rebranded itself as an “intelligence, investigations, security and support” firm, the Daily Beast reported Saturday.
"Between Nov. 1 and Nov. 19, multiple social-media accounts associated with a California-based company calling itself 'The Shepherd Group' went live, as did a website hawking its 'holistic, boutique approach' to digital forensics, physical security, surveillance/counter-surveillance, and corporate intelligence," the site reported. "But a little digging reveals that the Shepherd Group is not entirely new: rather, it appears to be a front for the militant group 1st Amendment Praetorian, previously a volunteer outfit that has deployed its self-described force of former armed forces and police personnel as security for right-wing leaders and events. The group’s name derives from the elite cadre of Roman soldiers who served as the emperor’s personal retinue."
The leader of the 1st Amendment Praetorian, Robert Patrick Lewis, was subpoenaed in the Capitol riot probe in November. He now lists himself as CEO of the Shepherd Group on LinkedIn.
The 1st Amendment Praetorian chaperoned a pro-Trump rally at D.C's Freedom Plaza on Jan. 5, and Lewis reportedly had contact with both Flynn and "Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander prior to the insurrection. The subpoena "alluded to Lewis’ social-media cheerleading of the rioters, which he previously told The Daily Beast he did from the Willard Hotel, where various Trump allies had established a 'war room' that day."
"Experts suggested the pivot to a for-profit business model might represent a bid for legitimacy in the face of public scrutiny," according to the Daily Beast.
Chuck Tanner of the Institute for Research & Education on Human Rights told the Daily Beast that other militia groups, including the Oath Keepers, also "present themselves as a protective service as a means of expanding further into the mainstream."
“Being a security firm and not a far-right paramilitary outfit can give you more legitimacy in that respect, for monetizing and recruiting, and putting on a public face as a more respectable entity,” Tanner said. “There’s a long history of violence stemming from far-right paramilitary organizations. So anything that can foster recruitment, or give them legitimacy, or inflate their sense of power potentially amps up the threat.”
Pointing to Lewis' promotion of conspiracy theories, Tanner added, "It’s terrifying: you combine the conspiracy framework that a lot of these groups operate under with far-right ideas and weapons training."
Read the full story below:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/flynns-fave-paramilitary-rebrands-as-private-security-firm
-
Capitol rioters' boasts on social media are coming back to haunt them as they face prison
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-gallows-set-up-by-the-capitol-rioters-screengrab.png?id=28024835&width=980&height=551)
According to a report from the Associated Press, participants in the Jan 6th Capitol insurrection are finding out that their boasts on social media about taking part in the riot that sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives are influencing the amount of time they may spend in jail.
Case in point: convicted insurrectionist Russell Peterson of Pennsylvania was confronted by U.S. District Judge Amy Jackson with a Facebook post he wrote where he told his friends, "Overall I had fun lol.”
That didn't sit well with the judge who told him, before sentencing him to 30 days in jail, "The ’lol’ particularly stuck in my craw because, as I hope you’ve come to understand, nothing about January 6th was funny. No one locked in a room, cowering under a table for hours, was laughing.”
Peterson is not the only one to have his social media comments blow up in his face months after the riot.
"FBI agents have identified scores of rioters from public posts and records subpoenaed from social media platforms. Prosecutors use the posts to build cases. Judge now are citing defendants' words and images as factors weighing in favor of tougher sentences," AP's Michael Kunzelman wrote. "As of Friday, more than 50 people have been sentenced for federal crimes related to the insurrection. In at least 28 of those cases, prosecutors factored a defendant’s social media posts into their requests for stricter sentences, according to an Associated Press review of court records."
According to the report, "Rioters’ statements, in person or on social media, aren’t the only consideration for prosecutors or judges. Justice Department sentencing memos say defendants also should be judged by whether they engaged in any violence or damaged property, whether they destroyed evidence, how long they spent inside the Capitol, where they went inside the building and whether they have shown sincere remorse."
In the case of Lori Ann Vinson who "publicly expressed pride in her actions at the Capitol during television news interviews and on Facebook," Judge Reggie Walton admonished her, “I understand that sometimes emotions get in the way and people do and say stupid things, because it was ridiculous what was said. But does that justify me giving a prison sentence or a jail sentence? That’s a hard question for me to ask,” before sentencing her to five years of probation and ordering her "to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 120 hours of community service."
New Jersey gym owner Scott Fairlamb was filmed punching a police officer outside the Capitol, with AP reporting, "His Facebook and Instagram posts showed he was prepared to commit violence in Washington, D.C., and had no remorse for his actions, prosecutors said."
Facing Senior Judge Royce Lamberth, Fairlamb was told after accepting a plea deal, "You couldn’t have beat this if you went to trial on the evidence that I saw.”
Fairlamb was subsequently sentenced to 41 months in prison.
You can read more here:
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2021-12-11/capitol-rioters-social-media-posts-influencing-sentencings
-
Mark Meadows met multiple times at White House with retired military officer tied to insurrection PowerPoint
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-chief-of-staff-mark-meadows-gave-a-good-bye-message-to-attendees-at-a-recent-gop-lunch-report.jpg?id=26586214&width=980&height=527)
According to a report from the Washington Post, a retired military officer who was a strong proponent of overturning the 2020 presidential election, was welcomed at the White House and spoke with Donald Trump's chief of staff "maybe eight to 10 times" before the January 6th riot at the Capitol.
The report states that retired Colonel Phil Waldron -- 'who circulated a proposal to challenge the 2020 election, including by declaring a national security emergency and seizing paper ballots' -- was in constant contact with Mark Meadows.
The WaPo reports, "Philip Waldron, the retired colonel, was working with Trump’s outside lawyers and was part of a team that briefed the lawmakers on a PowerPoint presentation detailing 'Options for 6 JAN,' Waldron told The Washington Post. He said his contribution to the presentation focused on his claims of foreign interference in the vote, as did his discussions with the White House. A version of the presentation made its way to the White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, on Jan. 5. That information surfaced publicly this week after the congressional committee investigating the insurrection released a letter that said Meadows had turned the document over to the committee."
"The presentation was that there was significant foreign interference in the election, here’s the proof. These are constitutional, legal, feasible, acceptable and suitable courses of action," Waldron explained.
Summing up, the Washington Post reports, "Waldron’s account of his interactions with the White House, together with a 36-page version of the presentation that surfaced online this week and was reviewed by The Post, shed new light on the wild theories and proposals that circulated among the people advising Trump as they worked to overturn his election defeat, causing a crisis at the heart of government. They suggest that Meadows, who also pressed senior Justice Department leaders to investigate baseless conspiracy theories about election fraud, was more directly in contact with proponents of such theories than was previously known."
You can read more here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/phil-waldron-mark-meadows-powerpoint/2021/12/11/4ea67938-59df-11ec-9a18-a506cf3aa31d_story.html
-
Here's another serious crime Criminal Donald committed
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-2656000211/
-
The House Select Jan 6 Committee released its Contempt of Congress report against Mark Meadows. It's 51 pages long.
This section highlighted really stands out. The Committee wants to know about the Jan 5th Meadows email about getting the National Guard to "protect Pro-Trump people".
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IJ/IJ00/20211213/114313/HRPT-117-NA.pdf
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGctqcNWYAQYSON?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
The House Select Jan 6 Committee released its Contempt of Congress report against Mark Meadows. It's 51 pages long.
This section highlighted really stands out. The Committee wants to know about the Jan 5th Meadows email about getting the National Guard to "protect Pro-Trump people".
https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IJ/IJ00/20211213/114313/HRPT-117-NA.pdf
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGctqcNWYAQYSON?format=jpg&name=medium)
What this amounts to is clear treason by Criminal Donald. He knew there was going to be violence at the Capitol,
otherwise why would he call on the National Guard to "protect his people"? It's illegal for a President to use the National Guard as his own personal military against other Americans.
Mayor Bowser of DC asked for help begging for the National Guard to step in to stop the attack on the Capitol. The National Guard never showed up until hours after the riots, because it looks like what we already knew, and that is the National Guard had direct orders from Trump to stand down because it was "his people" committing the acts of violence. In this email is says for the National Guard to "protect his people".
Another piece of damning information is that, in the District of Columbia, the National Guard answers only to the President and then Secretary of Defense. Criminal Donald fired the Secretary of Defense on November 9th AFTER he lost the election. So, Criminal Donald was the only one who could have told the National Guard not to show up to protect our Capitol Police officers under attack and our members of Congress who's lives were in serious danger. 100% treason.
-
The list of people who called Mark Meadows begging Trump stop Capitol attackers on Jan 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/anti-democracy-insurrectionists-inside-the-capitol.png?id=25266027&width=800&height=450)
The new 52-page report from the House Select Committee on the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6 details a list of people who called chief of staff Mark Meadows begging then-President Donald Trump to stop the attack.
While many attempted to call Trump himself, he wasn't answering many calls. That's when people turned to other Trump staffers as well as family members like Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.
The committee report says that Meadows got text messages from a "media personality," who told Meadows to tell Trump he had to issue a statement telling his people to leave the Capitol "peacefully."
Another text, according to the footnotes of the report, captured even the confusion with the direct quotes: It read that Meadows "sent to one of — by one of the President’s family members indicating that Mr. Meadows is, quote, ‘pushing hard,’ end quote, for a statement from President Trump to, quote, ‘condemn this sh*t.’”
The report also said, "We would ask Mr. Meadows questions about text messages reflecting Mr. Meadows’ skepticism about public statements regarding allegations of election fraud put forth by Sidney Powell and his skepticism about the veracity of claims of tampering with Dominion voting machines."
Other text messages and calls cite Meadows' conversations about Trump's Jan. 2, 2021 call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Meadows' communications include "texts to and from participants in the call as it took place, as well as text messages to and received from Members of Congress after the call took place regarding strategy for dealing with criticism of the call."
Another cited by the committee revealed that Meadows participated in meetings and calls where those participating agreed there was a need to "fight" back against "mounting evidence" for voter fraud that courts had overwhelmingly rejected. The report said that Meadows also participated in an Oval Office meeting with Trump and Republican members of Congress he bragged about on Twitter after the fact. There was another call he participated in just days before.
The Justice Department's Trump ally, Jeffrey Clark, was trying to convince Trump and Meadows that he should be installed as the new Attorney General so that he could stop the Jan. 6 certification. In Dec. 2020 text messages, Meadows was discussing the Clark appointment with GOP members of Congress.
Other text messages came from Meadows to members begged for Trump-friendly state legislators who could help stop state certification of the vote. In Nov. 2020, Meadows also asked congressional allies for contact information from the Arizona's attorney general to discuss "election fraud." According to a member, "the President asked him to call Governor Ducey."
Communications between Meadows and organizers of the Jan. 6 political rally after the Capitol attack were also discovered. He discussed with the organizers about who would speak at the Ellipse, about planning and "where certain individuals would be located."
You can read the full Jan. 6 Committee report here:
https://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=114313
-
January 6 probe, new books lift lid on Trump's final days in office
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rioters-january-6th-afp.jpg?id=25666829&width=786&height=519)
The Congressional investigation into the January 6 assault on the US Capitol by a mob loyal to Donald Trump is increasingly focusing on the former president and his top aides -- and what they did before the riot.
Last week, an appeals court ruled that Trump cannot block the release to investigators of his White House records relating to the attack, and his former chief of staff Mark Meadows faces being ruled in contempt for refusing to testify.
The committee has so far interviewed nearly 300 people.
It is piecing together a picture of the moves made by Trump after he lost the November 2020 election to Joe Biden, and the possibility that he was attempting to engineer a coup in an unprecedented threat to US democracy.
Here is a look at what happened in the crucial weeks leading up to January 6, 2021:
Trump serious about reversing election
Trump's pushback against Biden's election victory was not just an extended fit of pique, but rather a serious effort to retain power, which the Republican mounted for weeks.
After failing to reverse vote counts in the states he needed to change the result, Trump focused intensely on preventing Congress from certifying Biden's victory on January 6.
In mid-December, attorney John Eastman laid out for Trump a precise plan to have then vice president Mike Pence, who was to preside over the certification, exploit legal loopholes to keep Biden from moving into the Oval Office.
Meadows was one of several people close to Trump who, according to various reports, disseminated that plan, along with bizarre conspiracy theories alleging the election was fraudulent.
Others in Trump's camp also mapped out legal justifications for Pence to reject Biden's certification.
Pence, increasingly under pressure, sought advice in late December from former vice president Dan Quayle, who said he was required to certify Biden's win.
But according to new accounts and books about Trump's last months in office, Pence simply would not say no to his boss.
"You don't know the position I'm in," he said, according to "Peril," the book by journalists Bob Woodward and Robert Costa.
"There are other guys saying I've got this power."
Meanwhile, on January 5 and 6, Trump, Meadows and other White House aides liaised regularly with a "war room" in a nearby hotel staffed by Eastman, advisor Steve Bannon and numerous others, who also were in contact with Trump supporters in the streets.
CIA, Pentagon feared Trump 'coup'
In the weeks after Trump refused to concede defeat, top officials feared he could try to mobilize the military to hold onto power.
They also feared that Trump, out of frustration, could start a war.
After the election, when Trump fired defense secretary Mark Esper, CIA Director Gina Haspel called the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, saying: "We are on the way to a right-wing coup. The whole thing is insanity," according to "Peril."
As January 6 neared, Milley warned staff of a "Reichstag moment" -- referring to when Nazis seized power after the 1933 torching of the German parliament.
On January 2, 10 former defense secretaries issued an extraordinary statement warning it was dangerous to challenge the election results or use the military to resolve political issues.
War with Iran, China feared
Nine days after the November election, Trump asked advisors about launching air strikes to take out Iran's entire nuclear program. They persuaded him to stand down, but they were unnerved.
"This is a highly dangerous situation. We are going to lash out for his ego?" Haspel asked Milley, according to "Peril."
When the issue was again raised after a barrage of missiles was launched at the US embassy in Baghdad on December 21, officials struggled to contain Trump, according to "Betrayal," a new book by ABC journalist Jonathan Karl.
But a much more serious situation was smoldering: China was worried an unhinged Trump could attack. And the Pentagon worried that Beijing could launch a first strike.
Just before the election, Milley took the unusual step of calling his Chinese counterpart to offer reassurances.
"I want to assure you the American government is stable," Milley told General Li Zuocheng. "We are not going to attack or conduct any kinetic operations against you."
Beijing's worries resurfaced after the January 6 riot, and Milley called Li again.
"Things may look unsteady.... But that's the nature of democracy, General Li. We are 100 percent steady," he said.
'Got it?'
Before the January 6 attack, the people who might have been able to deter Trump -- the top Republicans in Congress, Senator Mitch McConnell and Congressman Kevin McCarthy -- are depicted in the books as frozen by their own political ambitions, and thus unwilling to challenge Trump.
In the hours after the attack, both Republican and Democratic political figures, including some in Trump's own cabinet, felt he was unstable and should be removed from office by constitutional means.
But there was no clear path, especially as Pence refused to consider it and his support would have been necessary.
Ultimately, Pence certified the election result, and calm was restored -- more or less.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called Milley to ask how an "unhinged president" could be prevented from ordering a nuclear strike.
"The nuclear triggers are secure," Milley told her, according to "Peril." "I can assure you that that will not happen."
Milley then called in some senior officers and told them any order coming from Trump had to be checked with him.
He looked at each one and said, "Got it?"
© Agence France-Presse
-
Who else would love to see smug Laura Ingraham be subpoenaed and fired? She is nothing but a liar and her lies about COVID and the phony Hydroxychloroquine remedy she promoted are killing people.
‘Is it time?’ Laura Ingraham’s own brother suggests she needs to be subpoenaed by Jan. 6 committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/hydroxychloroquine-truther-laura-ingraham-who-is-not-a-doctor-begs-trump-to-overturn-fda-s-warning.jpg?id=24831002&width=860&height=484)
The brother of Fox News personality Laura Ingraham wondered aloud on Monday night if it might be time for her to testify before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
During a hearing before the committee voted to advance a contempt of Congress resolution against former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) read text messages sent to Meadow on Jan. 6 from Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham and Brian Kilmeade.
"[Trump] needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy," Ingraham said.
Despite her private view, Ingraham tried to blame Antifa on the night of the attack during her nationally broadcast show.
Her brother, Curtis Ingraham, suggested on Twitter it was time for the select committee to question his sister.
Read tweets and watch video in the link:
https://www.rawstory.com/laura-ingraham-brother-jan-6/
-
Time to subpoena Junior.
Liz Cheney reads bombshell Jan. 6th text messages -- including panicked messages from Don Trump Jr.
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-jr-wants-to-become-head-of-the-nra-and-fire-wayne-lapierre.jpg?id=24718839&width=800&height=430)
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on Monday read aloud several text messages sent to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows during the January 6th riots at the Capitol -- including panicked messages from Donald Trump Jr.
During a House Select Committee hearing, Cheney outlined damning evidence turned over by Meadows showing that multiple Trump allies implored him to take action to call off the rioters who were storming the Capitol, but that Trump still did nothing for more than three hours.
"We need an Oval Office address," Donald Trump Jr. implored Meadows in one text message, urging Meadows to get the then-president to tell the rioters to stand down.
Cheney noted that Trump Jr. texted "again and again" in an effort to get his father to stop the riots.
"He’s got to condemn this sh*t ASAP," Trump Jr. wrote in another text. "The Capitol Police tweet is not enough."
And Trump Jr. was far from the only big name to beg Trump to act.
"Please get him on TV," texted Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, who added that the riots were "destroying everything you have accomplished.”
Fox News host Laura Ingraham, meanwhile, told Meadows that Trump was "destroying his legacy" by not speaking out on the riots.
https://www.rawstory.com/mark-meadows-capitol-riot-texts/
Jan 6 organizers warned the White House of violence — and they're turning over the docs to prove it
Organizers for the Jan. 6 rally are turning over documents to the House Select Committee implicating Republican officials, reported Rolling Stone on Monday evening.
According to the report, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) is among those rally organizers who were trying to get to speak at the rally that day.
Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lynn Lawrence will testify before the committee and turn over all of their documents, text messages and extensive information allegedly implicating members of Congress in the Jan. 6 attack.
"Among the documents the couple is providing are conversations they had with staffers and members of Congress as they planned the main rally that took place on the White House Ellipse that day," Rolling Stone reported. "Stockton described these discussions as largely logistical and focused on planning the members’ participation in objections to the electoral certification on the House floor and various events that were staged to protest against the election. They include Instagram messages Lawrence exchanged with Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) as she tried to get him to speak at the Ellipse rally."
"We’re turning it all over and we’ll let the cards fall where they may," Stockton told Rolling Stone.
The main reason that they're cooperating, the report explained, is that the two are running out of options as they face subpoenas.
Stockton and Lawrence have a history of staging political stunts and previously led the "March for Trump" bus tour that ended at the Ellipse rally with the president. Rolling Stone revealed that they were the sources for an October report saying members of Congress were involved in planning Trump's efforts to overturn the election.
"They claimed one of these lawmakers, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ), suggested the possibility Trump could get them a 'blanket pardon' in an unrelated ongoing investigation if they helped protest the election," the report said.
Gosar has called the claims "categorically false and defamatory." But Stockton and Lawrence may have proof. They also said that they were coordinating with Mark Meadows and warned him ahead of time that there could be potential violence.
“The people and the history books deserve a real account of what happened,” Stockton said.
"Violent sh*t happened,” Lawrence said. “We want to get to the bottom of that."
“We’ve seen what’s happened with Bannon, and we don’t have the resources that a Steve Bannon has,” Stockton explained, noting Bannon's multi-million-dollar life. “Our options are, in a lot of ways, limited."
The couple has been living out of their RV as well as hotels and other locations as they hide "on the run," Rolling Stone described. Stockton said he's doing odd jobs trying to make some extra money for them. They said that they grew scared when they noticed that a group of paramilitary-looking men showed up after they'd agreed to speak to the House committee. So, they left in the middle of the night to a hideout.
Stockton and Lawrence were once held at gunpoint by officers investigating a group that the couple worked on with Bannon. They'd been working for him since 2014 when he was running Breitbart. That's when they began working on "special projects" for the website. They recruited Black activists to discourage people from voting and joined the Bernie Sanders supporters groups to attack Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton.
Regretful MAGA rioter says Trump 'lied' to him in apology letter to judge
On Monday, Ryan Reilly of the Huffington Post reported that Robert Scott Palmer, a Florida man involved in the January 6 Capitol attack, wrote a handwritten apology letter to the judge in his case, in which he fingered former President Donald Trump as the inciter of the violence that day.
"They kept spitting out the false narative [sic] about a stolen election and how it was 'our duty' to stand up to tyranny," wrote Scott in the letter. "Little did I realize that they were the tyrannical ones."
He added that he understands Trump supporters "were lied to by ... the sitting president, as well as those acting on his behalf."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGhb2K8WQAY9CYO?format=jpg&name=large)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGhdwVtWQAAgiOf?format=jpg&name=medium)
Scott, who wore a red, white, and blue Trump sweatshirt and a "Florida for Trump" hat at the riot and was seen on video assaulting Capitol police with a fire extinguisher, was arrested in March with the help of an online activist in the group calling itself the "Sedition Hunters." He tearfully pleaded guilty to the charges of assaulting law enforcement in October.
Many defendants in the Capitol riot cases have tried to argue they were pushed into it by Trump and right-wing media, although judges have broadly not bought this argument.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-plea/
-
Jan 6 committee has received 'quite revealing' info about Republicans involved in Trump’s coup: Bennie Thompson
After the Jan. 6 committee voted to hold former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress, chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) answered questions from reporters where he revealed that many Republican officials appear to be implicated in Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Standing outside of the member's elevator, Thompson said that he couldn't reveal the names of those members that were implicated.
Thompson also said that the information they got was "quite revealing" about "members of Congress involved in the activities of Jan. 6, as well as staff."
See the video in link below:
https://www.rawstory.com/republican-officials-involved-january-6/
-
Trump's public statements match up with coup plot laid out in PowerPoint
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5ed54edd5d9d620487c523150e4672e3df43e442/0_197_3000_1800/master/3000.jpg?width=700&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=1ddc1545e19b0e7bd66272d736d613ee)
Donald Trump's public statements from late last year show he was clearly on board with the coup plot laid out in a newly revealed PowerPoint document.
Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows turned over the 38-page document to the House select committee, eliciting shock from many in the media and government, but Popular Information researcher Judd Legum found substantial evidence that the twice-impeached one-term president knew about and supported that unconstitutional strategy to remain in office.
"Trump spoke repeatedly, without evidence, about 'foreign influence and control of electronic voting systems,'" Legum wrote. "In a November 29, 2020 appearance on Fox Business, Trump said that votes recorded on Dominion voting machines 'are counted in foreign countries.' He repeated the same claim in a recorded speech released on December 2, 2020."
"On December 22, 2020, Trump promoted a tweet in his feed encouraging Pence to reject the electors certified by the Electoral College in order to defend the country from 'China, Russia, Iran,'" he added.
Those comments track with one of the pages found in a similar, 36-page PowerPoint that has surfaced online, which recommends briefing members of Congress on alleged "foreign interference," and a retired colonel who was involved in creating the document said those meetings actually happened in the weeks before Jan. 6.
"[Retired Col. Phil] Waldron told the Washington Post that he briefed Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI), Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and other members of Congress who he did not identify," Legum wrote. "Neither Johnson nor Graham denied Waldron's claims."
The former president ultimately did not declare a national emergency, as the PowerPoint recommended, but he did cast certification of Joe Biden's election win as a national security threat during his Jan. 6 speech at the "Stop the Steal" rally, and that language aligned with his public statements casting doubt on electronic and mail-in votes.
"Trump did not personally have the power to invalidate all electronic votes," Legum wrote. "But he did declare that all electronic voting was invalid, falsely claiming it was tainted by fraud. In a Thanksgiving speech to troops around the world on November 26, 2020, Trump said that electronic votes were 'rigged' and only paper ballots are accurate. Trump made similar claims on December 2, 2020, when he told the nation that none of the electronic results can be trusted and the nation must 'go to paper.'"
All those baseless doubts underpinned the PowerPoint's overarching strategy to have then-vice president Mike Pence refuse to count or recognize Biden electors -- which Trump publicly called on him to do before and during the U.S. Capitol riot.
"It is unclear what influence, if any, the PowerPoint had on Trump or his inner circle," Legum wrote. "But that is not because the PowerPoint outlined a strategy that was more 'extreme' or 'wild' than the one Trump pursued. It was largely the same. Trump did not lack the will to overturn the democratic process; he lacked a way to execute a plan."
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-coup-2656025092/
The House riot committee has more evidence than we had for Trump's impeachment: Eric Swalwell
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-dreams-of-a-new-civil-war-fought-by-buffoons.jpg?id=24485461&width=800&height=430)
Appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Tuesday, Rep Eric Swalwell (D-CA) urged patience with the House committee investigating the Jan 6th Capitol riot and claimed the investigators have a mountain of evidence that dwarfs what was turned up in Donald Trump's second impeachment.
Speaking on a panel, the California Democrat was asked about Donald Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows' texts that were read by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) on Monday before turning to what is coming next.
After describing the events of Jan 6th as "maddening" Swalwell explained, "You will probably see, after the New Year, public hearings where they animate exactly what happened."
"Much like we did in the second impeachment of Donald Trump, they have a lot more evidence than we had," he continued. "We had very little. This was weeks after the insurrection and they have the benefit of hundreds of witnesses and documents and they're going to show the public just how all of this came together."
"I think but for one person, it wouldn't have happened," he added as a pointed jab at the former president.
Watch below:
-
WATCH: Former federal prosecutor explains why she thinks the DOJ will indict Mark Meadows
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mark-meadows.jpg?id=28229001&width=800&height=450)
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows was voted in contempt of Congress in the Jan. 6 select committee Monday evening, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the Justice Department will indict him.
According to former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance, however, the DOJ is likely to move forward with the indictment.
"It's hard to get into Mark Meadows' mind, and I'm sure we jump into speculation. What is the impact that he stopped cooperation?" asked Vance. "I think this is Liz Cheney's analysis from last night where she was clearly making an argument not just to hurt fellow members of Congress, but also to the Justice Department about why they should ultimately indict Mark Meadows."
It all hinges on the fact that Meadows stopped cooperating. Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) said Tuesday that Meadows turned over thousands of documents and that the Jan. 6 committee is "quibbling" over a few things. Vance explained that Cheney's analysis is more sophisticated, saying Meadows only turned over documents he conceded weren't privileged. Now he's refusing to testify about those documents.
MSNBC host Katy Tur noted that the Meadows case isn't the same as Steve Bannon. In Meadows' case, he was a White House staffer at the time, where Bannon was not. Meadows has documents that likely do fall under executive privilege, however, President Joe Biden has waived that privilege.
"You'll recall that DOJ and the Bannon indictment references repeatedly the fact that Bannon did absolutely nothing to comply with the subpoena," Vance continued. "Ultimately I think that Meadows does end up getting indicted and here's the reason. I think even if DOJ concedes that in all the cases where Meadows asserts a privilege that they won't look at those any further, you know, Katy, in many of those instances, the way he suggests that the documents are privileged is very speculative and he's probably wrong in many cases, especially about executive privilege."
She explained that in this universe, where Meadows has agreed no privilege exists, there is no reason he should refuse to testify.
"And, in fact, you can't just say I have executive privilege and not show up," she told Tur. "You have to appear when you're asked to testify. You have to listen to each question, and for each question consider whether you can answer it or whether it's privileged. It's Meadows' failure to participate and play by the rules that ultimately means, at least in my judgment, that DOJ will perhaps, after a great deal more time than with Bannon and a lot more angst, decide he should be prosecuted."
See the discussion below:
Riot committee: Mark Meadows already facing legal jeopardy no matter what else turns up in his phone records
Mark Meadows could be facing legal jeopardy over his phone records regardless of what turns up.
The former White House chief of staff is refusing to turn over some personal emails, text messages and encrypted chats by arguing Donald Trump still maintains executive privilege over those communications, but the House select committee believes those should have already been turned over to the National Archives, reported The Daily Beast.
“It appears that Mr. Meadows may not have complied with legal requirements to retain or archive documents under the Presidential Records Act,” the panel said in its report, which noted concerns that some of those materials may already be lost.
Congressional investigators are especially interested in the former presidential staffer's use of personal devices to coordinate challenges to Trump's election loss, including a Jan. 2 phone call to Georgia's secretary of state that's under criminal investigation in that state and the Jan. 6 protest that turned into the U.S. Capitol riot.
"Had Mr. Meadows been deposed under oath, the committee would have asked him about his handling official government records, a topic that is not subject to any conceivable legal privilege,” said Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) said during the contempt vote meeting.
Congress will vote Tuesday whether to hold Meadows in contempt, but investigators will likely look at whether he violated federal records laws.
“Mr. Meadows’ production of documents shows that he used the Gmail accounts and his personal cellular phone for official business related to his service as White House chief of staff,” the committee said in its latest report. “Given that fact, we would ask Mr. Meadows about his efforts to preserve those documents and provide them to the National Archives.”
It should not matter who paid for Meadows' phone service, according to a former national archivist.
Don W. Wilson, who served as the nation’s archivist from 1987 until 1993, told The Daily Beast that there’s little wiggle room here.
“If it’s official business, then it’s a record," said Don W. Wilson, who served as the nation’s archivist from 1987 until 1993, "and by the nature of his role and his office, there’s not much unofficial. He shouldn’t have been using his personal cellphone… and if he was, there should have been some sort of transfer to the National Archives.”
Wilson believes Meadows' reluctance to turning over the communications should be a red flag in itself.
“What were the texts? What were the phone calls? If they can’t even get the logs for the official phone calls, that’s pretty revealing,” he said. “It’s going to come out eventually. But what it’s doing to the country right now is a travesty.”
https://www.rawstory.com/mark-meadows-phone-records/
A federal judge has already made the legal connection to Trump's accountability over Jan 6: columnist
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-afp.jpg?id=27483727&width=800&height=450)
In her Tuesday column, Washington Post columnist Jennifer Rubin cited a federal judge who has already made a case for holding former President Donald Trump accountable.
According to the Washington Post column, U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich ruled last week that it's illegal to interrupt the counting of electoral votes, even if it was not "specifically contemplated." Meaning, it doesn't matter whether it was premeditated or not. Leading a crowd to the U.S. Capitol to interrupt an election's counting, she ruled, is illegal.
“There is a presiding officer, a process by which objections can be heard, debated, and ruled upon, and a decision — the certification of the results — that must be reached before the session can be adjourned," wrote Judge Friedrich. Indeed, the certificates of electoral results are akin to records or documents that are produced during judicial proceedings, and any objections to these certificates can be analogized to evidentiary objections.”
The judge went on to say that the Jan. 6 attackers not only acted "corruptly," but those who planned the attack to stop the counting fits the bill for the accused.
"In this sense, the plain meaning of 'corruptly' encompasses both corrupt (improper) means and corrupt (morally debased) purposes," the decision also said … "The Court agrees that § 1512(c)’s proscription of knowing conduct undertaken with the specific intent to obstruct, impede, or influence the proceeding provides a clear standard to which the defendant can conform his behavior."
Rubin then cited former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal, who has been making a similar argument, citing those laws for months.
"Judge Friedrich’s decision means the prosecutors don’t have to show someone intended violence for it to be a crime," he told Rubin. "So long as the intent was to influence and disrupt the congressional function of counting the votes, that is sufficient — so long as it was done ‘corruptly.'"
He also explained that Judge Friedrich referenced a previous ruling by the conservative Judge Laurence Silberman, who ruled that the "corruptly" piece of the law meant "doing something by unlawful means."
It only adds to the other problems that Trump faces, like election fraud in Georgia and financial issues in New York.
"Too many people have let themselves be sidetracked into looking for a connection between Trump and the violence of Jan. 6. But that evidence is unnecessary because the crime here is the end result — the intended disruption of the House electoral vote-counting. And from every document, news report or tell-all book we have seen, that is precisely what Trump tried to do. Simply because he told the world about his corrupt intent does not make it any less illegal," Rubin closed.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/12/14/federal-court-has-ruled-that-obstructing-electoral-vote-count-is-illegal-trump-should-panic/
Jen Psaki shames Fox News hosts for privately condemning MAGA riot -- then 'spreading lies' about it anyway
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki had some tough words for Fox News hosts who knew that former President Donald Trump's supporters were responsible for the January 6th riots, but then chose to blame the riots on Antifa anyway.
After being asked about the bombshell text messages revealed on Monday night by the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riots, Psaki didn't waste time slamming Fox News personalities such as Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity for expressing concern about the riots in private while brushing them off to their viewers that very same day.
"It's disappointing, and unfortunately not surprising, that some of the very same individuals who were willing to mourn, condemn, and express horror over what happened on January 6 in private, were totally silent in public," she said. "Or, even worse, were spreading lies and conspiracy theories, and have continued to since that time."
The text messages, all of which were sent to former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, asked him to get Trump to publicly come out and call off his supporters at the Capitol.
Despite their pleas, however, Trump would not act to tell the rioters to go home for more than three hours.
Watch the video below:
-
Jan. 6 panel to identify lawmakers who sent texts to Mark Meadows 'probably very soon': House Dem
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/republicans-facing-censure-after-downplaying-and-outright-denying-the-pro-trump-insurrection.jpg?id=26395692&width=800&height=450)
The American public will soon learn the identities of lawmakers who sent text messages to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows related to Jan. 6, according to a member of the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
On Monday and Tuesday, members of the committee released the content of several of the text messages, including one in which a lawmaker wrote to Meadows on Jan. 7, “Yesterday was a terrible day. We tried everything we could in our objection to the 6 states. I’m sorry nothing worked.”
In another message, an unidentified lawmaker wrote to Meadows on Nov. 4, the day after the presidential election: "Here’s an aggressive strategy. Why can’t the states GA, NC, PENN, and other R controlled state houses declare this BS.. and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to SCOTUS."
And on Jan. 5, a lawmaker wrote to Meadows, "Please check your Signal," referring to the encrypted messaging app.
On Tuesday night, MSNBC host Chris Hayes asked Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA), a member of the committee, "whether the public has a right to know" the identities of the lawmakers and "when we would find that out."
"I certainly think the public has a right to know," Luria responded. "I would say the committee chair is being very deliberate about when we release that information, because we don't want to impede or interfere with the investigation and other witnesses we're speaking to at this point, but you can certainly expect to hear those names, and probably very soon. But i think that maintaining that in the committee until we're ready to release it publicly is very important to the progress of our investigation right now."
Watch the full interview below:
-
The GOP Treason Team. Lock them all up!
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FGnM3dFVcAAOPqf?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Two Jan. 6 Organizers Are Coming Forward and Naming Names: ‘We’re Turning It All Over’
After losing faith in Trump, the pair plan to hand over text messages, Instagram direct messages, and other documents related to the planning of the Jan. 6 rally on the Ellipse where Trump spoke
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/jan6-rally-trump-2020-election-capitol-congress-gosar-1253392/
-
Louie Gohmert's involvement in Jan. 6 riot and his pressure campaign on Pence has gone largely overlooked so far
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/louie-gohmert-s-anti-masker-venom-comes-back-to-haunt-him-after-testing-positive-for-covid-19.jpg?id=24831089&width=860&height=484)
Rep. Louie Gohmert's role in the Jan. 6 insurrection has gone largely overlooked by the public and investigators.
The Texas Republican filed a lawsuit Dec. 27 against then-vice president Mike Pence, who he argued should exert unilateral control over the electoral certification, and then went onto right-wing media to seemingly encourage violence to contest Donald Trump's election loss after a district court rejected his challenge, reported Politico.
"In effect, the ruling would be that you’ve got to go to the streets and be as violent as antifa and BLM,“ Gohmert said on Newsmax on Jan. 1, five days before the violent U.S. Capitol riot.
Pence allies have long suspected the twice-impeached one-term president was involved in Gohmert's pressure campaign, which was backed by lawyers associated with conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, but it's unclear whether the House select committee is examining the Texas lawmaker's role in the insurrection, but at least one panelist agrees it played an important role in the violence on Jan. 6.
“It’s a significant detail in that it was part of a plan to isolate and coerce Pence,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD).
Gohmert hoped to force Pence to ignore a 130-year-old law governing the certification of presidential elections, but the former vice president ultimately decided he did not have that authority to throw out election results -- and Pence allies say Trump was furious that the Justice Department intervened to defend him as the suit was swiftly rejected by federal district and appellate courts in Texas.
The GOP lawmaker did not respond to two emails sent by Politico asking about the lawsuit.
Gohmert has previous denied reports that he was among “multiple members of Congress [who] were intimately involved in planning both (former President Donald) Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss and the Jan. 6 events that turned violent.”
https://www.rawstory.com/louie-gohmert-jan-6/
-
'Don’t worry about money': New charges show extensive coordination between extremist groups before Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/proud-boys-de-facto-leader-on-jan-6-is-raising-money-to-make-ends-meet-report.jpg?id=25894026&width=800&height=450)
The arrests of two members of the Patriot Boys militia in northern Texas earlier this week raises new questions about outside funding to pay for tactical gear and travel to Washington, DC on Jan. 6, 2021, and broader coordination among the various groups that led the assault on the US Capitol.
According to the charging document for the two men, Lucas Denney, a US Army veteran and president of the Patriot Boys, recruited Donald Hazard to go to DC on Jan. 6 in a text on Christmas Day in 2020, simultaneously appointing him to serve as “sergeant at arms” for the militia.
“Hey, if your trip is paid for, can you go to DC?” Denney asked Hazard. “Don’t worry about money. Just get the days off if you can.”
The following day, Denney allegedly texted Hazard again, reporting: “Have plenty of money now. I just got a 1 thousand dollar donation from just one person for the trip. I have more donations coming in to [sic].” Denney then asked Hazard if he knew “any other guys that can go that’s like us and will fight, we could use them. And it will be paid for.”
An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on who may have contributed funding to Denney to finance the Patriot Boys’ travel to DC.
READ: #PoleTosser rioter flagrantly taunts FBI, poses with GOPers and 'patrols' the border with his pals
The charging document also cites statements by Denney as early as Christmas day that indicate he was communicating with other right-wing paramilitary leaders, including chapter leaders of the Proud Boys, about plans for Jan. 6.
To date, 17 members of the Oath Keepers have been charged with conspiracy to stop, delay or hinder Congress’ certification of the electoral vote. Four different sets of Proud Boys have also been charged with conspiracy to stop, delay or hinder the electoral vote certification, and members of all but one of those sets also face charges of conspiracy to obstruct and interfere with law enforcement officers engaged in their official duties to protect the Capitol. Five men in the California Patriots-DC Brigade and three men in the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang have also been charged in separate conspiracy cases.
All of the defendants in those cases are accused only of conspiring with other members and affiliates of their particular groups. No cases have been brought so far that allege a wider conspiracy involving the multiple groups or unaffiliated individuals involved in the insurrection. But statements by Denney bolster the view that the insurrection involved coordination among the various groups.
“We will need linking up with Proud Boys though,” Denney allegedly told Hazard in a Dec. 25. “I’ve been in contact with a few different chapters and they’re helping us out with safe hotels to get.
“We’ll all be staying in the same hotels that they are,” Denney added.
In a Dec. 31 Facebook message to an unidentified individual, Denney reportedly said: “A lot of the presidents and commanders of militias like myself are meeting on the 5th to organize and plan.” In another message sent at 2:09 a.m. that day, Denney wrote: “I’m still up chatting with all my brothers that are going to DC. All the presidents have been so busy organizing, planning and talking lol.”
Court documents that are publicly available do not indicate whether the Jan. 5 meeting actually took place.
The FBI declined to comment on whether the government plans to bring additional conspiracy charges that outline broader coordination among the various groups and unaffiliated individuals that were involved in the insurrection.
The recent arrests of two other men charged with assaulting law enforcement also point to the Proud Boys as a hub of broader organization for the Jan. 6 attack. The government alleges that Ethan Nordean, a Proud Boys leader in Seattle, texted Ronald Loehrke, a Marine Corps veteran whose name was saved as “Ron (Lisa’s friend)” in Nordean’s phone, and asked if he was coming to DC. Loehrke reportedly confirmed to Nordean that he was planning to make the trip. The government alleges that phone records show Loehrke was in contact with co-defendant James Haffner during the same time period.
Both Denney and Nordean used the term “front line” to describe where they expected fighters to be positioned in DC on Jan. 6, according to charging documents.
“I’m so pumped, brother,” Denney reportedly said in a Jan. 1 Facebook comment. “I can’t wait to be in the middle of it on the front line on the 6th.”
And according to the charging document for Ronald Loehrke and James Haffner, Nordean texted Loehrke on Dec. 27 to tell him he wanted him “on the front line” with him. Loehrke reportedly responded by saying, “Sounds good,” adding that he planned to bring three “Bad mother f*ckers” with him.
True to his word, Denney fought law enforcement on the west plaza of the Capitol. According to the government, he “grabbed and shoved a police officer,” attempted to grab a canister of crowd-control spray from another officer before swinging a long metal pole at him, and then launched a large tube toward a line of officers.
Later, according to the government, Denney relocated to the Lower West Terrace and joined a crowd of rioters in the tunnel, where they pushed a riot shield into and on top of a line of Metropolitan police officers. When Officer Michael Fanone was pulled into the crowd and down the steps about three minutes later, the government alleges that Denney swung his arm and fist at Fanone, grabbed him and pulled him further down the stairs.
Like Denney, Hazard is also accused of assaulting law enforcement at the Capitol.
Denney and Hazard were arrested earlier this week, and are being held in detention. A detention hearing for Hazard is scheduled for Friday at 1 p.m. in federal court in Fort Worth.
Similarly, the government alleges that Loehrke and Haffner positioned themselves near the front of a line of US Capitol police officers assembled in riot gear on the west plaza.
Loehrke reportedly admonished the other rioters for allowing themselves to be stopped by 25 officers. “Don’t back down, patriots!” he said. “The whole f*cking world is watching. Stand the f*ck up today!”
Multiple statements in the 42-page charging documents outlining Denney and Hazard’s alleged offenses indicate that funds donated to Patriot Boys were used to pay for tactical equipment, along with travel and lodging.
“I want to pick you up and take you to get a helmet and pick up some other gear,” Denney reportedly said to Hazard in a text on Dec. 30. Later, Denney told Hazard that he had “picked us each up a bottle of police grade pepper spray from the Fort Worth Police store…. I’ll have you a vest, too.”
And Denney reportedly thanked another unidentified individual for donating and said, “If you know anyone else that can donate, let them know about us. I still need more protective gear for some more of my guys and other supplies before we leave Sunday.”
It is unclear whether anyone else traveled to DC with Denney and Hazard, but in a Dec. 30 text message to Hazard, Denney is said to have reported that “we have 3 guys so far.” In a Facebook message to an unidentified individual on the same day, Denney reportedly said, “I have 5 of my guys going but I’m linking up with over 300 in DC.” In another message, Denney mentioned that “two of the guys” still needed helmets, vests and medical equipment.
Beyond outside funding, coordination with the Proud Boys and other “militia” groups, the Denney-Hazard charging document indicates that Denney had foreknowledge that something significant was going to happen at the Capitol on Jan. 6. In a Facebook message to an unidentified individual on Dec. 29, Denney reported; “Got the room booked and plans to meet with about 1 thousand other guys that we are all in a Intel chatroom together.”
On Dec. 30, Denney reportedly shared two similar digital posters on Facebook, each with the hashtage #OccupyCongress, along with the date of Jan. 6, 2021. One read, “Stand up! Get Loud!” It specified the time to be at the Capitol as “noon.” Rioters initially breached the entrance of the Pennsylvania Avenue Walkway leading onto the Capitol grounds at 12:50 p.m., while President Trump was still speaking at the Ellipse.
The other #OccupyCongress poster shared by Denney included the text, “If they won’t hear us, they will fear us. Election fraud is the reason.”
According to the charging document, Denney told an unidentified individual on Facebook: “Trump is calling this rally himself. It’s the day that Congress is going to try and certify the electoral college. But Pence can deny the ones coming from the states where the fraud took place. So, we are thinking Trump wants us there to keep the area from being burned down by antifa thugs when they get mad…. Biden ain’t getting into office.”
Denney’s statement about the purpose of going to DC echoed a comment made by Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes on Christmas day in a Signal thread for Florida members of the militia group.
“I think Congress will screw [Trump over],” Rhodes reportedly said in the “OKFL Hangout” thread. “The only change [sic] we/he has is if we scare the spombleprofglidnoctobuns out of them and convince them it will be torches and pitchforks time is [sic] they don’t do the right thing. But I don’t think they will listen.”
In his text exchange with Hazard on Christmas day, Denney promised, “So, the 6th is going to be bigger than the last rally. I can’t tell you everything I know over media here but it’s gonna be big. Millions and millions will be there, I can tell you that.”
To an unidentified individual on Facebook, Denney messaged on Jan. 5: “Things are going to be happening here. Trump is going to be speaking to everyone Wed before everyone marches to the capital. Rumour has it that he may march with us. I’ll tell you more when you get here on where to be and what time so you have the best seats.”
Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist and the CEO of Trump’s 2016 campaign, reportedly made a similar statement to his podcast listeners on Jan. 5.
“All hell will break loose tomorrow,” Bannon said. “It will be quite extraordinarily different. All I can say is, strap in. Tomorrow is game day. So many people said, ‘Man, if I was in a revolution I would be in Washington.’ Well, this is your time in history.”
In the early morning hours of Jan. 6, Denney relayed the message to a friend on Facebook.
“Trump speaking to us around 11am; then we march to the capital and after that we have special plan that I can’t say right now over Facebook,” Denney wrote. “But keep an eye out for live feed tomorrow from me. Tomorrow will be historic.”
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-coordination/
-
Author of Trump coup PowerPoint presentation hit with Jan. 6th Committee subpoena
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/phil-waldron.jpg?id=28244202&width=800&height=446)
The man who wrote the infamous PowerPoint presentation outlining how former President Donald Trump could stay in power despite losing the 2020 election by declaring a "national emergency" has just been subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riots.
The committee announced on Thursday that it had subpoenaed Phil Waldron, whose now-infamous PowerPoint presentation was given to the committee by former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows.
"The document he reportedly provided to Administration officials and Members of Congress is an alarming blueprint for overturning a nationwide election," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS). "The Select Committee needs to hear from him about all these activities. We expect him to comply with the law and provide records and testimony as the Select Committee continues its work to get answers for the American people about January 6th."
Waldron's PowerPoint contained multiple false claims about the Chinese government completely infiltrating America's voting machines, and also recommended declaring all voting done through voting machines to be invalid.
"The electronic voting machines are shifting votes from Trump to Biden," the presentation wrote in justifying tossing out all votes cast electronically. "The election fraud perpetrated used the major brands of machines Dominion and ES&S."
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-committee-subpoenas-2656056201/
-
How the January 6 committee finally exposed Trump's empire of lies
If politics still turned on truth and facts, this would be the week when the lie-filled foundations of Donald Trump's movement imploded, destroying his apparent dream of a return to power after the 2024 election.
But it is the ex-President's greatest, most subversive victory that his empire of falsehoods will surely survive new disclosures that lay bare his own abuses of power and the voter-mocking deceit of his political and media enablers.
While there has already been a steady accumulation of shocking evidence of Trump's coup attempt on January 6 and the emptiness of his election fraud claims, recent days put the saga into a horrifying new light. They brought the clearest indicators yet that the entire Make America Great Again infrastructure and Trump's potential next White House campaign rest on hogwash and the whitewashing of history.
The House select committee probing the January 6 insurrection has released fresh details of the elaborate behind-the-scenes plot to subvert the certification of President Joe Biden's election. There's embarrassing new evidence of how conservative media stars were privately alarmed by the attack by Trump's mob but quickly reverted to amplifying his lies to millions of Americans they willfully deceived. And a major new Associated Press survey of 2020 swing states contested by Trump found cases of voter fraud were sparse and far from the nationwide conspiracy he claims. There are separate reports that three Florida residents were recently arrested and charged with election fraud -- two of whom were registered Republicans.
This week will be remembered for Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the vice chair of the House committee, bringing receipts that exposed the hypocrisy of Trump's extended orbit.
Texts from Republican lawmakers, Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. and Fox News prime-time anchors to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows show that they knew the attack on the Capitol was a disaster and wanted it to stop.
Yet those same conservative heroes are part of a political media operation that spent the last 11 months obscuring what really happened, in many cases denying the truth of Biden's election win and fueling lies about voter fraud that are feeding anti-democratic extremism. All to preserve a meal ticket named Trump.
In another development fraught with chilling implications, the committee revealed that Meadows wrote in an email that the National Guard would be present to "protect pro Trump people" on January 6. It was the latest example of a habit of weaponizing sacred American institutions for Trump's political gain.
The former President, meanwhile, encapsulated perverted political values that now rule much of the Republican Party and will likely produce its next presidential nominee. He recently declared that former Vice President Mike Pence had been "mortally wounded" because he had refused to steal the election during his ceremonial role in certifying Biden's victory. The ex-President was giving voice to a GOP incentive system that now rewards coup attempts and despotic behavior over honoring the Constitution.
The scale of the evidence coming to light this week is remarkable. But daily bombshells about what happened on January 6 often have the effect of diminishing the shock value of Trump-related outrages. And voters have pressing concerns like the rising cost of living and a pandemic that will shortly drag into a third year. Yet this week's developments are important not just because they chart the staggering breadth of Trump's election conspiracy. They are also exposing the lies on which his future political prospects are built -- and on which multiple Republican-run states have passed laws that make it harder to vote and easier to steal future elections.
Trump's biggest confidence trick
There has always been an aura of a con man about Trump, from his days as a bankruptcy-plagued real estate chancer who adopted a persona as the master of the art of the deal. His presidency opened with false claims about the size of his inauguration crowd that in retrospect augured an administration constructed on untruths -- or what his former senior aide Kellyanne Conway once dubbed "alternative facts."
It is now clear that his big lie that "frankly, we did win this election" is the most audacious and damaging confidence trick of his career.
A few Trump supporters are seeing the light, including Dustin Stockton, one of the organizers of the January 6 rally that preceded the insurrection, who found himself subpoenaed by the House committee -- and lacks the means to wage a legal battle like Trump's wealthy political guru Steve Bannon.
"Essentially, he abandons people when the going gets tough for people. And, you know, in some ways, it's embarrassing to think that in a lot of ways, we bought into what essentially turned out to be a bluff or a con," Stockton told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday.
Yet Stockton is an outlier. Trump's popularity among Republican voters makes him the preemptive favorite for the GOP's 2024 nomination. He has the power to shape the political careers of those willing to accept his extremism -- as his raft of endorsements of midterm election candidates, nationally and in the states, shows. The Trump story, meanwhile, makes millions for conservative media outlets and stars -- giving them an incentive to promote a false alternative reality that has won over legions of viewers.
The mendacity of the conservative media propaganda machine was exposed by Cheney's reading aloud of texts sent to Meadows by several Fox News powerhouses, including Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, pleading with Meadows to get Trump to intervene on January 6.
"Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home," Ingraham texted. "This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy." Hannity asked the-then chief of staff whether Trump could make a statement that would tell the people at the Capitol to leave.
Both anchors later condemned the violence on January 6. But they have been among Fox News personalities who attack the investigation as a political vendetta against Trump rather than a probe into one of the worst assaults on democracy in American political history. And television disinformation is only a small part of the problem; social media networks teem with falsehoods about the election and boost Trump's lies in what is almost a fact-free zone.
Trump's Orwellian method
Trump's enablers have reacted to the disclosures of recent days by adopting the signature move of their leader -- spinning a false reality to excuse his behavior and mislead his supporters about what really happened.
Meadows, for instance, appeared on Hannity's show on Monday and concocted a story that contradicts reports that the former President had cooled his heels and watched on TV as his rioting supporters marauded through the Capitol.
"At the end of the day, they're going to find that not only did the President act, but he acted quickly," Meadows said. The former chief of staff has since been cited for criminal contempt by the House for refusing a subpoena to testify to the committee. His tactic was familiar from previous Trump scandals, as he pivoted away from the truth to create a more palatable tale for Trump supporters that absolved the ex-President of culpability.
The approach recalled Trump's own when his pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky to open an investigation into then-candidate Biden and his son Hunter came out. The ex-President simply insisted that their call was "perfect," even though a White House transcript showed repeated abuses of power as he used military aid as a carrot -- a transgression that led to his first impeachment.
This Trump gambit -- also used by conservative news outlets every day -- recalls the party's reality-defying "War is Peace" slogan in George Orwell's novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four." Trump explained his method in a less literal way in 2018 when instructing followers to distrust their own eyes and non-partisan media and to believe only him. "What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening," he said.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/16/politics/donald-trump-january-6-committee-republicans-fox-news/index.html
-
Cop-assaulting MAGA rioter gets longest January 6th prison sentence yet
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/maga-rioter-robert-scott-palmer.jpg?id=25838802&width=800&height=436)
Robert Scott Palmer, a Florida man who assaulted Capitol Police during the January 6 Capitol attack, got slapped with a five-year prison sentence on Friday, the longest sentence handed out yet in cases related to the deadly Trump-incited riots.
NBC News reports that the 54-year-old Palmer was sentenced to 63 months in prison for assaulting multiple officers during the January 6th riots.
"Prosecutors said he threw a wooden plank the police, then picked up a fire extinguisher and sprayed its contents at a line of officers, throwing the canister at them after it was empty," writes NBC News. "A few minutes later, prosecutors said, he picked up the fire extinguisher and threw it at them a second time and assaulted another group of officers with a metal pole, throwing it like a spear."
Palmer earlier this week made a bid for leniency when he expressed regret for his actions and blamed former President Donald Trump for lying to his supporters about a "stolen" election.
"[We] were lied to by... the sitting president, as well as those acting on his behalf," Palmer wrote.
Nonetheless, that didn't stop U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan from coming down hard on him in her ruling.
"It has to be made clear that trying to violently overthrow the government, trying to stop the peaceful transition of power, and assaulting law enforcement officers in that effort is going to be met with absolutely certain punishment," she said Friday.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-sentence-2656063330/
-
Good! Should have gotten a longer sentence.
Proud Boys supporter who vowed Dem senator would be 'swinging with the fish' gets 3 years in prison
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/proud-boys.jpg?id=28161907&width=800&height=536)
On Friday, BuzzFeed News reported that a Proud Boys supporter who issued violent threats against elected officials including Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) has been sentenced to 33 months in prison.
"Eduard Florea used the social media app Parler to issue the threats against elected officials, trying to gather others to join him before the Jan. 6 insurrection, when a mob of supporters of then-president Donald Trump stormed the Capitol," reported Salvador Hernandez.
The report cited a social media post dated January 5th in which Florea said "'Warnock is going to have a hard time casting votes for communist policies when he's swinging with the f***ing fish... It's time to unleash some violence."
Florea ultimately did not travel to the Capitol himself on January 6, but pleaded guilty in August to transmitting threats. He was also convicted of illegally possessing ammunition, having been banned from doing so after a 2013 felony conviction.
"At a court hearing following his arrest, a prosecutor said Florea had told the FBI he'd applied to join the white nationalist group Proud Boys, the New York Times reported," Hernandez wrote. "He posted online using an account with the handle LoneWolfWar to issue the threatening messages."
The Proud Boys, a self-described "Western Chauvinist" group known for their violent street brawls, have been heavily implicated in the Capitol attack, with members involved at the incident. They have been subpoenaed for information by the House committee investigating the attack, along with the far-right paramilitary group the Oath Keepers.
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/salvadorhernandez/proud-boy-threats-sentencing-florea
Jan. 6 investigators eye role of 'foreign adversaries' in Capitol insurrection
A House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection may soon hire new staff members to examine the possible role of foreign adversaries in former president Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The committee, which already has about 40 staff members, is also considering whether to hire additional investigators to help analyze "the vast amount of information that Mr. Trump’s supporters posted on sites like Twitter, Facebook, Parler and YouTube in the weeks before and after the attack," the New York Times reported Friday.
"These digital footprints could help congressional investigators connect players and events, or bring to light details that witnesses might not know or remember," the NYT reported.
In addition to further scrutinizing the social media information, the committee reportedly wants "to understand whether foreign governments were able to exploit and deepen social divisions created by Mr. Trump’s refusal to concede his election loss."
"Foreign adversaries have long tried to damage America’s national security interests by exacerbating social unrest and polarization," the newspaper reported. "The committee has also discussed examining whether foreign adversaries had any other connections to the assault on Congress, according to a person briefed on that part of the inquiry."
Read the full story:
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/17/us/politics/january-6-committee-capitol-riot.html
Trump's coup accomplices have been exposed -- and they're sitting in Congress
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jim-jordan.jpg?id=27661341&width=980&height=573)
Around this time one year ago, Donald Trump was leaning heavily on the Justice Department (DOJ) to help him overturn the presidential election. According to notes taken by top DOJ official Richard Donoghue, after attorney general Bill Barr had abruptly skedaddled out of town before the proverbial manure hit the fan, the president called up the newly installed acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and told him "just say the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen."
That Nixonian "request" was denied by Rosen, since it would have been a bald-faced lie but as we later learned, the White House was also plotting with an obscure DOJ lawyer named Jeffrey Clark to put the heat on Rosen to squeeze state election officials in states Trump claimed without evidence had been stolen from him. Rosen was told that Trump planned for Clark to replace him if he didn't comply but Rosen resisted and Trump backed off after his own White House counsel convinced him that there would be mass resignations at the DOJ if he followed through. Other than one congressman from Pennsylvania, a Republican by the name of Scott Perry who had reportedly called up Donoghue to threaten him into doing Clark's bidding, until now we didn't know exactly who the "R. Congressmen" were. Now The New York Times reports that Trump's accomplices were none other than the members of the House's far-right Freedom Caucus.
The Times names Jim Jordan of Ohio, Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar of Arizona, Louis Gohmert of Texas, Mo Brooks of Alabama and Pennsylvania's Perry, who is described by the Times as the coordinator of the plans to replace the attorney general with the compliant Clark. They all worked closely with one of the original founders of the Freedom Caucus, Mark Meadows, the former North Carolina congressman who served as Trump's chief of staff.
The Times reports on a previously unknown meeting that took place shortly after the election which included Jordan, Perry and Meadows along with White House adviser Stephen Miller, Trump's campaign manager Bill Stepien and press secretary Kayleigh McEnany. Jordan claims it was purely a media strategy meeting. But when it comes to The Big Lie, that amounts to a strategy to overturn the election. Everything flowed from that. These Freedom Caucus members were all over TV spreading falsehoods about voter fraud. They pressured Republican officials and ran around chasing rumors of foreign interference. And after Barr announced that the DOJ had found no evidence of fraud, they smeared the FBI and the DOJ in the press. That's when they turned their full attention to overturning the election, focusing on January 6th.
Gohmert sued vice president Mike Pence to force him to nullify the election. (The case was thrown out of court.) Perry forwarded a letter from some Pennsylvania state legislators to Sen. Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, and Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader in the House, asking them to delay the certification which they had no authority to do.
And they met personally with the president to make plans to "stop the sedition."
And now we know from the Times' reporting that the PowerPoint coup plot was forwarded to Meadows by none other than Jim Jordan --- who Trump awarded with the Presidential Medal of Freedom after the insurrection. (That would be the same Jim Jordan who Kevin McCarthy had the chutzpah to attempt to install on the Jan. 6th Committee.)
The "R. Congressmen" were up to their necks in coup plots. But that's not surprising. If anyone had told me five years ago that we'd have an attempted coup in America I would have assumed that the Freedom Caucus would be involved. They've been practicing for years on their own party.
When the Freedom Caucus was formed in 2015, Mark Meadows was one of its founding members. So was Mick Mulvaney, another former Trump chief of staff, and current Florida Governor Ron Desantis among others, like Jordan. They presented themselves as dedicated to fiscal conservatism and re-establishing congressional prerogatives but from the start it was clear that their prime directive was to make the GOP leadership miserable and drive Democrats to drink.
Meadows went even beyond the caucus at times, unintentionally showing the way forward. He challenged then House Speaker John Boehner's leadership by deploying an obscure procedure that hadn't been used since 1910. It failed, but it riled up the right-wing media and the base in a way that only Trump has since mastered. With their in-your-face extremism they managed to create so much chaos in the GOP caucus that House Speaker John Boehner was eventually forced out.
They refused to vote for his assumed successor, Kevin McCarthy of California, helping to doom his candidacy and instead they got Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan, an up and coming conservative superstar who had run for Vice President on the ticket with Mitt Romney in 2012. Ryan was considered one of their own at the time, although he wasn't a formal member of the Freedom Caucus. But that didn't really work out all that well either. They made Ryan's life hell too and he ended up quitting politics altogether in 2018.
The truth is that the Freedom Caucus has been running the House Republican caucus in a reign of terror for over half a decade now and if they manage to take the majority in 2022, Kevin McCarthy is likely to have a big fight on his hands. He's never been one of them and despite his desperate attempts to ingratiate himself with Trump, the Freedom Caucus is going to want to put a homeboy in charge for real. That person is almost surely going to be Jim Jordan, the man who helped Mark Meadows plot the attempted coup.
These people have been fighting a guerilla war against their own party for years and were the perfect choice to be Trump's personal henchmen. In many ways they paved the way for his mafioso style of governance. And you can bet that as Trump goes around the country wreaking revenge on all those who betrayed him over the next few years, the Freedom Caucus will be right there with him. When it comes to stabbing fellow Republicans in the back, they are professionals.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-s-coup-accomplices-have-been-exposed-and-they-re-sitting-in-congress/
-
'Stop the Steal' organizer fingered the GOP lawmakers he communicated with to House riot committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jan-6-organizer-blasts-trump-advisers-for-drinking-donor-funded-champagne-in-a-war-room-during-riot.png?id=28189521&width=980&height=551)
According to a report from Politico, Ali Alexander -- one of the principles behind the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the storming of the U.S. Capitol -- has handed over names of Republican Party lawmakers he was in communication with prior to the events on Jan 6th.
The report notes Alexander revealed the names in the lawsuit he filed attempting to block the House committee from accessing his phone records.
The report notes that, in the late Friday court filing, Alexander admits he had "a few phone conversations" with Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and engaged in a "text exchange with Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL)."
Politico reports that Alexander also implicated Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) saying he was in contact in person “and never by phone, to the best of his recollection,” according to his lawyers.
According to Politico's Kyle Cheney, "Alexander’s testimony underscores the degree to which the select committee continues to probe the roles of their Republican colleagues in efforts to promote former President Donald Trump’s baseless claims of election fraud — and their potential support for fringe figures who helped gather people in Washington on Jan. 6, the day Congress was required to certify the 2020 election results."
He adds, "The panel hasn’t formally requested testimony from any of the GOP lawmakers yet but has continued to ask witnesses about Gosar, Biggs, Brooks and Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), who helped push a strategy to use the Department of Justice to promote the fraud claims."
The report also adds that Alexander was in contact with Trump campaign official Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is also the girlfriend of Donald Trump Jr., on the morning of the insurrection, but that it was just a courtesy call where she thanked him for organizing the rally.
Read More Here:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/12/18/stop-the-steal-founder-jan-6-committee-gop-lawmakers-525345
-
Kinzinger: It's 'possible' some GOP colleagues are responsible for Jan. 6 attack
He said the committee isn't ruling out issuing subpoenas to members of Congress
Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Sunday "it’s possible" some of his GOP colleagues in Congress are responsible for the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol but added he's not ready to "go to that point" yet, because he wants to "let the facts dictate it."
The Illinois Republican also revealed that the committee investigating the insurrection is not ruling out issuing subpoenas for sitting members of Congress.
"Nobody -- member of Congress, former president, nobody -- in America is above the law," Kinzinger told ABC "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl.
Kinzinger, who announced in October he will not seek reelection to Congress, was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump following the events at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and is one of two Republicans serving on the committee. He said the committee would subpoena Trump if they determine it’s necessary.
"Nobody should be above the law, but we also recognize we can get the information without him at this point, and, obviously, when you subpoena the former president, that comes with a whole kind of, you know, circus environment," Kinzinger said. "But if we need him, we'll do it."
Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., on Tuesday night joined Democrats in the House in voting to hold Trump’s former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, in contempt of Congress. Meadows defied a subpoena to appear for a deposition before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Prior to the vote, members of the committee unveiled text messages sent to Meadows during the attack on the Capitol, reading aloud texts from Republican lawmakers, Fox News personalities and the former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., that implored Meadows to get Trump to denounce the rioters. Rep Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, was one of the GOP lawmakers whose texts to Meadows were revealed, his office confirmed.
The new messages were part of the approximately 9,000 documents Meadows turned over to the committee, before he reversed course and decided to not cooperate with the investigation. The House previously voted to hold Trump ally Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena by the Jan. 6 committee.
Kinzinger said he’s "not sure" whether Meadows knew how damaging the text messages would be, but emphasized he had no choice given the committee's legal authority.
"I will tell you, yes, there are more texts out there we haven’t released," he added.
During debate on the House floor before the vote, Cheney emphasized the importance of Meadows' testimony. "Mr. Meadows' testimony will bear on another key question before this committee. Did Donald Trump through action or inaction corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress' official proceedings to count electoral votes?" Cheney said.
Karl pressed Kinzinger on the possibility of the Justice Department filing criminal charges based on what the committee finds, given that it is a crime to obstruct the official proceedings of Congress.
"Are you sending a message that the Justice Department should be prosecuting not just those that broke into the building on Jan. 6, but should be prosecuting Donald Trump himself or at least investigating that possibility?" Karl asked.
"I think investigating that possibility, for sure," Kinzinger responded. "Our committee is getting more information than law enforcement agencies and DOJ, because we’ve had the power and the ability to get that done."
"Whatever information we get will be public record, and the DOJ should take a look, particularly if there's criminal charges to be filed, because again, the big thing is as bad as it was on Jan. 6, there's really nothing in place to stop another one from happening again," he added. "If somebody broke the law, it is so essential that we send the message that you are not untouchable as president -- you're not untouchable as a former president."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Thursday in an interview with Spectrum News he looks forward to seeing what the Jan. 6 committee finds in its probe, effectively endorsing the work of the commission after he had opposed its creation. "I think that what they're seeking to find out is something that public needs to know," McConnell said.
"That's not exactly what Kevin McCarthy, the leader over there in the House, is saying," Karl pointed out, alluding to the fact that the two GOP leaders in the House and Senate have juxtaposing views toward the investigation.
"Right," Kinzinger replied, laughing. "Look, I mean -- I got to tell you, so, you know, say what you want about Mitch McConnell. He obviously holds his cards very close. I think that was a very powerful statement and I appreciate it."
Kinzinger, who along with Cheney has faced harsh backlash for sitting on the committee, criticized McCarthy for not doing something similar.
"Kevin McCarthy, on the other hand, has not said a word about anything, except for that Donald Trump is probably the greatest president to ever exist," Kinzinger said. "Kevin McCarthy himself I think made Donald Trump relevant again when two weeks after Jan. 6 or so, he went back down to Mar-a-Lago and brought him back to political life by putting his arm around him and taking that picture and basically sending the signal to the rest of the Republicans that were pretty quiet at this moment, that we got to get back on the Trump train."
"He bears responsibility for that," he added. "I don't think history books are going to be kind to him."
Watch video in link below:
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/kinzinger-gop-colleagues-responsible-jan-attack/story?id=81834432
-
Judge ends Capitol rioter's hopes of getting out of jail early after watching violence-inciting video
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/we-ve-always-talked-about-the-big-one-riot-squad-cops-open-up-about-disastrous-response-to-capitol-insurrection.jpg?id=25632898&width=800&height=450)
Ryan Nichols, a Marine Corps veteran facing felony charges in connection with the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, has spent 11 months in pre-trial lockup at the DC Central Detention Facility.
By filing a motion for modification of bail to allow conditional release pending trial, Nichols forced the government to lay out evidence of his dangerousness to the American public, which reveals extensive advance coordination with other rioters and Nichols’ leadership role.
Explaining his decision from the bench on Monday evening, Judge Thomas F. Hogan said that Nichols’ calls for civil war, coordination with other rioters, violent conduct at the Capitol on Jan. 6, subsequent calls for future violence, and leadership role all weigh in favor of his continued detention.
Nichols and his codefendant, Alex Harkrider, have volunteered for hurricane rescue and disaster relief efforts, and Nichols’ lawyer argued before the court on Monday that Nichols’ preparations to travel from Texas to Washington DC in January 2021 were consistent with what they would do for a search-and-rescue mission.
Joseph McBride, Nichols’ lawyer, explained Nichols’ decision to bring steel-toe boots, GoPro camera, crowbar and chest plate as reasonable measures to protect himself from Black Lives Matter and Antifa as he attended the Save America Rally as a peaceful protester.
Judge Hogan indicated he was unimpressed with McBride’s characterization of his client.
“This was not a rescue mission,” Hogan said.
The judge dismissed McBride’s explanation that Nichols carried weapons and protective gear based on his experience volunteering for relief efforts in “high-crime areas,” saying, “There has been no Antifa identified as attacking individuals protesting the election.”
The government presented transcripts of Nichols’ GoPro video on Jan. 5 to show as evidence that his preparation efforts were geared towards law enforcement and lawmakers, not counter-protesters.
The videos reportedly show Nichols in a large crowd on Jan. 5 saying, “Cops don’t know what’s going on. Too many of us, not enough of them,” and later yelling, “Those people in [the] f***ing Capitol building are our enemy,” according to a motion filed by the government.
The video captures one of the men saying, “There’s gonna be a f***ing war tomorrow,” and then, “You can’t stop what’s coming tomorrow,” according to the motion.
“The night before when he walked the streets and told the police to watch out and be prepared for war, he was not talking about Antifa,” Hogan observed.
Nichols’ tirade on Facebook Live while marching from the Ellipse to the Capitol on Jan. 6 even more explicitly outlines his intentions.
Trump’s surrogates had promoted the legally unfounded idea that Vice President Mike Pence could intervene to prevent the certification of the electoral vote, stoking his supporters' hopes and then fueling their rage when Pence declined to go along with the plan.
“I’m hearing reports that Pence caved,” Nichols told his followers on Facebook. “I’m telling you if Pence caved, we’re gonna drag m****r***ers through the streets. You f***ing politicians are going to get f***ing dragged through the streets. Because we’re not going to have our election or our country stolen. If we find out you politicians voted for it, we’re going to drag your f***ing ass through the streets. Because it’s the second f***ing revolution and we’re f***ing done.”
In the video the government played in court on Monday, others in the crowd can be heard chanting in response: “USA! USA! USA!”
On Jan. 6, Nichols and Harkrider made their way to the front of a mob and attempted to break through a line of Metropolitan police officers guarding the tunnel entrance to the Capitol at the Lower West Terrace. The government accuses the defendants of taking a canister of pepper spray from another rioter and dispersing two blasts of spray at the line of officers.
Later, Nichols and Harkrider climbed through a broken window into a conference room and barricaded the doors with desks and chairs, according to the government. Then the two men exited the conference room, and Nichols allegedly took a bullhorn from another rioter and waved his crowbar as he gave a speech.
“They are talking about using lethal force against you,” Nichols told the other rioters.
“Get in the building!” he told them. “Get in the building!”
“This is not a peaceful protest,” Nichols continued. “If you have a weapon, you need to get your weapon!”
The government clinched its argument that Nichols’ pre-trial release would pose a danger to the American public by playing a Facebook Live video the defendant recorded at 8:13 p.m. on Jan. 6, following the mayhem at the Capitol.
“Yes, we are calling for violence at this point!” he said, referring to himself in third person. “So, if you want to know where Ryan Nichols stands, Ryan Nichols stands for violence! Ryan Nichols is done allowing his country to be stolen and I understand that the first revolutionary war, folks, it was violent. We had to be violent to take our country back. Well, guess what? The second revolutionary war — right now, the American revolutionary war that’s going on right now — it started today."
“It’s going to be violent,” he continued. “And yes, if you are asking is Ryan Nichols going to bring violence? Yes, Ryan Nichols is going to bring violence.”
The government deflected McBride’s argument that his client was just someone who heeded President Trump’s call to protest purportedly election fraud and got caught up in the moment.
As early as Nov. 20, 2020, according to the government, Nichols told friends on Facebook: “War is the answer to terrorism. Hope that democracy wins, because war will be next. The narrative is already set for civil unrest. What happens next will not be good for this country.”
On Dec. 24, he reportedly wrote: “Any Democrat found guilty of treason should be executed. Any Republican found guilty of treason should be VIOLENTLY executed!”
And on Dec. 28: “Pence better do the right thing, or we’re going to MAKE you do the right thing.” Again, on the same day: “The time for games is OVER. Patriots will be in Washington DC on Jan 6th! If Pence doesn’t do the right thing, WE FIGHT.”
The government also cited texts exchanged between Nichols and Harkrider in the run-up to Jan. 6 that show Nichols was coordinating with other groups that were preparing for events at the Capitol on the day of the electoral certification. Among them is a Dec. 14, 2020 text from Nichols telling Harkrider that he was considering joining the Proud Boys. Two days earlier, the Proud Boys had roamed the streets of downtown Washington DC attempting to provoke fights with counter-protesters and local residents following a pro-Trump rally. Nichols’ lawyer told the court on Monday that regardless of his intentions, his client didn’t wind up joining the Proud Boys, while Assistant US Attorney Luke Matthew Jones noted that there likely wouldn’t have been time to process his application.
Nichols is at least the second Texas Jan. 6 defendant who is alleged to have communicated with the Proud Boys in advance of the assault on the Capitol. While multiple sets of defendants have been charged with conspiracy within particular groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, to date the government has not alleged a conspiracy among members of the various groups.
Lucas Denney, founder of the Patriot Boys militia, is alleged to have told codefendant Donald Hazard on Dec. 25, 2020: “I’ve been in contact with a few different chapters, and they’re helping us with safe hotels to get.”
According to the charging document in his case, Denney made multiple references in private messages in late December 2020 and early January 2021 to coordinating with other militia “commanders” in advance of the assault on the Capitol.
“A lot of the presidents and commanders of militias like myself are meeting on the 5th to organize and plan,” Denney said, according to a Dec. 31 Facebook message cited by the government.
Nichols similarly was communicating with others on Zello, an app used by militias and volunteer first responders.
According to the government, Nichols sent Harkrider screenshots of Zello alerts with the headings “J6 & J20,” “STOPTHESTEAL operation,” “chat to debrief discuss and decide the #SavetheStealJ20 Intel Brief posted above” and “stand up boots online and boots on the ground rallypoint.”
“Are you ready bro?” Nichols asked Harkrider on Dec. 27. “1775 is about to go down in this As I was walking a' alane, I heard twa corbies makin' a mane. The tane untae the tither did say, Whaur sail we gang and dine the day, O. Whaur sail we gang and dine the day? It's in ahint yon auld fail dyke I wot there lies a new slain knight; And naebody kens that he lies there But his hawk and his hound, and his lady fair, O. But his hawk and his hound, and his lady fair. His hound is to the hunting gane His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame, His lady ta'en anither mate, So we may mak' our dinner swate, O. So we may mak' our dinner swate. Ye'll sit on his white hause-bane, And I'll pike oot his bonny blue e'en Wi' ae lock o' his gowden hair We'll theek oor nest when it grows bare, O. We'll theek oor nest when it grows bare. There's mony a ane for him maks mane But nane sail ken whaur he is gane O'er his white banes when they are bare The wind sail blaw for evermair, O. The wind sail blaw for evermair.'.”
Then, he added, “We’ve got front seat tickets to the REAL revolution.”
Denney had a similar message to an unidentified contact on Facebook on Jan. 5, according to the government: “Things are going to be happening here. Trump is going to be speaking to everyone Wed before everyone marches to the capital. Rumour has it that he may march with us. I’ll tell you more when you get here on where to be and what time so you have the best seats.”
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-hearing-2656078431/
-
Here's how some Republican officials could end up with wire fraud charges: law professor
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trumps-mental-health-questioned-after-he-repeated-debunked-smear-on-democrats.jpg?id=24820169&width=800&height=430)
The House Select Committee on Jan. 6 revealed Monday that they are considering wire fraud charges for Republican officials who tried to make money off of the "Big Lie," the false allegation that the 2020 election was fraudulent.
Law professor Jennifer Taub, who penned "Big Dirty Money," explained on Twitter that 18 US Code 1341 and 1343, which made mail fraud and wire fraud a crime, could be applied in the cases of Republicans who lied in their fundraising solicits to get cash.
"Whoever, having devised or intending to devise any scheme or artifice to defraud, or for obtaining money or property by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises, transmits or causes to be transmitted by means of wire, radio, or television communication or interstate or foreign commerce, any writings, signs, signals, pictures, or sounds for the purpose of executing such scheme or artifice, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both," says the wire fraud part of the law.
Taub also cited the recent New York Times report saying that it seems the committee is looking at possible criminal charges for not only former President Donald Trump but also for Republicans who pushed the false story.
"Whether there was wire fraud by Republicans who raised millions of dollars off assertions that the election was stolen, despite knowing the claims were not true; and whether Mr. Trump and his allies obstructed Congress by trying to stop the certification of electoral votes," said the Times.
While many Republicans used the "big lie" to cash in, it was Trump and the GOP that made the most.
The report goes on to say, “The committee is also examining whether there is enough evidence to make a wire fraud referral over how Mr. Trump’s campaign and the Republican Party raised $255.4 million from donors as he and his allies fund-raised off the false claim that the election had been stolen."
https://www.rawstory.com/some-republicans-wire-fraud/
-
Judge scolds MAGA rioter's lawyer for spreading bogus claims that January 6th was an FBI false flag operation
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-capitol-riot-was-driven-by-white-people-who-fear-minorities-are-taking-over-their-rights-analysis.jpg?id=27094829&width=980&height=551)
United States District Court Judge Thomas Hogan on Monday admonished an attorney representing accused MAGA rioter Ryan Nichols for spreading false information about the FBI being behind the unrest that occurred at the United States Capitol on January 6th.
As reported by Politico's Kyle Cheney, Judge Hogan warned attorney Joseph McBride against peddling false claims about January 6th being a "false flag" operation in his court.
"We’re getting a false narrative being produced that’s not appropriate to be relied upon," Hogan told McBride. "I’m not going to rely on anything about that in this case."
McBride earlier this year went on Tucker Carlson's show and falsely claimed that a man wearing red face paint spotted at the Capitol riots was clearly a government official who deliberately stoked violence to entrap Trump supporters.
"He is clearly a law enforcement officer," McBride claimed.
In reality, as Huffington Post reported, the man in question is actually a big fan of Tucker Carlson.
"He is mainly known to St. Louis Cardinals fans as 'Rally Runner,' HuffPost has learned, and he sprints around the outside of Busch Stadium during home games," the publication wrote earlier this month. "Based on the man’s Facebook posts, he appears to have a fairly difficult life and has a tenuous relationship with reality. And he’s a huge Tucker Carlson fan."
Oath Keepers crash and burn as judge smacks down their ploy to dismiss MAGA riot charges
In a lengthy ruling on Monday, District Judge Amit Mehta of the District of Columbia rejected a push by seven members of the far-right paramilitary group the Oath Keepers to dismiss criminal charges against them relating to their participation in the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
The defendants are charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and with an individual violation of the same statute.
"Defendants move to dismiss Counts One and Two, raising a host of arguments why those counts are fatally deficient. The court is persuaded by none of their contentions," wrote Mehta. "In short, the court concludes that Counts One and Two state offenses that are encompassed by the plain text of section 1512(c)(2), and that section 1512(c)(2) is neither void for vagueness nor vague as applied to these Defendants. The charged offenses also do not run afoul of the First Amendment."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHFtJzCWQAIoxdf?format=jpg&name=medium)
The Oath Keepers are a group consisting mainly of current or retired military or law enforcement, and swear an "oath" to uphold an extreme far-right interpretation of the Constitution, as well as refusing to follow orders or laws that conflict with this interpretation. They have been involved in a number of high-profile standoffs with the government, including the 2014 Bundy Ranch incident, and their members helped carry out the January 6 attack on the Capitol, with one member talking of "blood in the streets."
Reports indicate that some members have since turned on each other in the effort to secure plea deals with federal prosecutors.
'I'm calling for violence -- I will be violent!' Prosecutors play damning video of MAGA rioter during court hearing
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-rioter-ryan-nichols.jpg?id=28264878&width=800&height=449)
Federal prosecutors on Monday played damning video of accused MAGA rioter Ryan Nichols while arguing that he should not be released ahead of his trial.
As reported by NBC 4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane, prosecutors played a video that was filmed in the immediate aftermath of the January 6th Capitol riots in which Nichols made about as explicit call for violence as it is possible to make.
"I'm calling for violence -- I will be violent!" Nichols said after the riots. "I've been peaceful and my vote didn't count."
Nichols also bragged about his role in temporarily stopping Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
"We shut down the vote today because those coward ass politicians ran into the tunnels," he said, according to MacFarlane. "I've seen the last of you treasonous bastard politicians... give me liberty or give me death... I'm prepared to f***ing die for this. I took an oath against all enemies foreign or domestic. But I plan to have others die first."
Earlier in the hearing, Judge Hogan warned Nichols's attorney, Joseph McBride, against peddling false claims about January 6th being a "false flag" operation in his court.
McBride earlier this year went on Tucker Carlson's show and falsely claimed that a man wearing red face paint spotted at the Capitol riots was clearly a government official who deliberately stoked violence to entrap Trump supporters.
"He is clearly a law enforcement officer," McBride claimed.
Pentagon cracks down on extremism in its ranks: report
Following the Jan. 6 attack on the United Sates Capitol, the United States Department of Defense is taking action to weed out extremists from the ranks.
"Warning that extremism in the ranks is increasing, Pentagon officials are issuing detailed new rules prohibiting service members from actively engaging in extremist activities. The new guidelines come nearly a year after some current and former service members participated in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, triggering a broad department review," the AP reported.
Citing "senior defense officials," the AP reported, " new policy lays out in detail the banned activities, which range from advocating terrorism or supporting the overthrow of the government to fundraising or rallying on behalf of an extremist group or 'liking' or reposting extremist views on social media."
There are questions about the slow Pentagon response on Jan. 6.
"The military has long been aware of small numbers of white supremacists and other extremists among the troops. But Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other leaders launched a broader campaign to root out extremism in the force after it became clear that military veterans and some current service members were present at the Jan. 6 insurrection," the AP reported.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-pentagon-jan-6/
-
Here is what House investigators are looking for in Trump inner circle communications to prove sedition
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mark-meadows-donald-trump-jr.jpg?id=28263445&width=800&height=449)
Here is what House investigators are looking for in Trump inner circle communications to prove sedition
Writing for Above the Law, veteran attorney Mark Herrman attempted to explain what investigators working for the House Capitol riot committee are probably looking for as evidence of sedition in emails and texts turned over to the committee.
Noting that the written word can be a powerful weapon when seeking criminal indictments, Herrman wrote that lawyers are likely seeking out anyone who "may have encouraged or assisted the January 6 mob in the attack on the Capitol" in the documents as a way to make their case.
Rhetorically asking, "In all those communications, what are the words that will send someone to jail?" Herrman explained, "So long as people can honestly say that they thought Trump won the election, then it’s probably not sedition to try to move votes from Biden to Trump," before adding, "But, if you knew that Trump lost and still tried to change the election results, that’s a whole different matter."
"You knew that Trump lost, but nevertheless tried to change the election results. That’s criminal," he elaborated. "So long as a witness insists that the witness thought Trump had won, then it’s tricky to establish intent. But a document that acknowledges that Trump lost and nonetheless tries to interfere with an election result? Pack a toothbrush."
The attorney doesn't expect anyone to have made a formal admission that they were trying to steal the election. However, he cautioned, "I’ve seen an awful lot of stupid emails in my time."
"If I had to bet, I’d place about even odds on the public one day seeing a document that starts more or less with the incriminating words, 'Although I know that Trump lost the election …," he wrote before asserting, "The person who wrote those words will (for good reason) regret those words for eternity."
The Words Of Sedition That May Be Hidden In Trump Emails
In all those communications, what are the words that will send someone to jail?
Apparently, those close to President Donald Trump exchanged many emails analyzing how to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Some of those communications may have encouraged or assisted the January 6 mob in the attack on the Capitol. Other memos, PowerPoint decks, emails, and text messages all considered ways the vice president, members of Congress, state election officials, and others could move votes from the Biden column to the Trump column and thus change the result of the 2020 election.
In all those communications, what are the words that will send someone to jail?
So long as people can honestly say that they thought Trump won the election, then it’s probably not sedition to try to move votes from Biden to Trump. If you thought Trump actually won, then moving votes from one person to another is arguably simply trying to right a wrong — trying to fix the mistaken public impression that Biden won the 2020 election.
But, if you knew that Trump lost and still tried to change the election results, that’s a whole different matter. Thus, these are the words that could cost someone jail time:
“Although I know that Trump lost ….”
If you know that Trump lost and, with that knowledge, you assisted a mob, or tried to convince a state election official to change results, or tried to convince a member of Congress to vote to overturn the election results, or otherwise sought to interfere with the election, then you’re in trouble.
Knowledge lifts the facade: You knew that Trump lost, but nevertheless tried to change the election results.
That’s criminal.
Proving intent is a hard thing. So long as a witness insists that the witness thought Trump had won, then it’s tricky to establish intent. But a document that acknowledges that Trump lost and nonetheless tries to interfere with an election result? Pack a toothbrush.
Does a document exist that says, “Although I know that Trump lost, [I propose taking the following steps to overturn the result of the election]”?
I have no idea.
The January 6 Committee may now know the answer to this question, or the January 6 Committee may know that, to date, that terribly incriminating document has not yet surfaced.
(The January 6 Committee may also have seen a text message that says, for instance, “I don’t care whether or not Trump lost; either way, we should do the following things to overturn the apparent result of the election: ….” Would that message merit jail time? Don’t ask me; that’s why we have juries.)
But an awful lot of people seem to have sent an awful lot of memos, and PowerPoint decks, and emails, and text messages trying to overturn the election results.
I suspect you won’t see language disclosing evil intent in a formal memo or a PowerPoint deck. One tends to scrub formal presentations before sending them out, so one would be a fool to leave in a formal presentation incriminating words that could send the author to prison.
But emails, text messages, and other electronic communications are far less formal than memos and presentation decks.
I’ve seen an awful lot of stupid emails in my time.
If I had to bet, I’d place about even odds on the public one day seeing a document that starts more or less with the incriminating words, “Although I know that Trump lost the election ….”
The person who wrote those words will (for good reason) regret those words for eternity.
https://abovethelaw.com/2021/12/the-words-of-sedition-that-may-be-hidden-in-trump-emails/
-
'So many pieces falling together’: Jan. 6 panel nails GOP’s Scott Perry as ‘leading conduit’ for Trump's election theft ploy
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rep-scott-perry.png?id=28268786&width=800&height=450)
A Republican congressman has landed in the crosshairs of the House select committee, but he's been on investigators' minds all along.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) has been asked to turn over documents and sit down with committee members to discuss his role in Donald Trump's attempt to install loyalist Jeffrey Clark as attorney general ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection, and Washington Post reporter Jacqueline Alemany told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" what investigators already know.
"My colleague Tom Hamburger and I confirmed that Scott Perry was, in fact, the lawmaker who did send that text to Mark Meadows that Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) read aloud last week to direct [Mark] Meadows to please check your Signal [encrypted app] and that immediately, I think, piqued the interest of the investigators," Alemany said.
"Look, this letter is a significant step forward for the committee and for the reporters that have been covering the committee since its inception in July or earlier this summer," she continued. "It's always been a question of how the panel is going to handle getting sitting lawmakers to cooperate with them, as we knew from the very beginning that people like [House minority leader] Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), [Rep.] Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Scott Perry were in touch with the president and his inner circle about the effort to overturn the result of the 2020 election."
"But Scott Perry, in particular, is of interest," Alemany said. "We found reporting that he's the leading conduit from the House GOP to the White House in terms of trying to effort the challenge to the 2020 election, and he's been on the mind of congressional investigators really for a whole year now. When the Senate Judiciary Committee released their report in October, they cited Perry as someone who was integrally involved with these efforts. They had already gotten evidence that [Rep. Bennie] Thompson echoed yesterday that he was directly pressuring [Department of Justice] officials to investigate these various fringe conspiracy theories. He also acknowledged in those interviews with the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was the person who introduced Mark Meadows to Jeffery Clark, who has also become a central player."
"So there are so many different pieces that are kind of falling together here," Alemany added. "But he big question remains whether Scott Perry is going to cooperate and how far this committee is going to go in getting a sitting member of Congress to actually comply with this investigation."
-
Glad she got what she deserved. 7 charges!
Beverly Hills salon owner's life in shambles as she faces seven Capitol riot charges: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/gina-bisignano-is-seen-on-video-participating-in-the-riot-at-the-u-s-capitol-on-jan-6.png?id=25502086&width=864&height=488)
According to a deep dive into the lives of three Capitol rioters, looking at how they came to be at the Jan 6th insurrection and where they are today, Intelligencer's Kerry Howley writes that a Beverly Hills salon owner who became one of the more recognizable faces of the riot is destitute as she faces seven counts to which she has pleaded not guilty.
Prior to her arrest, Gina Bisignano was living the good life as the owner of Gina’s Eyelashes and Skincare in the wealthy community and now she is awaiting trial on counts ranging from Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in a Restricted Building or Grounds to Engaging in Physical Violence in a Restricted Building or Grounds after her business shut down and what money she had has been used up fighting for her freedom.
As the report notes, "Two days after the riot, Gina appeared on Infowars to share video she had taken," which, in turn, helped lead to her arrest before being granted bail.
However that didn't last long, with Howley reporting that prosecutors appealed and told the court, "Her sincere belief in conspiracy theories and the absence of rational, evidence-based decision-making show that she is extraordinarily unlikely to accept the legitimacy of this court’s orders," which led a judge to order her bail revoked that left her languishing in a Los Angeles jail before later being transported to Grady County Detention Center in Chickasha, Oklahoma.
According to Howley, "By late February, in Grady County, she had been imprisoned in one facility or another for over a month, during which she saw the sun exactly once: on the long day when she was transferred from L.A. to Oklahoma," adding that a judge finally agreed to her supervised release as she awaited trial.
Upon her release, the report states, "Gina had no ID, no credit card, no way to get home, and it was not clear what she would do on the scrubby, sidewalkless Oklahoma streets onto which she was being dumped."
Bisignano was then taken in immediately by a woman only identified as Rachel "whose church friend had seen a post on Facebook about a woman who needed help."
"Rachel took Gina to Sonic and placed a large Diet Coke in her hands before taking her to the 122-acre farm where she lived with her mother and father," Howley reported, "Soon Rachel would drive Gina to another home, the home of the friend she knew from Martha Road Baptist Church. In this home, the kitchen would smell of cookies a man had made for his friends at work, a round woman would root around for clothes that would not fit Gina’s slim form, and the couple’s autistic son, David, would give up his bed for her."
She added, "Gina had not slept on a mattress in many weeks. In too-big sweatpants tied at the waist, Gina stood in a boy’s room in rural Oklahoma, beside his bed, under a WWE poster. She crawled in, pulled the covers over her head, and wept."
As for Bisingnano's court date, the website of the U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C, still states, "Defendant remains on home detention. Status conference set for 9/2/21 at 2 pm.," with Reuters reporting on September 16th that a judge has refused her request to end her house arrest order and to allow her to have her ankle bracelet monitor removed.
According to an order signed Judge Carl J. Nichols, located on Pacer, Bisignano was scheduled to report for a hearing on Dec. 21 , with the judge admonishing her and her attorney for skipping a previously scheduled one on Dec. 14 by writing, "This is not the first time timely attendance has been a problem in this case," and that "additional failures to appear timely will be looked upon even more unfavorably."
You can read the more detailed Intelligencer report here.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/12/january-6-insurrection-us-capitol-riots.html
-
Jim Bob Elliott is the latest Capitol attacker to be indicted for allegedly beating cops with a flag pole
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/january-6.png?id=27154950&width=800&height=561)
The Justice Department has officially indicted James Robert Elliott, 24, known as "Jim Bob" on six counts for his involvement in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
The Illinois man was arrested for assaulting law enforcement with a flag pole, classified as a dangerous weapon in the indictment. Other charges include civil disorder, assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon, and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon said the DOJ statement.
He is one of many Capitol attackers who are being linked to violence against police, after the DOJ has largely focused on those who merely breached the building.
Elliott adds to 700 other people indicted for their participation in the attack that attempted to stop the counting of the Electoral College. Of those 700 people arrested, 220 have been charged with assaulting law enforcement.
"The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Chicago and Washington Field Offices," the report note.
Flags are allowed at protests, but poles have always been banned at events near the White House and the U.S. Capitol because the poles can be used as a weapon.
"It was very scary, because I thought I was going to lose my life," said US Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell when testifying before Congress. "Then I started getting beat up with a flagpole, with a flag, the American flag that I swore to defend here and overseas. And I don't know how I got this strength, but I hit that person so hard that they let me go. I started backpedaling."
https://www.rawstory.com/flag-pole-attacker-indicted/
-
House investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection just took an unexpected turn: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=28277250&width=1245&height=701)
Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) has become a key focal point for the House Select Committee's investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, according to The Washington Post's Jacqueline Alemany.
Per Politicus USA, the investigative committee has released a new report that suggests Perry was part of a small group that may have worked to help plan the insurrection that took place on Jan. 6.
Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Jacqueline Alemany shared details about what she could confirm regarding Perry and his communication with former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
“My colleague Tom Hamburger and I confirmed that Scott Perry was, in fact, the lawmaker who did send that text to Mark Meadows that Congresswoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) read aloud last week to direct [Mark] Meadows to please check your Signal [encrypted app] and that immediately, I think, piqued the interest of the investigators,” Alemany said.
Alemany went on to share details about the latest letter and how it could make lawmakers more inclined to cooperate with the committee investigating.
“Look, this letter is a significant step forward for the committee and for the reporters that have been covering the committee since its inception in July or earlier this summer," Alemany said. "It’s always been a question of how the panel is going to handle getting sitting lawmakers to cooperate with them, as we knew from the very beginning that people like [House minority leader] Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), [Rep.] Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Scott Perry were in touch with the president and his inner circle about the effort to overturn the result of the 2020 election.”
The Committee is also said to have plans to question Perry about his involvement in Trump's previous plan to fire “Acting Attorney-General Jeff Rosen” and install his own ally Jeffery Clark as "Acting-Attorney General." Alemany reported that Perry was "directly involved in the effort to install Clark, which may expose Perry to more criminal liability than even a role in the riot on January 6th."
“… They had already gotten evidence that [Rep. Bennie] Thompson echoed yesterday that [Perry] was directly pressuring [Department of Justice] officials to investigate these various fringe conspiracy theories. He also acknowledged in those interviews with the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was the person who introduced Mark Meadows to Jeffery Clark, who has also become a central player. So there are so many different pieces that are kind of falling together here."
Despite the angle the investigative committee chooses to pursue, Politicus USA notes that "Perry is squarely in the middle of the Select Committee’s investigation and that the Committee already has significant evidence that concerns him as it seeks his testimony."
-
Jan. 6 committee wants to speak to Jim Jordan about his conversations with Trump
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/gop-s-jim-jordan-gets-mocked-at-oversight-hearing-after-ranting-that-democrats-are-trying-to-interfere-with-the-supreme-court.jpg?id=28171723&width=980&height=527)
The House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has called Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to appear and answer questions before them. Jordan was almost appointed to the committee by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
“We understand that you had at least one and possibly multiple communications with President Trump on January 6th," the letter explains. "We would like to discuss each such communication with you in detail. And we also wish to inquire about any communications you had on January 5th or 6th with those in the Willard War Room, the Trump legal team, White House personnel or others involved in organizing or planning the actions and strategies for January 6th."
Jordan was asked twice by reporters if he had spoken to Trump on Jan. 6. Each time he stumbled over his words, seemingly confused, saying that he talks to the president frequently but wouldn't clarify any specifics.
The Committee explains that because the scope of their investigation involves Jan. 6 and what lead to Jan. 6, it wrote to Jordan "we would also like to ask you about any discussions involving the possibility of presidential pardons for individuals involved in any aspect of January 6th or the planning for January 6th. When you were asked during a Rules Committee hearing on October 20, 2021, whether you would be willing to share with the Select Committee the information you have regarding January 6th and events leading up to the day, you responded, 'I've said all along, 'I have nothing to hide.' I've been straightforward all along."
Read the full letter below:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHPPxTeXMAEm8xS?format=jpg&name=large)
Capitol riot committee is playing 'hardball' with Jim Jordan -- and he's 'earned' it: CNN's Elie Honig
On Wednesday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," former federal prosecutor Elie Honig broke down the significance of the House Select Committee's decision to seek information from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) on his involvement in former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
"It may be wishful thinking that Congressman Jordan will voluntarily cooperate with the committee, but he is a critical figure in this investigation, isn't he?" asked anchor Wolf Blitzer.
"He is," said Honig. "The committee has made clear they're playing hardball, that they're going to pursue the truth no matter who may hold the truth, up to and including their own colleagues in Congress. Jim Jordan is not being picked on here just for fun. He has absolutely earned this request for information which could soon become a subpoena, because we know for a fact that Jim Jordan spoke with Donald Trump on January 6th."
"Jim Jordan has now admitted that, sort of reluctantly, in a way, he's not super proud of what he talked about with Donald Trump on January 6th," added Honig. "So there is a real reason and purpose behind this subpoena. Jim Jordan has said he has nothing to hide, and soon we'll see if he can back up that talk."
Watch below:
Jim Jordan has repeatedly 'tripped over' his story about communications with Trump: CNN's Bolduan
On Wednesday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," anchor Kate Bolduan and former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean discussed the new push by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack to get information from Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
"One key question with Jordan, really ever since January 6th, has been what were his communications with Donald Trump on January 6th?" said Bolduan. "Because the question has become all the more interesting as Jordan himself has tripped over answering it multiple times. Let me play this for you."
"I have talked to the president so many — I can't remember all the days I have talked to him but I certainly talked to the president. I spoke with him that day after? I think after? I don't know if I spoke with him in the morning or not. I — I just don't know," said Jordan in the first clip.
"Of course I talked to the president. I talked to him that day. I have been clear about that. I don't recall the number of times," said Jordan in the second clip.
"John, what do you do with that?" asked Bolduan.
"Well, that's not the normal Jordan answer," said Dean. "He is pretty crisp and pretty clear on most of his answers. His mind is probably trying to calculate, well, what kind of exposure do I have at this stage in answering that question? And I think he does have exposure because of the texts he forwarded the day before. I'll tell you, if they ever start pursuing conspiracy charges, he walked right into a conspiracy to obstruct Congress. To — was it a seditious conspiracy? May — may well have been. So I think he knows he has exposure, and if he ever is in front of that committee, he will probably have to take the [Fifth Amendment]. That's probably another reason he doesn't want to go."
Watch below:
Jim Jordan ‘has priors’: Dem draws parallel between Capitol riot probe and Ohio State abuse scandal
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jim-jordan.jpg?id=27161537&width=980&height=573)
Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan suggested Wednesday night that he will refuse to cooperate with the House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection — saying he has "real concerns" about the panel.
A short time later, California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell appeared on MSNBC to discuss Jordan's response to the committee's request for him to testify.
"I'm not a Harvard lawyer, but the way that he has talked about his involvement certainly makes him relevant, and the way that he is now moonwalking away from the responsibility to testify, to me, makes him probably complicit," Swalwell said, calling the insurrection "an incident of workplace violence."
"At any workplace if this happened, and you were in contact with somebody who was responsible for the workplace violence, if you didn't do anything wrong, if you had nothing to do with it, you would raise your hand and say, 'Let me help to make our workplace safer,'" Swalwell said. "And the fact that he does not want to cooperate just puts him in the category of people who had some role or some knowledge of what Donald Trump wanted to do."
"And oh, by the way, this guy probably has priors, because it's not the first time he's been accused of witnessing a crime and then not wanting to report it or help investigators," Swalwell added, referring to Jordan's role in a s*x-abuse scandal at Ohio State University, where he served as an assistant wrestling coach.
MSNBC host Lawrence O'Donnell responded to Swalwell by noting that former members of the Ohio State wrestling team "have said under oath that he (Jordan) knew that players on that team were being sexually abused by a physician, and he did absolutely nothing about it."
Watch Swalwell's full interview below:
-
Violent MAGA rioters are getting pandemic relief loans forgiven despite their crimes
The Small Business Administration has been forgiving pandemic relief loans issued to insurrectionists who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The loans were issued under the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was part of the $2 trillion CARES Act signed by former president Donald Trump in March 2020. The PPP program was designed to cover payroll for small businesses, which could apply to have the loans forgiven if they could show that the money was used for intended purposes.
"Amazingly, some of the people who received the money responded, less than a year later, by attempting to kill the very legislators who put the program in place—the ones who kept their businesses afloat and employees able to survive," the Daily Dot reported Wednesday. "But the government is forgiving them anyway. In a review of PPP data obtained from ProPublica, the Daily Dot discovered many well-known Capitol insurrectionists have had their loans forgiven, some being absolved of nearly a million dollars in funds."
Dominic Pezzola, a member of the Proud Boys, had a $12,502 loan for his home-contracting business forgiven in June despite that fact that he remains incarcerated, having been denied bail.
Russell Taylor, a member of the Three Percenters, received two loans totaling more than $1 million for his graphic design company. One of the loans was issued after the insurrection, and both have been forgiven.
George Pierre Tanios allegedly assaulted officer Brian Sicknick, who died from stroke a day after the insurrection. One day after Sicknick's death, on Jan. 8, Tanios had a $52,110 loan for his West Virginia sandwich shop forgiven.
"Other high-profile insurrectionists at the Capitol that day also received loan forgiveness," the Daily Dot reported. "That includes Dr. Simone Gold, who spreads misinformation about COVID-19 and received $20,833, and Trump booster Brandon Straka, who received two loans totaling $33,154."
According to the SBA, people who are incarcerated or under indictment for felonies are barred from applying for PPP loans. However, there is no such restriction when it comes to seeking forgiveness for the loans.
Read the full story:
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/capitol-rioters-ppp-loans-forgiven/
-
Good. This scumbag belongs in prison!
Michael Flynn's lawsuit against the January 6th committee tossed by judge one day after being filed
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/michael-flynn-who-pushed-for-trump-martial-law-says-americans-will-not-allow-biden-inauguration.jpg?id=24979408&width=800&height=432)
It did not take long for a judge to toss out former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn's lawsuit against the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol building.
NBC News reports that a federal judge in Florida refused to grant Flynn a temporary restraining order that would have blocked the committee from accessing his communications records in the weeks leading up to the Capitol riots.
Flynn had asked the judge to block the committee from obtaining his records on Tuesday, which means it took the court just one day to throw out his complaint.
"U.S. District Court Judge Mary Scriven in Tampa said Flynn’s motion... failed for two reasons, including a lack of urgency," writes NBC News' Pete Williams. "The judge noted that the committee postponed Flynn’s deposition to 'a date to be determined.' And while the committee's subpoena said he should produce the documents it requested by Nov. 23, 'there is no evidence in the record as to the date by which the select committee now expects Flynn to comply with its document requests.'"
Because of this, the judge concluded that there is no proof that Flynn "will face immediate and irreparable harm" that would have justified a restraining order against the committee.
Flynn was also supposed to have appeared before the committee to testify this week.
Read More:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/judge-denies-michael-flynn-s-request-restraining-order-against-jan-n1286507?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma
Proud Boy pleads guilty to conspiracy charge in January 6th case that has major implications for other rioters
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28280747&width=1015&height=571)
A member of the Proud Boys who took part in the January 6th Capitol riots has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge in a case that has major implications for other Capitol rioters.
As reported by NBC 4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane, 34-year-old Proud Boy Matthew Greene of Syracuse, New York pleaded guilty both to conspiracy and obstructing an official congressional proceeding.
"Prosecutors accused Greene of 'advertising' that he was a 'first degree Proud Boy' on social media," reports MacFarlane. "And he allegedly sent encrypted message on Jan 6 saying 'We took the Capitol.'"
MacFarlane also reports that Greene has accepted a plea deal in which he will spend between 41 months and 51 months in prison.
The conspiracy charge is particularly noteworthy because it could implicate any fellow Proud Boys and other assorted rioters who took part in conspiring with Greene to commit violence at the Capitol.
Politico's Kyle Cheney reports that Greene's plea deal includes a deal to cooperate with other government prosecutions, which means that Greene likely has information that can implicate others in the conspiracy.
Read More:
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1473736086493048839
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1473736024362823681
Proud Boy who allegedly vowed to 'kill them all' at MAGA riot set to plead guilty
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/proud-boy-insurrectionist-who-stockpiled-weapons-faces-new-gun-charges-but-could-be-released-today.png?id=27109224&width=800&height=450)
On Thursday NBC4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane, the key correspondent covering the January 6 Capitol insurrection trials, reported that Matthew Greene, a Proud Boy from New York City, is set to plead guilty to his role in the attack.
@MacFarlaneNews "BIG, BIG HEARING at 2pm today in DC federal court
Accused Proud Boys Jan 6 conspirator Matthew Greene of Syracuse is scheduled to plead guilty. This could be a breakthrough in a large & particularly high level US Capitol riot case
Standby"
Greene, a high-profile defendant, was accused of "conspiracy involving terrorism," as well as illegal gun charges after an FBI raid on his home uncovered his stockpile. He allegedly shared guerrilla tactics with co-conspirators on the encrypted messaging app Telegram and planned for killing any politicians they could capture, and witnesses of the attack at the Capitol described hearing him proclaim "we'll kill them all."
The Proud Boys are a self-described "Western Chauvinist" group, with ties to white supremacists. They are infamous for violent street fights, and were heavily implicated at the Capitol attack.
https://www.rawstory.com/proud-boys-2656091836/
-
New report says 'evidence is mounting' for a disturbing reason the National Guard failed to act on Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-six-stages-of-trumps-resistance.jpg?id=26915036&width=980&height=560)
Almost a year after that the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building, the events of that day continue to inspire a great deal of analysis and discussion — including the fact that the National Guard didn’t get to the Capitol sooner when it was under attack. Writers Ryan Goodman and Justin Hendrix, in an article published by Just Security this week, argue that the National Guard was “restrained” by the Pentagon because of fears that then-President Donald Trump would “invoke the Insurrection Act.”
“One of the most vexing questions about January 6 is why the National Guard took more than three hours to arrive at the Capitol after D.C. authorities and Capitol Police called for immediate assistance,” Goodman and Hendrix explain. “The Pentagon’s restraint in allowing the Guard to get to the Capitol was not simply a reflection of officials’ misgivings about the deployment of military force during the summer 2020 protests; nor was it simply a concern about ‘optics’ of having military personnel at the Capitol. Instead, evidence is mounting that the most senior defense officials did not want to send troops to the Capitol because they harbored concerns that President Donald Trump might utilize the forces’ presence in an attempt to hold onto power.”
Christopher Miller, who was serving as acting secretary of defense on January 6, told the U.S. Defense Department Inspector General’s office he feared that “if we put U.S. military personnel on the Capitol, I would have created the greatest constitutional crisis probably since the Civil War.”
Miller, Goodman and Hendrix note, “does not specify who held the fears that Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act.”
They also point out that Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo “confided in one another that they had a persistent worry Trump would try to use the military in an attempt to hold onto power if he lost the election, the Washington Post’s Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker reported.”
Goodman and Hendrix write, “The top officials’ fears were warranted: Donald Trump, his close aides and a segment of Republican political figures had openly discussed the possibility of invoking the Insurrection Act or using the military to prevent the transfer of power on the basis of false claims that the election was ‘stolen.’ But the Pentagon’s actions with respect to the National Guard suggest a scenario in which, on the basis of such concerns, a potentially profound crisis of command may have played out on January 6.”
In other words, their report suggests that the National Guard may have failed to adequately protect Congress because top military officials feared Trump could turn around and use the troops to undermine the Constitution itself. Presumably, the Jan. 6 committee is examining this and other lines of inquiry in their largely behind-the-scenes investigation.
https://www.rawstory.com/national-guard-capitol-riot/
-
The Obscure Charge Jan. 6 Investigators Are Looking at for Trump
Prosecutors have hit 240 insurrectionists with the rare charge of obstructing an official congressional proceeding. The Jan. 6 Committee might be looking at that charge for Trump.
As federal prosecutors increasingly use an obscure criminal charge to jail Jan. 6 insurrectionists, congressional investigators seem to be building a case that could result in that same charge against former President Donald Trump.
A third of the 700 people arrested by the Justice Department for attacking the U.S. Capitol building have been hit with a peculiar federal “witness tampering” law, according to researchers at George Washington University’s Program on Extremism. Those 240 insurrectionists have been charged with corruptly obstructing an official proceeding, a never-before-seen tactic by prosecutors for an equally unprecedented event.
So far, 12 have pleaded guilty, and three of those have already been sentenced. But if hundreds of people face prison time for interrupting Congress while it was certifying the 2020 election results, what happens to the president who ordered them to march there?
While the DOJ pursues the rioters, the special House Jan. 6 Committee is separately collecting evidence to formulate a picture about how this all came together. And legal scholars say a strategy is taking shape—one that builds a case to criminally charge the former president.
“The DOJ and the committee are building a pyramid of guilt to get to the top. The more people who plead guilty, the more the top of the pyramid begins to take shape,” said Joshua E. Kastenberg, a professor at University of New Mexico’s law school.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), one of the two GOP members on the congressional panel investigating the insurrection, first drew attention to that possibility during a televised hearing last week. That’s when she made an obscure reference to “another key question before this committee: Did Donald Trump, through action or inaction, corruptly seek to obstruct or impede Congress’ official proceeding to count electoral votes?”
On Monday, The New York Times pushed that idea further when it revealed that the House committee investigating the insurrection is considering referring Trump to the Justice Department.
A source close to the committee told The Daily Beast that Cheney is an experienced attorney, and she was being deliberate when she raised the question that night.
“Her choice to use that language was not an accident,” the source said.
David Schultz, a law professor at the University of Minnesota, said congressional investigators could be building a case that Trump “aided and abetted” the rioters to interrupt the vote count. And Cheney’s statements, combined with the Justice Department’s aggressive use of this federal charge, hint at what might come.
“We are seeing a pattern of establishing an obstruction of justice that takes it up the food chain,” he said.
Cheney knows the committee can’t, on its own, charge anyone with a crime. But its findings can certainly result in Congress asking the Justice Department to pursue a case against the former president.
Trump’s representatives did not respond to an inquiry on Tuesday, but the former president in the past has repeatedly berated the committee’s work as illegitimate. Staff on the bipartisan Jan. 6 Committee declined to comment on the subject. And the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia declined to speak about their ongoing cases.
It might seem odd for a federal law against witness tampering to be used this way, but the statute includes a provision that makes it a crime for anyone who “corruptly… obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding,” or tries to do so.
As insurrection cases make their way through federal courts in the District of Columbia, judges are increasingly allowing prosecutors to use it.
Ronald Sandlin and Nathaniel DeGrave, accused rioters who were caught in Las Vegas, recently tried to stop the DOJ from using it against them. That effort was promptly cut short by U.S. District Court Judge Dabney L. Friedrich, a Trump appointee, when she issued an opinion on Dec. 10 that noted how Sandlin recorded a livestream shortly before the attack in which he said, “freedom is paid for with blood” and “there is going to be violence.”
Friedrich ruled that it’s appropriate for the feds to pursue these charges, because the dynamic duo’s alleged conduct—gearing up with pistols, knives, and walkie talkies and then storming the Capitol—“fall on the obviously unlawful side of the line.”
“And it was allegedly done with the intent to obstruct the congressional proceeding,” Friedrich wrote.
“This is a really a novel application of this law,” said Jonathan Lewis, a research fellow at GWU’s Program on Extremism who has been closely tracking the hundreds of insurrection cases.
“We’ve seen a number of legal challenges to 18 U.S.C. 1512(c)(2) saying this wasn’t an official proceeding. Or saying this was a political use of a U.S. code in an improper way,” he told The Daily Beast.
Then again, legal scholars concede, this is also the first time hundreds of people stormed into the meeting place of the nation’s Congress.
It worked against Paul Hodgkins, a Florida man who carried a Trump flag onto the Senate floor and got slapped with eight months in prison. Two others, “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley and gym owner Scott Fairlamb, were sentenced to 41 months behind bars. Eight others have already pleaded guilty and await sentencing in the next year.
“One of the most commonly used defenses by January 6 defense attorneys is that their client could not have been intentionally obstructing the proceeding because they had no idea it was an official proceeding,” Lewis said.
But that defense has an obvious weakness: rioters were expressly there to “stop the steal” by preventing Congress from certifying the 2020 election results.
“They were there to interfere with the process. They may not have been there to commit acts of violence or commit an insurrection. But they were absolutely there to do exactly what this statute covers,” Kastenberg told The Daily Beast.
The more defendants plead guilty to this charge, the more they establish it as the norm. And prosecutors have established this pattern before.
“This is how you prosecute the mob. You don’t start at the top,” said Vermont Law School professor Jared Carter.
Going after Trump himself, however, is another matter.
Legal scholars said for this charge to work, prosecutors would have to find that Trump rebuffed his advisers’ pleas that he intervene and redirect the crowd—because he explicitly intended for the attack to happen. Or that he held back the National Guard or federal law enforcement forces from coming to the rescue.
This might be what Cheney means by “inaction” on Trump’s part, said Rachel E. VanLandingham, a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles who spent years as a lawyer in the military.
“It’s going to be really hard to pin criminal liability on the president on this ‘obstruction of justice’ statute, especially when he has wide discretion as president in employing military force domestically,” said VanLandingham, who noted that “criminal law isn’t for bad judgment calls.”
As for Trump’s speech to protestors, where he told them to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” VanLandingham said it just wouldn’t be enough.
“This is so tied up with political speech. One could make an incredible argument that President Trump was inciting lawlessness. And there’s a strong argument he was aiding and abetting the obstruction of proceedings. But that has to be weighed against the core constitutional value that animates the First Amendment: the ability to engage in fiery, incendiary rhetoric. And the balance has to be tilted in favor of protecting that speech,” she said.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-obscure-charge-jan-6-investigators-are-looking-at-for-donald-trump
-
Capitol rioter accused of DUI in incident with assault rifle and cops while out on bail
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/james-t-grant.png?id=28313297&width=800&height=450)
James Grant was one of many who drove to Washington, D.C. for the Jan. 6 rally that turned into a riot at the U.S. Capitol. While out on bail, however, Grant got in trouble with the law again.
The Justice Department's statement of facts about Grant explains that Grant was among those who shoved through the police barricades at the Capitol that day. He has already been indicted by the DOJ.
And despite the fact that he's currently out on bail, Grant continues getting into trouble with the law.
A recent police report involving Grant, flagged by legal expert Marcy Wheeler, revealed that earlier this month he "was operating a motor vehicle under the influence of an impairing substance(s)."
The report also claimed Grant "made statements such as, 'Just kill me now' and 'It's over'" an "was in possession of an Assault Rifle, ammunition, weapon accessories, and fatigues."
They are now attempting to revoke bail for Grant.
"Now, while on pretrial release for these crimes, he was caught driving drunk with an assault rifle and over 60 rounds of ammunition in his vehicle, and initially attempted to flee from law enforcement. There are no conditions or combination of conditions that could ensure the safety of the community and Grant's presence in Court if he were to remain released, and the Government requests that he be detained pending trial in this case," the motion to revoke bail says.
That isn't the whole story. The documents also note that unlike many of the rioters, "Grant has a criminal history and was on probation through the summer of 2019."
According to the filing, he was "convicted in 2018 for tampering with a vehicle and was sentenced on July 16, 2018 to 30 days of incarceration and 12 months of probation." Ahead of the Dec. 2021 incident, he was involved in something similar."
See the screen captures of the court documents from Wheeler below:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHUHANTXIAICQO1?format=jpg&name=large)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHUItv0XsAgFD5D?format=png&name=large)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHUNEnIXIAUhHck?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHUNFnhXIAMAkyd?format=png&name=small)
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-attacker-arrested-again/
-
Jim Jordan is ‘not a serious American’ -- and is ‘running very scared’ from Jan. 6 probe: House Dem
A Democratic lawmaker ripped into Ohio Republican Rep. Jim Jordan for allegedly "running very, very scared" from a congressional probe of the Capitol insurrection.
Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) made the comments Thursday night on MSNBC after the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 requested documents and testimony from Jordan.
MSNBC host Joy Reid played two clips of Jordan's recent comments about the committee. In October, Jordan said he has "nothing to hide" from the panel. On Wednesday, in response to the request for documents and testimony, he said he has "real concerns" about the investigation.
Dean didn't pull any punches in her response.
"He is not a serious legislator," Dean said of her colleague on the House Judiciary Committee. "He is a serious performer, but he's not a serious legislator, and he's not a serious American. He doesn't care about democracy. He doesn't care what happened on Jan. 6 and the lies that led up to it that he participated in. And he's running quite scared."
Dean also pointed to Jordan's inability in an interview earlier this year to specify the timing of his conversations with former President Donald Trump on the day of the insurrection.
"He stammers, he can't figure it out," Dean said. "He's running very, very scared. We have to make sure that the truth comes out. The Jan. 6 committee is doing extraordinary work, has interviewed more than 300 witnesses, people who know something. And what I have said to Jim Jordan or anybody else, like (House GOP) leader (Kevin) McCarthy or the former chief of staff (Mark Meadows) is, 'You should say I will offer you everything I know. I'll give you my phone. I'll give you my documents. I'll give you my emails, because I know that we suffered the most extraordinary attack on our democracy, and it must never happen again.'"
Watch below:
-
Gun-toting MAGA rioter gets early gift from feds: A Christmas Eve request for pre-trial detention
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/police-will-be-first-to-testify-in-capitol-riot-probe-hearing.jpg?id=27409289&width=980&height=697)
A MAGA rioter who brought a loaded gun to the United States Capitol building last year got notice on Christmas Eve that federal prosecutors would be asking for him to be detained in jail ahead of his trial.
NBC 4 Washington's Scott MacFarlane reports that prosecutors filed a request on Friday that Indiana resident Mark Mazza be held in pre-trial detention due to being a continued threat to public safety.
Mazza brought a Taurus revolver loaded with shotgun shells with him to the Capitol protests, although he would subsequently lose the gun during the mayhem that followed.
Mazza then falsely reported that the gun had been stolen, only for police to use surveillance footage to put him in the area where the gun was found during the Capitol riots.
In their filing, prosecutors explained how his history of violent behavior makes him unfit to be released pre-trial.
"Mazza admitted to taking the police baton on January 6... and to using it to strike a law enforcement officer in the tunnel," prosecutors allege. :Mazza further admitted that he was recently in possession of several other firearms... Defendant had armed himself with a firearm loaded with hollow point bullets and shotgun shells capable of causing serious injury and his comments about Speaker Pelosi suggest he intended to commit serious bodily harm to the Speaker of the House of Representatives."
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-arrests-2656159012/
-
DOJ releases longest video yet showing Capitol rioters fighting and pepper spraying police
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28321719&width=800&height=450)
This week, the Department of Justice released a three-hour video showing rioters fighting with police at the Capitol on Jan. 6, CNN reports.
According to CNN, the confrontations between police and rioters on the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol were the most violent on that day.
"The video, taken from a Capitol security camera, does not have sound. It starts as officers retreat, helping each other as they stumble inside and washing their eyes out with water from chemical spray," reports CNN. "Rioters crowd in behind them, coordinate efforts to attack and push through in infamous moments that have haunted the public, and officers, ever since."
CNN obtained the video after suing the DOJ for its release.
Watch the full video below:
-
. . .
The House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has called Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) to appear and answer questions before them. Jordan was almost appointed to the committee by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
. . .
It is fortunate he was not appointed to the committee. That would be like appointing a fox to a committee tasked with investigating an unfortunate incident that occurred inside a chicken coop.
-
Good. This scumbag belongs in prison!
Michael Flynn's lawsuit against the January 6th committee tossed by judge one day after being filed
. . .
Michael Flynn has frequently called upon the military and others to overthrow a fairly elected president. As clear a case of a domestic enemy of America, of democracy, as one is ever going to find. He should be brought back to active duty where he can be court martialed and sent to prison. Treason should be discouraged.
And his brother, Lieutenant General Charles Flynn should be retired after this three-year term as Lieutenant General is up, and not promoted as a four-star general, which would make him eligible for being the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His inaction on January 6 is too suspicious. Anyone else who likely argued against immediately deploying the National Guard to the Capitol on January 6 should not receive another pr0motion as well.
-
Michael Flynn has frequently called upon the military and others to overthrow a fairly elected president. As clear a case of a domestic enemy of America, of democracy, as one is ever going to find. He should be brought back to active duty where he can be court martialed and sent to prison. Treason should be discouraged.
And his brother, Lieutenant General Charles Flynn should be retired after this three-year term as Lieutenant General is up, and not promoted as a four-star general, which would make him eligible for being the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His inaction on January 6 is too suspicious. Anyone else who likely argued against immediately deploying the National Guard to the Capitol on January 6 should not receive another pr0motion as well.
Flynn also called for the military to occupy the United States of America based on the "Big Lie" of imaginary voter fraud. These right wing fascists want to have supreme control of the United States and they made up a lie in order to attempt it. Clear treason.
-
Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich has provided 1,700 pages of documents and hours of testimony to Jan. 6th Committee
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol has scored significant cooperation from Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich.
Politico's Kyle Cheney flags a new legal filing in which Budowich claims that he has provided the committee with 1,700 pages of documents and four hours of testimony.
Most significantly, Budowich has given the committee information about the money trail that helped fund the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the deadly riot.
Cheney notes that Budowich has also filed a lawsuit against the committee in an effort to block it from obtaining his financial records currently held by J.P. Morgan Chase Bank.
In the court filing, Budowich argues that the cooperation he has already provided to the committee means he should not also have to hand over his financial records.
The House Select Committee has been gathering evidence about several aspects of the Capitol riots, and has been most focused on the funding behind the "Stop the Steal" rally, the legal strategies Trump and his allies employed in a bid to keep him in power, and on Trump's actions during the riot, when it took him more than three hours before he put out a video telling the rioters to go home.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-capitol-riot-commitee-2656159377/
-
'I will shed more' blood: Judge orders oath-breaking former deputy to remain in jail to await MAGA riot trial`
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/ronald-mcabee.png?id=27256165&width=800&height=450)
A federal judge has ruled that a former sheriff’s deputy from Tennessee who is accused of dragging a Metropolitan police officer into a crowd of violent rioters at the US Capitol on Jan. 6 must stay in jail while he awaits trial.
Ronald Colton McAbee was employed by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee at the time he and a friend joined the mob at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to the government. In his order requiring McAbee to remain in pretrial detention, issued on Dec. 21, 2021, Judge Emmet G. Sullivan cited evidence submitted by the government that McAbee was “excused from work” at the sheriff’s office due to a shoulder injury sustained during a recent car accident. According to a text submitted into evidence by the government, the 27-year-old sheriff’s deputy went to the doctor for CT scans and MRIs only two days before the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
McAbee texted his friend on Dec. 23, 2020, according to the government to ask whether he planned to go to Washington, DC on Jan. 6.
“I want to go, but only if you’re going,” McAbee reportedly wrote. “I’m not in shape to fight right now.”
When the friend indicated he was interested in the trip, McAbee reportedly wrote, “Let’s link up and go. I’ll slap a commie with this dead arm.”
McAbee is charged alongside six other men — Jack Wade Whitton, Jeffrey Sabol, Peter Francis Stager, John Michael Lopatic Sr., Clayton Ray Mullins and Logan James Barnhart — with assaulting law enforcement. McAbee was part of a group of rioters who were throwing and swinging various objects at the officers guarding the entrance to the tunnel at the Lower West Terrace, according to the government. At about 4:28 p.m., Whitton and Sabol allegedly knocked an officer identified as “AW” to the ground. Afterwards, Whitton reportedly boasted that he “fed an officer to the people.” The government alleges that McAbee grabbed Officer AW by his left leg and torso while Mullins grabbed his left leg, and the two men dragged the officer towards the stairs.
McAbee hovered over AW as he lay on the ground and screamed at other officers who were attempting to assist him, according to court documents. When an officer identified as “CM” pushed McAbee and hit him with a police baton, McAbee reportedly swung at him. At that point, Lopatic reportedly began punching CM, and McAbee turned his attention back to AW. McAbee reportedly grabbed AW by the torso, and the two men tumbled down the steps into the mob. As AW struggled to get to his feet, the mob reportedly kicked him, struck him with poles and stomped him. They ripped off his helmet, stripped his baton and cell phone, and maced him. Officer AW had to go to the hospital with a laceration on his head that required two staples to close.
In an earlier ruling finding that McAbee should be released, Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Frensley in the Eastern District of Tennessee ruled that none of the government’s evidence showed that McAbee took “offensive action” and that other evidence suggested the defendant was in the area to “provide aid and assistance to individuals he saw who were in peril.”
Judge Sullivan refuted that finding in his Dec. 21 order.
“To the contrary, Mr. McAbee appears to have acted deliberately when he fought against MPD officers who were attempting to protect the US Capitol and when he used physical force to pull an officer into the violent and angry mob,” Sullivan wrote. “The government’s video evidence captures multiple angles of the horrifying scene that unfolded that day.
“Watching the video footage of these events unfold continues to elicit horror and sadness — this was, without a doubt, a crime that is unparalleled in our nation’s history,” Sullivan concluded.
McAbee wore a black tactical vest with one patch that read “SHERIFF” and another with the Three Percenter insignia, along with black gloves with hard, metal knuckles, while participating in the mob assault on the three officers, according to the government. Three Percenters typically view themselves as analogous to the American revolutionaries who took up arms against the British colonial government. As such they see themselves as a militant vanguard responsible for confronting a modern-day tyrannical government. Texts between McAbee and an individual identified as “Associate-1” that the government turned over to the court include an exchange that conveys a sentiment common among Three Percenters.
“I had to explain to [my child] last night why I was going to DC and what could happen,” Associate-1 reportedly said. “This is my fight so he doesn’t have to fight.”
“I will rise or fall along side you,” McAbee reportedly responded. “This is for future generations.”
The texts also show that Associate-1, who has not been charged to date, submitted an application to join the Proud Boys two days before the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol.
McAbee reportedly texted Associate-1 with a light-hearted endorsement of the catchphrase the Proud Boys use to describe their beliefs.
“You western chauvinist lol,” he wrote.
Despite allegedly participating in an assault on officers protecting the Capitol, the government’s case against McAbee suggests that he tried to leverage his status as a member of law enforcement to get preferential treatment.
After the assault on the officers, the government alleges, the rioters surged back into the tunnel opening, pushing McAbee into the side of the archway and aggravating his preexisting shoulder injury from the car accident a month earlier.
“As Mr. McAbee tried to get away from the surging crowd and through the police line, he pointed to the lettering on his vest that said ‘SHERIFF’ as he asked to be let through,” Judge Sullivan wrote in his order.
After the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, according to government evidence, McAbee reportedly sent an unidentified individual three photos showing a bloodied baseball hat and head injury. The texts suggests that McAbee viewed his actions on Jan. 6 as a fulfillment of his oath to the US Constitution even as he strengthened his resolve to commit an insurrection against the American government.
“I’ve shed blood for my country. By the hands of the swamp,” the 27-year-old McAbee reportedly wrote. “I will shed more in the days to come. But I will not forget the Oath I swore years ago to protect the America I once knew.”
The texts exchanged between McAbee and Associate-1 indicate that after Jan. 6 the two men were preparing for an escalation of violence as the Jan. 20 inauguration approached.
“Yeah, I’ve just put my go-bag in the car and told the girls to get ready,” McAbee texted on Jan. 9. “Idk what for. But just be ready.”
Other texts indicate that McAbee was following Lin Wood, the high-profile Atlanta defamation lawyer who spread conspiracy theories promoting the false claim that that the election was stolen from Donald Trump.
“Vatican is blacked out,” McAbee wrote to Associate-1. “Supposedly Pakistan is blacked out.” In the next text, he added, “Lin Wood on Parler.”
The following day, McAbee asked his friend if he planned to go to the inauguration.
“It will be bullets this time there,” he wrote. “Currently 6200 National Guardsmen, several police agencies throughout the US. Snipers everywhere.” He added, “I call for secession!”
Sullivan wrote in his order that he was troubled by the fact that McAbee was employed as a sheriff’s deputy at the time that “he participated in the riot at the US Capitol and physically assaulted MPD officers attempting to protect the building and members of Congress.” Sullivan approvingly cited the government’s argument that McAbee’s “occupation invested him with the responsibility to uphold and enforce the law. It also required an understanding of what constitutes a violation of that law. Yet, neither prevented the defendant from engaging in the assaultive, criminal conduct.”
Even worse, Judge Sullivan concluded, McAbee allowed his mistaken belief that the 2020 election was stolen “to override his sworn duty to uphold the rule of law as a law enforcement officer and even fight against officers with whom one would expect he held a mutual respect or kinship.”
https://www.rawstory.com/ronald-colton-mcabee/
-
House Jan 6th committee focusing on Trump phone call to Willard hotel 'war room' before riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-only-way-to-heal-america-is-to-investigate-and-prosecute-donald-trump-columnist.jpg?id=24733964&width=800&height=430)
The House select committee investigating the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol is zeroing in on communications Donald Trump had with top lieutenants before the riots began.
"Congressman Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, has said the panel will open an inquiry into Donald Trump’s phone call seeking to stop Joe Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January hours before the insurrection," Hugo Lowell reported for The Guardian. "The chairman said the select committee intended to scrutinize the phone call – revealed last month by the Guardian – should they prevail in their legal effort to obtain Trump White House records over the former president’s objections of executive privilege."
Trump reportedly referred to his aides' headquarters in the Willard Hotel as his "war room."
"The Guardian reported last month that Trump, according to multiple sources, called lieutenants based at the Willard hotel in Washington DC from the White House in the late hours of 5 January and sought ways to stop Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January," Lowell reported. "The former president’s remarks came as part of wider discussions he had with the lieutenants at the Willard – a team led by Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn and Trump strategist Steve Bannon – about delaying the certification, the sources said."
However, the specific details of Trump's call or calls could have major ramifications for what congressional investigators learn.
"The Guardian also reported Trump made several calls the day before the Capitol attack from both the White House residence, his preferred place to work, as well as the West Wing, but it was not certain from which location he phoned his top lieutenants at the Willard. The distinction is significant as phone calls placed from the White House residence, even from a landline desk phone, are not automatically memorialized in records sent to the National Archives after the end of an administration," the Guardian explained.
Capitol panel to investigate Trump call to Willard hotel in hours before attack
Committee to request contents of the call seeking to stop Biden’s certification and may subpoena Rudy Giuliani
Congressman Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, has said the panel will open an inquiry into Donald Trump’s phone call seeking to stop Joe Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January hours before the insurrection.
The chairman said the select committee intended to scrutinize the phone call – revealed last month by the Guardian – should they prevail in their legal effort to obtain Trump White House records over the former president’s objections of executive privilege.
“That’s right,” Thompson said when asked by the Guardian whether the select committee would look into Trump’s phone call, and suggested House investigators had already started to consider ways to investigate Trump’s demand that Biden not be certified as president on 6 January.
Thompson said the select committee could not ask the National Archives for records about specific calls, but noted “if we say we want all White House calls made on January 5 and 6, if he made it on a White House phone, then obviously we would look at it there.”
The Guardian reported last month that Trump, according to multiple sources, called lieutenants based at the Willard hotel in Washington DC from the White House in the late hours of 5 January and sought ways to stop Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January.
Trump first told the lieutenants his vice-president, Mike Pence, was reluctant to go along with the plan to commandeer his ceremonial role at the joint session of Congress in a way that would allow Trump to retain the presidency for a second term, the sources said.
But as Trump relayed to them the situation with Pence, the sources said, on at least one call, he pressed his lieutenants about how to stop Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January in a scheme to get alternate slates of electors for Trump sent to Congress.
The former president’s remarks came as part of wider discussions he had with the lieutenants at the Willard – a team led by Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn and Trump strategist Steve Bannon – about delaying the certification, the sources said.
But as Trump relayed to them the situation with Pence, the sources said, on at least one call, he pressed his lieutenants about how to stop Biden’s certification from taking place on 6 January in a scheme to get alternate slates of electors for Trump sent to Congress.
The former president’s remarks came as part of wider discussions he had with the lieutenants at the Willard – a team led by Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn and Trump strategist Steve Bannon – about delaying the certification, the sources said.
House investigators in recent months have pursued an initial in into Trump’s contacts with lieutenants at the Willard, issuing a flurry of subpoenas compelling documents and testimony to crucial witnesses, including Bannon and Eastman.
But Thompson said that the select committee would now also investigate both the contents of Trump’s phone calls to the Willard and the White House’s potential involvement, in a move certain to intensify the pressure on the former president’s inner circle.
“If we get the information that we requested,” Thompson said of the select committee’s demands for records from the Trump White House and Trump aides, “those calls potentially will be reflected to the Willard hotel and whomever.”
A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment about what else such a line of inquiry might involve. But a subpoena to Giuliani, the lead Trump lawyer at the Willard, is understood to be in the offing, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Guardian reported that the night before the Capitol attack, Trump called the lawyers and non-lawyers at the Willard separately, because Giuliani did not want to have non-lawyers participate on sensitive calls and jeopardize claims to attorney-client privilege.
It was not clear whether Giulaini might invoke attorney-client privilege as a way to escape cooperating with the investigation in the event of a subpoena, but Congressman Jamie Raskin, a member of the select committee, noted the protection does not confer broad immunity.
“The attorney-client privilege does not operate to shield participants in a crime from an investigation into a crime,” Raskin said. “If it did, then all you would have to do to rob a bank is bring a lawyer with you, and be asking for advice along the way.”
The Guardian also reported Trump made several calls the day before the Capitol attack from both the White House residence, his preferred place to work, as well as the West Wing, but it was not certain from which location he phoned his top lieutenants at the Willard.
The distinction is significant as phone calls placed from the White House residence, even from a landline desk phone, are not automatically memorialized in records sent to the National Archives after the end of an administration.
That means even if the select committee succeeds in its litigation to pry free Trump’s call detail records from the National Archives, without testimony from people with knowledge of what was said, House investigators might only learn the target and time of the calls.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/27/capitol-attack-panel-investigate-trump-call-willard-hotel-before-assault
-
Trump's bank records could blow up former president's efforts to derail Jan. 6 probe
Donald Trump has tried repeatedly to stall or disrupt the House investigation of his efforts to overturn last year's election, but the select committee has been moving forward with new speed.
Some of the twice-impeached one-term president's closest allies have resisted efforts to obtain documents and interviews, and Trump's own efforts to shield himself from the probe has reached the U.S. Supreme Court, but CNN reported that House investigators are moving closer to revealing what happened in the leadup to Jan. 6.
"The panel's attempt to reach deep into Trump world and behind the scenes in the West Wing on January 6 kicked into higher gear in the days before Christmas, offering new insight into its areas of focus," wrote CNN analyst Stephen Collinson. "Trump responded by stepping up his own strategy of defying the truth. It is now clear committee members are trying to build a detailed picture of exactly what Trump said, did and thought in the days leading up to the insurrection and in the hours when it raged on Capitol Hill after he incited the mob with fresh election fraud lies."
The panel has called for testimony from lawmakers who were closely involved in Trump's efforts to stay in power, but the committee may be forced to subpoena recalcitrant Republicans such as Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH).
"From the outside, it is difficult to tell how deeply the House select committee has managed to penetrate what was happening in Trump's West Wing on January 6," Collinson wrote. "While several prominent associates of the ex-President are refusing to testify, the committee has conducted several hundred interviews with people inside and outside the former administration."
"Not everyone has the political commitment or the financial resources to enter a legal battle by defying a subpoena," he added. "And details from the lawsuit that emerged on Christmas Eve showed that [Trump spokesman Taylor] Budowich had supplied the committee with more than 1,700 pages of documents and provided about four hours of testimony. He sued on Friday night to stop the committee from obtaining records from a bank. The previously undisclosed records request is another indication the committee has made substantial behind-the-scenes progress and could at least partially derail Trump's cover-up despite his best efforts."
https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/27/politics/donald-trump-january-6-committee/index.html
Trump seems to throw the Proud Boys under the bus for Capitol riots in new legal filing
In his effort to have a lawsuit accusing him of sparking the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol dismissed, former President Donald Trump is arguing he's not responsible for the violent actions his supporters took, Bloomberg reports.
“Speakers at political rallies do not owe a duty of care to members of Congress or Capitol Police Officers not at the rally,” Trump’s lawyer Jesse Binnall said in the Dec. 24 court filing.
Trump's team argued that his words on Jan. 6 were in line with a president’s right to “take advantage of the bully pulpit.”
"The complaint, which also names right-wing groups like the Proud Boys, alleges many of the defendants 'planned, aided, and actively participated in that attack' and that 'all defendants are responsible for it,'" Bloomberg reports.
Trump argued in the filing that he “acted responsibly” during the speech, and that he had “simply called for peaceful and patriotic demonstrations.” Trump also denies that he was threatening violence when he said it was “a very dangerous moment in our history” and that people are “not going to stand having this election stolen from them.”
The suit was brought in August by eight Capitol Police officers who claim they were assaulted on Jan. 6.
Read the full report over at Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-27/trump-says-he-didn-t-owe-duty-of-care-to-rivals-on-jan-6
-
Michigan Republicans are being called to testify about Trump's efforts to get them to overturn 2020 election
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/busted-the-trump-campaign-paid-trump-s-private-jet-company-16800-in-consulting-fees-after-the-election.jpg?id=24502230&width=800&height=430)
Local Michigan Republican officials are among those being called to answer questions about events related to the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
According to two sources who spoke to the Detroit News, those officials have agreed to answer questions, but their names haven't yet been released. However, the report also states that GOP Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey "won't say whether he was approached by the panel."
The report noted that the outreach is likely about the efforts to overthrow the 2020 election results in Michigan.
"In August, the committee sought communications referring to the election between White House officials and a group of three Michigan Republicans from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration. The only current officeholder in the group was Shirkey, R-Clarklake, the top lawmaker in the state Senate. The other two were former House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, and then-Wayne County Canvasser Monica Palmer," said the report.
Most have refused to respond to questions, but Shirkey was among the seven Michigan Republicans who went to Washington D.C. after the 2020 election to meet with Trump. The visit happened during Trump's legal battles. Shirkey was swarmed by protesters leaving for Washington with state House Speaker Lee Chatfield.
"No matter the party, when you have an opportunity to meet with the President of the United States, of course you take it. I won’t apologize for that. In fact, I’m honored to speak with POTUS and proud to meet with him. And I look forward to our conversation," Chatfield said to WWMT at the time.
Trump then responded to social media posts from the men claiming "Massive voter fraud will be shown!"
It never was.
Read the full report:
https://www.bakersfield.com/ap/news/multiple-michigan-republicans-contacted-by-us-houses-jan-6-committee/article_e2183c34-3a0f-5bc8-a603-6f978aceb7de.html
-
‘Trump is in a bit of a meltdown down in Mar-A-Lago’ as Jan. 6 committee weighs criminal referrals: reporter
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-at-mar-a-lago-omelet-bar.jpg?id=24994289&width=800&height=450)
Donald Trump's actions in the lead-up to the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection have been increasingly coming into focus, according to a reporter who has broken some major news about the congressional investigation.
The House select committee will open an investigation of a call Trump made to the Willard hotel, where his allies Steve Bannon, Rudy Giuliani and others were huddled in a "war room" as part of an effort to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's election win, and Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell -- who first revealed that call -- told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" what that means for the probe.
"It's a pivotal moment the night of Jan. 5 and Jan. 6 when Trump picked up the phone call from the White House," Lowell said. "According to sources, he instructed his operatives the find ways to stop the certification from taking place at all at the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6. If you speak to Trump's allies, this is not a big deal -- he was just trying to find ways to delay certification and find another day, but I always thought this was a really disingenuous characterization because, either way, through action or inaction, he managed to get the certification stopped, and the Capitol was attacked and now it's going to loom large in the committee's investigation."
The twice-impeached one-term president has claimed executive privilege over hundreds of documents, and Lowell predicted the U.S. Supreme Court would decide in the spring whether Congress may see that evidence, and he agreed the committee would eventually take some action against Trump personally.
"It's increasingly becoming more likely because they are looking at criminal referrals for the former president," Lowell said. "They're still looking at Bannon and they're still looking at Giuliani and [John] Eastman. These are the guys at the Willard that Trump called up Jan. 5 and sought advice. There were multiple war rooms. There is one with Eastman, Giuliani and Bannon and there was a separate one is where people like [Michael] Flynn and Roger Stone and Alex Jones. There was, like, a massive operation happening at the Willard."
"This is going to bloom really pivotally in the investigation," he added. "But it's true, they are now focusing on the culpability of Trump himself and whether he directed the Willard to then direct the Capitol attack, and if there was some sort of ongoing conspiracy."
The select committee has been criticized for moving too slowly ahead of next year’s midterm elections, but Lowell said they had already gathered substantial evidence despite Trump’s efforts to stall the investigation.“
"They're up against this deadline," he said. "It’s a hard deadline, it’s the end of this Congress at the latest because if Republicans retake the majority and this is the end of the committee, they’re not going to want to reinstate committee. So they are up against this time limit, but they have amassed a real trove of evidence. They spoke to [Mark] Meadows, he ultimately decided not to cooperate, and he did provide a trove of documents and communication and text messages which we have only seen a sliver of, and those are already quite damming, and Trump is in a bit of a meltdown, from what we understand, down in Mar-A-Lago."
-
MAGA rioter Jenna Ryan has reported to prison — and she could be in for 'a reality check’
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/indicted-pro-trump-rioter-jenna-ryan.jpg?id=27247338&width=980&height=551)
Infamous Capitol rioter Jenna Ryan, the Texas real estate agent who once said she wouldn't serve time in prison because she's white and blonde, reportedly has begun her 60-day sentence.
The 51-year-old Ryan, who was sentenced last month for her role in the Jan. 6 insurrection, was initially scheduled to report to prison in January.
However, the Dallas Observer reported Tuesday that Ryan checked in to the Bryan Federal Prison Camp in Texas before Christmas.
Daniel Wise, a Florida-based prison consultant, said he believes Ryan — who recently announced a book deal — may have strategically surrendered early, the Observer reported.
“I have to imagine that there was a motive behind this, and your motive probably is: You want to go in there, now you can write in your book what it was like to be in prison for Christmas,” Wise said on his YouTube channel. “I mean I think people are going to see right through the smokescreen. I don’t think you’re going to get a lot of sympathy.”
Another prison consultant, Holli Coulman, said Ryan recently contacted her to ask whether she could choose to be housed in solitary confinement due to concerns that she might get hit with a “lock in a sock," the Observer reported.
"But Ryan eventually decided that she’d do just fine in the general population, claiming that she knows how to make friends with anyone, Coulman said. '[Ryan] goes, "I grew up in the streets,"' she said, laughing," according to the Observer. "Regardless, Ryan has big plans for her time in prison. In videos posted to her TikTok account, she claimed to look forward to doing lots of yoga. She also said it would be 'worth going to prison' if she manages to lose 30 pounds thanks to a new workout regimen and diet, free from alcohol and junk food."
On YouTuber who appeared on Wise's channel, DOCTV813, said he doesn't think prison officials will appreciate Ryan's TikTok videos.
“With her doing what she’s doing, they’re going to look at that and they’re going to make her time hard because they’re going to give her a reality check,” DOCTV813 said. “And she’s not going to lose weight; she’s going to probably gain weight because of how they cook everything in there with starches and all that. I don’t think she realizes what she’s about to walk into."
https://www.dallasobserver.com/news/frisco-real-estate-broker-and-capitol-rioter-jenna-ryan-surrenders-to-federal-prison-13098960
-
MAGA rioter 'Bear-spray guy' goes missing as Jan. 6 hearing gets started
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=28337681&width=800&height=450)
Jan. 6 defendant Tim Boughner was supposed to appear in court Tuesday morning but it appears that the court has lost him.
NBC reporter Scott MacFarlane, who has been covering the insurrection cases, tweeted that the Michigan man was scheduled to appear in court at 11 a.m. The jail trial involves charges of assaulting police officers with chemical spray and bike racks, along with other charges. He was one of the alleged Capitol attackers who reportedly brought bear spray, which resulted in taking down several police officers guarding the building.
According to the judge in the case, Boughner was being moved from a jail in Michigan to a jail in Washington, D.C. That means that he's on the road and can't exactly appear in court. They think he's "possibly en route to DC," said MacFarlane. But the federal government confessed that it doesn't exactly know where Bougher is. They're thinking Oklahoma.
The FBI statement of facts on Boughner includes specific details about his tattoos and visible scars that were used to pinpoint his identity in photos and videos of the attack.
Using Facebook data, investigators were able to find communications beginning on Nov. 8, 2020, that show the pathway that Boughner took from the election to the Capitol attack. He even posted, "I’m on my way to Washington DC. to make sure Biden doesn’t become president."
After the attack, he used his Facebook account to admit to his involvement that day: “Tear gassed peppered sprayed guy got next to me got the rubber bullet. I grabbed a can from them and started spraying. I got it on video lol." Boughner then stated "That was wild. We made it to the senate floor till National guard started fight back."
It's an ironic statement given Donald Trump tweeted that his supporters should come to Washington, D.C. because it "will be wild."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHsx3VUWYAMhCj6?format=jpg&name=240x240)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FHsx3VWXoAACaMj?format=jpg&name=240x240)
https://www.rawstory.com/feds-lose-january-6-inmate/
-
MAGA riot suspect bragged to friends about being in insurrection -- then acted 'ashamed' during FBI interview
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/police-will-be-first-to-testify-in-capitol-riot-probe-hearing.jpg?id=27409289&width=980&height=697)
On January 11, a tipster contacted the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center to report that an individual “had been publicly bragging to friends and family about participating in the riots within the United States Capitol Building.”
Just 11 days later, the FBI says, Paul Gray Colbath of Fort Mill, South Carolina -- the subject of that tip -- agreed to an interview with agents at his residence. Apparently, he was not bragging by then.
Colbath was arrested October 28 in connection with the insurrection at the U. S. Capitol, but his file was just released today by the Department of Justice. It was a case study in humility, as relayed by the FBI agent who did the interview.
“(Colbath) stated that he did not 'assault' the Capitol building but did enter it via an open door. Before entering the Capitol, Colbath heard the sound of glass breaking, which he stated he assumed was a window," the agent wrote. "During the interview, Colbath stated that when he first entered the Capitol building, he was in a hallway, and saw a cloud of what he believed was tear gas, and he saw a man near him who had been affected by the tear gas. He ushered the unidentified man into a nearby office to get fresh air. He did not know whose office he occupied. He advised that he saw a broken window and vandalism to the office, and when he saw the clear signs of destruction, he knew that being in the Capitol building was wrong. He only stayed in the office a short time, and he believed it was no more than five minutes.”
The report continued: “Colbath advised that it felt good to get this off his chest. He stated that he did not want to turn himself in, because he did not feel like he did anything criminal, but that he still felt guilt about his participation. He felt ashamed and like he made 'a big mistake.' He did not take any weapons with him to the Capitol or plan to promote sedition or overthrow the government.”
The report did not specify details of the boasting that the tipster claimed had prompted the contact to the FBI. It stated that Colbath had provided cellphone video of his participation and the report contained photos showing him in and outside the Capitol.
Colbath is charged with illegal entry, disorderly conduct and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol Building.
You can read the FBI statement of facts here:
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-arrests-2656179732/
-
Feds using Enron-era law to seek longer sentences for leaders of the Jan. 6 MAGA mob: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/we-ve-always-talked-about-the-big-one-riot-squad-cops-open-up-about-disastrous-response-to-capitol-insurrection.jpg?id=26595943&width=980&height=551)
Government prosecutors are testing “a novel legal strategy” by reaching back to a 2002 federal law passed in the wake of the Enron scandal to obtain longer sentences against leaders of the MAGA riot, according to a Wall Street Journal report today.
“The investigation is entering a more contentious phase as it nears the one-year mark, with initial trials set to test the government’s strategy of using provisions first laid out in a 2002 financial-industry law to prosecute some accused of leading the mob,” the Journal reported.
“In the riot’s wake, prosecutors searched for tools to elevate some of the cases beyond the misdemeanor charges often applied for unruly but far less momentous Capitol protests. They turned to a provision in the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, enacted after the accounting-fraud scandal and collapse of Enron, which imposes a potential 20-year sentence on those convicted of obstructing an ‘official proceeding.’ The measure expanded what counts as obstruction and closed loopholes used by people involved in the Enron fraud.”
Some 270 rioters are facing that felony charge, the Journal reported. The use of the charge has evoked sharply divergent reactions from former prosecutors and current defense attorneys.
“Some former prosecutors said the unprecedented events of Jan. 6 prompted the government to think creatively about how to charge the rioters. “I do think the charge makes sense under the circumstances, but I also think it’s necessarily novel, because these facts haven’t arisen before,” said Ben Glassman, a former U.S. attorney in Ohio who has prosecuted domestic terrorism cases,” the Journal reported.
“Defense lawyers say they particularly object to prosecutors’ demands that defendants agree to the enhanced punishments under a plea deal that bump a sentence to 41 months or more, which they say is out of line with past cases.”
The Journal reported that “some of the defendants ‘have coalesced around an effort to poke holes in that central element of the government’s strategy—with limited success to date.” And this:
“Prosecutors have offered to drop additional charges for some of the rioters if they plead guilty to that count and accept a punishment that would likely involve more than three years in prison. Several have taken that deal, with at least two sentenced to date along those lines. Others have rejected those conditions—specifically the enhanced sentence requirements—and are opting instead to go to trial.”
The Journal report indicated that federal judges might be receptive to the application of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act’s conspiracy provisions to the Capitol riot cases.
“Last week, two federal judges in Washington separately rejected arguments that the crime described in the 2002 statute wasn’t appropriate. “The term ‘official proceeding’…means ‘a proceeding before the Congress,’ ” U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who is overseeing one of the most high-profile cases to stem from the riot against 17 people affiliated with the Oath Keepers militia, wrote in a Dec. 20 opinion. “A straightforward reading of that definition easily reaches the Certification of the Electoral College vote,” he wrote.
The first trials testing the strategy before juries are expected to begin in February, the Journal reported.
Read More Here:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/to-prosecute-jan-6-capitol-rioters-government-tests-novel-legal-strategy-11640786405?mod=politics_lead_pos1
-
‘Just kill me now’: Jan. 6 rioter who led initial breach at Capitol ordered back in jail
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/a-video-still-shows-james-tate-grant-at-the-front-of-a-crowd-charging-over-barricades-at-the-entrance-to-the-pennsylvania-avenue-walkway.png?id=28347954&width=609&height=363)
A federal judge has revoked bond for a man who helped lead the initial breach of the US Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, after he reportedly threatened to kill himself and fled police, who later found an AR-15 assault rifle in his car, in Garner, NC earlier this month.
Judge Timothy J. Kelly issued a warrant for James Tate Grant’s arrest on Tuesday and directed the defendant to make contact with pre-trial services in the Eastern District of North Carolina to arrange his surrender.
According to charging documents, the Grant and Ryan Samsel led a crowd of rioters up to a barricade at the entrance of the Pennsylvania Avenue Walkway at about 12:50 p.m. on Jan. 6 and started accosting US Capitol police officers. The government alleges that Grant began yelling at officers and then lifted the metal barricade and then shoved it into the officers, causing at least one officer to fall. As the officers attempted to re-erect the barricade, Grant and others reportedly overran them and forced the officers to retreat.
The mob that streamed towards the Capitol after the initial breach included dozens of Proud Boys, including Charles Donohoe, the president of the Piedmont North Carolina chapter, who is charged with conspiracy to corruptly obstruct the certification of the electoral vote, alongside fellow Proud Boys leaders Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zach Rehl.
Samsel reportedly told law enforcement that Biggs ordered him to push down the barricades; Biggs has denied the assertion through his attorney.
Nine other Proud Boys in the mob, including Dominic Pezzola who is accused of using a stolen police riot shield to bash out a window at the Capitol building are charged in separate conspiracy cases. One of the defendants, Matthew Greene, has pleaded guilty and agreed to provide assistance to the government.
Video stills included in his charging document indicate that Grant eventually made it into a Senate office building, where he was filmed by live-streamer Tim Gionet aka Baked Alaska, who also faces charges related to the assault on the Capitol.
On Dec. 15, a grand jury handed down an indictment against Grant and Samsel, charging them with assaulting an officer with the metal crowd control barrier, along with nine other offenses.
Grant was out on pre-trial release at 5 a.m. on Dec. 7 when police in Garner, NC responded to a restaurant in response to a suicide threat, according to a motion filed by the federal government a couple days before Christmas. Grant was reportedly pulling out of the parking lot in a silver car and flagged the officer down.
“They probably called on me,” Grant reportedly told the officer, explaining that he was involved in the “January 6th incident.”
When the officer initiated a DWI investigation, Grant reportedly attempted to flee. Then, according to the motion, he dropped to the ground and said something to the effect of, “Just kill me now…. It’s over.”
Officers reportedly recovered an AR-15 assault rifle, 60 rounds of .223 ammunition, weapon accessories, and combat fatigues from Grant’s car.
A month before his arrest, Grant was also charged with DWI and carrying a concealed gun in Wake County.
Federal prosecutors wrote in their Dec. 23 motion to revoke bond that committing crimes while on release creates a presumption that no conditions will assure that the person will not pose a threat to the safety of the community.
“He has abused the release privileges given to him by the court in several ways,” the prosecutors wrote. “He committed a crime by driving while intoxicated. He possessed a firearm (and not just any firearm — an assault rifle) and 60 rounds of ammunition and was carrying these items in his vehicle — despite being barred from doing so as a condition of his release. He initially tried to flee from law enforcement. He used prohibited substances. And he did all this while [he] had charges pending in Wake County for a very similar offense and while on federal supervision for his violent conduct at the US Capitol. Grant’s statements are of such a concerning nature that there is reason to believe he is a danger not only to the community, but also to himself.”
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-james-tate-grant/
-
MAGA rioter kept baton he used to attack cops as a memento – and his judge isn’t impressed
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mason-joel-courson.jpg?id=28603907&width=800&height=450)
A Florida man used a police baton to strike an officer during the January 6 Capitol insurrection and then kept it as a possible “trophy,” newly released court records show.
Mason Joel Courson, 26, of Tamarac, Florida had been arrested December 15 on multiple assault charges for an “assault of a Metropolitan Police Department officer who was beaten by a group armed with a baton, flagpole and crutch,” according to the Associated Press. Courson also was accused of having taken part in “heave ho” efforts to breach a tunnel at the Capitol, the report said.
But today, Courson’s hometown newspaper -- the Tamarac Talk-- advanced the story with this reporting from December 23 court records that had not previously received coverage:
“Prosecutors argued before a federal judge that Courson posed too serious a threat to the public to be released on bond, and the judge hearing the evidence agreed, court records show,” the newspaper reported.
"I find it significant that [Courson] kept the baton with which he assaulted [the officer],” U.S. Magistrate Judge Jared M. Strauss wrote in a Dec. 23 detention order issued in federal court in Fort Lauderdale. “Whether [Courson] intended to keep it as a trophy or a memento, I cannot determine. However, the fact that [Courson] kept that weapon over the course of the last year is not emblematic of someone who has remorse or has come to regret his actions after the passions of the moment have subsided.”
“For all of these reasons, I find that [Courson’s] character and history provide significant doubt for whether he would respect and abide by conditions of bond that I could set.”
There was also this from the judge:
“[Courson] was among those seeking to ‘battering ram’ their way through officers protecting the entrance and actually entered the Capitol,” Strauss wrote. “Even more significantly, he attempted to injure another person–specifically [one] officer…by striking him with the baton and [a second] officer…by assisting in dragging him down the stairs.”
During his post-Miranda statement to the FBI, [Courson] “admitted to exchanging blows with officers” and to attacking the officer with the baton, Strauss wrote. He also said, “he felt striking the officers was ‘justified.’”
Courson told agents the scene on the Capitol grounds was like being in a “war zone” and that he felt like he was engaged in a “battle,” according to the records.
“Despite his ‘Thin Blue Line’ face covering (seemingly showing support for law enforcement), he stated that he felt these officers were not ‘thin blue line’ but rather were traitors,” wrote Strauss.
“Clear and convincing evidence indicates [Courson] took part in what can only be described as an armed insurrection against American democracy,” Strauss said in his order rejecting bond for Courson.
“The rioters sought to overturn the results of a democratic election with which they were unhappy–not by politics or by law, but by force. I cannot conceive of anything evincing a greater disrespect for the rule of law.”
The Tamarac Talk also reported this:
“On Dec. 14, around ten FBI agents along with a SWAT team executed a search warrant on Courson’s residence in Tamarac, the records show. They found the baton he had used during the Capitol attack, along with two firearms and the clothes he had worn during the riots, according to the documents.
“Courson, a father and businessman who sells audio equipment, has a criminal history that includes several arrests between 2013 and 2018, including busts for battery, grand theft, and resisting arrest without violence, the records show.”
Courson remains in federal custody in D.C. He is charged with eight federal offenses that include assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and inflicting bodily injury, civil disorder, and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, according to court records.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-mason-joel-courson/
-
Jan. 6 Committee asks Supreme Court to not even bother hearing Trump's case for hiding documents
Thus far, two courts have ruled that former President Donald Trump cannot block the documents subpoenaed by the House Select Committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol -- but that hasn't stopped him from appealing the case of the Supreme Court.
In a rare 44-page legal filing from the Jan. 6 committee, the committee cited previous rulings rejecting Trump's pleas, and also cited past precedent set by Nixon v. The United States, in which the Supreme Court ruled that a president can't withhold documents in a criminal investigation.
"In balancing these interests, the Court emphasized that the incumbent President is 'in the best position to assess the present and future needs of the Executive Branch, and to support invocation of the privilege accordingly,'" cited the filing.
The committee also argued that if the court wants to hear arguments on the case and refuses to dismiss, then it urges them to hear it quickly.
"If this Court nonetheless believes that the decision below warrants its review, the Congressional Respondents respectfully request that the case be resolved expeditiously," said the writ. "The Select Committee urgently needs the documents at issue to inform its forthcoming hearings and reports. The Select Committee’s authorization will expire on January 3, 2023, and each passing day handicaps the Select Committee’s investigation, forcing it to proceed without the benefit of documents to which it is entitled. For these reasons and the reasons set forth in the motion for expedited consideration of the petition, if this Court grants certiorari, the Congressional Respondents respectfully request that the case be heard as early as the Court’s February sitting."
Read the full document here:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-january-6-supreme-court/
Armed MAGA rioter who brought hollow-point bullets to Capitol ordered to remain in detention
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mark-mazza-upper-right-hand-corner-confronts-metropolitan-police-officers-in-the-tunnel-at-the-us-capitol.png?id=28337152&width=773&height=433)
An Indiana man who allegedly carried a revolver to the US Capitol on Jan. 6 and hinted to the FBI that he wanted to kill House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will remain in jail pending trial, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui ruled on Thursday.
Faruqui issued the order on Thursday after holding a detention hearing two days earlier.
Mark Mazza was arrested by federal agents in Indiana in November, and faces 13 separate charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding; resisting or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon; and unlawful possession of a firearm on Capitol grounds or buildings. If convicted, Mazza could face a maximum conviction of more than 100 years.
"This is the only case that I'm aware of where the defendant had a loaded firearm on the grounds of the Capitol," Faruqui said, explaining his order on Thursday. "The firearm was found in the same place where Mr. Mazza was in a scuffle with a police officer.... That in itself is enough to show prior planning to cause grave concern."
Mazza told the court on Tuesday that he hasn't had access to his medication in jail for four days, which made it hard for him to understand, but he said he wanted to go forward with the arraignment and detention hearing regardless. Mazza was represented by a private attorney during the hearing.
The government alleges that Mazza carried with Taurus revolver with loaded shotgun shells and cartridges containing hollow point bullets, which expand on contact and are significantly more lethal than regular bullets, when he entered Capitol grounds. According to the government, Mazza dropped or abandoned the firearm on the steps leading up to the West Front Terrace during a likely assault on a US Capitol police sergeant who defending the Capitol.
During his detention hearing on Tuesday, Assistant US Attorney Tejpal S. Chawla told the court that Mazza has not been charged with assault on the officer at this point but the matter is still under investigation.
After losing or abandoning his firearm, Mazza allegedly entered the tunnel at the Lower West Terrace, where rioters fought a pitched battle against Metropolitan police officers attempting to prevent them from entering the building.
During the hearing, the government played video showing Mazza at the front of the crowd of rioters attempting to break the police line in the tunnel. The video showed Officer Daniel Hodges crying out in agony as he was squeezed between the doors. Narrating the video, Chawla told the court that it showed Mazza holding open the doors as rioters assaulted the officers with sticks, shields and other objects. “This is our f***ing house!" Mazza yelled. "We own this house! We want our house!
Chawla also showed the court footage from a scene that took place later in the battle that depicted Mazza swinging a baton at the officers.
Later, rioters dragged Officer Michael Fanone into the crowd, where he was tased. Chawla told he court that Mazza told investigators he assisted Fanone. Chawla said that while it's not exactly clear what Mazza was doing, the government has no evidence to dispute his account.
After returning to Indiana, the government alleges that Mazza filed a false report with a local police department asserting that his firearm had been stolen at a casino in Ohio. When agents raided Mazza’s house in Indiana in November, they found a baton issued by the Metropolitan Police Department, along with more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition, and more than a dozen hunting knives and swords. Mazza told the agents he had several firearms, but had given them to his brother because he expected to be arrested.
According to the government’s motion for detention, agents interviewed Mazza as early as March 2021. During that meeting, Mazza reportedly said his only regret about the events of Jan. 6 was that he didn’t see House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Never did get to talk to Nancy,” Mazza reportedly told the agents. “I thought Nan and I would hit it off.” He reportedly added, “I was glad I didn’t because you’d be here for another reason and I told my kids that if they show up, I’m surrendering, nope they can have me, because I may go down a hero.”
Gregory English, Mazza's lawyer, told the court that his client served in the US Army, adding that he was injured while serving on active duty and that he receives monthly disability payments from the Veterans Administration. English said that at the time of Mazza's arrest, he was facilitating a support group for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
English did not address the implied threat to Speaker Pelosi during his remarks to the court requesting that his client be released and allowed to return home to Indiana. English asked the court to consider "that this is a unique situation where the president of the United States called upon people to come to Washington. He lied to them by saying that the election was stolen, when, as far as I know, there's no evidence to support that. It essentially got out of hand.... It's a once-in-a-lifetime situation."
The government argued in its motion that Mazza is “highly dangerous and deserving of detention.”
“Before attending the riot, the defendant had armed himself with a firearm loaded with hollow point bullets and shotgun shells capable of causing serious injury, and his comment about Speaker Pelosi suggest he intended to commit serious bodily harm to the speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States Congress,” Chawla wrote in the motion.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-detention/
-
Trump is headed for a 'legal blowout' at hands of January 6 committee: CNN legal analyst
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/full-tape-of-trump-demanding-georgia-secretary-of-state-find-votes-to-hand-him-a-win.jpg?id=24990123&width=800&height=450)
On Thursday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," former federal prosecutor Elie Honig said that the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack are poised to win a major court victory in their fight with former President Donald Trump to obtain White House records.
"You've gone through these new filings," said anchor Poppy Harlow. "How strong are the arguments?"
"Poppy, the stakes here are enormous," said Honig. "That said, it doesn't mean this is a close case. This is really a legal blow out in favor of the committee against Donald Trump. We've already had rulings in favor of the committee from the federal district court and unanimous three judge panel on the court of appeals. The arguments that got made in this today's belief were the same ones that won below."
"First on executive privilege, the argument from the committee is we have Congress and the current president who agree no executive privilege here," Honig continued. "The former president has no basis in this case to overturn that. Then the second big issue is this question of legitimate, legislative purpose. The committee says, look, we're Congress, we know whether we have a legitimate legislative purpose. We are looking at changing various laws. Trump doesn't have any comeback other than, 'We don't believe them, we think they have bad motives.' That is not going to carry the day legally."
"A couple other interesting points about the new brief," added Honig. "The committee confirmed they will be holding public hearings this year, confirmed they'll be issuing a report and show clearly they understand they are on the clock and only have a year to get this done."
Watch below:
-
Prosecutors walloping MAGA rioters with 'novel' new legal charges
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-gallows-set-up-by-the-capitol-rioters-screengrab.png?id=28024835&width=980&height=551)
Followers of Donald Trump who thought they might get away with simple misdemeanor charges for invading the Capitol building during the Jan 6th insurrection are instead facing years in prison as prosecutors use a law passed in 2002 that was aimed at curbing financial crimes.
According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, as the courts move on to prosecuting some of the more complicated cases, accused rioters are being hit with charges of obstructing an “official proceeding," which carries a much stiffer penalty if they are found guilty.
As the Journal's Aruna Vizwanatha wrote, prosecutors were looking for a way to more strenuously punish the Capitol rioters who forced lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to flee for their lives and "left more than 100 police officers injured and caused millions of dollars in damage."
Over 150 of the rioters have already entered guilty pleas, many of them related to the misdemeanor crime of entering a restricted federal building, with an estimated 270 of the fans of the former president being slammed with a provision found in the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act.
According to the report, "prosecutors searched for tools to elevate some of the cases beyond the misdemeanor charges often applied for unruly but far less momentous Capitol protests. They turned to a provision in the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act, enacted after the accounting-fraud scandal and collapse of Enron, which imposes a potential 20-year sentence on those convicted of obstructing an 'official proceeding.' The measure expanded what counts as obstruction and closed loopholes used by people involved in the Enron fraud," the Journal is reporting.
The report notes that attorneys for a few of the accused insurrectionists have attempted to "poke holes" in the charges but to no avail so far, leading to plea bargaining due to the threat of extended jail time.
"Prosecutors have offered to drop additional charges for some of the rioters if they plead guilty to that count and accept a punishment that would likely involve more than three years in prison. Several have taken that deal, with at least two sentenced to date along those lines. Others have rejected those conditions—specifically the enhanced sentence requirements—and are opting instead to go to trial, " the Journal is reporting. "Many rioters who face that charge have argued in court filings that the law is meant to apply to obstructing pending investigations—where it has commonly been used—rather than an event like the certification of the electoral votes, which some of the defendants described as a pro forma event that was 'ceremonial or ministerial.'"
According to former U.S. Attorney Ben Glassman, he thinks the charge is perfectly legitimate in light of the crime.
“I do think the charge makes sense under the circumstances, but I also think it’s necessarily novel, because these facts haven’t arisen before,” he explained.
Judges overseeing the cases seem to agree.
"The term ‘official proceeding’…means ‘a proceeding before the Congress,’ ” noted U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who, the Journal reports, "is overseeing one of the most high-profile cases to stem from the riot against 17 people affiliated with the Oath Keepers militia."
Mehta added in his Dec 20 decision, "A straightforward reading of that definition easily reaches the Certification of the Electoral College vote."
The report adds, "Defense lawyers say they particularly object to prosecutors’ demands that defendants agree to the enhanced punishments under a plea deal that bump a sentence to 41 months or more, which they say is out of line with past cases."
https://www.rawstory.com/prosecutors-walloping-maga-rioters-with-novel-new-legal-charges/
-
Have you seen these people? Here are some of the 350 insurrectionists the FBI is still looking for
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/fbi-screen-captures-insurrectionists.png?id=28693800&width=800&height=450)
It has been a year since President Donald Trump's supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol and attempted to assassinate Vice President Mike Pence.
While the FBI said that they've arrested 725 people they linked to the attack, there are still 350 more that the FBI has identified that are still at large.
According to videos and photos they have collected from the day, these people are among the final chunk of people who have been able to evade arrest by laying low and none of the people in their lives turning them in.
Thus far there have been 165 guilty pleas and the punishments vary from probation to years in prison depending on the level of the offense and previous criminal behavior.
You can see the list of photos that the FBI has of attackers they're still searching for here.
Below you can find some of those that the FBI is still searching for:
-
Trump served notice that there will be no hesitation on criminal referrals by Capitol riot committee chair
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rep-bennie-thompson-d-ms.jpg?id=28695571&width=790&height=450)
During an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told host Dana Bash that the House select committee looking into the Jan 6th insurrection that he heads will not hesitate to ask for criminal, charges against former president Donald Trump.
Pressed by the CNN host whether he believes the former president engaged in criminal conduct, the Mississippi Democrat kept his cards close to his vest and divulged little, but said criminal charges would certainly be warranted based on what the committee discovers.
"Well, we don't know," he stated when asked about the possibility of Trump criminality before adding, "We're in the process of trying to get all the information. But I can say if there's anything that we come up on as a committee that we think would warrant a referral to the Department of Justice, we'll do that."
"That's our oath as members of Congress," elaborated. "So it's not just that. It's any of the other things we're looking at, if there's any confidence on the part of our committee that something criminal we believe has occurred, we'll make the referral."
Watch below:
-
Liz Cheney reveals Ivanka visited Donald Trump 'at least twice' on Jan. 6 to stop the violence
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/liz-cheney.jpg?id=28695746&width=800&height=450)
Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka visited at least twice on Jan. 6, 2020 in an effort to stop the attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).
During an interview on ABC, Cheney explained why the Jan. 6 Select Committee could consider criminal charges for Trump.
"We are learning much more about what former President Trump was doing while the violent assault was underway," Cheney told ABC host George Stephanopoulos. "The Committee has firsthand testimony now that he was sitting in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the attack on television as the assault on the Capitol occurred."
"The briefing room at the White House is just a mere few steps from the Oval Office," she continued. "The president could have at any moment walked those very few steps into the briefing room, gone on live television and told his supporters who were assaulting the Capitol to stop, he could have told them to stand down, he could have told them to go home and he failed to do so."
Cheney said that there was "no question" that Trump's failure to act was a "dereliction of duty."
"But I think it's also important for the American people to understand how dangerous Donald Trump was," she asserted. "We know, as he was sitting there in the dining room next to the Oval Office, members of his staff were pleading with him to go on television, to tell people to stop. We know Leader [Kevin] McCarthy was pleading with him to do that."
"We know members of his family," she added, "we know his daughter -- we have firsthand testimony that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence. Any man who would not do so, any man who would provoke a violent assault on the Capitol to stop the counting of electoral votes, any man who would watch television as police officers were being beaten, as his supporters were invading the Capitol of the United States is clearly unfit for future office, clearly can never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again."
Watch the video below from ABC:
-
Capitol rioters' excuses 'imploding' as judges begin 'the punishment phase': report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/infamous-capitol-rioter-jenna-ryan-pleads-guilty-after-claiming-she-did-nothing-wrong-and-detailing-her-wine-consumption.png?id=27254164&width=800&height=452)
According to a report from the Associated Press, accused Capitol rioters are finding their own boasts, excuses and actions coming back to haunt them as they face sentencing for participating in the Jan 6th insurrection.
As the courts move on from simple cases where the charges are limited to simple trespassing, accused insurrectionists are finding that their explanations for why they were in the Capitol building after storming through the doors are not swaying federal judges.
As AP's Michael Kunzelman wrote, "Judges are hearing tearful expressions of remorse — and a litany of excuses — from rioters paying a price for joining the Jan. 6 insurrection, even as others try to play down the deadly attack on a seat of American democracy," before adding, "The Justice Department's investigation of the riot has now entered the punishment phase."
With over 700 Jan 6th riot participants having already been charged, the report notes that the most serious cases are just now finding their way to the courtrooms.
"Among the most serious charges are against far-right extremist group members accused of plotting attacks to obstruct Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election. Their cases haven’t yet gone to trial," Kunzelman explained. "The rioters' refrains before the judges are often the same: They were caught up in the moment or just following the crowd into the Capitol. They didn’t see any violence or vandalism. They thought police were letting them enter the building. They insist they went there to peacefully protest."
Judges, he notes, aren't buying it so far.
"Their excuses often implode in the face of overwhelming evidence. Thousands of hours of videos from surveillance cameras, mobile phones and police body cameras captured them reveling in the mayhem. Many boasted about their crimes on social media in the days after the deadly attack," he reported while noting that Judge Amy Berman Jackson told one defendant, "No one was swept away to the Capitol. No one was carried. The rioters were adults.”
The report adds, "Many other prominent cases remain unresolved. Dozens of people linked to extremist groups have been charged with conspiring to carry out coordinated attacks on the Capitol, including more than 20 defendants tied to the anti-government Oath Keepers and at least 16 connected to the far-right Proud Boys. At least five people associated with the Oath Keepers have pleaded guilty. At least one Proud Boys member has pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. None of them has been sentenced yet."
https://www.yahoo.com/now/capitol-rioters-tears-remorse-dont-050926360.html
-
Trump and his supporters still repeating lies about who was behind Jan. 6 MAGA riot
According to NPR's Tom Bowman, the enduring myth that it was outsider agitators who were behind the Capitol riot that followed the "Stop the Steal" rally continues to this day even though it is patently false.
And he should know -- because he was there.
As NPR's Lauren Hodges writes, Bowman described what he saw and heard that day and -- going back and speaking with fans of Donald Trump -- found that they and the former president are still trying to whitewash what happened that day.
According to Bowman, "Some Trump supporters were singing YMCA but using the letters M-A-G-A," at the 'Save America"' rally, however, "things were different at the Capitol building, where I was standing with Hannah Allam, NPR's extremism reporter. The far-right group the Proud Boys had just shown up and were organizing a crowd to head for the rally. We had quietly embedded ourselves with them as they began to walk west on Pennsylvania Avenue."
Arriving nearer the Capitol, Bowman stated he spoke with one man who identified himself as "Joe from Ohio," and asked him what the plan was.
With a replica gallows being built on the Capitol grounds, Joe stated, "The people in this house, who stole this election from us, hanging from a gallows out here in this lawn for the whole world to see, so it never happens again. That's what needs to happen. Four by four by four, hanging from a rope out here for treason."
Natalie O'Brien of Detroit explained her reason for being there, claiming, "The Republic is falling. And becoming corrupt and unmanageable. And our vote not mattering at all whatsoever. Our tax dollars pay for this monument. This is kind of our property."
As NPR's Hodges notes, "Months later, Tom Bowman and I went back to the Capitol grounds in Sept. for the 'Justice for J6' rally. A lot of the people we spoke to had also been there on Jan. 6. And yet, they were echoing the story they had heard on Fox News."
According to Phil from Kentucky, "Those weren't Trump supporters," with Janie from South Carolina adding, "... she saw members of Antifa and Black Lives Matter committing the violence. She also claimed the Trump supporters were actually trying to fight them off. But when we mentioned we were on site that day, she admitted that she never actually came close enough to the Capitol to see any violence," according to Hodges.
With Trump still repeating the lie that it was outsiders who were responsible for the violence, the attorney for several of the Capitol insurgents said his clients have seen the light.
Tampa Bay attorney Bjorn Brunvand explained one of his clients, "...believed in the lies that were being professed by former President Trump and his accomplices," but now knows he was duped.
"It went from 100% support for President Trump and the idea that the election was fraudulent at the beginning ... to the recognition that he was misled. He's sitting in a detention facility here in Washington, D.C. and this big powerful former president who said 'meet me at the Capitol', he's too busy playing golf and has no interest in any of the guys that have been arrested," he explained.
As for Trump, Brunvand added, "Not only did he not show up, he's not there for anyone who were there and supposedly were there to save democracy and save the country. When in fact, they were doing quite the opposite."
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-16-lies/
-
Jim Jordan looking at 'jail time' if he defies Capitol riot committee: former US attorney
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rep-jim-jordan-r-oh.jpg?id=28695731&width=828&height=450)
During an appearance on MSNBC's "The Sunday Show," former U.S. Attorney Barabra McQuade agreed with host Jonathan Capehart that Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) doesn't "have a leg to stand on" if he defies the House select committee and refuses to talk if they subpoena him.
Stating it would be "unprecedented" McQuade said Jordan could nonetheless end up in jail while talking about the lawmaker and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) who could also be subpoenaed
"You know, the word unprecedented is sometimes overused I think in these days," the former Justice Department official told the host. "But this is absolutely a situation that's unprecedented, subpoenaing a member of Congress. As a professional courtesy, they have first been requested to come forward, but if they continue to refuse, Chairman [Bennie] Thompson (D-MS) said they will use subpoenas if necessary."
"I imagine they will fight them, you know, asserting some of the same legal arguments we heard from others," she continued. "But I think, if Congress wants this information, there is nothing in the law that prohibits them from issuing subpoenas to fellow members of Congress."
Focusing on Jordan after watching a clip of him admitting he spoke with former president Donald Trump, the smirking McQuade added, "Well, I think at some point if he continues to fight, then the committee will demand that he come by issuing a subpoena. At that point his options are to be held in contempt, which can include jail time if he is prosecuted for that crime; so the same path that we have seen for Steve Bannon. So I think it is going to be difficult for him to manage, because unlike Steve Bannon, he's an elected official."
"At some point I think his refusal to testify could impact his candidacy down the road," she added. "Of course, he represents a base that perhaps would see that sort of defiance as being more attractive rather than less attractive. He's clearly somebody who has information. I think if I put somebody on the stand with that kind of evasive answer, I would use that as evidence of consciousness of guilt. I want to know what they discussed that day, before that day, and after that day."
Watch below:
-
Capitol police ‘probably 400 officers down’ as Jan 6th riot anniversary looms: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/man-dubbed-capitol-rotunda-doobie-smoker-denied-bond-remanded-for-alleged-role-in-jan-6-riot.jpg?id=25644798&width=1600&height=1067)
As the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol looms over America, Capitol Police are warning of increased threats and overburdened officers.
"...while leaders feel readier today than they did on Jan. 5, no one is rushing to declare the threat has passed," POLITICO reported.
“The last thing that I want to do is say, ‘this could never happen again’ and have it sound like a challenge to those people,” Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger told POLITICO. Manger took over the department in August after his predecessor's ouster following the siege. “I’m not trying to be overconfident. We are much better prepared.”
The U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6 resulted in upward of 150 police officers wounded and four rioters dead. Additionally, several officers died by suicide following the riots and another officer succumbed to a stroke.
POLITICO reported that "Capitol Police officers remain overtaxed and exhausted, logging crushing amounts of overtime as they grapple with a depleted force. Threats against members of Congress are still spiking. A Sept. 18 rally to support certain insurrectionists drew an overwhelming police presence that dwarfed the smattering of demonstrators, raising questions about an overcorrection and quality of intelligence."
Manger revealed that 135 officers have retired or resigned since the Jan. 6 riots. The force is “probably 400 officers down from where we should be.”
“My concern about the Capitol Police is that we're making them work too hard and too long,” Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, the top Republican on the Senate committee that oversees Capitol security, told reporters recently. “And we need to figure out a way to shift some of those responsibilities ... or to figure out a way to recruit more people.”
Could Jan. 6 happen again?
The Capitol Police has made progress under a new chief. But many on the Hill don't have an easy answer.
Could it happen again?
That’s the question facing policymakers and law enforcement leaders who've spent the last year assessing the failures in their response to Jan. 6, 2021.
As they cope with the searing trauma in their own ranks, they’ve tried to patch flaws in Capitol security exposed by the attack — inspired by former President Donald Trump — that wounded more than 150 police officers and left four rioters dead. Another officer died of a stroke after responding to the riot, and several more died by suicide in the ensuing weeks.
But the political blight that contributed to the attack has only worsened, inside and outside the Capitol. So while leaders feel readier today than they did on Jan. 5, no one is rushing to declare the threat has passed.
“The last thing that I want to do is say, ‘this could never happen again’ and have it sound like a challenge to those people,” said Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger, who took over the department in August after his predecessor's ouster following the siege. “I’m not trying to be overconfident. We are much better prepared.”
The story of that preparation is only partially written, though. Capitol Police officers remain overtaxed and exhausted, logging crushing amounts of overtime as they grapple with a depleted force. Threats against members of Congress are still spiking. A Sept. 18 rally to support certain insurrectionists drew an overwhelming police presence that dwarfed the smattering of demonstrators, raising questions about an overcorrection and quality of intelligence.
And with the atmosphere under the dome as personally corrosive as ever, it's tough to say the Capitol has moved forward from Jan. 6. Many of those who fled from or responded to the violence are indelibly scarred.
“My concern about the Capitol Police is that we're making them work too hard and too long,” Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, the top Republican on the Senate committee that oversees Capitol security, told reporters recently. “And we need to figure out a way to shift some of those responsibilities ... or to figure out a way to recruit more people.”
Manger says 135 officers have retired or resigned since Jan. 6, and the force as a whole is “probably 400 officers down from where we should be.”
The chair of the House select panel on Jan. 6, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), recently took stock of the challenges facing the Capitol during a police-led tour of sites breached by rioters.
“I am more confident, given what occurred on Jan. 6 of last year, that if something like that occurred this time, the likelihood of anything close [happening again] would be zero," Thompson said in an interview. "The only question is whether or not we have put our intelligence gathering entities on a sharing path ... It was the worst-kept secret in America that something was going to happen, and why our agencies did not pick it up in real-time and be better prepared is one of those weaknesses we have to make sure we fix."
What has changed...
Manger can claim a number of notable improvements in preparation since he took charge.
Every Capitol Police officer now carries a department-issued phone that provides real-time emergency alerts. The phones address what became a crippling problem on Jan. 6: A flood of radio traffic that drowned out key messages and left officers feeling leaderless during the fighting.
The department’s riot control unit, singled out as deficient on Jan. 6, now has more diverse “non-lethal” gear to help with crowd control. Its intelligence analysts now regularly share threat assessments with rank-and-file officers, after many of those officers lamented that their leaders never informed them of prior intelligence about the potential for violence at the Capitol.
Wes Schwark, an operational planning expert who organized Secret Service security during major events, is now on board. Congress gave the department a needed $100 million cash infusion over the summer.
With little fanfare, Congress also passed — and President Joe Biden signed — legislation giving the Capitol Police chief the unilateral authority to seek National Guard assistance, eliminating a hurdle that delayed a request for help on Jan. 6, 2021. Thompson pointed to this policy change and noted the new leadership not just at the U.S. Capitol Police but also in the House and Senate sergeants-at-arms, who are responsible for coordinating security for their respective sides of the Capitol.
Manger's also working to beef up Capitol Police coordination with other law enforcement agencies. When intelligence pointed to violence at the Capitol during September's protest in support of some alleged Jan. 6 rioters, he brought together 13 agencies, conducted tabletop exercises and “planned for the worst.”
“The things that went wrong on Jan. 6, the failures within this organization,” Manger said, “those have been fixed to a point where I don’t believe that you’d have the same outcome.”
However, the September protest proved minuscule. And some lawmakers skeptically eyed that day's overwhelming law enforcement presence.
“I don't believe we're in any better security posture today than we were on Jan. 5,” said Illinois Rep. Rodney Davis, the top Republican on the House Administration Committee. "I think there's still way too much politics involved in security decisions."
Davis pointed to the mismatch between the security posture near the Capitol on Sept. 18 and the scale of the event that took place as a sign that the Capitol Police has more work to do on analyzing its intelligence.
...and what still needs attention
Manger expects the department will have investigated more than 9,000 potential threats against members of Congress since Jan. 6, a tenfold increase since 2016. He attributes the increase to a cauldron of animosity fueled by social media.
“We definitely need to add staffing to fulfill that responsibility,” Manger said, lamenting “the dynamics of social media and, I think, the lack of civility that a lot of folks have. And just the toxic culture.”
He'll face questions during a Wednesday Senate hearing about other challenges, including whether the Capitol Police has done enough to implement the post-Jan. 6 recommendations of its inspector general.
“[T]he Department still has more work to achieve the goal of making the Capitol Complex safe and secure,” independent watchdog Michael Bolton told senators recently.
Bolton issued monthly reports throughout 2021, identifying problems that hurt the Capitol Police's response to the riot. In addition to insufficient deployment of non-lethal weaponry, a problem Manger has tackled, the inspector general found the department's leaders lacking a cohesive emergency plan. Its intelligence division was threadbare and ill-prepared.
More fundamentally, Bolton wants the Capitol Police to function more like a protective agency — akin to the Secret Service — than a police department. Of the 104 recommendations delivered by his office, the Capitol Police has only fully implemented one-third so far, he told senators. (Manger says Bolton’s tally doesn’t include the fact that another 60 recommendations are substantially, if not fully, complete.)
The inspector general isn't alone in evaluating the Capitol Police's still-unfinished progress on incorporating the lessons from a brutal year. The Jan. 6 select committee, though its primary focus is on Trump and his network, is also eyeing recommendations to protect the Capitol campus.
An outside review ordered by House Democratic leaders, as well as a bipartisan Senate investigation, culminated in more sets of suggested reforms last year. One small but meaningful proposed shift became law last month — it allows a Capitol Police chief to request National Guard assistance without going through the department's oft-criticized board structure.
From inside the Capitol?
While GOP lawmakers have lambasted a few Democrats for suggesting that Republicans gave rioters "reconnaissance" tours or other help, a claim for which no evidence has emerged, the Capitol Police has reckoned with misdeeds in its own ranks. Some officers were seen fist-bumping or taking selfies with people who breached the Capitol, and the department substantiated a handful of the three dozen-plus misconduct reports it investigated.
More significantly, 25-year Capitol Police officer Michael Riley was indicted for attempting to help a rioter erase evidence. That rioter rejected his advice and helped the FBI bring charges against Riley.
Bolton recommended that all officers obtain secret- or top secret-level security clearances, which involve extensive background checks. The inspector general said this would raise the caliber of recruits and guard against potential insider threats; department leaders resisted the move.
Manger told POLITICO that Bolton’s goal may be worthy, but it’s premature and not universally necessary as the department struggles to fill open positions.
“If we require every officer to have a security clearance, we’re slowing down that process,” Manger said, adding that the department conducts comprehensive vetting during hiring.
Possible insider threats, Manger said, aren't considered "a huge problem.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/03/could-january-6th-happen-again-526167
-
Jan. 6 panel moving closer to establishing Trump's state of mind during Capitol riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-on-jan-6-2021.png?id=28699389&width=800&height=450)
Congressional investigators are getting closer to building a case for Donald Trump's state of mind during the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to panelists on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) revealed the House select committee has "firsthand testimony" that Ivanka Trump asked her father to call off his supporters from storming the U.S. Capitol, and chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) says the panel has "significant testimony" that the White House was asked to intervene, but the former president waited nearly three hours before half-heartedly urging the rioters to go home.
"Just think about this, his daughter Ivanka asked him twice to do something and intervene to stop the riots, Don Jr. sending frantic texts asking for somebody to do something to stop the riot," said host Joe Scarborough. "Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Kevin McCarthy and other Republicans begging him to do anything to stop the violence. They thought their lives were in danger and, of course, several of them, including Kevin McCarthy, going on the House floor afterwards blaming Donald Trump for the violence."
MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire said the situation revealed how hollowed out the White House staff was in the final days of Trump's presidency, and he said the House panel was moving closer toward establishing evidence of the twice-impeached one-term president's thoughts about the riot being carried out on his behalf.
"Let's also recall when they finally were able to move the president to release a video he would push out in a tweet, he wouldn't do that," Lemire said. "He was indeed in that private dining room just off the Oval Office, he liked to brag about the 'super Tivo' setup he had and he was watching live footage and sort of cheering on the protesters. They finally got him outside to the Rose Garden to cut a few videos. The first three efforts, we've now learned, he didn't really urge people to go home, he sort of saluted the protesters' efforts at the Capitol. It took until, like, the fourth or fifth take before he finally told them to leave. He even, while doing so, said he loved them."
"So we know the committee is also trying to get its hands on those first few cuts of the video, the unreleased versions, thinking it will also help build the case of the president's state of mind on Jan. 6," Lemire added.
-
'Bad news for Donald Trump' as House riot committee acquires 'direct knowledge' of White House doings: CNN
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump.jpg?id=28699761&width=758&height=450)
According to CNN's Jamie Gangel, the decision by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) to divulge information about what the House select committee investigating the January 6th riot has acquired so far is "bad news for Donald Trump."
Speaking with hosts Jim Sciutto and Bianna Golodryga, Gangel explained that the Wyoming Republican's words were intended as a "warning" that White House insiders are turning on the ex-president.
On Sunday, Cheney told ABC News, "The Committee has firsthand testimony now that he was sitting in the dining room next to the Oval Office watching the attack on television as the assault on the Capitol occurred."
Asked to explain Cheney's motivation to go public, Gangel stated, "First of all, let's put it out there : this is bad news for Donald Trump."
"In addition to what Congresswoman Cheney said, a person with knowledge of the investigation has told me the January 6th committee has information from multiple sources with firsthand knowledge," she added. "So not just one source, and that these sources describe what the president was saying, doing and not doing during the riot."
"The source said 'there's a collection of people with relevant information.' Translation? Firsthand indicates someone with direct contact or knowledge," she elaborated. "It could be someone who is in the room, someone on the phone, someone with direct firsthand information. Bottom-line? The committee has broken through Trump's wall."
Watch below:
-
'Seditious conspiracy charges in play' for Trump after damning House committee revelations: former US attorney
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-at-the-white-house.jpg?id=28701181&width=800&height=456)
Appearing on MSNBC on Monday morning, former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade said new revelations about what was going on in Donald Trump's White House seem to indicate that sedition charges are being considered by the House committee investigators.
Speaking with host Andrea Mitchell, the former federal prosecutor explained that damning comments made by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) over the weekend seem to indicate expanded possibilities for prosecuting the former president.
"Congresswoman Cheney was saying that there are several criminal statutes in play as to whether or not there could be some enhanced penalties or some issue regarding the former president's actions that day," host Mitchell prompted. "What laws do you think could be used against the former president if it's approved that he was criminally negligent by not calling off the rioters or do you think new laws would have to be enacted?"
"No, I think there are current laws on the books that could be applied there," McQuade began. "I don't know that negligence alone is going to be enough, but as Congresswoman Cheney has recited on occasion, there is a crime making it illegal to corruptly impede or obstruct an official proceeding, which includes proceedings before Congress. If he [Trump] had the power to stop that riot from happening and to permit the vote to go forward, his failure to do that could be that effort to corruptly obstruct the official proceeding. It may be, you know."
She continued, "We've got this 187 minutes when he sat and did nothing despite the fact that he knew that this violence and destruction was occurring. Is it because it was all part of a larger plan? So I think, in addition to that obstruction statute that Congresswoman Cheney has mentioned, I think we could also look at conspiracy to defraud the United States -- that just means trying to impede the normal functioning of government -- all the way up to seditious conspiracy. I think all of those potential crimes are in play."
Watch below:
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-sedition-charges-2656210804/
-
'The committee has broken through Trump's wall' and knows exactly what he did during riot: CNN's Jamie Gangel
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-s-mystique-and-his-myth-crumpling-because-people-arent-scared-of-his-bullying-anymore-ex-prosecutor.jpg?id=27699961&width=800&height=450)
CNN reporter Jamie Gangel on Monday said that the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots has gained direct testimony describing former President Donald Trump's actions as he watched his supporters storm the Capitol.
Speaking with host Jake Tapper, Gangel broke down what sources have been telling her about testimony the committee has secured.
"The source said, quote, there's a collection of people with relevant information," she said. "Translation, Jake: 'Firsthand' indicates the committee is now hearing from people with direct knowledge. It could be someone who was in the room, someone on the phone, but these are people with firsthand information. I would say, bottom line, Jake, this means the committee has broken through Trump's wall."
Trump had indicted to top allies such as Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon that he did not want them cooperating with the committee, but it seems that the committee has nonetheless gathered testimony from other Trump officials to create a full picture of the president's actions during the riots.
During her talk with Tapper, Gangel elaborated on one potential witness who could have given the committee significant information.
"One witness that we know of who has given a deposition to the committee is Keith Kellogg," she said. "He was former vice president Mike Pence's national security adviser who happened to be with Trump in the White House on January 6th when the riot was going on."
Watch the video below:
-
Liz Cheney 'has the goods' on Trump and doesn't need Bannon or Meadows to comply: reporter
MSNBC's Punchbowl News founder Jake Sherman explained that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) doesn't need former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows or Trump ally Steve Bannon to testify to have the information necessary to sink former President Donald Trump.
Speaking to "Deadline White House" host Nicolle Wallace, Sherman made it clear that Cheney is making other Republicans "uncomfortable" because of the amount of evidence she and the Select Committee on Jan. 6 has and who they will expose.
"I would say even more than uncomfortable, what Cheney is doing -- and by the way, let's address the [Kevin] McCarthy dynamic," Sherman began. "Liz Cheney and Kevin McCarthy couldn't like each other less. He forced her out of the leadership. She thinks McCarthy is a stooge, she's said as much publicly. And McCarthy sees her as a hot dog, someone doing this for the attention. Clearly, there is no love lost between either one of those people."
He went on to say that what she's doing is showing that people are cooperating with the committee, and that the number of people who are resisting subpoenas are very few.
He went on to say that Trump's White House aides have been more than willing to come forward with information. So whatever information Meadows is holding back, the chances are, Cheney and the committee already has it.
"What is interesting to me is who is actually participating without getting subpoenaed," he explained. "And I know some of it has become public, ... but there are many White House aides, many of them, from the Trump era, who are talking to the committee voluntarily because they don't think they did any wrong and they are willing to participate and talk about what they think Donald Trump did wrong on those days. So, those dynamics here are really, really interesting. And she's showing that — in my estimation — that she has the goods and it doesn't much matter if these people defy subpoenas."
See the full discussion below:
-
Hack Hannity is in the hot seat!
'More than a Fox host': Adam Schiff explains why the committee wants to hear from Sean Hannity
https://www.rawstory.com/hannity-capitol-riot/
Sean Hannity called to testify to Jan. 6 committee
Informal adviser to former President Donald Trump and Fox News host Sean Hannity is among those being called by the House Select Committee on the Capitol attack, reported Axios Tuesday.
It was reported in 2018 by the Washington Post that Trump would speak so frequently with Hannity that "he basically has a desk in the [White House]." One senior aide even went so far as to sarcastically claim that Hannity was the "real chief of staff." So, when the attack on the Capitol happened, the Fox host was among the voices that tried to reach Trump.
In a speech before the House, Committee co-chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) noted that on Jan. 6, "multiple Fox News hosts knew the president needed to act immediately. They texted Mark Meadows, and he has turned over those texts." Those hosts were Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Brian Kilmeade.
Hannity told Meadows that Trump should "make a statement" and "ask people to leave the Capitol." When the facts became known, Hannity then cried that it was part of a "smear campaign" against him.
Kilmeade begged Meadows "please get him on TV." He even went so far as to say that the attack was "destroying everything you have accomplished."
“If true, any such request would raise serious constitutional issues including First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of the press," said said Jay Sekulow, who is acting as Hannity's lawyer.
Read the full report at Axios:
https://www.axios.com/jan-6-committee-sean-hannity-d454ed9f-bec1-4d72-a160-6d742f3c3cb5.html
Hannity's texts show a broader 'betrayal' of Trump as the riot surged around him: CNN analyst
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/fox-news-personality-sean-hannity.png?id=27013087&width=800&height=450)
On Tuesday's edition of CNN's "Anderson Cooper 360," correspondent Jamie Gangel outlined how the Sean Hannity texts obtained by the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack reveal the breakdown and disunity in Trump's inner circle as events unfolded.
"What have we learned from these new text messages?" asked Cooper.
"This is bad news for Donald Trump," said Gangel. "These texts show Sean Hannity, Mark Meadows having exchanges that are, in effect, a betrayal. They are talking behind his back. And just for context, I want to point out what the committee's letter says at the top. They say that — to Hannity — quote, 'You seemed to have advance knowledge regarding President Trump's and his legal team's planning.' That he was, quote, 'providing advice,' and that he had relevant communications while the riot was underway. That these communications make you, Hannity, quote, 'a fact witness.'"
"It appears that Hannity may be talking to the White House counsel, Anderson," added Gangel. "But in any case, he understands and he's saying to Meadows that the pressure we know that Trump was putting on Mike Pence not to do the right thing on January 6th — this is evidence that the White House counsels were threatening to quit."
Watch below:
New Hannity texts revealed -- including one where he admits being 'very worried' one day before Jan. 6: CNN
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/fox-news-creates-an-alternative-reality-and-portrays-impeachment-hearings-as-a-trump-victory-over-hapless-nerds.jpg?id=24698286&width=1280&height=720)
On Tuesday's edition of CNN's "The Lead," correspondent Jamie Gangel detailed the specific requests made in the House January 6 Committee letter to Fox News' Sean Hannity.
"They're asking him for voluntary cooperation," said Gangel. "And it's based on the fact that they say they have a series of texts, multiple texts from him to former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, as well as other members of the White House staff ... they say to Hannity that it indicates that he had, quote, 'Advanced knowledge regarding President Trump's and his legal team's planning for January 6th.' It goes on to say that it appears Hannity was, quote, 'Expressing concerns and providing advice to the president and certain White House staff regarding the planning.' It goes on to say that Sean Hannity, quote, 'Also had relevant communications while the riot was underway, and in the days thereafter,' and that, quote, 'The communications make you a fact witness in our investigation.'"
"Within the letter, they have released a number of text messages," continued Gangel. "They refer to a text message on January 5th. This would be, obviously, the night before the riot. And they say, 'On January 5th, the night before the violent riot, you sent and received a stream of texts. You wrote, quote, 'I am very worried about the next 48 hours.'' With the counting of the electoral votes scheduled for January 6th at 1:00 p.m., this is now the committee saying to Hannity, why were you concerned about the next 48 hours?"
"I think it gives you a sense of two things," Gangel added. "One is while they say in the letter that they have the utmost respect for the First Amendment, they feel that Sean Hannity has relevant information that does not interfere with the First Amendment, and it's also obvious from their letter that they have, it would seem, dozens if not more email exchanges in this critical period of time."
Watch below:
-
Girlfriend of police officer who died after Jan. 6 says Trump 'needs to be in prison' for sparking Capitol riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28726022&width=800&height=450)
The girlfriend of the Capitol Police officer who died after the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 is speaking out, saying that former President Donald Trump should serve prison time for his alleged role in sparking the riot.
Speaking to PBS News Hour, Sandra Garza, who was in a relationship with Officer Brian D. Sicknick, said she wants to see justice for Sicknick, who suffered two strokes just hours after rioters attacked him with chemical spray. He was 42. The medical examiner ruled his death to be from natural causes.
“I hold Donald Trump 100 percent responsible for what happened on January 6 and all of the people that have enabled him, enabled him that day, and continue to enable him now,” said Garza.
“Personally, for me, I think he needs to be in prison. That is what I think," she said after referring to Trump as a horrible person.
Watch the video below:
https://www.rawstory.com/sandra-garza-2656216456/
Jan. 6 committee already has a smoking gun to force changes to election law: columnist
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-speaks-at-the-jan-6-2021-stop-the-steal-rally.png?id=28204331&width=800&height=450)
The House select committee may already have enough evidence to push changes to the Electoral Count Act, which would undercut one of Donald Trump's arguments and possibly lead to penalties against him.
The twice-impeached one-term president's attorneys have argued the Jan. 6 investigation lacks a legitimate legislative purpose, but Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent argued that Rep. Liz Cheney has shown the panel has the "smoking gun" evidence they need to make changes to protect the electoral process.
"For weeks, Rep. Liz Cheney has hinted that the House select committee examining Jan. 6 might urge the Justice Department to consider prosecuting Donald Trump," Sargent wrote. "The grounds for this criminal referral might be that Trump obstructed the 'official proceeding' in which Congress counts presidential electors."
The Wyoming Republican says Trump stood by for more than two hours watching his supporters violently attack law enforcement as they tried to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's election win, and Cheney accused the former president of inciting that crowd and ignored pleas from his family, White House staffers, lawmakers and media allies to call them off.
"Some comments from Cheney herself — and clarification I’ve now obtained from a Cheney spokesman — shed new light on where this is going," Sargent revealed. "The short version: It’s likely the committee will explore recommending changes to federal law to further clarify that obstructing the electoral count in Congress is a crime subject to stiff penalties."
Trump's failure was a "dereliction of duty," Cheney has publicly stated, and her spokesman made clear what legislative steps the committee was considering to hold him accountable and protect future elections.
“The committee will explore whether to make changes to current law to hold a future president accountable,” he told Sargent, without elaborating. “That’s part of the legislative purpose of the committee.”
The panel hasn't established, based on publicly known evidence, that Trump believed the violence would help him remain in power and that prevented him from intervening, but Sargent believes they will recommend changes to the law to make disrupting the electoral count a federal crime and introduce stiffer penalties.
"It will be interesting to see if Republicans will support strengthening the criminal code against disruption of the electoral count, and whether a certain pair of Democratic senators will support ending the filibuster to pass such a safeguard," Sargent wrote. "We may soon get answers to those questions. And they probably won’t be to our liking."
https://www.rawstory.com/electoral-county-act/
Merrick Garland should reveal any Jan. 6 probe of Trump to restore 'public confidence': MSNBC analyst
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-speaks-at-the-stop-the-steal-rally-on-jan-6.jpg?id=25592642&width=800&height=450)
Attorney General Merrick Garland should use his planned speech about Jan. 6 on Wednesday to indicate that his office is investigating all responsible parties, including former President Donald Trump, according to former acting U.S. solicitor general Neal Katyal.
Katyal said he's been "very patient" with Garland, adding that no one was "more meticulous" or "more careful" as a judge.
"But I'm getting worried," Katyal said. "Nobody's asking Merrick Garland to get up in his speech tomorrow and announce indictments against Donald Trump and his pals. Merrick Garland is the attorney general; he is not Santa Claus. But we are all hoping for some reassurance from him that he's investigating all leads and all people who may be responsible. So that's what I want to hear tomorrow, and right now we've heard really crickets."
Katyal added that while Garland's Department of Justice has secured convictions against 275 "rank-and-file" Capitol rioters, there has been nothing but silence about "higher-ups." He said there are two main possibilities.
"One is that Garland is too scared of his shadow and he's doing nothing," Katyal said. "Or the other is that he's got a secret investigation, and we just don't know about it. And it's rare to think an investigation of this magnitude could be kept secret, but I suppose it's possible. The thing that concerns me is that the governing documents here, the U.S. Attorneys' Manuals, do say that when the public confidence requires an announcement of an investigation, it can be done, so we've heard silence in the teeth of what the U.S. Attorney's Manual says, and that to me is concerning."
Watch the full interview below:
-
REVEALED: Jan. 6 committee has info on Trump aides discussing use of 25th Amendment to remove him
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-advisers-have-been-avoiding-him-because-they-fear-he-ll-ask-them-to-do-something-crazy-report.jpg?id=24836035&width=1376&height=773)
In its letter requesting Fox News host Sean Hannity's testimony on Tuesday, the House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection referenced efforts to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove former president Donald Trump from office.
According to the letter, Hannity sent chief of staff Mark Meadows a text message on Jan. 6 "relating to a potential effort by members of President Trump’s cabinet to remove him from office under the 25th Amendment."
"As you may recall, Secretaries DeVos and Chao both resigned following the President’s conduct on January 6th, as did members of the President’s White House staff," the committee wrote to Hannity. "We would like to question you regarding any conversations you had with Mr. Meadows or others about any effort to remove the President under the 25th Amendment."
CNN reporter Jamie Gangel addressed the letter's references to the 25th Amendment on Tuesday night.
"There is nothing that was put in this letter by accident, and that was mentioned very far down," Gangel said. "There was not a text (message) associated with it, but the words '25th Amendment' were repeated. And my understanding is that there is — we don't know, they didn't reveal texts there — but it appears the committee has information about conversations that were going on at the highest level about the 25th Amendment. And just to remind our audience ... we heard reporting that maybe some people in the cabinet thought Trump should be removed from office. The fact that the committee may have information about that will also speak, once again, to Trump's state of mind."
Watch below.:
-
Three more cops sue Trump for inciting MAGA riots that left them with 'physical and emotional injuries'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/7-conservative-myths-about-the-capitol-riots-burned-to-the-ground-by-cnn.jpg?id=26744606&width=1200&quality=85)
Three more police officers are suing former President Donald Trump for the "physical and emotional injuries" they suffered as a result of the riots he incited at the United States Capitol building last year.
Politico reports that Capitol Officer Marcus Moore, who has spent the last decade on the force, filed a lawsuit in which he described "the intense terror of the day as he moved from his post at the Madison Building to the East Side of the Capitol and eventually into the House chamber, helping evacuate lawmakers to safety."
Moore is seeking damages against Trump, whom he says incited a riot that left him suffering from tinnitus, a condition that produces frequent ringing in a person's ear.
In a separate lawsuit filed against Trump, D.C. Metropolitan Police Officers Bobby Tabron and Dedevine Carter described "suffering physical assaults with poles, pepper spray and other projectiles, in addition to hand-to-hand violence," while also "seeking compensatory damages for their injuries," writes Politico.
Trump has sought to downplay the violence that his supporters inflicted upon police at the Capitol, and even falsely claimed that the MAGA rioters were "hugging and kissing" police who were guarding the building, when in reality they were beating them with blunt objects and attacking them with bear spray.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/04/police-officer-lawsuits-capitol-riot-trump-526491
FBI nabs Capitol rioter who said he was ‘involved with helping Lin Wood and Sidney Powell’
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28730524&width=800&height=450)
Atlanta home contractor Matthew Jay Webler said that Jan. 6, 2021, was his best birthday ever. Now he's been charged for partaking in the riot at the U.S. Capitol, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
Court records show that Webler was recorded by multiple security cameras wearing a bright yellow jacket and a QAnon flag as cape, making him easy to spot.
In one selfie video he took inside the Capitol, he says, “It’s my birthday, and it’s the best one ever.” The video, which he posted to Facebook, is among other social media posts used as evidence by authorities.
“Biden called Jan 6 the worst domestic terror attack in our history. Here’s some of my footage,” Webler posted to Facebook in April after dozens of Capitol rioters had already been arrested. “Can you find the terror?”
'I have been involved with helping Lin Wood and Sidney Powell try find all the information that we can,” Webler said in the video published Dec. 28, 2020. He also claimed that he conducted overnight surveillance on what he said was a “official election warehouse.”
Webler has a criminal history which includes two prison terms in Georgia and totalling more than six years for charges related to burglary, aggravated assault and auto theft, and other crimes.
He faces four misdemeanor charges related to the Capitol riot, each carrying up to a year in prison.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-matthew-jay-webler/
-
Jan. 6 investigator reveals how Sean Hannity has landed in House probe's crosshairs
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/can-you-say-conflict-of-interest-colbert-pieces-together-hilarious-hannity-intro-owning-up-to-cohen-bombshell.jpg?id=24813509&width=800&height=430)
A member of the House select committee explained why Fox News host Sean Hannity has landed in the Jan. 6 investigation's crosshairs.
Congressional investigators have obtained text messages suggesting that Hannity was aware of and deeply concerned about Donald Trump's plans for the day Joe Biden would be certified as the 2020 election winner, and Rep. Jamie Raskin told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" why the panel has asked for the conservative broadcaster's voluntary cooperation in their probe.
"Sean Hannity is being, has become a figure of interest because he's a fact witness, obviously, to the planning that preceded both the attempt at a political coup on Jan. 6 and also, apparently, organizing for the insurrection," Raskin said. "Based on the evidence of the texts we've seen, it looks like he was very concerned about what was going to happen, and we just want to try to reconstruct the chronology of his involvement."
Raskin dismissed First Amendment concerns about Hannity's broadcast statements, saying investigators were only interested in his private communications with White House officials before and during the insurrection.
"Obviously, he is not a figure of interest because of whatever he may have said publicly, and we were clear it has nothing to do with any of his public pronouncements," Raskin said. "It all has to do with his role as a fact witness and player in these events."
The texts show Hannity was extremely concerned about the violence playing out at the U.S. Capitol and tried to urge Trump to call off his supporters, and they also show that he had advance knowledge of what might unfold on that day.
"That's why we want to bring him in, in order to get a statement in his own voice, but those are the bread crumbs we received, that he was concerned about where things were going," Raskin said. "Obviously, the president and his team were escalating their attacks on Mike Pence, their attacks on the election and the propagation of the 'Big Lie' in the days in advance. so anybody on the inside who was privy to their conversations, obviously, would have known about where they were headed in terms of both the inside attack on Pence, the attempt to destroy Joe Biden's majority in the Electoral College vote, but also the eliciting of violence and insurrectionary movement in the streets."
-
REVEALED: Louie Gohmert's violent rhetoric was flagged by Capitol police 3 days before insurrection
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/it-s-easy-to-laugh-at-louie-gohmert-but.png?id=24841590&width=800&height=430)
Three days before the Jan. 6 insurrection, Capitol police intelligence analysts warned of potential danger stemming from comments made by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX).
The warning was part of a Special Event Assessment dated Jan. 3, 2021 — analyzing threats associated with Congress' impending vote on the certification of electoral votes on Jan. 6.
Politico's Betsy Woodruff Swan, who obtained a copy of the Special Event Assessment, reported Wednesday: "The Jan. 3 assessment noted that Gohmert had sued to try to get then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results. The assessment added that a federal judge had thrown out Gohmert’s suit."
Capitol police analysts wrote in the intelligence assessment: “In an interview Friday evening on pro-Trump news network Newsmax, Representative Gohmert claimed that letting the will of the voters stand would ‘mean the end of our republic, the end of the experiment in self-government. Representative Gohmert then seemed to encourage violence as a means to this end. ‘But bottom line is, the court is saying, ‘We’re not going to touch this. You have no remedy – basically, in effect, the ruling would be that you gotta go to the streets and be as violent as Antifa and BLM.’”
Later in the report, Capitol police intelligence analysts noted that the White House was actively helping to plan a rally on the Ellipse on Jan. 6. And they warned that Trump supporters' "sense of desperation and disappointment may lead to more of an incentive to become violent."
At the time, Gohmert issued a statement claiming he had “not encouraged and unequivocally do not advocate for violence.”
A.J. Swinson, a spokesperson for Gohmert, alleged Wednesday that the intelligence assessment had taken the congressman's remarks out of context.
“Therefore, such an out of context statement promotes fake news, promotes injustice, and fails to note his ongoing advocacy as a former judge and appellate court Chief Justice," Swinson told Politico. "The institutions created to resolve disputes MUST have the courage to resolve the disputes they were created to resolve so our system can function peaceably.”
Appearing on MSNBC shortly after her story broke, Woodruff Swan said the intelligence assessment also raised concerns about white supremacists and people with weapons endangering lawmakers and law enforcement officers on Jan. 6.
"The problem with comments like this is that not every person hearing them is the most sophisticated news consumer," Woodruff Swan said of Gohmert. "When you have lawmakers making comments along the line of 'you've got to go out into the streets and be violent,' that's the kind of thing that worries people who are in the intelligence space, and it worried people in the Capitol police department just three days before this extraordinarily violent attack on the Capitol."
https://www.rawstory.com/louie-gohmert-2656239114/
-
The right wing media is the cause for all the damage done in the United States today. For decades, they fueled the anger, racism, and hate that allowed the right wing base to become a deranged cult paving the way for Criminal Donald and these violent MAGA right wing extremists in Congress to have power. This same right wing media which is spreading outright COVID and vaccine lies to keep this pandemic going which is killing off their own supporters.
MAGA rioter's mother begs for leniency: His 'anger issues' were fueled by Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rioters-january-6th-afp.jpg?id=27837943&width=980&height=647)
On Wednesday, CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, the key correspondent covering the January 6 trials, reported that the mother of Jack Kostolsky -- an Allentown, Pennsylvania man who pleaded guilty to unlawful picketing at the Capitol -- is begging the judge to show mercy — arguing that his mind was poisoned by far-right conspiracy theories.
"Somewhere along the way while in his 20's and living at his father's, Jackson became inspired by the far-right media," wrote his mother, noting that both she and his father are Democrats. "He was very influenced by Rush Limbaugh and, sadly, Alex Jones and his conspiracy theories. It seemed to fuel his anger issues. He believes everything Alex Jones has to say. Jack is what I believe to be a victim of the media."
Mother of Jan 6 defendant Jack Kostolsky of Allentown, PA writes judge seeking leniency at his sentencing Tuesday (Unlawful picketing plea)
She writes, "He was very influenced by Rush Limbaugh and sadly Alex Jones & his conspiracy theories. It seemed to fuel his anger issues"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FIXVO0tWUAAZQG2?format=jpg&name=medium)
Jones, who has been deplatformed from most social media, is infamous for spreading violent antigovernment paranoia through his Infowars webcast, most notably the idea that the Sandy Hook mass shooting was staged with child actors — a claim that ultimately led to a devastating defamation suit.
A number of Capitol rioters have sought to defend their behavior by arguing that former President Donald Trump, or right-wing media personalities, convinced them to take action, although judges have broadly rejected these defenses.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-sentences-2656229144/
-
Mike Lindell becomes latest target of Jan. 6 probe — but he's fighting a subpoena for his phone records
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-and-mike-lindell.png?id=24980298&width=800&height=430)
MyPIllow CEO Mike Lindell says he's fighting a subpoena for his phone records from the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection.
“I wasn’t there on January 6th and yes they did subpoena my phone records but we filed a complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief against the January 6th committee and Verizon to completely invalidate this corrupt subpoena,” Lindell told CNBC on Wednesday.
Lindell say he filed the complaint in federal court in Minneapolis on Wednesday, on the eve for the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riot.
"He said he received a notice from Verizon about the subpoena no more than 10 days ago and that he was informed the committee wanted his phone records from November through early January," CNBC reports. "Lindell is the latest Trump ally who is trying to use the legal system to block the release of his phone records. Former Trump national security advisor Mike Flynn, who was previously pardoned by the then-commander-in-chief after pleading guilty to federal charges, sued the committee after it subpoenaed his records. Former White House advisor Sebastian Gorka also filed a lawsuit in a similar effort."
Although Lindell denies any involvement in the Capitol insurrection, CNBC notes that multiple people have said the MyPillow CEO met with other Trump allies at the former president's DC hotel on Jan. 5, 2021.
Lindell also sponsored the Women for America First bus tour, which culminated in Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally on the Ellipse prior to the insurrection. And he has admitted to staying in touch with Trump's Stop the Steal attorneys, including Sidney Powell, after the election.
"Lindell was pictured leaving the White House days after the attack on the Capitol," CNBC reports. "The papers carried by Lindell partially read 'martial law if necessary.'”
https://www.rawstory.com/mike-lindell-2656237917/
-
Fox News has a big Jan. 6 problem
(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/12/03/magazine/03mag-hannity-triptych/03mag-hannity-triptych-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)
Tomorrow is the first anniversary of the Capitol insurrection and attempted coup of the U.S. government by former president Donald Trump. There was a time not long ago when everything about that sentence would have made us laugh at the sheer absurdity of it. Nobody's laughing now.
Trump was apparently persuaded by his advisers to cancel his scheduled press conference for Jan. 6 after seeing that he would not get live coverage on all the networks to spread the Big Lie and excuse the violent mob that stormed the capitol a year ago vowing to hang Vice President Mike Pence. He promised to deliver that message to his loyal followers at a rally next weekend instead, drawing a huge sigh of relief from most Republican officials in Washington who just want to keep a low profile and put the unpleasantness behind them.
Unfortunately for them, however, it's not going away.
Trump will be talking about this for the rest of his life and the January 6th committee is revving up for several months of public hearings. Even some MAGA Republicans on Capitol Hill are determined to try to muddy the waters by dusting off their Benghazi playbook and holding their own "investigation" into why House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., was derelict in her duties by allowing hundreds of rabid Trump-voting fanatics to breach the Capitol that day.
On Tuesday, committee chairs, Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Liz Cheney R-Wy., released a letter they sent to Fox News host Sean Hannity in which they revealed that they had many text messages from him to high-level members of the White House staff in the run-up to January 6th. They ostensibly want Hannity to cooperate with the committee, but I doubt that there is any expectation that he will. This seemed more likely to be a notice to anyone who ever texted people in the White House during this period that the committee probably has them and intends to make them public. And it will almost certainly cause more dissension in Trumpworld. Meadows is already on thin ice. Now Hannity's backchannel "concerns", as Thompson and Cheney put it, about what Trump and his cronies were up to before and after January 6th leave him at odds with the president, who very likely had no idea that Hannity was pressing his staff to stop him from doing what he did.
Hannity's lawyer issued a statement saying they were examining the letter and had First Amendment concerns. However, his texts indicate that he was acting as an adviser to the president and comparing what he said privately to what he was saying on the air at the time, it's quite clear that he wasn't acting as any kind of journalist. It will be interesting to see if his bosses at Fox News have a problem with one of their stars brazenly lying to their audience. (Yeah, never mind. They won't.)
The committee homed in on just the period between December 31 and January 20th when Trump finally left office. They mention a text to Meadows in which Hannity said:
"We can't lose the entire WH counsels office. I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told. After the 6 th. He should announce will lead the nationwide effort to reform voting integrity. Go to Fl and watch Joe mess up daily. Stay engaged. When he speaks people will listen."
It's impossible to know for sure what he meant by "January 6th happening the way he is being told" but according to a number of accounts this was when Trump's henchmen were hatching their plot to have Republicans in Congress object to the electoral count and have Pence throw the election to the House of Representatives where Trump would win despite losing through legitimate means. In other words, the coup was being planned. And apparently, the White House counsel's office knew it was illegal and was threatening to quit en masse over it, or at least that's the suspicion based upon what Hannity was texting.
Hannity was obviously very much in the loop inside the upper echelons of the White House and knew all about the discussions to put the heat on Pence. On January 5th he wrote to Meadows "Pence pressure, WH counsel will leave." On the night before the insurrection he wrote, "I'm very worried about the next 48 hours" which prompted the committee to ask, "why?" — which is a very good question. Surely he couldn't have foreseen the violent insurrection. But was Hannity worried that the entire administration would resign? Massive protests? It would be very interesting to know, although I doubt we ever will.
The letter suggests there are other texts which indicate that Hannity spoke with Trump personally that night as well as others. I have a sneaking suspicion that he didn't express his "concerns" quite as openly with Trump. Nobody does that. No, this was Hannity wringing his hands with the chief of staff and others in the White House while he put on a happy face with Trump and his MAGA-crazed audience.
After Trump's egregious performance on that day, which will live in infamy, and in the days after, Hannity once more proved that he was anything but a member of the press when he texted Meadows and Trump sycophant Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, worried about what Trump might do before the inauguration:
"Guys, we have a clear path to land the plane in 9 days. He can't mention the election again. Ever. I did not have a good call with him today. And worse, I'm not sure what is left to do or say, and I don't like not knowing if it's truly understood. Ideas?"
Trump responded to that on Thursday night, telling Kaitlin Collins of CNN, "I disagree with Sean on that statement and the facts are proving me right." Actually, they are not.
As I said, I don't think Hannity will cooperate and there's no doubt that there will be much shrieking and caterwauling about the freedom of the press and Hannity's sources being revealed. But Meadows is the one who turned over the texts and Hannity never reported any of this. In fact, this was what he was sharing with his audience which he was clutching his pearls behind the scenes:
Hannity privately on 1/5: "I'm very worried about the next 48 hours"
Hannity on Fox on 1/5: "Big day tomorrow, big crowds" and "this all kicks off in the morning tomorrow"
The Committee is seeking information from Sean Hannity.
Chair @BennieGThompson and Vice Chair @RepLizCheney request Hannity answer questions about matters including communications between Hannity and the former President, Mark Meadows, and others in the days surrounding Jan 6th.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FISmCsXWUAY2Hmq?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FISmCsWWUAcAAvO?format=jpg&name=small)
Every day we hear new evidence about the attempted coup and insurrection of January 6th and there's every reason to believe that the next few months will offer even more. It is simply astonishing that this happened in America in 2021. But even more astonishing than that is the fact that after all that (and everything that came before) Donald Trump is still the most popular and influential Republican in the country and is overwhelmingly favored to win the nomination for president in 2024. The man plotted a coup and incited a violent insurrection and he didn't lose any voters. No wonder he just keeps spewing the Big Lie. It works. And I have no doubt that Sean Hannity will be at his side helping him do it.
IN OTHER NEWS: Watch what Sean Hannity was saying publicly while texting Trump allies in private.
-
Jan. 6 committee has one crucial piece of evidence that hasn't been revealed yet
The House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection is sitting on potentially explosive details about former President Donald Trump's actions in the 187 minutes before he finally told rioters to "go home" on Jan. 6, 2021.
"It’s the timestamps, stupid," Politico reported Wednesday, noting that unlike the rest of us, the committee knows precisely when key text messages were sent.
For example, as the violent mob penetrated deeper into the Capitol, Trump posted a tweet at 2:24 p.m. attacking Vice President Mike Pence. Two minutes later, at 2:26 p.m., Trump called Rep. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) to encourage further challenges to the election results.
"But what occurred in the immediate moments before and after that phone call remains imprecise, at least to the public," Politico reported. "Precision on the timing and order of these exchanges is crucial. Did Donald Trump receive urgent pleas to call off the rioters before he decided to call Tuberville and ask him to continue challenging the election? Did he return to a single-minded focus on overturning his defeat even after his daughter Ivanka Trump attempted to prevail on him in the Oval Office?"
The public also doesn't know the exact timing of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's call to Trump, in which he pleaded with the former president to denounce the riot. "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are," Trump responded.
In addition to the timing of Ivanka Trump's visit to the Oval Office, the committee knows exactly when Donald Trump Jr. texted chief of staff Mark Meadows and urged him to get his father to "end this (spombleprofglidnoctobuns) ASAP."
"What time did Laura Ingraham warn Meadows that Trump was 'destroying his legacy' and needed to tell rioters to retreat?" Politico's Kyle Cheney asked. "What time did Sean Hannity and Brian Kilmeade make similar entreaties? ... When did Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) talk to Trump?"
Trump's video telling rioters to "go home" was released after 4 p.m., but reportedly was the third take.
The 1/6 question: Not what, but when
DELIVERED — It’s the timestamps, stupid.
Investigators, prosecutors and journalists have spent a year reconstructing the horror of Jan. 6 in granular, painstaking detail — unearthing eye-popping vignettes about a president obsessed with subverting his own defeat, and a mob willing to do his bidding at nearly any cost.
The evidence has been as voluminous as it has been devastating: President Donald Trump, glued to his television as violent supporters ransacked the Capitol, ignored increasingly frantic efforts by his aides and his own children to call off the assault. They believed his words would make a difference, but for hours, he refused to use them — and dozens of police officers paid for it in blood.
But as the Jan. 6 select committee scrounges for scraps of even more devastating evidence of Trump’s inaction, the most explosive details they may be sitting on could, on the surface, be the most mundane.
That’s because the committee, unlike the rest of us, knows precisely what time key texts were sent and urgent pleas went ignored. Where those messages fit in the already-known timeline of Trump’s movements on Jan. 6 could be among the panel’s more crucial findings.
We’ve long known, for example, that Trump sent a 2:24 p.m. tweet attacking Vice President Mike Pence, as the mob penetrated deeper into the Capitol: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution.” We also know Trump placed a 2:26 p.m. call to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) to encourage further challenges to the election results that could buy time to execute other elements of his plan.
But what occurred in the immediate moments before and after that phone call remains imprecise, at least to the public. Precision on the timing and order of these exchanges is crucial. Did Donald Trump receive urgent pleas to call off the rioters before he decided to call Tuberville and ask him to continue challenging the election? Did he return to a single-minded focus on overturning his defeat even after his daughter Ivanka Trump attempted to prevail on him in the Oval Office?
Until now, those episodes have been described largely in isolation and without an exact relationship to other known developments that day. The committee is attempting to change that.
For example, we don’t know — and the Jan. 6 select committee likely does — whether Trump’s tweet and call to Tuberville preceded GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s plea to Trump by phone to publicly denounce the riot. Trump, according to one account, downplayed his supporters’ role in the violence and said, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.” McCarthy, according to an account in Jonathan Karl’s “Betrayal,” responded that he had heard shots fired near the House floor, which places the conversation sometime after 2:44 p.m., when a Capitol Police officer shot and killed Ashli Babbitt.
We don’t know — and the Jan. 6 select committee does — the precise time Ivanka Trump went into the Oval Office to plead for her father’s help stanching the violence or when Donald Trump Jr. texted Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and urged him to get his father to “condemn this [s**t] ASAP.”
Meadows replied, at a time unknown to the public, that he was “pushing it hard.”
Like Ivanka Trump, Keith Kellogg — a national security adviser to Pence — also appealed directly to Trump to intervene. According to the Washington Post, Kellogg told the president, ”You’ve got to get on top of this and say something.” The timing of that exchange is unclear, but Kellogg has interviewed with the Jan. 6 committee — one of several Pence aides to comply with the panel’s requests.
What time did Laura Ingraham warn Meadows that Trump was “destroying his legacy” and needed to tell rioters to retreat?
What time did Sean Hannity and Brian Kilmeade make similar entreaties?
And when did Trump’s staff finally get Trump to begin filming a video that, however haltingingly, urged rioters to “go home?”
When did Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) talk to Trump? The congressman has acknowledged talking to him at least once that day.
We know that the video the White House ultimately released, which arrived after 4 p.m., was the third take. Trump said of the rioters, “We love you. You’re very special,” even as he urged them to leave.
The Jan. 6 committee has been quietly filling in the timeline of Trump’s actions during the 187 minutes it took before he told his supporters to leave. Unless the Supreme Court allows Trump to shield his White House records from the committee, the panel will obtain a trove of call and meeting logs, as well as contemporaneous notes and documents created during those frantic hours.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2022/01/05/the-1-6-question-not-what-but-when-495608?nname=politico-nightly&nid=00000170-c000-da87-af78-e185fa700000&nrid=40eaf4aa-9e07-4d0d-9fc4-461aa0fdd6bd&nlid=2670445
-
'To save America': Jan. 6 rioters networked in advance, planned to storm the Capitol and fantasized about hanging lawmakers for 'treason'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/fbi-flooded-with-over-230000-tips-as-they-hunt-hundreds-more.jpg?id=25967324&width=1200&height=699)
As the January 6th Committee bears down on its investigation into potential coordination between high-level Trump associates involved in the effort to overturn the 2020 election and the rioters who stormed the Capitol, legal filings in the cases of 725-plus people who have been criminally charged to date yield a patchwork of clues.
Court documents in the cases brought against some of the Jan. 6 defendants facing the most serious charges yield information about communication and coordination among the defendants from different groups in advance of Jan. 6, 2021, shared memes that placed a bullseye on the US Capitol on the day Congress convened to certify the electoral vote, and aspirations to kill or kidnap lawmakers that were articulated by the rioters with disturbing frequency. Much of the information in this story has been previously reported in other outlets, but patterns of conduct and overlaps between the participants make a striking impression when considered as a whole. Conversely, this story is by no means comprehensive as a summary of all the evidence of coordination that has been published.
Members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers are charged with conspiracy, but none of the charges specifically allege coordination between members of the two groups or with unaffiliated individuals. Similarly, federal authorities have unveiled conspiracy charges against members of two smaller groups from southern California: the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang and the California Patriots-DC Brigade.
Members of both the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers a pro-Trump rally in Washington, DC on Dec. 12, 2020 in which Proud Boys and their allies clashed with left-wing counter-protesters and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes called on President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act. Proud Boys leaders Enrique Tarrio and Ethan Nordean stood alongside Trump confidant Roger Stone as he exhorted a crowd of the former president’s supporters to “fight to the bitter end for an honest count of the 2020 election.”
In two separate Facebook messages on Dec. 22 and 25, 2020 — within a week of Trump’s tweet summoning supporters to DC for a “wild protest” on Jan. 6 — Kelly Meggs, the designated state lead for the Oath Keepers in Florida mentioned to contacts that he had formulated a plan to join forces with the Proud Boys.
“Orchestrated a plan with the Proud Boys,” Meggs wrote on Dec. 25, according to a government filing. “I’ve been communicating with their leader. We’re going to march with them for a while. Then fall back to the back of the crowd and turn off. Then we will have the Proud Boys get in front of them. The cops will get between antifa and the Proud Boys. We will come in behind antifa and beat the hell out of them.”
Meggs’ lawyer, Jonathon Moseley, told Raw Story he hasn’t had the opportunity to ask his client about the statement.
Meggs’ use of the word “leader” to describe his Proud Boy contact mostly likely points to Chairman Enrique Tarrio, who lived in Miami, but Joe Biggs, a former InfoWars correspondent and Proud Boys organizer is also from Florida.
Dan Hull, a lawyer who represents Tarrio in his capacity as a witness subpoenaed by the January 6th Committee, told Raw Story he hasn’t had an opportunity to ask Tarrio whether he communicated with Meggs before Jan. 6, 2021. Hull also represents Biggs in his criminal defense against conspiracy charges related to the Jan. 6 assault. Hull said that Biggs told him, “Absolutely not,” when asked if he had talked to Meggs during the runup to Jan. 6.
David A. Wilson, who also represents Meggs, told a federal judge during his client’s detention hearing in March 2021 that the messages “seem to point to a preparation for some sort of perceived confrontation with antifa,” adding, “There is not one communication that the government can point to where Mr. Meggs plans, discusses, or mentions any pre-planning to enter the Capitol.”
Referencing evidence presented by a prosecutor that Meggs said he was “organizing an alliance between the Oath Keepers, the Florida Three Percenters and the Proud Boys” to “work together and shut this spombleprofglidnoctobuns down,” Judge Amit Mehta concluded: “Whether he’s talking about the election count or shutting down violent protests or violence involving antifa; nevertheless, we have somebody who’s already prepared to organize and engage with other groups in violent acts on the streets of the District of Columbia.”
The claim that the Oath Keepers were only concerned with confronting counter-protesters, alongside providing security and VIP escort for dignitaries like Stone, is undercut by evidence that Meggs and other Oath Keepers went looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after they followed a mob through the Columbus Doors on the east side of the Capitol.
In an exchange cited by the government, an unidentified person reportedly said to Meggs that they had been “hoping to see Nancy’s head rolling down the front steps.” Meggs reportedly answered: “We looked forward her [sic].”
Explaining his decision to hold Meggs in pre-trial detention, Mehta also cited a message from Meggs upon learning that Vice President Mike Pence would count the electoral votes, in which the Oath Keeper leader reportedly said, “That checks all the boxes. I think this is why we were called here. Anything less would be a terrible mistake. The natives are getting restless. Tell your friend this isn’t a rally.”
Judge Mehta concluded, “I think there’s ample evidence here of conspiring and planning and coordinating dangerous activities, including nighttime confrontations with the likes of antifa and others, and planning for those purposes.”
The government presented strikingly similar evidence to support its request for the detention of Proud Boy defendant Matthew Greene, an Army veteran from upstate New York with combat experience in Afghanistan.
The government’s motion for detention cited an FBI interview with an unidentified witness, who reportedly told agents that Greene was with a group of individuals who described their actions on Jan. 6. The witness reportedly told the FBI that members of the group told them that “anyone they got their hands on they would have killed, including Nancy Pelosi” and also “that they would have killed Mike Pence if given the chance.”
The witness reportedly told the FBI that the Proud Boys discussed plans to return on Jan. 20 for the inauguration and that Greene said words to the effect of “We’ll kill them all.”
Greene pleaded guilty to obstructing Congress and conspiracy to obstruct law enforcement on Dec. 22; the plea deal offers him the opportunity to reduce his sentence in exchange for providing substantial assistance to the government in its cases against other defendants.
Greene’s lawyer did not respond to emails from Raw Story seeking comment on his client’s alleged threats against lawmakers, although a federal judge who ordered Greene’s detention in August indicated that he has denied making the statement.
Some of the Jan. 6 defendants accused of the most violent conduct at the Capitol reported coordinating with the Proud Boys or other extremist groups in the runup to Jan. 6.
Lucas Denney, an Army veteran from the Fort Worth suburbs in Texas who launched the Patriot Boys militia as a vehicle to mobilize people for Jan. 6, exchanged messages with Donald Hazard, his sergeant at arms, about their plans for the day on Dec. 25, 2020, according to the affidavit providing the factual basis for the charges against the two men.
“So, the 6th is going to be bigger than the last rally,” Denney reportedly told Hazard. “I can’t tell you everything I know over media here but it’s gonna be big. Millions and millions will be there, I can tell you that.
“We will be linking up with proud boys though,” Denney said in the next message. “I’ve been in contact with a few different chapters, and they’re helping us out with safe hotels to get.”
When Metropolitan police Officer Michael Fanone was dragged into the crowd of rioters outside the tunnel at the Lower West Terrace, Denney is accused of swinging his arm and fist at the officer and then grabbing him and pulling him further down the steps.
As previously reported by Raw Story, the government alleges that Denney wrote in a Dec. 31, 2020 message to an unidentified individual that “a lot of the presidents and commanders of militias like myself are meeting on the 5th to organize and plan.” It’s unclear whether the Jan. 5 meeting took place, but Denney is also reported to have said in a separate message sent on New Year’s Eve: “I’m still up chatting with all my brothers that are going to DC. All the presidents have been so busy organizing, planning and talking lol.”
Ryan Nichols, a Marine Corps veteran from east Texas, reportedly expressed interest in joining the Proud Boys before traveling to Washington DC with his friend, Alex Harkrider.
“I’m thinking of joining the Proud Boys chapter in Texas,” Nichols wrote to Harkrider on Dec. 14, according to texts cited by the government. “Would you be open to doing that with me?”
Nichols “coordinated with other participants before, during and after the riot,” according to the government. Prior to Jan. 6, Nichols “reported on ‘intel’ he was gathering, passed along messages from ‘group sources,’ joined several Zello groups which were active before and during the attack on the Capitol, and attempted to recruit others to join him in DC,” prosecutors wrote in a motion requesting Nichols’ detention.
Another rioter who has not been arrested but who is identified as “Associate-1” in charging the documents for Ronald Colton McAbee, with whom he traveled to DC, put in an application a couple days before Jan. 6, according to the government. McAbee, who was working as a deputy with the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee when he joined the Capitol riot, is accused of dragging a police officer into the crowd and participating outside the tunnel on the Lower West Terrace. After fellow rioter Jack Wade Whitton and another man allegedly knocked Officer “AW” to the ground, Whitton later bragging that he “fed an officer to the people,” McAbee is accused of grabbing “AW” by his left leg and torso while another man grabbed his right leg, and dragging the officer towards the stairs. In texts released by the government, “Associate-1,” who has been dubbed #ScaryCherry3P by online sleuths, indicated that he knew one of the other rioters. While sharing a video depicting a battle between rioters and police outside the Lower West Terrace tunnel, “Associate-1” wrote to McAbee: “I know the guy in the red and black crowd surfing.”
It’s not clear based on Associate-1’s description who the other rioter is, but a number of men climbed on top of the crowd and swung sticks and other makeshift weapons at officers.
Other unaffiliated Jan. 6 defendants joined forces with the Proud Boys at the Capitol. Kevin Tuck, who was employed by the Windermere Police Department in Florida at the time of the riot, and his son, Nathaniel Tuck, who was formerly employed as a police officer, were charged together with three Proud Boys — Arthur Jackman, Paul Rae and Edward George Jr. The five men posed together for a photo together on the Capitol lawn after breaching the building, along with Proud Boys leaders Nordean and Biggs. Nordean and Biggs were charged together with conspiracy in a separate case.
In one case, the allegation of coordination between the Proud Boys and an apparently unaffiliated rioter is even more direct.
Court documents indicate that Nordean communicated by phone with Ronald Loehrke in December 2020. Nordean reportedly told Loehrke on Dec. 29, 2020 he wanted him with him “on the front line.” Loehrke, in turn, is reported to have pledged to Nordean he would bring three “Bad mother f*ckers [sic]” with him. After marching with the Proud Boys and making his way to the line of officers protecting the Capitol at the West Plaza, Loehrke is alleged to have upbraided the other rioters for allowing themselves to be “stopped by twenty-five officers.”
“Don’t back down, patriots!” Loehrke reportedly shouted. “The whole f*cking world is watching. Stand the f*ck up today!”
Later, Loehrke is alleged to have made his way to the east side of the Capitol, dismantling barricades and urging on other rioters with words to the effect of, “Let’s go! Get in there!”
David Dempsey, a southern California man accused of spraying a chemical agent at police officers and striking them with a pole and a crutch near the mouth of the tunnel at the Lower West Terrace, had previously attended rallies with Proud Boys. Dempsey’s charging document includes a photo of him posing with two men dressed in Proud Boys gear in Sacramento, Calif. in November 2020, and Dempsey can be seen in another photo marching with the Proud Boys in DC on Dec. 12, 2020.
Dempsey can be seen wearing the same American flag gaiter that he would wear on Jan. 6 behind Michael Sobczak, who stood out because of his yellow knit hat and handlebar mustache. Sobczak was removed from his position as commander of the American Legion post in Escondido, Calif. after his involvement with the Proud Boys came to light. But he posted a meme featuring a photo of a gallows, accompanied by the text “Government repair kit” on the social media platform Parler under the handle @PatriotMick on Dec. 30, 2020.
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/xz-B_aWpjoZVlP88cj3CqDNbctWW2JfcFikT1JIjkF3bqAK8p72U2QqmqB85F0RsWsClPZJZA_04moBzk8vvS6oo4kiowOt8cjbD-7EvzHCILoJMfPwD_AlJwkent3zbZUDTmhnX)
Proud Boy Michael Sobczak posted a meme depicting a gallows on Parler on Dec. 30, 2020 that foreshadowed the actual gallows erected at the US Capitol seven days later.Screenshot
On Jan. 6, 2021, prior to the assault on the Capitol, Dempsey was filmed in front of a makeshift gallows fitted with a noose on the National Mall, where he launched into a violent rant.
“Them worthless f***in’ s***holes like Jerry Nadler, f***in’ Pelosi,” Dempsey said. “They don’t need a jail cell. They need to hang from these mo*****ers…. They need to get the point across that the time for peace is over…. For four, or five years really, they’ve been ****ing demonizing us, belittling us... doing everything they can to stop what this is, and people are sick of that s**t…. Hopefully one day soon we really have someone hanging from one of these mothe****ers.”
James Mault, a member of the Ironworkers Local 33 union in Rochester, NY who is also accused of spraying chemical agents at officers stationed at the Lower West Terrace tunnel with two separate canisters. Photos in Mault’s charging document show him handing one of the canisters off to Dempsey. There’s no indication that the two men knew each other prior to Jan. 6.
Mault traveled with his friend, Cody Mattice, to the Capitol. While court documents provide no indications that Mault and Mattice held formal membership in any extremist groups, they appear to have derived esteem from their perception that they were fighting alongside the Proud Boys.
“It was dope, and James had everyone hyped bro,” Mattice texted another person at 7:44 p.m. on Jan. 6, according to the government. “Even the Proud Boys were thanking us. Legit, bro, it feels like a f***in movie.”
One interaction between a Proud Boy leader and an unaffiliated rioter stands out as a potentially decisive moment in the assault on the Capitol.
Ryan Samsel, a Pennsylvania man who was one of the first two rioters to approach the police line at the entrance to the Pennsylvania Avenue Walkway, can be seen in a video published by the New York Times conferring with Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs shortly before pushing and pulling the barricades apart and knocking down a police officer. The crowd quickly overran the police line and streamed onto the Capitol lawn.
According to a New York Times report, Samsel told investigators that Biggs encouraged him to push at the barricades and then flashed a gun at him when he hesitated, questioning his manhood.
“Absolutely false,” Biggs' lawyer, Dan Hull, told Raw Story. “There hasn’t been anything to support that theory that I’ve seen or heard. Nothing from DOJ. Certainly, you would have heard it from DOJ because it would go to his detention. It continues to be laughable.”
He added that Biggs did not show Samsel a gun, and would never bring a gun to DC.
Hull said his client doesn’t recall what words were exchanged between the two men.
"He doesn’t remember a conversation with Samsel,” Hull said. “He doesn’t know Samsel. He doesn’t remember a conversation at all, other than several people said, ‘Oh, it’s Joe Biggs. I saw you on InfoWars.’”
Hull has acknowledged a complex interplay between Proud Boys members and unaffiliated individuals on Jan. 6, while promoting the view that the Proud Boys were unwittingly steered into the assault on the Capitol.
“The Proud Boys are sitting down,” Hull told host Ron Coleman on a podcast recorded last month, describing their activities shortly before they joined a mob that streamed onto the Capitol lawn. “They’re looking around and somebody says, ‘What are they doing?’ So, rather than go to the Ellipse, at the last minute, there’s this magic moment, and they say, ‘Let’s go over there to the edge. Let’s go over there in Peace Circle, the roundabout.’”
Hull added that “by that point, a few people that we now know were not Proud Boys who were in the group — there were people who worked for other organizations….”
While alluding to other actors on the group’s periphery, Hull has also steadfastly stuck to the narrative that his client’s defense hinges on — that there was no conspiracy, at least on the part of the Proud Boys.
“This was the madness of crowds when the people went up that hill,” he said.
Regardless of the nature of the exchange between Samsel and Biggs, the Proud Boys played a decisive role in the breach of the Capitol. Dominic Pezzola, Greene’s co-defendant in a separate conspiracy case, used a stolen police riot shield to bust out a window in the Capitol building, allowing the first group of rioters to enter the building shortly after 2 p.m.
Joseph Padilla, an Iraq war veteran from Georgia, reportedly told a friend on Facebook in advance of the attack that he did not believe “anything less than taking DC with an a [sic] heavily armed protest” would work, adding that if he couldn’t find an organized group, he “might just have to fight Proud Boys style.” Afterward, according to Padilla’s charging document, he lamented on TheDonald.win: “If we could have occupied the Capitol, we could have invoked the right given to us in the 2nd paragraph of the Declaration of Independence…. We would have been in the Seat of Power. All we would need to do is declare our grievances with the government and dissolve the legislature, and replace it with Patriots who were there. Then simply re-adopt the Constitution with amendments added to secure future Federal elections.”
Edward Jacob Lang, a 25-year-old man from New York’s Hudson River Valley, is accused by the government of attempting to organize a militia on Telegram after the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol. Lang, who is accused of three separate assaults on police officers including swinging a metal bat at them, disputed the notion that those who participated in the siege of the assault were merely swept up in the moment.
“This was no mob,” Lang reportedly told his associates in the private Telegram video. “A mob is a bunch of people like attacking each other. This was an organized unit of patriots trying to take on tyrants. You know what I mean. A mob has no goal. A mob is just, uh, screaming and spombleprofglidnoctobuns. This was patriots on a goal, on a mission to have the Capitol building. To stop this presidential election from being stolen so that we at least have one presidential veto left from all of these bull**it laws and restrictions.”
Some of the early arrests in the Jan. 6 investigation included tantalizing leads suggesting the defendants were linked to a broader network, but information available through court documents has yet to yield charges against additional defendants.
Rachel Marie Powell, previously identified by online sleuths as #PinkHatLady, used a large metal pole to break out a window to the Senate conference room adjacent to the tunnel at the Lower West Terrace. Video footage of her speaking into a bullhorn through an open window stating that the rioters should “coordinate together if you are going to take this building” and that they “have another window to break” commanded public attention in the early days of the investigation.
“She corralled her fellow rioters and gave instructions on how to take the Capitol, including instructions that I believe you indicated you saw in the video, that seemed to suggest an operative knowledge of the interior layout of the Capitol,” the government argued in a motion for Powell’s detention.
Powell’s lawyer proffered that there was no evidence that Powell had ever been to the Capitol before Jan. 6, which he said undercuts “the argument that she was some kind of organizer or leader with respect to this.”
Judge Beryl Howell appeared to agree with Powell’s counsel.
“And there is no evidence in the proffer that’s been given based on her social media… that she was part of a larger group of people whose mission is disruption,” Howell said during Powell’s detention hearing.
But the government noted that Powell traveled to DC with a man named Kevin Lynn, whom she had met at a July 4, 2020 rally at Gettysburg National Military Park.
Lynn, who is the executive director of a group called Progressives for Immigration Reform, reportedly met President Trump at the White House. To date, Lynn has not been arrested. Prosecutor Elizabeth Loi described Lynn to the court as “a militia member” during Powell’s detention hearing in February 2021. At the time, she said the government was still investigating Powell’s “relationship to the other rioters.”
Lynn did not respond to an email message and voicemail from Raw Story seeking comment for this story.
Riley June Williams, a 22-year-old follower of white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes, urged rioters to ascend a stairway leading to Pelosi’s office, according to the FBI. She appears to be in a video depicting the theft of a laptop computer consistent with one stolen from Pelosi’s office. Williams’ ex-boyfriend told the FBI she had unsuccessfully attempted to broker the transfer of the computer to Russian intelligence. Her lawyer cast doubt on that claim during a detention hearing.
“Based on our initial investigation in preparation for today, it is our position that the allegations surrounding the theft of Speaker Pelosi’s computer came in part from a former abusive boyfriend,” Lori J. Ulrich, Williams’ lawyer, told a federal judge during her detention hearing in Harrisburg, Pa. on Jan. 21. “He threatened Ms. Williams in a number of ways, including if she filed a restraining order against him, he was going to go after her. His accusations are overstated.”
In November, Williams was indicted on eight counts, including theft of government property and aiding and abetting, and assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers. To date, no additional arrests have been made against individuals accused of involvement in the alleged theft of the computer or any scheme to pass it along to the Russian intelligence services. AJ Kramer, one of Williams’ lawyers, declined to comment on her behalf.
In other cases, the government has acknowledged that violent rioters who played decisive roles in the attack appear to have not coordinated with other rioters before Jan. 6.
In a motion to detain Albuquerque Head, a Tennessee man, ahead of his trial, prosecutors wrote, “While the evidence does not suggest coordination or pre-planning, the defendant instigated the assault on Officer [Fanone] by pulling him into the crowd away from the police line and shouted, ‘I got one!’”
Although there is abundant evidence of horizontal coordination among the defendants, few, if any, cases filed to date provide clues about potential vertical organization. But Cindy Chafian, an organizer behind the rallies that brought Trump supporters to DC, and her husband Scott, a retired Navy officer, were present at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Nathan Hughes, an Arkansas man who rode to the Capitol in a golf cart driven by Scott Chafian, was in the crowd of rioters that battled police inside the tunnel at the Lower West Terrace, at one point urging his fellow rioters to take one of the officer’s shields. Publicly available video also shows Hughes hovering over Officer Michael Fanone after he was dragged into the mob. Neither the Hughes nor the Chafians have been arrested to date, but the January 6th Committee has issued a subpoena to Cindy Chafian, ordering her to turn over documents and give testimony.
Hughes had previously attended the Nov. 14, 2020 Million MAGA March in DC and filmed Trump passing the rally at Freedom Plaza in his motorcade. Hughes’ video was incorporated into a story published on the DCPatriot website run by Hughes’ friend, Matt Couch.
Couch played an instrumental role in mobilizing Trump supporters to get to DC on Jan. 6. In a Jan. 4, 2021 tweet, Couch tagged Hughes and seven other social media influencers. “TrumpTheStreets.com and FighttheFrauds.com are on the ground here in DC,” Couch wrote. “Big events planned all day Tues/Wed!”
Hughes responded: “See you soon brother!”
In a Jan. 3 Periscope stream to more than 100,000 viewers, Couch said he had “been in touch” with Ali Alexander and various other Stop the Steal organizers. Couch also suggested that he had a liaison with the Trump administration, speaking with an individual named “Jason,” who was offscreen during the video recording.
“I’ve already walked the Capitol grounds today with — what’s your name — a very skilled gentleman called Jason — that’s his real name — but Jason’s obviously worked on the campaign and done other things for the administration, and he’s involved in a lot of different things,” Couch said. “He’s kind of one of those guys, he’s the straw that stirs the drink in a lot of these events you see going on around the country.
“And so, we’ve walked the Capitol grounds,” Couch continued. “We’re checking security protocols. We have guys on the ground doing ahead-of-the-game surveillance from different groups that we’re in coordination and talks with. There’s a lot of things happening here. A lot of moving parts. You will be safe. We need to send a loud message that we need you in Washington DC.”
While declaring that “God is leading the charge, and patriots are heeding his call,” and that “the time to fight is now,” Couch added a disclaimer. “These are peaceful events,” he said. “There is strength in numbers. And let them hear our voices.”
Couch could not be reached for comment for this story.
In a speech about the January 6th anniversary on Wednesday, Attorney General Merrick Garland offered a few clues about what’s in store for the FBI’s ongoing investigations into the Jan. 6 assault.
“The actions we have have taken thus far will not be our last,” he said. “The Justice Department remains committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law — whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy. We will follow the facts wherever they lead.”
Garland acknowledged the frustration among some members of the public who are anxious to see more high-profile arrests.
“Because January 6th was an unprecedented attack on the seat of our democracy, we understand that there is broad public interest in our investigation,” the attorney general said. “We understand that there are questions about how long the investigation will take, and about what exactly we are doing. Our answer is, and will continue to be, the same answer we would give with respect to any ongoing investigation: as long as it takes and whatever it takes for justice to be done — consistent with the facts and the law.”
Garland’s remarks were ambiguous as to whether the Justice Department will be reluctant to hold Trump and his associates accountable out of a concern that the department’s actions would be viewed as politicized.
“The central norm is that, in our criminal investigations, there cannot be different rules depending on one’s political party or affiliation,” he said. “There cannot be different rules for friends and foes. And there cannot be different rules for the powerful and the powerless.”
Several of the most violent rioters expressed intentions to storm the Capitol in advance of Jan. 6.
Lucas Denney, the president of the Patriot Boys militia in Texas, shared a meme on Facebook on Dec. 30, 2020 that read, “Occupy Congress: If they won’t hear us, they will fear us. The great betrayal is over. Election fraud is treason. January 6, 2021.
Michael John Lopatic, a resident of Lancaster County in Pennsylvania, made a Facebook post on Jan. 1, 2021 reading, “Assemble on the Capital January 6th, 2021,” according to the government. “United we stand, go forth and fight.”
On Dec. 31, 2020, Charles Bradford Smith, who rode in a car with his friend Marshall Neefe from nearby Cumberland County to DC, reportedly discussed the election results and their plans for the upcoming rally in DC.\
“I can’t wait for DC!” Smith wrote to Neefe, according to the government charging document. “Apparently it’s going to be WAY bigger lol. If it’s big enough we should all just storm the buildings… Seriously. I was talking to my Dad about how easy that would be with enough people.”
Ronald Sandlin, who traveled to DC with his friends Nate DeGrave and Josiah Colt, recorded a livestream before the attack, according to the government, in which he “urge[d] other patriots” to “take the Capitol.” He also reportedly told his followers on social media that “we are going to be there back by one o’clock when it is action time; it is game time.”
According to the government, Sandlin and DeGrave wrestled with officers to get inside the Senate gallery. The government accuses Sandlin of striking one of the officers in the back of the head, while alleging that DeGrave shouted at the rioters to “take laptops, paperwork, take everything.”
Nicholas Languerand, a QAnon follower whose phone reportedly included pictures of Proud Boys leaders, the logo of the Three Percenter movement and pictures of Nazi iconography, is accused of throwing a traffic bollard and other objects at police officers guarding the entrance of the tunnel at the Lower West Terrace. Federal agents who searched the Vermont trailer where Languerand had once lived with his grandparents reportedly found a notebook “containing militaristic language seemingly referring to Washington, DC,” according to a detention order signed by Judge John D. Bates.
“One page was headed ‘(Obj Washington) (N&J),’ followed by what appears to be coded language, examples of which include ‘diamond — road (waiting point),’ ‘emerald — breach point,’ and ‘iron — N. obj cleared,’” Judge Bates wrote.
Despite Languerand’s apparent interest in the Proud Boys and Three Percenters, Judge Bates concluded that there was no evidence that he coordinated with other participants before Jan. 6, 2021, or on the day of the assault on the Capitol.
Charging documents for other defendants show startling consistency in statements expressing motivation to harm lawmakers from individuals who stormed the Capitol, some with links to extremist organizations and others who appear to have traveled to DC alone or with one or two friends.
Mark Mazza, a disabled Army veteran from Indiana, brought a Taurus revolver loaded with deadly hollow-point bullets that he apparently dropped during a scuffle with a police sergeant on the Capitol steps.
Mazza reportedly told an FBI agent who interviewed him in March 2021 that the only thing he regretted about going to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is that he didn’t see House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, suggesting that he would have harmed her.
“I was glad I didn’t because you’d be here for another reason, and I told my kids that if they show up, I’m surrendering, nope they can have me, because I may go down a hero,” Mazza continued, according to the government’s motion for pre-trial detention.
Guy Reffitt, from northeastern Texas, is accused of continuing to plan for violence after defying Capitol police officers attempting to hold the line on the Capitol steps.
During a Zoom call with fellow Three percenter militia members four days after the Jan. 6 assault, Reffitt reportedly told them: “I had my Spartan Armor plates, my kidney plates, and my .40 on my side.”
Then, according to the government, Reffitt said his objective had been to kidnap House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
“I said, ‘Well I’m not done till we drag them out screaming and kicking. I don’t care if Pelosi’s head is hitting every step while I drag her by her ankles — she’s coming out,’” he said.
Many of the rioters who made it to the front lines at the Capitol on Jan. 6 either had extremist ties or had actively coordinated with others in advance.
Gina Bisignano, a salon owner from Beverly Hills, Calif. who is linked to the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang, and Ryan Nichols, the Marine Corps veteran who contemplated joining the Proud Boys, both found themselves in the Senate conference room adjacent to the tunnel at the Lower West Terrace.
Wearing a Louis Vuitton sweater and with her makeup smeared from teargas, Bisignano can be seen in videos livestreamed by other rioters standing on the ledge of the window to the conference room.
“Everybody, we need gas masks… we need weapons… we need strong, angry patriots to help our boys,” she told the other rioters, speaking into a bullhorn. “They don’t want to leave. We need protection.”
The government alleges that seconds after Bisignano made that statement, a rioter “begins striking at officers in the police line with what appears to be a baseball bat.” Based on the time, place and conduct, the individual described in Bisignano’s court documents is consistent with Edward Lang.
Later, according to the government, Bisignano entered the window through a hole.
“We need Americans,” she said, continuing to address the rioters through the bullhorn. “Come on guys. We need patriots! You guys, it’s the way in. We need some people. We need some people.”
The government has described Bisignano as “an instigator, a director, and an active participant in the violence, destruction and obstruction at the Capitol” on Jan. 6, 2021.
Nichols, who is alleged to have dispersed pepper spray at officers, was one of the first rioters to climb through the broken window, according to the government.
After going inside the conference room and using furniture to barricade doors, Nichols reportedly came back out and climbed onto the ledge, grabbing a bullhorn and waving a crowbar.
“Get in the building!” he yelled. “Get in the building! This is your country. Get in the building! This is your country! Get in the building! We will not be told no!
“If you have a weapon, you need to get your weapon!” Nichols continued. “If you have a weapon, you need to get your weapon!”
Daniel Rodriguez, a 38-year-old resident of Panorama City, Calif. and member of the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang had tased Officer Michael Fanone in the back of the neck when he was dragged out into the mob. Now, along with two other members of Patriots 45 MAGA Gang — Edward Badalian and a man known only as #SwedishScarf — climbed through the window into the conference room.
After the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Rodriguez, Badalian and #SwedishScarf visited Bisignano at her home in Beverly Hills, according to the indictment against the three men. (Although Bisignano is charged separately, she is identified as “Person One” in the Patriots 45 MAGA gang indictment.) According to the government. #SwedishScarf unplugged Bisignano’s Amazon Alexa devices and gestured for her to keep quiet, and then wrote in a notebook: “I want to help you delete everything and to transfer the files to a secure hard drive.”
Rodriguez told the FBI after his arrest in March 2021 that he was radicalized by watching InfoWars, the show hosted by conspiracy-monger Alex Jones. After Jan. 6, Badalian and Bisignano would appear on the show, and a slip by Bisignano appears to have helped authorities identify Badalian.
During an earlier period in his life, Rodriguez told the FBI he was hanging out with gang members in southern California. He started growing marijuana, but he “kept getting robbed” and he felt like he never fit in.
“And then Trump — and I was listening to InfoWars, and I was, like, getting patriotic, and I was — and I ended up leaving all those people behind me, and I ended up being homeless,” Rodriguez told the FBI. “I became — I put myself to be homeless because I didn’t want to deal with those people anymore.”
Rodriguez liked what he heard from then-candidate Donald Trump in 2015, and he went to a campaign office in Whittier to sign up as a volunteer. He wound up knocking on doors and making phone calls.
“I was homeless and I went — and I called my mom and I told her I needed somewhere to stay,” Rodriguez continued. “I needed to come back home and move in. And I was already — Trump was already, like — this is 2015, and I was already into InfoWars and Alex Jones, and he’s backing Trump. And I’m like, ‘All right, man. This is it. I’m going to — this is — I’m going to fight for this. I’m going to do — I want to do this.”
Rodriguez started attending rallies where right-wingers protested COVID measures and clashed with antifascists in August 2021, mostly in Beverly Hills, but sometimes also in Huntington Beach.
“We’re learning about, like, Jade Helm and the FEMA camps, you know?” Rodriguez told the FBI. “Why are they ordering all these body bags and what’s all this military movement and, you know, these plastic coffins and, like, there’s just hundreds of thousands, you know? So, it started, like, triggering reactions in my mind that, like, you know, this country is — I mean, that’s how Rome fell. Rome fell from within, right?”
One of Rodriguez’s statements to the FBI suggests he wasn’t someone with the resources to get to DC on his own. After Rodriguez told the FBI that he and his friends expected Trump supporters to be “rounded up” after the election, one of the agents asked him what he would have done to defend himself.
“Well, there’s not much I could’ve done,” Rodriguez responded. “I mean, I don’t have a — I’m not financially stable that I couldn’t be home. I don’t really have anywhere to go. So, you’re saying, like — I could’ve been homeless or living in a tent or something.” He told the agents he put about $100 towards the van trip from California to DC.
“What were your thoughts at the Capitol when you tasered Officer Fanone or when you entered the Capitol building?” one of the agents asked Rodriguez during the interrogation.
“I thought that we were going to save this — I thought we were going to do something,” Rodriguez responded. “I thought that it was not going to end — happen like that. I thought that Trump was going to stay president and they were going to find all this crooked stuff and we were going to — I mean, we found out that — we thought we did something good.
“We were getting Nancy — somebody was — it was rumored that Nancy Pelosi got her laptop stolen and that they found all this evidence on it and it was a secret plan,” he continued. “We were like — it was, like, a — it was a — were a distraction. We were put there to go distract and so somebody can go get Pelosi’s laptop and then get all the intel.
“And then we could just bust everything and find the truth and it’ll all be exposed and we’ll see that she’s corrupt or some kind of evidence,” Rodriguez said. “And we thought we were being — we were part of a bigger thing. We thought we were being sued as part of a plan to save the country, to save America, save the Constitution, and the election, the integrity.”
https://www.rawstory.com/rioters-coordinated/
-
Imagine the time and effort devoted to posting these endless rambling monologues on this topic to which no one ever responds. And on a JFK assassination forum! It is downright creepy in its compulsion driven mania. It makes you wonder what is the motivation of an individual who would devote so much of his time to this seemingly pointless effort? And how long can it go on? Forever?
-
The Capitol riot wouldn't have happened without the influence of the Christian nationalist movement: op-ed
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=28746456&width=800&height=450)
Writing for The New York Times on the anniversary of Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Katherine Stewart contends that the violence wouldn't have been possible without the influence of America’s Christian nationalist movement, and she's warning that next time "it may well succeed in making the promise of American democracy a relic of the past."
"Pastors, congregations and the religious media are among the most trusted sources of information for many voters," Stewart writes, adding that the repeated message that they sought to deliver through social media "is that outside sources of information are simply not credible. The creation of an information bubble, impervious to correction, was the first prerequisite of Mr. Trump’s claim."
"Movement leaders now appear to be working to prime the base for the next attempt to subvert the electoral process. At dozens of conservative churches in swing states this past year, groups of pastors were treated to presentations by an initiative called Faith Wins," she continues. "Featuring speakers like David Barton, a key figure in the fabrication of Christian nationalist myths about history, and led by Chad Connelly, a Republican political veteran, Faith Wins serves up elections skepticism while demanding that pastors mobilize their flocks to vote 'biblical' values.
The persecution complex shared by some Christian leaders also contributed to Jan. 6, writes Stewart, pointing out that Christian nationalism plays off the belief that conservative Christians are the most oppressed group in American society.
Read her full op-ed over at The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/06/opinion/jan-6-christian-nationalism.html
-
Donald Trump slams Jan. 6 panel after Ivanka Trump interview request: ‘They’ll go after children’
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-slams-jan-6-panel-after-ivanka-trump-interview-request-they-ll-go-after-children/ar-AAT2GKo?ocid=msedgntp (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-slams-jan-6-panel-after-ivanka-trump-interview-request-they-ll-go-after-children/ar-AAT2GKo?ocid=msedgntp)
Former President Donald Trump slammed the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol insurrection after it asking his daughter Ivanka Trump to sit for an interview.
"It's a very unfair situation for my children. Very, very unfair," Donald Trump told The Washington Examiner in an interview for an op-ed published Friday.
"It's a disgrace, what's going on. They're using these things to try and get people's minds off how incompetently our country is being run. And they don't care. They'll go after children," Donald Trump said.
I have two words. Hunter Biden.
-
Donald Trump slams Jan. 6 panel after Ivanka Trump interview request: ‘They’ll go after children’
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-slams-jan-6-panel-after-ivanka-trump-interview-request-they-ll-go-after-children/ar-AAT2GKo?ocid=msedgntp (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-slams-jan-6-panel-after-ivanka-trump-interview-request-they-ll-go-after-children/ar-AAT2GKo?ocid=msedgntp)
I have two words. Hunter Biden.
LOL. Who is going after Hunter? Instead the DOJ and FBI have covered up for him and the "big guy."
-
Bill Barr has spoken with the Jan. 6 committee 'more than once' and without subpoena
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/attorney-general-william-barr.jpg?id=24985165&width=800&height=450)
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) revealed in an interview with CNN's Jim Acosta that the House Select Committee on Jan. 6 hasn't just interviewed former Attorney General Bill Barr for a few minutes. According to the report, he has spoken to the committee "more than once" and without a subpoena.
"It was more than once, and it was a voluntary discussion with our staff attorneys, and we appreciate his willingness to help us find the truth," she told CNN.
Acosta asked if Barr knew about the executive order that Trump and his team drafted to have the Pentagon seize all U.S. electronic voting machines. She explained that she can't reveal anything until the committee approves that it can be released.
She also noted that she expects further information from the National Archives to be turned over to the committee in the coming weeks. She too is concerned that there were some documents not turned over to the National Archives, in violation of the Presidential Records Act.
Former chief of staff Mark Meadows was the one who ultimately revealed the draft of the executive order and it's unclear if that document was sent to the archives. Text messages were discovered by the committee in Dec. 2021 that were also not turned over to the National Archives, despite communicating about the election to members of Congress.
It was discovered that several people were using personal email servers, which is what they attacked Hillary Clinton for in 2016. It was also revealed that many members of the Donald Trump White House were using their personal cell phones to talk or text government business, which may not have been turned over to the archives.
See the interview below:
-
With new subpoenas, Jan. 6 committee closes in on its ultimate target: Donald Trump
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump.jpg?id=28882757&width=752&height=450)
Lawyers, investigative reporters and congressional committees have one thing in common: They like to ask questions they already know the answer to. That's the big takeaway from the four subpoenas issued by the House committee investigating the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6 of last year. On Tuesday, the committee subpoenaed former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani; former Michael Flynn lawyer and "election fraud" conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell; former Trump legal adviser and evangelical law professor Jenna Ellis; and former Trump adviser and TV commentator Boris Epshteyn. If this committee's investigation is being run like many others I've followed over the years, they already have the answers to most of the questions they plan on posing to all four of these witnesses.
I realize that everyone they just subpoenaed is a "former" of one kind or another, but that's where the committee is now as it closes in on people close to Trump who were involved in the events leading up to the assault on the Capitol last year. The committee has already subpoenaed a long list of Trump acolytes, hangers-on, former administration officials and former White House employees, including such luminaries as Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, Alex Jones, Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino, the former White House director of communications.
That's just the tip of a rather large iceberg. The committee has issued 60 subpoenas, interviewed about 400 witnesses and obtained more than 50,000 pages of documents in its six-month investigation of the Capitol insurrection. Some of the witnesses who didn't appear voluntarily and had to be subpoenaed by the committee include:
Ali Alexander, an organizer of the "Stop the Steal" rally on Jan. 5.Amy Kremer, founder and chair of Women for America First, involved in planning for the Jan. 6 rally on the Ellipse, where Trump, Giuliani and many others spoke.Tim Unes, listed on Parks Department paperwork for the Jan. 6 rally as "stage manager."Taylor Budowich, who organized radio and social media advertising for the Ellipse rally, and is now employed as Trump's primary spokesman and communications director for Trump's Save America PAC.Ed Martin, an organizer of the "Stop the Steal" movement and fundraiser for the Jan. 6 rally.
And here's where it gets interesting: There are more than 300 other people who appeared voluntarily and have testified to committee investigators under oath, including at least a dozen former White House employees, some of whom were questioned for as long as five or six hours.
Under oath. Remember those words. All of the 400 people interviewed by the committee have done so under oath. That means they were subject to federal criminal charges for perjury, which means there is real pressure on them to provide truthful answers. At least some of the witnesses who appeared voluntarily also provided at least a portion of the 50,000 documents the committee has assembled, which would give even more credence to their testimony.
It was after hearing testimony for over six months that the committee issued its subpoenas to Giuliani, Powell, Ellis and Epshteyn on Tuesday. Giuliani and Epshteyn are known to have been in the "war room" at the Willard Hotel on Jan. 5, the night before the assault on the Capitol. Committee Chair Bennie Thompson announced that the committee already knows that Epshteyn was on a phone call with Trump on the morning of Jan. 6, which means that they were informed of this by another witness. See what I mean about investigators already knowing the answers to questions they intend to ask certain witnesses?
If I were Epshteyn or Giuliani or any of the others, I would be very worried right now. Let me assure you, as a longtime observer of these kinds of investigations, including Watergate, it is never a good sign if you are among the last of the witnesses to be subpoenaed by an investigative committee or a prosecutor. That means that they have already talked to everybody under, across and around you under oath, and you can count on the fact that they have already assembled volumes of information on your activities. Which means it would be a very bad idea to give false testimony, because the investigators you will be talking to already have the truth at their fingertips in the form of testimony by previous witnesses and documents already submitted to the committee.
Because the Supreme Court denied Donald Trump's claim of executive privilege on Wednesday, the committee will now have yet another trove of official documents, visitor lists, call logs, talking points and plans to challenge electoral ballots before they question Giuliani and his compatriots. White House documents released by the National Archives will also produce names of new witnesses the committee will want to question. One document received by the committee, and published by Politico on Friday, exposed a fantastical plan to use the military to seize voting machines and electoral records in all 50 states and have them "analyzed and assessed" by the — get this — director of national intelligence. It was, in effect, a plan for a military coup using a "national security emergency" as a pretext — the "emergency" apparently being Trump's loss in the election.
If the whole thing with the recently subpoenaed witnesses sounds like a trap, that's because it is. Investigators for the Jan. 6 committee are lying in wait for any lies Giuliani and the other witnesses might tell to cover up what they did in the days and weeks preceding the assault on the Capitol. In fact, it may be that the committee doesn't really need the testimony of Giuliani and Powell and the rest of the "elite strike force team" of legal eagles who filed and lost at least 60 lawsuits challenging the results of the 2020 election in battleground states. The committee has those lawsuits, as well as the judicial decisions either dismissing them or finding in favor of the defendants. They already have access to a voluminous record of the falsehoods in those lawsuits, all the phony "affidavits" filed on behalf of Trump and his campaign, all the false charges against Dominion Voting Systems and other outfits which have now dragged Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani into court to face charges that they defamed that company and others, charges which have at least temporarily cost Giuliani his law license and clearly threaten the law licenses of Powell and others.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, a Democrat who sits on the Jan. 6 committee and is a former prosecutor, was quoted last week saying that the upcoming hearings, likely to begin later this month or early next month, "will blow the roof off the House." I'm beginning to believe it. The problem that Donald Trump and his aides like Mark Meadows and his "elite strike force team" of lawyers and the rest of them have is that lies are not advisable when you are testifying under oath. All the lies they have told since Nov. 3, 2020, about how Joe Biden "stole" the election from Trump won't hold up under the weight of thousands of pages of documents and phone records and text messages and all the other stuff from the National Archives and the documents already submitted to the committee, and they won't hold up in the face of sworn testimony by former White House aides and members of the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys charged with conspiracy who have already flipped and have been interviewed by prosecutors investigating the assault on the Capitol.
I don't have any evidence for this, but based on what I saw during Watergate and other major investigations I have followed, I would place a large bet that there is a pipeline between the Department of Justice and the Jan. 6 committee, and evidence has been flowing in both directions for months now.
When the committee, and the Department of Justice for that matter, get to the point that they're issuing subpoenas to people who were regularly in the room with the president during the days and weeks leading up to the assault on the Capitol, I would be very, very worried if I were the ultimate target of both investigations. The lid may be getting ready to come off the House of Representatives, but down at Mar-a-Lago, the roof is falling in on Trump's House of Lies.
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-2656459272/
-
Ivanka Trump falling under scrutiny shows ‘puzzle pieces coming together’ in Jan. 6 probe
The House select committee wants to talk to Ivanka Trump, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said that shows the Jan. 6 investigation is starting to come into focus.
Donald Trump raged against the committee's request for an interview with his eldest daughter, saying the panel was willing to "go after children," but "Morning Joe" panelists pointed out that the former White House adviser was indeed an adult with valuable information to share about the insurrection.
"She is 40 years old and she served four years in the White House as adviser, along with her husband Jared Kushner," said MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire. "She by no estimation is a child. She also was one of the leading voices in the administration and, frankly, one of the last senior advisers still left as Jan. 6 rolled around. Chief of staff [Mark] Meadows was still there, but so much of that West Wing had hollowed out. People left for other jobs because they believed the race was indeed over and Donald Trump lost. There also had been a couple of COVID outbreaks in the building and a lot of folks were working from home."
Witnesses have told investigators that Ivanka Trump unsuccessfully tried to get her father to call off his mob of supporters, and Lemire said she could describe those discussions and explain why the former president decided not to act.
"Her testimony would, of course, be of great interest to the Jan. 6 select committee," Lemire said. "It comes, as we mentioned earlier, at a very tough stretch for the president with the National Archives turning over thousands upon thousands upon thousands of documents to the committee, which is also looking to ramp up the public face of these investigations, looking to have televised hearings, potentially even in primetime some time this spring."
Scarborough said all these developments showed the investigation had reached an inflection point.
"Over the past two weeks the momentum has picked up on the Jan. 6 committee despite all of the arguments, despite all of the Republicans trying to block this, the law is the law is the law," Scarborough said. "They've got a Supreme Court ruling that says Jan. 6 committee has the right to get the information. They've got volumes of documents, had volumes of documents before that. They have former Trump White House people like Kayleigh McEnany and others who were working with this committee, trying to get information. They certainly weren't in support of the Jan. 6 commission."
"It seems to me they're going to be able to piece together whatever timeline they want to piece together," Scarborough added, "not only on Jan. 6 but in the days leading up to Jan. 6. I mean, you can see the puzzle pieces really coming together here."
-
Yes, it's all "coming together." Any day now. Like Russia collusion and every other fake anti-Trump conspiracy theory. The goal here is to undermine the democratic process by keeping Trump from running again in 2024. That's the real insurrection. The American public can't be trusted to elect the "right" candidate. They need a Stasi-like process to help them out. The red tsunami is coming, though. Closer every day to the mid-term elections and 2024. Old Joe has reached historic lows in the polls not seen since Watergate. The bottom is dropping out. And it has only been one year!
-
Oath Keepers leader and 10 others charged with 'seditious conspiracy' related to US Capitol attack
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/stewart-rhodes.jpg?id=28995469&width=700&height=450)
The Justice Department escalated its January 6 investigation by bringing seditious conspiracy charges against 11 defendants, including the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes.
The latest accusations -- with a charge that had not previously been brought in the department's US Capitol attack prosecutions -- remove any sense that prosecutors believe the riot emerged from just a group of overzealous protestors, with new details about the planning and logistics alleged to have predated the Capitol breach.
The Justice Department until now had been careful not to push the idea of sedition, instead charging defendants affiliated with right-wing groups with conspiracy to obstruct the congressional proceeding on January 6. The seditious conspiracy charge carries the same possible consequence as an obstruction charge, but is rarely used, politically loaded and has been difficult for the Justice Department to use successfully against defendants in the past.
Attorney General Merrick Garland had balked at the earlier efforts to bring the seditious conspiracy charge. But in the months since, people briefed on the matter say FBI investigators and DC federal prosecutors have spent much time building the case, at least in part with the help of cooperators and the benefit of internal communications among the Oath Keepers.
The new indictment brings to light planning the Oath Keepers are accused to have done ahead of the Capitol attack, as they allegedly recruited members, stocked up on weapons and organized to disrupt Congress' certification of the 2020 election. Prosecutors say they also continued to plot "to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power" after the Capitol riot failed to block the electoral college vote, according to a Justice Department statement on Thursday.
One Oath Keeper claimed to travel to Washington, DC, for a scouting trip ahead of January 6, according to the indictment. The new court filings also detail accusations that the defendants stashed weapons at a Virginia hotel and that they were prepared to "rapidly transport firearms and other weapons into Washington, D.C." to support the efforts to stop the presidential certification vote.
Rhodes was arrested Thursday in Little Elm, Texas.
Allegedly opposing 'by force' the lawful transfer of power
The new indictment, approved by a grand jury on Wednesday and made public Thursday, alleges that Rhodes and his co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to "oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force, by preventing, hindering, or delaying by force execution of laws governing the transfer of power."
The latest court filings revealed that Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell, who was arrested in January, claimed to take a reconnaissance trip to DC before January 6. The indictment also surfaces previously unknown communications Rhodes is alleged to have sent that prosecutors say encouraged the use of force to oppose the lawful transfer of power.
"We aren't going through this without civil war. Too late for that. Prepare your mind, body and spirit," Rhodes allegedly said in a November 5, 2020, Signal message. In December, Rhodes -- according to the indictment -- wrote of the electoral college certification that "there is no standard political or legal way out of this."
Prosecutors have previously said that Rhodes used Signal during the attack to communicate with other members of the Oath Keepers who were at the Capitol.
"All I see Trump doing is complaining. I see no intent by him to do anything," Rhodes allegedly wrote. "So the patriots are taking it into their own hands. They've had enough," he allegedly said on Signal at 1:38 p.m. that day, shortly after the siege had begun.
Additionally, the indictment says that Oath Keepers from three different states, including newly charged Edward Vallejo, stashed weapons in a Virginia hotel as part of a quick reaction force.
"Quick reaction force teams were prepared to rapidly transport firearms and other weapons into Washington, D.C., in support of operations aimed at using force to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power," the indictment said.
On his way to DC on January 3, Rhodes allegedly bought an AR-platform rifle and other firearms equipment, including sights, mounts, triggers, slings, and other firearms attachments in Texas. The next day, he allegedly bought more firearms equipment in Mississippi including sights, mounts, an optic plate, and a magazine, according to the filings.
Accusations of plotting before and after the Capitol attack
The Rhodes indictment walks through public and private statements the Oath Keeper leader made, starting just days after the election, that prosecutors say illuminate the plot to oppose by force the transfer of presidential power.
Those alleged discussions include a November readout that Caldwell reached out to provide Rhodes about a November 9 trip he had taken to DC to do recon for an upcoming "op." Communications about the "bloody" "fight" and "revolution" were accompanied by logistical planning, prosecutors alleged, with defendants discussing obtaining and bringing weapons to the Washington area. Rhodes allegedly spent thousands on firearms equipment en route to DC, prosecutors allege.
On January 6, prosecutors allege that Oath Keepers stationed themselves around the DC area -- some near the Capitol, others providing security and a third group waiting across the river in a Virginia hotel with a cache of weapons. At the Capitol, some members moved in a military "stack" formation into the Capitol where they fought with police, and a small group unsuccessfully looked for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to court documents.
The plotting didn't end with the Capitol riot, prosecutors say, alleging Rhodes and other co-conspirators met in Virginia to "celebrate" the attack and "discuss next steps." In a Signal chat to other members of Oath Keepers leadership, Rhodes allegedly said that "Patriots entering their own Capitol to send a message to the traitors is NOTHING compared to what's coming."
In the week after the riot, Rhodes allegedly spent more than $17,500 on weapons, equipment, and ammunition. One member, according to the filings, said Rhodes should stay "below the radar," while another brought what he called "all available weapons" to Rhodes' home in Texas.
Around Inauguration Day, January 20, Rhodes allegedly told associates to organize local militias to oppose the Biden administration. Another member allegedly said, "After this... if nothing happens...its war...Civil War 2.0."
Change in approach
The charges mark a dramatic change in the Justice Department's January 6 probe.
Previously, some Biden administration officials believed using the sedition charge could politicize the Justice Department's prosecution of the Capitol attackers, and the department recoiled after the former top prosecutor over the investigation, Michael Sherwin, said on CBS' "60 Minutes" he believed seditious conspiracy could be charged.
Garland said in a speech last week commemorating the Capitol attack that the department was "committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law -- whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy."
Rhodes has also been of interest to the House's January 6 investigation, which issued subpoenas in November for him and his organization for a deposition and documents related to the events of that day.
In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper Thursday night, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who serves on the January 6 committee, said he hopes the newly filed charges will "shut up those of our colleagues who keep saying, 'Well if it was a conspiracy, how come there are no conspiracy charges? If it was seditious, how come there were no sedition charges?'"
"So, there we go," he continued. "We've got those with, undoubtedly, a lot more to come soon."
CNN reported in July that Rhodes gave a voluntary interview to the FBI and that investigators seized his cell phone. He has denied all wrongdoing.
According to previous court filings submitted by the Justice Department in other cases, Rhodes said at a November 2020 online meeting, "We're going to defend the president, the duly elected president, and we call on him to do what needs to be done to save our country. Because if you don't guys, you're going to be in a bloody, bloody civil war and a bloody -- you can call it an insurrection, or you can call it a war or fight."
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/13/politics/oathkeeper-rhodes-arrested-doj/index.html
-
Phoenix Man Charged for Conspiring in January 6 Attack
(https://media2.phoenixnewtimes.com/phx/imager/u/magnum/12822384/d5481d7f-3807-4a84-8ee7-f50802d50832.jpeg?cb=1642611560)
Seven from the Valley were charged for their role in the riot inside and around the U.S. Capitol on January 6 last year. Those were merely the foot soldiers.
A federal grand jury Thursday indicted ten people, including one Phoenix man, with the much more serious charge of seditious conspiracy.
Edward Vallejo, 63, was also charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging during duty.
“We have only [begun] the fight!” Vallejo said in the hours following the attack, according to a 48-page indictment filed in federal court.
Vallejo is a born and bred Arizonan, records show. He doesn’t have a criminal history. Instead, he has spent his career with Homefront Battle Buddies, an Arizona nonprofit providing resources to veterans. His photo appears on the homepage of the organization’s website.
Vallejo was integral in coordinating the attack on the U.S. Capitol, federal agents claim in court documents. They allege he helped transport firearms, organized teams and combat training, and used violence against law enforcement in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election by force.
On December 30, 2020, Vallejo was added to a group chat on Google Hangouts called “DC OP: Jan 6 21,” records show. He and other co-conspirators, orchestrated by alt-right Oath Keepers militia leader Stewart Rhodes of Texas, plotted the insurrection in a conversation of encrypted instant messages there.
"We will have to do a bloody, massively bloody revolution against them,” he told other Oath Keepers, speaking of the incoming Biden Administration. “That’s what’s going to have to happen.”
In the days leading up to the riot, cabalists checked into a Comfort Inn hotel in Arlington, Virginia, records show. One room was occupied by Vallejo and other members of the “Arizona Quick Reaction Force.” The group used the hotel room to store and guard firearms, according to the indictment.
On January 4, 2021, Vallejo messaged co-defendant in the indictment Kelly Meggs of Florida, saying “Sir, Ed Vallejo of Arizona in Tenn. With cadre requesting coordinates to Allied encampment outside DC boundaries to rendezvous. Please respond ASAP. For the Republic.”
Between January 1 and 5, Vallejo transported firearms, ammunition, and tactical gear from Virginia to Washington, D.C., according to court documents.
On the morning of the attack, Vallejo discussed the probability of “armed conflict” and “guerrilla war” between his group and law enforcement after he and co-conspirators would breach the Capitol.
“There are people who are prepared, have the will, have the facilities to do more than taunt,” he said.
Around 2:30 p.m. on January 6, Vallejo told the group he had two trucks on standby, according to court records, saying, “Just say the word.”
After the mob of more than 2,000 forced entry into the Senate chamber, Vallejo met his cronies at a restaurant in suburban D.C. to celebrate the attack and discuss next steps, court documents allege. After dinner, he messaged the group.
“We’ll be back at 6am to do it again … they should let us in,” he said. “We got food for 30 days.”
On January 12, while in Texas on the drive back to Arizona from Washington, D.C., an Arizona QRF team member messaged Rhodes, “Hi Stewart. I’m sure you’re busy but wanted to let you know that [Vallejo] and I are here … We are excited to learn next steps and would like to know what we should be doing right now.”
Five people died and several more were injured in the attack. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland this month called the resulting Justice Department probe “the largest federal investigation in history.”
The latest of more than 700 people to be named as suspects brought the Oath Keeper militia founder Rhodes, a good friend of Vallejo’s, and nine of his cohort before a federal grand jury.
Also affiliated with the Oath Keepers is Queen Creek resident James Ray Epps, who was seen on video encouraging the mob to enter the U.S. Capitol and was the center of an FBI informant conspiracy theory that was busted this week.
Epps, who was listed as Arizona Oath Keeper State Chapter president in 2011, runs Rocking R Farms and Knotty Barn out of Queen Creek, less than 30 miles from where former President Donald Trump will rally in Florence on Saturday. He hasn’t been charged or arrested for his role in the January 6, 2021 agitation.
Dozens of one-star reviews on the wedding venue he owns with his wife point to his role in the attack on the capitol with calls for the business to shut down for good.
“Great place to plan an insurrection,” Derek Helbert wrote in a review.
“This guy is a far right nut-job, steer clear,” wrote another reviewer.
"Storming the capitol in their free time,” wrote Tiffany Hernandez. “This is not the type of business owner I want to do business with. Very dangerous.”
And there are dozens more. The venue’s profile on Google is littered with pleas for his prosecution. Sixty-two of its 170 reviews are one-star jabs that reference January 6.
Epps didn’t return Phoenix New Times’ attempts to contact him over phone and email, a trend he’s upheld since a solitary interview with the Arizona Republic on January 11, 2021. He’s been called a coward online.
“If you do not speak out publicly I can assure you the time will come when you will have no choice,” reviewer Mike Boileau wrote to Epps just this week. “A time when you will find yourself in jail.”
Vallejo faces 20 years in prison for conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government.
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-man-edward-vallejo-accused-of-organizing-january-6-insurrection-12822379
-
John Eastman pleads the Fifth 146 times when asked about his infamous 'coup memo' at hearing
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/john-eastman.jpg?id=27477794&width=800&height=450)
Attorney John Eastman has worked to try to block his former employer from handing over approximately 19,000 emails that are being requested by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S.
CNN justice reporter Katelyn Polantz reported from the case that it was established Eastman worked for former President Donald Trump without getting permission from his existing employer, Chapman University. According to his attorney, Eastman worked for Trump during many relevant moments, without asking permission.
Judge David Carter, who is presiding over the case, asked for specifics about what kind of work Eastman was doing for Trump. He admitted to briefing hundreds of state legislators, and also said that he was at the Willard with Trump strategists on Jan. 6 and that he met with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 3, 2021.
It was ten days later that Eastman resigned from the University.
During the case, CNN reporter Ana Cabrara tweeted that Chapman University decided that they would not help Eastman in his attempt to block his university emails from January 6 committee.
Yahoo News reporter Michael Isikoff revealed that at one point, the House counsel, Doug Letter, revealed that Eastman authored the memo on how Pence could stop the certification of the 2020 election. Eastman then invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 146 times.
https://www.rawstory.com/john-eastman-pleads-fifth-amendment/
John Eastman's former university wants to hand over 19,000 of his emails on its server to Congress
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/john-eastman-january-6.png?id=28271984&width=800&height=450)
On Monday, Yahoo News' Michael Isikoff reported that Chapman University supports a subpoena from the House January 6 Committee requesting 19,000 emails from pro-Trump lawyer John Eastman relating to his work for the former president to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which are apparently on the school servers.
At a hearing on the matter, a lawyer for the university said that Eastman's use of their server to conduct that business was "improper, unauthorized and I liken to contraband."
Eastman, who previously taught constitutional law at Chapman University, was forced into retirement after he spoke at the pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" rally calling to overturn the election that immediately preceded the attack on the Capitol on January 6.
It was subsequently revealed that he drafted a memo for the Trump team outlining a strategy to execute a coup using Vice President Mike Pence to toss out the electors of several states that narrowly voted for Joe Biden, a strategy Pence rejected as unconstitutional.
Now facing a complaint at the California State Bar for his actions, Eastman now claims he didn't actually intend for the memo to be used to execute a coup.
https://www.rawstory.com/john-eastman-2656471056/
-
Dangerous precedent': Jan. 6 committee trains its sights on false pro-Trump electors
GOP officials in five states illegitimately claimed to be qualified to declare Donald Trump the winner in 2020. And Trump allies were openly involved.
As Capitol attack investigators dig into efforts by state-level Republicans to send Congress “alternative” slates of 2020 presidential electors, they're zeroing in on the involvement of Donald Trump's White House and campaign operations.
As presidential electors gathered in December 2020 to affirm Joe Biden’s victory, the Republicans who would have been Trump’s electors in several states that Biden won gathered anyway to cast unofficial votes. In five of those states — Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia — those electors then signed certificates claiming they were “duly elected and qualified” to represent their states.
Those certificates were then mailed to the National Archives and Congress. Now the Jan. 6 select panel is looking deeper at the Trump network's role in that strategy, which Democrats increasingly say may have amounted to a crime.
“We want to look at the fraudulent activity that was contained in the preparation of these fake Electoral College certificates,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Capitol riot committee. “And then we want to look to see to what extent this was part of a comprehensive plan to overthrow the 2020 election.”
The select committee is expecting a new tranche of documents from the National Archives related to its false-electors inquiry, according to its chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). The Archives has confirmed it's compiling materials on the matter, Thompson told reporters, describing the Trump political or governing apparatus's apparent involvement in the certificates as a “concern.”
Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), another panel member, said the submission of the electoral certificates — claiming to be legitimate — was a “dangerous precedent.”
The false-electors push was well-known at the time, but it’s drawn fresh scrutiny amid indications that the select committee has received documents from multiple states shedding new light on the efforts. Michigan’s top prosecutor, Attorney General Dana Nessel, recently suggested she’s been investigating the submission of illegitimate GOP electors for a year.
“This is a crime. This is election fraud,” Nessel told reporters recently. “And it's many other crimes, as well; both, I believe, at the state and federal level.”
Like Nessel, some members of the Jan. 6 select committee say the signed documents could have broken the law.
“I would hope that the full extent of the law was used to prosecute anyone trying to falsify any documents, including those,” said Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), another Jan. 6 panel member, who underscored that she is not sure of the status of any state-level investigations into the matter.
Under federal law, after states certify their presidential balloting, electors for the winning candidate are required to meet in their state capitals on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. In 2020, that was Dec. 14. While Democratic electors in key swing states met to cast their votes, Republicans who would have been electors had Trump won gathered as well.
Those sideline pro-Trump gatherings, organizers said, were meant to preserve legal options in case Trump prevailed in any of his doomed court cases. Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, organized the efforts, according to The Washington Post and CNN.
In addition to the five states where GOP officials claimed to be the true electors despite Biden’s victory, Trump backers in Pennsylvania and New Mexico also signed certificates. But those Republicans hedged, saying their votes should only be counted if Trump prevailed in his legal challenges.
Nevertheless, New Mexico’s attorney general has referred the matter to federal prosecutors and continues to review potential violations of state law. The Pennsylvania attorney general's office said the documents didn’t meet their standard for forgery because of the caveat that their signatories invoked.
POLITICO also obtained records indicating that National Archives investigators pursued a case of potential fraud against a second slate of would-be Trump electors in Arizona who identified themselves as “sovereign citizens.” An Archives inspector general official said the agency declined to comment on “ongoing” work.
The decision to deploy illegitimate electors highlights the deliberation of Trump's allies in their attempts to keep his effort to reverse the election alive. Top Trump White House officials at the time — including adviser Stephen Miller — made clear they were tracking “alternative” slates of electors in real time.
And several state parties said the Trump campaign played a role in directing them to hold their elector meetings, describing it at the time as a way to preserve the defeated president’s legal options as he fought doomed court battles to overturn the results.
“While President Trump’s campaign continues to pursue legal options for Wisconsin, Republican electors met today in accordance with statutory guidelines to preserve our role in the electoral process with the final outcome still pending in the courts,” Wisconsin GOP Chair Andrew Hitt said at the time.
When those court battles failed, other Trump allies — like attorney John Eastman — suggested that then-Vice President Mike Pence, tasked with presiding over the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, could introduce the unofficial pro-Trump electors to cast Biden’s victory into doubt.
Nessel, in recent interviews, has said the evidence points toward a coordinated effort to convene GOP electors in multiple states Trump lost and have them declare themselves authentic electors for that state. She noted that the forms the electors used in different locations were nearly identical, from their wording to their fonts.
“It's clear to me that this was not independent, rogue actors that were unknowingly doing the same thing as they had done in many other states,” she said.
The Hawaii factor
Republicans at the time emphasized that their decision to hold unsanctioned elector votes had a precedent. In 1960, three Democratic electors from Hawaii met to cast votes for John F. Kennedy, even though the election results showed that Richard Nixon had narrowly prevailed in the state. With a recount underway, those pro-Kennedy electors met to cast their votes anyway and submitted those results to Congress and the National Archives, the clearinghouse for elector certificates.
Hawaii’s recount ultimately reversed the outcome, showing Kennedy had won by fewer than 200 votes, and the state’s governor then certified the Democratic slate as well. On Jan. 6, 1961, the Democratic electors were the ones counted by Congress, with Nixon, then vice president, presiding.
Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward later pointed to that episode when describing her decision to deliver GOP electors to Congress in 2020.
In a statement this week, the Wisconsin GOP also pointed to Hawaii's electors in 1960 — and emphasized that it had received legal advice to assemble GOP electors, in case Trump found a way to prevail.
Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers from some of the states where Republicans submitted false elector slates have also seized on the issue. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) wrote a letter Friday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging him to investigate the "attempted fraud" and vowed to introduce legislation that would create penalties for Electoral College-related deception.
In the chaotic days after Trump’s defeat, a handful of other GOP electors indicated in interviews that they saw merit in the emerging strategy to send alternative electors to Washington in an effort to undermine Biden’s victory.
Michigan GOP elector Meshawn Maddock said at the time that she had been researching legal options. “What I might want to do can be completely different from what we are legally capable of doing, does that make sense?” she said in an email.
Ultimately, Maddock joined a slew of other Michigan Republicans to sign the unofficial certificates. Maddock, now co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, and other GOP electors also joined a lawsuit by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) seeking to empower Pence to unilaterally prevent Biden’s election. (The lawsuit failed, and Pence declined to do so.)
A Georgia GOP elector, Cathy Latham, initially refused in late 2020 to say whether she would endorse sending alternative electors to Washington. “Bahahaha you think I’m going to respond to you?” she said in an email. “You don’t know GA law. Read the Constitution.”
When pressed, she replied, “I am a Republican elector for Trump. I serve at the pleasure of the President and the GAGOP. I will serve when called and directed to cast my vote for Trump.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/21/january-6-committee-precedent-pro-trump-electors-527528
-
Supreme Court rejects Trump’s bid to shield records from Jan. 6 committee
The only member of the high court who signaled he would have granted Trump’s request was Justice Clarence Thomas
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-facing-a-rapid-decline-as-he-wallows-in-rage-and-denial-over-election-loss-report.jpg?id=24822295&width=800&height=430)
The Supreme Court has rejected former President Donald Trump’s bid to use executive privilege to block a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection from accessing a trove of records created by Trump’s White House.
The ruling on Wednesday opens up a trove of documents to congressional investigators who have sought them to determine Trump’s actions and mindset in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, as well as what he did as his supporters were rioting at the Capitol.
Among the documents sought by the committee are speech drafts, call and visitor logs, handwritten notes and other files previously kept by senior Trump aides like chief of staff Mark Meadows, adviser Stephen Miller, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and White House associate counsel Patrick Philbin.
The only member of the high court who signaled he would have granted Trump’s request for emergency relief was Justice Clarence Thomas.
Trump had sought to block access to more than 750 pages of records that the National Archives, which house the former president’s records, determined were relevant to the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation. The records include “draft text of a presidential speech for the January 6, 2021, Save America March; a handwritten list of potential or scheduled briefings and telephone calls concerning election issues; and a draft Executive Order concerning election integrity … a draft proclamation honoring deceased Capitol Police officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, and associated e-mails from the Office of the Executive Clerk, which relate to the Select Committee’s interest in the White House’s response to the Capitol attack.”
The ruling may be the most significant moment yet for the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. It will help the panel connect dots between Trump’s efforts to stoke disinformation about the 2020 election results and his awareness of the threat of violence posed by the groups that heeded his call to descend on Washington. They’ll also reveal details about what actions he took as the mob of his supporters surrounded and breached the Capitol, overrunning law enforcement and sending Congress fleeing for safety.
In a statement hailing the ruling, the Jan. 6 committee‘s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), said on Wednesday night that Trump's White House records had already begun arriving.
"The Supreme Court’s action tonight is a victory for the rule of law and American democracy," they said. "The Select Committee has already begun to receive records that the former President had hoped to keep hidden and we look forward to additional productions regarding this important information."
The court’s action left in effect a ruling last month from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, in which a three-judge panel said Trump had not met his legal burden to block disclosure of the records. It also will likely have a huge cascading effect on litigation brought against the Jan. 6 committee by other top Trump allies, including Meadows, who has similarly urged the court to uphold Trump’s claim of privilege. Meadows is facing potential charges of criminal contempt for refusing to testify to the panel.
The appeals court panel concluded unanimously that Trump could not assert executive privilege over the records as a former president because the incumbent, President Joe Biden, had agreed to hand the files over to the House committee.
The Supreme Court’s order on Wednesday did not reach a final conclusion on this point but said Trump’s effort failed because his assertion of executive privilege would have failed even if he were still in office.
“The questions whether and in what circumstances a former President may obtain a court order preventing disclosure of privileged records from his tenure in office, in the face of a determination by the incumbent President to waive the privilege, are unprecedented and raise serious and substantial concerns,” the high court said.
“Because the Court of Appeals concluded that President Trump’s claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former President necessarily made no difference to the court’s decision,” the unsigned Supreme Court order added.
The ruling drove the point home by dismissing as “nonbinding dicta” the D.C. Circuit’s conclusion that Trump couldn’t pursue an executive privilege claim in this situation because he’s a former president.
The Jan. 6 committee requested the records in August, and the archivist began producing tranches on a rolling basis. But before they could be released, the archivist submitted them to Biden to determine whether to waive executive privilege.
For the vast majority of the records, Biden agreed to waive privilege. But Trump filed suit in October, claiming he had authority as a former president to assert privilege over his records.
While Thomas did not elaborate on why he would have granted Trump’s request for an emergency stay, Justice Brett Kavanaugh — a Trump appointee and a staunch advocate for executive power — issued an opinion that went further than the court’s main, unsigned order. He said the D.C. Circuit was wrong to conclude that a former president couldn’t assert executive privilege without the backing of the incumbent.
“A former President must be able to successfully invoke the Presidential communications privilege for communications that occurred during his Presidency, even if the current President does not support the privilege claim,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Concluding otherwise would eviscerate the executive privilege for Presidential communications.”
“If Presidents and their advisers thought that the privilege’s protections would terminate at the end of the Presidency and that their privileged communications could be disclosed when the President left office (or were subject to the absolute control of a subsequent President who could be a political opponent of a former President), the consequences for the Presidency would be severe,” he added.
Kavanaugh’s solo opinion repeats the same language to dismiss the D.C. Circuit’s conclusion he disputes, twice calling it “dicta [that] should not be considered binding precedent going forward.” But he suggested that executive privilege is not “absolute” and might erode over time. In the end, he joined the majority’s overall conclusion that the appeals court’s ultimate decision to allow disclosure of the records to the House should not be disturbed at this time.
Trump’s petition to have the Supreme Court grant review of the D.C. Circuit ruling remains pending, but the justices may eventually conclude the issue is moot once the records reach the House.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/19/trump-supreme-court-records-527421
-
Judge calls Phoenix man facing charges in US Capitol riot 'a serious danger'
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/01/21/PPHX/c1d195af-b0b1-4df9-a390-28a769342256-Capture.JPG?width=660&height=531&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
An Arizona man who the government says is dangerous and linked to the extremist group the Oath Keepers will remain in custody while he faces seditious conspiracy charges in the U.S. Capitol riot.
U.S. Magistrate Judge John Boyle said the seriousness of the allegations facing 63-year-old Edward Vallejo of Phoenix — that he stood ready to deliver weapons on Jan. 6, 2021, if the call came from the leader of the Oath Keepers — favored detention, though he doesn't consider the U.S. Army veteran a flight risk.
"I'm convinced had (the call) had been given, you believe so passionately in the cause you would have responded," Boyle told Vallejo at a federal court hearing in downtown Phoenix on Thursday.
He called Vallejo "a serious danger at this time."
Vallejo, who is in quarantine, attended the hearing by telephone. He gave short, polite answers, calling the judge "sir," and letting his attorney do the talking.
Prosecutors say the longtime Arizona resident was a key member of a conspiracy to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power, helping to coordinate an arsenal of weapons, ammunition and supplies at a Northern Virginia hotel the day before the Jan. 6 riot.
They allege he was one of at least three "quick reaction force teams" from Arizona, Florida and North Carolina that stationed themselves at a Comfort Inn in Arlington, Virginia. Vallejo guarded the stash of weapons and stood ready to respond if called by the leader of the Oath Keepers, said Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Manzo.
But Vallejo's attorney, Debbie Jang, described the Army veteran as someone who played a minor role. He served in the military for two years in the 1970s before being medically discharged, and he suffers from asthma. He is involved in a nonprofit group that helps military veterans and is an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, she said.
"It is clear he does not pose any danger to society," she said.
After the court hearing, Jang said in an email that she is disappointed in the judge's ruling and maintains he is neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk.
"Every person, including Mr. Vallejo, has a right to a defense of their constitutional rights. Mr. Vallejo looks forward to his day in Court," she said.
The federal case involves 10 other defendants, including the founder of the Oath Keepers, Elmer Stewart Rhodes III. The extremist group recruits former members of the military and law enforcement.
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/video-thumbnails/913ab84f-e0a9-40ad-9adb-9498c7df480c_poster.jpg?width=1320&height=742&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Stewart Rhodes
The government says Rhodes and his co-conspirators planned to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power by planning multiple ways to deploy force. They coordinated travel into Washington, D.C., equipped themselves with weapons, donned combat and tactical gear and were prepared to answer Rhodes' call to take up arms, the indictment said.
While some Oath Keepers breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, others remained outside the city as a quick reaction force to potentially transport firearms and other weapons into the city, according to court filings. The government has not introduced any evidence that Vallejo went into the Capitol, although he is alleged to have been outside the building at some point.
Federal court documents released earlier this week revealed more about the government's allegations against Vallejo:
Prosecutors say Vallejo and another Arizona team member — who the government didn't identify in court documents — arrived in Washington around noon on Jan. 5 and met up with the Oath Keepers at a nearby hotel. They used Signal, an encrypted message app, to communicate.
Court filings say Vallejo messaged Florida team member Kelly Meggs on Jan. 5, asking, "Please text location so we will know where to begin in the morning." The 52-year-old Meggs sent him the address for the Comfort Inn.
Meggs and his Florida team dropped off at least three luggage carts full of gun boxes, rifle cases and suitcases filled with ammunition with their quick response team. A second quick response team from North Carolina was made up of four men with rifles "ready to go" in a vehicle in the hotel parking lot.
Prosecutors allege that bags and large bins of weapons, ammunition and essential supplies were wheeled in, according to the filing. Surveillance photos purportedly show Vallejo and another man wheeling bins into the hotel the day before the Capitol riot.
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/01/20/PPHX/a093ab2d-d852-4e78-865a-12be5ec35998-Surveillance_footage.JPG?width=434&height=371&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
The group prepared for a siege to last through Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, prosecutors said.
On Jan. 6, Vallejo and another team member spoke about their intentions on a podcast.
"The American people are going to be told today that we have liberty and justice for all, or they're going to be told 'F--- you.' OK? And if we're told, 'F--- you," that's going to be the declaration of a guerrilla war,'" Vallejo said.
Text messages continued between Vallejo and the leader of the Oath Keepers throughout the day and as it became clear that the Electoral College certification of the election was going to proceed as required by law, according to the federal filing.
As a crowd gathered on the Capitol grounds and headed toward the building, Rhodes texted Vallejo that "Pence is doing nothing," adding that the "patriots are taking it into their hands. They've had enough."
Around 2:30, Vallejo messaged that he was "back at the hotel and outfitted. Have 2 trucks available. Let me know how I can assist." He sent another message minutes later that said the quick response team was standing by.
"Just say the word," he wrote.
The riot halted the official proceedings of Congress while law enforcement tried to restore order and clear the Capitol.
As the Capitol riot was happening, prosecutors said Vallejo also encouraged violence in Arizona, sending a text to someone that said, "Have you secured the Arizona Capitol yet? Waiting on you slacker."
Prosecutors say Vallejo and his co-conspirators continued plotting their next steps. Around 7:30 p.m., they say Oath Keepers leader Rhodes messaged, "Thousands of ticked off patriots spontaneously marched on the Capitol...You ain't seen nothing yet."
Vallejo messaged back, "We'll be back to 6am to do it again. We got food for 30 days."
The following morning, on Jan. 7, prosecutors say Vallejo sent a message shortly before 6 a.m. that he was "departing for Recon now." He asked Rhodes to call him.
"I'll depart when cleared by my Commander, sir," he wrote.
Later that day, prosecutors say Vallejo and another Arizona team member reappeared on the same podcast they spoke on the previous day. Vallejo said he got up before dawn, went to the Capitol and then returned to the hotel to take care of business.
Vallejo's unidentified team member said on the podcast that they were prepared to support the Constitution and honor their oaths.
When asked if he was going to return to Arizona, Vallejo said, "I don't know. We've got to figure out what happens on the 20th."
Jan. 20 is the day Joe Biden was to be inaugurated president.
Vallejo noted for the podcast that he was "never done...I'm waiting for orders from Stewart Rhodes."
Prosecutors say the men continued plotting further actions against the government. They say Rhodes purchased thousands of dollars worth of firearms, ammunition and equipment and went to Texas.
At one point, Vallejo tried to meet up with Rhodes in Texas. But court filings are unclear as to whether that actually happened.
Rhodes messaged Vallejo on Signal on Jan. 11, asking "Ed, what's your 20? You in TX?"
Vallejo said he had been delayed. Rhodes said he was in the Fort Worth area and Vallejo replied, "CU there Goodspeed sir."
In late January 2021, prosecutors say the co-conspirators tried to destroy evidence of their conspiracy and discussed securing their communications.
Rhodes messaged Vallejo on Jan. 24, 2021, that, "Ed, keep in mind this is NOT a secure chat. Contains at least one turncoat snitch. Keep that in mind. Please confirm you got this."
Vallejo said he got the message and that he was innocent.
"if you ever need me for ANYTHING I am on call at your service, Sir," he wrote, according to the court filing.
A year later, Vallejo and 10 others were arrested after a lengthy government investigation. He faces four federal charges, all felonies: seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct Congress, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties.
The judge on Thursday said Vallejo will be transferred to Washington, D.C., to await trial.
Vallejo's wife of 34 years attended Thursday's court hearing and left after without speaking to the media.
Adam Kokesh, who serves with Vallejo on a nonprofit group called Homefront Battle Buddies, also attended the court hearing and spoke to the media afterward in support of his friend.
He said Vallejo was aware for several months that the FBI was investigating him. Kokesh said he was present when Vallejo was served with a search warrant last summer while the two were at a 10-acre homestead Kokesh owns in the small town of Ash Fork. After reading the warrant, he said Vallejo unlocked his cell phone and turned it over.
"He's absolutely not a threat to the community," Kokesh said. "It's a shame."
Kokesh said he anticipates there will be a second detention hearing after Vallejo is transferred to Washington, D.C.
"My focus now is getting him the legal support to ensure his release," he said.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/01/20/judge-calls-phoenix-man-edward-vallejo-a-serious-danger-denies-release/6592423001/
-
Trump failed to sign a key military order — and Jan. 6 investigators want to know why
The Dec. 16, 2020 draft executive order prepared for Donald Trump to use the military to seize voting machines provides clear clues for the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, a former federal prosecutor explained for MSNBC on Tuesday.
"We don’t yet know the full story behind the EO. We don’t know who was involved in writing it (although some pundits have opined that the use of the word “she” describing plans for a special counsel suggests that now-disgraced Trump lawyer Sidney Powell was involved) and whether it received serious consideration. Trump never signed it, despite other dogged efforts to try to recapture a lost election. Were there residual guardrails that held? People who pointed out that the order was unconstitutional and an affront to democracy? These questions highlight the importance of the Jan. 6 committee’s work," former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance wrote.
She noted the document draws attention to Trump's former acting Pentagon chief.
"Acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller, a former special forces member, worked as a special assistant to Trump and in various other capacities before he was appointed to serve at the Pentagon on Nov. 7, 2020, four days after the election. Trump had already lost. What reason could there be to replace a secretary of defense so late in the game?" she asked. "But Miller wasn't the only red flag. Trump installed another loyalist, Kash Patel, as Pentagon chief of staff after the election. Patel was put in charge of running the Defense Department's transition just two weeks after he assumed his new role. According to an NBC News source at the Pentagon, Patel “told everybody we're not going to cooperate with the transition team.” Three other people, characterized in news reports as Trump loyalists, also took over important posts at the Pentagon, handling policy, intelligence and security — again after the election."
The former federal prosecutor explained why prosecutions may be warranted.
"The EO suggests that a group of people was hard at work on plans to use the Pentagon to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. It took high-level insight to craft those plans and potentially put people in place to implement them. If evidence confirms a conspiracy, those involved, however high up, merit prosecution," Vance wrote. "The truth cannot stay covered up."
Read the full column:
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/trump-didn-t-sign-newly-unearthed-2020-election-eo-we-n1287959
-
MAGA rioter arrested for early attack on cops at Peace Circle that allegedly unleashed the mob
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/we-ve-always-talked-about-the-big-one-riot-squad-cops-open-up-about-disastrous-response-to-capitol-insurrection.jpg?id=25632898&width=800&height=450)
A Texas man was arrested Monday for assaulting and injuring police officers as they were trying to guard the Capitol perimeter at the outset of the January 6 riot.
Jason Blythe, 26, of Fort Worth, Texas, was added to an existing indictment of four others for the early violence at the area outside the Capitol known as Peace Circle. The FBI alleges that as early as 12:50 p.m. -- as Donald Trump was finishing his incitement speech -- a group of MAGA rioters confronted the officers at Peace Circle.
“As alleged in the indictment, Blythe participated in attacks in which a metal crowd control barrier was used against two officers from the U.S. Capitol Police, including one who sustained bodily injury,” a Department of Justice release stated. “According to the government’s evidence, the assault took place at the Peace Circle, where law enforcement was attempting to secure the restricted perimeter of the Capitol grounds.”
“The indictment, unsealed today, also includes four defendants previously charged in the case: James Tate Grant, 29, of Hot Springs, North Carolina; Paul Russell Johnson, 36, of Lenexa, Virginia; Stephen Chase Randolph, 32, of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and Ryan Samsel, 38, of Levittown, Pennsylvania. All four of those defendants previously pleaded not guilty.”
According to a tweet Monday by Huffington Post reporter Ryan J. Reilly, public records show that Blythe has a public defender and was released on home detention.
You can view the indictment here:
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-jason-blythe/
-
Homeland Security fears right-wing extremists will attack the power grid
The Department of Homeland Security issued a threat warning that right-wing extremists have been crafting plans to attack the electric sector, including the power grid, the Daily Beast reported Tuesday.
"DVEs have developed credible, specific plans to attack electricity infrastructure since at least 2020, identifying the electric grid as a particularly attractive target given its interdependency with other infrastructure sectors," said the alert.
The report comes from federal investigators who continue to work on the Jan. 6 probe and arrests of violent right-wing attackers. The alert resulted from power company requests to take stock of the 2020 and 2021 threats from domestic extremist groups.
Homeland Security chief of Intelligence and Analysis John Cohen explained that they have been working with state and local law enforcement, but he said that the office has been reaching out more to the private sector. Over the past several years, the FBI and Homeland Security have asked for additional funding to help with the increasing threat of domestic terrorism, to no avail.
"White supremacists expressed interest in 'wreaking havoc' on the power grid if President Donald Trump were to lose re-election in 2020," the report explained. "And last year, four men with ties to racially motivated extremists were charged with conspiracy to damage the property of an energy facility in the United States, after using assault-style rifles in an attempt to explode a power substation."
Bringing down the national power grid would be a very difficult task, but researchers proved that hacking local grids aren't all that difficult, especially for those on the ground. Russian hackers were discovered in 2018 infiltrating "critical infrastructure" in the U.S. like power plants, water facilities and gas pipelines.
When President Joe Biden came into office, he rushed to ensure the security of the power grid with both immediate solutions and longer-term options.
Homeland Security intelligence predicts domestic violent extremists will keep working on efforts to attack electrical infrastructure and it "may result in physical damage."
"Conversations from domestic violent extremists online in recent months have focused on encouraging lone wolf attacks, as well as attempts to inspire individuals with little or no training to go after electric infrastructure—including with firearms, improvised incendiary devices, hammers, and power saws," said the Daily Beast.
These threats only add to the problems the grids are facing. Natural disasters have put pressure on infrastructure in desperate need for repair. It has cost taxpayers billions.
Read the full report:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/dhs-warns-that-right-wing-extremists-could-attack-power-grid
Alex Jones reveals he spoke to Jan. 6 Committee – calls questions ‘reasonable’ but pleaded the Fifth 100 times
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/democratic-senator-blames-alex-jones-for-sandy-hook-dad-s-suicide-and-faults-social-media-for-being-too-slow-to-ban-lunatics.png?id=28023179&width=980&height=527)
Conspiracy theorist and former major Trump MAGA activist Alex Jones was subpoenaed by the January 6 Committee last year and revealed on his streaming radio show Monday night he testified earlier that day.
The far right-wing extremist who hosts white nationalists and white supremacists called the Committee's questions “overall pretty reasonable,” Politico reports. He also "said the Jan. 6 committee seemed to have a lot of detailed information about him — that they displayed images of text messages he had with Wren and Cindy Chafian, who organized a pro-Trump rally on Jan. 5."
Politico's Kyle Cheney tweeted, "They had LOTS of his texts, Jones said."
He also told listeners he had pleaded the Fifth over 100 times.
Others who have pleaded the Fifth to the January 6 Committee include Roger Stone, former Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, and the Federalist Society's and National Organization For Marriage's John Eastman, who penned the coup memos.
https://www.rawstory.com/alex-jones-reveals-he-spoke-to-jan-6-committee-calls-questions-reasonable-but-pleaded-the-fifth-100-times/
-
Officer Goodman speaks out — says he was 'playing it safe' because people attacked Michael Fanone in public
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29109279&width=1200&height=675)
Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman is speaking out for the first time after he was revealed to have been responsible for saving the lives of Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) along with many senators and the vice president.
Speaking to the 3 Brothers No Sense podcast on Tuesday, Goodman explained that he hasn't spoken out until now because he wanted to "play it safe" after hearing about some public incidents from colleagues, the Daily Beast reported.
"I just don’t want any part of the negativity," he said. Other colleagues like Michael Fanone have become the target of Republicans and conservative media hosts.
"He’s said he’s out with his daughter, and he’s had random people run up and throw drinks in his face, and stuff like that," Goodman said.
Since the attack, many conservatives have tried to blame House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, saying that she didn't order the National Guard to the Capitol on Jan. 6 ahead of time. While the Guard was requested they were a few miles from the building as the rally was at the Ellipse. No one knew that former President Donald Trump would call for the crowd to march to the Capitol.
Having the military on hand with their weapons could mean those breaching the Capitol would likely have been shot. Given the weapons with the insurrectionists, it could have become a firefight in the middle of an urban area.
“It could have easily been a bloodbath, so kudos to everybody there that showed a measure of restraint with regards to deadly force, because it could have been bad. Really, really bad," Goodman said. He credits his military training for quick thinking, saying that his old U.S. Army platoon sergeant told them, "figure it out or die."
Recalling what it was like on that day over a year ago, co-host Byron Evans said he was on-duty during the attack.
"I was on the Senate floor thinking I was going to have my first shootout at work,” Evans said. “And because of what he did, that did not have to occur. He is a real-life hero."
Goodman doesn't see himself that way, noting he asks himself daily "who the hell am I? I’m day-to-day with that. I have my ups and down with the popularity."
He said that the social media "Eugene Goodman Day" was "way too much," as was the idea of a statue of him.
"That’s just one more thing for a bird to prop up and take a dump on me,” he explained.
After he was asked to escort Vice President Kamala Harris to the inauguration, Goodman said that his colleagues have started calling him "Gucci."
https://www.rawstory.com/eugene-goodman-speaks-out/
-
Watergate lawyer explains how Supreme Court handed Congress the keys to put Trump in prison
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump.jpg?id=27998711&width=735&height=450)
Watergate lawyer Nick Ackerman spoke with CNN Thursday after a late-night decision from the Supreme Court and said that former President Donald Trump is finally starting to face consequences for his actions. He even went on to suggest that if the evidence proves Trump intentionally tried to stop Congress then the former president could be on the hook for up to 20 years in prison.
"If you took it from Donald Trump's standpoint, he truly believes the three people he appointed to the Supreme Court have to be loyal to him. That they owe him," said Ackerman. "He looks at it as a quid pro quo type of arrangement he's used to in business. The fact of the matter is these Supreme Court justices stick to the rule of law and in this particular case what they did is they relied on the 1974 decision of U.S. v. Nixon where Nixon tried to do the same thing and conceal his office tapes from the prosecutors based on executive privilege. What the court did was essentially adopt the same decision that was given in Nixon. I mean, this was history repeating itself."
He went on to say that during President Richard Nixon's era, there was a concern that he'd appointed several Supreme Court justices too. That too was an 8-0 decision.
"Because the Court of Appeals concluded that President Trump's claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former President necessarily made no difference to the court's decision," the Court said.
This excerpt of the decision essentially leaves Trump "nowhere," said Ackerman.
"There's no executive privilege they can assert here," he explained. "Because executive privilege as the Court said in the Nixon case, you can't use it for conversations in furtherance of criminal activity. With Nixon, it was in furtherance of the conspiracy to obstruct the Watergate case. Here it's relating to basically an insurrection that was perpetrated on the Congress. And there's no way under any circumstance that any court is ever going to say that those conversations are legitimate, executive privilege-covered conversations. The exec privilege relates to legitimate government business that the president is engaged in, most notably military actions, national security, and the like. This is certainly why they're saying it doesn't make any difference whether Trump is a sitting president or not. These conversations are not covered by executive privilege."
He continued, explaining that the key piece of the case is that Trump acted with a corrupt motive and all of the courts are going to say that privilege doesn't exist in those cases. These documents will now show the intent of his words on Jan. 6. In the second impeachment trial, the prosecutors didn't have access to documents or people who could prove Trump was intentionally attempting to cause violence.
"This really is going to answer the question, can they make a criminal case on Donald Trump for obstructing Congress, which is an extremely serious federal felony carrying imprisonment of 20 years."
-
Wife of Justice Clarence Thomas signed off on letter saying Capitol attackers 'have done nothing wrong'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/clarence-thomas-wife-is-helping-trump-purge-snakes-from-the-white-house-and-replace-them-with-fox-news-regulars.jpg?id=24724874&width=800&height=430)
It has been less than a week since 11 Oath Keepers were arrested with seditious conspiracy, but the spouse of Justice Clarence Thomas believes that they "have done nothing wrong."
Bulwark's Charlie Sykes pointed to a letter signed by Ginni Thomas along with many other fringe conservatives like the Family Research Council, the chair of the Tea Party Patriots Fund and the president of the Club for Growth. The letter speaks out against Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), who serve on the Jan. 6 committee which bothers Republicans who believe the GOP should be unified in protecting those who participated in a "coup," as three retired U.S. Army generals characterized it.
"The actions of Reps. Cheney and Kinzinger on behalf of House Democrats have given supposedly bipartisan justification to an overtly partisan political persecution that brings disrespect to our country’s rule of law, legal harassment to private citizens who have done nothing wrong, and which demeans the standing of the House," the letter Thomas signed says.
It adds to questions about Mrs. Thomas that surfaced after the attack at the U.S. Capitol. On Jan. 6, she was supporting the violence as it unfolded on her social media. When screen captures were being circulated, she promptly deleted her Facebook account, as Law and Crime observed at the time:
On the morning of Jan. 6, Ginni Thomas—wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas—endorsed the protest demanding that Congress overturn the election, then sent her “LOVE” to the demonstrators, who violently overtook the Capitol several hours later. She has not posted since.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErLor4KXcAAPVLc?format=jpg&name=240x240)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErLor7lXIAAIJJo?format=jpg&name=360x360)
Mrs. Thomas has a "long history of incendiary rhetoric, particularly online," CNN.com reported in a report about "rankled" former clerks of Judge Thomas.
It prompted progressives to ask the Jan. 6 Committee to call Thomas to answer questions about whether she helped fund any of the operations through her Republican organization Groundswell. Others said that Thomas should be recused from any cases that ultimately involve Jan. 6 as a result.
"Even worse, however, is the fact that no matter how far his wife takes her antics, Justice Thomas will likely not face any real repercussions for it," CNN noted in their expose of Mrs. Thomas. "Under federal law, justices must recuse themselves from cases in which their 'impartiality might reasonably be questioned,' or where their spouse has 'an interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome.' However, such recusals almost never happen on the Supreme Court. The reality is that while Congress can impeach justices for egregious conduct -- a step not taken since 1805 -- there is no real mechanism for enforcing ethical rules against them."
https://www.rawstory.com/clarence-thomas-wife-january-6/
-
Right wing hack Sean Hannity was giving talking points for Criminal Donald and his henchmen to use.
New texts reveal Sean Hannity wrote the ‘playbook’ for Trump's White House to respond to Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/study-finds-people-who-watched-sean-hannity-were-more-likely-to-die-from-covid-19.png?id=24809264&width=800&height=430)
Fox News personality Sean Hannity wrote a five-point playbook for White House staff to respond to the Jan. 6 insurrection, the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol revealed on Thursday.
The plan was revealed in an 11-page letter the committee sent Ivanka Trump to urge her voluntary cooperation. The committee said it was "investigating the former president's activities and conduct in the days after January 6th, including President Trump's state of mind."
The committee revealed that on Jan. 7, Hannity texted White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany what the committee described as a "five-point approach" to conversations with President Trump.
"No more stolen election talk," was Hannity's first item.
His second item warned "impeachment and 25th Amendment are real, and many people will quit."
The committee did not reveal the other three points of Hannity's plan, but revealed McEnany replied. "Love that. Thank you. That is the playbook. I will help reinforce."
Hannity also texted her "no more crazy people" to which she replied, "Yes, 100%."
The committee said it is interested in learning more about the "crazy people" influencing Trump.
"The Select Committee would like to discuss this effort after January 6th to persuade President Trump not to associate himself with certain people, and to avoid further discussion regarding election fraud allegations," the committee wrote, suggesting Feb. 3 or 4 for an interview.
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/select-committee-letter.png?id=28869154&width=980)
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/select-committee-letter.png?id=28869155&width=980)
https://www.rawstory.com/sean-hannity-january-6-playbook/
-
'What did you see? Who was there?': Feds home in on links between Jan. 6 rioters and Trump’s inner circle
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-insurrectionists-shutterstock.jpg?id=25593108&width=800&height=417)
Federal investigators are asking Jan. 6 rioters about their possible links with Donald Trump's inner circle.
Prosecutors have asked members of the Oath Keepers, who are accused of organizing the attack, and even defendants facing low-level charges about their contacts with Trump allies such as Roger Stone, reported USA Today.
“They asked a ton of open-ended questions when I was allowed to be there," said Brian Lockwood, an attorney representing Oath Keepers member Mark Grods. "What happened next? What did you see? Who was there? What did you see them doing? What were they wearing? What were they doing? Did you see them communicating with other people?"
Brandon Straka, a MAGA influencer who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to probation, was also questioned about his possible contacts with Trump's inner circle.
“During the interviews, the government was focused on establishing an organized conspiracy between defendant, President Donald J. Trump, and allies of the former president, to disrupt the Joint Session of Congress on January 6,” said his attorney Bilal Essayli. “Defendant answered all questions truthfully and denied the existence of any such plot.”
Legal experts say that type of questioning is standard for large-scale cases like the insurrection, and doesn't necessarily mean that Trump or his associates are targets of the investigation.
"The technical term for Trump and most people the government is asking about this early is probably ‘subjects,’” said Patrick Cotter, who has prosecuted organized crime cases. “Subjects are people about whom the feds have not made any determination: They may turn out to be targets or witnesses."
Investigators are particularly interested in the rioters' expectation that Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act to prevent the certification of Joe Biden's election win, according to court records and defense lawyers.
“I'm just a small lawyer down in Mobile,” said Lockwood, the Oath Keeper's lawyer, "but I'm confident that the government believes that the intent of the Jan. 6 incident was to trigger the president at the time to invoke the Insurrection Act."
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-insurrection-act/
-
'If anything is seditious conspiracy, this is it': Inside the 'strong' case against the Oath Keepers
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/right-wing-militias-are-gearing-up-for-an-armed-response-on-election-day-report.png?id=27598413&width=980&height=580)
Federal prosecutors have a forceful case against the ten alleged Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy for their alleged role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"The charges are significant because they allege that the January 6 attack went beyond disorderly conduct and assaults on law enforcement, instead constituting an organized and violent attempt to stop the democratic transfer of power," the Guardian reported Friday. "But unlike some previous uses of seditious conspiracy, many experts say the case against the Oath Keepers is strong."
Reporter Nick Robins-Early interviewed Joshua Braver, an assistant professor of law at the University of Wisconsin.
“This case is different. This case is a plan that was executed and the federal government is on much stronger grounds,” Braver said. “If anything is seditious conspiracy, this is it.”
Seditious conspiracy charges can result in 20 years in prison upon conviction.
"The case against Rhodes and the Oath Keepers is more straightforward than past seditious conspiracy charges against the far right, experts say, both because there appears to be extensive evidence of planning prior to the Capitol attack and because numerous members took tangible actions to breach the Capitol," the Guardian reported. "There are now over 700 people charged with crimes related to the insurrection, but the majority of those cases have involved less complex charges that don’t require proving the type of coordination and planning that seditious conspiracy indictments involve."
Read the full report:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/28/seditious-conspiracy-charges-trial-oath-keepers-us-court
-
Fake Trump elector subpoenaed by Jan. 6 committee is an NRA board member
This Friday, the House committee investigating the Capitol riot has issued 14 subpoenas to people who falsely claimed to be electors for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
The individuals who were subpoenaed submitted false Electoral College certificates in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin -- all states that were won by President Joe Biden.
“The select committee is seeking information about attempts in multiple states to overturn the results of the 2020 election, including the planning and coordination of efforts to send false slates of electors to the National Archives,” Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the chairman of the committee, said in a statement. “We believe the individuals we have subpoenaed today have information about how these so-called alternate electors met and who was behind that scheme.”
Th
e names of those subpoenaed on Friday were: Nancy Cottle and Loraine B. Pellegrino of Arizona; David Shafer and Shawn Still of Georgia; Kathy Berden and Mayra Rodriguez of Michigan; Jewll Powdrell and Deborah W. Maestas of New Mexico; Michael J. McDonald and James DeGraffenreid of Nevada; Bill Bachenberg and Lisa Patton of Pennsylvania; and Andrew Hitt and Kelly Ruh of Wisconsin.
In a tweet this Friday, The Trace's Will Vant Sant said that on of those subpoenaed, Bill Bachenberg, has been an NRA board member since 2005.
According to The New York Times, the scheme to employ the fake electors was one of Trump’s "most expansive efforts to overturn the election, beginning even before some states had finished counting ballots and culminating in the pressure placed on Vice President Mike Pence to throw out legitimate votes for Mr. Biden when he presided over the joint congressional session. At various times, the gambit involved lawyers, state lawmakers and top White House aides."
Read more at The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/28/us/politics/jan-6-committee-trump-electors.html?
-
January 6 Committee subpoenas Trump official who attended key meeting the day before MAGA riots: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/white-house-threatens-journalist-with-a-dossier-over-report-exposing-trumps-self-dealing.jpg?id=24837157&width=800&height=430)
On Friday, CNN analyst Gloria Borger reported that the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has subpoenaed Judd Deere, the formed deputy White House press secretary under former President Donald Trump who issued a statement after the attack.
"What does the committee think it can learn from him?" asked anchor Jake Tapper.
"They think they can learn a lot," said Borger. "He is someone the committee is interested in because he has firsthand knowledge of Donald Trump's behavior before and during the January 6th attack on the Capitol, because he was there in the White House. And the letter we've obtained to Deere said there is reason to believe he was involved in formulating the White House response to the attack as it occurred. But specifically, the committee is very, very interested in a January 5th staff meeting in the Oval Office with the president which Deere reportedly attended."
"Now, the letter uses an account from the book 'Peril' in which Trump listened to the crowds outside and said, 'There is a lot of anger out there right now,'" said Borger. "And the letter also refers to documents the committee has obtained itself, portraying the president as repeatedly asking, what are your ideas for getting the RINOs — Republicans in name only — to do the right thing tomorrow. How do we convince Congress? So Deere is just the latest in a wide net of people in the Trump orbit to be subpoenaed as the committee tries to get inside Donald Trump's state of mind."
Watch below:
-
'Clear potential of a federal crime': CNN analyst says Jan. 6 panel is 'laser focused' on fake Trump electors
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/giuliani-admits-hes-still-trying-to-find-dirt-on-biden-trump-hasn-t-told-me-not-to-do-it.jpg?id=24826061&width=800&height=430)
On Friday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," former federal prosecutor Elie Honig outlined the implications of Congress pursuing the fake "alternate" electors Trump allies sought to submit to Congress from states that Joe Biden carried.
"Fourteen people tied to that subpoena," said anchor Erin Burnett. "They are obviously not going to get all 14 to cooperate and it is a long process, but do you think they will get a few? And is a few or a handful enough?"
"Yeah, Erin, there is so much here, and one thing we have seen this week is that the committee is really focused laser-like on these fake electoral certificates, and rightly so, because on one level, those certificates are evidence of a broader plot to overthrow this election," said Honig. "But also, more narrowly, in my view, those certificates are the cleanest example yet we've seen of a potential federal crime."
"Now, it is one thing to have talks, conversations," said Honig. "At some point, they cross a line into a criminal conspiracy. Where that line is perhaps is debatable. However, it is a federal crime to submit a false document to the federal government if your intent is corrupt, and I think there is a good argument that's the case here. Now, this strategy of subpoenaing these 14 individuals is very smart because if even just three, four, or five of them cooperate, they are going to all presumably be pointing to the same person who was the coordinator of this. We have reporting that it's Rudy Giuliani. If that's how it turns out, so be it, but that's crucial information for the committee to know."
Watch below:
-
MAGA rioter found with shooting target of Dem lawmaker and roll of 'Q' stickers: Feds
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=29190324&width=800&height=450)
When the FBI searched the home of Capitol rioter Andrew James Williams, they found a photograph of an unnamed Democratic lawmaker with a shooting target superimposed over her body.
In the photograph, the Democratic lawmaker "had a beret with a hammer and sickle symbol on her head," according to a sentencing memo filed Friday by federal prosecutors.
"During his pre-sentencing interview with law enforcement, Williams stated that this target was a 'secret Santa' gift from a co-worker," the memo states.
In addition to the shooting target, FBI agents found "a roll of 'Q' stickers" in Williams' home.
Williams, a firefighter from Sanford, Florida, pleaded guilty in November to a misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing inside a Capitol building.
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 30 days in jail.
"As a first responder, the defendant must have known that the rioting mob posed a great threat to the law enforcement officers heroically seeking to discharge their duties, not to mention the civilian occupants of the Capitol," prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo. "But seeing greatly outnumbered police officers and broken windows did not give him pause or cause the defendant to turn away from the riot. Instead, he celebrated his role in the attack on the Capitol while breezing by his fellow first responders."
Williams' attorney, Vincent A. Citro, also cited his client's life-saving work as a first responder in a sentencing memo, according to CBS News' Scott MacFarlane. Citro is arguing for leniency and a sentence of time served.
Williams reportedly is on unpaid leave from the Sanford Fire Department pending his sentencing and the results of an administrative investigation.
'Quick reaction force' waited for orders within sight of the Capitol — but Oath Keepers say they’re from another group
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/oath-keepers-leader-refuses-to-back-down-after-members-are-arrested-for-involvement-in-trump-insurrection.jpg?id=25653296&width=800&height=459)
An enduring mystery from the Jan. 6 insurrection remains unclear, and one photojournalist doesn't understand why the FBI isn't doing more to solve it.
The indictments of Oath Keepers co-founder Stewart Rhodes and others on seditious conspiracy charges show that militia members stashed firearms and ammunition at a Virginia hotel so "quick reaction forces" could quickly move the weapons to the U.S. Capitol, but there's no indication they ever left the Comfort Inn Ballston, reported HuffPost.
“We will have several well equipped QRFs outside DC,” Rhodes wrote on Jan. 6 before leaving. “And there are many, many others, from other groups, who will be watching and waiting on the outside in case of worst case scenarios.”
There's very little known about the specific actions those other groups took, or who they are, but photojournalist Jay Westcott believes he saw some of them at the U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial about an hour after a military "stack" of Oath Keepers breached the Capitol.
“It is a straight line of sight three miles to the Capitol building,” Westcott said. “The radios that they had were very capable of getting there.”
He saw the suspicious-looking group at about 3:30 p.m. using radio equipment at the memorial, and he shot some photographs from a distance.
“The thing about that location is you have access to every major road into D.C. just from that one spot,” Westcott said. “A quick reaction force with a lead foot, they could’ve been in the Capitol building in less than 10 minutes.”
Westcott reached out to the FBI afterward to share the evidence he'd gathered, and his employer ARLNow published the photos in March with the men's faces blurred out, but he said investigators have contacted him at any point.
“I haven’t heard anything. I’ve heard zero,” he said. “It’s unbelievably frustrating to know that I have hard evidence, tangible physical evidence that shows details, that shows faces, and that the government and FBI have the technology to take advantage of that and haven’t.”
The FBI declined to comment on the QRFs or Westcott's claims, but the current acting president of the Oath Keepers reviewed the photos and insisted she didn't recognize the men.
“I don’t think that’s them,” said Oath Keepers head Kellye Sorelle. “Nobody recognized them.
Westcott said he's willing to share his photos with the FBI, which he realizes complicates his role as a journalist.
“It’s a sticky situation to be in," he said. "On one hand, as a journalist I have a responsibility to protect my notes and raw files as protected under the First Amendment ... [but] if they had succeeded, there wouldn’t be a First Amendment to protect anymore.”
Oath Keepers leader’s wife reveals photos of elaborate tunnel ‘escape’ network in backyard
‘I might have pics of the real thing somewhere, my daughters used them as a playhouse,’ estranged wife says of ‘elaborate’ backyard tunnels
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/stewart-rhodes-wife-oath-keepers-tunnels-b2001979.html
-
Shocking new details reveal how close Kamala Harris came to Jan. 6 DNC pipe bomb
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/how-will-california-gov-newsom-pick-kamala-harris-replacement-ethnicity-electability-experience.png?id=24819446&width=800&height=430)
CNN on Monday reported new details about the risk to then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris poised by a pipe bomb that was discovered outside the Democratic National Committee on the same day as the Capitol insurrection.
"Then-Vice President-elect Kamala Harris drove within several yards of a pipe bomb lying next to a bench outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters on January 6, 2021, and remained inside the DNC for nearly two hours before the bomb was discovered," CNN reported Monday, citing "multiple law enforcement officials familiar with the situation."
CNN is billing the report as an exclusive.
"The revelations further expose a security lapse on January 6 as law enforcement tried to respond to multiple major events, protect highly visible politicians, and fend off tens of thousands of riotous protesters that had flooded into Washington and attacked the US Capitol," CNN reported. "Harris' whereabouts and movements on January 6, 2021, have been shrouded in uncertainty. Her presence at the DNC wasn't known until earlier this month, when few details became public about her evacuation from its headquarters minutes after a pipe bomb was discovered nearby."
Nobody has been charged for the two pipe bombs, the other one of which was discovered outside the Republican National Committee. The FBI has offered a $75,000 reward for help identifying the suspect.
Read the full report:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/31/politics/kamala-harris-january-6-2021-democratic-national-committee/index.html
-
Stewart Rhodes' attorney brutally grilled by CNN's Keilar in combative interview
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jon-moseley.jpg?id=29212251&width=800&height=450)
The attorney for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was grilled by CNN's Brianna Keilar during an extended interview on Monday.
Keilar interviewed lawyer Jon Moseley for over 17 minutes following Donald Trump's statements that he would consider pardoning Jan. 6 defendants if he were to be elected president again in 2024.
"I think it would definitely be welcome," if Trump pardoned Rhodes for seditious conspiracy, Moseley said.
Keilar noted Moseley's client "bought a lot of weapons. and the Oath Keepers cached weapons in Virginia with a quick reaction force so that they could respond. And all of this was in the words of the Oath Keepers what they had planned for. A civil war is what Stewart Rhodes said he was planning for. That's not nothing, Jon."
"Well, I'm not saying it was nothing, but that's what's alleged and I believe that will not be proven true at trial," Mosely replied.
Keilar noted Rhodes' remarks about a civil war "sounds pretty provocative."
The two went back and forth, with Moseley revealing his client would testify on Wednesday before the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
After repeatedly going back and forth, Keilar concluded, "I do not feel like you're having a discussion in good faith with me, but I do appreciate you coming on today."
Watch:
-
Pence's staffers do 'not seem happy' with Trump — and are spilling the beans to House investigators
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/revisionist-history-mike-pence-s-claims-about-the-trump-administration-were-misleading-incomplete-or-wrong.jpg?id=24840676&width=800&height=430)
On Tuesday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," chief legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin broke down the significance of former Vice President Mike Pence's staffers continuing to cooperate with the House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol insurrection.
"How significant is it to see top advisers go to speak to the Select Committee?" asked anchor Wolf Blitzer.
"Well, you know, Wolf, this isn't a prosecution, but the committee is approaching it more or less like a prosecution," said Toobin. "They are working from the bottom up, from the outside in. And they are finding witnesses who were one or perhaps two steps removed from the president and finding out what they know."
"The interesting political part of this is that even though former Vice President Pence is publicly loyal to the former president, his staff doesn't seem as happy with Donald Trump, and they are telling what they know, unlike the people closest to Trump," added Toobin.
Watch below:
-
The MAGA mob came for Mike Pence on January 6. Is he finally fighting back?
Supporters of Donald Trump erected a gallows for Mike Pence during the attack on the Capitol, but now he may be cooperating with the committee investigating the attack, writes Andrew Feinberg
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/mike-pence-capitol-riot-trump-b1987230.html
-
McConnell 'wants the dirty truth told' about Jan. 6 because 'he wants Trump out of the GOP'
Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) came out in opposition to leniency for U.S. Capitol rioters, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said that showed he wanted Donald Trump purged from the Republican Party.
The Kentucky Republican said he would not shorten the sentences for any of the insurrectionists who pleaded guilty to crimes related to the Jan. 6 attack, after Trump pledged to pardon some or all of them if re-elected, and the "Morning Joe" host said McConnell's position on the riot has been consistent.
"It's one thing that time and again,Mitch has been unambiguous about," Scarborough said. "That is that people that committed crimes on Jan. 6 should be punished, that Jan. 6 was an atrocity, and whatever Donald Trump is saying about Jan. 6 is not true. Again, he wants to empower the Jan. 6 commission -- which, of course, he was against, bipartisan commission, which was a mistake. [Sen. Joe] Manchin thinks it was a mistake, a lot of people do, but he's certainly gotten behind this one."
"He wants the dirty truth told about Donald Trump because I think he wants Trump out of the party as much as, well, a lot of people," Scarborough added. "As much as [Rep.] Liz Cheney or some others."
-
The New York Times
Trump’s Involvement in a Plan to Seize Voting Machines
The Times has unearthed Donald Trump's most brazen attempt yet to overturn the 2020 election.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/podcasts/the-daily/trump-voting-machine-jan-6-committee.html
-
Capitol riot committee subpoenas phone records of notorious Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/arizona-supreme-court-delivers-major-blow-to-gop-chair-kelli-ward.jpg?id=25987923&width=980&height=527)
Conspiracy theory-touting Arizona Republican Party chairwoman Kelli Ward is now a target of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots.
Politico reports that the committee has subpoenaed Ward's phone records, as well as the phone records of her husband, Michael Ward.
The requested phone records span the date of November 1, 2020, through January 31, 2021.
The publication notes that both Wards signed phony election certificates that falsely claimed Trump had won the state of Arizona, and that Kelli Ward was in regular contact with Trump officials after the election as he tried to overturn the results and remain in power.
The Wards aren't taking the subpoena lying down, however, as they are now asking courts to intervene and block carrier T-Mobile from handing over their records.
In a legal filing, they argue that their status as osteopathic doctors means that any revelations about their phone records could violate patients' privacy rights.
"“Disclosing the phone records and metadata from the Phone Number would provide the [personal health information] of an unknown but quantifiable number of individuals seeking medical treatment from the Plaintiffs to the Committee and potentially to the public at large," their attorneys argue.
https://www.rawstory.com/kelli-ward-2656537405/
-
Jan. 6 docs from Mike Pence that Trump tried to block will be handed to Congress in 30 days
Documents from Vice President Mike Pence have been turned over to the National Archives and processed, according to CNN justice reporter Katelyn Polantz.
Former President Donald Trump has been fighting against any of his administration's documents being made public.
The Archives said in a statement that they will turn over the documents in 30 days despite Trump's protests. The only way to keep them from becoming public is with a court order, the letter says.
"After consultation with the Counsel to the President and the Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel, and as instructed by President Biden, I have determined to disclose to the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the United States Capitol the Vice Presidential records from Dec. 8, 2021, Notification that you identified as privileged in your letter of Jan. 18, 2022," the letter says.
Trump has spent the last year attacking Pence online, in speeches and to other Republican leaders.
See the screen captures of the release below:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FKml_b5XMAMhup_?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FKml_c2XMAMKZGl?format=jpg&name=medium)
And now, National Archives says it’s turning over In 30 days the VP records that Trump wants to keep secret, absent a court order.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FKmmecdX0AEg268?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://www.rawstory.com/mike-pence-documents-released-archives/
-
Trump's Jan. 6 pardon offer is 'very important evidence' that violence was 'part of the plan': Adam Schiff
Donald Trump's offer to pardon Capitol insurrectionists is "very important evidence" that speaks to his intent on Jan. 6, according to Rep. Adam Schiff (R-CA).
Appearing on on MSNBC on Wednesday night, Schiff — a member of the House Select Committee investigating the insurrection — noted that Trump has a long history of using pardons and other tactics to try to influence and intimidate witnesses.
"He, for example, pardoned Roger Stone for lying to Congress to cover up for the president," Schiff said. "He and his Attorney General Bill Barr made a criminal case involving Michael Flynn go away completely after Flynn pled guilty to repeatedly lying to the FBI. And he dangled pardons in front of (Paul) Manafort. He also went after people who cooperated with the government, like Michael Cohen, and called him a rat — used language we would expect of organized crime."
"I think his recent statements, as well as the public reports of prior inquiries about pardoning people involved in attacking the Capitol police that day, they go to a couple of things," Schiff added. "They go to his intent. If this violence at the Capitol wasn't part of the plan, or wasn't something he condoned, then why would he consider pardoning them? So, I think it's very important evidence as to intent. But it also is I think part of that broader pattern to influence potentially what witnesses have to say, or whether they will say it."
Watch the full interview below:
-
Kayleigh McEnany hands over text messages to the January 6 committee as its revealed handed-in documents have had to be taped back together because Trump RIPPED them up in the White House
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/kayleigh-mcenany-whines-it-was-divisive-for-biden-to-note-trumps-unprecedented-assault-on-democracy.jpg?id=24489988&width=800&height=431)
Kayleigh McEnany has turned over text messages to the House committee probing the January 6 Capitol riot while some of Donald Trump's White House documents had to be taped back together to send to the panel.
A source familiar with Mcenany's interaction with the panel told ABC News in a Tuesday report that texts turned over from her phone were used in a recent letter sent to Ivanka Trump seeking her compliance.
According to the records, Fox News host Sean Hannity texted McEnany: '1 - no more stolen election talk. 2- Yes, impeachment and the 25th amendment are real and many people will quit.'
'Love that. Thank you. That is the playbook. I will help reinforce....,' McEnany replied.
McEneny, who served as Trump's final press secretary, was subpoenaed in November by the panel seeking her records and testimony and she joins a growing list of former and current Trump aides to cooperate with the probe.
Since leaving the White House, McEnany has joined Fox News and is co-host of Outnumbered alongside Harris Faulkner and Emily Compagno.
The panel subpoenaed 10 people in November, including McEnany, who now appears to be complying.
A source familiar with her testimony told ABC that McEnany appeared for hours virtually before the panel on January 13 – the same day she did not appear on her midday Fox program.
Trump claims however, that there should be an investigation of former Vice President Mike Pence for not sending the Electoral College votes back to the states. He said in a Tuesday statement that if Pence had taken this action, there would not have been an attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In addition to the text messages, investigators are expected to receive McEnany's White House files from the National Archives.
Trump tried unsuccessfully to prevent the Archives from sharing the documents with Congress.
Some of the papers handed over to the select committee were taped together by National Archives staff because they had been ripped up, the agency revealed in a statement.
'Some of the Trump presidential records received by the National Archives and Records Administration included paper records that had been torn up by former President Trump,' the Archives told CNN without explaining how it was known that Trump was the individual who defaced the records.
'These were turned over to the National Archives at the end of the Trump Administration, along with a number of torn-up records that had not been reconstructed by the White House,' the Archives said. 'The Presidential Records Act requires that all records created by presidents be turned over to the National Archives at the end of their administrations.'
News of McEnaney's testimony and document hand-over makes at least seven known Trump world individuals who have complied with the panel.
Ben Williamson, who was senior advisor to Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows; Keith Kellogg Vice President Mike Pence's National Security Advisor, John Eastman, Trump's lawyer; and Taylor Budowich, who still serves in Trump's communications shop have all complied in some form.
Meadows is considered to be in partial compliance because he did hand over documents before deciding to no longer cooperate with the panel.
Trump ally Steve Bannon and Meadows have openly challenged the committee's subpoenas. This resulted in Congress holding them in contempt and issuing criminal referrals to the Department of Justice, which has not yet acted.
Pence's Chief of Staff Marc Short also testified before the House committee last week, a Monday CNN report revealed.
Short's hearing with the House select committee signals further willingness by Pence's team to cooperate with the investigation.
He testified for hours in-person at the Capitol last Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter revealed . It followed a subpoena and months of discussions between Short's attorney Emmet Flood and lawyers on the committee.
The panel is still unsure if Pence will testify but the committee is in early talks with his legal team seeking some form of cooperation.
Multiple sources claim Pence would prefer his aides act as a 'proxy' so the former VP doesn't have to appear.
Obtaining Short's testimony comes as the panel tries to get to the bottom of an alleged pressure campaign by then-President Donald Trump and his staff to get Pence to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential elections.
Pence, as vice president and therefore president of the Senate, did not have the power to overturn the elections as Trump thought. His role in the certification process is to oversee Congress as it votes to uphold the Electoral College votes from each state, which ultimately ended up declaring Biden the winner.
Trump, it's reported, believes Pence could have unilaterally stopped Congress from certifying Biden's win, which the former president still claims was 'rigged' in an election riddled with 'fraud.'
The 45th president has repeatedly blamed his No. 2 for his election loss.
In a Sunday evening statement, Trump bluntly admitted for the first time that he was trying to use Pence to overturn the election result.
He pointed to efforts on Capitol Hill to change the Electoral Count Act, including firming up language to make clear the vice president is only there to count votes and can't override the will of the voters.
'Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away,' Trump wrote in his statement from his Save America PAC email. 'Unfortunately, he didn't exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!'
Pence is speaking at the Federalist Society gathering in Florida this week and a source familiar with his thinking says he may respond to Trump's statements about him at that forum.
A source close to Pence said of the potential to 'overturn' the results: 'There was a lot of pressure, but we always knew we were doing the right thing.'
Short was at the Capitol on January 6, 2021 and was also part of a White House meeting two days prior.
Before testifying last week, Short has already supplied subpoenaed documents to the committee, one source told CNN. This included a memo from Trump aide Johnny McEntee comparing the former president to Thomas Jefferson.
Another source familiar with Short's cooperation said it's typical witnesses will hand over additional documents when they testify before a congressional panel.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10464079/Kayleigh-McEnany-hands-texts-1-6-panel-revealed-documents-RIPPED-Trump.html
-
RNC has ‘gone all-in on the insurrection’ while excusing ‘bigoted rantings’: Charlie Sykes
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/reps-marjorie-taylor-greene-and-lauren-boebert.jpg?id=26058485&width=800&height=450)
Conservative columnist Charlie Sykes published a hard-hitting column on Friday after the Republican National Committee's resolutions committee unanimously voted to censure Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) for participating in the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"The timing of the resolution is notable — coming just days after Donald Trump dangled pardons for the Insurrectionists who tried to help him overturn the election, and just days after he threatened mass unrest if prosecutors try to hold him accountable. It comes the week we learned of Trump’s push to have the government seize voting machines, and got more details about his plan to use faked and forged electoral vote certificates to force Mike Pence to overturn the election," he wrote. "And it came as Trump continued to ratchet up his lies about his electoral defeat."
Despite Trump's ongoing lies about democracy, Sykes said that there was no discussion about a censure of the former president.
"Nor was there even the slightest suggestion that perhaps the party should distance itself from the bizarre bigoted rantings of [Marjorie Taylor Greene] (R-GA), or Paul Gosar (R-AZ), or Lauren Boebert (R-CO), or Madison Cawthorn (R-NC)," he wrote. "The purge came only for Cheney and Kinzinger. Because, of course, this Republican party now has one standard, and one standard only: loyalty to the exiled Orange God King and his ongoing obstruction of justice."
READ: Trump came perilously close to carrying out Sidney Powell's bizarre plot to steal the election: report
Sykes described the symbolic resolution as "a performative act of groveling to the defeated, disgraced, twice-impeached former president."
The conservative writer was shocked that the language of the resolution described the Jan. 6 rioters as "ordinary citizens" who were engaged in "legitimate political discourse."
"So let’s not put too fine a point on this: The Republican National Committee is fully embracing the Trumpian ret-conning of January 6 as a peaceful protest, and, in the process, has gone all-in on the Insurrection itself.
Read the full column:
https://morningshots.thebulwark.com/p/the-rnc-joins-the-insurrection
Momentum grows for Jan. 6 committee to grant limited immunity to compel testimony of Trump DOJ official
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jeffrey-clark.jpg?id=27735201&width=980&height=553)
Ambassador Norm Eisen, who served as co-counsel for the House Judiciary Committee during Donald Trump's first impeachment trial, argued on CNN on Friday that the Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol should consider giving "use" immunity to former Trump DOJ official Jeffrey Clark.
During a Wednesday deposition, Clark reportedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times.
"Norm, do you think it's worth offering immunity to Clark or anyone else?" CNN's Ana Cabrera asked.
"I do think that statutory immunity should be considered, so we can get to the truth of what Mr. Clark has to say as one of the inside coup lawyers — perhaps the leading one inside the government — pushing for the overthrow of a legitimate election," Eisen replied. "Remember, they do have to keep it close or it can taint any possible prosecution of Clark outside of Congress. That's what happened with Ollie North, most famously."
READ: Dallas QAnon leader demanding followers shun their families as his ravings become more bizarre
"So, yes, I think it should be considered," he said.
The idea got a major boost on Thursday when it was floated by Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who is the only member of the select committee who is also a veteran of the Watergate investigation of Richard Nixon.
Watch video in link below:
https://www.rawstory.com/jeffrey-clark-2656559647/
MAGA rioter tells court he lost his 'six-figure job' to storm the Capitol for Donald Trump
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/richard-barnard.jpg?id=29246342&width=800&height=457)
MAGA rioter Richard Barnard appeared in court on Friday to receive his sentence after he pleaded guilty last year to a Class B misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
According to Politico's Kyle Cheney, Barnard told the court that his life had been completely devastated ever since he made the fateful decision in January 6th, 2020 to storm the Capitol on behalf of former President Donald Trump.
As Cheney reports, Barnard says that he lost his "six-figure job," as well as his credit rating and retirement savings because he participated in the MAGA riot.
"There’s nothing the court can do to me that will come even close to what I’ve lost," he said.
According to Court House News, Barnard attended the Capitol riot with a fellow U.S. Marine Corps veteran from Texas, Jeffrey Witcher, who was caught on camera claiming that he had broken into the White House, when in reality he was in the United States Capitol building.
"I am in the White House!" Witcher boasted at the time. "We crashed this. Our house! We did it, family, we did it! We did it! We’re in the White House!"
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-sentences-2656561425/
-
Not sure why journalists would be 'shocked'. The Republican Party has openly supported the insurrection and an attempted coup all along in their own words. The RNC just made it official. Remember, when you vote this November, either you are on the side of America and democracy or you are on the side of the insurrection traitors and fascism that the GOP is all in for.
'Incredibly dark': Journalists shocked by RNC suggesting Jan. 6 attack was 'legitimate political discourse'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/police-will-be-first-to-testify-in-capitol-riot-probe-hearing.jpg?id=27284177&width=980&height=697)
The Republican National Committee on Friday passed a resolution censuring Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) for participating in the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots.
While the resolution censuring the two Republicans had been widely reported, the actual text of the resolution still managed to shock many journalists.
Specifically, the resolution accused Cheney and Kinzinger of participating in the "persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse."
The sentence sickened MSNBC host Chris Hayes, who wrote on Twitter that "the RNC resolution is actually considerably worse and more debased than I had anticipated."
The New Republic's Matt Ford was similarly dumbstruck by the text of the resolution.
"Nothing insightful or clever to add here, just that we're in an incredibly dark place and it's going to get worse," he wrote.
Writing in response to Ford's comments, Daily Beast reporter Asawin Suebsaeng argued that it should sadly be no surprise that this is where the GOP has wound up.
"I THINK the speed at which the party started substantively crawling back to Trump, post-riot, was even swifter than they did post-Access Hollywood and post-Charlottesville," he wrote. "It was even faster than the speed the party came crawling back to Roy Moore, after… you know."
NBC News' Ryan Reilly, meanwhile, noted the extraordinary timing of the RNC's statement.
"Less than an hour after the RNC passed a resolution saying 'ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse' were being persecuted, a court hearing is underway for a Jan. 6 defendant who pepper sprayed cops in the face while clad in MAGA gear," he wrote.
And CQ Roll Call's John Donnelly said that this kind of resolution was simply unprecedented.
"I never thought I'd see a major American political party calling a violent attack on our national legislature ‘legitimate political discourse’ and censuring lawmakers who tell the truth about," he wrote. "This dwarfs all our other problems."
https://www.rawstory.com/rnc-cheney-kinzinger/
-
'Go under oath and testify': Mike Pence called out for not coming forward earlier about Jan 6th
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/vice-superspreader-mike-pence-accused-of-criminal-disregard-for-campaigning-after-5-advisors-test-positive.jpg?id=28175471&width=980&height=874)
During his weekly appearance on MSNBC on Sunday afternoon, former Rep. Dave Jolly (R-FL) said it was all well and good that former vice president Mike Pence and his top aide are now speaking out about attempts to overturn the election at Donald Trump's request, but that they need to come clean about all of the details.
Speaking with host Alex Witt after watching a clip of former Pence aide Marc Short offering up some tepid criticism of the events of that day, Jolly stated that Short and Pence are trying to "normalize" what occurred.
"Do you think that Marc Short is giving President Trump sort of an off-ramp, a way to explain how everything evolved on January 6th. To basically say it wasn't me, it was the advice I was getting?" host Witt [prompted.
"Yeah, look, Marc Short is trying to normalize what was unconstitutional behavior and frankly an authoritarian coup that failed," Jolly said dismissively. "The voice of Mike Pence and Marc Short now are welcome because they are stating truth. But few people in this country had greater access to stopping what occurred between the election in November and the inauguration of Joe Biden than Mike Pence and Marc Short."
"So I think history will recall that they did very little when they had an opportunity," he pointed out. "But their voices are welcome. But now, go under oath and testify openly in front of the American people on the January 6th committee. That includes you, vice president Mike Pence."
Watch below:
-
Time for Jan 6th riot committee to call Trump and Pence to testify: former solicitor general
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/can-pence-s-vow-not-to-sling-mud-survive-a-trump-campaign.jpg?id=24488706&width=800&height=430)
Appearing on "The Sunday Show" with host Jonathan Capehart, former Solicitor General Neal Katyal said that last week's revelations about Donald Trump's destruction of documents sought by the Jan 6th committee, along with Mike Pence's rebuke of the former president, is setting the stage for the committee to subpoena them both to testify.
Before noting the report about Trump ripping up official documents and having them burned, and calling it an "easy case" for the Justice Department to prosecute, Katyel called for the two Republicans to be questioned by the House select committee.
After host Capehart brought up calling former attorney general Bill Barr to testify, Katyal then moved on to Trump and Pence.
"I mentioned before, or it has been reported that, you know, Bill Barr has been having some kinds of preliminary conversations with the January 6th select committee," Capehart prompted. "What is the likelihood, the former attorney general, actually testifies before the committee?"
"The committee has got to call it," Katyal replied. "I think ultimately they have to call Pence and Trump too. I just think they're, you know, doing everything else first. Barr has to testify; somewhere in his soul, at some point, you know, he took an oath to uphold the constitutional laws and has to tell what happened. He was -- looks like drummed out or left the White House in December. So he can't speak to probably the events happening in January. "
"But it does look like these congressional investigators have started to uncover this plot which started just two weeks after the election, with a series of memos and then continued through December while Barr was in office and continued in January while you had people maneuvering like Jeffrey Clark to be the attorney general and, you know, seize voting machines," he continued.
"And the revelation this week, Jonathan, is that Donald Trump actually tore up all of these memos, you know, and so that investigators couldn't see all of that," he continued. "And, you know, maybe that's what Steve Bannon meant by the deconstruction of the administrative state or something. I don't know, but it is certainly illegal. The Presidential Records Act forbids that. That's an easy crime for a prosecutor to go after and Merrick Garland's Justice Department."
"The president was warned about this. This is a pretty -- this is an easy case and really hope that the Justice Department is looking into it," he concluded.
Watch below:
-
GOP's Adam Kinzinger warns of potential American civil war: 'Our basic survival is at stake'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rep-adam-kinzinger-r-il.jpg?id=24726327&width=800&height=424)
On Monday's edition of CNN's "The Situation Room," Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) weighed in on the GOP's continued perpetuation of election lies and downplaying of the January 6 Capitol attack.
"How dangerous is it for the Republican National Committee to whitewash the events of that day and simply call it 'legitimate political discourse?'" asked anchor Wolf Blitzer.
"Oh, it is extremely dangerous and it is not even — it's, if there was a word even more intense than dangerous I would use that," said Kinzinger. "It is not a far thought, Wolf, to think that some day, some militia shows up somewhere to do something and then some countermilitia, and at that point that is how you end up in a civil war. I never would say that we would ever have ended in that position, but I now believe it is a real possibility that we have to be wide-eyed as we walk into so we don't have that happen again."
"You fear, potentially, there could be a civil war here in the United States?" Blitzer pushed him.
"I do," said Kinzinger. "And a year ago I would have said no, not a chance. But I've come to realize when we don't see each other as fellow Americans, when we begin to separate into cultural identities, when we begin to basically give up everything that we believe so we could be part of a group, and then when you have leaders that come and abuse that faithfulness of that group to violent ends, as we saw on January 6, we would be naïve to think it is not possible here."
Kinzinger concluded with a plea for more understanding between Americans.
"We have to look at this wide-eyed and walk in and say, we may have differences as left and right, but we have to bridge those differences, because our basic survival is at stake, the basic survival of this democracy," he said.
Watch below:
-
Liz Cheney's 'Legitimate Political Discourse' Jan 6. Video Viewed 4M Times
A video tweeted out by GOP rep. Liz Cheney detailing the violence which occurred on January 6 to show it was not a "legitimate political discourse" has been viewed more than 4 million times.
The clip has gone viral after it was shared by the Wyoming congresswoman in the wake of the Republican National Committee describing the attack on the Capitol as ordinary citizens engaging in "legitimate political discourse" in a resolution to censure Cheney and rep. Adam Kinzinger.
A vote to censure Cheney and Kinzinger, the only two Republicans on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack, was passed by the RNC on Friday, February 4.
After the resolution was approved, Cheney tweeted a 31-second video showing a violent mob attacking police officers with flag poles and other objects, as well as storming into the building and forcing their way past barricades during the riot.
"This was January 6th. This is not 'legitimate political discourse,'" Cheney wrote.
The post has since been retweeted more than 62,000 times, with the video gaining millions of views online.
More than 725 people have so far been arrested in connection to the January 6 attack, in which more than than 100 police officers were injured.
Eleven members of the far-right Oath Keepers group have also been charged with seditious conspiracy after allegedly plotting to violently stop the certification of the 2020 election results in favor of Joe Biden.
In a statement prior to the vote taking place, Cheney accused the GOP of being "willing hostages" to Donald Trump even after he admitted his goal on January 6 was to overturn the election results and promised to pardon those convicted in connection to the insurrection.
"I'm a constitutional conservative and I do not recognize those in my party who have abandoned the Constitution to embrace Donald Trump," Cheney said. "History will be their judge. I will never stop fighting for our constitutional republic. No matter what."
Kinzinger also dismissed the GOP's description of the January 6 attack after the censure vote.
In a tweet, the Illinois congressman shared an image from the riot within an online security check frame asking users to "select all squares with legitimate political discourse." The tweet was directed to the GOP House minority leader with the caption "What do you say Kevin [McCarthy]?"
Trump, who was impeached for the second time after being accused of inciting the January 6 attack before being cleared by the Senate, celebrated the censoring of Cheney and Kinzinger. In a statement the former president described the pair as "two horrible RINOs [Republican In Name Only] who put themselves ahead of our Country."
Cheney has been contacted for comment.
Watch video in link below:
https://www.newsweek.com/liz-cheney-legitimate-political-discourse-jan6-video-1676656
-
Column: The RNC's grotesque ideas about 'legitimate political discourse'
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-02-08/republican-national-committee-legitimate-political-discourse-liz-cheney
-
The Republicans' January 6 resolution is an invitation for more mob violence
The Republican National Committee on Friday censured Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, arguing that they "support Democrat(ic) efforts to destroy President (Donald) Trump more than they support winning back a Republican majority in 2022." Their shame-worthy act? Participating in the January 6 select committee currently investigating last year's attack on the Capitol. According to the committee, aiding the investigation is an offense not just against the Trump-supporting GOP but against the republic itself, because it involves an unjust persecution of people engaged in "legitimate political discourse."
This phrase is an odd way to describe the actions of a mob that chanted "Hang Mike Pence" as it clashed with police before breaking through the doors and windows of the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election. And while, after widespread ridicule, the RNC insisted that it was referring only to the nonviolent protesters supporting Trump's lie that the election was stolen from him, its attempt to whitewash right-wing violence is part of an ongoing pattern on the right.
The GOP's effort to minimize the horrifying events of January 6 has been well-documented: from the attempts to shift blame to left-wing protestors in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection, to a House Republican likening some of the insurrectionists seen that day to "a normal tourist visit," to the widespread campaign to paint the insurrectionists as peaceful patriots. But it's important to place those efforts to erase the violence on January 6 in the recent history of right-wing politics in the US, to illuminate an arc of radicalization and official sanction that makes future political violence more likely.
Attempts to redefine violence as "legitimate political discourse" have been central to the Trump-era right. As a candidate and then president, Trump regularly sanctioned violence, whether encouraging his fans to pummel protesters or police officers to rough up suspects ("When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, I said, please don't be too nice."). These statements were often shrugged off as Trumpian excesses, but they were part of a broader blurring of political discourse and political violence.
Trump's comments after Charlottesville, his reflexive defense of some mysterious faction of "very fine people" mixed in with the neo-Nazi and White-power organizers of the Unite the Right rally in 2017, also fits this pattern. But more importantly, the way the organizers framed that rally demonstrated the tactical relationship between "legitimate political discourse" and political violence. Attempts to move the planned rally were thwarted by a court order issued the night before.
Yet, even as lawyers were arguing in court, the rallygoers were gathering tiki torches in preparation for a march through Charlottesville. That torchlit march, an act of both intimidation and violence, went hand in hand with the organizers' appeals to free speech: protected political discourse was covered in the news in the aftermath of the deadly political violence in Charlottesville.
The RNC's appeal to "legitimate political discourse" is an effort to engage in the same water-muddying exercise. By attempting to make the investigations into January 6 an attack on discourse rather than a response to violence, the party is trying to cram the insurrection into a culture-wars framework. Instead of an attack on Congress and an effort to overthrow the election, the story instead becomes one of the persecution of hundreds of patriots simply trying to voice their views and instead of running into a censorious, ruinous cancel-culture mob.
A classical reversal: the mob becomes the victim, the victims the mob.
The right is attempting the same sort of reversal with the racial justice protests of 2020. Though there was some support for them from conservatives in May and early June 2020, that is now almost entirely absent. Instead, the protests have become a counterpoint to the insurrection: those violent protesters were excused as racial justice advocates, while these peaceful protesters have been painted as insurrectionists. You'll find that comparison regularly invoked on right-wing broadcasts and podcasts over the past year.
Yet there is an erasure of violence there as well. Because what is never mentioned in those conversations is what the racial justice protesters were responding to: rampant and lawless police violence. That violence was regularly on display in 2020, not just in the murder of George Floyd but also in the clashes with peaceful protesters across the country.
But in right-wing narratives of 2020, law enforcement violence has largely disappeared, leaving the occasional acts of property destruction that happened alongside the nationwide peaceful demonstrations to stand in, not as the equivalent of the insurrection, but something much worse.
The end result of these efforts to minimize, excuse, and erase right-wing violence is an environment that invites even more of it. Because if a mob can ransack the Capitol while hunting for members of Congress in an effort to overthrow an election -- an effort that Trump and his administration both encouraged and attempted through their own antidemocratic efforts -- only to emerge as something between political protesters and persecuted heroes, then why would they swear off violence in the future? Why wouldn't they see mob attacks as a form of "legitimate political discourse"?
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/08/opinions/rnc-censure-cheney-kinzinger-political-discourse-hemmer/index.html
-
MAGA rioter who bragged he was fighting 'the commies' nabbed by feds in New York: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/eric-gerwatowski.jpg?id=29293368&width=800&height=441)
On Tuesday, The Daily Beast reported that the Justice Department has arrested another January 6 Capitol rioter in New York.
According to the press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, Eric Gerwatowski played a key role in rallying the other rioters to force their way inside the barricaded Capitol.
"On Jan. 6, Gerwatowski was at the front of a crowd just outside the Upper House Doors," said the release. "U.S. Capitol Police were attempting to close these doors to prevent further rioters from getting into the building. Gerwatowski pulled open one of the doors that the Capitol Police had just closed. Two officers were standing directly inside and had just tried to secure the entrance, in plain sight to Gerwatowski and others. Once he pulled open the door, Gerwatowski turned to the crowd and yelled, 'Let’s go!.' He directed more rioters inside and went in, too."
Per the Beast report, "He also appeared in multiple videos outside of the Capitol building, allegedly telling one interviewer that he entered the Capitol because 'the commies are trying to steal the country.'"
The FBI complaint reveals that a Capitol Police officer who encountered Gerwatowski as he was rallying the crowd into the building stood down because he had just came from the gallery where rioter Ashli Babbitt was fatally shot while trying to force her way through a broken window. Babbitt's death has become a rallying point and a source of conspiracy theories for supporters of the January 6 perpetrators.
More than 750 people have been charged for their role in the attack.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/capitol-rioter-eric-gerwatowski-who-rallied-other-rioters-arrested-on-civil-disorder-charges
-
Jan. 6 committee subpoenas Trump adviser Peter Navarro
Navarro wanted Mike Pence to challenge the counting of votes on Jan. 6.
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/office-of-special-counsel-smacks-down-top-trump-advisor-peter-navarro-for-violating-federal-law.jpg?id=24979005&width=800&height=436)
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday subpoenaed Trump White House official Peter Navarro for records and testimony.
Navarro, who served as President Donald Trump's trade adviser, supported the former president's unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump through widespread voter fraud.
In addition to producing multiple reports of unproven voter fraud claims for Trump, Navarro, in his memoir, claimed to have come up with a plan with Trump ally Steve Bannon to contest the election results by delaying the Jan. 6 certification of the Electoral College vote in order to keep Trump in office.
"Mr. Navarro appears to have information directly relevant to the Select Committee's investigation into the causes of the January 6th attack on the Capitol," said committee chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss. "He hasn't been shy about his role in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has even discussed the former President's support for those plans."
Under Navarro's plan, dubbed the "Green Bay Sweep," former Vice President Mike Pence was to send disputed election results back to the states, thereby forcing hours of debate on Capitol Hill.
"It was a perfect plan," Navarro said in an interview late last year with the Daily Beast. "And it all predicated on peace and calm on Capitol Hill. We didn't even need any protesters, because we had over 100 congressmen committed to it."
But rioters disrupted the official count, and when the proceedings resumed, Pence certified the vote count over the objections of Trump and his allies who claimed he could have challenged the results.
"More than 500 witnesses have provided information in our investigation, and we expect Mr. Navarro to do so as well," said Thompson.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/jan-committee-subpoenas-trump-adviser-peter-navarro/story?id=82781132
-
Ron Johnson was one of 3 GOP lawmakers who attended Mike Lindell's meeting to obstruct Jan. 6 vote
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/gop-s-ron-johnson-blocks-bipartisan-proposal-to-send-americans-1200-checks.jpg?id=24833878&width=800&height=428)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) was one of three Republican lawmakers who attended MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell's virtual meeting to discuss how they could possibly delay the election certification affirming President Joe Biden's win.
According to The Washington Post, the meeting took place just two days before the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol. The group of individuals who met in person assembled at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. Speaking to The Post, Lindell reportedly said that the meeting was for the purpose of discussing the possibility of delaying the election certification.
Other attendees also shared details about the meeting as they revealed a presentation was provided to highlight unfounded claims of alleged voter fraud. However, Johnson appears to be denying the claims.
During a recent radio interview, Johnson also spoke out about the meeting as he attempted to dismiss the reports about the topics discussed during the meeting. Speaking to Wisconsin's WTMJ, the Republican lawmaker insisted he didn't "believe that (delaying the certification of the election) was ever discussed. They were talking about what machines might have done."
Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who attended Lindell's meeting in-person, also made remarks similar to Johnson's.
The Post's report also offered details about a memo that was sent to Johnson's office that called for former President Donald Trump to use the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the National Security Agency (NSA) to "run targeted inquires of NSA raw signals."
Johnson's office also addressed that report. In a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a spokesperson for the senator's office said, "Staff received the memo on January 13 and took no further action," a spokesperson from Johnson's office told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "The request from the Washington Post was the senator's first knowledge of this memo, he has not seen it."
https://www.rawstory.com/ron-johnson-was-one-of-3-gop-lawmakers-who-attended-mike-lindell-s-meeting-to-obstruct-jan-6-vote-report/
-
‘It is not legitimate political discourse!’: Judge slams RNC in blistering statement at MAGA rioter's sentencing
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/7-conservative-myths-about-the-capitol-riots-burned-to-the-ground-by-cnn.jpg?id=27824865&width=980&height=735)
A federal judge took aim at the Republican National Committee during a blistering statement from the bench during a Capitol rioter's sentencing hearing on Thursday.
Last week, the RNC approved a resolution censuring Reps. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and Liz Cheney (R-WY) that referred to the Jan. 6 insurrection as "legitimate public discourse."
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson invoked that phrase when she sentenced Mark Leffingwell, a disabled Iraq war vet, to six months in jail. Leffingwell pleaded guilty to assaulting police after admitting to punching two officers during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
"So, it needs to be crystal clear that it is not patriotism," Jackson told Leffingwell, according to a transcript posted by ABC News' Alex Mallin. "It is not standing up for America. It is not 'legitimate political discourse,' and it is not justified to descend on the nation's Capitol at the direction of a disappointed candidate and disrupt the electoral process."
Jackson, an Obama appointee, also noted that "the heated rhetoric" that "riled up" Leffingwell "has not subsided."
"Disinformation is not only available, it's getting louder and louder every day," the judge said. " You weren't the only person to fall for it or embrace it, and some have embraced it who don't even believe it. The lie that the election was stolen and illegitimate is still being perpetrated. Indeed, it is being amplified, not only on social media, but on mainstream news outlets, and worse, it's become heresy for a member of the former president's party to say otherwise."
"Cancelling out the votes of other people with a show of force is the opposite of what America stands for," Jackson added. "It was the definition of tyranny, of an authoritarianism. Attacking law enforcement officers trying to preserve order and our seat of government, trying to protect the public servants in the building, isn't patriotism either. It's not what the military trained you to do and it's contrary to the whole notion of supposedly caring about 'blue lives.' You don't care about them when they're standing in your way instead of in somebody's else's."
Despite her scathing statement, Jackson's sentence was considerably less than the 27 months that federal prosecutors had requested for Leffingwell.
According to the Seattle Times, Jackson took into account Leffingwell’s military service, family situation and lack of any prior criminal record. She reportedly called it “one of the most difficult” decisions she's made regarding a sentence.
“You punched the first officer and then you punched another officer who was trying to restrain you,” Jackson said. “More than one punch, more than one officer. It was wrong, it was unconscionable, and I think you know that.”
Leffingwell told Jackson he was “embarrassed and ashamed of myself for what happened.”
“It was not something that I planned to do,” he added. “And looking back on it, it’s just a nightmare. …I wish I could go back and make it not happen.”
Leffingwell was also ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution and serve 24 months of supervised probation, in addition to community service.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/seattle-man-sentenced-to-xx-years-for-punching-officer-in-jan-6-insurrection/
Liz Cheney fires off a warning to Trump and his allies in scathing Wall Street Journal column
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/liz-cheney.png?id=28224038&width=800&height=450)
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) vowed to continue the House select committee's investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The Wyoming Republican published a defiant op-ed in the Wall Street Journal standing up to threats and attacks from Donald Trump and his allies and calling out fellow Republicans who enable their efforts to undermine the rule of law.
"Republicans used to advocate fidelity to the rule of law and the plain text of the Constitution," Cheney wrote. "In 2020, Mr. Trump convinced many to abandon those principles. He falsely claimed that the election was stolen from him because of widespread fraud. While some degree of fraud occurs in every election, there was no evidence of fraud on a scale that could have changed this one."
The committee has found no evidence to back Trump's fraud claims, and she said the former president knows he's lying.
"Almost all members of Congress know this — although many lack the courage to say it out loud," Cheney wrote. "Mr. Trump knew it too, from his own campaign officials, from his own appointees at the Justice Department, and from the dozens of lawsuits he lost. Yet, Mr. Trump ignored the rulings of the courts and launched a massive campaign to mislead the public."
The committee will hold hearings later this year to show the lies that provoked the violent insurrection, Cheney said, and she warned that other Trump allies will pay the price, as Rudy Giuliani has by losing his law license, for helping spread falsehoods.
"Those who do not wish the truth of Jan. 6 to come out have predictably resorted to attacking the process — claiming it is tainted and political," Cheney said. "Our hearings will show this charge to be wrong. We are focused on facts, not rhetoric, and we will present those facts without exaggeration, no matter what criticism we face."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/january-6-committee-electoral-votes-college-mike-pence-certify-2020-presidential-election-trump-liz-cheney-riot-protest-insurrection-11644510638
-
Jan. 6 Committee investigator: 'Once you see the data, you can’t unsee it'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/denver-riggleman.jpg?id=25121869&width=800&height=450)
Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA), a top investigator for the House Select Committee on Jan. 6, hinted over the weekend that the American public will be shocked when they see the results of the committee's investigation.
"Once you see the data, you can’t unsee it," Riggleman tweeted on Saturday. "And if you understand the data, you want others to see and understand it."
He suggested that the general public would see the data "when it's time."
Riggleman, a former Republican congressman, was hired by the Jan. 6 Committee as a senior staff member in August.
“Doing this might be one of the biggest things I’ve ever done in my life,” Riggleman said after taking the job. “We can’t worry about the color of the jerseys anymore or whether we have an R or a D next to our name. It’s time for us to look in a fact-based way at what happened on January 6 and to see if we can prevent this from ever happening again in the future.”
https://www.rawstory.com/denver-riggleman-january-6/
-
Jan. 6 panel 'fully' expects Giuliani to cooperate with subpoena, Kinzinger says
The committee subpoenaed Giuliani last month along with three other Trump allies
(https://compote.slate.com/images/74c81fb9-21d7-47b6-ab68-3048923eec21.jpeg?width=780&height=520&rect=4681x3121&offset=0x0)
WASHINGTON — Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a member of the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, said Sunday that he "fully" expects Rudy Giuliani, an ally of former President Donald Trump, to cooperate with its subpoena.
The committee subpoenaed Giuliani last month, and "our expectation is he is going to cooperate because that’s the law, that’s the requirement, same as if somebody subpoenaed to court," Kinzinger said on CBS' "Face the Nation" after host Margaret Brennan asked him whether Giuliani was cooperating following a New York Times report that he was in talks about testifying.
"There may be some changes and dates and moments here as, you know, lawyers do their back and forth. But we fully expect that, in accordance with the law, we'll hear from Rudy," said Kinzinger, who is one of two Republicans on the panel.
A committee aide told NBC News on Sunday: “Mr. Giuliani’s appearance was rescheduled at his request. He remains under subpoena and the Select Committee expects him to cooperate fully.”
In addition to Giuliani, the panel issued subpoenas for three other Trump allies in January, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Boris Epshteyn, who were involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
The four people, the committee said at the time, “publicly promoted unsupported claims about the 2020 election and participated in attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of election results."
The panel said Giuliani “actively promoted claims of election fraud on behalf of the former President and sought to convince state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results. He was reported to have been in contact with then-President Trump and various Members of Congress regarding strategies for delaying or overturning the results of the 2020 election.”
The committee is getting a lot of information, and "we're looking forward to wrapping this up at some point when that is right, showing it to the American people, but not rushing it, not hurrying this," Kinzinger said Sunday. "We want everybody to have the full story."
The Republican National Committee voted this month to formally censure two of its own party’s members — Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming — because of their work on the panel.
Several Republicans have denounced the censure, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who said last week it isn't the job of the RNC to single out members "of our party who may have different views from the majority."
Kinzinger praised McConnell for his statement. He also said: "I have lost faith in some of the courage of my colleagues. I thought that every person when they swore an oath had some version of a red line they would never cross. But certainly, Mitch McConnell’s statement was important."
Kinzinger, who has said he is retiring from Congress, also expressed his belief that every Republican needs to come forward and be clear about their positions on what happened on Jan. 6, 2021.
"Every Republican has to be clear and forceful on the record. Do they think January 6th was legitimate political discourse? Don’t let them avoid it. Don’t let them hem haw, and don’t let them transition to some other subject they’d rather talk about," he said.
"This is an answer every one of them have to give, and then we can move on once they’re clear and on the record. But this is definitive to our democracy. How do you feel? Was it legitimate?"
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-panel-fully-expects-giuliani-cooperate-subpoena-kinzinger-says-rcna16059
-
Liz Cheney Warns Critics Of Jan. 6 Investigation Exactly What To Expect
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/liz-cheney-warns-critics-jan-085709829.html
-
Jan. 6 Committee subpoenas six new witnesses — including Giuliani ally and Arizona fake audit architect
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/arizona-republican-kelli-ward.jpg?id=24816075&width=800&height=430)
Six new witnesses were called by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Among those were Trump allies Lara Cox, Douglas Mastriano, Michael Roman and Gary Michael Brown.
Cox was a witness of note because, as the committee explained, she engaged with Rudy Giuliani in the Michigan efforts to recruit phony "alternate" electors.
Others called are Arizona Republican Rep. Mark W. Finchem and former Arizona Republican Sen. Kelli Ward, both of whom were part of the partisan "audit" of the Arizona vote, which ultimately found that Joe Biden won the presidency by even more votes than the official tally.
"In the days after the Associated Press and Fox News declared that now-President Biden had won the presidential election in Arizona, you reportedly sent text messages to an Arizona election official in which you said, 'We need you to stop the counting,' asked the official to contact a lawyer representing the Trump campaign, and said, 'I know you don't want to be remembered as the guy who led the charge to certify a fraudulent election,'" the documents say.
Ward now serves as the Republican Party chair in Arizona.
NEW: Jan. 6 panel issues six new subpoenas tied to the fake electors scheme, including AZ GOP Chair Kelli Ward and PA GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.
Panel also up to more than 550 witnesses.
The full list of new subpoena targets and their roles via the panel:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FLqzmpAXMAI6nFe?format=jpg&name=large)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FLqzZqOWYAIkMBX?format=jpg&name=360x360)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FLqzbVEXoAERRAQ?format=jpg&name=360x360)
https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-committee-subpoena-additions/
-
Trump ally hit with Jan. 6 subpoena as committee digs into GOP's phony electors scheme
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/meet-the-far-right-pennsylvania-republican-who-believes-that-god-was-behind-trumps-attempted-coup.jpg?id=26314583&width=800&height=450)
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 election issued subpoenas for six more people Tuesday, including state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin.
Mastriano, an ally of former President Donald Trump and Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial candidate, attended the “Save America” rally, the morning precursor to the deadly riot. He has denied engaging in violence, but the state senator appears to have been much closer to the Capitol than he initially claimed, according to video footage.
In a statement, the U.S. House committee said Mastriano — who did not respond to a call seeking comment — was “part of a plan to arrange for an alternate slate of electors” and reportedly spoke with Trump about “post-election activities.” The panel cited a Nov. 28, 2020, tweet from Mastriano, who said he was advocating for the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Legislature to appoint Electoral College delegates.
Leading up to the 2020 election and in the year since now-President Joe Biden took office, Mastriano has amplified baseless claims of voter fraud. He passed off the wrong information about mail-in ballot totals and hosted a November 2020 hearing in Gettysburg where Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and other supporters parroted unsubstantiated claims of fraud before a panel of Republican lawmakers.
In June, he launched a so-called “forensic investigation” of the 2020 election and made a sweeping request for election equipment and voter information in Philadelphia, York, and Tioga counties.
Mastriano toured the GOP-backed election review in Arizona last summer. He was joined by House Judiciary Committee Chair Rob Kauffman, R-Franklin, and Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee Chair Cris Dush, R-Jefferson, who is now leading the taxpayer-funded election investigation.
Since Mastriano, still a member of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, was stripped of his committee chair assignment, he has stayed quiet about the review and its progress.
He has also refused to speak to his involvement with an election review in Fulton County, carried out by a private firm with ties to Sidney Powell, a pro-Trump lawyer who helped file lawsuits to challenge the 2020 election.
Records obtained by the Capital-Star and government watchdogs through Right-to-Know Law requests confirm that Mastriano and Sen. Judy Ward, R-Blair, who also serves on the Senate panel leading the investigation, helped facilitate an off-the-books, third-party review in the rural Pennsylvania county after the 2020 election.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence.
https://www.penncapital-star.com/blog/u-s-house-committee-subpoenas-sen-doug-mastriano-as-part-of-jan-6-investigation/
-
Detention document of Jan. 6 attacker uncovers 'sleeper conspiracies': legal analyst
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/pro-trump-intellectuals-exposed-for-supporting-violent-insurrection-ahead-of-january-6-riots.jpg?id=25532211&width=779&height=515)
A detention memo is revealing startling details about those linked to Capitol attacker Marshall Neefe that include "a mix of fascist-curious, QAnon and guns," said legal analyst Marcy Wheeler.
The court documents outline Neefe's "history of extremist views and violent rhetoric," which led the court to consider making a “forward-looking determination about the serious risk."
Neefe expressed a desire for "civil war to settle political differences" and made statements about "committing violence against those he feels are pitted against him."
In a Nov. 4, 2020, conversation with someone named Brad Smith, Neefe expressed his heartbreak over Donald Trump's election loss.
“We all deep down knew this was how the election was going to go. Now if Trump wins the riots will be 50 times worse," said Smith.
Neefe replied, “Hope it burns either way.”
"Me to (sic)," Smith said. "This country needs to split up immediately."
“Why shouldnt we be the ones to kick it off?” Neefe replied.
The court documents note that on Nov. 6, 2020, a friend messaged Neefe asking, “Is Biden really going to win? How is the only question.”
Neefe told the person, “at this point it doesn’t matter who wins to me. Brad and I predict this goes go supreme (sic) court and trump (sic) gets the win, then the country goes to war. All jokes aside damned if we do damned if we don’t. This place is about to burn and we are getting a survival/escape plan together. Hence the maps.”
On Dec. 1, 2020, Smith told Neffe, “This wouldn't be happening if Germany won. I’m real close to liking full blown fascism. Fascism is one of the most lied about political ideologies ever and if you look it up it'll give you like 6 completely different definitions but we all know what it is. Its culture, heritage, family history, tradition. And Nobody hates a Communist more than a fascist lol.”
Neefe replied, “Id (sic) rather be a racist, fascist hate monger than a liar 🤷🤷.”
Smith told him, “If this is what winning the war means then I’m a fascist.”
Neefe replied, “Hell id (sic)rather be a ni**er than a commie . . . These sick f***s really do need to start getting turned into mist.”
On Dec. 12, 2020, he posted a photo of an outdoor setting saying, "Out here lynchin that ni**er uncle ben as we speak."
Another user responded: "What tree you using?"
Neefe replied, "Rope on my bumper works wonders."
In another conversation about Sen. Mitch McConnell, Neffe claimed the Kentucky Republican needed "a bullet in the head."
"As reported in the FBI’s summary of that interview, Neefe said he was heavily influenced by QAnon conspiracy theories and that he and Smith discussed plans to travel to Washington within a month of Jan. 6, 2021," the document continues. "He admitted making a wooden club with an American flag stapled to it to take Washington to serve as a barrier between himself and 'possible Antifa.'"
His conspiracies continue through the 29-page document.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-attacker-racism-conspiricies-memo/
-
Text messages showcase the chaos and desperation inside Trumpworld on January 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mark-meadows.jpg?id=28187581&width=800&height=450)
Thousands of text messages turned over to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol that were published on Wednesday by The Washington Post reveal that key figures inside former President Donald Trump’s orbit were thrust into a quagmire of chaos, confusion, desperation and panic before and during the deadly siege.
A blizzard of exchanges between administration officials, media personalities, lawmakers and members of Trump’s family has illuminated the numerous and largely fruitless attempts that were made to implore Trump to quell the violent unrest.
Committee member Representative Elaine Luria (D-Virginia) said the exchanges are “key to the investigation — they tie things together and there’s an immediacy to the texts,” adding, “you can tease out the facts and learn more about personal relationships.”
For example, Fox News host Sean Hannity – despite promoting Trump’s lie to his audience that the 2020 election was stolen – was found to be in frequent communication with then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
“We can’t lose the entire WH counsels [sic] office. I do NOT see January 6 happening the way he is being told. After the 6th. He should announce will lead the nationwide effort to reform voting integrity,” Hannity wrote of Trump on New Year’s Eve after Trump had tried to strongarm the Department of Justice into seizing voting machines.
On January 5th, Hannity expressed to Meadows that he was “very worried about the next 48 hours. Pence pressure. White House counsel will leave,” referring to Trump’s foredoomed scheme to have ex-Vice President Mike Pence throw out President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victories in several swing states.
That concern was shared by an unidentified member of the House Freedom Caucus, who wrote to Meadows on January 2nd that “if POTUS allows this to occur… we’re driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic.”
Three days later, former Defense Department Inspector General Joseph Schmitz wrote to election objector Congressman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that “on January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all -- in accordance with guidance from founding father Alexander Hamilton and judicial precedence. ‘No legislative act,’ wrote Alexander Hamilton in Federalist No. 78, ‘contrary to the Constitution, can be valid.’”
On the day of the attack – while hundreds of armed Trump supporters charged through the barricades and breached the halls of Congress with the objective of assassinating Pence and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) – Hannity pled with Meadows to have Trump intervene.
“Can he make a statement? Ask people to peacefully leave the [Capitol],” Hannity said.
Fox News hosts Brian Kilmeade and Laura Ingraham also begged Meadows to force the president – who was watching the events unfold on television – to do something.
“Please get him on tv. Destroying everything you have accomplished,” Kilmeade said.
“Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home. This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy,” said Ingraham.
Meadows received additional texts from as-yet-unnamed Republican lawmakers who were trapped on Capitol Hill:
“It’s really bad up here on the Hill.” - GOP member 1
“Mark, he needs to stop this now.” - GOP member 2
“TELL THEM TO GO HOME.” - GOP member 3
“Some members sheltered in the Rotunda, where they were instructed to put on gas masks from under their seats, while others sprinted to offices where they hid in silence with frightened staff,” the Post noted.
“The president needs to stop this ASAP.” - GOP member 1
“Fix this now.” - GOP member 2
“POTUS has to come out firmly and tell protestors to dissipate. Someone is going to get killed.” - individual located outside of the White House
Punchbowl News reporter Jake Sherman also reached out to Meadows during the assault, but to no avail.
“Do something for us,” he wrote. “We are under siege in the cpaitol [sic]. There’s an armed standoff at the house chamber door. We’re all helpless.”
Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., begged Meadows to get his father to act.
“He’s got to condemn this s**t ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough,” Jr. wrote.
“I’m pushing it hard. I agree,” replied Meadows.
“We need an Oval Office address,” Jr. added. “He has to lead now. It’s gone too far and gotten out of hand.”
The president eventually delivered a video address at 4:17 p.m. in which he instructed his mob to “go home and go home in peace.” By then, however, the damage had been done.
Hannity recognized this and told Meadows that Trump needs to do serious damage control.
“Guys, we have a clear path to land the plane in 9 days. He can’t mention the election again. Ever. I did not have a good call with him today. And worse, I’m not sure what is left to do or say, and I don’t like not knowing if it’s truly understood,” he said. “Ideas?”
On January 7th, Hannity reached out to then-White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany with some advice.
“1- No more stolen election talk. 2- Yes, impeachment and 25th amendment are real, and many people will quit…,” Hannity said.
“Love that. Thank you. That is the playbook. I will help reinforce....” McEnany responded.
“Key now. No more crazy people,” Hannity advised.
“Yes 100%,” said McEnany.
Within a week, Fox News returned to parroting whatever nonsense Trump drummed up.
https://www.rawstory.com/text-messages-showcase-the-chaos-and-desperation-inside-trumpworld-on-january-6/
-
Kentucky woman added to her husband’s indictment for allegedly pepper spraying cops at MAGA riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-insurrectionists-shutterstock.jpg?id=27581801&width=980&height=511)
More than a year after her husband was charged with attacking a line of Capitol police officers with chemical irritants, Shelly Stallings of Morganfield KY has joined him and two others in a 13-count indictment related to the January 6 insurrection.
Stallings, 42, is the wife of Peter Schwartz, a “traveling welder and convicted welder” who faces an array of felony and misdemeanor charges, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported today.
“According to federal prosecutors, Stallings and Markus Maly, 47, of Fincastle, Virginia, were named as additional defendants in a superseding indictment that previously included Stallings' husband, Peter Schwartz, and a Santa Ana, California man, Jeffrey Brown,” the newspaper reported.
Maly’s arrest last month was reported at RawStory.com.
“All four defendants are accused of spraying a chemical irritant, pepper spray, at a line of police officers attempting to secure the area of the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol Building,” according to a Department of Justice news release. “Maly, Schwartz, and Brown previously pleaded not guilty to charges.”
In the original FBI complaint against Schwartz, he is quoted as posting this on Facebook: “All the violence from the left was terrorism. What happened yesterday was the opening of a war. I was there and whether people will acknowledge it or not we are now at war. It would be wise to be ready!”
The Courier-Journal reported that Schwartz “was supposed to be at a rehabilitation facility on Owensboro on Jan. 6.” As to Schwartz’ wife Stallings, it reported that, “it was not immediately clear whether Stallings had an attorney who could comment on her behalf.”
Stallings “is charged with federal offenses that include assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, civil disorder, and entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon,” according to the DOJ news release.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-shelly-stallings/
-
GOP lawmaker's 'grim and chilling' text message could be key to Jan. 6 probe: WaPo reporter
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/republicans-facing-censure-after-downplaying-and-outright-denying-the-pro-trump-insurrection.jpg?id=26395692&width=800&height=450)
Several days before the Capitol insurrection, an unidentified GOP lawmaker sent a text message to former president Donald Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows.
"If POTUS allows this to occur… we’re driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic," wrote the lawmaker, who is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus.
Appearing on MSNBC on Wednesday night, Washington Post reporter Carole Loennig highlighted the unidentified lawmaker's "foreboding" message, which was included in the newspaper's report from earlier in the day titled, "Texting through an Insurrection," after being released by the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6.
"This member is described by the investigative committee as someone who is very familiar with Donald Trump's planning for Jan. 6," Loennig said, noting that the text message was sent on or about Jan. 1.
"What exactly did that Freedom Caucus member mean by 'this'? If it is as simple as pressuring (Vice President Mike) Pence to reject the election results and the electors, it's a pretty prescient and interesting text. Committee members have either interviewed or learned information around this lawmaker and what he was saying to his staff, what he was saying to the White House, what he was saying to Meadows. But what else could this be? How grim and chilling a piece of information is this, if this lawmaker knew something Donald Trump was plotting beyond what we all know now?"
Watch below:
-
Here's what the Jan. 6 committee can learn from Trump's White House visitor logs: CNN reporter
(https://www.timeshighereducation.com/sites/default/files/donald-trump.jpg)
On Wednesday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," congressional correspondent Ryan Nobles walked through how the White House visitor logs former President Donald Trump unsuccessfully sought to block from being turned over to the House January 6 Committee could further the investigation into the attack on the Capitol.
"Tell me what you are learning from the committee, what they want from this," said anchor Erin Burnett.
"It's been clear what the committee is trying to uncover is a direct link between the former president's conduct leading up to January 6th and the attempts to overturn the will of the American voters," said Nobles. "What these White House visitor logs could show are the type of people that were coming in and out of the White House of the days leading up to January 6th. We already know from some of the public reporting there were many of these individuals that were at the front lines of this attempt to undermine the election results. People like Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell. Others, like Congressman Mo Brooks and those peddling these false claims and scheming up different legal theories that could be used to try and prevent the certification of the election results."
Nobles raised doubts on just how much the information could provide, however.
"We know the Trump administration was a bit lackluster when it came to recordkeeping on a number of fronts," he said. "We have reported about that as it relates to the call logs on January 6th. There's also only so much information the visitor logs can tell you. It's who gets cleared into the building on any given day. It doesn't say what offices they go to after their first initial meeting. It lacks a lot of detailed information about who comes in and out of the White House residence."
"We have seen the committee is casting a wide net," added Nobles. "They are talking to a lot of people. They deposed a number of people. They are conducting a lot of interviews. This may not present everything they are looking for, but hoping it's another piece of information that will allow them to paint the picture of what happened on January 6th."
Watch below:
-
Judge orders 'clear danger' Stewart Rhodes to stay in jail ahead of trial
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/oath-keepers-founder-got-white-glove-treatment-from-fbi-during-arrest-report.png?id=28815811&width=800&height=450)
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta on Friday ordered Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes to remain in prison ahead of his trial for charges of seditious conspiracy for this role in the January 6th Capitol riots.
Law and Crime reports that Mehta said during Friday's hearing that he was not convinced that Rhodes was a flight risk, but he was convinced that the Oath Keepers leader posed a "clear and convincing danger" to the general public if released.
According to CBS News reporter Scott MacFarlane, Mehta expressed concern about Rhodes's "alleged gun/equipment purchases and messages" that he sent calling for violence ahead of the January 6th riots.
Additionally, writes MacFarlane, Mehta was concerned about a court's ability to monitor Rhodes given his proven savvy at using encrypted communications.
Tasha Adams, Rhodes's estranged wife, publicly warned against releasing him before his trial, and she even went so far as to detail how he created what she described as "elaborate escape tunnels" on their property.
Rhodes and some of his fellow Oath Keepers so far are the only people who took part in the Capitol riots who have faced seditious conspiracy charges.
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/clear-and-convincing-danger-federal-judge-refuses-to-let-oath-keepers-founder-stewart-rhodes-out-of-jail-pending-seditious-conspiracy-trial/
-
Republican pretzel logic on Jan. 6 proves the party is trying to convince Americans it wasn't a big deal: columnist
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/cross-january-6.jpg?id=28735735&width=800&height=450)
Intelligencer columnist Ed Kilgore pointed to the "selective amnesia" among Republicans when it comes to the Jan. 6 attack. They're desperately trying to downplay the attack, and some are outright claiming that it was all fake. But then there are the Republicans who want Americans to believe that it was merely one isolated incident and there's nothing to worry about.
"But in some ways the more alarming development has been that Republicans who remain openly opposed to the attempted coup nonetheless tend to treat it as an isolated moment of lawlessness in an otherwise perfectly good presidency," wrote Kilgore. "That means none of the many, many months of planning that went into [Donald] Trump’s predictable effort to deny and then overturn his defeat are acknowledged, or the likelihood that he could try it again in 2024. Most Republicans are united in that feat of amnesia. And that’s understandable since nearly all of them supported his reelection in 2020, and most will accept his renomination in 2024 if it happens."
It wasn't merely an isolated incident either. It wasn't some bad eggs who wanted to cause trouble. Jan. 6, 2021, was part of a steady increase in violence from Trump supporters.
In Michigan, the FBI thwarted an attempt to kidnap and assassinate the Democratic governor by blowing up a bridge and executing her on the Capitol lawn live on television. A group of Trump supporters in Texas attempted to run a Joe Biden for President bus off the road. Last August, the Department of Homeland Security sent out an alert warning that Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists believed that Trump would be reinstated. There was a concern of violence if he wasn't brought back to the White House to take over. The far-right Trump supporters also infiltrated Canada in an effort to help the protesting truckers. At one point, the protesters began attacking journalists.
These incidents are all part of a greater collection of violence from Trump supporters that continues to grow into inflamed school board meetings to ban teaching about slavery and civil rights. It's also the reason that Black principals and teachers are being forced to apologize for triggering those suffering from white fragility.
Kilgore pointed to Trump's former UN chief Nikki Haley, who first said that Trump forfeited any right to future leadership. It took her just three months before she was promising she'd support Trump if he ran again in 2024. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) first denounced Trump's behavior the day after Trump was acquitted in his second impeachment. It took him just two weeks before he caved and said he'd back Trump in 2024.
"But perhaps the most jarring example of selective memory about Trump’s election coup comes from the man he has singularly and relentlessly blamed for spoiling it all: former vice-president Mike Pence," wrote Kilgore. "To be clear, the evidence suggests that Trump’s trusty and sycophantic veep vacillated until the very last moment before he 'betrayed' the boss by refusing to abuse his position as the presiding officer of the January 6 joint session of Congress by denying confirmation of Biden’s Electoral College victory. According to the latest insider account, he was shown a tweet by conservative legal luminary Michael Luttig denying any vice-presidential power to change the results before completely making up his mind the very morning of the planned heist."
Kilgore closed by saying that Pence may never agree on Jan. 6 but the most dangerous position is to dismiss the day as a one-off. "They may never come to grips with reality, and democracy may remain as fragile as their memories," he wrote.
Read Kilgore's full column at New York Magazine:
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/02/the-gops-spreading-selective-amnesia-about-january-6.html
-
Trump aide who was with him night before MAGA riots asked to voluntarily testify by Jan. 6 committee
Jalen Drummond, a former assistant White House assistant press secretary under former President Donald Trump, is being asked to testify voluntarily before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol attack.
The New York Times' Maggie Haberman reports that Drummond "was present at a meeting with Trump and staff" on January 5th, the night before the Capitol riot.
It's not known at this point what information the committee is seeking from Drummond, although the committee has been investigating Trump's plans to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to reject certified election results and send them back to Republican-controlled state legislatures.
© AFP
-
MAGA rioter with 'extensive ties' to Pennsylvania GOP has testified before Jan. 6 committee four times
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29422288&width=1200&height=675)
A Capitol rioter who is described by Politico as having "extensive ties" with the Pennsylvania Republican Party has testified four times before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th attacks.
Annie Howell, who is facing sentencing next week after pleading guilty to breaching the Capitol on January 6th, has apparently given significant information to the House Select Committee.
Politico learned of Howell's cooperation after her attorney, Heather Shaner, wrote in a sentencing memorandum that her client deserved leniency because of the valuable testimony she provided.
“The information she provided was investigated, verified and found to be valuable,” Shaner wrote.
According to Politico, Howell's cooperation may prove to be incredibly valuable in aiding the committee's work.
"No defendants until Annie Howell have publicly described ties that extend beyond the Jan. 6 attack and reach deeper into GOP establishment circles," the publication writes. "She described selling pro-Trump bracelets on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, Md. in early 2020, which she parlayed into graphic design work for the PA GOP. She then began recruitment work with the party as a volunteer, which led her to be involved in a slew of events with prominent Republicans, saying she was 'surrounded by Congressman, Senators, even Trump advisers.'"
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-committee-2656787588/
-
Jan. 6 select committee zeroes in on another Alex Jones associate
The panel has subpoenaed records for Annette Shroyer, the mother of Jones employee Owen Shroyer.
The Jan. 6 select committee has subpoenaed phone records connected to an employee of Alex Jones, the second time in recent weeks the panel has homed in on a Jones associate as it seeks to pinpoint the pro-Trump broadcaster’s role preceding the Capitol attack.
Court documents filed Sunday evening reveal the panel has subpoenaed records for Annette Shroyer, the mother of Jones employee Owen Shroyer, who was charged last year for his participation in the Jan. 6 breach of Capitol grounds. Annette Shroyer is asking a judge to let her join Jones’ pending lawsuit against the Jan. 6 select committee, claiming the subpoena is an abuse of the committee’s power.
According to a copy of the subpoena filed with the court, Annette Shroyer received notice of the subpoena on Feb. 10, and Verizon indicated it would provide her records to the select committee unless she filed suit by Feb. 28.
It’s unclear if the select committee has also sought Owen Shroyer’s phone records, or if the subpoena for his mother’s records is an indication that Owen Shroyer remains on a family plan — a scenario that has led to other witness’ family members receiving subpoenas. The select committee declined to comment on the subpoena or Annette Shroyer’s effort to join Jones’ suit.
In the court filing, Jones’ attorney Norman Pattis indicates that Owen Shroyer “will properly assert the Fifth Amendment” against attempts by the Select Committee to obtain his records.
Jones’ role in Jan. 6 events remains somewhat opaque.
He has claimed to be involved in fundraising for Donald Trump’s rally on the Ellipse, which preceded the Capitol attack. He also led thousands of Trump allies in a march down Pennsylvania Avenue to the Capitol. Although he’s later seen on video, with Owen Shroyer at his side, urging Trump allies to avoid confrontations with police, Justice Department prosecutors have faulted Jones’ entourage for refusing to leave Capitol grounds even after a police officer appeared to direct them away from the building.
Jones has already pleaded the Fifth during his own appearance before the select committee and refused to produce documents, citing multiple constitutional protections. And he sued in December to prevent the panel from obtaining his phone records from Verizon.
Owen Shroyer is one of the few people connected to Jones and other top Trump allies who is facing criminal charges for breaching Capitol grounds. Prosecutors charged Shroyer with a misdemeanor for crossing police lines amid the attack and egging on the crowd at the foot of the Capitol. Shroyer was charged, in part, because he had previously signed an agreement to refrain from protest activity on Capitol grounds after he disrupted a Trump impeachment hearing in late 2019.
Earlier this month, a Jones security guard, Tim Enlow, joined Jones’ suit against the select committee, claiming that a subpoena for his phone records was a backdoor attempt to glean more information about Jones. The case is pending before U.S. District Court Judge Christopher Cooper, an Obama nominee confirmed in 2014.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/27/jan6-committee-alex-jones-shroyer-00012200
-
Donald Trump Had Several Calls With Lawyer on Jan. 6, Committee Says
The House Committee investigating the January 6 insurrection has subpoenaed a lawyer who had reportedly been in contact with then-President Donald Trump the same day a mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol.
The committee on Tuesday issued letters to six witnesses demanding documents and testimony for what it described as their roles seeking to overturn the election in the leadup to the insurrection. Since being formed last year, the committee has turned its attention in recent months to how efforts by Trump and his inner circle to stay in power allegedly played into the attack.
Of the newly subpoenaed witnesses is Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who previously assisted with unsuccessful efforts to overturn President Joe Biden's 2020 election victory. The committee's letter to Olsen states that he had "multiple telephone calls" with Trump on January 6 after previously providing legal assistance to help the then-president overturn the election.
Specifically, the letter points to Olsen's reported actions days before a mob seeking to block the certification of the 2020 election stormed the Capitol. Olsen, the letter states, contacted high-level U.S. Justice Department officials at Trump's direction to discuss bringing a last minute challenge to the election results based on a similar case already rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Additionally, Olsen reportedly drafted an executive order to be signed by Trump that would have directed the Justice Department "to take voter action," according to the letter. The letter does not explain what it means by the phrase.
During Trump's final days in office, Olsen's name appeared on a set of notes that MyPillow CEO and Trump ally Mike Lindell was photographed carrying after a White House meeting.
Newsweek could not reach Olsen for contact Tuesday afternoon.
The January 6 committee said in a statement that the most recent batch of subpoenas are directed at individuals "who promoted false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and participated in, or encouraged, various actions based on those false claims."
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-had-several-calls-lawyer-jan-6-committee-says-1683900
-
Jan. 6 panel increasingly focused on GOP lawmakers' coordination with Trump before insurrection
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rep-matt-gaetz.jpg?id=26732554&width=980&height=551)
Recent court filings show the House select committee has been focused on investigating whether Republican lawmakers helped Donald Trump try to overturn his election loss.
The panel asked right-wing attorney John Eastman to prioritize turning over emails that included the names of 14 GOP lawmakers -- including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Josh Hawley (R-MO) -- and their staffs, although the committee's chairman Bennie Thompson expressed hope his colleagues would come forward voluntarily rather than possibly face subpoena, reported Politico.
“Why would you want to be noted in that light rather than explaining your side?” Thompson said. “It’s important, and that’s why we’ve asked them to come in voluntarily.”
The select committee is expected to obtain documents from the National Archives related to a December 2020 lawsuit filed by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) against then-vice president Mike Pence, and those documents could shed light on the Trump White House's involvement in the legal maneuver aimed at forcing Pence to reveal whether he would try to overturn the election.
Congressional investigators are also looking into Rudy Giuliani's contacts with lawmakers and trade adviser Peter Navarro's claims that members of Congress were recruited to delay the certification of Joe Biden's election win
They also want to know more about meetings between Trump and GOP lawmakers ahead of the Jan. 6 insurrection, and a meeting described by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) on Steve Bannon's podcast that allegedly involved lawmakers pressuring Pence to delay or halt certification.
“We put forward arguments and affidavits and evidence. We showed him videos,” Gaetz told Bannon. ”We were in the Cabinet Room meeting with Mike Pence in the days leading up to Jan. 6, and I left quite disappointed that he was not motivated by our argument.”
Read more:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/02/jan-6-probe-gop-donald-trump-00012960
-
January 6 Committee says it believes Trump may have violated 'multiple' laws in attempt to overturn election
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-top-funder-of-arizona-s-2020-election-audit-is-signaling-a-new-report-will-admit-biden-beat-trump.jpg?id=27491739&width=800&height=450)
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riots on the United States Capitol now believes that former President Donald Trump violated "multiple laws" in his quest to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
In a court filing unveiled on Wednesday, the committee argued that notorious "coup memo" attorney John Eastman does not have the right to attorney-client privilege to avoid testifying before the committee on the grounds that he and others committed what the committee believes was illegal activity.
In the filing, the committee writes that it has "a good-faith belief that Mr. Trump and others may have engaged in criminal and/or fraudulent acts" in their attempts to overturn the election.
Among other things, the committee argues that it has enough evidence to justify "a good-faith basis for concluding that President Trump has violated section 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2)," which is obstructing an official act of Congress. What's more, writes the committee, it believes it can prove that Trump did so with corrupt intent.
The committee also writes that it has "a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371."
The House Select Committee has been trying to secure Eastman's testimony about his efforts to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the results of the 2020 election.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-capitol-riot-commitee-2656830154/
January 6 Committee will seek to nullify attorney-client privilege between Trump and John Eastman: experts
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/john-eastman-january-6.png?id=28271984&width=800&height=450)
On Wednesday, the House January 6 Committee released a bombshell court filing arguing that they have sufficient evidence to refer former President Donald Trump for criminal charges of obstruction of Congress and conspiracy to defraud the United States for his role in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
According to multiple legal experts, the report lays the groundwork to, among other things, persuade a court to nullify Trump's attorney-client privilege with attorney John Eastman, who drafted the memo laying out a plan to throw out presidential electors in states Joe Biden won, and who is currently under an ethics investigation by the State Bar of California.
Such a ruling would give House investigators wide latitude to subpoena communications between Trump and Eastman, possibly establishing further evidence for their criminal allegations.
@JoyceWhiteVance The crime fraud exception is used to obtain testimony even when there is an assertion of attorney-client privilege. You can’t hide your crimes by claiming the privilege. Big news.
From J6C's 221 pg. brief: "Plaintiff’s documents should be reviewed..by this Court for application of the crime/fraud exception..Although the investigation is continuing..sufficient information already exists to justify in camera review and likely rejection of those privileges."
@HugoLowell Hearing the Jan. 6 committee will reference in filing tonight Trump lawyer John Eastman was involved in a potential crime — in order to argue he cannot cite attorney-client privilege to withhold some docs from inquiry
As former Solicitor General Neal Katyal noted, another basis the committee lays out for rejecting attorney-client privilege claims between Trump and Eastman is that the "engagement letter" — the document outlining their legal relationship — appears to never have actually been signed, meaning Eastman's status as Trump's attorney may not even have been legally codified.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FM47y8eXoAgX8ZQ?format=png&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FM48OzsX0AAvQKO?format=png&name=small)
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-capitol-riot-commitee-2656830229/
-
Oath Keeper says Stewart Rhodes told him to be ready to use 'lethal force' to stop Trump from being removed
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/stewart-rhodes.jpg?id=28995469&width=700&height=450)
On Wednesday, Josh James, one of the 11 Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6 Capitol insurrection, accepted a plea agreement in a major turning point for the criminal proceedings relating to the event.
But according to CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, the key reporter covering the January 6 cases, James' plea deal involves giving deeply incriminating evidence against Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, also charged in the conspiracy — including an allegation that he instructed his followers to be ready to kill anyone, even members of the Armed Forces, who sought to remove President Donald Trump from office.
"In the weeks leading up to January 6, 2021, Rhodes instructed James and other coconspirators to be prepared, if called upon, to report to the White House grounds to secure the perimeter and use lethal force if necessary against anyone who tried to remove President Trump from the White House, including the National Guard or other government actors who might be sent to remove President Trump as a result of the Presidential Election," said the plea deal signed by James.
@MacFarlaneNews Jan 6 defendant Josh James signs plea deal saying:
"(Stewart) Rhodes instructed James &..conspirators to be prepared, if called upon, to report to the White House grounds to secure the perimeter & use lethal force if necessary against anyone who tried to remove President Trump"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FM40fG2XEA40WV-?format=jpg&name=medium)
The Oath Keepers are a far-right paramilitary group consisting mainly of current and retired military and police officers, who swear to refuse to enforce any law or directive that conflicts with the group's extremist interpretation of the Constitution.
The group was active on the Capitol grounds during the January 6 attack, where they formed military "stacks" that charged into the building. They have claimed that the stacks were only activated in response to the shooting death of rioter Ashli Babbitt by Capitol Police, although time stamps prove they began their assault before the shooting occurred. A separate video shows Oath Keepers escorting Trump ally Roger Stone in D.C. earlier in the day, raising questions about how linked they are to members of the former president's inner circle.
Rhodes himself, who maintains his actions were not criminal, has been denied pretrial release after a judge determined he was a "clear danger." His estranged wife has testified against him, noting that he built "elaborate escape tunnels" in his backyard.
https://www.rawstory.com/oath-keeper-guilty-plea-2656830051/
-
Photograph of *Roger Stone* on *JANUARY 6th* with Joshua James, who just pled to SEDITIOUS CONSPIRACY and obstructing an official proceeding and is facing 7-9 years in prison as part of a full cooperation agreement.
This is going to get quite interesting.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FM4nyDvVEAAiowI?format=jpg&name=medium)
Oath Keeper pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy in landmark Capitol riot legal development
Joshua James, a member of the Oath Keepers and a co-defendant of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, has pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy.
As CBS News' Scott MacFarlane reports, James's guilty plea is "a big win" for the United States Department of Justice and "potentially... problematic" for Rhodes, who has pleaded not guilty to seditious conspiracy charges.
According to MacFarlane, James is admitting that his actions at the Capitol were intended to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power and that they were done as part of a plan concocted by Rhodes.
Additionally, James's plea deal is contingent upon his cooperation with prosecutors.
Although many Capitol rioters have been charged for their roles in breaching the Capitol and committing acts of violence, Rhodes and some of his fellow Oath Keepers are so far the only ones to face the very serious seditious conspiracy charges.
"The seditious conspiracy indictment alleges that, following the Nov. 3, 2020, presidential election, Rhodes conspired with his co-defendants and others to oppose by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of presidential power by Jan. 20, 2021," the DOJ alleged in its indictment. "Beginning in late December 2020, via encrypted and private communications applications, Rhodes and various co-conspirators coordinated and planned to travel to Washington, D.C., on or around Jan. 6, 2021, the date of the certification of the electoral college vote, the indictment alleges. Rhodes and several co-conspirators made plans to bring weapons to the area to support the operation. The co-conspirators then traveled across the country to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area in early January 2021."
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1499152592768806912
-
Yawn. How long can this go on?
-
Here’s how Jason Miller’s Jan. 6 testimony documented Trump’s potential criminal intent
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jason-miller.jpg?id=26930369&width=980&height=551)
The House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday released a transcript of Donald Trump advisor Jason Miller's testimony before eleven investigators.
Miller was asked if Trump was told that he had lost the election.
"I don't remember who all was present in person. I was in the Oval Office. And at some point in the conversation Matt Oczkowski, who was the lead data person, was brought on, and I remember he delivered to the President in pretty blunt terms that he was going to lose," Miller said.
"And that was based, Mr. Miller, on Matt and the data team's assessment of this sort of county-by-county, State-by-State results as reported?" the investigator asked.
"Correct," Miller replied.
Miller said he thought he remembered Jared Kushner, Bill Stepien, and Justin Clark being in the meeting.
HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte offered his analysis of the testimony.
"Here is [Jason Miller] providing testimony to the Jan. 6 committee that Trump was told *by his own campaign* that he lost, and had been given a detailed breakdown. So when Trump continued pushing his lies that he had won, he was knowingly trying to obstruct the certification," he wrote.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FM5IwFQWUAoUrxh?format=png&name=small)
https://twitter.com/svdate/status/1499217369759109120
-
John Eastman invoked 5th Amendment to questions of whether he publicly lied about Trump
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/win-or-lose-trump-is-about-to-unleash-hell.jpg?id=27778022&width=980&height=527)
The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday released a 221-page legal filing that includes a transcript of "coup memo" author John Eastman's interview with investigators.
The filing claimed that the committee had basis to believe that Donald Trump broke multiple laws in his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
As part of the filing, the committee included testimony from Eastman in which he was asked about his appearances purportedly representing Trump on right-wing media.
"Dr. Eastman, in an interview with Larry Lessig and Matt Seligman on the 'Another Way' podcast, September 27th, 2021, you were asked about the memoranda that you wrote regarding the role of the Vice President in counting the electoral college votes on January 6th, and you said, 'Although I did have a client in this, the client, the President, the former President of the United States, has authorized me to talk about these things. I want to make that clear upfront.' Did President Trump authorize you to talk publicly about the memoranda that you wrote?" an investigator asked.
"On the advice of counsel, I hereby assert my Fifth Amendment right against being compelled to be a witness against myself," Eastman responded.
"So is it your position that you can discuss those memoranda in public settings, but will not discuss those memoranda with the committee pursuant to a subpoena?" the investigator asked.
"Fifth," Eastman replied.
But the investigator wanted to pursue that line of questioning, noting comments Eastman made on the "Peter Boyle Show" on May 5.
"You said later in the interview that, 'I would normally not talk about a private conversation I had with a client, but I have express authorization from my client, the President of the United States, at that time to describe what occurred, to truthfully describe what occurred in that conversation.' Did President Trump authorize you to discuss publicly your January 4th, 2021, conversation with him?" the investigator asked.
"Fifth," he replied. once again.
He continued to invoke the Fifth Amendment, including to questions about meeting with Corey Lewandowski, Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, DOJ official Jeffrey Clark, Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and "any other members of Congress."
https://www.rawstory.com/john-eastman-2656830164/
-
Kimberly Guilfoyle slapped with subpoena by Jan. 6 Committee one week after she cut off meeting
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/kimberly-guilfoyle-was-six-minutes-of-sheer-hell-i-ll-never-get-back-gop-strategist.jpg?id=24499290&width=795&height=430)
Kimberly Guilfoyle last week angrily cut off a voluntary meeting with the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riots -- and now she's been hit with a subpoena.
As Politico's Kyle Cheney reports, the committee is subpoenaing Guilfoyle on the grounds that she was a "key" organizer of the "Stop the Steal" rally on January 6th the directly preceded the riots.
Guilfoyle agreed to voluntarily talk with the commission virtually last week, although she reportedly grew uncomfortable when she found out that Reps. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Jamie Raskin (D-MD) would be participating, and one source told Washington Post reporter Robert Costa that Guilfoyle grew "outraged" upon learning.
This led to her decision to abruptly end the meeting, which a committee spokesperson told CNN is what forced its hand to send her a subpoena.
"The Select Committee had hoped she would do as dozens of other witnesses have done: participate in a voluntary transcribed interview with staff and committee members," the spokesperson explained. "Ms. Guilfoyle has now declined to do so, forcing the Select Committee to compel her testimony at an upcoming deposition."
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1499497393502527498
-
Bombshell 1/6 committee revelations prove Trump was Putin in the making
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/lincoln-project-whacks-trump-we-end-covid-when-we-end-trumps-presidency.jpg?id=24716454&width=800&height=430)
The January 6th select committee has now told a federal judge in a bombshell filing that Donald Trump committed several crimes in trying to overturn the 2020 election and keep himself installed as president, engaging in a “criminal conspiracy” with others:
In a major release of its findings, filed in federal court late Wednesday, the committee suggested that its evidence supported findings that Trump himself violated multiple laws by attempting to prevent Congress from certifying his defeat.
“The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the committee wrote in a filing submitted in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.
Meanwhile, just two nights ago Republicans stood up and applauded thunderously when President Biden, in the first 12 minutes of his State of the Union address, condemned Russia’s Vladimir Putin, an authoritarian who is now brutally invading the sovereign nation of Ukraine.
The GOP had apparently realized it could no longer stay silent or play footsie with Putin — placating Trump, who sucked up to Putin during his entire presidency, after Russia interfered in the U.S. election on behalf of Trump — and could no longer risk looking like they were apologists for an attack on Western democracy.
The Republican senators’ and House members’ standing ovation for Biden came just a week after they mostly stayed quiet as Trump called Putin’s moves “genius,” “wonderful” and “smart.”
So their newfound moral compass can’t in any way cover how they enabled Trump, who encouraged Putin, who is now causing the largest war in Europe in decades, targeting civilians and threatening an all-out nuclear holocaust.
The attack on democracy on January 6th that Trump inspired was motivated by the same grandiosity and lust for power that is motivating Putin. This is what authoritarian do, in addition to trying to keep themselves in power even if it means promoting delusional lies, rigging elections and engaging in violence.
The GOP cannot be let off the hook — or allowed to reframe their recent history as they now, desperately, try to play catch-up in condemning Putin. They spent years allowing Trump to create a world in which Putin was able to do what he’s embarking on right now. Trump attacked NATO, even pushed for dissolving it. He vilified European allies, driving a wedge between them and the U.S., while refusing to condemn Putin for interfering in the U.S. election. He even had secret meetings with Putin.
And Trump put Ukraine in grave danger, viewing the long-time U.S. ally as an enemy, blackmailing President Zelensky, refusing to send weapons to fight Russia while demanding dirt (that did not exist) on his opponent, Joe Biden. Trump even excused Putin for invading Crimea and said he could accept it and could lift sanctions against Russia. And let’s not forget how his former campaign manager, convicted felon Paul Manafort (who Trump eventually pardoned), worked for the pro-Russian Ukraine forces, and got the GOP to take out of its 2016 platform a pledge to send weapons and aide to Ukraine.
With all of the focus right now on Ukraine and Putin’s actions, the January 6th committee revelations remind us not only of the relationship between Trump and Putin, but how Trump was just like Putin: Attempting to stay in power, and amass more power, as long as possible and by any means necessary.
As the GOP now wants to look like it is fervently against Russian aggression as polls show almost 90% of Americans condemn Russia and support sanctions, Trump’s adoration of Putin must be rubbed in their faces.
They must be asked about it consistently by media. And Democrats have to hit them hard, using it in ads, laying the blame for emboldening Putin squarely at their feet. Show GOP House members praising Trump and the Big Lie, and then show Trump praising Putin and his Big Lies.
And underscore how, as all eyes are focused on the attack on democracy abroad, the GOP allowed —and still excuses — an attack on democracy right here in America.
https://signorile.substack.com/p/bombshell-16-committee-revelations
-
January 6 Committee Recap: Committee to John Eastman: We Can Play Hardball, Too!
We now know the committee says it has evidence that Donald Trump committed a crime. All thanks to his brilliant lawyer.
Here’s what happened this week
Arguably one of the most important developments of the January 6 investigation to date came into public view late Wednesday through a new legal filing from the select committee that says it has evidence that Donald Trump and some of his campaign allies “engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.” The filing says the committee has enough evidence to show that Trump and his allies broke multiple laws in trying to block Congress from certifying the 2020 election.
“The Select Committee also has a good-faith basis for concluding that the President and members of his Campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States,” the filing read.
The filing is the first time the committee’s lawyers have so specifically explained their theory for how Trump may have broken laws in trying to stay in office. The panel suggests in the new filing that Trump’s persistent lying about how the election was stolen constituted, in the words of The New York Times, “common law fraud.” In the filing, the select committee lawyers also said they have evidence that conservative lawyer John Eastman and others could face criminal charges like committing conspiracy to defraud the American people and obstructing official proceedings of Congress.
The evidence included in the new filings is limited, but it does show that testimony from longtime Trump communications aide Jason Miller was key, as was testimony from then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows’s adviser Ben Williamson, national security adviser Keith Kellogg, Mike Pence lawyer Greg Jacob, and Pence chief of staff Marc Short, among others.
The evidence in the filing includes email exchanges between Jacob and Eastman that get heated. At one point Jacob writes to Eastman that “thanks to your bullspombleprofglidnoctobuns, we are now under siege.” This was when Jacob, along with Pence, was being moved between secure locations during the Capitol riot. The emails show that Jacob strongly disagreed with Eastman’s arguments for how certification of the 2020 election could be stalled or blocked entirely and thrown back to state legislatures.
The context for how the filing came to light is important as well. Essentially, Eastman was trying to convince a judge to prevent the committee’s subpoena of documents in Eastman’s possession. Eastman had been arguing that those documents were protected through attorney-client privilege. The committee’s response was that attorney-client privilege does not include information between an attorney and client that could be related to hiding or advancing a crime. Eastman shot back that there was “no evidence” of that exception.
And that’s what made the committee respond with the filing. “The evidence supports an inference that President Trump, plaintiff and several others entered into an agreement to defraud the United States by interfering with the election certification process, disseminating false information about election fraud, and pressuring state officials to alter state election results and federal officials to assist in that effort,” the filing said.
An underlying theme of the filing is that it offers more details about Team Pence’s whereabouts and thinking that day. Besides the emails between Jacobs and Eastman, another piece of evidence—Trump’s private schedule—shows a call with then-Senator Kelly Loeffler at 11:17 a.m. and then a call with Pence at 11:20 a.m. Clearly, Pence’s team was in direct contact with the key figures who wanted Pence to stop the certification proceedings.
Whom to watch?
The blockbuster filing by attorneys for the committee named several key names, and it’s worth watching what these figures do next. The committee released excerpts from multiple depositions with top aides to Trump and Pence, such as campaign adviser Jason Miller and Pence counsel Greg Jacob.
Miller detailed a conversation between Trump and campaign aide Matt Oczkowski, who “delivered to the President in pretty blunt terms that he was going to lose.” The filings also included emails from Jacob to Eastman in which Jacob slammed the attorney for trying to concoct ways for Pence to overturn the election on January 6.
Along with awaiting more details from the depositions of Miller, Jacob, and other officials, it is worth watching to see what Eastman does next. He threw down a gauntlet at the committee, and it threw a bigger one back at him. What’s his next move? Charles Burnham, Eastman’s attorney, told Politico that “we look forward to responding in due course.”
But perhaps the most consequential figure in the coming days will be U.S. District Court Judge David Carter, who must determine whether more of Eastman’s records are protected by attorney-client privilege. The filings, indicating evidence of potential illegal activity, may convince Carter that Eastman’s emails held by his former employer, Chapman University, which he has sued to block the panel from obtaining, are not protected by that privilege. Carter has previously ruled against Eastman, rejecting his attempts to shield his records and ordering him to quickly review thousands of pages of emails to determine which he believes are protected by attorney-client privilege.
The committee is a legislative panel and has no authority to charge Trump or anyone else with a crime. But the filings released this week may provide an indication of what a potential criminal referral from the committee to the Justice Department would look like. The committee’s next steps will be critical as it wraps up its depositions and prepares for public hearings in the coming weeks.
Who got subpoenaed
The committee this week issued an additional six subpoenas to individuals “who promoted false claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent and participated in, or encouraged, various actions based on those false claims.” The subpoenas were issued to:
Cleta Mitchell, a conservative attorney who participated in the phone call in which Trump asked the Georgia secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn his loss, and was in contact with members of Congress to promote false election claims
Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who supported using fake slates of electors in key swing states that Trump lost
Christina Bobb, an attorney who the committee believes was involved in drafting an executive order to direct federal agencies to seize voting machines and was present with Rudy Giuliani’s legal team at the Willard Hotel on January 6
Katherine Friess, an attorney who the committee believes was involved in drafting an executive order to direct federal agencies to seize voting machines and traveled to Michigan in an attempt to obtain voting data
Kurt Olsen, an attorney who helped prepare a draft executive order to direct the Justice Department to subvert the election, and had multiple calls with Trump on January 6
Phillip Kline, who helped convene a meeting between Trump and more than 300 state legislators, many of whom later sent a letter to Pence urging him to delay the electoral certification
Friess is currently suing the committee to block it from obtaining her phone records.
Separately on Thursday, the committee issued a subpoena to Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is in a relationship with Donald Trump Jr. In a statement, Thompson and Cheney said that Guilfoyle “apparently played a key role organizing and raising funds” for the rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol. Thompson and Cheney also said that Guilfoyle had “backed out of her original commitment to provide a voluntary interview,” precipitating the need to issue a subpoena.
https://newrepublic.com/article/165602/january-6-committee-john-eastman-can-play-hardball-too
-
New footage shows Roger Stone scrambling on Jan. 6: 'I really want to get out of here'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/shutterstock.jpg?id=29477854&width=800&height=430)
Self-proclaimed political "dirty trickster" Roger Stone always portrays himself as the savviest, shrewdest, smartest operator in whatever room he's in. That's why it's curious that Stone, who years ago thought it was a good idea to have disgraced former president Richard Nixon's face tattooed on his back, would agree to allow a Danish documentary film crew follow and record him for two years leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection.
A report in today's Washington Post details what that video crew saw and heard. It's not helpful to Stone's pronouncements that he had nothing to do with former president Donald Trump's attempts to overturn the legitimate election results.
From the report: "As a mob ransacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Roger Stone, Donald Trump’s longest-serving political adviser, hurried to pack a suitcase inside his elegant suite on the fifth floor of the Willard hotel. He wrapped his tailored suits in trash bags, reversed his black face mask so its “Free Roger Stone” logo was hidden, then slipped out of town for a hastily arranged private flight from Dulles International Airport.
“I really want to get out of here,” Stone told an aide, as they were filmed at the hotel by a Danish camera crew for a documentary on the veteran Republican operative. Stone said he feared prosecution by the incoming attorney general, Merrick Garland. “He is not a friend,” Stone said.
Washington Post reporters reviewed more than 20 hours of video filmed for the documentary, “A Storm Foretold,” which will be released later this year. The footage, along with other reporting by the Washington Post, provides the most comprehensive account to date of Stone’s involvement in the former president’s effort to overturn the election and in the rallies in Washington that spilled over into violence on Jan. 6.
Stone privately coordinated post-election protests with prominent figures, and in January he communicated by text message with leaders of far-right groups that had been involved in the attack on the Capitol, the footage shows. The filmmakers did not capture conversations between Stone and Trump, but on several occasions, Stone told them or his associates that he remained in contact with the president.
Stone has denied having any involvement in the Capitol riot. "Let me stay this as categorically as I can. Any claim, assertion, implication or otherwise any accusation that I either knew about or was involved in any of the illegal acts in Washington, D.C. on January 6 is categorically false. There is no evidence to the contrary and an honest investigation will prove that," he told Newsmax last year.
Stone steadfastly has refused to give testimony or provide evidence to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. Last week, he sued members of the panel to try to block them from using a subpoena to obtain his telephone records. On the day of the attack, as he packed his bags, Stone told the filmmakers the riot was a mistake and would be “really bad” for the pro-Trump movement.
On the eve of the 2020 election, however, he seemed to welcome the prospect of clashes with left-wing activists. In a recorded conversation, as an aide spoke of driving trucks into crowds of racial justice protesters, Stone said: “Once there’s no more election, there’s no reason why we can’t mix it up. These people are going to get what they’ve been asking for.”
Stone declined the Washington Post's requests for an interview.
Watch:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/interactive/2022/roger-stone-documentary-capitol-riot-trump-election/?itid=hp_special-topic-1
-
MAGA rioter's militia friend tells jury he brought zip ties with him to Capitol
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-rioter-guy-reffitt.jpg?id=29471185&width=976&height=549)
Accused MAGA rioter Guy Reffitt faced more damning testimony on Friday, this time from a former member of the Texas Three Percenters militia.
NBC News reports that former Three Percenter Rocky Hardie told the jury that Reffitt brought a handgun and some zip ties with him as he stormed the United States Capitol building on January 6, 2021.
According to BuzzFeed News reporter Zoe Tillman, Hardie said that he asked Reffitt why he needed the zip ties, and Reffitt replied that he was bringing them along in case they needed to "detain" someone at the Capitol.
Hardie also acknowledged that he and Reffitt "joked" about grabbing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and dragging her by her feet down the steps of the Capitol.
Prosecutors also revealed during Friday's testimony that Reffitt sent around a series of panicked text messages after he learned law enforcement officers were interviewing members of the Texas Three Percenters in the days after the Capitol riots.
"This is not a drill," Reffitt wrote to other Three Percenters on January 10th, 2021. "Be prepared. The sh*t is now hitting the fan. Start purge of all previous conversations."
That last line is key to the prosecutors' case that Reffitt tried to obstruct justice, as it amounts to soliciting for the destruction of evidence.
Zoe Tillman:
Hardie talks about prep on Jan. 6 — he says Reffitt gave him zip ties, the "real heavy ones" that you use as handcuffs. Hardie says he asked Reffitt what those were for, Reffitt said it was in case they had to detain anybody or something to that effect, Reffitt carried some too
Hardie says they went to the car and each reassembled their rifles. Why? We were being prepared, what if something bad happened and we don't have time to put them back together, we were concerned for our safety, safety of people in general, brings up antifa threat again
Hardie says he got his handgun from the case, loaded it, put it in his shoulder holster and put a few additional magazines in the holster. Asked about Reffitt's handgun, Hardie says didn't see specifically, but Reffitt would have had it on his hip. Assembled ARs stayed in the car
Hardie says they went to the Ellipse area, he listened to Trump's speech "off and on," couldn't hear well, was more focused on the crowd. After the speech, the crowd moved "like a herd of cattle," someone called for medical help & Reffitt volunteered, and Hardie lost track of him
Hardie says they remained in radio contact, but he didn't see Reffitt until later in the day back at the hotel. Hardie described going to the Capitol, seeing people from a distance climbing up scaffolding, "looked like spiders" crawling up walls, saw ppl break through barricade
Hardie says Reffitt was in pain back at the hotel from being shot at/sprayed, Reffitt described his encounter with USCP Officer Kerkhoff, that Reffitt told Hardie he said, lady I don’t want to hurt you, but every time you shoot me I'm going to go forward
Hardie says Reffitt seemed proud, that Hardie was proud too that he'd been there, that he was "pretty impressed" by what Reffitt had described, that he felt Reffitt had more courage than he did, he wasn’t going to go up there. He recalls Reffitt's handgun in the room
Hardie says he went back to Reffitt's house to get his car, met Reffitt's wife/son/daughter (confirming narrative of Jackson Reffitt being home when they arrived back), confirms the participants on the Zoom call where Reffitt talked about trip to DC
1/10/21, Hardie confirms Reffitt sent a message via Telegram about state leader of TTP getting taken in for questioning by law enforcement. AUSA asks Hardie what was going through his mind. Reply: "Uh oh." Reffitt sends another message, "Start purge of all previous conversations"
Reffitt's lawyer William Welch is up for cross ex, has Hardie confirm that his immunity agreement doesn't mean he can't be charged, but that even though he's admitted to going on restricted grounds and carrying a firearm at the time, that he has not been charged to date
https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1499788184095531008
Armed Jan. 6 rioter had zip ties during Capitol attack, friend testifies at trial
Rocky Hardie testified that he and Guy Reffitt drove to D.C. from Texas armed with firearms and both believed the 2020 election was stolen.
WASHINGTON — Guy Reffitt was armed with a handgun and zip ties when he tried to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, a friend and fellow member of a right-wing group testified at the first Capitol riot trial on Friday.
Rocky Hardie, a former member of the Texas Three Percenters, testified that he and Reffitt traveled to D.C. from Texas in Reffitt’s Chevy Equinox, that was loaded up with their rifles, their handguns, and ammo.
Jurors previously heard testimony from Reffitt's son Jackson Reffitt, who tipped off the FBI about his father before Jan. 6, and then recorded his dad bragging about his participation in the riot. The jury is expected to begin deliberating next week.
Hardie testified that they stopped in Virginia to take their weapons apart before they traveled to the hotel where they stayed in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C.
Hardie described preparing for the events of the day on the morning of Jan. 6, describing how they went to Reffitt's car and reassembled their rifles (which he said they left in the vehicle) and strapped their handguns to their bodies before they went to former President Donald Trump's rally that preceded the Capitol attack.
Hardie said he and Reffitt were both aware of the strict gun laws in D.C., and that they'd even researched reciprocity laws in the states that they traveled through to see whether their concealed carry permits were valid. But they ultimately made the decision that it was worth being armed on Jan. 6 even if it was against the law.
"I think we used the phrase ‘It’s better to be tried by a jury of twelve than carried by six,’” Hardie testified. They decided they were "wiling to take that risk" of being charged for unlawfully carrying weapons, Hardie testified.
Hardie testified as part of an agreement with the federal government that bans prosecutors from using his testimony in the Reffitt case to build a case against him. The agreement does not mean that Hardie himself will not face charges in connection with Jan. 6.
Reffitt and Hardie, the latter testified, both believed Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, and joked about dragging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi down the stairs of the U.S. Capitol.
Hardie said that believed he and Reffitt were joking around, and that he didn't actually think that Reffitt would follow through. Hardie also testified that he'd assumed, from what he saw on television, that the Capitol would be very secure, and that it would be impossible for rioters to actually get near the building without being shot.
On Jan. 6, Reffitt and Hardie communicated with a radio. They were separated at the Capitol, he said, but Reffitt communicated what he was going to try to do.
"At some point he said he was trying to go inside the building," Hardie said.
Hardie, who said he himself still believes that the election was stolen, said he was initially proud of his participation in the events of Jan. 6.
“I felt like it was historically significant. I actually showed up,” Hardie said. “I wasn’t ashamed.”
Hardie said he was also impressed by Reffitt's actions.
“I felt like he had more courage than I did,” Hardie testified. “I wasn’t going to go up there.”
Hardie testified that he decided to leave the Texas Three Percenters after he got a visit from the FBI. The bureau also raided his home and his business, Hardie testified.
Reffitt's attorney has argued that his client exaggerates and rants, and that the government's case is based on “bragging and a lot of hype."
During a cross examination on Friday, Reffitt attorney William Welch asked Hardie about being visited by the FBI a few weeks after Jan. 6. Hardie testified that he declined to let the FBI inside his home, but answered limited questions outside. The FBI soon showed up with search warrants for his home and business.
Welch pressed Hardie on his immunity agreement, and pointed out that, as of the moment, he had not been charged for his actions on Jan. 6.
"You still haven't been charged with a crime, correct?" Welch asked, mentioning Hardie's business travels to Mexico, Florida, and an upcoming trip to Thailand. Hardie testified that it benefited him to tell the truth in an attempt to avoid being charged.
"Somebody in the government is going to decide, did I lie or did I not lie," Hardie testified.
"Mr. Reffitt brags, doesn't he?" Welch asked. "Mr. Reffitt uses hyperbole, doesn't he?" Hardie agreed that Reffitt bragged and exaggerated.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/armed-jan-6-rioter-zip-ties-capitol-attack-friend-testifies-trial-rcna18733
-
'Purge all previous conversations': Prosecutors reveal MAGA rioter's panicked texts at trial
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/traitors-get-shot-capitol-rioter-accused-of-threatening-kids-could-become-first-to-stand-trial.png?id=27677016&width=800&height=450)
Prosecutors on Friday revealed an incriminating text message sent by accused MAGA rioter Guy Reffitt, reports Politico's Kyle Cheney.
The text message in question came just four days after the Capitol riot when Reffitt learned that law enforcement officials had brought in members of the Texas Three Percenters militia in for questioning.
"This is not a drill," Reffitt wrote to other Three Percenters on January 10th, 2021. "Be prepared. The s**t is now hitting the fan. Start purge of all previous conversations."
That last line is key to the prosecutors' case that Reffitt tried to obstruct justice, as it amounts to soliciting for the destruction of evidence.
Earlier this week, Reffitt broke down in tears when he watched his 19-year-old son, Jackson Reffitt, testify against him at the start of the trial.
Among other things, Jackson Reffitt said his father sent messages to the family promoting a new civil war, while also talking about "rising up" and "destroying" the United States government.
Reffitt also revealed to jurors that he reported his own father to the FBI and he felt "dirty for doing so.
Read entire text message thread here:
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1499797340651233285
-
Infamous white nationalist's mom sues to block January 6 committee from obtaining his phone records
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/white-nationalist-figure-claims-bodyguard-attack-a-hate-crime.jpg?id=24700279&width=345&height=185)
On Friday, POLITICO's Kyle Cheney reported that the mother of infamous white supremacist live streamer Anthime Gionet, a.k.a. "Baked Alaska," is suing to block a subpoena from the House January 6 Committee seeking for Verizon to turn over his phone records.
Susanne Gionet, who owns the phone plan that her son uses, accuses the committee in her suit of "lack[ing] the lawful authority to demand such information it seeks to obtain" and issuing the subpoena to Verizon "without legal authority in violation of the Constitution of the United States."
The Jan. 6 select committee has subpoenaed Verizon for the phone records of Anthime Gionet — also known as BAKED ALASKA — the right-wing commentator who was charged with misdemeanors for breaching the Capitol.
Gionet’s mother, the account holder, is issuing to block the panel.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FNCtlYyXEAMyChj?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FNCtlZNXMAAGQZz?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Baked Alaska, who also took part in the 2017 "Unite the Right" neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, faces charges of disorderly conduct and entering a restricted building for his role in the January 6 attack — charges bolstered by the live stream he shot of himself staging the attack. He has also separately been arrested for allegedly vandalizing a Hanukkah display at the Arizona State Capitol a few weeks prior to January 6.
This is part of a broader strategy by the committee to obtain phone records from participants in the riots and allies of former President Donald Trump, which do not include the content of their calls but can reveal who they called and when. This information could help the committee determine whether any of the rioters were in contact with government officials.
Some other people whose records could be caught up in these subpoenas have sued, including far-right conspiracy theorist webcaster Alex Jones.
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1499889536905756678
-
MAGA rioter clad in 'CNN: FAKE NEWS' hat gets 51 months in jail for attacking cops with a pipe on Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/duke-edward-wilson.jpg?id=29480601&width=800&height=450)
A 68-year-old man sporting a hat that read “CNN: FAKE NEWS” -- and who attacked multiple officers at the U.S. Capitol with a pipe -- received one of the longest sentences handed down to date in connection with the January 6 riot.
Duke Edward Wilson, of Nampa Idaho, was sentenced Friday to 51 months in prison followed by 36 months of supervised probation and a fine of $2,000 by Judge Royce C. Lamberth. Wilson had pleaded guilty last September to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers and obstructing an official proceeding, both felonies.
“Lamberth said the 51-month sentence — the maximum allowed under federal sentencing guidelines — was necessary because the insurrection was 'a horrible day for our country,'" the Idaho Press reported. “It's a message that the court has to send, that our country cannot deal with that.”
The Press also reports:
“U.S. Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell told the judge during the hearing that he is still suffering from the injuries he suffered after Wilson's attack, underwent surgeries to fuse a bone in his foot and to repair his shoulder and may need additional shoulder surgeries.
“Prosecutors said Wilson charged a set of doors in the tunnel and prevented officers from closing them, and then tried to rain blows on the officers using a thin PVC pipe that he had apparently found on the ground. Gonell tried to block the pipe from hitting a fellow officer who had no helmet, he said.
“Both my hands were bleeding at that time from blocking,” Gonell said. “He insisted on continuing to fight me to prevent us from closing that door, that would enable him and his fellow insurrectionists to advance in the tunnel and the Capitol as members of Congress and the Senate were being evacuated from the very same route.”
“I remember vividly what happened that day to me, to him,” Gonell said. “More than one year later I am still not able to put on my police uniform due to those injuries because of what he did to me and my fellow officers.”
You can read the FBI criminal complaint against Wilson here:
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-sentence-2656845952/
-
Jan. 6 committee makes the case that Trump was involved in 'criminal' activity
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-committee-makes-case-trump-was-involved-criminal-activity-rcna18814
Judge rejects Eastman effort to slow down Jan. 6 committee
"Dr. Eastman’s liberty is not at issue—only his emails," Judge David Carter rules.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/04/eastman-delay-jan-6-committee-emails-00014320
-
Indictment of Proud Boys leader hints at coordination with other insurrection actors
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-loving-hate-group-leader-struggles-to-defend-chauvinism-during-cnn-interview-on-portland-chaos.png?id=24836514&width=800&height=429)
With the indictment of Enrique Tarrio, the government has laid out the case that the Proud Boys utilized a command structure to mobilize members to take part in the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol, while dropping tantalizing hints about connections between the nationalist street brawling group and other potential actors in the conspiracy to prevent Congress’ certification of Joe Biden’s election as president of the United States.
The new superseding indictment -- which also includes defendants Joe Biggs, Ethan Nordean, Charles Donohoe, Zach Rehl and Dominic Pezzola — already charged in two previous indictments — notes that on Dec. 19, 2020, President Trump announced a protest to coincide with Congress’ certification of the electoral college vote via tweet: “Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
The following day, according to the indictment, Tarrio created a new chapter called “Ministry of Self Defense,” or MOSD, which he described as a “national rally planning” chapter that would include only “hand selected” members. On the same day, Tarrio allegedly created an encrypted message group called “MOSD Leaders Group,” which included Biggs, Nordean, Rehl, Donohoe and three other unidentified members. Pezzola was added to a separate MOSD Members Group by an unindicted conspirator identified as “Person-1,” according to the government.
“Person-1” is described in the indictment as suffering a “knife wound” during an altercation in Washington, DC on Dec. 12. Those circumstances are consistent with Jeremy Bertino, a Proud Boy who marketed the “RWDS” patch — short for “Right Wing Death Squads” — and was frequently at Tarrio’s side, including during a January 2020 Second Amendment rally in Richmond, Va. and at a Million MAGA March in DC on Nov. 14, 2020.
Pointing towards coordination between Tarrio and other actors in the attempted insurrection, the indictment alleges that Tarrio communicated “with an individual whose identity is known to the grand jury” on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31. According to the indictment, the unidentified individual sent a nine-page document entitled “1776 Returns” to Tarrio that “set forth a plan to occupy a few ‘crucial buildings’ in Washington, DC on January 6, including House and Senate office buildings around the Capitol, with as ‘many people as possible’ to ‘show our politicians We the People are in charge.’”
The indictment quotes the sender of the document as saying, “The revolution is more important than anything.”
Tarrio’s response, quoted in the indictment suggests he shared the same sentiment: “That’s what every waking moment consists of…. I’m not playing games.”
The indictment alleges that Proud Boys leaders settled on a plan of specifically targeting the US Capitol as early as Jan. 3, quoting an unindicted conspirator identified only as “Person-3.”
“I mean the main operating theater should be out in front of the house of representatives,” the unidentified Proud Boys leader allegedly said in a voice note posted to the MOSD Leaders Group chat. “It should be out in front of the Capitol building. That’s where the vote is taking place and all of the objections. So, we can ignore the rest of these stages and all that s**t and plan the operations based around the front entrance to the Capitol building.”
Tarrio allegedly posted a voice note on Jan. 4, saying, “I didn’t hear this voice note until now, you want to storm the Capitol.”
Tarrio, who was then the national chairman of the Proud Boys, was arrested in Washington DC the same day on charges related to the Proud Boys’ theft of a “Black Lives Matter” flag from a Black church that they burned on Dec. 12, 2020. As a condition of pre-trial release, Tarrio was banned from DC and prevented from being at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Within one hour of Tarrio’s arrest, according to the indictment, Donohoe created a new group on the encrypted messaging app called “New MOSD Leaders Group.” A second group called “New MOSD Members Group” including 90 members was also reportedly created.
According to the government, at 7:15 p.m. on Jan. 4, Donohoe posted a message in the New MOSD Members Group stating, “Hey have been instructed and listen to me real good! There is no planning of any sorts. I need to be put into whatever new thing was created. Everything is compromised and we can be looking at Gang charges.”
Subsequently, according to the government, Donohoe wrote in the chat: “Stop everything immediately,” and then, “This comes from the top.”
The indictment signals that the government will argue that the Proud Boys played a critical role in the assault on the Capitol by highlighting members’ roles at critical points in the breach.
Shortly after 10 a.m. on Jan. 6, prior to Trump’s speech at the Ellipse, Nordean and Biggs led a large group of Proud Boys from the Washington Monument to the Capitol. Sometime around noon, the government alleges that Donohoe reported in a separate encrypted group chat that the group had grown to 200-300 Proud Boys. At about 12:53 p.m., Nordean, Biggs and Rehl led the group to the First Street pedestrian entrance near the Peace Monument.
The indictment notes a brief encounter between Biggs and Ryan Samsel, who has been separately charged with forcible assault on a federal agent and was the first person to walk up to a line of Capitol police officers and physically confront them.
Without naming Samsel, the new indictment against Proud Boys leadership notes: “Seconds before 12:53 p.m., Biggs was approached by an individual whose identity is known to the grand jury. The individual put one arm around Biggs’s shoulder and spoke to him. Approximately one minute later, this individual crossed the barrier that restricted access to the Capitol grounds. This was the first barrier protecting the Capitol grounds to be breached on January 6, 2021, and the point of entry for Nordean, Biggs, Rehl, Donohoe, and Pezzola.”
In another crucial move for the mob’s advance on the Capitol, Pezzola allegedly stole a riot shield from a Capitol police officer that he and Donohoe took turns carrying. The indictment notes that at “approximately 2:13 p.m., Pezzola used the riot shield he had taken from a Capitol police officer to break a window of the Capitol. The first members of the mob entered the Capitol through this broken window.”
While Tarrio was not present at the Capitol, the indictment indicates he was closely monitoring events.
“Don’t f***ing leave,” Tarrio wrote in a social media post at 2:38 p.m., according to the government.
Another social media post at 2:57 p.m. suggests that Tarrio did not realize that the government building breached by the Proud Boys and other rioters was the US Capitol. According to the government, Tarrio wrote, “1776,” and then, “Revolutionaries are now at the Rayburn building,” apparently referencing the “1776 Returns” plan he received on Dec. 30.
The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, which is conducting a separate investigation from the FBI, has looked into potential links between the Proud Boys and other actors like Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist who hosts InfoWars.
Following a report that Jones told congressional investigators that he encountered the Proud Boys at a Hooters restaurant following a rally at the Georgia State Capitol in November 2020, Bertino posted a photo on his Telegram channel that shows Jones seated next to Tarrio. Owen Shroyer and Samuel Montoya, a host and contributor respectively at InfoWars, have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 breach, but Jones has not been charged to date.
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/a-telegram-post-by-jeremy-bertino-confirms-a-meeting-between-proud-boys-leadership-and-infowars-host-alex-jones.jpg?id=29503310&width=980)
Prosecutors have also acknowledged they are aware of communication between the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group that recruits military veterans and retired law enforcement, prior to Jan. 6.
Court documents filed by the government last March show that Kelly Meggs, the state lead for the Florida Oath Keepers chapter, bragged on Dec. 19, 2020: “Well we are ready for the rioters, this week I organized an alliance between Oath Keepers, Florida 3%ers, and Proud Boys. We have all decided to work together and shut this s**t down.”
In another message on Dec. 22, Meggs reported to his fellow Oath Keepers: “Contact with PB and they always have a big group. Force multiplier.” In another message, he wrote: “I figure we could splinter off the main group of PB and come up behind them. F***ing crush them for good.”
The filings do not reveal the name of the Proud Boys leader who communicated with Meggs, but both Tarrio and Biggs lived in Florida at the time.
Even more significant, the new indictment released today cites a meeting between the leaders of the two organizations on the eve of the attempted insurrection.
The indictment notes that after being released from jail on Jan. 5, Tarrio did not immediately comply with the order to leave DC.
“After being turned away from the Phoenix Park Hotel, Tarrio traveled to a nearby underground parking garage, where he met with Elmer Stewart Rhodes III, the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers, and other individuals known and unknown to the grand jury, for approximately 30 minutes. During the encounter, a participant referenced the Capitol.”
https://www.rawstory.com/enrique-tarrio-indictment/
-
Indicted Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes whines Trump 'ghosted' his supporters on Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/stewart-rhodes-youtube.jpg?id=28830200&width=769&height=430)
One of the most high-profile individuals charged in connection with the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol appears to be having recriminations about aligning himself with then-President Donald Trump.
Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the far right group Oath Keepers, told The Intercept in a just published interview that he is disappointed that Trump didn't follow through on his pledge that January morning to join "Stop the Steal" supporters in their march to Capitol Hill to try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Rhodes spoke of what he sees as Trump’s betrayal with reporter Mike Giglio: “On January 6, he told all his followers, you know, now we are going to march on the Capitol, and I’ll be with you. And he just ghosted. Didn’t show up at his own party.” Trump, he continued, has left his supporters to face the investigation on their own, offering no financial or legal support to the people it targeted: “It’s like we don’t exist.” To Trump and the other big players in the “Stop the Steal” movement, he said, the Oath Keepers were “nothing. Cannon fodder.”
The group's leader expressed a sense of disillusionment with Trump, whom the militant crowd had treated as a champion and standard-bearer. Seventeen people with alleged links to the Oath Keepers have been arrested. Some of them cannot afford defense attorneys and are being represented by public defenders.
Meanwhile the former president plays golf multiple times per week in Florida and jets off to give speeches and fundraising for himself, but not for his supporters. Trump, Rhodes lamented in the interview, had failed to even issue pardons for January 6 suspects on his way out of office.
Rhodes was arrested Jan. 13 after being charged with seditious conspiracy for allegedly guiding a months-long effort to use political violence to prevent the swearing-in of President Biden. He has been ordered held without bail until trial.
https://theintercept.com/2022/03/08/oath-keepers-january-6-stewart-rhodes-trump/
Capitol rioter who carried a gun was 'ecstatic about what he did': prosecutors
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29495094&width=800&height=450)
Prosecutors rested their case against the first Capitol riot defendant to go to trial this Monday after telling jurors that rioter Guy Reffitt was "ecstatic about what he did" when he tried to storm the Capitol while armed on Jan. 6., NBC News reports.
Reffitt, who was allegedly carrying a handgun that day, pushed to the front of the mob and confronted officers, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Risa Berkower. "Every time he advanced, the crowd advanced," Berkower said. "You saw him lead the crowd."
“He was ecstatic about what he did, about what the mob did,” Berkower said. “Back home in Texas, he thought he has gotten away with it.”
The government provided evidence of Reffitt saying that he was armed when he attempted to enter the Capitol building. As NBC News points out, Reffitt was a member of the Texas Three Percenters militia, and posted numerous messages about the Capitol riot both before and after Jan. 6.
He also recorded himself saying he planned to drag Nancy Pelosi out of the Capitol by her heels.
"His friend, testifying under an immunity agreement, testified that they were both armed on Jan. 6. And afterwards, in a Zoom meeting Reffitt recorded, Reffitt admitted that he had his '.40' on his side when he attempted to storm the building," NBC News reports. "He also bragged about his exploits during discussions with his family, which were recorded by his son."
The charges Reffitt faces include transporting a rifle and semi-automatic handgun intended to be used in furtherance of a civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding, and entering and remaining on restricted grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Read the full report at NBC News:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/prosecutors-tells-jurors-ecstatic-jan-6-defendant-bragged-carrying-gun-rcna18967
-
Follow the money: Trump's $200 million fundraising arm now a target of riot committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-at-at-trump-international-in-new-jersey.jpg?id=25993691&width=800&height=469)
The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol is extensively following the money, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
"The House Jan. 6 committee has waged high-profile legal battles with Donald Trump and his closest allies as it tries to uncover every detail of what happened that day and determine what culpability the former president may have for the violent attack on the Capitol," The Post reported. "But it has also been focused on another part of its inquiry that panel members said is of equal importance to the success of the investigation — tracing every dollar that was raised and spent on false claims that the election was stolen."
The committee's "green team" specializing in following the money has successfully convinced some former campaign staffers to cooperate.
"Investigators in recent months have increased their focus on the vast digital fundraising efforts around overturning the election, trying to pinpoint if the Trump campaign and allied Republicans were engaged in a coordinated effort to raise money on fraudulent and misleading appeals, according to people involved in the probe. A number of individuals from the Trump campaign, the RNC and digital firms involved with post-election fundraising practices have been cooperating with the green team," the newspaper reported. "In the months after Trump’s election loss, the Trump campaign, the RNC, Trump Make America Great Again Committee and Save America PAC raised more than $200 million through a joint fundraising committee."
Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale has reportedly been questioned by the "green team."
"The committee is also asking witnesses whether there was ever a plan to spend the money on election matters, or if it was simply a scheme to raise money with lies and dubious claims, two people with knowledge of the questioning said. For instance, raising money to support an election defense fund — and then directing that money to other things, or not spending it — raises ethical and legal questions, according to legal experts and campaign finance groups," the newspaper reported.
Read the full report:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/08/jan-6-fundraising-trump/
Brad Parscale questioned by Jan. 6 Committee about Trump's money trail
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/judges-have-hit-the-trump-campaign-with-dozens-of-brutal-rulings-here-are-some-of-the-most-scathing.jpg?id=24836835&width=800&height=430)
The House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol has assembled a specialized "green team" to follow the money behind the rallies that proceeded the riots, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.
"The House Jan. 6 committee has waged high-profile legal battles with Donald Trump and his closest allies as it tries to uncover every detail of what happened that day and determine what culpability the former president may have for the violent attack on the Capitol," the newspaper reported. "But it has also been focused on another part of its inquiry that panel members said is of equal importance to the success of the investigation — tracing every dollar that was raised and spent on false claims that the election was stolen."
The newspaper reported that some members of Trump's campaign are cooperating with investigators.
"A number of individuals from the Trump campaign, the RNC and digital firms involved with post-election fundraising practices have been cooperating with the green team. The committee recently asked questions of Gary Coby, the Trump campaign’s top digital fundraising guru, and has interviewed both campaign and RNC staff, according to multiple people familiar with the matter. They have also questioned Brad Parscale, the former Trump campaign manager, and interviewed people who worked for him," the newspaper reported.
In December, Parscale complained to The Daily Beast that the committee was trying to get him to flip on Trump.
"The green team is led by Amanda Wick, a former federal prosecutor and official at the Treasury and Justice departments, and involves a number of select committee aides who have experience in analyzing bank records, Federal Election Commission data, understanding cryptocurrency and piecing together receipts of financial crimes, such as fraud," the newspaper reported.
@wpjenna Committee investigators ... even dialed up the owners of a portable-toilet company to find out who paid them to put toilets on the Ellipse the day of the insurrection." @jdawsey1 @JaxAlemany @thamburger on the effort to trace every dollar:
https://twitter.com/wpjenna/status/1501313196128411654
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/08/jan-6-fundraising-trump/
-
Republicans' lies about Jan. 6 are being dismantled before their very eyes
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mind-blowing-range-of-charges-coming-for-hundreds-in-capitol-coup-including-sedition-and-conspiracy.jpg?id=25444210&width=1500&height=1000)
The rioters Donald Trump sicced on the Capitol were still tearing the place apart on January 6, 2021, when the folks at Fox News began their effort to minimize the seriousness of the insurrection. Behind the scenes, hosts like Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity were frantically texting the White House, begging Trump to call his people back, but on-air, they were vigorously defending the insurrectionists.
"It's not like it's a siege," Fox host Bret Baier said while thousands of Trump supporters literally overran cops, broke windows, and chased terrified members of Congress through the hallways. Various Fox News personalities would go on to claim that Trump's supporters were only there to "peacefully protest" and pinned the blame for the violence on "antifa" infiltrators.
In the months after the insurrection, the Republican deflection and minimization only escalated.
Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia claimed it was "a normal tourist visit." Tucker Carlson of Fox News insisted, "It was not an insurrection." Ingraham argued, "one of the big lies that this was a coordinated insurrection." Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo called it a "peaceful protest." Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin said it "didn't seem like an armed insurrection." When Capitol law enforcement and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York spoke of the violence they witnessed and fear they felt that day, Fox News pundits accused them of lying. When faced with images of rioters assaulting police and trying to attack members of Congress, the pivot was to blame the left, usually by claiming the violence was committed by "antifa" or to accuse the FBI of orchestrating it as a false flag.
To say these lies are relentless is to understate the case. The lies were also effective, as the majority of Republicans now endorse false claims that the insurrection was either "peaceful" or "antifa" and sometimes, contradicting themselves, they claim both at once.
But this week illustrated how the Department of Justice has been, through increasingly aggressive prosecution of the insurrectionists and their co-conspirators, building up a formidable wall of evidence to disprove all of the GOP lies about January 6.
On Tuesday, the DOJ had two major victories in the war to tell the truth about what happened after Trump sent thousands of his goons to storm the Capitol. First, Guy Reffitt, a Texas "militia" member who was turned in by his own son, was found guilty on all five felony charges he faced for his part in the insurrection. This was the first jury trial for an insurrectionist, and a good sign that future such prosecutions won't go well for the rioters. Then the DOJ revealed that it had formally charged Enrique Tarrio, the then-leader of the neo-fascist Proud Boys, for conspiracy for his role in trying to stop the certification of Joe Biden's presidential election.
It's always exciting to see people who tried to overthrow democracy face punishment, but these court proceedings are consequential outside of the feelings of satisfaction they provide.
Both the conviction and the new charges contribute heavily to the public record that demonstrates, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that Republicans are lying when they minimize the events of January 6. It was, contrary to what Trump apologists would have you believe, a violent, armed, and organized insurrection. And yes, it was Trump supporters who did it — not "antifa" or the FBI.
Unlike the various rioters who pled down to trespassing and other minor charges, Reffitt was convicted of some very serious crimes: two weapons charges related to the gun he brought to the Capitol, a charge of obstructing an official proceeding, and obstruction of justice, along with the trespassing charge. Similarly, Tarrio's indictment on conspiracy charges is not a small matter. Tarrio wasn't even at the Capitol that day, as he was busy dealing with charges due to other crimes he committed in the run-up to the insurrection. But he was the ringleader of the part the Proud Boys played in the riot, and for that, he's being hit with conspiracy charges. This follows a similar indictment of Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, who was charged in January with seditious conspiracy. Like Tarrio, Rhodes stayed out of the actual Capitol building that day, but there's a mountain of evidence that he was coordinating his followers that did participate in the attack.
Taken together, all this evidence paints a very clear picture of the insurrection as an organized conspiracy, one that was orchestrated by people who were eager and ready to use violence to steal the election for Trump. The only reason it wasn't worse is because there were enough Capitol police who were brave and competent and were able to get members of Congress to safety before the rioters could get to them. Indeed, the video footage of a Capitol officer shooting insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt is a chilling reminder of how close the rioters got to actually hurting or killing elected representatives and their staff. If he hadn't shot her and scared the crowd into backing off, they absolutely would have run down the fleeing congressional members.
Crucially, as the Washington Post reported last week, Trump's close friend and longtime unofficial aide Roger Stone was in frequent touch with both Rhodes and Tarrio in the lead-up to the insurrection. Stone erased some of these communications before the FBI got a hold of his phone, as well. That suggests that those charged with conspiracy are only one layer, in the grotesque Trump pyramid of lackeys, away from Trump himself.
How much will that matter in the end? So far, there's been very little evidence that Attorney General Merrick Garland is interested in prosecuting Trump for inciting the insurrection, much less for any potential role Trump had in organizing it. It's reached the point where members of the House committee to investigate January 6 routinely go on cable news and practically beg Garland to go after Trump. If Garland really is refusing to prosecute Trump for fear that it will look "political," then he must reconsider.
It's not just a matter of protecting democracy from the next Trump coup. It's also a matter of professional pride. If Trump is able to successfully steal the White House in 2024, which he is openly plotting to do, all of these carefully pieced together cases against the January 6 conspiracists will go up in smoke, as Trump hands out pardons like candy. To show respect for all the hard work DOJ employees put into putting these people in prison, Garland needs to make sure that they stay there.
That said, it is helpful to have a public record built up that definitively shows that the GOP and Fox News claims to minimize January 6 are all lies. It won't convince the diehard Trump supporters, of course. They're so well-practiced at endorsing lies that there's no such thing as evidence definitive enough to get them to back down. But polling and focus group data show there's a massive mushy middle of Americans who don't approve of January 6, but also have been impacted by right-wing propaganda so they don't understand how coordinated, purposeful, and violent the insurrection actually was. If and when the January 6 committee gets around to holding public hearings about the insurrection, we can expect a massive blitz of the same lies that both Republicans and right-wing media have been telling for months. These court documents offer a useful counterbalance and will help shame the mainstream media into not running with "both sides say, who can tell?" style coverage of the claims being made.
Still, if the DOJ wants these charges to stick, they would be wise to prosecute Trump. Otherwise, he has a very good chance of installing himself as president and issuing the mass pardons he has already promised. If only to save their own work product, the DOJ needs to seriously consider charging Trump for some of his many, many crimes. A public record is nice. Actual consequences for trying to overthrow democracy are better.
https://www.rawstory.com/republicans-lies-about-jan-6-are-being-dismantled-before-their-very-eyes/
-
Jan. 6 committee reveals why it subpoenaed RNC fundraising records
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-house-select-committee-to-investigate-the-january-6th-attack-on-the-u-s-capitol.jpg?id=29220921&width=1500&height=843)
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday shed new light as to why it subpoenaed Salesforce over fundraising records for the Republican National Committee.
"The Select Committee is seeking information from Salesforce regarding whether and how the Trump campaign used Salesforce’s platform to disseminate false statements about the 2020 election in the weeks leading up to the January 6th attack. Accordingly, the Select Committee seeks documents and a deposition regarding these and other matters that are within the scope of the Select Committee’s inquiry," select committee chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said in a Feb. 23 subpoena.
The RNC has filed a lawsuit to block the select committee from obtaining the Salesforce records.
The select committee addressed the information in a thread posted to Twitter on Wednesday evening.
"Between Election Day 2020 and January 6th, the RNC and the Trump campaign solicited donations by pushing false claims that the election was tainted by widespread fraud. These emails encouraged supporters to put pressure on Congress to keep President Trump in power," the committee said. "The Select Committee issued a subpoena to an email fundraising vendor in order to help investigators understand the impact of false, inflammatory messages in the weeks before January 6th, the flow of funds, & whether contributions were actually directed to the purpose indicated."
On Tuesday, The Washington Post reported the committee has created a "green team" to follow the money.
"Investigators in recent months have increased their focus on the vast digital fundraising efforts around overturning the election, trying to pinpoint if the Trump campaign and allied Republicans were engaged in a coordinated effort to raise money on fraudulent and misleading appeals, according to people involved in the probe. A number of individuals from the Trump campaign, the RNC and digital firms involved with post-election fundraising practices have been cooperating with the green team," the newspaper reported. "In the months after Trump’s election loss, the Trump campaign, the RNC, Trump Make America Great Again Committee and Save America PAC raised more than $200 million through a joint fundraising committee."
@January6thCmte Between Election Day 2020 and January 6th, the RNC and the Trump campaign solicited donations by pushing false claims that the election was tainted by widespread fraud.
These emails encouraged supporters to put pressure on Congress to keep President Trump in power.
The Select Committee issued a subpoena to an email fundraising vendor in order to help investigators understand the impact of false, inflammatory messages in the weeks before January 6th, the flow of funds, & whether contributions were actually directed to the purpose indicated.
https://twitter.com/January6thCmte/status/1501736199781765123
-
Nobody would be suing to hide documents and records if they were innocent.
Jan. 6 committee wants Salesforce to hand over RNC fundraising docs -- but RNC is suing to block it
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rnc-s-ronna-mcdaniel-s-attempt-to-celebrate-flipped-seats-blows-up-in-her-face-in-spectacular-fashion.jpg?id=26758830&width=1500&height=806)
The House Select Committee investigating January 6th riots is now asking Salesforce to hand over Republican National Committee fundraising documents that it believes can be linked to the siege of the Capitol.
Axios reports that the RNC has filed a lawsuit with the aim of blocking the committee from obtaining the documents.
The report also details the reasons the committee has stated for why it wants access to such sensitive material.
"The Feb. 23 subpoena, reviewed by Axios, shows the intensity of the panel's efforts to link the assault with official fundraising and engagement efforts — and to learn precisely who was crafting and sending emails and how they impacted supporters who read them," writes Axios. "The substance of the Salesforce subpoena seeks documents from the RNC's fundraising platform vendor, owned by Salesforce, that the committee says could contain evidence of fundraising practices based on falsehoods that may have contributed to the attack."
The effort to obtain the RNC records is particularly notable given that two members of the January 6th committee -- Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) -- are Republicans.
Read the full report at Axios.
https://www.axios.com/rnc-lawsuit-salesforce-jan6-committee-05488227-4ea9-49ee-8208-52ead613db56.html
Stephen Miller is still on his family's phone plan -- and he's suing to stop the Jan. 6 committee from getting their records
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/stephen-miller-blames-the-media-for-trump-losing-court-cases.jpg?id=24697146&width=1500&height=805)
It was revealed on Wednesday that former Trump aide Stephen Miller is still on his family's mobile phone plan after he filed a lawsuit against the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riots aimed at blocking them from accessing his phone records.
The Daily Beast reports that Miller "filed the suit under both his name and Carron Drive Apartments LP, a business that registered a T-Mobile family plan for Miller and his parents."
Miller accused the committee of making an overly broad request for phone records, which he said could turn up personal information that could be used by "persons who are interested in merely making partisan points or harassing Mr. Miller."
The House Select Committee is seeking Miller's phone records from the dates of November 1, 2020, through January 31, 2021.
Several Trump allies and former Trump officials have sued to stop the committee from accessing their phone records, including conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/stephen-miller-heads-to-court-to-fight-jan-6-committees-subpoena-for-phone-records-from-capitol-riot
FBI arrests MAGA-rioting New York man accused of 'blind-siding' Capitol cop with 'football-type tackle'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/ralph-joseph-celentano-iii-doj.png?id=29511149&width=1500&height=843)
On Wednesday, CBS News reported that federal authorities have arrested a 54-year-old man from Broad Channel, New York City, accused of participating in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — and of violently tackling a Capitol Police officer to the ground.
"The Justice Department says Ralph Joseph Celentano III, of Broad Channel, New York, 'blind-sided' a Capitol Police officer from behind in a 'football-type tackle,' pushing the officer over a ledge on the Capitol's west terrace, according to an account the officer gave investigators," reported Robert Legare. "The officer, an Iraq war veteran identified only by his initials 'K.E.' in the criminal complaint, was pushed over the ledge and landed on the terrace below."
Per court documents, the officer said he was thinking as he fell off the ledge, "I didn't survive a war to go out like this."
According to the report, authorities tracked down Celentano by using data from his EZPass and information provided by his "on and off again girlfriend."
Almost 800 people have been charged in the attack on the Capitol, with the charges ranging from misdemeanor unlawful picketing to assaulting police officers, and, in the case of leaders of the far-right paramilitary group the Oath Keepers, seditious conspiracy.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-york-man-accused-of-assaulting-capitol-police-with-football-type-tackle-on-january-6/
-
Michael Flynn pleads the Fifth before the Jan. 6 committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/judge-unloads-on-michael-flynn-i-cant-hide-my-disgust.jpg?id=24697876&width=1500&height=806)
Many allies of former President Donald Trump have said that they won't comply with subpoenas by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Gen. Michael Flynn is one of those in court fighting, but he did speak to the House committee.
NBC News reported a "appeared before the January 6 Committee today in compliance with their subpoena and, on advice of counsel, exercised his 5th Amendment right to decline to answer the Committee's questions. This privilege protects all Americans, not just General Flynn."
"During the deposition, Committee staff insinuated that General Flynn's decision to decline to answer their questions constituted an admission of guilt, consistent with the inaccurate similar statements of the Committee Chair about invocation of the 5th Amendment," the letter continued.
But it isn't the Committee that could be Flynn's biggest problem.
“The mob takes the Fifth," Trump said after an aide to Hillary Clinton did so. “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?”
In 2014, Trump said, “If you are innocent, do not remain silent. You look guilty as hell!”
The comments from Trump aren't accurate and every defendant does have the right against self-incrimination, despite what the former president says.
"Further, General Flynn's invocation of his constitutional rights is presently before a federal court in the ongoing case General Flynn filed to protect himself from the Constitutional overreach of this Committee. The Committee's insistence on proceeding with this deposition while this matter is still being litigated left General Flynn with no other choice," the letter also said.
Flynn is suing to block the subpoena saying it would incriminate himself. While some questions about his behavior could do that, subpoenas can't be blocked that way. An individual would simply comply with the subpoena and then answer questions that would incriminate him. There will likely be many questions of Flynn's observations that wouldn't implicate him in anything.
See the letter below:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FNg68oaWUAAGMKz?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FNg68oZXMAotrYy?format=jpg&name=small)
https://www.rawstory.com/michael-flynn-pleads-the-fifth/
-
Feds found Proud Boys leader in possession of 'a detailed plan to storm government buildings': NYT
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/enrique-tarrio.jpg?id=25693634&width=1500&height=857)
Federal prosecutors are claiming that Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was in possession of a nine-page document that the New York Times describes as "a detailed plan to surveil and storm government buildings around the Capitol on Jan. 6 last year."
The Times indicates that the document, which is entitled "1776 Returns," may be a linchpin in the government's efforts to prove conspiracy charges against Tarrio, whom the government says directed the storming of the Capitol even though he was not personally on hand to do so.
"The document does not specifically mention an attack on the Capitol building itself," reports the Times. "But in targeting high-profile government buildings in the immediate area and in the detailed timeline it set out, the plan closely resembles what actually unfolded when the Capitol was stormed by a pro-Trump mob intent on disrupting congressional certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory."
The Times' report also provides key details of the document's contents.
"Broken into five parts — Infiltrate, Execution, Distract, Occupy and Sit-In — the nine-page document recommends recruiting at least 50 people to enter each of the seven government buildings and advises protesters to appear 'unsuspecting' and to 'not look tactical,'" the paper writes.
Read the full report here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/14/us/politics/enrique-tarrio-jan-6-document.html
-
Justice Department charges Arizona MAGA rioter with punching police at Capitol: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jacob-zerkle-doj.png?id=29536493&width=1500&height=843)
On Monday, CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, the chief correspondent covering the arrests and trials of January 6 Capitol attack defendants, reported that a new case has been filed against an Arizona man named Jacob Zerkle, whom prosecutors allege punched police at the Capitol during the chaos.
According to MacFarlane, prosecutors say that Zerkle "did not attend former President Trump's speech because he went to the Capitol to protest, not to listen to speeches" — a reference to the former President's "Stop the Steal" rally that immediately preceded, and fed people into, the riot.
Nearly 800 people have been charged for their involvement in their attack on the Capitol. The majority face misdemeanor charges like trespassing or unlawful picketing, but higher-level defendants face more serious charges including assault of police officers and — in the case of several members of the far-right paramilitary group the Oath Keepers — seditious conspiracy.
Scott MacFarlane
@MacFarlaneNews
"New wave of Capitol riot cases continues to form
Prosecutors charge Jacob Zerkle of Arizona. Per charging docs: He's suspected of punching police
Feds: Zerkle "did not attend former President Trump’s speech because he went to the Capitol to protest, not to listen to speeches"
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1503482362948112393
-
Prosecutors unveil 'overwhelming' evidence in Jan. 6 conspiracy case against Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/enrique-tarrio-speaks-at-a-press-conference-before-a-north-portland-rally-in-september-2020.jpg?id=25541196&width=1500&height=843)
The government sharpened its case against Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, arguing in a memo in support of pretrial detention on Monday that he “imposed a command-and-control structure” on a newly created “national rally planning” chapter set up to carry out the attack.
Tarrio, who was the national chairman of the Proud Boys at the time of the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol, went before a federal judge in Miami for a detention and removal hearing on Tuesday morning. At the hearing’s conclusion, Magistrate Judge Lauren F. Louis ordered Tarrio to remain jailed while awaiting arraignment on his charges in the District of Columbia.
The court filing provides new details about Tarrio’s role in setting up a series of encrypted group chats under the name Ministry of Self-Defense, or MOSD, that were used to vet Proud Boys for inclusion in the operation at the US Capitol on Jan. 6. According to the government, Tarrio and other leaders “imposed a command-and-control structure on the new chapter,” which included operational and marketing councils, with leaders empowered to hand-pick Proud Boys to become members of the MOSD.
In its court filing on Monday, the government alleged that on Jan. 3, three days before the attack, one of Tarrio’s picks for the MOSD posted a message reading, “Time to stack those bodies in front of Capitol Hill.”
Another member is alleged to have asked in the same discussion: “So are the normies and other attendees going to push thru police lines and storm the capital buildings? A few million vs A few hundred coptifa should be enough.”
The same member, according to the government, raised a scenario that turned out to be prophetic.
“What would they do [if] 1 million patriots stormed and took the capital building,” he wrote. “Shoot into the crowd? I think not.”
According to the government, an un-indicted co-conspirator labeled “Person 3” — and subsequently identified as John Charles Stewart, a member of the Operational Council — responded: “They would do nothing because they can do nothing.”
The recent court filing also provides new detail about a meeting between Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes at a hotel parking garage on the eve of the Capitol attack. The meeting took place after Tarrio had been released and ordered to leave DC, following his Jan. 4 arrest on charges of burning a Black Lives Matter banner stolen from a Black church. (Rhodes is currently charged with seditious conspiracy.)
Tarrio told another individual in the parking-garage meeting that, according to the government, “he had cleared all of the messages on his phone before he was arrested” and that “no one else would be able to get into his phone because there were ‘two steps’ to get into it.”
Tarrio’s indictment hints at broader coordination between the Proud Boys and other actors involved in the effort to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election with an allegation that Tarrio received a nine-page document on Dec. 30 or Dec. 31 that outlined a plan to occupy “crucial buildings” in Washington, DC on Jan. 6.
The government argues that even after his arrest, “Tarrio continued to direct the conspiracy.” After meeting with Rhodes, the government alleges that Tarrio traveled to Baltimore and, using associates’ phones, joined new encrypted chats for MOSD leaders and members that were set up after the original chats were shut down following his arrest. According to the government, Tarrio posted at least one message to the New MOSD Leaders Group chat shortly after midnight on Jan. 6.
The government alleges that the communications in the encrypted chats clearly show that Ethan Nordean and Joe Biggs, Tarrio’s codefendants were designated “to take charge on the ground.” The two men can be seen in video filmed by Proud Boy Eddie Block leading hundreds of Proud Boys from the Washington Monument to the Capitol on Jan. 6. The government alleges that Nordean and Biggs were continuously “coordinating” with and “deferring to Tarrio.” As evidence, the government cites a message posted by Biggs in the MOSD Leaders Group chat at 9:17 p.m. on Jan. 5: “Just spoke with Enrique.”
The court filing also quotes Biggs as saying, “I gave Enrique a plan. The one I told the guys and he said he had one.”
It remains unknown who provided the nine-page document outlining plans to occupy government buildings to Tarrio.
But the government’s prosecution points to Stewart, a member of the Operational Council, as a person who helped the Proud Boys settle on the Capitol building as a target. According to the indictment, Tarrio stated in the MOSD Leaders Group that he wanted to wait until Jan. 4 to make final plans.
Apparently ignoring Tarrio’s wishes, Stewart — identified in the indictment as “Person 3” — posted a voice note in the chat at 7:10 p.m. on Jan. 3 that used military language: “I mean the main operating theater should be out in front of the house of representatives. It should be out in front of the Capitol building. That’s where the vote is taking place and all of the objections. So, we can ignore the rest of these stages and all that sh*t and plan the operations based around the front entrance to the Capitol building. I strongly recommend you use the national mall and not Pennsylvania avenue though. It’s a wide open space, you can see everything coming from all angles.”
The following day, Tarrio acknowledged Stewart’s recommendations, according to the government, raising no objections.
“I didn’t hear this voice note until now, you want to storm the Capitol,” he said according to the government.
Like Tarrio, Stewart was not present in Washington, DC on Jan. 6. Two Proud Boys, one former and another current, told LNP/Lancaster News that Stewart was in the hospital dealing with a medical issue. At the time of Tarrio’s arrest on March 8, the government had a search warrant for Stewart’s home in Carlisle, Pa. to collect evidence.
The government argued on Monday that Tarrio should remain in jail pending trial because he is a risk to the safety of the community and a flight risk. The government also said Tarrio is a risk for obstructing justice based on “public comments aimed at chilling witnesses against his co-conspirators.”
As evidence, the government cited a story by Reuters reporting that Tarrio sent a voice message to Proud Boys around the country, saying, “The moment that they think one of the guys flipped, it throws everything off and it makes everybody turn on each other, and that’s what we are trying to f***ing avoid.”
Along with codefendants Nordean, Biggs, Charles Donohoe, Zach Rehl and Dominic Pezzola, Tarrio is set to be arraigned by Judge Timothy Kelly in federal court in the District of Columbia on March 22.
The government argued that the evidence against Tarrio is “overwhelming,” while calling him “a danger to the community.”
The government alleges that Tarrio posted in the encrypted chat groups throughout the day on Jan. 6, and after the attack wrote, “They’ll fear us doing it again.”
When one member asked what they should do next, Tarrio reportedly responded at 4:14 p.m.: “Do it again.”
https://www.rawstory.com/command-and-control-government-sharpens-conspiracy-case-against-proud-boys-leader-tarrio/
-
Jan. 6 committee obtains footage from documentary crew that filmed Proud Boys and Three Percenters
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/police-will-be-first-to-testify-in-capitol-riot-probe-hearing.jpg?id=27409289&width=1500&height=1066)
The House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riots has now obtained video footage from a documentary crew that was following around members of the Proud Boys and the Three Percenter militia ahead of January 6th.
Politico reports that the footage obtained by the committee "captured crucial moments during the run up to the assault on the Capitol — including snippets of an encounter between leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers."
Included in the footage is a meeting between Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Three Percenters founder Stewart Rhodes that took place just before the riots.
Rhodes has been charged with engaging in a seditious conspiracy for his role in the riots, while Tarrio this month was also arrested and charged with conspiracy.
The House Select Committee has so far interviewed hundreds of witnesses related to its investigation of the Capitol riots, and has even indicated in court filings that it believes it has uncovered evidence of criminal behavior by former President Donald Trump and attorney John Eastman as they tried to stop the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
The committee is currently slated to begin public hearings next month.
Jan. 6 panel obtains riot footage from film crew that trailed Proud Boys
Goldcrest Films International filmed both inside and outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 and captured a meeting between the leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers.
The Jan. 6 select committee has obtained footage from a documentary film company that captured crucial moments during the run up to the assault on the Capitol — including snippets of an encounter between leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
The documentary company, Goldcrest Films International, obtained key footage while filming outside the Capitol on Jan. 6 and following members of the mob inside. But most notably, the crew was present during a 30-minute meeting between Proud Boys national leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes, an exchange that has become of interest to federal prosecutors.
Rhodes has been charged with seditious conspiracy for his role on Jan. 6, while Tarrio is facing felony obstruction charges.
A source familiar with the Goldcrest footage indicated that the select committee has begun reviewing it as part of its investigation into the factors that caused the insurrection.
Goldcrest documentarians have described in previous news reports being given unusually broad access to Tarrio and other members of the Proud Boys. The company has already been cited in recent Justice Department filings related to the prosecution of several members of the Jan. 6 mob. The footage has helped FBI investigators identify some of those who have since been charged with breaching the Capitol.
A spokesperson for the select committee declined to comment on the footage.
The select committee has divided its expansive probe into five distinct teams examining all aspects of the Jan. 6 attack, from former President Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the election to the organizers of a Jan. 6 rally that preceded the attack. One of those teams is focused on the role of domestic extremism, including groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys. Both Tarrio and Rhodes testified to the select committee in recent weeks but largely pleaded the Fifth.
One person who was reportedly present during the Tarrio-Rhodes encounter — first revealed by Reuters — was freelance photographer Amy Harris. Harris has had her phone records subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 panel and sued late last year to block the demand.
She indicated in the lawsuit that she first connected with Tarrio in the fall of 2020, while she was documenting protests and rallies. He then agreed to let her do a “day-in-the-life type” profile, for which she began tracking him in early December 2020, her attorneys say. It’s unclear if Harris was contracted to do the profile for a particular news outlet or was working on her own.
“Harris’s work documenting Tarrio throughout the remainder of 2020 earned her Tarrio’s trust as a journalist and, accordingly, the trust of the members of his group,” her attorney John Seiver wrote in the lawsuit, “thus allowing her close access as she visually documented their activities with her photos.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/15/jan-6-panel-obtains-riot-footage-from-film-crew-that-trailed-proud-boys-00017545
-
Jan. 6 committee to get RNC's Salesforce records on Wednesday unless judge intervenes
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/the-house-select-committee-to-investigate-the-january-6th-attack-on-the-u-s-capitol.jpg?id=29220921&width=1500&height=843)
The House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol is poised to receiving fundraising records from Salesforce, which is a Republican National Committee (RNC) vendor.
However, the RNC is suing and trying to block Salesforce from handing over its records.
"Salesforce’s counsel represented to the RNC that absent a pending motion for emergency relief from this court, Salesforce would begin to produce documents to the Select Committee in compliance with the Salesforce Subpoena on Wednesday, March 16, 2022," the RNC said in a new court filing. "The RNC has added Salesforce as a party to this action in order to ensure it can obtain effective and complete emergency relief until this dispute is finally resolved on the merits."
Salesforce was subpoenaed by the select committee in February.
"There is evidence suggesting that numerous defendants charged with violations related to the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and others present on the Capitol grounds that day were motivated by false claims about the election," the subpoena read. "The Select Committee is seeking information from Salesforce regarding whether and how the Trump campaign used Salesforce’s platform to disseminate false statements about the 2020 election in the weeks leading up to the January 6th attack. Accordingly, the Select Committee seeks documents and a deposition regarding these and other matters that are within the scope of the Select Committee’s inquiry."
The select committee has assembled a "green team" to follow the money.
"The committee is also asking witnesses whether there was ever a plan to spend the money on election matters, or if it was simply a scheme to raise money with lies and dubious claims, two people with knowledge of the questioning said. For instance, raising money to support an election defense fund — and then directing that money to other things, or not spending it — raises ethical and legal questions, according to legal experts and campaign finance groups," The Washington Post reported last Tuesday.
Salesforce has informed the RNC that it will begin giving documents to the Jan. 6 select committee *tomorrow* if a court doesn't intervene.
Details TK
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FN7fM5aX0AU4iOk?format=png&name=medium)
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.241102/gov.uscourts.dcd.241102.6.0_1.pdf
-
Georgia county GOP chairwoman arrested for Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mandy-robinson-hand.jpg?id=29542387&width=1500&height=843)
The chairwoman of the Taylor County Republican Party is facing four federal charges for her alleged role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Mandy Robinson-Hand and her husband, Charles Hand III, were arrested Friday by the FBI and charged with four misdemeanors related to their alleged entry into the Capitol alongside hundreds of others in the pro-Trump crowd," The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday. "The evening before her March 11 arrest, Robinson-Hand advertised a political fundraiser for congressional candidate Wayne Johnson on her Facebook page."
Johnson worked in the Department of Education during the Trump administration and is challenging Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-GA).
"Photos included in the affidavit show the couple walking through the Capitol holding hands. But a documentary video archived online shows the couple in the plaza by the West Terrace amid a crowd of rioters fighting with a line of Metro DC Police," the newspaper reported. "Robinson-Hand isn’t the only political figure arrested in the massive Jan. 6 investigation. Several politicians from other states have been among the more than 775 people arrested so far by the FBI, including some state legislators (although none from Georgia)."
The newspaper reports she previously served four months in jail after receiving a five-year prison sentence on a drug charge.
The newspaper reported "a statement from the Georgia Republican Party did not speak directly to the alleged actions of Robinson-Hand, but condemned violence at the Capitol."
Republican county chairwoman latest Georgian arrested in Jan. 6 probe.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1503835427572174861/LRquinG4?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://www.ajc.com/news/investigations/republican-county-chairwoman-arrested-in-jan-6-investigation/YJI2APGSEBDGROFDAXVHKZE4HU/
-
Scott MacFarlane
@MacFarlaneNews
"More arrests coming. Justice Dept issued this update on investigation into US Capitol siege:
"FBI continues to seek the public’s help in identifying more than 350 individuals believed to have committed violent acts on... Capitol grounds, including over 250 who assaulted police"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FNrQ_-xXsAEEswu?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1504434121296146434
NEW: Wave of new Jan 6 arrests continues to grow. Feds announce Riley Kasper of Wisconsin is charged, alleging he directed pepper spray at police and saiid on social: “It was my group that busted the first gate & kept chasing the cops down & pushing them back at the Capitol”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOD1bCBVQA44GsN?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1504472127101046791
-
Look at Ted Cruz taking pictures with white nationalist militia members.
MAGA-rioting Three Percenter pleads guilty to assaulting DC Metro police officer with a pole
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/ready-for-war-unarrested-poletosser-rioter-flagrantly-taunts-fbi-poses-with-gopers-and-patrols-the-border-with-his-pals.png?id=28157129&width=1500&height=807)
A Texas Three Percenter militia leader is pleading guilty to assaulting an DC Metropolitan police officer on the US Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021.
Lucas Denney, the 44-year-old president of the Patriot Boys militia, admitted in federal court on Thursday that he forcibly struck an officer with a PVC pole during a skirmish between pro-Trump rioters and officers in front of the Capitol.
According to a statement of offense submitted by the government today, rioters were throwing debris at the police and Denney worked his way through the crowd attempted to grab a canister of crowd-control spray from the officer who was periodically deploying it. Then, after retreating into the crowd for about a minute, Denney picked up the PVC pole off the ground and swung it at the officer.
Soon afterwards, according to the government, Denney picked up a large tube and launched it into a line of officers guarding the west side of the Capitol building.
Before Denney entered his plea on Thursday, Assistant US Attorney Jennifer Rozzoni told Judge Randolph Moss that the government has not decided whether to pursued additional charges against Denney related to the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol. Although the indictment includes only the single charge of assaulting an officer, the initial complaint included several other offenses, including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
Donald Hazard, described as the sergeant of arms of the Patriot Boys, was also charged with conspiracy alongside Denney, although Hazard has waived his rights under the Speedy Trial Act.
Denney indicated during his plea hearing on Thursday that he was surprised to learn that by pleading to the single assault charge he wasn’t foreclosing on the possibility that the government could come back with additional charges.
“I didn’t know that, no sir,” Denney told Judge Moss.
Moss declared a recess so that Denney could confer with his lawyers for about 20 minutes before proceeding with the pleading.
Denney’s lawyer, Bill Shipley, interrupted Moss while the judge was warning the defendant that he could still face legal jeopardy. Shipley, a former prosecutor, told Moss that the appellate courts are currently split on whether the government can bring additional charges in cases similar to this one, adding that the DC circuit has not addressed it, and the US Supreme Court has declined to resolve the matter.
Denney’s case is complicated by the fact that the government admitted to violating his rights under the Speedy Trial Act and hastily obtained an indictment for a single charge to prevent the defendant’s release and the dismissal of charges.
Regardless of whether the government brings additional charges, Denney acknowledged on Thursday that the court could consider uncharged conduct when he comes back for sentencing in June. Denney acknowledged that his sentence could be enhanced because the victim is an official and because he brandished a dangerous weapon, while he could receive a reduction because he is accepting responsibility and because he has no criminal history.
The defense and government have submitted varying estimates of the prison time and fines Denney will face, based on different interpretations of the sentencing guidelines. The defense estimated Denney could serve 41 to 51 months in prison with a fine ranging from $15,000 to $100,000, while the government estimated the prison sentence could range from $20,000 to $200,000.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-guilty-plea-2656980472/
-
Derrick Evans is set to plead guilty for surging into U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOF0VL5X0AAyfkO?format=jpg&name=medium)
Derrick Evans, who was elected to be a West Virginia delegate but then never served, is finally set for a plea hearing this week on charges from the Jan. 6 insurrection.
His plea hearing is set for 2:30 p.m. Friday before U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth.
Evans would be the third West Virginian to plead guilty on charges from their entry into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, disrupting Congress as it certified results of the presidential election.
Eric Barber, a former Parkersburg councilman pleaded guilty to two federal misdemeanors on Dec. 16 and is scheduled to be sentenced at 2 p.m. March 31. Gracyn Courtright, a Hurricane native and college student, pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor last August 30 and was sentenced to a month in prison. Courtright has been serving that at FDC Philadelphia and is scheduled for release March 29.
Another West Virginian, George Tanios, is set for trial June 6. Tanios is accused of collaborating in the assault of U.S. Capitol police officers with pepperspray.
Evans would plead guilty to allegations that he broke the law by surging into the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, while yelling his own name.
Allegations against Evans have gotten more serious over the course of the investigation. In February, federal prosecutors filed a second superseding information against Evans.
The information charges Evans with civil disorder. More specifically it alleges Evans “committed and attempted to commit an act to obstruct, impede, or interfere with a law enforcement officer from the United States Capitol Police” who was trying to carry out official duties during the civil disorder.
That federal charge carries a fine or imprisonment of no more than five years. It wasn’t immediately clear what specific interaction with law enforcement might have prompted the civil disorder charge.
In a Facebook post right after the Jan. 6 events, Evans said: “I want to assure you all that I did not have any negative interactions with law enforcement nor did I participate in any destruction that may have occurred.”
A federal grand jury in late June indicted Evans on a charge of felony obstruction of an official proceeding. That increased consequences in the case, allowing for a fine or no more than 20 years in jail.
Evans previously faced four misdemeanors: entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
Evans was a newly-elected West Virginia delegate when he joined a busload of people bound for the U.S. Capitol as Congress proceeded with its constitutional duty to certify the 2020 presidential election.
Evans resigned his legislative seat before ever serving, and already faced charges including four misdemeanors and felony obstruction of a federal proceeding.
He spent much of the day livestreaming his activities at the rally and subsequent riot.
In videos of the crowds outside, leading up to the Capitol entry, Evans narrated that “They’re making an announcement now saying if Pence betrays us you better get your mind right because we’re storming the building.”
Evans wound up in a crowd outside a Capitol door. In that video, less than 30 seconds in, Evans says “There we go! Open the door” before beginning to shout “Our house! Our house!”
As alarms blared, Evans surged through the door and turned the camera on his own face. “The door is cracked! … We’re in, we’re in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!”
https://wvmetronews.com/2022/03/17/derrick-evans-is-set-to-plead-guilty-for-surging-into-u-s-capitol-on-jan-6/
-
Jan. 6 panel will reveal new information about attack, Cheney says
The House committee investigating the riot is expected to hold hearings this spring.
WASHINGTON — The House panel investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol will reveal new details and may make new recommendations about legislation and criminal penalties for officials who failed to carry out their duties, said Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.
"Our first priority is to make recommendations," Cheney, one of two Republicans on the nine-person select committee, said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "We’re looking at things like do we need additional enhanced criminal penalties for the kind of supreme dereliction of duty that you saw with President Trump when he refused to tell the mob to go home after he had provoked that attack on the Capitol.
"So there will be legislative recommendations, and there certainly will be new information."
The committee, which has been interviewing witnesses for several months, is expected to hold hearings this spring.
Cheney and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, the other Republican on the committee, were among the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for his role in the attack.
Cheney said being on the panel has only reinforced her concerns about what happened that day.
“I have not learned a single thing since I have been on this committee that has made me less concerned or less worried about the gravity of the situation and the actions that President Trump took and also refused to take when the attack was underway," she said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-panel-will-reveal-new-information-attack-cheney-says-rcna20790
-
Liz Cheney says Donald Trump may face 'enhanced criminal penalties' for his role in Capitol insurrection
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump.jpg?id=27664725&width=1000&height=562)
Former President Donald Trump's potential legal culpability in last year's insurrection was boosted over the weekend when Representative Liz Cheney (R-Wyoming) revealed that the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol is exploring "enhanced criminal penalties" for his role in the deadly riot.
Speaking with MSNBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday's edition of Meet the Press, Cheney said that the mountains of evidence amassed by the Committee indicate that Trump was intimately involved with planning and executing the violent attempt to topple American democracy.
"Should we expect criminal referrals on this? And should we expect something – how much new do you think the public will learn that will actually change the way they thought about January 6th?" Todd asked Cheney, who is one of two Republicans serving on the bipartisan panel.
Cheney explained that Trump's decisions (and lack thereof) were egregious violations of his oath of office that may result in severe consequences for the ex-commander in chief.
"Our first priority is to make recommendations and we're looking at things like do we need additional enhanced criminal penalties for the kind of supreme dereliction of duty that you saw with President Trump when he refused to tell the mob to go home after he had provoked that attack on the Capitol. So there will be legislative recommendations and there certainly will be new information," she said.
"And I can tell you," she continued, "I have not learned a single thing since I have been on this Committee that has made me less concerned or less worried about the gravity of the situation and the actions that President Trump took and also refused to take while the attack was underway."
Watch below:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1505558301261586441
-
Secret Service agent confirms Pence get-away route on Jan. 6 was where Alex Jones and Oath Keepers converged
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mike-pence-escaping-the-capitol-during-jan-6-attack-photo-screen-capture-of-bodycam-footage.jpg?id=27359839&width=1500&height=843)
For the first time, the U.S. Secret Service confirmed the suspected details about where Vice President Mike Pence was during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Testifying in the trial of Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin, Secret Service Inspector Lanelle Hawa told the court that Pence was taken to the loading dock on the east side of the Capitol on the Senate side. That was also where Alex Jones, Joe Biggs and the Oath Keepers were converging on the building.
As BuzzFeed justice reporter Zoe Tillman explained Hawa is a 23-year veteran of the force and was with the Liaison Division at the time of Jan. 6. That office coordinates visitors to the US Capitol for USSS protectees.
When testifying before the Jan. 6 committee, Alex Jones told his audience that when questioned, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination "almost 100 times."
Hawa said that the crowd grew on east front of Capitol, and "that’s where our motorcade was."
There were reports that Pence was evacuated to the underground loading dock, but the USSS refused to confirm. It's the USSS policy not to comment on their procedures. However, Hawa's statement is the first confirmation that Pence was on the loading dock during the attack. The USSS also fought to discuss the issue on any public records, Newsweek reported last year.
As CBS reporter Scott MacFarlane explained in a thread, Pence's location will be a key piece of some of the Jan. 6 trials moving forward. Some of those attackers were intent on stopping Pence's participation of the process. As the VP and President of the Senate, Pence was tasked to preside over the election certification. Some of the Jan. 6 attackers believed that if they were able to stop Pence, they could also stop the certification.
In a Jan. 5, 2021 report, it was reported by RollCall that Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) assumed that Pence wouldn't be present and that he would preside over the certification. After the report, it was reported that Pence intended to be there. Grassley's office seemed to scramble to clarify that Grassley was just explaining what would happen if Pence walked away from the proceeding.
"Every indication we have is that the vice president will be there," Grassley's office said.
The Secret Service inspector went on to tell the court that Pence returned to the Senate chamber at approximately 7 p.m. and did not leave the loading dock area before he went back to the chamber.
https://www.rawstory.com/mike-pence-capitol-security-trials/
-
Exclusive: Witness Claims Trump’s Chief of Staff Was on Phone Call Planning Jan. 6 March on Capitol
Trump’s team agreed it would encourage supporters to march, but try to “make it look like they went down there on their own,” Scott Johnston tells Rolling Stone
(https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GettyImages-1295038558c.jpg?resize=1800,1200&w=1200)
Donald Trump’s White House chief of staff and a national campaign spokesperson were involved in efforts to encourage the president’s supporters to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. That’s according to a person who says he overheard a key planning conversation between top Trump officials and the organizers of the Jan. 6 rally on the White House Ellipse — and has since testified to House investigators about the phone call.
Trump and his allies have tried to minimize his role in calling his supporters to the Capitol and argue he was simply participating in a lawful, peaceful demonstration.
Scott Johnston — who worked on the team that helped plan the Ellipse rally — says that’s just not so. He claims that leading figures in the Trump administration and campaign deliberately planned to have crowds converge on the Capitol, where the 2020 election was being certified — and “make it look like they went down there on their own.”
Johnston, who says he described the phone call to House select committee investigators, detailed his allegations in a series of conversations with Rolling Stone. Johnston says he overheard Mark Meadows, then-former President Trump’s chief of staff, and Katrina Pierson, Trump’s national campaign spokeswoman, talking with Kylie Kremer, the executive director of Women for America First, about plans for a march to the Capitol. Johnston said the conversation was clearly audible to him since it took place on a speakerphone as he drove Kremer between the group’s rallies in the final three days of 2020.
“They were very open about how there was going to be a march,” Johnston says. “Everyone knew there was going to be a march.”
According to Johnston, Meadows, Pierson, and Kremer discussed the possibility of setting up a permit to make the march from the White House to the Capitol official. He says the trio decided against officially permitting the march, citing concerns about security costs and about the optics of a sitting president organizing a push towards Congress as lawmakers certified his loss in the 2020 election. Ultimately, Johnston tells Rolling Stone, they planned to “direct the people down there and make it look like they went down there on their own.”
Kremer’s group, Women for America First, helped lead the Jan. 6 rally at the White House Ellipse, where Trump delivered a speech and told supporters to “fight like hell” and said he expected them to march on the Capitol. “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore,” Trump said. As Trump spoke, people began leaving the rally to walk toward the Capitol.
The president’s camp insists this wasn’t part of any pre-planned push. In the book where he recounted his time in the White House, Meadows called the Jan. 6 violence “the actions of a handful of fanatics across town.”
Johnston’s account suggests there was a deliberate strategy by Trump’s allies to have supporters descend on the Capitol. Such a connection would implicate top White House and campaign officials in drawing crowds to Congress without a permit — a step that could have required added security and may have allowed law enforcement to better prepare for the day’s events. Those crowds overwhelmed the Capitol police and engaged in an hours-long battle with law enforcement. Four people died during the attack.
According to Johnston, rally organizers were “constantly” using “burner phones” — cheap, prepaid cells that can be harder to trace because they’re not personally identified with a user or a user’s account — “to talk about” potential permits and plans for a march with Trump aides.
Johnston says that, in the key phone conversation he overheard, the group settled on ordering a march without an official permit. “Nobody wanted to do it because they didn’t want to pay for it,” Johnston says of obtaining a permit. “They didn’t want to have to provide security and all the other expenses.”
On Dec. 20, 2021, Johnston testified to the House select committee investigating the Capitol attack, and he provided Rolling Stone multiple pieces of documentation showing his interactions with the committee. Johnston also says he told investigators that he knew the call took place on a “burner phone” in the final days of 2020 because the discussion came right after Kylie Kremer directed him to purchase three phones for her group.
“I’m the one that bought the burner phones,” Johnston says.
The committee did not respond to an inquiry regarding Johnston’s allegations about the rally organizers and about his testimony. A source familiar tells Rolling Stone that committee investigators have asked Amy Kremer, Kylie’s mother and the chair of Women for America First, about their use of burner phones. The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation, said Amy Kremer has denied using the devices. The source did, however, confirm that key phones used by the rally organizers were purchased in California. That corroborates the account from Johnston, who says he told committee investigators that he bought the phones at a CVS in Cathedral City, California.
The committee is also seeking Meadows’ phone records via a subpoena sent to Verizon, but the former White House chief of staff sued to block that subpoena in December. The case is ongoing. A spokesman for Meadows declined to comment.
Rolling Stone reported in November that Kremer and other Jan. 6 rally organizers used burner phones to communicate with White House officials during the planning stages of that event. After that report, Kylie and Amy Kremer denied using burner phones in a statement from their lawyers. Johnston, who was one of the sources for that reporting, says Kylie Kremer directed him to purchase the phones on Dec. 28, 2020, so she could “communicate with high-level people.”
According to Johnston, on the call with Meadows and Pierson, Kylie Kremer was adamant that Women for America First could not be publicly affiliated with the march, even though she privately approved of it. Johnston says Meadows was willing to help secure a permit for the march but was also amenable to Trump supporters converging on the Capitol without one.
Pierson disputed Johnston’s version of events in a text message to Rolling Stone. “No such call took place,” Pierson wrote. Pierson further suggested that she did not know who Johnston was and that “phone records” would disprove his “defamatory claims.”
Asked about Johnson’s allegations, Kylie and Amy Kremer responded through their spokesman, Chris Barron. “The claim regarding the substance of any phone call between Katrina Pierson, Kylie Kremer, and Mark Meadows is absolutely false,” Barron wrote. “If anyone gave testimony to the J6 committee claiming that such a call took place and that was the substance of the call should be incredibly concerned — the last I looked lying to Congress was a crime.”
Organizers of the Ellipse rally told Rolling Stone last year that they participated in “dozens” of meetings with White House staff and pro-Trump Republicans in Congress as they planned protests against Trump’s election loss. And Rolling Stone reviewed text messages among the rally organizers — including Johnston — in which the organizers said they were “following [Trump’s] lead” in planning the Ellipse rally.
While the House select committee is clearly investigating the high-level organization of the Ellipse rally and related efforts to overturn Trump’s election loss, it does not have criminal authority. The congressional committee can, however, make referrals to the Justice Department, which is conducting its own investigation. Thus far, the FBI has largely focused on militant groups that were present at the Capitol and people involved in the storming of the building, hundreds of whom have been arrested and now face criminal prosecutions, jail time, probation, and fines. While these rank-and-file supporters have suffered criminal consequences, many prominent figures involved in the Jan. 6 rally remain members of good standing within the GOP, where they continue to hold powerful and lucrative positions in and out of government.
Rolling Stone cannot independently verify Johnston’s claim about the December phone conversation. He says he’s unaware of any recording of the call. The only other person Johnston believes may have overheard it is another Ellipse rally planner, Matt McCleskey. Johnston says McCleskey was also in the car when Kylie Kremer spoke about the march with Meadows and Pierson. However, Johnston says it’s unclear if McCleskey would have heard the call, as the staffer often wore headphones as he worked during the long drives.
McCleskey tells Rolling Stone Johnston’s story is “not true” and says he was “never in the presence of a phone call involving Meadows and Pierson.”
The committee has subpoenaed Meadows, Pierson, and Kremer. In a letter that accompanied those subpoenas, Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) indicated his interest in communications the Kremers had with Meadows. Thompson also indicated to Meadows that the committee is interested in the role Trump’s former chief of staff played in planning the Jan. 6 events. “It appears that you were with or in the vicinity of President Trump on Jan. 6, had communications with the President and others on Jan. 6 regarding events at the Capitol, and are a witness regarding activities of that day,” Thompson wrote. “Moreover, at least one press report indicates you were in communication with organizers of the Jan. 6 rally, including Amy Kremer.”
Johnston had been volunteering for conservative causes since long before Jan. 6, 2021. In 2015, he worked in Arizona with Dustin Stockton and Jennifer Lawrence, two right-wing activists who later joined the rally planning team led by the Kremers. Stockton and Lawrence introduced Johnston to the Kremers, and he assisted them during months of rallies they staged in the lead-up to Jan. 6.
With multiple investigations into Jan. 6, cooperating witnesses can have a variety of motivations for coming forward. Some may hope to avoid legal trouble while others could be eager to shape the public narrative or settle scores. Ultimately, Johnston said his relationship with the Kremers soured, in part, because he came to view them as “total grifters.” Johnston claimed he told investigators that the Kremers used donated funds for personal expenses. In text messages reviewed by Rolling Stone from the days after the Capitol attacks, Johnston accused Kylie Kremer of having him accompany her on a “weird and inappropriate” trip to go “bra shopping.” Johnston says he directly witnessed Kylie take cash that was collected at a Women for America First “March for Trump” event for her purchases on that trip.
“She took a handful right out of the donor basket,” Johnston said.
The Ellipse rally was not the only major pro-Trump event that was set to take place in Washington on Jan. 6. There were also plans for a rally called the “Wild Protest” that was to be held alongside the Capitol grounds. One of the organizers of that demonstration, far-right activist Ali Alexander, claimed in a television special produced by Fox News host Tucker Carlson last November that a Trump campaign staffer approached him at the Ellipse Rally and directed him — as well as conspiracy theorist Alex Jones — to lead a march to the Wild Protest site. “A Trump campaign staffer walks up to me and says, ‘You know, Ali, there are people leaving the overflow and there are already tens of thousands of people at the U.S. Capitol. With your presence and the presence of Alex Jones, why don’t you guys walk down Pennsylvania, gather people together, and then position them for your rally.'”
Jones made a similar claim in a video that he posted on Jan. 7, 2021. “The White House told me — three days before — we’re going to have you lead the march,” Jones said. “Trump will tell people, ‘Go and I’m going to meet you at the Capitol.”
Alexander and Jones have both been subpoenaed by the House select committee. In letters accompanying those subpoenas, which were sent last year, the committee indicated it was interested in the role both men played in plans to march to the Capitol.
Alexander and Jones — who both have a long history of promoting false conspiracy theories — have not produced any evidence of their claims or named the White House and campaign staffers who they say directed them. The pair have insisted their actions on Jan. 6 were non-violent and law abiding. Jones did not respond to a request for comment. In an email, Alexander, who did not respond to requests to name the alleged staffer, claimed “event planning is not one dimensional.”
"No one instructed anyone to have a structured march (formation, banners, fencing, etc.) that I’m aware of. The walk over was colloquially described as ‘a march’ by some, as ‘a walk over’ by others,” Alexander wrote. “And that was an evolving issue that developed and changed the advertising or characterization of the event as it was quickly planned.”
Stockton and Lawrence have told Rolling Stone they were among a group of Ellipse rally organizers who had concerns about the Wild Protest due to Alexander’s links to militant groups and the rally’s proximity to the Capitol. The pair claimed Amy Kremer brought those concerns to Meadows and that they were under the impression he would resolve the issue. Earlier this month, the committee subpoenaed Kimberly Guilfoyle, a Trump campaign aide and the fiancée of the former president’s son Don Jr. In a letter accompanying that subpoena, the committee indicated it was interested in “concerns raised” about Alexander’s presence at the Ellipse rally.
Johnston said that, in his committee interview, the investigators were specifically focused on whether Meadows knew about plans to have a march on the Capitol. This questioning left Johnston with the impression that other witnesses testified the former White House chief of staff was involved in plans to have crowds go from the Ellipse to the Capitol. “I don’t think I’m the only one that’s told them that he knew about the march,” Johnston says of Meadows.
“Mark Meadows and Katrina Pierson,” Johnston says of the investigators, “that’s the two they’re going after.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/jan6-trump-mark-meadows-capitol-attack-republicans-1324218/
-
Convicted Cowboys for Trump founder complains Marjorie Taylor Greene didn’t attend his Capitol riot trial
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/cowboys-trump-couy-griffin-marjorie-taylor-greene-b2041673.html
-
Jan. 6 committee to hold Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in criminal contempt
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/office-of-special-counsel-smacks-down-top-trump-advisor-peter-navarro-for-violating-federal-law.jpg?id=24979005&width=1500&height=817)
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots is preparing to hold two more Trump allies in criminal contempt.
As reported by Politico's Kyle Cheney, the committee is going to vote on whether to recommend criminal contempt charges for former Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro and former White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino.
BREAKING: The Jan. 6 select committee is preparing to hold in contempt:
-PETER NAVARRO
-DAN SCAVINO
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1507052456747966479
Jan. 6 panel to vote to hold former Trump aides Navarro, Scavino in contempt
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/24/jan-6-committee-trump-navarro-scavino-contempt-congress/
-
MAGA rioter who yelled for 'patriots' to force open Capitol doors pleads guilty to felony charge
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29591744&width=1500&height=841)
A North Carolina man who was on the front lines of the January 6 riot encouraging rioters to battle police at the U.S. Capitol has pleaded guilty to a felony, the Department of Justice announced today.
Lewis Easton Cantwell, 36, of Waynesville, North Carolina, pleaded guilty to obstructing, impeding, or interfering with law enforcement during the commission of civil disorder.
“According to court documents, on Jan. 6, Cantwell joined other rioters at the front of one of the entrances into the Capitol and used his cellphone to make several video recordings of individuals battling with law enforcement officers,” according to a DOJ release. “During one of the recordings, he yelled for rioters to “get the door open.” At another point, he yelled that they needed “fresh patriots to the front.”
In reporting last July, the Asheville Citizen Times described Cantwell as having co-owned a since-closed teashop called “Sip’ Sum” and having served from 2005-2007 as a private in the U.S. Army. He was an explosive ordnance disposal specialist.
The newspaper also reported that Cantwell initially was assigned a public defender but “traded for a high-profile criminal defense attorney, Eduardo Balarezo” a D.C.-based attorney who it said had previously represented El Chapo.
“It is unclear how Cantwell went from qualifying for a public defender to securing Balarezo’s representation,” it reported.
But the Smoky Mountain News reported on December 15 that “California-based Attorney Nic Cocis entered his request to replace Eduardo Balarezo as Cantwell’s attorney of record.”
Cantwell, who will be sentenced on Sept. 22, 2022, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-guilty-plea-2657035014/
-
Ginni Thomas pushed 'Stop the Steal' plans to Indiana Republican originally nominated to January 6 committee
On Friday, NBC News reported that, in addition to previous revelations that far-right activist Ginni Thomas was in close contact with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on overthrowing the 2020 presidential election, she was also in contact with the office of a top House Republican who had been nominated by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Shortly after the 2020 election, Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, sent an email to an aide to a prominent House conservative saying she would have nothing to do with his group until his members go 'out in the streets,' a congressional source familiar with the exchange told NBC News," reported Scott Wong. "Thomas told an aide to incoming Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Banks, R-Ind., that she was more aligned with the far-right House Freedom Caucus, whose leaders just two months later would lead the fight in Congress to overturn the results of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory."
"Thomas wrote to the aide that Freedom Caucus members were tougher than RSC members, were in the fight and had then-President Donald Trump’s back, according to the source familiar with the email contents. Until she saw RSC members 'out in the streets' and in the fight, she said, she would not help the RSC, the largest caucus of conservatives on Capitol Hill," said the report. "Her November 2020 email came in response to a request from the RSC to offer policy recommendations as Banks was set to take the helm of the group in early 2021. But when Thomas portrayed the RSC as soft in its support for Trump and told its members to take to the streets, the aide thanked her for her suggestions and moved on."
Banks would ultimately be one of the Republicans McCarthy nominated for the House Select Committee investigating January 6. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rejected his appointment, along with the appointment of Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), leading McCarthy to withdraw all his nominations and boycott the committee. Pelosi ultimately appointed two Republicans to the committee anyway, Reps. Liz Cheney (R-WY) and Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).
There is no evidence that Justice Clarence Thomas was directly involved in his wife's planning to overturn the election. He was the sole justice to vote to block the transmission of communications records from the Trump White House to the committee, a move legal experts slammed as "mind-boggling," although it is unclear whether his wife's communications were part of that batch of records or, if so, whether he was aware of it.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/ginni-thomas-pressed-gop-lawmakers-protest-2020-election-results-rcna21644
-
Riot committee 'locked in' on 4-minute video of Proud Boys leaders meeting prior to Jan 6th
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-loving-hate-group-leader-struggles-to-defend-chauvinism-during-cnn-interview-on-portland-chaos.png?id=24836514&width=1500&height=804)
According to a report from Rolling Stone, the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection has taken an interest in a four-minute clip filmed before the attempted insurrection that showed Proud Boys leaders meeting leaders of the Oath Keepers.
Earlier in the month, the Guardian's Hugo Lowell revealed that the Justice Department and the House select committee had come into possession of "hours of nonpublic footage" taken by a Goldcrest Films documentary crew that was following both Enrique Tarrio, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys, and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes before the riot.
According to Rolling Stones' Hunter Walker, that footage contains a 4-minute clip filmed in a garage that may become key in the prosecution of Capitol rioters and organizers.
As Walker wrote, "As part of the investigation, the committee has obtained footage of Proud Boys leaders — including four minutes that may contain audio of a key meeting — and testimony linking the right-wing group First Amendment Praetorian to the organizers of the Jan. 6, 2021, rally on the White House Ellipse, where Trump urged the crowd to "fight like hell" as his defeat was being certified at the Capitol. "
Once source told the reporter, "They’ve been locked in on Proud Boys and Oath Keepers,” before adding it has become a "major part” of their investigation.
Noting, "A second source confirmed the committee’s interest in the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and First Amendment Praetorian, " the report continued, "The third source, who has seen the footage, said it largely features the Proud Boys and that Rhodes is only present during a meeting he had with Tarrio in a parking garage near the Capitol on Jan. 5. According to the third source, Oath Keepers general counsel Kellye SoRelle, Latinos for Trump President Bianca Gracia, and Vets for Trump co-founder Josh Macias also participated in the meeting. They further said the footage obtained by the committee includes approximately 'four minutes' of B-roll that may contain audio of the parking-garage meeting."
The report adds that federal prosecutors referenced the meeting when Tarrio was indicted on charges of conspiracy.
According Waker, "...the meeting took place after approximately 5 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021, when Tarrio was released from jail after having been arrested the day before on charges related to the destruction of a Black Lives Matter banner during a previous pro-Trump rally."
Exclusive: Jan. 6 Committee ‘Locked In’ on Proud Boys
Investigators have obtained testimony linking rally organizers to First Amendment Praetorian and “four minutes” of footage that may contain audio of a key Proud Boys and Oath Keepers parking-garage meeting, sources say.
(https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/oathkeepers-j6-capitol.jpg?resize=1800,1200&w=1200))
Members of the Oath Keepers militia group stand among supporters of President Trump occupying the east front steps of the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building has been examining the role far-right militant groups played in efforts to overturn President Trump’s election loss and the violence that erupted that day. As part of the investigation, the committee has obtained footage of Proud Boys leaders — including four minutes that may contain audio of a key meeting — and testimony linking the right-wing group First Amendment Praetorian to the organizers of the Jan. 6, 2021, rally on the White House Ellipse, where Trump urged the crowd to “fight like hell” as his defeat was being certified at the Capitol.
A source familiar with the situation, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the ongoing investigation, confirmed the committee is focusing on specific militant groups.
"They’ve been locked in on Proud Boys and Oath Keepers,” the source said, adding that First Amendment Praetorian, which is also known as “1AP,” is a “major part” of the House investigation.
The House select committee is separate from the criminal investigation into the attack that is being conducted by the Justice Department. Leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have both faced federal charges for alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 attack. A second source confirmed the committee’s interest in the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and First Amendment Praetorian.
First Amendment Praetorian has been identified by both The New York Times and CNN as a far-right “paramilitary group.” The little-known organization presents itself as a boutique security consultancy for conservative causes. A LinkedIn page that appears to belong to Robert Patrick Lewis, the group’s chairman, describes First Amendment Praetorian as a group that is “dedicated to providing intelligence and security services to grassroots events in order to ensure Americans may express their 1st Amendment-protected rights to freedom of speech, religion, assembly and political affiliation.” The committee subpoenaed Lewis last November. In a statement announcing that subpoena, the committee said 1AP “provided security at multiple rallies leading up to January 6th that amplified the former President’s unsupported claim that the election was stolen.” Lewis did not respond to a request for comment.
On March 20, The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell reported that the committee and the Justice Department have obtained “hours of nonpublic footage” from a Goldcrest Films documentary crew that filmed Enrique Tarrio, the former national chairman of the Proud Boys, and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes prior to Jan. 6. Three sources confirmed to Rolling Stone that the committee is in possession of the footage.
The third source, who has seen the footage, said it largely features the Proud Boys and that Rhodes is only present during a meeting he had with Tarrio in a parking garage near the Capitol on Jan. 5. According to the third source, Oath Keepers general counsel Kellye SoRelle, Latinos for Trump President Bianca Gracia, and Vets for Trump co-founder Josh Macias also participated in the meeting. They further said the footage obtained by the committee includes approximately “four minutes” of B-roll that may contain audio of the parking-garage meeting.
In addition to his position in the Proud Boys, Tarrio was the chief of staff of Latinos for Trump, an activist group. Through that organization, both Tarrio and Gracia had attended events at the White House. Macias reportedly spoke at a pro-Trump rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021. At the time, he was out on bail on weapons charges related to a November 2020 incident where he and an alleged co-conspirator were arrested after police claimed they drove from Virginia to a vote-counting center in Philadelphia two days after the election in a Hummer loaded with handguns, an AR-15, over 100 rounds of ammo, and a samurai sword.
Federal prosecutors described the parking-garage meeting in an indictment against Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders that charged them with conspiracy related to the Jan. 6 attack. According to that indictment, the meeting took place after approximately 5 p.m. on Jan. 5, 2021, when Tarrio was released from jail after having been arrested the day before on charges related to the destruction of a Black Lives Matter banner during a previous pro-Trump rally. Prosecutors alleged Tarrio met with Rhodes and other unnamed individuals in an underground garage near the Phoenix Park Hotel, which is located roughly a half mile from the Capitol.
"During this encounter, a participant referenced the Capitol,” according to the indictment.
Gracia and Macias did not respond to requests for comment. In an email to Rolling Stone, SoRelle suggested the prosecutors’ story of the meeting was “exaggerated.” SoRelle described it as a short encounter that took place as she and Rhodes were visiting Gracia’s “hotel room to pick up our badges for the speaking event the next morning.”
“I had located a couple of attorneys’ names and contact information when Enrique was arrested, because I had been contacted by multiple people about helping him … so Bianca thought we should all go down and make sure he had counsel information and to say hi,” SoRelle wrote.
SoRelle further claimed “the exchange was very brief” between Rhodes and Tarrio and that, in her estimation, it was “10 mins in the garage, tops.”
“Stewart and Enrique were introduced and said their hellos,” SoRelle explained.
Jon Moseley, an attorney who has represented Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder, has previously told this reporter that federal prosecutors’ claim the Capitol was “referenced” during this meeting was “absolutely false.”
“The only thing that was discussed was that Enrique Tarrio had just made bail and was looking for ideas on getting a lawyer,” Moseley wrote in an email earlier this month. “In general, all of the indictments are works of fiction, like John Grisham novels. So to say, that part of the indictment is false is really not saying much.”
Moseley went on to say, “Stewart Rhodes with Kellye Soirrelle [sic] was getting ready to leave a parking garage when she learned that Enrique Tarrio with Latinos for Trump leaders was entering the same parking garage on the ground floor.”
“They were asked do you want to come meet Enrique Tarrio? Rhodes and Soirrelle answered (in my words) why not?” Moseley wrote.
Moseley did not respond to an additional request for comment on Friday afternoon.
Dan Hull, an attorney who has represented Tarrio and other members of the Proud Boys also did not respond to a request for comment. Hull put up a post in January wherein he suggested the Proud Boys are not the same as the Oath Keepers.
“Proud Boys and The Oathkeepers are WAY different from each other. Way. One’s a working-class frat. One’s a demented militia. One is playful and fun. The other is paranoid and nuts,” the Instagram post said. “Learn the difference, folks.”
Scott Johnston, who was a member of the “March for Trump” team that helped stage months of protests against Trump’s loss around the country, tells Rolling Stone he has spoken to committee investigators and linked First Amendment Praetorian to the group that planned the Ellipse rally. According to Johnston, First Amendment Praetorian provided security for November and December 2020 March for Trump rallies in Washington. Johnston dismissed the group as “geritol security” and “a joke.”
“Cindy Chafian had her husband Scott Chafian supposedly provide security using 1AP,” Johnston tells Rolling Stone. “They’re a bunch of 70-year-old men who just wanted VIP tickets.… If they were the security protecting everyone that day, well then, God help us all.”
According to Johnston, Scott Chafian was a leader of the group. A second, separate March for Trump source, who requested anonymity due to the investigation, also said they believed Scott Chafian played a top role in First Amendment Praetorian.
“When we were introduced to 1AP, I thought Scott Chafian was running it,” the source said, adding, “He was introduced to us as having a government clearance and all of that.”
In a text message to Rolling Stone on Friday, Cindy Chafian denied she or her husband were members of First Amendment Praetorian.
"I am not part of 1AP and neither was my husband,” Cindy Chafian wrote. “They simply provided auxiliary security at the rallies.”
Cindy Chafian said she first “met” First Amendment Praetorian during the lead-up to March for Trump’s Nov. 14, 2020, event in Washington. According to Cindy Chafian, she “used them” for a March for Trump event on Dec. 12, 2020 and her own “separate event” on Jan. 5, 2021.
“That’s as far as the relationship goes. I haven’t worked with them since. Any other questions you would have to send to me and I would have to clear with my attorney since I have been subpoenaed. Thank you,” Cindy Chafian wrote, adding a smiley-face emoji.
On a Linkedin page that appears to belong to Scott Chafian, he describes himself as an “organizational development specialist” who had “a 20 year career in the US Navy as a seagoing Surface Warfare Officer, and then on the ground as an Expeditionary Warfare Officer.”
Cindy Chafian was subpoenaed by the committee last September after helping the pro-Trump group “Women for America First” secure a permit for the main Jan. 6 Ellipse rally. Women for America First is headed by Amy and Kylie Kremer, a mother-and-daughter team who also were leaders of the nationwide March for Trump protests against the former president’s election loss.
Johnston worked as an aide and driver to Kylie Kremer. Rolling Stone has verified Johnston’s March for Trump involvement through multiple sources including group text messages. According to multiple sources, Johnston was in Washington, D.C., with the March for Trump group at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel. He has provided financial statements that appear to confirm he was at the Willard.
As detailed in the Rolling Stone story published on March 20, Johnston has claimed Kremer took part in a phone call with former top Trump campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows about whether they should obtain a permit for a march from the Ellipse rally to the Capitol. Ultimately, Johnston said the trio decided not to hold an official march and instead to “direct the people down there and make it look like they went down there on their own.”
Pierson responded to Rolling Stone’s reporting on Johnston’s allegations by saying “no such call took place” and that “phone records” would disprove Johnston’s “defamatory claims.” A spokesperson for Meadows declined to comment.
Johnston said Kremer used a “burner phone” that was one of three he claims she directed him to purchase for her and her mother, Amy. Burner phones are cheap, prepaid cells that can be harder to trace. Johnston said Kremer told him she needed them to “communicate with high-level people.”
Johnston told Rolling Stone the initial meeting where he relayed these allegations to committee investigators took place last Dec. 20 and that it was an “informal” one, with a staffer taking handwritten notes. After the story on his claims ran in Rolling Stone, Johnston said committee investigators reached out to him to set up an on-the-record interview with a court reporter transcribing the conversation.
Spokespeople for the committee did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Johnston showed Rolling Stone copies of communications with the committee indicating his next interview is set to take place on March 28. Investigators also asked Johnston to provide them with any “corroboration” he might have for his claims regarding “the use of a prepaid phone or the purchase of the phone in California” by the Kremers. During his communications with investigators, Johnston says he was reminded of the penalties for making false statements to Congress and informed that other committee witnesses have denied burner phones were used. A source familiar with the investigation has told Rolling Stone that Amy Kremer denied using burner phones to committee investigators.
Chris Barron, a spokesperson for Amy and Kylie Kremer, offered a terse emailed response to a question about Johnston talking to the committee.
“We hope he tells the truth. Lying to Congress is a crime,” Barron wrote of Johnston.
In a FaceTime call, Johnston showed Rolling Stone text messages he received from Kylie Kremer that he said he had provided to the committee. The messages appeared to be part of extensive communications between Johnston’s phone and a number used by Kremer. Johnston also displayed what appeared to be a history of messages with a number connected to Amy Kremer.
One of the texts Johnston provided to the committee showed Kremer writing to a March for Trump group on Jan. 3, 2021, to say that she and another organizer were “overwhelmed with our phones.” A second text was dated Jan. 15, 2021. The latter message showed Kremer telling Johnston, “I’ll call Greg if I need a bat phone.” Johnston said this was referring to Greg Kurbatoff, a March for Trump security consultant, and that “bat phone” was a euphemism for a burner.
“Even though it was coy, she was still alluding that there were other phones,” Johnston said of Kremer.
In a phone call with Rolling Stone on Friday afternoon, Kurbatoff said there was “nothing at all that was underhanded” about the Kremers’ rally on Jan. 6. Kurbatoff specifically said he gets “a little upset” about allegations the pair were involved in plans to stage a march on the Capitol building.
“Amy and Kylie, we all were on the same page the day of the sixth, under no circumstances do we exercise anything with the Capitol because our permit specifically said … there will be nothing going to the Capitol. It was not for the Capitol, it was just for the Ellipse. You know, it was a successful event. Afterwards, you know, that just — you know, that’s history,” Kurbatoff explained, his voice trailing off as he acknowledged the violence that followed the rally.
Kurbatoff said he never saw the Kremers use “burner phones.” He attributed allegations the devices were used to people involved with the group who were “upset” they didn’t get to appear on the rally stage or weren’t paid more for their work.
“As far as burner phones, I’m not sure what the burner phones would have been used for because there was nothing nefarious going on,” Kurbatoff said. “I think you’ve got a couple people that have been scorned.… There’s some people that got scorned, and they were upset that they didn’t get their 15 minutes.”
Johnston said his text-message conversations with the Kremers stopped by March 15 of last year. On that day, in one of the March for Trump group chats, Johnston complained to the Kremers about an order of MyPillows — the brand headed by Trump ally Mike Lindell — that rally organizers were supposed to receive.
The dispute descended into Johnston accusing Kremer of taking him on a “weird and inappropriate” trip to go “bra shopping.” It appears Kremer subsequently removed him from the group chat.
“That was the last communication I ever had with Kylie Kremer,” Johnston said.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jan-6-committee-oath-keepers-proud-boys-first-amendment-praetorian-1327050/
-
John Eastman ties to Clarence Thomas scrutinized after Ginni Thomas election text revelations
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/john-eastman-clarence-thomas.jpg?id=29600291&width=1500&height=843)
According to a report from Politico, attorney John Eastman -- who was leading the charge to overturn 2020 presidential election results that ousted Donald Trump from the White House -- is receiving new scrutiny over his relationship with Justice Clarence Thomas.
In light of revelations about texts being exchanged between Ginni Thomas and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, where the wife of the Supreme Court justice was passing on conspiracy theories and urging the Trump's inner circle to do what they could to remain in power, one member of the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection said he has some questions for Eastman.
As Kyle Cheney reports, "Eastman spent the final weeks of Trump’s presidency driving a strategy to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory, a plan that relied on legal theories so extreme the Jan. 6 select committee says they could amount to criminal conspiracy and fraud," before adding, "The select committee has evidence that when a top Pence aide challenged Eastman’s plan on Jan. 4, 2021, Eastman initially told him he believed two Supreme Court justices would back him up. One of them was Ginni Thomas’ husband, Justice Clarence Thomas."
Politico is reporting that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) is raising concerns about Eastman and Justice Thomas.
"Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told POLITICO that the new details raise important questions about whether Eastman had a specific reason to believe Justice Thomas would support his radical gambit, or if he was simply voicing a hunch," Cheney wrote before noting, "Eastman’s attorney Charles Burnham did not respond to questions about whether Eastman maintained ties to the Thomases or communicated with either of them in the aftermath of Trump’s 2020 defeat. There’s no known evidence that Eastman was directly in touch with either of the Thomases during his campaign to pressure Pence to subvert the results."
According to Politico, "Eastman had reason to know Thomas’ views well: He clerked for the George H.W. Bush appointee in the 1990s before becoming a mainstay in deeply conservative legal circles."
The report goes to note that when investigators asked Eastman if he had any reason to believe that the Supreme Court would support his plan to have former vice president Mike Pence refuse to certify the election and throw it back to the states, his response was to plead the 5th Amendment.
What has raised red flags was testimony from Pence lawyer Greg Jacob who told the committee that Eastman had told him that at least two Supreme Court justices might support his plan, with Jacob saying he couldn't recall if Eastman named the other justice.
Ginni Thomas’ West Wing contacts raise new questions for another Trump ally: John Eastman
The Jan. 6 select committee has evidence that Eastman expected Justice Clarence Thomas to back his dubious legal theory to block Joe Biden's victory.
(https://www.politico.com/dims4/default/fe5b58a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3840x2584+0+0/resize/1920x1292!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2Fe1%2F43%2Fade497c245618f34b206e33a6b88%2Fjohn-eastman-ethics-investigation-81617.jpg)
Ginni Thomas’ unfettered access to Donald Trump’s chief of staff — and potentially others in his West Wing — raises new questions about another figure at the center of Trump’s gambit to subvert the 2020 election: attorney John Eastman.
Eastman spent the final weeks of Trump’s presidency driving a strategy to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory, a plan that relied on legal theories so extreme the Jan. 6 select committee says they could amount to criminal conspiracy and fraud.
The select committee has evidence that when a top Pence aide challenged Eastman’s plan on Jan. 4, 2021, Eastman initially told him he believed two Supreme Court justices would back him up. One of them was Ginni Thomas’ husband, Justice Clarence Thomas.
Eastman’s assertion, described by Pence’s counsel Greg Jacob to the select committee earlier this year, appeared to be a guess based on analysis of Thomas’ long legal career. Eastman had reason to know Thomas’ views well: He clerked for the George H.W. Bush appointee in the 1990s before becoming a mainstay in deeply conservative legal circles.
But the revelation that Thomas’ wife kept in contact with Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows in the weeks after Trump’s defeat — pressing him to keep trying to overturn the election — adds a new wrinkle to the timeline. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told POLITICO that the new details raise important questions about whether Eastman had a specific reason to believe Justice Thomas would support his radical gambit, or if he was simply voicing a hunch.
Eastman’s attorney Charles Burnham did not respond to questions about whether Eastman maintained ties to the Thomases or communicated with either of them in the aftermath of Trump’s 2020 defeat. There’s no known evidence that Eastman was directly in touch with either of the Thomases during his campaign to pressure Pence to subvert the results.
But the conservative legal scholar has taken pains to avoid revealing his interactions in that timeframe.
Eastman has sued the Jan. 6 select committee to prevent them from enforcing a subpoena for his records and testimony. He’s also sued his former employer, Chapman University, to prevent the school from turning over thousands of pages of his emails to the select committee. And when Eastman appeared before the committee last year, he embraced a blanket strategy to resist their questions: pleading the Fifth.
During that deposition, investigators specifically asked Eastman to articulate whether he believed the Supreme Court would have supported his gambit. He replied with a single word: “Fifth.”
Other than Trump, Eastman has proven to be the most significant figure in the select committee’s investigation, one the panel’s top lawyer — House General Counsel Douglas Letter — called the “central player in the development of a legal strategy to justify a coup.”
The panel is engaged in extensive, hard-fought litigation to obtain Eastman’s Chapman University emails, and it is awaiting a federal judge’s decision about whether Eastman can continue to shield them behind claims of attorney-client privilege. While the panel says it has put some of its legal fights on the back burner, Letter has remained fixed on winning the battle against Eastman. And the select committee used the fight to publicly unload some of its key evidence, including excerpts of interview transcripts with Eastman and Jacob, Pence’s counsel.
The committee says Eastman has failed to show he had a legitimate attorney-client relationship with Trump, and that even if he did, the House’s need for the documents requires waiving the privilege. House lawyers argued in court papers that Eastman may have conspired with Trump to commit multiple crimes — including felony obstruction of Congress — in the aftermath of the election.
Eastman’s theory centered on Pence, who was required by the Constitution to preside over a joint session of Congress to count the votes cast by the Electoral College. Though it’s typically a ceremonial event, Eastman developed a theory — and convinced Trump to back him — that Pence could simply refuse to count the votes of several key states Biden won. The most extreme version of his plan called for Pence to simply declare Trump the winner on the spot. The version Eastman suggested would have buy-in from Thomas, according to Jacob, would have had Pence postpone the count and ask GOP state legislatures in Biden-won states to consider replacing Democratic electors with Trump loyalists.
Jacob told the select committee that when Eastman pushed this idea, he replied, “If this case got to the Supreme Court, we’d lose 9-0, wouldn’t we, if we actually took your position and it got up there?”
Eastman said he actually believed the court would vote 7-2, Jacob recalled.
“And I said, ‘Who are the two?’ And he said, ‘Well, I think maybe Clarence Thomas.’ And I said, ‘Really? Clarence Thomas?’ And so we went through a few Thomas opinions and, finally, he acknowledged, ‘yeah, all right, it would be 9-0.’”
Jacob told the committee he couldn’t remember the other justice Eastman had mentioned as a potential vote in Trump’s favor.
However, in a Dec. 11 ruling, Justice Samuel Alito joined Thomas, splitting from the rest of the court, to say they would have docketed a challenge some conservative states brought against election procedures in more liberal ones. Both justices indicated, though, that they wouldn’t have stepped in to grant the emergency relief the red states sought.
Thomas’ more recent vote against the select committee’s effort to obtain Trump-related records through the National Archives — he was the lone dissent — has sparked renewed controversy in light of the emergence of his wife’s messages with Meadows. Though it’s not clear any of her correspondence were, or should have been, included in the Archives files, it has sparked questions about whether Thomas should have recused from the matter.
When Eastman appeared before the committee to plead the Fifth, committee counsel John Wood asked him about Jacob’s view that not a single Supreme Court justice would have supported Eastman’s plan.
“Dr. Eastman, did you, in fact, agree with Mr. Jacob that not a single member of the Supreme Court would support your position?” Wood asked.
“Fifth,” Eastman replied
“And, Dr. Eastman, which position was that that Mr. Jacobs said not a single member of the Supreme Court would support?” Wood asked.
“Fifth,” Eastman said again.
On Jan. 6, as rioters bore down on the Capitol, Eastman and Jacob engaged in a tense email exchange, in which Jacob accused Eastman of being a “serpent in the ear” of the president and encouraging him to embrace unsupportable legal theories. He reiterated his belief that no justice of the Supreme Court or appeals court judge would have agreed with Eastman’s strategy.
Eastman replied that he disagreed, arguing that if Pence had postponed the session and called on the state legislatures to act, the courts may have demurred.
“I remain of the view not only would that have been the most prudent course … but also had a fair chance of being approved (or at least not enjoined) by the courts,” Eastman wrote.
After another brief disagreement, Eastman closed his email exchange with Jacob: “When this is over, we should have a good bottle of wine over a nice dinner someplace.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/26/ginni-thomas-west-wing-trump-john-eastman-00020675
-
NEW: Joe Biden recently rejected an attempt top Trump aide Dan Scavino to assert executive privilege in order to avoid testifying to the Jan. 6 select committee.
The letter was among documents the committee will use to hold Scavino in contempt tomorrow.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FO5S4nNWUAIIBxg?format=jpg&name=medium)
Here's how Peter NAVARRO responded when first contacted by the select committee.
He'll also be held in contempt tomorrow.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FO5VFPPXEAg15Hi?format=jpg&name=medium)
MORE: The select committee is fixed on Scavino's fluid role between official WH and campaign. His political efforts to keep Trump in power, organize Jan. 6 rally and overturn election don't fit any definition of executive privilege, they say.
Contempt report: Biden turned down privilege claim by Dan Scavino
The disclosure comes as the Jan. 6 committee prepares to begin contempt proceedings against the longtime Trump social media manager and another aide, Peter Navarro.
(https://www.politico.com/dims4/default/dfc578f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1160x773+0+0/resize/1920x1280!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2Fbd%2Fc3%2Ff53f6aa444aeb1f74b95a487a618%2F220327-dan-scavino-ap-773.jpg)
President Joe Biden turned down an effort by Dan Scavino, the longtime social media manager for Donald Trump, to resist the Jan. 6 select committee by asserting executive privilege.
The disclosure came as part of a 34-page report released on Sunday evening by congressional investigators as the Jan. 6 committee prepared to begin contempt proceedings against Scavino and Peter Navarro, another ally in the former president’s last-ditch effort to overturn the 2020 election results.
“President Biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the national interest, and therefore is not justified,” the White House counsel’s office informed Scavino on March 15, according to the newly posted materials.
Biden’s decision is the latest in a string of rejections for Trump advisers seeking to frustrate the select committee by citing executive privilege. The White House has issued similar statements pertaining to former chief of staff Mark Meadows and others who have insisted their proximity to Trump in the closing weeks of his presidency made them immune from testimony. Biden has also repeatedly denied Trump’s own efforts to claim executive privilege over his White House files — a decision repeatedly upheld by federal courts.
The decision to seek criminal charges against Scavino and Navarro is an indication the select committee no longer believes it can obtain their testimony or records through negotiations. The panel detailed its lengthy effort to reach agreement with Scavino in correspondence that began in October and stretched for months, culminating in Sunday’s contempt report.
Scavino is a particularly crucial witness for the committee. He helped draft or post Trump tweets in the weeks after the 2020 election, stoking misinformation about the results and driving attendance at Trump’s Jan. 6 rally, which later morphed into a violent insurrection at the Capitol. The committee also revealed that Scavino spoke multiple times by phone with Trump on Jan. 6 and has insight into his movements that day.
Scavino and Navarro are slated to join Steve Bannon, Meadows and former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark as the only witnesses held in contempt by the select committee so far. Scavino, Bannon and Meadows were included in the panel’s first wave of subpoenas in September. Bannon and Meadows were both subsequently held in contempt by the House and referred to the Justice Department for criminal charges. The full House hasn’t acted on the motion holding Clark in contempt after he indicated he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
Bannon was quickly charged in November for his refusal to cooperate, while the case against Meadows is still pending. Meadows briefly cooperated, providing thousands of emails and text messages to the committee before reversing course and refusing to appear for a deposition. If the House follows suit and holds Scavino and Navarro in contempt, it will leave two more high-profile charging decisions in the hands of Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia.
The panel has homed in on Scavino’s amorphous role as a both a senior White House official and a prominent campaign operative, who flitted easily between both worlds and often mixed official and political work. The committee says Scavino has no justification for trying to shield testimony related to efforts to keep Trump in office, since the Hatch Act bars such political work by government officials.
“His two distinct roles — as White House official in the days leading up to and during the attack, and as a campaign social media promoter of the Trump ‘stolen election’ narrative — provide independent reasons to seek his testimony and documents,” the committee wrote in its contempt report.
The panel argues Scavino was not conducting “privileged” business when he participated in discussions about pressuring state lawmakers to overturn the 2020 election, when he helped recruit attendance at Trump’s Jan. 6 rally and when he engaged with organizers of the rally about the speaker lineup and his own scheduled remarks.
Much of the select committee’s report documents the extensive, and increasingly fraught, communications between Scavino’s attorneys and the Jan. 6 select committee, beginning in October and continuing into March. The panel sought to schedule multiple depositions with Scavino, only to agree to a slew of extensions as he continued to haggle about the terms of his testimony. Talks broke down by February, when Scavino’s attorneys — Stanley Woodward and Stan Brand, a former general counsel to the House — decried the committee’s tactics.
“Put bluntly, your latest correspondence exemplifies the Select Committee’s pattern and practice of intimidation and disregard for the rule of law, its application to the important function of the House of Representatives, and the important doctrine of Separation of Powers,” they wrote.
The lawyers noted that in Bannon’s case, his attorney Robert Costello ended up becoming a witness in the ultimate criminal cases against him brought by the Justice Department.
In a final letter to the panel on Friday, Brand and Woodward said they were seeking more details about the legal basis for Biden’s decision.
“We respectfully request you inform Mr. Scavino and the Select Committee of any legal authority empowering President Biden to make a final decision as to the assertion of executive privilege with respect to the Congressional testimony of a former President’s close aides,” they wrote. “Otherwise, we respectfully request the President advise Mr. Scavino and the Select Committee that no such legal authority exists.”
Navarro, the committee indicated, similarly conducted nakedly political work that could not be construed as part of his government duties. The panel notes that he crafted a report lodging false claims of election fraud that fed the narratives that Trump attempted to deploy in his effort to subvert his defeat. The select committee revealed that at one point he tried to encourage Meadows to contact Roger Stone, a longtime outside adviser to Trump who helped drive “Stop the Steal” efforts.
“None of the official responsibilities of Mr. Navarro’s positions included advising President Trump about the 2020 Presidential election or the roles and responsibilities of Congress and the Vice President during the January 6, 2021, joint session of Congress,” the panel wrote. “Nor did those official duties involve researching or promoting claims of election fraud. Nevertheless, after the 2020 Presidential election, Mr. Navarro became involved in efforts to convince the public that widespread fraud had affected the election. Federal law did not allow Mr. Navarro to use his official office to attempt to affect the outcome of an election.”
Scavino’s fight with the select committee over his subpoena is not his only legal battle connected to the investigation. He sued in January to prevent Verizon from turning over his phone records to the select committee, but his effort to resist the panel’s subpoena for his documents and testimony had proceeded in near total secrecy. The lawsuit is still pending.
The committee subpoenaed Navarro in February, and the former Trump trade adviser has publicly indicated he will not comply with the panel’s demands, citing concerns about executive privilege. He released a statement Sunday evening indicating his position had not changed.
“My position remains this is not my Executive Privilege to waive and the Committee should negotiate this matter with President Trump,” Navarro said. “If he waives the privilege, I will be happy to comply; but I see no effort by the Committee to clarify this matter with President Trump, which is bad faith and bad law.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/03/27/contempt-report-biden-privilege-claim-dan-scavino-00020749
-
Lots of new information is coming out. I've documented the main portions in this post.
January 6th Committee chair Bennie G Thompson released a report recommending contempt referrals for Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino.
Here, the report notes Navarro went on Ari Melber's show a day after releasing a statement stonewalling the committee.
Doc: https://docs.house.gov/meetings/IJ/IJ00/20220328/114565/HRPT-117-NA.pdf
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FO5WdPXXwAQjXGb?format=png&name=medium)
The report also details the "Green Bay Sweep," a plot to overturn Trump's election defeat that Navarro detailed in his book.
Watch The Washington Post's video explainer here:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FO5YmQ0WYAAqEW-?format=png&name=medium)
"In the days leading up to January 6, 2021, according to evidence obtained by the Select Committee, Mr. Navarro also encouraged Mark Meadows (and possibly others) to call Roger Stone to discuss January 6th."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FO5akQ9WYAACBz7?format=jpg&name=large)
"On January 6th, the day to implement the ‘Green Bay Sweep,’ Mr. Navarro had multiple calls with Mr. Bannon, including during and after the attack on the U.S. Capitol."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FO5a0xoXoAEc569?format=jpg&name=medium)
The portions of the report on Scavino focus on his role as Trump's social media manager—and reportedly his sometime-tweet-ghostwriter.
Scavino also monitored TheDonald [dot] win, an online forum visited by folks who "openly advocated and planned violence" leading up to Jan. 6.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FO5cOocXMAI7XUs?format=jpg&name=large)
More on that site:
On Dec. 19, 2020, the same day Trump tweeted "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th... Be there, will be wild!," the site's users began sharing "specific techniques, tactics, and procedures for the assault on the Capitol," according to the report.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FO5crchX0AA9i0y?format=jpg&name=large)
Remember the Jan. 6 defendant known as "zip-tie guy"?
One poster on TheDonald[dot]win wrote that "people should bring 'handcuffs and zip ties to DC' so they could enact 'citizen’s arrests' of those officials who certified the election’s results."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FO5dZISXwAYrxiS?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jan. 6 investigators about to get their hands on final piece of the puzzle showing militia plans for Capitol riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/this-far-right-trump-supporter-has-no-regrets-about-breaking-into-the-capitol.jpg?id=27896118&width=1500&height=843)
The House select committee expects to soon fill in one final piece of the puzzle about the planning for the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Congressional investigators will hear testimony next week they expect will reveal the connections between the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys militia groups, and after that April 5 deposition lawmakers will have obtained all the major evidence from all the crucial moments, reported The Guardian.
"From its nondescript offices boarded up with beige boards and wood-paneled conference rooms with blinds always drawn, the select committee has spent the last eight months working in color-coded teams in an attempt to untangle Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election results," wrote the newspaper's Hugo Lowell.
"The gold team is examining Trump’s plans to stop the certification of Biden’s election win with the help of Republican members of Congress, and his pressure campaign on state, local and justice department officials to return himself to office," Lowell added. "The red team is looking at the Save America rally organizers and the Stop the Steal Movement, while the purple team is scrutinizing the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, the 1st Amendment Praetorian and how militia groups helped lead the Trump mob into the Capitol building."
Senior investigative counsel Sean Tonolli set up a deposition for next week that will give them sworn testimony and material evidence about the militia groups' connections, to add to raw video footage of a meeting between leaders from the militias in a garage near the Capitol the night before the riot.
The panel is moving into the next phase of its investigation, and lawmakers expect to release their evidence in narrative form in a series of public hearings that have been delayed from April to May that will focus on former president Donald Trump's wrongdoing, which will then be used to recommend legislation to prevent another insurrection.
Capitol attack panel expects to hear how militia groups coordinated plans before insurrection
Testimony could play a major role in establishing whether Trump oversaw a criminal conspiracy in efforts to overturn 2020 election
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2d21c81cb37e0b56a994c7738baade37ab5286c1/0_117_3449_2071/master/3449.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=eff2d68952ffcf9f04cb6269740648d4)
Behind closed doors in a nondescript conference room at the foot of Capitol Hill, the House select committee investigating 6 January next week expects to hear testimony about the connections between the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys militia groups and the Capitol attack.
The panel expects to hear how the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys coordinated their plans and movements in the days before the insurrection to the same level of detail secured by the justice department and referenced in recent prosecutions for seditious conspiracy.
And the select committee hopes to also hear in the 5 April deposition – arranged by a senior counsel for the panel – private conversations between the leaders of the two militia groups and whether they might have communicated with any Trump advisers.
The panel should get the evidence both on the record and under oath, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement, to add to raw video footage of a meeting between the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys leaders in a garage across from the Capitol on the eve of 6 January.
The expected testimony and materials represent another significant breakthrough for the investigation and could play a major role in establishing for the select committee whether Donald Trump oversaw a criminal conspiracy as part of his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Most crucially for the panel, it could form part of the evidence to connect the militia groups that stormed the Capitol on 6 January to the organizers of the Save America rally that immediately preceded the attack – who in turn are slowly being linked to the Trump White House.
As the select committee moves closer to Trump – who House investigators alleged in a recent court filing that the former president violated federal laws including obstructing Congress and conspiring to defraud the United States as he sought to return himself to power – it is redoubling its efforts.
The information that Sean Tonolli, the senior investigative counsel who set up the deposition, should obtain about the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys in the first week of April means the panel has managed to get all the major evidence for all the big moments.
In December, the select committee revealed that it had in its possession 2,320 text messages from Trump’s former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, emails such as one with a PowerPoint presentation on staging a coup, and other documents he had turned over to the inquiry.
That alone has been seen as a treasure trove of materials, including messages to and from House Republicans who apologized for not being able to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election win, and more recently, messages with Ginni Thomas, the wife of supreme court justice Clarence Thomas.
In January, the panel got from the National Archives thousands of pages of Trump White House documents that the former president unsuccessfully sought to shield over claims of executive privilege in a case that Justice Thomas reviewed and emerged as the sole dissenter.
Those included documents in the files of Meadows and former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin, among others, and Trump’s private schedule for 6 January that showed he gave the crowd a false pretense to go to the Capitol perhaps in the hope that they might stop Biden’s certification.
Then the select committee learned of the fake electors ploy – a scheme to send “alternate” slates of Trump electors to Congress in states won by Biden – that ensnared the White House and showed the involvement of some of Trump’s most senior aides.
Earlier this month, the panel also revealed in separate litigation that Trump lawyer John Eastman knew that his plan to have then-vice president Mike Pence reject Biden’s wins in select battleground states and return Trump to office was an unlawful violation of the Electoral Count Act.
The panel has so far conducted the vast majority of its investigation in private, conducting nearly 750 depositions behind closed doors, amassing more than 84,000 documents and pursuing more than 430 tips that have come through on its website tip line.
But notwithstanding the secrecy, the select committee has uncovered extraordinary information that have put them several steps closer to potentially forcing them to make criminal referrals to the justice department once the inquiry is complete, the sources said.
What the panel has found and made public so far, the sources said, could also lay the groundwork to sketch out a criminal conspiracy that connects Trump’s political plan to return himself to office with the attack itself – its ultimate suspicion, the Guardian first reported.
From its nondescript offices boarded up with beige boards and wood-paneled conference rooms with blinds always drawn, the select committee has spent the last eight months working in color-coded teams in an attempt to untangle Trump’s efforts to subvert the 2020 election results.
The gold team is examining Trump’s plans to stop the certification of Biden’s election win with the help of Republican members of Congress, and his pressure campaign on state, local and justice department officials to return himself to office.
The red team is looking at the Save America rally organizers and the Stop the Steal Movement, while the purple team is scrutinizing the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, the 1st Amendment Praetorian and how militia groups helped lead the Trump mob into the Capitol building.
As the panel moves into the second phase of its investigation, its members have said they want to release in narrative form the evidence of wrongdoing in a series of public hearings that are likely to be delayed from April to May but still focus on how Trump broke the law.
The select committee’s purpose remains to recommend legislative reforms to prevent a repeat of 6 January, but the evidence collected by the panel is fast hurtling it towards a conclusion of criminal behavior that could implicate Trump – and necessitate a referral – the sources said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/28/capitol-attack-panel-militia-groups-oath-keepers-proud-boys
-
Judge's warnings about Trump's 'ongoing threat' should 'alarm every person in this country': Bennie Thompson
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rep-bennie-thompson.jpg?id=28331086&width=1500&height=843)
Ahead of a contempt vote for Trump allies Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino, the chairman of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol cited what Judge David Carter wrote about former President Donald Trump and attorney John Eastman, whom he said likely committed crimes in their efforts to stay in power.
According to Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) every American should read what he wrote and it should "alarm every person in this country."
Addressing the committee, Thompson quoted Judge Carter saying, "Dr. Eastman and President Trump launched a campaign to overturn a democratic election, an action unprecedented in American history. Their campaign was not confined to the ivory tower - it was a coup in search of a legal theory."
He explained that the plan from Trump's allies "spurred violent attack on the seat of our nation's government led to the death of several law enforcement officers and deepened public distrust in our political process. More than a year after the attack on our Capitol, the public is still searching for accountability. I'm proud to say that this committee is helping to lead that search for accountability."
He went on to explain how the two men played a key role in the Jan. 6 attack and what led up to that attack.
"In Mr. Scavino's case, he strung us along for months before making it clear that he believes he is above the law," Thompson continued. "Mr. Navarro, despite sharing relevant details on TV and podcasts and in its own book, he also stonewalled us."
Thompson filed the full report against the two men on Sunday evening.
See the video below:
Jan. 6 Committee reveals the case against Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino ahead of the contempt vote
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/peter-navarro-is-on-the-campaign-trail-as-a-government-employee-on-the-taxpayer-s-dime.png?id=24827039&width=1000&height=537)
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and what led to it will vote on whether to hold Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino Jr. in contempt of Congress for refusing to appear after being subpoenaed.
On Sunday evening, the committee released the case it intends to present to the full Congress about the two men and the details that they could provide to the committee.
In the case against Navarro, the committee cited his own recently published book, In Trump Time, in which he revealed a plan called the "Green Bay Sweep." He said that it was designed as the "last, best chance to snatch a stolen election from the Democrats' jaws of deceit." He later says that former President Donald Trump was "on board with the strategy," along with about 100 members of Congress.
The House committee emailed Navarro asking if he intended to accept service of the subpoena and he replied: "yes. no counsel. Executive privilege." After he received the subpoena, Navarro released a public statement saying he had no intention of complying with it.
"President Trump has invoked Executive Privilege; and it is not my privilege to waive," Navarro wrote in the statement. "[The Select Committee] should negotiate any waiver of the privilege with the president and his attorneys directly, not through me. I refer this tribunal to Chapter 21 of In Trump Time for what is in the public record about the Green Bay Sweep plan to insure [sic] election integrity[.]"
The president, as in the current president, has waived all executive privilege for issues involving Jan. 6. The committee also informed Navarro that he could still appear before the members and indicate which questions he refused to answer due to executive privilege. Navarro replied, asking, "Will this event be open to the public and press?" The committee said that it would not be. They even offered to find a new date for Navarro if he needed more time, "within [a] reasonable time," to comply with the documents request or there was a scheduling conflict. He responded the following day saying, he had "been clear in my communications on this matter" and that "it is incumbent on the Committee to directly negotiate with President Trump and his attorneys regarding any and all things related to this matter."
Dan Scavino was the social media person for Trump during the campaign and then in the White House. When the committee subpoenaed described Scavino it explained that the former White House staffer was part of the one who tweeted for Trump and worked with the multimedia for social media communication.
The committee said that Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) worked extensively with Scavino, "granting multiple extensions for the deposition and production of documents." They listed six different extension examples beginning on Oct. 28, 2021, and the last being Feb. 8, 2022.
In the details about Scavino, the documents said that the White House Counsel's Office provided Scavino with the necessary information to explain that explained executive privilege was waived.
Read the full details in the 34-page document from the House Committee here:
https://www.rawstory.com/peter-navarro-dan-scavino-contempt/
-
Judge's new ruling is 'the most striking and provocative' thing we've heard yet about January 6th: reporter
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-rioters-screengrab.jpg?id=26476669&width=1500&height=820)
On Monday, CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, the key authority covering the January 6 Capitol insurrection court proceedings, revealed that the sane federal judge who said former President Donald Trump is likely guilty of crimes is also warning the attack "will repeat itself" if the perpetrators aren't properly held to account for their actions.
"Here we are, 15 months, roughly, since the U.S. Capitol riot," said MacFarlane. "And one of the most striking, provocative, and telling things we've heard a judge say about the investigation was said today. But it wasn't said here in Washington. It was said by a federal judge in California, who ruled today that John Eastman, the attorney and the adviser to the Trump White House in the final days of the Trump administration, must turn over dozens of email records to the House Select January 6 Committee here at the Capitol. Eastman's attorney in a statement late today says Eastman intends to comply."
"But it wasn't that narrow ruling on that narrow issue that was so striking; it's what the judge said in his opinion," continued MacFarlane. "The judge said in so many words that the public is searching for accountability for January 6th, and that without accountability, 'the court fears January 6 could repeat itself.' The judge also said it's more likely than not that Trump tried to block the official congressional proceedings. The judge used the phrase 'coup'. The judge used the phrase 'end the peaceful transfer of power' if the plans succeeded before January 6th. Particularly striking language."
"The judge is giving voice to any number of Americans who believe, at this moment, despite there being 770-plus federal defendants, that there has not been accountability for January 6th, and that without accountability, there is a fear January 6th could recur," said MacFarlane. "This isn't the first time we've read or heard a nudge from a federal judge or a message from a federal judge of this sort. We've heard federal judges here in D.C. lend voice — unequivocal voice — to their concern about the low-level plea agreements the Justice Department has been cutting in some January 6th cases. Unlawful picketing and parading. The judges expressing fear that these plea deals don't provide the proper deterrence to a recurrence of January 6th."
Watch below:
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1508569233046781958
-
US Capitol attack panel votes to recommend prosecution of Trump duo
Select committee unanimously agrees to advance contempt of Congress citations against Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/cec287180107ca78f60e01829f96573023e3f1ce/0_253_4567_2740/master/4567.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=87c699d8eb9ccb647f58b21713ef0b99)
The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack voted on Monday to recommend the criminal prosecution of two of Donald Trump’s top former White House aides – Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino – for defying subpoenas in a bid to undermine the January 6 inquiry.
The select committee unanimously approved the contempt of Congress report it had been examining. The citations now head for a vote before the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, which is expected to approve resolutions for referrals to the justice department.
Congressman Bennie Thompson, the chair of the select committee, said at the vote that the panel was seeking the criminal prosecution for Navarro and Scavino to punish their non-cooperation over claims of executive privilege it did not recognize.
"Executive privilege doesn’t belong to just any White House official. It belongs to the president. Here, President Biden has been clear that executive privilege does not prevent cooperation with the Select Committee by either Mr Scavino or Mr Navarro,” Thompson said.
“Even if a president has formally invoked executive privilege regarding testimony of a witness – which is not the case here – that witness has the obligation to sit down under oath and assert the privilege question by question. But these witnesses didn’t even bother to show up.”
The vote to advance the contempt citations against the two Trump White House aides came as the select committee was expected to huddle to discuss whether to demand that Ginni Thomas, the wife of supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, assist the investigation.
The panel had sought cooperation from Navarro, a former Trump senior adviser, since he helped to devise an unlawful scheme with operatives at the Trump “war room” in Washington to have then-vice president Mike Pence stop the certification of Joe Biden’s election win.
Navarro worked with the Trump campaign’s lawyers to pressure legislators in battleground states won by Biden to decertify the results and instead send Trump slates of electors for certification by Congress, the panel said in the contempt report.
The former Trump aide also encouraged then Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to call political operative Roger Stone to discuss January 6 and coordinated with Willard war room operative Steve Bannon in the days before the Capitol attack, the panel added.
But Navarro told the select committee – without providing any evidence – that the former president had asserted executive privilege over the contents of his subpoena issued last month, and refused to provide documents or testimony.
The panel for months has also sought assistance in its investigation from Scavino, the former Trump White House deputy chief of staff for communications, since he attended several meetings with Trump where election fraud matters were discussed.
But after the panel granted to Scavino six extensions that pushed his subpoena deadlines from October 2021 to February 2022, the former Trump aide also told House investigators that he would not comply with the order because Trump invoked executive privilege.
The select committee rejected those arguments of executive privilege, saying neither Navarro nor Scavino had grounds for entirely defying the subpoenas because either Trump did not formally invoke the protections, or because Biden ultimately waived them.
Congressman Jamie Raskin, visibly furious as he read out remarks at the vote, slammed the executive privilege claims. “Please spare us the nonsense talk about executive privilege, rejected now by every court that has looked at it,” Raskin said.
“This is America, and there’s no executive privilege here for presidents, much less trained advisors, to plan coups and organize insurrections against the people’s government in the people’s constitution and then to cover up the evidence of their crimes.
“These two men,” Raskin said of Navarro and Scavino, “are in contempt of Congress and we must say, both for their brazen disregard for their duties and for our laws and our institutions.”
The panel also said that even if it accepted the executive privilege claims, the two former Trump aides had no grounds to entirely ignore the subpoenas since they also demanded documents and testimony about non-privileged matters.
The panel added the justice department’s office of legal counsel had determined they also had no basis to defy the document request in the subpoena, noting there has never been any purported immunity for producing non-privileged documents to Congress.
And at the vote to recommend contempt citations, the vice-chair of the panel, Liz Cheney urged the justice department to also reject the two Trump aides’ arguments for defying their subpoenas should the House make the expected criminal referrals.
"The Department of Justice is entrusted with the defense of our constitution; department leadership should not apply any doctrine of immunity that might block Congress from fully uncovering and addressing the causes of the January 6th attack,” Cheney said.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/28/capitol-attack-committee-contempt-prosecution-vote-trump-aides
-
Democrats ask Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from Jan. 6 cases after wife Ginni's role is exposed
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/clarence-thomas-screen-grab.jpg?id=29594713&width=1200&quality=85)
A group of Democratic senators and representatives have asked Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself from future cases involving the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The lawmakers sent a letter Monday to the Supreme Court asking Thomas to recuse himself from those cases and to provide a written explanation for why he did not do so in previous cases, in a move prompted by the revelation that his wife Ginni Thomas was repeatedly pressuring White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to help Donald Trump overturn his election loss, reported the Washington Post.
“Given the recent disclosures about Ms. Thomas’s efforts to overturn the election and her specific communications with White House officials about doing so, Justice Thomas’s participation in cases involving the 2020 election and the January 6th attack is exceedingly difficult to reconcile with federal ethics requirements,” read the letter, which the Post obtained.
The letter also called on Chief Justice John Roberts to create a binding code of conduct for justices that includes enforceable provisions and require justices issue written recusal decisions, with a deadline of April 28, in response to "major ethics" breaches at the court, including Thomas' failure to disclose his wife's income from the conservative Heritage Foundation.
“Chief Justice Roberts has often spoken about the importance of the Supreme Court’s ‘credibility and legitimacy as an institution.' That trust, already at all-time lows with the American public, must be earned,” the lawmakers wrote.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/29/democrats-clarence-thomas-recuse-jan6-letter/
-
Columnist: Bombshell report on missing call logs could make it easier for Jan. 6 committee to get records from Trump allies
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-and-kevin-mccarthy-save-america-pac.jpg?id=28813853&width=1500&height=988)
Nearly eight hours are missing from White House call logs for the period when Donald Trump's supporters mobbed the U.S. Capitol -- raising new questions about the president and his inner circle.
Documents turned over by the National Archives to the House select committee don't account for the period between just after 11 a.m. to nearly 7 p.m., although the former president reportedly called at least one Republican senator asking to delay the election certification as the violence raged, reported the Washington Post.
“He was using the leverage of the violent insurrection to keep the inside political coup against Pence going,” said Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-MD), a member of the Jan. 6 committee. “Most everyone not cooperating with the committee is helping shield Trump from public disclosure about what happened during that period."
But the select committee might already have records of those missing calls because they have subpoenaed phone records from some key players, and the lengthy gap in White House call logs will strengthen lawmakers' case to obtain phone records from other members of Congress or Trump allies.
"The committee is debating whether to subpoena members of Congress such as [House minority leader Kevin] McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who also talked to Trump on Jan. 6," wrote Post columnist Greg Sargent. "The source close to the committee tells me the missing phone logs might strengthen the case internally for subpoenaing them, because there should be more pressure on those lawmakers to testify about these calls with Trump."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/29/trump-missing-phone-logs-key-takeaways/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/04/politics/jim-jordan-trump-january-6/index.html
Handwritten notes may reveal 'unknown person' in last Trump call before mysterious seven-hour gap
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-surprised-russia-and-everyone-else-by-repeatedly-inviting-putin-to-the-white-house.png?id=24829872&width=1500&height=751)
Handwritten notes in a previously released document from the National Archives may reveal the identity of the "unknown person" who was the last reported call made by Donald Trump before the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The National Archives turned over White call logs to the House select committee, which the Washington Post obtained and found a seven-hour, 37-minute gap in calls between 11:17 a.m., when the call was made to the unidentified individual, and 6:54 p.m., when Trump instructed the operator to call aide Dan Scavino.
However, handwritten notes on another White House document shows Trump called then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) at 11:17 a.m. -- three minutes before his final call to then-vice president Mike Pence, which has been previously reported but was not recorded in the call logs turned over to the committee.
Kyle Cheney
@kyledcheney
But the omissions are the key, as they point out. Calls we know occurred that are not on this list:
-Final call with Pence (11:20am)
-Later call with Jordan
-Heated with McCarthy
-Call with Lee/Tuberville
NOTE: The 11:17am call to an “unidentified” person appears to be Kelly LOEFFLER, based on this previously released document from the National Archives.https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.164.13.pdf
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPA69o5WYAE8omj?format=jpg&name=900x900)
The logs obtained by the Post show Trump also spoke with then-Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) on Jan. 6, a day after each Georgia Republican lost runoff elections to Democratic challengers.
Loeffler had promised Trump two days earlier at a campaign rally that she would object to certification of Joe Biden's election win but changed her mind after the Capitol riot, but through a quirk in Georgia election law Perdue's term ended Jan. 3, 2021, so he was no longer in Congress.
Other previously reported phone calls that did not show up on the White House logs include a phone call with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a heated exchange with House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and a conversation with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/15087699996698992
Bob Woodward: Unlikely that 'telephone addict' Trump didn’t call anyone for 7 hours during Jan. 6 riot
Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Bob Woodward explained that former President Donald Trump "is a telephone addict," and any idea that he didn't speak to anyone for seven hours is "unlikely."
Paperwork revealed by Woodward and Robert Costa in the Washington Post showed more than 7 hours and 30 minutes in which Trump's phone calls were not logged. It's prompting questions about whether Trump or his allies were using burner phones or other cell phones to keep any communication off the record.
"What's so important what the Jan. 6 committee is doing is very aggressive effort to talk to everyone, get every piece of paper, chase it down like a reporter who has time," Woodward explained. "And I got to know from very well during the 2020 campaign when he would -- I was talking to him and we did 17 interviews, he would call any time. And he is a telephone addict, and the idea that nothing happened in the afternoon on the phone Jan. 6 is as unlikely as the sun not rising, quite frankly."
Host John King cited reports from others explaining that Trump frequently would use other people's phones or randomly ask for someone to hand him a cell phone.
"Yes, but they'll figure it out or they'll get parts of it," said Woodward about the committee. "And it is -- I remember talking to Trump one afternoon. I called him. I had some questions. This is in 2020 before the election. And he said, 'Oh, I can't talk. I have 20 generals waiting downstairs.' And then he talked for 25 minutes. You almost couldn't get him off the phone, and it would appear any time. So, to have seven hours and 37 minutes' void, where, in the morning, he's talking to ten people, in the evening he's talking to 12 people and then there are calls that we don't know about that didn't go through?"
Legal analysts have warned that intentionally hiding calls using other phones could show a "consciousness of guilt."
See the interview below:
-
Ginni Thomas Pushed To Subvert The 2020 Election
Text exchanges revealed by the Washington Post show Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pushed Mark Meadows to overturn the 2020 election. Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance breaks down the damning messages.
Watch:
-
Biden’s DOJ is finally expanding criminal investigation into Jan. 6 insurrection
After fierce public criticism that the Department of Justice has not done enough to hold former President Donald Trump and his supporters accountable for their efforts to overturn the election, The Washington Post on Wednesday published a major new report on Attorney General Merrick Garland's investigations.
"The criminal investigation into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol has expanded to examine the preparations for the rally that preceded the riot, as the Justice Department aims to determine the full extent of any conspiracy to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election victory, according to people familiar with the matter. In the past two months, a federal grand jury in Washington has issued subpoena requests to some officials in former president Donald Trump’s orbit who assisted in planning, funding and executing the Jan. 6 rally," the newspaper reported, citing "people familiar with the matter" who were granted anonymity to speak candidly.
The report came after Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California ruled Trump likely committed felony misconduct.
"The development shows the degree to which the Justice Department investigation — which already involves more defendants than any other criminal prosecution in the nation’s history — has moved further beyond the storming of the Capitol to examine events preceding the attack," the newspaper reported. "Grand jury subpoenas are a legal mechanism used by prosecutors to gather information for a criminal investigation, and a subpoena in and of itself doesn’t mean any particular recipient is under investigation or likely to face charges. But the subpoena demands issued in recent weeks do indicate that the aperture of the investigation has widened, after Attorney General Merrick Garland pledged in a speech this Jan. 5, the day before the first anniversary of the attack on the Capitol, to follow the evidence wherever it leads."
Read the full report:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/03/30/jan-6-fbi-subpoena-justice/
-
Feds charge Missouri MAGA rioter who told cops he was there because 'your president told us to be'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/cale-clayton-doj.png?id=29621407&width=1500&height=843)
On Thursday, CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, the key authority covering the January 6 Capitol insurrection prosecutions, reported that the Justice Department has unsealed a new case against Cale Clayton, who was caught on video yelling at and taunting police as they tried to defend the Capitol from the incoming mob.
"You guys realize your President told us to be here. Your President!" shouted Clayton at one point. "Hey, how does that make you feel? You’re defying your own f***ng country. Your own country you’re defying."
At another point, he also shouted at police, “We are going to win. You don’t have enough for all of us. You might hit me once or twice. You might spray me with pepper spray. I don’t give a f**k. There ain’t enough for millions of people here and you know it.”
Cale faces a multitude of charges according to the DOJ charging document, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, theft of government property, entering a restricted area, and disorderly conduct.
At least 800 people have now been charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol, ranging from misdemeanors like trespassing to seditious conspiracy.
Scott MacFarlane:
@MacFarlaneNews
In newly unsealed case vs. Jan 6 defendant Cale Clayton of Missouri, feds say Clayton yelled at police:
"You guys realize your President told us to be here. Your President! Hey, how does that make you feel? You’re defying your own f***ng country. Your own country you’re defying"
Watch: https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1509589340472725515
-
Columnist: Bombshell report on missing call logs could make it easier for Jan. 6 committee to get records from Trump allies
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-and-kevin-mccarthy-save-america-pac.jpg?id=28813853&width=1500&height=988)
Nearly eight hours are missing from White House call logs for the period when Donald Trump's supporters mobbed the U.S. Capitol -- raising new questions about the president and his inner circle.
Documents turned over by the National Archives to the House select committee don't account for the period between just after 11 a.m. to nearly 7 p.m., although the former president reportedly called at least one Republican senator asking to delay the election certification as the violence raged, reported the Washington Post.
“He was using the leverage of the violent insurrection to keep the inside political coup against Pence going,” said Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-MD), a member of the Jan. 6 committee. “Most everyone not cooperating with the committee is helping shield Trump from public disclosure about what happened during that period."
But the select committee might already have records of those missing calls because they have subpoenaed phone records from some key players, and the lengthy gap in White House call logs will strengthen lawmakers' case to obtain phone records from other members of Congress or Trump allies.
"The committee is debating whether to subpoena members of Congress such as [House minority leader Kevin] McCarthy (R-CA) and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who also talked to Trump on Jan. 6," wrote Post columnist Greg Sargent. "The source close to the committee tells me the missing phone logs might strengthen the case internally for subpoenaing them, because there should be more pressure on those lawmakers to testify about these calls with Trump."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/03/29/trump-missing-phone-logs-key-takeaways/
https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/04/politics/jim-jordan-trump-january-6/index.html
Handwritten notes may reveal 'unknown person' in last Trump call before mysterious seven-hour gap
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-surprised-russia-and-everyone-else-by-repeatedly-inviting-putin-to-the-white-house.png?id=24829872&width=1500&height=751)
Handwritten notes in a previously released document from the National Archives may reveal the identity of the "unknown person" who was the last reported call made by Donald Trump before the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The National Archives turned over White call logs to the House select committee, which the Washington Post obtained and found a seven-hour, 37-minute gap in calls between 11:17 a.m., when the call was made to the unidentified individual, and 6:54 p.m., when Trump instructed the operator to call aide Dan Scavino.
However, handwritten notes on another White House document shows Trump called then-Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) at 11:17 a.m. -- three minutes before his final call to then-vice president Mike Pence, which has been previously reported but was not recorded in the call logs turned over to the committee.
Kyle Cheney
@kyledcheney
But the omissions are the key, as they point out. Calls we know occurred that are not on this list:
-Final call with Pence (11:20am)
-Later call with Jordan
-Heated with McCarthy
-Call with Lee/Tuberville
NOTE: The 11:17am call to an “unidentified” person appears to be Kelly LOEFFLER, based on this previously released document from the National Archives.https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840/gov.uscourts.cacd.841840.164.13.pdf
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPA69o5WYAE8omj?format=jpg&name=900x900)
The logs obtained by the Post show Trump also spoke with then-Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) on Jan. 6, a day after each Georgia Republican lost runoff elections to Democratic challengers.
Loeffler had promised Trump two days earlier at a campaign rally that she would object to certification of Joe Biden's election win but changed her mind after the Capitol riot, but through a quirk in Georgia election law Perdue's term ended Jan. 3, 2021, so he was no longer in Congress.
Other previously reported phone calls that did not show up on the White House logs include a phone call with Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), a heated exchange with House minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and a conversation with Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL).
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/15087699996698992
Bob Woodward: Unlikely that 'telephone addict' Trump didn’t call anyone for 7 hours during Jan. 6 riot
Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Bob Woodward explained that former President Donald Trump "is a telephone addict," and any idea that he didn't speak to anyone for seven hours is "unlikely."
Paperwork revealed by Woodward and Robert Costa in the Washington Post showed more than 7 hours and 30 minutes in which Trump's phone calls were not logged. It's prompting questions about whether Trump or his allies were using burner phones or other cell phones to keep any communication off the record.
"What's so important what the Jan. 6 committee is doing is very aggressive effort to talk to everyone, get every piece of paper, chase it down like a reporter who has time," Woodward explained. "And I got to know from very well during the 2020 campaign when he would -- I was talking to him and we did 17 interviews, he would call any time. And he is a telephone addict, and the idea that nothing happened in the afternoon on the phone Jan. 6 is as unlikely as the sun not rising, quite frankly."
Host John King cited reports from others explaining that Trump frequently would use other people's phones or randomly ask for someone to hand him a cell phone.
"Yes, but they'll figure it out or they'll get parts of it," said Woodward about the committee. "And it is -- I remember talking to Trump one afternoon. I called him. I had some questions. This is in 2020 before the election. And he said, 'Oh, I can't talk. I have 20 generals waiting downstairs.' And then he talked for 25 minutes. You almost couldn't get him off the phone, and it would appear any time. So, to have seven hours and 37 minutes' void, where, in the morning, he's talking to ten people, in the evening he's talking to 12 people and then there are calls that we don't know about that didn't go through?"
Legal analysts have warned that intentionally hiding calls using other phones could show a "consciousness of guilt."
See the interview below:
Debunked. Will you be deleting this disinformation?
CNN (April 1):
Official review of Trump phone logs from January 6 finds record is complete
-
Debunked. Will you be deleting this disinformation?
CNN (April 1):
Official review of Trump phone logs from January 6 finds record is complete
:D :D :D
Not debunked. According to a "Trump source". What a joke.
-
‘The President Participated’: Jan. 6 committee publishes damning text about Navarro, Meadows, and Trump
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-speaks-at-the-stop-the-steal-rally-on-jan-6.jpg?id=25592642&width=1000&height=562)
The House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack is demanding former top Trump advisor Peter Navarro speak with them "about his role in the attempt to overturn the election."
Friday afternoon the Committee posted a damning "January 3 text to Mark Meadows," which they say reads: "I have details on the call that Navarro helped convene... to delay certification... including that the president participated..."
The Committee did not reveal who sent the text.
On Monday the Committee had voted to hold Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino in criminal contempt of Congress.
"This seems like a big deal," Citizens for Ethics, a government watchdog, said in response to the text.
January 6th Committee
@January6thCmte
A January 3 text to Mark Meadows: "I have details on the call that Navarro helped convene... to delay certification... including that the president participated..."
Peter Navarro must speak to the Select Committee about his role in the attempt to overturn the election.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPRrbNiXwAII3IA?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://www.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/2022/04/the-president-participated-jan-6-committee-publishes-damning-text-about-navarro-meadows-and-trump/
-
And Criminal Donald and his sycophants still want to claim his insurrection was "non violent" and "peaceful".
Alabama man sentenced to 46 months for bringing guns, Molotov cocktails, other weapons to Capitol Hill on Jan. 6
(https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/05/25/8020e145-686b-4d8e-af02-a05af2878b89/thumbnail/1240x698/e8ddf79ad726eb68706934b4e88d0f71/akauffman.jpg)
A federal judge has sentenced Lonnie Coffman, of Alabama, to 46 months in prison for bringing a cache of guns, Molotov cocktails, a machete, ammunition feeding devices to Capitol Hill on Jan. 6, 2021. Coffman admitted having the assortment of weapons in a red pickup truck, parked in Southeast Washington, D.C., at 9:20 a.m. on the morning of Jan. 6. The truck was located near the headquarters of the Republican National Committee and the Cannon House Building.
Coffman was not accused of being part of the riot, but acknowledged having a gun on his person as he moved through Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6.
While issuing her sentence, D.C. District Judge Colleen Koller-Kotelly sharply criticized Coffman for his lack of an explanation for his actions and his decision to drive an arsenal of weapons to the Capitol hours before the siege. She compared the chemicals inside the Molotov cocktails to napalm and said she had never seen such a large or wide assortment of weapons in a federal criminal case.
Coffman's case is unique among Jan. 6 defendants — he was accused of making a prior trip, in December 2020, seeking out a U.S. senator to discuss a challenge to the 2020 election. He was also accused of having a "good guy" and "bad guy" list when he was arrested. A federal judge was among those named on the "bad guy" list, according to Friday's court proceedings.
Coffman is a Vietnam War veteran who has served more than a year in pretrial detention, and he has been experiencing a series of mental and physical health challenges, according to court filings from Coffman's defense attorney. His time in pretrial detention will be credited as part of his 46-month sentence.
He pleaded guilty to possession of unregistered firearm. He is currently one of 32 defendants from Jan. 6 cases who are being held in the Washington, D.C., jail. He'll be transferred to a federal Bureau of Prisons facility to serve the remainder of his sentence.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jan-6-lonnie-coffman-guns-molotov-cocktails-capitol/
-
:D :D :D
Not debunked. According to a "Trump source". What a joke.
"An official review found that the White House phone records for Jan. 6, 2021, are complete, CNN reported Thursday, citing a source familiar with the matter, following reports earlier in the week that the call logs given to the House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol had a gap of more than seven hours that day."
-
Justice Dept update on Jan 6 cases:
"More than 245 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including over 80 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPXOfwoWQAgHfz0?format=jpg&name=small)
-
"An official review found that the White House phone records for Jan. 6, 2021, are complete, CNN reported Thursday, citing a source familiar with the matter, following reports earlier in the week that the call logs given to the House select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol had a gap of more than seven hours that day."
"Two former Trump officials believe this, plus the chaotic nature of the West Wing on January 6, is what led to the gaps in the call logs".
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/politics/mystery-call-gap-trump-jan-6-white-house-phone-logs/index.html
And we're supposed to take the word of what two unidentified former Trump officials "believe"? The same ones who took part in the coup and insurrection? :D :D :D
Like I said, this story is a joke and shame on CNN for publishing this nonsense just for clicks.
The DOJ and the 1/6 House committee did not do an "official review". They are the only one who count and they are currently investigating the seven hour gap.
-
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPQzvO6XMA438p1?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
"Two former Trump officials believe this, plus the chaotic nature of the West Wing on January 6, is what led to the gaps in the call logs".
https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/31/politics/mystery-call-gap-trump-jan-6-white-house-phone-logs/index.html
And we're supposed to take the word of what two unidentified former Trump officials "believe"? The same ones who took part in the coup and insurrection? :D :D :D
Like I said, this story is a joke and shame on CNN for publishing this nonsense just for clicks.
The DOJ and the 1/6 House committee did not do an "official review". They are the only one who count and they are currently investigating the seven hour gap.
LOL. Here is the title of the article: "Official review of Trump phone logs from January 6 finds record is complete." Some of the sources of how the White House call log works would, of course, be folks who worked in the White House, but the story confirms that multiple sources involved with the "official" investigation confirm that the log is complete. By continuing to post the claim that the call log was manipulated to remove calls, you are now intentionally and knowingly disseminating false information.
-
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPQzvO6XMA438p1?format=jpg&name=medium)
By posting this in this thread without further explanation you are falsely implying that Evans died as a result of the events of Jan. 6. His death had absolutely nothing to do with Jan. 6. He died on April 2, 2021 when he was killed by a member of Nation of Islam. Shameful.
-
LOL. Here is the title of the article: "Official review of Trump phone logs from January 6 finds record is complete." Some of the sources of how the White House call log works would, of course, be folks who worked in the White House, but the story confirms that multiple sources involved with the "official" investigation confirm that the log is complete. By continuing to post the claim that the call log was manipulated to remove calls, you are now intentionally and knowingly disseminating false information.
Pay attention to what the January 6th Committee is doing. Not what criminal Trump officials are leaking to CNN. And your last sentence is b.s.
Two "Trump sources" leaking a fake story to CNN is not an "official review'. The 1/6 House Committee is currently investigating a cover up.
The gaps in Trump's phone logs during January 6 Capitol riot are 'suspiciously tailored to the heart of the events,' Rep. Raskin says
April 3, 2022
The gaps in former President Donald Trump's phone logs on January 6 "suspiciously" coincide with the "heart of events," Rep. Jamie Raskin said on Sunday.
White House call logs during the Capitol riot show a gap of seven hours and 37 minutes, leading the House January 6 committee to investigate a "possible cover-up."
"It's a very unusual thing for us to find that suddenly everything goes dark for a seven-hour period in terms of tracking the movements and the conversations of the president," said the Maryland Democrat, who is also a member of the January 6 committee. "It does seem like the gaps are suspiciously tailored to the heart of the events."
Speaking with Margaret Brennan in an interview on "Face the Nation" on CBS News, Raskin said the committee has been able to "piece together" phone calls that the former president was on.
https://www.businessinsider.com/gaps-trumps-jan-6-phone-logs-tailored-heart-events-raskin-2022-4
-
By posting this in this thread without further explanation you are falsely implying that Evans died as a result of the events of Jan. 6. His death had absolutely nothing to do with Jan. 6. He died on April 2, 2021 when he was killed by a member of Nation of Islam. Shameful.
Do you need glasses? It clearly says April 2, 2021. Not January 6. Officer Evans was being honored for his service a year after his death.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPQzvO6XMA438p1?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jared Kushner interviewed by Jan. 6 committee for over six hours
A House member said it was "really valuable" to hear from Trump's son-in-law, the highest-ranking Trump administration official to have met with the committee.
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol interviewed its first Trump family member and the highest-ranking official from the previous administration, meeting with Jared Kushner on Thursday for more than six hours, a source in the room said.
The panel met virtually with Kushner — Donald Trump's son-in-law and a former top White House adviser — after he voluntarily agreed to speak with the committee, which Trump has accused of conducting a "witch hunt."
The source described Kushner as being cooperative and friendly, adding that he did the talking, as opposed to having his lawyers speak for him.
The committee did not immediately comment on Kushner's appearance.
Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., a member of the Jan. 6 committee, told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace that Kushner “was able to voluntarily provide information to us to verify, substantiate, provide his own take on this different reporting,” adding, “So it was really valuable for us to have the opportunity to speak to him.”
A representative for Kushner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Asked about Kushner’s planned interview this week, White House communications director Kate Bedingfield said the “White House has decided not to assert executive privilege over the testimony of Jared Kushner,” essentially allowing him to speak about discussions with Trump that would otherwise be considered confidential.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/jared-kushner-interviewed-jan-6-committee-six-hours-rcna22387
-
Court sets next court hearing for OathKeepers founder Stewart Rhodes for Friday at 10am. Rhodes remains behind bars, with likely trial date this summer
He's charged with seditious conspiracy and last month saw a co-defendant plead guilty and agree to flip and help the feds.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPbX6zWXMAU5Gbm?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Trial scheduled for Monday in the US Capitol riot case of former local Virginia police officer Thomas Robertson.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPXOsovXsAk5AVi?format=jpg&name=small)
Reminder: Robertson is in pretrial jail after being accused of violating release conditions by purchasing 34 guns.
Here is the Facebook post feds seek to show at this week's Jan 6 trial of former police officer Thomas Robertson.
"I've spent the last 10 years fighting an insurgency in Iraq and then Afghanistan. I'm prepared to start one here and know a bunch of like minded and trained individuals"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPdEF6HXwAY_ESt?format=jpg&name=medium)
In Sunday court filing, feds include this alleged Facebook post by Robertson in which he references a plan for an armed event for Richmond, Virginia on January 18, 2021.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPdE-n4XoAYSYZR?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Lonnie Coffman, 72-year-old Alabama man who brought cache of weapons, Molotov Cocktails, machete, ammo to DC on Jan 6 in a pickup truck and parked across from Capitol at 9:20am was sentenced to 46 months prison.
Judge decries lack of explanation for his action and plan.
(https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/05/25/8020e145-686b-4d8e-af02-a05af2878b89/thumbnail/1240x698/e8ddf79ad726eb68706934b4e88d0f71/akauffman.jpg)
The judge detailed what was in Lonnie Coffman's truck on Jan 6: "Hundreds of rounds of ammunition, machete, camoflauge smoke devices, a cooler containing eleven mason jars...each mason jar contained a mixture of gasoline and styrofoam".
Coffman's truck was parked at 9:20am on Jan 6th near the Capitol. And he carried a firearm on his person that day said the judge.
More mason jars with gasoline and styrofoam - the components of Molotov cocktails were later found at Coffman's home. So many weapons, so much ammo, so many explosives.
A list of "good guys" and "bad guys" was recovered from Coffman specifying, in particular, that a federal judge was on the "Bad guys" list.
Judge said Coffman had enough weapons "ready to do battle" and expressed her concern that she's not getting an answer as to why.
The Judge said she can't remember having such a unique collection of weapons in a case, "Especially the Molotov cocktails concern me".
The components of the Molotov cocktails are comparable to Napalm. Coffman, a Vietnam veteran, whom the judge says should know about the power and destructiveness of napalm.
The Judge mentioned the machete and large-capacity ammo feeding devices Coffman also was accused of bringing to DC.
The judge is channeling the voice of many who closely follow this case: "Why did he park across street from the Capitol at 9:20am the morning of the siege?"
The judge spelled out the unique facets of this crime. A truck filled with weapons parked near residences in southeast Washington DC in close proximity to homes, families and the Capitol complex.
Judge: Coffman contracted COVID in jail, is unvaccinated, has COPD, needs mental health evaluation...and "has issues that need to be addressed"
Judge says "appropriate sentence" is 46 months in prison. Roughly 4 years. Coffman has served more than a year in jail already. He will serve the rest of his sentence with US Bureau of Prisons.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPN14YTWUAgZouv?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
New trial date set in the high-level US Capitol riot case of former NYPD officer Thomas Webster. Now set for April 25th.
Webster would be first Jan 6 defendant with law enforcement ties to face a jury.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FOy5FJUXEAYRXqs?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Do you need glasses? It clearly says April 2, 2021. Not January 6. Officer Evans was being honored for his service a year after his death.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPQzvO6XMA438p1?format=jpg&name=medium)
You have posted this in a thread about 1/6 with no explanation whatsoever as to its relevance to that event. In the past, you have falsely suggested that Capitol Police officers were killed during that event. They were not. This is as shameful as it gets. Trying to use the death of an individual to suit your fake narrative. Shameful.
-
You have posted this in a thread about 1/6 with no explanation whatsoever as to its relevance to that event. In the past, you have falsely suggested that Capitol Police officers were killed during that event. They were not. This is as shameful as it gets. Trying to use the death of an individual to suit your fake narrative. Shameful.
This is my thread and I don't need you telling what I can post in it. The explanation of his death is clearly written where it says he died on April 2, 2021. Spare me your fake outrage. All you do is cause trouble in threads, post disinformation, and make false accusations.
-
This is my thread and I don't need you telling what I can post in it. The explanation of his death is clearly written where it says he died on April 2, 2021. Spare me your fake outrage. All you do is cause trouble in threads, post disinformation, and make false accusations.
There is no "explanation of his death" in that post. None. By posting this in a thread titled "!/6 Insurrection Investigation" you implied that his death was related to that event. Maybe you didn't even understand yourself that his death occurred as a result of another event (or maybe you are intentionally dishonest). Either way it is shameful and should be deleted from this thread. If you want to start another thread on the "4/2 Insurrection Investigation" discussing the blame that should be attributed for his death to Biden and the Dem party for their anti-police stance then knock yourself out. What you have done here is slimy and dishonest.
-
There is no "explanation of his death" in that post. None. By posting this in a thread titled "!/6 Insurrection Investigation" you implied that his death was related to that event. Maybe you didn't even understand yourself that his death occurred as a result of another event (or maybe you are intentionally dishonest). Either way it is shameful and should be deleted from this thread. If you want to start another thread on the "4/2 Insurrection Investigation" discussing the blame that should be attributed for his death to Biden and the Dem party for their anti-police stance then knock yourself out. What you have done here is slimy and dishonest.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPQzvO6XMA438p1?format=jpg&name=medium)
You are truly embarrassing yourself. The explanation of Officer Evans death is above. It clearly states his death is on April 2, 2021. It has nothing to do with Jan 6. This is a pathetic attempt by you just to attack me and to start a fake argument to disrupt my thread. I'm not deleting anything.
Go start your own thread and stay out of mine. If you continue to falsley smear me like this I'm going to report you for slander.
The anti police stance belongs to Trump's MAGA thugs who beat them. The anti police stance belongs to the GOP who did nothing for these brave officers at the Capitol. The GOP all voted against the American Rescue Plan that funded police departments all across America.
-
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPQzvO6XMA438p1?format=jpg&name=medium)
You are truly embarrassing yourself. The explanation of Officer Evans death is above. It clearly states his death is on April 2, 2021. It has nothing to do with Jan 6. This is a pathetic attempt by you just to attack me and to start a fake argument to disrupt my thread. I'm not deleting anything.
Go start your own thread and stay out of mine. If you continue to falsley smear me like this I'm going to report you for slander.
The anti police stance belongs to Trump's MAGA thugs who beat them. The anti police stance belongs to the GOP who did nothing for these brave officers at the Capitol. The GOP all voted against the American Rescue Plan that funded police departments all across America.
If this has nothing to do with Jan. 6, then why post it here on a thread about Jan. 6? You were clearly trying to imply that it has something to do with that event. You have been called out for your slimy dishonesty. Shameful.
-
High-level Jan 6 defendant Tom Ballard, who allegedly assaulted police with a baton seeks release from pretrial jail arguing, He's a "lone individual who was persuaded by the violent rhetoric of Donald Trump and the Republican party and was led to believe that the 2020 election was stolen".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPgfYn_WQAEZ3Bh?format=jpg&name=900x900)
The Justice Dept wants Ballard to remain jailed: "His decision to bring a police baton and gas mask demonstrates that Ballard planned for violence. The fact that Ballard watched the violence for almost 2 hours before acting demonstrates that he was not caught up in the moment".
The Justice Dept has adopted the language used by *so many* Jan 6 defendants --- "caught up in the moment" -- and uses against this defendant.
Justice Dept: "Ballard can be seen at the front of the rioters confronting US Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers who were defending the lower west terrace archway. As depicted in public video footage, Ballard threw a tabletop at the police officers".
Prosecutors allege Ballard assaulted police in the tunnel on Jan 6 and shined a flashlight in the eyes of officers, disorienting them.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPgiHbTX0AEvsni?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Ballard argued he was not part of the organized group on Jan 6.
-
NEW: Court unseals Jan 6 case against Anthony Mazzio, who allegedly wore tactical vest, gloves, and carried a gas mask, Trump flag on Jan 6.. and said "We are tired of waiting for people that have been prominent, honestly Hillary Clinton is going to go to jail".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPg1E4GXoAU_ldo?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
LOL. Here is the title of the article: "Official review of Trump phone logs from January 6 finds record is complete." Some of the sources of how the White House call log works would, of course, be folks who worked in the White House, but the story confirms that multiple sources involved with the "official" investigation confirm that the log is complete. By continuing to post the claim that the call log was manipulated to remove calls, you are now intentionally and knowingly disseminating false information.
Just more nonsense above and there is no "false information". There was no "official investigation" because the 1/6 House Committee is currently "intensely" investigating this 7 hour call log gap scandal.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPhcW4NX0AY858t?format=jpg&name=medium)
Yesterday, during the House Rules Committee hearing before the Contempt of Congress vote, Rep. McGovern made the 7 hour gap a main topic. And then Rep. Jamie Raskin said the 7 hour gap is of "intense interest" and it's being investigated. So, there is no "false information".
Rep McGovern: “For his part Mr Scavino spoke by phone with (Trump) multiple times during attack”…...during period In which people “begged” Trump to intervene."
McGovern then cited a long 7 hour gap in the call logs as reported by Costa Report and then compared it to 18 minutes of missing tape from Watergate.
Rep. Raskin: "The House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol riot has 'intense interest' in the gap in former President Donald Trump's call log. It's a very unusual thing for us to find, that suddenly everything goes dark for a 7-hour period in terms of tracking the movements and the conversations of the president. We are aware of other phone calls that took place during that time that included the president. But we have no comprehensive, fine-grained portrait of what was going on during that period. And that's, obviously, of intense interest to us."
-
January 6th Committee chair Bennie Thompson begins his testimony: “This situation is so clear cut….The actions of these men are so blatant and brazen.”
Rep Thompson: Scavino “held the keys to the infamous Twitter account. Last time I checked a President’s effort to stay in power after people voted him out is not subject to executive privilege. If we don’t cite them for contempt of Congress, we weaken the institution."
Rep Cheney (R-WY): “Despite all the warnings, President Trump and his team moved to halt the peaceful transfer of power. Mr Scavino worked directly with Pres. Trump to spread his false message. Widely effective. And widely destructive. Trump’s stolen election campaign succeeded in provoking the violence on January 6th. Peter Navarro does not have the courage to testify here.”
Cheney cited the California federal judge who last week said “more likely than not” Trump committed a crime. The judge’s opinion has infused Committee with a powerful new talking point and leverage.
Rules Committee chair Jim McGovern recounts how he was among the closest to mob in House. He could see them through the glass doors to House Speaker’s lobby. The mob was so close to the target.
Rep McGovern: “History is watching us right now. We better get this right."
GOP Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK) asks if the Jan 6 Committee chair has had communication with Justice Dept about other criminal referrals. (Mark Meadows for example). Rep Thompson says "no".
Jan 6th Committee vice chair Liz Cheney and Democrats at this hearing specifically questioning the “courage” of these two Trump aides.
Rep Norma Torres (D-CA): “How can you call yourself a patriot, because you support one man, but ignore the fact that you’re an American? We’re in a very, very fragile state right now…..it’s time to choose our country, our flag and our Constitution.”
Rep Cheney: “Our country demands better.”
Rep Jamie Raskin: “it’s fantastical and preposterous” to invoke Executive privilege in an investigation of a “massive violent” attack against the Congress."
House Rules Committee is setting up ONE HOUR of debate on House floor on this resolution recommending criminal prosecution of Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino. Later this week.
House Rules Committee makes it official. In straight party-line vote, they send contempt of Congress resolution to US House. A step closer to possible prosecution of Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino for Contempt of Congress.
-
These chats suggest pro-insurrectionist rot has infiltrated America's intelligence community
These men and women swear to defend the Constitution. But some may be cheering Jan. 6.
The disturbing depth to which MAGA-related lunacy has penetrated the institutions responsible for our protection continues to reveal itself. It was already known that at least 13 percent of defendants arrested in the Jan. 6 investigation have current or former law enforcement or military affiliation. Now we’re learning that the powerful cocktail of conspiracy theories and race-based hate has revealed itself among members of some of the U.S. intelligence community’s 18 agencies.
In a March 11 report in SpyTalk by veteran national security reporter Jeff Stein, he writes about internal intelligence community (IC) chat rooms associated with the classified Intelink system. According to that report, “by late in the third year of the Trump administration the system was afire with incendiary hate-filled commentary, especially on ‘eChirp,’ the intelligence community’s clone of Twitter.”
Stein quotes Dan Gilmore, “a 30-year veteran of Navy and NSA cryptologic systems,” who had written a post on his own website called “Why I Left the Intelligence Community.” Gilmore, an administrator of the eChirp application called the app “a dumpster fire" of hate speech directed at minorities, women, gay people, transgender people and Muslims.
“Hate speech was running rampant on our applications,” Gilmore wrote on his site. “I’m not being hyperbolic. Racist, homophobic, transphobic, Islamaphobic, and misogynistic speech was being posted in many of our applications.
“On top of that, there were many employees at CIA, DIA, NSA, and other IC agencies that openly stated that the January 6th terrorist attack on our Capitol was justified.”
In a separate March 26 SpyTalk post Stein says CIA veterans told him that “partisan political talk in the office was rare until Trump took office and appointed former Republican Congressman Mike Pompeo as its director.” According to Stein, those CIA veterans told him that “Pro-Trump sentiment arose mostly in the action arms of the counterterrorism programs staffed largely by military veterans.”
Both the House and Senate intelligence committees say they are aware of the allegations and are reviewing them. But it shouldn’t take congressional interest for the leaders of those intelligence agencies to start extinguishing the flames of their community dumpster fire. Here are three actions IC leaders — starting with Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines — must take to police their own and preserve credibility.
First, the director should instruct each intelligence community agency head to cease sponsorship of chat rooms that permit anything other than work-related professional intelligence collaboration. Spies, spy-catchers and intelligence analysts don’t need a classified environment to exchange recipes, racism or radicalization.
Second, the directors of each intelligence community agency should initiate reviews of internal chat room postings to identify their employees and contractors who espouse violence or support attempts to forcefully overturn a valid election. If such dialogue would result in discipline or admonishment if it had happened in the employee break room, then it has no place in an employee chat room, and it should result in the same consequences.
Third, the intelligence community employees and contractors who have engaged in this un-American and potentially subversive conduct may hail from different three-letter agencies, but they all have something in common: They need security clearances to do their jobs. The intelligence community agencies must make reviews of social media and chat room postings a regular part of background investigations for employment, and for the periodic reinvestigations required for continuance of a security clearance. The Department of Defense has already included potential punishment for certain social media postings as part of its battle against extremism. It’s time our intelligence agencies did the same. And if they won’t, the intelligence community inspector general should start asking them why.
Intelligence community employees all have something else in common. They take an oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic. They can’t preserve, protect and defend the Constitution if they become the domestic enemies referred to in their oath. We need to make it harder for them to become a threat while they’re supposed to be working against the threats. We deserve to hear from the intelligence community leadership on this issue now. Our national security depends on it.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/america-s-intelligence-community-has-pro-jan-6-bias-lurking-n1293694
Former FBI official issues dire warning: Jan. 6 sympathizers are embedded in the intelligence community
On Monday's edition of MSNBC's "Deadline: White House," former FBI official Frank Figliuzzi detailed the danger of January 6 sympathizers lurking within the intelligence community — an issue he wrote on over the weekend.
"We are now learning that members of the intelligence community have these classified chatrooms, in particular, one ... that is the intelligence community classified equivalent of Twitter," said Figliuzzi. "Where they've reportedly been exchanging support for the Jan. 6 insurrection, they've engaged in racist, even violent speech, misogynistic speech, anti-Islam speech. And according to a quote that [reporter] Jeff Stein got from an administrator of these groups, he says he calls it a 'dumpster fire of hate and other violence-related speech."
"So in my piece, what I'm offering here is three things," said Figliuzzi. "First, knock it off. The intelligence community sponsors these chatrooms. They give them a classified environment. Yes, intelligence analysts need a secure place to exchange ideas, collaborate professionally on intelligence, but not to exchange racism and radicalization and even recipes. It's time for them to modify and disciplining employees who are engaged in support of violence and hate talk. If it can't happen at the employee breakroom, it shouldn't be happening in the employee chatroom."
"Like Secretary of Defense Austin has done, start making your social media postings part of your security review," added Figliuzzi. "Not only hiring but continued maintenance of security clearance. It's already happening at DOD but not at the intelligence community."
Watch below:
-
Feds will try again today at 11am for ARRAIGNMENT of high-level Jan 6 defendant Enrique Tarrio, who's accused of conspiracy (despite not being at Capitol on Jan 6)
Arraignment has been postponed twice already.
Here's Tarrio palling around with Donald Trump Jr, Ted Cruz, and Roger Stone. Just more proof they were all involved in a seditious criminal conspiracy with Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio.
(https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2020/10/01/19/33872416-0-image-a-41_1601578092373.jpg)
-
DOJ’s expanded coup investigation could ensnarl ‘hundreds’ — including GOP members of Congress
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-mob-at-the-capitol-via-shutterstock.jpg?id=29277060&width=3500&height=1930)
The federal grand jury empaneled to investigate efforts to overturn the election by supporters of Donald Trump could be ensnare hundreds of people.
"According to a subpoena issued by the grand jury, prosecutors are asking for records about people who organized or spoke at several pro-Trump rallies after the election," The New York Times reported Tuesday. "The subpoena is also seeking records about anyone who provided security at those events and about those who were deemed to be 'V.I.P. attendees.' Moreover, it requests information about any members of the executive and legislative branches who may have taken part in planning or executing the rallies, or tried to 'obstruct, influence, impede or delay' the certification of the presidential election."
Similar to the investigation by the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, the Department of Justice investigation is sprawling.
"Each of these broad categories could involve dozens of individuals. Taken together, the total number of potential witnesses — or at some point, targets — sought after by the grand jury could easily reach into the hundreds," the newspaper reported. "Altogether, scores of people spoke at the rallies in November and December and at the gatherings on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6. They included people like Mr. [Roger] Stone; Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael T. Flynn; and Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist and host of the TV show Infowars. The speakers also included pastors, state-level politicians and anti-vaccine activists."
Speakers at the Jan. 6 rally included Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman and Mike Lindell was in attendance, along with Ginni Thomas.
"The federal grand jury subpoena examined by The New York Times seeks information about members of the executive and legislative branches who might have been involved in the effort to delay congressional certification of the election results, suggesting that prosecutors are interested in learning more about the roles that Mr. Trump’s aides and allies inside the government may have played," the newspaper reported. "Among the Republicans in Congress who worked publicly to keep Mr. Trump in power were Representatives Mo Brooks of Alabama, Paul Gosar of Arizona and Andy Biggs of Arizona, all of whom Mr. Alexander, the 'Stop the Steal' organizer, has said helped set the events of Jan. 6 in motion."
"On Dec. 21, 2020, Mr. Trump met with members of the House Freedom Caucus to discuss their plans to challenge Mr. Biden’s victory. Among those present were Mr. Gosar, Mr. Biggs, Mr. Brooks, Ms. Greene, and Representatives Jim Jordan of Ohio and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, who were deeply involved in Mr. Trump’s effort to fight the election results," the newspaper reported. "The House committee has so far asked only three members of Congress for an interview: Representative Kevin McCarthy of California, the Republican leader who engaged in what he called a 'very heated' call with Mr. Trump during the riot; Mr. Jordan and Mr. Perry. All three men have refused to agree to a voluntary interview."
https://www.rawstory.com/doj-trump-coup/
-
This fight for John Eastman emails has been a transcendent event in the Congressional investigation of Jan 6th.
The committee and the federal judge handling email case both made statements about the likelihood Trump committed a crime .. during the process.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPm-Y6SWQA0AMsX?format=jpg&name=900x900)
House Select Jan 6 Committee has received the John Eastman records.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FPm-Y6SWQA0AMsX?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
House investigators obtain emails from Trump 'coup lawyer' John Eastman
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/john-eastman-january-6.png?id=28271984&width=3500&height=1968)
On Tuesday, CNN reported that investigators on the House January 6 Committee have obtained the emails from pro-Trump attorney John Eastman that he had sought to keep secret.
This comes after a ruling from a Federal District Judge David Carter that Eastman's correspondence with Trump is not covered by attorney-client privilege — a ruling in which Carter also stated it was likely that Trump had committed criminal obstruction of Congress.
"One email, a draft memo for Rudy Giuliani, was obtained by the committee because the judge decided it was potentially being used to plan a crime. The memo recommended that then-Vice President Mike Pence reject some states' electors during the January 6 congressional meeting," reported Katelyn Polantz and Paul LeBlanc. "'This may have been the first time members of President Trump's team transformed a legal interpretation of the Electoral Count Act into a day-by-day plan of action,' Carter wrote."
"The select committee's efforts to obtain Eastman's emails had been closely watched in the legal community because of the panel's bold move to accuse Eastman and Trump of criminal conspiracy. The House said it believed Trump had been trying to obstruct Congress and to defraud the government by blocking his loss of the election and discussing it with Eastman," noted the report. "Still, neither Trump nor Eastman has been charged with any crimes. Further, despite the House's filings, lawmakers aren't prosecutors and can't bring charges."
Eastman was a central role in the plot to overturn the election. He drafted the infamous "coup memo" outlining a plan whereby Republican legislators in states that voted for Joe Biden would submit "alternate" electors for Trump, and former Vice President Mike Pence would declare the legitimate electors from these states invalid and throw the election to the House, where Republicans controlled enough delegations to swing the result to Trump.
Pence believed this plan was illegal and refused to go forward with it. Eastman, who has since tried to distance himself from the memo, also faces investigation by the California State Bar.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/05/politics/john-eastman-january-6-emails/index.html
-
Ivanka Trump's Jan. 6 Testimony Could Reveal Ex-President's 'State of Mind'
Ivanka Trump, the eldest daughter of Donald Trump and one of his closest advisers during his presidency, appeared Tuesday before the House panel investigating the January 6 Capitol riot, and committee members were expected to pay close attention to anything she could reveal about her father's "state of mind" that day.
In a letter requesting her voluntary cooperation with the investigation, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson informed her that the committee believes her proximity to the former president on the day of the riot gave her "knowledge bearing directly on the President's actions or inaction on January 6th, and his mind as the violent attack occurred at the Capitol."
One committee member, Democratic Representative Stephanie Murphy, told the Associated Press that Ivanka "has details about what occurred in the lead-up to and on January 6 and about the former president's state of mind as events unfolded."
The former first daughter's testimony comes just days after her husband and top Trump adviser Jared Kushner sat for an interview with the House panel. Thompson said that "there were some things revealed" in Kushner's testimony but stopped short of sharing those developments with the public. Ivanka and her husband are among the highest-ranking officials to testify before the committee. Neither of them was subpoenaed.
In its letter to Ivanka, the committee laid out four critical matters it is seeking from the interview—one leading up to January 6, two involving the unfolding of events that day and the fourth about the riot's aftermath.
First, the panel is seeking any information she might have about the early-morning call between Trump and Vice President Mike Pence—a conversation that Ivanka was present for in the Oval Office, according to testimony from Keith Kellogg, Pence's former national security adviser.
The panel has also asked her to provide knowledge she has on "any other conversations you may have witnessed or participated in regarding the President's plan to obstruct or impede the counting of electoral votes" ahead of the joint meeting of Congress on January 6 to certify the election.
The committee noted there were messages that revealed top White House staffers opposed Trump's desire to overturn the election's results. The panel wants to ask her whether her father was aware that his senior staff and lawyers believed Pence should have gone against his wishes for a challenge to Joe Biden's victory.
Secondly, the panel is seeking any information Ivanka has on discussions inside the White House before and after Trump's 2:24 p.m. tweet in which he wrote that Pence "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution."
The tweet in question falls within a nearly eight-hour gap that exists in the presidential phone log turned over to the committee.
The panel hopes that Ivanka, who was urged by staffers to speak with her father during that period, can shed light on those conversations and provide insight as to why Trump did not address the nation on live television as the Capitol was being attacked.
As the situation at the Capitol intensified, Trump was asked by members of his own party to hold an emergency press briefing urging the mob to leave. Instead of doing so, the president released a pretaped video hours later, telling his supporters, "I know how you feel, but go home, and go home in peace."
Thirdly, the committee wants Ivanka to reveal whether her father gave an order to deploy the National Guard. While former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced on Twitter that the National Guard had been deployed, the panel said there was no evidence that this was ordered by Trump.
Former Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller specifically stated he was never contacted by Trump on January 6.
Finally, the panel wants Ivanka to provide information about an "effort after January 6th to persuade President Trump not to associate himself with certain people, and to avoid further discussion regarding election fraud allegations."
Some of the Trump administration officials who have been legally ordered to appear before the committee have refused to do so and, as a result, have been charged with contempt of Congress.
https://www.newsweek.com/ivanka-trumps-jan-6-testimony-could-reveal-ex-presidents-state-mind-1695293
-
High-profile Jan. 6 defense attorney disbarred for misconduct
An attorney who has represented a number of high-profile Jan. 6 defendants has been disbarred by a Virginia state court.
Jonathan Moseley -- who has represented Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers member Kelly Meggs, Stop the Steal founder Ali Alexander and Proud Boys leader Zachary Rehl -- had his law license revoked after a two-day hearing in Prince William County Circuit Court, reported Politico.
A summary posted online shows the court found Moseley violated “professional rules that govern safekeeping property; meritorious claims and contentions; candor toward the tribunal; fairness to opposing party and counsel; unauthorized practice of law, multijurisdictional practice of law; bar admission and disciplinary matters … and misconduct.”
Moseley plans to appeal the disbarment, which was effective Friday, but declined to comment further on the punishment.
The disbarment could complicate a number of cases, including the trial of 11 Oath Keepers, including Meggs, charged with seditious conspiracy, and he is also representing Rhodes and Alexander in their lawsuits to block the House select committee from obtaining their phone records.
https://www.rawstory.com/jonathan-moseley/
-
Leader of Proud Boys faction pleads guilty to Capitol riot charges
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29646825&width=3500&height=1968)
The leader of the West Virginia faction of the right-wing group Proud Boys pleaded guilty this Wednesday to charges related to his participation in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, CNN reports.
Jeffrey Finley, 29, was charged with illegally entering Capitol grounds and faces up to one year in prison. The plea is a signal to some that the government is getting closer to understanding what role, if any, the Proud Boys had in planning for events that happened that day.
"According to the plea agreement read in court, Finley was among the first group to breach the Capitol grounds. Though Finley was not charged with other members of the Proud Boys, prosecutors say he was photographed with some of the group's leaders marching on the grounds," CNN reports. "Finley also wore an earpiece during the riot. Prosecutors have alleged that Proud Boys members used radios -- and some wore earpieces -- to communicate on January 6. And Finley took part in Telegram message channels that prosecutors have relied upon in making their cases."
Prosecutors say in the days after the riot, Finley deleted photographs, videos and messages with other Proud Boys at the Capitol. He also told other members to do the same."No talks about DC," Finley said in one message.
Leader of West Virginia Proud Boys pleads guilty for role in US Capitol riot
(https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/220406125849-jeffrey-finley-jan-6.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill)
CNN — The leader of the West Virginia chapter of the Proud Boys pleaded guilty on Wednesday to illegally entering the US Capitol grounds on January 6, 2021.
Jeffrey Finley, 29, faces up to one year in prison.
The plea could be a significant step in one of the Justice Department’s most crucial investigations related to the attack, as prosecutors home in on what Proud Boys leaders had planned as they descended on the Capitol. Finley has corroborated evidence prosecutors may use in other cases.
According to the plea agreement read in court, Finley was among the first group to breach the Capitol grounds. Though Finley was not charged with other members of the Proud Boys, prosecutors say he was photographed with some of the group’s leaders marching on the grounds.
Finley also wore an earpiece during the riot. Prosecutors have alleged that Proud Boys members used radios – and some wore earpieces – to communicate on January 6. And Finley took part in Telegram message channels that prosecutors have relied upon in making their cases.
Just after 2 p.m. that day, Finley moved with the mob to the Upper West Terrace and messaged a Telegram channel titled “Boots on the Ground.” Prosecutors have alleged that channel was used by Proud Boys leaders to communicate, including reposting instructions from leader Enrique Tarrio.
Almost two hours later, Finley sent another message to the “Boots on the Ground” channel saying, “I just got out myself” and “we literally can’t get back in… if you guys come out you aren’t getting back in.”
In the days after the riot, according to the plea agreement, Finley deleted photographs, videos and messages with other Proud Boys at the Capitol. Finley instructed other members to do the same.
“No talks about DC,” Finley said in one message.
Last month, the Justice Department charged Tarrio with conspiracy. He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday.
Prosecutors have indicated in court that there is new evidence that could lead to additional charges or arrests in relation to that case.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/06/politics/west-virginia-proud-boys/index.html
-
So, the insurrectionist supporting MAGA Republicans in the House are trying to obstruct the House debate on Scavino's and Navarro's criminal contempt. Right wing Jim Banks of course ignores Scavino's crime and his only defense is that "Scavino is a good dad" for the reason he shouldn't go to prison. What a joke. If you do the crime you do the time. That's how our laws work and criminal Trump officials don't get to be above the law.
US House is now debating criminal contempt of Congress referral to Justice Dept for Trump aides Dan Scavino and Peter Navarro
Rep Bennie Thompson (D-MS): "To run into this kind obstruction... as we investigate a violent insurrection is just despicable. It can't stand"
Rep Liz Cheney (R-WY): "Mr. Scavino worked directly with President Trump to spread President Trump's false message that the election was stolen. This effort to deceive was wildly effective and wildly destructive."
Rep Cheney is again quoting the federal judge in California who ordered handover of John Eastman emails to House Jan 6 Committe.
"More likely than not" that Trump attempted to obstruct Congressional proceeding (crime)
The California judge has given Committee impactful talking point.
Rep Jim Banks (R-IN): "Mr. Scavino has two boys. He's a good dad. He doesn't deserve this. His boys don't deserve this. Can anyone here explain to those boys why their dad deserves to be behind bars for a year?"
In the House Chamber, Reps Cheney and Kinzinger are seated in same row on Republican side of Chamber. A handful of other GOP members, including Jim Jordan, are seated one row and several seats away.
Jan 6 Committee members Bennie Thompson and Zoe Lofgren are joined by several Dems.
Rep Zoe Lofgren (D-CA): “Sadly a few of the former President’s former allies think they’re special… above the law.”
She says Dan Scavino followed extremist social media on behalf of Trump and might’ve seen warnings of the violence.
-
US House approves resolution recommending criminal prosecution of Trump aides Peter Navarro and Dan Scavino for contempt of Congress. The matter is now in US Justice Dept hands.
And there were only 2 GOP votes to recommend criminal prosecution which were Reps Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger.
What this vote tells us, is that the Republican party feels that Trump officials are above the law and can do whatever they want. According to Republicans, Trump officials can ignore lawful subpoenas and not have to answer questions of the crimes they were involved with.
How does that make you feel?
If you were served with a subpoena and decided you would refuse to appear in court to answer in front of the judge, the judge would issue a warrant for your arrest and you would be in jail. But the Republican party has decided that Trump officials should be allowed to play by their own rules and not have to be subject to the same American laws that we all have to follow.
Once again, it's abundantly clear that the GOP is trying to protect Criminal Donald and his henchmen from their crimes.
The GOP is also trying to protect themselves because an overwhelming number of them were involved in either the attempted coup or helping to plan the insurrection itself. They all spread false election lies, voted against certifying Joe Biden's win, or appeared at the 1/6 insurrection rally to incite the violence.
Criminal Donald lost the election in a blowout and there was never any voter fraud. So there was absolutely no reason to object to Joe Biden's victory and to claim bogus voter fraud. There was also no reason to have the 1/6 insurrection rally because the election was never stolen. The only reason the GOP pushed the "big lie" and held this 1/6 insurrection rally is that they were angry their messiah Criminal Donald lost the election and they wanted to illegally keep him in power against the will of the people. That is called treason and all who were involved in this treasonous act needs to go to prison for their crimes against the United States of America.
5 people died and over 140 police officers were injured on January 6th due to Trump's MAGA thugs beating them with weapons. These deaths and injuries were based on Trump's, the GOP, and the right wing media's lies based on an illegal and coordinated attempt to keep Criminal Donald in power. That is a conspiracy to defraud the United States. House minority leader Kevin McCarthy called it "political theatre" for standing up for the rule of law and our democracy. Over 140 police officers were severely attacked and beaten and McCarthy calls it "political theatre" because he wants this entire criminal act covered up.
If it wasn't for the brave actions of the Capitol police officers, members of Congress would have been killed or taken hostage by Trump's MAGA thugs. But Republicans want to still cover up the entire violent criminal coup attempt.
Who in their right mind would want this criminal conspiracy GOP party to control our government when they helped coordinate this coup and have repeatedly voted against law and order? Not to mention, they voted against every single bill that has benefited Americans including the American Rescue Plan that has created the best economy on record.
The GOP desperately wants to cover up 1/6 and to protect all of those criminals who were involved. Their votes and their actions have proven it time and time again.
House votes to refer Trump aides Scavino, Navarro to DOJ for criminal contempt
The House of Representatives voted Wednesday evening to hold two former Trump administration officials in criminal contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol
The aides — former White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and former White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino Jr. — will now be referred to the Justice Department for possible criminal charges. If indicted, they could face up to 12 months in jail and a maximum fine of $100,000.
Navarro and Scavino did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday evening on the House vote.
Wednesday’s vote, 220 to 203, was largely along party lines. While debating the resolution, a number of Republican members of Congress criticized the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
“The January 6 Committee is a political show trial that tramples on civil rights and congressional norms,” McCarthy said. “When Republicans win back the House, this theater will stop.”
Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, charged that the select committee “is purely political, designed to do one thing: Keep Donald Trump off the ballot in 2024.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., who sits on the panel, praised its only two Republican members, Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, for their work on the investigation despite backlash from Trump and his allies within the Republican Party.
“If you don't go along with what Donald Trump says, if you don’t act like you're a robot or a member of a religious cult, they destroy you,” Raskin said.
The Jan. 6 select committee voted unanimously last week to hold Scavino and Navarro in contempt after both men refused to comply with subpoenas seeking testimony and documents detailing their roles in Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. The riot at the U.S. Capitol that was instigated by supporters of the former president resulted in five deaths and left more than 140 police officers injured.
Both men have attempted to argue that, because they were working in the White House at the time of the riot, the information sought by the committee is shielded by executive privilege.
Wednesday’s vote by the full House makes Navarro and Scavino the third and fourth former Trump advisers to be referred to the DOJ for criminal charges in connection with the investigation into the attack on the Capitol.
So far, only the first of those referrals, for former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, has resulted in a federal indictment for criminal contempt of Congress.
The Justice Department is still considering whether to prosecute former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows after the full House voted to refer him for contempt charges in December. The committee also voted to advance another contempt referral for former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark in November, but that one never made it to the full House after Clark agreed to sit for an interview with the committee, during which he invoked the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times.
https://news.yahoo.com/house-votes-to-refer-trump-aides-scavino-navarro-to-doj-for-criminal-contempt-225741282.html
-
Long way to go.
US Justice Dept update: "The FBI continues to seek the public’s help in identifying more than 350 individuals believed to have committed violent acts on the Capitol grounds, including over 250 who assaulted police officers."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP_Mq_UXEAU3gGm?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Plea discussions continue in the high-level Jan 6 case of Landon Copeland of Utah, per court filing this week
Copeland is accused of assaulting police and has been in pretrial jail after vulgar court outbursts.
Last year, Copeland told the media he had no regrets and blamed police.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FP1rwgPWYAIETkI?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Sentencing begins in Jan 6 case of Paul Westover of Missouri. Feds to seek 3 months jail time
They allege Westover climbed scaffolding area, saying:
"We’re storming the gates of the Capitol here”
“This is happening.. We’re going into our House"
"We're coming, Nancy"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQEYsoZXMAkK40S?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQEYsoaX0AI6u25?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Proud Boys conspirator Charles Donohoe reaches plea deal in Jan. 6 case
(https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/04/08/2c254ff2-4aff-4acf-adea-ae4eeb1b40ce/thumbnail/1240x1144/9c69fa2ade6f7f46d4e46fccd1033f6e/donohoe.jpg)
The president of a North Carolina chapter of the far-right group the Proud Boys entered a plea agreement Friday with prosecutors investigating the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Charles Donohoe, 34, who has close ties to Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and assaulting and impeding police officers. The maximum charges are 20 years for conspiracy and eight years for the assaulting and impeding police charge, although he's expected to receive a lighter sentence for pleading guilty and cooperating with prosecutors.
As part of the plea agreement, Donohoe admitted that, "At least as early as January 4, 2021, and before he decided to travel to Washington, D.C., Donohoe was aware that members of MOSD leadership were discussing the possibility of storming the Capitol...Donohoe understood that storming the Capitol would be illegal."
Tarrio, Donohoe and other Proud Boys allegedly established what they called a "Ministry of Self Defense" (MOSD) organization, with Tarrio at the top of the power structure. "This group was to form the nucleus of leadership in a new chapter of the Proud Boys organization, which Tarrio described as a 'national rally planning' chapter. The first event targeted by the group was the rally in D.C. on January 6," prosecutors wrote in court filings.
Ahead of the Jan. 6 rioting, Donohoe allegedly posted in the MOSD group chat that the Washington, D.C. government was attempting to "limit" protesters on January 6 to "deny Trump has the people's support." He added, "We can't let them succeed."
On Jan. 6, as protesters approached the Capitol building, Donohoe is accused of reporting that the group was on the Capitol grounds, messaging, "WE ARE 200-300" Proud Boys. Tarrio was not a part of the mob at the Capitol.
Prosecutors say Donohoe and his Proud Boy co-defendants charged the Capitol, breaching barricades. He allegedly then threw water bottles at a police line before assisting the crowd in overwhelming law enforcement guarding the entrance to the building.
"That action ultimately allowed Proud Boys member [Dominic] Pezzola to advance toward the Senate side of the Capitol, where, at approximately 2:13 p.m., Pezzola used the riot shield to break a large window," prosecutors wrote in a memo in support of his pretrial detention last year. That document also alleged Donohoe sent a message during the riot that read, "feel like a complete warrior."
Donohoe would be the first of Enrique Tarrio's codefendants to enter into an agreement with the government, should the plea agreement hearing go as planned. Last year, Proud Boy Matthew Greene admitted to conspiracy charges and is cooperating with investigators.
However, Donohoe's five other codefendants, including Tarrio, have all pleaded not guilty and currently intend to go to trial.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/proud-boys-conspirator-charles-donohoe-plea-deal-jan-6-case/
-
Jury convicts former police officer Thomas Robertson on 6 counts related to January 6
(https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/01/13/2099f62b-a919-466c-9dcb-c3596fd45f7d/thumbnail/620x429g8/5c83f30fd07333fcb265ea42b52f973f/officers.png)
Sgt. Thomas Robertson, right, and officer Jacob Fracker, left, posted this photograph of themselves inside the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 riots to social media.
Washington – A Washington, D.C., jury on Monday found former Rocky Mount, Virginia, police officer Thomas Robertson guilty on six counts related to his involvement in the January 6, 20201, attack on the Capitol, including impeding law enforcement, disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon, and obstructing Congress' certification of the electoral college votes.
After nearly two days of deliberations, Robertson's conviction offered victory to a Justice Department investigation recently stalled by back-to-back partial or whole acquittals in misdemeanor January 6 bench trials.
Robertson, who now likely faces up to 20 years in prison, was originally freed on pretrial supervision, but was later detained after the government said he allegedly had "a loaded M4 rifle and a partially-assembled pipe bomb at his home, and by purchasing an arsenal of 34 firearms online and transporting them in interstate commerce."
Robertson was charged in the days following the deadly Capitol breach with his one-time codefendant and fellow officer, Jacob Fracker, who later pleaded guilty to multiple charges and testified against Robertson during his trial. The two men were fired last year from their posts in law enforcement following their alleged presence in the mob.
They were accused of traveling from Virginia to Washington, D.C., ahead of former President Trump's "Save America" rally where the pair and another man made their way toward the Capitol building donning gas masks.
Prosecutors said the two off-duty officers-turned-rioters split up in the crowd, with Robertson allegedly impeding law enforcement with a stick as he made his way inside the Capitol building. He and Fracker ultimately reunited in the crypt, according to the government.
After the riot, the government told the jury, Robertson allegedly "declared that the next American civil war may have started."
Prosecutors relied on a playbook of evidence and testimony similar to what was employed during the trial of now-convicted January 6 defendant, Guy Reffitt: show jurors surveillance and body-worn camera video of of the danger and disruption of January 6 and then describe how the defendant allegedly played a role by committing accused crimes.
But unlike Robertson, Reffitt was not accused of actually entering the Capitol building.
Capitol Police and Washington, D.C., police officers described at the trial what happened on January 6. One explained that law enforcement was forced to engage in "hand-to-hand" combat with rioters, although he never specifically named Robertson as one of those. And then Fracker himself testified against his one-time partner.
The defense urged jurors to focus not on Robertson's words before and after the riot, but his specific actions that day. They argued that the stick with which he was accused of impeding officers was actually meant to help him walk, and they said he entered the Capitol not to obstruct Congress, but to make sure Fracker was safe.
Robertson, "Entered, retrieved, and departed" the Capitol, the defense argued.
But the jurors ultimately ruled the evidence presented at trial proved otherwise, asking for clarity during deliberations about the definition of "deadly or dangerous weapon" and what "obstruction" means.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/thomas-robertson-guilty-january-6-charges-former-police-officer/?intcid=CNI-00-10aaa3a
-
Bigo Barnett in his high-profile Jan 6 case.
Barnett is the man accused of putting his feet on desk in the office suite of Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Richard Barnett has rejected the plea offer from US Justice Dept.
Defense says the offer would've meant 70-81 months in jail guidelines range (approx. 6 years) Defense says it wasn't "reasonable"
Sept. 6 trial date is looming.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQKK3MCXoA0tFkP?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Top Trump White House lawyers scheduled for Jan. 6 interview
Pat Cipollone and Patrick Philbin are to speak with the House panel.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/12/trump-lawyers-jan6-interview-cipollone-philbin-00024868
-
Feds say FBI team in Quantico helped crack phone of Enrique Tarrio.
Feds: “Recently recovered evidence includes Tarrio’s statement, made in the context of a discussion of revolution and a plan to occupy government buildings on Jan 6, That’s what every waking moment consists of".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQN_fySX0AYmFoB?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
MAGA rioter tells court he wanted Trump's 'approval' because he had no other 'strong male figures' in his life
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/dustin-thompson.jpg?id=29678726&width=3500&height=1968)
The MAGA rioter who was famously photographed holding a coat rack stolen from the United States Capitol building explained in court on Wednesday why he decided to travel to Washington on January 6th.
As relayed by NBC News' Ryan Reilly, MAGA rioter Dustin Thompson told jurors that he stormed the Capitol because he thought it would win Trump's "approval" and "respect."
"If the president is giving you almost an order to do something, I felt obligated to do that," said Thompson, who also added that he didn't have any "strong male figures" in his life, and that Trump filled that void.
Earlier in the day, an attorney representing the 38-year-old Thompson told the jury that the "genesis" of the attack on the Capitol came from former President Donald Trump, whom he alleges "authorized this assault" on Congress.
Before the trial began, Thompson's attorney also threatened to subpoena Trump, podcaster Steve Bannon, and former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, although that threat apparently never came to pass since none of those men are slated to testify at Thompson's trial.
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1514349462881288197
-
Judge Kelly formally delays the Proud Boys trial that was set for May 18, citing the recent evidence gleaned from Enrique Tarrio’s phone and the unprecedented complexity of the Jan. 6 investigation.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQMaSIyWYAoZZW2?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Kelly disagreed with Nordean, who argued that the government has violated his speedy trial rights by repeatedly requesting delays. The judge said DOJ has acted with “reasonably diligence” in its effort to produce evidence/discovery to defendants.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQMbN2TXEAEoJ4y?format=jpg&name=900x900)
In a separate order, Judge Kelly rejected Nordean’s motion to sever Tarrio and Pezzola from his case, a move he said would permit the May 18 trial to proceed. But Kelly rejected that too.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQMcBFJXMAEUlFb?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQMcBFJWQAIgM9o?format=jpg&name=small)
Here is the full text of the order to vacate the trial date: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.228300/gov.uscourts.dcd.228300.338.0.pdf
Here is the full text of the order denying motion to sever Tarrio/Pezzola:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1514225087804841994/hujFWUM-?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jan. 6 defendant wants jurors to blame Trump, not him, for decision to breach Capitol
A man charged with breaching the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, told jurors Wednesday he believed he was following “presidential orders” to go inside the building and attempt to prevent Congress from finalizing the 2020 election.
Dustin Thompson — who is facing charges on attempting to obstruct Congress’ electoral vote-counting session, as well as for stealing a coat tree from a Capitol office — argues that then President Donald Trump’s apocalyptic rhetoric on Jan. 6, capping a monthslong campaign to convince supporters the election was stolen, drove him to join the mob that breached the building.
Once inside, Thompson participated in the ransacking of the Senate parliamentarian’s office, before stealing the coat tree and a bottle of liquor. But he said he viewed his actions as an extension of Trump’s demand that his supporters “stop the steal,” his false claim that the 2020 election was stolen by Democrats.
“We’re going to lose our country today if we don’t put a stop to these election results,” Thompson said he thought as Trump addressed supporters on the morning of Jan. 6.
Thompson, who took the stand in his own defense, admitted he broke multiple laws in service of overturning the 2020 election but said he wanted jurors to acquit him because he believed he was acting on Trump’s orders. He spoke in a hushed, sheepish tone, his lawyer repeatedly asking him to speak up so the jury could hear him.
Thompson’s strategy is the first time jurors are being squarely presented with a claim that Trump inspired and caused rioters to take violent action in support of his effort to overturn the election. Though dozens of defendants have argued in court filings that they believed Trump had authorized the assault on the Capitol, judges have largely rejected that contention and said rioters should be held to account for their own actions. But whether a jury sees that argument differently will be an important test that could reverberate across hundreds of other cases.
Thompson and his wife, Sarah, who also testified on his behalf Wednesday, described Thompson’s yearlong descent into conspiracy theories. They said he lost his job in March 2020 and began consuming increasing amounts of pro-Trump conspiracy theories online. He chose to travel to Washington in response to Trump’s call, he said, and believed Trump intended to march with the crowd to the Capitol.
Already, the question of whether Trump conspired to obstruct Congress’ Jan. 6 session — the last step by lawmakers in the transfer of power from Trump to President Joe Biden — has been the subject of legal scrutiny. Trump is facing multiple lawsuits alleging he bears responsibility for the violence that sent Congress fleeing for safety and resulted in several deaths and more than 140 police officers being injured. A federal judge in California recently ruled that evidence gathered by congressional investigators supports the likelihood that Trump conspired to commit felony obstruction of Congress.
But whether a jury believes that Trump’s role effectively removes the criminal liability of members of the mob is another story.
Prosecutors urged jurors to reject Thompson’s narrative, repeatedly emphasizing that Thompson, 38, made his own choices to enter the Capitol, walk past police officers under attack and steal the items he’s charged with taking. Assistant U.S. Attorney William Dreher repeatedly pushed Thompson to acknowledge that he made his own decisions that day, including to enter the Capitol and to remain there for hours. He also chose to flee from police when they began to query him about the coat tree.
Prior to Thompson’s testimony, prosecutors walked jurors through a painstaking array of video evidence of the Capitol breach and the officers who struggled to contain the chaos. They showed Thompson’s participation in the breach of the parliamentarian’s office. They also showed text messages between Thompson, his wife and a co-defendant, Robert Lyon, who previously pleaded guilty.
“I’m taking our country back,” Thompson said in one of the texts, after his wife had messaged him a screenshot of Trump’s video telling rioters to go home.
Defense lawyers also used Sarah Thompson’s testimony to help characterize Thompson as slowly becoming radicalized by Trump and conspiracy-oriented news sources. She said she was a Democrat who supported Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton in their bids for the presidency. Sarah Thompson described her husband as holding moderate and libertarian political views but said he gravitated toward Trump in 2016, veering notably to the right. But she said she supported Thompson’s right to protest and helped him arrange his travel.
Under cross-examination, she described her husband as “very smart,” a point prosecutors emphasized to suggest he was capable of making his own choices.
The trial also featured testimony from multiple Capitol police officers, including Ronald Lucarino, who described pushing against members of the crowd as they entered the building through shattered windows and doors. And he said he distinctly remembered feeling “the butts of guns” in some of their waistbands.
Dustin Thompson’s attorney, Samuel Shamansky, asked the officers who testified, some of whom served in the department throughout multiple presidencies, whether any previous president had organized a rally and march intended to interrupt the transfer of power. All uniformly said they had not. Shamansky characterized the mob as acting with “one concreted purpose,” which he said was to “defile and disrupt” the transition of power.
Shamansky asked Lucarino — who pushed back on the mob after it breached Capitol hallways — whether the phrase “fight like hell” would characterize the rioters he encountered, a reference to Trump’s remarks that morning.
“Absolutely,” Lucarino replied.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/13/january-6-defendant-donald-trump-00025019
-
Judge blasts ‘charlatan’ Trump after MAGA rioter Dustin Thompson convicted on all counts
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/dustin-thompson.jpg?id=29683010&width=3500&height=1968)
Capitol rioter Dustin Thompson was convicted on all counts after a jury rejected his argument attempting to blame former President Donald Trump for inciting his misconduct.
"Jan. 6 defendant Dustin Thompson GUILTY on all charges. including felony obstruction of Congress," Politico's Kyle Cheney reported.
Cheney said that Judge Reggie Walton went "on a tear about Jan. 6 and Trump" following the verdict.
"I think our democracy is in trouble because unfortunately we have charlatans like our former president who doesn't in my view really care about democracy but only about power," Walton said.
Walton detained Thompson pending sentencing.
"If somebody is weak-minded enough to buy in on what was being said and then come all the way from Ohio … and even doing it gleefully, I just have my real concerns about him," the judge explained. "The inevitable reality is that whether he does time now or does time later, he’s got to do time," Walton said just before ordering him held.
Cheney noted this was the third conviction in a trial that has gone to a jury.
"Prosecutors are now three for three in Jan. 6 jury trials, winning convictions on every charge," Cheney reported. "They've had less success in two bench trials before Judge McFadden, who has been an outlier in these cases."
Sam Shamansky, Thompson's attorney, told MSNBC on Wednesday that Trump "cajoled, groomed and directed" the capitol rioters.
Watch:
-
Proud Boy who flipped is a game-changer for investigators going 'up the chain' after Jan. 6 organizers
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/charles-donohoe.jpg?id=29685592&width=3500&height=2309)
In an interview with Vice News, two former prosecutors explained the importance of a key member of the Proud Boys taking a plea deal in exchange for providing more information about lead-up to the Jan. 6 insurrection, saying it's a game-changer for investigators.
Last week, 34-year-old Charles Donohoe became the first Proud Boys leader to plead guilty with regard to charges of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting an officer, and he agreed to cooperate in exchange for a lighter sentence.
According to former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade who oversaw the Eastern District of Michigan from 2010 to 2017, Donohoe's plea deal is "a significant development in the case against the Proud Boys defendants."
To date, investigators were putting their case together based upon texts and online communications, but having a higher-ranking Proud Boys member providing details will make additional prosecutions easier.
“His agreement to cooperate means that any trial against other Proud Boys members will include his testimony, which will be important evidence for the prosecution," McQuade explained before adding his cooperation might "signal his ability to provide information up the chain to organizers and leaders who planned the attack.”
“We are learning that the attack on the Capitol was not a spontaneous event for all participants, but instead was planned by at least two groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers,” McQuade elaborated. “Investigators will want to know how high up that planning and coordination went.”
According to Vice's Tess Owens, "Court documents filed in the case so far reveal that prosecutors planned to rely heavily on group chats between the alleged conspirators in the weeks running up to the riot, as well as video evidence from the day itself."
According to Fordham law professor Bruce Green, "From the prosecutors point of view, they have a witness who is likely to be quite credible, who can put the pieces together in a way that is much more compelling than if they were just dealing with communications."
"In a statement of offense signed by Donohoe, he claimed he was heavily involved in exclusive planning chats in the weeks running up to Jan. 6. He said that Tarrio recruited him around Dec. 20, 2020, to join a special new leadership chapter of the Proud Boys called the Ministry of Self Defense (MOSD)," Vice is reporting." Donohoe recalled that he was 'privileged' to be included in this group and was invited into a group chat on an encrypted messaging app that included Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl —all high-profile Proud Boy leaders who are now his co-defendants."
Vice's Owens added, "Under the terms of Donohoe’s deal, he’s looking at around six years in prison (including the year he’s already served in jail). Without that deal, he’d be facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for the conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, and a maximum of three years for assaulting, resisting or impeding law enforcement officers."
You can read more here: https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5qeq9/proud-boy-flipped-cases-january-6
-
West Virginia man pleading to Jan. 6 charge fell in behind Proud Boys now in conspiracy case
(https://s3.amazonaws.com/wvmetro-uploads-prod/2022/04/Jeffery-Finley-1-484x350.jpg)
The purported leader of the Proud Boys in West Virginia came into contact with many of the loosely-knit, right-wing group’s leaders during the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to documents filed in his case.
Jeffery Finley of Martinsburg pleaded guilty this month to a federal charge of entering a restricted building because he was among the crowd surging into the U.S. Capitol.
His plea could result in a maximum of one year in prison, a fine of $100,000 and supervised release of no more than a year. He’ll also have to pay a fine of $500, determined to be his share of about $1,495 million in damage to the Capitol.
Hundreds of people now face charges from the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
A mob storming the U.S. Capitol that day disrupted the constitutional duty of counting Electoral College votes and prompted the evacuations of representatives, senators and Vice President Mike Pence. One woman was fatally shot while trying to climb into the chambers, three others died from “medical emergencies” and more than 100 police officers were injured.
Finley's statement of offense identifies him as “president of a West Virginia chapter of the Proud Boys.” The court filing goes on to specify “each chapter is anonymous, and as president of his chapter Finley was the highest ranking of his men.”
Four higher-profile members of the Proud Boys have been charged with conspiracy. They are alleged to have worked together to obstruct the congressional certification of Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, including through encrypted messaging.
One of the encrypted message threads was called “Boots on the Ground.” About 60 people were in the message thread, including the four Proud Boys charged with conspiracy. Another was the West Virginia resident, Finley, according to his charging documents.
Finley joined the “Boots on the Ground” message thread about 1:30 p.m. Jan. 5, 2021, according to the statement of offense in his case.
On the morning of Jan. 6, he met up at the Washington Monument with members of the Proud Boys from his chapter and other chapters across the country.
As the day went on, Finley encountered some of the Proud Boys now at the center of federal conspiracy charges.
Among them were Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl.
A fourth, Charles Donohoe, was seen from a distance. Donahoe pleaded guilty this month in federal court: “Donohoe believed that storming the Capitol would achieve the group’s goal of stopping the government from carrying out the transfer of presidential power. Donohoe understood from discussions that the Proud Boys would pursue their objective through the use of force and violence.”
Ethan Nordean
Finley followed Proud Boys leaders as they left the Washington Monument and marched on the National Mall toward the U.S. Capitol, according to the federal court documents. Among the group, Finley recognized a Proud Boy named Ethan Nordean, known as “Rufio,” leading the march.
Nordean, a resident of the State of Washington, is one of the Proud Boys now charged with conspiracy.
After the 2021 presidential election, that Nov. 27, Nordean posted on social media a call to action.
“We tried playing nice and by the rules, now you will deal with the monster you created. The spirit of 1776 has resurfaced nd has created groups like the Proudboys and we will not be extinguished. We will grow like the flame that fuels us and spread like love that guides us. We are unstoppable, unrelenting and now unforgiving. Good luck to all you traitors of this country we so deeply love… you’re going to need it.
Over more than two hours on Jan. 6, Finley marched with the group to the east side of the Capitol and then back to the west side. During that time, his statement of offense indicates, Finley saw Nordean break off from the group to talk to a small group of other Proud Boys leaders, including Joe Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Charles Donohoe.
Nordean and Biggs directed the group to the Peace Circle near the Capitol grounds.
In late-January, 2021, after Nordean had been charged in the Capitol riot, he posted a bitter message about President Donald Trump. The message was entered into evidence by federal prosecutors.
“I’ve followed this guy for 4 years and given everything and lost it all. Yes he woke us up, but he led us to believe some great justice was upon us…and it never happened,” Nordean wrote on Jan. 20, after Proud Boys members were charged, “now I’ve got some of my good friends and myself facing jail time cuz we followed this guys lead and never questioned it.”
Joe Biggs
As members of the Proud Boys approached a barricaded area at the pedestrian entrance to the Capitol, Finley saw a leader from Florida, Joe Biggs, lead the crowd in chants: “Whose house? Our house!” and “Whose Capitol? Our Capitol!”
According to the federal documents, Finley witnessed someone in the crowd start to tear down the barricades.
The man, Ryan Samsel, has alleged that Biggs pressured him to start pushing down the barricades.
Biggs is among the Proud Boys charged with conspiracy. Leading up to Jan. 6, Biggs had advised Proud Boys to abandon their usual black-and-yellow clothing to blend in. “Jan 6th is gonna be epic,” he wrote on a social media site.
The crowd, including members of the Proud Boys, began rushing forward. “To Finley, there appeared to be a coordinated effort to pull the barricades apart,” according to the statement of offense.
Members of the Proud Boys, still led by Nordean, began moving more barricades, overran law enforcement and went up the stairs to the upper west terrace.
Zach Rehl
Finley followed the crowd and saw Zach Rehl, leader of the Proud Boys in Philadelphia. Rehl is among the Proud Boys charged with conspiracy.Finley knew him as “Captain Trump.”
On the terrace, Finley heard Rehl and others from his chapter discussing what was going on inside the Capitol. Rehl then asked the group, including Finley, whether they wanted to go inside, according to Finley’s statement of offense.
Finley entered through the Senate wing door about 2:55 p.m., following Rehl and some of his group into the building. “While doing so,” according to the statement of offense, “Finley understood that law enforcement did not want people to go inside the Capitol.”
Inside, Finley lost sight of Rehl and the others. Finley took a selfie at the door to an office, left the building and then left the Capitol grounds.
About 5 p.m., Finley posted a video message to the encrypted “Boots on the Ground” app and, in part, addressed Rehl as “Captain Trump.”
"I just got out myself, dude, I was in there, you know, [expletive] taking pictures with the boys. Yo, Captain “Trump. proud of your [expletive] boy.”
Finley continued by describing security outside the Capitol: “We literally can’t get back in. [Expletive} crazy, crazy, crazy lockdown. If you guys come out, you’re not getting back in. That’s 100%”
https://wvmetronews.com/2022/04/17/west-virginia-man-pleading-to-jan-6-charge-fell-in-behind-proud-boys-now-in-conspiracy-case/
-
GOP's Ronny Jackson may have been communicating with Oath Keepers during Jan. 6 riot: court documents
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-va-pick-ronny-jackson-wrecked-a-government-vehicle-while-intoxicated-ny-times.jpg?id=26744428&width=3500&height=1882)
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) may have been in contact with Oath Keepers members during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
A newly released trove of text messages shows members of the right-wing militia discussing security for some top Donald Trump allies ahead of the congressional certification of Joe Biden's election win, and Oath Keepers co-founder Stewart Rhodes asked an associate for Jackson's cell phone number, reported Politico.
“Dr. Ronnie Jackson — on the move," wrote an unidentified person. "Needs protection. If anyone inside cover him. He has critical data to protect."
“Help with what?” Rhodes replied. “Give him my cell.”
A spokesperson for Jackson, who had served as White House physician to Trump and his two immediate predecessors, did not respond to request for comment.
Kelly Meggs, an Oath Keepers member among six indicted on seditious conspiracy charges, mentioned on Jan. 3, 2021, that allies had discussed militia members “on the call with congressmen” and “wanted to say thank you all for providing and protecting us.”
https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1516236408259756033
-
Kimberly Guilfoyle meets with the Jan. 6 committee — and this time she cooperated: report
On Monday, Donald Trump Jr.'s fiancé Kimberly Guilfoyle spoke with the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Daily Mail posted photos of Guilfoyle as she entered the O'Neill House Office Building.
Guilfoyle gave deposition to the House committee after being subpoenaed for the information related to her work on former President Donald Trump's 2020 campaign and in the lead up to Jan. 6. Guilfoyle was also in the VIP holding area with the president ahead of his speech to the rally crowd on Jan. 6 at the Ellipse.
Earlier this year, she was asked to deliver information during a phone call with the committee but hung up after she realized there were Democrats involved in the preliminary questioning.
But as of Monday, she is cooperating again.
"Guilfoyle, under threat of subpoena, agreed to meet exclusively with counsel for the select committee in a good faith effort to provide true and relevant evidence," a statement read from her attorney, Joseph Tacopina, during the first attempt at interviewing Guilfoyle. "However, upon Guilfoyle's attendance, the committee revealed its untrustworthiness, as members notorious for leaking information appeared."
Tacopina claimed that the hearing was "hijacked" because the committee members participated in the call.
According to the committee's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Guilfoyle "apparently played a key role organizing and raising funds for that event."
Read the full report:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10728461/Kimberly-Guilfoyle-arrives-federal-office-building-Washington-meet-Jan-6-committee.html
-
‘He Has Critical Data’: Signal Chats Between Oath Keeper Members on Jan. 6 Show Effort to Help Trump’s Former White House Doctor During Siege
(https://am23.mediaite.com/lc/cnt/uploads/2022/04/Edward-Vallejo-J6.jpg)
Members of a right-wing militia group sought “protection” for a Texas representative believed to have “critical data” while inside the Capitol building as it was violently breached by supporters of former President Donald Trump on Jan. 6.
According to a late-night court filing Monday, Edward Vallejo, 63, and other members of the anti-government Oath Keepers militia group were in near-constant contact in the days leading up to, and including, Jan. 6, when hundreds of Trump supporters overran police at the Capitol and temporarily stopped Congress from certifying Joe Biden‘s win in the 2020 presidential election.
Included in 109 pages of texts from a group chat on the Signal messaging app were a handful of references to Rep. Ronny Jackson, a Republican from Texas who had previously served as Trump’s White House doctor and was Trump’s one-time nominee for Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He later withdrew his nomination following allegations of misconduct.
The text messages were submitted as part of a 337-page exhibit attached to Vallejo’s motion to be released from pretrial detention. He has been held in detention since being arrested in January and charged with seditious conspiracy, the most serious charge yet in the federal government’s ever-increasing prosecution of those who participated in the Capitol breach.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was also charged in January, and he has been kept in custody since then.
“He Has Critical Data to Protect.”
“Ronnie [sic] Jackson (TX) office inside Capitol – he needs OK help. Anyone inside?” the first text message to mention Jackson read. The sender’s name was redacted. The message was sent at 3 p.m., around an hour after the Capitol building was first breached.
“Hopefully they can help Dr. Jackson,” another person, whose name is also redacted, replied at 3:03 p.m.
“Dr. Ronnie [sic] Jackson – on the move,” someone wrote at 3:08 p.m., including a picture of Jackson. “Needs protection. If anyone inside cover him. He has critical data to protect[.]”
“Help with what?” Rhodes replied at 3:10 p.m.
“Give him my cell,” Rhodes also wrote.
“Isn’t he the wrong color,” an unidentified person asked at 3:14 p.m., referring to the message with Jackson’s picture.
“What do you mean?” another person asked at 3:17.
“Disregard. Confused him with someone else,” the first person responded at 3:22 p.m.
No further mention of Jackson was made in the filing text messages.
Jackson has issued multiple strongly-worded denials of any connection or affiliation to the Oath Keepers and blamed the “liberal media” for spotting his name in a court filing from an avowed supporter of Trump, in whose administration Jackson himself had served.
“Like many public figures, Rep. Jackson is frequently talked about by people he does not know,” a spokesperson for Jackson said in a statement emailed to Law&Crime. “He does not know nor has he ever spoken to the people in question. In fact, he stayed behind with Capitol Police to help defend the House Floor and was one of the last Members to be evacuated. The liberal media’s attempt to drag him into a ‘story’ and make him part of something he has nothing to do with is yet another example of why millions of Americans are exhausted by the relentless, biased coverage of January 6th and its continued use as a political tool.”
A spokesperson for Jackson did not immediately reply to requests for a possible explanation as to why his name would be mentioned in the group text messages.
The Signal chat logs also show that there was at least an attempt at communication between one leader of the Oath Keepers and Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the right-wing extremist Proud Boys group who was arrested in March and charged with conspiring to organize the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
Rhodes and Vallejo’s co-defendant Kelly Meggs, referred to as “OK Gator 1” in the Signal chat logs, shared the news on Jan. 4 that Tarrio had been arrested for burning a Black Lives Matter flag at an historically Black church earlier that day.
“Not confirmed,” Meggs wrote. “I just called him no answer But he will called he’s out [sic].”
According to Tarrio’s indictment, Tarrio and Rhodes met in a parking garage the night of Jan. 5. A documentary film crew apparently picked up audio of a person referencing the Capitol during that exchange.
A Man with a “Passionate Yet Gentle Nature” Who Was Prepared for “Armed Conflict” and “Guerrilla War”
In Vallejo’s motion to be released on bond, his lawyer paints a picture of a patriot and a family man, a recovering alcoholic who has been sober for decades and do-gooder dedicated to improving the lives of veterans. He was accepted into the Army on his third try, his brief says, and was honorably discharged within two years, following an asthma attack.
“Although he served only briefly in the Army, Ed has a lifelong passion for assisting veterans,” the brief says, noting his relationship with a non-profit group called Homefront Battle Buddies (HBB). Vallejo, who has lived in Arizona for 50 years, has also been involved in local and national politics, and served as an alternate delegate for Ron Paul at the 2012 Republican Convention. He has a “passionate yet gentle nature” and a love of animals, the brief adds.
In explaining why he drove from Arizona to Washington, D.C. ahead of Jan. 6, apparently prepared for “armed conflict” and “guerrilla war” according to the indictment, Vallejo says that he essentially trusted the wrong people.
“Vallejo placed enormous trust in both Rhodes and President Trump at this momentous time,” his brief says. “Indeed, Ed was so trusting that he set out without even knowing where he was supposed to be going.” He had apparently planned on camping somewhere in the capital area, and had brought 200 pounds of food “in expectation of setting up a camp kitchen on a farm.”
On Jan. 6, he was stationed at the Comfort Inn Ballston in Virginia, about 10 miles away from the Capitol.
“Vallejo back at hotel and outfitted,” he texted to the Signal group at around 2:24, shortly before the building was first breached. “Have 2 trucks available. Let me know how I can assist.”
“QRF standing by at the hotel,” he texted the group again at 2:30 p.m. “Just say the word[.]”
According to prosecutors, Vallejo was standing by, ready to join the violence at any moment as part of a “Quick Reaction Force,” or QRF, which the government says was armed and ready to deploy by boat over the Potomac River at Trump’s direction.
Vallejo, however, says in his brief that the QRF was a defensive measure that would have been used to evacuate, or “exfil,” people who wanted to be removed from the chaos at the Capitol.
“Vallejo’s offers of assistance were not offers to bring truckloads of weapons into D.C. to siege the Capitol; they were offers to evacuate (‘exfil’) Oath Keepers from a dangerous situation, in line with the purpose of QRFs discussed by credible, uncharged Oath Keeper leaders,” Vallejo’s brief says. “This meaning is made evident by Vallejo’s next several messages, which were more explicit, and by the fact that no Oath Keeper member ever asked Vallejo to they wanted to stay, not be evacuated. Against this backdrop, the government’s insistence that Vallejo (who took no part in any Oath Keeper planning) stood ready to deliver caches of arms into D.C. to support an attack on the Capitol is simply guilt assuming speculation that ignores the presumption of innocence.”
Vallejo was not part of the “stack” of Oath Keeper members that breached the Capitol. Although he stuck around until the next day expecting to see more protests, there were none. He eventually drove home to Arizona, stopping briefly at Graceland in Memphis. According to his brief, he has led a “peaceful life” since then and is not a danger to his community.
Prosecutors are likely to disagree, having already successfully argued for Vallejo’s ongoing detention in January.
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/he-has-critical-data-signal-chats-between-oath-keeper-members-on-jan-6-show-effort-to-help-trumps-former-white-house-doctor-during-siege/
-
DC judge has rejected a change of venue request by high-profile Jan 6 defendant Thomas Webster, a former NY police officer.
Judge cites reduced media attention and prior Jan 6 trials in which "voir dire has been successful in identifying unbiased jurors".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQurPjwX0AYgiV8?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQurPjxWQAETaQY?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Court has scheduled April 29th hearing in accused Oath Keeper Edward Vallejo's request for release from pretrial jail.
Circle that on the calendar... these messages indicate it could be particularly noteworthy.
LATE LAST NIGHT: Accused Oath Keeper Jan 6 conspirator filed motion for release from pretrial jail
Ed Vallejo included dozens of pages of messages allegedly exchanged by OathKeepers on Jan 6 and days prior
Some mention need to protect Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), former Trump doctor.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQtZEWtX0AkoHAo?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Sentencing set for June 22 in the US Capitol of Derrick Evans of West Virginia, who had been elected to the state legislature before Jan 6, 2021.
Guilty plea to civil disorder count. Circle the date to hear what judge says to an elected rep.
https://justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/west-virginia-man-pleads-guilty-felony-charge-offenses-committed-during-jan-6-capitol
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FQuUz6YWYAkV1XU?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Proud Boys follower indicted on charges of threatening Biden, Harris and SC judges
COLUMBIA, S.C. — A follower of the Proud Boys extremist group has been indicted by a federal grand jury for threatening the lives of President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and two South Carolina federal judges.
Eric Rome, 33, an inmate in the S.C. Department of Corrections, also sent letters he said contained anthrax to the U.S. Supreme Court and a federal courthouse in Portland, Oregon, the eight-count indictment said.
Rome made some of the threats by telephone while an inmate in the S.C. Department of Corrections, the indictment said.
Rome, who is being held at the maximum security Kirkland Correctional Institution outside Columbia, is serving a multiyear prison sentence out of Greenville County for firearms violations and armed robbery. He is eligible to leave prison in 2030.
"Our intent is war on the federal government and specifically the assassination of the feds Marxist leaders Joe Biden and Kamala Harris," Rome said on a voicemail left at a Department of Corrections phone.
Those two officials deserve punishment because of "the theft of the last presidential election, promoting critical race theory in our schools, the vax mandate and using Marxist media outlets, notably CNN, to brainwash our citizens," the indictment quoted Rome as saying.
"Make America Great Again," Rome said at the end of that message, quoting a Pro-Trump slogan.
The indictment also mentioned current federal Judge Joe Anderson, saying "we" — the Proud Boys and the Aryan Brotherhood — require him "to vacate the bench immediately; otherwise we will execute the old man and post videos of his death on as many web platforms as we can."
The other federal judge was identified only as a "magistrate judge" in the indictment. Magistrate judges in the federal system usually handle a variety of pre-trial proceedings, including arraignments and bond settings.
Anderson declined to comment for this article.
The Proud Boys, the group Rome said he follows, are a far-right white nationalist organization. More than three dozen of its members, including its leader Enrique Tarrio, have been indicted on charges connected to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
In September 2020, during a nationally televised debate with then-presidential candidate Biden, former President Donald Trump mentioned the Proud Boys, telling them to "stand back and stand by." The Aryan Brotherhood is a 20,000-member white supremacist prison gang, according to the South Poverty Law Center.
In 2015, Anderson sentenced Rome to 41 months in federal prison for threatening the life of then-President Barack Obama for being an African American "in the White House." Rome pleaded guilty to that charge. In 2014, Anderson also ordered Rome to undergo a psychiatric examination, according to federal court records. The results of that exam were not available.
The Wednesday indictment said some of Rome's threats were racist in nature and he used the slogan "white power."
In a threat made by letter in February to the federal courthouse in Portland, the indictment quoted Rome as saying he was sending "weapons grade anthrax" as a protest for failing "to arrest and prosecute Black Lives Matter activists despite the riots, looting, assaults and many other crimes by BLM in your city against White Citizens. .... WHITE POWER!"
In Rome's final alleged threat, made in March, the indictment quoted Rome as threatening two unnamed South Carolina federal judges with death by stabbing. "Vacate the benches and we may let you live."
Maximum penalties for each of the eight counts against Rome are five and 10 years in prison.
Rome's first threats were made in July 2020, continued in 2021 and into this year, according to the indictment.
Rome is being kept in a single cell at Kirkland.
"He is not in the general population, and he is not allowed to make phone calls," said Chrysti Shain, spokeswoman for the corrections department.
Telephone voicemails that Rome is alleged to have left were apparently made on an internal prison hotline that inmates can call to ask questions or make comments, according to Shain.
Rome is scheduled to be arraigned May 3 by Magistrate Judge Paige Gossett at the Columbia federal courthouse.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Winston Holliday is prosecuting the case for the government. Rome does not yet have an attorney, according to public records.
© The State (Columbia, S.C.)
-
InfoWars' Alex Jones seeks immunity deal in exchange for testifying in Jan. 6 probe: NYT
InfoWars founder Alex Jones is reportedly seeking an immunity deal that would allow him to avoid being criminally prosecuted in exchange for telling federal prosecutors what he knows about the planning of the events that culminated in the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol building.
The New York Times reports that Jones is in "discussions with the Justice Department about an agreement to detail his role in the rally near the White House last Jan. 6 that preceded the attack on the Capitol."
Jones's attorney gave prosecutors a letter signed by Jones in which he expressed "his desire to speak to federal prosecutors about Jan. 6," although the attorney also insisted that Jones did nothing criminally wrong on that day.
Nevertheless, the attorney tells the Times that Jones is demanding immunity from prosecution because "he distrusts the government."
The Times notes that Jones's willingness to talk with prosecutors is a new sign that the federal probe into the January 6th riots is heating up.
"Two weeks ago, another prominent Stop the Steal organizer, Ali Alexander, a close associate of Mr. Jones, revealed that he had received a subpoena from a federal grand jury that is seeking information on a broad swath of people — rally planners, members of Congress and others close to former President Donald J. Trump — connected to political events that took place in the run-up to Jan. 6," the paper writes. "Mr. Alexander, who marched with Mr. Jones to the Capitol that day, has said that he intends to comply with the subpoena."
Read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/us/politics/alex-jones-jan-6-interview.html
-
Jan. 6 committee’s bombshells hiding in plain sight
(https://www.politico.com/dims4/default/b1bfa2f/2147483647/resize/1524x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F8f%2F5a%2Fadc59dce4cc2a228f976f3e768b1%2F20220421-jan6riot-getty-700.jpeg)
Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. | Brent Stirton/Getty Images
REVERSE TO HEAD FORWARD — If you’re looking ahead with tremulous anticipation for the new, shocking, final reveal of the Jan. 6 select committee investigation, you may be facing the wrong way.
Shoes have already been dropping like hail for more than 15 months, as the contours and consequences of Donald Trump’s plan to overturn a democratic election have gone from hazy to technicolor to HD. A mob of loyalists — some hapless and misled, others prepared for violence — hung on Trump’s exhortation to “Stop the Steal,” many interpreting it as a coded call to seize the Capitol.
Without question, the select committee is sitting on a gargantuan stockpile of meaningful evidence — hundreds of interview transcripts and thousands of documents that are worth scouring for every last nuance of the sordid plot.
But the panel’s goal isn’t necessarily about unloading new salacious details (though there will certainly be some): It’s about reminding Americans with vivid and bone-chilling granularity just how close American democracy came to the brink, based on what's already been revealed. And they plan to bring it to life via harrowing first-person accounts intended to revive the fury and fear that reigned the morning of Jan. 7. It’s about tracking Trump’s effort as it evolved and drew an increasingly sprawling cast of accomplices — from activists to lawyers to members of Congress.
The desire for some new smoking gun — some hidden email or stunning confession — risks obscuring the succession of jaw-dropping revelations that have already emerged since that mob ransacked the Capitol, overrunning police while the extremists among them hunted down Vice President Mike Pence and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Let’s examine a few.
— Trump strained federal and state governments to the breaking point in his attempt to overturn the election. It almost worked: The former president didn’t just sow disinformation about the election results months prior to votes being cast. He didn’t just unleash a barrage of bizarre lawsuits that crumbled on close scrutiny. And he didn’t just move to install a new DOJ leadership to help legitimize his election claims — pulling back only amid a mass resignation threat by his advisers. Trump directly engaged in the effort. He called local officials in Michigan, browbeat Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in a case that could lead to criminal charges in Atlanta, called into Republican state legislative meetings to encourage them to rescind Biden’s electors and brought state GOP legislative leaders to the White House to enlist them in his effort. The select committee has heard from many of these officials and leaders, and has subpoenaed several others with uncertain results.
— When the courts failed him, Trump turned to John Eastman and may have broken the law: After the Electoral College voted on Dec. 14, 2020, Trump turned toward Jan. 6, the day Congress was due to formally count electors. Eastman helped devise a strategy that was so devoid of legal merit, a federal judge has since ruled that it “likely” amounts to a criminal attempt to obstruct congressional proceedings. That strategy relied on creating an artificial conflict — dueling slates of presidential electors. Though no state legislatures had acted by the time Jan. 6 arrived, pro-Trump activists nevertheless met in seven state capitals and held mock elector ceremonies intended to create just such a conflict.
Trump and Eastman then began working on Pence, who was required to preside over the Jan. 6 session. If he would legitimize the conflict and then take the legally dubious step to recess the session for 10 days it just might provide the opening for state legislatures to act and rescind Biden’s election. But Pence and his teamfound the entire scheme to be illegal and unconstitutional, requiring Pence to violate the 133-year-old Electoral Count Act. Eastman’s attempts to convince Pence otherwise — combined with Trump’s increasingly intense pressure — are the basis for the suggestion the former president may have committed felony obstruction.
— Trump sat on his hands amid the worst of the Jan. 6 violence: Trump’s refusal to publicly call off the violent mob that attacked the Capitol in his name formed the basis of his impeachment for “incitement of insurrection” just a week before his term ended. But call logs obtained via the National Archives show that Trump spent all day calling allies in his effort to overturn the election. Other calls that don’t appear on the logs include conversations with House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and Pence. Notably missing from the logs or any of the reported accounts since then: Any calls between Trump and national security aides or Secret Service officials to attempt to quell the violence. Meanwhile, the committee has obtained evidence that Trump resisted entreaties to quickly call for an end to the violence, instead inflaming the crowd by angrily tweeting about Pence and waiting more than three hours after the Capitol breach to call on the mob to go home.
— The Trump White House became a haven for conspiracy theories: Trump considered naming Sidney Powell a special counsel to investigate election fraud, and brought Powell into the Oval Office in mid-December, along with former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who had been pushing calls for “martial law” and extreme measures like seizing voting machines. Trump never effectuated their proposals, but investigators believe the episode is emblematic of the way the gatekeeping guardrails completely collapsed in the final weeks of Trump’s presidency.
— Rioters say Trump is the reason they breached the Capitol: Although judges have largely dismissed their excuses as legally irrelevant, hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants charged with joining the mob that stormed the Capitol say it was Trump’s words that fueled them. At least a few of them have interviewed with the select committee and described coming under Trump’s thrall, being deceived by his stolen-election rhetoric — amplified by pro-Turmp media figures — and accepting his claim that the country was under threat. While it hasn’t helped many rioters escape legal consequences — in fact, a jury recently convicted a defendant who attempted to do just that at trial — the live testimony from these defendants is likely to form a potent political cudgel to underscore the power of a president’s words.
https://www.politico.com/newsletters/politico-nightly/2022/04/21/jan-6-committees-bombshells-hiding-in-plain-sight-00026869
-
Marjorie Taylor Greene had a days-long meltdown over 'insurrectionist' lawsuit – here are 5 key moments
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rep-marjorie-taylor-greene.png?id=29709016&width=3500&height=1968)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) has been ordered to testify in a lawsuit brought by a group of voters who want her removed from the ballot for supporting an armed insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and she seems pretty stressed as Friday's hearing draws closer.
Judge Amy Totenberg ruled this week that the lawsuit, filed by five voters from her district who argue that Greene should be stricken through the U.S. Constitution's Disqualification Clause, could move forward, and she complained bitterly Thursday during an appearance on Right Side Broadcast Network.
"So Friday, I am being forced to go on the witness stand under oath to be questioned about something I have never done, something I have never been charged with -- no one has, absolutely no one has because it didn't happen," she told the conservative network. "I am actually going to have to sit there and answer these questions as the first member of Congress to be put in this situation. So it's absolutely absurd."
Greene used similar language to complain about the deposition during an appearance Wednesday on One America News.
"They are actually putting me on the witness stand on Friday," Greene said. "I am the first Republican member of Congress that is going to be forced to take the witness stand under oath and defend myself against a lie and something I never did."
She complained about her required testimony the evening before on Tucker Carlson's Fox News program, and she snapped at a local TV reporter's questions Tuesday about the suit, which she said should be dismissed.
"I'm not accused of anything because I did nothing wrong," Greene said during the interview with News Channel 9. "I don't care what the lawsuit says I did nothing wrong. And this is a scam, okay? So I'm not entertaining this."
Greene claimed Monday evening, also on Carlson's program, that she was the victim of a political conspiracy.
"The progressives, the people who donate to dark money groups ... they've hired up some attorneys from New York who hate the people from my district and don't believe that they should have the right to elect who they want to send to Washington, which is me," Greene told Carlson. "They've filed a lawsuit because they’re trying to rip my name off of the ballot and steal my district's ability to reelect me."
-
Courtroom erupts in laughter as Marjorie Taylor Greene gets accused of stealing a line from Independence Day
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29714780&width=3500&height=1968)
While being cross-examined during a hearing where challengers are seeking her disqualification from running for reelection, Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene was asked about comments she made while trying to get her fans to show up to protest the certification of the 2020 election's results on Jan. 6, 2021, specifically one comment where she said, "We aren't a people that are going to go quietly into the night."
"Now, that phrase ... that's not something that you came up with on your own, is it?" attorney Andy Celli asked Greene.
When Greene replied that she had no idea what Celli was referring to, the attorney said, "Well, that's something that you borrowed from a movie script, right?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Greene said.
"You borrowed that line from the movie 'Independence Day,' right?" Celli asked.
At that point, Greene began to laugh, as well as others in the courtroom. "No," Greene replied as she continued to laugh.
Celli then played the relevant clip from "Independence Day," but Greene insisted there was no connection.
"I don't recall getting any inspiration from this Hollywood movie like you're suggesting," Greene said.
"So you were not communicating in referencing that film that Jan. 6 was going to be a new kind of Independence Day?" the attorney asked.
Greene replied "all I was talking about was objecting and standing up for people's votes in our election."
Watch the exchange below:
-
Jan. 6 committee member reveals 'the six most chilling words of this entire thing I've seen so far'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jamie-raskin-shoots-down-gop-anti-impeachment-arguments-one-by-one-at-impeachment-hearing.jpg?id=27659669&width=3500&height=1967)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) promised that the upcoming House hearings for the Jan. 6 select committee would provide dramatic revelations from their investigation of Donald Trump's role in the insurrection.
The Maryland Democrat spoke Thursday at an event hosted by Georgetown University's Center on Faith and Justice in Washington, and he said the committee would hold public hearings in June and planned to produce a report of their investigation by the end of summer or early fall, reported NBC News.
"The hearings will tell a story that will really blow the roof off the House," said Raskin, who serves on the select committee.
"No president has ever come close to doing what happened here in terms of trying to organize an inside coup to overthrow an election and bypass the constitutional order," he added, "and then also use a violent insurrection made up of domestic violent extremist groups, white nationalist and racist, fascist groups in order to support the coup."
Raskin said the committee would present evidence of coordination between Trump, his inner circle and his supporters who attacked the U.S. Capitol to halt the certification of Joe Biden's election win and drive his electoral vote total below the 270 majority threshold, which would then move the election to the House -- where Republicans would have the majority needed because each state would get only one vote.
"It’s anybody’s guess what could have happened — martial law, civil war," Raskin said. "You know, the beginning of authoritarianism. I want people to pay attention to what’s going on here, because that’s as close to fascism as I ever want my country to come to again."
"This was not a coup directed at the president," Raskin added. "It was a coup directed by the president against the vice president and against the Congress."
Raskin suspects the vice president's Secret Service agents were reporting to Trump's agents, and the plan was to take Pence away from the Capitol to corrupt the certification process as part of the insurrection.
"[Pence then] uttered what I think are the six most chilling words of this entire thing I've seen so far: 'I'm not getting in that car,'" Raskin said. "He knew exactly what this inside coup they had planned for was going to do."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-revelations-will-blow-roof-house-rep-jamie-raskin-says-rcna25542
-
WATCH: Attorney lays out 'powerful' insurrection case against Marjorie Taylor Greene in his opening statement
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=29713584&width=3500&height=1791)
A civil rights attorney laid out the insurrection case against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) in a lawsuit that seeks to remove her from the ballot.
Ron Fein, the legal director of Free Speech for People, on Friday gave an opening statement during a court hearing in a lawsuit brought by a group of Georgia voters who want her disqualified for office under the 14th Amendment, which bars anyone who “engaged in insurrection or rebellion” from federal office.
"This is a solemn occasion," Fein said. "This is not politics. This is not theater. This is a serious case that the voters we represent have brought."
He compared the Jan. 6 insurrection by Donald Trump supporters to the Civil War, Shays' Rebellion and the Whiskey Rebellion, but he said Greene incited the violence through social media, rather than personally riding into battle.
"The evidence today does not include surveillance tapes, purporting to show that Marjorie Taylor Greene was directing the plotting of the attack," Fein said. "That's not going to happen today."
He told the court that no "turncoat witness" would reveal Greene's role in planning and inciting the insurrection, but he said the first-term congresswoman's own testimony would implicate her.
"The most powerful witness against Marjorie Taylor Greene's candidacy, the most powerful witness in establishing that she crossed the line into engagement of insurrection is Marjorie Taylor Greene herself," Fein said.
Watch:
-
Ivanka Trump's actions on Jan 6th scrutinized after investigators obtain 'inconsistent' testimony: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/ivanka-trumps-childhood-pal-reveals-what-their-former-friends-think-of-her-scathing-tell-all.jpg?id=24809115&width=3500&height=1885)
According to a report from Politico's Betsy Woodruff Swan, the actions of first daughter Ivanka Trump as supporters of her father stormed the Capitol on Jan 6th are being scrutinized due to conflicting tales told by White House insiders.
At issue is how much effort Donald Trump's daughter had to put into convincing the former president to call off the insurrectionists as Capitol p[olice were overwhelmed and lawmakers were forced to flee for their lives.
On the one hand, Ivanka -- as well as some of the White House inner circle -- have indicated she only had to ask once to get Trump to send out a "tweet supporting Capitol Police just a few minutes after she first went in and asked him to say something about the attack."
However, Vice President Mike Pence’s national security adviser Keith Kellogg suggested to the committee that she needed to approach her father multiple times in order to get him to act.
In a letter sent to Ivanka, she was informed, based on Kellogg's testimony, "The testimony also suggests that you agreed to talk to the President, but had to make multiple efforts to persuade President Trump to act," quoting Kellogg being asked, "And so presumably the first time she [Ivanka Trump] went in, it wasn’t sufficient or she wouldn’t have had to go back at least one more time, I assume. Is that correct?” and Kellogg replying, "Well, yes, ma’am. I think she went back there because Ivanka can be pretty tenacious.”
As Woodruff Swan explained, "While it’s a small detail in the context of the whole attack, legal experts have said it could have bearing on Trump’s potential criminal exposure. And the efforts and actions of the president’s closest advisers — including his daughter, then also a senior White House official — are a key focus of select committee investigators working to piece together the definitive account of Jan. 6."
Kellogg has since backed off his assertion, with his lawyer issuing a statement saying, "I defer to Ivanka. She was in with 45 one-on-one. Never saw the transcripts from the 6 January committee so cannot comment on what was in the write-up.”
With Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) already stating, "We know his daughter — we have firsthand testimony — that his daughter Ivanka went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence,” former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner claimed any delay by Trump to act could be evidence of a crime.
“That is a president in a very real way, waging war against the United States,” he explained. “Even his own daughter couldn’t stop him. That is deeply incriminating information. Presumably, it’s been provided by Ivanka under oath to the J-6 committee, and if I were prosecuting the case, she would be one of the very early witnesses I called.”
Kirschner added that the Jan 6th committee could be setting a perjury trap for some witnesses.
You can read more here: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/22/jan-6-ivanka-trump-00027213
-
MAGA rioter who wept in court faces up to 46 months in prison after pleading guilty to assaulting cops
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/cody-mattice.jpg?id=27698770&width=3500&height=1977)
A New York man who boasted to his aunt about fighting and macing police officers at the January 6 riot has pleaded guilty.
Cody Mattice, 29, of Rochester, N.Y., pleaded guilty Friday to a count of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers on Jan. 6 – a felony charge with a recommended sentencing range of 37-46 months in prison and up to three years of supervised release afterward, WUSA9-TV reported. The two sides agreed to the sentencing range -- which is below the eight years’ maximum punishment for the offense -- but a judge is not bound by the agreement.
Mattice entered the plea via teleconference before D.C. District Court Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell from the facility in which he is being held. Also pleading to the same charge -- but in attendance in his orange prison jumpsuit -- was James Mault, 30, a friend of Mattice from Rochester with whom he participated in the riot. Mault had drawn attention for having joined the U.S. Army after taking part in the insurrection.
The two men were shown on video having pulled down barricades, attacking multiple police officers as part of a mob surging forward and having sprayed officers with chemical agents. And the judge took note that the defendants’ participation had been spontaneous:
“Howell read several text messages between the two, detailing their plans to travel to Washington, D.C. together in early January with others, bringing pepper spray, baton, and "a**-kicking boots," WHAM, a Rochester TV station reported.
It was not the first time Mattice had to listen in court to incriminating texts he had sent. Last October, there had been this:
“Mattice sent out a text message to his aunt, Rebecca Evert, in which he boasted of his exploits in fighting with law enforcement officers at the Capitol. Specifically, Mattice informed Evert via a text message that he and his allies "fought off like 4 or 5 cops and stand f***ing victorious." Mattice then told Evert that he "also maced a cop."
"Awesomeness!" Evert replied. "I'm trying to find you in the breach videos... what are you wearing?"
As previously reported at Raw Story, Mattice and Mault were not identified in court as members of an extremist group but derived esteem from having fought alongside them.
“It was dope, and James had everyone hyped bro,” Mattice texted another person at 7:44 p.m. on Jan. 6, according to the government. “Even the Proud Boys were thanking us. Legit, bro, it feels like a f***in movie.
But by the time Mattice was in court facing up to 20 years in prison, that tone had changed, as reported here.
“Cody Mattice sat quietly weeping in court Tuesday, his head down, resting on the table in front of him, only lifting it to whisper to his attorney.”
You can read the FBI complaint here: https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-cody-mattice-guilty/
-
Jan 6th rioter facing 8 years in prison after admitting he used chemical spray on Capitol cops
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/james-phillip-mault-in-hardhat.jpg?id=29716649&width=3500&height=2246)
The Charlotte Observer is reporting that a 30-year-old Fayetteville man confessed on Friday that he used a chemical spray on Capitol police officers while taking part in the Jan 6th insurrection.
James Phillip Mault pleaded guilty during Friday's court proceedings, with the Observer reporting he had been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers during the riot that sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives.
"Court documents said Mault got a small canister of chemical spray from another member of the crowd and sprayed it at officers defending the tunnel. He got a second canister from the crowd and gave it to another rioter, records shows," the report states. "Earlier that afternoon, Mault was part of the crowd that overwhelmed a police line, 'forcing officers to retreat up a central staircase to the Lower West Terrace' at the Capitol, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office."
The report states he was taken into custody on Oct. 7 at Fort Bragg, where he had enlisted in the Army after the attack, and that he faces up to eight years in prison, with his sentencing scheduled for July 15 according to court documents.
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article260695227.html
-
Don Trump Jr. testimony will 'speed along' the Jan 6th investigation: legal expert
Appearing on MSNBC's "Katie Phang Show," Florida State Attorney Dave Aronberg said no one should expect much in the way of revelations when Don Trump Jr. sits down with investigators working with the House Jan 6th riot committee, but his appearance will help speed up the possibility of criminal referrals.
Speaking with host about Trump Jr's imminent appearance, the attorney told Phang, "Katie, I don't think we should expect too much from Don Jr.'s testimony even if he's appearing voluntarily, and that's a good thing, he could still enjoy the 5th Amendment protection and I expect his to invoke the 5th throughout his testimony."
"I think the good thing about this testimony is that it speeds along the investigation," he continued. "They don't have to go to court to get it, and this could ensure they come with up with a report and even a referral to DOJ well before the midterm elections. But if we are counting on any real revelations to come from Donald Trump Jr. in his testimony, I think his expectations are too high."
"What is the point?" host Phang asked. "If he is going to invoke the 5th, there is going to be no value in that."
"This is going to be a full investigation," he explained. "You have to bring in the person who sent text messages to Mark Meadows showing that the big lie was orchestrated in advance. These text messages were sent from Donald Trump Jr.'s phone, days before the votes were counted. This undermines the whole thing with election fraud in the big lie. That is why you have to bring him in, even knowing that he is probably going to use the 5th amendment."
Watch below:
-
Florida Proud Boys 'cleaning house' after FBI affidavit suggests their members are government informants: report
After the arrest of Florida Proud Boy Barry Bennet Ramey, 38, for his participating in the Jan. 6. Capitol riot, an FBI affidavit in connection to his case states that "multiple confidential human sources" have provided information, including a "master list" of Proud Boys operating locally in Florida, the Miami New Times reports.
Speaking to the New Times, a Miami Proud Boy said that the far-right group has deleted Ramey from all Proud Boys communication channels and is now clearing out its online chat rooms in an effort to erase its digital footprint. It's also kicking out a bunch of members from its ranks.
"We took [Ramey] out of every chat as of yesterday," the Miami Proud Boy said late last week. "We're cleaning house. We have a list of disavowed members who some chapters are keeping around, and we're getting rid of everybody."
Ramey has been charged with impeding and assaulting a federal law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon, entering and remaining in a restricted building, and engaging in physical violence at the Capitol.
The affidavit states that "multiple" people are aware of Proud Boys working as government informants.
Broward Proud Boy Barry Ramey's Jan. 6 Arrest Reveals "Multiple Confidential Human Sources"
(https://media2.miaminewtimes.com/mia/imager/u/magnum/14347782/barry_ramey_photos_via_department_of_justice.png?cb=1650844996)
Proud Boy Barry Bennet Ramey, 38, was arrested Thursday in Plantation for his involvement in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Though a handful of local Proud Boys have been arrested for their roles in the deadly attack — most recently, Enrique Tarrio, the group's former chairman — documents filed in connection with Ramey's arrest reveal that "multiple confidential human sources" have provided information, including a "master list" of Proud Boys operating locally, to the Miami office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to an affidavit an FBI special agent submitted last Wednesday. (A copy of the affidavit is embedded at the bottom of this story.)
A Miami Proud Boy who spoke to New Times on the condition of anonymity says the organization immediately scrubbed Ramey from all Proud Boys communication channels and is now clearing out its online chat rooms, wiping its digital footprint, and removing a number of members from its ranks.
"We took [Ramey] out of every chat as of yesterday," the Miami Proud Boy said late last week. "We're cleaning house. We have a list of disavowed members who some chapters are keeping around, and we're getting rid of everybody."
After a January 2021 Reuters story revealed that Tarrio had worked as an informant following his 2012 arrest for relabeling stolen diabetes test kits, some Proud Boys suspected their former leader was still working as a federal informant. They went so far as to call Tarrio a "rat" even though there was no concrete evidence to suggest he was still cooperating with law enforcement.
Allegations regarding Tarrio aside, the FBI affidavit submitted last week states that "multiple" people know of Proud Boys working with law enforcement. The special agent who submitted the affidavit did not reveal identities or state whether the informants are current or former members of the organization.
"If Enrique was a fed, he wouldn't have been picked up and put in jail. He wouldn't have been denied bail. He would be home with an ankle bracelet," says the Miami Proud Boy who spoke with New Times.
More people have been arrested for their involvement in the insurrection in Florida than in any other state. Though not every person arrested in Florida was a member of the Proud Boys (e.g., Mason "#Tweedledumb" Courson of Tamarac), the group, which describes itself as a "Western chauvinist" men's drinking club, has been heavily implicated in the planning of the Capitol riot. Proud Boys Gabriel Garcia and Gilbert Fonticoba had been arrested for their roles in January 6 attack, and Tarrio was arrested at his Miami home in March and charged with conspiracy for his alleged role in orchestrating the insurrection.
Ramey is the latest local Proud Boy to be taken into custody.
In the recent Statement of Facts affidavit, the Miami FBI special agent describes how images and photos posted on the social-networking platform Parler show a man identified as Ramey among the crowd at the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Footage reviewed by the FBI shows Ramey spraying two U.S. Capitol Police officers in the eyes with an unidentified orange substance and forcing officers up a set of stairs along with a large crowd yelling "push."
Ramey has been charged with impeding and assaulting a federal law enforcement officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon, entering and remaining in a restricted building, and engaging in physical violence at the Capitol.
The affidavit mentions at least one instance where Ramey appears to attempt to intimidate the FBI special agent investigating him. On April 8, two months after leaving a business card with one of Ramey's associates, the agent received a phone call from an unknown number. The agent recognized Ramey's voice, and the caller stated the agent's home address. The agent then received a text from that same number with the vehicle identification number (VIN) of a car the agent previously owned.
Less than two weeks after the phone exchange, Ramey was arrested in Plantation.
According to the Miami Proud Boy who spoke with New Times, Ramey was not a member of the Proud Boys at the time of the insurrection but joined the Broward chapter sometime later.
Ramey is being prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. At the time of this writing, he had not been assigned an attorney, and New Times was unable to reach him for comment.
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/florida-proud-boy-barry-rameys-arrest-indicates-multiple-confidential-human-sources-14347242
-
How Marjorie Taylor Greene’s testimony and texts could be used by the Jan. 6 committee: Ex-federal prosecutor
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29722680&width=3500&height=1968)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) on Friday told a court that she couldn't recall whether she'd discussed having former President Donald Trump declare martial law -- and on Monday, leaked text messages showed she asked former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows about that exact possibility.
Appearing on MSNBC Monday, former federal prosecutor Joyce Vance said Greene appeared "too cute by half," in her court appearance, and it could get her into some hot water.
According to Vance, the claims that Greene made under oath are "an important piece of testimony because it exposed the fact that... it's very clear when you watch that testimony with there's a lot of effort to be too cute by half to outsmart the questioner."
Vance went on to explain how this new information could be used by the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6.
"So, this repeated invocation of a bad memory when they're relatively recent text messages provides some very interesting context for the committee to use, as it tells this story to the American people," she said. "There's very little doubt that she had set herself up as an arbiter of information between what was going on in the caucus that she was newly a part of and the White House. There's a lot of interesting information yet to come to light there."
See the full discussion below:
-
Via text messages... Republican members of Congress were specifically trying to guide Mark Meadows on how to execute a plan to stop the certification of Biden's victory on Jan 6.
This text is from Jim Jordan ...per House Jan 6 committee.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRNlSgzXMAA6R5q?format=jpg&name=large)
And ... per Jan 6 committee court filing ... this text is from Rep Scott Perry (R-PA) ....about movement in Justice Dept.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRNldLIXwAQK79q?format=jpg&name=large)
-
'Sovereign citizen' rioter shouldn't be allowed to present an alibi when video shows her storming the Capitol: prosecutors
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/pauline-bauer-capitol-attacker-photo-doj-court-documents.jpg?id=27408088&width=1000&height=562)
Federal prosecutors are demanding that an accused Capitol rioter be forbidden from presenting an alibi in her trial because video shows her walking inside the building.
Pauline Bauer, a pizza shop owner from western Pennsylvania, was captured on surveillance video shoving police officers and calling for the hanging of House speaker Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress during the Jan. 6 insurrection, and prosecutors want to limit the arguments she may present in court, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The 54-year-old Bauer has repeatedly made specious claims in court that she is a "sovereign citizen" who is not subject to U.S. law, and prosecutors clearly expect that she will introduce evidence outside the scope of facts in her case.
They have also asked District Court Judge Trevor McFadden to prohibit her from presenting arguments that encourage jury nullification, which occurs when jurors acquit a defendant who they believe is guilty on the belief the law they're charged with breaking is not valid.
Prosecutors also want the judge to set deadlines for Bauer's attorneys to say whether she will present an alibi or an insanity defense, and then prohibit her from making those claims if the deadlines are not met.
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2022/04/24/capitol-rioter-trial-pauline-bauer-pennsylvania-mckean-county-nancy-pelosi-william-blauser-january-6-insurrection/stories/202204240149
-
ARRAIGNMENT today in recently filed Capitol riot case of Matthew Krol, who is accused of wresting baton from officer. Feds allege "Krol then turns to the crowd, holding up the baton as if in celebration".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRMyd16X0AM9cEd?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Feds have also included transcripts of alleged text messages sent to and from OathKeepers Founder Stewart Rhodes. Including from an Arizona figure named Todd Kandaris discussing movement of group from Arizona before Jan 6.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRO-7MZXIAAudau?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
High-level US Capitol riot defendant Mark Ponder has pleaded guilty to assaulting police.
In signed plea deal, Ponder acknowledges swinging pole & striking officer and yelling "Hold the line!"..."Do not give up" amid mob as police tried to arrest him.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRM_gytWUAEYLUs?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes is being held in the jail in Alexandria, Virginia pending trial in Jan 6 conspiracy case.
The jail provides this updated booking photo.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRNyrR0WYAIasCo?format=jpg&name=small)
Justice Department prosecutors have charged Rhodes and 10 of his fellow Oath Keepers with participating in a “seditious conspiracy” in their efforts to overturn the election results. Rhodes and nine other defendants have pleaded not guilty to the charges; one defendant has pleaded guilty.
Legal experts say the evidence that Rhodes and his confederates were conspiring to commit violence on Jan. 6 is so damning that it could justify charges of sedition in this case. A conviction on seditious conspiracy charges carries a maximum 20-year prison term.
-
ARRAIGNMENT today in recently filed Capitol riot case of Matthew Krol, who is accused of wresting baton from officer. Feds allege "Krol then turns to the crowd, holding up the baton as if in celebration".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRMyd16X0AM9cEd?format=jpg&name=small)
This is good to hear.
What is the latest information, if any, about a case moving forward against David Walls-Kaufman and Taylor Taranto being charged with assaulting D. C. Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith? I understand there is video of Taranto giving a weapon, like a baton, or a crowbar to Walls-Kaufman, who then struck Officer Smith. Officer Smith received severe head injuries and committed suicide 9 days later. And yet, many months later, I hear hardly anything about this.
Question:
Why has this case stalled?
Is the video not definitive enough to identify either Taranto or Walls-Kaufman?
I am perplexed that the press has seemed to drop this story without explanation.
-
This is good to hear.
What is the latest information, if any, about a case moving forward against David Walls-Kaufman and Taylor Taranto being charged with assaulting D. C. Metropolitan Police Officer Jeffrey Smith? I understand there is video of Taranto giving a weapon, like a baton, or a crowbar to Walls-Kaufman, who then struck Officer Smith. Officer Smith received severe head injuries and committed suicide 9 days later. And yet, many months later, I hear hardly anything about this.
Question:
Why has this case stalled?
Is the video not definitive enough to identify either Taranto or Walls-Kaufman?
I am perplexed that the press has seemed to drop this story without explanation.
Taranto is being sued by Officer Smith's widow and it received light coverage in the local Washington state media. The last real in depth article about this case was back at the end of January. This is a good read for people not familiar with the case.
Police Officer Died By Suicide After Jan. 6. Here's What He Went Through At The Capitol.
Bodycam footage shows what Officer Jeffrey Smith experienced at the Capitol on what his widow described as "the worst day of his life."
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jeffrey-smith-capitol-riot-suicide_n_6172c53de4b06573573a9ba4
-
In sentencing memo, Jan 6 defendant W. Jake Peart acknowledges his friends stayed behind, while he went inside Capitol. And memo says Peart "joined other rioters" calling out politicians, "Where are the Senators?".. and "called out the name of U.S. Senator Mitt Romney".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRTSigVXIAcY0Ul?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Plea hearing scheduled for today in the US Capitol riot case of Louis Colon of Missouri..... Colon is accused of forcing open barricades amid the mob.
Feds: "Colon grabbed a chair and placed it in the path of a separate barrier".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRR3lcbXoAAN5zZ?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Former Police Officer Who Swung Flagpole Claims Self-Defense In Jan. 6 Trial
Thomas Webster, a former New York City police officer who swung a flagpole and tackled a U.S. Capitol police officer during the January 6 Capitol riot, is claiming self-defense in his trial. NBC's Ryan Reilly has details.
Watch:
-
'Rage-filled' assault video leads first day of ex-NYPD officer's Capitol riot trial
(https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/resizer/Iz0vbxf_R4YCs6Dui8N3savM0Uw=/1024x0/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/mco/JEOH3LPO6NAQDIKGYDAAIY7BCA.jpg)
WASHINGTON — The attorney for a former NYPD officer asked jurors Tuesday to believe his client was instigated to attack police on Jan. 6 – suggesting multiple times a DC Police officer punched Thomas Webster in the face prior to the assault.
Webster’s trial on multiple felony charges began this week before U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta. The former officer and U.S. Marine Corps veteran is accused of repeatedly striking DC Police Officer Noah Rathbun with a metal pole before breaking through a barricade and tackling him to the ground.
Several jurors were clearly shocked by footage from Rathbun’s bodyworn camera, which shows an irate Webster in a red, black and white jacket pushing through the crowd outside the U.S. Capitol Building to berate officers. The video shows Webster repeatedly pushing at the bike racks police were using as an ad hoc barricade before swinging the pole at one of them – Rathbun – who then managed to disarm him.
After the pole is taken from him, Webster can be seen charging forward through the barricade with other rioters and tackling Rathbun to the ground as he attempts to rip off his gas mask and helmet. DC Police Det. Jonathan Lauderdale, who reviewed hundreds of hours of bodyworn camera footage, including Rathbun’s, said Webster’s attack “choked out” Rathbun with the chin strap of his helmet.
The video of the confrontation lasts about a minute and a half, but Webster’s attorney, James E. Monroe, focused on just a few frames which appear to show Rathbun’s hand making contact with Webster’s face at the corner of the video. Monroe also played a video from a second angle during his opening statement which, he claimed, showed Rathbun initiated the confrontation – although even that video appeared to show Webster shoving the bike rack barrier prior to any contact by Rathbun.
Monroe repeatedly asked Lauderdale if he knew about or had seen any notes from an FBI use-of-force investigation into Rathbun’s contact on Jan. 6 – a line of questioning Judge Mehta eventually shut down as inappropriate. Lauderdale said his role on the riot task force was to investigate possible criminal conduct from rioters, and not to conduct internal affairs investigations. He also said he wasn’t aware of the brief moment of footage that appears to show contact between Rathbun and Webster until just prior to his testimony Tuesday. But, he said, even if Rathbun made contact with Webster on Jan. 6, he couldn’t see how it was the DC Police officer, as Monroe suggested, who was instigating.
“I don’t see how him responding to the Capitol on the chief or the mayor’s order to defend democracy and stop what was going on, how he initiated that,” Lauderdale said.
Monroe continued hammering Lauderdale, however, on whether Rathbun reported any injuries from the attack by Webster – he did not – or whether he filed a use-of-force report about the incident – also. Lauderdale said DC Police policy requires officers to notify a superior if they use force in the line of duty.
“What about if you punch someone in the face without provocation?” Monroe asked.
“Yes,” Lauderdale said.
Even if he had known about the contact Rathbun made with Webster’s face, however, Lauderdale said it would not have affected his role in the investigation or his decision to put out a BOLO on Webster.
"There was clear video evidence of an assault on a police officer,” he said.
Prosecutors said they intended to call Rathbun himself to the stand to testify on Wednesday. While Monroe was expected to challenge Rathburn on the reports he filed – or didn’t file – after Jan. 6 and the FBI investigation into his use of force, Monroe was unlikely to be able to ask about a May 2021 shooting in which Rathbun shot and killed 26-year-old Vedo Hall while Hall was reportedly holding his ex-girlfriend against her will with a rifle. Federal prosecutors declined to bring any charges against Rathbun in connection to the shooting, saying in a statement there was insufficient evidence to show he’d used excessive force under the circumstances.
Including Rathbun, prosecutors said they had five witnesses to call Wednesday and would likely rest on Thursday. In a pretrial memorandum, Monroe said he also had five witnesses to call, including three who will act as character witnesses on Webster’s behalf.
Watch video:
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/defense-says-dc-police-officer-instigated-assault-on-jan-6-thomas-webster-nypd-capitol-riot-marine-corps-veteran-donald-trump-bloomberg/65-f66ab105-a912-4db3-96f5-55295b766d5c
-
'I didn't provoke this' | DC Police officer testifies against ex-NYPD officer in Capitol riot asault trial
Officer Noah Rathbun said he was attempting to keep Thomas Webster behind the perimeter fence when the Marine Corps veteran assaulted him.
WASHINGTON — A former NYPD officer will take the stand in his own defense Thursday in an attempt to convince a jury he was instigated to attack a DC Police officer at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Thomas Webster, who began trial earlier this week on multiple felony counts of assault and civil disorder, will be only the second Capitol riot defendant to take the stand in his own defense. Earlier this month, Dustin Thompson, of Ohio, testified that he believed former President Donald Trump had ordered him and other rioters to enter the Capitol. A jury convicted him on all counts.
Webster will take the stand in an attempt to rebut testimony from DC Police Officer Noah Rathbun, who testified for nearly three hours on Wednesday. Rathbun walked jurors second-by-second through footage from his bodyworn camera showing Webster push his way to the front of the crowd and begin yelling at him and shoving the police barrier. Webster eventually struck Rathbun with a metal pole multiple times before breaking through the barrier and tackling him to the ground – at which point he violently attempted to rip off his helmet and gas mask. Rathbun testified that Webster choked him with his helmet strap while pinning him to the ground, and that chemical irritants in the air became trapped inside his mask once he re-secured it.
“That’s not a position anyone wants to be in,” Rathbun said. “I knew we had lost the perimeter at that point. I couldn’t see any other officers in the area, so I was scared.”
Rathbun said it appeared Thomas Webster's actions helped cause the perimeter to collapse. On to the assault: "He squared up with me. He began running toward me with his arms held up toward his chest w/ clenched fists and he knocked me down."
Webster’s defense hinges on just a few seconds of blurry video from another camera angle which, his attorney James E. Monroe has insisted in court, shows it was actually Rathbun who instigated the attack. The video appears to show Webster shoving a bike rack against Rathbun multiple times before the officer pushed him back in return – making open-palm contact with Webster’s face in the process. Monroe told Rathbun that while the officer might call the contact – which he says was inadvertent – a shove, he was going to call it a “punch.”
Monroe also suggested Rathbun had motioned to Webster to fight him.
“At this point in time,” he said, showing another brief, blurry video snippet, “aren’t you signaling to the man in the red, white and black jacket to bring it on? To come and fight you?”
“No,” Rathbun told him.
Monroe made hay as well from the fact that Rathbun spoke to a DC Police detective and an FBI agent about the altercation. He asked why Rathbun didn’t report the bruises and scrapes he later claimed to have received from the attack. Rathbun said they didn’t seem important to him compared to the serious laceration he received to a finger during a later incident in the Capitol Rotunda – which required stitches and which he did report – and also to the injuries other officers received that day.
“There were officers who died, so I didn’t feel like being pushed to the ground and suffering some scrapes was as meaningful as other things that had happened,” Rathbun said. “But I was assured our bodycams would be reviewed.”
Prosecutors submitted other evidence to undercut Webster’s self-defense claim. FBI Special Agent Riley Palmertree, who was assigned as the lead agent on the case, walked jurors through footage showing Webster making his way through the massive crowd – passing multiple barriers and climbing over a waist-height wall – to reach the front lines. After the attack on Rathbun, open source video also appeared to show Webster continuing to move forward up to the restricted area of the Lower West Terrace. At one point, Webster appeared to point his finger aggressively at another group of police – just as he had at Rathbun prior to the attack. In another video, Webster yells into a camera, “Send more patriots! We need help!”
The prosecution was expected to rest its case Thursday after finishing questioning Palmertree. In addition to Webster’s testimony, Monroe said he had three character witnesses lined up to speak on his client’s behalf on Friday.
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/i-didnt-provoke-this-dc-police-officer-testifies-against-ex-nypd-officer-in-capitol-riot-attack-thomas-webster-noah-rathbun-marine-veteran-trump/65-7b256089-14ce-4404-be78-9a4e844c9a45
-
DC man faces 5 years in prison for attacking police on Jan. 6
WASHINGTON — A D.C. man could face more than five years in prison at sentencing in July after pleading guilty Friday to assaulting police during the Capitol riot.
Mark Ponder, 56, of Northwest D.C., entered his plea of guilty before U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan to one felony count of assaulting police with a dangerous weapon. At sentencing on July 18, he’ll face an estimated guideline range of 57-71 months in prison – in part because of a lengthy criminal history that includes a 2007 bank robbery and a prior conviction of domestic assault.
Ponder, who has been incarcerated since his arrest last year, appeared in court in a dark green inmate’s jumpsuit. His hearing got off to a rocky start when he told Chutkan the jail hadn’t tested him for COVID-19 before his appearance. Ponder, like many Jan. 6 defendants held in the D.C. and Alexandria jails, has declined the COVID-19 vaccine.
Before accepting his plea, Chutkan read through the statement of offense. Line by line, Ponder agreed that he assaulted police at least three times on Jan. 6. That included striking an officer with a stick so hard it shattered against his riot shield, rearming himself for another attack and then “wildly swinging” a pole at a line of police trying to reestablish order on the Capitol grounds.
Officers eventually tackled Ponder to the ground on Jan. 6 and placed him under arrest, but had to release him after they were called to reinforce the front lines. Ponder then left the grounds for a short time before returning. He eventually left for good once tear gas was deployed.
Ponder will remain in custody at the Alexandria Jail while he awaits sentencing. He will receive credit for the more than a year he’s already spent behind bars. In addition to prison time, he will also have to pay $2,000 in restitution for damage to the U.S. Capitol and could face up to three years of supervised release.
Watch Video:
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/dc-man-faces-5-years-in-prison-for-attacking-police-on-jan-6-mark-ponder-capitol-riot/65-e24ef825-70b5-4cab-b096-e2b517d988a9
-
Rep. Boebert involved in ‘beginning stages’ of White House Jan. 6 planning, ex-aide says
(https://d.newsweek.com/en/full/1713896/lauren-boebert-republican.jpg?w=1600&h=1600&l=38&t=41&q=88&f=8b5c3fae96edb4806cc8ee9e4ee0df92)
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado was involved in the “beginning stages” of talks with senior White House officials that ultimately led to efforts by former President Donald Trump and his allies to decertify the 2020 election results, a former top aide told congressional investigators.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former assistant to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, identified Boebert as one of a small group of Republican lawmakers who met with Meadows as early as the last week of November 2020 to “raise the idea” of former Vice President Mike Pence intervening to prevent the certification of election results by Congress on Jan. 6, 2021. The ensuing assault on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters that day led to the deaths of five people and Trump’s eventual second impeachment trial.
Hutchinson named Boebert in testimony before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol in February. Portions of her testimony were made public this week as part of a legal filing made by lawyers for the committee in a lawsuit brought against it by Meadows in an effort to block several subpoenas.
Under questioning from committee investigators, Hutchinson recalled several meetings in the weeks after Thanksgiving in which “campaign officials and a few members of Congress” discussed the possibility of Pence aiding an effort to overturn the election results on Jan. 6.
“Mr. Scott Perry, Mr. Jim Jordan… Ms. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert are the four members that immediately jump out to me,” Hutchinson said.
“I recall those individuals being involved in the earlier stages at this time,” she added. “I’m sure there were other individuals involved, but those are ones that I remember specifically being involved that Mr. Meadows had outreach to.”
Boebert, a controversial first-term lawmaker from Silt, has been scrutinized for giving tours of the Capitol to a “large group” of people on the day prior to the insurrection, and for sending tweets that some characterized as relaying “intel” about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s location during the attack. On the morning of Jan. 6, she tweeted, “Today is 1776.”
Hutchinson also said that “Ms. Ellis” was among the campaign officials who had early meetings with Meadows on the issue — an apparent reference to Colorado attorney Jenna Ellis, a legal advisor to the Trump campaign. Ellis authored a memo sent to Meadows on Dec. 31, 2020, in which she argued Pence had the power to overturn the election, ABC News reported last year.
Constitutional scholars have overwhelmingly rejected the argument that vice presidents have any authority to influence the counting of electoral votes in the congressional certification process, and conspiracy theories alleging widespread fraud in the 2020 election have been exhaustively debunked by state and local officials, experts, law enforcement authorities and the courts.
https://coloradonewsline.com/briefs/boebert-white-house-jan-6-planning/
-
January 6 Committee zeroes in on GOP financing arm — and staffers are coming forward
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/this-isnt-russian-talking-points-republican-party-chair-ronna-romney-mcdaniel-tells-fox-news.png?id=24711648&width=3499&height=1832)
On Wednesday, POLITICO reported that the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol has been focusing in on the financial practices of the Republican National Committee — and staffers are coming forward to testify.
"Multiple current and former Republican National Committee staffers have spoken with the Jan. 6 select committee amid questions about the party’s messaging and fundraising in the weeks after the 2020 election, according to two people familiar with the probe," reported Betsy Woodruff Swan and Kyle Cheney. "The committee has shown particular interest in staff from the RNC’s digital and finance teams."
"Most of the officials who have spoken with investigators are former employees who worked during the 2020 election cycle, including the fraught period between Election Day and the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, one of the people said," the report continued. "That means the committee has more insight than previously known into the Republican Party’s activity in the lead-up to January 6. The interviews underscore the select committee’s interest in how political messaging by the national GOP apparatus — which partnered with the Trump campaign on digital fundraising efforts — may have stoked falsehoods about the 2020 election."
The committee first subpoenaed the RNC's fundraising records from Salesforce in February. At the time, the committee said the reason was to ascertain whether former President Donald Trump used fundraising material to promote election lies that might have motivated the attack.
"Ronna McDaniel, the RNC Chair, has met with panel investigators," noted the report. "But on the day she did, the RNC sued to block Salesforce from complying with the Jan. 6 committee subpoena."
You can read more here: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/27/multiple-rnc-staffers-have-spoken-to-jan-6-panel-sources-say-00028349
-
MAGA-rioting Oath Keeper may have obstructed justice while talking on the jail's recorded phone line: feds
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/judge-orders-oath-keeper-detained-says-he-threatened-the-very-fabric-of-democracy.png?id=28870931&width=3500&height=1968)
One of the eleven members of the Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy may have deepened his legal problems with incriminating statements made over a recorded prison phone line.
In January, Magistrate Judge John Z. Boyle ordered Edward Vallejo held in jail pending trial.
"The conspiracy alleged by the government threatens the very fabric of democracy," he explained.
But Vallejo appealed.
On Thursday, the Justice Department filed a supplemental brief in opposition to Vallejo's motion for reconsideration.
Under the headline "evidence of obstruction," the government noted the evening before that January detention hearing, Vallejo called his wife on a recorded phone line.
"I know part of the conditions of my parole will be no alcohol, no drugs, no this no that, blah blah blah. Go through all my stuff. Inspect everything and anything that is contraband, give it to [THIRD PARTY]," Vallejo said.
The Justice Department said, "this evidence of attempted concealment of evidence shows an additional threat posed by Vallejo's release."
"In addition to being a danger to the community, Vallejo appears to be obstructing justice even while held and communicating on a recorded line [emphasis in the original]. If released, there are certainly no conditions that can assure that he would not attempt further obstruction," U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves wrote.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRdH0qzXoAENW49?format=png&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRdH0quX0AIp_GL?format=jpg&name=small)
Filing here:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1519762472495992834/yzNjSvNh?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://www.rawstory.com/edward-vallejo-oath-keepers/
-
House January 6 committee plans eight hearings for June
The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol plans to hold eight public hearings in the month of June after wrapping up its depositions in May, the panel's chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson, said Thursday.
"We'll tell the story about what happened," Thompson said. "We will use a combination of witnesses, exhibits, things that we have through the tens of thousands of exhibits we've [...] looked at, as well as the hundreds of witnesses we deposed or just talked to in general."
The committee previously held a hearing in July 2021 that featured testimony from police officers who helped defend the Capitol from the mob on January 6, 2021. According to Thompson, the eight remaining hearings will be spread out during the daytime and in primetime. Thompson said the first hearing will be held June 9.
The panel then plans to release a full report about the deadly attack on the Capitol in early fall, he said earlier this week. That was a change from the committee's initial plan to release an interim report before then.
Committee member Jamie Raskin told CBS News' "Red & Blue" that "eight is a lot of hearings," pointing out that most subjects before Congress get one or maybe two hearings. Raskin said the committee divided it up into chapters "that will allow for the unfolding of the narrative."
Raskin said no decision had been made about what specific witnesses will appear at the hearings, including former Vice President Mike Pence. Raskin suggested that Pence might not be asked to appear at before the committee, saying, "I think we have what we need from him."
Raskin praised Pence for staying at the Capitol to ensure that Congress could affirm the Electoral College count of the ballots, despite the threats he faced from the mob at the Capitol and then-President Trump, who had tweeted that day that Pence "didn't have the courage to do what should have been done," that is, to overturn the election.
The committee previously planned to restart hearings in May, but delayed that plan to hold more depositions. The panel continues to engage with everyone still on their deposition wish list, including Donald Trump, Jr., Thompson said.
By the end of this week, the panel will renew its request to speak with Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and put in additional requests to speak with other Republican members, Thompson said.
In audio recordings recently released by The New York Times, McCarthy told Republicans on January 10, 2021 that former President Donald Trump's allies in the House are "putting people in jeopardy" with their public tweets and comments that could put other lawmakers at risk of violence. In another recording that was released earlier by the Times, McCarthy told House Republicans that Trump had acknowledged bearing some responsibility.
The House created the select committee last year to investigate the January 6 attack, when thousands of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol as Congress counted the electoral votes, a largely ceremonial final step affirming Mr. Biden's victory. Lawmakers were sent fleeing amid the riot, which led to the deaths of five people and the arrests of hundreds more. Trump, who encouraged his supporters to "walk over" to the Capitol during the rally at the Ellipse before the electoral vote count, was impeached by the House one week later for inciting the riot but was later acquitted by the Senate.
To date, the committee has conducted nearly 935 depositions and interviews and received nearly 104,000 documents, according to an aide to the panel.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-january-6-committee-hearings-june/
-
Rep. Jamie Raskin on the next steps for the January 6 House Select Committee
The chair of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol says the panel will hold public hearings in June. Congressman Jamie Raskin, a member of the committee, joins "Red and Blue" to discuss the next steps in the investigation.
Watch: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/rep-jamie-raskin-on-the-next-steps-for-the-january-6-house-select-committee/
-
Second Oath Keeper pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy in major win for DOJ Capitol riot probe
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-supporters-rioting-at-the-us-capitol.jpg?id=29692586&width=3500&height=1968)
A second member of the Oath Keepers militia has pleaded guilty to engaging in a seditious conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Politico reports that Oath Keeper Brian Ulrich on Friday pleaded guilty to both seditious conspiracy and obstructing an official act of Congress when he stormed the Capitol building on January 6th.
Ulrich joins fellow Oath Keeper Joshua James in pleading guilty to seditious conspiracy, which is by far the most serious charge leveled against any Capitol rioters.
In his plea agreement, which was announced last month, James admitted that his actions at the Capitol were intended to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power and that they were done as part of a plan concocted by Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes.
The DOJ now has two members of the militia who can testify against Rhodes and implicate him in a seditious conspiracy, thus representing a significant boost to prosecutors' case against him.
Although many Capitol rioters have been charged for their roles in breaching the Capitol and committing acts of violence, Rhodes and some of his fellow Oath Keepers are so far the only ones to face the very serious seditious conspiracy charges.
"The seditious conspiracy indictment alleges that, following the Nov. 3, 2020, presidential election, Rhodes conspired with his co-defendants and others to oppose by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of presidential power by Jan. 20, 2021," the DOJ alleged in its indictment. "Beginning in late December 2020, via encrypted and private communications applications, Rhodes and various co-conspirators coordinated and planned to travel to Washington, D.C., on or around Jan. 6, 2021, the date of the certification of the electoral college vote, the indictment alleges. Rhodes and several co-conspirators made plans to bring weapons to the area to support the operation. The co-conspirators then traveled across the country to the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area in early January 2021."
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/29/second-oath-keeper-pleads-to-seditious-conspiracy-00028982
-
DOJ says Steve Bannon shouldn't be allowed to argue at trial he was just following government directions when he refused to cooperate with the Jan. 6 committee. "The former President was not a government official at the time."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRg5hXXX0AczwFw?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Brian Ulrich is 44 years old from Georgia who is charged with seditious conspiracy and is accused of being part of the "stack" that breached the Capitol is pleading guilty.
Ulrich is accused of being part of the "stack #2" mounted by Oath Keepers amid the siege.
He faced federal judge Amit Mehta virtually and is pleading guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRhosiUXIAUVK3J?format=jpg&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRhosisXoAEf9d3?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRhosjAXEAAb8iq?format=jpg&name=small)
He's not the first Oath Keeper to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy. Joshua James of Arab, Alabama did the same last month.
Ulrich has agreed to sit for interviews with federal investigators. Walls are tightening further around the other Oath Keepers defendants.
During the hearing, the Judge indicates Ulrich seems to be struggling and asks if he needs some time. Ulrich responds in trembling voice..."it's not gonna get any easier".
Sentencing guidelines are (roughly) 5-7 years in prison and $25,000 fine.
Judge is explaining that Ulrich has agreed to cooperate with the feds.
Ulrich is struggling and overcome by tears in the court hearing. For a second time, the judge has asked him "Do you need a moment?"
In his signed agreement with feds, Ulrich specifies that Stewart Rhodes was part of the conspiracy to stop the lawful transfer of power.
Here is Oath Keeper Brian Ulrich’s Statement of Offense. He plead guilty to Seditious Conspiracy. This is what he had knowledge of and what investigators can prove.
https://justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1497886/download
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRiUk7KWQAcGgTI?format=jpg&name=large)
-
Election 'theft' attorney to hand 10,000 Trump-connected emails over to Jan. 6th committee
In a late Friday filing, attorneys for John Eastman, who helped formulate a Donald Trump White House plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election, said their client has agreed to hand over approximately 10,000 Trump-related documents and emails to the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection.
According to Politico's Kyle Cheney, the committee has been attempting to get their hands on the documents which are part of approximately 37,000 pages of emails, with Eastman previously claiming attorney-client privilege.
The report states that Eastman's change of mind follows a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge David Carter back in March.
According to Politico, "In Friday’s court filing, Eastman’s lawyers indicated that the select committee now wants more time to consider how to handle the remaining 27,000 pages of records that remain in dispute. Carter has asked Eastman to produce a log of all the emails that remain contested, but Eastman is now asking Carter for a brief reprieve while the select committee reviews the new documents and determines how to proceed."
The report notes that a lawsuit filed by Eastman -- in conjunction with text messages sent and received by former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows -- is allowing the committee to paint a portrait showing "...that Trump sat by on Jan. 6, 2021 as a mob of his supporters ransacked the Capitol, waiting hours and continuing to press allies to block Joe Biden’s victory even as he watched the violence unfold on TV."
Politico's Cheney added, "The committee is preparing to hold at least eight public hearings in June outlining its evidence and findings so far, but the panel continues to be deluged with new information, prolonging its effort to bring the probe to a conclusion. The influx of 10,000 pages from Eastman — and the prospect of tens of thousands more — could be fodder for additional lines of inquiry for the select committee."
You can read more here from Politico: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/04/30/eastman-trump-related-emails-00029141
-
Oath Keeper pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy as pressure intensifies against right-wing extremist group
CNN — Brian Ulrich, one of the 11 members of the Oath Keepers facing sedition-related charges, pleaded guilty to “obstruction of an official proceeding” and seditious conspiracy in federal court on Friday, becoming the second person to plead guilty to the gravest charges to emerge from the January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack.
According to the plea agreement, Ulrich, 44, will cooperate with the Justice Department in its historic prosecution against the far-right extremist organization. He could face more than six years in prison, according to the deal read aloud during Wednesday’s hearing, but prosecutors may ask for a lower sentence depending on Ulrich’s level of cooperation.
The guilty plea is another major step in the criminal case against the Oath Keepers, as prosecutors work to show how they believe the group of men plotted to stash weapons across the Potomac River, go to the Capitol and stop Congress’ certification of the Electoral College vote. The case has grown dramatically over the past year, relying in part on explosive private messages between Oath Keepers leaders, video of the group from the week they were in DC, and the cooperation of at least six other Capitol riot defendants with ties to the Oath Keepers organization.
The plea comes nearly two months after fellow Oath Keeper Joshua James, who served as private security for right-wing figures around January 6, pleaded guilty to sedition-related charges.
“Did you do that, agree with [Oath Keepers leader Stewart] Rhodes and develop a plan to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power, by force, on January 6, 2021” US District Judge Amit Mehta asked during the hearing on Friday.
“Yes, your honor” Ulrich said.
Rhodes, who is also charged with seditious conspiracy, has pleaded not guilty.
Ulrich, who at times appeared to be crying during the hearing, also agreed that he “intended to influence and affect conduct of the United States government and to retaliate against the United States government.”
At one point, Mehta asked whether Ulrich needed time to gather himself. Ulrich initially declined, saying that “it’s not going to get any easier,” but later accepted – taking a moment to audibly weep and gasp for air.
Ulrich, who is from Georgia, was part of an Oath Keepers leadership Signal chat where he, Rhodes and others planned for January 6. The messages, which are quoted in court documents, show how Ulrich repeatedly asked about bringing guns to DC as part of a quick reaction force.
“Someone can tell me if I’m crazy but I’m planning on having a backpack for regular use and then a separate backpack with my ammo” Ulrich messaged the leadership chat in late December, adding that “I will be the guy running around with the ‘budget AR.’” In another message days later, Ulrich asked Joshua James about firearms and a potential plan to “stage them in VA.”
Other messages that Ulrich sent to members of the Georgia Oath Keepers said that “civil war” might be necessary if then President-elect Biden was inaugurated.
“We must win. We must defeat these radicals,” Ulrich wrote in one message, “there’s treason at work here. When someone committed treason it used to mean something. you used to pay with your life!” In another message, Ulrich referenced a “Ruby ridge scenario that we can rally behind.”
Ulrich, James, and Oath Keeper Mark Grods traveled together to DC on January 4. In his own plea agreement, James admitted to bringing a semi-automatic handgun on the trip, and said Grods and others brought firearms, including a rifle, a shotgun, a semi-automatic handgun, and ammunition to a Virginia hotel. Grods has also pleaded guilty and is cooperating with the investigation.
On January 6, Ulrich, James, Grods and others rushed to the Capitol in golf carts during the siege, swerving around law enforcement. When they arrived, the group maneuvered through the mob with their hands on each other’s shoulders and eventually breached the building.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/04/29/politics/oath-keeper-guilty-seditious-conspiracy-brian-ulrich/index.html
-
Jan. 6 Capitol riot trial: Suspect Guy Reffitt cries as son testifies in court against him
https://www.wfaa.com/video/news/crime/jan-6-capitol-riot-trial-suspect-guy-reffitt-cries-as-son-testifies-in-court-against-him/287-1d245a6e-42e2-4c5a-9eb6-45162ee21de3
-
'Insane' Marjorie Taylor Greene could face subpoena for martial law text: Adam Kinzinger
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/adam-kinzinger.jpg?id=29746390&width=3500&height=1968)
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) suggested on Sunday that he would be willing to support subpoenas for members of Congress who are suspected of participating in a plot to overturn the 2020 election.
During an interview on CBS, host Margaret Brennan asked Kinzinger if he and other members of the House Jan. 6 committee will force members of Congress to testify.
"I won't say who I think we need to talk to yet," the congressman replied. "I mean, I think everybody needs to come and talk to us. We've requested information from various members. In terms of whether we move forward with a subpoena is going to be both a strategic tactical decision and a question of whether or not we can do that and get the information in time."
"Do you favor one?" Brennan wondered.
"Yeah, I think ultimately whatever we can do to get that information," Kinzinger said. "If that takes a subpoena, it takes a subpoena. But I think the key is regardless of even what some members of Congress are going to tell us, we know a lot of information around it."
Brennan noted that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) was recently exposed for suggesting martial law in a text message to then-Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 6. Greene has called herself a "victim" of the Jan. 6 attack.
"Do you need to ask her a few questions?" Brennan asked.
"Yeah, I mean, I'd love to ask her a few questions," Kinzinger agreed. "We know some things. I won't confirm or deny the text messages, of course. But let me just say this. For Marjorie Taylor Greene to say she's a victim, it's amazing how, you know, folks like her attack everybody for being a victim."
The congressman recalled that Greene has a history of attacking school shooting survivors.
"And then when Marjorie Taylor Greene is confronted, she's all the sudden a victim and a poor, helpless congresswoman that's just trying to do her job," Kinzinger noted. "It's insane. We want the information. Look, history is not going to judge her or people like her that are buying the Big Lie well."
Kinzinger also said that he hoped that former Vice President Mike Pence would appear before the committee.
"I would hope he would do so voluntarily," he remarked. "These are decisions that I think we are going to end up making in the next week or two as we basically pin down what this hearing schedule is going to look like."
Watch the video below from CBS.
-
Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar added to Jan 6th committee's 'target list'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/marjorie-taylor-greene-paul-gosar.jpg?id=29745903&width=3500&height=1968)
During an appearance on MSNBC's "The Katie Phang Show," Guardian White House correspondent Hugo Lowell revealed that Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Paul Gosar (R-AZ) have been added to a "target list" by the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection.
Using the release of new texts to and from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows as a springboard, Lowell claimed that the two lawmakers can likely be expected to be asked to testify before the committee.
With host Phang asking about letters previously sent to GOP lawmakers asking them to appear, she pressed the Guardian correspondent about what to expect next, including new letters.
"The committee has decided that they are definitely going to send a letter to [House Minority Leader Kevin] McCarthy," Lowell began. "We've also learned they are going to send letters to [GOP Reps] Jim Jordan, Scott Perry -- people they have sent letters to previously trying to get them to come in for a voluntary deposition or some type of other interview at least, to see what they go for the investigation."
"They are now also looking at, in light of the text messages with Mark Meadows that were leaked, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene, people like Mo Brooks, people like Paul Gosar," he added. "So those are the kind of people now on the target list of the committee because they want to capitalize on the public pressure that is a building on these members of Congress because the public knows that they are in constant communication with the White House chief of staff, trying to overturn the election."
He later added the committee has been releasing the texts a portion at a time with a specific reason in mind.
'I think that this is a way to buy time for the committee, and for the members, for them to think, if they defy our latest letter, maybe this is the time that we can move forward with subpoenas," he explained. "I will say, that based on my sources, the mood on the committee has shifted this last week. There has been more of an impetus to get these people in and if it takes a subpoena, they may well do it."
Watch below:
-
Jan. 6 committee wins 'thorough victory' against RNC in landmark court ruling
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29748066&width=1200&quality=85)
A federal judge has rejected efforts by the Republican National Committee (RNC) to keep its mass email marketing records from the House Select Committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
The committee is seeking records held by business software company Salesforce in connection with its work with former President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign to determine if Trump's fund-raising emails encouraged the violence of the mob that tried to prevent confirmation of Joe Biden as the duly-elected president, according to the Washington Post, which described the judge's ruling as a "thorough victory" for the January 6 committee.
U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly of Washington rejected the RNC’s claims that its and the Trump campaign’s information was protected under the First Amendment. Kelly also affirmed the committee's Constitutionally-granted legislative power to obtain the records and found that judges cannot interfere with how lawmakers obtain and use information.
Kelly's ruling late Sunday temporarily blocks Salesforce from releasing any records to the House before Wednesday to give the national GOP committee time to appeal. The RNC sued the committee in early March seeking to quash the subpoena it had issued to Salesforce on Feb. 23.
“It is hard to imagine a more important interest for Congress than to preserve its own ability to carry out specific duties assigned to it under the Constitution,” Kelly wrote in a 53-page opinion issued shortly before midnight. “To repeat: according to the Select Committee, its investigation and public reporting suggest that claims that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent or stolen motivated some who participated in the attack, and emails sent by the RNC and the Trump campaign using Salesforce’s platform spread those claims.”
One email, sent an hour before rioters breached police lines at the Capitol that day urged supporters to “FIGHT BACK,” under another header stating, “This is our LAST CHANCE.”
Read more here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/05/02/rnc-jan6-salesforce-fundraising-lawsuit/
-
In a weekend court filing, Justice Dept says it'll seek 15 months in prison for Jan 6 defendant Aaron Mostofsky of New York, who was accused of pushing against police barricade, stealing police vest & riot shield, being amid mob that approached Capitol officer Eugene Goodman.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRt_teWXwAIegNq?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRt_teWXEAE38vT?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRt_teUX0AAQ30-?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Jan. 6 committee sends voluntary interview requests to three MAGA lawmakers
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/ronny-jackson-former-white-house-doctor-and-trump-va-nominee-running-for-texas-congressional-seat.jpg?id=24729234&width=3500&height=2570)
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots has sent voluntary interview requests to three Republican lawmakers involved in former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn his election loss.
The panel notified Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) and Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) that congressional investigators would like to ask them about their potential involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, reported Politico's Kyle Cheney.
Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney
NEWS: Jan. 6 select committee seeks information from:
Rep. Andy Biggs
Rep. Mo Brooks
Rep. Ronny Jackson
Biggs and Brooks have been linked to Ali Alexander and other organizers of the "Stop the Steal" rally that Trump addressed just before the start of the attack on the U.S. Capitol, and Jackson was mentioned in text conversations by Oath Keepers members during the riot.
Jackson denied that he had ever heard of the Oath Keepers or its co-founder Stewart Rhodes, who has been indicted for seditious conspiracy over his plot to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election.
https://www.rawstory.com/ronny-jackson-jan-6-2657249887/
-
BREAKING: An NYPD veteran has become the first person convicted of assaulting a police officer during the U.S. Capitol riot. A federal jury rejected Thomas Webster's claim that he acted in self defense when he tackled the officer and grabbed his gas mask.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1521108396103147522/1usnyXf-?format=jpg&name=medium)
Thomas Webster was caught on camera rushing at Officer Noah Rathbun, hitting him with a flagpole, then tackling him to the ground and grabbing his gas mask when Rathbun wrested the pole from him
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1521168634877517825/wjgyBWUZ?format=jpg&name=medium)
It took the jury 2 hours to convict Thomas Webster, former NYPD, of assaulting a DC, police officer with a metal flagpole during the 1/6 riot. Webster had argued self-defense. Webster claimed he acted in self defense when he swung a flagpole at Capitol police and knocked the officer to the ground. Thomas Webster was the first Jan 6 defendant to argue self defense at trial. He was found guilty on all 6 counts.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FRxAISlXoAA12vM?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Trump doc Ronny Jackson swears he doesn't know Oath Keepers who offered him security during the Jan. 6 attack
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/ronny-jackson.jpg?id=29750926&width=3500&height=1968)
Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) was one of the far-right Republicans whose information cited by Oath Keepers under investigation by the Justice Department for their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Monday, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack sent letters to Jackson along with Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Mo Brooks (R-AL). The letter asks for information that could help the probe into "the facts, circumstances, and causes of the January 6th attack."
At issue is Jackson's name showing up in text messages and encrypted messages among Oath Keepers who are charged with seditious conspiracy. Referenced in the letter, the committee identified User #1, who wrote "Ronnie [sic] Jackson (TX) office inside Capitol — he needs [Oath Keeper] help. Anyone inside?"
At approximately 3:08 p.m. in response to that message eight minutes later, the person wrote, "Dr. Ronnie Jackson — on the move. Needs protection. If anyone inside cover him. He has critical data to protect."
It was just a few minutes later that the Oath Keeper leader, Stewart Rhodes, replied, "Give him my cell."
During an appearance Monday on MSNBC, New York Times congressional reporter Luke Broadwater said, "somebody's not telling the truth here." He explained that when Jackson was asked for comment, he immediately denied everything. Jackson even denied knowing any of the Oath Keepers.
"But the Oath Keepers seem to know him according to their own encrypted messages," said Broadwater. "One of them appears to have his cell phone number because Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers, asks the person to pass on his information to Rep. Jackson so that he would be in contact with them. They seem to know that he's moving around in the Capitol and that he needs protection and that he has data that they want preserved."
Jackson said that he doesn't know how his name came up in conversation among the Oath Keepers and denied the exchange.
"So, something's off here," said Broadwater. "Someone's not telling the truth, and the committee wants to get to the bottom of it, but now Congressman Jackson is saying he's not going to meet with [The Jan. 6 committee] and he's refusing to come in. He called the committee illegitimate and said it was on a witch hunt against him and he also bashed the media some. So, it doesn't seem like Ronny Jackson will provide answers to the committee and so we may not know who is telling the truth."
MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace said that Jackson has a long history of lying, dating back to his service as former President Donald Trump's official physician. Jackson claimed that Trump only weighed 210 pounds.
"Someone who lies about little things certainly lies about big things," said Wallace.
Watch:
-
Court has a scheduled bond hearing this afternoon in high-level Capitol riot case of Edward Vallejo of Arizona.
Vallejo is charged with seditious conspiracy. His court filings ahead of hearings have revealed a series of alleged plotting conversations among Oath Keepers.
-
Court sets initial appearance for Next Tuesday in newly unsealed US Capitol breach case against Josh Colgan of Maine.
Feds accuse Colgan of posting on social media in Jan 2021 about "the start of the chaos...the start of a revolution.
Hundreds of more arrested are expected.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR2h7lLXwAI4A3I?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR2h7lnWYAgtXDV?format=jpg&name=small)
-
'Patriots 45 MAGA Gang’ planned violence on January 6, prosecutors say
CNN — Federal prosecutors have indicted a trio of alleged US Capitol rioters – including one who is accused of assaulting DC police officer Michael Fanone – for planning to be violent together on January 6, according to court records and a Justice Department statement on Monday.
One defendant, Edward Badalian, a 26-year-old from California, allegedly wrote to his co-defendants “We need to violently remove traitors and if they are in key positions rapidly replace them with able bodied Patriots,” according to the indictment.
“We don’t want to fight antifa lol we want to arrest traitors,” he also wrote.
The group communicated on Telegram under the name “Patriots 45 MAGA Gang,” prosecutors said, riffing about their anger toward officials who supported the 2020 election result and gloating about the violence of the siege. They also attended pro-Trump and anti-coronavirus mask mandate rallies in Southern California, prosecutors said.
Before January 6, they collected weapons and gear, including a stun gun, pepper spray, gas masks and walkie-talkies, and traveled together to the January 6 Stop the Steal rallies, according to the Justice Department. The day before the riot, they “joined a caravan” in Kentucky headed toward DC, setting up a radio app on cellphones so the caravan could communicate, the indictment said.
Badalian and another defendant, Daniel Joseph Rodriguez, “used the Patriots 45 group chat as a platform to advocate violence against certain groups and individuals that either supported the 2020 presidential election results, supported what the group perceived as liberal, or communist ideologies, or held positions of authority in the government,” prosecutors wrote.
The prosecutors noted that Badalian told another person he wanted to assassinate Joe Biden.
Rodriguez and Badalian have both pleaded not guilty. Rodriguez remains in jail awaiting trial, while Badalian is released on personal recognizance, according to DC District Court records.
The third defendant’s name is still under seal. The third defendant, on January 6 at the Ellipse, asked another person via text to “roll in force” with the group and texted at almost 2 p.m. “the battle has begun,” the indictment said.
The unnamed defendant and Rodriguez then scuffled with police at entryways to the Capitol with Rodriguez hurling a flagpole and discharging a fire extinguisher and the unnamed defendant telling officers “liberty or death, gentlemen!” according to the indictment. The trio united in a congressional office suite, with two of them rifling through bags and papers after Rodriguez announced they should look for “intel.” He allegedly stole an emergency escape hood from a bag in the office.
This is a notable new conspiracy case in the January 6 dragnet, which has arrested nearly 700 federal defendants. The Justice Department has already pursued several high-profile groups of defendants including members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers for allegedly planning or coordinating their participation in the riot. The conspiracy cases and the police assault cases are some of the most serious allegations against January 6 riot participants, and the indictment related to the “Patriots 45 MAGA Gang” group combines both of those types of charges.
Some of the new details in the case appear to emerge out of the cooperation of another January 6 defendant, who is not named in the indictment – indicating how the Justice Department’s investigation has gathered steam as more defendants are arrested and cut plea deals.
In the latest court filings, prosecutors even piece together conversations the group had after January 6. On their drive back from Washington, DC, to California after the riot, Badalian appeared on the far-right call-in show “War Room” on InfoWars, using the pseudonym “Turbo,” prosecutors say.
The Justice Department charged has previously charged Rodriguez with using a stun gun on DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone. Fanone has been an outspoken voice among police injured by the pro-Trump attackers.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/29/politics/patriots-45-maga-gang-fanone-capitol-riot/index.html
-
The Jan. 6 insurrection, 1 year later | PBS NewsHour presents
Congress is still investigating the people and organizations linked to the Jan. 6 attack — the most violent assault on the U.S. Capitol since the British attack during the war of 1812. The PBS NewsHour looked back at what happened that day, the lasting impacts on those who survived, where the investigations stand, and the broader effects on American politics, culture and democracy itself.
Watch:
-
Oath Keepers leader sought to speak directly with Trump on Jan. 6: court document
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/president-donald-trump-addresses-reporters-questions-at-a-press-conference-in-the-rose-garden-evan-el-amin-shutterstock-com.jpg?id=27395804&width=3500&height=1968)
On the night of the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia asked to speak with then-President Donald Trump, to implore him to block the certification of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election, Business Insider reports.
According to prosecutors, Elmer Stewart Rhodes and other militia members gathered at a D.C. hotel and placed a call over speakerphone to an unidentified individual, where he "repeatedly implore[d] the individual to tell President Trump to call upon groups like the Oath Keepers to forcibly oppose the transfer of power."
When the person on the other end refused to connect him to Trump, Rhodes said, "I just want to fight."
As Insider points out, the revelation was the result of a court filing in the case of William Todd Wilson, an Oath Keeper who pleaded guilty Wednesday to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of a congressional proceeding.
"Wilson is the third Oath Keepers member to plead guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction charges. Joshua James, 34, of Arab, Alabama, pleaded guilty on March 2, 2022. Brian Ulrich, 44, of Guyton, Georgia, pleaded guilty on April 29, 2022," the Department of Justice said in a statement.
The statement continued: "As described in court documents, Wilson was an Oath Keeper member since 2016. He was a leader of a chapter from Sampson County, North Carolina. The Oath Keepers are a large but loosely organized collection of individuals, some of whom are associated with militias. Though the Oath Keepers will accept anyone as members, they explicitly focus on recruiting current and former military, law enforcement, and first-responder personnel."
"In his guilty plea, Wilson, a military and law enforcement veteran, admitted that he agreed with others to take part in a plan to use force to prevent, hinder, and delay the execution of the laws of the United States governing the transfer of presidential power. He and others used encrypted and private communications, equipped themselves with a variety of weapons, donned combat and tactical gear, and were prepared to answer a call to take up arms."
Read more here: https://www.businessinsider.com/oath-keepers-leader-elmer-stewart-rhodes-donald-trump-january-6-2022-5
-
Donald Trump Jr. testifies before House panel probing Jan. 6 riot
The House committee conducting the investigation has long wanted to meet with the former president's oldest son.
Donald Trump Jr. met with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to The Hill.
The meeting, which took place virtually, lasted for a little more than three hours, according to one of the sources. Trump Jr. did not assert his Fifth Amendment privileges during the meeting, the sources said.
One source described the meeting, which was voluntary, as “cordial” and “uneventful.”
Alan Futerfas, an attorney for Trump Jr., declined to comment on the matter. When reached by The Hill, the House panel said it had no comment.
CNN and NBC News reported on the meeting earlier Wednesday.
Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, is the latest family member to speak with the Jan. 6 panel. Ivanka Trump, the former president’s oldest daughter, and her husband Jared Kushner, who served as a top aide in the Trump White House, have both spoken with the select committee.
Trump Jr.’s appearance before the committee had been expected since last month, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News, though it was not clear when the meeting would occur.
Kimberly Guilfoyle, Trump Jr.’s fiancée who spoke at the rally in Washington that preceded the Capitol attack, was spotted entering the building that houses committee investigators last month. That appearance would be her second time before the panel.
Trump Jr.’s appearance before the investigative panel comes after CNN last week published a pair of text messages the former president’s son sent to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows the day of the Capitol riot. The texts were two of more than 2,300 messages obtained by CNN that Meadows provided to the select committee.
In one text, Trump Jr. urged Meadows to get Trump to condemn the Jan. 6 riot at the capitol. In a second, he warned it would destroy Trump’s legacy if he did not do more to stop the riot.
Trump’s Jr.’s meeting with the committee comes roughly one month before the panel is slated to hold eight public hearings.
https://thehill.com/news/house/3477547-donald-trump-jr-meets-with-jan-6-panel/
-
Ryan J Reilly reports from NBC News
BIG news in the Jan. 6 investigation.
Oath Keepers member William Todd Wilson says he was in a suite at the Phoenix Park Hotel with Stewart Rhodes on Jan. 6 when Rhodes put an unidentified Trump intermediary on speakerphone, and unsuccessfully tried to talk to Trump.
“This individual denied Rhode’s request to speak directly with President Trump.”
In D.C. federal court just moments ago, Judge Amit Mehta slowed down when he got to the part of the agreed upon statement of offense, just to make sure he got it right.
Rhodes on Jan. 6, after unsuccessfully trying to talk to Trump (per Wilson): “I just want to fight.”
"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.”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR8JlsNWYAIQDTr?format=jpg&name=medium)
Wilson admitted tossing his phone in the Atlantic.
https://justice.gov/usao-dc/press-release/file/1499056/download
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR8KwV2XsAQtxtb?format=jpg&name=medium)
Initial story on the seditious conspiracy guilty plea here. More to come.
Third Oath Keepers defendant pleads guilty to sedition in Capitol riot case
William Todd Wilson, a 44-year-old military and law enforcement veteran, has agreed to cooperate with authorities.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/third-oath-keepers-defendant-pleads-guilty-sedition-capitol-riot-case-rcna27294
An Oath Keeper says that Stewart Rhodes tried to get on the phone with Donald Trump on the evening of Jan. 6, but was shot down by an unidentified individual in Trump’s orbit.
Joined @HallieJackson live from federal court to discuss the breaking news:
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1521955439650484225
-
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
(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/02/03/lens/03parler/03parler-articleLarge.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale)
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/
-
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.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR6yWg2WUAEnlCb?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR6yWiHWUAAlHwb?format=jpg&name=small)
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.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FR8LD7zWUAEFffV?format=jpg&name=medium)
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
-
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:
-
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.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSAw1HWXwAEnI1D?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
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
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/12/28/PDEM/f4a98885-c225-45f9-9aa2-f6f6af251ad4-Kyle_Young_bwc.png?width=1320&height=582&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
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/
-
QAnon Shaman wants to withdraw guilty plea -- but faces 'extremely high' burden of proof to succeed
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/qanon-shaman-granted-organic-food-after-losing-20-pounds-attorney.jpg?id=25593152&width=3500&height=1881)
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
-
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.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSE5kg6XwAgQTm8?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Judge tells MAGA rioter who stormed Capitol dressed in caveman costume to leave his 'fantasy world'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29769912&width=3500&height=1966)
Aaron Mostofsky, who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, is pleading for leniency as he faces a sentence within the range of 10-16 months, POLITICO's Kyle Cheney reports.
Cheney reports that the federal judge presiding over the case believed that Mostofsky was remorseful and that his actions on Jan. 6 were out of character.
"Almost as if this were a play, a performance, dressed up as a caveman...as if this were some fantasy game.," the judge said. "I hope you'll leave some of this fantasy world behind."
Mostofsky -- who is the son of Steven Mostofsky, a state court judge in Brooklyn -- was ultimately sentenced to eight months in prison.
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1522609960701595649
-
Jan 6th committee asks judge to quickly release 3,000 key John Eastman documents
According to a report from Politico, the Jan 6th select committee looking into the Capitol insurrection has asked a judge to expedite the release of 3,000 specific documents belonging to attorney John Eastman related to their investigation.
The committee, which has been battling with the attorney who wrote a memo on how to overturn the 2020 presidential election, has already received thousands of pages of documents but there are an estimated 20,000 still under review.
With public hearings planned in June, Politico reports that there are 3,000 documents in particular that investigators want access to as they narrow the evidence they want before going public with their findings.
According to Politico's Kyle Cheney, "The select committee will drop its efforts to obtain another 14,000 pages and indefinitely postpone its request for any others, House General Counsel Doug Letter said in a court filing late Friday," adding, "The panel’s decision to drop its objections to the vast majority of Eastman’s attorney-client privilege claims follows Eastman’s own decision to relent on more than 15,000 pages of records, which he provided to the select committee on Monday. Those documents helped inform the committee’s decision to narrow the fight."
As House General Counsel Doug Letter wrote, "The Select Committee’s need for the documents at issue has only become more significant in light of its review of the documents produced … and as the Select Committee prepares to present the conclusions of its investigation to the public through hearings, scheduled to begin in June 2022, and forthcoming reports."
Politico's Cheney wrote, "The battle over these 3,000 pages marks the culmination of one of the two most significant legal odysseys the committee has undertaken, " adding, "Now, the select committee is asking [U.S. District Court Judge David] Carter to review 2,945 of those pages for immediate release. If Eastman objects, the panel has laid out a rapid-fire schedule to resolve the dispute by the end of May, leaving time to review and analyze the documents before the panel launches its public hearings."
[B)You can read more here:[/b] https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/07/jan-6-committee-narrows-legal-fight-against-eastman-as-hearings-approach-00030884
-
Notorious rioter who chased Capitol cop Goodman has cooperated with Jan 6th committee
According to a report from Politico, one of the Capitol insurrectionists filmed leading a mob chasing Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman on Jan 6th has been cooperating with the House committee investigating the insurrection incited by former president Donald Trump.
Greg Rubenacker, who is facing 46 months in prison after being hit with ten counts including three felonies, has admitted working with investigators even without a plea deal.
According to the report, in a filing asking for leniency from Judge Beryl Howell, lawyers for Rubenacker revealed their client "spent 'several hours' interviewing with Jan. 6 select committee investigators, although he doesn’t indicate when."
Politico reports that the indicted man "says this is one of several ways he has taken responsibility and shown remorse for his conduct. His attorney is asking Howell to sentence him to a year of home confinement."
Footage of Goodman leading the mob up the stairs and away from lawmakers fleeing for their lives made him a national hero, with the video also providing investigators with suspects to target.
Politico reports prosecutors believe, "Rubenacker deserves much harsher punishment, noting that he exhibited aggressive and violent behavior toward Goodman and other officers. He joined a line of rioters pushing against police as they attempted to clear the rotunda, and he ultimately swung a water bottle that hit an officer in the helmet, according to photos and videos of the attack," adding, "Rubenacker was also among a group of defendants who smoked marijuana inside the Capitol during the breach, and he posted a video of himself smiling and saying, 'Smoke out the Capitol, baby!'"
Making their case, prosecutors told the court, "When officers formed a line to force rioters out, Rubenacker escalated in response: he swung a water bottle at one officer’s head and threw liquid at other officers who were engaging with a rioter. Only after an officer sprayed chemical-irritant spray in Rubenacker’s face did he finally leave the Capitol, over one hour after he initially breached the building.”
You can read more here: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/07/jan-6-capitol-defendant-chased-officer-goodman-cooperate-committee-00030875
-
Jan. 6 panel sidesteps Trump allies to get crucial testimony on insurrection: 'We know so much more'
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots has gotten around stonewalling by Donald Trump's inner circle by turning to their aides and deputies.
Some of the panel's most significant findings have come from staffers who were present or briefed on top-level meetings, including Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson and Jeffery Clark adviser Ken Klukowski, who have helped congressional investigators understand how the former president tried to overturn his election loss, reported Politico.
“We are definitely taking advantage of the fact that most senior-level people in Washington depend on a lot of young associates and subordinates to get anything done,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the select committee. “A lot of these people still have their ethics intact and don’t want to squander the rest of their careers for other people’s mistakes and corruption.”
Hutchinson, in particular, has given the panel hundreds of pages of testimony that has given the panel deep insight into phone calls Meadows arranged and identified numerous Republican lawmakers who participated in those meetings, and she told investigators that the White House counsel's office pushed back on conspiracy theories promoted by members of Congress and Trump allies.
“Almost all, if not all, meetings Mr. Trump had, I had insight on,” Hutchinson told the panel.
Hutchinson has given the committee details about Meadows' activities on Jan. 6, and another aide, Ben Williamson, told investigators when the White House became aware of the violence taking place at the U.S. Capitol, and that cooperation has allowed the panel to whittle down the questions it wants the former White House chief of staff to answer.
“We know so much more than we did then,” said Doug Letter, the House's top lawyer, during a hearing on Meadows' lawsuit to block the committee's subpoena.
Read more here: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/09/jan-6-panel-donald-trump-allies-00030781
-
Oath Keepers giving vital evidence to Jan. 6 committee -- and are even handing over their phones
Leaders of the far-right extremist Oath Keepers group have been handing over phones and digital files and doing interviews with the FBI, detailing how they worked to help former President Donald Trump in his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
CNN reports that Kellye SoRelle, a lawyer working with the Oath Keepers, has met several times with the FBI and turned over multiple phones.
"I've done interviews. I've done everything. I'm helping them," SoRelle told the network about her cooperation with investigators.
She does not represent any Oath Keepers in their criminal proceedings.
"Investigators also have learned about encrypted messages on the app Signal leading up to January 6, in which the Oath Keepers were messaging high-profile, right-wing political organizers, according to four people familiar with its existence," according to CNN.
She declined to say more about what she's shared with investigators, but court filings have revealed there was a virtual meeting a week after the 2020 election when Oath Keepers talk about heading to Washington, DC. SoRelle briefed the group about the Trump campaign's legal fight.
In court last week, prosecutors also disclosed that the Oath Keepers' leader, Stewart Rhodes, and other militia members gathered at a D.C. hotel and placed a call over speakerphone to an unidentified individual, where he "repeatedly implore[d] the individual to tell President Trump to call upon groups like the Oath Keepers to forcibly oppose the transfer of power."
When the person on the other end refused to connect him to Trump, Rhodes said, "I just want to fight."
Lee Bright, a defense lawyer for Rhodes, said this about speculation regarding the direction of the Justice Department's investigation: "I think it's self-evident that they are continuing to work their way up the food chain to get to who their grand prize is."
Read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/09/politics/oath-keepers-january-6-election-fraud-trump/index.html
-
Sentencing begins in Capitol breach case of Nolan Kidd of Georgia.
Feds allege Kidd referred to himself a “stormtrooper” after the Capitol siege and bragged that he “went farther than almost anyone into the building".
Unlawful picketing plea deal, feds want prison.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSVVtRwWYAET5wM?format=jpg&name=small)
-
New texts reveal how deeply involved the Oath Keepers were in the January 6th insurrection
Oath Keeper William Todd Wilson of North Carolina pleaded guilty last week to seditious conspiracy. He is the third member of the rightwing group to do so.
The Oath Keepers is an umbrella organization of heavily armed anti-government extremists led by former Ron Paul aide Stewart Rhodes.
The group preferentially recruits members with police or military experience. It encourages members to disobey laws they regard as unconstitutional.
The Oath Keepers are known for showing up heavily armed to emotionally charged events, often under the guise of providing security.
They participated in protests against covid restrictions as well as in the so-called “Stop the Steal” rallies promoting the lie of election fraud against Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
On January 6, the Oath Keepers served as bodyguards for maga VIPs, including Republican operative and convicted felon Roger Stone.
A total of 11 Oath Keepers have been charged with seditious conspiracy for their role in the J6 insurrection.
Another Oath Keeper facing the same charge recently submitted 337 pages of text messages, podcast transcripts and other materials in his motion for pretrial release.
This newly public trove of documents is a resource for those seeking to understand the Oath Keepers’ plans for J6, their activities on that day and their alleged conspiracy to keep on fighting to overturn the election after the insurrection failed.
One of the more intriguing details is that some of the Oath Keepers believed newly elected Republican member of Congress and former presidential physician Dr. Ronny Jackson was in trouble during and needed their protection.
Jackson had made fiery remarks at the Ellipse immediately before the assault on the Capitol, but he was trapped with the other legislators during the attack. It’s unclear how he made his way back there.
“Dr. Ronnie Jackson – on the move. Needs protection. If anyone inside cover him. He has critical data to protect,” an unnamed Oath Keeper texted the group chat, as the mob roamed the building.
“Give him my cell,” replied Rhodes.
Needless to say, the J6 committee is curious about how the Oath Keeper knew that Jackson needed help, and what “critical data” the Oath Keeper thought he was safeguarding.
The committee sent Jackson a letter on May 2, asking to meet with him to discuss these issues. Jackson has refused to cooperate.
Jackson denies knowing any Oath Keepers and his spokesperson speculated, rather implausibly, that the Oath Keepers were just talking about him because he’s so famous.
It was no secret that Rhodes and the Oath Keepers had long intended to support Donald Trump if he declared martial law.
Indeed, Rhodes claimed in late 2020 that he had already massed troops and weapons in the Washington, DC, area to support Donald Trump if he did that. The text trove shows the Oath Keepers followed through on that plan.
The encrypted texts also show the Oath Keepers spending a lot of time scheming about what weapons they could bring to DC without violating the city’s strict gun laws so that they wouldn’t get arrested before Trump could declare martial law. Blades under 3 inches in length, lead pipe and bicycle helmets were all identified as legal weapons.
Meanwhile, the Oath Keepers had stashed an arsenal in a hotel room in Virginia, waiting for Donald Trump to give them the order to rise up.
The chats show the Oath Keepers were spoiling for a fight with antifascists. They openly hoped that violence by antifascist protesters would give Trump the pretext he needed to invoke martial law.
The text trove gives no clear indication that the Oath Keepers showed up on J6 expecting to overrun the Capitol. However, the record suggests that Rhodes may have made a spur-of-the-moment decision to throw his troops at the Capitol building when it became clear that Mike Pence had refused to steal the election from the podium and Donald Trump had yet to invoke martial law.
The record shows that Rhodes summoned his troops to the Capitol as the mob converged on the building. “All I see Trump doing is complaining. I see no intent by him to do anything. So the patriots are taking it into their own hands. They’ve had enough,” Rhodes told the chat.
Whereupon Oath Keepers in tactical gear formed two single-file “stack” formations and surged towards the Capitol.
The Oath Keepers’ conspiracy to restore Trump to power does not appear to have ended after the authorities reclaimed the Capitol building.
Oath Keeper and self-proclaimed seditionist William Todd Wilson told a federal court on Wednesday that, after the attack, he heard Rhodes talking on the phone to someone whom Rhodes believed had a direct line to Trump. Whoever it was reportedly denied Rhodes’ demand to speak to the president.
Rhodes has pleaded not guilty and a disbarred lawyer associated with his defense asserts that the Oath Keepers had no way to communicate with Trump.
The text trove seems to confirm that Rhodes and his cronies had every intention of continuing the insurrection past certification day.
On the evening of January 6, the Oath Keepers’ group chat commiserated over the failed attack, shared videos and vowed to fight on.
“We need a new ‘Declaration of Defiance,’” someone suggested.
“Already working on it,” Rhodes wrote back.
“After Action Reports" will be dated 1/21/21” messaged another Oath Keeper, appending an unspecified emoji. January 21, 2021, would be the day after Inauguration Day,
“Be very careful and mindful that anything you say can and will be used against you,” Rhodes replied.
https://www.rawstory.com/more-new-texts-reveal-how-deeply-involved-the-oath-keepers-were-in-the-january-6th-insurrection/
-
Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol | Visual Investigations
The Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was perhaps the most widely documented act of political violence in history. The New York Times obtained, analyzed and mapped out thousands of cellphone videos, police bodycam recordings and internal police audio to provide the most complete picture to date of what happened — and why. Our Oscar-shortlisted documentary “Day of Rage” charts in chilling detail how the peaceful transition of power was disrupted by rioters who stormed a seemingly impenetrable seat of government.
The team behind “Day of Rage” will release scenes and other reporting that were left on the cutting room floor on the film’s Twitter account, @dayofrage.
Haley Willis - I’m Haley, one of the producers on this new 40-minute documentary. Our Visual Investigations team synchronized and mapped thousands of videos of the U.S. Capitol riot to provide the most complete picture to date of what happened on Jan. 6 — and why. This was a massive team effort over six months, involving resources from across the Times newsroom. We went to court to unseal police body camera footage, scoured law enforcement radio communications and interviewed witnesses.
Watch:
-
January 6, 2021: The Day As It Happened
Remembering the reality of the Jan. 6 attack, one year later: “In order to really comprehend what happened one year ago, you have to bring yourself back to the terror of that day,” says Chris Hayes.
Watch:
-
First Jan. 6 Defendant To Stand Trial Found Guilty On All Charges
Watch:
-
Pole-wielding Capitol rioter arrested on multiple felony charges
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29792771&width=3500&height=1968)
A North Carolina man who came prepared for the January 6 Capitol riot with a helmet, goggles and knee pads has been arrested by the FBI on charges that he attacked multiple officers with his fists and a large pole.
David Joseph Gietzen, 38, of Sanford, North Carolina, is charged with eight counts, including assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon. The assaults took place between 2:13 and 2:31 p.m. on the day of the riot, according to a Department of Justice news release.
The FBI criminal complaint against Gietzen stated that he was captured on police bodycams and open-source footage of the riot “wearing a green jacket, jeans, knee pads, and on occasion a white helmet and/or goggles. Gietzen is seen consistently moving up and down the police line along the security gate barriers… pushing with the crowd against the barriers and thrusting his fist against U.S. Capitol Police officers’ shields.”
Videos obtained by the FBI also show Gietzen grabbing an officer by the throat or face mask, the arresting documents charge.
“Gietzen hit the officer next to him with the pole, striking him in the shoulder between his protective gear. According to USCP Officer 1, Gietzen took the opportunity to hit the officers after the officers had to fight off a group of rioters who used a large piece of wood, appearing to be a piece of plywood the size of a door, to break through the perimeter.”
https://www.rawstory.com/david-joseph-gietzen-arrested/
-
Biden waives executive privilege on 23,000 emails and attachments sought by Jan 6 committee
The Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol will receive a huge new set of documents from Donald Trump's White House.
"President Biden has authorized the National Archives and Records Administration to hand over an eighth tranche of presidential records from the Trump White House to the House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol," The Washington Post reported Wednesday. "The National Archives has already turned over hundreds of pages of documents to the committee, and the latest set contains approximately 23,000 emails and attachments."
The select committee will receive the documents by May 26, only weeks ahead of the start of public hearings on June 9.
The select committee will receive the documents by May 26, only weeks ahead of the start of public hearings on June 9.
"It’s unclear what documents exactly will be included in the eighth batch of documents, but Trump has tried to assert privilege over daily presidential diaries, schedules, drafts of speeches, remarks and correspondence concerning the events of Jan. 6 as well as the files of his top advisers and lawyers, according to a review of court documents," the newspaper reported.
A spokesperson for the select committee told The Post it has "conducted nearly 995 depositions and interviews, received 125,000 documents, and has followed 470 tips received through the committee’s tip line."
Read the full report: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/05/11/biden-executive-privilege-trump-white-house/
-
Montana sheriff cancels Oath Keeper-led officer training
The Missoula County Sheriff’s Office in Montana has canceled two upcoming training sessions for the staff at a detention facility that would have featured a self-described Oath Keeper and "constitutional sheriff" as the trainer.
The Montana Standard reports that Missoula County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Jeannette Smith sent an email stating that the town no longer will hold two sessions scheduled for May 31 and Sept. 19 with Richard “Rick” Whitehead.
The decision apparently was prompted by a Reuters story published May 6 that exposed how U.S. police trainers with far-right ties are conducting law enforcement training sessions across the United States. That story highlighted Whitehead, an Idaho-based police training consultant.
The Missoula Police Department ended its relationship with a training group that advocates for police violence in February. Killology Research Group, led by former Army Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, held two police training sessions for Missoula officers.
According to the Montana Standard, "During a failed 2020 campaign for the sheriff’s office in Kootenai County, Idaho, Whitehead handed out cards where he self-identified as an Oath Keeper, Reuters reported. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, members of the Oath Keepers hold anti-government beliefs and laud themselves as defenders of the Constitution. Whitehead also told Reuters he was an Oath Keeper in 2016 and 2017.
“Missoula County Detention Facility personnel have attended trainings offered by Richard Whitehead & Associates LLC following a program change in July 2021,” Smith said in an email. “In light of the recent article, Missoula County Detention Facility will no longer attend training presented by Richard Whitehead & Associates LLC.”
https://www.rawstory.com/oath-keepers-2657308289/
-
House Select Jan 6 Committee subpoenas House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep Scott Perry (R-PA), Rep Mo Brooks (R-AL), Rep Andy Biggs (R-AZ) as part of its growing investigation
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSkuGB9X0AMHZ23?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Capitol attack panel subpoenas five Republicans in unprecedented step
Chair Bennie Thompson says panel has been ‘forced to take this step’ as Kevin McCarthy complains investigation ‘not legitimate’
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b31f54fa1978b5a253b63300473a6e34af3fa764/0_80_4194_2516/master/4194.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=61dd6e495dc837c4322964aee970688c)
The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the Capitol has issued unprecedented subpoenas to five Republican members of Congress, seeking to compel their cooperation with the inquiry into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The select committee empowered the chairman, Bennie Thompson, to move ahead with subpoenas to the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, Jim Jordan of Ohio, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Mo Brooks of Alabama.
The five congressmen flatly refused to accept invitations to provide voluntary assistance to the investigation, sources said.
Thompson said: “Before we hold our hearings next month, we wished to provide members the opportunity to discuss these matters with the committee voluntarily. Regrettably, the individuals receiving subpoenas today have refused and we’re forced to take this step to help ensure the committee uncovers facts concerning January 6th.”
The subpoena letters indicate that the select committee is seeking testimony from the five House Republicans about some of the most sensitive details about Trump’s unlawful efforts to overturn the election, including their contacts with Trump.
The Guardian reported earlier this week that the panel was moving closer to issuing subpoenas to Republicans in Congress, appalled at their refusal to assist in any way despite prima facie connections to the events of 6 January.
What changed for members of the committee, according to sources familiar with internal deliberations, was that they could no longer ignore what appeared to be deep involvement in Trump’s unlawful schemes to overturn the 2020 election results.
After the announcement, McCarthy told reporters that “I have not seen a subpoena” and repeated his previous attacks on the committee. “They’re not conducting a legitimate investigation,” he said. “Seems as though they just want to go after their political opponents.” Meanwhile, Perry called the investigation a “charade”.
The voluntary cooperation letters outlined in damning detail the reasons that the select committee wanted to depose the five Republicans, as House investigators prepare to wrap up their work ahead of public hearings in June.
From McCarthy, the select committee said it wanted to learn more about his communications with Trump before, during and after January 6, including a conversation in which the former president admitted he was partly at fault for the Capitol attack.
The panel is keenly interested in what McCarthy believes prompted Trump to make such an admission, the sources said, since it could offer evidence that the former president had a guilty conscience for a possible future justice department criminal investigation.
From Biggs, the former chairman of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, the select committee said it wanted to learn more about meetings House Republicans had with Trump at the White House in the days and weeks leading up to January 6.
The panel is focusing on a 21 December 2020 meeting that took place in the Oval Office with Trump, the letter indicated, since those attending appeared to strategize ways to unlawfully delay or stop Joe Biden’s certification from taking place and return Trump to power.
The select committee also wants to depose Jordan to learn more about that meeting with Trump and other communications he had with the former president, his letter said.
In the letter to Perry, the select committee said he was directly involved with efforts to corrupt the justice department and install a pro-Trump DoJ official, Jeffrey Clark, as acting attorney general if he opened investigations into baseless claims of election fraud.
The panel also subpoenaed Brooks since he spoke at the “Save America” rally at the Ellipse that preceded the Capitol attack, where he notably wore a bulletproof vest under his shirt, and has spoken publicly about Trump pressuring him to “rescind” his election loss.
One notable and unexplained exception from the list was congressman Ronny Jackson, Trump’s former White House doctor, whose name surfaced in text messages among members of the Oath Keepers militia group that stormed the Capitol, some of whom were indicted for seditious conspiracy.
Biggs’ possible contacts with far-right activist Ali Alexander are of special interest to the investigation, sources said.
The committee is trying to untangle claims by Alexander that he “schemed up putting maximum pressure on Congress while they were voting” with Brooks, Biggs and Paul Gosar, another Arizona Republican, and his testimony that he spoke to Biggs’s staff and the congressman himself.
Alexander obtained a permit to hold a rally at the Capitol on 6 January but that event never took place. Alexander was instead filmed going up the Capitol steps in a “stack” formation with members of the Oath Keepers militia.
Thompson said the panel wanted to ask Biggs about his efforts to pressure legislators to create “alternate” slates of electors for Trump in states he lost, as well as an alleged request he made to Trump for a pardon in the days after the Capitol attack.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/12/capitol-attack-panel-subpoenas-five-republicans-mccarthy
-
Oath Keepers Boss’ Kids Say They Thought He Would ‘Kill All of Us’
(https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_3240,w_5760,x_0,y_600/dpr_1.5/c_limit,w_908/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1652380092/2022-01-13T215239Z_1468947189_RC24BQ80P5N0_RTRMADP_3_USA-CAPITOL-SECURITY-ARREST_hf9fdg)
The three adult children of Oath Keepers boss Stewart Rhodes have detailed what it was like growing up with the libertarian-turned-violent militiaman, from being home-schooled on nothing but the American Revolution to having no food on the table while he was jet-setting around the country.
Rhodes, a Yale-educated lawyer and former paratrooper, has been charged with seditious conspiracy after the feds said he “spearheaded” the most coordinated and serious effort to overthrow the U.S. government on Jan. 6. He and 10 other members of the far-right militia group worked together to recruit, train, and prepare for an attack, and Rhodes continued to call for the overthrow of the government even after the failed insurrection, prosecutors allege.
Rhodes didn’t storm the Capitol himself and instead remained in a D.C. hotel room communicating with other members and even getting on the phone to a Trump intermediary in an effort to speak to the president, one member said.
The day after his arrest this year, Rhodes’ ex-wife Tasha Adams called him a “complete sociopath” who terrorized and physically abused her and their six children for years until she finally got a divorce.
Speaking for the first time to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Hatewatch, his three adult children (the other three kids are still minors) said that, on the day Adams filed for divorce in 2018, they packed their bags and tried to sneak out of the house at 4 a.m. by telling their dad, who was already up and “in a mania,” that they were going to buy food.
“We thought that if he is here and we are here when [the divorce papers] are delivered, he would kill all of us. We felt that we were running for our lives,” Sequoia Adams, 19, said.
The couple’s children grew up being home-schooled but the only history Rhodes taught them was the American Revolution, they said. He “brainwashed” them into thinking the world was ending, and constantly moved the family around the country as he “burned everyone around him,” Sequoia said.
“You could tell that he wanted to be George Washington,” said daughter Sedona Adams, 23.
All the kids were born at home and Sequoia said she never got a birth certificate so therefore couldn’t get a passport or social security number later in life. Rhodes used the possibility of getting her birth certificate to psychologically abuse her and force her to maintain contact with him, she said.
Rhodes was initially involved with Texas Rep. Ron Paul, who ran three failed presidential campaigns as both a libertarian and Republican candidate. Rhodes threatened to leave the country if Paul lost in 2004, Sequoia said, and then said he’d do the same if Obama won in 2008.
But when Obama did win, Rhodes instead realized he could bring together other terrified, angry libertarians into some sort of movement, they said. At first it was a supposedly bipartisan group to educate people about their constitutional rights. But when people started donating, the Oath Keepers quickly turned into something darker—and shoddier.
“What he wanted was collapse, so he could be the king of the collapse, with his own little army, so it was always going to go the way it did,” Sequoia said.
As money flooded in, he started jet-setting around the country to give talks, eating at fancy restaurants, and buying top-of-the-line survivalist gear. Meanwhile, his wife and kids had no food on the table and resorted to selling silver to pay the bills, they said.
Rhodes realized “disaster relief” or emergency appeals were the most lucrative, so he’d always be on the phone saying, “We need to create an emergency,” Sedona recalled.
“Anything that they could put up a GoFundMe for—anything that gets a GoFundMe link in front of the mailing list,” his 24-year-old son Dakota Adams said.
The children didn’t mention specific fundraisers Rhodes ran; one of the group’s earlier efforts involved recruiting members and resources to guard rooftops in Ferguson, Missouri, during the 2014 riots sparked by Michael Brown’s death.
When Trump was elected, Rhodes was initially critical and wanted to release an open letter to “school Trump” on the Constitution, the kids said. But he grew paranoid that a Democratic president would give the FBI the green light to charge him over his participation in anti-government militant Ammon Bundy’s infamous standoff with federal authorities on a Nevada ranch in 2014.
By the time Trump lost in 2020, Rhodes was all in on the deluded belief that the election had been stolen and people like him needed to take part in a bloody fight to save the republic.
He is still behind bars awaiting trial after a federal judge shot down claims by his lawyers in February that he should be bailed as he’s “no longer a danger” with Trump out of office.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/oath-keepers-boss-stewart-rhodes-kids-say-they-thought-he-would-kill-all-of-us
-
Former Meadows aide hit with subpoena as Jan. 6 committee looks to interview her a third time
An aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows has been hit with a subpoena by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots despite the fact that she has already given two separate interviews to the committee.
Politico reports that Cassidy Hutchinson is being subpoenaed to come in for a third round of questioning by the committee, which spoke to her in both February and March.
It is not known why the committee wants to speak with her yet again, but Politico notes that the committee has relied on her to be a key witness to fill in gaps left by Meadows's refusal to further cooperate.
"Hutchinson told investigators that a top Secret Service official warned Meadows that Jan. 6 could turn violent, according to court filings," Politico writes. "She also said the White House Counsel’s Office pushed back against Trump allies’ legal theories -- including theories promoted by members of Congress -- regarding the election results. Both topics are key focuses for investigators."
The request to speak with Hutchinson comes even though the first public hearings for the January 6 committee are slated to begin next month.
https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/05-13-2022/jan-6/
-
'Remember Jan. 6': Conservative warns of complacency as GOP continues threat to democracy
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-supporters-caused-even-more-damage-to-the-capitol-than-was-previously-known.jpg?id=26419812&width=3500&height=1968)
MSNBC "Deadline: White House" host Nicolle Wallace on Friday warned that America is in danger of losing our democracy.
Wallace interviewed conservative Washington Post columnist Max Boot about his latest column.
"It has been stirring to see so many Americans come together to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom. But it is dismaying to see that there is no similar consensus on defending democracy at home. Indeed, much of the country remains in denial about the threat," Boot warned. "The only way to save democracy is to vote for Democrats in the fall. And I say that as an ex-Republican turned independent. It doesn’t matter if you disagree with Democrats on some issues. The overriding issue is the preservation of our democracy."
Boot expanded on his column.
"Our rights are fundamental to living in a democracy," Wallace noted. "Are you really pessimistic that that conversation isn't take place or is it your observation the message isn't being conveyed?"
"I don't think the message is being conveyed to most ordinary voters," Boot replied. "In some ways, I think it's kind of circular, because Democrats are doing polls in focus groups which show that there is not enough alarm out there about the threat to our democracy, so therefore the pollsters are saying focus on other things in the election. Well, there could be more alarm about it, if President Biden and other leading Democrats are talking about it in the way they should be talking about it."
"But they're not and it's kind of falling off the agenda and the threat is growing," he continued. "And I just, you know, I can't believe that we have to sit here and say the threat is real. Remember Jan. 6th!"
"It's unbelievable. what more is it going to take?" Boot wondered.
Watch the segment below:
-
GOP House coup plotters stand firm — but DOJ and the Jan. 6 committee are closing in
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jim-jordan.jpg?id=29754139&width=3500&height=1968)
Back in December of 2020, according to notes taken by then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donohue, Donald Trump tried to pressure Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to falsely assert that the presidential election had been corrupt and illegal even though the Justice Department had found no evidence of voter fraud. Donohue's notes said Trump told them, "Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen." The "R" is shorthand for —well, you know what for. Trump had a plan — and he had accomplices.
Rosen refused to play ball and one of those "R congressmen," Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, had lined up a replacement for him, a relatively obscure DOJ official named Jeffrey Clark who was ready and willing to carry out the plan. Clark allegedly attempted to coerce Rosen to sending a letter to Georgia election officials claiming that DOJ had identified "significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election," telling Rosen that Trump was about to fire him but Clark would refuse to take the job if Rosen sent the letter. Rosen didn't comply, and the White House counsel's office finally told Trump that if he followed through on his plan to fire Rosen and install Clark as acting AG, the entire top level of the Justice Department would walk out. Even Trump could grasp that that wouldn't go well, so he backed off that plan and moved on to the next one.
According to the interim report on the Jan. 6 insurrection by the Senate Judiciary Committee, it was Scott Perry — who was involved in strategy meetings at the White House, along with other members of the House Freedom Caucus — who introduced Jeffrey Clark to Trump. He also took it upon himself to call Donohue, the no. 2 official at the Department of Justice, and demand that he investigate debunked election fraud allegations in Pennsylvania, effectively reading him the riot act for not pursuing all these ludicrous claims. (I can't imagine it's common for congressmen to harangue leading law enforcement officials and importune them to lie. Maybe under the Trump administration it happened all the time.)
Perry, who is a retired general, is now chairman of the Freedom Caucus and one of the five Republican congressmen subpoenaed on Thursday by the House Jan. 6 select committee. His response was as measured and dignified as one might expect:
That they leaked their latest charade to the media ahead of contacting targeted members is proof once again that this political witch hunt is about fabricating headlines and distracting Americans from their abysmal record of running America into the ground.
It doesn't sound as if he's going to cooperate, does it? Whether or not the committee will hold him and the other members in contempt, as they have done with former Trump staffers Steve Bannon and Mark Meadows, is unclear. It's interesting to note that Perry's comrade in coup-plotting, the aforementioned Jeffrey Clark, was threatened with contempt of Congress for refusing to cooperate with the committee and after much wrangling he finally showed up — only to pleaded the Fifth Amendment more than 100 times during his deposition. Clark was obviously concerned that he could be held criminally liable for something. He's a lawyer, after all.
Former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark finally showed up before the Jan. 6 committee — and took the Fifth more than 100 times. Is he the only one who understands how serious this is?
The other members of Congress subpoenaed were Reps. Mo Brooks of Alabama, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Jim Jordan of Ohio and Kevin McCarthy of California, the current minority leader and aspiring speaker. Brooks, of course, is most famous for giving a big speech at the Jan. 6 "Stop the Steal" rally in which he said it was time to "take names and kick ass." According to a former McCarthy staffer Ryan O'Toole, Brooks could be heard cheering on the mob from inside the Capitol during the insurrection.
Brooks and Biggs were name-checked by rally organizer Ali Alexander as having been part of the planning for that day, and Biggs was involved in the White House strategizing and also attempted to persuade state legislators to overturn election results. Jim Jordan famously can't remember how many times he spoke to Trump on Jan. 6, but since the committee may already know that, I imagine they'd like to know what he and the president talked about. Similarly, they are no doubt interested in hearing more about McCarthy's conversations with the president and how much he knew about House members plotting with the White House to overturn the election. McCarthy's loose-lipped phone recordings have shone some light on that, but the committee would almost certainly like to hear more about Trump's supposed admission that he bore "some responsibility" for what happened that day.
Will any of these people show up to testify? If they don't, will the committee recommend they be held in contempt of Congress and will the congress then refer them to the Department of Justice? That's anyone's guess. When asked what would happen if they refuse to show up before public hearings begin in June, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said:
We would present at the June hearing what we found in the investigation. I would hope that those members who have been identified as having information will come forward. If they don't then we get to present the findings of our investigation — without their response.
It appears committee members believe they have ample evidence of what these people did to help plot and carry out the attempted coup. They have heard from more than 1,000 witnesses and obtained more than 100,000 documents. They think they can make the case without the testimony of any of these people, but believe they needed to make the gesture, to allow Perry and other accused renegades to give their side of the story.
We know that White House chief of staff Mark Meadows exchanged text exchanges with more than 40 current and former GOP members of Congress during the period between the November election and the Jan. 6 attack. Some of these members were actively involved in the coup plotting, and 147 Republican members voted to overturn the election results just hours after the Jan. 6 insurrection. They are all implicated in the coup attempt, every last one of them.
Whether or not the Department of Justice will ever bring charges against anyone is still unclear. If an investigation is underway, it has been completely buttoned up. But nobody should believe that it cannot happen. During the Watergate scandal of the 1970s, 69 government officials were charged with crimes and 48 were found guilty, including the former attorney general, the White House chief of staff, a White House domestic affairs adviser, the White House Counsel, the Secretary of Commerce and various others, mostly on charges of obstruction of justice and perjury. It can happen. It appears that Jeffrey Clark, who took the Fifth more than 100 times, may be the only Trump co-conspirator who understands that.
https://www.rawstory.com/house-coup-plotters-stand-firm-but-doj-and-the-jan-6-committee-are-closing-in/
-
'Brace for more bombshells': More Jan. 6 subpoenas on the way before next month's 'blockbuster TV hearings'
According to a report from Axios, the chiefs of staff to lawmakers sitting on the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th Capitol riot were alerted in a conference call late Friday to expect some big news early next week.
With public hearings expected to start in June, and following the bi-partisan committee issuing subpoenas for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), along with four other Republican House members on Thursday, Axios is now reporting that there is more information forthcoming that will likely make waves with other, as of yet, unnamed members of Congress.
According to the report, "The Jan. 6 committee may seek testimony from additional lawmakers as soon as next week, ahead of blockbuster TV hearings that kick off next month."
As Axios' Andrew Sollender and Alayna Treene wrote, staffers were warned to "brace for more bombshells."
According to two sources who listened in on the call, "The briefers did not say which lawmakers will be contacted."
The report adds, "A U.S. Capitol Police security briefing for members and their chiefs of staff, to prepare for the June hearings, is scheduled for May 20."
https://www.axios.com/2022/05/14/more-bombshells-for-jan-6-committee-before-june-hearings
-
Members of the Republican Party were key figures in Trump's coup and continue to be. They helped push the election fraud lies, incite insurrectionists with their violent rhetoric, had contact with insurrectionists, helped plan and coordinate the attempted coup with Trump. Now they need to appear before the committee and tell us what they know. The only reason these right wing treasonous traitors were subpoenaed is because they refuse to voluntarily come forward when the committee asked them to. They feel they are above the law and refuse to testify to what they know. Another reason they don't want to appear is that they know they were involved and don't want to tell Americans about the treason they committed to steal the election from us.
Subpoenas to GOP members marks escalation in 1/6 committee probe
The decision may set a new modern precedent in the House, one expert said.
The decision to subpoena House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy and other sitting GOP lawmakers by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack marked a sharp escalation in the panel’s inquiry – and the potential setting of a new modern precedent in the House.
While congressional ethics committee empowered to investigate misconduct have subpoenaed sitting lawmakers, there are few modern instances of other committees issuing subpoenas to members of the body, Irv Nathan, the former House counsel during Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s first two terms leading the chamber, told ABC News.
“It’s unprecedented, but it’s certainly within their authority,” Nathan said of the Jan. 6 committee.
“The crucial matter is what the subpoenas are for,” Charles Tiefer, another former House counsel and law professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, told ABC News. “I don't really see why the Justice Department can accumulate evidence about Jan. 6 but the House cannot.”
Committee members argued that McCarthy, Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Andy Biggs of Arizona, Scott Perry of Pennsylvania and Mo Brooks of Alabama all had information that could help the committee’s investigation into the Capitol attack and efforts by former President Donald Trump to overturn the results of the last election.
He was in contact with Trump during the riot, and recalled to another member that Trump told him that “these people are more upset than you are” about the election results, Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Washington, revealed last year.
The New York Times also reported that in the days after the attack, McCarthy told other Republican leaders he would urge Trump to resign, which he later claimed was a hypothetical comment. The California Republican initially criticized Trump but has since embraced him as Republicans work to regain the House.
Jordan, Perry and Brooks were involved in discussions with Trump and some advisers about how to contest the certification of election results on Jan. 6, and involved in the weekslong legal campaign to challenge the results in key states.
Jordan and Perry were also in constant communication with former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who turned over text messages to the committee before refusing to cooperate.
Perry was also involved in an effort to replace the leader of the Justice Department after the 2020 election with another attorney who would more aggressively investigate unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud pushed by Trump, attorney Rudy Giuliani and other senior Republicans.
For months, the committee had debated whether to subpoena the sitting members after voluntarily requesting their cooperation, mindful of the practical, political and legal hurdles the effort to compel their testimony would face.
"It was not a decision that was taken lightly,” committee vice chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, told reporters on Thursday. “It’s a reflection of how important and serious the investigation is and how grave the attack on the Capitol was.”
“It's not a game, this is not parcheesi, this is not checkers,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Maryland, a member of the committee and a constitutional scholar, said Thursday. “This is a serious investigation into an attack on the government of the United States and we're going to proceed the way we have been proceeding.”
Still, with all five Republicans signaling plans to ignore or reject the subpoenas, it’s not clear whether Democrats can effectively force them to cooperate with the committee or secure their testimony before the panel releases a report on its investigation in the fall, or the end of the year.
Several committee members declined to say what steps the committee would take to respond to noncompliance.
Nathan told ABC News that the “speech and debate” clause of the U.S. Constitution protects members of Congress from being taken to court over their official duties – since it states that members "shall not be questioned in any other place" besides the House and the Senate.
That could make a referral to the Justice Department unlikely, Tiefer said.
But the House could decide to hold McCarthy and the other members in contempt of Congress in a simple majority vote of the chamber, after voting in committee to do so.
“While I don't think they can go to court to enforcement, they have internal mechanisms to enforce it,” Nathan said.
“The most draconian would be proposing they be expelled from Congress, but obviously you need two thirds [of the House] for that so that's not going to happen,” he added. “But there are a lot of options along the way for proportionate sanctions.”
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/subpoenas-gop-members-marks-escalation-16-committee-probe/story?id=84696447
-
Pelosi on McCarthy subpoena: Jan. 6 committee will take it ‘one step at a time’
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said on Sunday that the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack would take it “one step at a time” in response to a question about whether the full House would vote to hold GOP lawmakers, including Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), in contempt if they did not cooperate with the panel.
During an appearance on ABC’s “This Week,” moderator George Stephanopoulos asked Pelosi if the House would vote to hold McCarthy and other lawmakers in contempt if they continue to hold out from speaking with the committee after they were subpoenaed last week.
“Well, the committee will take this one step at a time. But I’m very proud of the committee. They’re working in a very strong bipartisan way to seek the truth, to find the truth of what happened with an assault,” Pelosi said.
“People say to me, ‘Well, this is unprecedented.’ Yeah, well it’s unprecedented for the president of the United States to incite an insurrection on the Capitol, on the Congress, on the Constitution, in that manner. And we must seek the truth. And I’m proud of the work of the committee.”
The Jan.6 committee on Thursday issued subpoenas to McCarthy and four other GOP House lawmakers: Reps. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Jim Jordan (R-Ohio.), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Mo Brooks (R-Ala.).
The committee said it was seeking testimony from McCarthy about communications he had that day with Trump.
In a statement, the committee Chairman Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) said the panel decided to issue the round of subpoenas to the five lawmakers after they so far refused to comply with their questions.
“We urge our colleagues to comply with the law, do their patriotic duty, and cooperate with our investigation as hundreds of other witnesses have done,” Thompson said.
https://thehill.com/news/sunday-talk-shows/3488916-pelosi-on-mccarthy-subpoena-jan-6-committee-will-take-it-one-step-at-a-time/
-
High-level US Capitol riot defendant Jeffrey McKellop seeks release from pretrial jail. McKellop is accused of assaulting police in face with a flagpole.
He argues jail is in "awful conditions".. "consignment to filthy cells befouled with the human filth of previous occupants"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FS6hJ7qXsAATnVP?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
In court filing, Jan 6 defendant Pauline Bauer notifies court that defense "may seek to introduce expert evidence relating to a mental condition bearing on the issue of guilt".
Bauer has used sovereign citizen language, had court outbursts/violations, is in pretrial jail.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSqqD93X0AIzv4I?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
A member of the West Virginia national guard posted this on her Facebook page on Jan 3, 2021
She was at Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, per federal prosecutors.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FSu0aLlWAAArnvH?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Plea agreement set for Sept 30 in high-level US Capitol riot case of Emanuel Jackson. This video is from a court exhibit from Jackson's case.
Jackson is accused of swinging a baseball bat at police.
Watch Video: https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/news4-obtains-video-of-alleged-baseball-bat-attack-at-us-capitol-insurrection/2611519/
Watch:
-
The Jan. 6 Committee Has Found Evidence They Cannot Ignore, Says Reporter
The committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol took the unprecedented step Thursday of issuing subpoenas to five Republican congressmen, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California.
Watch:
-
New request indicates DOJ's Jan. 6 investigation 'is as broad as it could be': impeachment counsel
(https://media.newyorker.com/photos/5a6211843a044120643b4ec6/master/pass/Borowitz-Trump-Fears-Next-Election-Will-Be-Decided-by-Americans.jpg)
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace happened to be interviewing Daniel Goldman when the network reported the breaking news from The New York Times that the Department of Justice had requested interview transcripts from the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Wallace asked the attorney, who served as majority counsel during Trump's first impeachment, for his analysis of the breaking news.
"This is, I think, very good news for those who want accountability for what occurred on Jan. 6," Goldman said. "This is exactly the type of coordination you and I have talked about, Nicolle, that DOJ should be taking a lot of the information that the Jan. 6 committee has developed, and it's the clearest indication we have that this investigation that started with the actual events of Jan. 6 is expanding now into a potential conspiracy to overturn the election, which is a federal crime."
"There's no point in reinventing the wheel once you have gone overt and once you've confirmed that you are investigating this. But it does, as you pointed out, Nicolle, reflect that this is not a narrow investigation into, you know, the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and whatever relationship Donald Trump may have with them. No, this is a wide-ranging investigation into what is and was a massive, sprawling scheme to overturn the election," he explained.
"And while I know Congresswoman Cheney several months ago focused on obstructing Congress, I think the more appropriate charge to look at is a broader conspiracy to overturn the election, which does not require as much direct proof about the intent of Donald Trump or others to actually obstruct Congress on Jan. 6 but backs it out a little bit at a higher level to talk about their effort to overturn the election," Goldman added.
"And what this letter seems to indicate is that they want access to all of these interviews beyond any potential obstruction of Congress, because we know that the Jan. 6 committee has looked into much more than just the actual events of Jan. 6 and the planning, organizing, and lead-up to that, but they've looked at the broader effort to overturn the election," he said. "And so I do think you're right. it is an indication that the scope of this investigation is as broad as it could be."
Watch video below:
-
The latest on prosecution of accused Jan. 6 seditious conspirators
CBS News congressional reporter Scott MacFarlane joins "Red and Blue" for the latest on the prosecution of accused January 6th seditious conspirators, as well as the House select committee's efforts to gather potential witnesses.
Watch: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-latest-on-prosecution-of-accused-jan-6-seditious-conspirators/
-
Court has loosened restrictions on Oath Keeper seditious conspiracy defendant Joshua James of Alabama.
James has pleaded guilty and agreed to help the feds.
No more home confinement and a curfew instead.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FS994c6XsAA-c8l?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
DOJ asks Jan. 6 committee for its transcripts
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked the Jan. 6 House committee to turn over some transcripts of depositions it has conducted as part of its investigation into the attack on the Capitol, even as the chair warned they would not receive “unilateral access.”
According to the Times, Kenneth Polite Jr., the assistant attorney general for the criminal division, and Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote to the panel’s investigative lead on April 20, saying the committee has conducted interviews that “may contain information relevant to a criminal investigation we are conducting.”
Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) confirmed the request to reporters Tuesday, but said he was not sure what information DOJ wanted and said the committee would be willing to provide unfiltered access as it gears up for hearings next month as well as a report expected in the fall.
“If they want to come in and say we want to look at something, that’s fine. But my understanding is they want to have access to our work product. And we told them no, we’re not giving that to anybody,” Thompson said.
“I mean, the reality is, we are conducting our own investigation. And obviously if they want to come and talk they’re perfectly welcome to come and talk and we have talked to them on other situations, but we can’t give them full access to our product. That would be premature at this point, because we haven’t completed our work.”
The development comes as committee members have become more vocal in their frustration over a lack of action from the Justice Department in targeting high-ranking Trump-era officials in their own investigation.
While the DOJ has brought charges against at least 800 people involved with the attack, it’s only recently brought them against leadership of the far-right Oath Keepers for seditious conspiracy, a weighty charge that can carry up to 20 years in prison.
The Jan. 6 committee, meanwhile, has spoken with high-ranking White House officials and others in the Trump administration in the course of conducting more than 1,000 interviews.
That includes former DOJ officials who were pressured by former President Trump to advance investigations into his baseless claims of election fraud, members of Trump’s own family and other aides who described efforts to coordinate with lawmakers and state officials in order to block certification of the election results.
DOJ did not respond to request for comment.
It’s unclear which of the committee’s witnesses might be of interest to federal prosecutors, and Thompson told reporters that the request came “with no names attached to it.”
Earlier this year, the Times reported that the department had expanded the scope of its criminal investigation to include those involved in organizing the rallies that directly preceded the attack on the Capitol, as well as the scheme to organize fake slates of electors who would have cast their “votes” for Trump in states that President Biden won.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-security/3491932-doj-asks-jan-6-committee-for-its-transcripts-report/
-
Capitol rioter who attacked officers with a large metal Trump sign pleads guilty
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29822043&width=3500&height=1968)
A Colorado man who wore a helmet and a “Guns Don’t Kill Clintons Do” sweater has pleaded guilty to one of five counts – civil disorder – for which was charged in connection with the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Thomas Patrick Hamner, 48, of Colorado Springs, entered the plea Tuesday to Count 2 of the indictment against him. The Department of Justice website states that “all other charges remain pending.”
As Raw Story reported last November, Hamner’s case stood out because the FBI was able to identify him with the help of an online restaurant review he had posted. That story cited coverage from Denver's Channel 7:
“A person who 'has had personal contact with Hamner' confirmed to investigators that he was the man seen in videos and in an online business review Hamner left for a restaurant, according to court records," the station reports. ‘Great food, close by, glad I found them,’ Hamner wrote of an unidentified Colorado Springs restaurant in the review, according to court records.
The FBI complaint against Hamner alleged that he was captured multiple times on video and was seen “working with others to push a large metal 'TRUMP' sign into the line of officers trying to keep the barricade on the Capitol's West Plaza in place.”
At the time of Hamner’s arrest, the Colorado Springs reported that “Hamner told onlookers that he was being arrested for being at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, and joked that the officers arresting him were “lucky” he wasn’t running.
“I’m a runner, and I’m a fighter, but I ain’t that today because I know I’ve been doing right,” he appeared to say, referencing his “rap sheet.”
“In 2015, Hamner was convicted of driving without a license, failing to signal, and obstructing a peace officer and resisting arrest, for which he was sentenced to 45 days in jail. Court records indicate he appealed that conviction, but show his sentence largely remained and that his case was closed.”
You can read the FBI complaint against Hamner here:
https://www.rawstory.com/thomas-patrick-hamner-pleads-guilty/
-
‘Pretty savvy’ DOJ just sidestepped legal battles that have slowed Jan. 6 committee’s probe: legal expert
The Department of Justice may have sidestepped the legal battles that have slowed the House Select Committee's investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Federal authorities opened a new direction in their criminal probe by requesting transcripts of interviews conducted by congressional investigators, and MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner explained why that move was "savvy."
"I think we've all experienced some frustration because it doesn't look like the Department of Justice has been investigating this the way it would ordinarily investigate, you know, even large-scale conspiracy cases because they don't appear to have been sort of carpet-bombing folks with grand jury subpoenas the way we ordinarily would," Kirschner said.
Kirschner praised DOJ investigators for waiting until the Select Committee had conducted its interviews instead of pursuing the same witnesses.
"If the Department of Justice had gone after everybody with grand jury subpoenas, they probably would have been battling witness after witness after witness, these thousand-plus witnesses," he said. "They would have been battling Congress, who gets which witness first and who has the greater priority. Now what the Department of Justice can do is take a thousand-plus transcripts and they can use that to build their criminal investigation.
"I actually think whether this was by design or happenstance, this may turn out to be a pretty savvy way about investigating the case," Kirschner added, "and let's not forget that the chief investigative counsel for the Jan. 6 committee is frankly a very accomplished prosecutor in his open own right when he served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, and I expect this is a really savvy investigation put together by the Jan. 6 Committee."
Watch the video below in this link:
https://www.rawstory.com/glenn-kirschner-msnbc/
-
New video surfaces from Jan. 6 Insurrection
The footage shows an alleged rioter saying he wants to “drag” former Vice President Mike Pence through the streets.
https://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/video-surfaces-jan-insurrection-82697835
-
Plea hearing today at 3pm in Jan 6 case of Landon Copeland, who's accused of assaulting police.
In jailhouse interviews, Copeland had claimed police provoked him and that Trump would return to office before next election.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTEjpY5X0AIfeOP?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Jan. 6 committee says it has evidence that 'directly contradicts' GOP denials of 'reconnaissance tours'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/barry-louderrmilk.jpg?id=29827751&width=3500&height=1968)
House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Based on our review of evidence in the Select Committee's possession, we believe you have information regarding a tour you led through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021," Select Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) wrote in a letter to Loudermilk on Thursday.
"The foregoing information raises questions to which the Select Committee must seek answers. Public reporting and witness accounts indicate some individuals and groups engaged in efforts to gather information about the layout of the U.S. Capitol, as well as the House and Senate office buildings, in advance of January 6, 2021," read the letter, which was also signed by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).
"In response to those allegations, Republicans on the Committee on House Administration—of which you are a Member—claimed to have reviewed security footage from the days preceding January 6th and determined that '[t]here were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on.' However, the Select Committee’s review of evidence directly contradicts that denial," the letter stated.
The letter proposes a meeting during the week of May 23.
"The letter comes more than a year after some House Democrats accused Republicans of providing tours in the days leading up to January 6 to individuals who later stormed the Capitol," CNN noted. "Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat from New Jersey, accused Republicans in the days after the insurrection of providing tours to people who then used the information they learned from their visit about the complex's layout to aid in their attempt to interrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election results."
Sherrill said she saw members of Congress leading groups of people through the Capitol on a "reconnaissance" tour on Jan. 5. Her comments came on Jan. 12, 2021.
The committee investigating the 2021 US Capitol assault plans to stage public hearings in June and release its findings at the height of the midterm election campaign later this year.
Across eight hearings, key witnesses interviewed by the congressional probe will testify publicly for the first time on the alleged plot that led to the January 6 insurrection as well as the events of the day itself.
"We'll tell the story about what happened," Thompson told reporters.
"We will use a combination of witnesses, exhibits, things that we have through the tens of thousands of exhibits... as well as the hundreds of witnesses we deposed or just talked to in general."
The hearings are expected to make for blockbuster television -- potentially on a par with the Watergate hearings or Donald Trump's two impeachments -- as America relives minute by minute the day a mob of the defeated president's supporters stormed Congress to prevent the peaceful transfer of power to 2020 election winner Joe Biden.
The bench of seven Democrats and two Republicans will explore allegations that Trump inspired the violence through months of false claims about election fraud, as part of an illegal plot to stay in power.
Trump and his inner circle deny all accusations of wrongdoing, characterizing their election disinformation and alleged machinations to overturn the results as a good-faith attempt to clear up widespread corruption.
AFP
-
Jan. 6 committee has photo evidence from inside the White House: report
Photographic evidence from inside the White House has been obtained by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Congressional investigators have obtained a batch of official White House photographs, including images taken on Jan. 6, 2021, according to two sources familiar with the evidence," Politico reported Thursday. "At least some of the photos were taken by official White House photographer Shealah Craighead, the sources indicated. Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson confirmed that the panel had obtained some of Craighead’s photos, though he declined to describe their content."
Trump reportedly sought a cut of Craighead's book on her time in the administration.
"The panel has been amassing evidence of Trump’s movements and actions that day, attempting to reconstruct a minute-by-minute account of what the former president was doing while rioters smashed through police lines and disrupted the counting of electoral votes — the last step in finalizing Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory before his inauguration," Politico reported. "In addition to material from the Archives, committee investigators have interviewed nearly all attendees of Trump’s 11:10 a.m. Oval Office meeting including Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guilfoyle."
Trump reportedly spoke to then-Vice President Mike Pence at 11:20 a.m.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” Trump tweeted at 2.24 p.m.
"The select committee increasingly views that tweet as a catalyst of the day’s worst violence," Politico reported. "Multiple defendants charged with breaching the Capitol pointed to that tweet as a driver of the mob’s fury. Video footage captured by news media and taken by rioters themselves shows the crowd reacting to the tweet, which posted 10 minutes after the first wave of people entered the Capitol through a window shattered by a rioter wielding a stolen police shield."
Read the full report: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/19/jan-6-white-house-photos-capitol-riot-00033876
-
'Just boneheaded': Neal Katyal counsels Barry Loudermilk to lawyer up in Jan. 6 probe
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/barry-loudermilk.jpg?id=29828992&width=3500&height=1968)
Former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal on Thursday dissected the legal liability facing Georgia GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk after he was asked to cooperate with the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The select committee is seeking information about a tour of the Capitol Complex that Loudermilk allegedly conducted on Jan. 5, 2021.
"In response to those allegations, Republicans on the Committee on House Administration—of which you are a Member—claimed to have reviewed security footage from the days preceding January 6th and determined that '[t]here were no tours, no large groups, no one with MAGA hats on.' However, the Select Committee’s review of evidence directly contradicts that denial," the letter stated.
Katyal was asked about Loudermilk and reports former Attorney General Bill Barr is negotiating with the select committee.
"I mean, this guy's pants look like they are on fire," he commented. "And as a lawyer, if I were a lawyer advising him, I would never want a client to take the stand if you can't trust that client and a guy like this has zero credibility."
"Lying about an election that he win in, is bad enough," he continued. "But lying about giving tours, that is just boneheaded. Of course, it was going to be found out."
Watch:
-
Capitol rioter who sat in Pence's seat on Jan. 6 faces prison sentence after pleading to felony obstruction
A California man who was among the rioters occupying the U.S. Senate chambers during the January 6 has pleaded guilty to felony charges and faces substantial prison time.
Christian Alexander Secor, 23, of Costa Mesa, California, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to obstruction of an official proceeding, according to the Department of Justice. Secor, who is to be sentenced on October 7, faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
But under Secor’s plea agreement, the DOJ maintains the defendant should receive a prison sentence of 51-to-63 months, which if imposed would be among the longest handed out to date. But the agreement also states the Secor “does reserve the right to challenge that finding “solely on the grounds that his offense did not involve causing or threatening to cause physical injury to a person or property damage.” If that position prevailed, Secor would face 21 to 27 months in prison under the guidelines.
The FBI alleged in its arrest documents that “at approximately 2:47 p.m., after another rioter had jumped over the railing in the Senate Gallery to the Senate Floor, (Secor) left the Gallery and went to the door of the Senate Floor on the second story of the building. The defendant then made his way to the Senate Dais and sat in the seat that had been occupied by Vice President Mike Pence approximately 30 minutes earlier.
“While the defendant occupied the seat at the Senate Dais-and while other rioters were present inside the Senate Chambers and the U.S. Capitol building---the joint session to count and certify the votes of the Electoral College for the 2020 Presidential Election could not continue.”
According to court documents, Secor sent a text message on November 3, 2020 – Election Day -- stating, “We’re gonna win bigly and if we don’t we’re taking this ship down in flames.”
“In preparation for the events of Jan. 6, he messaged another individual on Jan. 5, 2021, stating that he “brought a gas mask” to Washington and that he “Wouldn’t be surprised if conservatives just storm the police and clobber antifa and the police but that’s wishful thinking.”
And Secor tweeted, "the facade of a free country are [sic] evaporating before our eyes. What an exciting time to be alive." And that "The institutional attacks on this demonstration are something out of the Arab Spring. More reason to go by any means necessary!"
On the evening of Jan. 6, Secor boasted about what took place that day on Twitter, saying, among other things, “One day accomplished more for conservatism than the last 30 years.”
You can read the criminal complaint here:
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-who-sat-in-pence-s-eat-on-jan-6-faces-prison-sentence-after-pleading-to-felony-obstruction/
-
In a letter to Rep Barry Loudermilk (R-GA), House Jan 6 committee writes, "Based on our review of evidence in the Select Committee’s possession, we believe you have information regarding a tour you led through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021."
January 6th Committee @January6thCmte
"The Select Committee has requested that Representative Barry Loudermilk provide information for the committee’s investigation.
The Select Committee has discovered evidence that Rep Loudermilk may have info regarding a tour through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTJLnbUVIAAQX9A?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTJLnbTUUAYHFiu?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Here is an excellent thread detailing the insurrection on Twitter from Lindsey Simmons. Check it out.
Lindsey Simmons @LynzforCongress
"You know how less than 3 weeks ago the Alito opinion was leaked + suddenly Republican politicians noticed a baby formula shortage that’s been an issue since February—but 192 of them voted against solving that problem?
Yeah. So.
Reminder of how the 1/6 investigation is going.
https://twitter.com/LynzforCongress/status/1527243655412695041
-
Roger Stone at center of leaked group chats among Jan 6th insurrectionists
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/roger-stone.jpg?id=29829685&width=3499&height=2047)
According to information provided by one of the participants, conservative political gadfly Roger Stone was at the center of a group chat named after him that included now-indicted militia members who participated in the Jan 6th insurrection.
While there have been reports that the supporter of Donald Trump was seen in the company of Oath Keepers acting as his bodyguards, the existence of the so-called F.O.S. — or Friends of Stone -- group chat may shed more light on the planning and activities of the riot that forced lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to flee for their lives.
According to the report from the New York Times, members of the chat included a rogues gallery of right-wing figures, 47 in all, including, "Owen Shroyer, the right-hand man of the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones; Enrique Tarrio, the onetime chairman of the Proud Boys; and Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia."
As the Times' Alan Feuer wrote, "While the origins of the group chat remain somewhat obscure, Friends of Stone has existed since at least 2019, when Mr. Stone was indicted in connection with the Russia investigation by the special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, said one of its participants, Pete Santilli, a veteran right-wing radio host. According to Mr. Santilli, the group chat — hosted on the encrypted app Signal — was a kind of safe space where pro-Stone figures in politics and media, many of whom were banned from social media, could get together and trade links and stories about their mutual friend."
According to Santilli, there was nothing untoward about the chat group, telling the Times, "The primary reason for the chat was to have a place for supporters to share stuff. You drop a link and everyone shares it on their non-traditional channels.”
The report continues, "After Mr. Trump’s defeat, Friends of Stone seemed to assume another purpose as Mr. Stone found himself in the middle of the accelerating Stop the Steal movement devised to challenge the results of the election. The Washington Post, citing footage from a Danish documentary film crew that was following Mr. Stone, said that in early November 2020, he asked his aides to direct those involved in the effort to monitor the chat for developments," adding, "In recent weeks, the Justice Department has expanded its investigation of the riot from those who physically attacked the Capitol to those who were not at the building but may have helped to shape or guide the violence. Investigators appear to be interested in finding any links between organizers who planned pro-Trump rallies at the Capitol that day and right-wing militants who took part in the assault."
The Times Feuer added, "The group chat’s membership list includes several people who fit that description."
You can read more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/20/us/politics/roger-stone-jan-6.html
-
Adam Schiff prosecutes the case against Ginni Thomas on MSNBC after 'stunning' revelations
The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee offered a brutal analysis after a bombshell new report on efforts by Ginni Thomas seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
"Virginia 'Ginni' Thomas, the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed Arizona lawmakers after the 2020 election to set aside Joe Biden’s popular-vote victory and choose “a clean slate of Electors,” according to emails obtained by The Washington Post. The emails, sent by Ginni Thomas to a pair of lawmakers on Nov. 9, 2020, argued that legislators needed to intervene because the vote had been marred by fraud," the newspaper reported.
MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace interviewed Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) for analysis.
Schiff, a former federal prosecutor who was the impeachment manager during Trump's first trial and is a member of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, was asked by Wallace if the select committee would interview Ginni Thomas.
"There are several stunning things to me about what is publicly known and has been revealed about Ginni Thomas. Here, she is weighing in with state legislators in Arizona, seeking to get them to essentially send a bogus slate of electors, that didn't represent who won the popular election in Arizona," Schiff said.
He referenced legal proceedings over the subpoena of "coup memo" author John Eastman.
"And you know, the judge in California, Judge Carter and the case involving Eastman, this lawyer, describes what the former president was involved in as a criminal conspiracy."
"That was a conspiracy to interfere with the joint session, to defraud people, and here you have the wife of a Supreme Court justice engaged in a parallel effort to get Arizona to improperly cast aside the votes of millions," he charged. "And also to add to it, her husband, on the Supreme Court, writing a dissent in a case in a case, arguing providing records to Congress that might have revealed those same emails."
"That conflict of interest just screams at you," Schiff said.
Watch the segment below:
-
Rudy Giuliani deposed for more than 9 hours by Jan. 6 committee
The former mayor of New York City was finally interviewed by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Rudy Giuliani, former President Donald Trump's onetime personal attorney and a lead architect of his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, on Friday met with the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection," CNN reported Friday evening, citing two sources.
The interview reportedly lasted more than nine hours.
"The Select Committee's investigation has revealed credible evidence that you publicly promoted claims that the 2020 election was stolen and participated in attempts to disrupt or delay the certification of the election results based on your allegations," Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) explained in Giuliani's subpoena in January.
"Between mid-November 2020 and January 6, 2021 (and thereafter), you actively promoted claims of election fraud on behalf of former President Trump and sought to convince state legislators to take steps to overturn the election results," he added.
"According to public reporting, on January 6 and in the days prior, you were in contact with then-President Trump and members of Congress regarding strategies for delaying or overturning the results of the 2020 election," he add.
Read more here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/20/politics/rudy-giuliani-january-6-committee/index.html
-
Remember, there were no tours allowed at the Capitol during Jan 5, 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic which was at its worst point. There should have been no "tours" happening since tours were suspended. Why was Loudermilk giving a tour?
Jan. 6 panel presses GOP Rep. Loudermilk over tour of US Capitol on Jan. 5
The House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection said Thursday it has evidence that GOP Rep. Barry Loudermilk led a tour of the US Capitol complex the day before pro-Trump rioters stormed the building, according to a letter requesting the Republican lawmaker's voluntary cooperation with their ongoing probe.
Watch:
-
Bill Barr in talks to cooperate with Capitol riot committee, according to reports
In recent memoir, former attorney general condemns ‘absurd lengths’ to which Trump took his baseless ‘stolen election’ claims
Former US attorney general Bill Barr has discussed cooperating with the House select committee investigating the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021, an assault fuelled by a baseless “stolen election” narrative that Mr Barr had previously rejected.
Mr Barr, who resigned from Donald Trump’s administration roughly one month before he left office, is reportedly discussing whether to sit for a formal interview following previous contact with members of the committee, according to Axios and CBS News.
The former president criticised Mr Barr for failing to investigate his spurious claims of voter fraud, characterising him as a “disappointment in every sense of the word” after Mr Barr told The Associated Press that federal law enforcement did not find any evidence of alleged fraud that would have changed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, despite Mr Trump’s insistence.
Mr Barr later condemned Mr Trump’s “inexcusable” response to the attack on the Capitol.
In a recent memoir, he claimed the former president “went off the rails” following the election, which he lost due to his “self-indulgence and lack of self-control.”
He also condemned “the absurd lengths to which he took his ‘stolen election’ claim led to the rioting on Capitol Hill” and urged Republicans to seek another nominee in the 2024 election, for which Mr Trump “has shown he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers” to lead.
The committee – which is scheduled to begin public hearings next month – previously had an “informal conversation” with Mr Barr to determine whether he had information related to the attack of the actions of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who attempted to use federal resources to delay the certification of 2020 results, according to a Senate Judiciary Committee report.
Last year, the committee voted to recommend criminal charges of contempt of Congress against Mr Clark, though he later appeared before the committee, during which he reportedly asserted his right against self-incrimination dozens of times.
Jeffrey Rosen, Mr Barr’s successor as acting attorney general, sat for an interview with the committee for roughly eight hours last October.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/bill-barr-capiol-riot-jan-6-committee-b2083322.html
-
Buffalo, Jan. 6 and the rise of partisan violence: These scholars saw it coming
https://www.salon.com/2022/05/21/buffalo-jan-6-and-the-rise-of-partisan-violence-these-scholars-saw-it-coming/
-
Former prosecutor urges Jan 6th committee to haul Ginni Thomas in over Arizona election emails
Appearing on MSNBC with host Katie Phang, former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance said that, some difficulties aside, the Jan 6th committee investigating the Capitol riot should haul Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, into the witness chair to be questioned on her part attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Reacting to a bombshell report that Thomas was in contact with Arizona election officials, with the New York Times reporting the wife of the jurist "twice lobbied the speaker of the Arizona House and another lawmaker to effectively reverse Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s popular-vote victory and deliver the crucial swing state to Donald J. Trump," Vance was asked by the host what should happen next.
"Why is this not news enough, or new news enough, to put her in an interview sea to answer questions?" the MSNBC host pressed.
"It should put Ginni Thomas in an interview seat, probably from the committee, certainly from the Justice Department," Vance replied. "Katie, we live in a world where there is sensitivity surrounding Supreme Court justices and their families. I think it will be difficult, frankly, for people to navigate these issues. It should in fact be simple, because if Ginni Thomas was anyone else with the sort of knowledge that she has displayed on multiple issues, investigators would sit down and have a chat with her, not necessarily that she is a target for investigation."
"They would want to know what she knows," she elaborated. "What is important here is that there's this incredible coincidence that she is out pushing this scheme that we know, ultimately, comes to fruition with those closest to Trump. This scheme to create blank slates of electors -- the ones that are not the choice of the people but instead are patsies for the former president -- people who are supposed to go in and do his work for him."
"And that is a little too close for comfort, that coincidence, so that warrants further investigation," she concluded.
Watch below:
-
Giuliani meets with January 6 committee for more than 9 hours
Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s onetime personal attorney and a lead architect of his attempt to overturn the 2020 election results, on Friday met with the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, two sources told CNN.
Watch:
-
Judge sentences Maryland’s Matthew Miller to 33 months prison, 18 months less than feds sought.
Miller claimed to drink 10 beers on Jan 6 and said he carried Confederate flag to mark “states rights”.. judge cited Miller’s youth and lack of criminal record during hearing.
Feds were seeking 51 months (4+ years) arguing Miller "unleashed" contents of fire extinguisher on officers, threw items (including batteries) at officers in tunnel, scaled wall with toppled bike rack barrier.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTdbeD7WIAAhR1Q?format=jpg&name=medium)
Prosecutors: "Miller, while draped in a Confederate flag, threw a full beer can approximately 30 yards, in the direction of law enforcement".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTdcXWBX0AI295Y?format=jpg&name=medium)
Miller's defense submitted this photo... and, in request for leniency, argued "he was both drunk and high when he fell in with the mob marching towards the Capitol"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTdceMMXwAAyLbi?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Miller has pleaded guilty to count 2 of his indictment... obstruction
Prosecutor says Miller encouraged others to get closer to Capitol Building amid the chaos on Jan 6.
Prosecutor says Miller "hurled a full beer can 30 yards in the direction of police".
Prosecutor played extended videos from Jan 6 of the West front tunnel. You can hear the ominous, chilling scream of "HEAVE-HO" as mob attempts to overpower police.
Prosecutor: "What else did Mr. Miller do? He decided to throw batteries into the tunnel at police officers"
She then calls the battle on Jan 6 a "medieval battle" and says Miller then unleashed and discharged contents of fire extinguisher on the officers.
Prosecutor: "Many officers were injured, bleeding and fatigued, by they continued to hold the line."
"A crime of this magnitude demands a serious sentence...there's no reason to vary outside the applicable guidelines"
Feds wanted a 51-month prison sentence (4+ years)
The judge stated that a 22-year-old's judgment is not as good as those who are older.
Judge: "I wonder how I compare a drunk 22 year old to some of these other folks who were stone sober, in their 40's,
who knew a lot better."
Judge ruled a 33 month sentence.
-
Feds seek 1-year prison for Jan 6 defendant Dennis Sidorski of Virginia.
They argue Sidorski entered Pelosi office suite and posted on Jan 5: "Those idiot lawmakers in the Capitol building have no idea what civil unrest is till we the people march"
And discarded his shirt.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FS_l0tWWAAIt0NO?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Roger Stone's tax problems may yield a 'treasure trove' of info for the Jan 6th committee: report
A long-simmering battle between former Donald Trump adviser Roger Stone and the IRS could yield a treasure trove of information for the House select committee investigating the "Stop the Steal" rally and subsequent Jan 6th insurrection.
According to a report from the Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger, attorneys for the Justice Department made an appeal to a judge in federal court on Monday that would force Stone and his wife to turn over all of their financial records dating back to 2017.
The latest legal move is related to a tax evasion lawsuit brought by the government against the conservative political gadfly last year who has been accused of hiding his income sources.
According to the report, "The judge’s order would force the Stones to disclose a potential treasure trove of evidence. Prosecutors would obtain records of any financial activity of Stone tied to the Jan. 6 riot and “Stop the Steal” efforts, as well as potential payments from pardon-seekers, politicians, and private boosters—and, possibly, information about accounts that the Stones haven’t yet disclosed," adding, "So far, however, the Stones have refused to comply."
As Sollenberger explained, Stone and the government just ended mediation talks that did not go well and both parties have now "come out of those negotiations swinging."
At the center of the battle is Stone's political consulting business, Drake Ventures LLC, with DOJ investigators claiming it is being used to hide unreported income and expenses over the years that should be taxable.
"Those records could verify the Stones’ finances, corroborate statements from their accountants, and possibly reveal activity related to other entities or accounts. Those would include the Roger Stone Defense Fund, organizations that financed events surrounding the Jan. 6 rallies, and any payments for pardon advocacy in the waning weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency," Sollenberger wrote. "The request means the DOJ also wants to see how Stone used Drake Ventures over the last year, while he was knowingly under the legal microscope."
Read more here:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/how-a-tax-case-could-force-roger-stone-to-cough-up-jan-6-records?ref=home
-
In a new Capitol riot prosecution, Colorado defendant is linked to Proud Boys and accused of attacking member of news media
Feds alllege Rod Millstreed is seen here assaulting media member.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTiwXy7WIAEEPhc?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTiwaMnWYAA4Fxd?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Plea deal discussions are underway in high-level Capitol riot case of Sean McHugh
McHugh is accused of scuffling with police, carrying chemical spray & yelling to police "I'd be shaking in your little s boots too. There is a 2nd amendment behind us. You ain't holding the line"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTh_Hx0X0AEZOTp?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Jan 6 defendant Pauline Bauer of PA wants her July 5 trial date delayed. She's defending herself in case and says she needs more time.
Bauer has used sovereign citizen language and is in pretrial jail due to outbursts/violations of court orders.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTcDUWgXoAUXlBg?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTcDUWmWUAEQD5T?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Court has unsealed another father-and-son Jan 6 criminal case.
Bradley and Matthew Bokoski.
Feds allege Matthew told agents "the January 6, 2021 rally was effective because the participants were able to “shut down” the government".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTpb2GUWIAAMGR4?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Plea agreement hearing set for Friday in US Capitol breach case of Matthew Buckler of Maryland, who is accused of being part of the mob, chanting "Stop the Steal".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTjPk8dWAAQdZ-6?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Trump Didn’t Think Jan. 6 Rioters Hanging Mike Pence Was Such a Bad Idea: Report
At least one witness told the Jan. 6 committee that Mark Meadows said the former president may have suggested the former vice president should be executed, according to The New York Times
(https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/trump-pence-hung.jpg?resize=1800,1200&w=1200)
A noose is seen on makeshift gallows as supporters of President Trump gather on the West side of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021.
Donald Trump reportedly enjoyed watching a mob of his supporters storm the Capitol last Jan. 6. He also reportedly enjoyed that some of them were chanting for Vice President Mike Pence to be hung for failing to illegally stop the certification of the 2020 election results. He didn’t think it was such a bad idea, either, according to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
The New York Times reported on Wednesday that Meadows told colleagues on Jan. 6 that Trump had said, as the Times puts it, “something to the effect of, maybe Mr. Pence should be hung.” Sources told the Times that Meadows’ recounting of Trump’s comment was relayed to the Jan. 6 committee by at least one witness, and that Cassidy Hutchinson, a former Meadows aide who was present at the time, confirmed it.
Trump has previously defended the rioters who chanted for Pence to be hung. “Well, the people were very angry,” he told Jonathan Karl of ABC News, responding to the chants. “Because it’s common sense that you’re supposed to protect … If you know a vote if fraudulent, how can you pass along a fraudulent vote to Congress?”
Taylor Budowich, Trump’s spokesperson, responded to Wednesday’s report by attacking the Jan. 6 committee, but hefailing to address the allegation that the former president may have supported Pence’s execution. “This partisan committee’s vague ‘leaks,’ anonymous testimony and willingness to alter evidence proves it’s just an extension of the Democrat smear campaign that has been exposed time and time again for being fabricated and dishonest,” he told the Times. “Americans are tired of the Democrat lies and the charades, but, sadly, it’s the only thing they have to offer.”
Budowich earlier this week attacked Pence, as well, calling his support for Georgia Governor Brian Kemp’s reelection campaign is part of a “desperate” attempt to “chase his lost relevance.” Trump, who has attacked Kemp for not doing more to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia, endorsed David Perdue in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Kemp defeated Perdue on Tuesday night by over 50 percentage points.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-mike-pence-hanged-jan-6-1358446/
-
Hitler-lookalike MAGA rioter told Black roommate about beating Capitol cop with flagpole
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=29856288&width=3500&height=1968)
The Black former roommate of a Hitler-lookalike MAGA rioter testified about the evidence he collected while wired up by federal investigators.
The roommate, who testified under the pseudonym “Mike Jacobs” due to safety concerns, told jurors that he was assigned in 2018 to room with Timothy Hale-Cusanelli while they were both stationed at Naval Weapons Station Earle in New Jersey, and he said their relationship was generally "cordial" but they often disagreed over politics, reported WUSA-TV.
“Civil war, not that I want that, but I think it is the simplest solution, the most likely outcome and the best shot at a clean bill of health for our society," Hale-Cusanelli said in one recording played by prosecutors. “It’s not like I want to see people dead on the street -- I’m not a complete sociopath -- but I literally don’t see a political future going forward.”
Jacobs said he generally enjoyed debating Hale-Cusanelli, but he said they couldn't have cordial discussions about race, and he testified that his roommate discussed his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection as he wore a wire to help federal investigators.
"You know, the 10-year felony thing," Hale-Cusanelli said when Jacobs asked why he was afraid of being identified in video from the riot. "I could be labeled a domestic terrorist. It’s a thing they’re saying.”
He also told his roommate that he used hand signals that could be considered tactical instructions and frequently yelled "advance," and he admitted to having a flagpole he used to strike a police officer in the head.
“I think maybe I have a murder weapon on me,” Hale-Cusanelli said. “That’s still in my truck. I’ve got to dispose of that.”
But he also told Jacobs the riot was the closest thing to war he had ever experienced.
“I can’t describe how exhilarating it was,” he said. “The adrenaline, the rush, the sense of purpose.”
Jacobs said he didn't think civil war was imminent, but Hale-Cusanlli indicated he disagreed -- and he explained how he'd help speed it along.
“Let me tell you," Hale-Cusanlli said. "If we had more people, we could have cleared that whole building,. It’s only a matter of time. They don’t want to be the ones to fire the first shot.”
Read more here:
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/roommate-who-wore-wire-for-fbi-testifies-at-army-reservists-capitol-riot-trial-timothy-hale-cusanelli/65-656cc64f-be48-4050-8ecb-3a7265611006
-
Arrests keep coming:
Court unseals new Jan 6 case against Levi Gable.
Per charging documents, a former college buddy tipped the feds about Gable.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTtL8IQXsBgByY2?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Judge sentences Jan 6 defendant Greg Rubenacker of New York to 41 months prison. Rubenacker admitted swinging bottle at police and smoking marijuana in Rotunda amid the mob.
Prosecutors sought 46 months, arguing he berated police amid yelling "Go arrest the Vice President!"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTtWoQAWIAAkGSS?format=jpg&name=small)
Long Island man who smoked weed in US Capitol during Jan. 6 insurrection sentenced to more than 3 years in prison
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29859237&width=980&quality=85)
A Long Island disc jockey who filmed himself smoking weed inside the U.S. Capitol during the January 6 insurrection was sentenced Thursday to 3 years and five months in prison.
“This is history! We took the Capitol,” Greg Rubenacker declared on infamous cellphone footage played at his sentencing in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. “Smoke out the Capitol, baby!”
The 26-year-old Farmingdale man struck a more contrite tone before Judge Beryl Howell imposed sentence.
“I just want to say sorry to you guys for having to go through all the cases,” Rubenacker said. “I want to say sorry to the United States of America … I wish I hadn’t believed the lies.”
Rubenacker was among the horde of supporters of then-President Donald Trump who tried to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory. The riot at the U.S. Capitol resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer.
More than 800 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for participating in the insurrection, including more than 250 people authorities say assaulted or impeded law enforcement.
© New York Daily News
-
In many of the newest US Capitol riot prosecutions, the defendants are accused of assaulting and resisting police.
In a case unsealed this month, David Gietzen is accused of grabbing an officer by the throat while wearing a white helmet and brandishing a pole.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTj8HnBXEAACgOj?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTj8HnCXoAAz9CP?format=jpg&name=360x360)
-
New Jan 6 court filing vs John Eastman
"Trump’s & Eastman’s criminal obstruction of the electoral count was not merely limited to their efforts to pressure VP Pence in the days before Jan 6..rather, it was the culmination of a months long effort corruptly to subvert.. election".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTumc_iXsAAgnL8?format=jpg&name=medium)
"In addressing the January 4-7 documents, this Court “did not reach whether President Trump likely engaged in common law fraud... He did, and any materials in the current population of documents reflecting this fraud must be produced".
The court filing goes on to say:
"Dr. Eastman, President Trump, and their co-conspirators"
"Evaded our current laws - both civil and criminal ..."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTus-AeWAA8QG2u?format=jpg&name=medium)
House Select Jan 6 Committee public hearings begin in two weeks
Buckle up...
-
The Jan. 6 Select Committee Presses Rep. Loudermilk
Neal Katyal joins Michael Steele to break down Rep. Loudermilk's denial that he gave tours around the Capitol prior to the insurrection, despite the Jan. 6 Committee stating that they have evidence that "directly contradicts" his claim.
Watch:
-
‘I can’t believe I participated in such chaos.’ NC man pleads guilty to Capitol riot charges
(https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/8IHqXa3BzBmu-UYxQ-a_JiMqw9Y=/1200x630/filters:quality(95)/static.texastribune.org/media/files/3fed8773266fe143ae66774a95870992/Trump%20Protest%20DC%20REUTERS%202021%20TT%2013.jpg)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Over the last month, U.S. Capitol riot defendant Matthew Wood had mounted a particularly vigorous defense.
In a series of rapid-fire court filings, the 25-year-old Greensboro-area man, who is charged with six crimes tied to the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, had asked a judge to:
— Move his trial moved out of Washington, arguing that he could not get a fair hearing from a D.C. jury;
— Suppress some comments he made to the FBI as well as the information agents scraped from his cell phone;
— Throw out all or some of the charges.
On Friday, however, Wood dramatically changed course. He pleaded guilty to all counts listed on his indictment, including a felony — obstruction of an official proceeding — that carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.
Wood, of Reidsville, faces a range of possible sentences — from as low as 10-15 months to as high as 41-51 months, depending on where he lands on the federal sentencing guidelines%20proscribes%20obstruction,not%20more%20than%20one%20year.) and what U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta decides on Sept. 23 when he announces Wood’s punishment.
In a pointed exchange at the end of the 50-minute hearing, Wood’s attorney, Kira West of Washington, told Mehta that the government has raised the possibility of indicting Wood on another unspecified charge. She described the government’s “pursuit” of her client as “unprecedented.”
West said she has asked for a written promise from government prosecutors that Wood would not be indicted for another Jan. 6-related crime.
“They declined,” West said. “In all my years as a federal prosecutor and defense attorney, I’ve never experienced anything like this.”
Wood’s lead prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Henek of Washington, objected. Since Wood gave a “straight plea” to the charges on his indictment, there was no plea agreement, and the government made no promises about future prosecution, if warranted, Henek said.
Wood is one of at least 23 North Carolinians charged in connection with the riot, in which supporters of now-former President Donald Trump fought police, smashed windows and doors marauded through the Capitol — all in a vain attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s electoral win.
According to a Thursday court filing by his attorney, Wood went to D.C. with his grandmother on Jan. 6 to hear Trump’s speech, in which he baselessly claimed the election had been stolen from him by voter fraud.
Three days before the trip, Wood foreshadowed the coming violence in a text message to an acquaintance.
"If they want to raid Congress, sign me up,” he wrote. “I’ll be brave heart in that b----!”
Federal prosecutors say Wood was one of the first of the rioters to climb into the Capitol through a smashed window on the Senate side of the building, carrying a Trump flag throughout his stay. He made it as far as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s second-floor conference room.
He later falsely claimed to the FBI that he entered the building only to avoid being trampled. The filing by his attorney states otherwise: “When (Wood) entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, he did so with the intent to disrupt the certification proceedings.”
Once inside, according to court filings, Wood never took part in the violence, though the government claims he egged others on to battle with police.
Afterward, Wood appeared to be of two minds about what had occurred.
“Our election was stolen. The system is against us. I stood up to a tyrannical government,” Wood wrote in a now-deleted Facebook post that the FBI later recovered. “You can keep sitting or you can do something about it like we did today.”
“This is the PEOPLES house,” he boasted in another post. “We sent those politicians running. We the PEOPLE will fight for our country ... When diplomacy doesn’t work and your message has gone undelivered, it shouldn’t surprise you when we revolt.”
The next day Wood expressed remorse in a text message to a unidentified acquaintance.
“I’m not okay with my actions yesterday. I took a stand but it was extremely inappropriate ... I can’t believe I participated in such chaos,” Wood wrote, according to his attorney’s filing.
“I was merely there as a citizen to make a point. I didn’t assault anyone ... I didn’t participate in the destruction of property ... While most of the people in there were just like me, everyday American citizens, there were some that disgraced our entrance and it associated me with them and that churns my stomach.”
The riot by the mob of Trump supporters is tied to at least five deaths as well as injuries to some 140 police officers. More than 815 arrests have been made in a sweeping Justice Department investigation that continues to grow, as does the role of North Carolinians who the government says participated.
The state’s delegation of Capitol defendants include a former police officer, military recruits, members of two right wing militia groups, organic farmers, an avowed white supremacist and a couple that took their 14-year-old son into the Capitol as the violence unfolded.
Wood becomes the eighth to plead guilty. He’ll return to Washington for the first time since the riot for his sentencing.
© The Charlotte Observer
-
Infamous Capitol rioter tells jurors he is an idiot -- then gets convicted on five counts
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29865158&width=2400&height=1350)
A New Jersey man who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, told a jury this week that he didn't know the Capitol building is where Congress meets, NBC News reports.
Timothy Hale-Cusanelli has been charged with five counts, which include obstruction of an official proceeding. While he admits in engaging in criminal activity that day, he claims he didn't know that the U.S. Capitol was where the House and Senate reside.
"I know this sounds idiotic, but I'm from New Jersey," Hale-Cusanelli told jurors on Thursday. "I feel like an idiot, it sounds idiotic, and it is."
"I didn't know the Capitol building was the same as the congressional building," Hale-Cusanelli told a federal prosecutor.
Hale-Cusanelli became infamous after photos surfaced that showed him with a “Hitler mustache.” He allegedly had told co-workers that "Hitler should have finished the job."
Hale-Cusanelli has been held in jail since February partly due to his alleged extremist views. At least 34 of his acquaintances told prosecutors that he held "extremist or radical views pertaining to the Jewish people, minorities, and women."
A Navy petty officer claimed Hale-Cusanelli, who was an active member of the U.S. Army Reserves at the time of the riot, once said that "Hitler should have finished the job." Evidence from his phone examined by prosecutors showed he had Nazi sympathies and white supremacist views.
While on the stand, Hale-Cusanelli claimed his history of racist rhetoric was just him joking around with friends.
“I really like attention and I like talking a lot,” he testified, saying some of his remarks were "ironic humor," and "self-deprecating humor" that helped him "cope with how I was raised." He also claimed to be half-Puerto Rican and half Jewish.
The jury convicted Hale-Cusanelli of all five counts on Friday. Sentencing is set for September 16.
https://www.rawstory.com/timothy-hale-cusanelli-found-guilty/
-
'Buckle up, buttercup': Kevin McCarthy served warning about continuing to defend Trump
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/kevin-mccarthy.jpg?id=29869336&width=2400&height=1441)
Appearing on "The Katie Phang Show" early Saturday morning, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner served a warning to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) that he will be in a world of hurt if he defies a House Jan 6th committee subpoena, an action which could, in turn, set him up for multiple criminal charges.
McCarthy, who is desperately hoping to take over as House speaker after the midterms election had his lawyer send a letter to the committee this week telling them he will not comply and claiming the subpoenas it has issued are not constitutional -- a claim that has already been shot down by federal judges.
Speaking with former prosecutor Phang, Kirschner claimed the committee really has no choice but to refer the California Republican to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
"It seems hardly surprising that McCarthy will say he will likely defy the subpoena from the January 6th committee. Should the committee and will the committee, refer him to the DOJ for criminal prosecution?" host Phang prompted.
"How can the committee not refer him to a criminal prosecution?" Kirschner shot back. "You cannot investigate crimes, including crimes by high government officials, if people just thumb their nose at lawfully-issued subpoenas. Make no mistake about it, courts have ruled over and over again that the committee was lawfully constituted, accordingly, and it is lawfully exercising its power."
"As a matter of principle, the January 6th committee must refer Kevin McCarthy for criminal contempt of Congress if he chooses to turn up his nose to the subpoena," he continued. "Someone better tell Kevin McCarthy to buckle up buttercup, there are a whole lot of crimes that you will be committing if you continue to conceal the misconduct of Donald Trump from the January 6th committee, and by extension, the American people."
"You are not just making the crime of contempt of Congress, you are potentially committing a crime of accessory after the fact and a misrepresentation of a felony," he elaborated. "These are in Title 18 of the criminal code. I have the ugly big blue book of crimes; if you cover up the crimes of another, and those crimes are quote, 'recognizable in the eyes of the United States,' you are committing a criminal offense."
"McCarthy, potentially, has a whole lot of trouble coming his way if he continues to conceal the crimes of Donald Trump," he added.
Watch below:
-
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio denied jail release as he awaits Jan 6th riot trial
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/enrique-tarrio.jpg?id=28180343&width=2400&height=1371)
According to a report from Reuters, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was informed late Friday night that he must remain in jail pending his trial on criminal charges related to his Jan 6th Capitol riot activities.
Tarrio -- who has also been accused of being an FBI informant -- has been accused by prosecutors of being an active leader on Jan. 6, who encouraged his followers to not leave the Capitol after they forced lawmakers to flee for their lives.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly said the evidence against Tarrio is "very strong," reports Reuters, adding the judge also wrote, "Tarrio 'has the skill set, resources, and networks to plan similar challenges to the lawful functioning of the United States government in the future."
Tarrio's latest bid for freedom came after a judge in Florida also ruled against his release.
Reuters adds, "Tarrio is among the most high-profile of more than 775 people criminally charged for their roles in the assault on the Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump in an effort to keep Congress from certifying Joe Biden's election victory."
Read more here: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/proud-boys-leader-tarrio-loses-latest-bid-release-jail-2022-05-28/
-
Alleged Nazi sympathizer convicted for role in January 6 US Capitol riot after claiming he didn’t know Congress met there
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/27/politics/timothy-hale-cusanelli-verdict/index.html
-
Federal judge orders ex-Proud Boys leader to be detained until Jan. 6 trial
Releasing Enrique Tarrio before his trial would not reasonably ensure the safety of the community, the judge wrote
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/federal-judge-orders-ex-proud-boys-leader-detained-jan-6-trial-rcna31023
-
House Jan 6th hearings looking to be more devastating to Trump than his impeachments: columnist
(https://static.more.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/24162114/donaldtrump-hero_0-1200x600.jpg)
In a column for CNN, contributor and political analyst Dean Obeidallah noted that House Select Committee investigating the January 6th insurrection has been very secretive about their specific plans and witness list for the televised June hearings, but there are indications that Donald Trump could come out of them even more damaged than his two impeachments.
Comparing the impending hearings to the summer "blockbuster" known as "Top Gun: Maverick," the columnist said the cast of characters who will appear before the bi-partisan committee of House members will likely paint a devastating portrait of Trump's involvement in trying to overturn the 2020 election -- and that could lead to criminal charges.
"The roster of potential talent lined up for the January 6 hearings is not too shabby," he writes. "The final cast has still not been locked in but could reportedly include a handful of former officials from the Department of Justice who Trump allegedly pressured for help in his failed bid to overturn the 2020 election. We might even see cameo appearances, via video clip, of previously recorded testimony by marquee players such as Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner."
Obeidallah added the hearings will likely show that Trump and his inner circle "...may have had more than a bit part in the January 6 attack on the Capitol," which he said "makes this worse for Trump with regard to his two impeachments" because he "could be indicted under a myriad of laws with the possibility of conviction and jail time."
Claiming there is a "need for justice," Obeidallah added, "If the January 6 committee hearings can help achieve that, it will truly be the biggest blockbuster of this summer."
You can read more here:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/30/opinions/top-gun-january-6-committee-hearings-obeidallah/index.html
-
Former Trump aide Navarro says he has received a grand jury subpoena related to Jan. 6
He claims they have asked for records of “any communications” with the former president.
Peter Navarro, a former White House aide to Donald Trump, says he’s been served a grand jury subpoena by federal prosecutors probing the Jan. 6 insurrection — and claims they have asked for records of “any communications” with the former president.
In a draft lawsuit that Navarro began circulating Monday, the former Trump trade adviser said “two FBI special agents banged loudly on my door in the early morning hours” on May 26 and served him a subpoena signed by Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C.
Navarro declined to provide a copy of the subpoena and claimed in the draft lawsuit that it was connected to his refusal to testify to the Jan. 6 select committee, which issued a congressional subpoena for his testimony in February. The House in April recommended that the Justice Department charge Navarro with contempt of Congress. But it would be unusual if a grand jury subpoena were related to his potential contempt case, since he would likely be the target of such a probe and less likely to be asked for testimony.
Another select committee witness, Steve Bannon, was charged with contempt last year for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena. He did not receive a grand jury subpoena before his charges were filed.
Navarro, who is not represented by a lawyer, said he intends to file his proposed lawsuit, an 88-page complaint that lists Graves, the select committee and Speaker Nancy Pelosi among the defendants, on Tuesday morning.
According to Navarro, the grand jury subpoena directs him to appear for June 2 testimony and to produce any documents that would shed light on his refusal to testify to congressional investigators in February. The demand for documents, he says, include records of any contacts he had with Trump or the former president’s attorneys.
A grand jury subpoena for Navarro would be the most aggressive known step that prosecutors have taken into Trump’s West Wing related to Jan. 6. There have long been indications, though, that federal prosecutors have been laying the groundwork for a broader probe into Trump’s inner circle to examine their role in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election — and stoking the violence that ensued Jan. 6, 2021.
Ali Alexander, the founder of the Stop the Steal group that organized events that preceded the mob attack on the Capitol that day, said last month he’s received a grand jury subpoena. And there are indications that prosecutors are pursuing efforts by Trump and his allies to send false sets of presidential electors to Congress, an element of a multifaceted plan to convince state legislatures, congressional Republicans and then-Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election.
Navarro refused to comply with the select committee in February, responding by email with the words “executive privilege” and telling them he was operating without an attorney. In email exchanges over several weeks, Navarro repeatedly urged the committee to negotiate with Trump and convince him to “waive” executive privilege.
The select committee replied that it had no evidence Trump had asserted any privileges to prevent Navarro’s testimony or production of documents, and they said they he was still required to show up and could assert privilege on a question-by-question basis. The panel also informed Navarro they would pursue lines of questioning they believed would not be subject to any claims of privilege by the former president. Navarro still refused to appear.
In the meantime, Navarro issued multiple public statements and gave media interviews about the same subjects he declined to address with the select committee. Ultimately, he declined to show up for his scheduled deposition at the beginning of March.
The House’s contempt recommendation against Navarro has been pending at DOJ since early April. The department took less than three weeks to charge Bannon with contempt but has given no public indication how it views the select committee’s subsequent contempt referrals, including ones for Navarro, Scavino and former Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Navarro was one of the first White House officials to openly embrace Trump’s campaign to delegitimize the results of the election. Although he was also tasked with a role in the administration’s Covid response, he used the post-election period to produce a report echoing Trump’s false allegations of fraud, which Trump quickly praised and began citing.
Later, Navarro and Bannon partnered on a strategy to overturn the election on Jan. 6, dubbing it the “Green Bay sweep.” Navarro, who wrote about it in his book, “In Trump Time,” claims to have coordinated with numerous GOP lawmakers to object to the results of the election that day, when Congress was constitutionally required to count electoral votes and thereby finalize Joe Biden’s victory.
Navarro spends the bulk of his complaint contending that Trump’s assertion of executive privilege over former advisers should be given more weight than Biden’s decision, as the sitting president, to waive it. It’s become a familiar argument in lawsuits brought by Trump allies against the select committee, including Bannon, Meadows and Scavino.
However, a federal appeals court ruled in January that even if Trump were still in office, the investigation of the attack on the Capitol — and Trump’s parallel effort to overturn the election — would overcome executive privilege for documents connected to that investigation. The Supreme Court upheld that decision.
The select committee has noted that even in cases where potential privileges exist, witnesses are still typically required to appear and invoke them, and to answer questions that aren’t covered by privilege — such as Navarro’s contacts with members of Congress, Bannon or other pre-Jan. 6 actors. Several witnesses have come forward and pleaded the Fifth Amendment under these circumstances, including attorney John Eastman, former high-ranking Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, former national security adviser Michael Flynn and longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone.
Navarro said he considered pleading the Fifth but viewed it as a “dishonorable” way to avoid criminal charges.
In his draft lawsuit, prospectively dated June 1, Navarro asks the federal district court of Washington, D.C. to prohibit the Justice Department from “enforcing Grand Jury Subpoena #GJ2022052590979,” a reference to the subpoena’s official serial number. He describes it as “derivative” of the select committee’s subpoena.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/30/peter-navarro-grand-jury-trump-00035904
-
In Memorial Day court filing, Justice Dept asks for continued pretrial detention of former sheriff's deputy Ron McAbee in US Capitol riot case.
Feds argue Mcabee of Tennessee carried baton, wore brass-knuckled gloves, dragged police into the mob
High-level case.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUA4k2bWYAABUyK?format=jpg&name=900x900)
In previous court filings in McAbee's case... prosecutors allege this sequence of events for a DC police officer attacked in the riot.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUA41IiWYAERxgR?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Sentencing set for Sept 23 in Capitol riot case of Albuquerque Cosper Head, who has signed plea agreement, admitting wrapping arm around DC Police officer Michael Fanone's neck & yelling "I got one!"
Guilty plea to charge of assaulting/resisting officers.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FTorFN5WYAQjEmh?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
What the GOP wants — and what Trump wants — as the January 6 committee ramps up
https://www.vox.com/2022/5/31/23148789/rnc-january-6-committee
-
Sentencing at 10am in father-son Jan 6 case of Daryl & Dan Johnson of Minnesota
Both are accused of entering thru smashed window. Feds say they "joined a group of rioters in rushing & shoving aside several U.S. Capitol Police officers who were guarding.. Rotunda doors".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUHw59LXsAYinKO?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Rich Michetti of Philadelphia is pleading guilty in Jan 6 case. Feds alleged Michetti messaged at 6pm on Jan 6:
"Election was rigged..everyone knows it. All’s we wanted was an investigation that’s it and they couldn’t investigate the biggest presidential race in history".
GUILTY PLEA to obstruction of official proceeding.
Per US Justice Dept: Michetti yelled at police "You are starting a civil war.”
Sentencing in September.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUF4xU2XwAEJ7H6?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUF4xUzWIAA6CrS?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
House Jan. 6 Committee Gives Jim Jordan a Deadline to Testify
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-01/house-jan-6-committee-gives-jim-jordan-a-deadline-to-testify
-
Trial set for June 13 in high-profile Capitol breach case of Kevin Seefried, who is the man carrying the Confederate flag through the Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, according to prosecutors.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUMAdOuWYAELB41?format=jpg&name=360x360)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUMAdOwXEAEpwkS?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
SENTENCING set for July 13 in US Capitol riot case of David Blair, who pleaded guilty to a felony.
Feds say Blair was "waving a Confederate battle flag attached to a lacrosse stick. He yelled words to the effect of “hell naw, quit backing up, don’t be scared”
Facing up to 5 years.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUHw3gOWAAMOOnk?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Old man Chuck Grassley was a key figure in Trump's coup attempt.
NEW: Trump lawyer Kenneth Chesebro said in 13 Dec 2020 memo to Giuliani that VP Pence should recuse himself from running the electoral count and hand the gavel to a senior GOP senator like Graham — recall that Sen. Grassley said on Jan. 5 he didn’t expect Pence to preside.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FULEWHDXsAEvBI_?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Remember when a judge determined that one of John Eastman's emails was subject to the "crime-fraud" exception to attorney-client privilege?
That document — a Dec. 13, 2020 memo to Rudy Giuliani — was just made public in new court filings.
Read it below:
https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/06-1-2022/jan-6/
The memo, authored by attorney Kenneth Chesebro, described what he called the "'President of the Senate' strategy," an effort to convince Mike Pence to assert control of the Jan. 6 count of electoral votes.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FULAg89WYAIdv9w?format=jpg&name=medium)
Chesebro's memo lays out a day-to-day plan of action beginning Jan. 3 with hearings by Sen. Graham. A Graham spokesman emphasized that no hearings were ever held but declined to address whether Graham was ever approached about this strategy.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FULAyjEWIAAj4VV?format=jpg&name=medium)
On Jan. 6, Chesebro recommended that Pence attend but recuse himself from the actual count, allowing a senior senator like Chuck Grassley to take the gavel. This would keep his hands clean from the fight about to ensue over electors.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FULBwQ_WQAAsUSo?format=png&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FULBwQ6X0AASnBZ?format=png&name=medium)
Chesebro then argued to let the chips fall. No one could predict what SCOTUS would do and Trump could very well still lose, he said. But he said the effort would be worth it and could even result in an unexpected outcome, like Pence becoming president.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FULCMMTWUAIhhWM?format=png&name=medium)
-
Primer on the Hearings of the January 6th Select Committee
https://www.justsecurity.org/81729/covering-the-january-6th-select-committee-a-primer/
-
Who is Cassidy Hutchinson and what has she told the Jan. 6 committee?
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has kept a tight lid on its plans for televised hearings slated to take place this month, but that hasn’t stopped speculation about who might be called to testify.
Among the names that have been floated as a potential witness in the highly anticipated hearings is that of Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who has already been cited as the source of multiple revelations uncovered by the select committee’s probe.
Hutchinson, who served as a special assistant to the president for legislative affairs, was subpoenaed in November 2021, along with several other former Trump administration officials who, the panel believed, had relevant information regarding the former president’s activities on Jan. 6 and the role he and his aides played in efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
According to her subpoena, Hutchinson was not only at the White House on Jan. 6 but she’d been with Trump during his speech at the “Stop the Steal” rally on the Ellipse, where he urged his supporters to “fight like hell” before promising to march with them to the Capitol.
She also emailed Georgia officials directly following Meadows’s trip to attend that state’s election audit, according to the subpoena, and was present for other key meetings and conversations at the White House leading up to Jan. 6.
Unlike her former boss, whose refusal to cooperate with House investigators has earned him a Justice Department referral for criminal contempt charges, Hutchinson has appeared before the committee on three separate occasions since the beginning of this year. In fact, following her most recent deposition last month, a source reportedly told CNN that Hutchinson believes she’s being forced to testify due to Meadows’s refusal to comply with his own subpoena. The same source said Hutchinson will likely make another appearance before the committee, possibly during the upcoming public hearings, according to CNN.
A spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee declined to comment on whether Hutchinson will be called as a witness at the hearings, the first of which is set for June 9. Hutchinson’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment from Yahoo News.
While much remains unknown about what Hutchinson has told the select committee so far, a handful of key details have emerged from her closed-door depositions that seem likely to feature prominently in the case House investigators hope to present to the American public this summer.
Here’s a look at some of the key revelations that have already been attributed to Hutchinson, and how they might factor into the public hearings.
Meadows and others pressed ahead with plans to overturn Trump’s election loss, court filing says, even after White House counsel had deemed them not “legally sound.”
The select committee’s legal battle against Meadows, who has sued to block the panel’s subpoenas, may offer clues on how Hutchinson’s testimony could be used in the hearings.
In an April court filing, the select committee cited sections of Hutchinson’s testimony as proof of the former chief’s involvement in the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and that he had pursued unlawful plans to make that happen.
According to the filing, Hutchinson told the committee that the White House Counsel’s Office repeatedly objected on legal grounds to a plan to push Republican officials in battleground states that had voted for Biden to send alternate, pro-Trump slates of electors to Congress when lawmakers met on Jan. 6 to certify the Electoral College vote count.
Hutchinson told the committee that the counsel’s office had concluded that the alternate electors plan was not legally sound potentially as early as November 2021, and that this conclusion was raised during multiple meetings at the White House involving Meadows, other Trump associates like Trump’s former personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and members of Congress including Reps. Scott Perry, R-Pa., Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., and Louie Gohmert, R-Texas.
“Despite that advice, the plan moved forward,” the committee’s filing states.
https://news.yahoo.com/who-is-cassidy-hutchinson-and-what-has-she-told-the-jan-6-committee-214435600.html
-
What 5 previous congressional investigations can teach us about the House Jan. 6 committee hearings
Six public hearings to be held in June by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection will attempt to answer the question of whether former President Donald Trump and his political allies broke the law in seeking to overturn the 2020 election results.
The Jan. 6 hearings are part of a long history of congressional investigation.
The first congressional inquiry occurred in the House in 1792 to investigate Gen. Arthur St. Clair’s role in the U.S. Army’s defeat in the Battle of the Wabash against the tribes of the Northwest Territory. The Senate conducted its first official investigation in 1818, looking into Gen. Andrew Jackson’s conduct in the Seminole War.
A look back at five of the most noteworthy congressional investigations since those initial probes suggests that Congress regularly has used its constitutional authority to gather facts and draw public attention to important issues in the country.
Ku Klux Klan hearings
In 1871, Congress established a committee to investigate violence against and intimidation of Black voters in several states.
A year later, the committee produced 13 volumes of evidence containing the testimony of over 600 witnesses describing systemic violence – including killings, beatings, lynchings and rapes – committed by the Ku Klux Klan, known also as the KKK.
Despite extensive media coverage and the wealth of information uncovered by the committee, many Americans at that time still questioned the KKK’s existence.
Such skepticism was supported by the Democratic minority report that accompanied Congress’ investigation. At a time when Democrats represented the party that had supported slavery, their report legitimized the KKK’s actions in undeniably racist language. Segments of the public adopted the bigoted language and ideas contained in the minority report for decades to come.
Teapot Dome scandal
In 1922, news broke that President Warren G. Harding’s administration had secretly leased federal oil fields to political allies. At the time, these no-bid contracts were valued at around $200 million – the equivalent of over $3 billion today.
The contracts were awarded by Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall, a former senator and a friend of the president’s.
Congress opened an investigation into the matter, and a UPI news story said on Jan. 22, 1924, “The assistance of Department of Justice agents, United States marshals and the federal courts will be invoked if necessary, senators said, to force the truth from reluctant witnesses.”
As a result of the investigation, Fall resigned and was later convicted of bribery. He was the first former Cabinet official in history to be sentenced to prison because of misconduct in office.
Harding is considered to be one of the country’s worst presidents, in part because of the scandal and corruption brought to light by Congress’ investigation.
Organized crime and the Kefauver Committee
In 1950, Congress formed a special committee in response to a series of news articles suggesting that organized crime was corrupting many local government officials. It was referred to as the Kefauver Committee after its chairman, Democratic Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee. The committee launched an investigation, traveling to 14 major cities in the process.
The committee’s hearings rank among the most widely viewed congressional investigations in history. It is estimated that 90% of televisions in America were tuned in to the hearings.
In part, what made the investigation such good TV was the cast of characters subpoenaed to testify. Mobsters, their girlfriends, former elected officials and their lawyers paraded into the hearings, all captured on live television.
Not all witnesses complied with the subpoenas. In fact, the Senate approved 45 contempt of Congress citations in 1951 alone. Litigation over witness noncompliance continued in most cases even after the committee issued its over 11,000-page final report.
Watergate
In 1973, after seven men from President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign broke into the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee, the Senate voted 77-0 to establish a committee to investigate the break-in.
Throughout the investigation, President Nixon refused to cooperate with the committee’s requests for information and directed his aides to do the same. He claimed executive privilege gave him the right to refuse to hand over White House records, including audiotapes, and planned for many of them to be destroyed.
The battle between the president and Congress went to court and, hours before the House was scheduled to start debating whether to impeach him, the Supreme Court ruled against Nixon.
The tapes showed Nixon had, despite his denials, taken part in the cover-up. Nixon lost the support of prominent Republicans in Congress, and he resigned shortly thereafter to avoid impeachment.
Intelligence community and the Church Committee
In addition to revealing presidential misconduct, the Watergate Committee investigation found evidence that the U.S. intelligence community was conducting potentially unconstitutional domestic operations, including spying on U.S. citizens.
In response, Congress established a special committee to investigate. The committee’s 16-month inquiry exposed the attempted assassinations of foreign political leaders, experiments conducted on U.S. citizens, and covert operations to recruit journalists to monitor private citizens’ communications and to spread propaganda over the media.
The committee found that every presidential administration from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Richard Nixon had abused its authority.
“Intelligence agencies have undermined the constitutional rights of citizens,” the final report concluded, “primarily because checks and balances designed by the framers of the Constitution to assure accountability have not been applied.”
Mainstream oversight
A few common themes run throughout these five noteworthy congressional investigations.
First, as the legacy of the Church Committee suggests, public hearings help provide a layer of transparency to government.
Congress and the media can be allies in investigation. Investigative reporting like in the work that revealed the Teapot Dome scandal and Watergate can lay the groundwork for congressional probes. And media coverage of proceedings like the Kefauver Committee’s investigation not only raises public awareness but also puts pressure on federal, state and local government officials to act.
But party can get in the way. In one example, partisan infighting and the Democrats’ rejection of the KKK proceedings hindered Congress’ effectiveness and provided a narrative that helped justify Jim Crow laws and other racist policies.
Similarly, party loyalty led many Republicans to remain vocal in support of Nixon until the full scope of the president’s actions were revealed through the Watergate investigation.
These moments in history also illustrate the importance of examining elected officials’ political support networks.
When President Harding assumed office, he placed loyal allies in government positions. While these allies helped reinforce Harding’s pledge to reorganize government and “return to normalcy,” they also perpetuated corruption.
Likewise, the Watergate investigation prompted criminal charges against 69 people, including two Cabinet officials. Additionally, dozens of major corporations pleaded guilty to illegally financing Nixon’s reelection campaign.
While the upcoming hearings of the House Jan. 6 investigative committee will be dealing with unprecedented events in American history, the very investigation of these events has strong precedent. Congress has long exercised its power to investigate some of the greatest problems facing the nation. In that way, the upcoming hearings fit squarely into the mainstream of American government oversight.
https://theconversation.com/what-5-previous-congressional-investigations-can-teach-us-about-the-house-jan-6-committee-hearings-181548
-
Court has unsealed yet another US Capitol breach case involving a defendant from Chicago.
Justice Dept court filing says phone data and a neighbor linked Kimberly DiFrancesco to Capitiol on Jan 6.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUQy44OXwAE7zRw?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Jan 6 defendant Jon Mellis is again seeking release from pretrial jail. He's accused of assaulting police with a wooden beam and is accused of history of assault cases in Virginia in prior years.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUQZMQyWUAML0EW?format=jpg&name=small)
-
'Re-create the madness': Jan 6th committee dropping hints about what to expect next week
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-supporters-jan-6th.jpg?id=29932260&width=2400&height=1365)
Beginning next Thursday night, the House Select Committee that has been investigating the Jan 6th Capitol riot that was instigated by former president Donald Trump is scheduled to make their case to the American public after dropping hints that their findings "will really blow the roof off the House."
According to CNN analyst Stephen Collinson, the first hearing, to take place during prime time, will set the stage "to re-create the madness and fear of a moment when American democracy itself was on the brink" by presenting powerful new evidence.
As Collinson explained, "New glimpses of the mountain of evidence piled up by the committee suggest the panel will take viewers deep into Trump's inner circle before and during the insurrection to pose the question of why he didn't try to stop it as hours passed," adding the committee "plans to re-create the horror of the crazed day when supporters of then-President Donald Trump effectively tried to stage a coup after the 2020 election and to prevent the certification of President Joe Biden's victory."
As the analyst explained, the bi-partisan committee will attempt to get the attention of Americans 17 months after the attack that shocked the nation and hints dropped on Thursday are a preview of what to expect.
"There were clear signs on Thursday that the committee plans to build a case that the ex-President and some key lieutenants still represent a clear and present danger to the republic should he go ahead and run for the presidency again and win in 2024," the CNN analyst argued. "Some of the evidence emerging about Trump's conduct on January 6 is staggering."
In an interview on CNN, former Rep Denver Riggleman (R) who has been acting as an advisor to the committee, said former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows's texts will be front and center.
"It's almost a road map to what happened. And a lot of the texts haven't come out," Riggleman explained. "It is horror, because these are people that are serving our government. And you can see, you know, almost QAnon and other conspiracy theories had inundated the Republican Party all the way up to the top levels. ... It's absolutely stunning that these individuals enter a position of power -- making policy."
Read more here:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/03/politics/january-6-committee-hearing-prime-time/index.html
-
The Jan. 6 committee hearings are finally here — and Republicans are running scared
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-liz-cheney.jpg?id=29813790&width=2400&height=1361)
The long-awaited January 6th committee public hearings have finally been scheduled. The first one is set for next Thursday, June 9th, in prime time. The committee previewed their plans for next week, announcing on Thursday that they will "present previously unseen material documenting January 6th, receive witness testimony, preview additional hearings, and provide the American people a summary of its findings about the coordinated, multi-step effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and prevent the transfer of power." They seem to be very carefully choreographing the event, even drawing out the suspense by not naming the witnesses until next week.
The hearings, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said, will "tell a story that will blow the roof off the House." We can only hope that is not unjustified hyperbole. These hearings are an important public record of an attempted coup that the whole country must see.
What we have already seen is quite a bit of information, like the voluminous text messages from various Republicans and journalists to the White House Chief of staff Mark Meadows during the insurrection itself. There have been leaked testimonies from major players inside the Department of Justice and Donald Trump's White House, as well as information from Trump's legal advisers and various state officials. Between all of that and the media's own digging, people who have been following the story have a pretty clear picture of what happened.
Donald Trump and his allies tried to overturn a legal election with a series of plots that culminated in the violent insurrection on January 6th. But no one has put together the whole story for the American people so that they can understand just how unprecedented and dangerous these schemes were — and how close we came to a very serious constitutional crisis.
The committee is promising previously unseen material and one hopes it will add something to the narrative that we haven't yet seen. And it seems that they are serious about putting together a professional, multi-media presentation, so it shouldn't be too boring for the public. But the most important element of these hearings is going to be witness testimony. It will be the first time we've heard from anyone involved, or even any experts, on the subject of the coup in an official capacity. (You may recall that in Trump's second impeachment, the Democrats were going to call witnesses but backed down at the last minute. )
Expert testimony is always important in hearings like this to educate the public about complex issues. Axios reported this week that they plan to call conservative Republican former federal judge, J. Michael Luttig, a man who was shortlisted more than once for a Supreme Court seat. Luttig advised Former Vice President Mike Pence on the illegality of overthrowing the government. (Evidently, Pence wasn't sure ...)
Republicans are obviously worried that some of their troops might tune in and see something that will shake their faith in the Big Lie.
He wrote in a CNN op-ed in April that Trump lost the election fair and square and that all the rules the Republicans are screaming were unlawfully changed were actually changed "to expand the right and opportunity to vote, largely in response to the COVID pandemic." He is right and the majority of Americans know that. But Luttig went much further in his analysis of the situation and it's something the greater public needs to understand:
Trump's and the Republicans' far more ambitious objective is to execute successfully in 2024 the very same plan they failed in executing in 2020 and to overturn the 2024 election if Trump or his anointed successor loses again in the next quadrennial contest. The last presidential election was a dry run for the next.
Luttig is ultra-conservative. But he isn't delusional and he isn't a coward which makes him something of a unicorn in Republican circles. His testimony should be very compelling.
CNN reported that the committee has also called members of former Vice President Pence's inner circle, including his chief counsel Greg Jacob and his chief of staff Marc Short. In addition they are expected to call former Justice Department officials who were pressured by the president and his lackeys to lie about the election being stolen as well as what CNN calls other "first hand witnesses."
We won't be hearing from Trump himself or the witnesses who are refusing to cooperate, some of whom, like Steve Bannon and former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, have been referred to the Department of Justice for contempt of congress. Meadows is perhaps the most important accomplice of the bunch since he seems to have been the clearing house for every half-baked conspiracy theory in the right-wing fever swamp during the post-election period. He originally cooperated with the committee and turned over a boatload of documents and text messages before he decided to clam up. The texts are scintillating reading, exposing the fact that virtually the entire GOP was begging Trump to stop the insurrection for hours, proving they believed he had the power to do so.
And apparently, as former GOP congressman and January 6th Committee investigator Denver Riggleman told Anderson Cooper, the text messages during the post election period prior to that day were downright chilling:
Riggleman calls Meadows the "MVP" for all the information he provided and one of his close aides, Cassidy Hutchinson, was subpoenaed and testified several times before the committee and appears to have shared other vitally important information. No one has announced that she will testify publicly but if she does, it's clear she has a story to tell.
Whatever happens in these hearings we can be sure that they will be different than any hearings you may have watched in recent years and it's not just because of the extraordinary subject matter. For the first time in recent memory, we will have a congressional hearing without even one obnoxious Republican grand stander seeking to derail the whole thing. We can expect that this committee will be serious and focused which is something we have not seen in public hearings for a very long time.
The Republicans are obviously worried that some of their troops might tune in and see something that will shake their faith in the Big Lie so they are plotting to "counter-program" the hearings. Axios reported on Thursday that they are deploying everyone from House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy to possibly Trump himself to fan out to Fox News, Steve Bannon's "War Room," "Real America's Voice," Facebook and Trump's own Truth Social to ensure the base doesn't lose their religion.
They plan to portray the Democrats as out of touch with average Americans, one aide telling Axios, "we've got to be rigid and responsible, but a lot of Republicans think if Dems want to just talk about Jan. 6 between now and the midterm election — good luck." In that case, they might want to have a chat with their Dear Leader who can't shut up about the Big Lie that's at the heart of this entire crisis. If anyone's keeping January 6th alive, it's Donald Trump.
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-hearings-2657453635/
-
Jan. 6 committee set to make its case public with prime-time hearing
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/04/jan-6-committee-set-make-its-case-public-with-prime-time-hearing/
-
Meet the little-known Trump aide who could ‘be the next John Dean’ in the Jan. 6 hearings
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/composite-image-of-cassidy-hutchinson-and-jan-6.jpg?id=29937765&width=2400&height=1350)
Former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson plays a similar role in the upcoming Jan. 6 hearings as White House counsel John Dean in the Watergate hearings.
"Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, has sat for multiple depositions with investigators — more than 20 hours — and is expected to play a starring role in the hearings, according to people familiar with the matter. Hutchinson, people familiar with the committee said, has provided extensive information about Meadows’s activities in trying to overturn the election," The Washington Post reported Saturday. "The Washington Post reported late last month that Hutchinson had told the committee that Meadows remarked to others that Trump indicated support for hanging his vice president after rioters who stormed the Capitol on that day started chanting, 'Hang Mike Pence!'"
According to a LinkedIn profile, Hutchinson began in the office of Legislative Affairs in March of 2019. After two promotions, she held the title of "Special Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs, Office of the Chief of Staff" on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Cassidy Hutchinson might turn out to be the next John Dean,” said Norm Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who served as counsel to House Democrats.
In May, Politico reported Hutchinson told the select committee that Meadows incinerated documents after a meeting with Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA).
"Hutchinson has recalled for the committee various episodes in the chaotic scramble to sustain Trump’s election-fraud lie. A former mid-level aide, she kept detailed schedules of movements in the West Wing and had extensive conversations with Meadows," The Post reported. "Court filings show Hutchinson detailing a meeting in the lead-up to Jan. 6 between Meadows and House Republican lawmakers in which they discussed delaying the Joint Session of Congress — or altogether preventing the counting of electoral votes — so that state legislatures could select different electors."
Hutchinson was described as "no longer a figure in Trump’s orbit or Republican politics."
The newspaper has previously reported that Hutchinson said Reps. Perry, Matt Gaetz (R-FA) and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) were warned by the White House Counsel’s Office that their scheme to overturn the election was illegal.
Hutchinson was a White House intern prior to being hired. She described her experience to Christopher Newport University.
"I have set a personal goal to pursue a path of civic significance," she said.
https://www.rawstory.com/cassidy-hutchinson/
-
'Gripping television': Jan. 6 committee expected to air video of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner testimony
The House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol is expected to air video of former White House aides Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner answering investigators' questions about the attempted coup.
"On Thursday night, Chairman Bennie G. Thompson (D-MS) and Vice Chairwoman Liz Cheney (R-WY) will launch a series of televised hearings featuring a combination of live witnesses, pretaped interviews with figures that include Trump family members and previously unseen video footage," The Washington Post reported Saturday. "The hearings mark the culmination of an inquiry that has involved more than 1,000 interviews and reviews of more than 125,000 records."
The Thursday hearing will air 519 days after Jan. 6 and 157 days before the 2022 midterm elections.
"To tell that story, the committee will draw on testimony from administration insiders, including a previously obscure aide who has given the committee a detailed reconstruction of meetings and movements in the West Wing. The committee also has video recordings of interviews with Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, that some inside the process believe will make for gripping television," the newspaper reported. "Although the committee has not made a final decision, people familiar with the investigation believe the panel will screen footage of testimony from Ivanka Trump and Kushner — including Trump’s account of her father’s actions in the West Wing on Jan. 6."
The newspaper spoke with one person "close the investigation."
"Everybody will pay attention when Jared and Ivanka talk on video."
Read more here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/04/jan-6-committee-set-make-its-case-public-with-prime-time-hearing/
-
Jan. 6 committee adviser on public hearings: People will be ‘absolutely surprised'
https://thehill.com/news/sunday-talk-shows/3512354-jan-6-committee-adviser-on-public-hearings-people-will-be-absolutely-surprised/
-
CBS Evening News
It’s been nearly a year since the bipartisan House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol was formed. This week, it's set to share its findings as public hearings begin.
Watch: https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1533598038744256512
-
Pro-Trump GOPers facing major roadblock to their plan to push back at Jan 6th hearings
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rep-elise-stefanik.jpg?id=29938932&width=2400&height=1502)
According to a report from CNN, close congressional allies of Donald Trump are making plans, at his urging, to push back at the televised House hearings on the Jan 6th insurrection hoping to distract viewers from expected revelations about the former president's complicity in the attack on the Capitol building.
However, as the report points out, that may be easier said than done.
CNN is reporting that Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is heading up the diversionary antics, with Trump communicating "to some of his most loyal acolytes on Capitol Hill that the former President wants people vigorously defending him and pushing back."
Among those expected to take part in the counterprogramming are Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Jim Banks (R-IN), each of whom have been asked by the bipartisan committee to appear and answer questions.
As CNN reports, "Trump’s insistence that his allies defend his honor has mobilized Republicans both on and off the Hill into action, with a broad range of plans to protect him. This despite the belief by some Republicans that they should draw attention away from January 6.
The belief that the GOP should ignore the hearings is borne out by the fact that, while Stefanik and company plan a major pushback, they have no idea what is coming because House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled all of his nominees to the committee leaving no Trump loyalist to tip-off GOP House members what has been uncovered.
"Part of the challenge for Republicans — especially after they decided to boycott the select committee — is that they have little insight into what the investigation has uncovered and what might be revealed in the public hearings, making it harder for them to settle on a precise strategy," CNN is reporting before adding, "Another is the prospect that the committee will lean heavily on testimony from former aides of Vice President Mike Pence to help make their case – a scenario that could force Republicans to choose sides in a more public way than they have done so previously."
AFP
-
January 6 defendants trying to get trials moved out of Washington, D.C.
Watch: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/january-6-defendants-trying-to-get-trials-moved-out-of-washington-dc/
-
Jan. 6 hearings will feature 'disturbing' new evidence, House Democrat previews
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29942353&width=2400&height=1350)
Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., on Thursday said that he expects "disturbing" new evidence to emerge from the House's upcoming Capitol riot hearings, where dozens of witnesses will be publicly questioned over their connection to and knowledge of January 6.
"This is our democracy," the Rhode Island Democrat told CNN. "This was the greatest assault on American democracy in my lifetime. The world is watching to see how we respond to this."
By Cicilline's account, the nine-member committee charged with investigating the Capitol riot has already taken testimony from more than 1,000 people and collected over 135,000 documents related to the insurrection.
"There will be, I think, substantial evidence that really demonstrates the coordination and the planning and the effort, despite the fact that they understood that Donald Trump lost the election and even once the insurrection began and the violence began, there were ongoing efforts to persuade the former President to stop the violence and call on folks to go home, and he refused to do it," the lawmaker said.
"I think the American people are going to learn facts about the planning and execution of this that will be very disturbing," Cicilline added.
This week, the January 6 panel is set to hold at least half a dozen televised hearings designed to lay bare much of the evidence it has collected since the committee's inception last July. The panel has said that it will proffer "previously unseen material." Details around the committee's schedule have yet to be released. According to CNN, the committee may interview two men with ties to former Vice President Mike Pence, including former Pence chief counsel Greg Jacob and former federal Judge J. Michael Lutti. The outlet also reported that Pence chief of staff Marc Short might provide testimony.
Thus far, the committee has issued subpoenas against numerous allies of Donald Trump, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, former White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, and most recently, Peter Navarro, one of Trump's former trade advisors.
This week would not mark the first time that the January 6 panel has held hearings in relation to the Capitol riot.
Last July, the committee asked for testimony from four Capitol police officers who were tasked with defending the Capitol building during the insurrection. The proceedings offered a clearer glimpse into brutality of the insurgency, which reportedly left numerous officers with physical and emotional trauma.
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-hearings-will-feature-disturbing-new-evidence-house-democrat-previews/
-
January 6 committee hearing schedule, how to watch and what to watch for
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/06/06/january-6-committee-hearing-schedule-how-to-watch/
-
Capitol attack panel to unveil new evidence against Trump at public hearings
Committee intends to reveal previously secret White House records, photos and videos to prove how Trump broke the law
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/46caed45248d02bd445add636c619c8dafcfd49c/0_232_3500_2101/master/3500.jpg?width=700&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=6fc86006400652cf255d42c00ee897e0)
The House select committee investigating the Capitol attack will unveil new evidence at Watergate-style public hearings this week showing Donald Trump and top aides acted with corrupt intent to stop Joe Biden’s certification, according to sources close to the inquiry.
The panel intends to use the hearings as its principal method of revealing potential crimes by Trump as he sought to overturn the 2020 election results, the sources said, in what could be a treacherous legal and political moment for the former president.
As the justice department mounts parallel investigations into the Capitol attack, the select committee is hoping that the previously unseen evidence will leave an indelible mark on the American public about the extent to which Trump went in trying to return himself to the Oval Office.
“They’re important for setting a record for posterity, but they’re also important for jolting the American public into realizing what a direct threat we had coming from the highest levels of government to illegitimately install a president who lost,” Norman Ornstein, a political scientist and emeritus scholar at the conservative thinktank the American Enterprise Institute, said of the hearings.
The panel’s ambitions for the hearings are twofold, the sources said: presenting the basis for alleging Trump broke the law and placing the Capitol attack in a broader context of efforts to overturn the election, with the ex-president’s involvement as the central thread.
At their heart, the hearings are about distilling thousands of communications between top Trump White House aides and operatives outside the administration and the Trump campaign into a compelling narrative of events about the events of 6 January, the sources said.
In order to tell that story, the sources said, the select committee intends to have its senior investigative counsels reveal previously secret White House records, photos and videos that will be presented, in real time, to starkly illustrate the live witness testimony.
On Thursday night, at the inaugural hearing at 8pm, the panel’s chairman, Bennie Thompson, and the vice-chair, Liz Cheney, are likely to make opening arguments, outline a roadmap for the hearings, and give an overview of the events of 6 January, and the preceding weeks.
The panel is likely to focus on broad themes for the following four hearings, such as how Trump used false claims of voter fraud to undermine the 2020 election and future races, and how he tried to use fake electors to deceive Congress into returning him to office.
House investigators are also likely to focus on how Trump directly pivoted to the 6 January congressional certification – and not the December deadlines for states to certify their electors – as an inflection point, and how his actions led straight to militia and far-right groups’ covert maneuverings.
The panel is then likely to reserve its most explosive revelations for the final hearing in prime time, where the select committee members Adam Kinzinger and Elaine Luria are expected to run through Trump’s actions and inactions as the 6 January attack unfolded.
The list of witnesses has not yet been finalised, the sources said, but it is expected to include top aides to former vice-president Mike Pence, aides to Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows, and people with direct knowledge of militia group activities on 6 January.
From a legal perspective, the panel has already alleged in court filings that Trump and his external legal adviser, John Eastman, violated multiple federal laws to overturn the 2020 election outcome, including obstruction of Congress and defrauding the United States.
The select committee hopes that by revealing new evidence in hearings, the sources said, it can convince beyond a reasonable doubt the American public and potentially the justice department that the former president violated laws to reverse his 2020 election defeat.
Among the highlights of the already-public evidence include the revelation that Eastman, Trump’s external legal adviser, admitted to Pence’s counsel, Greg Jacob, that his scheme to obstruct Congress on 6 January was unlawful, but pressed ahead with it anyway.
The internal White House schedule for 6 January that the select committee obtained through the National Archives, meanwhile, showed that Trump would have known he had no plans to march with the crowd to the Capitol when he falsely promised that at the Ellipse rally.
House investigators are in many ways making their case to the American public, the sources said, since it is not certain whether the panel will make criminal referrals to federal prosecutors, given they are not binding on the justice department, which has the sole authority to file charges.
But that quest will come with its own challenges, and the panel’s greatest difficulty is perhaps not so much whether they can show wrongdoing by Trump and his top advisers, but whether it can get Republican and independent voters to care.
The repeated delays in holding the hearings have meant House investigators were able to finish most of the evidence-gathering they intended to conduct (the committee initially anticipated holding them sometime in “the spring, then in April, then in May, and now in June).
Committee counsel recently told one witness who had been assisting the investigation for months that it didn’t expect to ask for any more assistance, according to two sources familiar with the inquiry. “We are pretty much done,” the counsel told that particular witness.
But the consequence of the decision to delay the start of public hearings, and the constant drip of news from the investigation, is that it might have driven some “6 January fatigue” – which Trump’s allies on Capitol Hill are intent on weaponising to defend Trump.
The former president’s most ardent defenders in Congress and top Republicans led by the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, are planning aggressive counter-programming to the public hearings that slam the panel as partisan, according to party aides.
The Republican National Committee has also circulated a one-page memo of talking points, Vox earlier reported, requesting that Trump surrogates attack the investigation as “rigged” – even though multiple federal courts have ruled the inquiry is fully legitimate.
Overcoming counter-programming to cut through to Republican and independent voters could pose a challenge, the panel’s members have privately discussed. After all, the sources said, the panel is not trying to convince Democrats of Trump’s role in the Capitol attack.
The prospect of collective public exhaustion over 6 January-related news, with each new revelation seemingly more shocking than the last, appears to have also pressed the select committee to cut its June hearings schedule from eight hearings to now six.
According to a draft schedule reviewed by the Guardian and first reported last week, the panel anticipates holding just the first and final hearings – on 9 June and 23 June – in prime time at 8pm. The other four – on the 13th, 15th, 16th and 21st – will be at 10am.
Still, the target audience for the select committee is not Republicans but swing voters, Ornstein said. “I don’t have any expectation that Republicans who believe the election was stolen will change their minds. But it’s about the other voters and whether it will jolt the Democratic base into understanding what the stakes are.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/06/capitol-attack-panel-public-hearings
-
Trial begins in one week in Jan 6 case of Kevin Seefried. Feds say Seefried had Confederate flag
Defense: He "neither intended to participatenor actually participated in violent conduct.. did not threaten any officers or steal.. he was not affiliated with any extremist group".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUhGAb6XoAAuw9N?format=jpg&name=360x360)
-
Justice Dept files motion to "preclude claim of self-defense" in Jan 6 case of Trump appointee Federico Klein:
"Available facts..show the defendant was the initial aggressor, attacking a police line that had only been established because the police had been forced to fall back"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUYCTCYX0AAMMnh?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUYCTDMWIAUyTyF?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Judge rules Justice Dept can admit evidence at trial in high-level Capitol riot case of Kyle Fitzimons:
Records of 4 calls made to two Congressional offices in Dec 2020 in which he referenced election fraud and indicated his belief that President Biden was not lawfully elected"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FURhET1XwBARtln?format=jpg&name=360x360)
-
Enrique Tarrio and Proud Boys members charged with seditious conspiracy for alleged Jan. 6 crimes
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1533908471384461312/tsiL0enU?format=jpg&name=medium)
Washington – The leader of the far-right Proud Boys and four of the group's members have been charged with seditious conspiracy stemming from their alleged planning for and participation in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Enrique Tarrio, along with codefendants Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl, and Dominic Pezzola, are accused of conspiring to use force to oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power "by preventing, hindering, or delaying by force the execution of the laws governing the transfer of power," according to a grand jury indictment filed Monday.
The five men were previously indicted on charges of conspiracy and pleaded not guilty. Monday's indictment adds the even more serious "seditious" element to the counts, although many of the details in the new indictment had previously been alleged in the initial conspiracy charges.
According to the indictment, in December 2020, Tarrio and the Proud Boys members conspired to obstruct and stop the counting of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6. An unnamed individual sent Tarrio a document entitled "1776 RETURNS," which described a plan to occupy multiple buildings in Washington, D.C., including congressional office buildings.
Using encrypted messaging programs, the indicted Proud Boys are accused of discussing their plans for the rally and beyond. One member of the group allegedly asked on Jan. 3, 2021, "What would they do if 1 million patriots stormed and too the capital building. Shoot into the crowd? I think not…They would do nothing because they can do nothing."
That same day, according to charging documents, an unidentified individual sent a voice message in the group chat and is accused of stating in part, "The main operating theater should be out in front of the house of representatives…plan the operations based around the front entrance of the Capitol building." Rehl allegedly responded, "good start."
In court documents filed Monday evening, Rehl's court-appointed attorney Carmen Hernandez asked the judge overseeing her client's case for permission to publicly comment on the new indictment, citing local court rules that limit attorneys' public disclosures.
"Without adding a single factual allegation concerning Mr. Rehl, the government today filed the Third Superseding Indictment in the instant case, nearly 1-1/2 years after Mr. Rehl was first indicted and detained pretrial and just two months before he is scheduled to begin trial," the filing reads in part.
She later wrote, "the worst that has been alleged against Mr. Rehl is that he has associated himself with the Proud Boys, a lawful fraternal association as is his right protected by the First Amendment."
Tarrio and his codefendants are the second group to be accused of seditious conspiracy. They join Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other accused members of the group previously charged with the most serious criminal charges in the sprawling Jan. 6 investigation.
Also on Monday, documentarian Nick Quested of Goldcrest Films confirmed to CBS News that he will testify during Thursday's House January 6 Committee hearing. Quested was following Tarrio on Jan. 5, 2021, and captured a meeting with Tarrio and Oath Keepers' leader Stewart Rhodes in a D.C. hotel parking garage.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/enrique-tarrio-proud-boys-charged-seditious-conspiracy-january-6/
-
Democrats must highlight GOP 'complicity' in insurrection during January 6 hearings: columnists
On Monday, writing for The Washington Post, columnists Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent emphasized that in order for the January 6 Committee's hearings to be successful, it must directly highlight the Republican Party's "complicity" in the efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, and the subsequent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
This comes amid reports that Republicans are preparing to gear up a PR offensive against the legitimacy of the committee's work — and former President Donald Trump himself is considering a public appearance of his own to pre-empt the proceedings.
"Democrats need a strategy to push back. Whatever they do should foreground a simple truth: Many Republicans were either complicit in Trump’s effort to destroy our constitutional order to remain in power illegitimately, have since worked hard to cover it up or both," they wrote. "So Republicans have zero credibility on these matters, and they should be granted zero standing to address them. Democrats need to say this clearly and forcefully."
This is necessary, they argued, to disarm the media's natural impulse to hold both sides culpable.
"We already know the media’s both-sidesing instincts are vulnerable to this kind of Republican manipulation, because we’ve seen it," they wrote. "Recall that, early on, there was talk of creating a bipartisan commission to examine Jan. 6. Republicans balked at the very idea that the commission should primarily examine the violent insurrection attempt, demanding that it also look at leftist violence, an absurdly transparent effort to muddy the waters. Then, after that commission died and Democrats set up the current select committee, McCarthy tried to appoint Trumpist arsonists such as Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Jim Banks (R-Ind.). That was nothing more than a transparent effort to sabotage the committee’s work from within."
Ultimately, they argued, the whole GOP has to be put on trial.
"These Republicans, of course, have the right to make their case. But they don’t have a right to have their inevitably fantastical, bad-faith-saturated claims passed on to readers and viewers uncritically," they concluded. "Nor do they have the right to equal time. The committee will present the results of months of evidence-gathering, which will include extensive document examination and thousands of hours of interviews. Republicans rolling out bogus 'investigations' that are expressly designed to muddy the waters around legitimate congressional fact-finding into an effort to destroy our democracy don’t deserve the same volume of attention."
You can read more here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/06/gop-complicit-trump-coup/
-
Jan. 6 hearing will feature Proud Boy documentarian embedded during the attack
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29945575&width=2400&height=1430)
According to a report from Politico, a British documentarian who was allowed to film Proud Boy members during some of their private conversations about the Jan 6th insurrection will be a featured witness when the House committee investigating the riot convenes its first hearing on Thursday.
Nick Quested and his crew were embedded with the far-right group on the day that Donald Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally preceded a march on the nation's Capitol that forced lawmakers to flee.
According to Politico's Kyle Cheney, "Quested captured some of the most harrowing and vivid footage from the front lines of the violence that day, including key moments of confrontation between members of the mob and Capitol Police just before rioters stormed the barricades. His crew was also present for key conversations among Proud Boys leaders, as well as a garage meeting between the group’s national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, whose group also played a central role in the January 2021 attack on the Capitol.
Thursday hearing will also feature a multimedia presentation documenting the events of the day, as well as three associates of former vice president Mike Pence who will be key to the committee's case against the Trump White House.
Read more here:
https://www.politico.com/minutes/congress/04-5-2022/candid-cameraman/
-
A comprehensive timeline of Jan. 6 intelligence failures
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6th-intelligence/
-
Head of Trump Secret Service detail spoke with House investigators about Jan. 6: report
According to a report from Politico's Betsy Woodruff Swan, the head of former President Donald Trump's Secret Service detail on January 6, 2021, has already sat down with House committee members investigating the insurrection.
With the Washington Post reporting that Trump's protective detail was forced to scramble when he wanted to motorcade to the scene of the riot, the Politico report notes that agent Robert Engel has provided valuable information to the committee.
According to Woodruff Swan, Engel was "the special agent in charge on Jan. 6, 2021, meaning he was responsible for protecting the president from 'socks on to socks off' — the whole work day. In that role, he rode from the White House to that day’s 'Stop the Steal' rally with Trump in the presidential armored car called 'The Beast.'"
The report adds that the committee asked him about the day's details and "how the Secret Service handled the day’s chaos."
A Secret Service spokesperson confirmed the sit-down in a statement that said, "Every single member of the Secret Service who was requested by the committee has been provided to them. We fully support and are cooperating with the committee’s work. Employees, documentation, whatever is requested by the committee, we have cooperated with.”
A spokesperson for the committee refused comment on what was divulged, the report states.
Read more here:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/07/jan-6-committee-interviews-head-of-trumps-secret-service-detail-on-day-of-capitol-attack-00037748
-
How Mark Meadows may have been instrumental in the Jan. 6 attack
The role of then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows in Donald Trump's efforts is examined in a new book by veteran journalists Peter Baker of The New York Times and his wife, Susan Glasser, of The New Yorker.
The book, The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021, was previewed by Glasser in her "Letter from Biden's Washington" column.
"Meadows and his two different personas are at the center of many of the controversies lingering since Trump’s tumultuous exit from office. The January 6th committee has discovered this duality. Meadows at first agreed to coöperate with the panel but then abruptly stopped after Trump castigated him for publishing a memoir, The Chief’s Chief, which airbrushed their history—though not sufficiently for Trump. The former President was furious with Meadows for revealing his lies, which Trump dismissed as 'Fake News,' to the public about the seriousness and timing of his October, 2020, bout with Covid," Glasser wrote.
The two found that Jan. 6 might not have happened were not for Meadows.
"Meadows’ remarkable ability, even for a politician, to do one thing while saying another has also been the subject of running news reports. My colleague Charles Bethea disclosed, in The New Yorker, that Trump’s chief of staff was publicly alleging voter fraud in the 2020 election while apparently committing voter fraud himself."
"Meadows registered to vote by absentee ballot in September, 2020, from a mobile home in North Carolina which he had never visited. North Carolina’s authorities have removed Meadows from the state’s voter rolls and are investigating his actions," she wrote. "In many ways, Meadows’s skill for obfuscation has delayed an inevitable reckoning about his role in enabling Trump’s post-election conduct. But the evidence is now much clearer that Meadows’s actions in the White House at this crucial moment not only mattered but might well have been decisive. It’s very possible, in fact, that the tragedy of January 6th might never have happened had it not been for Trump’s final chief of staff."
The two also reported that Meadows "consolidated power" and excluded then-Vice President Mike Pence from meetings.
Read more here:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-bidens-washington/mark-meadows-was-trumps-matador-for-his-fake-election-lies
-
U.S. Capitol assault hearings to open with injured police officer and filmmaker
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29950018&width=980&quality=85)
A police officer hurt by Donald Trump supporters trying to overturn his election defeat and a filmmaker who recorded some leaders of the U.S. Capitol riot will be among the first witnesses when hearings into the assault begin on Thursday, organizers said.
The Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee will attempt to reverse Republican efforts to downplay or deny the violence on Jan. 6, 2021, with five months to go until Nov. 8 midterm elections that will determine which party controls Congress for the next two years.
The committee's first public hearing will begin on Thursday at 8 p.m. ET, a prime time spot intended to capture the attention of as many Americans as possible, to be shown live on major networks including NBC, ABC and CBS.
U.S. Capitol Officer Caroline Edwards, who sustained a traumatic brain injury that has so far prevented her from returning to her previous duties, and Nick Quested, a filmmaker who has captured footage of the right-wing group Proud Boys and documented events that morning, are due to appear.
Five further hearings are expected in the next two weeks.
Four people died the day of the attack, one fatally shot by police and the others of natural causes. Four police officers later took their own lives and more than 100 were injured.
© Reuters
-
Former GOP staffer suggests Fox doesn't deserve White House press access if they'll ignore Jan 6 hearings
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/peter-doocy-peter-alexander-and-jen-psaki.jpg?id=27175580&width=2400&height=1350)
On MSNBC Tuesday, former Republican Party spokesman Kurt Bardella tore into Fox News for refusing to carry coverage of the upcoming January 6 hearings in Congress.
Fox has said that coverage of the hearings will be relegated to its business channel, leaving its primetime lineup on its main channel in regular programming.
"This is the most ... troubling and disturbing news story ever," said anchor Joy Reid. "To not cover it seems negligent, but there are studies that show that if even Fox viewers, as read in and in the bubble as they are, when they watch non-Fox coverage when they are made to sit down and watch other coverage, they do develop a broader view."
"Well, this is why, Joy," said Bardella. "I think it's time that we reach the point where we stop treating Fox like a news outlet at all, because it's clearly not. They are making the conscious decision to commit journalistic malpractice by ignoring the biggest story right now, the biggest story perhaps in our — in our entire country's history actually, when you look at where this is all going. This is a major pivotal inflection point in the fight to salvage democracy, and they are choosing not to cover it. That's not the action of a responsible news outlet. Not the action of a journalist or reporter. That's the action of a propaganda vehicle for a political party that's determined to play a substantial role in undermining democracy as we know it."
Bardella took it further, suggesting that Fox News doesn't deserve to have White House press passes.
"Why these people are allowed to have a White House press briefing access, why they are allowed to have a press credential to cover the U.S. Capitol, I have no idea," said Bardella. "I know this. If al-Qaeda created a media outlet, we wouldn't give them a hard pass to cover our government. Why in the world would we allow the people who are egging on, fomenting and defending insurrectionists to have that type of access? They shouldn't."
Watch below:
-
Revealed: Nearly every Proud Boy indicted for seditious conspiracy is a military veteran
On Tuesday, Axios reported that nearly all of the Proud Boys indicted for seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, are military veterans.
"Four out of five members of the Proud Boys right-wing extremist group who were indicted on sedition charges previously served in the military," reported Herb Scribner. "The indicted members include an Army veteran with a Purple Heart, two marines and a sailor recruit." Military.com was first to report the connections.
"The charges against the Proud Boys allege the group's members were among hundreds of Trump supporters who gathered to riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6," the report continued. "The Proud Boys members 'directed, mobilized and led members of the crowd onto the Capitol grounds and into the Capitol,' the Department of Justice said in a statement. The group also worked to dismantle barricades, destroy property, breach the Capitol building and assault law enforcement officers, the DOJ said."
The Proud Boys are a self-described "Western Chauvinist" group with ties to white supremacists, notorious for their street brawling behavior.
Prior to the conspiracy indictment, several Proud Boys were already facing a number of other charges, including lead figure Enrique Tarrio.
This comes after another far-right extremist group, the paramilitary Oath Keepers, also saw seditious conspiracy charges for several of its leaders.
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/07/proud-boys-military-indicted-jan-6-capitol-riot
-
Jan. 3 Oval Office meeting to be highlighted in Jan. 6 hearings -- and may feature Trump senior staffer
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-and-pat-cipollone.jpg?id=29949744&width=2400&height=1350)
The upcoming select committee prime-time hearings could feature two senior staffers to Donald Trump who were participants in a key Oval Office on the Sunday before the attempted coup.
"The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is in active discussions with former White House counsel Pat Cipollone regarding a potential public appearance in one of their upcoming hearings, according to sources familiar with the matter," ABC News reported Tuesday. "Cipollone was one of the few aides who was with then-President Donald Trump in the West Wing on Jan. 6. ABC News previously reported that in the days following the attack on the Capitol, he advised Trump that Trump could potentially face civil liability in connection with his role encouraging supporters to march on the Capitol."
Former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin has also had an informal interview with the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"The committee hopes to secure Cipollone's public testimony on a panel with Rosen and his then-deputy Richard Donoghue, along with one of DOJ's former top attorneys, Steve Engel, sources said. Both Rosen and Donoghue have received formal invitations from the committee to appear," ABC News reported. "Both Cipollone and Philbin were part of a Jan. 3 Oval Office meeting where Trump insisted on replacing [acting Attorney General Jeffey Rosen with Trump loyalist Jeffrey Clark, who had vowed to use the Department of Justice to investigate the election."
At the meeting, Trump reportedly said, "One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren't going to do anything to overturn the election."
There was a lot that reportedly went on during the Sunday afternoon meeting.
"The officials in that meeting also debated a proposal by Clark to send a letter to state officials in Georgia urging officials in the state to investigate unfounded claims of fraud with an eye toward overturning President Joe Biden's victory in the state," ABC News reported. "According to Donoghue, Cipollone and Philbin made it clear to Trump that they would resign if Clark were installed, with Cipollone describing the Georgia letter as a 'murder-suicide pact' that would 'damage anyone and anything that it touches,' according to a Senate committee report released last year that detailed instances where Trump and his allies sought to use the DOJ to overturn the election."
Read the full report:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/top-trump-white-house-lawyer-active-talks-jan/story?id=85246792
-
Legal expert: New evidence shows Capitol rioters 'carefully coordinating and organizing' the Jan. 6 attack
On Tuesday's edition of MSNBC's "The Beat," former federal prosecutor Barbara McQuade discussed the implications of a newly released video showing Capitol rioters planning in an underground parking structure the day before the attack.
Specifically, she argued that the video reveals the extent of organization and scheming that went into the assault.
"I think this debunks the arguments we have been hearing this was ordinary tourists, or a crowd that got out of hand or overly enthusiastic in their plans that day," said McQuade. "At least some of these people were carefully coordinating and organizing, and I think that rings true in the Oath Keepers and now Proud Boys indictment for seditious conspiracy. The next level is whether or not there was someone organizing above them to provide funding and other things. That's what's important about these things, getting to the bottom of those organized efforts."
The topic then turned to former President Donald Trump's role in the attack.
"Barbara, does it matter the then-president told the group we just saw there, to stand by, if he lost the election?" said anchor Ari Melber.
"I think that there is certainly an argument to be made that that was a call to action," said McQuade. "I don't know that that alone is enough to implicate him criminally. I think he would say, I was just exercising my First Amendment rights, but I also think it's something that terrorism experts refer to as, which is I'm going say immigrant in the public domain and hope somebody picks up on it and acts on it. It's the same way ISIS radicalizers get people to take up arms in America against westerners who are not part of the ISIS ideal. It's the same principle. But tying him criminally on that alone is probably not enough. I think you'd want more evidence when was involved in a cleaner organization."
Watch below:
-
Judge orders new batch of John Eastman emails turned over -- including evidence of another crime
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/john-eastman.jpg?id=27651480&width=2400&height=1349)
A federal judge ordered a new batch of John Eastman's emails released that includes evidence of another potential crime.
U.S. District Court Judge David Carter ordered the conservative attorney to disclose 159 documents, including emails and papers related to meetings he held with a secretive group supporting Donald Trump, to the House select committee just days before its first public hearing on the Jan.6 insurrection, reported Politico.
“The Select Committee has a substantial interest in these three meetings because the presentations furthered a critical objective of the January 6 plan: to have contested states certify alternate slates of electors for President Trump,” Carter ruled. “Dr. Eastman’s actions in these few weeks indicate that his and President Trump’s pressure campaign to stop the electoral count did not end with Vice President Pence — it targeted every tier of federal and state elected officials. Convincing state legislatures to certify competing electors was essential to stop the count and ensure President Trump’s reelection.”
Five documents include the agenda for a Dec. 9, 2020, meeting where a member of Congress discussed a plan to challenge Joe Biden's electors in the House of Representatives, and Carter identified a single email from Dec. 22, 2020, from an unidentified attorney as evidence of a potential crime.
“Because the attorney concluded that a negative court ruling would ‘tank the January 6 strategy,’ he encouraged the legal team to avoid the courts,” Carter found.
“This email cemented the direction of the January 6 plan,” Carter added. “The Trump legal team chose not to seek recourse in court — instead, they forged ahead with a political campaign to disrupt the electoral count. Lawyers are free not to bring cases; they are not free to evade judicial review to overturn a democratic election. Accordingly, this portion of the email is subject to the crime-fraud exception and must be disclosed.”
Other documents include several communications directly from the former president, including a photo with a handwritten note from Trump about the size of his campaign rallies, and two were sent from Trump's executive assistant seeking advice for framing his public statements about sending alternate slates of electors to Congress.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/07/judge-eastman-emails-jan-6-committee-00037999
-
Here are the most critical findings so far by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/smoking-gun-house-republican-admits-trump-made-an-explosive-comment-during-the-capitol-attack.jpg?id=25441947&width=2400&height=1656)
The first public hearings of the House Select Committee will air on Thursday in prime time and they'll not only ask witnesses to testify about their experiences, but they'll also review all of the evidence they've collected from text messages, documents and over 1,000 witnesses.
Thus far, the evidence gathered by the committee has shown that Trump had a lot of help in his efforts to overturn the 2020 election -- below we'll go through some of the most shocking evidence the committee has gathered so far.
1.) Trump's campaign encouraged "alternate" electors in a bid to deny Biden the White House.
One way Trump sough to cling to power was a scheme encouraged by his own campaign to create a series of phony "alternate" electors in key swing states who would back him instead of President Joe Biden.
Monday night it was revealed that emails revealed that a Trump campaign staffer told fraudulent Georgia electors to stay quiet in their efforts to stop the legitimate electors from being counted in the state. The email from the Trump staffer walked the supporters through the process, although it's unclear if this aide was acting on his own or simply following orders.
One little-known Trump aide appeared before the committee at least twice to reveal that the White House Counsel’s office made it clear to Meadows and Giuliani that fake electors would be illegal. The dates of the meeting are important because it makes it clear that Meadows and Giuliani knew it was illegal but the Trump campaign attempted to push the fake electors anyway.
2.) Testimony indicates Trump approved of violent threats issued against Vice President Mike Pence.
Another shocking allegation is the claim made by a former aide to Mark Meadows that Trump apparently expressed approval at his supporters who were calling for Mike Pence's hanging.
"Mr. Meadows, according to an account provided to the House committee investigating Jan. 6, then told the colleagues that Mr. Trump had said something to the effect of, maybe Mr. Pence should be hanged," the New York Times reported last month, citing testimony from a Meadows aide.
3.) Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was a central play in the scheme to keep Trump in power.
Messages published by CBS News and the Washington Post revealed Ginni Thomas was far more involved with the attempt to overthrow the election than previously known. Since then, other White House staffers have come forward with tales of Mrs. Thomas trying to assert her authority over the staff in the West Wing and push QAnon conspiracy theories.
Thomas's involvement is particularly notable because her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was the sole vote to oppose the release of text messages and documents from Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows.
4.) Fox News hosts were intimately involved in the Trump campaign's strategy and messaging during and after the campaign.
Fox News has decided against airing primetime January 6th hearings, even though Fox News host Sean Hannity in late 2020 was taking directions from White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on how to help the president stay in office.
At one point, Hannity tweeted to Meadows, "[North Carolina] gonna be ok?"
Meadows replied back, "Stress every vote matters. Get out and vote. On radio."
"Yes sir," replied Hannity. "On it."
Hannity wasn't the only one. Laura Ingraham, for instance, was found to have frantically texted Meadows on January 6th in an attempt to get him to convince Trump to call off the rioters.
“Mark, the president needs to tell people in the Capitol to go home,” Ingraham told Meadows. “This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.”
“Please get him on tv. Destroying everything you have accomplished," her colleague, Brian Kilmeade wrote.
“Can he make a statement?” Hannity asked on Jan. 6. “Ask people to leave the Capitol.”
5.) Trump allies made a push to use the military to seize voting machines.
Another shocking finding was that Trump allies pushed the president to seize voting machines that they blamed for purportedly stealing the election. Both Michael Flynn and lawyer Sidney Powell met with Trump, according to Axios, asking that Trump appoint a special counsel to investigate the election.
Politico revealed that the two crafted an executive order for Trump to sign that would give the Defense secretary 60 days to craft an assessment. The DOD could then keep Trump in power until at least Feb. 2021.
More findings will be revealed in the coming days -- the first hearing begins June 9th at 8 p.m. EST on Thursday.
https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-shocking-findings/
-
Inaugural January 6 hearing to track activities of Proud Boys during Capitol attack
The House select committee investigating the insurrection will examine several crucial stages in the lead up to the first breach of the Capitol
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/39e51a573235949e92b7073e5b8ddec6072e45e9/0_400_6000_3600/master/6000.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=52963ec216ac73c61973c86214d69995)
The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack is scheduled to hold its inaugural hearing on Thursday and according to the running order obtained by the Guardian, the panel will track the activities of the far-right Proud Boys group before and during the insurrection.
At the start of the hearing, the panel’s chairman Bennie Thompson and vice-chair Liz Cheney will make a series of opening arguments before outlining a general roadmap of how each of the six Watergate-style hearings are expected to unfold.
For the second hour, Thompson and Cheney will hand control of the hearing to Tim Heaphy, the chief investigative counsel for the select committee, who will lead the questioning of two witnesses and walk through the key moments of the Capitol attack.
The select committee is expected to start the questioning with testimony from Nick Quested, a British documentary film-maker who was embedded with the far-right Proud Boys group in the days and weeks leading up to January 6 and caught their activities on camera.
Quested, appearing pursuant to a subpoena, is likely to deliver his own opening remarks and testify about how the Proud Boys planned their January 6 operation in detail in the weeks before the Capitol attack, narrating and analysing the footage that he recorded.
By examining several crucial stages in the lead up to the first breach of the Capitol by the pro-Trump mob – such as the march to the Capitol from the Ellipse and a short stop at the Statue of Peace at the foot of Capitol Hill – the panel will show how the attack came to pass.
The select committee is then expected to focus on the moment that Joseph Biggs, a member of the Proud Boys charged with seditious conspiracy on Monday, had a brief exchange with a man in the crowd near the statue just before the march morphed into the Capitol attack.
Biggs’ exchange with that man, Ryan Samsel, is widely seen as the tipping point that precipitated the riot. Samsel, who has been charged with attacking police, then walks up alone to the barricade and confronts US Capitol Police officers before pushing it over.
The select committee will illustrate Quested’s testimony about how that incident unfolded by playing footage leading up to that moment and a photo Quested took of the moment that Samsel is about to confront and then push past the officers.
Heaphy is expected at that point to have the second witness, US Capitol Police officer Caroline Edwards, testify about her recollections of those key minutes during which she was assaulted by another man who had been speaking with the Proud Boy member.
The testimony by Edwards, who was the first officer injured in the attack, is expected to be harrowing. Edwards, the New York Times reported, was knocked backwards into concrete steps by the surging pro-Trump mob that overturned the bike rack-like barricade on to her.
Heaphy is expected to return to Quested to have him analyse other moments that he caught on camera as the Proud Boys led the charge up to the inaugural platform elected for Biden’s swearing-in weeks later, and then smashed a window in order to enter the Capitol.
But in a notable omission, the select committee is not expected to use Quested’s footage of Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys, meeting with Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers militia group, at a secret rendezvous the night before.
The justice department has cited that meeting, which took place in an underground parking garage near the Capitol, in seditious conspiracy indictments against Tarrio, Rhodes, and other members of both the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups.
Quested is considered the star witness in the select committee’s inaugural hearing, which will be covered live by most of the major US cable news networks, including MSNBC, CNN, CBS and ABC. Fox News will have its top-rated host Tucker Carlson deliver counter-programming.
The Emmy award-winning documentary film-maker spent much of the post 2020 election period filming Tarrio and the Proud Boys – with their permission – and has testified multiple times to the panel in closed-door depositions.
Quested had accompanied the Proud Boys to a number of pro-Trump rallies in Washington DC in November and December 2020, and was with the Proud Boys as some of its members stormed the Capitol. He also filmed Tarrio’s reaction to the riot later on January 6 in Baltimore, MD.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/08/inaugural-january-6-hearing-to-track-activities-of-proud-boys-during-capitol-attack
-
What you might learn from the Jan. 6 hearings -- according to journalists who covered the Capitol riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29948385&width=2400&height=1350)
In an interview published this in The New Yorker, journalists Andrea Bernstein and Ilya Marritz talked about their reporting on the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and what to expect from the House Committee tasked with investigating it.
Bernstein was asked her writing that says “polls show that the proportion of Americans who believe that violent attacks against the government can be justified is rising," saying that one thing that has fueled violent conspiracism is the COVID-19 pandemic. One thing she sees as parallel between right-wing extremists and terror groups in the Middle East are individuals who have few resources to deal with social stressors being subject to radicalization. "...the pandemic made people lose their bearings and increasingly open to online misinformation and disinformation," Bernstein said.
Bernstein went to describe some misunderstandings Americans may have in regards to the Capitol riot.
"For example, there were quite a few Trump allies who conveyed some version, after the election, of, 'This is Trump just dealing with the drama of losing.' But we now know that Trump tried to block the peaceful transfer of power, including by trying to get the Justice Department to investigate 'fraud' and to stop the electoral-vote count; trying to change the vote count in Georgia; trying to influence state elected officials to reject the results; pondering having D.H.S. and/or the Department of Defense seize voting machines, etc. So that’s one misunderstanding: that this was anything less than an almost-coup," Bernstein said.
Another thing Americans may not realize, according to Bernstein, is that the threat of right-wing extremists carrying out attacks in the government didn't end with the Capitol riot. "As our reporting shows, January 6th was the beginning of a consolidation of extremist views," she said. "As John Cohen, the former acting chief of intelligence for the D.H.S., told us for our story, 'I am really f***ing concerned about where we are.'"
Marritz said that she's doubtful the Jan. 6 hearings will significantly move the opinions of Republicans.
"Everyone has pretty much settled on the story they believe about why this happened and what it means," Marritz said, adding that the committee's work "is the only holistic, official government report we’re likely to get about the riot."
"It’s different from the 9/11 Commission in lots of ways, but, similarly, the committee has the opportunity to set down a record through testimony and documents," Marritz said. "I will watch it closely as a journalist, and just as a citizen, because I want to understand the causes of this colossal failure."
Read the full interview over at The New Yorker
https://www.newyorker.com/newsletter/the-daily/what-we-still-need-to-learn-about-january-6th
-
Trump on Trial: A Guide to the January 6 Hearings and the Question of Criminality
https://www.brookings.edu/research/trump-on-trial/
-
Don’t Let Anyone Tell You the January 6 Hearings Don’t Matter
https://newrepublic.com/article/166711/january-6-commission-media-strategy
-
Jan. 6 hearings will show Trump 'isolated in grievance and singularly responsible' for riots: former GOP lawmaker
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-january-6-2657475883/
-
How allegations of GOP 'reconnaissance' tours are rocketing back during the run-up to the Jan. 6 hearings
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/january-6-2021-rioters-clash-with-police-trying-to-enter-capitol-building-through-the-front-doors.jpg?id=29950197&width=2400&height=1350)
In the weeks following the Jan 6. attack on the U.S. Capitol, multiple Republican members of Congress denied giving "reconnaissance tours" ahead of the attack, yet the question of whether there was inside information given to the insurrectionists has come back into the foreground of the conversation ahead of public hearings by the select committee.
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), a former federal prosecutor and retired U.S. Navy Lt. Commander, revealed after Jan. 6 that she believes she witnessed insurgents doing a "reconnaissance" tour prior to the attack.
"I also intend to see that those members of Congress who abetted him — those members of Congress who had groups coming through the capitol that I saw on Jan. 5 for reconnaissance for the next day — those members of Congress who incited the violent crowd, those members of Congress that attempted to help our president undermine our democracy, I'm going see that they're held accountable," Sherrill said in a video she posted to Facebook.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY) confirmed Sherrill's report, saying he saw a member of Congress providing a reconnaissance tour the night before the attack.
But Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) all denied giving reconnaissance tours.
But questions remain, including about a late-night tour of the Capitol by then Representative-elect Boebert on Dec. 12, 2020 — late on the night of the first Stop the Steal rally.
Tristen Snell, who prosecuted Trump University for the NY attorney general's office, thinks there had to be inside information from the Republican side of the aisle.
"There are 658 panes of glass in the ground floors of the Capitol. Only a dozen were not reinforced prior to January 6. The insurrectionists knew EXACTLY where those weak points were," he said. "Because they were given advance help — by pro-Trump members of Congress and their staffs.
The question of the tours exploded in May, less than one month before public hearings by the House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The select committee announced that it had evidence directly contradicting denials by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) of providing tours.
Following the explosive announcement, former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal advised Loudermilk to lawyer up and take the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination.
Former federal prosecutor Elie Honig noted that GOP members of Congress could face criminal charges if their denials were false.
Questions about the tours may finally be answered during the Jan. 6 select committee public hearings that commence Thursday.
Watch Sherrill's Jan. 12 video in link below:
https://www.rawstory.com/gop-capitol-reconnaissance-tours/
-
Listen: Lauren Boebert was confronted by GOP colleague on Jan. 6 — and it was caught on tape
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/lauren-boebert.jpg?id=29834683&width=2400&height=1491)
CNN continues to air new audio that has never before been broadcast publicly on the eve of the first prime-time hearing by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The network has been playing audio obtained by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns while researching their book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future.
First they released audio by Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) warning Republicans needed a "safety plan" because MAGA supporters of Donald Trump would "go nuts" if the GOP failed to overturn the 2020 election.
They also released new audio featuring House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Late on Friday, Martin and Burns released audio of Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) criticizing Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) for tweeting out logistical information as the riot was unfolding.
"Is it true that you were live tweeting from the floor our location the people on the outside as we were being attacked, Lauren?" Beutler asked.
"Umm, yes," Boebert admitted. "Those tweets did go out and that was something that was live and public information. It was broadcast live."
"So don’t ask us about security if you’re telling the attackers where we’re at," Beutler replied. "I yield back."
Listen below:
-
'People need to be held accountable': Newly released bombshell audio features McCarthy calling for bipartisan probe of Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/republican-house-minority-leader-kevin-mccarthy.png?id=27351542&width=2400&height=1569)
On Wednesday, CNN reported on new audio revealed of House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) recorded just five days after the January 6 attack, demanding a bipartisan investigation into the affair.
"We cannot just sweep this under the rug," said McCarthy in the clip. "We need to know why it happened, who did it, and people need to be held accountable for it. And I'm committed to making sure that happens."
These private comments stand in stark contrast to how McCarthy has actually handled the congressional investigation into the attack.
While McCarthy initially blamed former President Donald Trump, he quickly walked those criticisms back and voted against impeaching the former president for his role in inciting the insurrection. He later opposed the establishment of a bipartisan independent commission to investigate, and boycotted when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) empaneled a select committee.\
This comes after reporting two months ago that McCarthy privately wanted Trump to resign over the attack — and then publicly denied it.
Similarly, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has backed off his initial criticisms of the former president for inflaming rioters, and has made clear he will support Trump if he is nominated for the presidency again.
Watch the report below:
Watch: Michael Fanone 'went to hell and back to protect' lawmakers on Jan. 6 -- and now he wants answers
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/radical-right-wing-trump-supporters-target-officer-michael-fanone-after-testifying-about-jan-6-capitol-riots.jpg?id=27078302&width=2400&height=1600)
Former Metropolitan Office Michael Fanone is hoping for answers to questions he has about the role of government officials during the public hearings by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
In July of 2021, the Select Committee kicked off its first public hearing with testimony from Fanone, who fought back tears while blasting Republicans for attempting to minimize the attack.
"I feel like I went to hell and back to protect them and the people in this room, but too many are now telling me that hell doesn't exist or that hell actually wasn't that bad," he testified. "Being an officer, you know your life is at risk whenever you walk out the door, even if you don't expect otherwise law-abiding citizens to take up arms against you. But nothing — truly nothing — has prepared me to address those elected members of our government who continue to deny the events of that day, and in doing so, betray their oath of office. Those very members whose lives, offices, staff members I was fighting so desperately to defend."
On Thursday, 317 days after Fanone testified, the select committee will begin another round of hearings.
"So, these hearings begin tomorrow night in prime time," CNN's John Berman noted in an interview Wednesday evening with Officer Fanone.
"What are the outstanding questions you have that need to be answered?" he asked. "What are the blanks you want to have filled in?"
"I have the same questions that I had when I testified last year," Fanone replied.
He said he wanted to know "if there were elected members of our government or government officials who participated in an overt effort to overturn the 2020 election."
"I want to know about our elected members and their subordinates' internal conversations and whether or not they reflect their public rhetoric," he continued. "I want to know if their subordinates coordinated with the individuals who carried out the violent attack or if elected members for that matter coordinated with these individuals, these groups, Three Percenters, the Proud Boys, et cetera."
Watch the segment below:
-
Prior to attack, Republican thought GOP needed ‘safety plan’ to survive Jan. 6: 'They are going to go nuts'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-mob-at-the-capitol-via-shutterstock.jpg?id=29277060&width=2400&height=1323)
CNN broadcast new audio of a Republican congresswoman warning of Jan. 6 violence prior to the attack.
The audio was obtained by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns for their book This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden, and the Battle for America's Future.
The tape, featuring Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ) was played by CNN anchor Erin Burnett for the first time publicly.
"I also ask leadership to come up with a safety plan for members, I'm actually very concerned about this, because we have who knows how many hundreds of thousands of people coming here," Lesko said on Jan. 5, 2021.
"We have Antifa. We also have, quite honestly Trump supporters, who actually believe that we are going to overturn the election. And when that doesn't happen — most likely, will not happen — they are going to go nuts," she warned.
Lesko's comments came after she had reportedly participated in a December 2020 planning meeting in the White House with Reps. Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, who are also Arizona Republicans.
Burnett interviewed Martin for analysis.
"I think what we have on these tapes, what we have in our book, is a very different Republican party in the days before and after Jan. 6th and then today, when the bulk of members simply want to move on and do not want to talk about President Trump's role inciting the mob on Jan. 6. But we have it on tape — and the tapes do not lie. And they capture the mindset in that moment," Martin said.
Watch below:
-
Jan. 6 committee has 'painstakingly traced' how Proud Boys and Oath Keepers followed Trump's tweets
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29957937&width=2400&height=1436)
According to a report from Jonathan Swan of Axios, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection that sent lawmakers fleeing the Capitol have constructed a timeline they will share with the public that lines up tweets and comments from Donald Trump with the corresponding actions of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers militia groups.
Thursday evening the committee will convene the first of six nationally televised hearings designed to make the case the White House was complicit in the 2021 riot as members of the Senate were certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election that ultimately ousted Trump from the Oval Office.
With CNN reporting that Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) will make an opening statement, Swan reports that the committee will explain the "ripple effect" the former president's social media exhortations had on the rioters -- in particular the militia groups that led the assault on the Capitol.
"The committee is keenly interested in how Trump's tweets shaped extremist groups' actions before and on Jan. 6. Some committee members argue that Trump's tweets provide indirect connective tissue establishing his culpability.," the report states.
According to Axios, House investigators Have "... painstakingly traced how these groups — including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — interacted with Trump's tweets on Reddit and other message boards."
Swan added, "The committee told reporters on a preview call on Wednesday that the prime-time hearing will show 'ongoing threats to American democracy' — and will include clips from the depositions of Trump family members, White House officials and campaign aides."
Read more here:
https://www.axios.com/2022/06/09/jan-6-committee-trump-roadmap
-
Republicans were previously posing for pictures with the now freshly indicted "Proud Boy" leader Enrique Tarrio. They are all connected with each other in their attempted coup to seize power. Tarrio was just indicted for seditious conspiracy. The GOP conspiracy was to steal the election from the American people.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FUwJ8RUXoAAqU31?format=jpg&name=medium)
Enrique Tarrio, other Proud Boys indicted on seditious conspiracy charges
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/enrique-tarrio-proud-boys-indicted-seditious-conspiracy-charges-rcna32199
-
DC chiropractor arrested in Jan. 6 riot after body camera showed him grappling with officer who later took his own life
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rioters-january-6th-afp.jpg?id=27318532&width=2400&height=1584)
A Washington, D.C., chiropractor was arrested Wednesday on charges related to his actions during the U.S. Capitol riot.
David Walls-Kaufman, of the Capitol Hill Chiropractic Center, was taken into custody the day before the House Select Committee was scheduled to begin presenting evidence of Donald Trump's involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, reported NBC News.
Walls-Kaufman was charged with misdemeanor counts of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building.
The FBI affidavit shows surveillance photos of Walls-Kaufman taken from nine different security cameras inside the Capitol and from 20 police body cameras, and he was identified by online sleuths in August from images and videos recorded during the riot.
Walls-Kaufman was seen at the front of the mob outside the Speaker's Lobby, where rioter Ashli Babbitt was shot and killed by police as she jumped through a broken window as lawmakers fled.
Body camera footage shows the chiropractor grabbing a baton held by the late D.C. Metropolitan police officer Jeffrey Smith, who was later struck in the head with a metal pole and punched in the face, and the officer took his life days later -- and police ruled the death as taking place in the line of duty.
Smith's widow has already sued Walls-Kaufman, whose Facebook page shows posts about a number of election-related conspiracy theories.
https://www.rawstory.com/david-walls-kaufman/
-
Donnie is proud of his coup attempt and Republicans are trying their hardest to attack and downplay the January 6th Committee Investigation. Marjorie Taylor Greene is defending the Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, beat police officers to a pulp, and attempted to kill members of Congress.
Republicans are running scared, as they should be, because they are complicit in this coup attempt either by pushing "The Big Election Fraud Lie" that helped incite this insurrection riot, conspiring with Trump to steal the election from the American people, or having ties and involvement with Proud Boys and Oath Keepers militia leaders who are now indicted for seditious conspiracy.
All of these Republican traitors deserve prison for treason, and when this is all said and done, that's where they will end up. These seditious Republicans committed the worst crime that a person can commit, and that is treason. Criminal Donald will finally be held accountable for his crimes.
Yes, this was a GOP conspiracy to keep a criminal mobster in power and to end our democracy. These January 6th Committee Hearings will reveal the truth about what the Republicans did to destroy America.
Trump says Jan. 6 was the 'greatest movement in the history of our Country' -- hours before House hearings begin
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-capitol-riot-2657483351/
Ted Cruz pilloried for saying January 6 hearings are 'idiocy' and 'designed to be theater'
https://www.rawstory.com/ted-cruz-pilloried-for-saying-january-6th-hearings-are-idiocy-and-designed-to-be-theater/
Jake Tapper slams Kevin McCarthy for blaming America for Trump’s failed coup attempt
https://www.rawstory.com/jake-tapper-kevin-mccarthy/
Marjorie Taylor Greene repeats debunked conspiracy theory on the House floor in Jan. 6 prebuttal
https://www.rawstory.com/marjorie-taylor-greene-ray-epps/
GOP tries to undermine Jan. 6 hearings before they even begin with claims of 'altered evidence'
https://www.rawstory.com/altered-evidence-jan-6/
-
'The world is watching': Read excerpts of opening statements from the Jan. 6 committee's public hearing
The chairman of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol released a public statement ahead of the first prime-time hearing.
"We can't sweep what happened under the rug," said Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS). "The American people deserve answers."
Of the failed insurrection, he said, "this scheme was an attempt to under the will of the people."
"So tonight, and over the next few weeks, we're going to remind you of the reality of what happened that day. But our work must do much more than just look backwards. Because our democracy remains in danger. The conspiracy to thwart the will of the people is not over. There are those in this country who thirst for power but have no love or respect for what makes America great," he said.
"January 6th and the lies that led to insurrection have put two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk. The world is watching what we do here," he said.
"We must confront the truth with candor, resolve, and determination. We need to show that we are worthy of the gifts that are the birthright of every American," Thompson said.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FU1_FDQX0AMfRLL?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jan. 6 Committee Chair Bennie Thompson: 'We can prove everything'
Washington, D.C. -- Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), the chair of the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 attacks, revealed to Raw Story in an interview today that a main goal of Thursday evening's public hearing is to tell the story of what happened and why.
For officials on the committee, it isn't merely the physical attack on the U.S. Capitol, the militia groups that participated, or the overall efforts by allies of former President Donald Trump to overthrow the election, it's also about an effort that began even before the 2020 election to find ways to change the results.
"Some of it they've never heard before," Thompson explained of the story the committee intends to tell. "And the fact that we prove everything that we present."
Proof of what has been uncovered isn't a concern, Thompson told Raw Story. They've put in the necessary time to ensure witnesses have been checked and rechecked to ensure that their statements match with others. There were over 1,000 people who spoke to the House committee in total.
Thompson said that everyone, with exception of members of Congress, has cooperated. He's talking about the Republicans who were called before the committee after some of the information became public about their conversations with former President Donald Trump. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) was among those who fumbled when asked about his conversations with Trump on Jan. 6. When he was called before the committee, Jordan said that he would only appear if the committee provided him with millions of documents.
In the opening statement Thompson released to the press, he intends to being the proceeding by saying, "Jan. 6th and the lies that led to insurrection have put two and a half centuries of constitutional democracy at risk. The world is watching what we do here. We must confront the truth with candor, resolve, and determination. We need to show that we are worthy of the gifts that are the birthright of every American."
https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-thompson-proof/
-
Capitol police officer says "It was carnage, it was chaos" during Jan. 6 public hearing testimony
(https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/06/10/6b11760c-9d84-4672-aedc-543e89405699/thumbnail/1240x826/162ac19e5fee0fcff9992ac8a657fb51/gettyimages-1241207192.jpg)
Caroline Edwards, a U.S. Capitol Police officer injured in the Jan. 6 riot, speaks during a hearing of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, June 9, 2022
A U.S. Capitol Police officer described the Jan. 6, 2021, attack as a bloodied "war scene" as she watched injured colleagues try to push back rioters from the Capitol building. Caroline Edwards, believed to be the first law enforcement officer injured by the rioters that day, testified Thursday to the House committee investigating the attack.
"What I saw was just a war scene," she said. "It was something like I had seen out of the movies. I could not believe my eyes. There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up. I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood. I was catching people as they fell. It was carnage. It was chaos."
"Never in my wildest dreams did I think that as a police officer and as a law enforcement officer, I would find myself in the middle of a battle," she continued. "I am trained to detain a couple of subjects and handle a crowd, but I'm not combat trained. And that day, it was just hours of hand-to-hand combat."
The committee showed video of Edwards holding onto a bike rack as rioters pushed her back toward concrete steps, where she fell and hit her head and was knocked unconscious. She suffered a traumatic brain injury, but once she regained consciousness, she continued to defend the Capitol building and help her colleagues who had been sprayed with chemicals.
One of those colleagues was Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died from two strokes the day after the attack.
"All of a sudden, I see movement to the left of me. I turned, and it was Officer Sicknick with his head in his hands and he was ghostly pale, which I figured at that point, he had been sprayed and I was concerned. My cop alarm bells went off. Because if you get sprayed with pepper spray, you're going to turn red. He turned just about as pale as this sheet of paper," she said.
Edwards said she was sprayed in the eyes as well with a chemical, and then was teargassed. Her injuries from that day have prevented her from returning to her position with the first responder unit.
Sicknick's partner, Sandra Garza, attended Thursday's hearing and was accompanied by law enforcement officers who also responded to the attack and previously gave emotional testimony in July about the physical and psychological injuries they sustained.
At that hearing in July, former D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who also attended Thursday's hearing, how was dragged into the crowd, tased and beaten until he was unconscious. He suffered a mild heart attack and brain injury. He has since resigned from the police department.
Five law enforcement officers have died in connection with the riot. At least 140 law enforcement members were assaulted that day and about 255 rioters have been charged with assaulting or impeding officers, according to the Justice Department.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/january-6-hearing-capitol-police-officer-caroline-edwards-testifies/
-
‘What happened tonight was historic’: Bob Woodward says Jan. 6 committee ‘has it cold’
Legendary journalist Robert Woodward said that the case was made against Donald Trump by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Woodward was interviewed by CNN's Anderson Cooper following the select committee's first prime-time hearing.
"Was there anything really new tonight? For minds that are already made up, was there anything new that would convince people to look at this in a new light?" Cooper asked.
"Oh, yes," Woodward replied.
"I think what happened tonight was historic. I think it's a brilliant, truly brilliant presentation by Benny Thompson and by Liz Cheney. Listen to the detail and the — they have it, they have it cold as best I can tell and from my own reporting," he said.
Woodward compared tonight's hearing to a Senate hearing that took place exactly 68 years earlier.
"I also think this committee has done kind of the equivalent of what happened in the famous Army-McCarthy hearing when Joe McCarthy was accused by a lawyer in a very memorable way saying you have -- do you have no shame," Woodward said. "This committee has essentially said, to Donald Trump, do you have no shame?"
Watch below:
-
Of course this traitor is afraid of what he knows and what he was involved in. It was revealed by Liz Cheney last night during the January 6th Hearing that Scott Perry and multiple GOP members of Congress were seeking pardons from Criminal Donald. You don't seek a pardon unless you know you're guilty of a serious crime.
Exclusive: Congresswoman explains why Rep. Scott Perry is 'mighty afraid' of Jan. 6 committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/house-investigation-into-the-jan-6-insurrection-just-took-an-unexpected-turn-report.png?id=28277250&width=2400&height=1351)
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA) spoke to Raw Story after the first hour of the House Select Committee's Thursday night hearing before the public. Dean was among the impeachment managers for the House in the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
She explained that she was crying a lot about what has been shown in the committee hearing thus far.
"It sucks," she confessed. "It's incredibly sad. I'm so sad for our country. I'm not sad for me. We're reliving, of course, what we went through, but I'm just so damn sad for our country. So many people were lied to — to the extent of coming and attacking police, lawmakers, the seat of our democracy. I'm just, I'm so sad for our country."
When asked about Republican attempts to whitewash the Jan. 6 attacks, Dean said that there's no way that they can whitewash it, particularly after seeing those videos.
"Look at people being beaten by American flags, flagpoles with Trump flags," she continued. "There's no whitewashing this."
She went on to say that the way that Republicans claim to be supportive of police is just as absurd given their refusal to support the supplemental bill for Capitol Police after their injuries.
"They're not pro-police," she said.
Dean then explained that what doesn't make sense is what a former member of Congress, Mark Meadows, was saying and doing and that he refused to help protect the vice president and his own former colleagues.
"Can you imagine, how many hours the president did not do a single thing to save us? Can you imagine Ronald Reagan — if a single member of Congress — if his own vice president was threatened — No. 1, he'd be whisked away to a secure space. Not Donald Trump. No. 2, he would have been impeached so quickly for spending hours watching and doing nothing."
She closed by saying that while the Congressional body isn't something that can charge and convict a former president, they can do one important thing: "tell the truth."
"These aren't alternative facts," she said. "These are facts. They are telling the American people the facts. The Department of Justice will do their job. Different states will do criminal investigations and indictments, including Georgia, where the president said...'I just need you to find 11,780 votes.' And I remember a gasp from a Senator in that moment. He will be indicted for that. This is all closing in on the former president. Then we have a job to do as Congress. We have to do like Congress did after Watergate. We have to do reforms."
She then cited some of the Republicans she serves with, like Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) who is refusing to cooperate with the committee. He was the one who put Eastman in touch with President Trump, she explained. "Then fearfully seeks a pardon? And of course, you know he's not cooperating with the 1/6 committee. What's he afraid of? I said on the day that it happened if I have one inch of information that will help you in this committee, and understand what the hell happened here, I'm here. I volunteered. I don't have that valuable a set of information. Scott Perry has valuable information. And he's mighty afraid."
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-indictment-scott-perry/
-
Cheney: Scott Perry sought pardon for role in trying to overturn 2020 election results
The new details surfaced during the Jan. 6 select committee's first public hearing, as it launched the unveiling of its findings of a yearlong investigation into the insurrection.
(https://www.politico.com/dims4/default/77fde53/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1160x773+0+0/resize/1920x1280!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2Ffc%2Fc2%2F9476163e4a598c1f442a7a6ba37b%2F220609-scott-perry-ap-773.jpg)
Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, as well as multiple other Republican lawmakers, contacted the White House in the weeks after Jan. 6, 2021, to seek presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the presidential election results, the Jan. 6 select committee revealed Thursday in its prime-time hearing on the Capitol attack.
“Rep. Scott Perry … has refused to testify here,” Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), vice chair of the select committee, said as she opened its case to the American public. “As you will see, Representative Perry contacted the White House in the weeks after Jan. 6 to seek a presidential pardon. Multiple other Republican congressmen also sought presidential pardons for their roles in attempting to overturn the 2020 election”
The new details surfaced during the panel’s first public hearing, as the bipartisan committee launched the unveiling of its findings of a yearlong investigation into the insurrection. It’s the first of a string of hearings scheduled in the coming weeks that are set to paint a picture of a carefully planned and orchestrated attack on American democracy.
Perry was a major actor in then-President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the election, connecting Trump with Jeffrey Clark, an official in the Department of Justice who supported Trump’s efforts, according to testimony and documents obtained by the committee.
Cheney on Thursday talked about how close the former president came to appointing Clark as acting attorney general, and that the former president wanted Clark to send a letter to Georgia and five other states saying that “the U.S. Department of justice had ‘identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election.’”
“This letter is a lie,” Cheney said.
Perry, who is now chair of the pro-Trump House Freedom Caucus, repeatedly pushed Trump’s chief of staff at the time, Mark Meadows, to implement the plan to sow doubt in the election results.
“Mark, just checking in as time continues to count down,” Perry texted Meadows on Dec. 26, 2020, according to messages released by the select panel. “11 days to 1/6 and 25 days to inauguration. We gotta get going!”
These efforts were halted after other Justice Department leaders threatened to resign if Trump moved forward with selecting Clark as attorney general.
Perry has not complied with a subpoena for his testimony, and as POLITICO reported last week, the select committee was told that Meadows burned papers after meeting with the Republican in his office at the White House. The meeting took place in the weeks after Election Day in 2020, as Trump and his allies began seeking ways to overturn the loss against Joe Biden.
Watch video in link below:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/09/cheney-scott-perry-jan-6-hearing-00038724
-
A sitting member of Congress Lauren Boebert actively encouraged insurrection leading up to January 6 and then on January 6 tweeted Speaker Pelosi's movements DURING the attack.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FU24qFxVsAEoMvg?format=jpg&name=medium)
The Clear Cider @TheClearCider
Lauren Boebert @laurenboebert attended Trump’s January 6th insurrection treason rally."Stop the Steal" organizer Ali Alexander too. What do you think Boebert did to acquire VIP front-row seats -- after only having been in Congress for 3 DAYS prior?
Watch: https://twitter.com/TheClearCider/status/1535036905183641614
-
Liz Cheney: Trump unconcerned by Jan. 6 threats to hang Pence, said he 'deserves it'
Former President Donald Trump seemed to support threats from rioters to hang the former vice president during the attack on the Capitol, saying “Mike Pence deserves it,” House Jan. 6 committee vice chairman Liz Cheney said Thursday night.
Cheney, the top Republican on the panel, said that testimony from former Trump aides shows Trump was not concerned about stated threats on Pence’s life as pro-Trump rioters sacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Cheney also said that according to senior officials in the Trump administration, Trump knew that he lost the election.
"Trump’s intention was to remain president of the United States despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election and in violation of his constitutional obligation to relinquish power,” Cheney said.
Thursday marked the first of a series of hearings investigating Trump’s efforts to overthrow the 2020 election results, something lawmakers dubbed an attempted “coup,” and the resulting attack on the Capitol.
The rioters got within 2 doors of Vice President Mike Pence's office. See how in this 3D explainer from Yahoo Immersive in link below.
https://news.yahoo.com/liz-cheney-trump-unconcerned-by-threats-to-hang-pence-said-he-deserves-it-005252594.html
-
WATCH: 'It was carnage. It was chaos,' Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards says of Jan. 6 attack
Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards detailed the severe injuries she sustained trying to defend the Capitol from insurrectionists when it was attacked last year, telling the House Jan. 6 committee during its June 9 hearing one of the things she remembers most is looking out and seeing "the absolute war zone the west front had become."
Edwards was attacked by rioters multiple times as she tried to protect the Capitol that day. She was tear gassed and knocked down to the ground, at one point losing consciousness. At another time that day, she held the line against the rioters with Officer Brian Sicknick, who she described as “ghostly pale.” Sicknick collapsed the evening of the attack, suffering two strokes and dying the next day.
"I can't even describe what I saw. Never in my wildest dreams did I think as a police officer, law enforcement officer, I would find myself in the middle of a battle. I'm trained to detain a couple of subjects and handle a crowd, but I'm not combat trained. And that day, it was just hours of hand-to-hand combat, of dealing with things that were way beyond any law enforcement officer has ever trained for."
"There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding, they were throwing up. I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood ... It was carnage. It was chaos," she said.
Edwards is believed to have been one of the first officers injured during the attack, the New York Times reported last year. The committee played several clips of her being attacked.
She described standing near a barricade as members of the Proud Boys, a far-right group that played a key role in the violence, escalated their attack. She described telling her sergeant they would need more people to defend the Capitol before a bike rack was thrown on top of her and she hit her head on nearby stairs, causing her to black out.
But after regaining consciousness, Edwards, then 31, returned to defending the Capitol. “Adrenaline kicked in. I ran towards the west front, and I tried to hold the line at the Senate steps at the lower west terrace. More people kept coming at us.”
The hearing June 9 was the first of several planned by the Jan. 6 committee in the coming weeks. In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.
Watch:
-
Key takeaways from the first Jan. 6 hearing: It's all about Trump
Behind the production was a message: Trump fed the lie that the election was stolen, stoked anger among his supporters and then did nothing as they stormed the Capitol.
WASHINGTON — One person more than any other set in motion the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, the committee investigating the riot argued at its first public hearing Thursday.
And that person is Donald Trump.
He sparked the riot at the Capitol and nearly shredded American democracy in pursuit of power, the House Jan. 6 committee contended in what will serve as the opening argument in a weekslong effort to make a case to the public.
Members of the committee set out to explain a multilayered scheme to overturn the 2020 election and nullify millions of votes cast for Joe Biden.
The committee rolled out never-before-seen video of interviews with Trump’s inner circle and graphic images of the siege at the Capitol.
But behind all the production was a recurring message: Trump fed the lie that the election was stolen, stoked anger among his supporters who stormed the Capitol and then did nothing when lawmakers, aides and family members implored him to stop the attack.
In fact, Trump began yelling and became “really angry at advisers who told him he needed to be doing something more,” Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the vice chair of the committee, said in her opening statement.
Holding its initial public hearing in prime time, the committee faced a tricky challenge: capturing the attention of Americans who may feel they know all they need to know about a dark episode in U.S. history that has gotten extensive coverage. But having interviewed 1,000 people behind closed doors and collected 140,000 records, the committee presented findings that proved surprising enough to elicit gasps from lawmakers in the hearing room.
These are the takeaways from the first hearing:
As rioters stormed the Capitol, Trump was fixated on politics
Trump believed that his supporters “were doing what they should be doing,” Cheney said. Indeed, the riot was, in some sense, the inevitable result of his plan to sow doubts about the election results and persuade Americans that he legitimately won, according to the committee.
“As you will see, this misinformation campaign provoked the violence on January 6th,” Cheney said.
His top aide, meanwhile, didn’t want Trump to be upstaged by the vice president. The panel played audio of an interview with Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Milley described a conversation he had with Trump’s White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, on Jan 6. Meadows, he testified, told him: “We have to kill the narrative that the vice president [Mike Pence] is making all the decisions. We need to establish the narrative that the president is still in charge and that things are steady or stable, or words to that effect.” Milley dismissed Meadows’ focus as, simply, “politics,” and added, “I don’t do political narratives.”
Nor should the committee, some observers warn. By making Trump a singular focus, the committee risks appearing to be a partisan player, not a neutral fact-finder. Before the hearing, Doug Jones, a former Democratic senator from Alabama, cautioned that the committee would lose credibility if it dwells on Trump.
The committee painted Pence as an unlikely hero
And yet, in important ways, Pence was in charge that day.
He was in the building presiding over the counting of electoral votes when the mob broke through police lines. Secret Service agents rushed Pence to safety as rioters roamed the Capitol.
With the building overrun, Trump didn’t alert any arm of government to defend the people inside, the committee said. He didn’t speak to his attorney general or his defense secretary, nor did he order the deployment of the National Guard.
Pence did all that.
Milley described Pence as “very firm,” issuing instructions to “get the military down here, get the [National] Guard down here. Put down this situation.”
A coming hearing will spell out how Pence and his staff told Trump repeatedly that it would be illegal for the vice president to refuse to count certain electoral votes, as Trump wanted him to do.
Loyal though he was, Pence chose to break with Trump rather than subvert the election.
Trump’s appointees worried he was unfit to govern, threatened to quit
Trump’s behavior was so disturbing that his Cabinet considered whether he needed to be removed. Cabinet members discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, a vehicle for replacing a president. And one unnamed Cabinet member suggested that, in the face of Trump’s behavior, they all start playing a more direct role in running both the White House and the administration.
"They knew that President Donald Trump was too dangerous to be left alone,” Cheney said.
Turnover was always a problem in Trump’s White House. His White House counsel, Pat Cipollone, was “so concerned about potentially lawless activity he threatened to resign multiple times,” Cheney said.
Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner suggested the White House counsel’s staff were crybabies
But Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, appeared dismissive of the warnings.
When he testified before the committee, Cheney asked him about Cipollone’s threats to quit.
The committee aired a snippet of Kushner’s response, in which he said Cipollone and people in his office often said they would leave. “So I kind of took it up to just be whining, to be honest with you,” he said.
Future hearings will reveal other parts of Trump’s plan to stay in power
The hearing served as something of a teaser. Over the coming weeks, the panel plans to hold at least six more public hearings and flesh out various pieces of the plot to keep Trump in power.
Another hearing will reveal how Trump wanted to fire senior Justice Department officials who refused to follow his instructions and “just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen.”
Cheney also said that the committee continues to investigate and that more information could come to light. She left open the possibility that the hearings might extend through the summer.
The final hearings this month will include Trump aides who were in the West Wing that day, Cheney said.
Trump was told that Biden won fair and square
Trump and his top aide were specifically told there was no widespread ballot fraud. The committee aired a videotaped deposition with one of Trump’s campaign lawyers, Alex Cannon, who spoke to Meadows about allegations of election fraud. Cannon testified that he informed Meadows that “we weren’t finding anything that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states.”
In response, Meadows said: “So there’s no there there.”
Trump had gotten much the same message. The panel aired part of a deposition in which former Attorney General William Barr said he told Trump directly that “I did not see evidence of fraud that would have affected the outcome of the election.”
Barr went on to say he warned Trump that “it was crazy stuff and they were wasting their time on that and that it was doing great, great disservice to the country.
Trump had gotten much the same message. The panel aired part of a deposition in which former Attorney General William Barr said he told Trump directly that “I did not see evidence of fraud that would have affected the outcome of the election.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-hearing-committee-takeaways-day-one-rcna32656
-
Jan. 6 committee puts Proud Boys at center of Trump's plot to overthrow the election
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/proud-boys.jpg?id=28161907&width=2400&height=1608)
Most of the media coverage of this year's first major public hearing by the House Jan. 6 committee focused on the visceral horrors of the day, and the committee's firm conviction that this was what Donald Trump wanted to happen. Certainly, the newly released video footage was wrenching, and especially when Capitol Police Officer Caroline Edwards sat quietly through footage of her own assault at the hands of rioters. The committee also laid out the case that Trump was gleeful about the insurrection and, as Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said, told aides and associates that the rioters "were doing what they should be doing."
That case was presented in a compelling fashion, but for most people who have been following the reporting about what happened — and particularly Trump's role in it — very little of it was new. What was likely the biggest revelation of the night, however, was the central role played by the Proud Boys in the committee's narrative of the events of Jan. 6. Using footage and testimony from documentary filmmaker Nick Quested, the committee presented the case that the right-wing men's group, along with the similarly organized Oath Keepers, functioned as a vanguard that led the way for the rest of the mob, incited by Trump himself, that would storm the Capitol.
"The attack on our Capitol was not a spontaneous riot," Cheney explained. Over the two-hour hearing, the committee laid out evidence strongly suggesting not just that these far-right groups had coordinated the attack on the Capitol, but had anticipated that Trump would send them reinforcements, in the form of the "Stop the Steal" rally-goers he implored to march on the Capitol that day.
The crux of the case comes from Quested's testimony. He had been embedded with the Proud Boys before and during the events of Jan. 6, and had witnessed them communicating with members of the Oath Keepers. Perhaps most important, Quested's experiences showed that the Proud Boys weren't primarily in Washington for the rally itself. As Quested explained, the Proud Boys didn't seem particularly interested in Trump's speech and, rather than listening to it, went to the Capitol to do "recon" — in other words, to find weak spots in the building's security.
There were only a couple of hundred Proud Boys present that day, a crucial point that committee members made sure to emphasize. That's not enough people to take the Capitol by force, especially as very few were carrying firearms. Previous reporting on Oath Keeper text messages suggests that many of the alleged conspirators were worried that carrying guns into the District of Columbia, which is illegal, could lead to their arrest before they could spark a riot. The plot to take the Capitol wouldn't have made much sense with just the manpower those two groups could marshal on their own.
But of course, they weren't on their own. They had the large crowd of people attending Trump's rally, who followed along enthusiastically and provided exactly the overwhelming numbers the Proud Boys needed to pull it off. Most of those people were clearly not in on the plan to storm the Capitol, and many of them probably hadn't even considered doing so until they were caught up in the riot.
That's why Trump's speech matters so much. The president of the United States told his followers to march on the Capitol and promised, falsely, that he would join them. Indeed, recent reporting shows that Trump may have even vaguely wanted to do so, and had floated the idea for a couple of weeks until the Secret Service said no. Who knows what the mass of people who marched on the Capitol thought was going to happen when they started moving in that direction? But by the time they got there, the Proud Boys were leading the way, breeching the barriers and setting a tone of violence and mayhem that many other people in that crowd emulated.
"What you witnessed was what a coordinated plan effort would look like," explained committee chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.
The implication here is hard to miss and — astonishing: The Proud Boys needed people to pull off an audacious scheme they could never have managed on their own. Trump provided those people. It's possible, although not proven, that the Proud Boys knew what Trump was going to say during the rally. It's possible they planned their actions assuming they would be joined by a crowd and angry crowd that they might be able to whip up into a violent mob. It's possible that the reason Trump was so focused on "marching" to the rally in the days leading up to Jan. 6 was because he shared this understanding.
After the hearing, Thompson appeared on CNN, where Jake Tapper asked him explicitly if we would hear from "witnesses that describe actual conversations between these extremist groups and anyone in Trump's orbit?"
"Yes," Thompson replied, though he did not elaborate on what those conversations were about.
As Peter Baker of the New York Times wrote, the committee is arguing that Trump "intentionally summoned a mob to stop the transfer of power" to Joe Biden. There's a lengthy record of public communications in which Trump makes winking references to his desire to see that happen, and at least some of his followers took that as a directive. Perhaps the most dramatic of those public communications was the Dec. 19, 2020, tweet urging supporters to come to the Jan. 6 protest, declaring it "will be wild!" As Cheney noted, Trump's adviser Steve Bannon released a podcast on Jan. 5 in which he said that "all hell is going to break loose tomorrow."
As provocative as those statements were, however, it's remains within the realm of plausibility that Trump and Bannon were hyping a more or less peaceful protest rather than deliberately inciting a riot. But if there's real evidence of coordination with the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, that's a very different story. The existing public evidence shows that these groups kicked off the riot deliberately, and that the rest of the crowd got swept up in the moment and joined in. What remains to be asked and answered is the question of whether that was the plan all along — and whether Donald Trump was in on it and his speech was part of the plan. In the coming weeks, we'll see how much solid evidence the committee has, and how much of this is mere implication.
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-committee-puts-proud-boys-at-center-of-trump-s-plot-to-overthrow-the-election/
-
Ivanka's House hearing testimony undercut by former White House press secretary
Appearing on CNN's "New Day" the morning after the House Select Committee investigating the Jan 6th Capitol insurrection held its first televised hearing, former White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham was less than impressed by a clip of Ivanka Trump claiming she knew her father Donald Trump's claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen was a lie.
The clip, shown early in the televised hearing, showed the first daughter telling investigators that after former Attorney General Bill Barr called accusations of voter fraud "bull**it," she acquiesced and said, "It affected my perspective. I respect Attorney General Barr so I accepted what he said."
According to Grisham, Ivanka's comment was important, but her actions after Jan 6th tell another story.
"Ivanka Trump is saying that she took Barr at his word that there was no fraud," host Berman prompted. "Was that your experience within Trump world that people knew that there was no there there?"
"Well, yes," she replied. "It reminded me of two things I want to say, number one with regard to Ivanka: I think that that's all well and good that she said that she believed Bill Barr, but if I remember correctly she was still traveling with her father while he pushed this big lie."
"If she was truly that impacted by Bill Barr which she should have been -- and I don't know what kind of conversations she was having privately with her father -- but perhaps she could have done a little bit more and not stood by his side while he publicly pushed the big lie," she continued. "It also reminded me very much of our White House and how everybody -- it was a workaround -- everybody knew, you know, that he was, one thing he was saying wasn't true and so we all just tried to work around him to get the best outcome we could for the country, all the while trying to keep this weird secret from this man."
"It was just an interesting thing to see and I wish she would have. if that were the case, she would have spoken up more," she added after turning back to Ivanka.
Watch:
-
The January 6 hearings showed why it’s reasonable to call Trump a fascist
We now know Trump expressed support for hanging Pence and did little to stop the violence — actions that suggest some very dark historical parallels.
(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/mVJQJvaaUno0Y4BUxEV8ZXX3aFU=/0x0:3484x2323/1520x1013/filters:focal(670x211:1226x767):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70963822/GettyImages_1294907286.0.jpg)
Amid the many extraordinary revelations at the January 6 committee’s first primetime hearing Thursday, one stood out for its sheer depravity: that during the assault, when rioters chanted “hang Mike Pence” in the halls of the Capitol, President Donald Trump suggested that the mob really ought to execute his vice president.
“Maybe our supporters have the right idea,” he said, per a committee source. “[Mike Pence] deserves it.”
Endorsing violence is hardly new for Trump; it’s something he’s done repeatedly, often in an allegedly joking tone. But the reported comment from January 6 is qualitatively worse given the context: coming both amid an actual violent attack he helped stoke and one he did little to halt. The committee found that the president took no steps to defend the Capitol building, failing to call in the National Guard, or even speak to his secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security.
While he was de facto permitting the mob’s rampage, he was privately cheering the most violent stated objective of people he acknowledged as “our supporters.”
Throughout Trump’s presidency, there was a raging debate among experts as to whether it was accurate to describe him as a “fascist.” One of the strongest counterarguments, that his political movement did not involve the kind of street violence characteristic of Italian and German fascism, was undermined on January 6 — though some scholars still argued that the term was somewhat imprecise.
But when a leader whips up a mob to attack democracy with the goal of maintaining his grip on power in defiance of democratic order, then privately refuses to stop them while endorsing the murderous aims of people he claims as his own supporters, it’s hard to see him as anything but a leader of a violent anti-democratic movement with important parallels to interwar fascism.
This doesn’t prove that fascism is, in all respects, a perfect analogy for the Trump presidency. Yet when it comes to analyzing January 6, both Trump’s behavior and the broader GOP response to the event, last night’s hearing proved that the analogy can be not only apt but illuminating.
January 6 is the culmination of a long history of fascist-like rhetoric
In The Anatomy of Fascism, Columbia University historian Robert Paxton lays out a fairly clear definition of the political tendency:
Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.
Most of this seems to fit Trumpism fairly well. “Obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victimhood”? Check. “Compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity”? Check. “Uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites”? Check. “Without ethical or legal restraints”? Check, check, and check.
One key factor that was missing, at least for most of Trump’s presidency, was the violence. Paxton’s definition stresses the centrality of force to fascist politics: that “a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants” uses “redemptive violence” to pursue “goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.”
Yet Trump personally had long harbored a fascination with political violence. In a 1990 interview with Playboy, he praised the Chinese government’s violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Tiananmen Square.
"When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it,” Trump said. “Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.”
During the 2016 campaign, Trump suggested that “Second Amendment people” might be justified in assassinating Hillary Clinton if she wins the race. He repeatedly encouraged his supporters to attack counterprotesters, even offering to pay their legal fees. The dangers were obvious; during the Republican primary, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) warned that his language might lead to mass violence:
This is a man who in rallies has told his supporters to basically beat up the people who are in the crowd and he’ll pay their legal fees, someone who has encouraged people in the audience to rough up anyone who stands up and says something he doesn’t like. …
But leaders cannot say whatever they want, because words have consequences. They lead to actions that others take. And when the person you’re supporting for president is going around and saying things like, ‘Go ahead and slap them around, I’ll pay your legal fees,’ what do you think’s going to happen next?
During his presidency, his fascination with extra-legal violence came up again and again.
In 2017, he described some of the white supremacists at Charlottesville as “very fine people.” During a 2019 rally, he “joked” about shooting migrants at the border, to cheers from the crowd. In a 2020 tweet, he used a segregation-era slogan to call for violence against George Floyd protests (“when the looting starts, the shooting starts”). During a presidential debate with Joe Biden, Trump told the Proud Boys — a far-right militia that would later lead the assault on the Capitol — to “stand back and stand by.”
What this record shows is that the potential for a Trump-led political movement to lead to bloodshed was always there. The president seemingly believed in the cleansing and redemptive power of violence; it has been a hallmark of his thinking for years, even decades. That he would sometimes frame these comments as jokes, or even backtrack after offering them, is characteristic of fringe right political movements — which often cast their most extreme positions in a kind of ironic tone that allows for their supporters to simultaneously embrace radical ideas while also distancing themselves from them.
The question about Trump was whether his fascination with violence would ever manifest in a mass movement: that he would align himself with an illegal violent action designed to secure his own grip on power.
This, of course, happened on January 6. But as the events unfolded, there was crucial information we didn’t know: the extent to which Trump intended to encourage violence and how he reacted as it unfolded in real time.
On the first point, committee chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) suggested in an interview they had evidence Trump’s team was in direct contact with both the Proud Boys and the Oathkeepers, the other militia group that spearheaded the attack. Their proof was not presented last night; there’s also some evidence that Trump’s subordinates wouldn’t let him communicate with the extremist groups directly. This makes it hard to evaluate the question of intentionality just yet.
But on the second point, the committee’s evidence is damning. The comment about hanging Pence, together with the refusal to do anything to stop the violence, strongly indicates that the president was fine with the violence proceeding: that he saw it as furthering his cause. That is, undoubtedly, fascist.
Does the “fascism” label matter?
Like my colleague Dylan Matthews, I’ve long been hesitant to describe Trump as a fascist.
Unlike interwar fascists, Trump has not laid out an ideological alternative to liberal democracy that involves abolishing elections — in fact, he doesn’t seem to possess a coherent ideology at all. The greatest threat the Trump-led GOP poses to democracy is not the explicit overthrow of democracy, but its hollowing out from within — an endgame that resembles the Jim Crow South or contemporary Hungary far more than Nazi Germany. There’s a real concern, in my mind, that hyper-focus on the interwar model can bog us down in a definitional debate that distracts from more resonant and informative parallels.
But when we’re talking about January 6 specifically, the fascism analogy really is useful.
Events like the 1922 March on Rome or 1923 Beer Hall Putsch help us understand the way in which attempts to forcefully seize power — even failed ones like the Putsch — can play a role in the rise of radical far-right movements. They help us understand the clarifying and organizing power of violence, the way in which banding together to hurt others can help solidify dangerous political tendencies.
And it helps us understand the potential for violence to recur, especially given the mainstream Republican Party’s continued whitewashing of January 6.
One of the defining elements of the interwar fascist ascendancy is the complicity of conservative elites — their belief that they could manipulate fascist movements for their own ends, empowering these movements while remaining in the driver’s seat. This is precisely how the mainstream Republican Party has approached Trump, even after a violent attempt to seize power exposed just how far he’s willing to go to hold power.
In the midst of last night’s hearing, the official Twitter account of the Republicans on the House Judiciary committee repeatedly mocked and downplayed the significance of the committee hearing — even going so far as to label it “old news:”
It wasn’t. Though some of the revelations had been telegraphed in broad strokes by leaks, including the comments about hanging Pence, the specifics had yet to be made public — and there were many revelations that were simply brand-new.
But the issue here isn’t factual inaccuracy on the House GOP’s part. It’s that the official organs of the Republican Party saw their job as covering for Trump, even as evidence emerged that he literally suggested that a Republican vice president should be lynched. The lessons of the interwar period, and indeed the long history of mainstream conservative parties’ dalliances with radicals, seem entirely lost on the Republican leadership.
And this, in the end, is why using fascism as a framework for understanding January 6 is worthwhile. This explicit alliance of political violence to an effort to seize power through force is shocking — so shocking that it deserves comparisons to what’s universally seen as the darkest moment in the history of Western democracy.
That these parallels may not be perfect in every way does not make it unreasonable to draw them, or to seek lessons for how to think through the future.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/6/10/23162442/january-6-committee-hearing-june-10-trump-fascist
-
Here is the full video of the first public January 6th Committee Hearings which aired on June 9th.
The video starts at 13:35.
January 6 hearings: Watch first public House committee hearing on Capitol attack
-
Jan 6 hearings - live: Trump slams Ivanka over damning testimony debunking election fraud claims
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-jan-6-hearing-ratings-testimony-b2098855.html
-
Bush ethics lawyer: The Jan. 6 committee needs to follow the money
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/claiming-it-had-the-feel-of-a-rock-concert-jan-6-defendant-begs-for-leniency.jpg?id=29703852&width=2400&height=1290)
In an opinion piece for MSNBC, Richard Painter -- the chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush administration from 2005 to 2007 -- brings up what many see as a 'critical' question about the aims of the House Select Committee's public hearings regarding the events of January 6, 2021, as well as identifies "several key areas where the Jan. 6 committee should be directing their focus."
"Where did the money come from? Who paid for this over two-month effort to reverse the results of an election that President Joe Biden won by over eight million votes? And who paid for what almost became a military coup as well as a violent insurrection?," Painter writes. "It is also illegal to use campaign funds to pay for an insurrection or any other illegal conduct."
As Painter further points out, "Many of the insurrectionists came to Washington on bus trips organized and paid for by political organizations in their states of origin, in many cases with funds from state Republican Party organizations, campaigns or related political entities. Political funds can be used for legal challenges to the results of an election when a legitimate challenge can be made. Likewise, campaign funds can be used to stage a rally to support the election of a candidate before the election or a rally to claim victory or concede defeat after the election."
"But campaign funds cannot legally be used to attempt to overturn an election by anti-democratic means. Moreover, campaign funds cannot legally be used to encourage political supporters to break the law. Both the Trump campaign and state GOP organizations should have known as much," Painter writes.
Painter also points a finger both at conservative media and social media platforms
"The second source of funding that should be considered wasn’t cash, but the in-kind donations that came from the conservative media outlets that spread the Big Lie. Fox News of course comes to mind, but there were many others, including talk radio stations, blogs and more ...the Jan. 6 committee should expose the actions of the largest media companies, including not just cable television and radio stations but social media giants like Facebook as well. Congress already has heard from the Facebook “whistleblower” Frances Haugen about how Facebook was adjusting its rules to accommodate false statements posted by Trump, his campaign and his supporters up to Jan. 6. Likewise, these companies were happy to take campaign money to post and air ads that spread these lies after the election."
Many of the organizations that helped spread Trump's "Big Lie" are publicly traded companies that owe an explanation to their shareholders and other investors, as Painter indicates.
The former Bush administration official also identifies another important funder of Jan. 6 -- the US taxpayer.
You can read all of Richard Painter's commentary here:
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/jan-6-committee-investigation-needs-track-money-n1296263
-
The Jan. 6 Committee Hosted A Hearing For The 21st Century
[/i]Congress has finally pivoted to video.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-january-6-committee-hosted-a-hearing-for-the-21st-century/
-
Jan. 6 panelists: Enough evidence uncovered to indict Trump
WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot said Sunday they have uncovered enough evidence for the Justice Department to consider an unprecedented criminal indictment against former President Donald Trump for seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The committee announced that Trump’s campaign manager, Bill Stepien, is among the witnesses scheduled to testify at a hearing Monday that focuses on Trump’s effort to spread his lies about a stolen election. Stepien was subpoenaed for his public testimony.
As the hearings unfold, Rep. Adam Schiff said he would like the department to “investigate any credible allegation of criminal activity on the part of Donald Trump.” Schiff, D-Calif., who also leads the House Intelligence Committee, said that ”there are certain actions, parts of these different lines of effort to overturn the election that I don’t see evidence the Justice Department is investigating.”
The committee held its first public hearing last week, with members laying out their case against Trump to show how the defeated president relentlessly pushed his false claims of a rigged election despite multiple advisers telling him otherwise and how he intensified an extraordinary scheme to overturn Joe Biden’s victory.
Additional evidence is set to be released in hearings this week that will demonstrate how Trump and some of his advisers engaged in a “massive effort” to spread misinformation, pressured the Justice Department to embrace his false claims, and urged then-Vice President Mike Pence to reject state electors and block the vote certification on Jan. 6, 2021.
Stepien, a longtime Trump ally, is now a top campaign adviser to the Trump-endorsed House candidate in Wyoming’s Republican primary, Harriet Hageman, who is challenging Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chair and a vociferous critic of the former president. A Trump spokesman, Taylor Budowich, suggested that the committee’s decision to call Stepien was politically motivated.
Monday’s witness list also includes BJay Pak, the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta who left his position on Jan 4, 2021, a day after an audio recording was made public in which Trump called him a “never-Trumper,” and Chris Stirewalt, the former political editor for Fox News.
The committee has said most of those interviewed in the investigation are coming forward voluntarily, although some have wanted subpoenas to appear in public. Filmmaker Nick Quested, who provided documentary footage of the attack, said during last week’s hearing he received a subpoena to appear.
Committee members said they would present clear evidence that “multiple” GOP lawmakers, including Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., had sought a pardon from Trump, which would protect him from prosecution. Perry on Friday denied he ever did so, calling the assertion an “absolute, shameless, and soulless lie.”
“We’re not going to make accusations or say things without proof or evidence backing it,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill.
Lawmakers indicated that perhaps their most important audience member over the course of the hearings may be Attorney General Merrick Garland, who must decide whether his department can and should prosecute Trump. They left no doubt as to their own view whether the evidence is sufficient to proceed.
“Once the evidence is accumulated by the Justice Department, it needs to make a decision about whether it can prove to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt the president’s guilt or anyone else’s,” Schiff said. “But they need to be investigated if there’s credible evidence, which I think there is.”
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said he doesn’t intend to “browbeat” Garland but noted the committee has already laid out in legal pleadings criminal statutes they believe Trump violated.
“I think that he knows, his staff knows, the U.S. attorneys know, what’s at stake here,” Raskin said. “They know the importance of it, but I think they are rightfully paying close attention to precedent in history as well, as the facts of this case.”
Garland has not specified whether he would be willing to prosecute, which would be unprecedented and may be complicated in a political election season in which Trump has openly flirted with the idea of running for president again.
No president or ex-president has ever been indicted.
Richard Nixon resigned from office in 1974 as he faced an impeachment and a likely grand jury indictment on charges of bribery, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. President Gerald Ford later pardoned his predecessor before any criminal charges related to Watergate could be filed.
Legal experts have said a Justice Department prosecution of Trump over the riot could set an uneasy precedent in which an administration of one party could more routinely go after the former president of another.
“We will follow the facts wherever they lead,” Garland said in his speech at Harvard University’s commencement ceremony last month.
A federal judge in California said in a March ruling in a civil case that Trump “more likely than not” committed federal crimes in seeking to obstruct the congressional count of the Electoral College ballots on Jan. 6, 2021. The judge cited two statutes: obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Trump has denied all wrongdoing.
Schiff appeared on ABC’s “This Week,” Raskin spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union,” and Kinzinger was on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-siege-adam-schiff-government-and-politics-presidential-elections-d87892379e7e81c2907edef81a3b2b86
-
Former Trump campaign manager, ex-Georgia official to testify at Jan. 6 panel's 'Big Lie' hearing
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A former campaign manager for ex-President Donald Trump and former officials from Atlanta and Philadelphia will testify on Monday to the U.S. congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, the committee said on Sunday.
The U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee will hold its second public hearing this month on Monday starting at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT), after a blockbuster session on Thursday night where the panel presented testimony showing that close Trump allies - even his daughter Ivanka - rejected his false claims of voting fraud.
The hearing on Monday, the second of six this month, will focus on the former Republican president's contention that his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden in the November 2020 election was due to unfounded allegations of election fraud, the so-called "Big Lie."
The first panel of witnesses at the hearing will include William Stepien, who served as campaign manager for Trump's 2020 campaign, after serving as Trump's White House Director of Political Affairs from 2017 to 2018.
Also testifying at the first panel will be Chris Stirewalt, a former political editor of Fox News.
The second panel will include conservative Republican election attorney Ben Ginsberg; BJay Pak, who resigned as a U.S. attorney in Atlanta as Trump and his allies sought to overturn results of the election in Georgia; and Al Schmidt, who was the only Republican on the city of Philadelphia's elections board and became a target of attacks by Trump after he defended the integrity of the 2020 presidential vote.
Georgia and Pennsylvania were among states that backed Trump in the 2016 election, but fell into Biden's column in 2020. They have been a focus of the unfounded assertions of election fraud.
© Reuters
-
Here are the witnesses appearing before the second Jan. 6 committee on Monday
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress revealed Sunday evening the full list of witnesses that will appear on Monday morning at 10 a.m. EST.
Former Donald Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien was one of those known to be testifying under oath, but the committee has also disclosed that former Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt will also give testimony. Stirewalt was fired by Fox after calling Arizona for Joe Biden on Election Night. The longtime numbers guy drew fire from the former president for the call, and kicked off a years-long feud between Trump and the network.
The others to appear before the committee include election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg, BJay Pak -- the former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia-- and Al Schmidt, the former City Commissioner of Philadelphia.
Ginsberg has represented the Republican Party and GOP candidates as a lawyer. He's also one of the veteran Republican legal experts willing to come forward and call Trump out as a liar. In 2016, Trump's campaign hired Ginsberg's law firm Jones Day, but by 2020 his frustration with the former president took a turn.
Months before the election, Ginsberg retired from the law firm and penned an op-ed in the Washington Post taking aim at Trump's urging that his followers in North Carolina vote twice in the election. This call to his supporters came after Trump had been claiming that the 2020 election would be "rigged" and "fraudulent."
Byung “BJay” Pak previously served in the Justice Department but he mysteriously quit before the Jan. 6 attack. According to his account, Trump was furious that there wasn't an investigation into the 2020 election. A 2021 report cited Pak saying that he thought Trump was going to fire him anyway in a major shakeup at the Justice Department. The evidence has suggested that Trump was attempting to change the leadership at the DOJ so that he could get government support to either change the election results or begin an investigation that would stall the inauguration of Joe Biden.
Former Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt was a common Trump target in 2020.
Schmidt appeared on CNN weeks after the election and amid Trump's claim of fraud saying, "I think people should be mindful that there are bad actors who are lying to them." His reference was to Donald Trump.
According to Trump, Schmidt was "being used big time by the Fake News Media to explain how honest things were with respect to the Election in Philadelphia. He refuses to look at the mountain of corruption & dishonesty. We win!"
Trump has also alleged Schmidt, who now works for a good governance group, was “a disaster on the massive election fraud and irregularities which took place in Philadelphia, one of the most corrupt election places in the United States."
https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-witnesses/
-
Experts debate evidence the Jan. 6 committee will reveal in next hearing: 'Even the gravest crime looks provable'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/bennie-thompson-and-liz-cheney.jpg?id=29969346&width=2400&height=1350)
Day two of the public hearings begin Monday morning for the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress and the attempts to overthrow the election.
The committee has confirmed the witnesses for the hearing, which reveals that their focus will likely be on President Donald Trump's false allegations that the 2020 election was fraudulent. According to the witness list, they are all Republicans, and all but one of them publicly claimed that the election wasn't fake or fraudulent.
Glenn Kirschner @glennkirschner2
Given this lineup of witnesses, tomorrow’s J6 hearing promises to bring lots of revelations about Trump’s crimes. Things are moving in the right direction, IMO.
Legal experts and political pundits gave their predictions and how they expect in the hearing on Monday. Others, however, debated what the committee has already shown and how it reflects on the Justice Department.
Some legal analysts claimed that the committee has already proven that Trump broke the law and asked why the Justice Department isn't jumping in right away. Others applied their experience to say that the DOJ should be working on its own investigation and not relying on Congress.
It has been mere weeks since the Justice Department asked the House Select Committee for the transcripts of their interviews. This could be because the DOJ is using the information to supplement their own probe, or it could be to fact-check witnesses they're questioning outside of the congressional investigation.
Political activists generally continued their call for prosecutions at the top. This weekend a group of militia members was arrested alleging they were about to carry out a terrorist plot at an LGBTQ+ pride march. The increase in domestic terrorism didn't begin with Jan. 6, 2021, but it's an attack that folks compare to those that have followed.
See some of the commentary below:
Steven Beschloss @StevenBeschloss
I get there are people—good people—who worry that prosecuting Trump will lead to civil unrest and violence. But not prosecuting him will hasten the demise of democracy. Prosecute the guilty.
Daniel Goldman @danielsgoldman
In my view, the criminal case is stronger against Trump for conspiring to impair the lawful function of govt — which focuses on the 7-part plan to overturn the election — than obstructing Congress or seditious conspiracy, both of which center on January 6. https://nytimes.com/2022/06/11/us/politics/jan-6-prosecute-trump.html
Laurence Tribe @tribelaw
I agree with @danielsgoldman that proving Trump conspired to overturn the election poses no serious problems for DOJ—while seditious conspiracy is less of a slam dunk. But even that gravest federal crime (short of treason)already looks provable to me. I’m confident DOJ is on it.
Harry Litman @harrylitman
Look for more damning evidence against Trump from his own people tomorrow inc his campaign manager and his US attorney in Georgia, who was fired for not endorsing the big lie. Imagining the killer cross-examination if Trump or a surrogate ever were to assert the kool aid defense.
Elizabeth de la Vega @Delavegalaw
We still need to talk more about Roger Stone wrt January 6. Stone talked with Trump at Mar A Lago on December 27, the day told Trump told Acting AG Jeffrey Rosen in a group phone call, "Just say the election was corrupt [and] leave the rest to me.”
Cheri Jacobus @CheriJacobus
Roger Stone was pardoned and his sentence commuted by Trump in exchange for him using that freedom to plan and orchestrate the January 6 insurrection, pipe bombs, guns stashed away in Virginia until Trump called for martial law. Trump knew. He was fine with Pence being hanged.
https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-committee-expectations/
-
Jan 5, 2021
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVFcYC9XoAA1-9X?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jan. 6 Committee to show proof GOP lawmakers sought Trump pardon for insurrection
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots will reveal proof of one of the panel's most explosive claims about their Republican colleagues.
The first public hearing about the Jan. 6 insurrection revealed GOP lawmakers had sought pardons from Donald Trump for their efforts to overturn the 2020 election, but committee members said they would provide proof of those allegations during Monday's hearing, reported the Washington Post.
“We will show the evidence that we have that members of Congress were seeking pardons,” said Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-CA). “To me, I think that is some of the most compelling evidence of a consciousness of guilt. Why would members do that if they felt that their involvement in this plot to overturn the election was somehow appropriate?”
Multiple GOP lawmakers sought pardons from Trump during his final weeks in office, according to the committee, and panelists said they had proof.
"We're not going to make accusations or say things without proof or evidence backing it," said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL).
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-pardon-2657500003/
-
WATCH LIVE TODAY AT 10AM EASTERN TIME: House select committee holds second hearing on Jan 6th insurrection
On Monday morning the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection will convene once more on national television where it is expected to provide more evidence that Donald Trump spread misinformation about the 2020 presidential election that led to the attack.
Tuesday's witnesses will reportedly include former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien, fired Fox News politics editor Chris Stirewalt, and GOP elections attorney Ben Ginsberg.
According to Politico, "The select committee says it intends to show that many of the people who joined that mob had been inundated by those messages from Trump and his allies, which may have contributed to their radicalization."
The report also notes that Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) will take a more prominent role in making the presentation.
The third hearing -- of the six scheduled will take place on Wednesday morning 6/15, with the fourth on Thursday, also in the morning.
Watch Live Below:
-
Jan. 6 panel hearing: In video, Bill Barr calls Trump's election claims 'detached from reality'
https://www.npr.org/live-updates/capitol-insurrection-hearing-2022-06-13
-
Donald Trump knew he was lying about "election fraud". Lock him up!
Most damaging mens rea evidence so far.
Trump knew in advance and on Election Night of the "Red Mirage" - creating false impression he was winning.
Trump nonetheless used mirage to tell his supporters the election was being stolen.
Bill Stepien under oath
Bill Barr under oath
Aaron Rupar @atrupar
Barr and Stepien in their depositions both acknowledged that everyone understood the early election night returns would be positive for Trump but the situation would change as mail votes were tallied.
Watch Video:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1536368018443616256
-
Bill Stepien wasn't the voice of reason in Trump's ear as he claims -- he was on 'Team Coup': columnist
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump.jpg?id=29821795&width=2400&height=1350)
During today's testimony in front of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot on Monday, the panel heard about former Trump aides and legal professionals who purportedly tried to tell the former president that his claims of mass voter fraud in the 2020 election were bogus -- a group of people branded as "Team Normal" by Trump spokesperson Jason Miller.
Among those included in "Team Normal" is former Trump campaign manager Bill Stepien. But according to The Bulwark's Tim Miller, Stepien "spent 5 years watching Donald Trump’s cruelty, pathological duplicity, irrationality, narcissistic personality disorder, buffoonery, and criminality."
"After that half-decade of evidence, this 'professional' decided to accept a role as the campaign manager for Trump’s flagging re-election campaign," Miller writes.
Miller says that Stepien must have known that Trump had no plans of leaving office in the event that he lost. "And yet on election night 2020, as this fate was coming to pass, Bill Stepien testified that he advised the president to give a measured statement about how it’s 'too early to tell,'" Miller writes. "He wanted Trump to be dignified about how the team was 'proud of the race we ran' and close by offering that he would have 'more to say' after the votes came in."
According to Miller, Stepien's failure to resign in protest, or to go to the press to tell them how "deluded" Trump was, or to testify against Trump during his impeachment hearings just shows that "Team Normal" wasn’t functionally any different from the “Ultra-Krakens.”
"They just didn’t want to get their hands dirty. They had professional reputations to keep," writes Miller.
The committee had planned to hear in-person testimony from Stepien but he canceled an hour before the hearing after his wife went into labor.
Trump started pushing what came to be known as his "Big Lie" around 2:30 am on November 4, 2020, making baseless allegations of fraud and prematurely declaring victory on the night of an election he ultimately lost to Joe Biden by seven million votes.
Former attorney General Bill Barr told the committee in previously unseen video testimony that Trump claimed there was major fraud underway "right out of the box on election night... before there was actually any potential of looking at evidence."
The committee says that initial claim grew quickly into a conspiracy to cling to power by Trump and his inner circle -- and a fundraising campaign that raised $250 million between election night and the insurrection.
The panel hopes to demonstrate that the clips from Stepien, Barr and others prove Trump should have known that what he was being told by his allies wasn't true.
AFP
-
Ex-Fox News political editor tells Jan. 6 committee how Trump tried to exploit a peculiar voting anomaly
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/fox-news-political-editor-frets-over-real-danger-democrats-will-impeach-trump-if-they-take-congress-in-2018.jpg?id=24820782&width=2400&height=1290)
On Monday morning, June 13, former Fox News Political Editor Chris Stirewalt testified during a series of public hearings being held by the U.S. House of Representatives’ select committee on the January 6, 2021 insurrection. Stirewalt was working Fox News’ decision desk on Election Night 2020, and during his testimony, he recalled that then-President Donald Trump failed to understand some basic facts about the counting of election results.
Trump and his allies were furious when Stirewalt, on Election Night 2020, called Arizona for now-President Joe Biden. Fox News, in fact, called Arizona for Biden before other media outlets, although Stirewalt’s reporting was totally accurate: Biden won Arizona — a fact that was upheld and confirmed by subsequent vote recounts.
Stirewalt, a veteran of television news, did exactly what reporters are encouraged to do: He scooped the competition with his reporting on Arizona — and Fox News later “thanked” Stirewalt by firing him. MAGA World was furious with Fox News because of Stirewalt’s reporting, and the firing showed that pleasing Trump was more important to Fox News than having high-quality, accurate reporting.
During his testimony before the January 6 select committee, Stirewalt explained that Trump didn’t understand the concept known as the “red mirage” — which is when the vote count, at a certain point, is deceptively favorable to a Republican candidate because it is coming from a GOP-leaning area and the votes from the more Democratic places haven’t been counted yet.
Stirewalt testified, “We had gone to pains — and I’m proud of the pains we went — to make sure that we were informing viewers that this was going to happen. Because the Trump campaign and the president had made it clear they were going (to) try to exploit this anomaly.”
Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren asked Stirewalt, “So, this red mirage, that’s really what you expected to happen on Election Night?” And Stirewalt responded, “It happens every time.”
Take Pennsylvania, for example. Trump clearly failed to understand how the “red mirage” worked in that state, where things were looking hopeful for him when the votes were being counted in GOP-friendly parts of Central Pennsylvania. But the more the votes were counted in Philadelphia — which is overwhelmingly Democratic and hasn’t had a Republican mayor since the early 1950s — the better things looked for Biden, who ultimately won the state.
During his testimony, Stirewalt recalled how he defended his election reporting at Fox News even when Trumpsters were angrily railing against it.
Mediaite reporter Aidan McLaughlin explains, “The network faced the wrath of Trump over the Arizona call, and millions of his supporters ditched Fox for Trumpier alternatives like OANN and Newsmax that more forcefully denied Biden’s win. Fox’s efforts to regain that audience — through moves like firing Stirewalt and adding additional hours of pro-Trump opinion to their lineup — ended up working. The network is back in first place in the ratings after falling behind CNN and MSNBC for the first time in decades.”
ABC News Politics @ABCPolitics
Former Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt notes then-Pres. Trump would have needed three states to change their election results due to allegedly fraudulent ballots to win.
“You're better off to play the Powerball than to have that come in.” https://abcn.ws/3Hlim8V
Watch Video: https://twitter.com/i/status/1536395688493432836
-
Vets for Trump leader faces new charges after Jan. 6 committee reveals more evidence against him
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/joshua-macias.png?id=29971767&width=2400&height=1350)
The co-founder of the Vets for Trump organization is facing new charges after he was spotted in a video recording of a meeting between Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers chief Stewart Rhodes.
Joshua Macias was arrested in November 2020 after driving with a security guard to a Philadelphia vote center in a Hummer plastered with with QAnon paraphernalia and carrying guns and ammunition, and district attorney Larry Krasner announced new charges based on the Jan. 5, 2021, meeting in a parking garage, reported The Philadelphia Inquirer.
The district attorney's office filed four new charges against Macias -- including attempted interference with primaries and elections, and hindering the performance of a duty -- based on new evidence revealed by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Video footage shown during the select committee's first public meeting shows Macias meeting with Tarrio and Rhodes, who have each been charged with seditious conspiracy for their alleged roles in planning the U.S. Capitol riot.
The 43-year-old Macias and alleged conspirator Antonio LaMotta, 63, are still awaiting trial on charges related their post-election arrest, which investigators believe had stopped a possible mass shooting linked to threats against former city commissioner Al Schmidt.
Schmidt testified Monday before the select committee's second public hearing, where he described the increasingly violent threats he faced after Trump pressured election officials in an effort to overturn his loss.
https://www.rawstory.com/joshua-macias/
-
Exclusive: Rep. Jamie Raskin says Trump either knew he was lying or was mentally incapacitated
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told reporters after the second day of the House Select Committee hearings about the Jan.6 attack on Congress that the only two options for Donald Trump are that he knew he was lying about the 2020 election fraud or he was mentally incapacitated.
Testifying under oath, former Attorney General Bill Barr commented that if the former president truly believed the things he was saying then he was "detached from reality."
Raskin explained to Raw Story that the committee has chosen to believe that the former president was in his right mind during this period and thus understood what he was doing.
"It's very important for everyone to see that not only was the 'big lie' a big lie, but Donald Trump must have known it was a big lie unless as William Barr put it, 'he was detached from reality. But we're going to assume that the president of the United States was connected to reality. And in that case, he had to listen to the attorney general of the United States, all of the White House lawyers, and the campaign lawyers and campaign advisers — they were all telling him the same thing. It was over. He'd lost the election."
Instead, however, the former president parroted unsubstantiated claims, and conspiracy theories, and then told his followers to come to Washington, D.C.to fight for his presidency.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-knew-lies-mentally-incapacitated/
Official draws a line between the months of Trump's lies and the Jan. 6 Capitol attack
Speaking to Raw Story after the second of four House Select Hearings on the attack on Congress, Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) connected the dots about how important the testimony was about the plot to overthrow the election and the violence seen on Jan. 6.
The committee walked through many Republican witnesses who testified under oath that they told former President Donald Trump that his conspiracies about the 2020 election being stolen were false. Over and over, the committee showed former officials who worked at both the state and federal level who investigated Trump's claims of fraud. Each of the witnesses said that they were able to prove that the claims were false.
Those officials ultimately conveyed to the former president that his public comments were subsequently untrue, yet he continued to voice them. As the Electoral College certification date approached, Trump then pushed his supporters to stand up for the election in Washington, D.C.
As participants have testified in their own trials, they were called by the president and they heeded that call.
Sherrill, who was in the gallery during the Jan. 6 certification process, told Raw Story that none of them fully realized just how much planning took place to motivate Trump's supporters into action.
"I think there's a narrative that this was just sort of a normal protest turned violent," said Sherrill. "And I think what the committee is showing with this evidence is that there is there is a lot of forethought and planning into trying to overturn the results across the country from the American electorate — and that that began as far back as September (2020)."
She went on to quote former Attorney General Bill Barr, who testified that Trump was uninterested in the facts, regardless of how many people around him made it clear that the election was legitimate.
Sherrill called Trump's unwillingness to concede to losing an election an "existential threat to our government... What's troubling he wasn't coming into this trying to get to the truth. He wasn't coming into this in an attempt to protect our elections. He wasn't coming into this with what we would call a good faith attempt to ensure the will of the people was executed as far as who the president of the United States would be, but rather, throwing out all evidence based in fact and really just trying to search for any means of overturning the election."
According to the New Jersey congresswoman, we're only the beginning of what the committee will present to help connect those dots between Trump knowingly lying, and then motivating his supporters to act on those lies.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-from-eleection-lies-to-violence/
-
Key takeaways from second Jan. 6 hearing: Barr emerges as central figure
Former Attorney General William Barr, who appeared only in recorded video interviews, offered some of the most riveting new testimony.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2022-06/220613-trump-january-6-hearing-william-barr-cs-de7d1f.jpg)
WASHINGTON — Listening to Donald Trump spout outlandish claims of election fraud, Attorney General William Barr began to wonder if the 45th president of the United States was in his right mind, he told the Jan. 6 committee in a video-recorded deposition.
The two were meeting privately on December 14, 2020, and Trump purported to have new evidence that Dominion voting machines were rigged, Barr testified. He would get a second term after all, he told Barr. The president then handed Barr a report from a cyber-security firm and as Barr flipped through the pages, he saw nothing that gave credence to such a startling claim.
“I was somewhat demoralized,” Barr told House Jan. 6 committee investigators, “because I thought, ‘Boy, if he really believes this stuff, he has, you know, lost contact with — he’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff.’”
Barr's testimony — which came only via pre-recorded video — proved to be some of the most riveting from the second hearing, putting the former Trump appointee at the center of the committee's case against Trump.
Barr’s concern over Trump’s mental state — and how a parade of aides and advisers were trying to convince him that he lost the 2020 election — was the central theme from the committee’s second public hearing on Monday.
Other takeaways included:
Trump was urged not to declare victory prematurely
On the night of the election, Trump’s closest advisers gathered in the White House and debated what he should say publicly given that it might be days before the winner was declared.
With votes still being counted, some of his senior advisers believed it was too early for him to call the race. At least one told him so. Bill Stepien, Trump’s campaign manager, suggested to the president that he give a more guarded statement until it was clear who had won. Trump didn’t heed the advice.
“He thought I was wrong. He told me so,” Stepien said in videotaped testimony aired by the committee.
Trump instead took an approach favored by his longtime confidant, Rudy Giuliani. The former New York City mayor was at the White House that night. In a conversation with a handful of Trump advisers near the Map Room — where Franklin Roosevelt monitored troop movements during World War II — he called for declaring victory.
Jason Miller, a Trump campaign official, told the committee that Giuliani said, “‘We won. They’re stealing it from us. We need to go say that we won.’ And, essentially, that anyone who didn’t agree with that position was being weak.” Miller, whose testimony was played in video by the committee, said that Giuliani was intoxicated. (A lawyer for Giuliani denied he was inebriated.)
When Trump delivered his speech, he bluntly — and falsely — told his supporters: “Frankly, we did win this election.”
Panel says Trump engaged in ‘the big ripoff’
The Jan. 6 committee is also tracking the money. One big reason why Trump and his allies continued to push false election fraud claims long after the courts had ruled against Trump was to continue raising millions from fervent Trump supporters, committee members argued.
The committee has previously hinted that money could be a theme that runs throughout the hearings, including who paid for the Jan. 6 rally.
Jan. 6 Chairman Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters after the hearing that more details about Trump’s fundraising efforts will be published in the committee’s final report.
"The big lie was also a big ripoff,” said one committee member, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif.
In fact, Lofgren said the Trump campaign sent millions of fundraising emails to its backers, between Election Day and Jan. 6, claiming that a “left-wing mob” was undermining the election and calling on supporters to “step-up” and “fight back” to protect election integrity.
Supporters were urged to donate to Trump’s “election defense fund” but the committee said it found no such committee or fund existed. Instead, much of the $250 million raised went to Trump’s new super PAC, called the Save America PAC, launched just the days after the election.
The Jan. 6 panel said Save America funneled millions of dollars of contributions to Trump-friendly organizations and entities. That included $1 million to the Conservative Partnership Institute, a charitable foundation closely linked to Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows; another $1 million to the America First Policy Institute, a closely-aligned advocacy group which employs several former Trump administration officials; more than $200,000 to the Trump Hotels chain; and more than $5 million to the events company that produced Trump’s Jan. 6 rally before the attack.
“The [fundraising] emails continued through Jan. 6, even as President Trump spoke on the Ellipse. Thirty minutes after the last fundraising email was sent, the Capitol was breached,” Amanda Wick, senior investigative counsel for the Jan. 6 committee, said in a video during the hearing
Trump’s 2020 campaign was a hot mess
Stepien took over the campaign from Brad Parscale just four months before the election.
Though the campaign would raise $774 million, Stepien said that when he became campaign manager he inherited an operation that was at a low point in the polls and both “structurally and fiscally deficient.” He set about “fixing things that could be fixed with 115 days left in the campaign.”
Trump rebuffed basic campaign tactics that would have maximized his chances. He proved stubborn when it came to mail-in voting.
At one point, Stepien testified, he called a meeting with Trump and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy to persuade the president that mail-in voting could be an asset. McCarthy backed him up.
Stepien’s point was that Republicans had built a grassroots campaign apparatus that could mobilize people to vote by mail. Also, it was risky to bet so heavily on in-person voting. But Trump was unmoved.
“The president’s mind was made up,” Stepien said.
Committee stays on message
With no dissenting voices on the panel, the Jan. 6 committee has demonstrated the benefit of having an entire panel operating from the same playbook.
Republicans chose not to seat anyone on the committee after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi rejected two congressmen they’d wanted to serve. The committee is made up of seven Democrats and two Republicans who are both vocal Trump critics. As a consequence, the panel has been able to stay extremely disciplined and on message as it builds its case against the 45th president.
A typical House committee might see members in the minority interrupt the chairman, cross examine key witnesses, or introduce evidence that contradicts the majority’s narrative. But that hasn’t been the case here.
Add to that the highly scripted format, and the first two hearings have not resembled the productions Congress is accustomed to.
The Jan. 6 panel has presented video montages of the Capitol riot, taped interviews of committee staff who helped connect the dots for viewers, and friendly questioning of witnesses like prominent GOP election attorney Ben Ginsberg.
The Trump campaign “did have their day in court,” Ginsberg testified. “In no instance did a court find that the charges of election fraud were real.” Ginsberg didn’t face any followup questions.
The only surprise Monday came before the hearing got going: Stepien, the star witness of the day, canceled his appearance after his wife went into labor. After a brief delay, the committee regrouped and moved forward with the hearing using video-taped testimony from Stepien during his earlier deposition.
Lofgren said the panel does not need Stepien to give live testimony at a future hearing given his previous “very extensive interview.”
The committee’s presentation is the Trump impeachment trial that never happened
The first two hearings are shaping up to look like the Trump impeachment trial that his accusers wanted last year but never got.
That may not be an accident.
One of the committee members is Rep. Jamie Raskin, D., Md., who led the team of House managers who served as the prosecution in Trump’s second trial.
Trump’s impeachment proceeded on a fast track that made it difficult for Democrats to collect and present evidence laying out Trump’s precise role in the scheme to overturn the election. Plus they had little power to force the sitting president to turn over records, whereas the National Archives has been much more compliant after taking custody once he left office.
Basic questions about Trump’s actions on Jan. 6 went unanswered during the trial. For example, when senators asked what steps Trump took to end the violence at the Capitol, one of Trump’s lawyers made reference to a tweet he had sent out asking people to stay “peaceful.” Trump was acquitted.
The committee is offering a richer account of what happened that day. During the first hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney, R., Wyo., vice-chair of the Jan. 6 committee, said that Trump began yelling and got “really angry at advisers who told him he needed to be doing something more” to call off the attack.
Watch videos in link below:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-hearing-committee-takeaways-day-two-rcna32994
-
'Admissible in any future trial': Analysts nail Trump's 12-page Jan. 6 response rant
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-statement-admissible-in-court/
-
Jan. 6 committee abruptly postpones Wednesday hearing
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-committee-abruptly-postpones-wednesday-hearing-rcna33433
-
High-level Capitol riot defendant Ryan Samsel is accused of writing a jailhouse letter earlier this month.
Samsel is the Pennsylvania man accused of toppling barricade and knocking officer unconscious
Here's the letter... per prosecutors.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVOAs-NWIAAwAc9?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
New testimony will show how John Eastman continued his plots to overturn 2020 election even after January 6
On Tuesday, POLITICO reported that the January 6 Committee has evidence that pro-Trump lawyer John Eastman continued pushing his schemes to overturn the 2020 presidential election — even after the attack on the U.S. Capitol had taken place.
"Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann told the select committee — in video testimony revealed publicly Tuesday afternoon — that he received an unexpected phone call on Jan. 7, 2021, from John Eastman, the attorney who played an instrumental role in Trump’s last-ditch strategy to subvert the election," reported Kyle Cheney. "In Herschmann’s telling, Eastman immediately asked him about 'something dealing with Georgia and preserving something potentially for appeal.'"
“And I said to him, ‘Are you out of your f’ing mind?’” said Herschmann in the testimony. “I said, ‘I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on: orderly transition.’” According to Herschmann, Eastman eventually agreed to this after being pressed.
"The minute-long clip was primarily a teaser for Thursday’s hearing, which will feature testimony from at least two key allies of former Vice President Mike Pence: former counsel Greg Jacob and retired federal judge Michael Luttig," said the report. "Jacob spent the days before Jan. 6 helping Pence fend off pressure from Eastman to impede the transition of power on Jan. 6, when Pence was required to preside over a joint session of Congress to count electoral votes."
Eastman, who is currently under investigation by the California State Bar, was the legal brains behind a fringe theory that said if Republicans put forward fake slates of "alternate" electors in states President Joe Biden narrowly won, Pence could simply rule these states as having unclear results, not counting them at all and throwing the election to Trump with the only counted electors.
Legal experts have widely panned this plan as illegal, and even Eastman himself privately acknowledged it wasn't consistent with federal law.
Watch video here: https://twitter.com/January6thCmte/status/1536815728208355330
-
Trump faces 'real danger' after Jan 6. committee revealed evidence of ‘false solicitation of money’: legal expert
During a segment on CNN this Tuesday, anchor Ana Cabrera brought up recent comments made by former Attorney General Bill Barr, who said he's hasn't yet seen the Jan. 6 committee offer up evidence of a prosecutable crime against Donald Trump. But former federal prosecutor and CNN legal analyst Shan Wu disagrees.
"I think we really need to emphasize from a prosecutorial point of view, being detached from reality is not a defense to any crime unless you want to plead not guilty by reason of insanity, which they can do," Wu said. "But the evidence is there and I don't think by excessive hand-wringing over whether there's really intent or not is necessary here. I think there's a lot of circumstantial evidence, and when I was a prosecutor, I would have been salivating about having this much evidence about a defendant's intent."
Appearing Monday in a pre-recorded deposition at a congressional hearing into the 2021 assault on the US Capitol, Barr described his then boss as having no interest in the facts that debunked his groundless narrative.
"I was demoralized because I thought, boy... he's become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff," Barr told the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection by supporters of Trump.
"When I went into this and would tell him how crazy some of these allegations were, there was never an indication of interest in the actual facts," said Barr, who likened addressing Trump's avalanche of false allegations with playing the game "whack-a-mole."
Later in the segment, Wu told CNN that the case where Trump told Georgia's Secretary of State to find more votes to bolster his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results is the strongest case against the former president. But he also thinks new revelations showing Trump raised over $250 million pushing debunked voter fraud allegations for an “official election defense fund” that the committee found did not exist is also a significant legal threat.
"I think that raises real exposure and danger for Trump and those who helped him to do that," Wu said. "And in particular, I think it's more dangerous because of the prosecutorial discretion aspect. That kind of a charge -- wire fraud, basically -- may be more palatable to prosecutors and DOJ and AG Garland than wading into these uncharted waters of charging a former president with trying to overthrow the very government he was in charge of."
The committee says the initial claim of fraud grew quickly into a fundraising campaign that raised millions between election night and the Capitol insurrection.
The committee's senior investigative counsel Amanda Wick said much of the cash was funneled into a political action committee that made donations to pro-Trump organizations.
"As early as April 2020, Mr Trump claimed that the only way he could lose an election would be as a result of fraud," Democratic panel member Zoe Lofgren said Monday.
"The big lie was also a big rip-off," she said, promising to show how the Trump campaign raised hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters who were falsely led to believe their donations would be used for the legal fight over fraud claims.
Watch the video below:
-
Court schedules initial appearance in Jan 6 case of Michigan GOP gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley for Thursday at 1pm
That's the exact time the next Jan 6 Select Committee hearing begins.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVQfMhTWIAIZwOk?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jan. 6 Panel Puts Trump Fund-Raising Tactics Under Scrutiny
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/14/us/politics/trump-fundraising-jan-6.html
-
Jan. 6 Committee Holds Second Hearing on Capitol Riot
Watch:
-
'There's no escape, Pelosi!' Jan. 6 committee releases threat-filled video of man who got Capitol tour from GOP lawmaker
On Wednesday, the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack sent a letter to Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) flagging the suspicious behavior of people he gave a tour of the Capitol one day before the insurrection.
The letter from Committee Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) highlighted, complete with photographs, that the people on this tour appeared to be doing reconnaissance of the Capitol.
"Individuals on the tour photographed and recorded areas of the complex not typically of interest to tourists, including hallways, staircases, and security checkpoints," the letter noted.
NEWS: @January6thCmte ahs sent a letter to @RepLoudermilk about what we broke in @PunchbowlNews this AM
The committee says that one of the people he gave a tour to threatened @SpeakerPelosi, @RepJerryNadler, @AOC, @SenSchumer
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVTDy40WAAM_5qm?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVTD1gzXEAEZduO?format=jpg&name=small)
Video here https://bit.ly/3Ho4rPy
Although the letter does not specify that the people on the tour actually invaded the Capitol, they were present at Trump's rally on the National Mall immediately preceding it — and one man in the tour was filmed holding a flagpole with a "sharpened end," saying, "It's for a certain person" and warning "There's no escape Pelosi, Schumer, Nadler. We're coming for you ... We're coming to take you out and pull you by the hairs."
"We again ask you to meet with the Select Committee at your earliest convenience," concluded the letter.
Loudermilk initially tried to deny that members of Congress had even given tours of the Capitol on the day before the attack, but walked back his denials weeks ago.
Watch the video below:
-
Oath Keepers intended to 'turn on the gas' while lawmakers were in tunnels photographed Jan. 5 by Capitol tourists
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/we-stormed-the-capitol-founder-of-mamalitia-survivalist-group-boasted-of-insurrection-activity.jpg?id=26481249&width=2400&height=1600)
Right-wing extremists charged in the U.S. Capitol riot threatened to "gas" lawmakers in tunnels where Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) led a tour the previous day.
The Georgia Republican led a group of 15 individuals later identified by police as constituents on a tour of the Capitol complex, where one participant took photos of hallways, staircases and tunnels, and that same man was shown on video from Jan. 6 shouting threats against individual Democratic lawmakers.
“We’re coming to take you out and pull you out by your hairs," the man says, referring to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). "When I get done with you, you’re going to need a shine on top of that bald head."
Conspiracy charges filed shortly after the riot showed a group of three Oath Keepers were particularly interested in lawmakers' movements in the tunnels underneath the Capitol complex, and one of them, Thomas Edward Caldwell, allegedly received a Facebook message about them.
“All members are in the tunnels under capital seal them in," reads the message. "Turn on gas."
Caldwell also received another message on the topic, according to an affidavit that replicates spelling errors in the original statement.
“Tom all legislators are down in the Tunnels 3floors down,” the message reads. “Do like we had to do when I was in the core start tearing oit florrs go from top to bottom."
The Jan. 6 committee noted on Wednesday that the tour had visited "entrances to Capitol tunnels."
"Individuals on the tour photographed/recorded areas not typically of interest to tourists: hallways, staircases and security checkpoints," the committee tweeted.
https://www.rawstory.com/turn-on-the-gas-capitol-riot/
-
Republican Rep. Loudermilk released this statement yesterday: “I never gave a tour of the Capitol on Jan 5, 2021.”
This morning, this footage was released by the January 6th Committee. Dated January 5th, 2021. Proving that he did.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVTlU6dWQAELN9B?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVTlU6cXEAQabkC?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVTlU6cXEAEMFpX?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVTlU6fXwAUxFp1?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Here is Rep. Loudermilk lying through his teeth yesterday claiming that he gave no tour of the Capitol on Jan 5, 2021. The January 6th Committee exposed him this morning for the shameful liar that he is by releasing video footage of the tour he claimed he never gave.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk @RepLoudermilk
BREAKING: The truth will always prevail. As I’ve said since the Jan. 6 Committee made their baseless accusation about me to the media, I never gave a tour of the Capitol on Jan 5, 2021…
https://twitter.com/RepLoudermilk/status/1536680390840418304
Rep. Loudermilk has some explaining to do.
These right wingers have no shame. They just blatantly lie even when they are caught red handed. Did Loudermilk actually think there would be no surveillance footage of him giving a tour that he lied about not giving inside the Capitol? The fact is, no tours were allowed due to the Covid 19 pandemic but Loudermilk gave a tour the day BEFORE the insurrection on Jan 6. Notice where the footage was recorded during this tour, secure areas for tunnels and hallways. Today, we learned members of the Oath Keepers militia wanted to "gas" members of Congress who were hiding in these these same tunnels for safety. So these individuals on this tour got a clear layout of the inside of the Capitol ONE day before the insurrection so they knew where to go.
January 6th Committee @January6thCmte
Surveillance footage shows a tour led by Loudermilk to areas in the House Office Buildings, as well as the entrances to Capitol tunnels.
Individuals on the tour photographed/recorded areas not typically of interest to tourists: hallways, staircases and security checkpoints.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1537075019918065666
https://twitter.com/January6thCmte/status/1537075019918065666
-
EricSwalwell@ ericswalwell
How do you think Republicans would have reacted if footage of a Democrat member of Congress surfaced giving tours to people who the following day launched a terrorist attack against the United States of America?
https://twitter.com/ericswalwell/status/1537085050268921858
Rep. Jamie Raskin @RepRaskin
This video shows one of the guests on Loudermilk’s inside Jan. 5 tour ominously name-checking Pelosi, Schumer, Nadler and AOC on Jan. 6 and chortling with a fellow Trumpie about using a weaponized American flag against “somebody special.” @January6thCmte is seeking more info.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1537075019918065666
https://twitter.com/RepRaskin/status/1537135844871528450
-
Great video on how John "Steal the Election for Trump" Eastman became John "Orderly Transition" Eastman.
Note, the phone call in question happened the day after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
-
Why aren’t more people pointing out that Loudermilk was giving 15 people a tour of a space they’d already told him explicitly they’d be coming back to the following day—in fact had expressly and exclusively come to Washington to go to? Who gives a completely redundant *pre*-tour.
And why aren’t more people noting that Loudermilk told a podcaster that everyone on his tour was someone he knew *from church*, and that he checked in later to confirm none stayed at the Capitol Complex—where they were trespassing—after the riot began, when those were both lies?
And why in the world would Loudermilk leave 15 people who’d already told him they planned to trespass at the Capitol Complex the next day *alone* at the Capitol Complex the day before their planned crime?
What’s the opposite of a post-crime getaway driver—a pre-crime tour guide?
And how is Loudermilk going to say he thought a 7-bus caravan led by one of the best-known, best-connected Stop the Steal radicals in Georgia—a man who sharpened a flagpole for use as a deadly weapon on Insurrection Day—was just a DC tourist trip that happened to be on January 6?
For that matter, how does the USCP watch 18-month-old footage of an unidentified man with four cell phones photographing security tunnels and stairwells near the Capitol, say there’s nothing suspicious about it, then call a wrap on its “investigation” without interviewing anyone?
4 phones...... That is all.....
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVVCwfGXEAAX7WP?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Ginni Thomas emailed with ‘coup memo’ author John Eastman — and Jan. 6 committee has the receipts
New information reveals that the efforts of Ginni Thomas to overturn the 2020 presidential election were even more extensive than previously known, according to a bombshell new report by The Washington Post.
"The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol has obtained email correspondence between Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and lawyer John Eastman, who played a key role in efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to block the certification of Joe Biden’s victory, according to three people involved in the committee’s investigation," the newspaper reported. "The emails show that Thomas’s efforts to overturn the election were more extensive than previously known, two of the people said. The three declined to provide details and spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters."
Justice Thomas refused to recuse himself from a case involving Jan. 6.
"The committee’s members and staffers are now discussing whether to spend time during their public hearings exploring Ginni Thomas’s role in the attempt to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election, the three people said. The Post previously reported that the committee had not sought an interview with Thomas and was leaning against pursuing her cooperation with its investigation," the newspaper explained.
The report comes as the committee has three additional public hearings scheduled in June.
"The two people said the emails were among documents obtained by the committee and reviewed recently. Last week, a federal judge ordered Eastman to turn more than a hundred documents over to the committee. Eastman had tried to block the release of those and other documents by arguing that they were privileged communications and therefore should be protected," the newspaper reported.
Read The Full Report:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/06/15/ginni-thomas-john-eastman-emails/
-
Loudermilk -- and 5 other Georgia Republicans -- pressured to 'answer the committee's questions' after 'shocking' Jan. 6 video
The U.S. House panel probing last year's insurrection released a video and letter on Wednesday that led to fresh calls for Republican Congressman Barry Loudermilk of Georgia to answer questions about a tour he gave of the U.S. Capitol complex the day before the attack.
"It's time for answers and accountability."
The new letter calling on Loudermilk to meet with the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol comes after the body's chair and vice chair, Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), sent him a similar request last month—three weeks before the panel's series of public hearings began last Thursday.
"Based on our review of surveillance video, social media activity, and witness accounts, we understand you led a tour group through parts of the Capitol complex on January 5, 2021. That group stayed for several hours, despite the complex being closed to the public on that day," states Wednesday's letter, which includes images from the newly released video.
"Surveillance footage shows a tour of approximately 10 individuals led by you to areas in the Rayburn, Longworth, and Cannon House office buildings, as well as the entrances to tunnels leading to the U.S. Capitol," the letter adds. "Individuals on the tour photographed and recorded areas of the complex not typically of interest to tourists, including hallways, staircases, and security checkpoints."
The letter and video also highlight that on January 6, 2021, some individuals who toured the complex with Loudermilk attended a rally at the Ellipse then joined a march to the Capitol, and one person made "detailed and disturbing threats" against then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), and Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Watch:
-
WATCH LIVE: House select committee holds third hearing on Jan 6th insurrection
On Thursday, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection that forced lawmakers to flee for their lives will convene for the third time with committee members expected to focus on the pressure put upon former vice president Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Following revelations that Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, was in contact with Donald Trump attorney John Eastman, the committee will reportedly touch upon his involvement.
In a preview of what is to be presented, committee co-chair Liz Cheney (R-WY) tweeted, "President Trump's relentless effort on Jan. 6 and in the days beforehand to pressure Vice President Pence to refuse to count lawful electoral votes."
According to CBS, "Pence's former counsel Greg Jacob and conservative jurist J. Michael Luttig, who has advised Pence, are scheduled to appear. Two people familiar with Luttig's expected testimony, who were not authorized to discuss details of the hearing, told CBS News that he is expected to tell the committee 'America's democracy was almost stolen from her.'"
You can watch the hearing, expected to begin today at 1PM ET, below:
-
'A dead giveaway': Capitol Police slammed by former FBI official for blowing off Loudermilk's MAGA tour
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-tours-by-barry-loudermilk.jpg?id=29981879&width=2400&height=1350)
Appearing on CNN's "New Day" with hosts John Berman and Brianna Keilar on Thursday morning, former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe expressed skepticism and dismay after the head of the Capitol Police dismissed questions about tour led by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) the day before the Jan 6th Capitol riot.
On Tuesday, Capitol police chief J. Thomas Manger said an investigation did not reveal any suspicious behavior by the 15 people who accompanied the Donald Trump-supporting Republican and were seen taking curious pictures.
According to Manger, "We train our officers on being alert for people conducting surveillance or reconnaissance, and we do not consider any of the activities we observed to be suspicious."
According to McCabe, he was "shocked" by the letter.
"I am shocked that the capitol police would release such a statement that essentially gives the entire thing a clean bill of health, right?" McCabe told the hosts. "They're basically saying we don't see anything here. I'm shocked that they would release a statement like that without doing a complete investigation which would, of course, include reviewing the video from January 6th and would, you know, under any reasonable terms include interviewing the people involved to include the congressman but also the people who appear on the video."
"I don't think you really can reconcile the two things," he continued. "It appears to have been a bit of a rush to judgment and I think there were many, many really interesting questions that remain around this issue."
Asked what stood out in the video of the tour, he replied, "Well, you know, this is -- what you see in that video is exactly the same sort of things that investigators who are investigating potential spies or terrorists or people who conduct casing activity, you see the same sorts of behaviors in that video. It doesn't mean that that's what that person was doing, it just appears to be the same sort of pre-operational behavior that you look for among people who are planning some sort of an attack or an operation or something like that."
"The photographing of security facilities and security checkpoints is a dead giveaway to investigators that you have something suspicious on your hands here. that is not something that normal tourists take a look at," he added.
Watch below:
-
Jamie Raskin teases a 'back channel' between Trump allies and Proud Boys in upcoming hearing
(https://api.time.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/proud-boys-america-vigilantes-3.jpg?quality=85&w=2400)
On CNN Thursday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) discussed some of the new revelations that will take place at in the latest hearing of the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
One of those, he said, will be how former President Donald Trump's allies established a "back channel" with far-right extremist groups participating in the attack, like the Proud Boys.
"We do understand that John Eastman, this lawyer, and some of the things he has written, will be part of this discussion today," said anchor John Berman. "Again, focusing on some of the new reporting overnight, The Times reports that Eastman was saying what he believed to be happening within the Supreme Court. He was telling people he knew what was happening in the Supreme Court with regards to one possible case. What are the implications of that?"
"Well, I mean, the first thing to understand, of course, is that we're only putting things out there that we understand to be evidence," said Raskin. "And so if there is evidence that he said that, we will report that he said that. That doesn't necessarily mean it's true. He could have been lying about what he knew on the inside. On the other hand, perhaps he had some back channel connection to the Supreme Court, and we want to ferret that out if that's true, to determine whether the same people who established a back channel to the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, the domestic violent extremist movement, had a back channel also to the Supreme Court of the United States of America."
"I'm sorry — who was in Trump world establishing a back channel to the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers?" asked Berman.
"Well, all of that is to come soon," said Raskin. "This is actually the hearing that I'm working on, is about the relationship between this whole effort and the domestic violent extremist groups, and how the mob was actually mobilized and put into action."
Watch below:
-
January 6 Hearings Build Case for a Trump-Eastman Criminal Conspiracy
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/06/jan-6-hearings-make-case-for-trump-criminal-conspiracy.html
-
Jan. 6 gallows take center stage at hearing as select committee documents Trump’s threats against Pence
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/house-select-committee-to-investigate-the-january-6th-attack-on-the-united-states-capitol.jpg?id=29985974&width=2400&height=1350)
The House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol focused on threats to Mike Pence as Donald Trump sought to overturn the 2020 election during Thursday's public hearings.
"Hours after President Donald J. Trump announced a “wild” rally in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, his supporters began discussing building a gallows in front of the Capitol," The New York Times reported. "Days later, a second user posted a diagram describing the cuts of lumber and rope that would be needed to erect a gallows and fashion a noose. A lengthy planning discussion ensued. A third posted a manual on how to tie a hangman’s knot."
Trump used rally speeches and Twitter to exert intense pressure on Pence to abuse his position as president of the Senate to reject the election results as they were being ratified on January 6.
During his "Stop the Steal" rally ahead of the joint session of the House and Senate to ratify the election, Trump mentioned Pence numerous times as he told his supporters to march on the Capitol and "fight like hell."
But Pence wrote to Congress that the Founding Fathers never intended the vice president to have "unilateral authority" to overturn election counts, adding that "no vice president in American history has ever asserted such authority."
The mob whipped up by Trump threatened to hang Pence for failing to cooperate as they stormed the Capitol, and even erected a gallows in front of the building.
Committee member Pete Aguilar, a Democrat from California, played video of the gallows during his opening statement.
"A striking array of far-right iconography littered the Capitol during the riot by Mr. Trump’s supporters, such as a Confederate flag, Crusader crosses, an Auschwitz-themed hoodie and 'white power' hand gestures. But the gallows erected in front of the Capitol, where rioters chanted 'Hang Mike Pence' as they stormed the building looking for the vice president, is one of the most chilling images to emerge from of a day of violence and extremism," The New York Times reported. "It is also one of the bigger unsolved mysteries in the investigation into what happened that day. Seventeen months after the riot, little is known about it. No one has publicly claimed responsibility for erecting the gallows or been charged with setting it up."
"The imagery, said experts who study domestic extremism, evokes the early practice of hanging traitors; the nation’s dark history of lynchings and violent attempts to terrorize Black Americans; and a novel favored by white supremacists that culminates in the mass hangings of political enemies," the newspaper reported. "Above all, they said, it is intended to instill fear."
Cheney said last week that when the subject of the "hang Mike Pence" chants came up at the White House, Trump responded: "Maybe our supporters have the right idea" and that Pence "deserves" it.
ABC News correspondent Katherine Faulders reports her sources say Trump and Pence have not spoken since last summer.
Watch below:
-
Pence could have prevented Jan. 6, but his presidential ambitions got in the way: Lawrence O’Donnell
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/us-vice-president-pence-to-get-covid-vaccine-friday-white-house.jpg?id=27822671&width=2400&height=1290)
MSNBC anchor Lawrence O'Donnell harshly criticized Mike Pence for waiting so long to publicly announce he would not go along with Donald Trump's attempted coup.
O'Donnell discussed his perspective with Rachel Maddow during the handoff between their shows
"Good evening, Rachel," O'Donnell said. "We're gonna have Rep Adam Schiff (D-CA) joining us."
"He's a member of the committee and based on what you are saying a few minutes ago, I'm gonna ask him, if their investigation, talking to the Pence staff, did anyone explain to the committee why the day before Jan. 6, when Donald Trump put out a statement saying Mike Pence and I completely agree that Mike Pence has the authority to reject electors, why didn't Mike Pence immediately put out a statement saying, no this is my position?"
"Why did he wait until the next day, when the attack on the Capitol was already underway? O'Donnell wondered.
"Yes," Maddow replied. "I mean, he could've said 'I want everyone in America, including those who are coming to Washington tomorrow to support me and the president, I want everybody to be under no illusions. I do not have the power to throughout the election results, nor does any individual American as our forefathers said. and we look forward to seeing you tomorrow, and MAGA forever, but I'm not gonna do that."
O'Donnell suspects Pence did not issue such a statement due to his 2024 presidential campaign aspirations.
"On Dec. 19, Donald Trump summoned his troops to Washington for a rally on Jan. 6. That would have been a very good day for the vice president of the United States to announce that nothing can change the Electoral College count on Jan. 6," he explained. "Could've made that announcement on the day Donald Trump made the announcement that it will be a rally on Jan. 6, but Mike Pence decided not to tell Donald Trump, and Trump voters the truth, because Mike Pence was still clinging to the dream that someday, those Trump voters would be voting for Mike Pence for president."
"And so, he didn't want to be the bearer of bad news to see future voters," O'Donnell concluded.
Watch below;
-
Mike Pence, hiding from the MAGA mob, on the phone watching Trump from the Rose Garden say how much he loves the people hunting him.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVag7HlXsAAi248?format=jpg&name=medium)
MSNBC @MSNBC
FBI confidential informant said Proud Boys would have killed then-VP Pence, Speaker Pelosi, and other lawmakers if given the chance on January 6, court filing shows. #January6thCommiteeHearings
Watch: https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1537532287734128641
-
Jan. 6 Committee 'moving closer' to proving Trump led a seditious conspiracy: legal expert
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/is-he-even-president-anymore-loser-trump-more-or-less-abandoning-his-job-to-sulk-in-the-white-house.jpg?id=24820569&width=2400&height=1290)
MSNBC's Chuck Rosenberg believes the House Select Committee has come close to proving former President Donald Trump led a seditious conspiracy.
The "Morning Joe" legal analyst explained that Thursday's public hearing showed compelling evidence that the former president and his legal advisers, including attorney John Eastman, attempted to obstruct the congressional certification of President Joe Biden's election win, and that they were aware the scheme was unlawful.
"I think they're getting closer all the time, right?" said Rosenberg, a former federal prosecutor and senior FBI official. "The more you talk to people who are around the former president, like Eastman, the more you know about what the president intended. You don't know it perfectly, right? Let's take Eastman as an example. This man gave horrible legal advice, [but] being a bad lawyer is not a crime. I mean, thank goodness for that, right? I'm grateful for that every day."
"But being an unprincipled or unscrupulous lawyer gets you much closer to a crime," he added. "Eastman knew, and we learned this yesterday, that his theory that Pence could reject electors was unfounded. He said he'd lose 9-0 in the Supreme Court. He said that this recourse was not available to Al Gore as vice president in 2000, and he said it wouldn't be available to Kamala Harris in 2024. He also said he knew his theory violated the Electoral Count Act of 1887, yet he urged this on the president of the United States."
The Select Committee also showed evidence that others told the former president that Eastman's scheme was unfounded, illegal and improper, but Trump continued to press forward with a plan to pressure vice president Mike Pence to overturn his election loss in several key states.
"You're getting closer and closer to what the president knew and, therefore, what he intended," Rosenberg said. "Whether or not there is a criminal referral at the end of the day, I think you're beginning to see a very compelling case that the president of the United States, with others, conspired to obstruct Congress, to thwart the count of electoral votes, to interfere in this work."
"If you can tie them to the use of force, to a seditious conspiracy," he added.
Watch:
-
How the J6 Committee has masterfully trapped Donald Trump
The January 6 Committee is methodically slamming Donald Trump’s remaining escape hatches. The committee’s third televised hearing deftly wove together expert and eye-witness testimony, video, and Trump’s own tweets to put the former president at the very center of the failed coup.
Officially, Thursday’s hearing was about whether Vice President Mike Pence had the power to single-handedly decide the winner of the 2020 election. The answer was a resounding “no.” The public learned what those who have been following the J6 committee’s legal findings have long known: that the scheme outlined in the Eastman memos was a crackpot plan that even Eastman acknowledged was illegal.
Just as importantly, today’s hearing established that Trump waged a public and private pressure campaign to get Mike Pence to follow John Eastman’s plan to overturn the election during the certification. This campaign was waged in person, over the phone, and on twitter, and the committee shared evidence of every step.
One of the hearing’s star witnesses was Greg Jacob, Pence’s former counsel. One of the most intriguing aspects of his testimony was a review of an email exchange between Jacob and Eastman that took place while Pence and Jacob were hiding from the mob.
“And thanks to your bulls**t, we are now under siege,”Jacob wrote to Eastman from the secure location.
Eastman shot back that the siege was happening “because you and your boss did not do what was necessary.” There you have it in Eastman’s own words: the mob stormed the Capitol because Pence refused to play his assigned role in the coup. And Eastman should know, he was on stage with Trump at the Ellipse when Trump explained to the crowd that Mike Pence had to send the election back to the states so that the Republicans would win the election.
“[The states] want to recertify. But the only way that can happen is if Mike Pence agrees to send it back. Mike Pence has to agree to send it back,” Trump told the crowd.
In another email from hiding, Jacob asked Eastman whether he had advised Trump that the Vice President lacks the power to unilaterally overturn the election. “[Trump] been advised, as you should know, because you were on the phone when I did it,” Eastman wrote back, “But you know him. Once he gets something in his head, it’s hard to get him to change course."
During this exchange, Jacob forced the former law professor to concede that his plan violated the Electoral Count Act. Jacob also testified that Eastman admitted that not a single Supreme Court Justice would credit Eastman’s far-fetched theory that the vice president can decide who wins an election.
Eastman is saying that he told Trump the coup was illegal, but Trump tried to make it happen anyway. Knowingly, willfully, unlawfully.
https://www.rawstory.com/the-house-january-6th-select-committee-has-masterfully-trapped-donald-trump/
-
8 takeaways from the January 6 hearings day 3
(https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/220616132910-07-january-6-hearings-0616-luttig-jacob-screengrab.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill)
CNN — The House select committee investigating the Capitol insurrection on Thursday detailed how former President Donald Trump tried to pressure his vice president to join in his scheme to overturn the presidential election – and how Mike Pence’s refusal put his life in danger as rioters called for his hanging on January 6, 2021.
Two witnesses testified at Thursday’s hearing who advised Pence that he did not have the authority to subvert the election, former Pence attorney Greg Jacob and retired Republican judge J. Michael Luttig.
The committee walked through how conservative Trump attorney John Eastman put forward a legal theory that Pence could unilaterally block certification of the election – a theory that was roundly rejected by Trump’s White House attorneys and Pence’s team but nevertheless embraced by the former President.
Here are the key takeaways from the committee’s third hearing this month:
Trump was told Eastman’s plan was illegal – but tried it anyway
There were many revelations, but the perhaps most important one: Trump was told repeatedly that his plan for Pence to overturn the election on January 6 was illegal, but he tried to do it anyway.
According to witness testimony, Pence himself and the lawyer who concocted the scheme advised Trump directly that the plan was unconstitutional and violated federal law. Committee members argued that this shows Trump’s corrupt intentions, and could lay the groundwork for a potential indictment.
In a videotaped deposition, which was played Thursday, Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short said Pence advised Trump “many times” that he didn’t have the legal or constitutional authority to overturn the results while presiding over the joint session of Congress on January 6 to count the electoral votes.
Even Eastman, who helped devise the scheme and pitched it to Trump, admitted in front of Trump that the plan would require Pence to violate federal law, according to a clip of a deposition from Jacob, Pence’s senior legal adviser, which was played at Thursday’s hearing.
Legal scholars from across the political spectrum agree that Eastman’s plan was preposterous. Luttig, the former federal judge who advised Pence during the transition, testified at Thursday’s hearing that he “would have laid my body across the road” before letting Pence illegally overturn the election.
The panel tied the Mike Pence pressure campaign to January 6 violence
The committee tried to connect Trump’s pressure campaign against Pence to the violence on January 6, by weaving together testimony from Pence aides, Trump’s public statements and comments from rioters at the Capitol.
Some of the most compelling evidence came from the rioters themselves.
Many of them had listened to Trump’s rallies where he claimed – inaccurately – that the election was rigged against him, and Pence had the power to do something about it while presiding over the Electoral College certification. While the insurrection was underway, they cited Trump’s comments about Pence.
And many of them saw, in real-time, Trump’s tweet criticizing Pence while the Capitol was under attack, where he said Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done.”
The point of highlighting this on Thursday was to lay the blame for the violence at Trump’s feet. And right after the attack, many top Republicans agreed with that conclusion. But over the last year and a half, many Republicans have shied away from blaming Trump, and the committee hopes to change that.
Former Trump White House attorney Eric Herschmann told the committee that Eastman told him he was willing to accept violence in order to overturn the 2020 election. The panel played video from Herschmann’s deposition where he described a conversation with Eastman about his claims that the vice president could overturn the election in Congress.
Herschmann warned Eastman that his strategy, if implemented, was “going to cause riots in the streets.”
"And he said words to the effect of, ‘There’s been violence in the history of our country in order to protect the democracy, or to protect the republic,’ ” Herschmann said.
And the committee highlighted testimony from witnesses who described Turmp exacerbating the situation on January 6 during the riot. Deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews testified in a taped deposition that was shown that a tweet Trump sent on January 6 helped escalate the situation.
“It felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire,” she added.
The danger to Pence was real as the mob got about 40 feet from the vice president
The committee underscored that Pence was in real danger on January 6, and the panel made the case that Trump was to blame.
The mob got about 40 feet from Pence – that’s a little more than a first down in football. Rioters threatened him by name, and were enraged that he didn’t overturn the election, because they believed Trump’s lie that Pence could unilaterally nullify Joe Biden’s victory in the Electoral College.
"Vice President Pence was a focus of the violent attack,” said committee member Rep. Pete Aguilar, a California Democrat.
Pence’s team evacuated and the committee showed new images of the then-vice president sheltering in a basement bunker in the US Capitol as the violence unfolded.
Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, reacted “with frustration” to the fact that Trump never called to check on them, according to Jacob’s testimony.
Pence and Trump’s relationship had soured deeply in the lead-up to the January 6 congressional session, as Pence made clear that he would not comply with the scheme to overturn the election results that Trump was pushing.
Trump then began to turn on his vice president in his public remarks, stirring up his supporters’ anger.
For his part, as he worked from a secure location in the Capitol, Pence reached out to congressional leaders, the acting defense secretary and others “to check on their safety and to address the growing crisis,” Aguilar said Thursday.
Eastman wouldn’t take no for an answer on overturning the election
The hearing underscored how Eastman had pushed over and over for Pence to try to overturn the election, despite facing sharp resistance from White House lawyers and Pence’s team.
Even after the riot at the Capitol, Eastman was still pursuing efforts to block the election result, the committee revealed. Eastman’s actions in many ways mirrored those of Trump, who also refused to accept Pence’s rejection and lashed out at his vice president in his speech and on Twitter.
The committee played testimony from video depositions where White House officials explained how they thought Eastman’s theory was “nutty” before January 6 – and told him so. Jacob described Eastman’s plans as “certifiably crazy.”
Jacob, Pence’s chief counsel, described the meetings he’d had with Eastman on January 4 and January 5, including when Eastman directly asked him for Pence to reject electors.
“I concluded by saying, ‘John, in light of everything that we’ve discussed, can’t we just both agree that this is a terrible idea?’ ” Jacob said. “And he couldn’t quite bring himself to say yes to that. But he very clearly said, ‘Well, yeah, I see we’re not going to be able to persuade you to do this.’ And that was how the meeting concluded.”
But on the evening of January 6 – after rioters had attacked the Capitol and forced the vice president and his team to flee – Eastman tried to leverage the delay in certification by arguing there had been a minor violation of the Electoral Count Act and Pence should delay for 10 days as a result.
In a phone call with Herschmann on January 7, Eastman was still pursuing legal options to appeal the election results in Georgia.
Herschmann told the committee in a deposition: “I said to him, ‘Are you out of your effing mind? Because I only want to hear two words coming out of your mouth from now on: orderly transition.’”
Eastman emailed Giuliani about receiving a presidential pardon after January 6
Eastman emailed Rudy Giuliani a few days after January 6, 2021, and asked to be included on a list of potential recipients of a presidential pardon, the committee revealed during Thursdays hearing.
The committee said Eastman made the request to Giuliani, Trump’s former attorney, in an email.
“I’ve decided that I should be on the pardon list, if that is still in the works,” the email from Eastman to Giuliani read.
Eastman did not ultimately receive a pardon and refused to answer the committee’s questions about his role in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, repeatedly pleading the Fifth during his deposition.
The committee argued during Thursday’s hearing that Eastman’s request for a pardon, and his decision to repeatedly plead the Fifth when questioned previously by the panel, indicates Eastman knew his actions were potentially criminal.
CNN previously reported that Giuliani and other Trump associates had raised the idea of receiving preemptive pardons in the weeks leading up to January 6 but the US Capitol riot had complicated his desire to pardon himself, his kids and personal lawyer. At the time, several of Trump’s closest advisers also urged him not to grant clemency to anyone involved in the January 6 attack, despite Trump’s initial stance that those involved had done nothing wrong.
The star of Thursday’s hearing was not in the room
One person noticeably absent on Thursday was the star of the hearing himself: the former vice president.
The committee cast Pence as the hero – making the case that American democracy would have slipped into a state of chaos had he succumbed to Trump’s pressure campaign.
But as the committee touted Pence’s commitment to the Constitution and bravery on January 6, it was impossible to ignore the fact that the former vice president was not in the room.
Instead, the committee relied on live witness testimony from the two former Pence advisers who appeared to speak on his behalf.
Earlier this year, the committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, had suggested the committee would seek testimony from Pence. Still, the prospect of Pence appearing before the committee, particularly in public, has always been viewed as a long shot – to say the least.
Asked Wednesday if the committee is still interested in hearing from Pence, committee aides demurred, telling reporters the investigation is ongoing and therefore they cannot provide details about any engagement with a particular witness.
“Nothing new to share on that, other than we continue to search for facts and if there is more to share, we’ll share it in the future,” one of the aides said.
The fact that two of Pence’s former advisers appeared Thursday, and Short testified on camera behind closed doors, indicates that Pence was not actively seeking to block those around him from sharing information with the committee in his stead.
Luttig turns parts of the hearing into a lengthy constitutional seminar
The January 6 committee’s hearings to date have been briskly produced affairs, with emotional, violent video interspersed with testimony from depositions – and minimal live witness testimony.
On Thursday, Luttig, a retired judge, had other ideas.
Luttig gave lengthy, meandering answers with a halting approach that stretched on while he dove into issues like the history of the Electoral Count Act.
Luttig’s comments were basically the opposite of “must-see TV,” the prime-time hearings that committee has signaled it’s holding to try to connect with the American public about the significance of the January 6 attack on the Capitol and on democracy.
At the same time, the points Luttig made – about how the legal schemes Eastman and Trump pushed were baseless and Trump was told as much before January 6 – were essential to the committee’s case trying to connect Trump’s efforts to overturn the election to the violence. But his delivery got in the way of his message.
American democracy is on the line
The investigation is about the 2020 election, but committee members went to great lengths to reframe the conversation about the future threats to democracy, with an eye toward 2024.
And it’s not just the Democrats who run the committee who are raising the alarm about Trump’s increasingly anti-democratic – lowercase D – behavior, and what it means for future elections.
Jacob said Trump’s plan was “antithetical to everything in our democracy” and would’ve thrown the nation into an unprecedented constitutional crisis.”
Luttig said Trump poses a “clear and present danger to American democracy.” The conservative Republican said he had reached this conclusion because Trump and his allies are still lying about the 2020 election, endorsing candidates who are promoting these lies and showing no signs of backing down.
The committee says it will put forward legislative proposals to clarify old election laws, close the loopholes that Trump and Eastman tried to exploit, and safeguard the transition of power. There is bipartisan interest in passing some of these proposals, but it’s not clear yet if there is enough support to send any bills to Biden’s desk. With the midterm elections looming, time may be running out.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/16/politics/january-6-hearing-day-3-takeaways/index.html
-
The next Jan. 6 hearing ‘is going to trigger Trump like nothing else’: Rick Wilson
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his deputy Gabe Sterling are expected to testify on front of the Jan. 6 committee at the end of this month, CNN reports.
Raffensperger's made headlines after the 2020 election for refusing former President Donald Trump's attempt to pressure him to "find" the votes necessary for Trump to win Georgia. Raffensperger, who is a Republican, already testified before the committee as well as a special grand jury investigating Trump's efforts to overturn the election.
According to the Lincoln Project's Rick Wilson, Raffensperger and Sterling appearing before the committee is bad news for Trump.
"This is going to trigger Trump like nothing else," Wilson tweeted this Friday.
"As Trump refused to accept the outcome of the 2020 election and his allies pursued various schemes to try to upend the results, Raffensperger, Raffensperger's wife Tricia, and other Georgia officials faced a barrage of threats," CNN's report stated. "In December 2020, Sterling publicly pleaded for Trump to condemn the harassment that officials and election workers had been facing."
On Thursday, the Jan. 6 committee detailed how the former president berated Mike Pence for not going along with the scheme both knew to be unlawful -- even after being told violence had erupted as Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden's victory.
The committee heard from retired federal judge J Michael Luttig, who testified that the United States would have been plunged into "a revolution within a paralyzing constitutional crisis" had Pence folded under Trump's pressure.
Luttig, a renowned conservative legal scholar, had advised Pence at the time that his role in overseeing the ratification of the election was purely ceremonial -- and that he had no power to oppose the result.
"There was no basis in the constitution or the laws of the United States at all for the theory espoused by Mr Eastman. At all. None," Luttig said.
Trump reacted to the hearing by demanding that he receive "equal time" on the airwaves to lay out his bogus theory that the election was stolen -- but opponents pointed out that he has not taken up the committee's invitation to testify.
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-hearing-trump/
-
Trump wanted a different insurrection: Jan. 6 hearing reveals violent intent behind Pence plot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-riot-insurrection.jpg?id=29992099&width=2400&height=1350)
Over the many months of revelations about Donald Trump's attempted coup, one lingering question has rarely been asked: What would have come next if Vice President Mike Pence had done what they asked?
A collective "Oh well, I guess Trump is president for another four years after all" from the country sounds unlikely, to say the least. And if the courts had become involved, it's hard to imagine that Trump's followers would have been any less angry than they already were. So, what was the plan?
Thursday's January 6th Committee hearing finally addressed that question, at least obliquely, through testimony by Donald Trump's staff and Mike Pence's inner circle. The answer was not comforting.
This third hearing discussed the campaign to pressure Pence, then the vice president, into overturning the election — and what a campaign it was. The main player in this scheme was Republican lawyer John Eastman, who appears to have been a Trump true believer (as well as a highly credentialed, conservative, constitutional scholar) who offered his services to serve Trump's pre-fabricated conspiracy theory that the election had been stolen. Trump was apparently pleased with his devotion to the Big Lie and Eastman quickly became the primary January 6th coup plotter.
It is pretty clear that Eastman knew there was a good chance for serious bloodshed if Pence overturned the election.
The hearings showed that Eastman was relentless, throwing out one argument after another to get Pence to go along with the program. His and Trump's entreaties were met with furious pushback from the White House counsel's office and Pence's own lawyers who argued that it was illegal, unconstitutional and wrong over and over again. Eastman was so obsessive about his crusade to overturn the election, however, that even after the insurrection on Jan. 6th he came back to one of the White House lawyers who said what is no doubt going to be one of the most famous quotes of this scandal: "I'm going to give you the best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life. Get a great f-ing criminal defense lawyer. You're going to need it." A few days later Eastman emailed Trump's other attorney Rudy Giuliani asking to be on the "pardon list."
The pressure on Pence was immense. But on Jan. 6th, Pence refused to do his boss's bidding even after Trump insulted him on the phone by calling him a "pussy." Pence refused to leave the Capitol complex that day despite the danger presented by the mob Trump had incited. The hearing showed that at one point rioters were only 40 feet away and there is evidence some of the Proud Boys intended to kill Pence.
Stipulating that Pence did the right thing and showed courage on that day, the narrative set forth in the witness testimony that Pence was "steely and determined" from the beginning, telling Trump he didn't have the authority to do what they were asking, is belied by the fact that Pence never said a word in public to that effect and sought the guidance of both legal and political advisers about what he should do. The New York Times reported on January 5th that he was still trying to find some middle ground, even suggesting that while he couldn't overturn the election, he could make a statement supporting Trump's contention that the election was fraudulent. Like so many others in Trump's orbit, Pence could have taken action much earlier.
The second hearing earlier this week made the case that Trump knew the election was legitimate and lied about it anyway. The upshot of the third hearing was that Trump and his lawyers knew their plot to overturn the election was illegal and unconstitutional and pushed it anyway. It was an act of sheer partisan power, perfectly illustrated by this comment:
Eastman and Trump thought they could bully their way through and get their way. And the testimony strongly suggests that they were well prepared for, perhaps even anticipating, violence as a result of their actions. But it's not clear at all that they anticipated their own supporters would storm the Capitol before the vote was even taken. They assumed there would be violence in the streets after Pence did their bidding.
Like so many others in Trump's orbit, Pence could have taken action much earlier.
Greg Jacob, a former advisor to Pence, relayed a conversation with Eastman in which the two discussed the possible reaction. Jacob said the whole gambit would be kicked out of court and Eastman claimed that the Supreme Court would invoke the "political question doctrine" and refuse to take the case. Jacob pointed out that that would lead to "an unprecedented constitutional jump ball situation with that stand off and as I expressed to him, that issue might well have to be decided in the streets."
Eric Hershmann, from the White House counsels office had a similar conversation with Eastman:
I said you're going to turn around and tell 78-plus million people in this country that your theory is --- this is how you're going to invalidate their votes, because you think the election was stolen? And I said they're not going to tolerate that. I said you're going to cause riots in the streets. And he said words to the effect of there has been violence in the history of our country, Eric, to protect the democracy or protect the republic.
It is pretty clear that Eastman knew there was a good chance for serious bloodshed if Pence overturned the election. And I think it's fair to say that Trump knew that too. In fact, he was probably welcoming it. It would give him the chance to do what he'd been wanting to do for ages: invoke the Insurrection Act.
Former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller told Congress over a year ago that Trump had ordered him to have the National Guard ready to protect his supporters on January 6th. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley and Defense Secretary Mark Esper both said Trump had to be talked out of using the Insurrection Act to put down the George Floyd protests and former Homeland Security official Miles Taylor tweeted that Trump "mused about invoking the Insurrection Act YEARS before Jan 6 — calling it a 'magic power' — in convos I witnessed & was briefed on."
Taylor thinks Trump purposefully incited the mob of January 6th for that purpose but Thursday's testimony is far more suggestive of a plan to invoke the act after Pence overturned the election, inciting expected street protests from the people whose votes had just been discarded and whose democracy had just been incinerated. This would have given Trump the excuse he needed to solidify his coup with a classic military intervention.
Trump and his henchmen may very well have known their actions would incite an insurrection. They just planned for a different one than they got. When the mob stormed the Capitol, Trump was left with the choice to call out the National Guard on his own supporters or let them try to overturn the election by force. We all know which path he chose to take.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-wanted-a-different-insurrection-jan-6-hearing-reveals-violent-intent-behind-pence-plot/
-
Jaime Raskin reveals the importance of what Trump isn't saying about the Jan. 6 hearings
Democratic Rep. Jaime Raskin of Maryland offered his analysis of Donald Trump's Friday speech at a "Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to a Majority" conference in Nashville.
Raskin, a former constitutional law professor, is a member of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Raskin was interviewed by CNN senior legal analyst Laura Coates after she played a clip of Trump's speech
"All eyes have really been on these hearings, waiting to see what might unfold," Coates said. "And iIm wondering from your perspective, initially, how do you think it's going in the mission to alert the public about not only the need for the committee but the clear and present danger it still poses?"
"The evidence is still overwhelming that even Donald Trump isn't trying to lie about it anymore," Raskin said.
'He just came right out tonight and essentially affirmed everything we're saying. He never challenged the idea that he's been lying about who won the election. He never challenged the idea that he's been ripping off his followers by pretending that their money was somehow going into litigation or, you know, anything to try to overturn the official result," he explained. "And he's basically did nothing to challenge any fact that we have produced in this process."
Raskin did not answer Coates' repeated questions on why the select committee has refused to turn over interview transcripts to the Department of Justice, which is running a parallel investigation.
Watch:
-
Mary Trump calls for 'nothing short of a criminal indictment' for her uncle after latest Jan 6th revelations
In a clip shown on "The Katie Phang Show" early Saturday morning, Mary Trump, the niece of Donald Trump bluntly stated that her uncle belongs in jail for the Jan 6th insurrection that she believes he is solely responsible for and new revelations about how he put former vice president Mike Pence in danger.
Speaking with the host, she was asked about the recent House committee testimony that the former president put former vice president Mike Pence's at risk up to and during the riot, which led her to lash out at him.
"The committee says that Trump was ready to throw his own vice president to the rioters who were calling for his lynching," host Phang began.
"The most important thing about these hearings is how incredibly damning the case is that the committee members are laying out," Mary Trump explained. "It is inescapable that crimes were committed. It is inescapable that the man in the Oval Office incited this violent insurrection against his own government."
"Donald Trump is directly responsible for all of this," she continued. "I think we need to be very blunt about what happened. He was not just stirring up his insurrection to create chaos, he handed down a death sentence to Mike Pence. I believe that nothing short of criminal indictment will be satisfactory enough."
"We need to make sure that everyone involved in this is held accountable and that people like Donald are never allowed to run for office again in this country," she added.
-
Powerful Arizona Republican to testify at Tuesday's Jan. 6 committee hearing: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/composite-image-of-rusty-bowers-and-donald-trump.jpg?id=29993799&width=2400&height=1350)
The Republican speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives is expected to testify at Tuesday's Jan. 6 select committee hearing, CNN reported Saturday.
State Rep. Russell "Rusty" Bowers received widespread praise for refusing to go along with Donald Trump's effort to overturn Arizona's 2020 presidential election, which was won by Joe Biden.
In April, the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library Foundation awarded Bowers its John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.
"Bowers will join Georgia’s election officials — Brad Raffensperger and Gabe Sterling — who will be part of a panel before the January 6 committee detailing Trump’s campaign to force states to overturn their certified election results," CNN reported.
The House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol is scheduled to hold hearings on Tuesday and Thursday.
The select committee is also seeking to schedule an interview with Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Read more here:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/18/politics/rusty-bowers-testify-january-6-committee/index.html
-
'A target-rich environment': House riot hearings ramp up Trump indictment odds
In interviews with the Guardian's Peter Stone, a bevy of former Department of Justice officials explained that the House committee hearings on the Jan 6th insurrection have already provided enough evidence to file criminal charges against Donald Trump.
Summing up what he has seen so far, Paul Pelletier, the former acting chief of the DoJ’s fraud section, described it as a “... target-rich environment, with many accessories both before and after the fact to be investigated.”
According to Stone, "The panel’s initial hearings provided a kind of legal roadmap about Trump’s multi-faceted drives – in tandem with some top lawyers and loyalists – to thwart Biden from taking office, that should benefit justice department prosecutors in their sprawling investigations into the January 6 assault on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters," before adding, "Ex-justice department lawyers say new revelations at the hearings increase the likelihood that Trump will be charged with crimes involving conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding or defrauding the United States, as he took desperate and seemingly illegal steps to undermine Biden’s election."
Former inspector general Michael Bromwich explained, "The January 6 committee’s investigation has developed substantial, compelling evidence that Trump committed crimes, including but not limited to conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruct official proceedings,” a comment that was echoed by former deputy attorney general Donald Ayer who suggested, "...the committee hearings have bolstered the need to seriously consider filing criminal charges against Trump”.
Noting that any prosecution of Trump will rely on investigators proving the former president knew he was lying when pressing fraud claims, the report adds that former DOJ employees feel there that case can be made.
Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade pointed to the videotaped testimony of former Trump administration Attorney General Bill Barr as a key piece of evidence, saying his comments under oath were “devastating for Trump. He and other Trump insiders who testified about their conversations with Trump established that Trump knew he had lost the election and continued to make public claims of fraud anyway. That knowledge can help establish the fraudulent intent necessary to prove criminal offenses against Trump.”
For his part, Bromwich pointed to Trump's infamous phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, explaining, "How else to explain his attempts to pressure the Georgia secretary of state to ‘find the votes’ necessary to change the result? Or his telling DoJ officials to simply declare the election ‘corrupt’ and leave ‘the rest to me’ and Republican House allies?”
He added, "All of this shows not someone incapable of forming criminal intent, but someone who understood what the facts were and was determined not to accept them. Because he couldn’t stand to lose. That was far more important to him than honoring our institutions or the constitution.”
The Guardian's Stone added, "Simmering tensions between the panel and the justice department have escalated over DoJ requests – rebuffed so far – to obtain 1,000 witness transcripts of committee interviews, which prosecutors say are needed for upcoming trials of Proud Boys and other cases. However, the New York Times has reported some witness transcripts could be shared next month."
You can read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/19/trump-charges-january-6-hearings-capitol-attack
-
Jamie Raskin: Trump confessed by essentially admitting 'I did it and I'll do it again'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jamie-raskin.jpg?id=29994728&width=2400&height=1350)
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) on Sunday warned that former President Donald Trump is openly suggesting that he would attempt to overthrow the government again.
During an appearance on NBC, host Chuck Todd noted that Trump had "lashed out" at former Vice President Mike Pence in a recent speech over his refusal to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
"This public admission that essentially he wanted continues after laying out of all this evidence," Todd said. "Is he confessing?"
"Yeah, he essentially saying, yeah, I did it and I'll do it again," Raskin agreed, "which is what we have been contending all along, that if you allow impunity for attempts at unconstitutional seizures of power, which is what a coup is, then you're inviting it again in the future."
"We can't allow people to decide that they are above the law and that they are more important than our constitutional processes," he added.
Raskin also said that Pence was a "hero" on Jan. 6, 2021 for withstanding Trump's efforts to overturn the election.
WATCH: Former President Trump lashed out at the Jan. 6 committee and former Vice President Mike Pence this week.
@RepRaskin (D-Md.) tells #MTP “He’s essentially saying yeah I did it and I’ll do it again."
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1538513202706845698
WATCH: Is Mike Pence a hero?
@RepRaskin (D-Md.): “I think on that day he was a hero for resisting all of the pressure campaigns and the coercive efforts to get him to play along with the continuation of the big lie.”
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1538517440140824578
-
Watch:
Reporters press Raskin on potential Ginni Thomas testimony
https://www.politico.com/video/2022/06/16/raskin-would-be-interested-in-hearing-from-ginni-thomas-614586
-
Next Jan. 6 committee hearings will focus on Trump's effort to pressure state officials like Brad Raffensperger
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=29995493&width=980&quality=85)
The January 6 select committee will present testimony on Tuesday on how former President Trump launched a campaign to pressure state election officials through lawsuits, political pressure and direct phone calls to overturn the 2020 presidential election, Rep. Adam Kinzinger, (R-Ill.) said.
Kinzinger appeared Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopolous” to talk about the committee’s work, revealing that he — one of only two Republicans on the panel — and his family had received a death threat several days ago.
The committee meets next on June 21 at 1 p.m. to hear from witnesses who saw firsthand how the former president’s campaign tried to undermine the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th president.
The Tuesday forum will likely highlight testimony on how former Energy Secretary Rick Perry reportedly sent a text message to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to launch an “aggressive strategy” to keep Trump in office.
Perry’s plan was to have states with Republican-led legislatures that had not declared a winner install their own electors who would rule Trump the winner, according to a leaked text message.
“Why can t [sic] the states of GA NC PENN and other R controlled state houses declare this is BS (where conflicts and election not called that night) and just send their own electors to vote and have it go to the SCOTUS,” according to the text obtained by CNN.
The former president’s son Donald Trump Jr. was also in on the gambit, according to texts revealed by the House committee.
“Republicans control 28 states Democrats 22 states. Once again Trump wins,” the president’s son texted to Meadows, “We either have a vote WE control and WE win OR it gets kicked to Congress 6 January 2021.”
At the same time, the Trump campaign began to file a rash of lawsuits in state courts across the country, challenging the voting results. That effort, led in part by former New York City Mayor Rudy Guiliani failed almost immediately.
In addition to the litigation, the ex-president called Michigan lawmakers who had certified the election and asked them to rescind their votes. His campaign attempted to have Michigan voting machines seized.
In Georgia, Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, who oversaw that state’s election, fielded the now-infamous call from Trump in which he pressured the official to “find” him just enough votes to overtake Biden in the state.
"I just want to find 11,780 votes,” Trump told him on a recorded call.
On “This Week,” Kinzinger said he believed the effort by Trump and his inner circle rose to the level of criminal acts.
“I certainly think the president is guilty of knowing what he did, seditious conspiracy, being involved in these,” he said.
Kinzinger said that next week the testimony will show “how much the president was involved in the lead-up to Jan. 6.”
“The president knew what he was doing. There was a plan,” the Illinois Republican said.
Last week, the January 6 Committee heard testimony regarding pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to halt the certification of the election by Congress.
There was testimony that in heated calls to the vice president, Trump called him a “wimp” and other derogatory terms for not carrying out the plot.
Pence maintained that he did not have the authority to do so.
“He had a chance to be frankly historic, but just like Bill Barr and the rest of these weak people, and I say it sadly because I like him, but Mike did not have the courage to act,” Trump said during a recent speech to a conservative Christian group.
Another January 6 committee member, Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-MD, said on “Meet the Press” Sunday morning that the ex-president’s statements amount to an admission of guilt.
“He’s essentially saying, ‘Yeah, I did it, and I’ll do it again,’ which is what we have been contending all along, that if you allow impunity for attempts at unconstitutional seizures of power, which is what a coup is, then you’re inviting it again in the future,” he said.
Questions have been swirling over whether or not the committee will recommend criminal charges or turn its evidence over to the Justice Department for a criminal investigation of the former president.
“I’ll leave that judgment to them,” Raskin said. “I mean, one of the many things that Donald Trump destroyed during his time in office was the idea that the political branches have to respect the independence of the law enforcement function.”
Kinzinger said that recently, local officials in New Mexico refused to certify an election because the votes were cast on Dominion voting machines.
Trump campaign officials, including Giuliani, had claimed without supporting evidence that Dominion voting machines were rigged to register Trump votes for Biden, a claim that then-Attorney General William Bar called “bulls---.”
Kinzinger, who plans to leave Congress once his term is over, has said there’s been a “lack of leadership” on behalf of the Republicans.
“My party has utterly failed the American people at the truth,” he told Stephanopoulos. “It makes me sad, but it’s fact.”
Bucking his party has also made him a target, he revealed on Sunday.
“We got it a couple of days ago and it threatens to execute me, as well as my wife and 5-month-old child. We’ve never seen or had anything like that,” he said, adding that the threat was from his district.
© New York Daily News
-
Former top Mike Pence aide wonders why he didn't speak out against Trump on Jan. 7 and every day since then
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mike-pence-looking-down.jpg?id=29995444&width=2400&height=1350)
Olivia Troye, the former Homeland Security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence told MSNBC's Medhi Hasan that she has been shocked to see her former boss fade after standing up to the Jan. 6 attempt to overthrow the election certification.
The third of the House Select Committee's public hearings addressed Pence's role in protecting the Electoral College count. Both Republicans and Democrats highlighted his "courage" in standing up for America. But the plot for Jan. 6 became known to Pence a month earlier. It prompted some to ask why he never came out before Jan. 6 to explain what Trump wanted him to do. It also begs the question if he never faded in his dedication to uphold the 2020 election, why he needed to call so many people to ask for their legal advice, like Judge Michael Luttig and former VP Dan Quayle.
Troye raised another question entirely: Pence came out strong on Jan. 6, but hasn't since then. In fact, it's only been through his aides that Americans learned of Trump's pressure campaign against Pence.
Thus far Pence hasn't been subpoenaed, but committee members haven't ruled it out.
"I've been calling for Mike Pence to come forward and speak publicly about this and address it throughout the past year," she explained. "If it were up to me, he should've come forward on Jan. 7, and said, 'Look, this is everything that I happen beforehand. It almost led to my own death. We gotta put a stop to this, the stolen election narrative.' But, I do think it's important to hear from Mike Pence, Greg Jacob and Mark Short were on his immediate staff, they've shared a lot of the details. But I think it is a powerful thing to hear from Mike Pence himself. Also, because the stolen election narrative continues, it lives on today and that's why this hearing is so important still. They are candidates, running across the country that are election deniers. They're running on this illegal action that took place in the White House prior to Jan. 6, that are trying to hold office, this fall. And that should be very alarming to all of us."
She went on to cite Watergate's hearings and note that Republicans maintained their support for Richard Nixon until over a year after the investigations began. It's possible that it could take that long or even longer for Republicans to abandon Trump.
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 Committee soon 'releasing additional information' on Trump's 'big ripoff' scheme
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) said over the weekend that the Jan. 6 Select Committee is preparing to release additional evidence about a scheme to grift money from people who believe that the 2020 election was stolen from former President Donald Trump.
At a hearing last week, Lofgren revealed that the Trump campaign "used these false claims of election fraud to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from supporters who were told their donations were for the legal fight in the courts. But the Trump campaign didn't use the money for that. The 'Big Lie' was also a big ripoff."
Lofgren told CBS host Margaret Brennan on Sunday that there was an intense public interest in the "big ripoff."
"To be clear, there are about 100 candidates for office right now that are repeating election deniers," Brennan observed. "They are repeating some of what President Trump still claims. At least five of them have won their primaries."
Lofgren wouldn't say if the committee had found "direct" connections between the candidates and the Jan. 6 grift.
"We are going to be releasing additional information," Lofgren revealed. "I've got the staff working on it right now. Obviously, the hearings are a couple of hours each and you can't lay out all the information that's been compiled."
"So I know there's been substantial interest in the big ripoff and we will provide additional information to the public soon," she added.
Brennan wondered if the new information would "establish direct links" to the election deniers currently running for office.
"Not necessarily," Logren replied. "We will lay out what we have and people can look at it. I don't want to just pop off irresponsibly here."
Watch:
-
GOP's Madison Cawthorn says Donald Trump created a 'dangerous setting' at Jan. 6 DC rally
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/madison-cawthorn.jpg?id=29826482&width=2400&height=1350)
Disgraced outgoing Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) has blamed former President Donald Trump (R) for creating a “dangerous setting” outside of the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021 riots.
In his recent interview on the Carlos Watson Show, the show’s host asked Cawthorn if there was anything he would have done differently when he spoke at Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally in Washington D.C. the morning before the riots began.
“Well, you know, one, I mean, you know, President Donald Trump said, ‘I want you to peaceably and patriotically protest,’ — that’s good on his part. But if I could go back, I probably and I had an opportunity to speak with the President, which I did not, I would have asked that he did not send or tell the crowd to go down to the Capitol,” Cawthorn said, adding, “You know, I think that that just put everything in a dangerous setting.”
Later on in the interview, Cawthorn said that if he could go back and change his own speech at the rally, he would have urged Trump’s followers to be more peaceful.
However, the rally repeatedly told Trump’s followers, without proof, that the election had been stolen. Trump himself said that his followers should “fight” for their democracy or else they wouldn’t have one anymore. He also repeatedly blamed his own Vice President Mike Pence for not overturning the election, something that Pence had no legal or political precedent to do.
Trump’s followers later called for Pence to be hung for treason.
Five people died during the January 6 riot, and Trump’s supporters injured roughly 140 police officers. The police injuries included a broken spine, a lost eye, lost fingers, brain damage and multiple cases of PTSD. Four Capitol Police officers have died by suicide since the riots.
The rioters ransacked the Capitol, shattered windows while trying to access congressional chambers, smeared feces in the hallway and stole computer equipment, potentially constituting a national security breach.
Cawthorn was voted out of office on May 17, 2022, when he lost his primary election. He has since that “Dark MAGA” will rise, a presumably more-violent and corrupt version of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” political platform which advocates against minorities and uses mob violence against its enemies.
https://www.rawstory.com/gop-s-madison-cawthorn-says-donald-trump-created-a-dangerous-setting-at-jan-6-dc-rally/
-
Georgia secretary of state and other state officials slated to testify at January 6 hearing
(https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/220609095247-raffensperger-sterling-split.jpg?c=16x9&q=h_540,w_960,c_fill)
CNN — The House select committee investigating the January 6 riot is set to hear live testimony from four witnesses during Tuesday’s hearing that will focus on how former President Donald Trump and his allies pressured state-level officials to overturn the 2020 election results.
The committee will also show evidence that Trump was involved in a scheme to submit fake slates of electors in the 2020 presidential election, US Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and member of the panel who is expected to play a leading role in the presentation, said Sunday.
The witness list for Tuesday’s hearing includes three individuals from Georgia: Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, his deputy Gabe Sterling and former election worker Wandrea ArShaye “Shaye” Moss.
Rusty Bowers, a Republican who is the Arizona House speaker, is also scheduled to testify, the committee formally announced Monday.
Tuesday’s hearing will also detail how Trump, his former attorney Rudy Giuliani and then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows pressured officials, as well as, how false election claims fueled death threats for those at the state level.
Bowers, Raffensperger and Sterling will be part of a panel detailing the Trump campaign’s effort to force states to overturn their certified election results.
Moss is slated to appear separately on a second panel, according to the committee’s hearing notice. She was accused by Trump and others of carrying out a fake ballot scheme in Fulton County, Georgia. The committee will hear first-hand about her experiences and the threats she received as a result of Trump’s false claims, committee aides said Monday.
Bowers, who supported Trump’s reelection bid in 2020, refused to bow to intimidation and efforts to get him to back efforts in the legislature to decertify Biden’s victory in Arizona.
Raffensperger’s profile grew after the 2020 election when he resisted Trump’s efforts to pressure him to “find” the votes necessary for the then-President to win Georgia in an infamous January 2021 phone call.
The Georgia Republican has already spoken privately with the committee about his experience in addition to testifying before a special grand jury in a criminal probe into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the Peach State.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/20/politics/january-6-hearing-witness-list/index.html
-
Donald Trump plotted fake electors scheme, January 6 panel set to show
Committee also expected to probe Trump’s pressure on officials in crucial states to corruptly reverse his election defeat
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e4a1bc994abe7f06fc01b9062a881aee449f80ab/0_0_2148_1289/master/2148.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=c2ecf7d676a27a253ebbdf41432a6377)
The House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack is expected to show at its fourth hearing on Tuesday that Donald Trump and top advisers coordinated the scheme to send fake slates of electors as part of an effort to return him to the White House.
The panel is expected to also examine Trump’s campaign to pressure top officials in seven crucial battleground states to corruptly reverse his defeat to Joe Biden in the weeks and months after the 2020 election.
At the afternoon hearing, the select committee is expected to focus heavily on the fake electors scheme, which has played a large part in its nearly year-long investigation into Trump’s effort to overturn the results of the election at the state level.
The panel will show how the fake electors scheme – which may have been illegal – was the underlying basis for Trump’s unlawful strategy to have his vice-president, Mike Pence, refuse to certify Biden’s win in certain states and grant him a second term.
If the 2020 election cycle had been like any other when the electoral college convened on 14 December 2020 and Democratic electors attested to Biden’s victory over Trump, that would have marked the end of any post-election period conflict.
But that year, after the authorized Democratic electors met at statehouses to formally name Biden as president, in seven battleground states, illegitimate Republican electors arrived too, saying they had come to instead name Trump as president.
The Trump electors were turned away. However, they nonetheless proceeded to sign fake election certificates that declared they were the “duly elected and qualified” electors certifying Trump as the winner of the presidential election in their state.
The fake electors scheme was conceived in an effort to create “dueling” slates of electors that Pence could use to pretend the election was in doubt and refuse to formalize Biden’s win at the congressional certification on 6 January.
And, the select committee will show, the fake election certificates were in part manufactured by the Trump White House, and that the entire fake electors scheme was coordinated by Trump and his top advisers, including former chief of staff Mark Meadows.
“We will show evidence of the president’s involvement in this scheme,” congressman Adam Schiff, the select committee member leading the hearing alongside the panel’s chairman, Bennie Thompson, and vice-chair, Liz Cheney, said on CNN on Sunday.
Members of Trump’s legal team insist this is a distorted characterization of the scheme, saying the so-called alternate slates were put together and signed in case that states did re-certify their election results for Trump and they needed to be sent right away to Congress.
But that explanation is difficult to reconcile given Trump lawyer John Eastman admitted in a 19 December 2020 the Trump slates were “dead on arrival” if they were not certified, and yet still pushed Pence to reject Biden’s slates even though Trump slates were still not certified.
The fake electors scheme is important because it could be a crime. The justice department is investigating whether the Republicans who signed as electors for Trump could be charged with falsifying voting documents, mail fraud or conspiracy to defraud the United States.
If Trump was involved in the scheme, and the justice department pursues a case, then the former US president may also have criminal exposure. At least one federal grand jury in Washington is investigating the scheme and the involvement of top Trump election lawyers, including Rudy Giuliani.
The select committee is also set to closely focus on Trump’s pressure campaign on leading Republican state officials in the weeks and months after the election, according to a committee aide who previewed the hearing on a briefing call with reporters.
Among other key flash points that the panel intends to examine include Trump’s now-infamous 2 January 2021 call with Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger – who will testify live at the hearing – when Trump asked him to “find” votes to make him win the election.
“I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said during the conversation, a tape of which was obtained by the Washington Post and House investigators working for the select committee.
The select committee will describe Trump pressuring other state officials to investigate election fraud claims his own White House and campaign lawyers knew were false, relying on testimony from Arizona House speaker Rusty Bowers.
And the panel will additionally hear testimony from Shaye Moss, a Georgia election worker in Fulton County, who was falsely accused by Giuliani and others of sneaking in “suitcases” of ballots for Biden – a conspiracy debunked by election officials.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/21/donald-trump-plotted-fake-electors-scheme-january-6-panel-set-to-show
-
What to expect on Day 4 of the Jan. 6 committee hearings
The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol will hold its fourth hearing on Tuesday, focusing on former President Trump's efforts to pressure Georgia and Arizona election officials to overturn the 2020 election results. CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane reports.
Watch: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/what-to-expect-on-day-4-of-the-jan-6-committee-hearings/
-
Plea hearing scheduled for June 27 in high level Capitol riot case of Tim Boughner of Michigan.
He's accused of assaulting police with chemical spray and a bike rack.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVUiw2kXwAAfRwv?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Sentencing set for Sept 16 in high-profile US Capitol riot case of Kevin Seefried of Delaware
Convicted on all charges. Judge cited Seefried's jabbing of Confederate flag at US Capitol officer Eugene Goodman.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVodikvXEAInfjJ?format=jpg&name=360x360)
-
Yes, guns were brought to the January 6th insurrection riot.
January 6 *gun*
Mark Mazza of Indiana has pleaded guilty and signed a statement of facts acknowledging he carried, then lost a "firearm while in a crowd of people who were involved in violence against law enforcement inside the tunnel area on the West Front".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVeqvpaVEAA08Kv?format=jpg&name=small)
June 17, 2022
Donald Trump at 3:18pm
"There were no guns. I heard they didn't have one gun" on Jan 6.
DC federal court at 11:30am
Jan 6 defendant Mark Mazza pleads guilty, acknowledges carrying gun at Capitol.
And not just a gun. Feds “Mazza brought a Taurus revolver, loaded with three shotgun shells and two hollow point bullets, into Washington, D.C., to the Ellipse, and then to the Capitol.”
-
Great video on how John "Steal the Election for Trump" Eastman became John "Orderly Transition" Eastman.
Note, the phone call in question happened the day after the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot.
Great video. Thanks Joe!
-
Before Jan. 6, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was given plans to occupy congressional buildings, Supreme Court
(https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/06/07/87b5c830-f444-457a-809d-e8bb98ff92e3/thumbnail/1280x720/dd58768b242d5b378a1241fb500cb6c5/0607-ctm-proudboyscharge-herridge-1051578-640x360.jpg)
In the week leading up to the Jan. 6 Capitol assault, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio received a nine-page memo titled "1776 Returns" that laid out detailed plans to occupy congressional office buildings to protest the counting of the Electoral College votes from the 2020 presidential election.
The memo, which was filed in court as part of a recent motion made by one of Tarrio's co-defendants, outlined a goal to "maintain control over as select few, but crucial buildings in the DC area for a set period of time, presenting our demands in unity."
"We must show our politicians We the People are in charge," the memo said. Targeted buildings allegedly included the three Senate and House office buildings, the Supreme Court of the United States, and CNN —to "at least egg doorway," according to the filing.
The demands outlined in the memo included "free and fair elections," "liberty or death" and "No Trump, No America."
In "Storm the Winter Palace," a section marked for internal use and a "Patriot Plan" for outside distribution, the directions called for five teams of individuals per building, ranging from a "covert sleeper" who would spend the day inside the targeted building to a recruiter who would gather a crowd. A group of 50 "patriots" would then occupy each building.
However, nowhere in the document is there a suggestion that violence should be used against police, members of Congress or their staff or other Capitol personnel.
The document includes a page to assign roles for each of the targeted locations and maps of the identified buildings.
Between Jan. 1 - 5, 2021, the memo says, those in charge should recruit members, scope out road closures and set up appointments with various representatives in the buildings.
"Use Covid to your advantage," the document advised. "Pack huge face masks and face shields, protect your identity."
On Jan. 6, 2021, "1776 Returns" directed certain individuals known as "leads" to dress in suits and stay inside the targeted buildings to find entrances and exits. Once a sufficient crowd was recruited, the memo suggests, those already inside should open the doors and allow the group to enter.
"This might include causing trouble near the front doors to distract guards who may be holding the doors off," it said, "The goal is to ensure there is an entry point for the masses to rush the building."
Participants around the city should pull fire alarms at various locations like Walmart, hotels, and museums to distract law enforcement if necessary, according to the document.
Once inside, the entire group would then present its list of demands and perform sit-ins in certain senators' offices, the filing says.
The manual advised readers to use large trucks or a large caravan of cars to block intersections to make traversing the city more difficult. "Now is the time to reach out to truckers or bikers for Trump for these roadblocks," a note reads.
According to the portion of the memo meant for external distribution, participants were to demand a new election be conducted on Jan. 20, 2021, monitored by the National Guard.
"Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Mike Pence & Bill Gates," it says, "We the people are watching you.
"Rand Paul & Ron DeSantis...We the people love you."
The existence of the 1776 Returns document was revealed when Tarrio was first indicted earlier this year on conspiracy charges. Prosecutors alleged Tarrio, who has now been charged with seditious conspiracy and pleaded not guilty, was allegedly sent the document by an unknown individual. After sending Tarrio the document, the individual allegedly stated, "The revolution is important than anything," to which investigators say Tarrio replied, "That's what every waking moment consists of...I'm not playing games."
At the same time, Tarrio and other Proud Boys leaders were operating a so-called "Ministry of Self Defense" organization, with Tarrio at the top of the power structure.
"This group was to form the nucleus of leadership in a new chapter of the Proud Boys organization, which Tarrio described as a 'national rally planning' chapter. The first event targeted by the group was the rally in D.C. on January 6," prosecutors allege.
The court filing that the copy of the "1776 Returns" memo accompanied was a request that the judge overseeing the large Proud Boys conspiracy case take another look at the pretrial detention of Tarrio codefendant Zachary Rehl. In the filing, Rehl's legal team argues the memo "is not a plan to attack the Capitol and does not even mention the Capitol. It refers to occupying Congressional office buildings."
The recent indictment of Tarrio and other Proud Boy leaders shows that they used 1776 to refer to themselves on Jan. 6. At 2:57 p.m., during the assault on the Capitol, Tarrio posted a message mentioning 1776 that said "Revolutionaries are now at the Rayburn Building," which the indictment notes was mentioned in the 1776 plan. At 7:44 p.m. one individual sent a text to Tarrio that said, "1776 moth*********."
Tarrio's attorney has not responded to a request for comment.
According to Wednesday's motion, the document was sent to Tarrio by a female acquaintance and not shared with Rehl or other defendants.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/proud-boys-enrique-tarrio-occupy-congress-supreme-court-january-6-2021/
-
Maddow details J6 committee revelations on election workers who were terrorized by Trump supporters
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/no-counterfeit-ballots-found-by-georgia-election-investigators.jpg?id=27655723&width=2400&height=1600)
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow began her Monday show teasing what is expected before the fourth public hearing by the House Select Committee investigating the plot to overthrow the election and the subsequent violence over it on Jan. 6. The focus of the committee will be on the pressure campaign against election officials and election workers who continue to be terrorized by fans of former President Donald Trump.
While Maddow cited the witnesses who will appear before the House, she also focused on the mother of one of the witnesses, Wandrea "Shaye" Moss.
Ruby Freeman, a Georgia election worker who was targeted by a former Trump aide and "Chicago publicist for hip-hop artist Kanye West," Reuters described.
According to the 2021 report, Freeman and her daughter were getting threats from Trump supporters after the two women were filmed counting ballots. At one point, Freeman hands her daughter a piece of candy, which turned into a conspiracy theory that she was really handing over a thumb drive that could somehow ensure Joe Biden won the election.
At one point, an attacker, who Reuters identified as Trevian Kutti, showed up at their home offering "help" as a publicist because Freeman became a target of the right-wing. Kutti claimed she was sent to Freeman by a "high-profile individual," with the message that she was about to be arrested in the next 48 hours and go to jail. Kutti was later identified as a former Kanye West associate, as well as a former publicist for R. Kelly.
Freeman wouldn't talk Kutti.
On Jan. 4, just 48 hours before the Jan. 6 attacks, Freeman called the police as Kutti was knocking on her door. According to what Kutti told a neighbor, Freeman was in danger.
“They’re saying that I need help,” Freeman said according to the 911 recording, “that it’s just a matter of time that they are going to come out for me and my family.”
At the police station, Kutti spoke to Freeman saying, that she wouldn't reveal what would happen, “I just know that it will disrupt your freedom," she said, "and the freedom of one or more of your family members.”
“You are a loose end for a party that needs to tidy up,” Kutti said. The whole conversation was recorded on a police officer's body cam video. Kutti claimed, “federal people” were involved and specifically cited "Harrison Ford," not the actor, but the "authoritative powers to get you protection."
Freeman said that the man and Kutti spent an hour trying to get her to implicate herself in voter fraud. Kutti offered legal assistance if she confessed to it.
“If you don't tell everything, you're going to jail," Freeman said that Kutti told her.
Freeman said she jumped up and said, "The devil is a liar,” and called for an officer.
As Maddow explained, they were focused on getting Freeman to admit to a crime within "48 hours" because two days later was the Jan. 6 certification. If she confessed, Mike Pence would be justified in saying that the election couldn't be certified.
A lawsuit filed against the right-wing website The Gateway Pundit and One America News Network, which spread lies about Freeman, said that 48 hours after the visit from the Trump people, while Trump supporters were storming the U.S. Capitol, Trump supporters were also trying to storm her house.
"They surrounded Ruby Freeman's house outside Atlanta, shouting at her through a bullhorn," said Maddow. "Fortunately, nobody was hurt and she by then had already fled her home for her safety following the FBI's advice to do so."
See Maddow's report below:
-
Ahead of J6 testimony, Arizona GOP leader slams Trump's 'juvenile' push to overturn 2020 election
On Monday, WRAL reported that Arizona's Republican House Speaker Rusty Bowers slammed former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election as "juvenile" in conversation with reporters.
This comes as Bowers is one of a number of Republican officials scheduled to testify at the next public hearing of the January 6 House Select Committee on Tuesday.
"Bowers spoke to The Associated Press after he arrived in Washington on Monday afternoon. He will be questioned about a phone call he got from Trump and attorney Rudy Giuliani in the weeks after the November 2020 election where Giuliani floated a proposal to replace Arizona's Biden electors by having the state's Legislature instead choose those committed to voting for Trump," reported Bob Christie. "Bowers refused, saying the scheme was illegal and unconstitutional. In an interview last year, he said he told the president he would not break the law to help him gain the presidency."
"Bowers said efforts by Trump's backers have harmed the nation, undercut trust in elections and the right of people to vote their conscience," said the report. "'I just think it is horrendous. It’s terrible,' Bowers said. "The result of throwing the pebble in the pond, the reverberations across the pond, have, I think, been very destructive."
A number of other Republican officials stood up to Trump's push to overturn the results in states Joe Biden won.
One of the most famous examples is that of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump pressured to "find" 11,000 extra votes in the leadup to the Capitol attack. That matter is currently under criminal investigation by a state prosecutor in Georgia.
https://www.wral.com/arizona-republican-calls-push-to-overturn-2020-juvenile/20339920/
-
There are tapes: Jan. 6 committee subpoenas filmmaker's interviews with Trump and his family on day of riot
The House Select Committee has subpoenaed footage from a filmmaker who recorded former President Donald Trump and his family immediately before and after the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Documentary filmmaker Alex Holder had been granted extensive access to the former president and his inner circle, including interviews with Trump both before and after the U.S. Capitol riot whose existence had not previously been known, reported Politico's Playbook.
Holder began filming on the campaign trail in September 2020, and the subpoena sought raw footage from Jan. 6 and raw footage of interviews with Trump, former vice president Mike Pence, Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Jared Kushner.
The committee also asked for any raw footage recording discussions of election fraud or election integrity surrounding the November 2020 election.
https://www.rawstory.com/alex-holder-trump/
-
Here's a crucial advantage the Jan. 6 committee has over previous Trump investigations: WaPo reporter
The House Select Committee is hoping to avoid mistakes made by previous investigations of Donald Trump's corruption.
Congressional investigators have the benefit of hindsight over special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation and two impeachment inquiries, and Washington Post reporter Jacqueline Alemany told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" how they plan to overcome the mistakes made in past attempts to hold Trump accountable.
"Just to put a pin in this conversation on violence, I think what the committee has understood more so than previous congressional investigations is that facts can't necessarily change minds here, but feelings can," Alemany said, "which is why we're seeing such an emphasis on having people like [former Georgia election worker Shaye] Moss come speak to the intimidation tactics that have an effect, not just on people potentially running for office, but election workers trying to participate in democracy, the way these things undermine democracy overall."
"But the schemes of electors will be a big focus today," Alemany continued. "We're not totally sure if Ginni Thomas is going to be raised at all. We know it was under discussion yesterday amongst committee members, what we're hearing is it might actually not be completely relevant to the bigger picture story of John Eastman's legal coup and the implementation of it. Although, what Ginni Thomas was doing was also in line with this employ that John Eastman was proposing to the former president, along with legislatures."
"I think we'll hear how the pressure was really overwhelming on these state players to submit phony slates of electors in order to halt the electoral certification," she added, "or at least apply pressure on the vice president to send it back to the state legislatures, to sort of actually implement the president's plan to overturn his defeat."
Watch:
-
Ron Johnson blasted in Wisconsin after being first senator named in Jan. 6 hearings
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/sen-ron-johnson.jpg?id=30008733&width=2400&height=1350)
The office of GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin was implicated in Donald Trump's phony electors scheme during Tuesday's public hearing of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson wanted to hand then-Vice President Mike Pence official-looking documents falsely affirming former President Donald Trump won in Wisconsin and Michigan as Pence prepared to confirm Joe Biden's win in January 2021, according to text messages revealed at a U.S. House hearing Tuesday," the Wisconsin State Journal reported. "The Wisconsin document, signed by 10 Republicans who convened in the state Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020, was filled out on the same day the Democratic slate of Wisconsin electors met in the same building to deliver the state's 10 electoral votes to Biden. The meeting of Republicans occurred after the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Biden had won the election."
Leigh Ann Caldwell of The Washington Post reported it was the first time the actions of a senator have been highlighted by the select committee.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVy_a2JXoAE1giB?format=jpg&name=medium)
"The evidence presented Tuesday once again showed that Wisconsin — one of seven states Biden won where groups of Republicans gathered as false presidential electors — was at the center of efforts to overturn the election," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. "A text message from state GOP executive director Mark Jefferson also presented Tuesday indicated Trump's campaign team wanted the elector paperwork flown to Washington D.C."
Johnson received harsh criticism in Wisconsin.
"Ron Johnson actively tried to undermine this democracy. He literally tried to hand Mike Pence a slate of fake electors. Ron Johnson is a danger to democracy," said Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, who is challenging Johnson in the 2022 midterms.
He called on Johnson to resign.
"Trump and his MAGA allies planned, promoted, & paid for a seditious conspiracy to overturn an election they lost. And Ron Johnson attempted to deliver it to DC on a silver platter" wrote Democrat Alex Lasry, who is also challenging Johnson.
He called Johnson "a seditious traitor and danger to our democracy."
Tom Nelson, who is also running, said, "Ron Johnson is a traitor. He must resign."
"Voters won't forget this," he wrote.
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 committee member: 'None of this would have happened without' Trump
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jamie-raskin.jpg?id=29742006&width=2400&height=1350)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), one of the officials on the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress and the attempt to overthrow the election, spoke to Raw Story about the testimony heard on Tuesday.
The committee spoke to Republican officials, but also spoke with Shaye Moss, who served as an election worker for the 2020 election and ultimately became the target of Donald Trump's supporters. She tearfully described the attacks on her, her mother and grandmother and those who terrorized the women ahead and on Jan. 6.
As Raskin explained, "none of this would have happened without him. And Trump's lawlessness inevitably led to and leads to violence."
He went on to say that there must be an end to the attacks on election officials. As Moss testified, none of the workers and supervisors who helped in 2020 have returned to help count the votes. It means that there is a void in people who can be trusted to legitimately count the votes on election night.
"One of the things we could be looking at is penalties, stiffer penalties against people who intimidate election officials," said Raskin. "Donald Trump's relentless intimidation of election officials had a chilling effect on election officials across the country... It's a serious problem with people who are hired across the country to have people driven out of the business by virtue of this campaign."
He went on to say that the Congress of the United States must make clear that states are on the side of the election workers and not those who try to intimidate the workers.
When asked about others who might come before the committee, Raskin said that because the investigation is ongoing, they continue to receive evidence and it's possible that other witnesses will appear. The question about whether Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, will appear has been in the conversation after it was revealed she was pressuring lawmakers to change the election results.
"The original hearings were going to wrap up in June, but we are picking up new evidence at an enormous velocity," Raskin told Raw Story. "So, we're going to be incorporating and including the new information. Certainly, the hearings will conclude before the end of the summer."
The information is coming from "diverse" sources, he asked when questions about whether the additional testimony was from the Justice Department.
"I think that people are seeing we're running a serious investigation that is bipartisan in nature and is just focused on getting the facts of what happened and a lot of people are coming forward now with information they have," Raskin continued.
The Committee, he explained, will have a list of recommendations that will come out of the hearing that detail how elections can be fortified to protect against some of these attacks on them in the future. They intend to say as a committee that these actions will not stand.
He was asked about Rep. Andy Bigg (R-AZ) after fellow Republican Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers mentioned that he was among the GOP members in the pressure campaign. Raskin made it clear that if his name had come up multiple times in a congressional probe as someone involved that he would come forward to set the record straight.
There are reasons, however, that Republicans have that they won't come forward or help with the investigation," Raskin told reporters.
https://www.rawstory.com/raskin-nothing-without-trump/
-
Liz Cheney explains why it's important the same people were involved in two plots to overturn the election
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming on Tuesday linked different parts of Donald Trump's schemes to overturn the election together during her opening remarks at the public hearing of the House Select Committee Investigation the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Cheney, the committee's vice-chair, introduced a panel featuring Arizona House GOP Speaker Rusty Bowers, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and Gabriel Sterling, the Georgia secretary of state chief operating officer.
"Today we will begin examining President Trump's effort to overturn the election by exerting pressure on state officials and state legislators. Donald Trump had a direct and personal role in this effort as did Rudy Giuliani, as did John Eastman," Cheney said.
She then delivered a statement that seemed directed at Attorney General Merrick Garland.
"In other words, the same people who were attempting to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to reject electoral votes illegally were also simultaneously working to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election at the state level. Each of these efforts to overturn the election is independently serious. Each deserves attention both by Congress and by our Department of Justice," she explained. "But as a federal court has already indicated, these efforts were also part of a broader plan, and all of this was done in preparation for Jan. 6."
"I would note two points for particular focus today," she continued. "First, today you will hear about calls made by President Trump to officials of Georgia and other states. As you listen to these tapes, keep in mind what Donald Trump already knew at the time he was making those calls. He had been told over and over again that his stolen election allegations were nonsense."
Watch:
-
Trump accused Wandrea Moss and her mother, the Fulton County Georgia election workers, of being "vote scammers".
Trump, his lawyers, and the right wing media targeted these women based on outright lies.
This led to several death threats and forced them both into hiding.
"They said we snuck ballots into the State Farm Arena in a suitcase. That is a lie."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVzNpC0WAAEZfHi?format=jpg&name=medium)
Georgia election worker Wandrea Moss testifies to the Jan. 6 committee
'There is nowhere I feel safe,’ says Georgia election worker targeted by Trump
Following the 2020 election, former President Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani repeatedly made unfounded accusations that Moss and Freemen committed election fraud. Moss described how she and her mother faced “hateful” and racist online threats and attacks from supporters of the former president.
Freeman, known as “Lady Ruby,” said in her recorded testimony that she lost her sense of security.
“There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to have the president of the United States target you?” she said, through tears. “He targeted me, Lady Ruby, a small business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen who stand up to help Fulton County run an election in the middle of a pandemic."
-
'I need 11,000 votes, give me a break': Raffensperger details Trump's election demands
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger fielded a flood of demands from then-President Trump after the 2020 election to address alleged election fraud, according to testimony from Tuesday's hearing on the insurrection.
"'I just want to find 11,780 votes,'" Raffensperger said Trump told him during a phone call. "I need 11,000 votes, give me a break."
The audio played by the the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack depicted an increasingly frantic Trump, with the former president's requests to Raffensperger growing more explicit as time went on. Members of the audience in the Cannon Caucus Room, where the committee's hearings are taking place, laughed throughout the audio clips.
"I think you're gonna find that they are shredding ballots, because they have to get rid of the ballots," Trump said on one phone call to Raffensperger. "The ballots are corrupt."
Trump then claimed that the law enforcement officers who investigated the allegations of election fraud — and found them to be false — were dishonest, and suggested that Raffensperger could be held liable for criminal behavior if he didn't comply with the president's requests, according to the audio clips.
"You can't let that happen, that's a big risk to you," Trump said. "All of this stuff is very dangerous."
Raffensperger said that he maintained his stance that the election in Georgia was not rigged or subject to fraud.
"What I knew is that we didn't have any votes to find," Raffensperger told the panel Tuesday. "There was no shredding of ballots."
Tuesday was the select committee's fourth day of hearings on the Jan. 6 insurrection. The next hearing is on Thursday.
Watch:
-
January 6 Hearing: Full testimony of Brad Raffensperger, Gabriel Sterling on Georgia 2020 election
The House Committee investigating the U.S. Capitol Riot on January 6 questioned Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Chief Operating Officer Gabriel Sterling about evens surrounding the 2020 Election in Georgia when officials said Joe Biden beat Donald Trump.
Watch:
-
RNC coordinated fake electors at Trump's 'direct request': Ronna McDaniel
(https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/02/mcdanielronna_022318gn8_lead.jpg?strip=1)
Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel confirmed that former President Donald Trump was involved in lawyer John Eastman's fake elector scheme.
During a brief excerpt from her deposition played during the Jan. 6 committee hearing Tuesday, McDaniel explained that Trump called her and put her in touch with Eastman, who then engaged with the RNC about the scheme over the following months.
"He turned the call over to Mr. Eastman, who then proceeded to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of these legal challenges that were ongoing changed the result of any of the states. I think more, just helping them reach out and assemble them," she said. "My understanding is the campaign did take the lead, and we just were helping them in that — in that role."
Eastman was providing legal advice to Trump's allies about efforts to challenge the election. The House Jan. 6 select committee has battled Eastman in court for weeks, seeking his emails to gain insights about what advice he had been giving to Trumpworld. Eastman turned over roughly 1,000 pages of emails in April, and the committee ordered that he turn over hundreds more earlier this month.
McDaniel's testimony before the committee helped members establish the direct role Trump played in the fake elector plot.
During the hearing Tuesday, the panel honed in on some of Eastman's scheming to put forward an alternative slate of electors for key battleground states. The goal was to challenge the election results in select states and have an alternative slate of electors on standby in case those legal challenges were successful.
Amid the fallout of the 2020 election, Trump's own White House Counsel’s Office said the plan was "not legally sound," according to the panel.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) has long teased that the committee had evidence of Trump's involvement in a plot to supplant official electors with those who favored the former president to tip the election to him.
“We’ll show evidence of the president’s involvement in this scheme,” Schiff hinted during an interview with CNN Sunday. “We’ll also, again, show evidence about what his own lawyers came to think about this scheme.”
Part of the plan appeared to revolve around Congress and states decertifying the 2020 election results. Once the election results were decertified, the theory was that the fake slate of electors could be used to give Trump the victory.
All of this culminated with then-Vice President Mike Pence's refusal to decertify the election on Jan. 6, 2021. A mob of angry protesters had stormed the Capitol earlier that day, but Pence ultimately participated in the certification of then-candidate Joe Biden's electoral triumph over Trump.
January 6th Committee @January6thCmte
Even the White House Counsel’s Office felt the 'fake electors' plan was not legally sound, but President Trump and his allies went forward with the scheme anyway.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1539313938889728001
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/rnc-coordinated-fake-electors-trump-direct-request
-
Arizona state Speaker Russell Bowers testifies to Jan. 6 committee
Bowers testified that despite claims of election fraud, no evidence was given to him from former President Donald Trump's legal team.
Watch:
-
7 takeaways from the fourth day of the January 6 hearings
(https://i.insider.com/62b21a2ef97e2f001944db13?width=700)
CNN — The latest hearing before the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection revealed new details Tuesday about how former President Donald Trump pressured state officials to help him overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The panel featured testimony from three Republican officials who were all on the receiving end of Trump’s outreach after the election: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, his deputy Gabe Sterling and Arizona House of Representatives Speaker Rusty Bowers.
Like previous hearings, these officials testified about their unwillingness to participate in legally dubious schemes that would undermine the election, including efforts to subvert the Electoral College with fake pro-Trump electors.
Here are key takeaways from Tuesday’s hearing:
Republican witnesses tie Trump directly to fake electors effort
Multiple witnesses told the committee that Trump was personally involved in the effort to put forward slates of fake electors in key battleground states – a key part of the broader effort to overturn Biden’s legitimate election victory.
CNN has previously reported on the role that key Trump allies, including his former attorney Rudy Giuliani, played in overseeing the effort but witnesses revealed new details Tuesday about how the former President himself was not only aware of the push, but seemingly endorsed it.
Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee, testified that she received a call from Trump and conservative lawyer John Eastman after the election about helping to assemble the electors.
“In this effort, what did the President say when he called you?” an investigator with the committee asked McDaniel, according to video of her testimony played during the hearing.
“Essentially, he turned the call over to Mr. Eastman, who then proceeded to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing change the result of any dates,” McDaniel responded.
“I think more just helping them reach out and assemble them but …. my understanding is the campaign did take the lead and we just were helping them in that role,” she added.
Bowers also told the committee that her received a call from Trump and Giuliani during which they urged him to go along with a plan to put forward illegitimate, pro-Trump electors from the state.
“I told them I did not want to be used as a pawn,” Bowers said on Tuesday, recalling what he told Giuliani and Trump on the November 22 phone call.
The Arizona House speaker also testified that Giuliani acknowledged what he was proposing had never been done before but continued to push him anyway. That also came up in other conversations with Eastman and others, Bowers said.
Committee reveals new details how congressional Republicans helped Trump’s efforts to overturn election
Tuesday’s hearing featured new details about two congressional Republicans played a role in Trump’s sprawling efforts to try to overturn his 2020 election loss.
The first was Republican Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, who called Bowers on the morning of January 6, 2021, asking him to support decertification of his state’s electors for Biden.
“I said I would not,” Bowers testified on Tuesday.
The second occurred several hours later, minutes before then-Vice President Mike Pence gaveled in the joint session of Congress to certify the electoral votes. According to text messages obtained by the committee, an aide to GOP Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin asked an aide to Pence how Johnson could hand-deliver him the fake slates of Trump electors from Michigan and Wisconsin, which had not been sent to the National Archives. Pence’s aide responded that Johnson should “not give that to him.”
Both the effort to decertify Biden electors and put forward fake Trump electors were part of the Trump team’s scheme to stop the congressional certification of the election on January 6. The role that Trump’s allies in Congress played have been of interest of interest to the committee, which has subpoenaed five House GOP members, including Biggs and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
The House Republicans have not complied with the subpoenas and have denounced the panel’s investigation.
The committee’s chairman, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, told CNN’s Manu Raju during a recess in Tuesday’s hearing that the committee has “not yet” reached out to Johnson amid the revelations of his involvement in the fake elector scheme.
“The committee hasn’t made a decision” on whether to call him to testify, Thompson said.
Witnesses describe how Trump’s lies had serious consequences – including threats
The committee’s hearing underscored how the lies about the election spread by Trump and his team spiraled into multi-faceted disasters for the state officials forced to grapple with them.
All of the witnesses who appeared at Tuesday’s hearing talked about the serious repercussions they faced as a result of the false claims that Trump and his team put forward. That included pressure to help in the effort to overturn the election, the repeated attempts to try to debunk the claims and the threats they faced from pro-Trump supporters for refusing to go along with Trump’s efforts.
“No matter how many times senior Department of Justice officials, including his own attorney general, told the President that these allegations were not true, President Trump kept promoting these lies and put pressure on state officials to accept them,” committee member Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, said during Tuesday’s hearing.
The stories were similar in many respects to the pressure campaign that Pence faced from Trump and his supporters before January 6 – and the threats he faced from rioters at the Capitol.
Bowers delivered emotional testimony about “disturbing” protests outside his home. Bowers welled up as he discussed the impact protests at this house had on his wife and his daughter, who was at home gravely ill at the time and was “upset by what was happening outside.” And he read passages from his personal journal about friends who had turned on him.
Bowers also described how Trump and his team wouldn’t take no for an answer and continued to pressure him to support decertifying the state’s electors up to the morning of January 6.
Raffensperger described the attacks that his wife faced after the election, which he said he suspected was an attempt to pressure him to quit. Schiff cited Raffensperger’s book, in which he wrote, “I felt then and still believe today that this was a threat.”
Trump supported a Republican primary challenge to Raffensperger, GOP Rep. Jody Hice of Georgia, as part of his campaign to oust the Republicans who opposed his lies about the election. But Raffensperger won his primary in May.
Republican officials take the lead testifying against Trump
Yet again, the Democratic-run January 6 committee turned to Republican officials to make their case against Trump. In fact, the majority of the in-person witnesses so far have been Republicans.
Tuesday’s hearing featured in-person testimony from three conservative Republicans who endorsed Trump in 2020. The committee also played deposition clips from two other GOP officials: Michigan State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey and Pennsylvania House Speaker Bryan Cutler.
They all provided damning testimony against Trump, describing how he repeatedly tried to twist their arms and cajole them to overturn the results. They also described the threats and pressure they faced from Trump supporters who believed his election lies and protested outside their homes and offices, and bombarded them with calls and text messages.
One of the main GOP gripes about the committee is that it’s stacked with Democrats. And it is, largely because Republican leadership refused to participate last summer. But so far, the most damaging testimony has come from Republicans and members of Trump’s inner circle.
Top Arizona Republican refutes Trump in real-time
Bowers said under oath Tuesday that Trump lied about him in a press release that came out shortly before the hearing started, where Trump claimed Bowers told him in November 2020 that he believed the election was rigged.
In the statement, Trump attacked Bowers and described a call they had after the election, claiming, “during the conversation, he told me that the election was rigged and that I won Arizona.” Trump added, “Bowers should hope there’s not a tape of the conversation.”
Under questioning from Schiff, Bowers confirmed that he “did have a conversation with the president, but that certainly isn’t it.”
“There are parts of it that are true, but there are parts of it that are not,” Bowers said of Trump’s statement. “…Anywhere, anyone anytime who has said that I said the election was rigged – that would not be true.”
The comments were a real-time refutation of the former President. While Trump can say whatever he wants in a press release, Bowers is required to testify truthfully before Congress, and could be prosecuted for lying under oath.
The back-and-forth harkens back to Trump’s infamous conversations with former FBI Director James Comey in 2017, where Trump lied about what they discussed and raised the specter of “tapes.” Like Bowers, Comey testified to Congress, under penalty of perjury, about the conversations with Trump.
Schiff yet again dissects troubling Trump calls
It was striking to watch Schiff dissect troubling Trump phone calls with Georgia election officials, where he tried to convince him to ignore Biden’s victory and interfere with the vote count so he could prevail.
These exchanges stood out because it’s not the first time Schiff highlighted Trump’s misdeeds that were captured in a phone call. Remember: Schiff was the lead investigator in Trump’s first impeachment, which revolved around a 2019 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, where Trump pressured Zelensky to publicly announce that his country was investigating Biden for corruption.
In that situation, the White House released a transcript of the call, but there was no audiotape. This time around, the January 6 committee played the recordings of Trump’s transition-era conversations with Raffnesperger and Frances Watson, a top investigator from the Georgia secretary of state’s office.
Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election – that’s precisely what Schiff warned about during Trump’s first impeachment trial, where he was acquitted. That trial was all about Trump’s efforts to undermine the integrity of the election by soliciting foreign interference. These January 6 hearings are all about exposing Trump’s efforts to enlist fellow Americans in his campaign to subvert the results.
Emotional testimony highlights victims of Trump’s disinformation
Later in the day, the committee heard from Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother Ruby Freeman, who were election workers in Atlanta during the 2020 election. Trump, Giuliani and other GOP figures put them both at the center of their unhinged lies about massive voter fraud in Georgia.
Coverage of Trump’s presidency often focused on his words and lies. But the emotional and deeply personal testimony from Moss and Freeman flipped the script, and showed human toll of Trump’s lies.
They described in devastatingly terms how Trump’s lies essentially destroyed their lives.
Moss said she felt “helpless,” gained 60 pounds, and stopped giving out her business card because “I don’t want anyone knowing my name.” Her mother said she gets “nervous when I have to give food orders,” because someone who believes Trump’s lies might recognize her name. She said she felt “homeless” while she lived in hiding for two months, after the FBI told her she wasn’t safe at home.
"I have lost my sense of security, all because of a group of people, starting with (Trump) and his ally Rudy Giuliani, decided to scapegoat me, and my daughter, Shaye, to push lies about how the election was stolen,” Freeman said in a videotaped deposition, a clip of which was played during Tuesday’s hearing.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/21/politics/january-6-hearing-day-4-takeaways/index.html
-
WATCH: Jan. 6 Committee hearings - Day 4
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack will hold its fourth public hearing June 21, focused on former President Donald Trump's efforts to pressure state legislators and local election officials to change the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Hearing begins at 57:40.
-
U.S. Congress' Jan. 6 committee to zero in on pressure over Georgia election results
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday will focus on then-President Donald Trump's efforts to pressure state officials as part of his broader effort to remain in office despite losing 2020's election, committee aides said.
The committee hearing is the fourth of at least six expected this month as the nine-member House of Representatives select committee discloses results of its nearly yearlong investigation into the attack on the Capitol by thousands of Trump supporters.
Witnesses appearing in person will include Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, both Republicans like Trump. Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer at the Georgia secretary of state's office, another Republican, and Wandrea ArShaye "Shaye" Moss, a former Georgia election worker who faced threats after being targeted by name by Trump associates, will also appear.
Trump held a raucous rally on Jan. 6, urging his supporters to march on the Capitol. He had seized on that date - when Vice President Mike Pence was to meet with lawmakers there to formally certify the election - as a last-ditch chance to hold onto the White House despite his loss at the polls.
The panel of seven Democrats and two Republicans has used the hearings to build a case that Trump's efforts to overturn his defeat amounted to illegal conduct, far beyond normal politics.
Democrat Joe Biden in November 2020 defeated Trump in both Georgia and Arizona, two states that recently had backed Republicans in presidential elections. Trump and his associates put pressure on officials from those states to overturn the election results, partly via an effort to submit alternate slates of electors backing Trump.
'FIND' ENOUGH VOTES
Trump called Raffensperger on Jan. 2, 2021, telling Georgia's top election official to "find" enough votes for him to win Georgia's electoral votes, and Raffensperger remained a frequent target of Trump's criticism. The secretary of state last month held off a Trump-backed challenger to win the Republican Party's primary as he ran for reelection.
Raffensperger will face a Democratic opponent in the general election on Nov. 8.
"President Trump and his allies drove a pressure campaign based on lies, and these lies led to threats that put state and local officials and their families at risk," a committee aide told reporters on a conference call on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity to preview the hearing.
Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing, while reiterating false accusations that he lost the election only because of widespread fraud that benefited Biden. Trump and his supporters - including many Republican members of Congress - dismiss the Jan. 6 panel as a political witch hunt, but its backers say it is a necessary probe into a violent threat against democracy.
Different members of the select committee have led questioning in each of the hearings to date. Democratic Representative Adam Schiff will take that role on Tuesday.
Schiff said on CNN's "State of the Union" show on Sunday that the House panel would present evidence Trump was involved in the failed bid to submit slates of fake electors.
Evidence against Trump could potentially be crucial in an ongoing criminal investigation by the Department of Justice into the alleged fake elector plot.
The committee has scheduled a second hearing this week. That session, on Thursday, will focus on Trump's efforts to assemble a team at the Justice Department to promote his false voter fraud claims, the committee aide said.
It had been scheduled for June 15 but was postponed. The committee did not provide a reason for the change.
https://www.rawstory.com/u-s-congress-jan-6-committee-to-zero-in-on-pressure-over-georgia-election-results/
-
U.S. Cohttps://www.jfkassassinationforum.com/Themes/default/images/bbc/url.gifngress' Jan. 6 committee to zero in on pressure over Georgia election results
https://www.rawstory.com/u-s-congress-jan-6-committee-to-zero-in-on-pressure-over-georgia-election-results/
Clearly the recorded phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger shows Trump attempting to thwart a valid election, to betray democracy. The only ‘valid’ defense is that the ‘thought’ we was the real winner. If this defense stands up then all election laws become meaningless. The bad guys could do what they want so long as they always claim they “thought” their side was the real winners.
If Trump had pointed out a specific group of 11,780 ballots, showed that they were for Biden and presented some sort of reason why they should be invalid, that would be a legal argument. But to say “just find me 11,780 votes”, just enough to win by one, while threatening criminal charges against Raffensperger, is clearly treason.
Indeed, all law, or much of it would become toothless if this argument is accepted in general. Some attempt to defraud a company of millions could be explained away by the defendant claiming that he ‘thought’ he was just getting his own money back.
-
Trump’s own words are proving the Jan. 6 committee is right: conservative pundit
Donald Trump is making the case against himself as he continues to discuss his attempted coup as the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol holds public hearings, a conservative pundit said on CNN on Wednesday.
Jake Tapper interviewed Amanda Carpenter of The Bulwark, who was once a top aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX).
"Since the panel began its public hearings, Trump has responded by insisting the election was stolen from him, that former Vice President Mike Pence really had the power to keep Trump in office, and that Jan. 6th rioters are being unfairly prosecuted," Carpenter wrote. "All of which underscores the committee’s central point that the threat to democracy continues as Trump and his supporters still deny the outcome of the 2020 election and what took place on Jan. 6th. Trump may not be testifying to the committee, but his public reaction to the committee’s work should not be ignored."
Tapper played a clip of Trump and asked Carpenter for analysis.
"The central thesis of the Jan. 6 committee is that these investigations are needed not only to review what happened on Jan. 6 but that it's urgent because the threat to our elections and election officials persist," Carpenter said. "And that was surely proven by Donald Trump's speech he gave on Friday to the faith and freedom coalition."
"So while we pay attention to what is happening in that room, and the facts that are being presented, I think we also need to pay close attention to how Trump is reacting to it, because that surely shows how the threat persists," she explained. "Also in that same speech, he dangled pardons — and it wasn't the first time."
"I think Donald Trump is the best witness against himself at this moment," she concluded.
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 committee members see huge increase in violent threats in past 24 hours: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/house-select-committee.jpg?id=29978372&width=2400&height=1350)
The members of the House select committee have seen a notable increase in the number of violent threats against them since their latest public hearing.
The committee held its fourth hearing Tuesday focusing on Donald Trump's efforts to overturn his election loss by sending slates of fraudulent electors to Congress and pressuring local election officials through violent intimidation to admit to bogus claims of wrongdoing, and that has unleashed a new wave of threats against panel members, reported the Washington Post.
“There is violence in the future, I’m going to tell you,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week," "and until we get a grip on telling people the truth, we can’t expect any differently.”
Kinzinger, one of the panel's two Republicans, revealed over the weekend that he had received a letter threatening to execute him, his wife and their five-month-old child.
All lawmakers on the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection will likely receive a security detail in response to the new threats, according to three sources close to the probe.
On Tuesday, the House select committee heard from poll worker Shaye Moss, who was falsely accused by Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani alongside her mother Ruby Freeman of "rigging" the election count in Georgia with "suitcases" full of ballots for Biden.
Moss, who is Black, described people making "hateful" and "racist" threats of violence following the baseless accusations, including one message saying: "Be glad it's 2020 and not 1920."
"This turned my life upside down. I no longer give out my business card, I don't transfer calls," Moss testified.
"I don't want anyone knowing my name... I don't go to the grocery store. Haven't been anywhere at all."
Freeman said in her deposition she had lost her good name and sense of security because "number 45 and his ally Rudy Giuliani decided to scapegoat me and my daughter Shaye, to push their own lies about how the presidential election was stolen."
The mother and daughter were among poll workers or election officials in several states who found themselves pressured to thwart the will of millions of voters based on bogus claims of fraud, the panel said.
The remaining hearings, which will resume Thursday but will then be paused until July, will focus even more of political violence from Trump's right-wing supporters, with a hearing led by Reps. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) that explores the path to extremism taken by many of the insurrectionists.
AFP
-
Jan. 6 committee to add hearings until July as new evidence pours in
The House select committee will add more public hearings next month after receiving significant new evidence related to Donald Trump's effort to overturn his election loss.
The panel will hold another hearing Thursday focused on Trump's pressure campaign against the Department of Justice, but select committee chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) told reporters on Wednesday the remaining hearings would be rescheduled for July.
"The panel is reassessing its schedule after significant new tranches of evidence have arrived — including documentary footage, NARA productions and new tips," reported Politico's Kyle Cheney.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) had said after Wednesday's hearing that the committee was "picking up new evidence on a daily basis with enormous velocity," and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) said the schedule was "fluid" as committee members sorted the evidence and tried to determine which hearings it best fit.
A source familiar with the matter also said the committee was discussing the possibility of scheduling additional hearings to present some of the new evidence.
Thompson has solicited testimony and other evidence during the public hearings and has said that additional witnesses have come forward as a result.
Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney
NEWS: Bennie Thompson tells us that after Thursday, the select committee will resume hearings in July. The panel is reassessing its schedule after significant new tranches of evidence have arrived — including documentary footage, NARA productions and new tips.
https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1539644114014072833
-
Tuesday's January 6th hearing was the closest yet to directly accusing Donald Trump of crimes
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-returns-to-his-comfort-zone-filing-lawsuits-to-shield-his-wrongdoing.jpg?id=27543665&width=2400&height=1290)
The J6 committee set out Tuesday to illustrate for the public just how the former president and his advisers tried getting state lawmakers and election officials to overturn the result of the 2020 election, thus potentially breaking myriad state and federal laws in the bargain.
I think the committee succeeded.
But it did more than that.
It underscored a theory of mine, which is this: Donald Trump had and still has at his disposal two groups ready to commit acts of political violence, or threaten acts of political violence, when he gives the word. These people are not going away. They live and work among us.
One is paramilitaries of the kind who sacked and looted the US Capitol with the clear intention of murdering members of the Congress in order to terrify Vice President Mike Pence into completing the coup.
Armed men showed up at the homes of witnesses as well as their family member’s homes. Armed men were outside the Arizona House of Representatives while inside Jacob Chansley (“the QAnon Shaman”) led an illegal protest. Rusty Bowers, who testified, is the speaker of the Arizona House. He said the Proud Boys called him out by name. Some people broke into a witness’s widowed daughter-in-law’s house.
The other group is bigger. It’s a vast informal network of Trump supporters prepared to pressure, harass, intimidate and threaten lawmakers and election officials who said no to the former president.
Trump supporters posted online personal information on lawmakers and election officials, including home addresses and phone numbers. Some victims were so inundated with emails, texts and calls they couldn’t function. Georgia Secretary of State Ben Raffensperger’s wife was sexually harassed. The worst story came from a normal person.
Shaye Moss used to work in the Georgia elections office. She and her mom, Ruby Freeman, became the center of a conspiracy theory cooked up by Trump and his campaign goons, especially Rudy Giuliani.
The theory focused on a video he claimed showed Moss and Freeman adding ballots to Biden’s total in Georgia. Giuliani told the state senators that they were passing “USB ports” between them “as if they were vials of cocaine.” Trump told Raffensperger in a long phone call that Freeman was “a professional vote scammer and hustler.”
Per testimony from Raffensperger and lieutenant Gabriel Sterling, the video showed, when seen in its entirety, normal vote processing as well as an error. Poll workers had thought they could go home late in the evening. Then they were told they had to finish the count. As for the “vials of cocaine,” Moss said her mom passed her a “ginger mint.”
Did I mention Moss and Freeman are Black?
Due to the threats, harassment and intimidation she received (Trump said her name 18 times during his call to Raffensperger), Ruby Freeman no longer uses her name in public. She’s too “worried about who is listening.” She had to move out of her house for two months before and after the J6 insurrection. “Do you know how it feels like to have the president of the United States target you?” Freeman asked.
The J6 committee, led Tuesday by California Congressman Adam Schiff, demonstrated how the former president and advisers used the Big Lie to straw-boss state lawmakers and state election officials into doing one of two things: “decertify” state electors or send fake slates of state electors to Washington. For either, “there was no legal pathway,” Bowers said, which is a careful way of suggesting each was illegal.
Indeed, this fourth committee hearing came closest, I think, to suggesting Trump and allies committed state and federal crimes. “We have a lot of theories; we just don’t have the evidence,” Bowers said Giuliani said. And yet they pressed on knowing everything was a lie.
They duped people into thinking it was legal to serve on a fake slate of electors. They told fake electors that they were assembling just in case the court’s broke Trump’s wake. They did not break his way, but that didn’t stop Trump and his advisers from sending fake certificates validating fake electors to the National Archives. The last time I checked, submitting fake documents to the government is bad.
“I would not have participated,” said a fake elector, if he had known the former president's own legal counsel – Justin Clark, Matt Morgan and Josh Finley – washed their hands of any plan involving fake electors.
The biggest criminal red light, it seemed to me, was Trump threatening Raffensperger with either criminal investigation by federal authorities or intimidation and worse from his vast networked mob.
“When you talk about no criminality [no voter fraud], I think it’s dangerous stuff for you to say that,” Trump told Raffensperger.
Republican Vice Chair Liz Cheney leaned in: “Each of these efforts to overturn the election is independently serious,” she said. “Each deserves attention both by Congress and by our Department of Justice.”
I don’t think anything said so far has jumped out so far.
AFP
-
Former acting Trump AG will publicly testify there's no proof of widespread election fraud
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-s-rosenstein-replacement-is-another-assault-on-the-justice-department-ex-doj-official.gif?id=26712698&width=2400&height=1290)
The man whom former President Donald Trump appointed to be his acting attorney general in the wake of Bill Barr's resignation will publicly testify to the House Select Committee investigating January 6th on Thursday that there is no proof that the 2020 election was stolen.
CNN has obtained a copy of Rosen's pre-prepared remarks and they show the former Trump DOJ official will directly contradict the former president's claims of widespread election fraud.
"Some argued to the former President and public that the election was corrupt and stolen," Rosen will say. "That view was wrong then and it is wrong today, and I hope our presence here today helps reaffirm that fact."
During his brief tenure as acting AG, Rosen was asked by Trump to declare the 2020 election "corrupt" as a pretext for sending certified votes back to Republican-controlled state legislatures.
When Rosen resisted, Trump then mulled appointing loyalist Jeffrey Clark as his new acting AG. The former president backed off when Rosen and multiple other top DOJ officials, as well as White House counsel Pat Cipollone, threatened to resign in protest.
Rosen's testimony will come as part of a hearing that will examine how Trump attempted to use the Department of Justice to stay in power despite having lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/january-6-hearings-day-5-what-to-expect/index.html
-
Who you'll hear from and what to expect in today's Jan. 6 House committee hearing
(https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/06/22/gettyimages-1402688187_custom-d832da379bd5c4c259ff9b5f7ae27434decd7e28-s1800-c85.webp)
The fifth hearing of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol will focus on former President Donald Trump's pressure on the Department of Justice to help him overturn the 2020 election.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of two Republicans on the committee, will lead Thursday's hearing, set for 3 p.m. It is expected to last roughly two hours like previous hearings.
This hearing was supposed to take place last Wednesday but was postponed for what panel member Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., called "technical issues."
The witnesses are former top DOJ officials
Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue are among Thursday's witnesses. Both refused to give in to Trump's efforts to get the DOJ to advance his fraudulent claims of voter fraud and overturn the election.
When former Attorney General Bill Barr announced his resignation in December 2020, Trump badgered Rosen and Donoghue in at least nine calls and meetings, according to a report by the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen," Trump told the two men, according to their testimony.
Also to appear in Thursday's hearing is Steven Engel, who headed DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel. Engel was one of the officials who told the former president he would have no choice but to quit if Trump replaced the acting attorney general with environmental lawyer Jeffrey Bossert Clark. Clark was reportedly more willing to go along with Trump's fraudulent claims of a stolen election.
Several other DOJ lawyers, including Donoghue, also threatened to quit if Clark was appointed.
"The President said 'Suppose I do this. Suppose I replace him, Jeff Rosen, with him, Jeff Clark. What do you do?' And I said 'Sir, I would resign immediately. There is no way I'm serving one minute under this guy, Jeff Clark,'" Donoghue said in a piece of video testimony played at Tuesday's hearing.
Clark appeared before the House committee in February for a deposition, but pled the Fifth dozens of times.
It's unusual for DOJ lawyers at this level to testify in public about interactions with the White House, but President Biden said that executive privilege should not apply to conversations involving Trump's efforts to overthrow the 2020 election.
How Trump pressured the DOJ
The committee plans to outline several ways in which Trump pressured the DOJ and tried to use it for his own personal agenda.
Committee aides said in a call with reporters that the hearing will lay out how Trump wanted the DOJ to publicly state there was election fraud. More testimony from Barr and other officials is expected.
The committee will also show how Trump asked the DOJ to file lawsuits with his campaign on behalf of his election fraud claims. He also pressured the DOJ to appoint a special counsel to look into his claims and he wanted it to issue letters to states to question the sanctity of their elections.
Thursday's hearing will also detail a Jan. 3 meeting in the Oval Office between Trump and senior DOJ officials as the former president tried to place Clark as the head of the department.
What we've heard in past hearings and what's to come
In the last four hearings, the committee has laid out the case against Trump and how he was at the center of the election fraud conspiracy which ultimately led to the deadly insurrection at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The committee has presented evidence for how Trump ignored several in his circle who said his claims of election fraud were false, and then proceeded to pressure Vice President Mike Pence and state election officials to overturn the election in his favor.
Thursday's hearing is the fifth of several that were supposed to take place in June. But now committee members are saying the process could go into July.
Committee Chair Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., told reporters that today's hearing will be the last for this month with more hearings to come after Congress' July 4th recess. The House will reconvene the week of July 11, and Thompson indicated that's the earliest hearings would resume.
Thompson said the new evidence the committee has includes hours of video footage handed over by a British documentarian who followed Trump, his family and aides, and conducted interviews with them, for weeks before and after the 2020 election.
Thompson also said there is "a lot of information to the tip line" that the committee has set up.
Where to watch Thursday's hearing
You can watch the hearing starting at 3 p.m. ET on NPR.org. NPR will also broadcast live special coverage of the hearings. Find your local member station or use the NPR One app to listen.
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/23/1106863016/who-youll-hear-from-and-what-to-expect-in-todays-jan-6-house-committee-hearing
-
January 6 hearings Day 5 focus on DOJ's 'big lie' last stand
Involving Trump, acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Jeffrey Clark, this was a bizarre situation. But everything about those early days of 2021 was bizarre.
(https://www.nydailynews.com/resizer/_bCh_gUzs9Q5t8iU6lt2UM3_4oE=/1200x848/filters:format(jpg):quality(70)/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-tronc.s3.amazonaws.com/public/NJSXFSGYOSXRRF7XIQDWSWCSTI.jpg)
Imagine for a moment the uproar that would have occurred on Jan. 3, 2021, if 100 or so top Justice Department lawyers had resigned en masse.
Our country narrowly dodged that turmoil following an Oval Office meeting that Sunday afternoon, three days before Congress would convene to certify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen requested the meeting after he learned earlier that day that President Donald Trump planned to fire him and replace him with an underling. Rosen’s offense? Refusing to go along with Trump’s false claims that the Justice Department had found fraud in the election.
On Thursday, the Jan. 6 committee will conduct Day 5 of its hearings on the attack on the U.S. Capitol and related events. The announced witnesses are Rosen and two other former Justice Department officials who attended the Oval Office meeting, Richard Donoghue and Steve Engel. We can certainly expect the committee to ask these officials about the Oval Office meeting and, more generally, the role of the Justice Department in stopping the “big lie.” But based on testimony provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee last July, we already know quite a bit about the Oval Office incident.
As described in a Senate report, Rosen told the committee that at about 3 p.m. on Jan. 3, another Justice Department official, Jeffrey Clark, had told him that Trump would be replacing Rosen with Clark as acting attorney general. This was a bizarre situation. As anyone familiar with the Justice Department knows, a president typically does not replace an acting attorney general in the waning days of an administration. And it would be even more bizarre for the attorney general to be notified of his dismissal by a subordinate.
But everything about those early days of 2021 was bizarre. According to the testimony provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Clark had taken an active role in pushing Trump’s claims of election fraud after Rosen refused.
Before he resigned in December 2020, Attorney General William Barr had publicly stated that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the election. As we heard during the House’s Jan. 6 committee’s first hearing this month, Barr told Trump that claims of election fraud were “bullspombleprofglidnoctobuns.”
Following Barr’s departure, Rosen took over as acting attorney general and promptly became the target of “persistent” demands by Trump to discredit the election results. Donoghue, who served as Rosen’s deputy, has also testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about this tense period. According to Donoghue’s handwritten notes, Rosen refused to open an investigation because there was no evidence of fraud, telling Trump that the Justice Department “can’t + won’t snap its fingers + change the outcome of the election.” Rather than back down, Donoghue’s notes state, Trump told Rosen to “just say the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R Congressmen.” We can expect to hear more about these exchanges during Thursday’s hearing.
But while Rosen and Donoghue refused to support Trump’s efforts, Clark was apparently only too willing. After having met directly with Trump — in violation of the Justice Department’s White House contacts policy — Clark drafted a letter to the members of the Georgia Legislature noting nonexistent “irregularities” and suggesting that they convene to select their own slate of electors for the state. This letter was drafted as a “proof of concept” that could be used in other swing states Biden won. Rosen flatly refused to sign it.
All of this was the context for Rosen’s requested showdown with Trump. Expecting the worst, Rosen and Donoghue scrambled to alert their colleagues. They convened a conference call with seven top Justice Department leaders, all of whom agreed to resign together if Trump fired Rosen. As detailed by the Senate report, an email message was prepared that would be sent in the event of Rosen’s firing to the heads of all Justice Department components, the staffs of the attorney general and the deputy attorney general, and the U.S. attorneys who were serving as co-chairs of the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee, or AGAC. As a former U.S. attorney who once served as vice chair of the AGAC, I am confident that the co-chairs would have shared the email with the country’s 91 other U.S. attorneys.
The draft email explained that Trump fired Rosen because he had “repeatedly refused the President’s direct instructions to utilize the Department of Justice's law enforcement powers for improper ends.” It also stated that Donoghue was resigning and appeared to suggest the recipients consider doing the same: “the decision of whether and when to resign and whether the ends of justice are best served by resigning is a highly individual question, informed by personal and family circumstances.”
It is unclear whether everyone in this group would have actually resigned, but no doubt many would have, possibly more than 100 lawyers. Mass resignations of that magnitude over an attack on the institution by the president would have sent an earthquake through the 115,000-employee Justice Department. It most certainly also would have thwarted Trump’s objective of clinging to power.
But, of course, the email would never be sent. Rosen and Donoghue were joined at the meeting in the Oval Office by Clark and Engel, the assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, who will also testify Thursday. White House counsel Pat Cipollone and deputy Patrick Philbin were also there. After three hours, the other Justice Department officials, and even Cipollone and Philbin, threatened to resign if Trump replaced Rosen and if Clark’s letters were sent to state legislatures. Cipollone reportedly called Clark’s letter a “murder-suicide pact.”
While Trump backed down from firing Rosen, he did so only in the face of mass resignations, which would likely have triggered scores more. He must have realized that the consequences of resignations at this level and on this scale would be disastrous. Of course, Trump did not abandon his plan to challenge the election results. He simply chose a different path. As we know even more clearly after last week’s Jan 6 hearing, his next target would be Vice President Mike Pence, whom Trump pressured to refuse to certify the election results.
The testimony of Rosen, Donoghue and Engel on Thursday promises to show a president willing to abuse the Justice Department, in the words of Donoghue, “for improper ends.” This testimony is important because it shows — again — the lengths to which Trump would go to win the election. It also helps establish the corrupt intent needed to make a criminal referral to the same department Trump tried to decapitate.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/january-6-hearing-spotlights-trump-jeffrey-clark-doj-n1296509
-
Adam Kinzinger attacks Republicans begging for pardons while not upholding their oath to the Constitution
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) played a leading role in the fifth public hearing for the House Select Committee on Thursday. Among the things that Kinzinger revealed was that a number of Republican members of Congress asked for preemptive pardons.
He explained that the only reason he knows that someone would ask for a pardon is if they committed a crime.
Speaking to CNN, Kinzinger said that he's not going to make a decision on what should happen to his colleagues named, Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Matt Gaetz and Louie Gohmert.
"My job is to put the evidence out there," Kinzinger told Jake Tapper. "And as I said at the end of that, I only know of one recent to seek a pardon -- because you are worried that you are guilty. That you committed a crime. This is something they have to answer to their constituents. You know, I can't enforce the rules of the House or do certain things unilaterally. But I — this is the biggest point is, listen, America: do you really want your possible members of Congress out there trying to bend or break the law so that they can maintain political power? That is like anathema to everything we learned in history class whether in third grade or a senior and that is got to stop."
Tapper pointed out the recent raid of Jeffrey Clark that happened just before the hearing on Thursday. The hearing focused on how corrupt and incapable Clark was at the Justice Department.
"Just a handful of Jeffrey Clark's replacing any of those individuals and all these individuals I am talking about Trump loyalist conservative Republicans, and we very well could have lost democracy in the united states," said Tapper.
"Yeah. Do you know who else knows that? Not just you. Not just me but the steve Bannons of the world that actually planning this," Kinzinger said. "They think, under the radar, they can put in loyalists and frankly they can. I mean, that is the point. Every one of these hearings we have done, we have shown a layer of stuff that could go wrong. And there is really no magic police force that if people don't follow through on their oath is going to come in and enforce that. It is really just us having to hold true to what we believe. And, you know, it's what happens in Trump's second term, in theory, or a Trump accolade in his term in the presidency. Now, he can interview anybody for DOJ or any position and says is your loyalty to me or is to the Constitution? And eventually, trust me, you are gonna find people that will say I will pledge my loyalty to you over the Constitution."
"I mean, you see it probably saves someone's life if you destroy a car but we are going to plunge off a cliff," Kinzinger explained. "We are really there and this is the thing. it is great to tell the story but the biggest point is, ladies and gentlemen, you have to vote not based on every little issue that bothers you but based on who is going to uphold their oath to the Constitution. Because that's the only thing that matters."
See the video below:
-
‘The committee had the receipts’: CNN panel taken aback by 'a very disturbing day of testimony'
CNN's panel on Thursday praised the latest public hearing of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"All right, there it is," Jake Tapper said immediately following the end of the hearing. "The end of a very disturbing day of testimony from top officials of the Trump Justice Department, talking about how Donald Trump tried to weaponize the justice department to steal the election from not just Joe Biden, but from the American people"
"We had testimony today, Jamie Gangel from Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, one of his top aides talking about the Republican members of Congress who reached out to try to get a pardon because of their participation in this scheme," Tapper said.
"Members of Congress who have been saying they never did anything such thing, the committee had the receipts," Gangel replied.
"There was an email there from Mo Brooks (R-AL), the headline was, the slug was 'pardons,' and they had testimony from several White House aides, Cassidy Hutchison, Johnny McEntee, others from the White House counsel's office, Eric Hershmann, each saying that these congressmen had reached out. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), [Louie] Gohmert (R-TX), Scott Perry (R-PA), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) according to Cassidy Hutchison, she heard she reached out to the White House counsel's office."
"And as Adam Kinzinger said at the end, you ask for a pardon if you have done something wrong," Gangel noted.
Watch:
-
WATCH: Former Justice Department official said Trump asked him to call 2020 election ‘corrupt’
Former acting deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue spoke on June 23 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings in their fifth public hearing.
Donaghue went through the steps the Department of Justice took to investigate claims of fraud that former President Donald Trump had repetitively raised. They said they found none of the claims to be factual.
“We went through a series of other [claims that the president raised]. The truck driver who claim to have moved an entire tractor trailer of ballots from New York to Pennsylvania. That was also incorrect. We did an investigation with the FBI, interviewed witnesses at the front end and the back end of that trailer’s transit from New York to Pennsylvania. We looked at loading manifests. We interviewed witnesses, including, of course, the driver, and we knew it wasn't true. Whether the driver believed or not was never clear to me, but it was just not true,” he said.
Donaghue began taking handwritten notes on a call with the president when he made an allegation that was new to him-- that more than 200,000 votes were certified in Pennsylvania that were not actually cast. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill. showed Donoghue’s notes at the hearing which quoted the president directly from the call the two had.
Kinzinger also played video testimony from former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani where Giuliani was asked about whether obscure DOJ official Jeffrey Clark was recommended to be put in a leadership position of the department after Clark had pushed proposals to further the president's effort to overturn the 2020 election.
“I do recall saying to people that somebody should be put in charge of the Justice Department who isn't frightened of what's going to be done to their reputation. Because the Justice Department was filled with people like that,” Giuliani said in a video testimony.
The hearing, the fifth of several planned by the Jan. 6 committee, focused on Trump’s pressure on the Department of Justice to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 committee outlines how GOP congressman Scott Perry pushed to restructure Justice Department
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30019295&width=2400&height=1350)
In the days leading up to the Jan. 6, 2020, attack on the U.S. Capitol, U.S. Rep. Scott Perry pushed to restructure the Department of Justice as former President Donald Trump and his allies led efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
The U.S. House committee investigating the Capitol riot subpoenaed Perry, R-10th District, last year, citing his involvement in attempts to appoint Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general.
Clark, a former Justice Department official, played a role in Trump’s false claims that voter fraud in swing states, specifically Georgia, contributed to his loss against now-President Joe Biden.
Though Perry has refused to testify before the panel, he was a core focus at Thursday’s hearing, which centered on efforts to pressure the Justice Department into supporting unsubstantiated claims of election fraud.
“Mark, just checking in as time continues to count down. 11 days to [Jan. 6] and 25 days to inauguration. We gotta get going,” Perry wrote to the former president’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Dec. 26, 2020.
He added: “Mark, you should call Jeff. I just got off the phone with him, and he explained to me why the principal deputy won’t work, especially with the FBI. They will view it as not having the authority to enforce what needs to be done.”
The committee — citing a White House visitor log — said Perry also brought Clark to meet with Trump on Dec. 22, one day Republicans, including Perry, met with Trump to discuss how to overturn the election.
Earlier this month, the committee said Perry later sought a presidential pardon in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 attack, a claim Perry has denied.
In a January 2021 statement to WGAL-TV in Lancaster, Perry’s office said: “Throughout the past four years, I worked with Assistant Attorney General Clark on various legislative matters. When President Trump asked if I would make an introduction, I obliged.”
https://www.penncapital-star.com/blog/u-s-house-committee-outlines-how-u-s-rep-scott-perry-pushed-to-restructure-justice-department/
-
'This is the smoking gun': Legal experts floored by new DOJ testimony against Trump
The fifth of the public hearings for the House Select Committee investigating the attempt to overthrow the election focused on the extent to which the former president attempted to use the Justice Department to change the 2020 election.
The hearing came on the heels of federal agents raiding the home of former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who was alleged to have penned a letter that would have declared the election questionable.
Witnesses Jeffrey Rosen, Steven Engel and Richard Donoghue, who were all senior DOJ officials in the Trump administration, described to the committee how they met with Donald Trump in the White House to discuss what the former president said was election fraud.
Legal experts watched in awe of the revelations, claiming that former Acting Asst. Attorney General Jeff Clark is in big trouble for his role in the attempt to overthrow the election. On multiple occasions, the former Justice Department officials said Clark and Trump led an effort to subvert the 2020 election after the fact.
When asked about it under oath, Clark pleaded his Fifth Amendment rights.
"Jan. 6 committee outlines how GOP congressman Scott Perry pushed to restructure Justice Department," noted former federal prosecutor Preet Bharara.
"All lawyers involved in the plot to stop the transfer of power as part of the 1/6 conspiracy must be disbarred," added former Attorney General Eric Holder.
"This is the smoking gun," Holder added, after noting that Trump reportedly said "just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen." Holder said the statement "demonstrates both Trump’s substantive involvement and corrupt intent, requisite state of mind."
"We knew the outlines of the story, but the details are, again, stunning -- a brazen & almost certainly criminal attempt to undo the election. And we heard many more new names, eg Ken Klukowski and Victor Blackwell-- all of whom are co-conspirators and potential cooperators," remarked former U.S. Attorney Harry Litman.
"One of the most damning pieces of evidence in this investigation," said George Conway.
Former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance simply stated: "Jeff Clark is in deep, deep trouble."
https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-justice-department-trump/
-
Four takeaways from fifth day of Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot hearings
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30019488&width=980)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The fifth day of congressional hearings on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump's supporters heard how the then-president pressured the Justice Department to help him hold onto power after he lost the 2020 election.
The House of Representatives select committee investigating the attack received testimony from three former top department officials - then-acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, his deputy Richard Donoghue, and the then-head of the Office of Legal Counsel, Steven Engel.
Here are takeaways from Thursday's hearing:
TRUMP TRIED TO FIRE HIS ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL
Trump was frustrated by what he saw as Justice Department inaction investigating or validating his false claims of election fraud.
Between Dec. 23, 2020, and Jan. 3, 2021, Trump called or met Rosen almost every day as his efforts to hold onto power became more urgent. He wanted Rosen to pursue various avenues, including appointing a special counsel to investigate suspected election fraud.
"The common element of all of this was the president expressing his dissatisfaction with the Justice Department having not done enough to investigate election fraud," Rosen said.
When Rosen told Trump in a Dec. 27 meeting that the Justice Department could not just snap its fingers and change the outcome of the election, Trump quickly responded, "What I'm just asking you to do is just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen," Donoghue recalled.
A Trump-supporting Justice Department environmental lawyer, Jeffrey Clark, was a key player in Trump's efforts to use the department to aid his efforts to overturn his election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Clark met with Trump in the Oval Office several times without the knowledge of White House counsel Pat Cipollone or Justice Department leadership, bypassing the normal chain of command and angering Rosen.
On Jan. 3, 2021, Clark told Rosen that Trump had offered him the position of attorney general and that he was going to accept. Rosen sought an urgent meeting with Trump at the White House, along with Donoghue and Engel, to talk him out of it.
Donoghue testified he told Trump that the entire department leadership would resign within hours if he fired Rosen. Trump turned to Engel and asked him if he would quit too, to which Engel replied that he would and that Clark "would be left leading a graveyard."
The last comment appeared to help sway Trump to back down from his plan, Donoghue said.
NEW YEAR'S EVE MEETING
Rosen and Donoghue attended a meeting with the president at the White House on New Year's Eve where Trump asked why the Justice Department had not seized voting machines that Trump supporters alleged had been manipulated to steal the election.
Rosen said his department had no legal authority to take that step, a response that did not sit well with Trump, Donoghue recalled.
Rosen told Trump that the Department of Homeland Security had investigated the issue and found nothing wrong with the voting machines.
At the meeting's end, Trump said, "People tell me I should just get rid of both of you."
Donoghue said he told Trump: "Mr. President, you should have the leadership that you want. But understand the United States Justice Department functions on facts, evidence and law. And those are not going to change."
THE 'MURDER-SUICIDE' LETTER
Clark drafted a letter to be sent to state legislatures in some Republican-controlled states, including Georgia, that aimed to sow doubts about Biden's election win.
The letter alleged that the Justice Department had concerns about election results in multiple states. By the time it was written the department had already determined that no widespread fraud had occurred.
"Donald Trump offered Mr. Clark the job of acting attorney general, replacing Mr. Rosen, with the understanding that Mr. Clark would send this letter and take other actions the president requested," said Representative Liz Cheney, the committee's Republican vice chair.
Donoghue told the committee he had to read the letter twice to make sure he understood correctly what Clark was proposing "because it was so extreme to me."
Donoghue said Clark was undeterred when he told him the Justice Department could not meddle in the election, responding, "I think a lot of people have meddled in this election"
The letter was never sent after Rosen and Donoghue refused to sign it. Cipollone, the White House counsel, said the letter was so toxic that it should never be seen again because if it was ever made public it would be a "murder-suicide."
ITALIAN SATELLITES
Trump pressed Justice Department officials to investigate a baseless internet-based conspiracy theory that an Italian defense contractor had uploaded software to a satellite that switched votes from Trump to Democrat Joe Biden.
Rosen said the conspiracy theory promoted by a former U.S. intelligence officer had been debunked.
Republican congressman Scott Perry texted Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows to ask him, "Why can't we just work with the Italian government?"
Then-Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller placed a call to the U.S. military attache at the embassy in Italy to seek an investigation, the committee said, citing it as an example of how Trump used the machinery of government to pursue his own personal ends.
Reuters
-
WATCH: Former top DOJ official Donoghue on Jeffrey Clark's push on false election fraud claims
Richard Donoghue, former acting deputy attorney general, testified on June 23 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public.
Donoghue described to the committee how he and acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen tried to dissuade fellow DOJ official Jeffrey Clark from acting on claims of election fraud that were not supported by evidence. Clark had readied a letter meant for state legislatures in swing states that casted doubt on the 2020 election that had been won by President Joe Biden.
“For the department to insert into the political processes this way, I think, would have grave consequences for the country. It may very well spiral us into a constitutional crisis and I wanted to make sure he understood the gravity of the situation because he did not seem to appreciate it,” Donoghue recalled writing in a response to Clark.
Donoghue said Rosen was also “exasperated” by Clark’s efforts and the three had a “contentious” meeting.
Despite the warning, Donoghue said Clark continued to investigate claims of election fraud, including an intelligence briefing that suggested foreign interference in the election, and argued for sending the letter.
“We thought perhaps once it was explained to him that there was no basis for that part of his concern, that he would retreat. But instead, he doubled down and said, ‘OK, there is no foreign interference. I still think there are enough allegations out there that we should go ahead and send this letter,’ which shocked me even more than the initial one,” Donoghue said, “because you would think after a couple of days of looking at this – he, like we – would have come to the same conclusion, that it was unfounded.”
The hearing, the fifth of several planned by the Jan. 6 committee, focused on Trump’s pressure on the Department of Justice to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.
-
Former DOJ officials detail threatening to resign en masse in meeting with Trump
(https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/06/23/gettyimages-1241484729-34e405d85d8683fc853baf00e69841058b0fa2a6-s1800-c85.webp)
Witnesses in today's hearing revealed details of a dramatic Oval Office meeting on Jan. 3, 2021, in which top Justice Department officials banded together to prevent Jeffrey Clark, an environmental lawyer at the DOJ, from replacing acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.
Trump was keen to install Clark, an ally, in order to wield the powers of the DOJ to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The meeting took place a day after Clark had told Rosen and acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue that Trump had asked him to consider replacing Rosen. Clark doubled down on claims that there had been fraud in the election and acknowledged he had had continued discussions with Trump, despite assuring the pair a week prior that he wouldn't engage in conversations with the president.
On Jan. 3, Clark told Rosen the "timeline had been moved up" and that Trump had offered him the top job and he was accepting it. Following that meeting, Rosen called then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to set up a meeting that night with the president. Included in the meeting were White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and Steven Engel, assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel.
Ahead of the meeting with Trump, Donoghue assembled a conference call with assistant attorneys general and asked what they would do if Clark was installed as head of the department. He testified that those in the meeting "said they would resign en masse."
Hours later, the tense meeting began.
Rosen said Trump "turned to me and said — 'Well, one thing we know is you, Rosen, you aren't going to do anything. You don't even agree with the claims of election fraud, and this other guy at least might do something,'" referring to Clark.
"I said, 'Well, Mr. President, you're right that I'm not going to allow the Justice Department to do anything to try to overturn the election. That's true," Rosen recalled. "'But the reason for that is because that's what's consistent with the facts and the law, and that's what's required under the Constitution.'"
Donoghue eventually joined the meeting and recalled Trump asking, "What do I have to lose?" in replacing Rosen with Clark.
"It was actually a good opening because I said, 'Mr. President, you have a great deal to lose,'" he testified. "I began to explain to him what he had to lose and what the country had to lose and what the department had to lose, and this was not in anyone's best interest. That conversation went on for some time. Everyone essentially chimed in with their own thoughts, all of which were consistent about how damaging this would be to the country."
The conversation turned to whether Clark was qualified to run the Justice Department.
"It was a heated conversation. I thought it was useful to point out to the president that Jeff Clark simply didn't have the skills, the ability and the experience to run the department," Donoghue testified.
"I said, 'Mr. President, you're talking about putting a man in that seat who has never tried a criminal case, who's never conducted a criminal investigation. He's telling you that he's going to take charge of the department — 115,000 employees, including the entire FBI — and turn the place on a dime and conduct nationwide criminal investigations that will produce results in a matter of days. It's impossible. It's absurd. It's not going to happen and it's going to fail.'"
Donoghue said Trump asked him what he would do if he replaced Rosen with Clark.
"I said, 'Mr. President, I would resign immediately. I'm not working one minute for this guy,'" he replied.
Engel echoed that: "'I've been with you through four attorneys general, including two acting attorneys general, but I couldn't be part of this," he said he told Trump.
Donoghue told Trump he would lose his "entire department" if he moved ahead.
"Within 24-48-72 hours, you could have hundreds and hundreds of resignations of the leadership of your entire Justice Department because of your actions. What's that going to say about you?" Donoghue remembers asking.
According to Donoghue, Cipollone was supportive of the DOJ and said Clark's plan to send a letter to states about election fraud was a "murder-suicide" pact.
Donoghue said Clark would be "left leading a graveyard," a statement he said had an impact on Trump, who ultimately decided not to fire Rosen.
https://www.npr.org/2022/06/23/1107217243/former-doj-officials-detail-threatening-resign-en-masse-trump-meeting
-
A damning Donald Trump quote you need to hear from today’s January 6 hearing
CNN — Donald Trump said and did a whole lot of things on and around January 6, 2021, as he sought to use the levers of government to push his false election fraud schemes and remain in power.
None was more damning than a quote that re-surfaced during the latest public hearing of the House select committee investigating January 6 on Thursday. It came from an extended phone call between Trump, acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue in December 2020.
The call, according to Donoghue, who took contemporaneous notes, featured the then-President repeatedly pressing the top Justice Department officials over a variety of false and conspiratorial claims about the election – all of which Donoghue shot down.
At some point during the call, Trump appears to grow exasperated. He implored Rosen and Donoghue to “just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” Donoghue testified Thursday.
Yeah. Think about that for a minute.
This is not the first time we have heard that line. CNN reported on the existence of Donoghue’s notes – and the Trump quote therein – in July 2021.
But in the context of the case being made by the January 6 committee, the quote is absolutely stunning and deeply revealing.
Consider, first, the brazenness exhibited by Trump here. He is asking the two highest-ranking officials of the Justice Department at the time, who have already repeatedly made clear to him on the same call that his claims of election fraud are spurious, to just say that there was fraud – and be done with it.
Second, the quote reveals – or, in truth, re-reveals – the utter misunderstanding (and contempt) that Trump had for the Department of Justice.
Time and time again, from the very early days of his time in office, Trump publicly expressed his frustrations that the DOJ would not simply do his bidding.
Trump repeatedly wondered – via his Twitter feed and his own public comments – why his first attorney general, Jeff Sessions, had recused himself from the investigation into Russia’s attempts to influence the 2016 election.
In an interview with Fox in August 2018, Trump asked, “What kind of man is this?” of Sessions, adding that he “never took control of the Justice Department.”
Trump fired Sessions on the day after the 2018 election.
Despite hand-picking Sessions’ successor, Bill Barr, Trump still complained the probe, led by special counsel John Durham, designed to look into the origins of the FBI’s Russia investigation was not moving quickly enough.
“If that’s the case I think it’s terrible,” Trump told conservative radio show Rush Limbaugh in October 2020 when asked about the possibility that the Durham probe might not be released until after the election. “It’s very disappointing. And I’ll tell [Barr] to his face. I think it’s a disgrace. It’s an embarrassment.”
(Worth noting: It wasn’t just the Department of Justice where Trump seemed to fundamentally misunderstand his power over them. He repeatedly referred to “my generals” and “my military".
The third thing the quote reveals is that Trump didn’t really care – in any meaningful way – whether or not there was actual election corruption. Remember that in the same phone call where Trump asks Rosen and Donoghue to “just say the election was corrupt,” he had told that the various claims he was making about election fraud were false.
All Trump cared about was using the imprimatur of the Justice Department as a shield by which he could then steer perception in favor of his election lies. In short: He knew what he was saying wasn’t born out by the facts. He didn’t care. He just wanted the DOJ to say “corrupt” so that he could meld and shape that for his own goal: staying in office no matter what.
It’s not clear yet whether the committee will recommend criminal charges at the end of all of this. Or whether the DOJ will charge Trump – or anyone else – in connection with their activities on January 6.
But what is clear is that Trump viewed the Justice Department as just another arm by which to carry out his agenda. He never knew or cared about the independence of DOJ, or why that was (and is) critical to the health of American democracy.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/23/politics/trump-quote-jan-6-hearings-day-5/index.html
-
GOP members of Congress sought preemptive pardon in final Trump days
Former Trump White House officials testified under oath that five Republican members of Congress requested pardons in the final days of the Trump administration.
Watch: Below
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/News/video/gop-members-congress-sought-preemptive-pardon-final-trump-85631443
-
Trump Should Not Be Sleeping Well After This Jan. 6 Hearing
(https://compote.slate.com/images/dc4e13e5-08eb-4e05-ac19-c411c835cac2.jpeg?width=1440&rect=8256x5504&offset=0x0)
A video of Rudy Giuliani projected during the Jan. 6 committee hearing in Washington on Thursday.
Thursday’s fifth in a series of summer hearings of the Jan. 6 committee was dominated by former acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark’s role in Donald Trump’s alleged conspiracy to overturn the election.*
That was because a series of unimpeachable Republican witnesses denounced Clark’s abandonment of the Department of Justice’s foundational principles: follow the facts, apply the law, and represent your true clients, the country and justice—not the president.
The day of the hearing, reports also emerged that federal agents executed a judicially approved search warrant of Clark’s home and seized his electronic devices. That news sends the country a clear signal: The DOJ is now investigating the same scheme involving Trump and Clark that was dissected at Thursday’s hearing.
We should not, however, allow Thursday’s focus on Clark to obscure five other important developments that emerged in the hearing. They deserve attention as the astonishing story of Trump’s attempted coup unfolds.
1. Pardons. Liz Cheney hinted in the committee’s first hearing that “multiple other Republican congressmen” requested pardons from the former president in the weeks after Jan. 6. Now we know there is evidence as to whom: Reps. Matt Gaetz, Scott Perry, Louie Gohmert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Mo Brooks, and Andy Biggs.
To put the words of Republican Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger into courtroom terms, actively seeking a pardon is powerful evidence of “consciousness of guilt.” That is a key route that prosecutors can take to prove criminal intent. People ask for pardons because they’ve done something that they believe makes them vulnerable to criminal prosecution.
The principal crime that comes to mind in the case of these congressional representatives is the same that a federal judge already found Trump and his outside counsel John Eastman “likely” committed: conspiracy to defraud the United States. The congressional representatives may also be implicated in another crime that the judge found Trump likely committed: obstructing an official government proceeding—the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress to certify the election.
2. Attorneys as villains—and heroes. This was an attempted coup using law books and statutes instead of tanks and guns. So it’s little wonder that Clark, Trump’s “Mr. Inside” collaborator/lawyer, and John Eastman, Trump’s “Mr. Outside” collaborator/lawyer, along with Rudolph Giuliani, are in legal jeopardy.
Still, we couldn’t help but find solace, even pride, as we watched and listened to former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue, and Assistant Attorney General Steven Engel. If some attorneys were coup enablers and co-plotters, others redeemed the Justice Department, their oaths of office, and the professional standards to which lawyers are bound. Thursday’s witnesses had the courage to stand up for the rule of law and the Constitution, especially after weeks and weeks of unceasing pressure from the most powerful man on Earth.
Here’s a piece of news from Thursday’s hearing that may not have been evident to lay observers, but that Justice Department prosecutors are sure to have observed, even if they already knew it: Rosen, Donoghue, and Engel emerged as witnesses whose credibility will be unshakeable in any trial. Any reasonable juror will take their word over the testimony of any witness Trump can produce, including himself.
Trump himself has been reportedly watching. He may not be sleeping well in Mar-a-Lago.
3. Voting machines. Donoghue’s testimony revealed a Dec. 31, 2020, conversation with the president in which Trump demanded that the DOJ seize voting machines. Upon being told by Donoghue that voting machines’ performance was within the Department of Homeland Security’s purview, Trump phoned Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of DHS. Trump told Cuccinelli that “the acting Attorney General … just told me it’s your job to seize machines, and you’re not doing your job.”
Though Cuccinelli never ordered his agency to seize the machines, Trump’s call was one more piece of evidence—added to all the other calls and meetings described—showing both his central role in the concerted scheme and his desperation to accomplish its end: thwarting the lawful transition of power. Trump could not have cared less that such a seizure was illegal, as Rosen and Donoghue counseled him.
4. Trump’s lack of interest in evidence contradicting his Big Lie. The theme that Trump’s sole concern was power, and not facts or law, is the dominant message emerging from hearing after hearing, Republican witness after Republican witness.
It was one thing to watch William Barr’s testimony that Trump disregarded the attorney general’s message that the postelection narrative Trump and his minions were spreading about widespread voter fraud was “bullspombleprofglidnoctobuns.” Now we have heard Barr’s successor, Rosen, along with Donoghue, testify to their serially giving Trump the same message about the baselessness of the president’s bizarre, internet-gathered election conspiracy theories.
In the end, Trump told the DOJ officials to “just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.”
In other words, “I don’t care what’s true—just say it.” Repeated testimony about disregard for truth, with the goal of personal gain, is for prosecutors evidence of criminal intent wrapped in ribbon with a perfectly tied bow.
5. Sidney Powell as special counsel? Powell’s recorded testimony indicated that Trump promised her a special counsel appointment to investigate the election. Our jaws dropped. That’s not just because of who Powell is—a lawyer whose wild public statements led even Trump to drop her from his team (at least publicly), and whom a Michigan federal judge has fined for her misrepresentations in one of the Trump campaign’s postelection lawsuits. She is also the subject of bar disciplinary proceedings in Texas. And on June 22, the Justice Department asked a judge to launch an ethics probe of Powell for allegedly funding the legal defense of the Oath Keepers, the militant group whose leader is now under indictment for his role in the violence on Jan. 6.
The idea of Powell serving as a Justice Department special counsel should send chills up the spine of anyone who believes in the importance of the truth. Moreover, as Engel’s testimony revealed, neither Rosen nor his predecessor Barr believed there was a conflict of interest in the Justice Department investigating the election; such a conflict is the predicate for a special counsel’s appointment. Who, we struggle to imagine, would have posed a greater conflict of interest as special counsel probing the election than Sidney Powell?
Each of the select committee’s hearings seems like an impossible evidentiary act to follow. And for those watching, each presentation exceeds expectations in laying out a coherent narrative about Trump’s seven-part plot to destroy American democracy.
We are only midway through the hearings. But with the Justice Department suddenly issuing subpoenas and searching the homes of collaborators in Trump’s coup attempt, one thing is clear: There are more surprises ahead.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/06/trump-january-six-hearings-crimes-trial-jury-ouch.html
-
Stunning details you might have missed from Thursday's Jan. 6 hearing on Trump's pressure campaign against DOJ
Trump's efforts to cling to power were laid out in detail.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/stunning-details-missed-thursdays-jan-hearing-trumps-pressure/story?id=85607045
-
Watch: Jan. 6 Committee Hearings - Day 5
Starts at 36:30
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack will held its fifth public hearing on June 23, focused on former President Donald Trump's efforts to pressure the Justice Department to help undo the 2020 presidential election.
-
I have not been following the hearings on TV (no cable) so these posts by Rick help make it easy to keep abreast of the Capitol Hearings on Trump's efforts to negate an American election.
-
Trump's lawyers could be the first indicted due to the Jan 6th hearings -- and that's very bad news for him
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30024920&width=2400&height=1377)
In a column for Politico, former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti suggested that a quintet of lawyers who attempted to help Donald Trump steal the 2020 presidential election could be the first major players in the former president's orbit to be hit with criminal conspiracy charges due to revelations from the House Jan 6th committee hearings thus far.
According to Mariotti, the actions of John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Jeffrey Clark seem to be a major focus of the bi-partisan select committee, and that the evidence presented makes a strong case against each of them.
"Of all the evidence uncovered by the committee, what jumps out to me as a former federal prosecutor are the 'fake elector' certificates signed by Trump electors and submitted to former Vice President Mike Pence in an effort to delay the certification of the electoral votes on January 6. Those certificates contained statements that are easily proven false," he wrote before adding, "Typically, lawyers are not a weak link. In my experience, lawyers have been the most difficult defendants to convict. They’re usually careful about what they say and what they write down. But Trump’s coterie of dishonest legal advisers — John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell, Jenna Ellis and Clark — weren’t careful. In their attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, they said things that were demonstrably false and were personally involved in lies told to government officials."
Writing, "If prosecutors can prove that one or more of them created the false certificates, and knew that doing so was illegal, they may have criminal liability," he suggested that testimony given so far has demonstrated that they knew they were lying and that could be used against them in a trial where, by virtue of the fact that they are also attorneys, makes the case against them even easier.
"Because the statute criminalizing false statements requires knowledge that the statement was false and that the defendant was doing something illegal, the attorneys are the easiest targets for DOJ," he wrote before elaborating, "As attorneys, it will be hard for Eastman, Giuliani and Ellis to claim that they had no idea that they were acting outside the four corners of state law by convening 'alternative' electors and submitting them to the Senate even though the state had already submitted official electors. It will also be hard for Clark to argue that he had no idea that what he was doing was illegal, given that his superiors forcefully told him so."
Calling the cases against them the easiest path for prosecutors eager to head to court, Mariotti added, "But if federal prosecutors build a case against Giuliani, Eastman or Clark first, they could potentially flip one of them and have a key cooperator against Trump. Presumably Trump had forthcoming one-on-one conversations with those attorneys, believing that they were protected by attorney-client privilege."
"If one of them agreed to cooperate, DOJ could go to a judge seeking an order permitting disclosure of Trump’s statements under the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege, which permits disclosure of private communications between an attorney and client if they were about ongoing crimes," he predicted.
You can read more here:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/06/24/charge-trumps-lawyers-00042361
-
The battle of the Jeffs: The fate of the DOJ — and Trump’s coup
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jeffrey-clark-and-jeffrey-rosen.png?id=30021830&width=1200&quality=85)
Thursday’s J6 committee hearing recounted the historic Battle of the Jeffs, a titanic bureaucratic struggle between the former president and the top brass at the Department of Justice that nearly put a frothing MAGA conspiracy theorist in charge of the nation’s top law enforcement agency on the eve of the J6 coup attempt.
Three days before the insurrection, the former president sat down with acting Attorney General Jeff Rosen, top lawyers from the Department of Justice and an obscure environmental lawyer from the department’s Civil Division named Jeff Clark. Trump had decided to replace Jeff Rosen with Jeff Clark.
This was an alarming development because Clark, whose home was raided by the FBI Wednesday, had no qualifications to lead the DOJ besides his fervent belief in MAGA election conspiracy theories and his fanatical personal loyalty to Trump. Trump outlined his plan during the meeting. He wanted Clark to put the Justice Department’s stamp of approval on the fake allegations of election fraud by pretending to investigate them and ordering state legislators to do the same.
“Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me,” Trump told the lawyers, displaying once again his disregard for the truth.
The committee heard that Clark had gone rogue in the days prior, flouting DOJ rules and the direct orders of his superiors to meet with Trump and Pennsylvania Congressman Scott Perry, a Republican, at the White House to plot to overturn the election.
Clark had already drafted a letter from the Department of Justice to Georgia state legislators asserting, baselessly, that there were significant irregularities in the presidential election in that state.
The letter further recommended that the Georgia legislature convene a special session to investigate these so-called “irregularities.” White House Counsel Pat Cippolone described the letter as a “murder-suicide pact” and warned that it would taint any official who touched it. DOJ’s top lawyers were adamant. This letter must not be sent.
The supposedly nonpartisan imprimatur of the nation’s top law enforcement agency would have dramatically improved the prospects of Trump’s coup.
It would have lent an aura of legitimacy to election theft conspiracy theories. The Stop the Steal theories desperately needed a credibility infusion. Former Trump officials testified about the flimsiness of the claims that Trump dredged up from “the internet” for them to investigate, including the claim that Italian satellites had changed vote counts.
If Clark had affirmed in the name of the Justice Department that there were legitimate concerns about fraud, that would have provided political cover for any Republican legislator, state or federal, who wanted to challenge the results.
Furthermore, if Clark had taken over the Justice Department, he would have been in a position to start acting on MAGAland’s demands to arrest Trump’s political enemies on the eve of the coup.
At the last hearing, the J6 committee heard the testimony of Shaye Moss and her mother Ruby, Georgia election officials whom Rudy Giuliani falsely accused of committing election fraud. The two women endured a horrific MAGA harassment campaign. The message was clear: Confess and it will all go away.
Thankfully, Georgia officials didn’t charge the Mosses with any crime, but If Clark had become Attorney General, he could have sent the FBI to arrest Shaye and Ms. Ruby on trumped-up charges. MAGA was hungry for false confessions to bolster their fake fraud narratives and there’s little doubt that Clark would have been happy to supply them.
The DOJ lawyers threatened to resign en masse if Trump didn’t back down from his plan to install Clark as attorney general. They warned that if that happened, the story would be that Trump had burned through two attorneys general in two weeks in his quixotic quest to overturn the election. Ultimately, the former president relented.
The Battle of the Jeffs ended with Jeff Rosen still in charge.
The attorney general wields immense powers of coercion and persuasion. Trump had a plan to use both to overturn the election. It is truly frightening to contemplate what would have happened if Trump had handed the country’s vast federal law enforcement apparatus to a conspiracy theorist on the eve of the coup.
https://www.rawstory.com/rosen-clark/
-
New video shows Proud Boys ignored their own orders against violence during Jan. 6 riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/arrested-proud-boys-warrior-helped-organize-a-qanon-inspired-march-before-participating-in-the-capitol-attack.jpg?id=28027966&width=800&height=449)
Newly revealed video shows Proud Boys leaders calling on members to remain orderly and professional during the Jan. 6, 2021, march that turned into the U.S. Capitol riot.
Enrique Tarrio and some of his top lieutenants met Dec. 30, 2020, for a video conference to found the right-wing paramilitary group's Ministry of Self-Defense, and they told group members to remain in a defensive posture for their march the following week and keep "normies" away from them, but that's not what happened, reported the New York Times.
We’re never going to be the ones to cross the police barrier or cross something in order to get to somebody,” Tarrio said.
The extremist group's members played an aggressive and apparently coordinated role in breaking into the Capitol, and Tarrio and several other Proud Boys members have been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the deadly riot.
Proud Boys members also repeatedly instigated Donald Trump supporters around them in a tactic that members later described in private messages as “riling up the normies.”
The video conference has been mentioned in court papers but hasn't been widely seen, and the Times obtained a copy recently that had been seized from Tarrio's phone.
Proud Boys lawyers say the video recording shows the Ministry of Self-Defense was not "formed to plan a violent attack on the Capitol," as prosecutors allege, but shows the group was trying “to avoid the chaos and violence” from a Dec. 12, 2020, march in Washington, D.C., following a pro-Trump rally.
However, the video shows group members using flagrantly misogynistic, homophobic and antisemitic language and rarely mention the Capitol at all, and prosecutors say some of the Proud Boys in that meeting used violent language in private messages ahead of the riot.
“Time to stack those bodies in front of Capitol Hill," one of the members posted in a group chat that included other members of the ministry.
“What would they do if 1 million patriots stormed and took the Capitol building," said another member in the group. "Shoot into the crowd? I think not.”
Read More Here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/26/us/politics/proud-boys-jan-6.html
-
'This signals urgency': Jan. 6 committee announces surprise hearing for Tuesday
The House select committee has announced it is holding another public hearing this Tuesday.
The panel has already held five hearings delving into Donald Trump's role in carrying out the Jan. 6 insurrection, with the most recent one covering his attempts to corrupt the Department of Justice, and had planned to halt the remaining two on the schedule until next month.
"The Jan. 6 committee is considering holding a hearing TOMORROW," Punchbowl's Jake Sherman reported. "They had planned to push all hearings to July. This signals urgency."
The committee later confirmed it would hold a hearing "to present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony."
It's not immediately clear what the hastily scheduled hearing would cover.
Chairman Bennie Thompson told reporters last week that the hearing on Trump's alleged attempts to corrupt the Justice Department would be the last until two further hearings "later in July."
Thompson did not elaborate on the timetable but said further hearings after the two in July were "always a possibility."
"The timeline of the hearings is driven, and continues to be driven, by the investigation. The select committee continues to receive relevant new evidence that we think is very important to the investigation," an aide to the panel said.
"It's important that our members (and) investigators take the time needed to assess that information and figure out how we're going to use that information as we continue to make our presentation to the American people."
The new evidence includes documents from the National Archive and multiple new leads given to a tip-line since the televised hearings began earlier in June.
The most prized haul though will be hours of footage from documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, who was granted extensive access to Trump and his inner circle -- including for interviews -- before and after January 6.
Holder began filming on the campaign trail in September 2020, according to Politico, and had substantial access to Trump, Trump's grown-up children and his vice president Mike Pence for months.
AFP
-
'This is big': Former senator explains why Jan. 6 committee might have scheduled a last-minute hearing
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Congress revealed that they are holding an unexpected hearing on Tuesday at 1 p.m. EST. According to former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), this isn't normal and it likely means there's something significant happening.
"They've done a very good job exceeding expectations so I don't think they'll want to upset that track record," she began speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Monday. "So, you have to assume this is big because I will tell you one thing I know for sure having spent a lot of time in Washington, D.C., members of Congress don't show up three days before the Fourth of July weekend for just anything."
McCaskill went on to explain that there are only a few reasons that a committee would rush to get someone to testify the way that they are.
"This is either a witness that for some — because of a frailty, an illness, maybe perhaps, they're not sure of their ability to appear later or probable much more likely what Mike [Schmidt] just said," she said. "They're saying they'll do it now, but they're reluctant, so there is an effort to make sure they capture the live testimony while the iron is hot and while the witness says I will do it. Because they've had a lot of witnesses who have refused to give live testimony."
"So, I think that's probably what it is," she continued. "Now, this is the one time as a prosecutor I'm jealous of the committee members because obviously, you cannot put a witness on that the other side doesn't know about in a real trial. Surprise witnesses are only in rebuttal and then the other side has to have opened the door. So, I think this will pique interest with all of us and I don't think they would be piquing interest if they didn't think they could deliver something."
Wallace noted that the committee has set very high standards and they've met the mark each time. She cited Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), who made it clear that he's not interested in what the Justice Department may or may not do. His focus, he told ABC News, is that the democracy of America is at stake and he intends to do whatever it takes to save it.
See the exchange below:
-
I will be looking at what happens with the Washington committee tomorrow.
-
Former Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson will testify before January 6 committee on Tuesday, sources say
(https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/220605084949-cassidy-hutchinson-exlarge-169.jpg)
Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and a witness to many critical events and conversations, is expected to testify publicly on Tuesday before the select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, US Capitol, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Her planned appearance was first reported by Punchbowl News.
The witness who will testify at a hastily scheduled Jan. 6 hearing on Tuesday is Cassidy Hutchinson, who was an aide to White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows during the insurrection, Punchbowl News reported. Hutchinson has reportedly told the committee in closed sessions that Trump approved of “Hang Mike Pence” chants from his supporters storming the Capitol in the hopes of stopping the election of Joe Biden from being certified, CNN reported earlier this month. The committee last week also presented videotaped testimony from Hutchinson discussing how Reps. Mo Brooks (R-AL) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL) wanted blanket pardons for members of Congress who tried to subvert the election. The committee was not expected to convene another hearing until July, but on Monday made the surprise announcement of a new date “to present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/mark-meadows-aide-cassidy-hutchinson-is-witness-at-surprise-jan-6-hearing-report-says?ref=home
-
I have not been following the hearings on TV (no cable) so these posts by Rick help make it easy to keep abreast of the Capitol Hearings on Trump's efforts to negate an American election.
Hi Joe,
Glad you are able to follow all of the important information coming out of the hearings in this thread.
I posted the each full day of the hearings in this thread so you can watch them whenever you want.
I also included clips of the most important revelations from each hearing as well.
-
Cassidy Hutchinson, incredibly close to Meadows, was involved in the absolute most innermost circles of the White House from November 3rd-January 6th post election—she was also around Trump, been privy to a TON of information not yet public in any way involving many, many people.
Former Mark Meadows White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson is the surprise witness: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/composite-image-of-cassidy-hutchinson-and-jan-6.jpg?id=29937765&width=2400&height=1350)
After a day of speculation, it was revealed that former White House aide to Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, will be the surprise testimony on Tuesday.
According to Punchbowl News managing editor Heather Caygle, Hutchinson will walk through some of the things she's also said in the two meetings with the committee totaling 20 hours of conversations under oath.
Three people familiar with the investigation told the Washington Post that the reason for the secrecy "is in part due to credible security threats to a witness."
Among the thing she revealed are conversations between Donald Trump and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, who conveyed to the president that his Jan. 6 plot doing was illegal.
"Hutchinson has provided extensive information about Meadows’s activities in trying to overturn the election," The Washington Post reported. "The Washington Post reported late last month that Hutchinson had told the committee that Meadows remarked to others that Trump indicated support for hanging his vice president after rioters who stormed the Capitol on that day started chanting, 'Hang Mike Pence!'"
Last month, Politico revealed Hutchinson told the committee that Meadows incinerated documents after a meeting with Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA). It was previously revealed that Trump attempted to flush documents down the toilet, clogging the pipes in the centuries-old building.
"Meadows played a critical role in shepherding an array of schemes entertained by Trump in his quest to hold onto power," explained Jordan Green. "That included hosting meetings with the president and members of the House Freedom Caucus to discuss a plan — much like [Peter] Navarro’s 'Green Bay Sweep' — to pressure Vice President Mike Pence to remand the electoral votes back to the battleground states and delay certifying the election for Biden, according to testimony to the January 6th Committee by White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson."
Harry Litman
@harrylitman
Cassidy Hutchinson is the symbol of the hearings not merely because the wealth of information she will present, but because it is secondhand, which is forced on the committee by Meadows’s successful but derelict noncooperation.Have to hope DOJ will mine his & Scavino’s knowledge.
Previous assumptions about the witness included Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), who said that he was willing to begin cooperating with the committee. Another possible witness was Alex Holder, the documentary filmmaker who turned over 11 hours of video of Donald Trump beginning in Oct. 2020 and going through Jan. 2021.
Pat Cipollone, Trump's former White House counsel, has been specifically called out by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) for refusing to come forward after he reportedly "tried to do the right thing" around the Jan. 6 plot to overthrow the election.
Read More Here
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/06/27/jan-6-committee-announces-surprise-tuesday-hearing-offers-few-details/
-
The most simple way to explain the January 6th insurrection would be this:
Donald Trump refused to give up power after he lost the election to Joe Biden and what we had after that was a long-spanning, tactical, GOP-coordinated effort to steal the election from the American people via a violent coup.
This is something that would happen in some third world country, not the United States of America.
These Republicans and the right wing media knew there was no election fraud but they used those lies an excuse so they could steal the election from the American people.
Those lies radicalized the Republican base which led to a violent insurrection. And to this very day, even after all the evidence proves there was no voter fraud, 70% of Republican voters still believe that the election was "stolen". That's how dangerous the right wing media is that can brainwash the overwhelming majority of Republican voters.
Trump and the Republican party even tried to use fake electors instead of the real electors to illegally vote for Trump.
These are all criminal acts by Trump, the Republican party, and the right wing media which is sedition and treason.
They knew they lost fair and square but they refused to give up power and tried to steal their way back in.
And these are the same criminals who want to get back into power in November so they can lie to the American people and implement far right extremist laws.
Every single one of these traitors need to be indicted and imprisoned for seditious conspiracy and treason. Once you lose the ability to have free and fair elections you will never have it again. And that's what the Republicans attempted to do, which was to end democracy and illegally install themselves into power.
-
‘Really, really bad’: Mark Meadows was worried about Jan. 6 violence when Rudy announced Capitol plans
https://www.rawstory.com/mark-meadows-cassidy-hutchinson/
-
Exclusive: Jan. 6 Committee official talks about the importance of the immediacy of the Tuesday hearing
https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-revealations-cassidy-hutchinson/
-
Still mostly seeing a hate-filled irrational protest that got out of hand. The largely pro-Trump Capitol Police should be investigated for allowing white Trump supporters free rein. But the Democrats need the police on side and so will wallpaper what happened.
We saw this with the HSCA, where Blakey's mob obsession led to much of the Committee (but not all) embracing the dubious acoustics analysis and thinking the mob had Kennedy and Oswald killed. Has some appeal to the expectations of the masses, I guess.
-
Chris Wallace 'astonished' that Trump tried to grab Secret Service agent around the neck
CNN's Chris Wallace was aghast as the House Select Committee held its first break of the sixth day of public hearings.
"Beyond these legalities, and we'll get to them, I mean, the take takeaway from this, and Cassidy Hutchinson draws a real timeline from Jan. 2nd, Rudy Giuliani saying it's going to be exciting, wait for it, and people knowing the increasing possibility of violence surrounding Jan. 6th, but what people are going to take away from this is that image inside the beast which is what they call the presidential limousine, inside the beast when Trump gets in, after the rally, and thinks he's going to Capitol Hill to be with the marchers and his Secret Service -- it's not just any Secret Service person" said Wallace. "It's the head of the presidential detail, Bobby Engel, says, 'no, we're going to the White House.' The president of the United States, I assume he's sitting in the backseat, reaches forward, tries to grab the steering wheel, and when the secret service head takes his hand away, he reaches with his other hand for the guy's throat!"
The "Beast" — the transport for the president — has the seat for the president further back from the driver and passenger seats. So, Trump would have had to launch himself far forward to try and grab the agents around the throat.
"I mean, it's — it's astonishing," Wallace said, aghast.
See the video below:
-
'So compelling': Fox News host Bret Baier reacts to 'stunning' Jan. 6 hearing
Fox News anchor Bret Baier reacted to the testimony of a former aide to Mark Meadows by calling it both "stunning" and "compelling."
During a break from the Jan 6. Committee's hearing with Cassidy Hutchinson, Baier said that he was moved by the former staffer's firsthand account of former President Donald Trump's actions on Jan. 6.
"Inside the Beast, the limo, saying he wanted to go up to Capitol Hill," the anchor said of Trump. "And they said you have to go back to the White House and, according to her testimony, he says, 'I'm the effing president, take me there,' and then goes to grab at him."
"Listen, this testimony is first of all stunning," he continued, "because we haven't heard this. Two, it's compelling because of her proximity to power. All of these people directly having conversations with her."
Baier noted that Trump "wanted the crowd to be bigger, more robust" and that he didn't care about weapons in the audience.
"Listen, all of this is firsthand," he pointed out. "So it's from her listening to it. That's why it's so compelling."
Watch the video below from Fox News:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1541846957802528776
-
Jan. 6 hearing secrecy due to ‘massive security threats’ related to Marjorie Taylor Greene: WaPo reporter
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/marjorie-taylor-greene.jpg?id=29837093&width=2400&height=1321)
A former White House staffer will testify before a House select committee hearing that was not announced until the day before for security reasons that may be related to one of the Republican lawmakers she implicated in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to Donald Trump's former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, will testify Tuesday before the panel about efforts to overturn the former president's election loss, but her previous testimony -- which was recorded on video and shown in previous hearings -- about a specific GOP lawmaker necessitated the secrecy, Washington Post reporter Jacqueline Alemany told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"We have heard actually that some of the, as you just read, that the reason why her testimony has been so closely guarded is because of massive security threats in the last hearing," Alemany said. "She did say, reveal, that [Rep.] Marjorie Taylor Greene, she heard Marjorie Taylor Greene asked for a pardon, and you can only imagine what that does in terms of elevating her name and potentially causing far-right extremists to levy some of these credible threats that have come her way."
Hutchinson revealed she was involved in discussions about pardon requests from Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), and Scott Perry (R-PA), and Alemany compared the former White House aide to the bombshell witness in the Watergate hearings nearly 50 years ago.
"We have had people previously tell us that if there is anyone going to be the John Dean of this investigation, Cassidy Hutchinson is the person who is the most likely to be that person in terms of her access to the top figures in Trump's orbit and her proximity to the former president and what she was able to overhear, the people in and out of the Oval Office on Jan. 6," Alemany said. "But it is important to note we're not sure there's another witness corroborating her testimony today. There was clearly a sensitivity and urgency to her testifying today, and you've got to think that it's in part due to the security concerns, but also because they're worried she might potentially back out. This is not a small thing for this individual to come forward, put her career on the line."
"Obviously she's being compelled, there are subpoenas at play," Alemany added. "Several individuals like Bill Stepien who didn't appear were subpoenaed to appear, but this is a big thing for her. She's in her 20s, she's a young person with, you know, little institutional support in terms of the other people she used to work with cooperating with this investigation."
Watch the video below:
-
Trump’s intel director feared Jan. 6: ‘He expressed concern it could spiral out of control’
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/january-6th-capitol-riots.jpg?id=29743146&width=2400&height=1600)
Donald Trump's last director of national intelligence was deeply concerned about the former president's effort to overturn his election loss, according to new testimony from a former White House aide.
Cassidy Hutchinson, the top aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified Tuesday before the House Select Committee that she grew fearful about Jan. 6, 2021, as she learned more about the the planning.
"In the days before Jan. 2, I was apprehensive about the 6th," Hutchinson said. "I heard general plans for a rally, I heard tentative movements to go to the Capitol. But that was the first evening that I felt scared and nervous on Jan. 6, and I had a deeper concern for what was happening with the planning aspects of it."
Hutchinson testified that her concerns were shared by John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence and a former Republican congressman.
"My understanding is that Director Ratcliffe didn't want much to do with the post-election period," Hutchinson testified. "He felt that it wasn't something that the White House should be pursuing. He felt it was dangerous for the president's legacy. He had expressed concern that it could spiral out of control and potentially be dangerous, either in our democracy or for the way that things were going on the 6th, trying to fight the results of the election, finding missing ballots, pressuring -- filing lawsuits in certain state where's there did not seem to be significant evidence and reaching out to legislatures about -- that's pretty much the way the White House is handling the post-election period. They felt there could be dangerous repercussions in terms of precedents set for elections, for our democracy, for the 6th. They were hoping we would concede."
https://www.rawstory.com/cassidy-hutchinson-2657576310/
-
Trump 'set us up': Capitol cop 'shocked' former president knew he was endangering police officers
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/daniel-hodges.jpg?id=29959633&width=800&height=450)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Metro Police Officer Daniel Hodges has been among those sitting in the audience at the public hearings for the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attacks. Hodges is most well-known for the footage of him bleeding from the mouth and the doors being used to smash his body on that fateful day.
After the sixth hearing, one official from the committee went over to him to talk about their gratitude toward the officers for their efforts that day. He told the officer that he was just glad that what he did gave members the time necessary to get to safety.
Speaking to CNN after the hearing, Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL) said that she watched the faces of the officers as they learned that the White House was well aware that the whole ordeal would be violent.
“They’re not here to hurt me," Hutchinson recalled Trump saying.
Officer Hodges told Raw Story that he doesn't have any insider knowledge, and each time he hears the witnesses, it is new information for him.
"Most of what I hear is shocking to me," he told reporters outside the committee hearing room on Tuesday. "I mean, hearing that he essentially set us up, yeah, that's shocking."
He went on to say that he hopes the public understands that the witnesses are professional political people who are all Republicans.
"They're all about the truth," Hodges continued. "They can't help the fact that the truth is hurtful to or critical of one party."
He cited Trump's comment that the crowd wasn't there to hurt him, "implying that they were there to hurt someone and he knows who and then he said, yeah, they can march on the Capitol. So, he set us up."
Hodges went on to say that "the only person Trump cares about is himself. So, I know that he doesn't really care about officers' safety or the safety of Congress as long as he gets what he wants."
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-set-officers-up/
-
Next J6 hearings could be even more explosive: Insider hints there's more testimony coming about the riot's 'pivot man for everything'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/angry-trump.jpg?id=29971396&width=800&height=450)
Former GOP Rep. Denver Riggleman, who worked as a senior staff member for the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, suggested that the bombshell testimony at Tuesday's public hearing was just the beginning.
"TRUMP SOUGHT TO JOIN JAN. 6 MOB," was the headline online by The New York Times. "Enraged, He Lunged for Limo Wheel, Aide Says."
"Trump wanted armed mob to march to Capitol, sought to join, aide says," was The Washington Post headline.
Riggleman was interviewed about the hearing by MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace.
"I want to be very careful in how I say this, Nicolle. I said Mark Meadows was the MVP of the committee of the investigation. Today, I think we see Mark Meadows is the Rosetta Stone of the investigation. He was sort of the pivot man for everything happening between these groups and up to the president," he said.
"When you hear an individual on the couch sending text messages -- I have the unique insight into being the first to see some of those text messages after we identified them -- so when I saw that at the beginning, the committee saw the same thing and they automatically knew that what they saw on the text messages -- there was a story here they could break apart," he explained. "We have to know this too, Nicolle, and I'm being very careful, there are 1,000 text messages that we know that we hadn't seen, that he said that were privileged."
Riggleman said, "...I don't think the American public has seen anything yet."
"Oh, wow," Wallace interjected.
"I actually believe that Cassidy Hutchinson was the bridge to the following -- and I will be very careful here -- a bridge to the operational planning and the data the committee still has in his back pocket," he continued. "So again, Mark Meadows is the MVP player for the committee. I think it is the Rosetta Stone. He was in the middle of it all and I think it puts his legal team in a tremendously challenging position."
Watch below:
-
Legal expert lays out 6 crimes Trump may have committed — according to testimony in shocking Jan. 6 hearing
Donald Trump committed six crimes that were newly revealed during Tuesday's public hearings of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to at least one legal expert.
MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace interviewed former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman on Tuesday about Trump allegedly thinking that Vice President Mike Pence deserved to be hanged for not participating in his coup attempt.
"I mean, it's a crime to threaten the president or the vice president," Wallace said. "You've now got a president celebrating a pledge to hang his own number two. What is the exposure on that?"
"In a day of huge fireworks, Nicolle, I think this was one of the two or three most incendiary," Litman replied. "It's almost like a law school exam, I counted six new crimes potentially."
Litman also served as a U.S. Attorney and teaches constitutional law at the University of California San Diego and the University of California, Los Angeles.
"But look, to date, the inquiry has all been, 'Is he aware of the violence? Does he know what could happen?' We have a completely different portrait of him now," he explained. "It's someone who is not just aware of it, he's eager for it, he's fomenting it. He's grabbing Secret Service people by the clavicle and trying to grab the wheel so that he can orchestrate it."
"So, we're way past, 'Might he be aware?' And very much into the territory of, he wants this to happen, and as you say, the 'this' here is literally the tearing from limb to limb of his vice president. That's maybe, you know, maybe the most crystalline sociopathic, not to mention criminal moment in a hearing that was chock-full of them," Litman said.
"All right, give us the other five, Harry," Wallace said.
"They already knew about the two ones we've been talking about, which are messing with the proceeding and defrauding the U.S. But I have now: he destroys U.S. property; I think seditious conspiracy is now in play, and that's very, very serious; inciting a riot is now in play and that's very, very serious; assaulting a Secret Service officer," he said. "But the two big-ticket items that are now very much in the DOJ's can: seditious conspiracy; incitement of a riot," Litman said. "Because as I say, it's now clear that he wants the force to occur, and that brings the two most serious charges down on his head, potentially."
Watch the segment below:
-
Top takeaways From Jan. 6 ‘Surprise Witness’ Cassidy Hutchinson’s Testimony
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, is the star witness of Tuesday’s surprise hearing from the Jan. 6th Committee. NBC News Reporter Julie Tsirkin, former FBI Senior Official Chuck Rosenberg and NBC News Contributor Carol Leonning dive into how Hutchinson is the “connective tissue” into learning what the former president did on Jan. 6th.
Watch:
-
Cassidy Hutchinson testifies some White House aides were worried about legal implications of Jan. 6
Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified that there was concern in the White House about the implications of going to the Capital on Jan. 6 as the insurrection was underway. Hutchinson spoke to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on June 28 as they presented its findings to the public.
Hutchinson said former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, mentioned to her that he had “serious legal concerns.”
“In the days leading up to the sixth, we had conversations about obstructing justice or defrauding the electoral count,” she said.
The hearing was unexpectedly announced a week after the Jan. 6 committee said they were taking a break until the month of July. In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.
Watch:
-
WATCH: 25th Amendment fears helped persuade Trump to make Jan. 7 speech, aide says
Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide for Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified on June 28 that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had reached out to Meadows to say that Cabinet secretaries behind the scenes were discussing invoking the 25th Amendment to remove President Donald Trump from office. Hutchinson said Pompeo also expressed concern for Meadows' “positioning with this.”
In a public hearing before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack, Hutchinson also shared details about efforts to persuade Trump to speak out the next day and what the president wanted and didn’t want in the remarks -- including wanting to avoid talking about prosecuting the rioters or calling them violent.
Trump spoke on Jan. 7 at the urging of some of his advisers, including his daughter Ivanka Trump, her husband Jared Kushner and White House counsel Pat Cipollone, she said. They argued that his previous statement on Jan. 6 was not strong enough, that his legacy was being damaged and that the 25th Amendment could be used to unseat him from power.
“‘Think about what might happen in the final 15 days of your presidency. If we don't do this, there's already talks about invoking the 25th Amendment. You need this as cover’,” Hutchinson recalled their thinking in an earlier deposition.
She also testified that Trump wanted to include language in that speech about pardoning those who took part in the attack, an idea that she said Meadows encouraged but that the White House counsel’s office disagreed with. According to Hutchinson, both Giuliani and Meadows suggested or sought presidential pardons for themselves, as well.
The hearing was unexpectedly announced a week after the Jan. 6 committee said they were taking a break until the month of July. In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.
-
Trump wasn’t much of a strong man. If Putin wanted to march on Red Square, do you think his security could have stopped him?
Hitler managed to lead in person his insurrection at Munich. Mussolini managed to lead in person his insurrection onto Rome. But, maybe deep down, Trump really wanted to watch from the White House.
-
7 shocking revelations from a real bad afternoon for Donald Trump
Mark Meadows warned Cassidy Hutchinson that “things might get real, real bad” on January 6. That was just the beginning of her bombshell testimony.
(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/M4gz8QB07Z5eaOAx7_36n71eiIQ=/0x0:6192x4128/1520x1013/filters:focal(3461x658:4451x1648):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71025349/1405657153.0.jpg)
White House chief of staff Mark Meadows warned one of his top aides on January 2, 2021, that “things might get real, real bad” on January 6, that aide, Cassidy Hutchinson, said in the opening moments of her bombshell testimony before the House January 6 committee on Tuesday.
The testimony she provided over the next two hours included a litany of details about Meadows’s, Trump’s, and other White House officials’ knowledge of the danger the January 6, 2021, rally participants posed, their activities as the Capitol riot happened, and what they did in the days after it.
Although clips of the nearly 20 hours of depositions that Hutchinson gave the committee had previously played in public hearings, this was the first time that a White House staffer has appeared in person during the hearings, and it surpassed the hype stoked by the committee’s last-minute announcement of a hearing.
Hutchinson was a key conduit between the White House and dozens of members of Congress, and the committee previously aired part of her deposition where she named members of Congress who had sought pardons from Trump after January 6. She also was in countless meetings with figures who played key roles in the plot to overturn the election, including Meadows and lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, and has played a vital role in the committee’s effort to piece together the events leading up to January 6.
Here are the seven most shocking revelations Hutchinson disclosed on Tuesday:
1) Trump attacked a Secret Service agent
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1541845690107699205
Hutchinson revealed that Trump was so intent on going to the Capitol following his speech during the Stop the Steal rally at the Ellipse on January 6 that, according to a colleague who talked to her shortly after he saw the incident, he grabbed the steering wheel of the presidential limousine and then got physical with the Secret Service agent who tried to restrain him.
She said that Trump had believed he was going to the Capitol after his speech that day, and only discovered that those plans had been blocked once he returned to the motorcade afterward. According to Hutchinson’s second-hand account, Trump was so enraged that he shouted “I’m the f-ing president, take me up to the Capitol now” before trying to drive himself there. When a Secret Service officer restrained him, Trump then “lunged at his clavicle.”
2) Trump was repeatedly warned about going to the Capitol
Hutchinson said White House counsel Pat Cipollone repeatedly warned Trump and other top officials that going to the Capitol as protesters were marching there to disrupt the counting of electoral votes would create criminal liability.
“We are going to get charged with every crime imaginable,” Hutchinson said he told her of the plans for Trump to show up there on January 6. The top White House lawyer specifically cited obstruction of justice and obstructing the electoral count as crimes that Trump might commit by appearing at the joint session of Congress.
3) ) Trump was blasé about the armed mob
Trump was unhappy that the crowd at his Ellipse rally before his speech was too small, and displeased that many rallygoers were watching from beyond the security perimeter, Hutchinson recounted.
January 6th Committee
@January6thCmte
Trump was furious the Secret Service was screening people at his rally for weapons.
"They're not here to hurt me. Take the F'ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1541840643676426241
When he was told it was because many of the people at the National Mall were armed and didn’t want to go through security to get closer to the stage, Trump was enraged.
“I don’t care that they have weapons, they are not here to hurt me, take the f’in mags away, and they can march to the Capitol,” he said, according to Hutchinson.
4) The White House knew it would get bad
Hutchinson testified at length about her former boss, Meadows, and the warnings he and White House officials got in the days leading up to January 6, including that January 2 comment.
January 6th Committee
@January6thCmte
On January 2, 2021, Rudy Giuliani met with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
Hutchison was told that things on January 6 might get "real bad."
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1541836855003561986
The conversation in which Meadows warned things could get “real bad” occurred minutes after Rudy Giuliani told Hutchinson, “We are going to the Capitol, it’s going to be great, the president is going to be there, he’s going to look powerful.”
5) “Mike deserves it”
Hutchinson testified that she heard Meadows tell Cipollone that Trump agreed with the mob shouting “Hang Mike Pence” at the Capitol. “You heard him, Pat, he thinks Mike deserves it, he doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong,” Meadows said, according to Hutchinson.
January 6th Committee
@January6thCmte
"Mark had responded something to the effect of, 'You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike [Pence] deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong.'"
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1541853629975609346
She went on to describe Trump’s mindset on January 7 — that the rioters didn’t do anything wrong. Instead, Trump believed, “The people who did something wrong that day was Mike Pence not standing with him.”
6) Pardons were on the table — and Mark Meadows wanted one
We knew from prior testimony that a half-dozen members of Congress inquired about pardons after January 6. Hutchinson on Tuesday testified that both Meadows and Giuliani reached out to Trump about potential pardons after the attack on the Capitol.
In addition, she testified that Trump wanted to promise a pardon to everyone who stormed the Capitol in his January 7 speech and was encouraged to do so by Meadows. However, White House counsel made clear that “they didn’t think it was a good idea.”
7) A witness-tampering chaser
Hutchinson’s revelations were so numerous, it often seemed there was a new bombshell every few minutes. And when she wrapped up her testimony, Rep. Liz Cheney, in her closing statement, offered a bombshell of her own: There had been efforts to intimidate witnesses called to testify before the committee.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FWXHfVnWAAAEBZM?format=png&name=small)
https://www.vox.com/2022/6/28/23186748/cassidy-hutchinson-january-6-hearing-committee
-
WATCH: White House aide says Trump's tweets about Pence on Jan. 6 were 'unpatriotic'
Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified on June 28 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public.
In a video the committee played, Hutchinson recalled on Jan. 6 2021 how Meadows was alone in his office as the rioters were getting closer to the Capitol.
“It sort of felt like I was watching, not a great comparison, but a bad car accident that was about to happen,” she said in the video.
In a tweet the president made on Jan 6., shown during the hearing, Trump said then-Vice President Mike Pence didn’t have the “courage” to overturn the 2020 election. As a staffer, Hutchinson said seeing that tweet made her feel “frustrated” and “disappointed.”
“As an American, I was disgusted, it was unpatriotic, it was unAmerican," she said. “We were watching the Capitol building get defaced over a lie.”
The hearing was unexpectedly announced a week after the Jan. 6 committee said they were taking a break until the month of July. In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.
-
John Eastman loses effort to keep his call records from the Jan. 6 committee: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/john-eastman.jpg?id=29986093&width=2400&height=1350)
The controversial author of Donald Trump's "coup memo" to overturn the 2022 presidential election lost a bid to keep his phone records from the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"In a late Tuesday filing, Eastman voluntarily dismissed the suit, claiming that he’d been assured the committee was only seeking his call logs — not the content of any messages held by his carrier, Verizon. The select committee has long contended that it lacks the authority to obtain message content," Politico reported Tuesday.
Although Eastman ultimately lost, he was successful at tying the issue up in court for more than six months.
"Eastman’s move comes, however, as the legal threats he’s facing have begun to mount. Last week, FBI agents seized Eastman’s phone as part of a Justice Department inspector general investigation related to the 2020 election. Earlier this month, a federal judge forced Eastman to turn over hundreds of Trump-related emails to the Jan. 6 select committee, rejecting many of his claims of attorney-client privilege. That judge, David Carter, had already determined that Eastman and Trump 'likely' entered into a criminal conspiracy to obstruct Congress on Jan. 6, 2021," Politico reported.
The select committee says Eastman was also emailing with Ginni Thomas as she sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
"The select committee has issued dozens of subpoenas to phone companies like Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T for witnesses’ phone logs. More than a dozen witnesses have sued to block the committee from obtaining those records, and many of those suits are still pending," Politico reported.
Read More Here:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/06/28/eastman-phone-records-from-jan-6-committee-00043072
-
Liz Cheney ratchets up pressure on Pat Cipollone to testify after explosive Cassidy Hutchison hearing
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) is ratcheting up pressure on former White House counsel Pat Cipollone after former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson leveled a number of explosive claims during her testimony at a House Select Committee hearing.
Writing on Twitter, Cheney implored Cipollone to stop hiding behind executive privilege claims and formally testify about what he knows about former President Donald Trump's actions before, during, and after the January 6th Capitol riots.
"As we heard yesterday, WH counsel Pat Cipollone had significant concerns re. Trump’s Jan 6 activities," Cheney wrote. "It’s time for Mr. Cipollone to testify on the record. Any concerns he has about the institutional interests of his prior office are outweighed by the need for his testimony."
During her testimony, Hutchinson said that Cipollone desperately tried to get her to stop then-President Donald Trump from marching to the United States Capitol with his followers, on the grounds that "we’re going to get charges of every crime imaginable if we make that move."
Hutchinson said specifically that Cipollone feared getting charged with the crimes of obstruction of justice and interference with an official congressional act.
So far, Cipollone has met informally with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th riots, but has so far refused to sit down to testify under oath.
Last week, former Trump Department of Justice officials testified under oath that Cipollone had helped them resist Trump's efforts to get the DOJ involved in disputing the results of the 2020 election, and they said he called former DOJ official Jeffrey Clark's proposed letter to state election officials a "murder-suicide pact."
https://twitter.com/RepLizCheney/status/1542083025261002753
-
Cassidy Hutchinson just changed everything
The January 6 hearings have been damning. Hutchinson’s testimony took them to a new level.
(https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/kdlWIInIuglWTOPvW-qZTSFq9k0=/0x0:3586x2391/1520x1013/filters:focal(1461x402:2033x974):format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71026473/1241593321.0.jpg)
In one fell swoop, former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson transformed the story of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Hutchinson, who was a top deputy to Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, revealed a series of stunning details about the events of the Capitol riot during her testimony to the January 6 committee. Hutchinson’s testimony suggests that the president knew in advance that violence was a possibility that day, and may very well have approved of it. He instructed his supporters to go to the Capitol, knowing that they were armed, and planned to join them personally once they arrived. After he was prevented from going personally, he told top aides that his vice president deserved the “hang Mike Pence” chants and that the rioters weren’t doing anything wrong.
Just a few days ago, Donald Trump attempted to downplay the day’s events, describing them as “a simple protest that got out of hand.” This was never credible, but Hutchinson’s testimony has simply demolished it. What once may have plausibly been described as an inchoate violent mob egged on by the president now looks much more like an attempted coup.
How Hutchinson’s testimony changed what we knew about January 6
To understand how Hutchinson changed what we knew about the Capitol attack, it’s helpful to focus on four key moments in her testimony.
1) In a January 2, 2021, conversation, Trump ally Rudy Giuliani told Hutchinson that “we are going to the Capitol, it’s going to be great, the president is going to be there.” When she asked Meadows about what Giuliani said, her boss warned that “things might get real, real bad on January 6.” In the following days, the White House received repeated warnings from intelligence agencies that the rally might turn violent; neither Trump nor Meadows did anything.
This not only indicates that the White House had warning of a very serious risk of violence at the rally, but raises the question of whether the violence was actually planned — that is, what specifically “real, real bad” referred to.
2) On the morning of the attack, when Trump was informed that people in the crowd for his speech had weapons, Hutchinson heard the president say, “I don’t care that they have weapons. They’re not here to hurt me.”
This is the strongest evidence we’ve had that the president had direct and advance warning on the day of the attack that his crowd was prepared for violence, and that he then proceeded to instruct these people to march on the Capitol, indifferent at best that those weapons might be used there. “They’re not here to hurt me” could be read a couple of ways: It could simply be downplaying any threat to Trump’s person, but it could also suggest he believed that they were there to hurt someone else.
3) After his speech, Trump had planned to personally travel to the Capitol with the rioters. Hutchinson was informed by another White House aide that Secret Service agents attempted to take the car back to the White House instead, citing ongoing violence. In response, Trump reportedly tried to physically seize control of the wheel from a Secret Service agent in a failed attempt to drive to the Capitol.
This is the one key detail that Hutchinson herself did not witness, so we can’t be as confident that it happened as described. Nevertheless, the story — together with other evidence, including National Security Council chat logs released by the committee — provides new and strong reasons to believe that the president was set on leading the Capitol mob, even after it turned violent.
4) When the president returned to the White House, he met with Meadows and White House counsel Pat Cipollone and discussed the rioters chanting “hang Mike Pence” in the halls of the Capitol. Hutchinson heard Meadows say, “You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn’t think they’re doing anything wrong.”
Hutchinson is not the first committee source to describe Trump as approving the idea of Pence’s execution. But hearing more confirmation, together with testimony that he believed that the crowd assaulting police officers and ransacking the Capitol was doing nothing wrong, paints an even clearer picture of a president who not only condoned the violence, but actively approved of it.
Put together and, assuming the details are true, we now have good reason to believe that the violence of the day was not accidental but intentional: that Trump wanted a violent mob to attack the Capitol on his behalf, to use force to disrupt Congress’s certification of the election results and thus give him a chance at illegally holding on to the presidency.
It appears, in short, to be a kind of attempted regime change: a coup that we would have no problem describing as such in any other country but our own.
Legal commentators are already suggesting that the evidence presented by Hutchinson could fuel criminal charges against Trump, such as seditious conspiracy — with one calling it “the smoking gun” necessary to go after the former president. Whether Attorney General Merrick Garland chooses to act on this evidence is an open question; so far, he has appeared very reticent to pursue former Trump officials on issues relating to January 6.
I don’t have much faith that the gravity of this charge will change the way Republicans think and act about Donald Trump. Perhaps this time will be different, and it will prove too much for rank-and-file Republicans — and even for craven power-seekers like Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. When it comes to Trump’s offenses, “this time will be different” has a poor track record.
Yet those of us in the press should not judge the import of Hutchinson’s testimony purely by its likely legal and political consequences. One of the most important roles of the press is to tell the truth: to inform the public about what is happening in their country, describing it accurately and honestly to the best of our ability.
And to that end, it is important to be as clear as possible about what Cassidy Hutchinson has done. She told us, in no uncertain terms, that the sitting president at the very least condoned a violent attack that he knew ahead of time was likely — behavior that is, itself, an assault on the foundations of American government. What we do with that, as a democracy, is up to us.
https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2022/6/28/23186934/cassidy-hutchinson-trump-january-6-hearing
-
J6 followed the money and may have discovered more evidence of witness tampering: Zoe Lofgren
Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California on Wednesday revealed a fascinating detail uncovered by her colleagues on the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Lofgren worked for the House Judiciary Committee during Watergate and is the only member of the select committee to have participated in all four modern presidential impeachments.
She was interviewed on Wednesday evening by Anderson Cooper.
"The messages shown by Vice-Chair Cheney at the end of yesterday's hearing seemed to open the door to potential witness tampering," Cooper said. "Is the committee in possession of more messages along those lines? Has that evidence been shared with the Justice Department?"
"Let's just say, we're concerned," Lofgren replied.
"As you know, in a prior hearing, we talked about the hundreds of millions of dollars that the former president raised. Some of that money is being used to pay for lawyers for witnesses and it's not clear that that arrangement is one that is without coercion potential for some of those witnesses," she revealed.
"So, let's just say this," she continued. "It's a concern and anyone who is trying to disway or tamper a witness should be on notice that that's a crime and we are perfectly prepared to provide any evidence we have to the proper authorities."
Watch:
-
J6 committee officially subpoenas Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/president-donald-j-trump-and-white-house-counsel-pat-cipollone.jpg?id=30008682&width=2400&height=1350)
Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone was officially subpoenaed on Wednesday by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The subpoena compels Cipollone to testify on July 6.
"The inquiry includes examination of former President Trump's awareness of and involvement in activities undertaken to subvert the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, including the submission of fake electoral ballots to Congress and the executive branch, and the attempted appointment of Jeffrey Clark as acting attorney general, and efforts to interfere with the Congressional certification of the electoral results on Jan. 6, 2021," the select committee wrote in a letter to Cipollone.
"Our investigation has revealed credible evidence that you have information concerning these and other issues with the scope of the select committee's inquiry," Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MI) wrote.
In announcing the subpoena, Thompson said, “The Select Committee’s investigation has revealed evidence that Mr. Cipollone repeatedly raised legal and other concerns about President Trump’s activities on January 6th and in the days that preceded."
Cipollone held the same position in the Trump administration on Jan. 6 that John Dean held in the Nixon administration during Watergate.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FWdIErKXEAAk_UA?format=png&name=medium)
Cipollone represented Trump in his first impeachment trial.
https://twitter.com/cspan/status/1219694109692190721
-
Cassidy Hutchinson received at least one of the 'witness tampering' messages revealed by Jan. 6 committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/cassidy-hutchinson.jpg?id=30044530&width=2400&height=1350)
Cassidy Hutchinson received at least one of the "witness tampering" messages revealed by the House Select Committee during a hearing on Tuesday.
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) disclosed two messages sent by unnamed Donald Trump allies warning witnesses to remain loyal to the former president, and Punchbowl News reported that at least one of those was sent to Hutchinson, according to a source close to the situation.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FWaa0vnWQAMyupX?format=jpg&name=medium)
"What they said to me is as long as I continue to be a team player, they know that I'm on the team, I'm doing the right thing, I'm protecting who I need to protect, you know, I'll continue to stay in the good graces in Trump world," read one text message disclosed by Cheney. "And they have reminded me a couple of times that Trump does read transcripts and just keep that in mind as I proceed through my depositions and interviews with the committee."
The second warning came in a phone call, although it's not clear which one Hutchinson is said to have received.
"[A person] let me know you have your deposition tomorrow," the caller said, according to Cheney. "He wants me to let you know that he's thinking about you. He knows you're loyal, and you're going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition."
Cheney warned at the end of Tuesday's hearing that the select committee would consider what steps to take against the individuals who sent the warnings, which panel members have described as criminal instances of witness tampering, and committee chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) strongly suggested that reluctant witnesses step forward to testify or face consequences.
https://punchbowl.news/newsletter/
-
‘Cipollone is a dangerous witness for Trump’: Jan. 6 panel wants to know what crimes White House counsel worried about
The House select committee has issued a subpoena for testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
Previous witnesses have testified that Cipollone expressed concerns about the legality of Donald Trump's schemes to overturn his election loss, and the panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection wants to hear directly from the former White House counsel about those worries, reported the Washington Post.
“He was a witness to major aspects of our investigation,” Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-MD) told the Post. “It seems as if he was putting up a lot of red flags and trying to hang on to the rule of law as much as possible.”
Cipollone was present when then-attorney general William Barr told Trump his pressure campaign on the Department of Justice was highly improper, and he was there when the former president threatened to install new leadership at the DOJ to act on his false claims about election fraud.
The White House counsel also cautioned Trump that his fake electors scheme was legally unsound and warned attorney John Eastman not to pressure vice president Mike Pence to meddle in the electoral count, and Cipollone repeatedly warned that Trump going to the Capitol with his supporters would result in him being "charged with every crime imaginable."
“He likely can make it clear beyond peradventure that the illegality of the challenges to the election and the riot planning was known to Trump,” said trial lawyer David Lurie. “Cipollone is a dangerous witness for Trump because it was his job to speak up when legal lines were being crossed.”
Read More Here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/06/30/cipollone-subpoena-trump-danger/
-
Trump ally under renewed scrutiny from J6 Committee after attacking Hutchinson's credibility
On Thursday, POLITICO reported that Tony Ornato, a Trump administration official who has disputed several key points made by Cassidy Hutchinson at her surprise January 6 hearing earlier this week, has himself come under sharp scrutiny from the House Select Committee.
"Ornato, a Secret Service official who served a year as a political appointee in Trump’s White House, has reportedly signaled a willingness to contradict a high-profile element of Hutchinson’s testimony: that Ornato told her former President Donald Trump lunged toward the head of his detail on Jan. 6, 2021, in a push to be driven to the Capitol and join his supporters trying to disrupt Congress," reported Kyle Cheney.
"But several members of the select panel say Ornato, not Hutchinson, is the one with credibility problems — and have moved to publicly preempt any doubts he might raise," noted the report. "'There seems to be a major thread here… Tony Ornato likes to lie,' Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) tweeted Thursday after another former Trump White House official, Alyssa Farah, questioned Ornato’s honesty. Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), another Jan. 6 committee member, said in a Wednesday interview with NBC that Ornato 'did not have as clear of memories from this period of time' as Hutchinson did."
Hutchinson made a number of bold claims about the former president in addition to the Secret Service incident, including that Trump knew his supporters were armed as they marched to the Capitol and demanded they be let in anyway — in violation of all security rules — because "they're not here to hurt me."
"Ornato, a veteran Secret Service agent of more than two decades with stints in the presidential protection division under former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, was detailed to the White House by Trump in late 2019 and appointed deputy chief of staff, an unusual arrangement for a law enforcement official," noted the report. "He has interviewed twice with the select committee — once in January and once in March, according to two people familiar with his appearances."
Reporters, too, have thrown suspicion on Ornato's testimony, with Carol Leonnig telling MSNBC that he is "a Trump acolyte."
Watch Video Below:
https://www.nbcnews.com/video/anthony-ornato-didn-t-have-as-clear-of-memories-from-jan-6-as-cassidy-hutchinson-did-rep-stephanie-murphy-says-143111237553
-
NEW: Justice Dept recommends 44 months in prison for Capitol riot defendant Cody Mattice of New York. Feds say Mattice "climbed over other rioters to reach the mouth of the Lower West Terrace tunnel, and using a chemical spray against.. police"
And they say Mattice lied to FBI.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FWh8o1DX0AIqqG_?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FWh8o1IXoAEgU5n?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Capitol riot defendant George Tenney of South Carolina has pleaded guilty to two felony charge. Per feds, Tenney "tried to open the Rotunda Doors to allow the rioters inside" and messaged on Facebook on Dec 28, 2020: "It's starting to look like we may siege the Capitol."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FWhMnuiWQAEnR-1?format=jpg&name=small)
-
‘Let my people in’: Donald Trump’s incriminating words close the case for prosecuting him
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30048010&width=980&quality=85)
The weightiest immediate question raised by the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol and the continuing House hearings is whether the deadly insurrection requires an unprecedented criminal prosecution of a former president.
It’s not a question anymore.
The disturbing firsthand account of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows who testified before the Jan. 6 committee in a hastily added hearing Tuesday, left Donald Trump inextricably bound to the deadly violence of that day. Hutchinson ensured as much by displaying the courage and candor many of the former president’s senior lieutenants have sorely lacked.
True to the disinformation that Trump and company literally weaponized on that day, Americans have been forced to endure an endless effort to downplay the events of Jan. 6 to the extent of questioning whether a violent attempted coup even took place. Hutchinson’s testimony showed not only that it was an armed insurrection but also that it was known, embraced and encouraged by the then-president. She repeatedly pierced whatever shreds of plausible deniability the former president retained after weeks of testimony and a year and a half of revelations about his and his allies’ plot to overturn his loss to Joe Biden.
Informed that the crowd he summoned to Washington was armed and dangerous, Hutchinson testified that Trump demanded that weapon-detecting magnetometers be taken down and cheered for a blitzkrieg on the Capitol. There, his mob would maim police officers and come within yards of members of Congress and Vice President Mike Pence.
“I don’t f—ing care that they have weapons,” Hutchinson recalled Trump saying. “They’re not here to hurt me. Take the f—ing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here.”
Her testimony also bolstered reports that Trump was aware of and at peace with the prospect of mortal harm to Pence, whose loyalty had flagged only at the point of breaking the law.
“He (Trump) doesn’t want to do anything,” Meadows told White House counsel Pat Cipollone, Hutchinson recounted, as the crowd called for Pence’s hanging. “He thinks Mike deserves it.”
Trump’s hours of inaction as a deluded and murderous crowd overtook the Capitol have been thoroughly documented. Hutchinson’s testimony further showed that he was not only rooting for the rioters but was also violently eager to join them in person. She said a top security official told her Trump had lunged at a member of his detail and tried to seize control of the presidential limousine when he was informed he would not be taken to the Capitol.
Hutchinson’s testimony adds to a lengthy record of evidence that Trump and his allies conspired to overturn an election they knew they lost, and incited the violence in which their plot culminated on Jan. 6. A California-based federal judge considering disclosures to the House committee has concluded that Trump and Southern California lawyer John Eastman likely committed federal crimes by interfering with congressional certification of the election.
The risk of criminalizing our politics has ensured that a prosecution of a former president has been rarely considered and never undertaken. Jan. 6 and its aftermath show that the risk of failing to prosecute Trump for a violent attack on our democracy would be greater.
© The Sacramento Bee
-
'It’s all one operational plan': Proud Boys video shows effort to impose command structure before Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/proud-boys-leaders-address-prospects-for-the-ministry-of-self-defense-during-a-video-conference-one-week-before-the-jan-6-attack-on-the-us-capitol.png?id=30054416&width=800&height=449)
A video conference for prospective members of an elite cadre of Proud Boys known as the “Ministry of Self-Defense” that was held one week before the Jan. 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol shows an effort by the group’s leadership to impose a top-down structure.
During the video conference, the leaders delivered a series of edicts that show how roles were compartmentalized in the elite chapter set up for national rallies, and how information was parsed out on a need-to-know basis.
At the outset of the meeting, Charles Donohoe, a Marine Corps veteran from North Carolina, briefed the prospects, and informed them that the new special MOSD chapter would “have a code of conduct stricter than other chapters when it comes to these national public events.” There were three rules. The biggest one was “no intoxication,” with the caveat that “a beer or two” would be “fine,” but anyone who was “noticeably stoned or drunk” during security operations would “get the boot.”
The second and third rules reinforced the elite group’s secrecy.
“Number two is OPSEC,” Donohoe said. “Do not release this information, any of it, to any other chat. No forwarding. No screenshots. Number three, no social media posting. Like, don’t mention that there’s a MOSD. Don’t mention anything like that. All three of those are zero tolerance.
“We’re bringing in guys that we trust in here,” Donohoe continued. “So, all of you that are in here, just to let you know, like, we have our eye on you and we trust you guys and expect you guys to behave properly and be a good molding cement for this chapter.”
Six other leaders, alongside Donohoe, addressed the dozens of prospects in the video conference. National chairman Enrique Tarrio and national organizer Joe Biggs were part of the three-man Marketing Council atop the leadership command. Zachary Rehl and John Charles Stewart, both from Pennsylvania, were part of the Operations Council. Donohoe, along with Jeremy Bertino of North Carolina and Aaron Whallon Wolkind of Pennsylvania, were designated as regional leaders.
In April, Donohoe pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and to assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, and has agreed to cooperate with the government. Tarrio, Biggs and Rehl are currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of seditious conspiracy. Among the seven leaders of the MOSD, Stewart, Bertino and Wolkind have not been charged.
Ethan Nordean (aka Rufio Panman) and Dominic Pezzola, two Proud Boys who were not present for the Dec. 30, 2020 prospects meeting, are also charged with seditious conspiracy.
Rehl has cited the video of the Dec. 30 meeting, which was first reported by the New York Times, in a pending motion to reconsider pretrial detention to argue that the objective of the MOSD was to prevent violence and that there was no plan to storm the Capitol.
“Throughout the meeting, the MOSD leaders focused on ways to make sure that rally members would behave properly and avoid violence,” wrote attorney Carmen Hernandez in the motion filed on behalf of Rehl. “There is zero discussion about a violent attack on the Capitol.”
Despite the absence of any discussion about specific plans for Jan. 6 during the meeting, which ran for almost an hour and 40 minutes, leaders repeatedly emphasized the importance of following orders. In a motion to oppose Rehl’s release filed on Wednesday, the government cited statements by the two members of the Operations Council during the meeting.
“The marketing team is going to start with a strategic objective that they want the Proud Boys to accomplish,” Wolkind told the prospects. He continued: “What the logistics team does — the operations — is we just basically figure out how to get that done safely and get everyone home in one piece. So, we basically just support the marketing team, and that’s how we use that nomenclature for how we structure it.”
Stewart delivered the message in blunter terms to the prospects.
“Another question I saw today was, there was concern about who directions were coming from,” Stewart said. “And they could come from any single person that you see on your screen right now, as well as about seven or eight more people that you don’t see yet, because they’re obviously not on the screen. But the one thing everybody has to understand is, yes, you might be getting told things from different people, but it’s all information from the same plan. Biggs isn’t going to tell you something different than I’m going to tell you. Enrique isn’t going to tell you something different than Zach is going to tell you. It’s all one operational plan. So, don’t get hung up on the delivery.”
At the close of the Dec. 30 meeting, Rehl reinforced the message of discipline.
“We’re not gonna be doing like a Proud Boy f***in’ 8 o’clock at night march and flexing our guns and s***,” he said. “We’re doing a completely different operation, and there’s gonna be a lot of contingencies and plans laid out of what we’re actually going to do, and there’s gonna be teams that are going to be put together — where they’re going to be going and what they’re doing. So, keep that in mind, too. When you tell your guys that kind of thing, spread that word a little bit. I mean, don’t spread it too far, but expose it to the guys you plan on bringing and everything so that we can actually work together and make this DC event a little more successful.”
During the video conference, Tarrio pointedly avoided answering questions about the specific plan for Jan. 6.
Roughly 20 minutes into the meeting, one of the prospects asked in the chat: “What exactly is our goal for DC? Should it be discussed in person or are we going over it here?”
“We’ll go over it a little bit later,” Tarrio responded. “I want to discuss the structure of this thing and how it works.”
The question came up again 20 minutes later.
“So, I’m not gonna go into too much detail on the 6th,” Tarrio said. “We’re gonna have a separate chat — video chat exactly like this where we’re gonna go over with people that are actually attending the event — we’re gonna go over those details at that time. Right now, we’re just talking about operational stuff and how this is structured.”
During the meeting, the leaders introduced the concept of “10-man squads” to the prospective MOSD members. A New York Times visual investigation of the Proud Boys’ role in the Capitol attack found that some worked in teams, including a group that wore orange hats and another equipped with tactical gear. The Times analysis of publicly-sourced video identified at least three teams that appeared to be conducting a tactical retreat after riot police partially regained control of the West Plaza. The teams, one of which included Biggs and Nordean and another that included Donohoe and Pezzola, can be seen together. One team can be seen marching in stack formation, another linking arms, while Donohoe and Pezzola carried a stolen police shield, later to be used by Pezzola to break out the first window in the breach of the Capitol building.
The orange hats worn by some of the Proud Boys involved in the breach appear to have gone against the advice of leadership.
“I don’t think as a massive group we should be using identifying markers, right, because those identifying markers are counterproductive to what we’re trying to do at this particular time,” Tarrio told the prospects on Dec. 30. “Right, so you’re gonna familiarize yourself that night with 10 people, and those 10 people you’re going to roll with together.”
The Times investigation identified a repeated pattern of tactics by hundreds of Proud Boys involved in the attack on the Capitol that appear to have created a force multiplier to leverage the thousands of Trump supporters unaffiliated with militant groups. The newspaper’s video analysis found that Proud Boys identified access points to the building and ground, riled up other protesters, joined directly in the violence, engaged in tactical retreat when met with resistance, and then repeated the sequence.
Stewart told prospects not to worry about the big picture during the Dec. 30 meeting.
“So, turn your brains off a little bit on trying to figure out what the big picture is and follow the 10 guys you’re with,” he said. “You’re gonna have a leader of those 10 guys. So, handle it that way and make sure you’re tight.”
Stewart, who was not in Washington, DC on Jan. 6, suggested a course of action in a voice note posted in the MOSD leadership chat four days later, according to the indictment for seditious conspiracy.
Identified in the indictment as “Person 3,” Stewart reportedly advised: “I mean, the main operating theater should be out in front of the house of representatives. It should be out in front of the Capitol building. That’s where the vote is taking place and all of the objections.”
As part of his plea, Donohoe agreed to certain factual stipulations. His statement of offense indicates that as early as Jan. 4, "Donohoe was aware that members of the MOSD leadership were discussing the possibility of storming the Capitol" and that doing so "would achieve the group's goal of stopping the government from carrying out the transfer of presidential power."
Reflecting the top-down structure of the MOSD and the understanding that direction would come from the three-man Marketing Council, Donohoe's statement of offense indicates that Biggs reported in the New MOSD Member Group that he had spoken with Tarrio on the evening of Jan. 5, following Tarrio's arrest for his participation in burning a Black Lives Matter flag. Biggs also reported that he was with Nordean, the third member of the Marketing Council, according to the government.
"What's the plan so I can pass it on to the MOSD guys?" Donohoe asked.
"I gave Enrique a plan," Biggs responded. "The one I told the guys and he said he had one."
Rehl and the Proud Boys supporters have cited the video of the Dec. 30 meeting as evidence that there was no plan to storm the Capitol.
In particular, Rehl’s motion to reconsider pretrial detention pointed to a statement by Tarrio, who said, “We’re never going to be the ones to cross the police barrier or cross something in order to get to somebody. We’re always going to be the one standing back, right? And we’re always going to be the one to f***ing defend.”
But a couple of minutes later, Tarrio struck a different tone, exulting in the Proud Boys’ show of dominance during a night of violence that followed a previous pro-Trump rally in Washington, DC on Dec. 12, 2020.
“Listen, there was enough of us there to do whatever we wanted to do in DC,” Tarrio said. “Nobody was going to be able to stop it.”
“Not the cops,” Bertino agreed. “Not nobody was gonna stop us.”
The Dec. 30 meeting also included a discussion of so-called “normies” — unaffiliated Trump supporters — that, at least on the surface, appears to undercut the theory that the Proud Boys deliberately incited the mob at the Capitol.
For their self-protection, the Proud Boys were concerned that their marching columns not be infiltrated by outsiders.
“And that has to extend to normies and women,” Stewart said. “What I’m telling you is stop the formation and very politely and professionally go up to them and say, ‘Listen, you can’t walk in here right now. You gotta step out to the side,’” Stewart said.
During the conference, a Proud Boys leader from New Hampshire recounted a frustrating experience that occurred when the group attempted to march to Black Lives Matter Plaza to confront left-wing counter-protesters after the Dec. 12 rally.
“When we walked to fuckin’ BLM Plaza with Biggs and Rufio, one of the things they told the rest of us was to be quiet,” he said. “We had a bunch of normies screaming on the top of their lungs, going, ‘F** antifa’ and ‘Babies lives matter’ and the f***in’ normies, every time we told them to shut the f*** up, they wouldn’t shut the f*** up, they were f***in’ screamin’ and yellin’. So much for trying to be f***in’ tactical and, you know, trying to do something on the f***in’ down low, but goddamn dude.”
Bertino sympathized, but suggested there was only so much they could do.
“Yeah, unfortunately, there’s no way with the notoriety that we have that people are not gonna f***in’ start following us,” he said. “They’re gonna follow us now because we’re the tip of the spear.”
You can watch the video below in the link:
https://www.rawstory.com/its-all-one-operational-plan-proud-boys-video-of-shows-effort-to-impose-command-structure-before-jan-6/
-
'Why was he so worried?' Congressional reporter zeroes on in key J6 question Kevin McCarthy is stonewalling
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/kevin-mccarthy.jpg?id=29869336&width=2400&height=1441)
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony before the Jan. 6 committee has raised a lot of questions about the actions of multiple administration officials and members of Congress, but one person who has escaped significant scrutiny has been House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Veteran congressional reporter Jamie Dupree, however, thinks that it's time to ask McCarthy some questions about interactions that he had with Hutchinson before and during the January 6 Capitol riots, as she alleges that he implored her to keep former President Donald Trump away from the building as Congress worked to certify President Joe Biden's election victory.
"At Donald Trump's rally on Jan. 6, as soon as Trump said he was going with the crowd to the Capitol, McCarthy called Hutchinson," Dupree writes on Twitter. "'You told me the whole week you aren't coming up here,' she quoted McCarthy as saying. 'Why would you lie to me?'"
This strongly implies that McCarthy and Hutchinson had been in contact in the days leading up to January 6th and that McCarthy had been extremely concerned about the possibility of Trump barging into the proceedings.
Dupree goes on to write that this is a question that McCarthy should be willing to answer -- except he's instead decided to completely refuse cooperation with the committee.
"McCarthy has refused to answer questions from the Jan. 6 panel," he concludes. "He could describe why he was concerned about Trump coming to the Capitol on Jan. 6 - so concerned that he instantly called a White House staffer and accused her of lying about it. Why was he so worried?"
https://twitter.com/jamiedupree/status/1542910745175810050
-
Feds say photo shows MAGA-rioting Trump appointee using riot shield against cops after he claims unfair prosecution
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/composite-image-reportedly-showing-federico-klein.png?id=25751734&width=2400&height=1350)
Federico Klein, a former Trump-appointed State Department aide who was arrested last year for taking part in the January 6 Capitol riots, is facing pushback from his claims that he's being unfairly targeted by federal prosecutors.
CBS News' Scott MacFarlane flags a new court filing made by DOJ lawyers in which they rebut Klein's claims that he's being "selectively prosecuted" by showing a photo that allegedly shows him using a riot shield against law enforcement officers at the United States Capitol.
"Klein and others around him attacked, and attempted to enter, the Capitol as the Vice President, Members of Congress, and thousands of staffers convened inside," DOJ lawyers wrote in the filing. "That conduct, and the 'threat to civilians' it engendered... dispels any inference of disparate treatment."
Former Trump political appointee Federico Klein argues he's being selectively prosecuted in Jan 6 case because of his prior service in Trump Admin
Justice Dept hits back hard against the claim, in new court filing arguing Klein used police riot shield *against* officers
Justice Dept: "Klein & others around him attacked, and attempted to enter, the Capitol as the Vice President, Members of Congress, and 1000s of staffers convened inside. That conduct, and the “threat to civilians” it engendered... dispels any inference of disparate treatment"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FWlwVJmWAAI7baq?format=jpg&name=900x900)
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1542889561793200128
-
Mark Meadows asked an associate to 'influence' January 6 testimony of his former aide
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-chief-of-staff-mark-meadows-gave-a-good-bye-message-to-attendees-at-a-recent-gop-lunch-report.jpg?id=28187725&width=2400&height=1290)
On Friday, CNN reported that one of the people who tried to "influence" the testimony of former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, did so on the request of Hutchinson's former boss, Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.
"Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, the vice chairwoman of the committee, brought up two examples of possible witness intimidation at a hearing featuring Hutchinson, who was an aide to Meadows in the Trump White House, earlier this week, without naming a witness or who made contact," reported Zachary Cohen, Ryan Nobles, and Annie Grayer. "Sources now tell CNN that both instances recounted by Cheney were directed at Hutchinson, and that Hutchinson believes the messages were intended to impact her testimony."
"In one instance, Cheney said a witness received a call in which someone said: '(A person) let me know you have your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know that he's thinking about you. He knows you're loyal, and you're going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition,'" said the report.
According to the report, Meadows' team vehemently denies anything of the sort happened, with Meadows spokesperson Ben Williamson saying, "No one from Meadows camp, himself or otherwise, ever sought to intimidate or shape her conversations with the committee."
Legal experts have suggested that Meadows is facing serious liability for his active involvement in efforts to overturn the 2020 election, with former prosecutor Larry Hitman saying that the Justice Department is likely to make Meadows the subject or target of a criminal investigation.
Hutchinson provided a number of explosive new details about Trump's alleged behavior on the day of the attack, including that he demanded rioters be allowed to march to the Capitol even knowing that they were armed, and that he assaulted his own protective detail after the Secret Service told him he couldn't join his supporters at the site of the attack.
Read More Here:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/01/politics/mark-meadows-cassidy-hutchinson/index.html
-
The Jan. 6 hearings have pulled back the curtain on the 'crazies and cowards' around Trump: Paul Krugman
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30054137&width=2400&height=1359)
In his column for the New York Times, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman made his case the Republican Party appears to be nothing less than a confederation of "crazies, cowards and careerists," less interested in governing than they are in kowtowing to Donald Trump.
Reflecting on the January 6 House hearings investigating the storming of the Capitol by supporters of the former president, Krugman said the GOP stands exposed as members of Congress who could provide testimony refuse to do so, and their colleagues turn a blind eye.
According to Krugman what has been revealed thus far "has been riveting and terrifying," he claimed, "realistically there is no longer any doubt that Trump tried to overturn the results of a lawful election, and when all else had failed, encouraged and tried to abet a violent attack on Congress."
Adding that he is not a lawyer and is in no position to specify what laws have been broken, he turned his ire on the GOP leadership and the far-right members of Congress who are aiding and abetting Trump -- just so he can keep his 2024 presidential ambitions alive and they can tag along.
"Dozens of people in or close to the Trump administration must have known what was going on; many of them surely have firsthand knowledge of at least some aspects of the coup attempt. Yet only a handful have come forward with what they know," he wrote, "How can we explain this abdication of duty?"
The columnist suggested there may be a simple answer.
"Even now, full-on MAGA cultists are probably a minority among G.O.P. politicians. For every Lauren Boebert or Marjorie Taylor Greene, there are most likely several Kevin McCarthys — careerists, not crazies, apparatchiks rather than fanatics. Yet the noncrazy wing of the G.O.P., with only a handful of exceptions, has nonetheless done everything it can to prevent any reckoning over the attempted coup," he wrote. "
"The Republican Party is a far more monolithic entity, in which politicians compete over who adheres most faithfully to the party’s line. That line used to be defined by economic ideology, but these days it is more about positioning in the culture wars — and personal loyalty to Trump. It takes great moral courage for Republicans to defy the party’s diktats, and those who do are promptly excommunicated," he explained before citing longtime conservatives like Bill Kristol and Max Boot -- as well as Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) -- who have bucked the trend and fought back at the former president's attempt to overthrow democratic institutions.
"I don’t think it’s a slur on these people’s courage to note that the neocons were always a distinct group, never fully assimilated by the Republican monolith, with careers that rested in part on reputations outside the party. This arguably leaves them freer than garden-variety Republicans to act in accord with their consciences," he suggested before concluding, "Unfortunately, that still leaves the rest. If the Democrats are a coalition of interest groups, Republicans are now a coalition of crazies and cowards. And it’s hard to say which Republicans present the greater danger."
Read the full piece here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/30/opinion/republicans-trump-coup.html
-
'Committee’s definitely got something': Legal experts claim threat of wire fraud charges loom over Trump and aides
(https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/11/trump-white-house-1.jpg?quality=75&strip=all&w=878)
In conversations with the Daily Beast's Roger Sollenberger, two former officials in the Department of Justice suggested that specific evidence revealed in the Jan. 6th committee's investigation of Donald Trump provides a roadmap that could lead to wire fraud charges against members of Donald Trump's campaign officials and possibly the former president too.
At issue is the preponderance of evidence that Trump and his aides were well aware that he had lost the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden on election night and yet sent out a flood of requests for donations maintaining the election results were fraudulent.
As the report notes, "That same day, the Trump campaign sent a fundraising email claiming that 'President Trump will easily WIN the Presidency of the United States with only legal votes cast.' The solicitation called on supporters to donate any dollar amount and join something called the 'Election Defense Task Force.' The campaign, it said, was 'counting on members to help [Trump] fight back and secure FOUR MORE YEARS.'"
Pointing out that legal experts believe that evidence contains the "ingredients for possible federal charges against officials with the campaign and the Republican National Committee—as well as Trump himself," Sollenberger first spoke with former U.S. attorney Barb McQuade, who said wire fraud cases are a specialty of U.S. attorney's offices.
“If it can be shown that Trump or others sent an email asking for money for one purpose, and then used it for another, that could constitute fraud, regardless of whether it can be proved that they knew the election had not been stolen,” she explained.
Her view was bolstered by Natalie Adams, who previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, who bluntly stated, "the committee’s definitely got something."
Speaking with the Beast, she elaborated, "It’s not whether you know something absolutely for sure. It’s if it’s ‘reasonably foreseeable’ to you that people will believe promises and statements that you either know aren’t true, or are reckless or deceptive, which you are trying to use to get something of value.”
According to Adams, there is a wire fraud conspiract case to be made -- which could sweep up the former president as a co-conspirator.
“With conspiracy, you don’t necessarily have to commit an overt act. And jury instructions don’t require proof of a formal agreement, because criminal actors avoid doing that,” she explained.. “But if people work together and profit from it, it’s helpful to show who had the access and opportunity to review those communications, and who would be likely to know by virtue of their job what is ‘reasonably foreseeable’ to occur, who are charged with vetting the truth of statements, and so on.”
AFP
The Sleeper ‘Wire Fraud’ Scheme That Could Nail Trumpworld
The Jan. 6 committee has already laid out a convincing case of wire fraud against the Trump campaign
(https://img.thedailybeast.com/image/upload/c_crop,d_placeholder_euli9k,h_675,w_1200,x_0,y_0/dpr_1.5/c_limit,w_908/fl_lossy,q_auto/v1656650224/070122-Sollenberger-wirefraud-hero_v6oqcq)
On Nov. 7, 2020—the day television networks called the election for Joe Biden—then-President Donald Trump’s campaign manager was trying his best to break through to his deluded boss: The election was over.
Specifically, as Bill Stepien, the Trump campaign manager, later said in his testimony to the Jan. 6 Committee, Trump’s chances had dwindled since the election to the point where they were “very, very, very bleak.” The campaign hadn’t been able to verify any claims of voter fraud, and Stepien placed little hope in any “realistic legal challenges.”
That same day, the Trump campaign sent a fundraising email claiming that “President Trump will easily WIN the Presidency of the United States with only legal votes cast.” The solicitation called on supporters to donate any dollar amount and join something called the “Election Defense Task Force.” The campaign, it said, was “counting on members to help [Trump] fight back and secure FOUR MORE YEARS.”
While the Jan. 6 hearings have delivered explosive testimony and evidence suggesting that a number of former administration officials may face criminal liability related to the attack on the Capitol—possibly all the way up to Trump—there’s another potential criminal liability that has largely been lost in the news.
That would be the sprawling wire fraud conspiracy which the Jan. 6 special select committee alleged in its second hearing, on June 13, a scheme which legal experts say contains the ingredients for possible federal charges against officials with the campaign and the Republican National Committee—as well as Trump himself.
The fundamentals of that case may have been lost under the hearing’s success—the instantly viral revelation that Trump had raised $250 million on the Big Lie, much of it for a legal fund that didn’t exist.
But the case they laid out that day is as simple as it is compelling:
- Campaign officials and lawyers eagerly testified that they had told Trump they didn’t believe the claims of fraud
- The campaign team then continued to blast out hundreds of emails raising money off claims that officials, by their own admission, knew to be false.
On top of that, many of those emails told supporters that their money would go to a legal fund that didn’t exist.
Former U.S. attorney Barb McQuade, who teaches at the University of Michigan School of Law, called wire fraud prosecutions “bread and butter cases for federal prosecutors.”
“If it can be shown that Trump or others sent an email asking for money for one purpose, and then used it for another, that could constitute fraud, regardless of whether it can be proved that they knew the election had not been stolen,” she said.
Natalie Adams, a partner at Bradley LLP who prosecuted wire fraud cases as an assistant U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida, told The Daily Beast that “the committee’s definitely got something.”
“You don’t get to say things you know to be false,” Adams said, and the testimony of campaign officials copping to their true beliefs could trip the federal wire fraud statute.
“It’s not whether you know something absolutely for sure,” she explained. “It’s if it’s ‘reasonably foreseeable’ to you that people will believe promises and statements that you either know aren’t true, or are reckless or deceptive, which you are trying to use to get something of value.”
As far as what these top campaign officials knew at the time, they were not only quick to say they didn’t believe the claims of fraud, but told Trump repeatedly he had lost fair and square—while the campaign was sending the emails otherwise.
In one video, former top Trump adviser Jason Miller recalled that, not long after the election, the campaign’s head of data told Trump “in pretty blunt terms that he was going to lose.”
The campaign’s former general counsel, Matt Morgan, recalled that a group of advisers delivered the same message in the White House. “I think everyone’s assessment in the room, at least amongst the staff . . . was that [the alleged fraud] was not sufficient to be outcome-determinative,” Morgan said.
Another campaign lawyer, Alex Cannon—whom the campaign had specifically tasked with assessing election fraud—testified that he told Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows in mid-to-late November that the campaign hadn’t found “anything sufficient to change the results in any of the key states.” Cannon also recounted telling another Trump aide, Peter Navarro, that the “election was secure,” citing a Homeland Security assessment Cannon had read.
The panel played clips of Stepien, the former campaign manager, describing his efforts to get Trump to see the writing on the wall.
“What was happening was not necessarily honest nor professional, and that sort of led to me stepping away” from the campaign, he said.
The committee also presented recorded testimony from the campaign’s then head of digital strategy, Gary Coby, admitting that the “Official Election Defense Fund” at the center of dozens of fundraising emails was a “marketing trick” and did not, in fact, exist.
Yet in this same period, the Trump campaign continued to barrage small-dollar donors with fundraising emails. They sent as many as 25 a day, most of them perpetuating the Big Lie.
For instance, on Nov. 7, the same day Stepien offered his “bleak” outlook, the campaign bombed supporters with 23 fundraising emails—from Trump, three of his adult children, the chair of the RNC, Vice President Mike Pence, and a number of vague “funds” that don’t appear associated with any real entity.
The emails claimed the campaign was “counting on members to help [Trump] fight back and secure FOUR MORE YEARS,” and that Democrats were “trying to mess with the results” and “rip a TRUMP-PENCE VICTORY away from you.” They all asked for money.
(A researcher archived these solicitations in real time and has made them available in an open document.)
In a Nov. 10 fundraising email, Trump claimed that—contrary to Stepien’s testimony—his early lead on election night had disappeared “miraculously.” A missive the next day bemoaned “voter fraud” and “interference” from “Big Media and Big Tech,” followed by a money request under the subject, “Proof of election fraud.”
On Nov. 13, Team Trump scaremongered a laundry list of (at best unsubstantiated, and at worst disproven) fraud allegations in Antrim County, Michigan. A week later it was “illegal activity in Wisconsin.”
The deception wasn’t just in the body of the emails, either. There were incorrect subject lines and eye-catching headers. Fourteen included the phrase “voter fraud.” Another 14 undermined confidence in ballots—“Mail-in ballot HOAX!” (Nov. 10) and “221,000 ballots were COMPROMISED” (Dec. 2)—with five targeting “illegal ballots” specifically. A dozen headers and subject lines played on defending “election integrity,” and 29 called on donors to “defend the election.”
This continued for weeks. The campaign even begged for alms on the morning of Jan. 6, citing “voting irregularities and potential fraud.”
But while the mendacity of those emails is clear, the blame is still somewhat foggy. Former U.S. attorney Joyce Vance said the committee is “telling us the story of what happened,” without the constraints that limit prosecutors.
“The biggest question I see with a wire fraud case, based on publicly available information, is, who are the defendants?” Vance wondered. Justice Department prosecutors would need to know who exactly designed, approved, and disseminated the solicitations before they consider whether the scheme constitutes wire fraud—“although it looks like one!”
The Jan. 6 committee has taken steps to figure that out. In February, the panel subpoenaed the RNC’s digital marketing vendor, Salesforce, for reams of internal data. The order would net information about email authors, project managers, and analytics such as open rates and targeting, all of which would help flesh out the scheme. The RNC is still fighting the subpoena in court.
A Trump representative did not reply to The Daily Beast’s emailed questions. In response to a detailed request for comment, RNC spokesperson Emma Vaughn provided a statement that attacked Democrats but did not address any of the allegations.
“This is nonsense—[House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi’s committee is partisan and illegitimate,” the statement said. “Americans want Congress to focus on the most pressing crises created by Biden and Democrats—record gas prices, the worst inflation in 40 years, empty shelves, and rising crime—not conduct a political circus in prime time.”
The committee, and possibly prosecutors, might start their search with the officials who had authority over email fundraising operations. That would include advisers quoted above—digital lead Gary Coby (his “unquestioned domain”), along with top strategist Jason Miller, and campaign manager Stepien, all of whom exercised direct oversight, according to a former senior campaign official.
Adams, the former AUSA in Florida, said prosecutors could build out a conspiracy to commit wire fraud—and that might reach Trump.
“With conspiracy, you don’t necessarily have to commit an overt act. And jury instructions don’t require proof of a formal agreement, because criminal actors avoid doing that,” Adams pointed out. “But if people work together and profit from it, it’s helpful to show who had the access and opportunity to review those communications, and who would be likely to know by virtue of their job what is ‘reasonably foreseeable’ to occur, who are charged with vetting the truth of statements, and so on.”
With Trump specifically, she said, it seems he was in a position where it would be “foreseeable that people around you will carry out your instructions and carry out your intent.” She also noted that as a fact-checker for a former president, she “triple-checked” every claim that went out.
The emails didn’t just have Trump’s signature line. They also came from his campaign team, other officials, and members of his family (though not Jared Kushner or Ivanka Trump).
Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean those people actually wrote the letters, or even read them—though if they had not, that might also raise fraud concerns.
Several fundraising asks came from Donald Trump Jr., one of which said Democrats “lie and cheat,” and that “this fight is worth having.” Eric Trump once asked supporters to hand over cash to “help expose the fraud,” as did his wife, Lara.
Other public figures passed the fraud hat, too, including former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani. Multiple emails came from then-Vice President Pence, one of them promising “we’ll uncover all Election fraud.” Some of the recipients of that email would later attend the Jan. 6 riot that targeted Pence and members of Congress for violence.
A Nov. 7 email attributed to RNC chair Ronna Romney McDaniel told donors that Trump had “activated the Official Election Defense Fund”—which, again, did not exist—adding that she was “confident that President Trump is going to win.”
Aside from Trump himself, “Team Trump 2020” made some of the most explicit allegations of fraud. “We are going to prove that President Trump won by a landslide and we are going to reclaim the United States of America for people who voted for freedom,” read a Nov. 21 request.
Two weeks later, Team Trump 2020 claimed they were “pacing BEHIND” their goal for the Election Defense Fund. The campaign had raised nearly $500 million, warning potential donors that “if we don’t do something quick, we risk losing America.”
It went on to tell donors their contribution could actually reverse the election results: “If every supporter took action and contributed TODAY, we’d be back on track and would have what it takes to SAVE AMERICA from Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-sleeper-wire-fraud-scheme-that-could-nail-trumpworld-jan-6-committee
-
'It was sort of a feeling’: Trump film-maker says he feared trouble at Capitol
Alex Holder, who had extensive access to Trump and his family, says he suspected January 6 would be a likely flashpoint
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/00153311fa64d83f60f1647f2b07af9afa61871c/0_98_3979_2389/master/3979.jpg?width=620&quality=45&auto=format&fit=max&dpr=2&s=5483b934205dcd04b31aa653a488417a)
When the House select committee investigating the January 6 Capitol attack deposed British film-maker Alex Holder, it heard from a first-hand fact witness who inadvertently observed some of the darkest and most politically fraught days of Donald Trump’s time in office.
The new witness, who emerged late in the congressional investigation into the Capitol attack, had extensive personal access to Donald Trump and his family as the administration imploded in the post-2020 election period after the former president lost to Joe Biden.
Holder was there for it all: three sit-down interviews with Trump, including one at the White House, numerous other interviews with Trump’s adult children, private conversations among top aides and advisers before the election, and around the Capitol itself as it got stormed.
The second film-maker to cooperate with the panel – the first, Nick Quested, was embedded with the far-right Proud Boys group – in effect had a front-row seat to peer into the mind of the former president at the critical junctures in his efforts to retain the presidency.
The access to Trump, and listening to him and his inner circle, led him to suspect that the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election would somehow culminate in some event at the Capitol on 6 January, Holder said in an interview with the Guardian.
“I wasn’t 100% sure, but it was sort of a feeling, so we prepared for that thing to happen,” Holder said. “The reason we thought January 6 was because, in Trump’s mind, the last-ditch effort was to stop the process” of Biden’s certification.
“That ceremonial process that takes place in Congress on January 6, he felt, was the last time where he could, in his mind, stop the election going to the wrong person, as it were. The rhetoric that was coming out was that the election was rigged, [that] we need to fight.”
Holder testified for about four hours behind closed doors last week about his roughly 100 hours of footage, used for an upcoming documentary titled Unprecedented, and turned over to House investigators the parts demanded in a subpoena compelling his cooperation.
The select committee was broadly interested in his recollections of the buildup to the Capitol attack, as well as his interactions with Trump and his family, Holder said, though he declined to discuss specific lines of inquiry or questioning.
The Guardian previously reported, however, that the panel zeroed in on phone calls among Trump’s adult children – including Don Jr and Eric – that Holder captured on camera at a campaign event on 29 September 2020 at the Trump international hotel that he gatecrashed.
The select committee is closely focused on the footage of the event – in addition to the content of the one-on-one interviews with Trump and Ivanka – because the discussions about strategies mirror similar conversations at that time by top Trump advisers.
What appears to interest the panel is whether Trump and his children had planned to somehow stop the certification of the election on January 6 – a potential violation of federal law – and to force a contingent election if Trump lost as early as September.
The event on the day of the first presidential debate at the Trump hotel that Holder gained access through Eric Trump, was unplanned, and reflected, according to Holder, his approach to filming everything he could, in case it proved to be consequential later.
Holder said he went into the one-to-one interviews with Trump and his children with a deliberately deferential approach and open-ended questions to ensure the exchanges did not come off as confrontational – including about whether Trump lost the 2020 election
“If I start pushing a guy who I know is not going to change his position, and then he throws you out of the room, then it’s all over,” Holder said. “I don’t need to argue and debate him because we contextualise his position with journalist interviews.”
“And also, this English guy from north London isn’t going to change Donald Trump’s mind about the election. Then we would have just wasted our entire hour together while I try to persuade him I’m right and he’s wrong,” Holder added.
The select committee has also been interested in Ivanka Trump’s interviews with Holder, according to a source familiar with the matter, since although she testified to the panel that she accepted that Trump lost the election, at the time, she told Holder the opposite.
Holder said he was not aware if that amounted to Ivanka Trump shifting her belief about the outcome of the 2020 election between her three interviews with him, but said he was surprised that she would effectively testify to the select committee that her father was wrong.
“That was surprising, because the three kids, at least with me, would always echo their father’s positions and support them,” he said.
The documentary broadly presents a portrait of Trump and his family that follows them through the tumultuous 2020 presidential campaign, when the children acted as campaign surrogates, the final months of the administration, and then months after the Capitol attack.
Holder said he interviewed Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner, before the 2020 election, and then went to the White House over the first weekend in December 2020 to interview the former president as well as Ivanka for a second time.
He said he did a second interview with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Florida a few months after the Capitol attack, and then for a third interview with Trump at his Bedminster golf club a few months after that. He also interviewed Ivanka and Eric again after the events of January 6.
The documentary also features raw footage of the Capitol attack recorded by Holder’s director of photography, Michael Crommett, who filmed at the tunnel of the inaugural platform on the west side of the Capitol as the pro-Trump mob unsuccessfully tried to breach that door.
Holder said he additionally did a one-to-one interview with then-vice president Mike Pence, including a scene where Pence briefly reviews an email about the 25th amendment – which concerns the removal of a US president – which was privately discussed among senior White House officials in the wake of the Capitol attack.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/02/alex-holder-trump-filmmaker-january-6-capitol-attack
-
J6 committee has 'loaded gun' evidence against Trump: legal expert
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/103643514-GettyImages-494045244.jpg?v=1529471580)
The select committee investigating Donald Trump's coup attempt has two new critical categories of evidence against the former president, a legal expert argued on MSNBC on Saturday.
"As we learn more about potential witness tampering during the Jan. 6 committee's investigation, this week's testimony of former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson could explain why those in Trumpworld were so worried about what she might have to say," MSNBC's Cori Coffin reported.
For analysis, Coffin interviewed former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner.
"According to Hutchison, Trump knew that some of his supporters would be armed that day, sent them to the Capitol anyway, even hoping to join them," she noted. "So, does this open up the former president to be criminally liable?"
"Yeah, this is what I would call smoking gun evidence," Kirschner replied.
"And interestingly, at the last J6 public hearing, we got both smoking gun evidence, and we got loaded gun evidence," he continued. "And what I mean by that is, as you just played in your lead-in, Cori, the president knew. He was briefed that his crowd was armed with assault rifles and pistols and knives and brass knuckles and bear spray, etc."
"And you would think a reasonable response from a president would be, oh my goodness, let's make sure the metal detectors are operating properly," he explained. "He said just the opposite, take them down, let the armed members of the group in, and they can march to the Capitol from there. To do what? To stop the certification of his political opponent's election win. So in a very real sense, that smoking gun evidence that Donald Trump wanted to lead what we now know is an armed attack on the Capitol. The loaded gun evidence is, the witness tampering information, and you know, witness tampering just strikes at the very heart of the integrity of investigations, whether congressional or criminal."
Watch:
-
Here's what to expect when Jan. 6 hearings resume
The House Select Committee held a surprise hearing this week to reveal testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, and the panel will hold at least two more next month that will cover key issues tying Donald Trump to the insurrection.
The panel had planned to wrap up its public hearing schedule by the end of June, but newly received evidence forced them to reschedule those for this month, after Congress returns from its Fourth of July recess, and Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" what viewers can expect.
"They've issued a formal subpoena to Pat Cipollone, as we were discussing earlier," Lowell said. "That's kind of the next agenda item, the next immediate agenda item for the committee. He has to come in for a deposition July 6, that's what it says on the subpoena. That's kind of in the immediate viewfinder. Then coming down the road, we have at least two more hearings. [Rep.] Jamie Raskin is supposed to lead a hearing on the Proud Boys and the militia groups that stormed the Capitol, in what [Department of Justice] and the committee believes was a coordinated assault."
"I understand he's been preparing pretty closely with the senior investigative counsels on the committee to lay out his hearing and his plan for that," Lowell added, "and then, of course, you have the 187 minutes of the Capitol attack, where Trump sat in the White House and knew the Capitol was attacked and did nothing. At least two more hearings to come when the house returns on July 12. We understand that Jamie Raskin's hearing will be on that day that Congress comes back, July 12 -- so more to come still."
Watch the video:
-
What we learned on Day 6 of the Jan. 6 committee hearings
The Jan. 6 panel met Tuesday for a quickly scheduled hearing, its sixth this month, to present new and "urgent” evidence about what former President Trump knew before, during and after the Capitol insurrection. The hearing included the testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barrón-López join Judy Woodruff to discuss.
Watch:
-
Adam Kinzinger: 'A lot' of new witnesses came forward after Hutchinson testimony
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) revealed on Sunday that new witnesses have come forward after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified before the Jan. 6 Committee.
CNN's Dana Bash asked Kinzinger about the reaction to Hutchinson's explosive testimony regarding former President Donald Trump's actions on Jan. 6, 2021.
Kinzinger confirmed that new witnesses wanted to speak to the committee.
"I don't want to get into who or any of those details," he said. "She's been inspiring for a lot of people. This happens every day. Every day we get new people that come forward and say, 'Hey, I didn't think that maybe this piece of the story that I knew was important, but now that you guys -- I do see this plays in here.'"
Kinzinger said that Hutchinson would "go down in history" for her testimony.
"She doesn't want to be out in the public spotlight but she has a commitment to truth that somebody like [South Dakota Gov.] Kristi Noem for instance and most people in our party would actually benefit to take just a 10% ounce of."
He added: "There is, there will be way more information and stay tuned."
Watch:
-
Adam Kinzinger rips apart Kristi Noem's defense of Trump's actions on Jan 6th
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30057510&width=2400&height=1350)
During an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) bashed his former House colleague Kristi Noem for her defense of Donald Trump's complicity in the Jan 6th insurrection saying the Noem he knew appears to be a victim of the "invasion of the body snatchers."
Following Noem's appearance, moments before, where the anti-abortion South Dakota governor ducked questions about a pregnant 10-year-old girl's difficulties getting an abortion, the Jan 6th House committee member was asked about her deflecting blame away from the former president over the Capitol riot he incited after losing the 2020 presidential election as well as her attack on witness Cassidy Hutchinson.
"I want to get your reaction from what you heard from the South Dakota Governor, Kristi Noem, particularly on January 6th talking, about the fact that she didn't think specifically that the former president had any blame," Bash prompted. "She said everybody has blame. She also put into question the credibility of Cassidy Hutchinson."
"Yeah, I mean, this -- I'm blown away," Kinzinger replied. "This is not -- I served with Kristi Noem in the House. It's like invasion of the body snatchers, this is not the Kristi Noem I served with."
"The Kristi Noem I served with, you know, was conservative, dedicated to truth," he elaborated. "And I at the time would have thought would put her country above her political career at any moment. It is clear she is running for president or vice president. She's scared to death of the base."
"For her to call into question, you know, a 26-year-old patriot who stood in front of the committee alone and told the truth, and then to avoid saying that Donald Trump bore even an ounce of responsibility for January 6th,I get amazed still every day by what some of my colleagues do," he continued.
"This is one of the biggest ones, she used to something very different," he added.
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 panel could end up making many criminal referrals of Donald Trump to the Justice Department: Liz Cheney
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/liz-cheney.jpg?id=29938661&width=2400&height=1350)
(Reuters) -The congressional panel investigating last year's attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump's supporters could make multiple referrals to the Justice Department seeking criminal charges against the former president, its vice chair Liz Cheney said.
Cheney, in an interview aired on Sunday on ABC's "This Week" program, also said the department does not need to wait for the House of Representatives select committee to make a formal recommendation of charges to take action against Trump.
Asked whether the committee's hearings have demonstrated that Trump needs to be prosecuted, Cheney said, "Ultimately, the Justice Department will decide that."
Cheney, one of two Republicans on the Democratic-led panel, said that "we'll make a decision as a committee" about whether to make a formal criminal referral to the Justice Department recommending charges against Trump.
"The Justice Department doesn't have to wait for the committee to make a criminal referral. There could be more than one criminal referral," Cheney said.
Criminal charges have never been brought against a sitting or former U.S. president. Asked what it would mean for the country if President Joe Biden's Justice Department brings charges against his predecessor, Cheney said, "I have greater concern about what it would mean if people weren't held accountable for what's happened here."
Cheney has criticized Trump's conduct before, during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by his supporters in their failed bid to prevent Congress from certifying Biden's 2020 election victory, including an incendiary speech immediately preceding the riot.
"I think it's a much graver constitutional threat if a president can engage in these kinds of activities and, you know, the majority of the president's party looks away - or we as a country decide, you know, we're not actually going to take our constitutional obligations seriously," Cheney said.
"And if you just think about it from the perspective of what kind of man knows that a mob is armed and sends the mob to attack the Capitol and further incites that mob when his own vice president is under threat, when the Congress is under threat," Cheney added.
Cheney, whose father Dick Cheney served as vice president from 2001 to 2009, also said she has not yet decided on a possible run for the presidency in 2024 even as she faces a Republican primary challenge in her re-election bid this year for her House seat representing Wyoming.
"A man as dangerous as Donald Trump can absolutely never be anywhere near the Oval Office ever again," Cheney said.
A representative for Trump did not immediately reply to a message seeking comment.
Trump has denied responsibility for the Capitol attack but has said he would pardon those involved if he again becomes president.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump's then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, delivered bombshell testimony to the panel last week about Trump's conduct on the day of the riot.
Hutchinson testified that Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of his presidential limousine when his security detail declined to take him to the Capitol to join his supporters. She also said Trump dismissed concerns that some supporters gathered for his speech before the riot carried AR-15-style rifles, instead asking security to stop screening attendees with metal-detecting magnetometers so the crowd would look larger.
Additional witnesses have come forward since Hutchinson's testimony, Representative Adam Kinzinger, the other Republican on the committee, said on Sunday.
"Every day, we get new people that come forward," Kinzinger told CNN's "State of the Union" program, adding: "There will be way more information, and stay tuned."
© Reuters
-
Watch: Full Jan. 6 Committee Hearing - Day 6
Watch MSNBC coverage of the sixth public January 6th House committee hearing investigating the Capitol riot.
-
5 things we've learned so far from the Jan. 6 committee hearings
The Jan. 6 committee has now held half a dozen hearings and are promising at least two more some time this month.
So we figured it's a good time to reflect on what we've learned so far. Here are five takeaways:
1. For Trump, the crowd was armed, dangerous – and welcome.
The former president knew the crowd had weapons, knew of the intelligence that violence could come on Jan. 6, but according to a White House aide, he didn't care.
Why?
"They're not here to hurt me," he said, per Cassidy Hutchinson, former aide to Trump Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. "Take the effing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here."
Hutchinson said Trump was "furious" that people who were armed on Jan. 6 were deterred by metal detectors, or magnetometers, and thereby making his crowd appear smaller.
2. A president with a flash temper and desperate to hold onto power.
Throwing plates at the wall because he was upset that his attorney general said there was no widespread fraud in the 2020 election.
Grabbing the steering wheel of a presidential vehicle, because he so badly wanted to go to the Capitol with the rioters.
Hutchinson painted a picture of a president unhinged. This isn't the first time people around Trump have described a man with a temper who demanded fealty.
Multiple witnesses during these hearings have described a president who couldn't accept the truth, would find people to tell him what he wanted to hear, had descended down a deep rabbit hole of conspiracy and was willing to do whatever it took in a desperate effort to cling to power that was slipping through his fingers.
3. No one was too big or too small for Trump's pressure campaign.
From as high up as his former vice president Mike Pence all the way down to GOP state elections officials and election workers, no one was spared from Trump's persistent goading.
"You heard him, Pat. He thinks Mike deserves it," Meadows told White House lawyer Pat Cipollone, per Hutchinson, about the crowd chanting, "Hang, Mike Pence!"
(Cipollone may himself be compelled to testify soon. The committee has subpoenaed him.)
Publicly, including in ad-libbed portions of his speech on Jan. 6, Trump has said multiple times that Pence didn't have the "courage" to do what he wanted. At a recent rally, Trump derided Pence as a "conveyor belt."
Trump wrongly accused Georgia election worker Shaye Moss of altering votes because of a video he irresponsibly talked about.
She testified that her personal life had been ruined since.
"I've gained about 60 pounds. I just don't do nothing anymore," Moss said. "I don't want to go anywhere. I second guess everything that I do. It's affected my life in a — in a major way. In every way. All because of lies. For me doing my job, same thing I've been doing forever."
4. The potential for criminal prosecution may be growing.
A scheme for fake electors. Knowledge of the potential for violence. The lack of caring about that violence.
A White House lawyer concerned about potential obstruction of Congress and defrauding the country charges.
Members of Congress and others inside Trump's inner circle asking for pardons.
And now oblique threats against committee witnesses.
"I think most Americans know that attempting to influence witnesses to testify untruthfully presents very serious concerns," Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. said.
The committee is leaving lots of bread crumbs for prosecutors to peck at.
5. The credibility of the witnesses is hard to dismiss.
As much as Trump World is trying to undermine some of the testimony, particularly that of Hutchinson, ask yourself whether Hutchinson had more to gain or lose through her testimony and whether any of those, including the president, who are casting doubt on her testimony will do so under oath before the committee and the FBI.
We've seen on lots of occasions when Trump has sat for depositions under oath, he has had a very different tune than in public. Almost everyone who has testified has been a Republican, who worked for Trump, was trying to get him reelected or voted for him.
The conspiracy has to run pretty deep for them all to be lying or have an ax to grind.
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/05/1109461884/5-things-weve-learned-so-far-from-the-jan-6-committee-hearings
-
Watch: New footage of Trump family emerges from Jan. 6 investigation
https://www.rawstory.com/unprecedented-alex-holder/
-
Jan. 6 committee announces another public hearing next week
The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, July 12, at 10 a.m. ET, NBC News confirmed
The House committee investigating the Capitol insurrection will hold a public hearing next Tuesday to present evidence related to the Jan. 6 attack.
The hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, July 12, at 10 a.m. ET, according to an advisory the committee sent out Tuesday.
The announcement comes after the committee delayed one of its hearings last week to give the committee more time to prepare and as they continue to learn more information.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., a panel member, previously previewed the committee's plans during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“The next couple of hearings will cover the run-up to Jan. 6, the marshaling of this mob that appeared on the mall that day, and the attack on the Capitol,” Schiff said last week ahead of the committee's June 28 hearing.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-committee-announces-public-hearing-rcna36791
-
Another top Trump aide agrees to publicly testify before J6 committee: CNN
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/house-select-committee-to-investigate-the-january-6th-attack-on-the-united-states-capitol.jpg?id=29985974&width=2400&height=1350)
Another top Trump White House aide has agreed to publicly testify before the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, CNN reported Tuesday evening.
"Sarah Matthews, who served as deputy press secretary in the Trump White House until resigning shortly after the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, has been subpoenaed by the House select committee investigating the insurrection and has agreed to testify at an upcoming hearing, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation," Katelyn Polantz and Ryan Nobles reported. "Matthews has been subpoenaed to testify at a public hearing as early as next week, sources tell CNN."
Also on Tuesday, the select committee announced it would hold its next public hearing next Tuesday, which CNN says is "expected to focus on the role of extremist groups on January 6."
Matthews resigned on the night of Jan. 6, saying she “was deeply disturbed by what I saw" and that "our nation needs a peaceful transfer of power.”
She had previously served as a spokesperson for Trump's unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign.
Matthews defended Cassidy Hutchinson after her damning testimony before the select committee.
"Anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump WH worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is," Matthews said. "For those complaining of 'hearsay,' I imagine the Jan. 6 committee would welcome any of those involved to deny these allegations under oath."
https://twitter.com/SarahAMatthews1/status/1541845209671237637
-
'Very significant development': J6 panelist explains how Georgia is focused on Trump allies' 'bogus claims'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/fulton-co-da-fani-willis.jpg?id=30065641&width=2400&height=1350)
One of the most experienced members of the Jan. 6 select committee on Tuesday explained the significance of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis subpoenaing Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Trump attorneys Rudi Giuliani, John Eastman, Cleta Mitchell, Kenneth Chesebro and Jenna Ellis.
"Just a short time ago, the Jan. 6 committee announced its next hearing will be a week from today, July 12th, 10:00 a.m. It did not announce witnesses or the topic," CNN's Anderson Cooper reported. "Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA), who is on the committee, previously said the next hearing will focus on, 'efforts to assemble that mob on the mall' as well as the connections between the former president's allies and extremist groups at the Capitol that day."
For analysis, Cooper interviewed select committee member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA). Lofgren has experience in all four modern presidential impeachments, having worked for the House Judiciary Committee member Rep. Don Edwards (D-CA) during Watergate. When Edwards retired in Congress, Lofgren succeeded him and served during the impeachment of Bill Clinton and both of Trump's impeachments.
"What is your reaction to the news that several of the former president's allies were subpoenaed today by a Georgia special grand jury investigating the effort to overturn the election results?"
"I think that's a very big deal," said Lofgren, who also taught at the University of Santa Clara School of Law.
"These are the individuals who we have shown through our hearings conspired with bogus claims of fact, bogus legal theories, to essentially overturn the democracy and many of them have refused to really come in and tell the truth to us," she explained. "They're going to find a very different situation in Georgia and this criminal grand jury and I think it's a very important step forward."
"Obviously we have no way of knowing the details of the investigation, but I think it is very significant," Lofgren said.
Watch below:
-
Capitol riot defendant James Mault of NY asks for leniency at sentencing. He acknowledged assaulting police line
Defense lawyer says Mault did *not* use Army training while amid the mob, argues Mault "herd" (sic) Antifa was a threat .. talked about Antifa "on texts" ahead of 6th.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FW6LK59XwAQia4K?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FW6LK5_XoAMlUop?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jan. 6 Committee Hearing: Riot Defendants Say Trump ‘Asked’ Them To Storm Capitol
https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicholasreimann/2022/06/09/jan-6-committee-hearing-riot-defendants-say-trump-asked-them-to-storm-capitol/?sh=b298b771f934
-
Former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone agrees to testify behind closed doors with the Jan. 6th committee. Meantime, the Georgia prosecutor investigating possible election interference by Trump says more subpoenas of his associates are expected.
https://www.msnbc.com/11th-hour/watch/pat-cipollone-to-testify-before-1-6-committee-143561285788
-
Former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone to testify to Jan. 6 committee
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107082523-1656512031270-pat.jpg?v=1656512132)
Pat Cipollone, Donald Trump’s former White House counsel, is scheduled to testify Friday before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, according to a person briefed on the matter.
Cipollone, whose reported resistance to Trump’s schemes to overturn his 2020 election defeat has made him a long-sought and potentially revelatory witness, was subpoenaed by the select committee last week after weeks of public pressure to provide testimony to the panel.
The person briefed on the matter, who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss private negotiations, said Cipollone agreed to appear before the committee for a private, transcribed interview.
As Trump’s top White House lawyer, Cipollone was in the West Wing on Jan. 6, 2021, as well as for key meetings in the turbulent weeks after the election when Trump and associates — including Republican lawmakers and lawyer Rudy Giuliani — debated and plotted ways to challenge the election.
The agreement for Cipollone to speak to the panel follows last week's dramatic testimony from former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson. The young aide to former chief of staff Mark Meadows provided the committee with a striking account of what she saw and heard in those weeks and presented lawmakers with arguably their clearest case for how Trump or some of his allies could face criminal liability.
Cipollone is said to have stridently and repeatedly warned Trump and his allies against their efforts to challenge the election, threatening to resign as Trump eyed a dramatic reshuffling atop the Justice Department.
One witness said Cipollone referred to a proposed letter making false claims about voter fraud as a “murder-suicide pact.” Another witness said Cipollone had warned her that Trump was at risk of committing “every crime imaginable” if he went to the Capitol on Jan. 6
But while his interview with the committee could prove to be a breakthrough, it remained unclear whether Cipollone would try to limit what he is willing to talk about. As the administration’s chief lawyer, he could argue that some or all of his conversations with Trump are privileged.
https://www.kmbc.com/article/pat-cipollone-agrees-to-testify-to-jan-6-committee/40527775
-
Judge rejects request by accused OathKeepers seditious conspirators to transfer case from DC to Alexandria, Virginia
Judge order excerpt: "The attitudes of residents of the Alexandria.. are more likely to mirror those of (DC) than those of the Eastern District (Va) as a whole.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FW8U0YiWAAANnM7?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
High-level Jan 6 defendant Dan Egtvedt asks court to allow his lawyer & investigator "access to several non-public areas of the Capitol building in order to inspect, photograph & videotape these areas for preparation in his defense. These areas are not available to the public..."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FW8Q4O_XkAELcuW?format=jpg&name=medium)
Egtvedt's defense argues the surveillance cameras & police body worn cameras might distort perceptions of distance and angles... inside the Capitol.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FW8Ri3zXoAI2Jre?format=jpg&name=medium)
Feds filed motion with court to reject Egtvedt's request, citing many reasons, including that it'd: "Create a risk to the continued security of the Capitol. The Capitol, which is under the control of the Legislative Branch, is one of the most secure buildings in the country".
-
GOP candidate for Michigan governor to be arraigned on federal charges in Jan. 6 insurrection
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/judge-denies-gop-gov-candidate-ryan-kelley-s-request-to-carry-gun.jpg?id=29990233&width=2400&height=1350)
A Republican candidate for Michigan governor will be arraigned on federal charges related to his alleged involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Ryan Kelley was arrested June 9 by the FBI on misdemeanor charges and released that afternoon, but he is now being arraigned on federal charges accusing him of violent actions at the U.S. Capitol, reported WDIV-TV.
The 40-year-old Kelley was accused of climbing scaffolding outside the Capitol and repeatedly urging the mob of Donald Trump supporters to enter the building, where Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden's election win, and engaging in violent activity while on restricted grounds
He's charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, knowingly engaging in any act of physical violence against person or property in any restricted building or grounds, and willfully injuring or committing any depredation against any property of the United States.
Kelley is among five GOP candidates remaining in the Aug. 2 primary after five other candidates were prohibited from running due to insufficient nominating signatures.
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/michigan/2022/07/07/gop-candidate-for-michigan-gov-ryan-kelley-to-be-arraigned-on-federal-jan-6-charges/
-
Legal expert: Pat Cipollone could deal a massive blow to Trump if he confirms Hutchinson's explosive testimony
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump.jpg?id=30004831&width=2400&height=1350)
On Friday, former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone is scheduled to speak to the House Select Committee investigating the attack on Congress and the attempt to overthrow the election. According to an MSNBC panel discussion, all Cipollone would have to do is confirm what former senior White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson previously told the committee and Donald Trump would be sunk.
"What Cipollone very importantly might or might not provide to them is corroboration of what Cassidy Hutchinson has already said," explained Betsy Woodruff Swan. "Because the committee moved forward on such an unusually short and tight timeline to have Hutchinson's public testimony they didn't take steps that normally investigators would try to take to corroborate some of the most important allegations that she made in that hearing."
She explained that the pressure on Cipollone to testify is "being ratcheted up dramatically because of what Hutchinson herself testified to in that hearing."
If he can corroborate what Hutchinson testified, it would be an "enormous win" for the committee, Woodruff Swan told MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace. As a White House counsel, Cipollone was a lawyer to the Office of the President of the United States, and not to former President Donald Trump. So, the assertion that he enjoys attorney-client privilege with Trump is wrong.
Current President Joe Biden, as the existing president, has waived all executive privilege on matters dealing with Jan. 6 and the 2020 election. Cipollone however, like many in Trump World, may be terrified of what could happen to him if he reveals too much. Hutchinson has spent the last several weeks experiencing death threats, the committee revealed. It's one of the reasons her testimony was rushed, members said.
"Remember, everything that Hutchinson said about Cipollone in her testimony, none of it was negative and none of it made it look bad," she continued. "If anything, Cipollone is one of the few number of senior Trump White House administration officials to comb through the entire Jan. 6th process looking like he was very much on team normal. He is someone that the committee clearly sees as a credible and important narrator and that means that whatever he tells them in this transcribed interview that's coming up on Friday is going to carry significant weight."
In contrast, if there are two people, like Cipollone and Hutchinson that contradict one other, that could obviously cause a problem.
"It's actually a high-stakes moment for the committee that has the potential to play a significant role in almost defining the way the rest of the investigation plays out in the coming months," she said.
See the conversation below:
-
Trump World links to far-right militants and a mysterious intermediary: Here's what you can expect in new J6 hearings
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jan-6th-hearing-will-feature-proud-boy-documentarian-embedded-during-the-attack.jpg?id=29945575&width=2400&height=1430)
On MSNBC Thursday, New York Times reporter Luke Broadwater outlined the key question that he hopes to see answered in the upcoming House January 6 Committee hearings next week.
In particular, he said, the hearing is likely to fill in new information on links between Trump's inner circle and far-right paramilitary groups that helped pull off the Capitol attack, like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
"Here's Tuesday's hearing which we think is going to deal, we've been told by the members of the committee, it'll be deal with the links between the extremists and militia members and Donald Trump's allies and perhaps even Donald Trump himself," said anchor Ali Velshi. "Until now those have been parallel tracks of investigation, the militias and the extremists what they were doing on the Capitol around and what the Trump allies were doing. There will be no attempt on Tuesday to bring that together?"
"Yes, and this is the hearing that I am actually most interested in, because this has been the big question for me from the start," said Broadwater. "We know Donald Trump encouraged the mob to come to the Capitol on January 6, and we know they brought weapons and they attacked the building and they were carrying out this plan. Is there anything more? Are there closer ties than what Donald Trump said?"
This is particularly important because, as Broadwater noted, "We've heard of some of these ties."
"We know about Roger Stone, the close ally of Donald Trump, and how he was involved with some members of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, and how he had some of these extremist groups as bodyguards," said Broadwater. "Perhaps that will be discussed. We know there was a meeting in the garage between the Proud Boys leader and the Oath Keepers leader. Perhaps that will be discussed. We know one of the leaders tried to call Donald Trump on January 6 and use an intermediary who nobody has identified yet, so we don't know who that is. I am very, very interested to see who in the political world does the committee believe was the link between Trump and the extremist groups and how much planning, coordination, if any, took place."
Watch the segment below:
-
Trump 'up to his eyeballs in criminality' ahead of W.H. counsel’s Jan. 6 testimony
Watch:
https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/trump-up-to-his-eyeballs-in-criminality-ahead-of-w-h-counsel-s-jan-6-testimony-143620677920
-
Feds arrest MAGA-rioting Colorado pastor who allegedly tore down fencing at the Capitol
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-supporters-rioting-at-the-us-capitol.jpg?id=29692586&width=2400&height=1350)
On Friday, the Justice Department announced the arrest of a Colorado pastor who participated in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — and is accused of removing fencing to force his way in.
Tyler Ethridge of Colorado Springs faces a felony charge of civil disorder, as well as multiple misdemeanor charges.
"According to court documents, on Jan. 6, Ethridge was among rioters illegally on the Capitol grounds," said the DOJ statement. "He helped remove fencing erected on the northwest approach to the Capitol. He proceeded with the crowd past the barricades to the West Plaza outside the Capitol Building. As law enforcement officers attempted to clear the crowd, Ethridge climbed a media scaffolding and exhorted the crowd to keep fighting."
According to the statement, Ethridge then "entered the Capitol Building at approximately 2:35 p.m. through the West Terrace Door. He then moved to the Rotunda, where he filmed several videos that he posted to social media. In one, he stated, 'I’m probably going to lose my job as a pastor after this … I think we’re to a point where talk is cheap. If this makes me lose my, my reputation, I don’t care.'"
DOJ officials noted that Ethridge continued to speak proudly of the attack on social media for months after, saying in a post the following September, “Don’t be afraid of what they sentence you with. I’m not. I’m ready for whatever I’ll be charged with. America is still primed and ready.”
More than 850 people from all over the country have been charged in the Capitol attack. The charges range from misdemeanors like trespassing and unlawful picketing, to assaulting law enforcement, and in the case of leadership of the far right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, seditious conspiracy.
https://www.rawstory.com/tyler-ethridge-of-colorado-springs/
-
'Stick a fork in Stewart Rhodes': ex-prosecutor says Oath Keeper is running out of ways to save himself
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/oath-keepers-founder-got-white-glove-treatment-from-fbi-during-arrest-report.png?id=28815811&width=2400&height=1350)
On Friday's edition of MSNBC's "The ReidOut," former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner walked through the legal situation of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, whose paramilitary group was a key player in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Rhodes, who was recently charged with seditious conspiracy for his own role in the attack, reportedly now wants to give testimony to the House Select Committee investigating the attack.
"Stewart Rhodes is an important person to hear coming," said anchor Joy Reid. "Just a couple of things we have here. Prosecutors have already alleged that Stewart Rhodes held a meeting with a stack member. Exchanged a 97-second call with stack member and Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs as they embedded themselves at east side Capitol building doors. Their text messages that show that an unidentified person wrote about protecting Ronny Jackson, about providing physical protection to at least one Republican member of Congress. What do you expect Stewart Rhodes to add to this, and if he does it live, what do you think that means?"
"You know, Joy, stick a fork in Stewart Rhodes. He's done," said Kirschner. "And he is looking for a way out. But I can tell you the committee is not going to negotiate terms that are favorable to Stewart Rhodes to take his testimony live so that he can turn it into a circus. But I do think the negotiations will be ongoing. Because the strength of the evidence against Stewart Rhodes, it's overwhelming. So I think this is part of the negotiation dance that's being done."
Kirschner then outlined the only path forward Rhodes has to improving his legal situation.
"If he truly comes on board, if he accepts responsibility for his crimes, he pleads guilty as a cooperating witness, then I predict the Department of Justice will give him the opportunity to testify to the January 6th Committee under that cooperation agreement, and that's the only way we can sort of guarantee that what we get out of Stewart Rhodes is truthful, reliable testimony. So, you know, this is all posturing by Rhodes, and we'll see if he ends up ultimately pleading out and becoming a cooperating witness."
Watch below:
-
Florida Oath Keeper brought explosives to DC for January 6: prosecutors
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/revealed-oath-keepers-applicants-felt-scammed-in-wake-of-jan-6-riot-as-militia-group-s-troubles-mount.png?id=27565228&width=2400&height=1338)
On Friday, Politico's Kyle Cheney revealed that a new filing by federal prosecutors against the Oath Keepers involved in the Capitol attack involves new evidence about their possession of weaponry on the day they attacked the Capitol.
Specifically, one allegation laid out in the document is that one of the Oath Keepers, Jeremy Brown, brought explosives to Washington, D.C. on the day of the attack.
Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney
UST IN: Prosecutors, in a court filing, outlined some of their trial evidence they plan to introduce against the Oath Keepers, including that “co-conspirator Jeremy Brown transported explosives to the Washington, D.C. area on Jan. 6, 2021.”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXLcp7PWYAIwnI1?format=jpg&name=large)
Brown, a former U.S. Army Special Forces op from Tampa, Florida, is also a former candidate for Congress. "Prosecutors say he was among the rioting crowd Jan. 6 at the U.S. Capitol, where he was photographed in military garb, a tactical vest and carrying surgical shears and zip ties. When federal agents searched his Palm River area home last week, they said they found a short-barrel rifle, a sawed-off shotgun, more than 8,000 rounds of ammunition and two hand grenades," reported the Tampa Bay Times in October.
Previous reports indicated that Brown was released ahead of trial — but then quickly ordered back to jail after threatening police visiting his home.
The Oath Keepers are a paramilitary group consisting mainly of current and retired military and law enforcement, who vow to stand against laws and orders that conflict with the group's extreme far-right view of the Constitution. They were present at many armed standoffs with the government, including the Bundy Ranch conflict in 2014.
Many key members of the Oath Keepers, including leader Stewart Rhodes, face charges of seditious conspiracy after members of the group formed a military "stack" to force their way into the Capitol.
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1545540246607118336
-
'One loud voice!': Capitol riot preceded by months of mobilization by organizers linked to Mike Flynn
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/alarm-bells-sound-after-mike-flynn-endorses-military-coup-actual-fascism.jpg?id=24704553&width=2400&height=1437)
One of the most crucial questions for both the FBI investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and the House Select Committee inquiry is the connection between President Trump and the militant groups that carried out the attack.
The next hearing of the January 6th Committee, scheduled for July 12 and led by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.), reportedly “plans to detail known links and conversations between political actors close to Trump and extremists,” according to the New York Times.
While it is not clear what evidence the committee will present, a network of operatives surrounding retired Lt. General Michael Flynn — an inspirational figure for rank-and-file Trump supporters protesting the outcome of the election — helped build an infrastructure for months in advance that stoked anger, called on the president to invoke he Insurrection Act, and amplified his call to supporters to be in Washington for a “wild rally” on Jan. 6.
One of the initiatives that sprung up around Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor who was seeking a pardon after the US Department of Justice dismissed charges for lying to the FBI about his contacts with the Russian ambassador, was called Operation Voter Integrity.
Felisa Blazek, a New Hampshire-based event planner with ties to the QAnon community, outlined plans for the initiative in an interview with Tamara Leigh, a podcaster active in the campaign to vindicate Flynn, and Brent Hamachek, the executive editor of the right-wing publication Human Events. As Blazek described it, the project would deploy GOP activists to monitor polling places for voter fraud, with pro-Trump groups standing by to escalate complaints up through a network that she said would ultimately reach the White House.
Two of the groups mentioned by Blazek, Veterans for Trump and Bikers for Trump, would later show up at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Blazek described a phone tree in which one activist would “would just call the head of your state for Bikers for Trump.” She continued: “One phone call. They dispatch 20 to 30 people to that precinct. Second phone call, you call in Veterans for Trump. They dispatch 20 to 30 people. They just show there and they just stand up, and they just let you know you’re not alone. The police will come. If the police don’t come, they’re all trained. We’re just standing by and letting you know that we know.”
Blazek could not be reached for comment for this story.
Two days after the election, Veterans for Trump co-founder Joshua Macias and an associate, Antonio LaMotta, were arrested on weapons charges outside the Philadelphia Convention Center, where election officials were tabulating votes. Local police made the arrests after receiving an FBI alert about a possible attempt to interfere with the vote count, according to the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office. The police reportedly recovered a semi-automatic AR-15-syle assault rifle, samurai sword and hundreds of firearms cartridges from the Hummer that the two men drove from Virginia.
Macias and LaMotta could not be reached for comment for this story.
At the time, some Democratic officials and voting rights groups condemned President Trump’s instruction to supporters to “go into the polls and watch very carefully,” saying it amounted to voter intimidation, and the Department of Homeland Security warned that polling places could be “flash points for potential violence.”
Both Macias and Blazek were avid supporters of Flynn.
Two years earlier, Macias had organized a rally to support Flynn outside the DC federal courthouse at the former general’s sentencing hearing, where he stood alongside Tamara Leigh, according to a report in Mother Jones. Chris Cox, the founder of Bikers for Trump, also attended the protest to support Flynn.
Blazek had recently organized a two-day QAnon-friendly gathering called the Patriot Party in Scottsdale, Ariz. that featured Barbara Redgate, Flynn’s sister.
During an interview to promote the event, Blazek had said, “We’re hoping to host General Flynn and his family as our honored guests. If they would choose to speak, that would be great. But really, we just want them to come there, and support them.” Blazek added that the Flynn family was like “the tip of the spear in our movement.”
David Sumrall, a Dallas-based organizer who founded the right-wing group Stop Hate, similarly extolled the Flynn family in an interview with Redgate to promote the Patriot Party.
“We want to make sure that General Flynn’s getting a message of support and love and encouragement because we have his back,” Sumrall said. “We understand what happened to him, and the whole fact that he’s willing to take one for the team.”
Soon after Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 election, Blazek and Sumrall, alongside Ali Alexander and Tomi Collins, began organizing rallies across the country to protest the electoral outcome.
Pasquali “Pat” Scopelliti, a business coach based in Charlottesville, Va. and frequent contributor on the PardonFlynnNow.com website, praised Blazek and Macias together in a post-election thread on Twitter. Referring to the two by their Twitter handles and using hashtags associated with Blazek’s election mobilization effort and a parallel campaign led by Alexander, Scopelliti tweeted: “Both @PatriotAssembly and @JoshuaMacias are on the Field of Fight, right now. I choose to support them, as should you./ #1LoudVoice/ #StopTheSteal.”
The following day, Scopelliti issued another Twitter thread, declaring that America was at “war,” with “voter fraud” being the “ultimate weapon,” while speculating that “$1,000 bottles of rice wine” were “being uncorked in Beijing.”
“There are three people I must mention,” Scopelliti continued, recognizing Sumrall, alongside Blazek and Macias. “They are: @HelpStopHate, @PatriotAssembly, @JoshuaMacias. These three patriots have known in their bones, the nature of this war. And they have joined forces to lead the ground game of its fight.”
Scopelliti attached a digital flier to the tweet with the heading “All 50 State Capitol Buildings, #1LoudVoice, Truth Rally, 12:00 PM across the nation.” The flier included URLs for nearly a dozen pro-Trump groups, including Sumrall’s Stop Hate; Blazek’s Patriot Party; PardonFlynnNow.com; and Cowboys for Trump, led by Couy Griffin, who had attended the Patriot Party event in Scottsdale. Griffin would later be arrested for his role in the attack on the Capitol, and found guilty of entering and remaining in a restricted building.
Veterans for America First, the successor organization to Veterans for Trump, currently lists Scopelliti as its community engagement advisor on the organization’s website.
Despite being out on a $750,000 bail with pending firearms charges in Philadelphia, Macias and LaMotta traveled to Washington, DC in early January for a cluster of rallies culminating with President Trump’s speech at the Ellipse. Macias was present during a brief meeting between Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes in an underground parking garage on Jan. 5, the eve of the attack on the Capitol. Tarrio and Rhodes both face seditious conspiracy charges in separate cases related to the attack on the Capitol.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner noted the meeting during a press conference last month to announce a motion to have Macias held for contempt of court due to his actions at the Capitol.
“When people are planning a bank robbery, when they are planning a mob hit, they do not let uninvolved people come to that small private meeting,” Krasner said. “When people are planning serious crimes, the only people that are going to be there, especially when they’re trying to be secretive, are people that are seriously involved.”
Also present at the parking garage meeting were Kelly SoRelle, who now serves as general counsel for the Oath Keepers, and Latinos for Trump President Bianca Gracia.
On Jan. 6, Blazek, Macias, LaMotta, Rhodes, SoRelle, Gracia and members of a Bikers for Trump faction known as Boots on the Ground gathered at the MAGA Freedom Rally in front of the Russell Senate Office Building, a block away from the Capitol.
In an interview with Sumrall last fall, SoRelle said she went back to a hotel room to eat and get warm, while Rhodes went to the Capitol. Rhodes took up a position outside the Capitol, while more than a dozen Oath Keepers members outfitted in tactical gear pushed through the crowd in a stack and followed a mob into the building. SoRelle said in that interview in September that there was no plan to attack the Capitol. In January, Rhodes and 10 other members of the Oath Keepers were charged with seditious conspiracy — a charge that amounts to attempting to overthrow the government by force. Two of those charged have pleaded guilty.
“Stewart had guys that were protecting different speakers at different events, namely Ali Alexander, who was supposed to have been literally on the Capitol grounds,” SoRelle told Sumrall last September. “Then everybody’s like, ‘Well, we don’t know where everybody’s at. This is chaos. Like, what the heck?’ So, that’s why we ended up at the Capitol. We went down there just to see if we could locate his people. You know? And then next thing you take it straight to crazy la-la land, as in everybody’s the mastermind, and whatever.”
Sumrall, who used social media to raise money to take a “team” to Washington, DC, concurred with SoRelle’s account.
Sumrall said he told FBI agents: “Guys, listen: The plan was to get to DC. That’s where it stopped. That’s where it stopped. You’re never going to find anything where anybody says, ‘We’re going in the Capitol.’”
Sumrall’s voice can be heard in a video posted on Stop Hate’s Instagram account that was taken from the west side of the Capitol. The post is accompanied by a text comment from the account owner: “We’ve broken down the gates and made it onto the Capitol grounds.”
Another video on the Stop Hate Instagram account shows police in riot gear lined up on the inauguration review stand and the terrace facing rioters, with the caption, “#StormTheCapitol.”
Macias and LaMotta also went to the Capitol. Footage recently obtained by NBC News shows LaMotta inside the Capitol. He has not been arrested to date.
With LaMotta standing nearby, Macias addressed the crowd on the east side of the Capitol, according to video archived by the @capitolhunters Twitter account.
“Mike Pence is a Benedict Arnold,” Macias roared. “We believed in you, Vice President. We had hope that you would do what’s right for our Constitution. I stood with you onstage, sir. We believed in you.
“President Trump, you have the ability to pass — if you have the strength, sir — the Insurrection Act is now,” Macias continued. “You have the power, sir, and we support you 110 percent. Do what’s right, sir…. Defend the Constitution against foreign and domestic enemies. Those domestic enemies are here. If you’re not awake, America, be awoke. The enemy is not at the gates; the enemy is already here.”
Another person could be heard answering Macias with the QAnon slogan: “Where we go one, we go all!”
“That’s right!” Macias said. “One loud voice! We are one. We are united. I am Josh Macias, Vets for Trump. We will never quit.”
https://www.rawstory.com/mike-flynn-riot-2657638150/
-
'Donald is terrified' is an 'understatement' after Cipollone testimony: Mary Trump
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30079174&width=2400&height=1518)
Appearing on MSNBC's "Katie Phang Show," Donald Trump's niece Mary said her uncle is likely shaking in his boots after hearing former White House counsel Pat Cipollone spent over 8 hours talking with investigators working for the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th Capitol riot.
Cipollone, who reportedly warned former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson that the administration was dangerously close to committing multiple crimes as Trump's inner circle tried to overturn the election results -- while also inciting the insurrection -- was expected to claim executive privilege. However, the amount of time he spent has raised eyebrows among observers who believe that he may have been more forthcoming than expected.
Speaking with host Phang, Mary Trump said her uncle is definitely alarmed at what may have been revealed.
"What do you think is going through his mind right now?" host Phang asked. "There is an even larger amount of damning testimony that is coming out. Notably, he did not attack Pat Cipollone before he testified before the committee."
"To say that Donald is terrified is accurate, it is also an understatement," she began. "I think this might be the first time in his entire life that even he can't deny the walls that are closing in. The amount of evidence that we see coming out of these committee hearings is overwhelming."
"Even more troubling for him is the witnesses coming forward," she elaborated. "They are increasingly important in terms of access and their position in his administration. It is not at all surprising that he would pull his punches when it comes to Pat Cipollone."
Watch:
-
Cipollone's 8-hour testimony will light a fire under Trump's inner circle to talk to investigators: legal analyst
Appearing on MSNBC with host Ali Velshi early Saturday morning, the Democrat's chief counsel during Donald Trump's first impeachment trial claimed the 8-hour testimony given by former White House counsel Pat Cipollone will likely provoke a rush of members of Donald Trump's inner circle to talk to investigators out of fear they might have been implicated in the Jan 6th insurrection.
Speaking with the host, legal analyst Daniel Goldman claimed anyone who might have taken part in helping the president with his plan to steal the election would want to be one of the first to fess up in an effort to avoid criminal charges.
"They don't know what each other has said, now they are now starting to see what the committee understands, what the other witnesses have said," he explained. "It is almost like a sprint to get in first to tell the story in your own terms. That is always more beneficial than being the last one nd having to have a bit more of a target on your back."
"This is what happens often in criminal investigations," he elaborated. "I am very interested to see whether and to what extent any of these witnesses go marching into the Department of Justice to cooperate with them. Because what everybody is realizing now is that there was a crime spree as Cipollone indicated to Cassidy Hutchinson. The question now, who is going to have a target on his or her back as a part of the criminal investigation? You don't want to be the last one standing. You want to be the first one to cooperate and gave your information and get on the right side of the investigation."
"That is why Cipollone came in," he suggested. "I expect that others have realized, 'oh boy, we better get in'."
Watch:
-
Oath Keepers Wanted to Protect Ex-Trump Doctor’s ‘Critical Data’ on Jan. 6
Oath Keeper text messages revealed by the congressional committee investigating Jan. 6 show the far-right militia wanted to “help” Rep. Ronny Jackson.
(https://video-images.vice.com/articles/627036635bf406009c704cd4/lede/1651521812082-ap21272653468251.jpeg?crop=0.8115xw:0.6852xh;0.1885xw,0.3148xh&resize=1000:*)
As rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, certain members of the Oath Keepers learned that a U.S. Congress member needed “help” from their militia.
“Dr. Ronnie Jackson—on the move. Needs protection,” wrote an unidentified Oath Keeper in a text message at 3:08 p.m. “If anyone inside cover him. He has critical data to protect.” (Jackson’s first name is spelled Ronny.)
Moments later, Oath Keeper leader Stewart Rhodes responded. “Help with what?” he replied. “Give him my cell.”
These text messages surfaced Monday in a letter from the House Select Committee that’s investigating the violent Capitol riot. And the lawmakers have a lot of questions. So far, 11 Oath Keepers, including Rhodes, have been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection to the riot. Two of those Oath Keepers have pleaded guilty.
“Why would these individuals have an interest in your specific location?” the committee asked in their letter, as an example of the kind of question they’d be putting to Jackson. “Why would they believe you ‘have critical data to protect?’ Why would they direct their members to protect your personal safety? With whom did you speak by cell phone that day?”
The committee sent the letter as a request to interview Jackson, who’s now a Republican representative in Texas, along with two of his Republican colleagues, Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona and Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama, as part of their investigation. The lawmakers are particularly interested in whether Jackson and the Oath Keepers communicated before, during, or after the riot. The committee hopes to meet with all three congressmen the week of May 9.
Jackson, along with Biggs and Brooks, were outspoken proponents of the “Stop the Steal” conspiracy, which brought thousands of Trump supporters to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6. Before he was elected to Congress in 2020, Jackson was best known as the White House doctor from 2013 to 2018. He earned the nickname “Candyman” because of his free-wheeling approach to handing out prescription drugs, according to NPR, and he famously hyped the president’s health and genes. Trump later nominated him to run Veterans Affairs, although he withdrew from the process over allegations of improper behavior.
The Jan. 6 committee is also interested in the ties between Biggs, Brooks, and other known far-right activists or extremists. In the letter to Biggs, lawmakers wrote that they are aware Stop the Steal activist Ali Alexander publicly claimed that he and Biggs, plus two other members of Congress, cooked up the plan together to bring protesters to D.C. on Jan. 6, the day that the 2020 election results were expected to be certified.
“We would like to understand precisely what you knew before the violence on Jan. 6 about the purposes, planning, and expectations for the march on the Capitol,” they wrote.
Their interest in Brooks—once an ardent Trump loyalist—hinges on recent comments he made about the former president, according to the letter.
“The president has asked me to rescind the election of 2020,” Brooks told WIAT, a local Alabama TV station, in March. “He always brings up, 'We've got to rescind the election. We got to take Joe Biden down and put me in now.'" The letter quoted these remarks verbatim.
Brooks also told CNN that Trump continued to pressure him to rescind the election results even after Jan. 6.
Brooks' allegations against Trump came shortly after the former president had withdrawn his endorsement from the Alabama congressman in his bid for re-election. Trump accused Brooks of having gone “woke” by dropping the issue of the 2020 election on the campaign trail.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/epx3jw/oath-keepers-ronny-jackson-protection
-
Steve Bannon's defense accused of lying to a judge – in after midnight DOJ court filing: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/a-nonprofit-law-expert-explains-the-federal-case-against-former-trump-adviser-steve-bannon.jpg?id=24487383&width=2400&height=1290)
The U.S. Department of Justice dropped an after-midnight bombshell on former Donald Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon early Monday morning.
Attorney Luppe Luppen said, "DOJ coming in hot with a filing after midnight saying the FBI interviewed a Trump lawyer and determined Bannon’s counsel lied to the J6 Committee."
"On June 29, 2022, former President Donald Trump's attorney, who sent the letter on which the defendant claimed his noncompliance was based, confirmed what his correspondence has already established: that the former president never invoked executive privilege over any particular information or materials; that the former president's counsel never asked or was asked to attend the defendant's deposition before the select committee, that the defendant's attorney misrepresented to the committee what the former president's counsel had told the defendant's attorney; and that the letter provided no basis for total noncompliance," the DOJ argued.
Former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti wrote, "This is consistent with my view of Bannon's ploy. It's a gimmick intended to help his defense in his upcoming criminal trial on the 18th."
"DOJ will try to keep this out of evidence at trial. But the Committee should call Bannon's bluff and get documents and a private interview," he explained.
USA Today columnist Michael Stern thought it was all apart of Bannon's criminal defense strategy.
He wrote that "DOJ is disclosing this (which will undoubtedly be used at trial) for a particular purpose: to stop Bannon from claiming at trial that his current willingness to comply undoes his criminal act in refusing to comply previously."
DOJ coming in hot with a filing after midnight saying the FBI interviewed a Trump lawyer and determined Bannon’s counsel lied to the J6 Committee. https://documentcloud.org/documents/22083076-motion-in-limine-to-exclude-evidence-or-argument-relating-to-the-defendants-eleventh-hour-assertion-that-he-is-willing-to-testify
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXXFUGlWQAAewv3?format=jpg&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXXHC_gXoAAN9DJ?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1546358999938916352
-
Cassidy Hutchinson realized her Trump-paid attorney was only 'there to insulate the big guy'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/cassidy-hutchinson-s-surprise-jan-6-testimony-exposes-the-violence-that-fuels-trumpism.png?id=30041639&width=2400&height=1416)
A new report about Cassidy Hutchinson revealed some of the back story involving her former lawyer and the sudden departure to a new attorney ahead of her public testimony with the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress and the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election.
In the New York Times, reporter Robert Draper cited pro-Donald Trump lawyer Stefan Passantino, who was being paid for by Trump's Save America PAC to represent Hutchinson and has helped other witnesses as well.
"Mr. Passantino had extensive financial ties to Mr. Trump’s orbit," the Times explained. "Federal Election Commission reports show that his legal compliance firm received more than $1 million from Trump-related political action committees in the 2021-22 election cycle, and that in the previous cycle Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trump loyalist and a House candidate at the time, paid him more than $93,000 for his services."
She spoke to the committee for the first time in Feb. 2022, though it wasn't yet clear if Passantino was there on behalf of Donald Trump over her legal interests, two sources told the Times.
Portions of her first three depositions had Hutchinson mentioning Anthony Ornato, a former Secret Service agent Trump appointed to be deputy White House chief of staff. She recalled Ornato warning then-chief of staff Mark Meadows that there were intelligence reports warning of violence on Jan. 6. She also revealed that House Republicans were already pressing Vice President Mike Pence to stop the Jan. 6 Electoral College certification.
Hutchinson grew more "warm" to the idea of helping the committee, but Passantino was not.
“She realized she couldn’t call her attorney to say, ‘Hey, I’ve got more information,’” said a friend. “He was there to insulate the big guy.”
That was when she reached out to Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former White House director of communications, and former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA). The latter said she could have predicted the predicament.
“I said, ‘You’re going to end up paying legal bills,’” Comstock recalled to the Times. She then offered to start a legal defense fund so she wouldn't have to depend on Trump's lawyers for help. That's when Jody Hunt offered to help, he was the former Justice Department head of the civil division under Jeff Sessions. Due to his connection to Sessions, he too was a pariah in Trump World.
Greater cooperation moved forward from there.
Read the full piece at the New York Times:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/10/us/politics/cassidy-hutchinson-jan-6-testimony.html
Analyst explains why members of Congress should be held accountable just like the Oath Keepers they inspired
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jan-6-committee-has-painstakingly-traced-how-proud-boys-and-oath-keepers-followed-trump-s-tweets.jpg?id=29957937&width=2400&height=1436)
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress and attempt to overthrow the election announced on Sunday that they would have Oath Keepers spokesperson Jason Van Tatenhove testify at the Tuesday public hearing.
"It is critically important that this witness is there, testifying to the really national network of players and people, that not only pushed Jan. 6th forward but have continued to keep up this kind up this white supremacist fervor for a long time," said Brittany Packnett Cunningham, Campaign Zero co-founder and MSNBC analyst. "These are the kind of folks that people should be paying attention to, at the local level, and the state level, as well as the federal level, not just for what they did on Jan. the 6th, but also, for what they could do, moving forward."
She explained, however, that it can't only be up to the rank-and-file members of the Oath Keeper and other militia groups who made Jan. 6 happen, but those elected officials who pushed the lie that the election was fraudulent and inspired people to attack Congress.
"The folks in power, people are sitting in positions, members of Congress, and people at the highest levels need to be held accountable for this," said Cunningham. "And look at Josh Hawley, and Lauren Boebert, and Victory for White Life, Barry Miller, and they're still making laws for this country. Those folks who stormed the Capitol on the 6th would not have been there, had it not been for those members of Congress and other powerful representatives, telling them lies, and stoking the very deepest white supremacist fears. So, we have to make sure that the Oath Keepers, as they're held accountable, that those in power are as well, otherwise, we'll see this happen all over again."
Watch the commentary below:
-
House Jan. 6 committee reveals when Pat Cipollone's video testimony will become public
The House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 still has at least two more hearings that they intend to hold, and now they're revealing when former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone's testimony could be revealed to the public.
Cipollone appeared behind closed doors on Friday for several hours and the committee revealed that he did confirm some of the information that was already known. Members wouldn't go into detail from there, however.
In a statement Sunday, Tim Mulvey, the committee's spokesman, "Cipollone's videotaped testimony will likely be featured prominently during the final hearing."
"In our interview with Mr. Cipollone, the Committee received critical testimony on nearly every major topic in its investigation, reinforcing key points regarding Donald Trump’s misconduct and providing highly relevant new information that will play a central role in its upcoming hearings," the statement from the committee read.
"This includes information demonstrating Donald Trump’s supreme dereliction of duty," the statement also said.
Tuesday, July 12 at 1 p.m. EST will be the next public hearing.
AFP
Cipollone was pressed on Trump pardons for his family during House committee testimony: CNN
According to a report from CNN's Pamela Brown, former Donald Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone was quizzed about reports that Donald Trump may have asked about pardoning himself and his kids before leaving the White House for good after losing the 2020 presidential election.
Details on what the White House attorney told the committee during his 8-hour interview on Friday have been scarce, but Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) did appear on "Face the Nation" on Sunday to say Cipollone did provide more information about a Dec 18, 2020 meeting with what he called Trump's "Team Crazy."
According to source who spoke with CNN, the topic of Trump pardons was also addressed with Cipollone.
"A House select committee spokesperson told CNN the panel's interview with Cipollone was productive but said there was no agreement made to restrict any questions to avoid potential issues with executive privilege," Brown wrote before adding, "The select committee on Friday also asked Cipollone a series of questions about pardons, including potential pardons for the Trump family and whether Trump wanted to pardon himself."
Also, on Sunday morning, Houe select committee member Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) admitted that Cipollone handed over more information about Trump's plans to declare martial law in order to seize voting machines.
AFP
Cipollone provided 'important insight' on Trump's plans to declare martial law: J6 committee member
During an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union," House Jan 6th committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) was fairly closed-mouthed about what former White House counsel Pat Cipollone told the committee during his 8-hour-along testimony last Friday.
She was a bit more forthcoming when host Jake Tapper narrowed down his questions about Donald Trump's efforts that went beyond the assault on the Capitol building that sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives.
After telling the CNN host that he would have to wait to see what the committee has on tap for Tuesday morning hearing, to be followed by a second public hearing on Thursday in prime time, Lofgren did confirm some topics that were discussed.
"We will have some excerpts of Mr. Cipollone's testimony," she promised. "He was able to provide information on basically all of the critical issues we're looking at, including the president's, what I would call, dereliction of duty on the day of January 6th. So, yes, that was important."
After she added, "As you know, the committee rules don't allow us to disclose the testimony without a vote of the committee, that hasn't happened yet, but it was important testimony," Tapper pressed, "Did he discuss Trump considering seizing the voting machines or Trump considering declaring martial law to seize the voting machines?"
"I think you'll have to wait for the hearing later this week. As i said, we haven't had a vote to disclose the testimony, "she repeated before conceding, "Let me just say this, I think he did provide important insights on those subjects."
Watch:
-
Oath Keepers founder tried to get in contact with the White House weeks before the Jan. 6 attack: lawyer
(https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2021/04/08/gettyimages-1231796848_custom-2ac5a2ee2393a9b0f093e772dd2e3796045f07e6.jpg)
Speaking to NBC News, the general counsel for the Oath Keepers says the far-right militia group's founder, Stewart Rhodes, tried to get her to put him in touch with the White House in the weeks before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Kellye SoRelle, in addition to representing the Oath Keepers, also volunteered for Lawyers for Trump during the 2020 election and was in touch with many of Trump's allied who worked to overturn the election's results.
“[Rhodes] was hitting me up for a contact,” SoRelle told NBC News. “He didn’t have any access points.”
Rhodes wanted SoRelle to send a letter to Trump calling for him to invoke the Insurrection Act in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, but she declined. SoRelle told NBC News that she never put Rhodes in contact with anyone at the White House.
"Nonetheless, she was on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol (though didn’t enter the building) on Jan. 6. And on the night before the attack, she was present in a parking garage as Rhodes met with Enrique Tarrio, the head of the Proud Boys, the other predominant organization in a smorgasbord of extremist groups connected with the Capitol attack," reports NBC News.
Rhodes attorney James Bright told NBC News that he doesn't think it's a big deal that Rhodes was trying to contact the White House and that hundreds of people "try to get in touch with politicians daily."
AFP
Oath Keepers lawyer says Stewart Rhodes wanted her Trump contacts before Jan. 6 Capitol attack
The Jan. 6 committee will explore links between the Trump White House and right-wing militia groups Tuesday. It has spoken to Kellye SoRelle, who might be a key.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1120w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2022-07/220708-Kellye-SoRelle-jan-6-capitol-mn-1120-3f2169.jpg)
Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the Oath Keepers, left, and Kellye SoRelle, in sunglasses, at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021
WASHINGTON — In the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes tried to get the organization’s general counsel, Kellye SoRelle, to put him in touch with the White House, she told NBC News.
In addition to her work with the Oath Keepers, SoRelle was a volunteer for Lawyers for Trump during the 2020 election and was in contact with many of the people fighting a doomed legal battle to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election and keep former President Donald Trump in office. The contacts include, she said, people in Rudy Giuliani’s and Sidney Powell’s camps, as well as those inside the administration, although she added that she “wasn’t, like, communicating with Trump directly.”
Rhodes wanted her to put him in touch with the White House. “He was hitting me up for a contact,” said SoRelle, a family law lawyer who previously ran for the Texas state House. “He didn’t have any access points.”
As he prepared an open letter calling on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, Rhodes asked SoRelle to send it to the White House. She says she declined.
As SoRelle tells it, despite her close relationship with Rhodes, she never put him in touch with key figures, putting a firewall between her work with the Oath Keepers and her work to overturn the election results. Nonetheless, she was on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol (although didn’t enter the building) on Jan. 6. And on the night before the attack, she was present in a parking garage as Rhodes met with Enrique Tarrio, the head of the Proud Boys, the other predominant organization in a smorgasbord of extremist groups connected with the Capitol attack.
SoRelle has already spoken extensively with the Jan. 6 committee, and given her overlapping roles, it’s likely that testimony will come up at the panel’s next public hearing Tuesday, much of which the committee has said will focus on the role of the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys and the goal they shared with Trump to stop the certification of the Electoral College votes.
A source familiar with the Jan. 6 committee’s work said SoRelle was of great interest to the committee given her links both in Trump’s orbit and with members of the alleged seditious conspiracy.
Her dual role could play a part as the committee tries to establish a deeper connection between both camps. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” the person said.
Rhodes attorney James Bright said he didn’t think it was a story that Rhodes — who prosecutors say had organized a militia ready and willing to take up arms on behalf of Trump — was trying to get in touch with the president ahead of Jan. 6.
“Hundreds of people try to get in touch with politicians daily,” Bright said.
Robert Costello, a lawyer for Giuliani, said Giuliani had “no connection” to the Oath Keepers. “I represented Mr. Giuliani at the time, and I don’t believe he had a ‘camp.’ In any event, Rudy Giuliani has no connection to the Oath Keepers or the Proud Boys or any other fringe group,” Costello said.
Powell didn’t respond to a request for comment. Last month, a judge ordered Rhodes’ attorneys to disclose whether Powell’s group Defending the Republic was helping to pay their legal fees following reporting from Mother Jones and BuzzFeed News.
The FBI seized SoRelle’s phone last year as part of its seditious conspiracy investigation against several members of the Oath Keepers, including Rhodes, in connection with the Jan. 6 attack.
SoRelle co-signed two of the open letters that prosecutors have cited in that case. Full archived versions of the letters, which are no longer online, were provided to NBC News by one of the online sleuths investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
One open letter dated Dec. 14, 2020, calls on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, saying that “millions of American military and law enforcement veterans, and many millions more loyal patriotic American gun owners stand ready to answer your call to arms, and to obey your orders to get this done.”
The open second letter, dated Dec. 23, 2020, was more explicit, informing Trump that if Congress certified the election on Jan. 6, “tens of thousands of patriotic Americans, both veterans and non-veterans, will already be in Washington D.C., and many of us will have our mission-critical gear stowed nearby just outside D.C., and we will answer the call right then and there, if you call on us.”
Citing George Washington, the letter encouraged Trump to immediately invoke the Insurrection Act and not to “let the fact that it is Christmas stop you.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/oath-keepers-lawyer-says-stewart-rhodes-wanted-trump-contacts-jan-6-ca-rcna37267
-
Next J6 hearing to focus on Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, QAnon — and GOP members of Congress: select committee aides
Aides to the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol previewed what viewers will see in Tuesday's public hearing during a call with reporters on Monday afternoon.
The hearing will be led by Reps. Elaine Luria (D-VA) and Jaimie Raskin (D-MD).
During the briefing, aides said the hearing will focus on how Trump grew more "desperate" as it became clear he had lost the election.
The aides said a "pivotal moment" was a Dec. 19 tweet by Trump.
"Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" Trump tweeted.
The hearing will also focus on extremist groups in Trump's MAGA base. A Jan. 6 aide specifically listed the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and QAnon. Members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have been charged with seditious conspiracy in relation to the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
There will be a focus on the the extremist groups' "ties" to Trump advisors Roger Stone and Mike Flynn, an aide said.
The hearing will also focus on members of Congress who were involved, including efforts to pressure Mike Pence to overturn the election.
The hearing is scheduled to begin Tuesday at 1 p.m. and will be broadcast live at RawStory.com.
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-hearing-2657649599/
-
Jamie Raskin’s 5-year battle against white nationalism comes to head at Tuesday’s J6 hearing: NYT
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jamie-raskin-office-of-rep-jamie-raskin.jpg?id=30088869&width=2400&height=1350)
On Monday, The New York Times reported that Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) will take the lead in Tuesday's hearings of the House Select Committee on January 6 — and that he will bring to bear five years of experience investigating white nationalist and far-right extremist groups in the committee's assessment of Trump's ties to same.
"Long before the Jan. 6, 2021, assault, Mr. Raskin, Democrat of Maryland, had thrown himself into stamping out the rise of white nationalism and domestic extremism in America," wrote Luke Broadwater. "He trained his focus on the issue after the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., five years ago. Since then, he has held teach-ins, led a multipart House investigation that exposed the lackluster federal effort to confront the threat, released intelligence assessments indicating that white supremacists have infiltrated law enforcement and strategized about ways to crack down on paramilitary groups."
"Now, with millions of Americans expected to tune in, Mr. Raskin — along with Representative Stephanie Murphy, Democrat of Florida — is set to take a leading role in a hearing that promises to dig deeply into how far-right groups helped to orchestrate and carry out the Jan. 6 assault at the Capitol — and how they were brought together, incited and empowered by President Donald J. Trump," the report continued.
Raskin, who is Jewish and has personal motivations to investigate these groups due to many of them expressing anti-Semitic ideology, laid out what he plans to show to the Times.
“There were Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, the QAnon network, Boogaloo Boys, militia men and other assorted extremist and religious cults that assembled under the banner of ‘Stop The Steal,’ ” said Raskin. “This was quite a coming-out party for a lot of extremist, antigovernment groups and white nationalist groups that had never worked together before.”
"As he has studied the rise of right-wing extremism, Mr. Raskin has noticed a pattern in the countries that are able to stamp out creeping authoritarianism: Liberals must unite with the center-right," said the report.
"Much of the Jan. 6 committee’s work has been geared toward creating such a consensus, by highlighting the testimony of Republicans who stood up to Mr. Trump and the effort to overturn the 2020 election," it added. "'When you look at it historically, liberal and progressive parties generally don’t defeat authoritarian and fascist assaults on democracy by themselves,' Mr. Raskin said. 'Where democracy survives, it’s because the center-right and the center-left come together to defend it.'"
You can read more here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/11/us/jamie-raskin-jan-6-hearing.html
-
Pro-Trump groups planned to gather in DC for inauguration — then switched to J6 after his tweet
(https://cdn2.opendemocracy.net/media/images/Cross_outside_Capitol_building_6_January.max-760x504.jpg)
On Monday, Axios reported that the January 6 Committee will present evidence at Tuesday's hearing that pro-Trump groups originally planned to converge on D.C. on the date of President Joe Biden's inauguration — but changed their plans after a Trump tweet directing them to gather on January 6 instead.
"One of the central questions in the investigation has been how directly culpable Trump was in the violence committed by his supporters — something impeachment managers sought to answer in the weeks after the assault," reported Andrew Solender. "But the committee has substantial resources the impeachment managers lacked, including subpoena power and more than a year to gather evidence."
"The committee has evidence that some pro-Trump groups had initially planned to be in D.C. in the days after President Biden's inauguration to kick off the opposition to his administration, according to a source familiar with the findings," said the report.
The report added, "The panel will contend that a Dec. 19, 2020, tweet from Trump calling supporters to the nation's capital for a 'big protest' on Jan. 6 — the now-infamous day Congress was set to certify electors — spurred supporters to change their plans, the source said."
According to the report, "At least one pro-Trump group allegedly changed its rally permit."
Trump appeared at a "Stop the Steal" rally on the National Mall immediately prior to the attack, and while he did not participate, he urged his supporters to march to the Capitol.
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified he actually wanted to join the rioters and attacked his security detail when they wouldn't take him there.
This comes as a former associate of Steve Bannon, Dustin Stockton, told MSNBC's Ari Melber that the organizers of the "Stop the Steal" rally were seeking to distance themselves from the extremists converging on the Capitol — and resentful that Trump got in the way of their efforts to diffuse tensions.
Read more here: https://www.axios.com/2022/07/12/jan6-committee-extremist-trump-proud-boys
-
These right wing fascist and militia groups always existed, but Donald Trump allowed them to act on their violence and take over the Republican party.
Democracy expert expects political violence will get much worse and become a 'normal part of our life'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-mob-at-the-capitol-via-shutterstock.jpg?id=29277060&width=2400&height=1323)
Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld, an expert on how democracies can improve at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, spoke to Washington Post columnist Greg Sargent about what Americans witnessed on Jan. 6, 2021, and what can be expected as the United States enters a new era of politics.
The outlook is grim, Kleinfeld explained, noting that things will get much worse before they get better.
"Americans need to realize that paramilitary groups could become a normal part of our political life," she said of those like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, which have been part of the prosecutions of the attack on Congress.
"For the last few years, we’ve seen an uptick in Republican parties at the local level — though occasionally at the state level — using militias for security at party events, having militias vote on party business, in one case in Michigan having militias introduce legislation," she explained. "You’re seeing a lot of photo-ops with militia members — things that normalize their interaction with the democratic process. These militias are being used to threaten other Republicans who aren’t part of this anti-democratic faction."
She cited some of the other countries where police violence has broken out and that it goes from violence to dehumanization. She cited the GOP's use of the word "groomers" to imply Democrats are pedophiles. The same happened to Republican Arizona state House Speaker Rusty Bowers after he refused to overturn the 2020 election results in his state for Trump. He testified that they spent days outside of his home blasting loudspeakers calling him a pedophile while his terminally ill daughter was dying.
"The next stage is making violence against those dehumanized opponents seem more normal. You’re starting to see GOP candidates posing with rifles — everything from Rep. Thomas Massie’s family Christmas photo to Eric Greitens’s new ads about hunting RINOs," said Kleinfeld.
There are three groups an antidemocratic faction of the GOP is going after, she continued: pro-democracy Republicans, elected officials who handle elections, and everyday people like teachers and librarians.
"But if they start losing, then they’ve built up a lot of hatred — a lot of distrust in the system — and then the violence is going to get out of their control," she told Sargent. "It’ll look more like an insurgency. A disaffected left, not connected to the Democratic Party, is also justifying violence. It could get ugly."
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress and what led up to it will look at the links between the attacks and milita groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys.
Read More Here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/07/11/gop-political-violence-militias-jan-6-democratic-breakdown/
-
Cassidy is a perjurer Whats worse is what she perjured herself about is nonsense He grabbed the wheel LOL
-
Rep. Jamie Raskin @RepRaskin
When he sent this tweet, Trump became the first president in American history to call for a protest against the peaceful transfer of power.
At tomorrow's hearing, America will see how it mobilized dangerous extremists & white nationalist groups to come armed to “Stop the Steal.”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXa8xkLWAAE5p7w?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://twitter.com/RepRaskin/status/1546632527024164864
-
The GOP’s Militia Problem: Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and Lessons from Abroad
(https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/01/28/us/politics/28DC-Congress-Extremists1/28DC-Congress-Extremists1-superJumbo.jpg)
Members of a Three Percenters group provided security for Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia during a campaign event last year in Ringgold, Georgia (C.B. Schmelter/Chattanooga Times Free Press via AP)
The January 6 Select Committee hearings have been framed as an effort aimed at accountability and posterity. But their findings are at least as important to the future. The Committee’s disclosures that Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson tried to hand-deliver a slate of fake electors to Vice President Pence, that Arizona Congressman Andy Biggs asked Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers to decertify their state’s electors the morning of January 6, and that some Republican Members of Congress sought pardons from then-President Trump for their roles are further signals that co-conspirators in the schemes to thwart the democratic choice for president remain in power. They are not the only ones maintaining and seeking power. Former President Donald Trump is eyeing a return in 2024. The Proud Boys and Oath Keepers — militias the Committee has highlighted for their roles as ring leaders for the violence that day — did not see their strength ebb after January 6. On the contrary, violence, first used as a political tool and now partially mainstreamed, has spread.
The events on January 6 are not past. They are prelude.
As a researcher on violence and democracy around the world, I have studied party-linked militia groups for years. In countries like Iraq, Nigeria, Lebanon, and Colombia, politicians outsource violence to specialists in the trade, just as they hire consultants for robocalls and direct mail. In the past, googling these terms brought up countries just escaping from conflict or descending into it. Now, the United States, where militias have been embraced by GOP leaders at the national, state, and local level (as I discuss in detail below), appears among the early search results.
Trump’s flirtation with militia groups began well before the events recounted on January 6. The Oath Keepers assembled to “protect” the polls after then-candidate Trump’s claims of potential fraud – in 2016. Multiple militia groups mobilized in response to Trump’s statements surrounding his inauguration and in response to his calls for more border security. The Oath Keepers provided security to Trump campaign rallies and events in Texas, Minnesota, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere at regular intervals between 2016 and 2020. After Brad Raffensperger, the Republican Secretary of State of Georgia refused to “find 11,780 votes,” he faced death threats that increased after Trump declared him an “enemy of the people.” The family went into hiding following multiple threats, including the appearance of out-of-state Oath Keepers at their home. Speaker Bowers testified that at least one of the crowd members protesting viciously at his home while his daughter lay inside, dying, wore Three Percenter insignia. On Jan. 5, photographs showed Oath Keepers wearing “All access” passes on lanyards as they escorted Roger Stone to a speech he gave by the Supreme Court. And on January 6, militias not only breached the Capitol; Stone appeared to use Oath Keeper militia members as part of his personal security outfit that morning.
The January 6 testimony to date has focused on Trump and the ways he has encouraged and instrumentalized militia members. But support for vigilante violence has spread to other parts of the Republican Party. In 2017, the Portland branch of the Republican Party voted to allow militia groups, including members of the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters, to act as security at their public events; a Colorado county GOP has also hired militia groups for security. In Michigan’s Grand Traverse County, local officials at a zoom-based public meeting were asked to denounce the Proud Boys after the insurrection – instead, the county commission’s vice chair stepped off-screen and returned with his rifle. In Texas, Allen West, then-Chair of the Republican Party, offered an oath to “swear in” militia members at a Stop the Steal rally in November 2020, posed with armed militia members just days after the January 6 riot, and appeared alongside other Republican state politicians at a rally with the leader of the Oath Keepers militia in March after the latter was under investigation for his involvement in the January 6 attack. This winter, a militia-backed recall election ousted the Shasta County, California Board of Supervisors; the new leaders owe their positions to militia support. In Arizona, Mark Finchem, a sitting member of the House, trumpets his membership in the Oath Keeper militia. The chairman of Wyoming’s GOP – engaged in a fierce battle against Liz Cheney, the January 6 Select Committee Vice Chair – is a member of the Oath Keepers.
The Proud Boys are also infiltrating local Republican parties. In Miami-Dade county, a number of Proud Boys appear to have entered parts of the party hierarchy, bringing their violent intimidation with them. In Nevada, the director of the State’s Republican Party has been accused of recruiting Proud Boys to take part in party leadership votes and intimidate candidates running from the more traditional Republican wing of the party in Clark County (which contains Las Vegas and is by far the largest county in Nevada). The faction’s violent threats forced the Clark County Republicans to hire extra security, hold events in gun-free zones such as schools, and ultimately to cancel multiple meetings due to security fears. Proud Boys accosted Rep. Dan Crenshaw and his staff at the GOP’s convention in Texas this month, chanting a term for him popularized by Tucker Carlson.
Far from reducing violence, the 2020 election and its aftermath heralded a step-change in the mainstream acceptance of violence as a political tool. The FBI arrested Michigan gubernatorial candidate Ryan Kelley this month after he egged on the January 6 crowd in Washington D.C. with cries of “Come on, let’s go. This is it! This is – this is war, baby”. Kelley met this winter with poll workers in Michigan alongside Michigan State Senate candidate Mike Detmer, who suggested in response to concerns about future election fraud: “be prepared to lock and load… If you ask what we can do, show up armed.” Senate candidate Eric Greitens, already facing domestic violence and sexual assault allegations from different women, now has a video showing the former Navy Seal armed and hunting “RINOS.” He encourages his supporters to do the same, given that there is “no bag or tag limit,” as he states, to killing other human beings.
Violent groups that get involved in politics in other countries follow a common path that I detailed in my last book. At first, politicians recruit experts in violence and intimidation to use those tools as a campaign tactic. Later, those violent leaders run for office or take political roles directly, cutting out the political middleman. Usually, what they want is power and impunity, so that they can make money from more lucrative criminal activities, though sometimes they simply want power for its own sake. To understand where this can lead: 11 of India’s current national legislators face open cases for murder, 30 have attempted murder charges and 10 serving legislators have been convicted of such serious crimes – a doubling from ten years ago. Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, based in Miami, began amassing a criminal record at the age of twenty – but its unclear whether their entrance into Miami politics is at the behest of others or is the beginning of going into business for themselves. In Nevada, it appears more clear that the Proud Boys are still at the first stage, being recruited by unscrupulous political actors who are using their violence to amass more power for themselves.
Why would a faction of Republicans still in power or running for office at the federal, state, and local level make common cause with violent criminals? Because violence and intimidation are already bolstering their power. Intimidation is being successfully used to silence opposition. Representative Gonzalez was one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump. After threats to his wife and young children, he decided not to run for reelection.
When 13 House Republicans voted to support greater funding for highways, bridges, and other infrastructure, their colleague Marjorie Taylor Greene publicized their phone numbers. A number admitted to receiving threats afterward, suggesting that a new tactic for “whipping” future votes and compelling Members of Congress to vote against the wishes of their districts had been discovered. Indeed, Rep. Peter Meier (R-Mich.) wrote about a Republican colleague who voted against certifying the presidential election out of fear for his family’s safety. And Meijer also said some of his colleagues who voted to impeach Trump have since traveled with armed escorts “out of the fear for their safety,” altering their routines, and getting body armor, which he noted is a reimbursable purchase.
Americans may feel that these incidents of political violence are “high politics” that they can avoid if they steer clear of the political arena. That feeling is widespread in countries I have studied where political violence grows to dangerous levels. It Is always a false hope. In the United States, it is already far more dangerous to exercise freedom of speech than in the recent past. Driving cars into civilians used to be a tactic favored by overseas terrorists. It had been recorded just twice in the United States before James Alex Fields Jr. murdered Heather Heyer by driving into a crowd of counter-protestors at the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally. Yet from George Floyd’s murder on May 25, 2020 through September 30, 2021, at least 139 drivers drove their cars into protests across America, injuring 100 – sometimes severely – and killing four. Threats against members of Congress have risen tenfold in the five years since Trump became president, white supremacist activity has risen twelvefold in the same period. For Blacks, Asians, women, and others, hate crimes have increased dramatically in the last five years – and mass shooters emboldened by political rhetoric have struck ordinary citizens going about their ordinary lives from El Paso to Buffalo.
Homicide may seem disconnected from political violence — but in fact, a historical study of homicide from America’s founding discovered that it was tightly correlated with distrust in fellow Americans and in the government. The Pew Foundation has found that trust is at near-historic lows after years of conspiracy mongering. In 2020, murder had the highest one-year jump since 1905 and possibly in recorded U.S. history. Homicide rose all over the country, in cities and rural areas, but increased most sharply in red states. The United States is the only country in the world to have experienced a sharp rise in homicide during the coronavirus, and it rose in the U.S. while nearly every form of non-violent crime fell. Nor is it only adults. Children often enact what their parents only say, acting out the cultural zeitgeist. Between 2016 and 2017, before the mental health challenges caused by the coronavirus and response, physical attacks with a weapon in schools nearly doubled.
International terrorism expert Arie Perliger has found that in Israel and Germany, domestic terrorists are emboldened when they believe that politicians encourage violence or that authorities will tolerate it from their side of the political spectrum. In the select committee hearings, we heard a Proud Boys leader say that then-President Trump’s comment to “Stand Back and Stand By” tripled their membership. Since the election, the Proud Boys have rallied around anti-critical race theory and covid-masking protests, using mainstream causes to boost their membership; they and other extremist groups became increasingly public at conservative rallies, taking part in nearly half of all armed demonstrations in 2021. Stewart Rhodes, leader of the Oath Keepers, has stated that he expected pardons for those arrested at the January 6 insurrection and money for their legal defense.
Violence is overwhelmingly concentrated on the right. But as Justice Brett Kavanaugh has discovered, once violence has been legitimated as a tool of politics, no one is safe. Violence begets violence – once its use mainstreams, moderates who espouse non-violence appear anemic and unable to offer protection to their side. The middle weakens, while violence eventually takes on a rhythm of reprisal far removed from the original causes.
The full accounting of January 6 is finally being unveiled to the public. But its reverberations continue. Globally, militias commit more political violence than any other group – including governments and insurgents. We might hope the committee’s hearings will be a cause for a national conversation as well as an internal conversation and soul-searching within the GOP. Even if Trump passes from the scene, the embrace of violence and intimidation as a political tactic by a faction of the GOP will cause violence of all types to rise – against all Americans.
https://www.justsecurity.org/81898/the-gops-militia-problem-proud-boys-oath-keepers-and-lessons-from-abroad/
-
DOJ drops a bomb on Bannon's plot
(https://assets.realclear.com/images/58/582171_5_.webp)
The latest January 6 committee hearing is scheduled for tomorrow and it promises to be dramatic. From what we can gather, this will be the hearing that grapples with the actual violence of that day and will explore what Trump and his accomplices did to bring it about. The committee apparently plans to discuss the participation of armed militia types, some of whom have already been charged with seditious conspiracy by the Justice Department.
Tuesday's questioning will be led by Stephanie Murphy, D-Fl., and Jamie Raskin, D-Md., and there will be live witnesses — although only one has been named, a former spokesman for the right-wing militia group Oath Keepers. Jason Van Tatenhove will reportedly discuss the group's radicalization and attraction to Donald Trump.
We'll find out what they have in tomorrow's hearing and it's likely to be disturbing
On Friday, Trump's former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone testified before the committee. He may have shed some further light on what the White House did with information that was shared by virtually every government department about the potential for violence on that day. And who knows what else he had to say? Early reports suggested that Cipollone was less than helpful but the committee put out a statement over the weekend that says otherwise:
"In our interview with Mr. Cipollone, the Committee received critical testimony on nearly every major topic in its investigation, reinforcing key points regarding Donald Trump's misconduct and providing highly relevant new information that will play a central role in its upcoming hearings. This includes information demonstrating Donald Trump's supreme dereliction of duty."
That certainly sounds intriguing. And more specifically, the committee's spokesman went on to say, "Cipollone's videotaped testimony will likely be featured prominently during the final hearing."
But the big news over the weekend was that on the eve of his trial for contempt of Congress for refusing to abide by a committee subpoena, former Trump campaign chief and current podcaster Steve Bannon abruptly announced that he was ready to testify after all. He sent a letter to the committee saying that Trump had agreed to waive executive privilege and requested that he be allowed to appear in a live public hearing. (No word on whether he wanted them to remove all the brown M&Ms from the bowl in his dressing room.) Trump confirmed his "waiver" with a typically juvenile extended tweet-like statement:
"I will waive Executive Privilege for you, which allows for you to go in and testify truthfully and fairly, as per the request of the Unselect Committee of political Thugs and Hacks, who have allowed no Due Process, no Cross-Examination, and no real Republican members or witnesses to be present or interviewed. It is a partisan Kangaroo Court,
Despite many in the media's credulous reporting of this news, it's not what it appears to be.
Even if he does testify, Bannon would not be off the hook because it doesn't change the fact that he did defy the subpoena for all these months.
First of all, there is absolutely no reason to believe that Bannon has any intention of testifying honestly. Trump's embarrassing letter makes it clear what he expects and there's little doubt that Bannon is on exactly the same page. All you have to do is watch some of his "War Room" podcasts to know that. So any thoughts that this is a sudden change of heart are absurd. This is nothing more than a ploy to delay his impending trial, which he has been trying to do since June 30 when he requested that it be moved to October claiming that he can't get a fair hearing because of the committee hearings.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) mocked his request by pointing out that he's only been mentioned twice in the hearings for a total of 30 seconds. This gambit is designed to change that by putting him at the center of the story although it's pretty unlikely that the judge in his case won't see that.
Even if he does testify, Bannon would not be off the hook because it doesn't change the fact that he did defy the subpoena for all these months. And the notion that he had the executive privilege in the first place is daft. Although he may have been scheming with the president to overturn the election, Bannon hadn't worked in government since 2017. Even his own lawyer said that only some of the requests from the committee could fall under executive privilege. And that assumes it exists with respect to Bannon at all, which it doesn't. (In fact, it really shouldn't apply to anyone since Donald Trump isn't the president, but that seems to be in dispute in some quarters.)
Late last night the DOJ dropped a bomb with a filing that pretty much exposed Bannon's desperate little scheme.
Authorities revealed that one of Donald Trump's lawyers, Justin Clark, testified to the FBI on June 28 that Trump never invoked executive privilege for Bannon in the first place. That certainly was not helpful to Bannon's defense and it may explain why Bannon and his lawyers moved to delay his trial the next day. The filing went into all the reasons why the executive privilege claim was always specious and concludes with this slap down:
"All of the above-described circumstances suggest the Defendant's sudden wish to testify is not a genuine effort to meet his obligations but a last-ditch attempt to avoid accountability."
Usually arrogant and full of bravado, Bannon does seem to be scrambling.
Journalist Jennifer Senior, who wrote a big profile of Bannon for The Atlantic this month, tweeted this:
Intrigued to see Bannon's about-face on the J6 committee. When we were last face-to-face (3/30), he was v[ery]excited about his latest scheme: "If we execute, it'll be classic honey badger." His plan had been to subpoena the J6 committee members. Didn't get traction, obv[iously].
Then, on a 5/17 phone call, he told me (and I quote) "The 6 January Committee -- go fuck themselves." Hmmmm. Or not. And on June 7, two nights before the first J6 Committee hearing, he texted me that said hearing would be a "zzzzsnoozz fest".
I have no clue what Bannon will say. But these hearings have clearly had more power than anyone in Trumpworld had anticipated. And the specter of prison can be very motivating.
This is Steve Bannon we're talking about, so even if he does end up testifying it's hard to imagine that the committee will learn anything of value despite the fact that he was intimately involved in the "war room" at the Willard Hotel in the days before the insurrection and seems to have been aware that something violent was going to happen. He said on his podcast that "all hell is going to break loose" long before people marched to the Capitol. But perhaps the committee has learned all it needs to know about that part of the coup plot.
We'll find out what they have in tomorrow's hearing and it's likely to be disturbing.
Extremists egged on by the likes of Bannon plotted to take over the U.S. Capitol to stop the peaceful transfer of power. That should never fail to shock. The main questions now are: "What did the president know and when did he know it?"
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/2022/07/11/doj_drops_a_bomb_on_steve_bannons_jan_6_plot_574391.html
-
Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne agrees to meet with Jan. 6 committee after Cipollone testimony
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/patrick-byrne.jpg?id=28126833&width=2400&height=1350)
Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock and a Donald Trump loyalist, will meet with the Jan. 6 committee later this week.
The former tech executive will sit for an interview with congressional investigators behind closed doors on Friday, according to three sources, and one source added there were no ground rules or defined topics for the conversation, reported CNN.
Byrne participated in a mid-December 2020 meeting at the White House with Trump, former national security adviser Michael Flynn, attorney Sidney Powell and various staffers that focused on efforts to block certification of Joe Biden's election and seizing voting machines.
The panel asked former White House counsel Pat Cipollone about that Dec. 18, 2020, meeting during his interview last week, and excerpts from his interview will be featured during Tuesday afternoon's public hearing, which will focus on the violence that erupted on Trump's behalf at the U.S. Capitol.
Two sources familiar with Cipollone's testimony told CNN about that White House meeting with election conspiracy theorists, including Byrne, and one source said the former White House counsel told the panel he believed the meeting was insane.
The gathering began informally, according to two sources, but eventually devolved into screaming matches as Trump aides disputed some of the more outrageous suggestions by Powell and Flynn, and select committee aides said Flynn's role will be highlighted at Tuesday's hearing.
Committee aides also pointed out that Trump sent the infamous "will be wild" invitation the following day to encourage his supporters to converge on Washington, D.C., as Congress certified the election.
https://edition.cnn.com/2022/07/11/politics/former-overstock-ceo-patrick-byrne-january-6-committee-meeting/index.html
Bannon walked into a perjury trap with his executive privilege publicity stunt: legal experts
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/steve-bannon.jpg?id=30089764&width=2400&height=1383)
Former White House adviser Steve Bannon's request that Donald Trump issue a letter releasing him to speak to House investigators looking into the Jan 6th insurrection may have put him in even greater legal peril reports the Daily Beast.
Last week the former president gave the go-ahead for Bannon -- already facing trial on criminal contempt charges -- which was generally regarded as an attempt to forestall his trial and a as publicity stunt for both parties.
That, however, did not work and now his offer has put him the position where the House Jan 6th select committee could put him under oath where he could blunder and commit perjury.
As the Beast's Jose Pagliery wrote, "The letter was a last-minute attempt to throw a curveball at the Justice Department just a week before Bannon’s criminal contempt of Congress trial for refusing to show up before that very committee," adding, "Now Bannon is barreling toward a trial while dangling potential testimony before the congressional panel—a prime opportunity to perjure himself or explain why he broke the law—and lawyers say there’s practically nothing he can do that won’t land him in even more legal jeopardy."
According to law professor Michael J. Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina, "It’s going to make it very hard for him to figure out what he could say that won’t incriminate him. I think he’s going to land in trouble. It just seems inevitable."
While it is unclear whether the committee will take Bannon up on his offer, Pagliery wrote that should they do so, Bannon will have successfully have painted himself into a corner where he either has to tell the truth or face new criminal charges.
"If the committee accepts his tenuous offer, Bannon is in the awkward position of putting himself in one hot seat just days before he’s in yet another," he explained. "For example, committee members could ask him why he never showed up last fall—and whatever Bannon says under penalty of perjury could appear at trial just days later. If he contradicts himself on anything at any point, prosecutors can argue that he lied to Congress—yet another crime—or is lying at trial."
The report also goes on to note that, should Bannon try to "grandstand" during his testimony, it could bring down the wrath of federal prosecutors.
As George Washington University law school professor Catherine J. Ross put it, "If he’s calculating that he can make a better plea deal, it would undermine those strategies… he could make his situation worse if he perjures himself or is seen as an extremely uncooperative witness."
Read more here:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-bannons-gambit-may-have-just-put-him-in-new-legal-jeopardy
-
Never-before-seen January 6 footage from our photographer
On January 6, Los Angeles Times photographer Kent Nishimura was assigned to cover a pro-Trump rally at the Ellipse, just south of the White House. Former President Trump railed at the rally over what he falsely claimed was a stolen election and urged his supporters to march on the Capitol, where the results were being certified.
Nishimura followed them, documenting the attack on the Capitol in real time. As he sent in photos and video of the event, he let his GoPro camera, attached to his helmet, run as long as the battery could last. That footage had never been shown until now.
Watch:
-
Wisconsin at the center of the Jan. 6 conspiracy
On the eve of the next Jan. 6 House committee hearing, which begins at noon Central Time on Tuesday, the Defend Democracy Project, a nonprofit dedicated to fighting efforts to undermine elections, held a virtual press briefing focused on Wisconsin’s central role in the plot to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Norman Eisen, former ambassador to the Czech Republic and an expert on corruption and democracy issues at the Brookings Institution, gave an overview of the evidence so far and previewed Tuesday’s hearing. Possible crimes the committee has uncovered include obstruction of an official proceeding in Congress and a conspiracy to defraud the United States, Eisen said.
“And it’s not just federal crimes we’ve heard about,” Eisen added, recapping testimony from Republican officials in Arizona and Georgia about being pressured to falsify election results, as well as Trump advisers’ coordinated push to get phony electoral ballots for Trump from seven states including Wisconsin.
Eisen was joined by three Wisconsinites, State Sen. Kelda Roys (D-Madison), Kyle Johnson, the political director of BLOC (Black Leaders Organizing Communities) and Mel Barnes, an attorney with Law Forward, the nonprofit, progressive law firm that is suing Wisconsin’s fake electors who cast phony electoral ballots for former President Donald Trump.
Underscoring the panel’s message that Wisconsin played a critical role in the battle over democratic elections and the 2020 results, Trump took to his social media platform, Truth Social, over the weekend to celebrate a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision that bars the use of drop boxes for voting. Trump called for the nullification of Wisconsin’s 2020 Electoral College votes and ordered Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), to “do something, for once, about this atrocity!”
“I think it’s really important for members of the public in Wisconsin to know we’re not talking about something that’s happening somewhere else, or to other people. This is something that is happening in Wisconsin, specifically,” said panel moderator Joe Zepecki of the Defend Democracy Project. He pointed to Trump’s remarks about the drop box decision as evidence that “this is not over. This is ongoing.”
Tuesday’s hearing will focus on Trump’s connection to a plan to use violence to help overturn the 20202 election results. And the violent white nationalist groups that took part in the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, including the Proud Boys and the Oathkeepers, have used Wisconsin as a “training ground,” Zepecki said, when extremists met in Wisconsin while plotting to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “These extremist groups are here. … they are dangerous,” Zepecki said, adding, “We also have the dangerous, dangerous idea that the votes of the people of Wisconsin don’t matter.”
“It’s really important to remember that here in Wisconsin, the fraudulent electors, these are not random people who walked off the street and decided to do this,” said Barnes of Law Forward, adding that Andrew Hitt, the former head of the state Republican Party and Robert Spindell, a current member of the Wisconsin Elections Board were among those who cast false electoral votes for Trump. “This is a big deal,” said Barnes. “It’s a danger to our democracy, and certainly to our future elections, which we know will continue to be close. And we must make sure that voters continue to decide the outcome of elections in our state.”
Barnes connected the revelations of the Jan. 6 House committee hearings to recent unpopular U.S. Supreme Court decisions on abortion, gun safety and voting rights, saying, “the facade that these unpopular views are winning in our political discourse is really starting to crumble.”
“We’re seeing that as the committee uncovers more and more of this conspiracy, the extreme actions that these folks had to take to try to hold on to power. We know that Wisconsinites and Americans do not agree with them.“
On Tuesday, “I think we will learn more about what happened with this coordinated criminal conspiracy theory,” Barnes said, “and hopefully be able to hold some of the bad actors here in our state accountable to make sure this never happens again.”
Johnson of BLOC, an organization committed to building political power at the street-level for underserved communities, said, “The best way to describe how we’re all feeling is pissed off.”
The voters he has contact with have been angry to learn about Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson’s role in attempting to deliver Wisconsin’s fake electoral ballots to Vice President Mike Pence, he said. Community members feel poorly served by political leaders who would rather cheat to hold onto power than win by meeting the real needs of their constituents, he said.
“No one is exempt from the law — Black, white … Pacific Islander, American Indian — all of us in Wisconsin want everyone to be held accountable,” he added.
“I think it’s important to understand that it isn’t really about 2020,” said Roys. “It is about undermining confidence in our whole electoral system and the mechanisms for how we vote.” By casting doubt on a highly decentralized election system, Trump and his supporters continue to try to set up a plan to steal the next election, she said.
https://wisconsinexaminer.com/2022/07/12/wisconsin-at-the-center-of-the-jan-6-conspiracy/
-
Jan. 6 panel to pinpoint one single decision Trump made that set Capitol violence into motion:
The Jan. 6 committee will focus on a decision made late at night in the White House that spurred the violence that erupted at the U.S. Capitol.
It's not clear who made the decision for Donald Trump to tweet out an invitation to his supporters to go "wild" in Washington, D.C., on the day Congress met to certify Joe Biden's election win, but The Guardian reporter Hugo Lowell told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that investigators intend to show that post set the insurrection into motion.
"We left off [in the last hearing] with Republicans seeking pardons, John Eastman seeking pardons and Rudy Giuliani seeking a pardon," Lowell said. "Now we're going to focus today on the tweet that Trump sent, a call to extremist groups to storm the Capitol and the groups surrounding the protests surrounding Jan. 6. They're going to start with the 18th of December meeting at the White House, according to my reporting."
The former president sent out the tweet late at night after meeting for hours with fringe conspiracy theorists, and the committee hopes to shed light on the role they played in stirring up violent action.
"Mike Flynn, Trump's former national security adviser, Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock, and Emily Newman, this Trump aide, and Sidney Powell showed up at the White House uninvited, unannounced, and tried to get Trump to seize voting machines and install Sidney Powell as special counsel," Lowell said. "This [meeting] goes on for hours and hours, they go to the residence. At some point, a decision gets made, whether it's by Trump or whether it's been his aides, we're not entirely clear, but at some point, he makes the decision, and at 1:42 in the morning Trump sends this tweet on the 19th of December, saying, 'Big protest that will be wild, see you there on the 6th.'"
"All the machinery around Jan. 6 springs into action," he added. "Ali Alexander and Stop the Steal gets the permit, [activist] Cindy Chafian had a permit changes the date of her permit to Jan. 6. The Proud Boys start prepping and creating the group chats literally hours after Trump sends that tweet. It all sends us down the path toward Jan. 6. The committee is going to say Trump was responsible because he sent that signal and green-lighted the operation."
Watch the segment below:
-
Former wife of Oath Keepers head Rhodes says he would have seen Trump's tweet as a 'go-ahead'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-stewart-rhodes.jpg?id=30090442&width=2400&height=1350)
Hours before the House select committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection holds a hearing that will center on a tweet from Donald Trump that investigators believed instigated the riot, the former wife of Oath Keepers head Stewart Rhodes said he ex would have viewed it as an order to proceed.
Speaking with "New Day" host John Berman, Tasha Adams said her former husband is still a true believer in the former president even as he faces jail time after being indicted for obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiring to prevent an officer of the United States from discharging a duty.
As the CNN host noted Trump tweeted, "Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!" on Dec. 19, 2020, he then asked how Stewart Rhodes would have responded.
"You are talking about the idea that the January 6th committee, he's volunteered to testify publicly before them and you are warning against giving him that voice," host Berman began. "Based on what you know of Stewart in the past, if he were to see a tweet from Donald Trump, like the one he issued, 'January 6th, come to the protest, it will be wild', what would his likely response have been when you knew him? "
"He would have seen that as a go-ahead," she quickly replied. "He would have seen secret underlying signals, whether they were there or not, that it's going to be okay."
"As long as they keep the former president in office. no matter what happens, as long as they are loyal to him, it's all going to be okay," she added.
Watch below:
-
Jan. 6 committee to hold seventh hearing
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/january-6-hearings-july-12/index.html
C-SPAN Live Coverage of Tuesday's January 6 Committe Hearing
Today's hearing is scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM ET.
Watch Here:
-
Liz Cheney again drops witness intimidation bombshell in her closing statement
GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming again dropped a bombshell allegation of witness intimidation during her closing statement as vice-chair of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
During the last hearing on June 28, Cheney laid out a "stunning" case of witness tampering.
She returned to the topic on Tuesday while discussing who Trump did and did not call.
"He did not call the military, his secretary of defense received no order, he did not call his attorney general, he did not talk to the Department of Homeland security," Cheney said. "Mike Pence did all of those things, Donald Trump did not."
"After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation," she revealed.
"A witness you have not yet seen in these hearings," she explained. "That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump's call and, instead, alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us and this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice."
"Let me say one more time, we will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously," she warned.
Watch:
'Only the guilty try to tamper with witnesses': Legal experts weigh in on Liz Cheney's latest bombshell
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-at-mar-a-lago.jpg?id=29327184&width=2400&height=1343)
Legal experts were stunned on Tuesday when GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming once again dropped a bombshell on witness tampering during her closing statement as vice-chair of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation," she said.
"A witness you have not yet seen in these hearings," Cheney continued. "That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump's call and, instead, alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us and this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice."
"Let me say one more time, we will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously," she added.
After the hearing, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) revealed the select committee has known about the call for a couple of days.
He said, “this has been an ongoing pattern, and we're trying to send the message that witness tampering is a crime in the United States of America."
Prof. Laurence Tribe of Harvard Law, who has argued three dozen cases before the Supreme Court, posted "WOW" on Twitter.
"This is HUGE," Tribe argued.
Former White House ethics czar Norm Eisen wrote, "We already knew of multiple apparent incidents of witness intimidation. We just learned that President Trump may have attempted a 3rd."'
"18 USC 1512 punishes witness intimidation with fines, imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both," Eisen noted.
"Liz Cheney is smart to put down a marker by publicly calling out Trump for reaching out to one of the Committee’s witnesses," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti said.
Former prosecutor Katie Phang suggested that "Trump wasn’t calling to talk about the weather."
"So, Trump tried to call a witness," former U.S. Attorney Joyce Vance noted. "The witness passed it on to their lawyer & the committee forwarded the information to DOJ. Former presidents are no more entitled to break the law by witness tampering than any other citizen."
She added that "only the guilty try to tamper with witnesses."
NBC News Chief Washington Correspondent said, "Witness tampering, attempted or otherwise, is a felony. Ask Roger Stone who was convicted of obstruction, impeding a congressional inquiry. Trump commuted his 40 month sentence before leaving office."
"Wait, did Liz Cheney say Trump *called a witness* and that it's been referred to the DOJ. Did this fool commit witness tampering THIS WEEK???" asked The Nation justice correspondent Elie Mystal.
AFP
-
‘Red Wedding’: J6 panel reveals how Trump motivated right-wing media to call for violence
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/alex-jones.jpg?id=30092611&width=2400&height=1350)
The House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol played a highlight reel showing how Donald Trump's Dec. 19 tweet was critical to motivating far-right media personalities to focus their attention on stopping the certification of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.
"Not long after Sydney Powell, Mike Flynn and Rudy Giuliani left the White House in the early hours of the morning, President Trump turned away from both his outside advisors' outlandish and unworkable schemes and his White House counsel's advice to swallow hard and accept the reality of the loss," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) said. "Instead, Donald Trump issued a tweet that would galvanize his followers and unleash a political firestorm and change the course of our history as a country."
The former constitutional law professor detailed why Trump's Twitter account was critical to his coup attempt.
"Trump's purpose was to mobilize a crowd. How do you mobilize a crowd in 2020? With millions of followers on Twitter, President Trump knew exactly how to do it. On 1:42 a.m. on Dec. 19, 2020, shortly after the left participants left the unhinged meeting, Trump sent out the tweet with his explosive invitation. Trump repeated his big lie and claimed it was, statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 election before calling for a big protest in D.C. on Jan. 6, 'be there, will be wild.' Trump supporters responded immediately."
"Women for America First, a pro-Trump organizing group, had previously applied for a rally permit for Jan. 22 and 23 in Washington D.C., several days after Joe Biden was to be inaugurated. In the hours after the tweet, they moved their permit to Jan. 6, two weeks before. This rescheduling created the rally where Trump would eventually speak. The next day Ai Alexander, leader of the Stop the Steal organization and key mobilizer of Trump's supporters, registered www.WildProtest.com, named after Trumps' tweet."
Raskin then played clips of right-wing media figures, including Alex Jones, Tim Pool, and Matt Bracken.
"You better understand something, son," pro-Trump YouTuber Salty Cracker told his audience.
"Red wave, b***h. A red wedding going on Jan. 6," he predicted.
Red wedding refers to the famous episode of HBO's "Game of Thrones" that closed the third season. In the episode, Robb Stark, his wife, mother, and banner-men are massacred after being set up by Lord Walder Frey at the behest of the Lannister family.
Watch:
'You guys are not tough enough': Three takeaways from Jan. 6 committee hearing
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30093073&width=980&quality=85)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tuesday's congressional committee hearing into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot by supporters of then-President Donald Trump featured a detailed recounting of Trump's actions to overturn the 2020 presidential election results.
Here are three takeaways from the hearing of the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Jan. 6:
MID-DECEMBER CONSENSUS: GAME OVER
By mid-December, after the U.S. Electoral College count showed that Democrat Joe Biden had defeated the Republican Trump, leading Trump officials thought he should concede the election and wind down his presidency, they testified.
On Dec. 14, the Electoral College declared Biden had won the election by 306-232 electoral votes.
In a videotape recording, Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump was shown testifying: "I think it was my sentiment, probably prior as well."Others providing the same assessment: former Attorney General William Barr and former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, who also testified that then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows believed the same.
HIGH-VOLUME DEC. 18, 2020, MEETING
The committee detailed a "surprise visit" to the White House the night of Dec. 18 that lasted for more than six hours.
It brought together outside Trump advisers ranging from personal attorney Rudy Giuliani to disgraced former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn and Sidney Powell, a former federal prosecutor who fought to overturn the election on false claims of election fraud.
They presented a draft "executive order" calling for the U.S. military to seize states' voting machines. White House counsel Pat Cipollone testified he thought that was a "terrible idea."
What followed was several hours of screaming and insults that ranged from the Oval Office to Trump's private quarters, participants testified.
"It was not a casual meeting. At times there were people shouting at each other, throwing insults at each other," said Derek Lyons, former White House staff secretary.
Giuliani said he accused White House staffers of not fighting for Trump's interests.
"You guys are not tough enough. Or maybe I put it another way. You're a bunch of pussies, excuse the expression. I'm almost certain the word was used," he said.
At one point, Trump offered to give Powell a job as a special counsel with a security clearance, participants testified.
It was past midnight when the meeting ended, the witnesses said. Giuliani was escorted off White House grounds to make sure he did not wander back, U.S. Representative Jamie Raskin said at Tuesday's hearing, citing other testimony.
TWEET INSPIRES ACTION
Shortly after the late-night meeting, early in the morning of Dec. 19, Trump issued a tweet urging his supporters to assemble in Washington on Jan. 6 for what he promised would be a "wild" gathering.
The committee provided evidence that this tweet energized militant groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers to gather in Washington armed. In the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, violent rhetoric coursed through the internet.
The committee showed an online broadcast of a right-wing personality calling for a "red wedding" on Jan. 6, code language for mass slaughter, Raskin said.
The committee said it found that Trump spoke twice on Jan. 5, 2021, with former top adviser Steve Bannon, who was shown on videotape saying, "All hell is going to break loose tomorrow," as he referred to a "point of attack" that would be "quite extraordinarily different."
© Reuters
-
WATCH: Far-right extremist groups coordinated with Trump associates ahead of Jan. 6, committee shows
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., spoke on July 12 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The focus of the hearing was on extremist far-right groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and the role they played in the Capitol insurrection.
He laid out the connections that former President Donald Trump associates like close adviser Roger Stone and former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn had with those far-right groups. Raskin also showed how the groups started working together to coordinate ahead of Jan. 6, 2021.
“Trump's Dec. 19 tweet motivated these two extremist groups, which have historically not worked together to coordinate their activities,” Raskin said. “Hours after President Trump's tweet, Kelly Meggs, the head of the Florida Oath Keepers declared an alliance among the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys and the Florida Three Percenters, another militia group,” he said.
Raskin said phone records show that later the same day, Meggs called Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was later charged with seditious conspiracy after his role in Jan. 6.
“The very next day, the Proud Boys got to work. The Proud Boys launched an encrypted chat called the Ministry of Self Defense. The committee obtained hundreds of these messages, which show strategic and tactical planning about January the 6th, including maps of Washington, D.C., that pinpoint the location of police in the weeks leading up to the attack.”
Raskin said leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers worked with Trump allies, like Flynn.
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 hearing spotlights role of Roger Stone as crucial link between Proud Boys and Trump
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/political-consultant-roger-stone-greets-proud-boys-leader-enrique-tarrio-at-a-dec-11-2020-rally.png?id=30093560&width=2400&height=1341)
The seventh hearing of the January 6th Committee on Tuesday highlighted the role of political consultant Roger Stone, a longtime confidant of Donald Trump, as a link between the former president and the two leading extremist groups that stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) noted that President Trump pardoned Stone, along with retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, in the weeks between the Nov. 3, 2020 election and Jan. 6. During the same period, Raskin said, “Stone communicated with both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers regularly.”
Raskin reported that the committee obtained encrypted chats from a private message group called “Friends of Stone,” or “FOS,” that included Stone, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and “Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander that “focused on various pro-Trump events in November and December of 2020, as well as January 6th.”
In one chat shared by the committee, Rhodes urged chat members who couldn’t make it to Washington, DC for a Nov. 14 Million MAGA March to attend local events to support the effort to overturn the election.
“Good point,” Rhodes wrote. “Anyone who won’t be in DC needs to be at their state Capitol.”
Grant Smith, an attorney who represents Stone, downplayed his client’s participation in the chat.
“Mr. Stone was included in the group chat by whomever established it at the time,” Smith said in an email to Raw Story. “Mr. Stone did not participate in any discussions in the chat and has no recollection of ever posting anything in the chat. If there had been any postings by Mr. Stone, the committee would have included them in the evidence presented, [and] there was nothing presented. Mr. Stone engaged in only legally protected, First Amendment activities.”
Members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have since been indicted in separate seditious conspiracy cases, stemming from their activity on Jan. 6.
The committee presented video showing that during the period when the “Friends of Stone” chat was active, Rhodes called on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, and the Proud Boys became increasingly antagonistic towards the police.
“He needs to know from you that you are with him, that if he does not do it now while he is commander in chief, we’re going to have to do it later in a much more desperate, much more bloody war,” Rhodes said, addressing a crowd at the Jericho March in DC on Dec. 12. “Let’s get it on now, while he is still the commander in chief.”
In a separate video shown to the committee, Proud Boys angered at being prevented from assaulting leftwing counter-protesters can be seen taunting police, with one member named “Swamp Cracker” shouting, “Oath breakers! Do your f****ng job! Give us one hour.”
The committee also presented videotaped testimony from Kellye SoRelle, a Texas lawyer who serves as general counsel for the Oath Keepers, that pointed to Stone as one of the key figures, alongside Alexander and InfoWars host Alex Jones, in the rallies that built momentum for Jan. 6.
“You mentioned that Mr. Stone wanted to start the Stop the Steal rallies,” the investigator said. “Who did you consider the leader of these rallies? It sounds like, from what you just said, it was Mr. Stone, Mr. Jones and Mr. Ali Alexander. Is that correct?”
“Those are the ones that became like the center point for everything,” SoRelle responded.
Beyond the “Friends of Stone” encrypted chat, Stone also appeared in public with Proud Boys leaders in the months leading up to the Jan. 6 attack.
A video from the night before the Dec. 12 rally, first reported by Just Security, shows Stone flanked by Tarrio and Nordean, both of whom would become top-tier leaders in the Ministry of Self-Defense group set up as a planning committee for Jan. 6 and now face seditious conspiracy charges. Introduced by Owen Schroyer, an InfoWars media performer who is charged with entering a restricted building or grounds for his activities on Jan. 6, Stone addressed an energetic crowd outside a DC hotel.
“We will fight to the bitter end for an honest recount of the 2020 election,” Stone said. “Never give up, never quit, never surrender, and fight for America!”
As Shroyer introduces him, Stone can be seen giving a friendly nod to Tarrio. Later, as Stone speaks, Nordean appears to place his hand on Stone’s shoulder.
Stone’s relationship with the Proud Boys goes back more than five years. As noted in a report prepared for the January 6th Committee by the Khalifa Ihler Institute, Stone was recorded reciting the “Proud Boys Fraternity Creed” in May 2017, which means he is considered a “1st degree” member according to the group’s custom.
So close were Stone and Tarrio that the Proud Boys national chairman had access to Stone’s phone in early 2019. When Stone got in trouble for tweeting an image of the federal judge presiding over his case next to an image of gun crosshairs, he reportedly disclosed to the court that he had been sent images by multiple volunteers, naming Tarrio alongside Florida Proud Boys founder Tyler Ziolkowski, and InfoWars reporter Jacob Engels. Stone reportedly disclosed to the court that Tarrio and Engels had spent time at his house.
Ties between the Proud Boys and Trump are more nebulous, but the extremist group was galvanized by Trump’s presidential debate statement, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” in response to a call for him to denounce extremists.
Proud Boys predictably responded ecstatically.
“Standing by sir,” Tarrio wrote on Parler.
Joe Biggs, who would also become a top-tier leader of the Ministry of Self-Defense and lead the Proud Boys to the Capitol along with Nordean, wrote, “Trump basically said to go f*** [antifa] up! This makes me so happy!”
On the day after the debate, Trump attempted to distance himself, telling reporters: “I don’t know who the Proud Boys are. You’ll have to give me a definition because I really don’t know who they are. I can only say they have to stand down and let law enforcement do their work.”
Other reporting has suggested Trump and his inner circle were more aware of the Proud Boys than they publicly acknowledged.
When Proud Boys marched outside a venue during Trump’s reelection campaign launch in Orlando, Fla. in June 2019, New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel tweeted: “From a disillusioned GOP operative: ‘The Trump campaign is well aware of the organized participation of Proud Boys rallies merging into Trump events. They don’t care. Staff are treating it like a coalition they can’t talk about.”
Trip Gabriel @tripgabriel
From a disillusioned GOP operative: ‘The Trump campaign is well aware of the organized participation of Proud Boys rallies merging into Trump events. They dont care. Staff are to treat it like a coalition they can’t talk
Proud Boys and white power signs in Orlando.
Watch: https://twitter.com/PhilipinDC/status/1141067843905249283
On Dec. 12, 2020, before Proud Boys clashed with counter-protesters, Tarrio and Latinos for Trump president Biana Gracia received a tour of the White House.
“Last minute invite to an undisclosed location,” Tarrio wrote on Parler, displaying photos of the White House steps, according to a report in USA Today.
Tarrio’s host hinted at special access, but Gracia told reporter Will Carless that “the tour was arranged through channels open to anyone by applying via a member of Congress.” But she also hinted that she received an assist to ensure that the tour took place when they were in town for the pro-Trump rally.
“We received a little help from people,” she told the newspaper.
Watch video here: https://www.justsecurity.org/74579/exclusive-new-video-of-roger-stone-with-proud-boys-leaders-who-may-have-planned-for-capitol-attack/
Read more here: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/12/19/latinos-trump-group-tied-proud-boys-leader-enrique-tarrio/3931868001/
-
Ex-Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said Trump’s ‘civil war’ rhetoric ‘killed someone’ on Jan. 6
Ex-Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale blamed then-President Donald Trump’s rhetoric for the death of a woman involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The House select committee investigating the riot showed screenshots of text messages between Parscale and Trump surrogate Katrina Pierson on the evening of the riot.
“A sitting president asking for civil war,” Parscale wrote in the texts. “This week I feel guilty for helping him win.”
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106719685-16012930382020-09-28t014456z_1128345174_rc2d7j958kg0_rtrmadp_0_usa-election-trump-parscale.jpeg?v=1601293138&w=630&h=354)
Ex-Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale blamed then-President Donald Trump’s rhetoric for the death of a woman involved in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, according to evidence shared Tuesday by the House select committee investigating the insurrection.
In text messages sent on the evening of Jan. 6, longtime Trump supporter Parscale said that the riot was “about trump pushing for uncertainty in our country.”
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107087702-1657654016663-image.png?v=1657654106&w=630&h=354)
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107087703-1657654144338-image-1.png?
v=1657654190&w=630&h=354)
Text from former Campaign Manager Brad Parscale during a January 6th investigation hearing on July 12th, 2022
“A sitting president asking for civil war,” Parscale said in texts to Katrina Pierson, a former Trump campaign official who was reportedly involved in organizing the pre-riot rally.
Screenshots of the texts were displayed during the select committee’s latest public hearing Tuesday afternoon, which focused largely on the involvement of domestic violent extremist groups in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
“This week I feel guilty for helping him win,” Parscale wrote.
Pierson replied: “You did what you felt was right at the time and therefore it was right.”
Parscale responded, “Yeah. But a woman is dead,” adding with apparent shock, “Yeah. If I was trump and knew my rhetoric killed someone.”
Pierson told him, “It wasn’t the rhetoric.”
But Parscale shot back: “Katrina. Yes it was.”
Neither Parscale nor Pierson immediately responded to CNBC’s requests for comment on the texts.
Parscale appeared to be referring to Ashli Babbitt, the pro-Trump rioter who was shot and killed by a U.S. Capitol police officer on Jan. 6, 2021, as she attempted to crawl through a doorway leading toward the House chamber. Lt. Michael Byrd, the officer who shot Babbitt, was cleared of wrongdoing.
Parscale worked on Trump’s 2016 campaign and his 2020 reelection effort. He was demoted in the summer of 2020 as Trump’s poll numbers lagged behind those of Democrat Joe Biden, and stepped back from the campaign effort in October of that year after he was hospitalized.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/12/ex-trump-campaign-aide-parscale-said-trumps-rhetoric-killed-capitol-rioter-on-jan-6.html
-
WATCH: Trump aides describe ‘unhinged’ White House meeting in lead-up to Jan. 6
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., spoke on July 12 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The focus of the hearing was on extremist far-right groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and the role they played in the Capitol insurrection.
He laid out a video montage from former White House administration staff, top officials, among others surrounding former President Donald Trump about what avenues he had to fight the election results in a meeting on Dec. 18, 2020, that went into the early morning of December 19. The meeting included lawyer Sidney Powell, White House lawyer Rudy Giuliani and White House counsel Pat Cipollone.
Derek Lyons, former White House staff secretary, said in a taped testimony that the meeting, which ended shortly after midnight, was chaotic.
“At times there were people shouting at each other, hurling insults at each other,” he said. “It wasn't just sort of people sitting around on the couch like chit chatting.”
Raskin showed text messages from former Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson who texted that “the West Wing is UNHINGED.”
At one point in the meeting, the president asked if he could appoint Sidney Powell as a special advisor with security clearance, but it was never formally approved, according to taped testimony from Cipollone.
Raskin said once the meeting was over and Powell, Giuliani and others “left the White House in the early hours of the morning, President Trump turned away from both his outside advisers most outlandish and unworkable schemes and his White House counsel's advice to swallow hard and accept the reality of his loss.”
-
WATCH: Rep. Raskin says Trump actively fired up supporters on social media ahead of Jan. 6
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., spoke on July 12 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The focus of the hearing was on extremist far-right groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and the role they played in the Capitol insurrection.
Raskin said that the purpose of former president Donald Trump’s activity on Twitter was to mobilize a crowd, and that his December 2020 tweet inviting his supporters to a protest scheduled in Washington, D.C., for Jan. 6, 2021, in particular galvanized his followers, unleashed “a political firestorm” and changed “the course of our history as a country.”
The representative then played a profanity-laced montage of prominent Trump supporters including Alex Jones using their platforms to encourage viewers to attend the protest on Jan. 6 that would result in the insurrection.
He added that the Jan. 6 committee interviewed a former Twitter employee who testified that the company considered adopting a stronger content moderation policy after Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during a presidential debate prior to the 2020 election, but chose not to do so.
“My concern was that the former president — for, seemingly, the first time — was speaking directly to extremist organizations and giving them directives,” the former employee, who remained anonymous to protect their identity, testified. ”We had not seen that sort of direct communication before.”
-
DOJ alerted after Trump called unseen Jan. 6 witness, says Cheney
Former President Trump tried to call a witness expected to appear at a future hearing for the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) said Tuesday, raising further questions about potential witness tampering.
“After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation, a witness you have not yet seen in these hearings,” Cheney said at the conclusion of Tuesday’s hearing. “That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump’s call and instead alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us, and this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice.”
"We will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously,” Cheney, the vice chair of the committee, added.
Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told reporters after the hearing that he did not have more details or know personally which witness Cheney was referring to. But he said more broadly the committee was trying to send a message that witness tampering is a crime, and “people should not be approaching witnesses to try to get them to alter their testimony.”
At a hearing late last month with former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, Cheney displayed a text message sent to one undisclosed witness that read, “[A person] let me know you have your deposition tomorrow. He wants me to let you know that he’s thinking about you. He knows you’re loyal, and you’re going to do the right thing when you go in for your deposition.”
Cheney also showed a statement at the previous hearing from a witness in which the witness recalled being told that as long as they remained loyal to Trump and his team, “I’ll continue to stay in good graces in Trump World. And they have reminded me a couple of times that Trump does read transcripts and just to keep that in mind as I proceeded through my depositions and interviews with the committee.”
One of the witnesses involved in the previous messages is reportedly Hutchinson.
But Cheney’s comments on Tuesday are the first public confirmation that Trump has personally reached out to those who are communicating with the committee.
The committee has kept the identities of witnesses at future hearings under wraps, partly due to increased security concerns.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3556256-doj-alerted-after-trump-called-unseen-jan-6-witness-says-cheney/
-
WATCH: Former Oath Keeper spokesperson fears for next election cycle if Trump runs for office
Jason Van Tatenhove, former spokesperson for the far-right military group the Oath Keepers, testified on July 12 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The focus of the hearing was on extremist far-right groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and the role they played in the Capitol insurrection.
He spoke about his view that the group hoped to become a paramilitary force. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., asked Van Tatenhove about whether the group had discussed committing violence against elected political leaders. Van Tatenhove said the Oath Keepers leader he spoke with wanted to make up a deck of cards of “key players that they wanted to take out,” similar to military cards, which Van Tatenhove did not do.
“I do fear for this next election cycle because who knows what that might bring? If a president that's willing to try to instill and encourage to whip up a civil war amongst his followers, using lies and deceit and snake oil, regardless of the human impact, what else is he going to do if he gets elected again? All bets are off at that point,” Van Tatenhove said. “And that's a scary notion.”
Watch:
-
What we learned on Day 7 of the Jan. 6 hearings
The Jan. 6 committee held its seventh public hearing Tuesday afternoon with a focus on connections between extremist groups and the Trump White House. The hearing ended with a dramatic revelation that former President Trump recently called a witness the panel was talking to, an action referred to the Justice Department. Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barrón-López join Judy Woodruff to discuss.
Watch:
-
Knife-wielding Capitol rioter gets five months for bashing cop with Confederate flag
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/sociopathic-new-reports-suggest-trump-sided-with-violent-mob-during-capitol-attack.jpg?id=28171741&width=2400&height=1599)
A Maryland man was sentenced to five months in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.
David Blair, of Clarksburg, brought a a knife and a lacrosse stick with a Confederate flag attached to the U.S. Capitol and struck a police officer with the improvised flagpole while shouting encouragement to other rioters to keep fighting.
“Hell naw, quit backing up, don’t be scared," Blair shouted, according to prosecutors.
Blair did not go inside the Capitol but later pleaded guilty to interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder, a felony that carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and prosecutors agreed to drop eight other charges.
He was taken into custody moments after bashing the officer and offered an apology and asked to be let go.
“While in handcuffs and not in response to any questions prompted by any members of MPD, defendant Blair stated words to the effect of, ‘I understand, what I did, the one guy swung at me so I kinda switched … so I apologize, we’re done though,'” said the statement of offense.
However, police found a knife and tape in his bag during a search.
Blair told police he came to the Capitol to protest the removal of Confederate monuments, which he complained was the “erasing of history."
© 2022 Reuters
-
A 'significant development': Job of the staffer Trump called revealed by CNN
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/facebook-pulls-trump-post-for-minimizing-covid-19-danger.jpg?id=24819315&width=2400&height=1290)
One day after GOP. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming dropped a bombshell about potential witness tampering during her closing statement at a Jan. 6 select committee hearing, CNN has learned more about the witness in question.
"After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation," Cheney said.
"A witness you have not yet seen in these hearings," she explained. "That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump's call and, instead, alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us and this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice."
"Let me say one more time, we will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously," Cheney warned.
"Former President Donald Trump tried to call a member of the White House support staff who was talking to the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN," reporters Ryan Nobles, Dana Bash, Annie Grayer, and Zachary Cohen reported.
Legal experts said on Tuesday that the call made Trump look guilty.
"The support staffer was not someone who routinely communicated with the former President and was concerned about the contact, according to the sources, and informed their attorney. The call was made after former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified publicly to the committee. The White House staffer was in a position to corroborate part of what Hutchinson had said under oath, according to the sources."
Nobles offered his analysis on CNN.
"So this is a significant development, something that many people have been trying to figure out and we can now report that the person who received this phone call was a member of the White House support staff who at least had some knowledge of Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony," he said.
Watch below:
-
J6 committee member hints at new whistleblower testimony at future hearing
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland hinted that the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol may hear testimony from a whistleblower in future hearings.
The former constitutional law professor who sits on the select committee was interviewed my MSNBC's Chris Hayes.
"First just on the note that I started the show on, I wonder if you also noticed the sort of strange, willful naivete that is coming from some of the people in the inner circle, who are giving, I think, forthright and truthful testimony, but I wonder, like, do you think they really didn't see what was happening until they did?" Hayes asked.
"Well, that is a tough question of personal psychology for each of these people, but I am with you that we have seen somewhat depreciated the meaning of heroism when we call someone a hero, just for not participating in a violent insurrection or not supporting the efforts of a coup to overthrow an election," Raskin replied.
"That's really the least we should be expecting of public officials, we should be asking these people, actually, to blow the whistle publicly," Raskin said. "They could've gotten in touch with Sen. [Mitch] McConnell (R-KY), they could've gotten in touch with Speaker Pelosi, they could have gone to the newspapers and TV to say, there is something very troubling happening here."
"I think that we may be hearing some more people about people who actually try to do that," Raskin hinted.
Watch below:
-
WATCH: Former Trump supporter Stephen Ayres describes what he’s lost since Jan. 6 guilty plea
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., questioned Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, on July 12 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The focus of the hearing was on extremist far-right groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and the role they played in the Capitol insurrection.
Raskin asked Ayres what prompted him to leave the insurrection, and whether a message shared by former President Donald Trump on social media that afternoon instructing people to go home impacted his actions.
“As soon as that came out, everybody started talking about it. It seemed like it started to disperse some of the crowd. Once we got back to the hotel room, we seen that it was still going on. But it definitely dispersed a lot of the crowd,” Ayres testified, confirming that he and the people he attended the rally left when they saw that message from the former president.
Raskin also asked what has happened in Ayres’ life since Jan 6, noting that his prior testimony confirms that Ayres no longer believes Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Ayres testified that he has since lost his job, sold his house and that his decisions on Jan. 6 changed his life, “definitely not for the better.”
Ayres added that it makes him “mad” that Trump is still spreading lies about the 2020 election, and that he used to hang onto every word the former president said, much like “hundreds of thousands or millions” of other supporters who did the same.
J6 committee considering 'second series of hearings' in August: report
The House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol is considering another round of hearings during the August Recess.
"New: Jan. 6 committee is considering a 'second series of hearings' sometime towards the end of August, after next week’s prime time finale on Thursday, per a source familiar," Guardian correspondent Hugo Lowell reported.
The committee has had difficulty at scheduling, with the start of Tuesday's hearing moved and Thursday's hearing canceled.
Earlier on Wednesday, select committee Chairman Bennie Thompson explained that he could not rule out more hearings.
“No, I can’t. I’m hoping it is, but something could come up, just like the Hutchinson situation that warranted what we felt was an immediate hearing," NBC News reported.
AFP
Jan. 6 committee heard more evidence from earlier witnesses after Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), a member of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, revealed that since former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson appeared in a public hearing, more evidence has been gathered by witnesses willing to come forward.
Aguilar explained that not only have they had more people willing to come forward, but "people who we had previously heard from have shared more."
He explained that they're continuing to gather evidence, adding kudos to the committee staff members working diligently to collect this additional information.
Rep. Liz Cheney's (R-WY) revealed Tuesday that former President Donald Trump called another witness, even after it was revealed others were intimidated by third-party individuals in Trump's circle. This could be an indication that Trump's lawyers don't have a hold on him the way that they thought. Aguilar didn't get the sense that Trump's lawyers ever had a hold on someone like Pat Cipollone the way that it appears they did on Hutchinson, who had Trump's PAC paying for her lawyer until she got a new one.
"We intend to share more," said Aguilar. "The scale and the scope, we're still working through. But, we want it to be something that people can digest and understand and find value in helping us protect democracy."
AFP
-
Jan. 6 committee holds hearing focused on extremists at U.S. Capitol | July 12
-
Jan. 6 panel’s next hearing will focus on Trump’s hourslong failure to stop the Capitol riot
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/14/next-january-6-committee-hearing-will-focus-on-trump-silence-during-riot.html
-
Jan. 6 committee expected to hold next hearing July 21 in prime time
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/jan-6-committee-expected-hold-hearing-july-21-prime-time-rcna37943
-
The US Secret Service erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021, shortly after they were requested by oversight officials investigating the agency's response to the US Capitol riot
https://twitter.com/CNN/status/1547682441740988417
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/14/politics/secret-service-text-messages-erased/index.html
-
Jan. 6 panel’s next hearing will focus on Trump’s hourslong failure to stop the Capitol riot
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/14/next-january-6-committee-hearing-will-focus-on-trump-silence-during-riot.html
The best proof that the mob reacted the way Trump wanted them to react. If he was really surprised that his speech initiated a riot, he would have done all he could to tell the rioters to stop the riot. And not remind them in mid riot that Mike Pence was the primary target.
-
The best proof that the mob reacted the way Trump wanted them to react. If he was really surprised that his speech initiated a riot, he would have done all he could to tell the rioters to stop the riot. And not remind them in mid riot that Mike Pence was the primary target.
Exactly.
Donnie wanted his followers to riot which is why he summoned them to the Capitol. Then as they were rioting, he inflamed the violence even further by tweeting about Pence making him the target. That enrage his violent mob even more.
We heard from one rioter during the hearing, and he said people dispersed when Donnie finally told them to go home hours later. And Donnie knew they would have stopped if he called it off hours before. He wanted the violence to happen.
But we need to look at the big picture here. There never should have been a "Stop The Steal" rally in the first place. The election was never stolen and it was all based on a lie. Donnie's henchmen were complicit in the lie trying to overturn an election because they didn't like the results. The intent is clear and it's treason against the United States of America.
-
Secret Service is ‘out of control’ after covering up J6 evidence: Lawrence O’Donnell
The U.S. Secret Service was described as an agency in crisis on Thursday after reports that the agency deleted text messages from Jan. 6 and the day before.
MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell reported, "the breaking news of the night, the news is that the secret service has destroyed evidence that is essential to the investigation of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol."
"Let me repeat that," he continued. "Yes, the Secret Service has deliberately destroyed evidence involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. That was revealed by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, which has jurisdiction over the Secret Service."
"The most important Secret Service text messages since the invention of text messaging, they were deliberately erased by the Secret Service, according to the inspector general," O'Donnell said. "The most important text message in the history of the Secret Service. We don't know if any of the text messages sent to and from Vice President Mike Pence and Secret Service detail survived the deliberate erasure by the Secret Service. Those text messages could show attempts by the Secret Service to move Mike Pence away from the Capitol against his will. Those text messages."
The agency has denied erasing the messages.
"The Secret Service text messages on Jan. 6 are the most important text messages Secret Service agents have ever sent or received on their phones," he repeated. "The most important ever and now, they might all be erased. Why? Who would the Secret Service be protecting erasing all of that crucial evidence?"
The Secret Service responded in a statement released Thursday evening.
"The insinuation that the Secret Service maliciously deleted text messages following a request is false," Anthony Guglielmi, the agencies chief of communication, claimed.
"First, in January 2021, before any inspection was opened by OIG on this subject, the Secret Service began to reset its mobile phones to factory settings as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration. In that process, data resident on some phones was lost," he claimed. "DHS OIG requested electronic communications for the first time on Feb. 26, 2021, after the migration was well under way. The Secret Service notified DHS OIG of the loss of certain phones’ data, but confirmed to OIG that none of the texts it was seeking had been lost in the migration."
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 committee has presented evidence Trump broke 5 federal laws
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30130549&width=2400&height=1372)
Appearing on MSNBC'S "Way Too Early" with host Jonathan Lemire, Business Insider's Camila DeChalus reported that members of the Houe select committee investigating the Jan 6th insurrection have provided overwhelming evidence of five federal laws that Donald Trump broke while still in office.
While referring to a Wall Street Journal exclusive report that the committee is considering subpoenaing both Trump and former vice president Mike Pence, DeChaus also noted that there are indications that the committee will definitely make a criminal referral to the Department of Justice.
"You have new reporting on how the January 6th panel is working to gather evidence that could show how former president Trump violated federal law, hence a criminal referral. What can you tell us about those findings?" host Lemire prompted.
"The January 6th committee has laid out a lot of evidence over the course of its public hearings and Insider has examined all of this evidence and we found that Trump could have potentially violated five federal laws, everything from wire fraud to witness tampering," she replied. "I have spoken to several legal experts and they say that Trump's legal defense strategy could change depending on what crime he is potentially charged with."
"But it can go anywhere from him blaming others in his inner circle, saying that is following the advice of his legal advisers to him, his legal defense attorneys are trying to say that he genuinely believed that the election was rigged and that's why he pursued all of these measures to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election," she added.
Watch:
-
15 Questions for the Secret Service About Its Conduct During the January 6 Insurrection
America deserves a thorough public Congressional inquiry into the actions of the Secret Service both before and during the January 6th, 2021 insurrection.
Mar 26, 2021
(https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F4f1a197a-7de0-493f-b029-344fa14dc9d8_808x500.jpeg)
I have written at Proof before—see here and here—about the considerable evidence suggesting that the United States Secret Service played an outsized and scandalous role in the January 6th insurrection. These prior reports raise the following questions, which so urgently demand answers that only Congress can properly pursue them now.
(1) The Safety and Security of the President of the United States
When it was clear that the United States Capitol was under armed attack by domestic terrorists, why wasn’t then-President of the United States Donald Trump quickly moved to a secure location? Why was he allowed by those sworn to protect his life to sit in his private dining room and watch television for hours? Why—and when—did the Secret Service determine that these domestic terrorists were no threat to the White House or the president; who in the Secret Service made this determination; and how was this determination made?
(2) A Secret Service Security Assessment Rules the Capitol Unsafe
When did the Secret Service initiate and complete its security assessment (see this January 15th Reuters report for more) of the likely conditions at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th? Who requested the assessment, how was it conducted, and did it consider conditions both inside and outside the Capitol? Who communicated to the Secret Service the location(s) the President of the United States wanted to travel to on that date, whether inside or outside the Capitol? Did the Secret Service suggest alternatives to that plan, such as Trump exclusively going inside the Capitol rather than speaking outside of it at a Stop the Steal rally (the so-called Wild Protest) on the Capitol steps?
(3) The Welfare of the Vice President of the United States
If the Secret Service indeed, as Reuters reports, completed a security assessment for Capitol Hill well prior to January 6th, why did Vice President Mike Pence’s Secret Service detail allow him to travel to the Capitol on that day—given the finding in the Secret Service’s security assessment, per Reuters, that the Capitol would be unsafe on January 6th? Did the team that conducted a security assessment for the President of the United States communicate its findings to the Vice President and/or his security detail? If not, why not, and on whose order?
(4) Notice to Congress of Likely January 6 Conditions at the Capitol
Did the Secret Service communicate the findings of its security assessment to anyone outside the White House? Outside the executive branch? Was there any discussion of informing Congress of these findings? If not, why not, and on whose order? Why was a similar assessment not initiated on the Congressional side, in conjunction with the Secret Service? Why does there appear to have been no coordination between the executive branch, legislative branch, and judicial branch—given the January 6th protest outside the Supreme Court that featured Roger Stone and other Trump allies—given that it was known, by mid-December, that millions of angry political partisans were about to descend on an area in D.C. that included the White House, the Capitol, and the Supreme Court building?
(5) The Communication of Security Data to Unauthorized Persons
In view of multiple reports that this did indeed occur, did Secret Service agents meet with civilians—such as far-right conspiracy theorist and InfoWars host Alex Jones or since-arrested insurrectionist leader and Oath Keepers militia member Jessica Watkins—on or before January 6th, 2021 to discuss the security logistics of that day? If so, who ordered this extraordinary conferral to occur? And who was present when it happened? Who received a readout or a briefing on these interactions? Where did any such briefings occur? What is the complete list of unauthorized civilians who were given prior notice of, and discourse on, Trump’s anticipated January 6th movements?
(6) Strife Between the POTUS and His Presidential Protective Detail
Nothing could be a more serious threat to national security than a President of the United States in a running dispute with his presidential protective detail of the sort reported by Reuters—let alone a situation in which a president accepts the security assessment of his presidential protective detail and then suddenly announces, before a crowd of tens of thousands, that he is imminently going to abandon his protective plan to engage in a course of action his detail has told him could be deadly. What actions did the Secret Service take when Donald Trump announced, twice, during a 75-minute speech at the Ellipse on January 6th, that he was planning to imminently jettison the agreement he had previously made with his protective detail to avoid the U.S. Capitol on January 6th? If those announcements did not result in any imminent actions by the Secret Service, why not? Who inside the top echelon of the Secret Service knew that Trump was lying to tens of thousands of people about his January 6th schedule, and how did they communicate this throughout the Secret Service so that agents and their superiors did not erroneously believe that the President of the United States was shortly going to put himself in mortal danger at the Capitol (per a Secret Service assessment declaring that going to the Capitol would indeed be a mortal peril for the president)?
(7) Breaks in the Chain of Command Inside the Secret Service
Was former presidential detail head Anthony Ornato authorized to issue directives to Secret Service agents on or before January 6th? Was he considered to have remained within the chain of command at the Secret Service even after he became a member of then-President Donald Trump’s political team? If not, who instructed agents inside the Secret Service to coordinate with—at a minimum—key Stop the Steal co-organizer Alex Jones on January 6th, despite such political coordination being outside the brief of the Secret Service, an apolitical taxpayer-funded government institution subject to the federal Hatch Act?
8 Accountability at the Secret Service for January 6th Lapses
What internal reviews occurred at the Secret Service after January 6th, but before January 20th? On whose order did these reviews occur, and who received a readout or briefing on the result of the review(s)? If Anthony Ornato was deemed a potential administrative or security risk of some kind in 2020, such that on December 31st, 2020, per Reuters, a decision was made to move him outside the White House, how did the events of Insurrection Day (January 6th) and those leading up to Inauguration Day (January 20th) augment this sense of risk—and perhaps even expand its scope—such that the dramatic action taken by the Biden Transition Team became only the first of many such actions to be taken inside the Secret Service?
(9) Accountability at DHS for January 6th and Subsequent Lapses
What internal reviews occurred at the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of the Secret Service, after January 6th, but before January 20th? On whose order did these reviews occur, and who received a readout or briefing on the result of the review(s)? If the acting secretary of the department on January 6th, Chad Wolf, was subsequently deemed to have posed a potential administrative or security risk to the government based upon his actions with respect to—and license given to—the Secret Service in the lead-up to an armed insurrection against the United States, how did the events of Insurrection Day (January 6th) and those leading up to Inauguration Day (January 20th) augment this sense of risk—and perhaps even expand its scope—such that an internal review at DHS was conducted to determine if any career public servants, rather than merely political appointees, had aided and abetted any suspect actions by Acting Secretary Wolf?
(10) Biden Administration Review of the Secret Service and DHS
Once Biden formally assumed the powers of the presidency on January 20th, what internal or external reviews occurred at the Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security? On whose order were such reviews conducted, and who received a readout or briefing on the result of the reviews? Was Congress notified of potential extremists lodged within the Secret Service or the Department of Homeland Security?
(11) Remedial Action Taken Against Agents of the Secret Service
Besides Anthony Ornato, whose reassignment was announced by Biden’s political team not only before Inauguration Day but before Insurrection Day, have any Secret Service agents been removed from their details because of their involvement in the events of January 6 or the planning for the events of that day? Have any agents been demoted, reassigned, fired, referred for criminal prosecution, interrogated, debriefed, referred for an investigation by the DHS Inspector General? Was any Secret Service or DHS official found to have been reckless or negligent in their duties in permitting coordination between the Secret Service and/or DHS and (a) the Trump campaign, or (b) civilians acting in coordination with the Trump campaign, such as Alex Jones?
(12) A Longstanding Plot in the Department of Homeland Security
What role did the Department of Homeland Security under Chad Wolf have in first permitting Anthony Ornato to temporarily move from the Secret Service to Trump’s political team, a move the Guardian and other major-media outlets have correctly deemed (upon speaking to sources in the United States government) “unprecedented”? What role, if any, did the department have in authorizing Ornato (if indeed he was so authorized) to remain in the chain of command at the Secret Service—with authority to issue directives to Secret Service agents—even after his transition to the Trump political team?
(13) A Secret Service and DHS Plot That May Have Begun in 2019
As detailed in books like Proof of Corruption (link), concerted efforts by the 2020 Trump campaign to plan for the theft of the 2020 presidential election—by Trump and his allies—began in April 2019, the very month that Trump suddenly announced that was replacing the heads of the Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security. Were Trump’s firings of then-Secret Service head Randolph Alles or then-Department of Homeland Security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in April 2019 connected to Trump’s plan to use his political agents, including Rudy Giuliani and others, to attempt to steal the 2020 presidential election?
(14) The Claims Made By Insurrectionist Leader Jessica Watkins
Now incarcerated and facing federal conspiracy charges, Oath Keepers member Jessica Watkins implies that when she arrived at the “VIP” area at Trump’s Ellipse speech on January 6th, 2021 she was both armed and armored—despite the fact that she was trying to enter an area where she might come into contact with the President of the United States. Which Secret Service agents interrogated her when she arrived at the VIP area? What did she tell those agents about the provenance of her VIP-area pass? Which agents, or their superiors, decided that it was appropriate to admit a member of a militia to a VIP area on or near the White House grounds? Who had the authority, on January 6th, to make the determination that an armed and armored civilian could enter that area, with or without any special provisions such as relieving themselves of their weapons and armor first?
(15) Why No One Treats These Issues As National Security Threats
When Proof reported on a single Brazilian Congressman, Rep. Eduardo Bolsonaro of São Paulo, having an unannounced meeting at the White House on January 5th, 2021, and possibly another meeting at Trump International Hotel on that date that involved planning for the overturning of a democratic election in the United States, the Brazilian Senate immediately launched a formal inquiry, crediting the reporting here at Proof. In addition to being reported on in nearly every major Brazilian media outlet, this ongoing inquiry received international coverage. Meanwhile, an even bigger scandal by far looms in the United States—involving many more people, who were far closer to the U.S. president, and some of whom may still be working inside the White House—and the U.S. Congress does absolutely nothing but hold hearings in which it questions its own sergeants-at-arms, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the D.C. Metropolitan Police. When will Congress exercise its oversight function to determine whether the Trumpist plot to overturn a democratic election was aided and abetted by a taxpayer-funded organization with the sacred duty of protecting the life of the American president?
https://sethabramson.substack.com/p/15-questions-for-the-secret-service?r=ex3rw&s=w&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&utm_source=direct
-
Updated information!!
SECRET SERVICE DELETED JAN. 6 TEXT MESSAGES AFTER OVERSIGHT OFFICIALS REQUESTED THEM
A letter given to the January 6 committee says the erasure took place shortly after oversight officials requested the agency’s electronic communications.
https://theintercept.com/2022/07/14/jan-6-texts-deleted-secret-service/
-
Trump called member of White House support staff amid Jan. 6 probe
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/14/trump-called-member-white-house-support-staff-amid-jan-6-probe/
-
U.S. panel probing Capitol attack to ask Secret Service about text deletion
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. congressional panel probing the Jan. 6 2021 attack on the Capitol plans to ask the Secret Service about its alleged deletion of text messages sought by a watchdog investigating the agency's response to the assault, the panel's chairman said.
The watchdog on Friday met the House of Representatives panel after accusing the Secret Service of deleting "many" text messages in a letter to lawmakers.
Representative Bennie Thompson, a Democrat who chairs the panel probing the attack, told CNN that the committee plans to contact Secret Service officials to ask about the alleged erasure of text messages, including the agency's process for cleaning out files to see if that policy was followed.
The inspector general, Joseph Cuffari, met with the committee probing the attack behind closed doors on Friday, footage from CNN showed.
"We now need to talk to the Secret Service.... Our expectation is to reach out to them," Thompson told CNN.
Committee member Jamie Raskin told reporters on Friday that the panel was determined to retrieve text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021, that were allegedly deleted.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) inspector general's office (OIG) sent a letter to lawmakers on Wednesday, saying that "many" messages had been erased by the Secret Service with a device-replacement program after the watchdog asked for the records.
The Secret Service disputed that accusation on Thursday, saying some phone data was lost during a routine device migration, but that all of the requested texts had been saved.
"A 'routine' cleaning of files will require a process, so we want to see what that process is," Thompson said on Friday.
Representative Raskin, a Democrat, also raised concerns and said on Friday: "We need to get to the bottom of it. But if those texts are gone, we are determined to find them."
He also acknowledged there were "contradictory representations" from the Secret Service and the watchdog about whether texts were deleted.
It was not clear from the letter what messages the inspector general's office believed had been deleted or what evidence they might contain.
The Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump followed weeks of false claims by the former president that he won the 2020 election.
© Reuters
-
Cipollone corroborated virtually everything from Hutchinson, Jan. 6 panel member says
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told NBC News that Trump's White House counsel backed up the bombshell testimony last month from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1120w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2022-07/220712-Pat-Cipollone-al-0945-31135e.jpg)
WASHINGTON — Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone corroborated virtually all of the revelations from previous witnesses, including former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, in lengthy testimony before the panel last week, a top Jan. 6 committee member told NBC News.
“Cipollone has corroborated almost everything that we’ve learned from the prior hearings,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in an exclusive interview just hours before the next hearing. “I certainly did not hear him contradict Cassidy Hutchinson. … He had the opportunity to say whatever he wanted to say, so I didn’t see any contradiction there.”
It was unclear if Cipollone was directly asked by investigators about the specifics of some of the more explosive aspects of Hutchinson’s testimony — including that they would be charged with “every crime imaginable” if Trump went to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Video clips of Cipollone’s taped testimony will be presented at Tuesday’s hearing, which Raskin will lead alongside Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., as the panel focuses on how the pro-Trump mob came together at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Raskin said the hearing will include new details about what committee members have been told was “the craziest meeting in the Trump presidency,” on Dec. 18, 2020, describing it as “hot-blooded, contentious, deranged” when the president met with outside and internal legal advisers for a “Hail Mary desperation ploy” to subvert an election they had lost, including possibly seizing state election machines and appointing Trump ally Sidney Powell as a special counsel.
The hearing, Raskin said, will bring viewers up to Jan. 6 in the committee's timeline and set the stage for what he said feels like the “end of this main block of hearings.”
The committee initially planned to hold two hearings this week, but it changed course Monday by postponing the one scheduled for Thursday in prime time. That hearing, expected to be the finale to the half-dozen hearings so far, is now likely to be next week.
But Raskin was also cautious about putting an end date on the hearings.
“One thing I’ve learned over the course of the select committee is that we never say, ‘Finally, the research and investigation are over.’ Because we are continuing to learn astounding new things on a daily basis.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/cipollone-corroborated-virtually-everything-hutchinson-jan-6-panel-mem-rcna37742
-
'Uniformed and armed' federal agents 'kept waiting' blocks away from Capitol as violence raged: report
The House select committee hearings have renewed questions about the security response to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The hearings have shown that multiple agencies received specific warnings about the potential for violence that day, but the response by federal agencies and law enforcement remained puzzlingly inadequate, and the revelation that the U.S. Secret Service deleted thousands of electronic communications from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, raises new questions.
"Whether you're talking about Capitol police, other parts of DHS," said NBC News reporter Julia Ainsley. "We reported here that CBP, Customs and Border Protection, were actually uniformed and armed, ready to go but kept waiting in the basement of the Reagan Building during the insurrection that was happening just blocks away."
"A lot of questions about law enforcement response, Secret Service being pivotal, and the fact that they were responsible for the president's security that day, would have known his every detail, every movement and request, and also, of course, protecting the vice president as a mob was chanting that they wanted to hang him."
"I can't even believe I'm saying that," she added.
Joseph Cuffari, the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, told Congress in the letter dated Wednesday that his office has had difficulties obtaining records from the Secret Service from January 5 and 6, 2021.
The messages could be crucial to the House of Representatives and Justice Department investigations into whether Donald Trump and his close advisors encouraged the deadly insurrection by the former president's supporters at the US Capitol, which aimed to prevent the certification of Democratic rival Joe Biden as the winner of the November 2020 election.
Secret Service agents were with Trump during the day of the uprising, and were also with vice president Mike Pence, who went into hiding at the Capitol after pro-Trump rioters called for him to be hanged.
On June 29 a former White House staffer told the House January 6 investigation that Trump had attempted to force the Secret Service to take him to the Capitol to join his supporters on that day.
"The Department notified us that many US Secret Service (USSS) text messages, from January 5 and 6, 2021, were erased as part of a device replacement program," Cuffari wrote in the letter first reported by The Intercept and later published by Politico.
"The USSS erased those text messages after OIG requested records of electronic communications" for a review of January 6, he said, referring to the Office of the Inspector General.
In addition, he said, the department has stalled on providing other records to the OIG.
In a statement, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi rejected the inspector general's allegation.
He said the agents' phones were being wiped as part of a planned replacement program that began before the OIG requested the information six weeks after the insurrection.
"The Secret Service notified DHS OIG of the loss of certain phones’ data, but confirmed to OIG that none of the texts it was seeking had been lost in the migration," he said.
Watch:
-
BREAKING: The DOJ has filed its sentencing memo asking a judge to order Guy Reffitt — the first J6 defendant convicted at trial — to serve 15 years in prison. They argue his actions warrant a terrorism enhancement.
Link: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.226696/gov.uscourts.dcd.226696.158.0_1.pdf
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXvSd4nUcAAR0QN?format=jpg&name=medium)
The PSR estimated Guy Reffitt's sentencing guideline range at 9-11.25 years. That would already give him, by far, the longest sentence to date. But DOJ argues his sentence should be much higher. One reason: An illegal silencer found at his house.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXvU_ZAUcAIdfN1?format=png&name=900x900)
Another reason? The DOJ says on at least two occasions, Guy Reffitt allegedly placed the barrel of his gun against his wife's head— and fired it near her head on one of those. Reffitt's wife has written a letter to the judge asking for leniency.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXvVPaRUcAEU16n?format=png&name=900x900)
Guy Reffitt's younger daughter Peyton, who was initially supposed to testify as a DOJ witness at his trial, also wrote a letter. In it, she called her father a "beam of light" for the family and talked about how his personality was perfectly suited for Trump to take advantage of.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXvXMNWVsAAjtnx?format=jpg&name=medium)
FULL STORY: The DOJ says Guy Reffitt — the Texas Three Percenter who was the first J6 defendant to go to trial — should spend 15 years in prison. They argue his conduct warrants the first terrorism enhancement in a Capitol Riot case.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1548086948127858693/E5khVk9h?format=jpg&name=medium)
wusa9.com
DOJ seeks terrorism enhancement, 15 years in prison for Guy Reffitt
Prosecutors argue the first Capitol riot defendant to be convicted at trial should serve more than a decade behind bars for leading the mob on Jan. 6.
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/doj-seeks-terrorism-enhancement-15-years-in-prison-for-guy-reffitt-mob-leader-three-percenter-texas-donald-trump-jackson-peyton-nicole/65-449544a2-deb6-4a07-b0e9-2a67db457d55
-
Secret Service hit with Friday night subpoena from J6 select committee
The U.S. Secret Service has been subpoenaed by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Chair Benny Thompson (D-MS) sent a letter to Secret Service Director James Murray.
Thompson wrote, “The Select Committee has been informed that the USSS erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021 as part of a ‘device-replacement program.’ In a statement issued July 14, 2022, the USSS stated that it ‘began to reset its mobile phones to factory settings as part of a pre-planned, three-month system migration. In that process, data resident on some phones was lost.’ However, according to that USSS statement, ‘none of the texts it [DHS Office of Inspector General] was seeking had been lost in the migration.’"
“Accordingly, the Select Committee seeks the relevant text messages, as well as any after action reports that have been issued in any and all divisions of the USSS pertaining or relating in any way to the events of January 6, 2021.”
"Please contact staff for the Select Committee at 202-225-7800 to arrange for the production of documents," the letter ends.
January 6th Committee @January6thCmte
The Select Committee has issued a subpoena for records from the United States Secret Service.
In a letter to Secret Service Director James Murray, Chair @BennieGThompson sought information about Secret Service text messages from January 5 and 6, 2021 that were reportedly erased.
https://twitter.com/January6thCmte/status/1548135089422233601
-
House impeachment lawyer pokes holes in Secret Service's claim that only Jan. 6 texts are missing
Appearing on CNN's "New Day" on Friday morning, former House impeachment lead counsel Daniel Goldman cast a jaundiced eye at Secret Service claims that the only texts missing among agents occurred around Jan. 6, saying there is more to the story than government officials are letting on.
Joseph Cuffari, the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, told Congress in the letter dated Wednesday that his office has had difficulties obtaining records from the Secret Service from January 5 and 6, 2021.
The messages could be crucial to the House of Representatives and Justice Department investigations into whether Donald Trump and his close advisors encouraged the deadly insurrection by the former president's supporters at the US Capitol, which aimed to prevent the certification of Democratic rival Joe Biden as the winner of the November 2020 election.
"The Department notified us that many US Secret Service (USSS) text messages, from January 5 and 6, 2021, were erased as part of a device replacement program," Cuffari wrote in the letter first reported by The Intercept and later published by Politico.
Speaking with hosts Brianna Keliar and John Berman, Goldman was asked about the report.
"Daniel, what do you see here?" host Berman began. "What we know is that a Homeland Security inspector general asked for these text messages and now we are learning from this Homeland Security inspector general, it's a letter from this person, saying that they were destroyed according to them after this request. What does that tell you?"
"Well, first of all, let's remember these letters are not written lightly to Congress," he began. "I am sure that the inspector general notified the Secret Service that they would have to send this letter if they did not get better compliance and they didn't, but more importantly and to the point, there are a lot of questions that this raises."
"They claim that it was a phone migration system, but the only days of texts that were erased were January 5th and 6th?" he elaborated. "That seems very unlikely that that is due to the phone migration. Second, I would want to understand when this happened because what the letter says is that these text messages were requested by the IG as part of their investigation into January 6th and that after that request these texts were deleted."
"Now that raises a lot of suspicions as well because you should freeze everything when a request is made by any lawful investigator," he added. "And then finally it raises a lot of questions as to whose texts were deleted. Was it Tony Ornato who was a Secret Service official who came on board as a political appointee as deputy chief of staff? So there are still many questions to answer, but it is very suspicious, especially because of the critical role that the secret service played on January 5th and January 6th stopping Donald Trump from going to the Capitol, scurrying Mike Pence out of the capitol when he was under serious threat. Many, many questions have to be directed at the Secret Service."
The Secret Service has been criticized for not adequately anticipating the threat of the violent action by armed Trump supporters on January 6.
Trump had made a senior Secret Service official at the time, Tony Ornato, his personal deputy chief of staff.
Ornato has denied the account given to the January 6 committee by former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson that Trump tried to force the Secret Service to drive him to the Capitol as his supporters massed at the building, the seat of the US legislature.
But other then-White House officials have backed Hutchinson's story.
Watch:
-
Troubling questions abound for Kansas police in wake of Jan. 6 Commission hearings
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/bennie-thompson-and-liz-cheney.jpg?id=29969346&width=2400&height=1350)
A chief of police candidate in Wichita a few years back said during the public interview process that an officer’s racism wasn’t necessarily a dealbreaker for employment. That response alarmed the Black community at the time — particularly because biased traffic stops around the country had recently escalated into shooting deaths — but nothing much came of it.
The question of what is or should be a disqualifying factor for police employment has taken on new urgency as the Jan. 6 commission uncovers more levels of criminality leading up to and taking place on that day. What are we to make of police officers who were among the white supremacists and seditionists storming the Capitol?
Should they be held to account just for their actions — which has been proved beyond doubt to be criminal — without regard for racist speech? Were they merely swept up in the moment, mimicking the language and actions of the president who summoned them there? (Recall, while still a private citizen living in his New York tower, Donald Trump claimed to have evidence proving that Barack Obama was ineligible to run for president because he wasn’t born in the United States. Birtherism, as it became known, was just the first of Trump’s numerous racist fictions unleashed for political gain.)
Or should they also be held to account for their words? Law enforcement officer salaries are paid through taxpayer funding. Does such speech demonstrate clear bias, a violation of their oath to serve and protect all members of the public equally?
Brandon Johnson, chairman of the Kansas Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training, says actions of those storming the Capitol create a cut-and-dried case for firing. The words they used, he argues, also create such a case.
“Officers who traveled to the Capitol and took part in a direct attack on our democracy have broken their oath and because of the criminality of the insurrection should not be working in law enforcement,” he said.
“Officers who have stronger feelings of support for the disgusting rhetoric that the former president spewed regularly may have some biases that would potentially lead to biased negative treatment of members of those groups,” he added. “In my opinion, both racism and sexism should be dealbreakers in law enforcement due to the nature of their job of serving all of the public.”
Johnson’s commission has authority to investigate officers accused of wrongdoing — as long as an individual submits a request focused on a specific officer. A Kansas Open Records Act request for vacation days taken on or around Jan. 6, 2021, might mark a great starting point for such an investigation.
But we shouldn’t stop there. All complaints against officers and any disciplinary action reports should be made public.
The Jan. 6 hearings have implicated Trump more deeply in the horrid events of that day that left one woman dead, numerous officers injured and offices looted.
Trump reportedly asked rioters to show up armed and then wanted metal detectors removed. This may have led to the death and injury of officers who fought valiantly defending the Capitol, while Trump watched from the White House for hours as staffers and his daughter begged him to intervene.
The former president earned wide support from militant, white nationalist groups for his racially incendiary rhetoric. It was here that Johnson expressed concern about officers perhaps compromising their ability to mete out justice fairly in non-white communities.
Trump famously said there were good people on both sides of the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Virginia where a Neo-Nazi sympathizer killed Heather Heyer when he drove his car into a crowd of counter protesters.
Trump’s rallies have continued to draw throngs of Confederate battle flag wavers, fatigue-wearing militiamen and survivalists and others seemingly obsessed with the rapidly changing racial demographics of our nation.
The fact that many white officers identify with a man with these kinds of views is chilling to people from communities who already disproportionately bear the brunt of stops, searches and police use of force. There’s not a ton of difference between racist language and racist actions where officers are concerned.
Johnson said if any officer was found to have committed one of the specific statutory offenses, they could be disciplined by the commission with a suspended or revoked law enforcement certification, depending on the infraction and the severity of it.
Johnson is right. This needs scrutiny.
Ideally, police protect communities. But if we’re sealing police files and remain unwilling to weed out officers with histories of discrimination and violence, it’s Black and brown communities that will need protection from police.
https://kansasreflector.com/2022/07/17/troubling-questions-abound-for-kansas-police-in-wake-of-jan-6-commission-hearings/
-
Trump is trying to intimidate Jan 6th witnesses because he is running 'scared': former White House aide
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=30138909&width=2400&height=1567)
Appearing on MSNBC on Sunday morning, a former aide to vice president Mike Pence said she is not surprised that Donald Trump is trying to potentially influence and/or manipulate the testimony of aides who might appear before the House Jan 6th committee.
Speaking with host Sam Stein, Oliva Trote said she believes that the former president is frightened about what they might say and her experience with him is that he wants people working under him to live in fear.
Reflecting on comments made by Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) about a witness who was on the receiving end of an attempted Trump call, Troye said she was not surprised.
"First and foremost, I think Donald Trump is scared," the former White House aide responded.
"It's scary, it was a culture of fear in the White House for those of us that worked there and we're pretty much, people watched our every move, they watch what you are communicating, figure out how we were gonna deliver briefings on topics that they were not necessarily going to receive well," she explained. "So, this is intimidation and it wasn't surprising to me, which is actually more upsetting. I think that to Americans it should be."
"I wasn't shocked that Donald Trump would call someone and try to intimidate the witness in the sense because he kind of has the mob mentality," she added.
Trump is still facing prosecution in Georgia after a wiretapped call revealed that he had attempted to solicit Georgia officials to find more votes after he lost the state in the 2020 presidential election.
An aide for former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows, Cassidy Hutchinson, also testified against Trump recently to the January 6th committee.
Watch:
-
Secret Service scrambling to explain deleted Jan. 6 texts to 'skeptical' House committee members: report
According to a report from the Guardian, Secret Service officials can't seem to get their story straight about why crucial texts on the day before and the day of the Jan 6th Capitol insurrection were deleted,
As the report notes, that has members of House select committee investigating Donald Trump and his links to the Capitol riot are skeptical about their claims.
According to the Guardian's Hugo Lowell, "The Secret Service’s account about how text messages from the day before and the day of the Capitol attack were erased has shifted several times, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security told the House January 6 select committee at a briefing on Friday."
The report notes that members were first told that the lost texts were the result of software upgrades only to later be informed that they vanished due to device replacements.
According to the inspector general who issued the bombshell report, the Secret Service is being less than transparent when asked for answers and has been stonewalling "by slow-walking production of materials."
"Members on the select committee were privately skeptical of the notion that the Secret Service managed to inadvertently erase key messages during a 10-day period that was among perhaps the most tumultuous for the agency, the participants said," the report states before adding, "If some of the texts were deliberately erased after the 16 January 2021 request, that could amount to obstruction of a congressional investigation, one of the select committee’s members added on Friday."
"The select committee has spent recent days trying to establish whether it was all texts from 5 January and 6 January 2021 that were lost or just some, exactly how the texts came to be erased, and whether additional days’ worth of texts from that month were missing," the Guardian's Lowell wrote. "The participants at the briefing said [IG Joseph] Cuffari was not able to provide clear answers on those questions, beyond the fact that he understood a proportion of texts from both the day before, and the day of, the Capitol attack remain unaccounted for."
You can read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/16/secret-service-deleted-text-messages-january-6
-
Hearing to show Trump’s Jan. 6 ‘dereliction of duty,’ House panel says
- A House committee’s hearing will offer the most compelling evidence yet of then-President Donald Trump’s “dereliction of duty” on the day of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
- New witnesses will detail his failure to stem an angry mob storming the Capitol, committee members said Sunday.
- The committee says it continues to receive fresh evidence each day and isn’t ruling out additional hearings or interviews with a bevy of additional people close to the president.
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107082082-16564433982022-06-28t190504z_539018782_rc261v9391hx_rtrmadp_0_usa-capitol-security.jpeg?v=1656443513&w=630&h=354)
A House committee’s prime-time hearing Thursday will offer the most compelling evidence yet of then-President Donald Trump’s “dereliction of duty” on the day of the Jan. 6 insurrection, with new witnesses detailing his failure to stem an angry mob storming the Capitol, committee members said Sunday.
“This is going to open people’s eyes in a big way,” said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., a member of the House committee investigating the riot who will help lead Thursday’s session with Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va. “The president didn’t do anything.”
After a year-long investigation, the House Jan. 6 panel is seeking to wrap up what may be its last hearing, even as its probe continues to heat up.
The committee says it continues to receive fresh evidence each day and isn’t ruling out additional hearings or interviews with a bevy of additional people close to the president. One such figure is Steve Bannon, whose trial begins this week on criminal contempt of Congress charges for refusing to comply with the House committee’s subpoena.
The committee also issued an extraordinary subpoena last week to the Secret Service to produce texts by Tuesday from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021, following conflicting reports about whether they were deleted.
But panel members say Thursday’s hearing will be the most specific to date in laying out and weaving together previously known details on how Trump’s actions were at odds with his constitutional legal duty to stop the Jan. 6 riot. Unlike members of the public who generally have no duty to take action to prevent a crime, the Constitution requires a president to “take care that the laws be faithfully executed.”
“The commander in chief is the only person in the Constitution whose duty is explicitly laid out to ensure that the laws are faithfully executed,” Luria said. “I look at it as a dereliction of duty. (Trump) didn’t act. He had a duty to act.”
Thursday’s hearing will be the first in the prime-time slot since the June 9 debut that was viewed by an estimated 20 million people.
Luria said the hearing will highlight additional testimony from White House counsel Pat Cipollone and other witnesses, not yet seen before, “who will add a lot of value and information to the events of that critical time on January 6.” She cited Trump’s inaction that day for more than three hours, along with a tweet that afternoon criticizing Vice President Mike Pence for lacking courage to contest Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 presidential election that may have served to egg on the mob.
“We will go through pretty much minute by minute during that time frame, from the time he left the stage at the Ellipse, came back to the White House, and really sat in the White House, in the dining room, with his advisers urging him continuously to take action, to take more action,” Luria said.
The hearing comes at a critical juncture point for the panel, which is racing to wrap up findings for a final report this fall. The committee had originally expected at this point to be concluding much of its investigation with a final hearing but is now considering possible options for additional interviews and hearings, panel members said.
“This investigation is very much ongoing,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif. “The fact that a series of hearings is going to be concluded this Thursday doesn’t mean that our investigation is over. It’s very active, new witnesses are coming forward, additional information is coming forward.”
For instance, the committee took a rare step last week in issuing a subpoena to the Secret Service, an executive branch department. That came after it received a closed briefing from the Homeland Security Department watchdog that the Secret Service had deleted texts from around Jan. 6, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The finding raised the startling prospect of lost evidence that could shed further light on Trump’s actions during the insurrection, particularly after earlier testimony about his confrontation with security as he tried to join supporters at the Capitol.
“That’s what we have to get to the bottom of,” said Luria, regarding possibly missing texts. “Where are these text messages? Can they be recovered? And we have subpoenaed them because they’re legal records that we need to see for the committee.”
Luria spoke on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Lofgren was on ABC’s “This Week,” and Kinzinger appeared on CBS’ “Face the Nation."
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/17/hearing-to-show-trumps-jan-6-dereliction-of-duty-house-panel-says.html
-
Justice Department asks court to continue holding high-level Capitol riot defendant Barry Ramey in pretrial jail.
They argued Ramey deployed chemical spray in the face of police and came to DC on Jan 6 with 'body armor, knee pads, pepper spray, and a gas mask."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXkO8k9XkAMqdmu?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Update!
Feds to seek sentence of 15 years, no monetary fine for first Capitol riot defendant convicted at trial.
Guy Reffitt of TX, who was convicted of multiple counts & was accused of carrying gun while confronting police.
They seek multiple prison terms (concurrently 15 years)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FXvPJAQVEAEGDWc?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Justice Department says Reffitt made advanced plans and “outfitted himself with weapons, body armor, and zip ties. This level of planning is consistent with application of the terrorism enhancement.”
Guy Reffitt had gun on his waist as he confronted police.
The Justice Department argued Reffitt engaged in acts of violence that were intended to influence the government through intimidation or coercion—acts that have been defined, by statue, as domestic terrorism".
-
'Very suspicious': Secret Service expert questions use of texts on Jan 6th instead of agents using radios
Appearing on CNN on Monday morning, the co-author of a book on what it is like to be a Secret Service agent found Secret Service agents using texts during the Jan 6th insurrection -- instead of their radios -- to be highly "suspicious."
Speaking with host John Berman, Jeffrey Robinson, who co-wrote "Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service," claimed the entire story that the texts from Jan 5 and 6th were accidentally erased was not credible and suggested a cover-up by the Secret Service.
"Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) says it's quite crazy that anything would be deleted. How crazy do you think?" host John Berman prompted.
"It's criminal," the author immediately shot back. "First of all, you have to understand something, and you've been in the business long enough to know that when you do any sort of investigative journalism there are two pillars, first is there is no such thing as a coincidence and the second thing is everybody lies. That explains the Secret Service response."
"Also, emails and texts do not get erased," he continued. "You may take them off of your phone, you may take them off of some server, but they exist somewhere out in cyberspace. So if the Secret Service cannot find them, cannot turn them over or, more relevantly, is not willing to turn them over, the NSA [National Security Agency] can get them and the committee should turn immediately to the NSA to have everything."
"But there's something else at work here," he continued. "These are texts and emails. You've followed the president, you know that when the secret service goes out with the principal, the president, there may be 150, 200 agents at every stop along the way in advance of where he's going, where he's been, whatever. They are all on the earpiece in their ear and the microphone on their sleeve. That's radio traffic going around all the agents in real time and that's all recorded. Why would anybody send a text or an email unless they didn't want to be on radio traffic -- that's very suspicious."
Watch:
-
Watchdog to DOJ: Secret Service 'likely' broke federal criminal law by deleting text messages
A well-known non-partisan federal government accountability watchdog has filed a complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Justice, calling for an investigation into the Secret Service deleting text messages, saying it “likely” broke federal criminal law. The deletions reportedly occurred on messages sent between January 5 and 6, 2021, the day before and of the insurrection.
“It is extremely troubling to think that the Secret Service would destroy key evidence in any investigation, let alone one that is central to getting answers and accountability for the unprecedented attack on our democracy that occurred on January 6, 2021,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) Chief Counsel Donald Sherman said in a statement.
The letter, dated Monday, is addressed to Attorney General Merrick Garland and FBI Director Christopher Wray.
“The Federal Records Act requires that agencies like the Secret Service preserve records so that there is a complete and accurate history of the government’s actions and decisions,” Sherman added. “It is especially distressing to see such behavior from a federal agency that had such critical duties during the attack on the Capitol and had a front row seat to former President Trump’s behavior that day. The Justice Department must take this apparent violation of federal law seriously.”
The Secret Service has offered differing explanations for the deletions.
AFP
-
Jan. 6 committee reveals some of the Thursday witnesses for prime time hearing
The House Select Committee investigating the attack on Congress revealed that they will be calling former deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews and Matthew Pottinger, a former deputy national security adviser, to answer questions.
Co-chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) made it clear in the last hearing that new witnesses would be heard and that those would be witnesses who Americans have not yet heard from.
Both of the individuals were on hand in the White House on Jan. 6 and could testify to what they witnessed in the 187 minutes that former President Donald Trump didn't act to help the vice president or officials, staff and police at the Capitol.
"Mr. Pottinger, who was in the White House much of the day of the riot, is one of the live witnesses for the hearing, which is expected to focus on the more than three hours in which Mr. Trump watched the violence unfold without taking any substantial steps to call off his supporters even as they threatened Vice President Mike Pence," said the New York Times.
Matthews, in particular, will speak to the efforts by White House staff to get Trump to issue a statement telling his supporters to stop the attack.
The hearing will air at 8 p.m. EST.
Read More Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/18/us/politics/matthew-pottinger-jan-6-hearing.html
J6 chair announces committee's additional plans
The Chairman of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, Bennie Thompson, has announced additional steps he is taking to keep the American people informed of the committee's findings.
On Thursday the Committee will hold its final event – at least for now – a primetime hearing that is expected to focus on Donald Trump's actions the day of, and especially during the actual January 6 insurrection. It will be the ninth public hearing the Committee has held, and like the others, it is expected to draw a huge audience.
But as Committee member Adam Kinzinger said over the weekend, they are finding more and more information and people willing to go on the record so the investigation is far from over.
NPR's Deirdre Walsh reports Chairman Thompson, citing the "flow of new info coming into [the] panel," Monday evening announced the Committee is changing its plans and will issue a "scaled-down" report of its findings in the fall, with its final report to be issued by the end of the year.
Axios' Andrew Solender notes the scaled-down report will likely be in September and adds that Chairman Thompson says the Committee will hold a hearing on both the scaled-down report and its final report.
Read More Here:
https://twitter.com/AndrewSolender/status/1549166454414647303
-
Trump and Giuliani prosecutions could create ‘headache’ for cases against Capitol rioters
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rudy-giuliani-faced-an-expletive-laced-tirade-after-trump-campaign-lawyer-explained-georgia-recount-rules.jpg?id=26808913&width=2400&height=1350)
The Department of Justice faces public and political pressure to investigate Donald Trump and his chief allies for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection, but hitting the former president with criminal charges could throw the cases against Capitol rioters into chaos.
Any decision to prosecute Trump is still probably several months away, at least, but DOJ charges against him or top allies such as Rudy Giuliani would create delays in cases against individuals who stormed the Capitol because their attorneys would almost certainly want evidence against the ex-president as part of the discovery process, reported Politico.
“If he does get indicted — Trump — that does seem better for all the other defendants,” said Nina Marino, of law firm Kaplan Marino in Los Angeles.
Defense attorneys could demand the mountain of evidence of Trump's actions around Jan. 6, 2021, to argue that his alleged incitement makes their clients less culpable, and there's already so much video, electronic and other evidence gathered about the Capitol riot that piling on that additional evidence could be even more costly and time-consuming.
“It’s messy. It’s a headache. And it’s a huge undertaking,” said Pace University law professor Bennett Gershman, an expert on discovery practices.
“It seems to me if you’re going through the Trump stuff or [Rudy] Giuliani stuff [and you find something potentially useful to defendants] you’ve got to turn it over,” Gershman added. “They would have to turn over information to them that is colorably favorable or would be something a defense attorney would want to see.”
Gershman and some other legal experts suspect that DOJ may be letting the House select committee take the lead in investigating Trump to avoid complicating lower-level cases.
“I think it’s logical to make that assumption,” Gershman said. “Why would they be going out ahead of the committee when what the committee is doing is gravy for them? The committee is giving them huge information that they might not otherwise have discovered. There’d be no reason why they would want to run out ahead here.”
Read More Here: https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/18/probe-trump-existing-jan-6-cases-00046274
-
Meet Garrett Ziegler: Today's top J6 witness was a key participant in Trump's election fraud scheme
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/exclusive-white-house-aide-acted-as-a-conduit-of-information-from-giuliani-research-team-to-trump-during-campaign-to-overturn-2020-election.png?id=29665112&width=2400&height=1350)
Garrett Ziegler, a former aide to Trade Advisor Peter Navarro who acted as a key conduit between the Trump White House and the sprawling network of lawyers and conspiracy mongers promoting dubious election fraud theories in the final months of 2020, is expected to speak to the January 6th Committee on Tuesday morning.
Ziegler announced his interview in a message to his followers on Telegram at the stroke of midnight on Monday, writing, “Yours truly going before the scam committee on Tuesday morning. Such a joke, but don’t worry — I’ll do nothing but tell the truth: Trump did nothing wrong & the election was stolen!”
Fanatically loyal to Trump, Ziegler played a crucial role in facilitating an infamous late-night meeting in the Oval Office on Dec. 18, 2020 by using his access pass to usher lawyer Sidney Powell, retired Lt. General Michael Flynn and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne into the White House, where they proposed a plan to have the president invoke the Insurrection Act while ordering the National Guard to seize voting machines and re-run the election in states narrowly lost to Joe Biden.
The meeting, which ran for four and a half hours, devolved into a screaming match between the Powell camp and White House lawyers led by Chief Counsel Pat Cipollone, with the two sides nearly coming to blows. At the end, Trump reportedly appointed Powell to the ill-defined position of special counsel, although nothing seems to have come of the action. Byrne, who reportedly spoke to the January 6th Committee on July 15, recently told the far-right outlet Epoch Times that Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal attorney, told him he persuaded the president to reverse course by telling him that if they went forward with the plan “we’d all be in prison.”
Less than two hours after the raucous meeting broke up, Trump tweeted a call for his supporters to descend on Washington, DC on Jan. 6. Trump’s tweet included a link to the Navarro Report, which was prepared with Ziegler’s assistance. The president wrote, “Peter Navarro releases 36-page report alleging election fraud ‘more than sufficient’ to swing victory to Trump. A great report by Peter. Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election. Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
Byrne’s preexisting relationships with Ziegler and another White House staffer, Patrick Weaver, allowed Powell and Flynn to circumvent Meadows as a gatekeeper to the Trump White House.
“I was the one who pulled together kind of this plan without really even letting Sidney or General Flynn know what might be at the end of it,” Byrne said at a press conference in February. “I’d gotten to know some staffers who had always been inviting — ‘Oh, you gotta come over to the White House sometime and let us give you a tour.’” Byrne said he called one of the aides — it's not clear whether it was Ziegler or Weaver — around 6:15 p.m. to arrange the visit.
Ziegler described the visit in a June 2021 interview with David K. Clements, a former New Mexico State University professor who has traveled around the country promoting the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen. Ziegler told Clements that he used his visitors pass to get Byrne, Powell and Flynn into the White House, but that Weaver was the one who actually let them into the building. Once Meadows and Cipollone discovered that it was his pass that had been used to get the trio into the White House, Ziegler said, his visitors' privileges were taken away.
It is not clear how Byrne initially met Ziegler and Weaver, but by the time of the Dec. 18 meeting, Ziegler for one had been enmeshed in a frantic hive of effort to overturn the election with Byrne near the center as a financial sponsor.
From Nov. 15 to Jan. 12, Ziegler told Clements, he and three other aides, including Joanna Miller, helped Navarro assemble the three-volume report, adding that he often spent six hours a day beyond his formal duties in the Office of Trade and Manufacturing Policy working on the election effort.
Ziegler made frequent trips across the Potomac River to the Westin Arlington Gateway during the period he was helping Navarro gather information for the report. Shortly after the election, Michael Trimarco, a New York City businessman and Giuliani associate, had rented a bloc of hotel rooms at the Westin, where he provided Powell with workspace, he told far-right podcaster Ann Vandersteel in an interview earlier this year. In mid-November 2020, Powell and Flynn relocated to Tomotley, the estate owned by attorney Lin Wood, to continue to work on lawsuits to challenge the election outcome in states that Trump had narrowly lost.
“We kept those same rooms, or I kept them, and had the team that didn’t go down there continue to work on election integrity, and they largely were working with Garrett Ziegler,” Trimarco told Vandersteel.
Among those pushing election-fraud conspiracy theories, some of which made it into the lawsuits, who variously described themselves as whistleblowers, journalists and analysts, were Terpsehore “Tore” Maras, Millie Weaver, Gavin Wince and Patrick Bergy.
Trimarco mentioned a handful of key figures, including former White House strategist Steve Bannon, as working in tandem in an interview earlier this year with Maras.
“I gotta say, the level-headedness of looking at this stuff, you know, by yourself, Patrick, Steve Bannon and Rudy was what really kept us on track,” Trimarco told Maras. “Because the funnel — the mouth of the funnel was huge. There was information coming in so fast and furious that it was impossible with the team we had to really vet through it all.”
Trimarco described a campaign running parallel to the lawsuits filed by Powell and Giuliani, which were all ultimately dismissed, to build pressure on lawmakers to set aside Biden electoral votes in the six battleground states, culminating on Jan. 6.
“When I was saying it to you and Millie back then, you were like, ‘Yeah, but it’s already under control,’” Trimarco recalled in his conversation with Maras. “And actually when I would say it to Steve, too, he would be like, ‘Look those guys aren’t going to do anything. These are a relic of the past elections. They’re just spineless and they’re not going to do much, if anything. But maybe if we kick it right to them, they have to make a decision because constituency politics will overwhelm them and they’ll maybe pay attention to the evidence that will have been presented on January 6th for the two hours of debate in each of these' — which was it — six states.”
A large portion of the information in the Navarro Report “came from this group of analysts that were working out of the Westin that did not go to Tomotley,” Trimarco told Vandersteel. “Garrett was key. I mean, this guy — talk about people really working 24-7. He would come around at 11, midnight, 1, after he’s clearly done at the White House, to get information. I saw him come by one or two times. But he was working with a few key people on our team to get the information.”
Trimarco has described himself as the designated point person for relaying information between Powell’s team and Giuliani. While the Trump campaign, represented by Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, formally cut ties with Powell, in reality the two legal teams continued to coordinate. While Trimarco was vetting information for Giuliani, Byrne — associated more closely with Powell and Flynn — was regularly flying Trimarco back and forth between DC and Long Island so he could see his wife, who was pregnant. Meanwhile, Byrne has confirmed to Raw Story that he was paying for the hotel rooms at the Westin where Maras, Weaver, Wince and Bergy were staying.
With Trimarco preoccupied with his wife’s pregnancy and limited in his ability to fulfill his courier function, he said information from the researchers ensconced at the Westin often reached Trump before Giuliani knew about it.
“Ironically, a lot of the stuff that got back to Rudy didn’t end up coming through me,” Trimarco said. “Because once that connection was made, Garrett would give it to Peter, and Peter would give it to the president. And then it would circle back to Rudy.”
Ziegler noted in a Telegram post that the Navarro Report was heavily sourced “with hundreds of footnotes and affidavits,” and he boasted: “I still think I’m the only person in the USA with all the unredacted affidavits ha.”
In one instance, information gleaned from affidavits collected for the lawsuits was reportedly used in a report drafted by Ziegler’s White House colleague Joanna Miller, which was then forwarded to Giuliani for the purpose of pressuring state legislatures to reverse Biden’s win.
Entitled “Dominion Voting Systems: OVERVIEW 12/2/20 – History, Executives, Vote Manipulation Ability and Design, Foreign Ties,” the report drew on an anonymous declaration by a man described as “a former high-ranking Venezuelan military officer.” The affidavit was used in four lawsuits filed by Powell around the same time — between Nov. 25 and Dec. 2 — seeking to overturn election results in Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Arizona. Citing the affidavit, the report suggested that election software used in the 2020 US election was tied to vote-rigging in Venezuela.
In a defamation suit brought in November 2021, the election software company Smartmatic argued that Powell should have known the declarant wasn’t reliable because he claimed to have been present during discussions around February 2009 in which the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez “offered to pay Smartmatic to create or modify its voting system to rig elections,” and then to claim that he “closely observed” the same system rig votes three years earlier — a feat that “is clearly impossible absent the invention of time travel.”
The publicly available version of the Dominion report, which was first published in early December 2020 by the conservative outlet Gateway Pundit, named Katherine Friess, a volunteer on the Trump election legal team, as the author. The Guardian reported that the original version of the document named Miller as the author, but that her name was removed before it was sent to Giuliani on Nov. 29.
It is unclear whether Ziegler was directly involved in the production of the report, and he did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
One of Ziegler's claims directly reached the president, and was cited by Trump in his effort to enlist White House counsel in his campaign to cling to power.
“The young and earnest Garrett Ziegler rides to the sound of the guns in Nevada,” Navarro wrote in his book In Trump Time: A Journal of America’s Plague Year, recounting how Ziegler researched allegations of voter fraud immediately after the election. “He will soon find himself crisscrossing an Indian reservation investigating outrageously illegitimate bribes for Biden votes.”
As previously reported by Raw Story, although some election advocates such as Nevada Native Vote did offer free food, gift cards and raffle entries to voters, the giveaways were available to all voters, and not tied to support for any specific candidate.
“Then he went off on double voting,” former Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue’s testified during a June 13 hearing of the January 6th Committee, as he recounted a meeting with President Trump. “‘Dead people are voting. Indians are getting paid to vote.’ He meant people on Native American reservations. He said, ‘There’s lots of fraud going on here.’ I told him flat-out that much of the information he’s getting is false and/or just not supported by the evidence. We look at the allegations, but they don’t pan out.”
https://www.rawstory.com/garrett-ziegler-2657690865/
-
Former high-ranking Trump official will testify at Jan. 6 hearing
Matthew Pottinger, who served on former President Donald Trump’s National Security Council will testify publicly at Thursday’s prime-time hearing held by the House select committee investigating the US Capitol attack, according to multiple sources familiar with the plans. Pottinger resigned in the immediate aftermath of the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Watch:
-
14 key moments from the Jan. 6 committee hearings — so far
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/19/1112177450/14-key-moments-from-the-jan-6-committee-hearings-so-far
-
'What was he doing?' MSNBC analyst blows up at Republicans for standing by Trump as he did 'nothing' to stop the mob
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump.jpg?id=29816857&width=2400&height=1350)
On Tuesday's edition of MSNBC's "Deadline: White House," analyst Jason Johnson tore into former President Donald Trump for standing by and allowing his supporters to overrun the Capitol and endanger the lives of members of Congress.
Johnson also took aim at Republicans who continue to defend the former president in the face of all the evidence about his activities that has emerged from the House hearings on the matter.
"He sat on his rear end and willfully ignored the counsel from everyone around him, that what he sought to do on January 6th was illegal, ill-advised, what he sought to do at DOJ would lead to a Saturday Night Massacre, the likes of which would make the actual Saturday Night Massacre look small," said anchor Nicolle Wallace. "What the committee has succeeded in doing is showing that the president knew that January 6th was not an opportunity to overturn the election, that that was illegal."
"Nicolle, that's the thing," said Johnson. "He already knew, hey, dude, it's not working. Every piece of documentation, every corrupt crony that he had put in office, even they said, this is a bridge — this is a Chris Christie bridge too far, right? Just blocked. You can't do it. There's no way you can do this. He knew it already, and so January 6th can be seen as nothing but an attempt at a violent overthrow of the United States government."
"I think what's important, Nicolle, and this is what I'm really fascinated to see on Thursday, it's like, what on earth else could he have been doing at the time?" said Johnson. "What was he doing? What else could be more important? We're mad about Uvalde cops for waiting too long to go in to stop a mass shooter. Their lives were in danger, but that's what we expect them to do. This man's job was to protect the country. All he had to do was make a phone call or a tweet, and he wouldn't do it. In fact, he darn near encouraged people to kill his vice president."
"I'm curious as to what Republicans have to tell themselves at night before they go to bed, having survived last year, to tell themselves that made it okay that for hundreds of minutes, this man did nothing to protect the country as he attempted to slaughter every member of Congress," Johnson added.
Watch below:
-
Who is Sarah Matthews, the Trump White House aide testifying to Jan. 6 panel?
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2022-07/220718-Sarah-Matthews-2020-ac-809p-32c6df.jpg)
Sarah Matthews is set to testify at Thursday’s prime-time hearing of the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, according to Monday evening reports.
Matthews, who served as the former deputy press secretary in the Trump administration, resigned hours after the insurrection at the Capitol, where a pro-Trump mob sought to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election results.
The Associated Press and CNN reported Monday that she and Matthew Pottinger, former deputy national security adviser, will testify Thursday at the last currently scheduled Jan. 6 hearing, which is set to focus on former President Trump’s actions — or lack thereof — during the Capitol riot.
Here’s what we know about Matthews.
Who is Matthews?
Prior to her role at the White House in 2020, Matthews worked as a spokeswoman for Trump’s reelection campaign.
The Kent State University graduate said in an interview in 2020 that she met Kayleigh McEnany, the Trump campaign’s then-national press secretary, through that job.
She added that McEnany took Matthews with her when she left the campaign to become the White House press secretary.
The 27-year-old is currently the communications director for Republicans on the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, a position she has held since February 2021.
Matthews, who had previously been supportive of the Trump administration’s work during the former president’s term, took to Twitter in January to comment on the one-year anniversary of the insurrection, calling it “one of the darkest days in American history.”
“Make no mistake, the events on the 6th were a coup attempt, a term we’d use had they happened in any other country, and former President Trump failed to meet the moment,” Matthews wrote in a Twitter thread.
“While it might be easier to ignore or whitewash the events of that day for political expediency — if we’re going to be morally consistent — we need to acknowledge these hard truths,” she added.
She resigned on Jan. 6
Matthews was among the Trump White House staffers who resigned in the immediate aftermath of the Capitol attack.
“I was honored to serve in the Trump administration and proud of the policies we enacted. As someone who worked in the halls of Congress I was deeply disturbed by what I saw today,” she said in a statement at the time.
“I’ll be stepping down from my role, effective immediately. Our nation needs a peaceful transfer of power,” she said.
Matthews has expressed support for ex-White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson
Matthews also expressed her support for Hutchinson’s testimony before the House select committee investigating the riot last month, defending her former colleague amid criticism over her blockbuster testimony.
She tweeted that “anyone downplaying Cassidy Hutchinson’s role or her access in the West Wing either doesn’t understand how the Trump [White House] worked or is attempting to discredit her because they’re scared of how damning this testimony is.”
She has previously testified before the Jan. 6 panel
Matthews appeared voluntarily before the House select committee in February.
A source familiar confirmed to The Hill that Matthews was asked by the committee about the White House’s activities on the day of the attack.
The committee on June 16 also played a clip from Matthews’s testimony in which she commented on Trump’s 2:24 p.m. tweet that targeted his vice president directly.
Trump tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done,” which, according to Matthews, was like “pouring gasoline on the fire.”
“The situation was already bad, and so it felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire by tweeting that,” Matthews said in the video clip.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3553652-who-is-sarah-matthews-the-trump-white-house-aide-testifying-to-jan-6-panel/
-
Former Fort Bragg soldier receives one of the harshest sentences tied to Capitol riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30158739&width=980&quality=85)
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A former Fort Bragg soldier, who re-enlisted in the Army after attacking police with chemical spray during the riot at the U.S. Capitol, will now serve the longest prison sentence handed down so far against a North Carolina defendant tied to the massive insurrection case.
On Friday, a federal judge in Washington sentenced both James Mault of Fayetteville and a co-defendant to 44 months in prison plus three years of supervised release.
“They were not patriots on Jan. 6,” Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said during the hearings for Mault, 30, and Cody Mattice, 29, of Greece, New York, according to NBC News.
“No one who broke police lines that day were. They were criminals.”
On Friday, July 15, 2022, Mault was sentenced to 44 months — one of the longest prison sentences handed down so far in the prosecution of the riot.
A weeping Mault, formerly of Brockport, New York, near Rochester, took responsibility for his actions but asked for leniency.
"Those police officers did not deserve what happened to them,” Mault told the judge before she announced his punishment. “As a soldier ... I should have known better.”
That Mault was a soldier at all was a bit of a fluke. The Army veteran had been fired from his ironworker’s job in New York after the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the Capitol by a mob of Donald Trump supporters trying to keep the defeated president in office.
Both Mault and Mattice were interviewed by the FBI and both denied taking part in the violence against police that left more than 140 officers injured and left at least five people dead.
Mault, who served four years as an Army combat engineer in Kuwait, re-enlisted in May. According to the Washington Post, the Army said it was not aware he was being investigated by the FBI when it allowed him to return.
He was arrested at Fort Bragg in October after investigators obtained videos that placed him and his friend Mattice at two front lines of the Capitol violence, according to court documents.
At around 2 p.m. on Jan. 6 on the West Plaza outside the Capitol, Mault urged officers in the police line to join the insurrection.
“Your jobs will be here when you come back after we kick the s--- out of everyone,” he said on Mattice’s video of the exchange, court documents show. “This s--- is f------ right. What we’re doing is right, or there wouldn’t be this many f------ people here. And you guys f------ know this s---."
When diplomacy did not work, Mault and Mattice pulled down several of the metal barricades in front of the police line and helped other rioters muscle through toward the Capitol, documents allege.
Later, both men crowd-surfed their way on top of the mob to the mouth of the west terrace tunnel leading into the building. There, they were caught on camera, firing chemical sprays toward police — in particular an officer identified in court documents as M.A.
Texts and emails obtained by the FBI show Mault and Mattice had planned the violence for days, including an exchange of tips on what protective clothes to wear and what weapons to bring. Both pleaded guilty in April to felony assault on police officers. Their sentences were enhanced by their use of chemical sprays. In return for the guilty pleas, prosecutors dropped other charges that could have added years to their punishments.
“My friends and I went to the Capitol on Jan. 6 with the best intentions,” Mault told the judge on Friday, according to the Post. “... Our protest got terribly out of hand, I fell into the mob mentality, and I didn’t think about what I was doing.”
To date, more than 850 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol violence, including more than 260 who have been charged with assaulting or impeding police officers. Of those sentenced, only four have received longer prison terms than Mault and Mattice, according to the Post.
At least 23 North Carolinians have been charged in connection with the riot, including purported members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers extremist groups. Others remain under investigation.
Howell, the judge, said her sentences had to serve as a warning to “future malcontents disappointed with the outcome of an election” contemplating the obstruction of the peaceful transfer of power — “especially by directing participating in violence as these two defendants did,” the Post reported.
© The Charlotte Observer
-
Nevada Senate candidate's spox marched with Oath Keepers to the Capitol on J6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30163909&width=2400&height=1350)
CNN Kfile "scoop team" on Tuesday released bombshell conclusions it came to after an extensive examination of Jan. 6 video.
"The new communications director for the Republican Senate nominee in Nevada – a key state that could determine control in Washington – marched to the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, with two members of the far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers including one who was later charged with sedition and another with breaking into the Capitol and at least two others who were charged for illegally entering the building, according to videos reviewed by CNN’s KFile," Andrew Kaczynski reported. "Courtney Holland, a Nevada-based political activist who does not appear to have entered the Capitol building herself and has not been charged with crimes related to January 6, was named Adam Laxalt’s top spokeswoman in early July."
Former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt is running for U.S. Senate against Sen. Catherine Cortez Mastro (D-NV) after losing the 2018 governor's race.
"Early on the morning of January 6, Holland walked with a group to the main rally, which featured Trump, according to a video in a since-deleted tweet on her account archived on the Internet Wayback Machine. The group included three other speakers listed for the rally near the Capitol," CNN reported. "Following Trump’s rally, Holland was part of a group that now-included four other scheduled speakers for the second rally that made their way toward the Capitol guided by three Oath Keepers, according to videos and photos reviewed by CNN’s KFile. Holland said in a statement to CNN on Tuesday that she did not know the men, describing them as “security.” Two of those Oath Keepers, Kenneth Harrelson and Jason Dolan, have since been charged by the Department of Justice for their role in the Capitol attack"
Laxalt, the son of former Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM) and grandson of former Gov. and Sen. Paul Laxalt (R-NV), was endorsed by Donald Trump last August.
"The documents outlining evidence against Dolan noted both Oath Keepers traveled to Washington together and were frequently together before and during the Capitol riot," CNN reported. "It alleged both men brought weapons to the area that they left in Virginia. Dolan’s indictment from the Department of Justice makes reference to his march from the event near the White House. Numerous members of the Oath Keepers have been charged for their roles breaking into the Capitol building. Last week, the Justice Department released new details that alleged extensive planning by the Oath Keepers to prepare for violence in Washington, DC, on January 6, 2021, including lessons to conduct “hasty ambushes,” a “death list” of Georgia election officials and attempts to acquire homemade firearms."
https://www.rawstory.com/adam-laxalt-j6-courtney-holland/
-
48-pages of Pentagon emails provide ‘dramatic’ insight into Trump admin J6 activities: report
The U.S. Department of Defense on Tuesday released 48-pages of Jan. 6 communications following a Freedom of Information Act request from Business Insider.
"As an armed mob rushed toward the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, an aide sent Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley an urgent update about congressional office building evacuations and 'escalating protests.' The sources of this information: journalists' tweets," Insider reported.
"Together, this initial release of emails provides dramatic, if decidedly incomplete insight into Trump administration activities in the hours immediately before, during, and after a mob of President Donald Trump's supporters attacked the US Capitol on January 6," Insider reported. "One email includes a highly redacted exchange — subject: 'fencing' — between Kash Patel, chief of staff to then-Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, and Anthony Ornato, Trump's deputy White House chief of staff for operations, who drew national attention earlier this month after Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified before the US House's January 6 select committee about him.
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=30158885&width=980)
Patel previously worked for Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA).
"Underscoring the chaotic nature of the Capitol attack, many of the newly released emails contain a moment-by-moment mash-up of direct government intelligence, debunked rumors, and "open source" reports curated from media outlets and social media," Insider reported. "Combined with what is already known about text messages sent to Trump's chief of staff and a high-level Homeland Security official who visited the Capitol in person, the new disclosures highlight a lack of preparation to secure the counting of the electoral votes and a disorganized, ad hoc response to the violent attempt to disrupt that process."
The FOIA request is ongoing and further documents are expected.
Read More Here:
https://www.businessinsider.com/january-6-capitol-attack-pentagon-foia-emails-2022-7
-
It’s the accumulation’: The Jan. 6 hearings are wounding Trump, after all
Republican insiders say the cumulative effective of the hearings has been to erode support for the former president, at least on the margins.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/20/jan-6-hearings-trump-support-falls-00046662
-
Just another anti woman right wing white nationalist. No wonder he was part of Donnie's criminal administration. This fascist called the J6 committee "Bolsheviks" when he was part of a criminal regime that tried to steal the election from the American people. These radicals are delusional and total hypocrites.
Witness Garrett Ziegler lashes out at J6 committee in white nationalist grievance rant
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/today-s-top-j6-witness-was-a-key-participant-in-trump-s-election-fraud-scheme.jpg?id=30155334&width=2400&height=1800)
After invoking the Fifth Amendment and executive privilege more than 100 times to refuse to answer questions from the January 6th Committee on Tuesday, former White House aide Garrett Ziegler opened a livestream to vent his frustrations to his followers in a nearly 30-minute rant laden with white nationalist grievance on Telegram.
Ziegler complained that he has less resources to fight the committee than his older cohorts, including his boss former Trade Advisor Peter Navarro, who is suing the committee, and former White House strategist Steve Bannon, who is being prosecuted for contempt.
“They can pay their attorneys to go to trial,” Ziegler said. “I had to be very smart and circumspect. My goal was to avoid a contempt of Congress charge…. It’s going to be very, very hard for them to pass a contempt of Congress charge on me when I’ve given them documents, and I flew out to DC and sat in front of them. If they have a problem with me, they have a problem with the f****ng Fifth Amendment.
Citing his decision to invoke the Fifth Amendment to avoid self-incrimination, Ziegler portrayed himself as a victim of left-wing persecution.
“They’re Bolsheviks so they probably do hate the Fifth Amendment, and most white people in general,” he said. “This is a Bolshevist, anti-white campaign…. They see me as a young Christian who they can basically try to scare.”
Ziegler, who reshares white nationalist Nicholas Fuentes’ content and has called Cambodia a “s***hole country” on his Telegram channel, quickly added: “I’m the least racist person that many of you have ever met, by the way. I have no bigotry. I just try to see the world for where it is.”
Then, his rant veered into misogyny when he lamented that no one else in his generation was defying the January 6th committee, because “the other people in the White House are total hos and thots.” He specifically named Cassidy Hutchinson, the former aide to Chief of Staff Mark Meadows whose bombshell testimony revealed that President Trump wanted to let supporters with guns into the rally at the Ellipse, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former White House director of strategic communications and assistant to the president who reportedly showed up to support Hutchinson when she testified.
Ziegler reported that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) logged in to the interview by teleconference, but ducked out when he realized he wasn’t going to learn any new information.
“It was a boring hour,” Ziegler said. It was an awkward hour. I loathe these people.”
While spurning the committee, Ziegler provided additional detail about his role in facilitating a heated meeting at the White House on Dec. 18, 2020 in which attorney Sidney Powell, retired Lt. General Michael Flynn and former Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne urged President Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act and order the National Guard to seize ballots and re-run the election.
“What I did is I sent them a URL to a form to fill out to then they can request to the Secret Service to be admitted onto the property,” Ziegler said on Tuesday. “That’s exactly what I did. I did nothing more. I wasn’t even at the White House grounds when that meeting occurred. I had gone home because it was very late at night. I had no idea what they were discussing. I hoped that — my reason for sending the URL to the form was that somebody would advise the president to make a call to governors to get the National Guard to hand-count the paper ballots. I had no idea about the machines.”
Previously, Ziegler has told fellow election denier David K. Clements that he and Patrick Weaver, another White House aide in the National Security Council, worked together to let Powell, Flynn and Byrne into the White House.
“Basically, I had the visitor access,” Ziegler said. “And he went down and got General Flynn and Sidney Powell.”
https://www.rawstory.com/ziegler-testimony/
-
MAGA lawmakers who trembled during J6 attack will be 'humiliated' at Thursday hearing
GOP lawmakers are going target Republican lawmakers during Thursday's primetime hearing by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack at the U.S. Capitol.
"The Jan. 6 committee plans to use its Thursday night hearing to call out insurrection-friendly lawmakers who cowered during the Capitol attack but have since downplayed the insurrection’s severity," Rolling Stone reported Wednesday, citing "two sources familiar with the committee’s planning."
One source told the magazine, “they have plans to paint a really striking picture of how some of Trump’s greatest enablers of his coup plot were — no matter what they’re saying today — quaking in their boots and doing everything shy of crying out for their moms."
“If any of [these lawmakers] were capable of shame, they would be humiliated," the source added.
Thursday's hearing will also reportedly feature new video evidence.
"The bulk of the Thursday night hearing is expected to focus on Trump’s actions during the insurrection, including whether he took any action to defuse the riot at a time when lawmakers were under attack," the magazine reported. "But using photos and footage to slap down MAGA lawmakers’ claims of a 'tourist visit' from 'peaceful patriots' is part of a broader effort to bring reality to bear on a fictitious, pro-Trump reimagining of Jan. 6."
One such moment occurred after Rep. Andrew Clyde compared that unsuccessful insurrection to a "normal tourist visit."
Republican Rep. Andrew Clyde , the person screaming at the far left of this photo, is the person who recently likened the brutal, wildly out of control, deadly violent Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol to overthrow the will of the people, to a "normal tourist visit."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1onPOtWUAA8qk3?format=jpg&name=medium)
Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., second from top left, helps barricade the House chamber door as rioters disrupt the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote on January 6, 2021.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E1ZJpwcWEAIglob?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://twitter.com/pennstatetom/status/1393382541130936324
-
Jan. 6 panel to detail Trump’s 187 minutes of delay as insurrection grew
(https://www.azmirror.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/j6-hearing-trump-getty.jpg)
The U.S. House committee investigating the Jan.6 attack and Donald Trump’s role in it will focus in a Thursday evening hearing on the former president’s refusal for more than three hours to call off the rioters storming the U.S. Capitol, committee aides said Wednesday.
The hearing will be the eighth in the panel’s series to document its findings but is the first evening meeting since its initial presentation last month. It will begin at 8 p.m. ET and can be watched on a livestream here.
The committee leaders once indicated the series would comprise eight major public hearings, but aides now say more are likely, as the panel has heard from additional witnesses since the start of public meetings.
“There is potential for future hearings,” a committee aide said. “As we continue to gather evidence, continue to hear from witnesses, the committee will make a determination.”
Committee members Elaine Luria, a Democrat from Virginia, and Illinois Republican Adam Kinzinger will lead the Thursday’s hearing, aides said. Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, will participate remotely after he tested positive for COVID-19 this week.
The hearing will examine Trump’s actions in the 187 minutes between the end of his speech on the White House Ellipse at about 1:10 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, and when he tweeted a video asking his supporters to leave the Capitol at 4:17 p.m., aides said.
Trump knew of the violence happening at the Capitol, where Congress was scheduled to certify the 2020 election results, aides said. Trump was the only person with the power to call off the attack, but declined to do so, the committee will show, according to aides.
Rather than intervene, Trump inflamed the mob with a tweet about Vice President Mike Pence.
Wendy Via, the president and cofounder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, a group that has provided expert analysis to the committee, said in a Wednesday interview that the Pence tweet “shows intent” to incite a riot to disrupt the transfer of power.
Trump knew or should have known that tweet would agitate the crowd, she said.
The panel will show who in the White House, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, a former North Carolina congressman, spoke to Trump on Jan. 6.
The panel has not announced which witnesses will testify live, citing security concerns.
Testimony from the deposition of Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, whom the committee questioned last week after it had already conducted six hearings, is expected to be a major part of the hearing.
Cipollone provided information on every aspect of Trump’s plan to overturn the election result, which the committee has detailed over its seven previous hearings, aides said.
The panel changed course and reordered the information it presented as more testimony came in, Via said. Cipollone coming forward “was huge,” she said.
Former Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson also provided much more information midway through the series after she changed her legal team. Hutchinson was the sole witness at a surprise hearing last month that detailed Trump’s activities on Jan. 6 and the days leading up to it.
https://www.azmirror.com/blog/jan-6-panel-to-detail-trumps-187-minutes-of-delay-as-insurrection-grew/
J6 to air damning video evidence of Trump on Jan. 7 during Thursday primetime hearing
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump.jpg?id=24996948&width=2400&height=1350)
New video evidence of Donald Trump will be played at Thursday's primetime hearing by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"One day after the last rioter had left the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Donald Trump’s advisers urged him to give an address to the nation to condemn the violence, demand accountability for those who had stormed the halls of Congress and declare the 2020 election to be decided," The Washington Post reported Thursday. "He struggled to do it. Over the course of an hour of trying to tape the message, Trump resisted holding the rioters to account, trying to call them patriots, and refused to say the election was over, according to individuals familiar with the committee’s work."
The hearing will occur despite the select committee only now getting documents from the Secret Service, which deleted text messages.
"The public could get its first glimpse of outtakes from that recording Thursday night, when the Jan. 6 committee plans to offer a bold conclusion in its eighth hearing: Not only did Trump do nothing despite repeated entreaties by senior aides to help end the violence, but he sat back and enjoyed watching it," the newspaper reported. "He reluctantly condemned it — in a three-minute speech the evening of Jan. 7 — only after the efforts to overturn the 2020 election had failed and after aides told him that members of his own Cabinet were discussing invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office."
J6 aides are calling Thursday's hearing the "187-minute hearing."
"The hearing is also expected to tie together details from prior hearings, including the inflammatory presidential rhetoric that drew thousands to Washington that day, Trump’s willingness to grant audiences to fringe figures peddling fabulist and unconstitutional theories on how he could keep hold of the presidency and the many times he was urged to intervene during the violence but refused to do so," the newspaper reported. "All of it points to one conclusion, which the committee plans to argue Thursday: Trump wanted the violence, he is responsible for it and his unwillingness to help end it amounts to a dereliction of duty and a violation of his oath of office."
Read the full report: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/07/20/even-day-after-jan-6-trump-balked-condemning-violence/
-
'I smell a rat': J6 panelist questions the Secret Service's 'disappeared' text messages from Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/head-of-trump-secret-service-detail-spoke-with-house-investigators-about-jan-6th-report.jpg?id=29947244&width=2400&height=1518)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It was revealed on Tuesday evening that the U.S. Secret Service turned over a single text message from what their agents exchanged on Jan. 5 and 6.
Ahead of a data migration, the Secret Service received four requests from congressional committees to preserve records on Jan. 16, but on Jan. 25 they moved through a migration process anyway, despite knowing the data wasn't backed up to comply with the subpoenas.
"It's still a mystery to me, but I smell a rat," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told reporters on Wednesday on Capitol Hill. "That seems like an awfully strange coincidence for all of those text messages to be vanished into oblivion on two days when there was also the worst violent insurrection after the Civil War."
What isn't currently clear is if the Secret Service also has no texts or communications from Jan. 4, 7, 8 or other days in Jan. 2021.
Former White House photographer Pete Souza explained that due to the Presidential Records Act, it didn't matter if someone deleted something from their device that all emails and texts were automatically backed up to the system. He asked if the Department of Homeland Security has an exception and if so, why.
Speaking to MSNBC on Wednesday, Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig revealed "there are a lot of techies out there who think they can recreate their records, but stay tuned. We'll see."
Former Watergate Prosecutor Jill Wine Banks noted, responding to reporter Hugo Lowell's piece at The Guardian, that the Secret Service is good at reconstructing lost text messages then which likely means "they are also good at deleting them completely from all backup devices and the cloud. Doubtful it's accidental if they can be recovered."
Under its umbrella, the Secret Service operates The National Computer Forensics Institute, which calls itself an "innovative facility is the nation’s premier law enforcement training facility in cyber and electronic crime forensics." Their site says that they are there to "educate state, local, tribal, territorial law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges in the continually evolving cyber and electronic crime related threats, and educate, train and equip them with the tools necessary for forensic examinations to combat those crimes."
When asked if she thinks there are more text messages that the Secret Service can find, House Select Committee member, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), simply said, "We'll find out."
Read More at The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jul/19/secret-service-one-text-message-january-6-committee
Here's how the J6 committee can recover the Secret Service's vanished information
(https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2017/08/170821-trump-secret-service-feature-image.jpg?quality=75&strip=all)
On Wednesday's edition of MSNBC's "The ReidOut," former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner outlined the best way to recover the information wiped by Secret Service agents off their equipment, in what some experts believe to be a violation of the law.
Even if the data is not recoverable, said Kirschner, the January 6 Committee can put them under oath and make them recall as much of it as they can.
"Glenn, the Federal Records Act, violating that law, there would in fact be consequences for that, but since they can't find these records, you can't really reconstruct what the texts might have said," said anchor Joy Reid. "How would this each be approached potentially if there were violations of the law here?"
"Well, one way you can try to recreate what those text messages said is to put everybody under subpoena," said Kirschner. "Place them under oath and ask them, for example, when you were in the basement of the Capitol in the loading dock trying to urge the vice president to get into the car and he said what Representative Raskin said were the six most chilling words, 'I'm not getting in the car,' what did you communicate to your fellow Secret Service agents? I mean, put them under oath and sweat them."
Even just what is already known about the text message deletion, argued Kirschner, is enough for prosecutors to start investigating.
"You know, look, at this point, Joy, let's call it what it is," said Kirschner. "They were asked to preserve texts and they deleted them. That, to me, feels like what we call adequate predication, a fancy term for enough evidence to open a criminal probe. If the Secret Service did nothing wrong, then they should welcome an FBI investigation into something that really looks nefarious?"
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 committee reveals new details about Secret Service deleting critical evidence
(https://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20190408&t=2&i=1374886257&w=780&fh=&fw=&ll=&pl=&sq=&r=2019-04-08T184015Z_11719_MRPRC17688AE000_RTRMADP_0_USA-TRUMP)
One day before the eighth public hearing by the Jan. 6 select committee, it is revealing new details about the text messages reportedly destroyed by the U.S. Secret Service.
"The U.S. Secret Service has determined it has no new texts to provide Congress relevant to its Jan. 6 investigation, and that any other texts its agents exchanged around the time of the 2021 attack on the Capitol were purged, according to a senior official briefed on the matter," Carol Leonnig reported for The Washington Post on Tuesday. "Also, the National Archives on Tuesday sought more information on 'the potential unauthorized deletion' of agency text messages."
On Wednesday, 560 days after the attack on the U.S. Capitol, the select committee revealed that the Secret Service has begun producing documents.
"The Secret Service has begun producing records pursuant to the subpoena we issued last week and our investigators are assessing that information," the select committee announced. "We have concerns about a system migration that we have been told resulted in the erasure of Secret Service cell phone data."
"The U.S. Secret Service system migration process went forward on January 27, 2021, just three weeks after the attack on the Capitol in which the Vice President of the United States while under the protection of the Secret Service, was steps from a violent mob hunting for him," the select committee continued. "The procedure for preserving content prior to this purge appears to have been contrary to federal records retention requirements and may represent a possible violation of the Federal Records Act. The Select Committee is seeking additional Secret Service records as well."
The deletion has drawn increased scrutiny as the Secret Service runs a "state-of-the-art, 40,000 square foot" National Computer Forensics Institute (NCFI).
"Irony with the missing US Secret Service texts from 5 January and 6 January 2021 is that their cyber forensics team is considered by top current and former US Attorneys as the best in the business — and if anyone could reconstruct lost texts, they could," Guardian correspondent Hugo Lowell reported.
But MSNBC legal analyst Jill Wine-Banks, who was a Watergate prosecutor before serving as the first female general counsel of the U.S. Army, had a different take than that it was ironic.
"The thing is if they are good at reconstructing lost texts, they are also good at deleting them completely from all backup devices and the cloud. Doubtful it's accidental if they can't be recovered," she argued.
Read More Here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/19/secret-service-texts/
Legal experts lash out at Secret Service in scathing op-ed: Your explanations won't wash
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-limo.jpg?id=30040946&width=2400&height=1350)
The U.S. Secret Service motto is "Worthy of Trust and Confidence." Recent events, including the apparent deletion of Jan. 6 evidence, have put a large question mark after that phrase, and the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection is moving to answer the question. Producing a complete inventory of the agency's texts around Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, is vital to the committee's search for truth.
The Secret Service was already embroiled in controversy about whether former agents may have been involved in witness intimidation targeting star committee witness Cassidy Hutchinson for her testimony about Trump's violent intent on Jan. 6. Then, on July 13, it emerged that the agency had deleted text messages relating to what happened on Jan. 5 and 6, and apparently did so after Inspector General Joseph Cuffaris requested them. Next, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said that some of the agency's phone data had been lost due to a "pre-planned, three-month system migration" requiring agents to reset their mobile phones. The committee subpoenaed the texts. According to committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat, the Secret Service said "they, in fact, had "pertinent texts." But on July 19, the Service announced it had nothing further to produce, apparently contradicting the statement that "none of the texts . . . had been lost."
The Service has vigorously denied the IG's charges that it obfuscated or "maliciously" deleted texts. But when an agency cannot seem to keep its story straight, it is Congress' oversight responsibility to penetrate the fog of facts.
That the agency has offered shifting explanations about the disappearing texts is alarming — their relevance would have been obvious to any law enforcement agency. Without question, any scheduled data deletion or device-replacement program should have been immediately suspended due to the paramount importance of preserving evidence regarding the historically unprecedented events of Jan. 6.
One of us (Eisen) worked regularly with the Secret Service, including on records-handling issues, as a former White House special counsel. The other two (Baron and Aftergut) are former federal prosecutors and experienced civil lawyers. We can say without hesitation that multiple Secret Service leaders and their attorneys would have known on Jan. 6 that an investigation of the Capitol insurrection was inevitable and that the Service would be asked for all pertinent communications, including its texts.
We can say without hesitation that Secret Service leaders and their attorneys would have known immediately that an investigation of the Capitol insurrection was inevitable.
Any litigator, including those at Secret Service, would also know that once the agency received a specific document preservation request, they were obligated to issue instructions throughout the agency regarding actions required to preserve data with potential evidentiary value. Lawyers who fail in that duty are subject to professional disciplinary action.
Companies changing information systems and migrating data routinely back up the data with multiple safeguards to ensure it is saved. Tools for such backups are widely available.
Even without backup, in the modern world deleted text messages are rarely irretrievable. Computer forensic recovery capabilities are so robust that data seldom truly disappears. Data security experts can usually show whether someone tried to scrub information — and those experts can often reconstruct the deleted data.
Because deletions of Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, texts apparently occurred after requests by Inspector General Cuffari, the Secret Service has some uncomfortable explaining to do for its failure to create adequate backup. Should the missing texts be forensically retrieved, they may help call Donald Trump to account, along with his tight circle of advisers who assisted in fomenting the Jan. 6 violence.
If the committee finds intentional deletion at the Secret Service after an IG information request, then another piece in an emerging obstruction of justice mosaic may fall into place. Destroying evidence with the intent to influence or obstruct a federal investigation is a federal offense. Multiple other potential offenses are cited by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in a July 18 complaint letter to the attorney general and FBI regarding the text deletions.
Recovered text messages could shed bright light on multiple central issues:
- Advance information, if any, the Secret Service possessed about firearms, bear spray and other weapons in the hands of pro-Trump demonstrators marching on the Capitol – or any coordinated planning to interfere with the Electoral College process.The extent to which Trump had been briefed on intelligence about potential violence and electoral disruption.
- Further corroboration of Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony that after Trump's Jan. 6 Ellipse speech, he directed his Secret Service detail to take him to Capitol Hill to lead marchers whom he knew were armed and attempting to interfere with the constitution's electoral certification process.
- Whether Trump or the Secret Service had planned to remove Vice President Mike Pence from the Capitol to prevent him from presiding over the electoral vote count. Pence reportedly told the Secret Service detail on Jan. 6, when agents asked to evacuate him: "I'm not getting in the car. If I get in that vehicle, you guys are taking off." Had Pence entered the vice presidential limo, he might have never certified the presidential election results, plunging the nation into uncharted waters.
In fairness, the Secret Service says it has already turned over phone data from 20 agents, 790,000 unredacted emails and other documents, as well as providing hours of formal testimony from its agents. Perhaps more is coming.
In any case, one question committee investigators cannot avoid is whether the Secret Service deviated from standard procedures at the behest of people the Trump administration placed in command there.
During Trump's administration, unprecedented coziness appears to have existed between the Secret Service and the White House. For example, Anthony Ornato was the Service's deputy assistant director who headed Trump's security detail until Trump made him White House deputy chief of staff for operations in December 2019.
While on Trump's staff, Ornato helped coordinate the infamous June 2020 Trump photo-op across from Lafayette Park, when police and military forcefully attacked peaceable political demonstrators. Following Hutchinson's June 2022 testimony, other former Trump administration aides have said that Ornato has a history of changing his story to protect Trump. Ornato is now back at Secret Service as an assistant director, and should be available to return to testify before the committee.
Given the reasonable probability of the House select committee recovering missing texts, Secret Service witnesses must bear in mind the danger of getting caught in a lie under oath. The committee has shown time and again that there is no substitute for the truth that is emerging from many of those closest to the events of Jan. 6.
The Secret Service deserves an opportunity to fully explain the process by which the texts came to be deleted. But it is clear that this most important chapter in the history of our republic can only be fully and accurately written with access to those missing texts or truthful testimony about what they would have revealed.
https://www.rawstory.com/secret-service-2657700184/
-
MAGA world is going to have a hard time attacking Thursday's witnesses at Jan. 6 committee: Former Trump aide
(https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/02/meadowsmark_jordanjim_022318gn_lead.jpg?w=900)
Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin said that former President Donald Trump's allies in "MAGA world" are going to have a hard time trying to destroy the witnesses coming before the House Select Committee in the public hearing on Thursday.
Speaking to CNN, Griffin explained that Sarah Matthews, in particular, is a long-time Republican aide and she had been with Trump since the 2016 campaign.
She was "hand-picked by Kayleigh McEnany to work in the White House," Griffin explained. They aren't "going to be able to attack her as a 'Never-Trumper' or as a RINO."
Matthew Pottinger, the former deputy national security adviser, similarly is someone who has "enormous credibility on both sides of the aisle as a national security professional," she explained.
"He was the senior most NSC official in the White House on Jan. 6th," Griffin explained. "So, two very strong witnesses who are going to be able to talk about that critical day and what the former president was and was not willing to do and say, what the threat assessments were that were presented to him, and I think it's going to shed a lot of light. The one other thing I would note, I'd expect to hear a lot more of Pat Cipollone's testimony. We only got a little bit of that in the previous hearing. There are still hours of tape from that deposition that I think we'll hear in tomorrow's hearing."
See the conversation below:
‘Everybody knows they’re lying’: Morning Joe unloads on Secret Service for aiding coverup of Trump’s ‘fascist takeover’
(https://warontherocks.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Trump-Finger-Pointing.jpg)
MSNBC's Joe Scarborough bashed the U.S. Secret Service for losing text messages requested by a Cabinet-level inspector general from Jan. 6, 2021, and the day before.
The Secret Service has determined that data requested by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general cannot be retrieved after an agency-wide reset of staff telephones starting in mid-January 2021, and the "Morning Joe" host said they were aiding a coverup of Donald Trump's attempt to overthrow the government.
"According to testimony before the [Jan. 6] committee and corroborated by others, Donald Trump lunged and grabbed the steering wheel and lunged at a Secret Service member's neck telling him to take him up to the Capitol, and that was known within Secret Service circles," Scarborough said. "Now, of course, the Trumpers that he put in place in the Secret Service, that politicized the Secret Service was reported, now, they're denying it. As in the past with Donald Trump, everybody knows they're lying, but now we're supposed to think that would we have text messages that would back this up from the Secret Service, we're supposed to think it's a bureaucratic snafu. It doesn't work that way."
"They knew, again, this is like the days after Pearl Harbor, it's like the days after Pearl Harbor, the people running radar are burning all their documents at the base there," Scarborough added. "Nobody would believe that was a bureaucratic snafu. It was the destruction of documents that could help us better understand what unfolded as a president who was defeated at the polls was attempting a fascist takeover of American democracy."
Watch:
-
Trump made video condemning Capitol riots because he feared cabinet would use 25th Amendment to remove him: CNN
Thursday night's House Select Committee hearing is expected to dive into former President Donald Trump's actions during the January 6th Capitol riots -- and also his actions in the immediate aftermath.
On January 7th, 2021, Trump made a video in which he condemned the riots at the Capitol as lawless acts of violence.
However, the J6 Committee is reportedly preparing to show outtakes of Trump's riot-condemning speech in which he expresses reluctance to condemn the attackers.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins said on Wednesday that sources have told the network that "one of the only reasons Trump actually made that video was aides warned him about the fact that his own cabinet might be preparing to use the 25th Amendment to remove him from office" if he failed to do so.
The January 7th video in question is much more forceful in condemning the violence at the Capitol that Trump made on January 6th.
Although the twice-impeached former president did call on the rioters to leave the Capitol on that day, he also told them that "we love you, you're very special" and again repeated his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from them.
Watch the CNN report below:
-
Adam Kinzinger offers video preview of Thursday's blockbuster J6 Committee hearing
On Thursday, ahead of the latest public hearing by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) released a clip showing some of the information that will be discussed during the hearing.
One of the key points laid out in the video — which depicts various witnesses sitting for depositions — is that former President Donald Trump was removed from the fray, watching everything on television and not doing anything to respond to the violence.
The question of what the former president was actually doing during the attack has loomed large over the proceedings, as it has bearing on whether or not Trump can be considered culpable for the attackers' actions, and whether he approved of their actions.
This comes amid other evidence that the former president did not activate the National Guard to protect members of Congress during the attack, and other people lower or even outside of the chain of command had to step in to keep them safe — something several retired generals and admirals publicly condemned as a "dereliction of duty."
A previous witness, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, testified that insofar as Trump wanted to do anything, it was to travel to the Capitol and join the rioters — and that at one point he even lunged at his own security detail for refusing to take him to the scene.
Adam Kinzinger @RepKinzinger
What was Donald Trump doing while the Capitol was under siege? Take a look.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1550107400232992768
-
Live updates: Jan. 6 panel says Trump chose not to act during Capitol attack
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/21/1112023963/jan-6-hearing-livestream-how-to-watch-live-updates
-
WATCH: Rep. Luria said Trump ‘refused to act’ on Jan. 6 to stay in power | Jan. 6 hearings
Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va. gave an opening statement on July 21 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The hearing focused on what President Donald Trump was doing during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in an effort to interrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
She began to summarize the timeline of the insurrection and how former President Donald Trump “sat in his dining room and watched the attack on television.”
“On Jan. 6, when lives and our democracy hung in the balance, President Trump refused to act because of his selfish desire to stay in power,” she said.
-
WATCH: Jan. 6 attack ‘emboldened our enemies,’ former White House security adviser says
Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., spoke on July 21 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The hearing focused on what former President Donald Trump was doing during the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol in an effort to interrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s presidential victory.
Kinzinger mentioned the last tweet Trump put out on Jan. 6 that said “these things” was “what happened when an election was viciously and unceremoniously stolen.”
Former press secretary Sarah Matthews testified that it was further justification of her choice to resign from the administration.
“At that point, I had already made the decision to resign. And this tweet just further cemented my decision,” she said. “I thought that Jan. 6, 2021, was one of the darkest days in our nation’s history and President Trump was treating it as a celebratory occasion with that tweet.”
Kinzinger also played what GOP leadership said in the days and weeks after the attack; in that moment, they all condemned what happened. He said that other White House personnel considered resigning, but were worried that Trump, “left to his own devices, would put the country at continued risk.”
Matthew Pottinger, former deputy national security adviser, said he stayed in his position, after he sent his boss his resignation, to help protect the national security of the country. But he said the aftermath created new security issues.
“I think it emboldened our enemies by helping give them ammunition to feed a narrative that our system of government doesn't work, that the United States is in decline,” Pottinger said.
-
DHS watchdog has launched criminal probe into destruction of Jan. 6 Secret Service text messages, sources say
Results of the investigation could be referred to federal prosecutors, the sources said, depending on the results.
Results of the investigation could be referred to federal prosecutors, the sources said, depending on the results.
WASHINGTON — The Department of Homeland Security’s Inspector General has launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances surrounding the destruction of Secret Service text messages that may have been relevant to inquiries about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The results of the investigation could be referred to federal prosecutors, the sources said, depending on the results.
The DHS Inspector General informed the Secret Service on Wednesday evening that the investigation is now criminal and that it should halt all internal investigations on the missing text messages, according to a letter detailed to NBC News.
“To ensure the integrity of our investigation, the USSS must not engage in any further investigative activities regarding the collection and preservation of the evidence referenced above,” DHS Deputy Inspector General Gladys Ayala wrote in a letter to Secret Service Director James Murray on Wednesday evening. “This includes immediately refraining from interviewing potential witnesses, collecting devices or taking any other action that would interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation.”
The letter was first reported by CNN.
In a statement, the Secret Service said it was “in receipt of the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s letter. We have informed the January 6th Select Committee of the Inspector General’s request and will conduct a thorough legal review to ensure we are fully cooperative with all oversight efforts and that they do not conflict with each other.”
However, a Secret Service official said the letter raises some legal complexities, because while DHS has asked Secret Service to halt its internal inquires the agency also faces a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee and a demand for information about the texts from the National Archives.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/dhs-launched-criminal-probe-destruction-jan-6-secret-service-text-mess-rcna39392
-
Trump didn't act and didn't want to, plus 4 other takeaways from the Jan. 6 hearings
https://www.npr.org/2022/07/22/1112324462/jan-6-hearing-takeaways
-
Former President Donald Trump went on a massive tirade late Thursday night after the House select committee on the Jan 6th riot concluded their latest public hearing, with Trump ending his night by trashing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as a "disloyal sleaze bag!"
Trump is the ultimate disloyal sleaze bag. The worst American traitor since Benedict Arnold.
In the future, let's not elect a businessman, a TV reality star, an actor, or even a general or admiral. Let's stick with politicians like governors, senators and congressmen. They have worked out ok in the past. A non-politician might work out ok, and has worked out well to very well, in the past. Men like Eisenhower and Grant, for instance. But you never know what you are going to get.
It may be that a narcissist individual like Trump isn't interested in being Senator or Governor. He wants to be head of the company, or head of the nation, or nothing at all. Choosing from the ranks of politicians might weed these people out. It seems to have worked in the past.
Democracy is a fragile relay race. From 1789 to 2012, we had 57 presidential elections, 57 baton exchanges. On the 58th exchange in 2016, we dropped the baton. Entrusted the presidency to someone who wanted to be President for Life. Let's steer away from that in the future. Why take chances?
-
Former President Donald Trump went on a massive tirade late Thursday night after the House select committee on the Jan 6th riot concluded their latest public hearing, with Trump ending his night by trashing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as a "disloyal sleaze bag!"
Trump is the ultimate disloyal sleaze bag. The worst American traitor since Benedict Arnold.
In the future, let's not elect a businessman, a TV reality star, an actor, or even a general or admiral. Let's stick with politicians like governors, senators and congressmen. They have worked out ok in the past. A non-politician might work out ok, and has worked out well to very well, in the past. Men like Eisenhower and Grant, for instance. But you never know what you are going to get.
It may be that a narcissist individual like Trump isn't interested in being Senator or Governor. He wants to be head of the company, or head of the nation, or nothing at all. Choosing from the ranks of politicians might weed these people out. It seems to have worked in the past.
Democracy is a fragile relay race. From 1789 to 2012, we had 57 presidential elections, 57 baton exchanges. On the 58th exchange in 2016, we dropped the baton. Entrusted the presidency to someone who wanted to be President for Life. Let's steer away from that in the future. Why take chances?
Nice post.
The mainstream media played a huge part in propping up Donnie when he ran for president. They even did the same for Bush back in 2000.
All we heard from the media was the narrative that "Bush is the guy you want to sit down and have a beer with" and Al Gore is "too boring like a college professor". That phony narrative was played up by the media all the way until election day.
We are electing leaders for their intellect and how well they can assume the responsibilities as president. Not someone who can tell stories and jokes at a bar with a beer.
And look what we got with Bush. Two failed wars, massive debt, and an economic crisis.
The media did the same thing for Donnie when he ran. The media used the narrative that "Americans are tired of politicians and want tv stars", the nurse, the doctor, the local baker to run for local and federal office instead.
Would you have your mechanic do emergency surgery on you instead of the qualified surgeon? Of course not, so why would you vote for someone unqualified that votes on the most important laws that affects your life?
Donnie was a total disaster and that's what happens when people vote for an unqualified tv star to assume the the role of the most important job on the planet.
Now Donnie is only endorsing far right wing MAGA candidates that are 100% loyal to him. These people have zero qualifications to be in office. But Donnie demands that they lie for him and push his fake "election fraud" conspiracies. As long as they pledge a loyalty oath to him and push his lies, he will endorse them.
That is what you call a cult and not a political party.
Any Republican should be outraged that Trump attempted a coup to steal the election from the American people. The Republicans that did speak out were immediately attacked by Trump and his allies. He is currently going after every Republican that didn't help him steal the election by trying to replace them with his loyalists.
Like I said, the GOP is a cult. We saw that when the GOP refused to hold Trump accountable for January 6th as they let him off the hook during the impeachment trial. They also helped him try to steal the election from the American people. And these are the same GOP traitors who want to control our government.
-
. . .
And look what we got with Bush. Two failed wars, massive debt, and an economic crisis.
Agreed. Bush was a very unsuccessful president. But at least he was not a traitor. And I appreciate his standing with Clinton and Obama (both successful presidents) in supporting democracy.
. . .
Now Donnie is only endorsing far right wing MAGA candidates that are 100% loyal to him. These people have zero qualifications to be in office. But Donnie demands that they lie for him and push his fake "election fraud" conspiracies. As long as they pledge a loyalty oath to him and push his lies, he will endorse them.
And worst yet, if they win office, and Trump runs in 2024, and Trump loses the state they are in, they will try as hard as they can to declare the election was rigged and award their state’s votes for Trump.
The worst mistake Democrats are making are running ads to help Trump’s candidates win Republican primaries. Under the theory this will give them a certain win in November. This is playing with fire. In the words of a 1950’s submarine movie of World War II (as I recall) “They are either being very clever or very stupid. Maybe too clever, too stupid”. This is playing with fire. Who knows what scandal might break out for a Democratic candidate for an important position? I wish, for once, they would just play it safe. It also erodes the moral high ground for the Democrats, which should not be casually cast aside.
. . .
Like I said, the GOP is a cult. We saw that when the GOP refused to hold Trump accountable for January 6th as they let him off the hook during the impeachment trial. They also helped him try to steal the election from the American people. And these are the same GOP traitors who want to control our government.
More than a cult. They are traitors. This nation has a higher proportion of traitors in the country since 1860. They see they can no longer win. And with each presidential election, their odds of winning a presidential election becomes more and more remote, even with the advantage of the Electoral College. Rather than accept this and remain loyal to democracy, they resolve to do what ever they can to win the next election. Which might allow them to rig the system so their side can stay in power, regardless of future elections. In the back of their minds, that is what they are thinking. Maybe they just have to win one more time to reverse the course of history.
The problem is not Trump. The problem is not Republican politicians who have sold out (and too many who have not sold out are soon to be out of office). It is with the attitudes of tens of millions of Republican voters. After Trump is gone, they aren’t going to give up. It may look like they have given up, as they drop away from Trump. But they have not given up. They will look for another Trump. Most of them are looking for another Trump right now.
I felt compelled to leave the Republican party in January 2021. My fantasy is that some day I can rejoin it. But that will never happen. I am in my 60’s. This block of disloyal Americans is going to outlive me. I will never join with them.
This is a bad situation. Even if the Republicans never win the presidency, nor the house, nor the senate, it’s a bad situation. We need a two-party system. So both parties can compete with each other. But how can we do this with so many disloyal Americans? Over time, with loyal Americans compelled to vote for the Democratic party, their politicians won’t be compelled to compete for votes. What effect with this have on the Democratic politicians?
-
Agreed. Bush was a very unsuccessful president. But at least he was not a traitor. And I appreciate his standing with Clinton and Obama (both successful presidents) in supporting democracy.
And worst yet, if they win office, and Trump runs in 2024, and Trump loses the state they are in, they will try as hard as they can to declare the election was rigged and award their state’s votes for Trump.
The worst mistake Democrats are making are running ads to help Trump’s candidates win Republican primaries. Under the theory this will give them a certain win in November. This is playing with fire. In the words of a 1950’s submarine movie of World War II (as I recall) “They are either being very clever or very stupid. Maybe too clever, too stupid”. This is playing with fire. Who knows what scandal might break out for a Democratic candidate for an important position? I wish, for once, they would just play it safe. It also erodes the moral high ground for the Democrats, which should not be casually cast aside.
More than a cult. They are traitors. This nation has a higher proportion of traitors in the country since 1860. They see they can no longer win. And with each presidential election, their odds of winning a presidential election becomes more and more remote, even with the advantage of the Electoral College. Rather than accept this and remain loyal to democracy, they resolve to do what ever they can to win the next election. Which might allow them to rig the system so their side can stay in power, regardless of future elections. In the back of their minds, that is what they are thinking. Maybe they just have to win one more time to reverse the course of history.
The problem is not Trump. The problem is not Republican politicians who have sold out (and too many who have not sold out are soon to be out of office). It is with the attitudes of tens of millions of Republican voters. After Trump is gone, they aren’t going to give up. It may look like they have given up, as they drop away from Trump. But they have not given up. They will look for another Trump. Most of them are looking for another Trump right now.
I felt compelled to leave the Republican party in January 2021. My fantasy is that some day I can rejoin it. But that will never happen. I am in my 60’s. This block of disloyal Americans is going to outlive me. I will never join with them.
This is a bad situation. Even if the Republicans never win the presidency, nor the house, nor the senate, it’s a bad situation. We need a two-party system. So both parties can compete with each other. But how can we do this with so many disloyal Americans? Over time, with loyal Americans compelled to vote for the Democratic party, their politicians won’t be compelled to compete for votes. What effect with this have on the Democratic politicians?
I've always been an Independent voter because I had problems with some of the platforms of both parties. Since 2016, I will never vote for a Republican ever again. Any Republican worth voting for has been pushed out of the party and has been replaced by deranged MAGA conspiracy theorists who are hellbent on destroying our democracy.
That's why MAGA cult loyalists are running for office as Secretary of State and Governor so they can have their thumb on the button of the elections. When Republicans lose elections in those states the loyalists can claim the election was "rigged" and declare the Republican loser the winner over the will of the people.
-
Liz Cheney nails Fox News host after he tries to ‘blame the Capitol Police’ for Jan. 6
Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) responded to a Fox News host after he suggested that law enforcement and House Speaker Nancy Peolosi (D-CA) were responsible for the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol.
In an interview on Sunday, Fox News host Bret Baier argued that the Jan. 6 Committee should be investigating why law enforcement failed to stop the riot that was incited by former President Donald Trump.
Baier told Cheney that "the assets weren't prepped and ready" on Jan. 6.
"Is there testimony already gathered on Speaker Pelosi's decisions or the Sgt. at Arms in the House and Senate on that regard?" he wondered.
Cheney revealed that the Jan. 6 Committee has an "entire team" devoted to examining Capitol security.
"So it's certainly something that we're going to be very focused on," she replied. "But what we aren't going to do, Bret, is blame the Capitol Police, blame those in law enforcement for Donald Trump's armed mob that he sent to the Capitol."
"OK," Baier said, trying to interrupt while Cheney continued to answer.
"There were intelligence failures," she admitted. "Clearly, the security should have operated better than it did. But this was mob Donald Trump sent to the Capitol and I think that's important to keep our eye on."
Watch the video below from Fox News:
-
Bill Pascrell, Jr. @BillPascrell
564 days ago insurrectionists ransacked the US Capitol and *hours later* 68% of House republicans voted to finish the rioters’ job and make trump a dictator. Never forget it.
Here are the 138 House republicans who voted to install trump as a dictator hours after rioters tried to do the same.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYeHzgmWQAAJ53M?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://twitter.com/BillPascrell/status/1551357913746350083
-
Liz Cheney serves notice to Ginni Thomas that the Jan 6th committee is prepared to subpoena her
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30239826&width=800&height=450)
Appearing on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday morning, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) left no doubt that the House committee investigating the Jan. 6th insurrection will definitely consider issuing a subpoena to Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, if she refuses to testify.
During her appearance with host Jake Tapper, the conservative lawmaker was asked about Thomas' attempts to subvert the 2020 presidential election results and whether the committee will press her to testify.
"She was writing to them about efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, not to mention her correspondence with Arizona lawmakers pushing fake electors. Is your committee planning on talking to her?" host Tapper asked.
"We are," Cheney replied. "The committee is engaged with her counsel and hope she will agree to come in voluntarily. The committee is prepared to contemplate a subpoena if she does not."
"I hope it doesn't get to that and I hope she comes voluntarily," she continued. "We've spoken with numbers of people who are similarly situated in terms of the discussions that she was having as you mentioned. It's very important for us to speak with her and, as I said, I hope she'll agree to do so voluntarily -- I'm sure we'll contemplate a subpoena if she won't."
Watch:
-
Inside the close and personal relationships Clarence and Ginni Thomas have with key players in Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/clarence-thomas-wife-is-helping-trump-purge-snakes-from-the-white-house-and-replace-them-with-fox-news-regulars.jpg?id=26406547&width=800&height=430)
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress and attempt to overthrow the election has moved closer to subpoenaing Ginni Thomas, co-chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) revealed on Sunday.
More evidence has been presented about the political relationships that Thomas along with her husband, Justice Clarence Thomas, have with special interest groups that control the judicial options handed to Republican lawmakers.
Conservative judicial activist Leonard Leo, who has worked with the Federalist Society for years, and has been referred to as "arguably the most powerful figure in the federal justice system" with his "network of interlocking nonprofits," the Washington Post described, which were started and funded to get Republicans to put their judges on the bench.
While Brett Kavanaugh was being promoted by Trump, Leo told a group of top Koch network donors that he was "just the beginning of an even bigger effort to load up the federal judiciary with conservative judges," quoted CNBC. It proved to be correct, as Trump scored his third Justice just weeks before the election. It resulted in the overturning of reproductive freedom and privacy for women across the country.
A former colleague told the Daily Beast that Leo’s efforts to change the judiciary came from his realization that the conservative position on culture war issues like abortion, contraception, and LGBTQ rights were unpopular. Americans were never going to vote to eliminate LGBTQ equality, abortion or contraception. The only way of ensuring that it would happen is if it was forced on Americans by conservative justices.
That became reiterated in Justice Clarence Thomas' concurring decision eliminating Roe.
"Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’ we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents,” Thomas wrote citing to the rulings that legalized contraception, same-sex relationships and marriage equality, respectively. “In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell. Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous’ … we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents."
It's the reason that the House moved legislation to codify same-sex relationships and contraception legislatively.
While Leo's life in politics is certainly his own, his close relationship with the Thomas family appears to be a driving force behind the decisions from Thomas.
Leo and Thomas have a longstanding friendship that began when he served under Thomas on the Court of Appeals in 1990 before Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court, the Washington Post explained.
The Daily Beast noted that the two have taken vacations together.
"Leo made Thomas the godfather of one of his children, and, according to The New York Times, has hosted the justice on vacation at his New England getaway. Thomas’ wife, Ginni Thomas, was also the subject of a recent profile by the New Yorker’s Jane Mayer, titled, ‘Is Ginni Thomas a Threat to The Supreme Court?’ It detailed the staggering extent and depth of connections between the justice’s wife and conservative groups," said the report.
That same piece noted that Leo didn't start at the Federalist Society right after being hired so he could help Thomas through the confirmation process. Thomas has been a member of the group since the 1980s when he was in college and continues to give.
The report also described Leo's adviser from the company CRC Advisors, who helped Thomas promote a new release of his 2007 memoir in 2021. CRC was founded by a former executive director of the National Conservative Political Action Committee in the late 80s. CRC Advisors was then created by Leo and the CRC's longtime President Greg Mueller in 2020. Leo told Axios when the CRC planned to inject a “minimum of $10 million” into court advocacy matters ahead of the 2020 election.
"When Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was promoting a new release of his 2007 memoir last October, he made an interesting choice for his public relations firm, a company run by one of the most influential figures in conservative legal circles: Leonard Leo. Leo, the former head of the Federalist Society and a top fundraiser for right-wing judiciary activist groups, wasn’t just in charge of Thomas’ memoir; Leo’s PR firm, CRC Advisors, was also tasked with promoting a Thomas documentary, and the firm was the registered agent for four Thomas-centric web domains," noted the report.
They've also been activists in the far right side of the Catholic church, the New York Times described in Feb. 2022.
"Leo, a Catholic like the justice, first met him when he was clerking on the District of Columbia Circuit," said the Times. "Thomas, then a judge on that court, became a mentor. The justice has spent time at Leo’s New England vacation home, is godfather to one of his children and has supported him through hardships, including the death of his 14-year-old daughter from spina bifida. The two men often discussed religion — Thomas once recommended he read “A History of Christianity” by Paul Johnson — and Leo says Justice Thomas saw parallels between how the church grew and how to build a body of conservative jurisprudence."
The same report from the Times also revealed that Thomas is the godfather of one of Leo's daughters.
“The justice has spent time at Leo’s New England vacation home, is godfather to one of his children and has supported him through hardships, including the death of his 14-year-old daughter from spina bifida," said the Times.
Thomas even keeps a drawing from Leo's daughter on his desk, a New Yorker report from 2017 reported.
"In the meantime, he had married his high-school sweetheart, Sally Schroeder. In 1992, they had their first child, Margaret, who was born with spina bifida, which confined her to a wheelchair and led to other medical complications... 'She was extraordinarily vivacious, talented, simple. She had a great way with people,' [said Leo]. Clarence Thomas, Leo said, still keeps her drawings under glass on his desk.'"
Ginni Thomas went so far as to say that she considers Leo to be a mentor of hers. She gave Leo an award at one of her Impact Awards. She called him a "hero," a "force of nature," and a "disciplined strategist." Prior to that, however, served on the board of Thomas’ Liberty Central group in 2010, which hired CRC Public Relations to be the spokesperson. He and Mrs. Thomas came together for the Council for National Policy, where Leo serves on the board and Thomas works on the political side, the Council for National Policy Action.
Such a board welcomes a group of other board members like extremists, conspiracy theorists, a recognized hate group and Ginni Thomas. The group was among those who attempted to overturn the 2020 election.
A 2013 Mother Jones report noted that the two also worked together on the right-wing messaging group Groundwell, which would meet in the offices of Judicial Watch. They coordinated with Breitbart and the conservative Washington Examiner.
"Believing they are losing the messaging war with progressives, a group of prominent conservatives in Washington—including the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and journalists from Breitbart News and the Washington Examiner—has been meeting privately since early this year to concoct talking points, coordinate messaging, and hatch plans for “a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation,” reported Mother Jones, citing documents they'd obtained.
The 2013 report listed, “Among the conveners listed in an invitation to a May 8 meeting of Groundswell were Stephen Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News Network; Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent who resoundingly lost a Maryland Senate race last year (and is now running for a House seat); Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society; Sandy Rios, a Fox News contributor; Lori Roman, a former executive director of the American Legislative Exchange Council; and Austin Ruse, the head of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute.”
Many of these people also pushed the 2020 election conspiracy and attempt to overthrow the election. Roman paints herself as an election fraud expert. Austin Ruse, another Trump supporter, argued Trump is "owed" a second term.
Read More Here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/groundswell-rightwing-group-ginni-thomas/
-
First MAGA rioter charged with attacking cops and media faces 3-4 years in prison
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/january-6.png?id=27154950&width=2400&height=1683)
A Pennsylvania man pleaded guilty today to assault charges related to attacks on both Capitol police and members of the media at the January 6 riot in Washington D.C.
Alan William Byerly, 55, of Fleetwood, Pennsylvania, faced a prison sentence of 37 to 46 months if U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss follows federal sentencing guidelines recommended as part of his guilty plea. His sentencing is set for October 21.
As reported last July at Raw Story, Byerly tased and brawled with numerous officers, only to break away when they tried to apprehend him. Then, the FBI states, he continued his violence against an Associated Press photographer who had been dragged down Capitol steps by other rioters.
Byerly was the first Capitol riot charged with dual assaults on the police guarding the U.S. Capitol and media members covering the story. Byerly previously had purchased a stun gun, which he carried to the Trump rally and then to the Capitol grounds, according to the Department of Justice.
“At about 2:10 p.m., rioters pulled a journalist from the Associated Press – who was carrying a camera and wearing a helmet-style gas mask and a lanyard with Associated Press lettering – down a flight of stairs leading to the western front of the Capitol. Byerly watched the group that pulled the journalist down the stairs and a subsequent assault.
“Then, at the bottom of the stairs, he and three other individuals grabbed the journalist and pushed, shoved, and dragged him. Byerly grabbed the journalist with both hands and pushed him backwards. He then continued to push and drag him away from the stairs.”
Byerly also attacked officers with the Taser, as Raw Story reported.
"Officers yelled 'taser! Taser! Taser!' to warn that Byerly was charging and attacking officers...a cloud of smoke (possibly from a fire extinguisher) was dispersed from the direction of the riot crowd as Byerly continued to assault the officers (who) were finally able to restrain (him). Nevertheless, Byerly continued to resist and assault the officers (and) was able to flee with the assistance of a fellow rioter."
Read the FBI criminal complaint: https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-attacker-cops-media/
-
‘This is inner circle stuff’: Pence WH chief of staff testified before federal Jan. 6 grand jury – report
The former White House Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence, Marc Short, testified before a federal grand jury investigating the January 6 insurrection last week.
“Marc Short was caught by an ABC News camera departing D.C. District Court on Friday alongside his attorney, Emmet Flood,” ABC News reports Monday afternoon. “Short appeared under subpoena, sources said.”
Short is now believed to be the highest-ranking Trump administration official to testify before the grand jury.
Former U.S Attorney Barb McQuade, now a law professor and well-known NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst, called it “inner circle stuff.”
Attorney George Conway, spouse to former Trump senior advisor Kellyanne Conway, offered up a one-word response: “Huge.”
Former Dept. of Defense Special Counsel Ryan Goodman, now the co-editor-in-chief of Just Security weighed in, saying: “Looks like a significant development.”
Short’s “appearance doesn’t fit neatly with prior known scope of probe,” he adds.
After the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack wrapped up its televised public hearings last week even more pressure has been put on Attorney General Merrick Garland to hold accountable not only the “foot soldiers” who attacked the U.S. Capitol and American democracy, but those responsible for inciting the insurrection and planning the events that led to it.
“There is a lot of speculation about what the Justice Department is doing, what’s it not doing, what our theories are and what our theories aren’t, and there will continue to be that speculation,” Attorney General Garland said at a press briefing last week., ABC News adds. “We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election, and we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism.”'
Read More At ABC News:
https://abcnews.go.com/ABCNews/pence-chief-staff-appeared-grand-jury-probing-jan/story?id=87384833
-
TODAY: Justice Dept to seek 5-year prison term at sentencing of high-level Capitol riot defendant Mark Ponder
Feds: "He swung a pole at an officer and, after his pole broke against the officer’s shield, he re-armed himself with a sturdier pole, then committed another assault".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYiVvywWYAIPQD_?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Sentencing set for Sept 9 in the high-level US Capitol riot case of Army veteran Landon Copeland of Utah
Copeland pleaded guilty to assaulting/resisting police. Before guilty plea, Copeland gave jailhouse interview in which he claimed Trump would return to office before 2024.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYMM4KbWYAA8yBw?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Jan. 6 committee's Luria releases video testimony about lines that were stricken from Trump’s post-riot remarks
The video shows Ivanka Trump responding to a draft copy of her father’s remarks from the White House with edits that she said looked like his handwriting.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/jan-6-committees-luria-tweets-video-testimony-lines-stricken-trumps-po-rcna39848
-
Jan. 6 grand jury asked questions that indicate Trump is the 'subject' of the probe: ex-Mueller prosecutor
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/unstable-and-dangerous-trump-s-unhinged-call-provides-more-evidence-of-his-mental-deterioration.jpg?id=25220711&width=2400&height=1350)
Speaking to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell on Tuesday, Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig revealed briefly some of the questions that witnesses were being asked while appearing before the grand jury were about former President Donald Trump.
Speaking to O'Donnell later, Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor on Robert Mueller's team, said that the fact that the grand jury asked about Trump means that he is a subject of the grand jury.
"What I'm getting at is, the definition of a 'subject' of an investigation is a technical term under the Department of Justice manual — the justice manual, and it is quite broad. It can't include anybody who is actually a participant in a meeting, whether they have criminal liability or not. So, it can be somewhat of a misleading term. But I think your interview with Carol, what's stood out to me, was her telling you, in the grand jury, the prosecutors weren't asking questions that this was Donald Trump just happened to be there. They were asking questions, she said, [such as] 'What did he say? What was said to him? What was his reaction?' Those are questions of what we referred to as a subject-plus. Meaning somebody who you are actually looking at in terms of potential criminal liability."
All grand jury investigations are secret, and lawyers and jurors aren't allowed to speak about it. Witnesses, however, can speak about it. So, after seeing Marc Short leave a grand jury proceeding, questions surfaced about what exactly this grand jury was focusing on. It's clear the Justice Department has a series of investigations open for Jan. 6 attackers. They're also working on the fake electors scheme. Bur Short was working in the White House on and before Jan. 6 and he had nothing to do with the campaign or organizing the Jan. 6 rally. It prompted questions about why he was there if it wasn't to ask questions about what was happening in the White House on Jan. 6.
See Weissmann's commentary below:
-
Jan. 6 committee member Zoe Lofgren reveals the Secret Service has done more than delete digital documents
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) revealed to MSNBC's Mehdi Hasan that the Secret Service has done more than merely deleting text messages, which they are mandated by law to submit to the National Archives.
Addressing the recent revelations about the Justice Department expanding beyond the violence on Jan. 6 to the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election, Lofgren said that she's not sure what role the House Select Committee had in lighting a fire under the attorney general. What she does know, she said, is that public opinion has turned dramatically against Trump as the public hearings continue.
At the close of the interview, Hasan mentioned the Secret Service and Lofgren noted that it isn't just text messages. Almost a year ago, the committee asked for documents and it's taken until just this week for the Secret Service to collect them.
"Well, they are a lot of questions and I add some concerns," she began. "Not only erasing the text messages, but there is information that we have asked for, for almost a year that has only recently been produced — and in some cases, you know, what we got, they knew that we had from another source — they dumped, hundreds of thousands of documents on us, this morning, that we have asked for almost a year."
She said that it's a troubling pattern of behavior that is emerging from the agency under the Department of Homeland Security.
"I am also concerned about the actions of the inspector general," she noted. "He sat on this for months, months, and months as well. And now, he has ordered the department to stop the forensic analysis of the phones, which we need. We need that to happen. So there are a lot of questions here. And I hope that we can get answers to all of them."
Watch:
-
Capitol rioter sentenced to 63 months in prison after taking an offer he previously refused
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/man-who-beat-police-with-poles-at-the-capitol-just-wanted-them-to-understand-i-m-for-you.jpg?id=25861568&width=2400&height=1350)
A District of Columbia man was sentenced today to 63 months in prison for assaulting law enforcement officers during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol – the same deal he refused to accept last July.
Mark Ponder, 56, received the longer-than-usual sentence among the rioters after pleading guilty April 22 to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers using a dangerous weapon, the Department of Justice announced today. Following his prison term, he will be placed on three years of supervised release. He also must pay $2,000 in restitution.
The DOJ stated that “Ponder ran out from the crowd and swung a long, thin pole at a U.S. Capitol Police officer. The officer protected himself by raising his riot shield above his head. Ponder’s pole struck the riot shield and broke in two, with part of the pole flying off to the side.”
After retreating into the crowd, the report said, “Ponder re-armed himself with a new, thicker pole that was colored with red, white, and blue stripes. He swung (it) and banged it against the ground in a menacing manner. Then, as the police officers advanced to move the crowd, Ponder wildly swung the pole at the advancing police line, striking an officer in the left shoulder.”
Last year, Buzz Feed had reported, “After he was restrained by MPD officers and escorted away from the Capitol grounds, Ponder allegedly repeatedly shouted to other rioters “Hold the line!” and “Do not give up!”
AFP
-
Trump suffering inner turmoil as the Jan. 6 committee exposes him more and more
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump.jpg?id=29749156&width=2400&height=1350)
The video didn't have a clip of Donald Trump complaining about how he can't pronounce "yesterday" in it, but nonetheless, it's worth paying attention to it. On Monday, January 6 committee member Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., posted a video indicating that, even when he wasn't mispronouncing common words, Trump spent the day after the Capitol insurrection focused on finding that sweet spot between continuing to encourage domestic terrorism and not risking criminal exposure for doing so.
Rep. Elaine Luria @ RepElaineLuria
It took more than 24 hours for President Trump to address the nation again after his Rose Garden video on January 6th in which he affectionately told his followers to go home in peace.
There were more things he was unwilling to say.
Watch: https://twitter.com/RepElaineLuria/status/1551568001836670976
As hinted at by the deposed witnesses in the video, including both Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, one of the major reasons that his staff and family were pushing Trump to give a speech denouncing the Capitol riot on January 7, 2021 was to keep him out of legal trouble. Any fool could tell, from Trump's inciting speech and his extreme reluctance to call off the rioters, that Trump wanted the violence that day and was thrilled that his plans for an insurrection had gone as well as they had. But having him offer a statement, however reluctantly, claiming that he was appalled by the violence was a necessary step to constructing a legal and political defense. It was about having a document Trump's lawyers could point to when arguing (falsely) that Trump didn't mean for the riot to happen and that he was unaware of the effect his words would have.
The problem is that Trump's desire to stay out of jail was in direct conflict with another guiding Trump impulse: to gloat about the violence he inflicted on Congress and take full credit for unleashing the Capitol insurrection.
The inner battle between Trump's desire to evade legal consequences and his longing to yell "yeah I did it" was amply displayed in the "blooper reel" that the House committee investigating January 6 shared on Thursday night. While most of the public discussion about the video was mocking Trump for not wanting to say "yesterday," what is really most crucial is his unwillingness to either admit the election was over or to call for legal consequences for the rioters he sent to the Capitol.
Jan. 6 committee releases blooper reel of Trumps attempts to record a statement on Jan. 6.
"I don't want to say the election is over"
"Yesterday is a hard word for me"
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1550305498553094145
But the video Luria released Monday gives even more crucial context. It really underscores how much Trump was being pressured by his staff to release a video for purely legal reasons. No one seems to believe Trump felt anything but glee over the chaos he caused. No, the post-riot condemnation was ass-covering, pure and simple. But Trump, who lies about everything all the time, was struggling to pretend to feel anything but joy over the riot. Distancing himself from the rioters meant he couldn't take credit for the insurrection, and that was clearly bumming him out.
Not only is Trump not sorry about January 6, he'd be happy to do it again.
That's why the still shot of how much ink Trump spilled over the remarks, in an attempt to take out any language that sounded too sorry about what happened, is such crucial evidence.
(https://mediaproxy.salon.com/width/600/https://media.salon.com/2022/07/trump_speech_script_custom-90ee1bf708e1657ff8a69a534ddef4bb99fb67c3-s1600-c85.jpg)
Particularly noteworthy is how reluctant Trump was to say that the rioters don't represent him. Because, of course, he wants the whole world to know that they do represent him. For someone as narcissistic as Trump, being able to convince so many people to risk their jobs, families and freedom on his behalf must be quite exciting. Not being able to brag about Jan. 6 must be incredibly painful for Trump.
This story, however, is about a lot more than Trump's ego. It's about the ongoing threat of right-wing domestic terrorism, and how Trump's antics after the Capitol insurrection created a roadmap for other Republican politicians and GOP propagandists to dial up the violent rhetoric. It's not a surprise, in retrospect, that Trump was reluctant to condemn the rioters too harshly. This is the same man who told the Proud Boys to be on "stand by" for him during a 2020 presidential debate. His behavior since he left office indicates that Trump's affection for political violence has not dimmed. Worse, it's spreading throughout the GOP.
Not being able to brag about Jan. 6 must be incredibly painful for Trump.
Salon's Chauncey DeVega has been doing the thankless work of tracking Trump's rhetoric on his app Truth Social and during his rallies. Taken together, DeVega outlines that a clear message is being sent to Trump's followers: Not only is Trump not sorry about January 6, he'd be happy to do it again.
Trump endorsed a post on Truth Social calling for "civil war" in response to the supposed enemy "within." This was right after a mass shooter in Buffalo, New York opened fire on mostly Black customers in a grocery store, having been hyped up on the racist "great replacement" conspiracy theory that Trump also likes to hint at. Trump has also really amped up the white nationalist rhetoric, unsubtly gesturing towards the eliminationism that such views always logically point to by arguing that "this nation does not belong" to "corrupt radicals," which is Trumpian code for American citizens who aren't part of the right-wing tribe.
Over the winter, Trump pounced on another violence-stoking opportunity by joining in the Fox News frenzy over the anti-vaccine "trucker" protest in Ottawa, Canada's capital. For weeks, the pundits on Fox hyped the protest and openly longed for violence to break out between the protesters and Canadian law enforcement. Trump himself joined in on the fray with one of his usual threats disguised as a "warning," telling Fox host Sean Hannity, "You can push people so far and our country is a tinderbox too, don't kid yourself." He used the word "tinderbox" repeatedly, understandably believing his followers might not pick up on his hint the first time.
Trump has also taken multiple opportunities to hint to his followers about his true feelings of pride and joy over January 6.
He floated the idea of pardoning the rioters at one rally. He's tried to turn Ashli Babbitt, the insurrectionist who was shot to prevent her from leading a mob to chase down fleeing members of Congress, into a martyr. He's claimed the people arrested for rioting that day are "being persecuted so unfairly." When asked about the people who were chanting "hang Mike Pence," he publicly defended them by saying it was "common sense" and they were "very angry." Trump's supporters, like most of us, know to ignore the condemnations of the insurrection as mere ass-covering language. They know that these other statements reflect his true feelings of approval for political violence.
Trump may not know that injecting bleach into your lungs will kill you, but he sure does have a strong grasp of how to signal violent intent to his followers while maintaining plausible deniability to law enforcement.
Unfortunately, the signals he's sending are spreading to other Republican politicians. As I noted yesterday, Dave Weigel of the Washington Post published a piece worth reading in full that really shows how normal this "civil war" talk has become among Republican candidates on the campaign trail. The Republican gubernatorial candidate in Maryland, Michael Peroutka, routinely describes Democrats as foreign enemies and recommends that "the Second Amendment" is a good response to Black Lives Matter protests. As Weigel writes:
That argument has been dramatized in ads that, for instance, show one armed candidate appearing to charge into the home of a political enemy, and another warning of "the mob" that threatens ordinary Americans. In many cases the candidates are brandishing firearms while threatening harm to liberals or other enemies.
In central Florida, U.S. Army veteran Cory Mills has run ads about his company selling tear gas that was used to quell riots in 2020. "You may have seen some of our work," he says, introducing a montage of what are labeled "antifa," "radical left" and "Black Lives Matter" protesters running from the gas.
There are too many other examples to recount here, but the gist is clear: January 6 was, for Trump and his most adamant allies in the GOP, not the end of the political violence but an excuse to ramp up the inciting rhetoric.
As intelligence analyst Malcolm Nance told DeVega this week at Salon, the "attack on the Capitol was really a template for the right-wing to do it correctly next time." It's unlikely that it will play out exactly the same way, of course. But Nance is right. Trump is encouraging his supporters to be at the ready should he call for violence again.
Read More Here: https://www.salon.com/2022/07/25/malcolm-nance-on-the-insurgency-jan-6-was-a-template-to-do-it-correctly-next-time/
-
The mob did exactly what Donald Trump wanted
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/fed-raid-of-newton-county-farm-tied-to-jan-6-probe.jpg?id=27377868&width=2400&height=1599)
Thursday’s prime-time hearing of the J6 committee focused on one question: What was Donald Trump doing for the 187 minutes from when he set the mob on the Capitol until he told them to go home?
The committee deftly wove together live testimony, audio and video depositions, texts and chats, and riot footage to illustrate what was going on inside and outside the White House during that time.
Instead of coordinating the defense of the US government, as you’d expect, Trump was calling senators and lawyer Rudy Giuliani. He was still trying to put a coup together. And, uncharacteristically for Trump, he sent the White House photographer away while he did it.
This is a guy who would invite a photographer to shoot him shooting someone on Fifth Avenue, but he didn’t want his machinations recorded for posterity. How’s that for consciousness of guilt?
The hearing corroborated witness Cassidy Hutchinson’s explosive testimony. The former White House staffer recalled how Trump knew the mob was armed and how he clashed with his Secret Service detail when they refused to take him to the siege of the US Capitol.
Hutchinson testified that the head of Trump’s Secret Service detail, Tony Ornato, recounted to her how Trump had become enraged. Retired Secret Service agent Mark Robinson testified in his video deposition that he too heard Ornato say that Trump became irate. Robinson said he was told that “the president was upset and was adamant about going to the Capitol.” He recalled radio traffic about insurgents with AR-15s in the trees along Constitution Avenue.
Anonymous sources within the Secret Service disputed Hutchinson’s account and hinted that they were willing to tell their side of the story under oath. So far none have followed through.
However, Ornato and Trump’s driver Bobby Engel have taken the unusual step of hiring private lawyers. Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security has launched an investigation into the destruction of Secret Service text messages from J6, which the agency claims were lost in some Rube Goldberg-style IT mishap. Ironically, the outgoing director of the Secret Service is leaving to join Snapchat, an app famous for its rapidly disappearing texts.
Thursday’s hearing offered new glimpses of how dire the situation in the Capitol had become as the mob streamed into the building. We heard audio from Mike Pence’s security detail and heard testimony from an unnamed national security official who described how the agents guarding Pence were calling their families to say goodbye because they were afraid they were about to be killed by the mob.
We learned that White House national security staffers were monitoring these desperate communications in real-time. No one said so explicitly, but the J6 committee was inviting the inference that Trump must also have known the danger Pence was in.
Trump ignored entreaties from his advisors to calm his supporters. Instead, he fired off an even more inflammatory tweet, accusing Mike Pence of lacking the courage to overturn the election. "The situation was already bad, and so it felt like he was pouring gasoline on the fire by tweeting that," former White House staffer Sarah Matthews said.
The serious proceedings were lightened by moments of dark but revealing comedy, including the mad dash of US Senator Josh Hawley from the mob he helped incite, and the news that son-in-law Jared Kushner was stress-showering during the siege. The committee also played outtakes from the filming of Trump’s address the following day, in which he refused to say that the election was over.
“But this election is now over — Congress has certified the results — ” Trump read from the teleprompter, and then stopped adding, “I don’t want to say the election is over. I just want to say Congress has certified the results without saying the election is over, OK?”
The committee’s many streams of evidence gelled into a clear closing argument for this phase of the investigation: Trump refused to quell the mob because the mob was doing exactly what he wanted them to do. The mob was his instrument to overturn the election.
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-mob-2657731102/
-
DOJ secures Cassidy Hutchinson's cooperation in January 6 probe: report
On Wednesday, ABC News reported that former Donald Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson is cooperating with Justice Department investigators as part of their probe into the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and the former president's effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
"The Justice Department reached out to her following her testimony a month ago before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, the sources said," reported Katherine Faulders, Mike Levine, and John Santucci. "The extent of her cooperation was not immediately clear."
"Hutchinson becomes the latest known figure with knowledge of the actions of top Trump administration officials on Jan. 6 to cooperate with the Justice Department's inquiry," said the report. "A lawyer for Hutchinson did not respond to ABC News' request for comment. Officials with the DOJ also declined to comment, as did a spokesperson for the Jan. 6 committee."
Hutchinson, who served as an adviser to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, gave bombshell public testimony before the committee last month. Among other things, she revealed that Trump demanded rioters he knew were armed be allowed to enter the Capitol because "they're not here to hurt me," and that Trump attacked his own security detail in his car when they wouldn't take him to join the rioters.
A report earlier this month indicated that she is in hiding amid death threats from Trump supporters.
The Washington Post revealed this week that the DOJ has shifted its investigation to focus directly on Trump's actions during the riot and the plot to reverse the election, a possible sign that prosecutors are considering charges against him.
Read More Here: https://abcnews.go.com/US/cassidy-hutchinson/story?id=87485719
-
Trump's defense secretary denies there were orders to have 10K troops ready to deploy on January 6
(CNN) - Former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller told the House select committee investigating the Capitol Hill insurrection that former President Donald Trump never gave him a formal order to have 10,000 troops ready to be deployed to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, according to new video of Miller's deposition released by the committee.
"I was never given any direction or order or knew of any plans of that nature," Miller said in the video.
Miller later said in the video definitively, "There was no direct, there was no order from the President."
"We obviously had plans for activating more folks, but that was not anything more than contingency planning," Miller a
added. "There was no official message traffic or anything of that nature."
Trump has previously said that he requested National Guard troops be ready for January 6. He released a statement on June 9 that he "suggested & offered" up to 20,000 National Guard troops be deployed to Washington, DC, ahead of January 6 claiming it was because he felt "that the crowd was going to be very large."
The committee released Miller's testimony after already revealing that Trump did not make calls to military personnel or law enforcement to intervene as the Capitol attack was unfolding. General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the committee that he never received a call from Trump as the attack as unfolding.
Milley testified to the committee that he spoke to former Vice President Mike Pence "two or three" times on January 6. Keith Kellogg, former national security adviser to Pence, also told the committee that Trump never asked for a law enforcement response.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/26/politics/chris-miller-house-select-committee/index.html
Justice Department examines Trump’s conduct in Jan. 6 probe
Watch: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/justice-department-examines-trumps-conduct-in-jan-6-probe
-
Kinzinger says J6 committee will secure Ginni Thomas' testimony: We won't treat her differently 'because of her last name'
On Wednesday's edition of CNN's "The Lead," Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a key member of the House Select Committee on January 6, said that his committee still plans to investigate Ginni Thomas, the far-right activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Ginni Thomas has been implicated heavily in the plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election, including calling up state lawmakers in Arizona to try to throw out the results.
"Your vice chair of the committee, Liz Cheney, told me on Sunday the committee is prepared to consider subpoenaing Ginni Thomas ... if she does not appear before the committee voluntarily," said anchor Jake Tapper. "When would that decision be made?"
"So that's — so the lawyers are really good at kind of knowing when they're in legitimate negotiations, which is all standard, or when they're being stalled," said Kinzinger. "And typically what we have seen is they'll come to us and say, they're just stalling right now. that's when we issue a subpoena. I think when we get to that threshold, we will."
She will not receive special treatment because of her family connections, Kinzinger also stressed.
"We're not treating her differently because of her last name," said Kinzinger. "We have discovered more and more involvement, some of which has been reported openly about her involvement with Eastman or trying to convince state electors. We want to talk to her. She said through the media that she's eager to talk to us. Hopefully we can get there. If not, we'll do what we need to do to make sure we can."
Watch:
-
Yes, Donald Trump Is at Significant Risk of Federal Prosecution
(https://compote.slate.com/images/b2ebcce7-c5a3-4b3d-8106-58a749b6d05e.jpeg?width=1440&rect=8136x5424&offset=0x0)
Just one week after the Jan. 6 House Select committee wrapped up a set of summer hearings that exposed Donald Trump’s deep culpability for the events of Jan. 6, things have started to look much worse for the former president. On top of the Congressional inquiry, the start of the week brought fresh reporting that a federal grand jury is accelerating its probe into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election.
On Tuesday, the New York Times broke a story disclosing important emails and admissions about the scheme to submit “fake electors” to Congress that the 2020 Trump campaign, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, and their lawyer-friends ran in six battleground states (plus New Mexico) after losing the election. Not to be outdone, the Washington Post published a scoop a few hours later confirming that the Department of Justice has turned to directly investigating Trump’s actions.
The Post reports that the scope of the grand jury inquiry includes the fake electors scheme, Trump’s direct involvement in it, and his efforts to press Vice President Mike Pence to utilize those phony certificates as part of a plan to overturn the election. The publication also noted that there was a parallel track to the investigation “that could ultimately lead to additional scrutiny of Trump.” That track would expand on the seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to obstruct a government proceeding probe that has already resulted in indictments against the leader of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. According to the Post, investigators are now not just looking at “individuals who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6,” but also scrutinizing those who “were allegedly involved in planning the day’s events.”
The Post’s confirmation matters, even though, to quote a line from Hamlet, “There needs no ghost, my lord, come from the grave to tell us this.” It has been obvious, and we have said so in Slate for many months, that Donald Trump is at significant risk of federal prosecution—as he should be, given the evidence now in the public record.
The latest revelations about the fake electors go to the scheme that appears to be at the core of the federal inquiry. The aim of the plot was to create a false conflict between competing electoral slates in the key battleground states in question. The apparent goal was to provide a pretext for Vice President Pence or Congress to reject or delay its Jan. 6 electoral certification of President Joe Biden’s election.
The new evidence that seems liable to land people in the pokey involved emails from Jack Wilenchik, an Arizona lawyer, who was evidently part of the scheme. According to the Times, Wilenchik actually used the words “fake electoral votes” and “fake” votes in a December 2020 emailed message to Boris Epshteyn.
Epshteyn, a long-time Trump ally, was strategic adviser to the 2020 campaign who allegedly coordinated the bogus slate plot for the campaign. The Times reported that he was a go-between for Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman.
Wilenchik wrote Epshteyn: “We would just be sending in ‘fake’ electoral votes to Pence so that ‘someone’ in Congress can make an objection when they start counting votes, and start arguing that the ‘fake’ votes should be counted.”
Then, trained lawyer that Wilenchik was, he soon attempted to correct course in a follow-up email—though not particularly successfully. He wrote that “‘alternative’ votes is probably a better term than ‘fake’ votes,” inserting a smiley face for good measure. Unfortunately for Mr. Wilenchek, an emoji defense would not hold up in court here.
Further digging the hole, Wilenchik said the votes in the fake electors plot “aren’t legal,” writing: “[The] idea is basically that all of us (GA, WI, AZ, PA, etc.) have our electors send in their votes (even though the votes aren’t legal under federal law—because they’re not signed by the Governor); so that members of Congress can fight about whether they should be counted on January 6th.”
We suspect that DOJ prosecutors already have all of these emails. But if not, they surely laughed out loud when they read the New York Times on Tuesday. It’s hard to find better evidence that someone participated in a scheme he knew was “fake” with electors whose votes “aren’t legal” than having that person write it down, and then memorialize his realization, on the record, that he should stop making a record of this knowledge.
That’s what prosecutors call evidence of “consciousness of guilt.” It can be quite helpful in proving an accused person’s criminal knowledge and intent, a necessary element for conviction.
While Trump did not send or receive these documents, from a culpability perspective, he did not need to. To establish guilt for a conspiracy, one needn’t show every member’s criminal intent or knowledge as to every part of the scheme. In fact, the Jan. 6 Committee has introduced startling evidence that Trump was behind the plot, including the testimony of Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and others revealing Trump’s direct efforts to recruit potential false electors.
Which brings us to the most probable potential crimes: Conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstructing an official proceeding in Congress, including using the phony certificates. A federal judge found that Trump and Eastman likely committed these crimes even before the Jan. 6 hearings, and the evidence for that only deepened during those proceedings.
Convicting a defendant of conspiring to defraud the United States requires proof of an agreement to participate in a deceptive scheme to deprive the government of its lawful functions—such a scheme is one with false or dishonest means and an intent to deceive. “Fake electors” that have not been certified according to a state’s procedures, “aren’t legal,” and that are without a certified vote count supporting them would qualify as deceptive means.
In this case, the evidence for proving the crime of conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding would overlap with the above elements. The requirement in such cases to show that the defendant obstructed the proceeding “corruptly,” meanwhile, calls for identical proof of a purpose to act improperly and wrongfully.
That’s where a key development from earlier in the week (that the Post also relied upon for its blockbuster) fits in. ABC News reported that Pence’s former top aides, chief of staff Marc Short and counsel Greg Jacob, both testified before the Justice Department’s grand jury looking into the efforts to promulgate a “quiet” coup without violence on Jan. 6.
Short testified to the Jan. 6 committee that Pence repeatedly told Trump that the vice president could not lawfully reject or delay the Jan. 6 Congressional certification of Biden’s victory.
Like Short, Jacob was part of a January 4, 2020, White House meeting between Trump, Pence, and Eastman in which Eastman tried unsuccessfully to persuade Pence and Jacob to go along with Trump’s scheme. Jacob testified that in the meeting, under questioning, Eastman acknowledged that his proposal violated the Electoral Count Act.
Trump was present to hear that admission. Knowing that his own lawyer believed the scheme unlawful would be powerful evidence of his corrupt intent were the case to reach Trump. This is especially true given that Trump continued to pursue the scheme by egging on his riotous followers inside the Capitol on Jan. 6 when he tweeted, “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country.”
Attorney General Merrick Garland has recently redoubled the resources devoted to the Jan. 6 investigation. That—plus the rest of the day’s breaking news—signals that Garland meant exactly what he said on Tuesday when NBC’s Lester Holt asked him about prosecuting the former president: “We intend to hold everyone, anyone who was criminally responsible for the events surrounding January sixth, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another, accountable. That’s what we do.”
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/07/donald-trump-doj-prosecution-risk-high.html
-
Criminal Donald does not have "absolute immunity". Another pathetic and desperate attempt to hide from mounting lawsuits.
Trump pushes court to give him absolute immunity from Jan. 6 lawsuits
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30311833&width=2400&height=1339)
In a court filing in Washington, D.C., attorneys for Donald Trump are asking a judge to grant him total immunity against any civil lawsuits filed in conjunction with the Jan 6th insurrection.
According to the Washington Examiner, the brief, filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the former president is hoping to get the court to overturn a ruling made in February by Judge Amit Mehta when Trump asked for all the lawsuits to be dismissed.
Trump's attorneys have previously argued that his speech at the Jan 6th "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the insurrection at the Capitol falls "within the scope of speech protected by presidential absolute immunity."
In their filing, the former president's attorney claimed, "President Trump is shielded by absolute presidential immunity because his statements were on matters of public concern. No amount of hyperbole about the violence of January 6, 2021, provides a basis for this Court to carve out an exception to the constitutional separation of powers."
The Examiner adds, "Trump's legal team argues in Wednesday's filing that impeachment is the only means of punishing a president for abuse and that attempts by Democrats and others to sue Trump after he emerged victorious in his impeachment trial are tantamount to 'harassment.'"
The attorneys maintained, "A Democratic-controlled House of Representatives already brought impeachment charges against President Trump for allegedly inciting an insurrection on January 6, 2021. Their effort failed, and President Trump was acquitted. These further lawsuits are an attempt to thwart that acquittal, and it is just this type of harassment that presidential immunity is meant to foreclose."
Read More Here: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-asks-court-for-absolute-immunity-from-jan-6-lawsuits
DHS missing J6 texts from Trump officials Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/dhs-officials-touring-battleground-states-to-make-the-case-for-trump-before-the-election-report.png?id=24494882&width=2400&height=1290)
The scandal over missing Jan. 6 text messages has expanded from the Secret Service to the top of the Department of Homeland Security, according to a bombshell new report published online by The Washington Post on Thursday evening.
"Text messages for former President Donald Trump’s acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli are missing for a key period leading up to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, according to four people briefed on the matter and internal emails. This discovery of missing records for the senior-most homeland security officials, which has not been previously reported, increases the volume of potential evidence that has vanished regarding the time around the Capitol attack," Carol Leonnig and Maria Sacchetti reported.
Also on Thursday, U.S. Secret Service Director James Murray announced he was delaying his retirement, planned for July 31.
The newspaper reported. "The Department of Homeland Security notified the agency’s inspector general in late February that Wolf’'s and Cuccinelli’s texts were lost in a 'reset' of their government phones when they left their jobs in January 2021 in preparation for the new Biden administration, according to an internal record obtained by the Project on Government Oversight and shared with The Washington Post."
The Secret Service blamed a "system migration."
"The office of the department’s undersecretary of management also told the government watchdog that the text messages for its boss, undersecretary Randolph 'Tex' Alles, the former Secret Service director, were also no longer available due to a previously planned phone reset," the newspaper reported. "The office of Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari did not press the department leadership at that time to explain why they did not preserve these records, nor seek ways to recover the lost data, according to the four people briefed on the watchdog’s actions. Cuffari also failed to alert Congress to the potential destruction of government records."
The report came more than one year after the first public hearing by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Read More Here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/07/28/homeland-security-texts-jan6/
Jan. 6 Committee now focusing on top Trump cabinet officials for testimony
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/betsy-devos-nailed-in-court-for-not-delivering-on-promise-for-student-loan-forgiveness.jpg?id=24703832&width=2400&height=1290)
As promised, the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack is continuing its work over the summer. Its latest focus: obtaining witness testimony from Trump cabinet officials and other top Trump administration officials, including Mick Mulvaney, Mike Pompeo, Steve Mnuchin, Elaine Chao, Betsy DeVos, Chad Wolf, John Ratcliffe, and Robert O'Brien.
CNN reports Trump's former OMB director and acting White House Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, today is testifying before the Select Committee.
ABC News adds that "Trump's former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who reportedly discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment with then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, recently sat with committee investigators for a transcribed interview."
Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr testified before the Committee in early June.
Pompeo is "expected to speak" with the Committee soon, although his interview has not been officially scheduled.
"Committee investigators are not only focused on the discussions surrounding the 25th Amendment that occurred within the Cabinet, but also Cabinet members' concerns after the attack on the Capitol about Trump's decision-making, including his potential conversations with world leaders," ABC News adds.
Trump's Director of National Intelligence, John Ratcliffe, and his acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, are currently in negotiations with the Committee.
The Committee would also like to speak with former Trump national security adviser Robert O'Brien.
Mulvaney, along with Chao and DeVos resigned in response to Trump's incitement of the January 6 insurrection. Mulvaney at the time had left the White House and been given the position of United States Special Envoy for Northern Ireland.
Read More Here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/politics/mulvaney-january-6-committee-testimony
Secret Service director will delay quitting job to respond to J6 controversies
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/secret-service-director-james-m-murray.jpg?id=30074024&width=800&height=450)
U.S. Secret Service director James Murray will not be leaving his job at the end of July as had been announced, CBS News reported Thursday.
The network obtained an internal message in which Murray said he would "briefly delay my retirement and transition to the private sector in order to help bridge the gap and foster a smooth and meaningful transition for our future Director."
Murray said his decision was approved by Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas and the White House.
"I feel strongly about using this time to oversee and ensure our agency's continued cooperation, responsiveness, and full support with respect to ongoing Congressional and other inquiries," Murray said. "Doing so is critically important and I am especially grateful for the extra time to help lead our Service ever forward."
The agency has been in crisis and is battling the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol over key text messages during the riot were deleted.
The select committee wants agents under oath to explain why the evidence was deleted.
Read More Here: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/secret-service-director-james-murray-delay-retirement-amid-january-6-multiple-investigations/?
-
'Stop the Steal' organizer gave FBI info on 'more than a dozen' rally figures to secure plea deal
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/stop-the-steal-organization-hasn-t-filed-irs-reports-and-its-registered-agent-has-disappeared.jpg?id=25264998&width=2400&height=1350)
On Thursday, WUSA9 reported that new court documents reveal Brandon Straka, an organizer of the January 6 "Stop the Steal" rally and the founder of the pro-Trump "Walk Away" movement urging Democrats to become Republicans, gave far more information to federal investigators about his fellow organizers than previously known — including testimony on "more than a dozen" figures linked to the events that day.
"In charging documents, prosecutors said Straka headed to the U.S. Capitol after receiving texts that the building had already been breached," noted the report. "Once there, videos show him encouraging other members of the mob and discussing his desire to enter the building. Afterward, he posted messages encouraging rioters to 'hold the line' and comparing January 6 to 1776."
All of this would have merited him a harsher sentence than what he originally received — 90 days home confinement — except for the information he provided as part of the deal, given to WUSA9 by Stuart Dornan, the attorney for Straka.
"In the memo, Dornan said Straka provided 'significant information' to federal investigators over three interviews with the FBI following his arrest," reported Jordan Fischer. "In one interview on March 5, 2021, Straka, according to Dornan, provided information about 'individuals who were inside of Nancy Pelosi's office; individuals who were inciters at the Capitol; and organizers of the Stop the Steal movement.' He also listed the names of individuals Straka spoke to the FBI about. Those names include rally organizers Amy and Kylie Kremer, Cindy Chafian and Ali Alexander — who Dornan described as the 'preeminent leader of the Stop the Steal movement.'"
"The majority of people on Dornan's list have not been accused of any crimes related to Jan. 6, but several, including the Kremers, Chafian and Alexander, have been named in the ongoing January 6th Committee investigation into the attack on the Capitol," said the report. "The Kremers – the mother-daughter duo who founded Women for Trump and Women for America First – helped organize the Jan. 6 'Stop the Steal' rally and their names appear on the National Parks Service permit for the day."
Additionally, said the report, "Dornan wrote Straka also provided FBI investigators with information about a fellow Nebraska resident who had not previously been identified," and Straka's evidence is enough to charge this person with crimes — although so far they have not been.
So far, almost 900 people have been charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol, with charges ranging from trespass and unlawful picketing to assault of police officers and seditious conspiracy.
Read More Here: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/stop-the-steal-speaker-brandon-straka-gave-fbi-info-on-rally-organizers-more-than-a-dozen-others-as-part-of-plea-deal-ali-alexander-chafian-kremer/65-bee210ed-47ea-440d-93c1-2f889c040ffa
-
Former Trump State Dept appointee Federico Klein makes motion for *bench trial*, which would put his fate in hands of judge, instead of jury.
Klein is the latest in growing series of Jan 6 defendants who have cases assigned to DC federal judge Trevor McFadden, to seek bench trial.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYx4uMSWYAEz3nz?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
The Iconic Objects of the Jan. 6 Hearings
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2022/07/january-6-hearings-witness-objects-cassidy-hutchinson-blazer.html
-
J6 witnesses found on Oath Keeper's 'death list': report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30345350&width=2400&height=1350)
The retired FBI section chief that prosecutors allege held a leadership role in the Oath Keepers revealed the names listed on what prosecutors allege was a "death list."
"On January 19, law enforcement searched Caldwell's residence pursuant to a search warrant issued in the Western District of Virginia. One record law enforcement recovered was a document entitled, 'Death List,'" said the indictment from the Justice Department.
In a superseding indictment, Caldwell was charged with seditious conspiracy.
In a new court filing, Caldwell revealed the names were Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two election workers who were so terrorized by Trump supporters they went into hiding.
In June, Moss teared up while testifying before the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"It's turned my life upside down. I no longer give out my business card. I don't transfer calls. I don't want anyone knowing my name," said Moss. "I don't want to go anywhere with my mom because she might yell my name out over the grocery aisle or something. I don't go to the grocery store at all. I haven't been anywhere at all. I've gained about 60 pounds. I just don't do anything anymore. I don't want to go anywhere. I second guess everything that I do. It has affected my life in a major way. In every way, all because of lies. Me doing my job. Same thing I've been doing forever."
She testified about the night she received a panicked call from her grandmother.
"I received a call from my grandmother. This woman is my everything. I've never even heard her or seen her cry ever in my life," said Moss. "And she called me screaming at the top of her lungs like, 'Shaye! Oh, my God, Shaye!' Just freaking me out, saying that people were at her home and they -- you know, they knocked on the door and of course, she opened it and saw who was there, who it was. And they just started pushing their way through claiming that they were coming in to make a citizens arrest, they needed to find me and my mom, they knew we were there. And she was just screaming and didn't know what do. And I wasn't there, so, you know, I just felt so helpless and so horrible for her. And she was just screaming. I told her to close the door, don't open the door for anyone.'
AFP
-
Trump admin official reveals she went public because she did not trust DHS inspector general
The scandal over the Jan. 6 evidence that was deleted by the Department of Homeland Security is being investigated by a public official that can't be trusted, a CNN panel explained on Friday.
"The embattled inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security first learned of missing Secret Service text messages in May 2021 – months earlier than previously known and more than a year before he alerted the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, that potentially crucial information may have been erased, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter," CNN reported Friday. "Earlier this month, Secret Service officials told congressional committees that DHS Inspector General Joseph Cuffari, the department’s independent watchdog, was aware that texts had been erased in December 2021. But sources tell CNN, the Secret Service had notified Cuffari’s office of missing text messages in May 2021, seven months earlier.
For analysis, former Trump homeland security advisor Elizabeth Troye was interviewed by CNN's Jim Sciutto alongside former CIA agent Phil Mudd and government ethics expert Norm Eisen.
"When you work at senior levels in the Trump administration you kind of know where people's loyalties lie," Troye said. "There is a reason that I went very public with my concerns about the Trump administration rather than going through the traditional whistle-blower process, which would have led me to the inspector general's office at DHS. And I'll just say that. There's a level of trust there that you understand."
But Troye suggested there may not be text messages to recover.
"The other part of it is I've got to tell you, being a Trump admin person, most of the administration communicated on encrypted signal apps," she revealed. "A lot of the time these messages were likely disappearing."
Mudd said that Cuffari needs to go.
"This is beyond incompetence," he said. "Any inspector general, whether CIA, FBI, Department of Homeland Security, doesn't work for, say, the head of Homeland Security, they work in essence for the Congress."
"I think the inspector general has to go," he said.
Later he said, "this is not only an issue of professionalism but ethics. It can't happen in government. The people who do this have got to go."
Watch:
-
Why a White House valet may be the big reveal in season two of J6 hearings
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/MSNBC/Components/Video/202005/nn_pal_trump_valet_cdc_200507_1588893033917.jpg)
When the next round of Jan. 6 hearings commence after the August recess, one major focus may be a single White House employee, according to a fascinating new analysis.
Lisa Rubin, the off-air legal analyst for "The Rachel Maddow Show," connected the dots between multiple pieces of testimony that could all involve a single, unnamed individual.
"Based on former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s prior testimony and committee members’ own statements at the hearings to date, an as-yet-unnamed White House employee or employees could be among the most significant witnesses to then-President Donald Trump’s words, actions and inaction on and around Jan. 6," Rubin wrote.
She noted Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA) said “a White House employee” met Trump when he returned from his speech on the Ellipse. A copy of Trump's daily diary obtained by The Washington Post recorded Trump "met with his Valet" at 1:21 p.m.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) also discussed the employee.
"As he was gathering his things in the dining room to leave, President Trump reflected on the day’s events with a White House employee," Kinzinger said. "This was the same employee who had met President Trump in the Oval Office after he returned from the Ellipse. President Trump said nothing to the employee about the attack. He said only quote, 'Mike Pence let me down.'”
Rubin explained why this could be so significant.
"Put another way, the person who informed Trump about the eruption of violence on Jan. 6 also never heard him express any regret about what happened other than his regret that then-Vice President Mike Pence did not overturn the election," Rubin wrote. "That he saw Trump on his way in and out of the Oval Office, roughly five hours apart, also suggests he witnessed a host of other conversations relevant to the intent and actions of Trump and others. And given Luria and Kinzinger’s descriptions of those conversations, it seems likely that the unnamed 'White House employee' has spoken to the committee. One possibility is that the unnamed 'White House employee' was one of Trump’s White House valets."
Rubin noted that in the July 12 hearing, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) dropped the bombshell that Trump himself had attempted to call a witness.
"While the identity of the witness Trump tried to phone is still unknown, they have been revealed as a member of the White House 'support staff.' A valet could easily qualify as support staff," Rubin noted. "And if the unnamed 'White House employee' was the recipient of Trump’s call, that would make some sense. Someone on the White House “support staff” who had not already been in communication with the committee or the DOJ likely would not have a lawyer. And if that person were the target of Trump’s attempted call — a call warranting further DOJ investigation and potentially constituting witness tampering — keeping their identity a secret would also make sense."
Read the full analysis: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/white-house-employee-jan-6-witness-rcna40617
-
Trump inner circle members voluntarily testifying because they see the Jan. 6 investigation is 'getting somewhere': legal expert
Appearing on MSNBC's "The Katie Phang Show," former prosecutor Cynthia Alksne was asked why investigators looking into the Jan. 6 insurrection are suddenly being deluged with former senior Donald Trump administration more than willing to talk about the former president.
Reacting to reports that former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin have all appeared without having been subpoenaed, the legal analyst said the former members of Trump's inner circle see the writing on the wall after weeks of the House select committee hearings.
"What does it tell you that we are now seeing Trump allies and former cabinet members, like Steve Mnuchin and Mike Pompeo, reportedly engaging with the Jan. 6 committee without even having to be served with a subpoena?" host Phang prompted.
"It tells me that the Jan.6 committee is getting somewhere," Alksne replied. "They see it, they know it, and so they would rather go voluntarily than be subpoenaed. Obviously, the committee has some momentum, what's fascinating about what is also coming up this week is there is a whole collection of emails and lawyers who I cannot wait to hear from, who were hiding what they were doing from the White House lawyers."
"A lot of the lawyers involved in the elector scheme, they are also out there sending emails back and forth in the Jan. 6 committee," she elaborated. "They are finding out about them in the New York Times, which is reporting about it. It is almost like there were two sets of lawyers working on the whole elector scheme. One set saying this is completely illegal. And the other side saying it's fake let's put a little smiley face and keep going."
"It is fascinating how it is finally, finally starting to come out," she added.
Watch:
-
‘Not how you do it’: Jamie Raskin warns GOP legislators not to ignore Jan. 6 subpoenas
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jamie-raskin-hints-at-whistleblower-testimony-at-future-j6-hearing.jpg?id=30123023&width=2400&height=1350)
The former constitutional law professor who sits on the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol warned his congressional colleagues not to be nonchalant about subpoenas.
"I would not be casual about a subpoena," Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) told Raw Story during a Capitol Hill scrum.
"Please tell the moms and dads of America, if your child gets subpoenaed, don't tell them to just dream up in their mind an executive privilege or attorney-client privilege and throw it under the sofa and forget about it," he said. "That's not how you do it."
"A subpoena is not like an invitation to a summer party that you can just forget about," Raskin said. "A subpoena is something you've got to respond to."
In May, the select committee subpoenaed five members of Congress, including House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
The other four members are Reps. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Scott Perry (R-PA).
Last week, a federal jury found Donald Trump's former aide Steve Bannon guilty of contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena to testify before lawmakers investigating the assault on the US Capitol.
Bannon, who led Trump's 2016 presidential election campaign, was among hundreds of people called by a House of Representatives committee to testify about the storming of Congress by Trump supporters on January 6, 2021.
The 68-year-old Republican strategist did not appear on the summons date or provide requested documents, and was indicted on two charges of contempt of Congress.
The 12-person jury deliberated for less than three hours before finding Bannon guilty of both misdemeanor charges.
Bannon, who served as Trump's strategy chief at the White House before being sacked in 2017, faces a minimum of 30 days in jail and a maximum sentence of a year for each count.
Sentencing was set for October.
https://www.rawstory.com/j6-subpoenas-congress/
-
A look at the Jan. 6 hearings so far — and what comes next
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol built their case over a series of eight public hearings. Here’s how they did it. Read more: https://wapo.st/3OCIwpV.
Watch:
-
DOJ Investigation Turns To Trump In Jan. 6 Probe
NBC News reports that the DOJ is investigating Donald Trump’s actions as part of its wider criminal probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Attorney General Merrick Garland affirmed the investigation will be thorough, but with new evidence emerging almost daily, do they have the manpower to see it through? Ayman turns to a true expert to discuss: former Watergate special prosecutor Nick Akerman.
Watch:
-
Preliminary hearing set for August 9 in Capitol riot case of William Mellors.
Mellors is accused of deploying bear spray at police officers.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FY8M0xtXoAAyQov?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Sentencing today in Washington DC for first Capitol riot defendant convicted at trial.
Feds seek 15 years in prison for Guy Reffitt of Texas who carried a gun amid the mob.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FYwVrRGXwAIHO06?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Man Who Assaulted Capitol Police On January 6 Gets Five Years In Prison
A Trump supporter who assaulted police officers at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, because he believed the former president's lies about the 2020 presidential election was sentenced to more than five years in prison Tuesday.
Watch:
-
Capitol rioter will 'almost certainly get the longest Jan. 6 sentence to date' after son delivered devastating testimony
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/drama-queen-capitol-rioter-denied-reunion-with-the-family-he-threatened.jpg?id=25831797&width=2400&height=1350)
Capitol rioter Guy Reffitt who was found guilty of multiple felonies earlier this year, is receiving his prison sentence this week -- and NBC News reporter Ryan Reilly believes it's going to be the stiffest January 6-related prison sentence yet.
Writing on Twitter, Reilly translates some legalese delivered by Judge Dabney Friedrich in which she said she was setting his offense level at 29 as the basis of her sentencing decision.
"Translation: Guy Reffitt is almost certainly to get the longest Jan. 6 sentence to date, it's just a matter of how many years he'll get on top of the current 5.25 year (63 month) record for Jan. 6 cases," writes Reilly.
A level 29 offense carries a sentencing range of between 87 and 108 months in prison, which means the judge would have to radically depart from guidelines for him to not break the current record for January 6 defendants.
Reffitt became infamous earlier this year when his own son, Jackson Reffitt, testified against him at his trial.
Among other things, Jackson Reffitt said his father sent messages to the family promoting a new civil war, while also talking about "rising up" and "destroying" the United States government.
In all, Guy Reffitt was found guilty on charges of transporting a firearm in furtherance of civil disorder, guilty of obstruction of justice, guilty of entering the Capitol with a firearm, and guilty of obstruction law enforcement officers.
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1554132660326469637
-
Capitol rioter's daughter subtly implicates Trump in plea for leniency at sentencing hearing
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jan-6-commission-staffer-helped-trump-administration-shut-down-dhs-monitoring-of-coup-plotters-whistleblower-attorney.jpg?id=27175253&width=800&height=450)
The daughter of a convicted Capitol rioter pleaded for leniency for her father on Monday -- and subtly implicated former President Donald Trump in the process.
WUSA9's Roger Fischer reports that Peyton Reffitt, the daughter of January 6 defendant Guy Reffitt, said that her father didn't deserve to bear the harshest punishment for his actions, as he was incited by former President Donald Trump to storm the Capitol building.
"My father's name wasn't on the flags that everyone was carrying that day," she said. "It was another man's name. [My father] wasn't the leader."
Regardless, Reffitt appears to be in line to receive the harshest prison sentence yet handed down to a January 6th defendant, as the baseline guidelines for his offense level recommend a sentence of between 87 and 108 months in prison.
Reffitt became infamous earlier this year when his own son, Jackson Reffitt, testified against him at his trial.
Among other things, Jackson Reffitt said his father sent messages to the family promoting a new civil war, while also talking about "rising up" and "destroying" the United States government.
In all, Guy Reffitt was found guilty on charges of transporting a firearm in furtherance of civil disorder, guilty of obstruction of justice, guilty of entering the Capitol with a firearm, and guilty of obstruction law enforcement officers.
https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1554150804378062850
-
House leaders demand interviews with Homeland Security watchdog over Secret Service 'cover up': report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/secret-service-denies-ig-report-it-deleted-j6-text-messages-but-offers-no-proof-report.jpg?id=30128204&width=2400&height=1350)
On Monday, the Associated Press reported that House investigators want to speak with the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, alleging a "cover-up" about the Secret Service's missing text messages about the January 6 attack.
"The leaders of the powerful House Oversight and Homeland Security committees wrote a letter to Inspector General Joseph Cuffari on Monday, detailing the urgent need for interviews with his staff regarding new evidence of alleged efforts to cover up the erasure of Secret Service communications," reported Farnoush Amiri. "'We are writing with grave new concerns over your lack of transparency and independence, which appear to be jeopardizing the integrity of a crucial investigation run by your office,' House Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney and Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson wrote in the letter. They also renewed their calls for Cuffari to recuse himself from investigations of the erased texts."
Thompson also chairs the House Select Committee on January 6.
"The committees said it has obtained evidence that shows the inspector general's office first learned of the missing Secret Service text messages, as part of its investigation into the attack on the U.S. Capitol, in May 2021. And that emails between top DHS IG officials show the agency decided to abandon efforts to recover those text messages in July 2021, nearly a year before they first informed Congress they were erased," said the report. "'These documents raise troubling new concerns that your office not only failed to notify Congress for more than a year that critical evidence in this investigation was missing, but your senior staff deliberately chose not to pursue that evidence and then appear to have taken steps to cover up these failures,' the letter continued."
This comes after a recent report that the inspector general's office abandoned a plan in February to try to retrieve the missing text messages. It also comes as high-ranking Secret Service officials come under scrutiny over their ties to former President Donald Trump.
House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) has separately said he would like Secret Service officials to explain under oath how the text messages, which are supposed to be protected federal records, came to be deleted in the first place.
Read More Here: https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Dems-allege-cover-up-on-Secret-Service-texts-17344136.php
-
How the Secret Service directly witnessed Trump's effort to 'crown himself president again' — and the lost texts could be key
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-limo.jpg?id=30040946&width=2400&height=1350)
On Friday, MSNBC's Chris Hayes delved deep into the new reporting on further missing text messages within the Trump administration — and the significance of the matter to the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
One of the key points, Hayes argued, is that the Secret Service was allegedly a direct witness to former President Donald Trump and his allies as they schemed to overturn the presidential election — and the missing messages are at a crucial point of those events.
"Well, there are even more missing texts," said Hayes. "The Washington Post now reporting that text messages related to January 6 from Donald Trump's acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, and acting Deputy Secretary, Ken Cuccinelli, have vanished. That's in addition to all the Secret Service text messages related to the 6th that have also gone missing. For an ostensibly apolitical organization like the Secret Service, this has become an enormous scandal. And this is the latest in Trump's attempt to overturn the will of voters, to end American democracy."
"The January 6 Committee has provided quite a bit of evidence showing that Trump wanted to use the Secret Service as a personal armed guard," said Hayes. "That he wanted to lead the mob personally to the Capitol, during insurrection, in order to ... disrupt the peaceful transfer of power. And make that the final step and basically crown himself president again. And he wanted the Secret Service to help him. Now we know that Trump was aware of the fact that much of the mob was armed. Trump apparently wanted the Secret Service to remove the metal detectors at the speech on the ellipse, where he incited the riot."
The missing messages, said Hayes, could highlight exactly what key Secret Service officials saw — and many of them appear unwilling to discuss it.
"All this speaks, of course, to how central the Secret Service was to the full picture of Donald Trump's attempted coup," said Hayes. "We know they were deeply involved in tracking, and planning, for both Trump and Pence during, before, and after the insurrection. But despite this, it appears the January 6 committee knows surprisingly little about the Secret Service's internal deliberations from that time. When the agents were doing and saying. Last month, for example, committeemember Congressman Stephanie Murphy from Florida, said that Tony Ornato is a key figure because he served as both a deputy White House chief of operations and head of Trump's Secret Service detail, and was not forthcoming to his testimony with the committee. Especially compared to Mark Meadows aide, Cassidy Hutchinson."
Watch below:
-
Son of jailed Capitol rioter says Trump should 'absolutely' get prison time
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30438561&width=2400&height=1413)
Appearing on CNN's "New Day," the son of a Jan. 6 Capitol rioter said his father deserved the harsh prison sentence that he received on Monday -- and that Donald Trump should join him in jail.
Speaking with host Brianna Keilar, Jackson Reffitt was asked how he felt about his father, Guy Reffitt of Texas, who was sentenced to 87 months in jail for carrying a weapon to the Capitol after attending the "Stop the Steal" rally at the behest of the former president.
Parting company with his mother who claimed after the sentencing that the Capitol attackers -- including Ashli Babbitt -- were "patriots," Jackson Reffitt called out the "off the rails" violence of the day after being asked about his father's upcoming jail time.
"How are you feeling? How are you reacting to this sentence?" host Keilar asked.
"I mean, I'm not happy at all, I haven't been happy to this whole situation. No one in my family has either, but to say I'm surprised would be a lie," he replied. "I mean, everything my dad did, he's his own person and his action has consequences, but I'm not happy at all."
"Do you think he deserves this length of the sentence?" the CNN host pressed.
"I mean, absolutely, he deserves some time," he replied. "Whether to -- for anything, to rehabilitate, for his mental health, he deserves a lot of safety nets. But, yes, he does."
"It seems like, you know, your sister Peyton, listening to her, she feels kind of caught in the middle of this," Keilar prompted. "She's there at the courthouse, she loves you, she made that clear yesterday. She thinks that your dad, if he's getting this time, that Trump should be getting some time. What do you say to that?"
Reffitt, who turned his father in, shot back, "Absolutely. When she said that, I was flabbergasted. Not only was I impressed with her, she's so right."
"My dad was used as a puppet, and thousands of families have been," he continued. "Whether you agree with that, it's a fact at this point. It is disgusting to see that someone with practically money and social power can just get away with manipulating thousands of people just for whatever reason and have no outcome."
Watch the video below:
-
'Cover-up as well as a crime': Legal experts respond to bombshell top Trump officials' phones were wiped after J6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30461438&width=2400&height=1350)
Legal experts are quickly weighing in on the bombshell news that the cell phones of top Trump administration officials at the Pentagon were wiped after the January 6 insurrection.
“The Defense Department wiped the phones of top departing DOD and Army officials at the end of the Trump administration, deleting any texts from key witnesses to events surrounding the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol, according to court filings,” states CNN, which was first to report the latest development in destruction of possible January 6 insurrection evidence.
The discovery of the wipe, and that records from the time surrounding the insurrection were lost, was made after the watchdog group American Oversight filed a Freedom of Information request against the Defense Dept. and the U.S. Army. By law all those records were required to be preserved.
The phones of former acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller (photo), former chief of staff Kash Patel, and former Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy appear to have been wiped. CNN notes the individuals themselves do not appear to have executed the action.
The news that vital information and federal government records were not retained after one of the biggest criminal conspiracies in the nation’s history comes on the heels of the news that “many” text messages from U.S. Secret Service agents and officials from around the time of the insurrection were also destroyed after January 6.
“Cover-up as well as crime,” wrote Georgetown Law School professor of law Heidi Li Feldman in response to the CNN report.
“Intentional destruction of government records, including text messages, is a crime,” noted former chief White House ethics lawyer Richard Painter, who served during the George W. Bush administration. “Destruction of government records in the midst of a law enforcement investigation is obstruction of justice.Somebody should be going to the slammer for this.”
Joyce Vance, a former U.S. Attorney, now a law professor and legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, pointed to the timing of certain events.
“DOD wiped the phones of top departing officials as the Trump administration ended, deleting texts from key witnesses to 1-6, per court filings. Trump replaced the Secy of Defense & 3 top officials at DOD with loyalists AFTER he lost the election.”
“OK, Secret Service phones were wiped. So were those of Homeland Security. Now reportedly the same with the Pentagon. Anyone want to explain what was going on here?”
Jeff Sharlet, author of “The Family,” an investigation into power brokers of the far Christian right, asked: “Is it possible that all these J6 texts were deleted by coincidence. Sure, anything’s possible. Doesn’t matter: at this point any good faith observer has to err on the side of caution and proceed as if there’s a coverup.”
“So yes, there is a pretty massive coverup going on,” declared Abdallah Fayyad, a Boston Globe opinion writer.
“I’ve seen enough,” wrote YES! Magazine senior editor Chris Winters. “This is all part of the attempted cover-up of Trump’s attempted coup. There’s no “accidental” purge of texts. Subpoena, indict, convict.”
Talking Points Memo founder and Editor Josh Marshall served up a sarcastic observation: “Guess what!?!? Trump DOD officials somehow also got in on the secret service phone reboot.”Several noted journalists are also strongly suggesting this is evidence of a coverup.
“I’m picking up subtle hints that there may have been a wide-ranging coverup,” Brian Beutler, editor-in-chief of Crooked Media noted, apparently sarcastically.NBC News presidential historian Michael Beschloss sums up the events: "OK, Secret Service phones were wiped. So were those of Homeland Security. Now reportedly the same with the Pentagon. Anyone want to explain what was going on here?"
Read More Here: https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/02/politics/defense-department-missing-january-6-texts/index.html
-
'Not a mere accident': Justice Department must investigate wiped Trump texts, former prosecutor says
On Tuesday's edition of MSNBC's "The Beat," former federal prosecutor Renato Mariotti weighed in on the new information that Pentagon phones containing potential January 6 evidence were wiped — which comes amid new investigations into similar deletions of data by the Secret Service.
The data deletions, Mariotti told anchor Ari Melber, are beginning to look like something intentional. The Justice Department should step in and investigate, he said.
"Talking about the missing text issue, I really think there is increasing concern that this was not just an accident, there was malfeasance here," Mariotti said. "First of all, we just heard reports today, Ari, that there was — there were missing texts from the Pentagon, so this wasn't just potentially deleted texts or inadvertent — by the Department of Homeland Security or another agency with missing texts from key Trump officials missing from January 6th."
"I think the time has come for the Justice Department to have its own investigation into this matter," Mariotti added. "This is, I think, a great subject for a potential criminal referral from Congress, even before the January 6th Committee investigation is over."
"And the watchdogs?" asked Melber, referring to doubts from members of Congress about the impartiality of the Homeland Security inspector general, who was appointed by former president Donald Trump.
"I think that, you know, that is something that really the Justice Department should take a look at," said Mariotti. "There's that old saying, who watches the watchers?"
"I think the question here is, look, we don't want to necessarily have a situation and set a precedent that Congress is going to force out every [investigator] they disagree with," he continued. "But there's a concern here because those texts were something that the OIG was aware of and take steps to follow that, and now there's an open criminal investigation of those missing texts. You have to wonder exactly what's going on there."
Watch:
-
A promise Joe Biden should break
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/08/02/fire-dhs-inspector-general-cuffari/
When he was a presidential candidate, Joe Biden pledged — after President Donald Trump fired four government watchdogs in six weeks — that he wouldn’t remove any inspectors general if he were elected to replace Trump. President Biden needs to break that promise. Leaving bad watchdogs in place can be as detrimental as retaliating against them for conducting oversight.
Joseph Cuffari, inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, has an extensive and documented pattern of failing to credibly oversee the department. The most recent example: Cuffari’s top aides actually shut down his own investigative team’s efforts to recover texts from around the time of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol from department phones back in February.
This comes on top of revelations that Cuffari failed to tell Congress for months that such text messages from Secret Service and former DHS leaders Chad Wolf and Ken Cuccinelli are missing.
Cuffari’s failure to disclose this information in a timely way has set back efforts to fully understand how and why the riot on Jan. 6 happened — including DHS’s failure to issue specific intelligence warnings that the Capitol would be attacked.
Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, and Reps. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.), who chair the House committees on oversight and homeland security, respectively, have called for Cuffari to step aside from this investigation because of his poor handling of it.
And Cuffari’s failures extend far beyond the Secret Service text messages. The Department of Homeland Security needs a credible watchdog — and as long as Cuffari stays in his job, it will not have one.
The list of Cuffari’s failures to aggressively oversee his department is long and serious. He quashed reviews proposed by his own staff into the Secret Service’s involvement in the controversial use of force in Lafayette Square in June 2020, and into the Secret Service’s compliance with covid protocols. Both proposed reviews might have shed negative light on then-President Trump, who appointed Cuffari to his role.
For more than a year, Cuffari failed to inform agency leadership about rampant reported sexual misconduct within DHS. His team worked to scrub data that put the department’s disciplinary decisions in a poor light from a draft report that remains unreleased. The draft report found that more than 10,000 employees said they experienced sexual harassment or sexual misconduct, roughly 1 in 3 who responded to a survey.
In another report, Cuffari directed the removal of findings showing that 30 DHS law enforcement agents carry government-issued guns even though DHS has confirmed they violently abused their domestic partners. His reason: He didn’t want to engage in “second-guessing DHS disciplinary decisions without full facts,” according to an email he wrote.
Cuffari has balked at taking necessary actions that an independent watchdog would take. He questioned why his staff would need to interview the then-acting DHS secretary (who had been head of Customs and Border Protection) in a review examining what agency leaders knew about a controversial Facebook group filled with racist and sexist messages by current and former Border Patrol employees. Similarly, Cuffari’s top aides restricted how long rank-and-file watchdog staff could interview Wolf and Cuccinelli in a whistleblower retaliation investigation.
Removing an inspector general is a serious decision. The success of an inspector general’s office is dependent on the office’s independence and its ability to investigate and expose abuse without fear of retribution. But there must be consequences when an inspector general fails to conduct rigorous oversight and report severe problems.
The White House should not tolerate watchdogs who fail to hold their agencies accountable for egregious misconduct, and whose evasiveness and failure to take responsibility serve as a promise they will continue to do so. By failing to remove Cuffari for his significant failings as inspector general, the president is allowing a vital federal department, one with the profound power to affect civil liberties, to go without a credible watchdog.
Biden has more than enough evidence to remove Cuffari, and he is the only person with the power to do so.
My own hope? Cuffari is convicted of Obstruction of Justice. And others as well.
-
Jan. 6 committee preparing subpoenas for Alex Jones emails and text messages accidentally leaked to Sandy Hook lawyer
The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol hopes to obtain text messages and emails from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, according to Rolling Stone.
Mark Bankston, the lawyer for the Sandy Hook parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, revealed in court Wednesday morning that Alex Jones' lawyer accidentally sent text message and emails to him
These were texts and emails that were supposed to be part of the discovery process in the early stages of the case, but Jones maintained that he'd turned over everything.
Within hours, the January 6 committee was at work on a subpoena to obtain the information, Rolling Stone reported.
Citing a "source familiar with the matter," the magazine said that the House committee is at work to request the data from the plaintiff's attorneys to aid in the ongoing investigation. Jones has appeared at times in videos shown by the committee over the course of the past several months.
The information was given to Bankston because Jones' lawyer "did not take any steps to identify it as privileged or protected in any way and as of two days ago it fell free and clear into my possession," he said in court. “That is how I know you lied to me.”
AFP
-
Revelation at Alex Jones’ trial may have big implications for DOJ J6 investigation — here's how
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30513773&width=2400&height=1350)
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/
-
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/
-
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.
(https://www.usnews.com/object/image/00000182-6ad0-d5f5-abcf-fbfb763b0000/ap22216570443842.jpg?update-time=1659649614141&size=responsive970)
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
-
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.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZUNCO9XoAIIsjm?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
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/
-
Liz Cheney schools Fox News host after he goes to bat for 'indefensible' fake Trump electors scheme
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/liz-cheney-took-a-flamethrower-to-the-big-lie-cnn-s-elie-hoenig-points-to-key-evidence-against-trump.jpg?id=29962641&width=799&height=485)
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
-
Lawsuit seeks Rep. Maddock’s removal from Nov. ballot for allegedly ‘engaging in insurrection’
(https://michiganadvance.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/DSC_0655-2048x1365.jpg)
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/
-
In new letter seeking leniency from judge, Jan 6 defendant Ben Larocca writes: "If the Trump rally never happened, then the officers.... and their family members would never have to suffer".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZSAZhHX0AA-Ou1?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jan. 6 committee and federal investigators have asked for Alex Jones' phone records, Sandy Hook attorney says
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/politics/alex-jones-texts-federal-state-investigators-january-6/index.html
-
Mick Mulvaney reveals what he told Jan. 6 committee about Trump
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mick-mulvaney-says-trump-may-run-again-in-2024-he-doesnt-like-losing.jpg?id=24839568&width=2400&height=1299)
Donald Trump's former White House chief of staff encouraged Americans to watch the Jan. 6 committee hearings.
Mick Mulvaney, who served as Trump's acting chief of staff from January 2019 until March 2020, has consistently defended the House Select Committee against partisan attacks, saying that Republicans should view the hearings and keep an open mind about the findings -- and he described his own experience testifying before the panel in an op-ed published by the Charlotte Observer.
"The committee itself was exactly what I had expected. It was professional: the staff lawyers who interviewed me were diligent, courteous, and well-prepared," Mulvaney wrote. "But it was undeniably political: the committee does not exist to determine whether Donald Trump’s face should go on Mount Rushmore; it exists to try to damage him politically. And there is certainly no one on the committee who considers it their responsibility to defend him. To the contrary, every single person involved most likely believes it is their job to make him look bad."
Mulvaney said he had little information to share about Jan. 6, when he resigned from his post as special envoy to Northern Ireland, but he said the panel was keenly interested in a Nov. 3, 2021, text he sent to Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, Jared Kushner and others from the Trump campaign after McDaniel said on a campaign call that Trump had lost Arizona.
“I’m getting this sinking feeling that everyone other than me thinks we have lost this election," Mulvaney said in the text. "I am out there telling everyone we haven’t. If people know something I do not, I would appreciate it if you would let me know. It is better for me not to do TV, and keep my mouth shut, than to do TV and say we have a chance when the people in the know know that we do not.”
Mulvaney, who was national co-chair of Catholics for Trump and acted as a media surrogate for the campaign, said the committee's interest in his text helped him understand what they hoped to accomplish in their investigation.
"One case the committee has been trying to make in the hearings is that people at the campaign knew Trump lost the 2020 election and told him so," Mulvaney wrote. "Indeed, many have already testified to exactly that. The committee will likely use my text as additional evidence on that point. Would that text have seen the light of day but for the committee? Unlikely. Might it convince people that even members of his innermost campaign circle knew that Trump had lost the election? Perhaps. But the text is truthful and accurate. And it was coming from someone who not only voted for the president, but worked in his administration and campaigned to get him re-elected. If it helps anyone make up their minds, on their own, that Trump lost the 2020 election, then it has some value."
"The committee is bringing facts to light that people would otherwise never see," he added. "That doesn’t change just because it is biased. If it sheds light on the truth of Jan. 6, then it has value. People should watch, and make up their own minds."
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/article264178476.html
-
DC federal court unseals Jan 6 case against Kasey Hopkins of Kansas. Hopkins is among a number of defendants accused of entering private Capitol office of Sen Jeff Merkley.
Charging documents say Hopkins is seen posing for photo next to statue of Winston Churchill.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZapDgJXwAIHgyO?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZapDgLWAAAVfnE?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Sentencing in Jan 6 case of Matt Baggott. Feds seek prison time, arguing he threw object at police, grabbed at police baton (he's yet another accused of "fist pump")
Baggot to argue his "biggest regret is allowing himself to be emotionally moved by the energy of the crowd".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZaHQo2WIAIrzvh?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZaHQo4WYAIbppf?format=jpg&name=small)
Baggott becomes the latest Jan 6 defendant to say he's "stepping away" from political news. Not engaging on social media or "getting riled up" over it.
Very common to hear at sentencing hearings in Jan 6 cases. Judges rarely, if ever, press defendants on this point.
-
US Justice Dept will seek 8 years in prison in Capitol riot case of former Rocky Mount, Virginia police officer Thomas Robertson. Robertson packed a gas mask, food rations, large wooden stick. And feds say he posted selfie in Capitol captioned "I am f***ng PROUD of it."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZZbA_OXEAEuIq3?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Prosecutors also submitted alleged texts from Robertson in 2021
Including: "Never f** with someone who is prepared to die in battle" ..."They may get the chance. Call me an insurrectionist so many times and I will oblige you”.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1555427546241662977/_ZrFjSYy?format=png&name=360x360)
-
Friday's court hearing in the seditious conspiracy criminal case against Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes turned out to be what experts expected.
This case is set for trial next month, despite request for delays from the defendants.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZZZ5N6WAAIR0a4?format=jpg&name=small)
-
It’s important to understand that Trump’s lawyers are not “in talks” with the DOJ. His lawyers just planted that in the media, so Trump will believe that they’ve got a handle on this, which they do not. The DOJ doesn’t negotiate the terms of a probe with its criminal targets.
The DOJ is not going to naively open its books to Trump’s lawyers and hand them an advantage. Especially *this* DOJ, which appears to place even more of a premium on secrecy than the DOJ historically has.
If Trump were a mid level guy who could be of value to the DOJ by flipping a bigger fish, then sure, they could be “in talks” about that. But Trump is the big fish, and thus has nothing to offer the DOJ – unless Trump wants to testify in his defense, which would be dumb of him.
-
Jan. 6 texts, data deleted from Secret Service, Pentagon phones lead to accusations of cover-up
Evidence of all the information erased, wiped, deleted and otherwise obscured by members of former President Donald Trump’s administration in the days, weeks and months after the riot that unfolded at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is now apparently under scrutiny by the House select committee hearings investigating the failed insurrection.
Text messages and other data were wiped from the phones of Secret Service agents, despite Congressional and government watchdog requests to keep evidence from that day. Senior Pentagon officials involved in responding to the attack had their government-issued phones “wiped” as part of what the Pentagon called a standard process for departing employees. Top aides, including former acting secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and former acting deputy secretary Ken Cuccinelli, had their electronic devices wiped in the same process.
“The same mindset that would seek sweeping pardons is likely the same that would engage in a cover-up,” said Ryan Goodman, a former Defense Department lawyer who chronicled multiple deletions surrounding the Jan. 6 attack. “All of the data points currently align with a cover-up as the most likely explanation.”
The House committee is continuing to probe for more evidence related to the Jan. 6 insurrection, including seeking deleted texts, to add to the hours of witness testimony, reams of documents and immersive graphic displays already presented at the hearings. Staff for the panel declined to comment for this story.
Trump aides and advisers have denied any wrongdoing.
But the apparent attempt at obfuscating the evidence has been impossible to ignore. When the Jan. 6 committee hosted its “season finale” last month, it focused on the “187 minutes” — the more than three hours that elapsed after Trump finished his speech to supporters on the Ellipse near the White House and then finally called off the rioters.
White House call logs and the president’s daily diary for much of that stretch of time were empty, and Trump’s photographer at the White House was told “no photographs” during that period as he sat glued to Fox News watching the riot unfold. But, as the committee detailed, Trump was on the phone extensively with Rudy Giuliani, one of his lawyers at the time, and was even lobbying senators, as they were being evacuated, to try to overturn his election loss.
Investigators have been able to use documents from various court cases and even public interviews to fill in gaps in the timeline of that day. But breakthroughs sometimes seem to have been almost accidental.
One of the greatest caches of information came from former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows before he stopped cooperating with investigators. And that doesn’t account for the papers he burned in the White House after meeting with one of the top lawmakers who helped coordinate the insurrection, Rep. Scott Perry, R-Penn.
This week, a unexpected trove of information came to light during the defamation trial of longtime conspiracy theorist and Jan. 6 coordinator Alex Jones, when it was revealed that Jones’s lawyers accidentally sent two years of text messages from his cellphone to Mark Bankston, a lawyer representing the parents of a boy killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting in Newtown, Conn. Bankston said the Jan. 6 committee had requested the messages and related documents.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jan-6-pentagon-secret-service-texts-deleted-cover-up-accusations-170030306.html
-
Feds include this passage in new court filing in Capitol riot case of Joshua Doolin:
"On the morning of January 6, 2021, while at the rally, Doolin sent a text message to an associate stating “I wouldn’t mind dying with my family storming the capital [sic] on my birthday!”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZfh5IhX0AAiB7u?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Despite requests to delay trial.. or move trial outta DC... accused Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy defendants are set to go on trial in DC federal court next month. Judge and attorneys discussed pretrial motion schedule on Friday.
Highest-level case so far.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZbrrj2XwAAANAH?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Big delay in sentencing date for high-profile Jan 6 defendant Kevin Seefried, who paraded the Confederate flag at Capitol.
Sentencing pushed back from Sept 2022 to Jan 20, 2023 (more than two years after the riot)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZbrgKlWQAclwBr?format=jpg&name=360x360)
-
WATCH: Jan. 6 rioters came within feet of Pence, new evidence shows | Jan. 6 hearings
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection on June 16 laid out a timeline on how former Vice President Mike Pence was evacuated to a secure location within the U.S. Capitol as rioters were overtaking the building.
The committee laid out evidence that there was not much distance between rioters who had breached the Capitol and the security personnel getting the vice president to a more secure location. This happened minutes after Trump sent out a tweet criticizing Pence for not taking action to overturn the election results that were in the middle of being tallied to certify Joe Biden's presidential victory.
Pence and his staff made it to the secure location as the insurrection was underway, "Barely missing the rioters a few feet away," the committee laid out. The rioters were heard chanting "hang Mike Pence" will breaching the Capitol.
The hearing was the third of several planned by the Jan. 6 committee that focused on Trump’s efforts to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to reject Congress' official count of Electoral College votes on the day of the attack. In the year since its creation, the committee has conducted more than 1,000 interviews, seeking critical information and documents from people witness to, or involved in, the violence that day.
The committee postponed a hearing scheduled for June 15 that was meant to focus on Trump's efforts to replace Attorney General Bill Barr, who did not support his claims of voter fraud after the election.
Watch:
-
Pro-Trump rioters beat and stomped DC police officer with American flag pole
More exclusive video from the January 6th insurrection where Pro Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and beat police officers in an attempt to overthrow the government to keep Trump in power.
WUSA9 Watch:
-
DC fed judge slamming the door on Jan 6 defendant "change of venue" request:
"Of course there will be jurors in DC who are familiar with the events of Jan. 6 and some of the more high-profile prosecutions that have followed. But prominence does not necessarily produce prejudice".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZEfhIRXwAMjXfi?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
In court filing ahead of trial of Jan 6 defendant Russell Alford, prosecutors file motion saying "On Jan 20, 2021, when FBI agents approached the defendant in Alabama, the defendant said “I wondered when ya’ll were going to show up. Guess you seen the videos on my Facebook page”.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZkldaUXkAM7ITb?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Judge has rejected yet another request by a Capitol riot defendant to delay trial due to "ongoing publicity" of House Jan 6 Select Committee hearings.
Judge says Doug Jensen's defense argument about potential prejudice is a "dubious proposition".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZWNdlrX0Agu7_7?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Jan. 6 hearing examines Trump's 187 minutes at White House as riot unfolded | July 21
The House Jan. 6 committee conducted a public hearing Thursday to examine what former President Donald Trump was doing for 187 minutes — from when rioters descended on the Capitol to his videotaped statement urging them to go home. "The mob was accomplishing President Trump's purpose, and he did not intervene," said Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of the committee members leading the hearing. The committee has continued to lay out evidence this summer, showing Trump encouraged his supporters to descend on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, after peddling false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Watch:
-
First on CNN: Alex Jones' texts have been turned over to the January 6 committee, source says
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/politics/alex-jones-january-6/index.html
-
New Jan. 6 panel evidence shows Trump altered his post-Capitol riot speech
Several former Trump aides said in interviews that they pushed the president to put out a stronger statement on Jan. 7 condemning the riot.
Former President Donald Trump removed key lines from a draft document of his Jan. 7, 2021, speech that would have condemned rioters at the Capitol insurrection the day prior as not representing “our movement.”
A screengrab of Trump’s draft speech, which he made handwritten edits to, is shown in a video of Jan. 6 committee evidence and testimony shared by panel member Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) on Twitter. The video shows edits and various lines crossed out of the prepared remarks in black Sharpie, which Trump’s daughter Ivanka identified as her father’s handwriting in an interview with the committee.
POLITICO originally obtained and reported on Trump’s draft speech, titled “Remarks on National Healing,” in January.
The former president specifically crossed out a line directed at Jan. 6 rioters that said: “I want to be very clear. You do not represent me. You do not represent our movement.” He also changed a line that originally said those who broke the law “belong in jail” to instead say that they “will pay.”
Another portion crossed out by Trump reads: “I am directing the Department of Justice to ensure all lawbreakers are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. We must send a clear message — not with mercy but with JUSTICE. Legal consequences must be swift and firm.”
In an interview with the Jan. 6 panel, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner said he didn’t know why Trump crossed those lines out.
Several former Trump aides also said in interviews with the panel that they pushed the president to put out a stronger statement on Jan. 7 condemning the riot, especially following an influx of criticism and talk of invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office. Trump’s former director of the presidential personnel office, John McEntee, said in an interview with the committee that he believed the former president was reluctant to give the speech and that Kushner urged him to “nudge this along” with Trump.
Both former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Kushner said in interviews that they felt it was important for Trump to give the speech to de-escalate the criticism and detach himself from the rioters who stormed the Capitol.
“In my view, he needed to express very clearly that the people who committed violent acts, went into the Capitol, did what they did, should be prosecuted and should be arrested,” Cipollone said.
Former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said in an interview with the committee that she believed there was concern among people around Trump that the 25th Amendment would be invoked if he didn’t make a statement condemning the violence. She also said there were concerns about Trump’s legacy.
“The secondary reason for that was think about what might happen in the final 15 days of your presidency if we don’t do this. There’s already talks about invoking the 25th Amendment. You need this as cover,” she said.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/07/25/jan-6-trump-insurrection-speech-00047785
-
Jan. 6 committee to depose Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano
- Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor, plans to appear Tuesday for a deposition by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
- But he doesn’t expect to talk for long, because it appears the panel won’t agree not to edit video clips of his testimony, his lawyer Timothy Parlatore said.
- Mastriano’s concern is that such a video could affect his chances in the upcoming election, where he faces Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro, Parlatore said.
- The committee wants to question Mastriano about his efforts to help former President Donald Trump reverse his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107100632-1659984625307-gettyimages-1397825675-img_3828_53669699-e32b-406d-8a2c-5a5f79ac38a9.jpeg?v=1659984663&w=630&h=354)
Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania, plans to appear Tuesday for a deposition by the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot — but he doesn’t expect to talk for long, his lawyer told CNBC.
Timothy Parlatore, who’s representing Mastriano, said the first-term state senator anticipates leaving “in less than 10 minutes” due to an unresolved issue over the terms of his deposition.
Mastriano is not willing to testify unless the panel agrees not to edit video clips of his appearance and release a potentially misleading video afterward, Parlatore said.
Mastriano’s concern is that such a video could affect his chances in the upcoming gubernatorial election, where he faces state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee, the lawyer said.
“He’s got nothing to hide,” Parlatore said of his client.
A spokesman for the committee declined CNBC’s request for comment.
The panel wants to question Mastriano about his efforts to help former President Donald Trump reverse his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.
In a letter in February to Mastriano, the committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., wrote, “We understand that you have knowledge of and participated in a plan to arrange for an alternate slate of electors to be presented to the President of the Senate on January 6, 2021, and we understand that you spoke with former President Trump about your post-election activities.”
Parlatore said that his issues with the deposition are “individualized” to Mastriano because of his status as a political candidate in a pending election.
Parlatore believes that neither Mastriano nor any other witness can be compelled to testify in a private session because, he said, the committee lacks a ranking member appointed by the Republican minority in the House.
And while Mastriano is willing to testify behind closed doors, he will not do so unless his conditions are met, Parlatore said. The lawyer said if Mastriano was issued a subpoena to testify at a public hearing, he would be unable to force the panel to comply with conditions before appearing.
House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy pulled all of his picks from the committee after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., rejected two of them. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the committee’s top-ranking Republican member, serves as its vice chair, not the ranking member.
Parlatore said that if his expectations for the deposition come to pass on Tuesday, “we’ll be out shortly and then I am going to start drafting a lawsuit.”
Multiple federal judges have reportedly determined that Cheney is effectively the select committee’s ranking member, despite being appointed to the rank of vice chair by the Democrat-led panel.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/08/jan-6-riot-probe-pennsylvania-gop-nominee-doug-mastriano-to-be-deposed.html
-
Long road ahead.
Court has scheduled a May 2, 2023 trial in the Capitol riot case of Robert Gieswein.
Gieswein is accused of being wielding baseball bat, carrying spray cannister & leading push thru barricades.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZpjzZHXEAAD5w3?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Bench trial is planned (judge, no jury) for high-level Jan 6 defendant Kyle Fitzsimons, who among other things allegedly wore butcher coat amid mob. In court, Fitzsimons defense attorney said Capitol Police sergeant is expected to testify for prosecution.
Judge is Rudy Contreras.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZa4DF7WQAAy4H5?format=jpg&name=360x360)
-
Capitol riot: Trump supporters shown beating Officer Michael Fanone under ‘Blue Lives Matter’ flag
Watch: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/blue-lives-matter-capitol-riot-b1942063.html
-
PLEA AGREEMENT hearing scheduled in Capitol riot case of Geoffrey Sills, who's accused of using "deadly or dangerous weapon.. a pole-like object" to assault/resist police.
It'll be Aug 23
Sills is 1 of approx. 260 Jan 6 defendants accused of assaulting/resisting police... so far.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZwWECLWAAUWdYC?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
TODAY: Justice Dept will seek 8 years in prison in Capitol riot case of former Rocky Mount, Virginia police officer Thomas Robertson. Robertson packed a gas mask, food rations, large wooden stick. And feds say he posted selfie in Capitol captioned "I am f*****g PROUD of it."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZZbKWDXwAIEJIw?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Secret Service hands agents' phone numbers to Jan. 6 committee: Sources
The committee can now determine which agents' call records they want to review.
(https://s.abcnews.com/images/Politics/secret-service-rt-ps-220714_1657836511480_hpMain_16x9_992.jpg)
The U.S. Secret Service has given the House Jan. 6 committee a listing of agency-issued cell phone numbers belonging to agents based in Washington, D.C., for the period the panel is investigating, according to sources familiar with the matter.
The move is an unusual step amid heightened scrutiny of the agency's cooperation with the congressional panel investigating last year's insurrection and the role then-President Donald Trump played in it.
The committee can now determine which agents' call records they may want to review and, if they decide to do so, could either request them directly or conceivably issue subpoenas to their cell phone providers, an official familiar with the situation explained.
At the same time, the inspector general responsible for the Secret Service has obtained a listing of personal cell phones as part of its own investigation connected to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
The Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency, have faced criticism in recent weeks for wiping text messages belonging to agents on and around Jan. 6, 2021. Congressional Democrats have accused the Homeland Security inspector general of abandoning efforts to collect text and phone records from that day.
Seeking and obtaining information from personal devices from federal workers is a "highly unusual" step, according to ABC News contributor Don Mihalek, a retired senior Secret Service agent, and could reflect a renewed effort by the agency to further demonstrate its cooperation with congressional investigators.
The Secret Service has faced serious criticism in recent weeks as committee testimony focused on Trump's conduct on Jan. 6, 2021, and what agents assigned to the White House did and saw that day.
At the same time, Mihalek said, the agency's decision to hand personal device information over to the committee could present thorny legal challenges.
A spokesperson for the Secret Service recently acknowledged that some phone data from January 2021 was lost as the result of a pre-planned data transfer, noting that the transfer was underway when the inspector general's office made the request in February 2021.
ABC News reported Thursday that DHS is reviewing its electronic retention policies and would halt wiping political appointees' phones until the review is complete.
The Secret Service and representatives of the Jan. 6 committee declined to comment.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/secret-service-hands-agents-phone-numbers-jan-committee/story?id=88045692
-
Initial appearance yesterday in Capitol breach case of Jerod Bargar of Missouri, who's accused of having gun amid mob on Jan 6.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZwYEqoWYAE43Zs?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
TODAY: Feds to seek 10-month prison sentence in Jan 6 case of Glen Simon, who's accused of lying to FBI..and saying this at Capitol while confronting police "We bust in this b*** and show ‘em who the f*****g boss really is"
(He already had pending battery charge before Jan 6)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZ7Le9GXgAMDzN6?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Thomas Robertson, the former Virginia police officer, convicted at trial — and who allegedly lied about his military service — is sentenced to approximately 7 years in prison.
](https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/220405145202-thomas-robertson-capitol-riot-exlarge-169.jpg)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZZbA_OXEAEuIq3?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Ex-police officer who saw himself as pro-Trump 'counter insurgency' sentenced to 87 months in prison in Jan. 6 case
A judge said he believed Thomas Robertson would answer the "call to duty" if another event like Jan. 6 were to happen.
(https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/220405145202-thomas-robertson-capitol-riot-exlarge-169.jpg)
WASHINGTON — A former Virginia police officer convicted of six counts for his role in the Capitol riot was sentenced Thursday to more than seven years in prison.
Thomas Robertson, who served until his arrest as an officer with the Rocky Mount Police Department, appeared before U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper on Thursday afternoon. In April, Robertson was the second Capitol riot defendant to go to trial, after Texas Three Percenter Guy Reffitt. A jury ultimately convicted him of all six counts against him:
- Obstruction of an official proceeding
- Civil disorder
- Entering and remaining in a restricted building with a dangerous weapon
- Disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building
- Violent entry and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building
- Tampering with a document or proceeding
At trial, prosecutors said Robertson, who also served in the U.S. Army and overseas as a contractor for the military, had worked himself up into a willingness to commit violence after former President Donald Trump’s defeat in the 2020 election. In one Facebook post they showed jurors, Robertson wrote, “I’ve spent most of my adult life fighting a counter insurgency. I’m about to become part of one, and a very effective one.”
On Thursday, prosecutors also presented evidence Robertson had a pattern of lying about his military credentials, saying he’d falsely told the court and others he was an Army Ranger, despite never graduating from Ranger school, and that he’d falsely claimed he had received a Purple Heart. The Stolen Valor Act makes it a crime to fraudulently claim to receive certain military decorations, including the Purple Heart, for personal gain. Prosecutors told Cooper they couldn’t comment about whether the Justice Department was investigating Robertson for those claims.
Government says in its sentencing memo that Thomas Robertson has repeatedly mischaracterized his military service, claiming to be a U.S. Army Ranger despite never graduating Ranger school and falsely claiming to have been awarded a Purple Heart.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZ5mU94WAAIMrmn?format=jpg&name=medium)
It was Robertson’s post-arrest conduct, however, that drew the most concern from Cooper. At Thursday’s hearing, assistant U.S. attorney Liz Aloi highlighted messages Robertson sent to the former police chief of Boone’s Mill, Virginia, after FBI agents searched his property in March.
“I’m not planning on doing anything crazy, but I am done being civil about it,” Robertson wrote. “If they come here again, many will die. Possibly me, definitely many of them.”
Later in the same message, Robertson said, “I can kill every agent that they send for probably two weeks.”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZ5uCuxX0AcXtyU?format=jpg&name=medium)
Robertson was initially granted pretrial release, but Cooper ordered him back into custody last July when Robertson purchased more than 30 firearms while awaiting trial. Federal law makes it a crime to ship or transport firearms or ammunition while under indictment for a crime with a maximum sentence of more than 1 year in prison. Aloi said the matter was still under investigation by the DOJ.
Before handing down his sentence, Cooper told Robertson he didn’t believe he’d accepted responsibility for his actions. And, he said, he didn’t believe he’d sworn off violence.
“I read this stuff and it seems like you really think of partisan politics as war,” Cooper said. “I sincerely believe you would answer a call to duty if something like this were to happen again.”
Cooper ordered Robertson to serve 87 months in prison, tying him with Reffitt, who was sentenced last week, for the longest sentence handed down to date in a Capitol riot case. Robertson will also have to pay $2,000 in restitution for damage to the U.S. Capitol Building, which is the standard amount in Jan. 6 felony cases. He’ll receive credit for the approximately 12 months he’s served in pretrial detention since he was ordered back into custody last summer.
Robertson’s co-defendant Jacob Fracker, who testified against him at trial, was scheduled to be sentenced next week. Fracker pleaded guilty in March to one count of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding.
Watch:
-
Here’s what we know so far about Alex Jones’ role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/alex-jones.jpg?id=30799353&width=2400&height=1350)
Congressional investigators hoped that volumes of phone texts that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones accidentally turned over to opposing counsel in civil litigation would yield answers about his involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol, but the texts reportedly only cover a period through mid-2020.
Mark Bankston, who represents the parents of the children murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, has reportedly said the cache includes texts with political operative Roger Stone, a longtime friend of former President Donald Trump who, alongside Jones, became a major tribune of the campaign to overturn the 2020 election. The effort by the House select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol to obtain the texts highlights the panel’s sustained interest in Jones’ role.
To date, Jones has not been charged in the attack, but he has played prominent roles in amplifying the messaging of the campaign to overturn the election and building the infrastructure of the protests in the run-up to the attack, culminating in his presence on the ground at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The committee’s interest in Jones was on display during a hearing on July 12 through recorded testimony of Kellye SoRelle, general counsel for the Oath Keepers. Nine members of the far-right militia face seditious conspiracy charges. SoRelle confirmed that Jones’ name was among three prominent figureheads during the series of protests leading up to Jan. 6.
“You mentioned that Mr. Stone wanted to start the Stop the Steal rallies,” the investigator said. “Who do you consider the leader of those rallies? It sounds like, from what you just said, it was Mr. Stone, Mr. Jones and Mr. Ali Alexander. Is that correct?”
“Those are the ones that became like the center point for everything,” SoRelle responded.
Alex Jones could not be reached for comment for this story.
Through his show on the InfoWars platform, Jones provided a venue for two of the most inspirational figures involved in rallying Trump’s supporters — Stone and retired Lt. General Michael Flynn. But Jones also leveraged his celebrity and following to do his own part in mobilizing Trump’s supporters, and in spreading wild and unfounded claims about election fraud.
In a letter to Jones accompanying a subpoena compelling him to testify and turn over records, the committee took note of a Dec. 20, 2020 broadcast of “The Alex Jones Show,” one day after Trump issued a tweet summoning his supporters to DC for a “wild” rally on Jan. 6.
“He’s calling on you now,” Jones told his audience. “He needs your help. We need your help. America needs to stand up.” Jones said he wanted to see 10 million people in Washington, DC on Jan. 6, adding, “We’re going to descend on the swamp January 6th. The president is going to be attending the rallies. He’s announcing he’s going to be there. This is going to be massive.”
On Dec. 29, Jones homed in on an objective for the Jan. 6 rally, scheduled to coincide with Congress’ session to certify the electoral votes.
“Well, let’s just say you’re going to want to go to DC on the 6th,” Jones said. “It will show the globalists we know Trump really won. And it will begin the process one way or another of removing the globalist puppet Joe Biden. And I mean by impeachment or keeping him from getting in on the 20th.”
Filling in for Jones on New Year’s Eve, guest host Matt Bracken added tactical specificity to the mission.
“We’re only going to be saved by millions of Americans by moving to Washington, occupying the entire area, if necessary, storming right into the Capitol,” Bracken said. “We know the rules of engagement. If you have enough people, you can push down any kind of fence or a wall.”
Amplifying the false claims of election fraud during an InfoWars broadcast on Christmas day, Jones offered his audience a fantastical and nightmarish description of the election that was unsupported by any evidence.
“They close everything out, kick everyone out, pull out briefcases,” he said. “Chinese men and vans come in Michigan and start just shoving it in the machine. We get the footage showing it all. They’re death-threating witnesses. They’re arresting witnesses.”
Weeks before the 2020 election was held, Stone appeared as a guest on Jones’ show on Sept. 10, 2020. There, Stone previewed an election-fraud narrative and called for martial law that would become familiar during the interregnum between the election and Jan. 6.
“The ballots on election night in Nevada should be seized by federal marshals and taken from the state,” Stone said. “They are completely corrupted. No votes should be counted from the state of Nevada if it turns out to be the provable case. We can prove voter fraud in the absentees right now. Send federal marshals to the Clark County Board of Elections, Mr. President. It’s all there.”
Prompted by Jones’ insistence that “it’s clear they think they can steal it,” Stone recommended that Trump appoint a special counsel “with a specific task of forming an election-day operation using the FBI, federal marshals and Republican state officials across the country to be prepared to file legal objections and, if necessary, physically stand in the way of criminal activity.”
On the eve of the attack on the Capitol, Stone interviewed Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor, at the Willard hotel.
Declaring that “there’s a DNA in the American psyche” that “goes all the way back to 1776” — referring to the Revolutionary War — Flynn reeled off a string of baseless claims of election fraud.
“Everybody in this country, everybody in the world knows that this election on the third of November was a total rip-off,” Flynn said. “It was a fraudulent election. We have had foreign interference from multiple countries — I’ll rattle ’em off if you want to get into that — and Donald Trump was the clear winner. For the next four days after the third of November — from about the 4th through the 7th, 8th of November — they just started stuffing the ballot boxes. And everybody knows it, and they got caught.”
The January 6th Committee has also signaled its awareness of Jones’ involvement in organizing the rallies surrounding the mobilization on Jan. 6. Citing press reports and Jones’ own statements, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), the committee chairman, mentioned in his public letter that Jones worked with two women, Cindy Chafian and Caroline Wren to organize the Jan. 6 rally at the Ellipse, and helped line up a funder, Publix heiress Julie Fancelli, to cover “eighty percent” of the cost.
Jones reportedly said after his testimony earlier this year that the January 6th Committee has already obtained text messages between him and Wren, a former campaign fundraiser who Jones identified as his “White House connection.”
Through Jones’ testimony in January, the committee also confirmed that Jones was on at least familiar terms with the leaders of the neo-fascist street brawling group the Proud Boys, who, like the Oath Keepers, face charges of seditious conspiracy. Jones disclosed that after a rally at the Georgia state capitol in Atlanta in November 2020, he saw Proud Boys at Hooters who were “drinking beer and ate cheeseburgers.” A photo posted on Telegram by Jeremy Bertino, a high-profile Proud Boy who has not been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, shows Jones seated between Bertino and national chairman Enrique Tarrio.
While Jones has so far avoided criminal charges for his role in the events of Jan. 6, two InfoWars personnel — host Owen Shroyer and correspondent Samuel Montoya — have been arrested. Shroyer is charged with knowingly entering or remaining on restricted grounds and violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds, while Montoya is charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building and disorderly and disruptive conduct, among other offenses.
Erika Wulff Jones, Alex Jones’ wife, went to the Capitol separately from her husband on Jan. 6, riding on the back of a golf cart with Cindy Chafian.
Alex Jones traveled with another contingent to the Capitol, as the January 6th Committee noted in its letter to him. Jones has said that the “White House” told him that after the rally at the Ellipse ended, he was tasked to lead a march to the Capitol where Trump would meet them. While Trump never made it, Jones, Shroyer and Ali Alexander marched to the Capitol.
“Go to the other side of the Capitol,” Jones said, leading the marchers to the east side of the Capitol. “That’s where Trump’s going to be.”
Read More Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/08/us/politics/alex-jones-text-messages.html
Republicans 'have blood on their hands': J6 member says Cincinnati gunman is dead because he 'believed the lies'
Toxic rhetoric by Republicans following an FBI execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago is responsible for the death of the Ohio man who allegedly attacked the FBI field office in Cincinnati, according to a member of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Ricky Shiffer, 42, was reportedly at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and an account on Donald Trump's Truth Social website appeared to post between his attack and his final, fatal encounter with law enforcement.
"Well, I thought I had a way through bullet proof glass, and I didn't. If you don't hear from me, it is true I tried attacking the F.B.I., and it'll mean either I was taken off the internet, the F.B.I. got me, or they sent the regular cops while —" the post ended, apparently mid sentence.
The same account posted angry posts on Truth Social the day after the search warrant was executed.
"People, this is it," the account warned. "I hope a call to arms comes from someone better qualified, but if not, this is your call to arms from me. Leave work tomorrow as soon as the gun shop/Army-Navy store/pawn shop opens, get whatever you need to be ready for combat. We must not tolerate this one."
Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-FL), a member of the select committee, spoke with Raw Story about the impact of the GOP attacks on the FBI.
"What I am worried about is the irresponsible language that elected officials who have a platform are using, that is causing — that caused people to show up here on Jan. 6 and engage in violence against law enforcement officers," Murphy said.
"I am concerned that the same language on the very same channels at the same level, maybe even higher this time, is going to result in people losing their lives," she said.
"And we already saw that happen once, with the Cincinnati shooting," Murphy continued. "This person believed the lies that were sold to him by people in positions of power, he acted on it and committed crimes and as a result lost his life."
"I think that elected officials who have a platform also have a responsibility to be careful about their language. And so, perpetrating these lies, they have blood on their hands," Murphy concluded.
https://www.rawstory.com/cincinnati-gunman-is-because-he-believed-the-lies-j6-member-says-republicans-have-blood-on-their-hands/
-
GOP's Scott Perry flees questions about FBI seizing his phone and searching Trump's home
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/scott-perry.jpg?id=30828898&width=2400&height=1350)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) ran away from reporters' questions about FBI agents seizing his phone and searching for purported nuclear weapons documents at Donald Trump's private residence.
The Pennsylvania Republican, who was identified in House select committee testimony as playing a central role in the false electors scheme, said earlier this week that investigators had taken his cell phone seeking evidence in the Jan. 6 case, but he told The Raw Story that he was not a target.
"I'm not a target of the investigation," Perry said. "That's directly from my lawyers, from DOJ. I don't know what it's about or why they are interested."
The lawmaker declined to say whether investigators were acting in good faith as he sped through the U.S. Capitol away from reporters, and he declined to say whether GOP rhetoric had motivated an Ohio man to attack the FBI office in Cincinnati three days after the Mar-A-Lago search.
"I'm not going to honor the question with an answer," Perry said.
Perry also declined to answer questions about the materials FBI agents are believed to have been looking for when they executed a search warrant.
"You have to talk to the president," Perry said, racing away as reporters asked when was the last time he spoke to Trump.
Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday he had "personally approved" the dramatic raid on Donald Trump's Florida home and, in a highly unusual move, was requesting the warrant justifying the search be made public.
The country's top prosecutor did not reveal the reason for the unprecedented search of the residence of a former American president, and condemned "unfounded attacks" on the FBI and the Justice Department that followed it.
"I personally approved the decision to seek a search warrant," Garland told reporters. "The department does not take such a decision lightly."
"The search warrant was authorized by a federal court upon the required finding of probable cause," he said.
While noting that "ethical obligations" prevented him detailing the basis of the raid, Garland said he had asked a Florida judge to unseal the warrant because Trump had publicly confirmed the search and because of the "substantial public interest in this matter."
AFP
-
Feds to seek 5-month prison term for Capitol riot defendant Lewis Cantwell, arguing he "chose to join in by urging rioters to get the doors to the building open, calling for 'fresh patriots to the front' and participating in the mob rocking back and forth against the police".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZ-QOQ_WAAIuG02?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Attorney for Jan 6 defendant Kene Lazo requests leniency at next week's sentencing hearing, opening court filing with lengthy details of Trump falsehoods: "Mr. Lazo believed every word".
Lazo carried Captain America shield on Jan 6 and was arrested in Aug 2021 for domestic violence.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaDAh2NX0AU4ZTL?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaDAh24WIAAN-qM?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaDAh3QWIAAwmxG?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Rep. Lofgren (D-CA) on what’s next for Jan 6 committee: 'This is an active investigation and a lot more information is coming in to us.'
January 6 Committee Member Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) speaks with Lindsey Reiser about her reaction to what we've learned from the Mar-a-Lago search and what’s ahead for the January 6 Committee investigation.
Watch: https://www.msnbc.com/yasmin-vossoughian-reports/watch/rep-lofgren-d-ca-on-what-s-next-for-jan-6-committee-this-is-an-active-investigation-and-a-lot-more-information-is-coming-in-to-us-146153541911
-
First on CNN: Elaine Chao, Trump's former Transportation Secretary, met with Jan. 6 committee as other Cabinet members engage with panel
Washington (CNN)The House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, has recently interviewed former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and has been in talks with former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as well as former National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, multiple sources tell CNN. Chao and DeVos, both members of former President Donald Trump's Cabinet, resigned a day after the attack on the US Capitol and discussed invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from power.
News of Chao's cooperation, and the committee's discussions with DeVos and O'Brien have not been previously reported. O'Brien is expected to appear virtually before the panel on Friday, according to a source familiar with the probe. CNN has reached out to O'Brien.
The development comes after former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with the panel on Tuesday. The 25th Amendment was a topic of focus during Pompeo's meeting, CNN previously reported.
Additionally, sources tell CNN the committee is still negotiating terms for a potential interview with former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe. Given the classified nature of Ratcliffe's former role, there are unique issues the two sides have to work out, the sources said.
At least nine Cabinet-level officials who were still in their roles on January 6 are known to have cooperated with or are engaging with the committee.
Like Pompeo, DeVos and Chao are known to have explored the idea of possibly removing Trump from power via the 25th Amendment in the immediate aftermath of the January 6 attack. While Pompeo served out his tenure as Secretary of State, DeVos and Chao both sent letters of resignation to Trump on January 7.
As national security adviser, O'Brien was not a member of Trump's Cabinet but sources say he was involved in high-level discussions about the 25th Amendment immediately following January 6. In a statement to CNN, he denied that, saying, "I was at no time involved in discussions about invoking the 25th Amendment."
CNN previously reported that O'Brien considered resigning from his post over Trump's response to the violence that day but ultimately decided to remain in the job.
O'Brien was out of town on January 6 but his deputy, Matthew Pottinger, was in Washington and told his boss that day he was resigning. Pottinger testified publicly during the committee's last hearing focused on Trump's 187 minutes of inaction as the violence unfolded.
A spokesperson for the committee declined to comment on cooperation with DeVos, O'Brien and Chao.
A spokesperson for Chao declined to comment. A spokesperson for DeVos disputed the notion that DeVos is actively in discussions about scheduling an interview, but provided no further comment to CNN.
Zeroing in on talk of the 25th Amendment
Multiple former Cabinet officials who have been interviewed by the committee were asked about the 25th Amendment, according to numerous sources familiar with the investigation. But the panel still appears to be seeking information about those discussions following January 6.
In a June interview with USA Today, DeVos acknowledged publicly for the first time that she discussed the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment with other Cabinet members and then-Vice President Mike Pence following January 6.
Devos told USA Today that before she resigned, she explored whether using the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office was a viable option. DeVos said Pence told her he would not support using the 25th Amendment and that his backing would be necessary for such an effort to be successful.
Sources have told CNN that Chao, the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, had similar discussions prior to stepping down as Secretary of Transportation.
During her public testimony before the committee during a hearing earlier this summer, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, testified that after the attack on the Capitol, Pompeo warned Meadows that Cabinet secretaries discussed whether to invoke the 25th Amendment.
"You're technically the boss of all the Cabinet secretaries," Hutchinson quoted Pompeo telling Meadows. "And you know if the conversations progressed, you should be ready to take action on this."
Several other Trump Cabinet officials are known to have met with the committee already, including former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, former acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf, former Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller and former acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen.
The committee also met with former Attorney General William Barr but he had left the administration prior to January 6.
Trump's former acting White House chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney met with the panel last month.
Both Wolf and one of his top deputies, Ken Cuccinelli, sat for interviews with the committee several months ago, sources said. CNN previously reported the interviews.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/politics/elaine-chao-trump-cabinet-january-6-25th-amendment/index.html
-
Judge rejects change-of-venue request by Jan 6 defendant Riley Williams, who is accused of directing people amid the mob at Capitol (Williams wanted to move case to her home area of Pennsylvania)
(Judge adds interesting footnote: There 599,237 people in prospective DC jury pool)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaETOuJWQAEaW_q?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaETOV2WAAAO6Kp?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
WATCH: Every Jan. 6 committee hearing, explained
The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol talked to over a thousand witnesses and gathered more than 140,000 documents in its year plus investigation. In the summer of 2022, the committee held eight public hearings where they questioned witnesses, shared videos and laid out the groundwork for the role that President Donald Trump and some of his allies played in the Capitol attack. In this video, PBS NewsHour reporters highlight the key moments from each of the eight public hearings and what they could mean for future prosecution and public understanding.
0:00 Day 1
6:49 Day 2
11:42 Day 3
24:24 Day 4
37:37 Day 5
48:14 Day 6
1:01:55 Day 7
1:14:53 Day 8
-
News Wrap: Pompeo meets with the Jan. 6 committee
Watch: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/news-wrap-pompeo-meets-with-the-jan-6-committee
-
Plea agreement hearing is set for this hour in Jan 6 case of Steven Billingsley of Ohio. Feds allege Billingsley was amid mob saying "We're gonna tear this place down." And screamed "Push!" at other rioters who were well in front of him and confronting line of police officers.
US Justice Dept signed plea deal with Billingsley also says he "walked over additional barricades strewn on the plaza ground yelling “This is our house.” He exhorted others in the plaza, “They can’t stop us in numbers, remember that. This is war.”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaNTzWDWAAEkrId?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
'We're Following All Leads': Jan. 6 Member On Alex Jones' Texts Turned Over To Committee
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., discusses texts messages from conspiracy theorist Alex Jones turned over to the January 6 committee as well as the Inflation Reduction Act.
Watch:
-
Sentencing set for October in Capitol riot case of Matthew Bledsoe, who was convicted in less than four hours on all five federal counts by a DC jury
Bledsoe was accused of climbing statue in Rotunda and yelling "Our house. We pay for this s---. Where’s those pieces of s---at?”.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZ1IAP4WAAU_PjX?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Justice Department subpoenas Trump White House lawyer Eric Herschmann
He's the latest onetime top aide to the former president to receive a summons from a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/15/justice-department-subpoenas-trump-lawyer-eric-herschmann-00051899
-
QAnon follower who showed up armed at Philly ballot counting location found in Jan. 6 photos at the Capitol
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/antonio-lamotta.jpg?id=30879377&width=2400&height=1350)
A QAnon conspiracy theorist who was arrested when he showed up at a Philadelphia ballot counting location with guns has been spotted in footage of the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.
NBC News cited the FBI affidavit saying Antonio LaMotta was arrested in Chesapeake, Virginia on Tuesday and charged with four misdemeanor statutes: "entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, and parading in a Capitol building."
LaMotta went to the Philadelphia Convention center in Nov. 2020, driving a silver Hummer with a QAnon sticker on the back. He and friend Joshua Macias were carrying weapons and the car was filled with ammunition. It wasn't until Oct. 2021, however, that HuffPost reported that LaMotta was also the man spotted on Capitol surveillance footage on Jan. 6.
Both men await trial in Philadelphia for the crimes there and LaMotta hasn't been released to Washington to stand trial for his involvement in Jan. 6.
The FBI found that he also posted on social media about his actions.
The Bureau, "which has received an influx of threats since the search of Trump's home in Mar-a-Lago last week, has the names of hundreds of additional Capitol attack participants who have not been arrested, but special agents, federal prosecutors and the court system are overwhelmed by the volume of cases related to Jan. 6," the report also said.
https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-antonio-lamotta/
-
Menacing voicemails left for congressman played at insurrectionist's trial: 'I have the courage to object with my entire life'
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/maga-insurrectionist-wants-trial-moved-out-of-dc-because-biden-biased-jurors-by-calling-capitol-rioters-thugs.png?id=27835727&width=2400&height=1329)
The voicemails left for the chief of staff to Rep. Jared Golden (D-ME) by insurrectionist Kyle Fitzsimons were played as part of his bench trial on Tuesday. Fitzsimons could be best described as the Capitol attacker covered in fur pelts and covered in blood.
According to legal analyst Marcy Wheeler, who was live tweeting the trial, Fitzsimons' lawyer made him sound like a religious crusader in defense of the 11 felony charges. The defendant's Dec 29, 2020, voicemails confirm the sentiment.
"Do you have the courage to object on the 6th?" he asked in the voicemail. "Because I certainly have the courage to object with my entire life. My name is Kyle Fitzsimons and I will be in DC on January 6."
Another voicemail: "My name is Kyle Fitzsimons, ... I know you probably didn't win. What's going on with this election fraud? I'll be in DC on Jan 6. Maybe I'll see you there. Maybe I will."
When the staff realized that Fitzsimons was arrested, they went back to listen to the recordings. The chief of staff described them as menacing and that the pauses made it feel intense. The recordings were reported as a potential threat.
Trump announced the Jan. 6 rally on Dec. 19 and continued to promote it in the days leading up to the Capitol riot.
Fitzsimons isn't getting a jury trial in Washington, D.C. the way others have. Instead, he requested a change of venue and waived his right to a jury. The case is being heard by U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras, who Fitzsimons claimed was part of the so-called "deep state."
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-attacker-voicemails/
-
Sentencing Thursday in Jan 6 case of Kene Lazo of Virginia. Feds allege Lazo posted ahead of riot "If sh** hits the fan i will get some dead guys gear and guns if it comes down to it".
And he's accused of carrying shield attached to broom.
Prosecutors to seek 3-months prison.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaC_liYXEAEpJK5?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaC_liZWIAUSK6H?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Newly revealed emails show Secret Service was warned about Jan. 6 threat to Pence — but failed to act
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mike-pence.jpg?id=29838993&width=2400&height=1338)
Newly revealed emails show the U.S. Secret Service received urgent warnings that vice president Mike Pence's life was in danger from right-wing extremists.
Communications obtained by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington show that in the days before January 6, 2021, the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies were concerned that Donald Trump supporters planned to bring weapons to the U.S. Capitol with the intention of causing violence. But the watchdog group said the agency did not appear to take the threat seriously.
“It’s gonna get violent as we charge the federal buildings and drag out corrupt politicians dead or alive!” read one post shared with the Secret Services and other agencies before the insurrection, while another clearly specified their chief target: “F*** pence sellout traitor we better see him coming out that building in handcuffs or were [sic] going in.”
The National Capital Region Threat Intelligence Consortium circulated those threats in messages and during a January 4, 2021, conference call alerting the Secret Service, FBI, Capitol police and Metropolitan police department to the likelihood of violence surrounding pro-Trump demonstrations on the day Congress certified Joe Biden's election win.
The Secret Service was explicitly warned the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys and III Percenters were threatening violence, along with neo-Nazi groups such as Atomwaffen and Storm Front, but they noted “there is no indication of civil disobedience."
"These documents show government law enforcement receiving clear warnings of the violence bound for DC on January 6," CREW wrote. "The Secret Service was fully aware that the Trump supporters coming posed a real threat of violence, particularly against Mike Pence, including the possibility of an assault on the Capitol. What they do not show is why the Secret Service downplayed the danger and threats of violence on January 6."
The Secret Service has faced growing pressure after it was revealed that the agency deleted agents' text messages sent during the January 6 attack.
Joseph Cuffari, the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, told Congress in July that his office had difficulties obtaining records from the Secret Service from January 5 and 6, 2021.
The messages could be crucial to the House of Representatives and Justice Department investigations into whether Trump and his close advisors encouraged the deadly insurrection by the former president's supporters at the US Capitol, which aimed to prevent the certification of Democratic rival Joe Biden as the winner of the November 2020 election.
Secret Service agents were with Trump during the day of the uprising, and were also with Pence, who went into hiding at the Capitol after pro-Trump rioters called for him to be hanged.
On June 29 a former White House staffer told the House January 6 investigation that Trump had attempted to force the Secret Service to take him to the Capitol to join his supporters on that day.
"The Department notified us that many US Secret Service (USSS) text messages, from January 5 and 6, 2021, were erased as part of a device replacement program," Cuffari wrote in the letter first reported by The Intercept and later published by Politico.
The USSS erased those text messages after OIG requested records of electronic communications" for a review of January 6, he said, referring to the Office of the Inspector General.
In addition, he said, the department has stalled on providing other records to the OIG.
In a statement, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi rejected the inspector general's allegation.
He said the agents' phones were being wiped as part of a planned replacement program that began before the OIG requested the information six weeks after the insurrection.
https://www.rawstory.com/mike-pence-secret-service-2657876030/
-
Legal expert wants 'full investigation’ after report Secret Service failed to share threat against Pelosi
A former U.S. Attorney is calling for a full investigation into the U.S. Secret Service's failure to share intelligence it had detailing a violent threat against Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats.
"This is deeply disturbing," says Joyce Vance, who is now a law professor and MSNBC/NBC News legal analyst. She says it "requires a full investigation."
"The Capitol Police are responsible for protecting the Speaker," Vance continues. "If true" that the U.S. Secret Service "failed to pass on intelligence about threats, that's very alarming."
Vance points to a new report from Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) that finds the Secret Service discovered a violent social media based threat on January 4, 2021, two days before the insurrection, but did not share that intelligence with the Capitol Police until nearly 6 PM ET on January 6.
The U.S. Secret Service is an agency under the Dept. of Homeland Security. The DHS Inspector General, Joseph Cuffari, is under investigation by two powerful House Committee chairs who on Tuesday accused him of "obstruction."
In a separate report CREW reveals that "days before the January 6 attack on the Capitol, documents exchanged between the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies outlined 'threats of violence' on the 6th, coming 'predominantly from right wing groups' with 'plans to bring weapons into the District,' according to documents obtained by CREW. The Secret Service knew that Trump’s supporters would be demonstrating around Freedom Plaza and the Capitol with the intent to cause violence, but the agency does not appear to have taken the threat seriously."
"While the Secret Service downplayed threats posed by right-wing extremist groups and Trump’s supporters leading up to January 6, the newly obtained documents reveal just how grave and explicit the threats had actually been," CREW alleges.
Read the report here:
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/secret-service-held-onto-pelosi-threat-until-after-insurrection/
-
The Secret Service knew about Jan 6 threat. They dismissed it.
(https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Insurrection_Jan-6-Committee-2400x1350.png)
In the days before the January 6 attack on the Capitol, documents exchanged between the Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies outlined “threats of violence” on the 6th, coming “predominantly from right wing groups” with “plans to bring weapons into the District,” according to documents obtained by CREW. The Secret Service knew that Trump’s supporters would be demonstrating around Freedom Plaza and the Capitol with the intent to cause violence, but the agency does not appear to have taken the threat seriously.
While the Secret Service downplayed threats posed by right-wing extremist groups and Trump’s supporters leading up to January 6, the newly obtained documents reveal just how grave and explicit the threats had actually been.
(https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/USSS-ignoring-threats-01.png)
The National Capital Region Threat Intelligence Consortium (NTIC) disseminated these threats in messages and a conference call on the morning of January 4, providing a clear and prescient warning of the violence to come. NTIC alerted the Secret Service, FBI, Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department among other law enforcement groups of “on-line communications citing violence in DC on 1-6-21,” which included objectives such as “Occupying the Capitol to influence lawmakers to change election results,” “Call to come with guns,” “Be prepared to battle” and “Exercise 2nd Amendment rights.”
(https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/USSS-ignoring-threats-03.png)
Groups identified as coming with a potential to cause violence included the Oath Keepers, the 3%ers and neo-Nazi groups Atomwaffen and Storm Front. In spite of this warning, the Secret Service noted “There is no indication of civil disobedience” stemming from the right-wing extremist groups involved in the riot. Upon learning of the Proud Boys’ intent to arrive in DC on January 6, the Secret Service released an internal memo that disclosed no indication of concern—despite the Proud Boys stating they will turn out in “record numbers.”
(https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/USSS-ignoring-threats-04.png)
NTIC’s warning was not the only one the Secret Service failed to heed. The U.S. Marshals Service’s Office of Protective Intelligence flagged a Parler post for a reference of violence against the vice president, and followed it up with a report titled “Concerning issues” that included further screenshots of recent Parler posts calling for the violent removal of politicians, implying plans to have firearms at the Capitol and threatening Mike Pence.
(https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/USSS-ignoring-threats-05.png)
(https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/USSS-ignoring-threats-06.png)
(https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/USSS-ignoring-threats-07.png)
“It’s gonna get violent as we charge the federal buildings and drag out corrupt politicians dead or alive!” one posted before the 6th read, continuing on to reveal the author’s desire to kill politicians. “Now you got weapons I came packing,” read one posted the morning of the riot, “I’m here for justice bang bang.” The posts made clear who their top target was: “F*** pence sellout traitor we better see him coming out that building in handcuffs or were [sic] going in.”
These documents show government law enforcement receiving clear warnings of the violence bound for DC on January 6. The Secret Service was fully aware that the Trump supporters coming posed a real threat of violence, particularly against Mike Pence, including the possibility of an assault on the Capitol. What they do not show is why the Secret Service downplayed the danger and threats of violence on January 6.
https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/the-secret-service-knew-about-jan-6-threat-they-dismissed-it/
-
DOJ issues another subpoena — and thinks J6 Committee has evidence a crime was committed: report
The Department of Justice has issued a subpoena to obtain documents secured by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, The New York Times reported Wednesday.
"Federal prosecutors investigating the role that former President Donald J. Trump and his allies played in the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol have issued a grand jury subpoena to the National Archives for all the documents the agency provided to a parallel House select committee inquiry," the newspaper reported, saying it had obtained the subpoena. "The subpoena, issued to the National Archives in May, made a sweeping demand for 'all materials, in whatever form' that the archives had given to the Jan. 6 House committee. Those materials included records from the files of Mr. Trump’s top aides, his daily schedule and phone logs and a draft text of the president’s speech that preceded the riot."
The newspaper reported the subpoena was unrelated to the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago conducted last week.
"Asking the National Archives for any White House documents pertaining to the events surrounding Jan. 6 was one of the first major steps the House panel took in its investigation. And the grand jury subpoena suggests that the Justice Department has not only been following the committee’s lead in pursuing its inquiry, but also that prosecutors believe evidence of a crime may exist in the White House documents the archives turned over to the House panel," the newspaper reported.
The subpoena was signed by veteran federal prosecutor Thomas P. Windom.
"The subpoena was issued to the National Archives around the same time that it became publicly known that the Justice Department was looking beyond the rioters who were present at the Capitol and trying to assess the culpability of people who had helped organize pro-Trump rallies in Washington on Jan. 6," the newspaper reported. "In June, another flurry of subpoenas was issued to state lawmakers and state Republican officials who had taken part in the fake elector scheme. Those subpoenas indicated that the Justice Department was primarily interested in what role pro-Trump lawyers, like Rudolph W. Giuliani and John Eastman, may have played in devising and carrying out the plan."
Read the full report:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/us/politics/jan-6-grand-jury-subpoena.html
-
Federal prosecutors have ‘all’ Trump White House documents obtained by Jan 6 committee: report
The Independent has confirmed the existence of a subpoena which demanded that the National Archives and Records Administration provide federal prosecutors with ‘all materials, in whatever form’ that have been turned over to the House January 6 select committee
Federal prosecutors have reportedly used a grand jury subpoena to obtain a duplicate set of the Trump White House records which the National Archives and Records Administration has been providing to the House January 6 select committee since last year.
The Independent has confirmed the existence of the subpoena which was first reported by the New York Times and was served on Nara this past May. According to a copy of the document viewed by the Times, it demanded that the archives provide prosecutors with “all materials, in whatever form” that had been produced in response to a subpoena issued last year by the select committee as part of its’ parallel investigation into the worst attack on the US Capitol since 1814.
Although former president Donald Trump attempted to block Nara from turning over records created during his presidency to the House panel, the Supreme Court in January rejected his appeal of two lower court decisions which held that Congress was entitled to the documents because the incumbent president, Joe Biden, had not chosen to invoke executive privilege to prevent their production.
Since that Supreme Court ruling, Nara has been providing documents to the panel on a rolling bases, including White House phone logs, copies of the “daily diary” that documented Mr Trump’s movements, calls, meetings and other daily activities, files from ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former deputy White House counsel Pat Philbin, and ex-senior adviser Stephen Miller.
Other tranches of documents provided to the select committee include draft remarks for the speech Mr Trump delivered at the Ellipse on the day of the attack.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-white-house-documents-justice-department-b2147335.html
-
Florida sheriffs caught on video briefing armed right-wing group before they headed to Capitol on Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-supporters-rioting-at-the-us-capitol.jpg?id=29692586&width=2400&height=13509)
Video footage shows Florida sheriffs giving a security briefing to an armed right-wing group that was heading to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the Daily Dot reports.
The videos show the Homeland Security Division of the Flagler County, Florida Sheriff’s Office meeting with the The Flagler Liberty Coalition (FLC) and other pro-Trump protestors who were about to leave for Washington, D.C.
"The Flagler Liberty Coalition (FLC) recommended its members pack body armor, mace, and knives—which they said were for protection—and were working with Flagler County Commissioner Joe Mullins to bring crowds to D.C. that day. Mullins has faced criticism from his fellow local politicians for attending the protests that turned into the Capitol insurrection," the Dot's report stated. "Together, the group brought three buses of people to Washington on Jan. 6."
The Daily Dot's Eric Levai contends that the video is the best evidence yet of links between pro-Trump politicians, law enforcement, and right-wing groups in the lead up to the Capitol riot. The videos have since been deleted from YouTube.
The video was recorded by independent journalist Tracey Eaton and shows a sheriff warning the group that antifa will be at the Capitol and plans to use "fire" as a weapon. On the group's website, the intent to go to the Capitol that day was expressed openly. One person in the group warned that the government might fry their cellphones if they stormed the Capitol.
The briefing took place one day before the Capitol riot.
Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies Mike Lutz warned people in the video to travel in groups because they might be attacked by antifa if they're alone. In another video, FLC member Mark Phillips tells protestors to bring helmets, body armor, mace, pepper spray, and knives and says that some members of the group will be in “fight mode.”
"I want everyone coming back from this trip with a win," Lutz says. "We need to take our country back and we need to show up for our president.
https://www.dailydot.com/debug/florida-sheriffs-flagler-liberty-coalition/
-
Capitol cop testifies that rioter pulled on his shoulder so hard he needed surgery
A U.S. Capitol Police sergeant testified this Wednesday that a Capitol rioter on Jan. 6 pulled on his shoulder so hard that he needed surgery, the Portland Press Herald reports.
“Definitely one of the worst pains I’ve felt in my life,” Sgt. Aquilino Gonell told a D.C., courtroom.
Gonell testified in the trial of Kyle Fitzsimons, 38, of Maine, who prosecutors say assaulted Gonell and two officers from Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department during the riot.
Gonell said that Fitzsimons grabbed onto his shield while he was trying to help another officer who had fallen, adding that he believed Fitzsimons was trying to pull him into the mob of rioters. He also said he considered pulling his gun on Fitzsimons, but didn't want to make things worse for other officers.
Gonell has testified in Congress about the events of Jan. 6 and on Wednesday he said he is working on a book.
Read more at the Portland Press Herald:
.https://www.pressherald.com/2022/08/17/second-officer-testifies-against-maine-man-in-capitol-insurrection-trial/
-
January 6 participant gets banned from courtroom after repeatedly harassing witnesses
A man who posted videos of himself at the United States Capitol building on January 6 has now been barred from attending the trial of a Capitol riot defendant after he repeatedly harassed witnesses.
NBC News reports that Mississippi resident Tommy Tatum, who apparently did not enter the Capitol on January 6 and has not been charged with any criminal violations, has accosted police officers who showed up to testify in the trial of accused Capitol rioter Kyle Fitzsimons.
According to NBC, Tatum has posted videos of himself angrily confronting the officers who talked about the violence inflicted upon them by the rioters.
“Do you think you honored your father’s memory by trying to kill me that day?” Tatum asked a D.C. Metropolitan Police officer in one video. “How does that make you feel as a man, does that bring your Vietnamese father honor?... hope you take this dishonor to your family, to the grave.”
As a result of this, U.S. Marshals removed Tatum from court, and a federal prosecutor told NBC that he's facing potential legal ramifications for harassing witnesses.
After he was removed, Tatum accused the officers of lying about his actions, even though he personally filmed video of himself accosting them.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jan-6-participant-harassing-police-officers-capitol-attack-trial-rcna43413
-
MAGA rioter who flew to DC in a private jet and destroyed property pleads guilty: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/these-vip-rioters-went-straight-to-one-of-the-most-violent-flashpoint-at-the-capitol-the-assault-on-officer-fanone.png?id=27275774&width=2400&height=1295)
On Thursday, NBC News reported that a January 6 rioter from Texas who flew to Washington, D.C. on a private jet has reached a plea agreement.
"Katherine Schwab of Texas, who said she accepted an offer to fly on the personal aircraft of a Facebook friend, admitted to writing in messages before the Capitol attack that 's--t will go down' and that she needed to 'stop the steal,'" said the report. "Schwab traveled to Washington, D.C., with codefendants Jenna Ryan and Jason Lee Hyland, and admitted she was the first of the trio to enter the Capitol on Jan. 6." The charge Schwab will accept is disorderly conduct in a restricted building.
"Schwab admitted to kicking and throwing media equipment with other members of the mob outside the Capitol," said the report. "'I went into the f---ing Capitol,' Schwab admitted saying in a video recording on the day of the riot, calling police 'traitors,' 'sheep' and 'pathetic.' 'You want a revolution, the revolution’s gonna come... you want a f---ing revolution, it’ll happen,' Schwab also admitted saying."
According to a filing by federal officials, "Before leaving the Capitol grounds, Hyland, Schwab, and Ryan arrived at a press enclosure where members of the crowd were attacking media equipment. Schwab joined the assault, kicking media equipment and throwing one piece of equipment on the ground while Hyland and Ryan observed."
Schwab's coconspirator Ryan became infamous for openly boasting that "I have blonde hair white skin a great job a great future and I’m not going to jail." When she was sentenced to 60 days in jail, she claimed that she was being treated like the Jews in Nazi Germany. She has subsequently served her sentence and been released.
Nearly 900 people have now been charged in connection with the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Most face misdemeanor charges like unlawful picketing and trespassing, but others are charged with assaulting police and, in the case of some members of the far right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, seditious conspiracy.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-supporter-flew-private-jet-jan-6-riot-threw-media-equipment-capi-rcna43829
-
Feds seek pretrial jail for Jan 6 defendant Barry Ramey: "He violently attacked two Capitol Police officers at a key breach point alongside other Proud Boys who initiated that assault .. He did so with strong indicia of pre-planning—he had a tactical vest, a gas mask & knee pads".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FaTr5ZiWAAICftF?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
The 'lost' Secret Service texts are part of Donald Trump’s rolling coup
On January 6, 2021, armed MAGA supporters swarmed the US Capitol in a bid to stop the electoral count that would transfer the presidency to Joe Biden. Secret Service agents, who were detailed to protect Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, stayed in touch with each other, and with their supervisors, by cell phone.
Like everyone else that day, they were sending text messages.
But as with so many government documents generated by the Trump administration, the public – and the House select committee to investigate the J6 insurrection – will probably never see them.
Joseph Cuffari, the Trump-appointed Inspector General of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees the Secret Service, doesn’t want to talk about those missing text messages.
On January 27, 2021, Congress told all departments to preserve their records. When subordinates at DHS reported to Cuffari’s chief of staff in April, 2022 – 15 months after a search was initiated – to say that the texts had been permanently deleted in a data migration, that memo was never seen again. Congress was finally informed by a July 14 report saying that these documents may be permanently lost.
Was it a coincidence?
Of course, we cannot know what these texts would or would not add to our understanding of a former president’s rolling coup attempt.
But it isn’t hard to imagine that an even marginally competent IT professional would have routinely backed up devices prior to such a migration. Nor is it too much to expect that the loss of these texts should have been reported, particularly since multiple House committees issued directives for the preservation on January 16, 2021 – eleven days before the alleged data migration took place.
Why? Because records requests now routinely include phone data. These devices report not only what we communicate, but when, and from where, those communications were sent. Digital communications provide a dense, real-time record. And computerized devices don’t do things by accident, or without warning. Permanently deleting such evidence requires either extreme premeditation or extreme negligence.
Text messages speak to witnesses’ state of mind, and decisions made in the moment. Think of the ones we do have: panicked texts from MAGA pundits like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham, or the numerous Facebook posts by Stop the Steal activists, have helped tell a vivid story about January 6 that are seared in our memories.
On July 21, we learned the poignant fact that Pence’s Secret Service detail, trapped and hearing the crowd’s chanted death threats, used their cell phones to call their loved ones to say goodbye.
The missing Secret Service texts were important historical documents, but they might also corroborate testimony by Trump and Pence aides about what their bosses did, and said, on J6.
Curiously, however, the data migration that reportedly erased the Secret Service texts from that day occurred on January 27, 2021, two days after the House of Representatives forwarded articles of impeachment to the Senate, accusing the former president of inciting the attack on the Capitol, and one day after Trump was issued a summons notifying him to prepare for trial.
A coincidence? You decide.
Incompetence or malice?
But let’s be clear: Cuffari’s first move on J6, even without a request from Congress, should have been preserving the records of all DHS personnel on duty at the Ellipse, the Capitol and the Oval Office.
There were 24 Secret Service agents engaged that day, 10 guarding then-President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Their phones should have been secured as soon as they went off duty. Although the messages they held might have also documented these agents’ valor, Cuffari’s job is to anticipate problems and mistakes.
Inspectors general are supposed to proactively investigate for failure, sometimes identifying a conflict of interest before a legal violation has occurred. That’s why they are nicknamed “watchdogs.”
Instead, Cuffari has been Trump’s fox and DHS his hen house.
He had already refused staff recommendations to investigate potentially improper conduct by the Secret Service and the Border Patrol, in 2021. So the Counsel of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, an interagency group that oversees inspectors general, launched an investigation into Cuffari’s unwillingness to do his job. On August 12, Republican senators, led by Missouri’s Josh Hawley, announced that they want that investigation to end.
This points us to a much larger pattern in Trump nominees, from Cabinet-level to administrative jobs: filling important positions with candidates whose history suggested they would dismantle, or disable, the government agency they were appointed to run.
For example, after almost 30 years of enhanced federal intervention in education, a Republican-led Senate confirmed Betsy DeVos, a longtime proponent of defunding public schools through voucher programs, as the secretary of education.
Health and Human Services Secretaries Tom Price and Alex Azar, both of whom became the focus of unrelated scandals, were tasked with reducing government-funded healthcare by weakening administrative provisions of Obamacare.
Surgeon and former presidential candidate Ben Carson retracted Obama-era policies designed to help poor renters and that required suburban districts to track enforcement of racial equity in housing.
Of course, hyper-partisanship at the top is partially offset by nonpartisan civil service employees, tens of thousands of workers, protected by federal law, that remain in place regardless of the party in power.
Yet Republicans have a plan for them too: Should Trump be reelected in 2024, he will come in armed with a plan, which he implemented in late 2020 and Joe Biden rescinded, to target 50,000 civil service workers for dismissal and replacement with party loyalists.
The fight goes on
It would be a mistake to think that Donald Trump’s power grab has been fully defeated, or that the story of the missing Secret Service text messages is only about one Trump partisan’s misplaced loyalty to a defeated president. Cuffari’s refusal to do his job is yet another chapter in the attack on the foundation of our democratic state.
The coup is not over.
https://www.rawstory.com/the-lost-secret-service-texts-are-part-of-donald-trumps-rolling-coup/
-
Cheney says 1/6 committee in discussions with Pence team
https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/cheney-says-1-6-committee-in-discussions-with-pence-team
-
Justice Dept is preparing plea offer for Floyd Roseberry, who was charged with threatening to use a weapon of mass destruction in incident one year ago today. The truck bomb threat forced evacuation on Capitol Hill. Plea will likely be revealed in court in October hearing.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FadUzA7XwAEyVQ2?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
January 6th Committee @January6thCmte
Trump failed to act during the 187 minutes between leaving the Ellipse and telling the mob to go home.
"But there were hundreds that day who honored their oaths and put their lives on the line to protect the... Capitol and to safeguard our democracy."
-
@RepElaineLuria
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FajhYnZXoAAgzH0?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://twitter.com/January6thCmte/status/1560745253342248961
-
Trial date is set. November 7, 2022 for high-profile Capitol riot defendant Riley Williams of Pennsylvania, who's accused of directing the mob on Jan 6.
Williams sought to have trial moved outta Washington DC. Didn't work.
Trial will happen in DC.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FajsVSFWYAEILhj?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Trump removed lines in post-insurrection speech about prosecuting rioters: Jan. 6 committee
Former President Donald Trump did not want to call for the prosecution of Jan. 6 rioters after the Capitol attack, according to a video released Monday by the House select committee investigating the riot.
In a video tweeted by Virginia Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria, a member of the panel who led last week's hearing, the committee showed what appeared to be a draft of Trump's Jan. 7, 2021, remarks to the country -- with several proposed lines crossed out.
The new video cites previously unreleased witness testimony and a copy of a document titled "Remarks on National Healing" that showed Trump was reluctant to give a speech rebuking his supporters who attacked the Capitol and calling for the Justice Department to prosecute them.
"It took more than 24 hours for President Trump to address the nation again after his Rose Garden video on January 6th in which he affectionately told his followers to go home in peace," Luria wrote in her message posting the video. "There were more things he was unwilling to say."
The nearly four-minute video includes clips of depositions from Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, discussing how the Jan. 7 remarks came together.
Ivanka Trump told the committee that she could identify her father's handwriting in the copy of the Jan. 7 speech included in the video while Kushner repeatedly said "I don't know" when asked why the president had crossed out lines that read "legal consequences must be swift and firm" and "you do not represent me, you do not represent our movement."
Key Trump aide John McEntee told investigators in his own deposition that he was told by other aides to "nudge" the speech along if President Trump asked his opinion on it -- which he took as a sign that Trump didn't want to deliver the remarks as initially written.
In the speech he eventually delivered at the White House on Jan. 7, Trump accused the rioters of defiling "the seat of American democracy" and said, "You do not represent our country."
Cassidy Hutchinson, a committee witness who worked as a top aide to Trump's final chief of staff, Mark Meadows, told the committee that Trump's advisers pushed him to deliver remarks after the riot both to protect his legacy and to address concerns about how senators might respond if his Cabinet tried to remove him from office via the 25th Amendment.
"There was a large concern of the 25th Amendment potentially being invoked, and concerns about what would happen in the Senate," Hutchinson said in the new video. "So the primary reason that I had heard other than, you know, 'We did not do enough on the 6th' … was, 'Think about what might happen in the final 15 days of your presidency if we don't do this. There's already talk about the 25th Amendment. You might need this as cover.'"
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-removed-lines-post-insurrection-speech-prosecuting-rioters/story?id=87373758
-
PLEA AGREEMENT hearing scheduled in Capitol riot case of Geoffrey Sills, who's accused of using "deadly or dangerous weapon.. a pole-like object" to assault/resist police
It'll be Tuesday
Sills is 1 of approx. 260 Jan 6 defendants accused of assaulting/resisting police...so far.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fat6pJ8XoAIFdNt?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Member of panel probing U.S. Capitol attack says he is encouraged by Pence comments
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A member of the U.S. congressional panel probing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol said on Sunday he was encouraged by Mike Pence's recent comments that the former vice president was willing to consider testifying before the committee.
"I was encouraged to hear it and I hope it meant what it sounded like it meant. We have been in discussion with the (former) vice president's counsel for some time," U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, a Democrat, said in an interview with CNN on Sunday.
Pence has said he thinks Trump was wrong to believe the former vice president had the power to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election, whose results were being certified by Pence and lawmakers when the Capitol was attacked by supporters of Trump, a Republican. The attack occurred weeks after false claims by the former president that he had won the election.
Schiff said on Sunday: "He (Pence) knows of our interest in having him come before us, and I am confident that if he is truly willing, that there is a way to work out any executive privilege or separation of powers issues."
Pence said on Wednesday he would consider testifying before the committee if asked.
The panel held eight hearings over six weeks, which wrapped up in July and featured hours of testimony from close Trump allies and former White House staff.
The hearings were intended to lay out a case that Trump violated the law as he tried to stop the peaceful transfer of power from one president to the next. The panel has said it plans to push its investigation further in the coming weeks.
© Reuters
-
Jan. 6 committee hearing scrutinizes Former President Trump's actions during riot
Watch:
-
Initial appearance TOMORROW in Jan 6 case of Antonio Lamotta. Justice Dept says DC police body cam reveals a recognizable image of Lamotta's face amid the mob
Lamotta had been arrested in Philadelphia two days after 2020 election for carrying firearm, per investigators.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fax3S_FXEAEQ77f?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Back in court today at 10am -- the large Capitol riot case including former Trump State Dept appointee Federico Klein, who along with several co-defendants is accused of assaulting/resisting police.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FasrPIYXgAAMIJn?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Initial appearance today in Jan 6 case of Antonio Lamotta. Justice Dept says DC police body cam reveals a recognizable image of Lamotta's face amid the mob.
Lamotta had been arrested in Philadelphia two days after 2020 election for carrying firearm, per investigators.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fax3S-8WYAAQggX?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fax3S_FXEAEQ77f?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Time-lapse video shows Jan. 6 mob surge 4 minutes after Trump tweeted attack on Pence
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/january-6-capitol-riot.jpg?id=31176687&width=2400&height=1350)
The House select committee has blamed Donald Trump's tweet for putting a target on Mike Pence's back, and a time-lapse video shows that appears to be true.
The former president attacked Pence because he "didn't have the courage" to halt or delay certification of Joe Biden's election win on Jan. 6, 2021, and the surveillance video recorded from high above the Capitol grounds show a crowd of Trump supporters surge toward the police barrier less than four minutes after that tweet.
Trump's tweet came at 2:24 p.m. and Secret Service agents whisked Pence to a secure location in the Capitol two minutes later, and the video shows the mob surge just seconds before 2:28 p.m.
Some of the rioters had already broken into the building at 2:11 p.m. and made their way inside, and the crowd came 15 minutes before Oath Keepers and Proud Boys to use a tactical "stack" formation to push their way through and then forcibly enter the Rotunda.
More than 800 people have been arrested in connection with the storming of Congress by Trump supporters, according to the Justice Department.
The assault on the Capitol left at least five people dead and 140 police officers injured and followed a fiery speech by Trump to thousands of his supporters near the White House.
Trump was impeached for a historic second time by the House after the Capitol riot -- he was charged with inciting an insurrection -- but was acquitted by the Senate, where only seven members of his own Republican party voted against him.
Ryan J. Reilly @ryanjreilly
Hadn't realized this before. This surge of the mob came just minutes after Trump's tweet about Mike Pence.
https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1562127586817368064
Edgar @EdBonillaB
4 min after Trump tweets about Mike pence, the crowd rallies and breaks the line.
Watch Video Here: https://twitter.com/EdBonillaB/status/1562126814864183297
-
Feds announce yet another Jan 6 arrest
Kaleb Dillard, 26, of Alabama
Charging document says Dillard grabbed Capitol Police officer from behind and threw him to the ground
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fa34DwSWIAEUsfe?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fa34DwUWAAIkG2z?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Karol Chwiesiuk, a Chicago police officer arrested in Jan 6 case, has declined the Justice Dept's plea offer and is scheduled for trial on May 1, 2023.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fa34awnXwAItAFq?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Trump aides grilled about alleged secret talks to remove him under the 25th Amendment at J6 hearing: report
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported that investigators on the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol are interviewing former Trump administration officials about alleged secret talks to remove the former president under the 25th Amendment in the wake of the attack.
The 25th Amendment is the part of the Constitution that allows a majority of the Cabinet to declare the president unfit to exercise the duties of office and remove him from the position.
"The panel has been holding closed-door interviews with senior Trump administration officials in an effort to uncover more about the period between Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob of Mr. Trump’s supporters attacked Congress, and Jan. 20, when President Biden was sworn in, including talks about invoking the 25th Amendment," reported Luke Broadwater and Maggie Haberman. "On Tuesday, the panel interviewed Robert O’Brien, Mr. Trump’s former national security adviser, for several hours, according to two people familiar with the committee’s work."
"Investigators asked Mr. O’Brien about discussions inside the cabinet about whether to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from office; about whether he considered resigning; and about the access that Mike Lindell, the MyPillow CEO and election conspiracy theorist, had to Mr. Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter," said the report.
Experts had previously suggested such a line of questioning was likely weeks ago. Trump himself has raged against the prospect, claiming that people wanted to invoke the 25th Amendment every time he had a "great idea."
"The committee’s investigators have also taken testimony privately from Mike Pompeo, the former secretary of state, about the former president’s state of mind around the time of the attack and his fitness for office. They also questioned him about discussions that he reportedly had with Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, about the possibility of invoking the 25th Amendment after the attack," noted the report. "Mr. Pompeo was evasive in response to the committee’s questioning, according to a person familiar with his interview."
Read More Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/23/us/politics/trump-cabinet-25th-amendment.html
-
Plea deal is reached in Jan 6 case of Kurt Peterson of Kentucky. Feds alleged there's video of Peterson in which "a man wearing a camouflage baseball hat, eye protection & camouflage vest over a black sweatshirt used wooden sticks and his fist to smash an exterior window pane."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fa78k3rWIAA8LlB?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Feds want 17 years for J6 ‘eye gouger’ who bludgeoned cop with flagpole: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/thomas-webster.png?id=26730591&width=2400&height=1350)
The United States Department of Justice is asking for a 17.5-year prison sentence for former New York Police Department Officer Thomas Webster, who was convicted in May of assaulting a police officer during the attack.
"Webster, 56, of Goshen, N.Y., assaulted D.C. police officer Noah Rathbun with an aluminum Marine Corps flagpole, jurors found. The panel of eight women and four men also found Webster guilty of interfering with police in a riot and trespassing, disorderly conduct and violent conduct while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds," The Washington Post reported on May 2. "Webster, who previously served on the protective security detail of former New York mayor Mike Bloomberg, was the first of about 150 defendants charged with assaulting an officer to take his case to a jury and the first to argue self-defense."
Webster's lawyer had complained the victim was "mocking" the rioters and his legal team said he did not deserve to be incarcerated with people who committed "inner-city crimes."
"DOJ seeking 210 month (17.5 year) sentence — which would be by far the longest — for Jan. 6 defendant Thomas Webster, a former NYPD officer convicted of assaulted a cop at the Capitol," Politico's Kyle Cheney reported.
The previous record was set by Texan Guy Reffitt earlier in the month. Reffitt was sentenced to seven years and three months in federal prison.
Watch DOJ video of Webster on Jan. 6 here: https://twitter.com/i/status/1405642058853928960
Read more on Webster here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2022/05/02/webster-guilty-police-assault-jan6/
-
Newly released video shows J6 rioters inside Democrat’s Capitol Hill office
Ryan J. Reilly @ryanjreilly
This newly-released video given to the media coalition at the request of NBC News shows rioters inside of Sen. Merkley's office on Jan. 6.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1562550783488339968
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1562551081296572423
-
New footage from the Justice Department shows 2-minute surge on the Capitol
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=31215721&width=2400&height=1290)
In a new video released by the United States Department of Justice, Trump supporters are seen breaking into the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6.
CBS News Congressional Correspondent Scott Macfarlane shared the video on Twitter on Thursday. The footage shows a mob of insurrectionists breaching the doors of the Senate wing in two minutes. Members of the United States Capitol Police are seen trying to stop the angry mob carrying Trump flags from entering the building.
One officer grabbed one of the flags and tossed it to the side before they are overpowered by the crowd incited by former president Donald Trump.
"A 2-minute surge. Newly released US Justice video court exhibit shows an instant in which the Senate wing doors are breached on Jan 6. And the mob flooding in... in just 2 minutes."
Trump incited the violence on the Capitol which resulted in the death of several people, including Capitol Police Officer, Brian D. Sicknick. Two other police officers died of suicide following the attack and at least 140 were injured.
Trump reportedly watched the attack from his dining room and did nothing to stop it, despite the pleas from his staff, according to a summary of witness testmony by Rep. Elaine Luria (D-VA).
"President Trump sat in his dining room and watched the attack on television while his senior-most staff closest advisers and family members begged him to do what is expected of any American president," said Luria. "When lives and our democracy hung in the balance, President Trump refused to act because of his selfish desire to stay in power."
Watch video below.:
A 2-minute surge. Newly released US Justice video court exhibit shows an instant in which the Senate wing doors are breached on Jan 6. And the mob flooding in... in just 2 minutes
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1562775620626825218
-
Justice Dept to seek 17-year prison sentence in Jan 6 case of former NYPD officer and marine Thomas Webster.
Feds argue Webster came to DC on Jan 5 "armed and ready for battle. Not only did he pack his NYPD-issued bulletproof vest, but he also packed his off duty firearm".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbAtn79WAAABx5_?format=jpg&name=small)
Feds: "Webster brought with him his military-issued rucksack containing Meals Ready-to-Eat, water bottles, & Gatorade.. To the rally and to the riot, he wore his bulletproof vest, and he carried a large metal flagpole bearing the red and yellow flag of the US Marine Corps".
Prosecutors: "As an NYPD officer who spent “countless hours . . . behind that metal barricade” protecting dignitaries, he was particularly attuned to how dire the situation was for the police who were trying to protect lawmakers and Vice President Pence".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbAutrgXwAASM0X?format=jpg&name=small)
Feds say Webster swung flagpole at police powerfully enough to break the pole
"As Webster swung his weapon at (officer).. and the bike-rack barricade, police were forced to take a step back, allowing the mob to surge forward and breach the barricade".
Justice Dept: "He witnessed rioters abduct and drag Officer Fanone face first down the stairs and beat him".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbAwwXbX0AAdOxs?format=jpg&name=medium)
A 17.5 year prison sentence would be a high-water mark for the US Justice Dept in Capitol riot cases.
Webster went to trial... (and like the others who've faced juries in Jan 6 cases).. he was convicted in a matter of hours.
Sentencing is on September 1.
-
Jerod & Josh Hughes of Montana plead guilty to felony in Jan 6 case.
Feds say both were among first in mob to enter, "Jerod Hughes joined another rioter in trying to kick open .. door. The brothers kept moving, following other rioters who were chasing a Capitol Police officer.."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbCtezGWQAEP9ZM?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Justice Dept. to seek longest sentence in any Jan. 6 Capitol riot case so far
(https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/12/14/e9847f33-b161-44ad-84fe-a842795483a9/thumbnail/620x471/dbb6bf71d4dfc8be74bf212a734f12b2/thomas-webster.png)
The Justice Department will seek the longest prison sentence in any U.S. Capitol riot case next week, when it argues at the sentencing of former New York City police officer and U.S. Marine Thomas Webster.
Webster, who once served on the protective detail of former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, was convicted in a Washington, D.C., federal court in May on charges of assaulting law enforcement.
In a new court filing ahead of Thursday's sentencing hearing, the Justice Department seeks a sentence of 210 months in prison for Webster — more than 17 years. The sentence is nearly the double the longest prison terms handed down in any Capitol riot case so far.
Prosecutors argue Webster "spearheaded" a breach against the police line on Jan. 6, 2021, and was responsible for "disgracing a democracy that he once fought honorably to protect and serve."
In his court filing seeking leniency ahead of the sentencing hearing, Webster disavowed claims of fraud in the 2020 election and included a letter of support from a friend who blames former President Trump for "despicable lies."
After a four-day trial, the jury convicted Webster in just a matter of hours.
Prosecutors presented a series of images and videos of Webster as part of their case, including video of him swinging a flag pole at a police officer, forcefully enough to break the pole.
After crossing onto restricted grounds, the government alleged Webster yelled at one of officers, "You f*****g piece of s**t. You f*****g Commie m*********ers, man." He then allegedly used the flagpole against the officer, swinging over the police line.
(https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/03/07/6e8c2ecb-1113-4bdd-88ee-80e118ba2341/thumbnail/1240x700/f9bbdc6d551db47f85049426070f2e57/webster-attacks-cop-620.jpg)
During trial, the Justice Department accused Webster of tackling Washington, D.C., police officer Noah Rathbun to the ground, pushing against his gas mask and pinning him, attacks that were captured on police bodycam and open-source videos.
In seeking the 17-year prison sentence, prosecutors argue Webster arrived at the Capitol "ready for battle." They said, "Not only did he pack his NYPD-issued bulletproof vest, but he also packed his "off duty" firearm — a Smith & Wesson Model 640 revolver, small enough to conceal inside a jacket pocket. Additionally, Webster brought with him his military-issued rucksack containing Meals Ready-to-Eat, water bottles, and Gatorade. To the rally and to the riot, he wore his bulletproof vest, and he carried a large metal flagpole bearing the red and yellow flag of the United States Marine Corps."
Webster seeks a sentence of "time-served," and he wants credit for the 127 days in pretrial detention in the case to count toward the term handed down by the judge.
His defense argues Webster has been "disabused of any notion that the 2020 election was illegitimate." In his sentencing memo, the defense team says promoters of 2020 election lies "have nearly taken over one political party."
Though some Jan. 6 defendants have renounced election fraud claims during sentencing hearings, few have been strident in their statements. The memo from Webster sets the stage for a potentially colorful statement at Thursday's hearing.
Webster's defense also submitted a set of a character letters lauding Webster for his police and U.S. Marine service. One of those supporters cited the impact of "despicable lies" by former President Trump.
(https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/08/26/74b9a399-95e9-4c7d-9978-ecff3c511fdb/thumbnail/1240x432/a95d0992c52a5894fed5785ef639e8f6/image004.jpg)
Webster's sentencing hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday in front of federal judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C. Though some Capitol riot case sentencing hearings have been staged virtually, Webster's is scheduled to occur in-person at the courthouse.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/thomas-webster-january-6-justice-dept-to-seek-longest-sentence/
-
Court unseals yet another Jan 6 case. Jonathan Copeland is accused of arguing w/ and grabbing photographer and being part of mob pushing large Trump sign into police at Capitol.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbBFUP0XEAAQ9Sx?format=jpg&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbBFUQlXoAAc8RP?format=jpg&name=small)
Copeland is from Toledo, Ohio-area.
FBI includes other surveillance images showing areas Copeland moved into ... amid the mob.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbBGIjYXgAAPTMo?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbBGIkKWYAAzVn-?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbBGIk-X0AAn5UX?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Sentencing begins in Capitol riot case of Howard Richardson, who's pleaded guilty to assault/resisting police. Feds seek nearly 4-years prison
They argue he swung "metal pole to strike a police officer three times, stopping only when the metal pole broke".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbF8HGyWYAA8r10?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
This is what Capitol police officers were up against on January 6th as Trump's violent MAGA mob stormed the Capitol beating police officers to break inside the Capitol attempting to overthrow the government.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbGOpc7WAAA3KyB?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Ahead of Sept. trial in Oath Keeper seditious conspiracy Jan 6 case, feds say 30,000+ "files consisting of body-worn and handheld camera footage from 5 law enforcement agencies and surveillance camera footage from 3 law enforcement agencies & Hilton hotel have been shared to defense".
Justice Dept says it expects to exchange witness lists next week with defense attorneys in the accused OathKeepers seditious conspiracy case.
Trial is expected next month. Highest-level Jan 6 trial so far.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fa2KLBNXgAA5x9t?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Excellent comprehensive timeline of the January 6th insurrection.
The January 6 insurrection: Minute-by-minute
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/10/politics/jan-6-us-capitol-riot-timeline/index.html
-
Judge rejects *another* request by Capitol breach defendant to move trial out of Wash. DC
"Given the extensive media coverage, many prospective jurors will be generally knowledgeable about the events of January 6th. But the right to an impartial jury does not require ignorance".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbAYDOyXoAAUeiY?format=jpg&name=small)
-
January 6th Committee @January6thCmte
"These investigations have a momentum of their own because people watch and they realize that they are in possession of evidence that may be relevant... people are coming forward." - @RepRaskin
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1562426246377508866
-
Judge sentences Josh Pruitt to 55 months in prison in Capitol riot case
Justice Dept sought 60 months arguing Pruitt is a Proud Boy and was a "one-man symbol of the angry mob at the Capitol that day".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbWN3CEWQAE3G2p?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Proud Boy who rioted on Jan. 6 is sentenced to more than 4 years in prison
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/arrested-proud-boys-warrior-helped-organize-a-qanon-inspired-march-before-participating-in-the-capitol-attack.jpg?id=25846653&width=2400&height=1350)
A member of the right-wing extremist group Proud Boys who participated in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was sentenced to 55 months in prison this Monday, NBC News reports.
Joshua Pruitt, 40, was caught on video chasing after police officers and smashing a sign inside the U.S. Capitol. Back in June, he pled guilty to obstruction of an official proceeding.
Pruitt said he was "not happy that Jan. 6 happened at all," but said he still believes that Donald Trump won the 2020 election.
“I did believe the election was stolen. I still do,” Pruitt told the judge. “I broke the law, bottom line, regardless of whether I’m right or wrong on my feelings."
Pruitt came very close to Sen. Chuck Schumer on Jan. 6, causing Schumer and his security team to flee.
“Every day I enter the beacon of our country, the U.S. Capitol, I relive the memories of that day, and none are as impactful as the moments I saw Mr. Pruitt approaching us with the intent to inflict harm to the Majority Leader,” a member of Schumer’s Capitol Police security team wrote. “It was only due to our teams' preplanning of alternate evacuations procedures and quick actions that this impending meeting did not result in blood shed or serious bodily injury.”
Kelly said it was "extremely troubling" that Pruitt didn't express regret for his actions during media interviews before he pleaded guilty.
“There was nothing patriotic about what happened that day, far from it,” Judge Timothy J. Kelly said. “It was a national disgrace.”
Read More Here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/proud-boy-sentenced-45-years-prison-jan-6-case-still-says-election-was-rcna44793
-
ANTHONY ORNATO, TOP SECRET SERVICE OFFICIAL SOUGHT BY INVESTIGATORS FOR ROLE IN JAN. 6, RETIRES UNEXPECTEDLY
Anthony Ornato, Donald Trump’s deputy chief of staff for operations, announced his retirement just two days before a planned interview with Inspector General investigators.
Anthony Ornato, a top Secret Service official embroiled in the January 6 investigation, retired today, just two days before his planned interview with January 6 investigators. The Intercept obtained an email Ornato sent to the deputy director of the Secret Service just after 1 p.m. announcing his retirement as of the close of business on August 29.
“We can confirm that Anthony Ornato retired from the U.S. Secret Service today in good standing after 25 years of devoted service,” Secret Service spokesperson and special agent Kevin Helgert told The Intercept on Monday evening.
Ornato had finally agreed to an interview with Department of Homeland Security investigators on August 31 after multiple attempts to arrange one. According to a memo sent by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General to the head of the Secret Service, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and DHS general counsel, the inspector general had been attempting to interview Ornato since June 29 and spent all of July and much of August following up.
For example, Ornato cited vacation as a reason he couldn’t attend an interview. “I believe my counsel spoke to you and / or your team, but I am traveling out of district on annual leave and am not available on the dates provided,” Ornato wrote in an email on August 24. “When I am back from vacation, I will circle back with you and your team.”
This is one in a string of access issues the inspector general has experienced in relation to January 6, as The Intercept reported last week.
Ornato has indicated that he still intends to attend the interview, according to an email obtained by The Intercept, but since Ornato will be a private citizen, investigators won’t have testimonial subpoena authority to compel his cooperation.
Ornato was a longtime Secret Service agent before President Donald Trump took the unprecedented action of appointing him to a White House position as deputy chief of staff for operations.
The Intercept reported in July that the Secret Service erased text messages from January 5 and 6, 2022, after they were requested by oversight officials. Congress had also sent document preservation requests to the Secret Service.
Ornato may have played a key role in the insurrection at the Capitol. On January 6, he reportedly sought to relocate Vice President Mike Pence to Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, which could have delayed the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
According to explosive testimony from Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to the House January 6 committee, Ornato told her that he was in the car with Trump when the president demanded to be driven to the Capitol, against advice, and allegedly lunged for the steering wheel.
Ornato has reportedly met with the January 6 committee twice, in January and March, as part of its investigation, discussing Trump’s knowledge of Pence’s location during the unrest on January 6.
After President Joe Biden entered the White House, Ornato was moved to the role of assistant director of the Secret Service’s Office of Training.
https://theintercept.com/2022/08/29/january-6-secret-service-anthony-ornato-retirement/
'The timing is suspect': Pence security adviser sounds the alarm on Secret Service official's retirement
On Monday's edition of CNN's "OutFront," former Mike Pence homeland security adviser Olivia Troye highlighted the timing of Secret Service Assistant Director Tony Ornato's retirement — just as House investigators want more information from him in the January 6 probe.
"I think the timing is suspect and interesting," said Troye. "I wonder what this means, he'll be a private citizen, what does this mean going forward as the committee hearings start up again. I actually think it's probably best for the Secret Service that Tony Ornato is leaving. He certainly brought a lot of disgrace and shame to the people who work there. Who are great people of law enforcement that I have gotten to know. I think it will be interesting to see how these plays out, and I'm also very curious to see where his future employment will be."
"The committee have made it clear, they believe that he is a key figure in all this who could ... really shed light on the president's mindset on the day of the insurrection and his desire to be taken to the Capitol after that speech," said anchor Poppy Harlow, turning to former Trump Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham. "How critical do you think it is that this committee hear from him?"
"Oh, I think it's vital that the committee hears from him," said Grisham. "Certainly now that he's leaving the Secret Service, it was my understanding they were going to cooperate, albeit that hasn't happened yet. When I spoke to the January 6th Committee, I said over and over that Tony Ornato is a key person to know exactly what is going on. As deputy chief of staff for operations, you know everything that's going on logistically, behind the scenes, and politically. You kind of have to. I think this timing is interesting, and I'm going to echo Olivia, I think it will be very interesting to see what he does next, where he goes, who he works for."
Ornato has been a key figure disputing the testimony of former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson, most notably her claim that former President Donald Trump attacked a Secret Service agent who refused to drive him to the Capitol so he could join the insurrectionists. He also has faced mounting questions amid the scandal of missing text messages on Secret Service phones from the day of the attack.
Watch:
-
Feds arrest five members of 'B Squad' militia in Jan. 6 case
Authorities have arrested and charged five members of a "B Squad" militia for their alleged actions during the January 6 Capitol riot. NBC's Ryan Reilly has details.
Watch:
https://www.msnbc.com/hallie-jackson/watch/feds-arrest-five-members-of-b-squad-militia-in-jan-6-case-146915909973
-
Initial appearance today in DC federal court in recently unsealed Capitol breach case of Dan & Joseph Leyden of Illinois, who are charged with assaulting/resisting police
Dan is accused of confronting police at barricade. Joseph is accused lunging at .. and pushing officer.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbCCoueXkAAbXQt?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Jan. 6 panel investigators traveled to Copenhagen to view Stone footage
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/23/jan-6-investigators-traveled-to-copenhagen-00053310
-
Kinzinger previews 2 major points of interest in upcoming Jan. 6 hearings
https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/reidout-blog/jan-6-hearings-september-kinzinger-rcna45253
-
House Jan. 6 committee to look into Trump fundraising efforts
CNBC's Shep Smith re3ports that the January 6th committee will be looking into Trump's fundraising efforts based on the insurrection.
Watch:
-
President Biden @POTUS
You can’t claim to be for law and order and call the people who attacked the police on January 6th “patriots.”
https://twitter.com/POTUS/status/1564734942847827968
-
Anthony Puma pleads guilty in Jan 6 case.
In statement of facts, he acknowledges posting on Dec 31, 2020: "On the 6th when we are all there in the capital and he is givin his second term the people will see. Then you never know we might have to start killing some commie bastards".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbcMTTtWIAE62u9?format=jpg&name=medium)
In plea agreement, Puma also acknowledges posting "Tomorrow is the big day. Rig for Red. War is coming" on Facebook on Jan 5, 2021
Puma pleads guilty to obstruction.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbcNO9HXEAEEmuL?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Arizona GOP chair says ‘thousands’ will be implicated if J6 committee looks at her phone: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=31315656&width=800&height=450)
The chairwoman of the Arizona Republican Party argued that thousands could be implicated if a federal judge does not quash a subpoena from the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"That will inevitably lead to the questioning of, and further subpoenas issued to, the thousands of Republicans in contact with plaintiffs," Kelli Ward attorney Alexander Kolodin argued in a new filing, the Tuscon Star reported Tuesday.
U.S. House of Representatives' general counsel Douglas Letter noted the Department of Justice was not seeking the content of conversations, just the meta-data.
"There can be no greater interest than investigating the first attempt to obstruct the peaceful transfer of power of its kind in our nation's history," Letter argued.
Ward, who was an alternate Arizona elector with her husband Mark, was subpoenaed by the select committee in February.
The subpoena cited a July 2021 report by Arizona 12 News correspondent Brahm Resnick.
"We need you to stop the counting," the article quoted Kelli ward as texting Maricopa County Board's then-chairman, Clint Hickman.
The subpoena said Ward, "apparently spoke with former President Trump and members of his staff about election certification issues in Arizona. In addition, after the election, you sent out messages suggesting that the November 2020 election had been 'stolen' and posted a video advancing unsubstantiated theories of election interference by Dominion Voting Systems along with a link to a donation page to benefit the Arizona Republican Party."
The select committee wrote, "On December 14, 2020, you apparently acted as a purported Electoral College elector to meet and ultimately transmit to Congress a set of alternate Electoral College votes, which you described as 'represent[ing] the legal voters of Arizona.' And, after former President Trump and others encouraged Vice President Pence and members of Congress to prevent or delay the certification of the Electoral College votes during the Joint Session of Congress, and during the attack on the United States Capitol, you wrote on Twitter, 'Congress is adjourned. Send the elector choice back to the legislatures.' We would like to better understand these, and other, statements, events that you witnessed or in which you participated, and communications we believe you may have had with national, state, and local officials about the outcome of the November 2020 election."
U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa has not set a date for a hearing.
Read More Here: https://tucson.com/news/local/subscriber/kelli-ward-arizona-gop-at-risk-if-personal-phone-records-released/article_f3b82b86-27fe-11ed-9731-73c9f59081e1.html
-
ARRESTS keep coming
Tyrone McFadden & Carrie Williams of Baltimore are arrested in Jan 6 case.
Justice Dept court filings allege this Facebook message exchange involving Williams on Jan 7, 2021
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbhEL3TWQAEJZDN?format=jpg&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbhEL3SWYAwTtKq?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Sentencing today in Capitol riot case of former NYPD officer Thomas Webster.
Justice Dept seeks 17-year prison sentence.
Justice Dept seeks body armor "enhancement" at sentencing today in Jan 6 case of former NYPD officer Thomas Webster.
They reference NYPD body armor and say "Webster’s internet searches in the weeks and days leading up to Jan 6 show he expected and was personally preparing for violence".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1561997054897192960/Hg4WrH6S?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Justice Dept to seek 4-months prison in Jan 6 case of Dovid Schwartzberg, arguing he "proceeded to wave and
encourage others into the besieged US Capitol" and entered office of Sen Jeff Merkley (D-OR)... and failed to comply with terms of pretrial release.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbhAht3XoAsxCrB?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbhAht3X0AEXukW?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Justice Dept to seek 5-years in prison in Capitol riot case of Thomas Hamner of Colorado. He's accused of tearing down fencing near Capitol ... and pushing large, heavy metal Trump sign at police on frontlines.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbkaqRtXoAE_xcc?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbkaqSFX0AMWpbO?format=jpg&name=small)
-
DC federal judge Amit Mehta hands down longest Capitol riot sentence so far. 10 YEARS for former NYPD officer Thomas Webster, who assaulted (tackled, dragged, swung at) police at forefront of mob. And wore body armor.
Webster was convicted by jury in May.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbkYJFYXkAABY_0?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Breaking: Jan. 6 committee seeking info from Newt Gingrich
https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/breaking-jan-6-committee-seeking-info-from-newt-gingrich-147556421677
-
Ex-NYPD cop sobs in court as he gets 10 years in prison for attacking DC officer at the Capitol on Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=31417624&width=2400&height=1350)
New York City Police Officer Thomas Webster sobbed in court as the judge told him that he would get the level 4 sentence enhancement which would add 6.25 years to his sentence over beating a Capitol Police officer on Jan. 6, 2021. The federal prosecutors were seeking a 17-year sentence
“I just wish the events of Jan. 6 didn’t happen," he cried. He went on to say that he told his children to disown him and he regrets going to the attack.
“Perhaps our country would not be as divided as it is today” if Jan 6 hadn’t happened, Webster said. He then explained that the shame he has experienced would be worse than jail. Webster then closed by saying “I’m sorry.”
The police officer he assaulted was present in the courtroom, reported those watching the court unfold. Webster didn't apologize to the officer, however.
Judge Amit Mehta acknowledged that Webster is 56 years old, had a challenging childhood but rose above it. He cited his honorable service in the Marines and 20 years at the NYPD where he suffered health problems after the Sept. 11 terror attack.
Mehta said he weighed the history but that he didn't believe Webster was in a "fight or flight scenario," which is what Webster claimed led to the assault on police.
"I'm terribly sorry for all of it," the judge continued, "but Jan. 6 was not just one day or moment in time. It is a day that continues to affect the very fabric of this country and the lives of real human beings, Americans."
"What you did that day is really hard to put into words," Judge Mehta continued with a sigh. He said he's watched the video multiple times and continues to be shocked, not by what Webster did, "but who he is."
"No doubt about it. You were the one, with extraordinary force, who pulled the officer down," said Mehta, which seriously hurt him. "And when the barriers opened, nobody pushed you forward. You ran. You charged ahead."
He went on to blame Webster for whipping up those at the police line that was holding the barriers in place at the Capitol.
"I take no pleasure in doing this. There is no doubt in my mind that your conception of what happened that day and how you described it was utterly fanciful and incredible," Judge Mehta continued, noting he's not trying to be cruel but being honest.
"The idea that you could sit on that witness stand, under oath, and tell those jurors that the reason you had your hands on his face mask was to show him your hands, to show him you're not going to hurt him is just not believable."
He went on to chastise Webster for telling the jury that the police "waved him in," a common excuse that those on the right have used to justify breaking through the Capitol barriers and through the doors and windows of the building. He said that the Washington, D.C. officer was simply trying to do his job.
"I too wish you hadn't come to Washington DC. I too wish you had stayed at home in New York.. that you had not come out to the Capitol that day, because all of us would be far better off. Not just you... your family.. the country," said Mehta.
"Whether you were told the election was stolen or whether you came to believe it on your own," the judge came on, "we cannot function as a country if people think they can behave violently when they lose an election."
It's for that reason, he explained, that he believes that Webster deserves harsher sentencing than other Jan. 6 attackers.
The ultimate sentence was 10 years in prison and three years of supervised release.
https://www.rawstory.com/january-6-nypd-cop-sentenced/
-
Court schedules plea hearing for tomorrow in Capitol riot case of Matt Capsel
Feds allege social media videos show Capsel pushing against the line of National Guard members late in the day of US Capitol riot.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbCBfTYWIAA5WE8?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Newt Gingrich new target of Jan. 6 committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/newt-gingrich.jpg?id=29719163&width=2400&height=1350)
On Thursday, investigators on the House January 6 Committee sent a letter to former house speaker and Donald Trump ally Newt Gingrich, requesting testimony on his role in spreading distrust about the results of the election.
"The Committee has obtained information indicating that you have knowledge about former President Donald J. Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, and we write to seek your voluntary cooperation," said the letter. "Some of the information that we have obtained includes email messages that you exchanged with senior advisors to President Trump and others, including Jared Kushner and Jason Miller, in which you provided detailed input into television advertisements and relied upon false claims about fraud in the 2020 election."
"Among the numerous emails you exchanged regarding purported election fraud, you wrote on December 8, 2020, urging Donald Trump's campaign to air advertisements promoting the false narrative that election workers had smuggled suitcases containing fake ballots at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia," the letter continued. "This email shows that you provided line edits to the scripts used to produce television advertisements and suggested that the advertisements include a "call-to-action" of pressuring state officials" — specifically requesting that the ads address the "suitcase scandal."
According to the letter, the committee also has knowledge that Gingrich was "involved" in the scheme to introduce fake slates of electors for Trump in states that Biden won.
"A full and accurate accounting of what happened on January 6th is critical to the Select Committee's legislative recommendations," concluded the letter. "And the American people deserve to understand the relevant details of what led to the attack."
The fake elector scheme is separately being investigated by Atlanta prosecutor Fani Willis, who is also looking into Trump's calls pressuring state officials to "find" extra votes.
https://www.rawstory.com/newt-gingrich-new-target-of-jan-6-committee-report/
-
Former Trump White House counsel appears before grand jury probing Jan. 6
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/former-trump-white-house-lawyer-appears-before-grand-jury-probing-jan-6-2022-09-02/
-
Matt Capsel pleads guilty to interfering w/ law enforcement during civil disorder. Justice Dept says "He recorded videos on social media in which he declared.. "Hold the line, don’t run.” Feds say he also joined a mob of rioters on the steps to the inauguration bleachers.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbCBfTYWIAA5WE8?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Texas attorney Kellye Sorelle has been arrested in January 6th federal criminal case.
Charged with conspiracy & obstruction.
Earlier this year, Sorelle said she was serving as acting head of the Oath Keepers after arrest of Stewart Rhodes.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FblKDNBWQAAtCjs?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
And another Jan 6 defendant asks a judge for a "change of venue" to move his case out of DC.
Peter Schwartz argues "the potential for that temptation among jurors drawn from this District is simply too great"
These motions have not worked so far.. in Jan 6 cases in DC.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbcLVZiWAAAM2C_?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
J6 drops subpoena for RNC’s Salesforce records: report
https://www.rawstory.com/j6-drops-subpoena-for-rncs-salesforce-records-report/
-
How the January 6 Committee ‘may have the goods’ on Newt Gingrich
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/newt-gingrich.jpg?id=24499647&width=2400&height=1350)
Longtime Republican disruptor Newt Gingrich, Senior Advisor to then-President Donald Trump Jared Kushner, and longtime campaign advisor Jason Miller conducted an email discussion about posting ads falsely disputing the results of the 2020 election, according to a letter sent to Gingrich by the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
"The goal is to arouse the country's anger," Gingrich said in one email, the Committee states in its letter which asks him to testify voluntarily and preserve all related documents.
The Committee says it also has evidence Gingrich was "involved in the fake elector scheme."
Even in the hours after the violent but failed January 6 coup, the Committee says Gingrich "continued to push efforts to overturn the election results," and emailed Mark Meadows at 10:42 PM.
Attorney and Professor of Law Anthony Michael Kreis says it "sounds like the January 6th Committee may have the goods on Newt Gingrich orchestrating part of a broader conspiring to solicit election fraud and/or commit unlawful interference with election administration under Georgia law."
In its letter the Committee writes it "has obtained information indicating that you have knowledge about former President Donald J. Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, and we write to seek your voluntary cooperation. Some of the information that we have obtained includes email messages that you exchanged with senior advisors to President Trump and others, including Jared Kushner and Jason Miller, in which you provided detailed input into television advertisements that repeated and relied upon false claims about fraud in the 2020 election."
"These advertising efforts were not designed to encourage voting for a particular candidate. Instead, these efforts attempted to cast doubt on the outcome of the election after voting had already taken place.," the Committee's letter to Gingrich reads. "They encouraged members of the public to contact their state officials and pressure them to challenge and overturn the results of the election. To that end, these advertisements were intentionally aired in the days leading up to December 14, 2020, the day electors from each state met to cast their votes for president and vice president," the Committee adds.
"Among the numerous emails you exchanged regarding purported election fraud, you wrote on December 8, 2020, urging Donald Trump's campaign to air advertisements promoting the false narrative that election workers had smuggled suitcases containing fake ballots at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia. This email shows that you provided line edits to the scripts used to produce television advertisements and suggested that the advertisements include a 'call-to-action' of pressuring state officials. You specifically pushed for national advertisements to include false allegations about what you called the 'suitcase scandal.'"
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/AnthonyMKreis/status/1565473575905132544
-
More on Salesforce.
Jan. 6 committee drops subpoena for RNC fundraising data:
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection is dropping its subpoena of the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the software vendor Salesforce for information related to fundraising emails the party sent ahead of the attack, multiple media outlets reported.
The Washington Post first reported on Friday that counsel for the RNC and Salesforce were notified this week that the committee is withdrawing the subpoena, deeming the information not necessary anymore at this stage of the investigation.
“Given the current stage of its investigation, the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol has determined that it no longer has a need to pursue the specific information requested in the February 23, 2022 subpoena that it issued to Salesforce,” Douglas Letter, the House general counsel, wrote in an email to the RNC and Salesforce, according to the Post.
Salesforce owns the platform that the RNC uses to fundraise.
The House committee subpoenaed Salesforce for information related to RNC fundraising efforts in February, saying the committee and the Trump campaign solicited donations with unfounded claims that the 2020 presidential election was tainted by massive voter fraud. A Jan. 6 committee spokesperson said in March that the committee wanted to investigate the impact of false messages in the weeks leading up to the Capitol attack and where donations were directed.
The RNC filed a lawsuit to quash the subpoena in March, saying that it violated the First Amendment and Fourth Amendment to the Constitution and did not “advance a legislative purpose.” A federal judge rejected the lawsuit in May, saying that it did not violate the RNC’s constitutional rights and that the select committee’s interest in obtaining the information outweighed any burden placed on the RNC.
But an appeals court temporarily blocked the committee from obtaining the records later that month while the RNC challenged the subpoena.
The decision comes as the select committee is expected to resume its public hearings on the insurrection later this month following a break.
The select committee and RNC did not immediately return requests from The Hill for comment. A spokesperson for Salesforce declined to comment.
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3627004-jan-6-committee-drops-subpoena-for-rnc-fundraising-data-reports/
-
Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol
Watch: https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000007606996/capitol-riot-trump-supporters.html
-
January 6 committee assumes Mike Pence will testify, Jamie Raskin says
Congressman says of former vice-president, ‘I would assume he is going to come forward and testify voluntarily’
The January 6 committee assumes the former vice-president Mike Pence will testify before it, a panel member said on Sunday.
“I would assume he is going to come forward and testify voluntarily,” Jamie Raskin, a Democratic congressman from Maryland, told CBS’s Face the Nation.
Raskin also said Ginni Thomas, a rightwing activist married to the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, “has relevant testimony to render [and] should come forward and give it”.
After the 2020 election, Ginni Thomas contacted Republicans in Arizona and Wisconsin, pushing them to overturn Joe Biden’s victories in the key swing states.
Members of the January 6 committee including Liz Cheney, the vice-chair and one of two Republicans on the panel, have said Thomas could face a subpoena. But none has been forthcoming.
Clarence Thomas was the only justice to say Donald Trump should not have to surrender records to the committee as it investigates Trump’s attempt to overturn his 2020 defeat and the deadly attack on Congress it inspired.
It subsequently emerged that Ginni Thomas was in contact with the Trump White House as it attempted to nullify electoral results in key states.
Pence presided over the certification of electoral college results at the Capitol on 6 January 2021, which the mob Trump told to “fight like hell” was attempting to stop.
Pence refused to stop certification, as advisers to Trump claimed he could. Some rioters chanted “Hang Mike Pence” and erected a gallows. The vice-president narrowly escaped contact with some who breached the Capitol.
In testimony to the January 6 committee, Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House staffer, said Trump told senior aides Pence “deserved” such treatment.
Sticking to his lie that Biden’s win was the result of electoral fraud, Trump said this week the 2020 election should be re-run.
Raskin – a professor of constitutional law – told CBS: “Well, first, if he’s saying that the election should be rerun, which is something he’s been saying from the beginning, that’s totally outside of the constitution.
"There is no procedure for the military just to seize the election machinery and run a new election, which is one of the things that [Trump’s] disgraced former national security adviser Michael Flynn was pushing and we know was part of the January 6 plot.
“And look, more than 60 courts rejected every claim of electoral fraud and corruption which Donald Trump advanced. He’s had the benefit of more than 60 courts, including eight courts where he appointed the judges to office, look[ing] at all those claims, and they were all rejected. It was rejected in the states and he lost the election.”
Raskin was also asked about Republican anger over Biden’s primetime address in Philadelphia on Thursday, in which the president warned that Trump and his supporters posed a threat to American democracy.
Raskin said: “Two of the hallmarks of a fascist political party are one, they don’t accept the results of elections that don’t go their way, and two, they embrace political violence.
“And I think that’s why President Biden was right to sound the alarm this week about these continuing attacks on our constitutional order from the outside by Donald Trump and his movement.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/sep/04/mike-pence-ex-vice-president-january-6-panel-jamie-raskin
-
Judge has rejected change-of-venue request by Capitol breach defendant Larry Brock, who's accused of carrying zipties amid the mob on Jan 6
Case *remains* in DC
(Jan 6 "change-of-venue" motions are repeatedly failing)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fbg95ffXgAArmvu?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Judge denies Capitol riot defendant Ronald McAbee's request for release from pretrial jail. McAbee is accused of swinging at & dragging police officer and messaging associate that he "calls for secession".
Judge's order includes details about injuries of police officer.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb6B2JtXgAYdFrE?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Jan. 6 committee members say Trump's calling the FBI 'vicious monsters' at a rally may constitute incitement
https://news.yahoo.com/jan-6-committee-members-trumps-122637116.html
-
Plea hearing scheduled for Thursday in Capitol breach case of Robert Sanford of Chester, Pennsylvania
Sanford is a retired firefighter.... who allegedly threw an object at police amid the mob.
The object: a fire extinguisher.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb5UhSmXgAAmoFY?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Bricks as a weapon
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb5ERHSXwAE9n8x?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Heavy sign
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbHgZkqVEAYjmJY?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Stewart Rhodes wants trial delayed after ‘breakdown’ in communications with lawyers: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/oath-keepers-founder-got-white-glove-treatment-from-fbi-during-arrest-report.png?id=28815811&width=2400&height=1350)
Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes is seeking to delay the start of his scheduled Sept. 26 trial.
Rhodes was charged with seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties, and tampering with evidence.
On Tuesday, Rhodes new attorney, Edward Tarpley, Jr. requested a 90-day delay.
"Defendant Rhodes has had a complete, or near-complete breakdown of communication between himself and his prior counselors, Mr. Linder and Mr. Bright, as explained below," the motion read. "Attorneys Linder and Bright are aware of this motion and do not object. Undersigned counsel is seeking to obtain transfers of legal files, documents and evidence from prior counselors."
The motion also laid out Rhodes' legal strategy.
"Rhodes expects to file a motion to sever his case and trial from the codefendants in this case," the motion revealed. "Codefendants have had almost a year more than Rhodes with which to prepare for trial. Rhodes is not prepared for trial on September 26; and neither Rhodes’ prior counselors nor the attorneys for codefendants are prepared for trial. The United States is still processing needed discovery, most of which has not been delivered to Rhodes."
The motion also complained about the jury pool.
"Defendant Rhodes, facing potential life imprisonment in the most serious case among all 850+ Jan. 6 cases, is scheduled to begin trial just three weeks from now, by a hostile jury pool that is some 95% Democrat (sic). Rhodes has not heard from his attorneys in over three weeks," the motion read. "Rhodes has not been visited by his attorneys in almost two months. Rhodes has called his prior attorneys repeatedly but they do not answer."
https://www.rawstory.com/stewart-rhodes-oath-keepers-2658153276/
-
Judge calls Jan. 6 an ‘insurrection,’ bars ‘Cowboys for Trump’ founder from office
- A judge in New Mexico declared that the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was an “insurrection,” the first time any court has done so, a government watchdog group said.
- The judge also barred Otero County Commissioner and “Cowboys for Trump” founder Couy Griffin from office for participating in the riot.
- A violent mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, disrupting the transfer of power to President Joe Biden.
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107114166-1662482050313-couy.jpg?v=1662487811&w=630&h=354&ffmt=webp)
A judge in New Mexico declared Tuesday that the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was an “insurrection” as he ruled that Otero County Commissioner and “Cowboys for Trump” founder Couy Griffin must be removed from office for participating in the attack.
Griffin is barred for life from holding any federal or state office — including his current role as county commissioner, from which he will be ousted “effective immediately,” Judge Francis Mathew ruled.
Griffin became “constitutionally disqualified” from those positions as of Jan. 6, 2021, the judge concluded.
On that day, a violent mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, forcing lawmakers to flee their chambers and disrupting the transfer of power to President Joe Biden. Griffin was convicted in March on a misdemeanor charge of breaching restricted Capitol grounds.
The riot and the planning and incitement that led up to it “constituted an ‘insurrection’” under the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, Mathew wrote in the ruling in New Mexico’s 1st Judicial District Court.
The ruling marked the first time that any court found that the Capitol riot met the definition of an insurrection, according to the nonprofit government watchdog group CREW, which represented the plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit to disqualify Griffin.
“This decision makes clear that any current or former public officials who took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution and then participated in the January 6th insurrection can and will be removed and barred from government service for their actions,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said in a press release.
Griffin told CNN later Tuesday that he had been ordered to clean out his desk.
“I’m shocked, just shocked,” Griffin told CNN. “I really did not feel like the state was going to move on me in such a way. I don’t know where I go from here.”
Mathew’s ruling also marks the first time since 1869 that a court has disqualified a public official under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, according to CREW.
That section, known as the Disqualification Clause, bars any person from holding civil or military office at the federal or state level of the United States if they “have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.”
Griffin did not enter the Capitol building itself or commit violence during the Jan. 6 riot, but he nevertheless engaged in it and his actions “aided the insurrection,” Mathew ruled.
“By joining the mob and trespassing on restricted Capitol grounds, Mr. Griffin contributed to delaying Congress’ election-certification proceedings,” the judge wrote. Griffin’s presence “contributed to law enforcement being overwhelmed,” and he also “incited, encouraged, and helped normalize the violence” during the riot, Mathew ruled.
In addition, the judge dismissed as “meritless” the arguments put forward by Griffin, who represented himself in the case.
Griffin’s attempts to “sanitize his actions are without merit and contrary to the evidence produced by the Plaintiffs, bearing in mind that he produced no evidence himself in his own defense,” Mathew wrote.
His arguments in court were “not credible and amounted to nothing more than attempting to put lipstick on a pig,” the judge added.
Griffin was arrested less than two weeks after the Capitol riot. He was convicted in March and sentenced on June 17 to two weeks’ time served in jail, along with a $3,000 fine and community service.
Griffin, a Republican and a vocal supporter of Trump, has echoed the former president’s false claims that the 2020 election results were compromised by widespread fraud.
He and the two other GOP members who make up the Otero County Commission refused to certify its most recent primary election results, reportedly citing conspiracy theories about Dominion voting machines. The commission eventually voted 2 to 1 to certify the primary results, with Griffin voting “no.”
In 2019, Griffin created Cowboys for Trump, a group that put on pro-Trump horseback-riding parades.
Bookbinder called Tuesday’s ruling “a historic win for accountability for the January 6th insurrection and the efforts to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power in the United States.”
“Protecting American democracy means ensuring those who violate their oaths to the Constitution are held responsible,” he said.
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/06/judge-calls-jan-6-an-insurrection-bars-cowboys-for-trump-founder-from-office.html
-
Jamie Raskin wants Mike Pence to testify: 'In no one's case is a subpoena out of the question'
Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland) told CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday that he wants "anyone who has relevant evidence" to testify voluntarily before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.
Among the individuals whom Raskin hopes to interview are Ginni Thomas, Newt Gingrich, and ex-Vice President Mike Pence.
"I don't want to overstate her role," Raskin said of Thomas, the right-wing activist spouse of conservative Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
"We've talked to more than 1,000 people. But we'd like to hear from Gingrich and we'd like to hear from her too," Raskin continued, adding that Thomas should "come forward" to reveal what she knows about former President Donald Trump's coup.
Raskin shared similar remarks about Pence.
"Vice President Pence was the target of Donald Trump's wrath and fury and effort to overthrow the election on Jan. 6. The whole idea was to get Pence to step outside his constitutional role, and then to declare unilateral lawless powers to reject Electoral College votes from the states," he said.
Raskin also stressed that while "in no one's case is a subpoena out of the question," he expects that Pence would agree to cooperate in "the way the vast majority of people have."
"She has relevant testimony to render and she should come forward and give it," Jan. 6 committee member Rep. Jamie Raskin says of Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1566458165578932225
-
Capitol rioter undermined his own case by writing inflammatory tweet on first day of trial: feds
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/judge-marks-jan-6-anniversary-by-going-off-on-maga-rioter-who-requested-jamaica-vacation.png?id=28747803&width=2400&height=1350)
A man who was convicted for taking part in the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol may now be facing a stiffer prison sentence -- and it's all because of a tweet he wrote on the very first day of his trial.
In a new court filing flagged by NBC News' Ryan Reilly, Department of Justice attorneys argued that the court should not believe defendant Anthony Robert Williams's claims to feel remorse for his actions based on the fact that he was trash-talking the legal process as his trial was on going.
"I began my January 6th trial today," Williams wrote to his followers on Twitter. "We had jury selection as well as opening statements by both prosecution and defense. Tomorrow we will begin with prosecution witnesses, six out of seven who have never saw (sic) me on January 6th. Pray for me and thank you for your support."
The DOJ lawyers say that this tweet contradicts Williams' claim to have been racked with remorse as his trial began.
"While Williams took to Twitter to profess the government's alleged lack of evidence, Williams claims in his Sentencing hearing that he had an epiphany that same day and a sudden feeling of remorse during jury selection."
Because of this, argues the DOJ, "Williams' claims of remorse are disingenuous and should be rejected."
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-sentence-2658159579/
-
New video of Capitol riot shown at insurrection hearing
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/07/27/insurrection-hearing-new-riot-footage-vpx.cnn
-
Sentencing today
Justice Dept to seek 4-months prison in Jan 6 case of Dovid Schwartzberg, arguing he "proceeded to wave and
encourage others into the besieged US Capitol" and entered office of Sen Jeff Merkley (D-OR)... and failed to comply with terms of pretrial release.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FbhAoZRXgAAoBh-?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Justice Dept asks court to reject request by Jan 6 defendant Joseph Hutchinson to loosen release conditions (He's seeking to take job as pilot escort driver)
Hutchinson is charged with assault and resisting police.
Feds note: His co-defendant, Jonathan Pollock, is *still* a fugitive.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcAQWLoWIAUhIG0?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Watch: Mike Flynn freaks out on reporter who asks if he contacted his active general brother on Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/michael-flynn.jpg?id=30077053&width=2400&height=1350)
Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn recently walked out of an interview with Associated Press reporter Michelle Smith after she asked him if he was communicating with his brother, United States Army Gen. Charles Flynn, during the events leading up to the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.
In a clip posted by PBS's Frontline, Flynn can be seen angrily attacking the Associated Press, which he describes as a "horrendous organization" that he then falsely claimed published a "false story" about him that "caused the Dow Jones to drop."
Things got even testier after Smith asked him about talking with his brother on January 6, 2021.
"Because of this interview, I will never talk to AP again," he fumed. "I'm so sick of this because it's so fake and it's so targeted, and it's all about, 'We're going to get this guy!'"
At this point, Flynn got up and walked out of the interview.
"I'll never speak to AP again because of this interview!" he emphasized as he left.
The clip released by PBS is part of a PBS documentary called "Mike Flynn's Holy War" that is scheduled to air on October 18, 2022.
Watch:
-
Judge nixes Oath Keepers leader's bid to delay Jan. 6 trial
The high-profile seditious conspiracy trial for the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group will begin later his month after a judge rejected a last-minute bid by Stewart Rhodes to replace his lawyers and delay his Capitol riot case
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/oath-keepers-founder-got-white-glove-treatment-from-fbi-during-arrest-report.png?id=28815811&width=2400&height=1350)
The high-profile seditious conspiracy trial for the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group will begin this month after a judge on Wednesday rejected a last-minute bid by Stewart Rhodes to replace his lawyers and delay his Capitol riot case.
Rhodes said in court papers this week there had been a “breakdown” in communication between him and his two lawyers, who he claimed weren't defending him forcefully enough. Rhodes' new lawyer argued that the Oath Keepers founder has not been given enough time to adequately prepare for trial and urged the judge to delay his trial at least 90 days.
But the obviously irritated judge called the claim that Rhodes is being denied a fair trial “simply false.”
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said Rhodes' suggestion that his lawyers are not providing effective counsel appeared to be “complete and utter nonsense” and questioned why concerns about his lawyers were surfacing for the first time just weeks before trial.
“The notion that you are going to create the kind of havoc that you will — and havoc is the only appropriate word I can think of — by moving Mr. Rhodes' trial, not going to happen,” Mehta told Edward Tarpley, whom Rhodes wanted as his new lawyer.
Mehta said Tarpley is free to join Rhodes' two other lawyers — James Lee Bright and Phillip Linder — but Mehta was not going to remove them from the case.
Tarpley told The Associated Press after the hearing that he's disappointed but respects the court's decision and remains willing to help Rhodes' defense team at trial.
“He never went into the Capitol ... he never told anybody to go into the Capitol,” Tarpley said. There’s a lot of things in his favor. And, you know, I just think that he’s been unfairly accused and wrongly prosecuted in this case."
The case against Rhodes and four co-defendants starting Sept. 27 in federal court will be the most serious case to go to trial so far in the riot of Jan. 6, 2021, that delayed the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 president victory over Donald Trump.
It will also be a major test for the Department of Justice, which has brought rarely used and difficult-to-prove charges of seditious conspiracy against Oath Keepers members and those of another far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys.
Authorities say Rhodes was the ringleader of the Oath Keepers' plot to violently stop the transfer of power. In the run-up to Jan. 6, authorities say the Oath Keepers recruited members, purchased weapons and set up a “quick reaction force” with guns on standby outside the capital with the goal of keeping President Donald Trump in office.
On Jan. 6, prosecutors say the Oath Keepers formed two teams, or “stacks,” that entered the Capitol. Rhodes is not accused of going inside the building, but was seen gathered outside the Capitol with several members after they did, authorities say.
Rhodes has said there was no plan to storm the Capitol and that the members who went inside the building went rogue. His lawyers have argued he believed Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act and call upon the Oath Keepers to support his bid to stay in power. When Trump did not do that, Rhodes took no action, his lawyers have said.
Three members of the Oath Keepers have already pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, are cooperating with investigators and could testify against Rhodes at trial.
Rhodes claimed that his lawyers, Bright and Linder, were not answering his calls or visiting him enough and failed to file legal papers they promised to. The defense also argued its case would be hurt by the arrest this month of the the Oath Keepers' general counsel — Kellye SoRelle — whom the defense was expecting to call to the stand.
Bright denied not answering calls from Rhodes or failing to discuss the defense strategy with him. He called some of the new legal papers Rhodes wants to file “frivolous.”
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/judge-nixes-oath-keepers-leaders-bid-delay-jan-89485508
-
Capitol rioter with middle-finger tattoo takes felony plea deal calling for 51 to 63 months in prison
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-supporters-rioting-at-the-us-capitol.jpg?id=29692586&width=2400&height=1350)
A Michigan man pleaded guilty today to assaulting law enforcement officials and causing injuries that sent at least one to the hospital during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Justin Jersey, 32, of Flint, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to a felony count of “assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, inflicting bodily injury, according to the plea agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ). The charges against Jersey carry up 20 years imprisonment, but an estimated federal guidelines range of 51-to-63 months is referenced in the plea deal.
Jersey was part of the mob that clashed with police officers late in the afternoon of January 6 at the Archway leading into the Capitol Building from the Lower West Terrace. Jersey was “carrying a large, gnarled stick…sprang at the line of officers charged at one…grabbing his face, and knocking him to the ground,” the FBI reported.
“As a result of the attack, the officer sustained serious physical injuries, including a laceration to his head, and bruising and abrasions to his body. Jersey, meanwhile, was able to grab another baton and used it to strike other officers in the Archway.”
Jersey was identified initially with the help of a distinctively tattooed obscenity on his middle finger which was visible as he swung at officers, as reported last December at Raw Story.
According to that report, Jersey “was shown attacking officers while wearing a University of Michigan sweatshirt in video circulated by the FBI over the summer. At the time, he was listed as No. 106 on the FBI’s Capitol wanted page.
"Jersey was friends with another Capitol riot defendant, Trevor Brown, and Jersey’s girlfriend publicly tagged the two men in a post about Jan. 6 on Facebook," the Huffington Post's Ryan Reilly reports. "Online sleuths found an Instagram image of Jersey that showed what appeared to be a 'F*** YOU' tattoo on his left middle finger — which can also be spotted in images of him swinging a stick at officers — erasing any doubt about the identification."
Reilly added on Twitter, "Tattoos are the unsung heroes of the Jan. 6 probe, probably followed closely by freckles and moles."
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-with-middle-finger-tattoo-takes-felony-plea-deal-calling-for-51-to-63-months-in-prison/
-
Trump aide targeted by FBI in election coup investigation: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-rioters.jpg?id=25448388&width=800&height=568)
On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that the FBI sought to interview a personal aide to former President Donald Trump as part of their investigation into events leading up to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"This week, F.B.I. agents in Florida tried to interview William S. Russell, a 31-year-old aide to Mr. Trump who served as a special assistant and the deputy director of advance in the White House and continued to work for Mr. Trump as a personal aide after he left office, one of a small group of officials who did so," reported Adam Goldman and Maggie Haberman. "It was not immediately clear what questions the F.B.I. wanted to ask Mr. Russell; people familiar with the Justice Department’s inquiry said he has not yet been interviewed. But a person with knowledge of the F.B.I.’s interest said that it related to the grand jury investigation into events that led to the Capitol attack by Mr. Trump’s supporters."
"That investigation is said to have focused extensively on the attempts by some of Mr. Trump’s advisers and lawyers to create slates of fake electors from swing states," said the report. "Mr. Trump and his allies wanted Vice President Mike Pence to block or delay certification of the Electoral College results during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 to allow consideration of Trump electors whose votes could have changed the outcome."
According to the report, Russell's attorney did not offer comment on the matter.
"It was not immediately clear which of Mr. Trump’s other aides the Justice Department may be interested in interviewing. Last week, the former White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, and his former deputy, Patrick Philbin, testified before the grand jury investigating the fake elector scheme and related issues," the report continued. "Both Mr. Cipollone and Mr. Philbin were present during key conversations in the White House as Mr. Trump sought to use the levers of the federal government to stay in office after his loss to Joseph R. Biden Jr."
The plot to overturn the election, outlined by Trump attorney John Eastman in an infamous memo, involved convening slates of fake electors in states Biden carried, then pressuring Pence to use those fake electors as a pretext for refusing to count the real ones during the ceremonial elector count in Congress and declaring Trump the winner.
https://www.rawstory.com/william-s-russell/
-
Plea hearing today in Capitol riot case of Robert Sanford of Chester, Pennsylvania.
Sanford is a retired firefighter who allegedly threw a fire extinguisher at police on Jan 6.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb5HdUbX0AECl2w?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Sentencing begins in Jan 6 case of former Marine Darrell Youngers
Defense begins by invoking a certain phrase twice…"caught up in the moment".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcKApuyXwAAtWui?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Two constables, four police chiefs and over 3,000 other Texans were members of the Oath Keepers, report says
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/two-north-carolina-lawmakers-linked-to-oath-keepers-is-this-who-republicans-want-to-be.jpg?id=27823641&width=2400&height=160)
More than 3,000 Texans — including four police chiefs, two county sheriffs, two constables and two county commissioners — have been members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right extremist group that played a prominent role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, according to an analysis of leaked membership rolls.
The Anti-Defamation League Center on Extremism published a report Tuesday after reviewing more than 38,000 names on a massive cache of documents from the Oath Keepers that was leaked to transparency collective Distributed Denial of Secrets and released last year. The documents included chat logs, emails and membership rolls from 2020 and 2021. It’s unclear when the membership lists were last updated.
The ADL’s report analyzed where the members lived and worked and found that Texas had more people listed in the Oath Keepers’ membership rolls than any other state. Texas is the country’s second-most populous state.
Texas also had the most people who were either elected officials, law enforcement officers, military members or first responders, the report found. Of the Texas signups, 33 were law enforcement officers, 10 were members of the military, eight were elected officials and seven were first responders. No federal officials were listed in the membership documents.
At least six law enforcement officers who have been affiliated with the far-right group at some point are currently at the helm of their departments: Howe Police Department Chief Carl Hudman; Tom Bean Police Department Chief Timothy Green; Idalou Police Department Chief Eric Williams; Amarillo ISD Police Department Chief Paul Bourquin; Nueces County Sheriff John Chris Hooper; and Clay County Sheriff Jeff Lyde.
Other people in the Oath Keepers’ membership rolls who currently serve as elected officials in Texas include Ellis County Commissioner Paul D. Perry; Galveston County Commissioner Joseph Thomas Giusti; Collin County Constable Joe Wright; and Faulkey Gully Municipal Utility District board member Mark H. Syzman. Syzman is also a retired U.S. Army Military Police Master Sergeant.
The Oath Keepers asks its members to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” The group, fueled by baseless conspiracy theories, claims that the government poses a threat to civil liberties. In reality, former Oath Keepers spokesperson Jason Van Tatenhove — who has since left the group and speaks publicly about its dangers — has said the group is actually “selling the revolution.”
On Jan. 6, 2021, the Oath Keepers descended on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to lead the siege challenging the results of the 2020 presidential election. At least 26 members of the group have since been arrested in connection with the attack.
With the exception of Hood County Constable John D. Shirley and Steven Glenn, an alderman in the North Texas town of Quitman, none of the Texans named by the ADL responded to calls or emails from The Texas Tribune seeking comment Wednesday.
Glenn, who was sworn in as alderman in November 2020 and is seeking reelection this year, said in an email statement that he was with members of the Oath Keepers during a hurricane in Houston helping deliver supplies to residents hit by the floods. He said he has “zero idea of any of (the Oath Keepers’) involvements” since then.
“Shortly after that, I saw exactly what the founder was all about. I cut ties with them immediately,” Glenn wrote in a statement to the Tribune.
Shirley said he publicly resigned from the group in November 2020. Shirley was a member for more than a decade and served as the Oath Keepers’ Texas chapter president, national peace officer liaison and on the group’s board of directors. In February 2020, Shirley submitted a letter to Hood Country Today defending the organization’s mission.
The Oath Keepers’ membership list does not reflect the extent of the members’ involvement in the group. The ADL report said that some may have been introduced to a watered-down version of the group’s mission and many have since left the group. Hundreds tried to cancel their memberships after the Jan. 6 riot, BuzzFeed News reported. But the ADL also points out that the Oath Keepers have always been vocal about its extremist far-right views since its inception in 2009.
“Even for those who claimed to have left the organization when it began to employ more aggressive tactics in 2014, it is important to remember that the Oath Keepers have espoused extremism since their founding, and this fact was not enough to deter these individuals from signing up,” the report notes.
The fringe group has focused on recruiting current and former military, police and first responders. The ADL report says that in written comments provided to the Oath Keepers, some people who joined the group offered to use their positions of power to aid the Oath Keepers in a variety of ways. One member of the Idalou Police Department, outside of Lubbock, said he would use his position to introduce other law enforcement officers to the Oath Keepers’ ideology through presentations, according to the report.
The ADL report does not identify the person or their position in the department. Williams, the Idalou police chief, told PBS Newshour that it had been over a decade since he had been a member or had interaction with the Oath Keepers. Williams denounced the riot of Jan. 6 as “terrible in every way.”
The city of Idalou declined to comment on whether the police department has policies regarding staff’s membership in extremist groups.
Wright, the constable in Collin County, signed up for the organization before he took office for the first time. The ADL noted that he shared his government position during sign up: “Constable elect for Collin County Pct. 4 Constable’s office. Currently a Collin County deputy sheriff.”
When the Oath Keepers’ documents were first leaked in October 2021, Wright told USA Today that he didn’t know much about the group when he joined.
“To be honest, I felt pressured to join it in this county for political support,” Wright said at the time. “The Oath Keepers, if you didn’t support them, you were going to get bad reviews.”
Wright said he did not support the group and had not engaged since.
“I’m not into radical. I’m into doing my job,” he said.
Lyde, the sheriff of Clay County, was also identified as a former member of the Oath Keepers last November. He was indicted by a Clay County grand jury that same month for two charges of official oppression, according to court documents filed last year. Lyde is also facing questions about why he left the Department of Public Safety over a decade ago, in part, for submitting false information on performance reviews.
Hooper, the sheriff of Nueces County, was reported to be a former member of the Oath Keepers last November. He told the Corpus Christi Caller Times that he had not been a member since 2009 and had distanced himself from the organization.
Members of the Oath Keepers listed in the documents also included Texans in other occupations. An attorney with a law firm based in East Texas told the group that he “may be able to assist in legal matters,” the report said.
The ADL did not identify the attorney and declined to share the names of individual law enforcement officers or military personnel identified through their analysis, citing concerns that the report could be used to dox rank-and-file personnel.
Among those arrested in connection with the attack on the Capitol Jan. 6 is Oath Keepers founder and leader Stewart Rhodes, a Texan who was arrested in January and is accused of conspiring to oppose the transfer of presidential power by force.
More than 70 Texans have been charged for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection, according to a USA Today database. They include Guy Reffitt who was sentenced to 7 1/4 years in prison last month after prosecutors said he “lit the match” for the riot.
North Texas has been a focal area for the investigation into the riot, with more than a dozen area residents having been charged in the federal investigation into the attack, including Kellye SoRelle, a lawyer for Oath Keepers based in Granbury.
https://www.texastribune.org/2022/09/07/texas-oath-keepers-adl/
-
Judge denies Capitol riot defendant Ronald McAbee's request for release from pretrial jail. McAbee is accused of swinging at.. and dragging police officer and messaging associate that he "calls for secession"
Judge's order includes details about injuries of police officer.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcKQS_OWAAAgWBD?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Illinois man pleads guilty to assaulting Reuters journalist during U.S. Capitol riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=31640856&width=980&quality=85)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An Illinois man on Friday pleaded guilty to assaulting a Reuters journalist and a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.
Shane Jason Woods, 44, of Auburn, pleaded guilty in a federal court hearing in Washington to one felony count of assaulting, resisting or impeding police and one misdemeanor count of striking, beating and wounding within U.S. territory.
Although the two counts combined carry a statutory maximum sentence of nine years in prison, under U.S. sentencing guidelines, Woods would face between 33 to 41 months in prison, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said.
Last year, Woods became the first defendant to be charged for assaulting a member of the news media during the riot.
A total of 11 people have been charged with assaulting journalists that day, while about 269 have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding police officers, according to a Justice Department tally.
In all, more than 870 people have been charged with crimes related to the Capitol attack.
Thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol following a fiery speech in which the then-president falsely claimed his defeat in the November 2020 election was the result of widespread fraud.
In court filings, investigators said Woods was recorded on video wearing a Trump baseball cap and Trump face mask while walking in a restricted area at the Capitol during the riot.
On the recording, he could be seen assaulting a U.S. Capitol Police officer, causing her to trip and fall to the ground. She was surrounded by protesters until another officer came to her rescue.
He was also recorded targeting a Reuters journalist filming the riots, using what federal prosecutors described as a "blindside shoulder-tackle" to knock the journalist to the ground.
"The manner of attack on the cameraman was very similar to the attack" against the officer, an FBI agent wrote in the initial charging documents.
Woods, who participated in Friday's hearing by remote connection, admitted to knocking down both the police officer and the Reuters journalist.
His sentencing was set for Jan. 13 at 1 p.m. ET.
© Reuters
-
Stephen Miller subpoenaed by a grand jury investigating January 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-mocked-for-putting-stephen-miller-in-charge-of-anti-racism-speech-literally-the-worst-person-imaginable.jpg?id=24815059&width=2400&height=1290)
Two more of Donald Trump's top White House advisors have been issued subpoenas by a federal grand jury investigating Jan. 6.
"Brian Jack, the final White House political director under Mr. Trump, and Stephen Miller, Mr. Trump’s top speechwriter and a senior policy adviser, were among more than a dozen people connected to the former president to receive subpoenas from a federal grand jury this week," The New York Times reported Friday evening.
The newspaper reports Jack remains an advisor the former president and House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
"The subpoenas seek information in connection with the Save America political action committee and the plan to submit slates of electors pledged to Mr. Trump from swing states that were won by Joseph R. Biden Jr. in the 2020 election. Mr. Trump and his allies promoted the idea that competing slates of electors would justify blocking or delaying certification of Mr. Biden’s Electoral College win during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021," the newspaper reported.
Miller discussed the fake electors scheme on Fox News in Dec. of 2020.
"The subpoenas were issued to a wide range of people who either worked in the White House or on the Trump campaign, including senior officials like the campaign’s chief financial officer; personal aides to Mr. Trump; and the former chief of staff to Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter who also served as one of his senior advisers," The Times reported. "Among the recipients of subpoenas from a grand jury sitting in Washington are relatively junior aides from the White House and Mr. Trump’s 2020 campaign. While the subpoenas asked for information concerning the Save America PAC, they also sought communications with several pro-Trump lawyers — like Kenneth Chesebro — who helped devise the electors plan."
Read More Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/09/us/politics/trump-political-aides-subpoenaed.html
-
'Things have just gotten real for Stephen Miller' after grand jury subpoena: legal expert
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=31684737&width=2400&height=1419)
During an appearance very early on MSNBC on Sunday, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner predicted that former Donald Trump adviser Stephen Miller will likely be put in the position of either flipping on his former boss or risk perjuring himself before a federal grand jury.
On Friday, CNN reported that Miller -- a close Oval Office confidante of the former president -- was the recipient of a subpoena from a federal grand jury investigating Trump's "Save America PAC."
The report stated, "a federal grand jury is examining the Save America leadership PAC, one of former President Donald Trump's main political and fundraising vehicles, in an expansion of the criminal investigation into the events surrounding the US Capitol attack on January 6, 2021."
According to Kirschner, the abrasive Miller has never received the kind of scrutiny he is about to be subjected to.
"I think one thing we should pay attention to is the difference between a January 6th congressional subpoena, and there have been, I think, more than 1000 witnesses at last count interviewed by the January 6th Congressional committee," Kirschner explained. "The difference is between that kind of a subpoena and a federal grand jury subpoena, which is what now Stephen Miller has had placed in his hands."
"Because you can play some games trying to avoid a congressional subpoena and Congress does not have the same tools to enforce its subpoenas and compel testimony," he added. "But I'll I tell you what: the department of justice does."
"Things have just gotten real for Stephen Miller and anybody else who has a federal grand jury subpoena," he elaborated. "I have to believe at the end of the day he will testify truthfully and if not he'll be looking at a perjury charge or contempt or obstruction of justice charge."
"If he testifies truthfully about what Donald Trump has done, that could spell additional trouble for Trump," he added.
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 Committee will soon reveal new evidence uncovered since last public hearing
The Jan. 6 House Select Committee faces some momentous decisions with 16 weeks before it dissolves.
Lawmakers are considering whether to seek Donald Trump's testimony and still hoping to negotiate an interview with Mike Pence, and they still must decide what to do with Republican lawmakers who've defied their subpoenas, as the next round of public hearings are about to be announced, reported Politico.
“Each member of the committee has things that he or she really wants to continue to pursue over the next few weeks, based on the work that we did before the recess,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the panel. “People want to make sure that we fortify the democracy against coups and insurrections, political violence and other efforts to usurp the will of the people."
The Justice Department investigation of Trump's possession of top-secret materials at Mar-a-Lago has complicated matters, and a federal grand jury has accelerated its investigation into the former president's efforts to overturn the election, which a Georgia special grand jury is also probing.
Those investigations have also put pressure on the select to committee to share its transcripts of witness interviews, and panel chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) has indicated they will release most, if not all, of those publicly, although it's not clear when that would happen.
The committee has not yet agreed when to release its comprehensive final report, and Raskin recently said the panel planned "at least two more blockbuster hearings," including one this month, but all of its work will soon conclude as staffers leave their jobs as part of the normal transition that accompany midterm elections.
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-committee-news/
-
Oath Keepers founder wouldn’t have taken part in Jan. 6 attack without cover ‘from someone higher up the chain’: son
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/stewart-rhodes-youtube.jpg?id=28830200&width=2400&height=1342)
Perhaps no one is anticipating the trial of the Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, which is scheduled to begin Sept. 27, more than Dakota Adams, his estranged son.
“My opinion on Stewart is that if he ever gets out of prison, he’s going to be a threat to my family,” Adams told Raw Story. “If he gets out, he has a right to unsupervised visitation. I would strap on body armor and follow him around the house with a firearm to ensure that he doesn’t try to kidnap my younger siblings and flee the country.”
Adams, who is 25, legally changed his name to avoid carrying forward his father’s lineage. The eldest of Rhodes’ children, Adams has two other adult siblings and three siblings who are still minors. Adams and other family members have previously detailed years of abuse that they say they experienced at the hands of Rhodes, who founded the far-right Oath Keepers militia group in 2009.
“If anyone would have asked if I would feign a tearful reconciliation to wear a wire and put him in prison, I would have agreed in a heartbeat,” Adams said.
Adams became estranged from Rhodes and drifted from the far-right movement his father helped lead in 2017. That rupture began a process of mourning the loss of his paternal relationship and resenting Rhodes for failing his family, Adams said. But by 2020, the year Rhodes took an extreme turn towards more violent rhetoric and alignment with Trump, Adams said he had “pretty much run out of venom” in his feelings about his father.
Now, as an astute critic of the far-right milieu of the Oath Keepers and someone intimately familiar with Rhodes’ patterns of behavior, Adams is keenly monitoring preparations for the seditious conspiracy trial of Rhodes and eight codefendants, and the next round of hearings by the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol.
Adams said he is certain that his father wouldn’t have decided on his own to participate in an attack on the US Capitol.
“I believe that Stewart wouldn’t have gone into the 6th without cover or assurances from someone higher up the chain,” Adams told Raw Story. “I believe he was an expendable asset. He’s probably going to go down swinging in his three-ring-circus trial, believing that someone like Trump or DeSantis will come along later and pardon him, and he will rise again like a phoenix.”
The Oath Keepers actions on Jan. 6 — with members breaching the Capitol in two separate “stacks,” with directions to hunt for lawmakers, and others staged across the Potomac River in armed “quick reaction forces” — are a departure from Rhodes’ tactical posture in the past, Adams said.
Rhodes was critical of a proposal by libertarian activist Adam Kokesh in 2013 to stage an armed Second Amendment march into Washington, DC, which would have violated the district’s prohibition against firearms and put participants in the position of deciding whether to defy arrest.
“Stewart’s personal take on that was that it was stupid,” Adams said. “If any shootings took place, they were going to be starting the first battle of the civil war in a kill trough as they came over the bridge over the Potomac River. It would create the perception that they were weak and they were the aggressors, which is the worst way to start a war.”
Similarly, Adams said, Rhodes initially discouraged members from joining the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in response to a call by Ammon Bundy in late 2015.
“Waiting out a siege in the Capitol with Nancy Pelosi as a hostage — all that’s going to do is get you hanged,” Adams said. “I don’t think [Rhodes] would have done it unless he thought he had an out, it was acting on orders from someone else, and he had to be desperate.”
Adams said Rhodes lived with the fear of being indicted for his involvement in the Bundy Ranch standoff in Nevada in 2014 for years, and believed that a Democratic administration increased his odds of arrest.
In 2015, Adams said that Rhodes accepted an invitation to meet two FBI agents at an Appleby’s restaurant in Kalispell, Montana. Rhodes claimed to the family that he laid down a hard line to the agents about the risk of a civil war, but Adams said the meeting marked the end of the Oath Keepers’ participation in armed standoffs, and Rhodes spiraled into a deep depression shortly afterward.
Adams said he believes the Oath Keepers’ increasing alignment with Donald Trump after the 2016 election was a tack by Rhodes to get out from under the thumb of the FBI. While others in the Oath Keepers were preoccupied with purported election fraud in late 2020, Adams observed that many of Rhodes’ posts on the Oath Keepers website, which has been taken down, were paranoid rants about the FBI.
Rhodes’ past dealings with the FBI have made him an object of suspicion within far-right and conservative circles, along with the fact that he remained free until January 2022 — almost a year after the arrest of the first Oath Keepers members in connection with the Jan. 6 attack. Adams rejects the proposal that Rhodes was an asset in a so-called “fedsurrection.”
“I do not think Stewart was acting as a federal asset,” Adams said. “That was all Stewart. That was all the kind of s*** Stewart would do if he was given clearance from some higher authority, that everything was going to be okay, that he would be pardoned.”
While he doesn’t have direct knowledge of the Oath Keepers’ activities after 2017, Adams said he suspects that Rhodes was reporting to either Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor, or Roger Stone, a political strategist and longtime confidant of the former president, on Jan. 6.
Intense speculation has focused on a phone call by Rhodes from a suite in the Phoenix Hotel following the attack on the Capitol in which Rhodes reportedly asked an unidentified individual to let him speak to President Trump. William Todd Wilson, an Oath Keeper who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, overheard “Rhodes repeatedly implore the individual to tell President Trump to call upon groups like the Oath Keepers to forcibly oppose the transfer of power,” according to the statement of facts accompanying Wilson’s guilty plea. The unidentified individual denied Rhodes’s request to speak directly with Trump, according to the statement of facts, and after the call ended, Rhodes told the others in the room: “I just want to fight.”
“Whoever Stewart was calling from that hotel room — I would bet, if anyone were taking the odds, that was Michael Flynn or Roger Stone that rebuffed him and refused to compromise Trump,” Adams told Raw Story.
Joe Flynn responded on behalf of his brother, Michael Flynn, to a request for comment from Raw Story.
“Lol you guys are f*****g clowns,” he said in a text message.
An attorney for Stone said his client has never had any dealings with Rhodes.
“Please let me say in no uncertain terms, Mr. Stone has never met, talked to, or otherwise interacted with Mr. Rhodes,” Grant J. Smith said in an email to Raw Story. “Everything you assert below is based on the guesses and conjecture of an estranged son. Unequivocally, Mr. Stone did not participate in anything you have described below. Please don’t report on something as flimsy as your statements below, no matter how tempting it may be.”
A spokesperson for the US Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia declined to comment on the Oath Keepers case.
Kellye SoRelle, the general counsel for the Oath Keepers and someone Rhodes has said he had a romantic relationship with, told Raw Story following her arrest last week: “I hope they get the real perpetrators — Flynn, Byrne, Powell, etc., those behind the Big Lie that set up the conservatives.”
Patrick Byrne, the former Overstock.com CEO; attorney Sidney Powell; and Joe Flynn, speaking on behalf of Michael Flynn, all rejected SoRelle’s characterizations.
Adams said he thinks there’s an outside chance that Rhodes will plead out and agree to turn state’s evidence if he feels that he’s been betrayed or written off by members of Trump’s circle. It would probably take something like Trump hinting during a campaign speech that Rhodes was a federal asset.
“Short of that, I think he’s going to go down swinging,” Adams said. “He is going to play for time, and make a lot of noise, and build his resume for his return. What I would prepare for in the trial is a clown show, full three-ring circus.”
Overall, Adams is feeling bullish about the federal prosecution of the Oath Keepers and the next round of January 6th Committee hearings.
“I think Stewart’s trial is going to be a trial run for indicting Donald Trump, possibly using some of the same logic of Stewart commanding the stack and the QRF; in the same way, [they could argue] Trump orchestrated the mob that attacked the Capitol,” Adams said. “And it’s a stepping stone for indicting Trump’s inner circle, people like Stone and Flynn.
“I think a conviction of Stewart is going to lay the groundwork for going up the chain on the sedition track,” Adams continued. “My personal take is that Stewart’s trial and the second round of January 6th Committee hearings is a prelude for Trump’s arrest. That’s the way you go after an autocrat. You have to take on the public perception battle as much as anything else. You have to attack every dimension simultaneously. Convicting Stewart for seditious conspiracy for running a paramilitary embedded with the mob that attacked the Capitol is one way to do that.”
https://www.rawstory.com/dakota-adams/
-
So, these insurrectionists are all going down and all they can do is yell and scream as they attempt to gaslight their gullible base.
QAnon freak Marjorie Taylor Greene claims "they are not insurrectionists".
Is she trying to say storming the Capitol to overthrow the government is not an insurrection?
Is the Republicans using fake electors instead of real electors not an attempt to steal the election?
These radicals have no justification for their treason and all they can do is cry about it.
Jan. 6 rally organizer says government is seeking information from her in grand jury investigation
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/amy-kremer.jpg?id=29673136&width=2400&height=1350)
Federal investigators are seeking information from Women for America First, which hosted the “Save America Rally,” as part of a wide-ranging probe into fundraising by the Trump campaign after the election, the alternate electors scheme and the Jan. 6 rally headlined by President Trump, which set the stage for the attack on the US Capitol.
Attorney Harmeet Dhillon tweeted on Friday night that Women for America First was among clients that had been “served w/ extremely broad subpoenas, or warrants for phone/device.”
Amy Kremer, the organization’s chair, retweeted Dhillon on Saturday morning, writing, “I can confirm this.”
The New York Times and Washington Post have previously reported that the federal grand jury investigation is focusing on political fundraising by Trump through a political action committee set up after the 2020 election that promoted baseless election fraud claims. The Post also reported that at least one of the subpoenas sought information “about the plan to submit slates of phony electors claiming Trump won pivotal states.
The two outlets reported that the subpoenas were sent to former White House and Trump campaign staffers, with the Times naming William B. Harrison, a former White House aide who now works for Trump’s personal office; Julie Radford, chief of staff to Trump’s daughter, Ivanka; Nicholas Luna, another personal aide to Trump; and Sean Dollman, the chief financial officer of the 2020 campaign. The Times and Post reported that the subpoenas are seeking communications with lawyers involved in the fake electors scheme.
The revelation that Women for America First is among the entities that have received subpoenas, search warrants or a combination of the two adds a new dimension to the grand jury investigation. Dhillon told Carlson during an appearance on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Friday that three of her law firm’s clients received search warrants or subpoenas from what she called “the ‘Capitol siege’ section of the United States Department of Justice’s DC office.”
“They ask for all communications dating from a month before the election ’til two months after the election,” Dhillon said. “And they ask for all communications regarding dozens of people. And the categories are alternate electors, fundraising around irregularities around the election, and also a rally that happened before the January 6th situation at the Capitol — the Save America Rally.”
The news sent a ripple through the far-right media ecosystem. After turning himself in to authorities in Manhattan on charges of defrauding donors to a scheme to build a border wall, former White House strategist Steve Bannon appeared on Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s show on Friday, and claimed “there were 35 senior members of MAGA, Republican supporters of Donald Trump — the FBI rolled in on ’em.” In her interview with Carlson later on Friday, Dhillon placed the figure at “50 approximately.”
Kirk characterized Bannon’s statement as a “bombshell” and said that his guest “broke news” in a clip tweeted out to promote the interview.
Trump allies have framed the grand jury investigation as part of a persecution campaign by Democrats and the FBI against conservatives.
Retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor and a figurehead in the election denier movement, amplified the persecution theme in an interview with Bannon on Saturday.
“Really, what this latest thing, too, Steve is, I think you broke yesterday — really what it is, it’s basically, when they put out all these subpoenas, when they do all these things to all these different people, they’re basically telling you to sit down and shut up,” he said.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who was reportedly part of a group of Republican lawmakers who met with Trump in December 2020 to discuss a dubious legal theory positing that Vice President Mike Pence could single-handedly reject Biden electors and preemptively sought a pardon, told Bannon she had spoken to some of the individuals who received subpoenas on Friday.
“They’re building a conspiracy theory, a spider web,” Greene said. “They’re trying to lie about all of us and say that we were doing something on January 6th that we absolutely were not. Everything that we did was legal.” Greene went on to complain that the government is “trying to create a conspiracy that we were waging an insurrection — and we absolutely were not.”
Speaking with Greene, Bannon fumed, “This is all intimidation tactics. They think they’re going to scare people. And they’re not scaring people. They’re making our resolve — we’ve got steely resolve now. You’re not going to scare anybody. You’re not going to intimidate anybody. We’re going to break you. We’re going to break you. The FBI, we’re going to break you. We’re going to win a sweeping victory on November the 8th, and then we’re going to cut off your money.”
https://www.rawstory.com/women-for-america-first/
-
DC judge rejects *another* request by a Jan 6 defendant to get "change of venue" to move his trial out of DC.
John Nassif argued media coverage could bias jurors.
Judge: " Courts have successfully empaneled juries and conducted trials in the locations of highly publicized crimes".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FceieOdWQAY3fYa?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Big delay in sentencing in Jan 6 case of Army veteran Landon Copeland of Utah. Postponed until December to allow for new forensic evaluation of Copeland.
Copeland, of Utah, gave jailhouse interview after Jan 6 in which he predicted Trump would return to office before 2024.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcD1fk5WYAAjdwB?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Justice Dept filing: "Breakthroughs in the defensive line on both the left and right flanks caused the entire police line to collapse and individual officers were swallowed by the crowd and many officers were assaulted as they waited in a group to retreat through doors and stairwells up onto the inaugural stage".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fb5EKgGXwAA6w-U?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Oath Keepers leader follows Trump's lead and demands own 'special master' for his case
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/oath-keepers-founder-got-white-glove-treatment-from-fbi-during-arrest-report.png?id=28815811&width=2400&height=1350)
On Tuesday, Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, on trial for his role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, submitted a court filing trying to take a page out of former President Donald Trump's book, and demand the court appoint a special master to advise on his case.
The filing notes that there are "10 terabytes of data" in the discovery process, and that a special master could help facilitate reviewing all of this information.
"Discovery in this case is more massive than the discovery in many cases where courts have appointed special masters to help manage discovery," said the filing. "For example, the Whitmer-kidnapping-plot case in the U.S. District of Michigan in 2021, the Bundy prosecutions in the U.S. District of Nevada both used special masters to manage, compile, dispense and compartmentalize discovery that was less massive than the discovery in this case. Rhodes requests appointment of a special master in this case."
As Lawfare's Roger Parloff noted on Twitter, "this motion is signed only by Rhodes' attorney Edward Tarpley, whom Rhodes tried to substitute last week for the 2 representing him for mos. With trial starting 9/27, Judge said no way. The other 2 said they'd let Tarpley sit at counsel table, but that was about it."
The Oath Keepers are a far-right paramilitary group, consisting mainly of current and retired military and law enforcement, who pledge to refuse to follow orders that violate their interpretation of the Constitution. They first gained national prominence when they joined in the armed standoff against federal agents at the Bundy Ranch in 2014, and are accused of carrying out an organized "military stack" assault at the Capitol on January 6. Rhodes and 10 other Oath Keepers face charges of seditious conspiracy.
Trump's special master request, granted by a right-wing judge in Florida earlier this month, is widely considered by experts to be a stall tactic against the investigation into classified documents hoarded at his Mar-a-Lago resort. The Justice Department has threatened to appeal certain elements of that ruling, including the injunction that blocks them from reviewing certain documents, but has signaled they are open to one of Trump's candidates to be special master, former New York District Judge Raymond Dearie.
https://www.rawstory.com/stewart-rhodes-2658203907/
-
Important news today in the Rhodes case.
Judge REJECTS Stewart Rhodes (latest) request to delay trial and to name a "special master" to review and manage voluminous evidence/discovery in the criminal case.
Trial remains on scheduled for Sept 27 in seditious conspiracy case.
-
Here’s why Ginni Thomas is facing new scrutiny from Jan. 6 select committee
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/newly-revealed-emails-show-ginni-thomas-pressuring-arizona-legislators-to-overturn-trump-s-loss.jpg?id=29831890&width=2400&height=1371)
The wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is facing increased scrutiny by the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Rep. Jaime Raskin (D-MD), a member of the select committee, said more information would be forthcoming on Friday, after the group meets behind closed doors.
Raskin said the question about a potential subpoena for Thomas would be better left for Friday.
The committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), explained that something had changed that could allow the Thomas impasse to proceed to resolution.
"Well, we wrote her a letter," Thompson explained, "inviting her to come before the committee. And my understanding is, that because of some things that happened, it had to be delayed. And so, my understanding is that has now passed and we're in the process of trying to make that happen."
Thompson also said he expected the next public hearing to take place on Sept. 28.
AFP
-
J6 rioter convicted of seven felonies could face decades in prison: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=31701718&width=2400&height=1350)
After a conviction on nine charges for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, a Connecticut man is facing decades in jail.
"Patrick McCaughey III was involved in the violent assault of a police officer. The incident was caught on camera and obtained by NBC Connecticut Investigates earlier this year," NBC Connecticut reported. "The video was presented as evidence during McCaughey's bench trial. It shows him pinning Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges with a riot shield as a crowd pushes its way into the Capitol. McCaughey can be heard yelling at the officers to yield to the rioters."
WUSA-TV reported Judge Trevor McFadden "also convicted McCaughey of the most serious count of obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony charge that carries a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison."
DOJ announced McCaughey was convicted of nine charges, which " include seven felony charges: three counts of aiding or abetting or assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers, including one involving a dangerous weapon; one count of obstruction of an official proceeding; one count of interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder; one count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and one count of engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon. The two misdemeanor charges include: disorderly conduct in a Capitol Building and committing an act of violence in the Capitol Building or grounds."
McCaughey's attorney, Lindy Urso, said they look forward to appealing the conviction.
McCaughey's sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 26.
AFP
-
J6 committee plans next hearing — to air 41 days before the 2022 midterms
The chairman of the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol revealed the planned timing of the next public hearing.
Speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said the select committee was planning its next hearing for Sept. 28.
Thompson was asked if he anticipated there may be additional hearings after the Sept. 28 hearing. "It could be, but at this point, the 28th is the goal for the next hearing and we're in the process of deciding on a topic and after that, we have about two weeks to put the product together and we'll work toward that conclusion," Thompson.
Thompson also said he expected an interim report to be issued before the midterms and a final report by the end of the year.
AFP
-
Jan. 6 committee member reveals they've received new evidence in trove of documents and texts from Secret Service
The U.S. Secret Service has been under fire since a summer report that they scrubbed their phones and other systems without backing them up despite being told to preserve documents. Now it's being revealed that there's more information being turned over to the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress.
The Secret Service has long said that they were corroborating and they didn't need to be subpoenaed. Robert Engel and Tony Ornato both testified behind closed doors to the committee, but it was before White House aid Cassidy Hutchinson spoke publicly and recalled conversations she'd had with Ornato. It was reported by CNN that Ornato was working for the Secret Service at the time he was working behind the scenes to undermine Hutchinson. He has since "retired."
Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) indicated that there is a lot more the committee has learned about the Secret Service than the public is aware of. Lofgren wouldn't give details, but she said that they've been able to gather a trove of information from them.
"Are you still seeking the testimony of Tony Ornato and the other agents?" asked Wallace. "I remember you sharing with us, have obtained private counsel."
"The answer is yes. We will do that in an orderly fashion when we have had an opportunity to review the large amount of documentary evidence that has now come in from the Secret Service. It's important that we get that information reviewed before we reinterview him," said Lofgren.
"Do you have new evidence that wasn't at your disposal at the time of the last public hearing ended?" Wallace asked.
Lofgren simply said that the committee does have new information.
"Care to categorize any of that?" Wallace asked.
"No," Lofgren said flatly. "You know our rules don't allow us to categorize or discuss the evidence, but new information has come in. And some of it is very pertinent. Some of it is less relevant, but it's been a large volume of information that we really pressed hard for the agency to release. They should have done so before we had to issue subpoenas earlier this summer. But there's now a very steady flow of data coming into the committee and it's a huge amount. It takes a little bit to go through it all."
Wallace went on to ask about the text messages that were deleted even after they were told to prepare to turn over information. Wallace asked if there were other sources for those texts.
"I didn't say what specific types of information. I mean, I really am not at liberty to do that under the committee rules," said Lofgren. "There's texts, there's e-mails, that's radio, there's all kinds of information. So, we're going through everything that's been provided. More is coming in. As I say, some of it is not relevant and some of it is. And it's a huge slog to go through it, but we're going to go through it. And the members of the committee themselves have been involved in this. And we hope to have that completed soon."
Watch:
-
CNN reports Mark Meadows ‘complied’ with DOJ subpoena in J6 case
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mark-meadows.png?id=28186139&width=2400&height=1349)
Former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows provided information to the Department of Justice following a subpoena, CNN reported Wednesday.
Citing "sources familiar with the matter," CNN reported Meadows turned over the same material he delivered to the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Last year, Meadows turned over thousands of text messages and emails to the House committee, before he stopped cooperating," CNN reported. "The texts he handed over between Election Day 2020 and Joe Biden’s inauguration, which CNN previously obtained, provided a window into his dealings at the White House, though he withheld hundreds of messages, citing executive privilege."
One of CNN's sources claimed Meadows met the obligation of the DOJ subpoena.
"Meadows’ compliance with the subpoena comes as the Justice Department has ramped up its investigation related to January 6, which now touches nearly every aspect of former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss – including the fraudulent electors plot, efforts to push baseless election fraud claims and how money flowed to support these various efforts, CNN reported this week," the network noted. "As White House chief of staff, Meadows was in the middle of Trump’s efforts to overturn the election in the two months between Election Day and Biden’s inauguration."
The DOJ had previously declined to prosecute Meadows for contempt of Congress.
Read More Here:
https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/14/politics/mark-meadows-subpoena-justice-department-january-6/index.html
-
Justice Dept announces arrest of Sal Vassallo of New Jersey in Capitol riot case, alleging Vassallo "abruptly charged at an officer who was in the process of assisting other officers. Vassallo grabbed & pushed the officer with what appeared to be a significant amount of force".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fct8I9vXEAEp8bU?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Sentencing is set for Sept 22 (one week delay) in Capitol riot case of Timothy-Hale Cusanelli, who was convicted by DC jury.
Feds: "He commanded other rioters to “advance” on the Capitol, a command he continued once inside. Hale-Cusanelli was among the first rioters to enter."
Hale-Cusanelli’s situation was spotlighted at a Trump rally recently, even though he’s not an obvious candidate for sympathy. Choosing to spotlight him instead of others seems to have been a nod to white supremacists in Trump’s base.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcpHJvaWYAAo3M8?format=png&name=small)
Marshall Cohen @MarshallCohen
Cynthia Hughes, who runs a support group for J6ers, spoke at tonight's Trump rally. She told the story of her nephew Tim Cusanelli, a convicted Capitol rioter — and Nazi sympathizer, who said "Hitler should've finished the job." This is their poster child for J6 "injustice."
https://twitter.com/MarshallCohen/status/1566178439866056705
-
In newer court filings, Justice Dept has emphasized the impact of the large metal Trump sign (with huge wheels) that was used as a battering ram on west front of Capitol on Jan 6.
Detailed here in a sequence ===>
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcYUQ09WQAAOddR?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
January 6th Committee @January6thCmte
The Select Committee has obtained a recording of communications over a walkie-talkie app among Oath Keepers who were inside the Capitol and others who were sharing intelligence from elsewhere.
Listen to how they reacted to President Trump’s 2:38 tweet in real-time.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1570519072319709184
-
NEW: Justice Dept to seek 78-months (6+ years) in prison for former Army Reservist Tim Hale-Cusanelli in Capitol riot case
"On January 6, Hale-Cusanelli took the opportunity to turn desire for civil war into action."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcyJ7TSWQAEA9Xu?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Prosecutors argue Cusanelli "is personally responsible for threatening injury to officers both by leading and egging on the crowd to “advance” on the Capitol".
Feds (more): "Civil war, he said, would be the “the simplest solution, the most likely outcome inevitably.” If Hale-Cusanelli became King of America his “solution” to give the country a “clear bill of health” would be to purge Congress & give Jews “24 hours to leave” the country".
They allege he talked of a "purge".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcyKt7_WAAEVF80?format=jpg&name=large)
And they say he talked of "faithless electors" ahead of Jan 6
He was convicted on all charges at trial in May
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcyK6_EXEAExhFx?format=jpg&name=large)
Prosecutors (More): "For this defendant, January 6 was about one thing – Civil War. Civil war may not have erupted as a result of January 6, but not for Hale-Cusanelli’s lack of trying"
Sentencing is next week
Here's full Justice Dept sentencing memo:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1570775232662601729/VZSVt4nn?format=png&name=360x360)
courtlistener.com
Sentencing Memorandum – #110 in United States v. HALE-CUSANELLI (D.D.C., 1:21-cr-00037) – CourtLi...
SENTENCING MEMORANDUM by USA as to TIMOTHY LOUIS HALE-CUSANELLI (Fifield, Kathryn) (Entered: 09/16/2022)
-
MAGA rioter busted for recruiting extremists behind bars
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-rioter-with-alleged-nazi-sympathies-claims-that-he-didn-t-know-congress-meets-inside-capitol-building.jpg?id=29865158&width=2400&height=1350)
On Friday, Law & Crime reported that federal prosecutors are warning in a sentencing recommendation that Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, a convicted Capitol rioter with a history of cosplaying Hitler and extremist neo-Nazi ideology, is trying to organize extremists behind bars.
"'It is well established in the record at this point that Hale-Cusanelli subscribes to White-Supremacist and Nazi-Sympathizer ideologies that drive his enthusiasm for another civil war and formed the basis of this Court’s pretrial determination that Hale-Cusanelli was a danger to the community,' Justice Department attorney Kathryn E. Fifield observed in the memo," said the report.
"'Sources inside the jail also reported that Hale-Cusanelli has used the power of a fundraising organization spearheaded by his adoptive aunt to organize inmates and curry favor,' the sentencing memo states. 'One inmate said the situation was like ‘the movie Mean Girls, but with racist, antisemitic extremists.''"
Hale-Cusanelli was convicted in May on felony obstruction and four misdemeanors — and prosecutors are recommending six and a half years in prison.
"A former Army reservist and a security contractor, Hale-Cusanelli held a 'secret' clearance, and his access to classified information alarmed many after his ideology became apparent," reported Adam Klasfeld. "Court papers showed him with a Hitler mustache and hairdo, aping the dictator’s overwrought expressions in faux-stern selfies with his hand over his heart. It was more than World War II-era cosplay. People who knew Hale-Cusanelli told federal investigators that the former reservist expressed support for killing Jews and 'babies born with any deformities or disabilities,' and said that 'Hitler should have finished the job.'"
According to earlier reports, Hale-Cusanelli bragged to his former Black roommate about beating a police officer with a flagpole while in the crowd attacking the Capitol on January 6. He has also fantasized about a "f*****g civil war" and said that if he were made king of the U.S., he would give all Jews "24 hours to leave the country" — including Jewish members of Congress.
"A former Army reservist and a security contractor, Hale-Cusanelli held a 'secret' clearance, and his access to classified information alarmed many after his ideology became apparent," reported Adam Klasfeld. "Court papers showed him with a Hitler mustache and hairdo, aping the dictator’s overwrought expressions in faux-stern selfies with his hand over his heart. It was more than World War II-era cosplay. People who knew Hale-Cusanelli told federal investigators that the former reservist expressed support for killing Jews and 'babies born with any deformities or disabilities,' and said that 'Hitler should have finished the job.'"
According to earlier reports, Hale-Cusanelli bragged to his former Black roommate about beating a police officer with a flagpole while in the crowd attacking the Capitol on January 6. He has also fantasized about a "f**king civil war" and said that if he were made king of the U.S., he would give all Jews "24 hours to leave the country" — including Jewish members of Congress.
At trial, he tried to defend himself by telling jurors that he never intended to obstruct Congress, and didn't actually know the Capitol building was where Congress gathered to do business, adding, "I know this sounds idiotic, but I'm from New Jersey. I feel like an idiot, it sounds idiotic, and it is."
Read More Here:
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/mean-girls-but-with-racist-antisemitic-extremists-hitler-posing-ex-army-reservist-convicted-for-jan-6-is-organizing-behind-bars-feds-say/
-
Court schedules plea hearing for next week in Capitol breach case of Paula Conlon of West Virginia, who's accused of telling police to "back off".. while on a front line of the mob.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcvBBnaXkAENSK5?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FcvBBnWWQAEN2MN?format=jpg&name=small)
-
'The worst is yet to come': Experts warn MAGA violence is spreading -- and law enforcement should prepare
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=31742303&width=2400&height=1374)
According to two different experts on the rising tide of domestic terrorists since the election of Donald Trump, things are going to get a lot worse before they get better as long as the former president remains free to incite violence in much the way he did on Jan 6, 2020.
Speaking with the New York Times' Blake Hounshell, authors Luke Mogelson and Andy Campbell, both of whom have new books on right-wing extremists, waved the red flag about what they see coming as Trump continues to egg his followers on -- which is setting the stage for more violence.
As Hounshell summed up their warning: "The worst is yet to come."
Getting right to the point, Campbell, who has a new book out on the Proud Boys, told the Times, "I really do believe that, going forward, it’s not just going to be MAGA rallies. It’s not just going to be political violence at Proud Boys rallies or leftist rallies or B.L.M. events. It’s going to be political violence at any civic event that happens to fall in the cross hairs of Donald Trump and company.”
According to Hounshell, "In the United States, it is not illegal to be a part of a domestic extremist group. To go after specific threats, the government has limited tools, meaning that federal officials often must find links to groups overseas in order to crack down on homegrown extremists or prosecute them under other provisions of law," adding, "Complicating matters, Republican politicians like Trump — who instructed the Proud Boys to 'stand back and stand by' during a presidential debate in 2020 — often provide rhetorical cover."
Mogelson claims the violence he saw on Jan 6, when supporters of the former president stormed the Capitol, reminded him of covering armed conflicts around the world for the past decade.
"He witnessed a mob killing of someone in Iraq, which gave him an understanding of what he called the 'intoxicating' feeling that can whip a crowd of seemingly ordinary people into a frenzy," the Times reports before noting, "he began reporting on anti-lockdown groups that mobilized against the pandemic measures put in place by governors like Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, a Democrat, he immediately saw that the story was much larger."
He told the Times, "I soon realized that these groups and this movement was rapidly mutating.”
Campbell chimed in to add the Republican Party appears unable -- or unwilling -- to rein the far-right extremists in.
“The Republican Party seems to not know what to do,” he claimed before warning, “It seems like their inability to rebut the Proud Boys and other extremists is pushing this machine forward so much faster and really making it hard for law enforcement to keep up.”
Read More Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/us/politics/domestic-extremism-warnings.html
-
In Sunday night filing, military vet Mark Mazza seeks leniency at sentencing in Jan 6 case, defense argues:
Jan 6 Cmte "announced that the riots that day were caused at the instigation of President Trump who lied about a stolen election. We agree completely with this assessment".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fc-1UiOWAAEvBn3?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fc-1UiNWAAAhHsW?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
In newer court filings, Justice Dept has emphasized the impact of the large metal Trump sign (with huge wheels) that was used as a battering ram on west front of Capitol on Jan 6.
Detailed here in a sequence ===>
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fcu-9pKWAAIVtDE?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Pre-trial motions are expected within a week in the high-profile Jan 6 case of Richard "Bigo" Barnett
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FdBsgMSWYAAvzH2?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
America First ‘Groypers’ arrested on J6 charges: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=31794508&width=2400&height=1350)
Five men associated with the far-right "America First" movement have been charged for their alleged roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"Joseph Brody, 23, of Springfield, Virginia, is charged in a criminal complaint with assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers, causing bodily injury, interfering with a law enforcement officer during a civil disorder, and obstruction of an official proceeding, all felony offenses. He also is charged with two misdemeanor offenses," the Department of Justice announced. "Four other defendants also face misdemeanor charges. They include Thomas Carey, 21, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Gabriel Chase, 22, of Gainesville, Florida; Jon Lizak, 21, of Cold Spring Harbor, New York, and Paul Ewald Lovley, 23, of Halethorpe, Maryland."
All five men have been arrested in recent days, DOJ says.
"According to court documents, all five defendants communicated with one another in advance of Jan. 6, 2021, and eventually illegally entered the Capitol as a group, at approximately 2:16 p.m. They moved throughout multiple levels, corridors, and rooms of the building, including the office and conference room of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi," DOJ announced. "After about 35 minutes, the group exited the building and moved to the north end of the Capitol, witnessing the breach of the North Door. Brody assisted another person in the mob in using a metal barricade against a U.S. Capitol Police officer, knocking the officers back as he attempted to secure the North Door. Brody and Chase also participated in the destruction of media equipment."
In a 45-page statement of fact, DOJ said, "Additionally, the investigation has shown that Lovely, Brody, Chase, Lizak, and Carey were associated with a group known as America First."
"Leadership of America First has espoused a belief that they are defending against the demographic and cultural changes in America. Lovely, Brody, Chase, and Lizak initially met at an America First event and attended subsequent events together," DOJ argued. "After meeting, they continued to communicate through a social media platform. Carey traveled with Lovely, Chase, and Lizak and met Brody in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021."
Devotees of Fuentes' America First refer to themselves as "Groypers."
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors hate groups, described America First founder Nick Fuentes as a "white nationalist livestreamer who advocates pulling the Republican Party further to the extreme far-right end of the political spectrum. An outspoken admirer of fascists such as Mussolini, Fuentes emerged as an influential figure on the national stage during the now-infamous 'Stop the Steal' movement, which relied on misinformation to falsely claim that Donald Trump had won the 2020 election and sought to overturn the results of it."
The Anti-Defamation League explains, "Groypers want to confront mainstream conservatives about positions that Groypers believe are not in the best interests of whites. They believe that the mainstream conservative movement is just as responsible as liberals and the left for destroying white America, and that Groypers are the true future of the conservative movement."
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section.
https://www.rawstory.com/j6-america-first-groypers/
-
"Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”
The Select Committee investigated how Trump’s call to arms inspired extremists to go to Washington on January 6th.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1569684573289693185
-
'He tried to overthrow our government!' Trump supporter confronted in Ohio diner over January 6
A supporter of former President Donald Trump found himself being confronted by an acquaintance during a CNN interview in an Ohio diner.
CNN went to the diner to take the temperature of voters in a key swing district ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
During the segment, an Ohio man named Joe Clements told the network that he would be supporting Republican and one-time QAnon promoter J.R. Majewski due to his endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
"It means a lot to me," Clements said. "I like Trump."
However, a man named Steve Santo, who was siting across the table from Clements, didn't have such a favorable opinion about the former president, and he didn't hold back in slamming him over the January 6th Capitol riots.
"He tried to overthrow our government!" Santo said. "That's the bottom line -- and you guys can't see it!"
Santo also said that Majewski's presence at the Jan. 6th "Stop the Steal" rally made him off limits as a congressional candidate.
"I would never vote for him or any of those people who were there on January 6th!" he said.
Watch:
-
Rep. Jamie Raskin has had enough of Kevin McCarthy's and the GOP's crap regarding the 1/6 Committee. He totally destroyed their lies in 2 minutes.
Raskin: You pulled the plug on the investigation you originally advocated because Donald Trump didn’t want it. Let’s tell some truth! You’re talking about truth, I’m giving you the truth!
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1572711603153547265
-
Bill Pascrell, Jr. @BillPascrell
623 days ago insurrectionists ransacked the US Capitol and *hours later* 68% of House republicans voted to finish the rioters’ job and make trump a dictator. Never forget it.
https://twitter.com/BillPascrell/status/1572763273250099200
-
Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice, will speak with the House Jan. 6 panel
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/09/22/USAT/99eaf695-c432-40fe-9bbe-80381948a7df-1236038659.jpg?width=1184&format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=50)
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
-
'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:
-
J6 committee wins — will get phone records of Arizona GOP boss who was a fake elector: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/chaos-erupts-in-arizona-weekend-before-gop-primaries-as-accusations-of-dirty-tricks-fly.jpg?id=30371586&width=2400&height=1350)
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/
-
Secret Service warned Capitol Police of neo-Nazi threats a week prior to insurrection
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-mob-at-the-capitol-via-shutterstock.jpg?id=29277060&width=2400&height=1323)
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/
-
Clarence and Ginni Thomas facing increased scrutiny ahead of J6 testimony: report
https://www.rawstory.com/j6-clarence-ginny-thomas/
-
Mueller prosecutor: Garland showing increased willingness to go after top figures linked to the Jan. 6 attack
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/us-attorney-general-merrick-garland.png?id=27877523&width=2400&height=1545)
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:
-
Former firefighter who injured cops pleads guilty to felony for Jan. 6 Capitol riot
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=25454596&width=2400&height=1350)
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/
-
Bombshell: J6 staffer told 60 Minutes White House switchboard called rioter on Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/capitol-rioters.jpg?id=29803987&width=2400&height=1326)
On Friday, 60 Minutes revealed that Denver Riggleman, a key staffer for the House Select Committee on January 6, discovered the White House switchboard patched through to the phone of a Capitol rioter — while the attack was in progress.
"Riggleman, an ex-military intelligence officer and former Republican congressman from Virginia, oversaw a data-driven operation for the January 6 committee, pursuing phone records and other digital clues tied to the attack on the Capitol. He stopped working for the committee in April," reported Keith Zubrow.
"You get a real 'a-ha' moment when you see that the White House switchboard had connected to a rioter's phone while it's happening," said Riggleman to 60 Minutes' Bill Whitaker. "That's a big, pretty big 'a-ha' moment."
He added that "I only know one end of that call. I don't know the White House end, which I believe is more important. But the thing is the American people need to know that there are link connections that need to be explored more."
This comes after a series of damning revelations about the involvement and support of former President Donald Trump in encouraging the people storming the Capitol.
One of the biggest allegations to come out of the public hearings by the select committee was the claim by former White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson that Trump demanded the rioters be allowed onto the premises because "they're not hear to hurt me" — and that he lunged at his security detail in the car after they refused to take him to the Capitol to join the attackers.
https://www.rawstory.com/white-house-j6/
-
Insider details how DOJ can pinpoint which White House staffer called rioter on J6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/gop-senator-urges-trump-to-veto-any-coronavirus-bill-that-doesnt-include-direct-stimulus-checks.jpg?id=24835686&width=2400&height=1290)
The bombshell "60 Minutes" report that the White House switchboard connected a call to a Jan. 6 rioter during the attack on the Capitol should be easy to track down, according to a former top Trump administration official.
The report, set to air in full on Sunday, features former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA). The former National Security Agency contractor served as a staffer for the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"I only know one end of that call," Riggleman said. "I don't know the White House end, which I believe is more important. But the thing is the American people need to know that there are link connections that need to be explored more."
The former congressman said, "from my perspective…being in counterterrorism. If the White House, even if it's a short call, and it's a connected call, who is actually making that phone call?"
Olivia Troye, a national security expert who worked at the Department of Homeland Security and for Vice President Mike Pence, offered her thoughts on Twitter.
"Infuriating that the lives of our country’s leadership were at risk on Jan 6...law enforcement officers were fighting for their lives and meanwhile, someone inside the Trump White House was apparently directly communicating with the rioters while it was happening," Troye wrote.
She also explained how she would investigate further.
"They should look up the record of all the extensions in the White House and what desk it belonged to — it would at least lead to narrowing down where in the [White House] the call was placed from…then one could review the camera footage for that area and bingo!" Troye wrote. "That’s where I would start."
Watch:
-
Clarence and Ginni Thomas facing increased scrutiny ahead of J6 testimony: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/clarence-thomas-wife-is-helping-trump-purge-snakes-from-the-white-house-and-replace-them-with-fox-news-regulars.jpg?id=26406547&width=2400&height=1290)
Clarence Thomas, the most conservative justice on the US Supreme Court, and his wife Ginni, an activist tied to Donald Trump's bid to challenge his 2020 defeat, are adamant there is a firewall between their careers.
But with Ginni Thomas facing mounting questions over her role in the former president's crusade, cracks are appearing in that wall.
Married for 35 years, the conservative Washington power couple are under new scrutiny after text messages and emails appear to show Ginni Thomas involved in possibly illegal efforts to keep Trump in the White House.
With Trump-related cases possibly headed to the high court, this has raised doubts that her husband Clarence Thomas can rule fairly and independently.
After stalling for months, Ginni Thomas is now expected to testify in the coming weeks to the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 assault on Congress by Trump supporters seeking to overturn the election.
"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," her attorney, Mark Paoletta, told US media.
- Conservative influencers -
At 65, Ginni Thomas has wielded significant influence in ultra-conservative circles in Washington for years.
After Trump's defeat in November 2020, communications show she encouraged officials in some states and the White House to reject Democrat Joe Biden's victory.
Thomas exchanged at least 29 text messages with Trump's chief of staff Mark Meadows in the weeks before January 6, urging him to not concede the election.
"Help This Great President stand firm, Mark!!!" she wrote in one.
"The majority knows Biden and the Left is attempting the greatest Heist of our History."
On the morning of January 6 she attended a White House rally at which Trump urged Congress to reject Biden's victory. But she has said that she left before the assault on the Capitol.
- Conflict of interest? -
In the same period, Thomas was the sole member of the nine-justice court to support a Trump-backed petition that sought to overturn the election results in a state.
And in January 2022, he again was the only justice to support a Trump petition to prohibit the release of White House records related to the January 6 Capitol assault.
Democrats say that, because of his wife's involvement, Clarence Thomas has a deep conflict of interest and should recuse himself from cases related to Trump's effort to reverse the election.
Ginni Thomas though insists that her activities don't influence his.
"Like so many married couples, we share many of the same ideals, principles, and aspirations for America," she told the Washington Free Beacon.
"But we have our own separate careers, and our own ideas and opinions too. Clarence doesn't discuss his work with me, and I don't involve him in my work," she said.
- 'Trial by fire' -
As prominent Washington figures and as an interracial, African American (him) and white (her) couple, the Thomases have weathered more than a few storms.
The two were married in 1987, when she was an attorney at the US Chamber of Commerce. It was her first marriage, and his second.
In 1991 president George H.W. Bush chose Clarence Thomas, with his impeccable conservative credentials, to join the Supreme Court.
In his confirmation hearing he was accused of sexually harassing a former assistant, Anita Hill.
As Ginni sat by his side during the explosive hearings, Clarence Thomas denied everything, claiming he was the victim of a "high-tech lynching."
She called it a "trial by fire."
The two have a close life together. Both are pious Catholics, and in summers hit the road for long trips in a massive recreational vehicle, which they take to campgrounds where few recognize him.
- Quiet on the court -
Wounded by the confirmation ordeal and his experiences as a relatively rare Black figure in the conservative space, Thomas spent most of his Supreme Court career in silence, speaking almost only through his votes and written opinions in thousands of cases.
But since Trump named three more conservatives to the court, giving them a solid 6-3 majority, Thomas has become more lively, and forceful.
He led a landmark judgement in June that enshrined the right of Americans to carry guns outside the home.
And when the court overturned a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion in the same month, he went even farther than his colleagues, opining that there were no constitutional guarantees to contraception or same-sex marriage.
His opinions align closely with his wife's activism. For example, Ginni Thomas has worked closely with anti-abortion groups.
A strong believer in self-reliance, Clarence Thomas is opposed to programs, in college admissions for instance, which give Black and other disadvantaged minorities preferences over whites.
Ginni Thomas has taken similar stances: in the early 1990s as a Labor Department attorney she argued against making it law that women should be paid as much as men in comparable jobs.
AFP
-
'The Monster': Former GOP lawmaker reveals shocking data of calls to and from the White House from Jan. 6 attackers
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/january-6-attackers.jpg?id=30246400&width=2400&height=1350)
Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) told "60 Minutes" that his research team created a graph of all of the text messages to and from those involved in the Jan. 6 attack and officials at the White House. He explained that once he saw the data he simply couldn't "unsee" it.
Previous reports of Riggleman revealed that there was a call from the White House to an insurrectionist. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) told CNN on Sunday that the call only lasted 10 seconds and it didn't connect to the insurrectionist, but that the person the White House was calling was in the Capitol at the time.
That wasn't the only call. A number of cell phones belonging to Mark Meadows, Ivanka Trump, Cassidy Hutchinson, and others in the White House were sending and receiving text messages and calls on and around Jan. 6. Riggleman and his team took those calls and texts, and created a kind of data visualization tying each number to each other. It created what he called "The Monster," a line graph that shows startling conduits between Jan. 6 attackers and the White House.
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/phone-calls-from-jan-6-insurrectionists-to-white-house-staff.png?id=31819883&width=980)
Phone calls from Jan. 6 insurrectionists to White House staff.
Photo: Screen capture of data collected by former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA)
"Six pretty big centers of gravity or six groups that we looked at and really it came down to Trump team, Trump family, rally goers, unaffiliated DOJ charged defendants, Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, and others which are state legislators, alternate electors, things like that," Riggleman told "60 Minutes" on Sunday. "When you have those six groups of people you can look at the connections between them."
As "60 Minutes explained," the thick line represents tens of thousands of calls and contacts between the groups. Riggleman also collected the text messages from Meadows, putting them in a spreadsheet and gathering info about who was reaching out to Meadows.
Riggleman joked it seemed like everyone in Washington had Meadows' personal cell phone number.
"We don't have text content, but we do have is how long they talked, when they talked, that is very important," said Riggleman about the calls. "And it really does suggest that there was much more coordination than the American public can even imagine when it came to Jan. 6th."
The graph below shows the version of the chart above zoomed out. It shows the major connectors. One section that is highlighted in blue shows one individual and their calls to and from the group.
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/calls-from-jan-6-insurrectionists-to-white-house-staff-the-second-in-blue-is-one-individual.png?id=31819889&width=980)
Calls from Jan. 6 insurrectionists to White House staff. The second in blue is one individual
Photo: Screen capture from former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) interview.
An example is the five calls weeks before the Jan. 6 attack and one QAnon organizer, Bianca Garcia, who also attended the Jan. 5 parking garage meeting between the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
"And when you have the White House switchboard and certain other cell phone numbers connected to Bianca Gracia that is a link that needs to be investigated," said Riggleman. "The thread that needs to be pulled identifying all the White House numbers and why we have certain specific people, why they were talking to the White House."
Lofgren told CNN on Sunday that every piece of information and data that Riggleman gathered for the committee has been part of the investigation and they have looked into it further.
Riggleman: Meadows’ text trove revealed a “roadmap to an attempted coup”
Watch the segment below:
Riggleman: Ginni Thomas’ beliefs were an “open secret around the beltway”
Watch:
-
60 Minutes @60Minutes
Denver Riggleman says that text messages turned over to the January 6th committee by former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows provide “irrefutable” proof of a plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election. https://cbsn.ws/3LHeocS
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1574178391481262082
https://twitter.com/60Minutes/status/1574178391481262082
-
Roger Stone's links to Jan. 6 revealed after panel IDs his phone number in 'Manhattan Madam' call logs: new book
The House select committee mapped out a detailed overview of Roger Stone's contacts after identifying his phone number.
The longtime Republican political operative refused to turn over his contacts to the committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, but panel members worked backwards through his associates and were able to identify his number after obtaining the call records of "Manhattan Madam" Kristin Davis, according to excerpts from a new book published by The Guardian.
Davis, who went to prison for running a high-end prostitution ring and dealing drugs in the 2000s, was with Stone at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, and had previously lived with Stone, who had previously managed her ill-fated campaign for New York governor in 2010.
After identifying his number, investigators learned that Stone had called Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio before and after Jan. 6, and he called Oath Keepers chief Stewart Rhodes nine days after the U.S. Capitol attack.
Both Tarrio and Rhodes have been charged with seditious conspiracy for allegedly planning the attack.
Calls from Stone's number were also made to a number of Republicans involved in the scheme to overturn the 2020 election results, including Texas attorney general Ken Paxton and Arthur Schwartz, an aide to Donald Trump Jr.
https://www.rawstory.com/roger-stone-jan-6-2658341623/
-
If Trump had walked to the Capitol Oath Keepers' actions would have been completely different: ex-spokesman
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/oath-keepers-founder-got-white-glove-treatment-from-fbi-during-arrest-report.png?id=28815811&width=2400&height=1350)
Elmer Stewart Rhodes III goes to trial this week for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on Congress and the U.S. Capitol.
Jason Van Tatenhove, the former Oath Keepers spokesperson told MSNBC that had Donald Trump walked down to the Capitol on Jan. 6 things would have gone a different way.
"I think they were absolutely serious. I think if things had gone just a little bit differently, we would be living in a different reality right now," he told MSNBC's Joy Reid. "You know, if you look at his words and his messaging he was putting out just the night before, at the speeches, with what has been released with the prosecution, the messaging that were happening, specifically on Signal and behind the scenes, I think that's really where we see where his state of mind was. And you know, if things had just gone -- if Trump had walked down to the Capitol building, I think Stewart's actions would have been completely different."
Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson relayed a story that deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato told her about Trump attempting to take the wheel of the SUV to drive up to the Capitol after his speech at the Ellipse. Trump said that it was impossible for him to reach the wheel.
Hutchinson also testified to the committee that White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told her that they had to do whatever it took to keep Trump from going to the Capitol and that if he did, arrests among administration officials would quickly follow.
Van Tatenhove also said that he thinks there were lines of communication open between the militias and the White House and the Trump campaign.
"I think that they were actively trying to open those lines both from the militia side and from the White House side, from the campaign side," he said. "I think that they probably connected up a while back. I think without that type of connection, you know, he may have shown up as like a protester, but nothing like he was there. Because it seemed like he was getting messaging like he was taking orders from Trump."
He also agreed that the kind of attitude Roger Stone had about "shoot to kill" was the same as Rhodes.
"I mean, he was talking about how we don't get out of this without a Civil War," said Van Tatenhove. "This is the messaging he's been, you know, putting out there, time and time again since, you know, the early days. It's just gotten more and more extreme and more and more violent. Before, he was talking about what would be termed a cold civil war. But really, he's talking about a hot civil war now, and that's part of the messaging. That messaging is ratcheted up over time, and we saw that with the culmination of Jan. 6th."
Watch:
-
Giuliani's son received messages from high-ranking Oath Keeper charged in Jan 6: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/andrew-giuliani-is-only-35-but-he-told-fox-news-he-s-been-in-government-service-for-5-decades.jpg?id=26416024&width=2400&height=1350)
On Monday, NBC News reported that Andrew Giuliani, son of longtime Donald Trump ally and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, received text messages from a high-ranking member of the paramilitary group the Oath Keepers, who is now facing several charges related to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
"That same Oath Keeper member, Kellye SoRelle, also tried to text a White House number on Dec. 20, according to a new book from Denver Riggleman, a former Republican congressman from Virginia, and journalist Hunter Walker. That text message went to a White House switchboard line, so it could not be delivered," reported Ryan J. Reilly and Ben Collins. "Riggleman, who lost renomination for his congressional seat after expressing opposition to then-President Donald Trump in 2020, joined the Jan. 6 committee after leaving office. He served as a staffer for the committee from August 2021 to April."
The younger Giuliani ran for governor of New York earlier this year, but lost the Republican nomination to Rep. Lee Zeldin.
"SoRelle, who was also a volunteer for Lawyers for Trump, a coalition of lawyers that was put together ahead of the 2020 election, told NBC News that she was in touch with Giuliani, who was a White House public liaison assistant during the Trump administration," said the report. "SoRelle said she only recalled being in touch with Andrew Giuliani in November 2020 but said that she could not check because the FBI seized her phone in September 2021. She also confirmed her December attempt to text a White House contact."
SoRelle reportedly only sought to discuss supposed election irregularities, not anything about upcoming efforts to breach the Capitol.
This comes as several members of the Oath Keepers face charges of seditious conspiracy for their involvement in the attack on the Capitol, where their members allegedly former "military stacks" to push through into restricted areas.
Read More Here:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/oath-keeper-charged-jan-6-attack-texted-andrew-giuliani-election-rcna49483
-
Jan. 6 supporter profanely insults former DC cop in court during Capitol rioter's sentencing hearing
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/radical-right-wing-trump-supporters-target-officer-michael-fanone-after-testifying-about-jan-6-capitol-riots.jpg?id=27078302&width=2400&height=1600)
An apparent supporter of January 6 defendants on Tuesday profanely insulted Michael Fanone, a former United States DC officer who was brutally attacked during the Jan. 6 insurrection.
As reported by NBC News' Ryan Reilly, the sympathizer called Fanone a "piece of s***" in the courtroom after the former DC cop told defendant Kyle Young that he hopes he suffers while serving his prison sentence.
Young, who pleaded guilty to grabbing Fanone as another rioter repeatedly assaulted Fanone with his own stun gun, faces several years in prison for taking part in the deadly January 6th riots at the United States Capitol building.
During a victim impact statement before the court, Fanone asked the court to throw the book at Young and give him a ten-year prison sentence.
"This is not my first rodeo... but this case is unique," he said, according to Washington Post reporter Rachel Weiner. "The assault on me by Mr. Young cost me my career, it cost me my faith in law enforcement and many of the institutions I dedicated two decades of my life to serving."
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1574818313900900352
-
Roger Stone sought another presidential pardon after J6 violence: NYT
New information is coming to light about the actions of Roger Stone before and after the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
On Tuesday, The New York Times reported Stone texted Trump attorney David Schoen asking for a presidential pardon.
"The text messages are part of a trove of video evidence Danish filmmakers have turned over to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol, which also shows Mr. Stone threatening violence and spelling out plans to fight the election results. Some of the material was expected in the panel’s next hearing, which had been planned for Wednesday but was postponed abruptly on Tuesday afternoon, with committee members citing the impending impact of Hurricane Ian," the newspaper reported.
Trump pardoned Stone two weeks before the Jan. 6 attack.
"If he can be the only president impeached twice maybe you should be the only person pardoned twice," Schoen replied.
Filmmaker Christoffer Guldbrandsen reportedly said the Jan. 6 select committee was focused on Stone's relationships with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
"Mr. Stone, a Florida resident, has long maintained close ties to the Proud Boys, especially to Enrique Tarrio, the group’s former leader who lived in Miami before his arrest in March on seditious conspiracy charges connected to the Capitol attack. Mr. Stone has also been associated with another top member of the Florida Proud Boys, Joseph Biggs, who was arrested two weeks after the storming of the Capitol and is now part of the same sedition case as Mr. Tarrio," the newspaper reported.
Watch;
-
‘Completely wacko’ MAGA rioter faces 63 to 78 months in prison for spraying Capitol cops with chemicals
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=31827513&width=2400&height=1350)
A Texas man described to the FBI by witnesses as “a "huge white supremacist" and a "complete wacko" has pleaded guilty to assaulting officers with a deadly weapon during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Daniel Ray Caldwell, 51, of The Colony, Texas, entered a guilty plea that recommends a sentencing range of 63 to 78 months in prison, plus fines, under federal sentencing guidelines. That is subject to the determination of a federal judge when Caldwell is sentenced on February 1, 2023.
Video shows Caldwell pepper spraying officers who were trying to hold back the mob that day on the Capitol steps. The guilty plea indicated that injuries to officers was one of the factors enhancing the punishment range.
One of the witnesses who reported Caldwell to the FBI had met Caldwell while playing “Airsoft Military Simulation (MilSim), which is a live-action, in person simulation of armed conflict scenarios conducted by civilians that involve airsoft plastic projectiles launched from replica weapons, but do not involve actual firearms.”
But in Caldwell’s case, the witness said, “he would bring a real firearm to the course and had to be corrected on multiple occasions to return the firearm to his vehicle.” And there was this:
“(The witness) described the individual as a “huge white supremacist” and was “a complete wacko.” In a video taken after the riot, Caldwell said officers sprayed him with chemicals and that in response, he had sprayed “around 15 of them.”
https://www.rawstory.com/completely-wacko-maga-rioter-faces-63-to-78-months-in-prison-for-spraying-capitol-cops-with-chemicals/
-
Capitol rioter gets four years in jail -- but government blew opportunity to nail him on stronger conspiracy charge
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/body-camera-video-shows-patriot-boys-president-lucas-denney-in-clown-mask-battling-police-on-the-west-plaza-at-the-us-capitol.png?id=31838272&width=2400&height=1370)
Texas militia leader Lucas Denney will serve 52 months in prison for assaulting a Metropolitan DC police officer with a dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol, WUSA 9's Jordan Fischer is reporting.
Judge Randolph Moss agreed with the government request for a sentencing enhancement due to Denney’s use of a dangerous weapon, based on Denney using a long PVC pipe to strike an officer who was deploying crowd-control spray on the west side of the Capitol building.
As president of the Patriot Boys, a militia based in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Denney was initially charged alongside Donald Hazard, the group’s sergeant at arms, with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. But the government missed the deadline to obtain an indictment for conspiracy and other charges, and then hastily indicted him on the lone assault count earlier this year. Denney then pled guilty to the assault charge before the government could bring additional charges.
Despite Denney’s conviction as a standalone defendant on a single charge, his case highlights significant coordination in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6.
As the government noted in a sentencing memorandum filed on September 21, Denney “undertook a significant level of planning and preparation for January 6, 2021, including fundraising, recruiting others to take up arms with him, and procuring weapons and protective gear for himself and others. And he engaged in repeated instances of assaultive conduct, in several locations on Capitol grounds, over the course of more than an hour and a half.”
Judge Moss took his involvement in planning the attack under consideration in Denney’s sentencing, WUSA 9 reporter Jordan Fischer reported.
A statement of offense filed by the government last month captures the militaristic posture taken by Denney, an Army veteran and former law enforcement employee, after the 2020 election.
“For me, it was really only a matter of time before I dusted off my boots,” wrote Denney, signing off as the “president of DFWPB chapter.” “I’ve hunted the most evil men the world has ever seen and they don’t scare me. I loved it. The time is coming to choose a side. And they’re 3 sides to choose from The right side, the wrong side and the side where you’re aren’t doing s*** but sitting on the sidelines watching. DFW Proud Boys are now recruiting. We also have a few guys that are doing martial arts training, weapons training, and field training. We are very active in countering ANTIFA, BLM and any other communist radical groups that decide to pop up. We also hold pro America rally’s, pro Trump rally’s and back the blue rally’s. We show the communist that Patriots are here and are not hiding. PM me any questions you have about membership.”
Denney developed extensive ties with the Proud Boys, the neo-fascist street-fighting group whose leadership faces charges of seditious conspiracy. On Dec. 3, 2020, according to the statement of offense, Denney told another individual on Facebook that he planned to go to Washington, DC “because I have to meet with the PB chairman,” apparently referring to one-time Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio. Denney didn’t ultimately make it to DC for a Dec. 12 pro-Trump rally, because he got stuck in traffic in Dallas, according to court documents, but he continued to mention ties to the Proud Boys.
On Christmas day, Denney told Hazard in a Facebook message: “So the 6th is going to be bigger than the last rally. I can’t tell you everything I know over media here but it’s gonna be big. Millions and millions will be there I can tell you that.
“We will need linking up with proud boys though,” he added. “I’ve been in contact with a few different chapters and they’re helping us out with safe hotels to get.”
Three days later, Denney confirmed to Hazard that he had booked a hotel for them, adding, “It’s the same place everyone else is getting in the Proud Boys crew and the other militias until it gets full.”
While planning for the trip and recruiting others, Denney raised money to cover the costs of travel and tactical gear.
“Hey DC is definitely on,” Denney reported to Hazard on Dec. 26, according to court documents. “We are going for sure. Have plenty of money now. I just got a 1 thousand dollar donation from just one person for the trip. I have more donations coming in to.”
Although the statement of offense makes extensive references to Denney’s remarks about working with the Proud Boys, the government’s failure to obtain an indictment for conspiracy represents a missed opportunity to explore evidence of coordination among the militant groups and potential direction from someone higher up the chain of command. For example, the identity of the person who made a $1,000 donation to the Patriot Boys has not come to light to date.
The evidence presented in the statement of offense shows Denney was attuned to the larger picture surrounding Trump’s efforts to overturn the election, although it does not disclose the source of the information. As Trump allies were pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to set aside electoral votes from states narrowly won by Joe Biden, Denney articulated a role for the militants on the ground at the Capitol in a Dec. 29 Facebook message to an undisclosed recipient.
“Trump is calling this rally himself,” said Denney. “It’s the day that Congress is going to try and certify the electoral college. But pence can deny the ones coming from the states where fraud took place. So we are thinking Trump wants us there to keep the area from being burned down by ANTIFA thugs when they get mad.” In another message the following day, Denney said, “There’s so much going on behind the scenes though.”
By Jan. 2, Denney appears to have learned that Pence was not inclined to interfere with the electoral certification, although he would not issue an official statement about his intentions until Jan. 6.
“I’m hearing some bad stuff today about Pence,” Denney reportedly commented on a Facebook post. “First everyone thought he was going to be a hero and now I’m hearing he’s stabbing Trump in the back through backdoor deals. The 6th in DC is going to be interesting.”
The statement of offense also includes graphics Denney allegedly posted on Facebook on Dec. 30 that include the hashtag #OcccupyCongress. One reads, “If they won’t hear us, they will fear us. The great betrayal is over. Election fraud is treason.”
Reflecting coordination with other militant groups, Denney reportedly sent a Facebook message on Dec. 31 declaring, “It’s 209am. I’m still up chatting with all my brothers that going to DC. All the Presidents have been so busy organizing, planning and talking lol.”
In another message to an undisclosed recipient on Facebook, Denney wrote, “I’m in other chat groups and one for the president’s of other groups and there are certain plans being made right now. It’s gonna be historic is all I can say. And we will be taking back the country on the 6th up there.”
In the early morning hours of Jan. 6, after “fighting” with left-wing counter-protesters, Denney reported to one of his Facebook contacts: “We made it back to the hotel safe and ready for tomorrow. Trump speaking to us around 11am and then we march to the capitol and after that we have special plans that I can’t say right now over Facebook. But keep an eye out for live feeds tomorrow from me. Tomorrow will be historic.”
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-sentence-2658355696/
-
If Meadows' texts he turned over were that bad — imagine how damaging the ones are he didn't turn over: Riggleman
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump-and-mark-meadows.png?id=30044056&width=2400&height=1350)
WASHINGTON — In April, the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress revealed that Donald Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, turned over 2,319 text messages that showed the conversations he was having from the November 2020 election through the insurrection.
Former Rep. Denver Riggleman's (R-VA), who joined the Jan. 6 committee staff after being voted out of Congress, penned a book that detailed his piece of the investigation, which centered around phone calls, text messages and multimedia messages.
"If this was what Meadows was willing to turn over, I can’t imagine how bad it got in the messages he didn’t want the committee to read," wrote Riggleman. "The sprawling spreadsheet left me with an uneasy feeling that everything the messages were telling us about extremism and authoritarianism in the Trump-era Republican Party was just the tip of the iceberg."
He detailed a Nov. 4 group text with Rick Perry, Ben Carson, Meadows and Sunny Perdue, where Perry outlined the idea that state legislatures in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia could simply declare Trump the winner before the counting was over.
"Interesting," Carson responded.
A large text was sent from Donald Trump Jr. on Nov. 6, which purported to be "the strategy." It was the same strategy as Perry, even mentioning the same states. The text was previously reported in April, but Riggleman noted that after not responding, Don Jr. sent the text to Meadows a second time. It was
“Much of this had merit,” Meadows belatedly replied. “Working on this for pa, ga and nc already (sic).”
Riggleman wrote that the Meadows conversations brought together every conspiracy on the darkest parts of QAnon websites and message boards.
"The texts showed Meadows eagerly searching for examples of fraud to provide a basis for challenging the result. He didn’t seem to care how questionable the source was or how thin the evidence was. It was all-hands-on-deck and Meadows wanted anything that could be used to question the vote," Riggleman wrote.
Riggleman dared to click the links that were being shared with Meadows. Somewhere in between diet pill ads and doomsday food supplies, were conspiracy theories that made it all the way to the White House.
"I was truly astounded that some of our government officials were getting their information from such far-out sources," the book detailed. "Republican Arizona congressman Paul Gosar sent Meadows several texts between November and December 2020 warning about 'dead voters' and Dominion, the voting machines destined to become a lightning rod in the months to come. (It was a line of inquiry that even Meadows repeatedly indicated he doubted in emails to other associates.) One of Gosar’s texts included a link to a movie about 'cyber warfare' and voting machines from an anti-vaccine conspiracy blog called 'Some B**ch Told Me.' Republicans in Washington mined briefings from very dubious sources."
While Riggleman may have described it as QAnon "buffoonery," he noted that the horrifying reality was that this was the "digital virus" that took over "the psyche of the Republican Party."
https://www.rawstory.com/mark-meadows-get-worse/
-
Ginni Thomas was a ‘shill’ for her husband in J6 testimony: ex-prosecutor
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/clarence-thomas-wife-is-helping-trump-purge-snakes-from-the-white-house-and-replace-them-with-fox-news-regulars.jpg?id=26406547&width=2400&height=1290)
The question of motivation was raised on Friday after long-sought testimony by Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, before the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol.
MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle reported Chairman Benny Thompson said Ginni Thomas is sticking to her misguided claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
"We'll go one step further, it's not misguided, it is a flat-out lie," Ruhle declared.
For analysis, Ruhle interviewed former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner.
"Glenn, what was the committee hoping to hear from Ginni Thomas?" Ruhle asked. "We both know she wasn't gonna say anything."
"No, she wasn't interested in being forthcoming and being candid," Kirschner replied.
"I think it actually turned out worse than we had expected because, in part, she was kind of a shill for her husband, saying things we would never hear from Justice Thomas because he's not going to be asked to testify," he explained. "So she got to say whatever she wanted about how we never discuss cases and we really didn't discuss election fraud and if people believe that, well, there are any number of bridges for sale."
"Then she also stuck with the big lie," he added.
Watch:
-
Justice Dept announces Jan 6 charges against Mikhail Slye of PA, alleging "Slye used a bike rack barricade to intentionally trip an officer with the Capitol Police.. As a result of being tripped, the officer fell down the stairs. He suffered injuries as a result of this incident."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fd7KMBKX0AAu1bN?format=jpg&name=small)
-
'She's in this up to her neck': Morning Joe unravels 'demented' Ginni Thomas' role in Jan. 6 'coup'
Panelists on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" denounced Ginni Thomas for proudly affirming her belief in Donald Trump's election lies during testimony before the Jan. 6 committee.
The wife of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas testified before the House select committee, whose chairman Bennie Thompson (D-MS) revealed that she still believes the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and she emerged smiling from the interview with lawmakers.
"Thomas first came under scrutiny for sending text messages to Mark Meadows encouraging then-president Trump not to concede the 2020 election," said co-host Mika Brzezinski. "In her opening statement to the committee yesterday, she said her husband, Justice Thomas, was, quote, 'completely unaware of my texts with Mark Meadows until this committee leaked them to the press.' Her attorney also issued a statement yesterday arguing that her activities relating to the 2020 election were, quote, 'minimal.'"
"Just the fact that she's still an election denier is staggering to me," Brzezinski added. "It defies every court ruling. Fair to say it defies logic at this point."
Co-host Willie Geist agreed, saying he was troubled by her demeanor after affirming to the select committee her belief in Trump's election lies.
"We've seen some humility from other people who have been called in front of that panel realizing that now that the screws are being turned, it's time to admit what's true, that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election," Geist said. "Not her, in fact, emerged proudly from the long deposition smiling and proud of her position on that."
Thomas played a key role in connecting various participants in the attempted coup to one another, Geist said, and her involvement raises questions about whether her husband should recuse himself from any cases related to the 2020 election.
"If you had asked me a few years ago about Ginni Thomas," said Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson, "I would have said she is a far-right Republican activist, but I would have sort of left it there. Now she just appears just to be part of the demented fringe, really, just so far out there that she can't see reality anymore. The idea, you know, she is the wife of a Supreme Court justice, the idea that someone that close to the pinnacle of judicial power in this country does not believe in our justice system, does not believe in results of more than 60, you know, court cases, or more than 60 judges looking at this question of, as if there were a question about the 2020 election and saying, no, this is garbage. This is ridiculous. None of these claims is true, and she rejects all of that. That it's irrational is not a strong enough word for it. I just keep coming back to demented. It just doesn't make any sense."
Jonathan Lemire, the White House bureau chief for Politico, expressed alarm that Thomas continues to profess that President Joe Biden had not been duly elected.
"She is still saying this now, and let's remember, this isn't just her saying yesterday, on Jan. 6, this isn't just her texting with Mark Meadows saying keep up the fight," Lemire said. "She was working with state legislatures, pushing two different states, Wisconsin and Arizona, to seat alternate false set of electors to try to overturn Joe Biden's win. She is into this up to her neck, and Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas, I know she claims that there's a wall between the two of them, and they don't speak about this sort of stuff. Let's remember he was the one dissenting voice in the Trump case about keeping the documents at Mar-a-Lago, and many lawmakers, Democrats, have called him to recuse himself for Trump-related efforts going forward. It's hard not to be really worried about the implications of Ginni Thomas's beliefs."
Watch:
-
Oath Keepers claim 'opposite' of sedition because Trump could order militia attack on Capitol: analysis
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/oath-keepers-lawyer-ends-up-in-shouting-match-with-judge-10-days-before-seditious-conspiracy-trial-report.jpg?id=31710894&width=2400&height=1350)
With opening arguments in the Oath Keepers' seditious conspiracy trial scheduled to begin on Monday, the New Yorker took an in-depth look at the legal argument being put forth by founder Stewart Rhodes and co-defendants.
"In the trial, Rhodes’s lawyers will attempt to sway the jury using an argument rooted in Rhodes’s version of right-wing militancy," Mike Giglio reported. "The Oath Keepers, they will argue, were not at the Capitol to fight with law enforcement on January 6, 2021. They were acting more as an extension of law enforcement, awaiting orders from Donald Trump, whom Rhodes had urged to invoke the Insurrection Act, to prevent Joe Biden from taking power. He implored Trump to call up members of the Oath Keepers and other armed Americans to serve as part of a Presidentially sanctioned militia."
The story noted a pre-trial motion where Rhodes' lawyers wrote, "the Government would like this Court to believe that is sedition, when in fact, it is the opposite. It is loyalty to an oath taken in defense of the Country.”
The co-defendants could face twenty years in prison if convicted.
"After Rhodes’s arrest, Phillip Linder, a well-regarded Dallas attorney, and his partner, James Lee Bright, became his defense lawyers. Sidney Powell, the lawyer who’d spread Trump’s false claims about the 2020 election, reportedly hired Linder and Bright via her new foundation, as well as paid defense bills for another Oath Keeper charged alongside Rhodes; a senior member of the Proud Boys; and other defendants in January 6th cases," the New Yorker reported. "Last month, Rhodes attempted to replace the two attorneys and delay his trial; Judge Amit Mehta, of the D.C. district court, denied the motion, but the new lawyer Rhodes had selected, Edward Tarpley, was added to the defense team. Linder and Bright continue to direct Rhodes’s defense."
Bright said they were aware that Rhodes' defense could potentially be used to justify violence in the future and that Jan. 6 could have been worse, noting “how dangerous Trump was in that moment to America.”
He also noted how Trump incited his followers with giving a clear command for violence.
“Isn’t that where Trump is kind of a genius? He knew what to tell people. He figured it out,” Bright said. “He used the hell out of these people. He knew their fears. He knew their dreams.”
Read More Here: https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-oath-keepers-radical-legal-defense-of-january-6th
-
Senator Mike Lee was behind getting Sidney Powell on Trump's legal team: new book
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mike-lee.jpg?id=29960494&width=2400&height=1350)
Former Rep. Denver Riggleman (R-VA) began working on the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress not long after it was established. His focus with his four-person team was in sifting through all of the phone calls, text messages and multimedia messages that were uncovered from Mark Meadows' as part of a committee subpoena.
While the 2,319 messages have been released, Riggleman's newly released book, The Breach, detailed that when the text messages came out in April people like Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) didn't look quite as bad as Riggleman said he is.
"In snippets, it was easy to misread the intention of the texts. Wrongdoers could come off as downright, well, if not saintly, decent," he wrote. "Utah senator Mike Lee and Texas congressman Chip Roy were quoted as souring on their colleagues’ efforts to keep Trump in power. They received kudos in the press for their apparent reasonableness during unreasonable times."
The truth is, he said, they were among those who actively worked to undermine the will of the people.
"What other texts revealed was that on November 7, 2020, when the election was called for Biden, Mike Lee wrote Meadows asking that attorney Sidney Powell be brought into the White House," Riggleman said. "Powell had a difficult-to-define role in the postelection period. She dubbed the evidence of election fraud that she said she’d gathered, and eventually herself, as 'the Kraken,' a reference to a legendary Scandinavian sea monster—a colossal octopus—that is released from captivity to fight for the gods in the movie Clash of the Titans. For a time, she was a member of the Trump campaign’s legal team and one of Trump’s personal lawyers, and she appeared in those roles at a notorious press conference alongside Rudy Giuliani."
She has since been flooded with complaints that she be disbarred for false statements in court. She has also raised millions in a legal defense fund that has been used to pay for another disbarred lawyer to help militia members who are now fighting sedition charges.
"On the evening of November 9, Mike Lee sent Meadows a text saying he and other “Republican senators” had held a meeting with Powell at the Conservative Partnership Institute," Riggleman recalled.
"We had steering executive meeting at CPI tonight, with Sidney Powell as our guest speaker,” wrote Lee. “You have in us a group of ready and loyal advocates who will go to bat for him, but I fear this could prove short-lived unless you hire the right legal team and set them loose immediately.”
Riggleman noted later in the book that even Meadows seemed "tepid" in Lee pushing Powell on the president.
"As Lee warned Meadows that Powell was complaining the Trump campaign lawyers were 'obstructing progress,' it’s likely those attorneys shared Meadows’s reservations," the book explains. "Nonetheless, Powell texted Meadows directly on November 10. She only sent an image. We don’t know what the file contained. It’s one of those messages in the log that remain a mystery. Still, the pair clearly had an open line of communication."
Lee is now running for reelection in Utah against former Republican aide Evan McMullin, who is running as an independent candidate. Powell is also part of the Georgia voter fraud investigation, but she refused to show up when the grand jury subpoenaed.
https://www.rawstory.com/mike-lee-sidney-powell-trump/
-
Where do failed dictators go to? Florida, Apparently.
Don't be surprised if Putin ends up in Florida. If he can make it that far.
-
Justice Dept to seek approx. 6 years prison in Jan 6 case of Shane Woods of Illinois, arguing "Woods came to Wash. DC armed with a knife, eagerly anticipating the use of violence. During the riot, Woods assaulted two people without provocation".. a police officer & photographer.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsloU3WWwAEWAz5?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Where is the outrage over the leftist insurrection takeover of the TN Capitol this week? After a dangerous radical leftist shot up a religious school and murdered three small children, the insurrectionists attacked the TN capitol to lend their support. They held up seven fingers to include the shooter as a victim of this hate crime. Attacking police and disrupting governmental business. Nothing to see there.
-
Sentencing set for May in US Capitol breach case of former US Olympic swimmer Klete Keller.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsUbdM1WYAAQ_zU?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Court schedules April 11 hearing in the Capitol riot case of Larry Giberson of New Jersey, who's accused waving & "ushering" rioters into the tunnel to fight against police on Jan 6, 2021.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsUTt0WXgAUNASx?format=jpg&name=small)
-
The riotous Trump MAGA mob was inside the office suite of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on January 6th.
They got this view from the balcony.
From a newly released Justice Dept court exhibit below.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FskDTqjWAAAqvcU?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Court has unsealed another new Jan 6th case.
Jonathan Grace of Colorado Springs, Colorado is the latest in a *series* of newly charged Capitol riot defendants who are accused of being part of the "HEAVE HO" push against police in the lower west tunnel of the Capitol.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsffNeRXwAEp72D?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Pro-Trump rioters beat and stomped DC police officer with American flag pole
MAGA violence against police officers.
Watch:
-
Radicalized leftists stormed the TN Capitol this week in response to a school shooting. Were they concerned about the murdered children? No. They were attempting to make the shooter a martyr. They want to blame the gun used and excuse the mass murdering shooter because she was an unhinged leftist. It's unreal. Is the FBI conducting the most extensive investigation in history to track down every grandmother who entered the TN capitol building? Are they staging tactical SWAT raids on their homes? Are they throwing these insurrectionists into solitary confinement for years without due process? Of course not. Nothing to see. Just a mass shooting of a religious school in which people were murdered. Unlike Jan. 6 in which only one person - an unarmed protestor - was murdered. Where is the manifesto of the shooter? Why are the authorities not releasing it to the public? I wonder.
-
In weekend court filing, feds say Jan 6 defendant Ron McAbee texted others after attack:
"I call for secession"
And sent text of "picture of himself smiling next to a newspaper w/ the headline INSURRECTION"
Prosecutors want court to reject McAbee request for pretrial release.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsqpZoTXwAEFvAZ?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Sentencing expected in April for Jan 6 defendant Robert Sanford, a retired firefighter from Pennsylvania. Feds will seek 71 months prison, arguing Sanford injured officers by throwing fire extinguisher. They say he yelled "traitors" & threw traffic cone at police too.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fr76j6cX0AA5Wma?format=jpg&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fr76j6WXgAAN9fr?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Sentencing set for May 19 in Capitol attack case of Gregory Nix of Alabama. Nix pleaded guilty to assaulting/resisting police officer during Capitol riot.. with flagpole holding yellow Gadsden flag.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FrmalCdWAAEbiA4?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Mike Sington @MikeSington
Bombshell email revealed: Rupert Murdoch blames Trump directly for Jan 6 riot. Writes to Fox News CEO Suzanna Scott, “Best we don’t mention his name unless essential, and certainly don’t support him”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FsaTeA2agAE9M70?format=jpg&name=medium)
https://twitter.com/MikeSington/status/1641161264188776448
-
What is the status of the FBI's investigation into the recent violent insurrection in Nashville led by violent leftists who attacked police officers and threatened state representatives? The same insurrectionists who showed solidarity with a mass school shooter making her out to be a martyr after murdering several schoolchildren. The new America in which a mass murdering radical of children is the victim. Are the FBI and Ukraine Joe's DOJ leaving no stone unturned to identify and apprehend these dangerous domestic terrorists who threaten democracy? Of course not. The Jan. 6 story is just another example of ersatz leftist outrage to "get Trump." They couldn't care less about democracy. In fact, they are the greatest threat to democracy with their Stalinist purge of any dissenter. A scary time for free speech and justice. Nothing like it in American history dating back to the red scare and war time abuses of such leftists as Woodrow Wilson who through dissenters into prison.
Where is the shooter's manifesto? Why are the leftists suppressing it?
-
High-profile Capitol riot defendant Richard Bigo Barnett is asking for a delay in his May 3 sentencing.
Among other things, defense cites impact of holidays on presentencing court filing deadlines
Barnett was convicted at trial by jury.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fsz2jyqWIAIQzhu?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Feds have arrested David Elizalde in another of the newest wave of Jan 6 cases. Per charging documents, Elizalde was stationed at USS Harry Truman on Jan 5, 2021 when he departed for DC-area.
Naval Criminal Investigative Service was part of the investigation, per court filings.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FszcGeEXwAsu01O?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FszcSsSXwAYtHdH?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Yawn. Wake us up when there is a status update on the Nashville insurrection investigation of radicalized leftists who stormed the state capitol and assaulted police officers. Any arrests of these domestic terrorists who were acting in solidarity with a violent mass school shooter? Has the manifesto been released explaining the terrorist's motivation for murdering school children? No? Better to protect the mass murderer than give the public answers that are contrary to leftist narratives.
-
In court filing, feds said Jan 6 defendant Ron McAbee texted others after attack:
"I call for secession"
And sent text of "picture of himself smiling next to a newspaper w/ the headline INSURRECTION"
Feds want court to reject McAbee request for release from pretrial jail
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fs059dLXoAAjD9c?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Feds to seek 88-months prison in Jan 6 case of Josiah Kenyon, 35, of Nevada.... arguing "Kenyon used a table leg with a protruding nail to strike an officer in the leg & then to strike a 2nd officer on the head such that Kenyon’s weapon became lodged in the officer’s face shield"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fs_GItwXsAA2kOp?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Pence won’t appeal judge’s order to testify in Jan. 6 probe
Former Vice President Pence will not appeal a ruling requiring him to testify in front of a grand jury about the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol, aides said Tuesday.
A federal judge last week ruled that Pence had to provide testimony about former President Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, though the judge said Pence would not be compelled to testify about his role in Congress.
Pence’s team had argued he was protected under the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause in his role as president of the Senate during the events of Jan. 6.
“The Court’s landmark and historic ruling affirmed for the first time in history that the Speech or Debate Clause extends to the Vice President of the United States,” Pence aide Devin O’Malley said in a statement. “Having vindicated that principle of the Constitution, Vice President Pence will not appeal the Judge’s ruling and will comply with the subpoena as required by law.”
Special counsel Jack Smith earlier this year subpoenaed Pence for testimony as part of his investigation into Trump’s conduct around the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Pence and his team had argued that serving as the former president of the Senate essentially made him a member of the legislative branch on the day of the riots, and he would therefore be shielded from the subpoena under the “speech and debate” clause of the Constitution.
While Pence’s team felt the judge’s ruling last week was too narrowly applied, the former vice president had been clear he was challenging the subpoena on constitutional grounds.
The ruling will allow Pence to testify about some of Trump’s conduct leading up to Jan. 6 without having to divulge details about what happened on the actual day. His testimony could happen sometime in the next month, though the exact timing is still to be determined.
Pence, who is weighing whether to challenge Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, could be a crucial witness for Smith as he gathers information about Trump’s actions around Jan. 6.
The former vice president in his memoir detailed some of the conversations he had with Trump in the weeks leading up to that day, writing about how the former president repeatedly pressured him to consider rejecting the 2020 election results. Pence ultimately certified the results, saying that the constitution did not give him the unilateral power to overturn the will of the people.
The judge’s ruling about Pence’s testimony is separate from an effort by Trump to shield Pence from testifying on executive privilege grounds. A federal judge late last month rejected those privilege claims, though Trump and his legal team could still appeal that ruling.
Smith is overseeing two concurrent probes into Trump: One focused on the events of Jan. 6, and the other looking at whether Trump mishandled classified documents upon leaving the White House.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3936197-pence-wont-appeal-judges-order-to-testify-in-jan-6-probe/
-
Jan. 6 rioter who said he was following Trump's 'marching orders' and wanted to arrest Biden and Pelosi is found guilty
“We don’t want to fight antifa lol we want to arrest traitors,” Ed Badalian wrote in a message ahead of the Capitol attack.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1120w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2023-04/230403-Ed-Badalian-ew-652p-23eeaa.jpg)
Edward Badalian, in the red hat, at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 defendant who was charged alongside the Donald Trump supporter who drove a stun gun into the neck of a Washington, D.C., police officer during the Capitol attack was convicted Tuesday on three counts.
The verdict was announced the same day former President Donald Trump was set to appear in court in Manhattan to be arraigned on charges related to hush money paid to adult film star Stormy Daniels.
Ed Badalian was arrested in November 2021 after he was indicted for conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, and tampering with documents or proceedings. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, obstruction of an official proceeding, and a misdemeanor count. He was found not guilty of a tampering count because the judge found that a government witness, a fellow Jan. 6 rioter, was a "hot mess" on the stand.
Badalian was charged alongside Daniel Rodriguez, a MAGA-hatted rioter who admitted that he had electroshocked Washington Police Officer Mike Fanone when Fanone was abducted by the mob. Rodriguez is set to be sentenced in May. A third man, known to online sleuths as #SwedishScarf and referred to in court as "Jeff," was indicted alongside the other two men, but has not yet been arrested. Law enforcement officials believe that he has fled the country.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson, who presided over Badalian's bench trial this year, delivered the verdict on Tuesday. She allowed Badalian to remain on release until his sentencing but ordered him to wear an ankle monitor. Walking out of the courtroom on Tuesday, Badalian called that "cruel and unusual punishment."
Jackson described Badalian as a "very self-satisfied young man" who seemed impressed by his own intelligence and charm.
Jackson said Badalian was "extremely well aware" of the electoral college proceedings on Jan. 6 and how the process worked. "This defendant knew exactly what Jan. 6 was all about," she said. His focus was not on antifa, but on arresting politicians, Jackson said, pointing to messages in which Badalian talked about arresting President-elect Joe Biden and then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
"No, Mr. Badalian, the Constitution does not give you the right" to arrest the House speaker, Jackson said.
Badalian drove a rented van across the country along with Rodriguez and told members of the groups that he had packed a respirator, masks, snow goggles, kneepads and baseball helmets for the group, according to his indictment.
“Our duly elected leader has called his marching orders, we gotta show up,” Badalian wrote in the “Patriots 45 MAGA Gang” chat on Dec. 21. Jackson said Tuesday that the Trump tweet gave the group "the focus it needs," by giving them a time and location.
"We don't want to fight antifa lol we want to arrest traitors," Badalian wrote before the Jan. 6 attack. When then-Attorney General William Barr finally said the election wasn't stolen, Badalian considered him a traitor, too.
At the Capitol, Badalian was at the western front when he pulled a man who was smashing a window away from the building, according to court documents and video. That man, who wore a green helmet covered in Trump stickers, has been listed as identified on the Sedition Hunters website for more than a year, since at least January 2022. Members of the crowd, including several Jan. 6 defendants, believe the man was antifa, and right-wing commentators have recirculated that conspiracy theory, suggesting that the man was a fake Trump supporter in recent weeks. But online sleuths told NBC News that he is, in fact, a Trump supporter, not a member of antifa. The U.S. Attorney's Office and the FBI Washington Field Office declined to comment on when the man would be arrested.
Badalian later stormed the building through the broken window, video shows, entering a suite of “hideaway” offices for U.S. senators, including Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho. Inside, rioters moved a conference table to use as a barricade and broke into another office. Rodriguez, Badalian and #SwedishScarf were inside the suite — along with the man in the green helmet — and Rodriguez and #SwedishScarf were some of the last rioters to leave the building. Rodriguez searched the room looking for "intel," and also tried to smash out the window to Risch's office to let more rioters in the building.
Judge Jackson said Tuesday that "Mr. Back the Blue" — Badalian — didn't turn in Rodriguez, nor did he do much to stop the attacks on law enforcement on Jan. 6. He also didn't take action against any others he thought were "antifa" once they get inside the building, she said.
"If he thought they were antifa, he wasn't much of an antifa fighter," she said.
Gina Bisignano, a Jan. 6 defendant who had pleaded guilty, testified during Badalian's trial as part of a plea agreement. She did not travel to Washington with Badalian but saw him in Washington and took a photo with him. Bisignano knew Rodriguez, Badalian and "Jeff" from pro-Trump events in the Beverly Hills area.
"I don't want to hurt anybody," Bisignano said on the stand. "I'm fighting for my life, I just want to tell the truth."
After the Capitol attack, Bisignano and Badalian appeared together on an InfoWars segment, in which Badalian went by the name “Turbo." On air, Bisignano accidentally referred to him as "Ed," and testified that was a mistake. "I just forgot at that moment," she said.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1120w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2022-02/220211-Gina-Bisignano-3-ew-1233p-df415c.jpg)
Gina Bisignano, video shows, was among the first group of rioters to enter the tunnel on the west side of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The indictment said that Badalian, Rodriguez and “Jeff” went to Bisignano’s home when they arrived back from Washington and that “Jeff” unplugged her Alexa. They wanted her to get rid of the evidence. But on the stand, Bisignano said that Badalian didn’t intimidate her, and had trouble recalling whether Badalian was even present that day.
“He’s never been nasty or anything to me. Ever,” Bisignano said. She said that Badalian wanted to get ahead of things by going to law enforcement.
Jackson said Bisignano was a "hot mess" on the stand, and said she was one of the worst witnesses she'd ever seen because of her inconsistent testimony.
While Jackson agreed with a defense witness' testimony about the "Patriot Paintball" sessions that Badalian organized — "two little boys playing war" — she said that while Badalian's organizing might be "incredibly immature," he thought of it as serious. She pointed to messages in which Badalian talked about how another Trump supporter needed to "grow a pair" and a message about the need to water the tree of liberty with the blood of tyrants.
Jackson set Badalian's sentencing hearing for mid-July.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jan-6-defendant-said-followed-trumps-marching-orders-wanted-arrest-bid-rcna77947
-
MAGA Republicans have been desperately trying to downplay the January 6th insurrection ever since it happened because their own Trump supporters took part in a violent coup to overthrow the U.S. government.
It's gotten so pathetic that MAGAs are now trying to say a group of Nashville kids holding homemade signs peacefully protesting against gun violence is an "insurrection".
MAGA wants to compare a group of kids peacefully protesting with signs to a violent insurrection of thousands of Trump supporters beating police with weapons and ransacking the U.S. Capitol.
They'll do anything to downplay the MAGA role in a violent coup and attempted government takeover.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtEHvV5WYAAVfUN?format=jpg&name=medium)
Pathetic MAGAs are calling Nashville kids holding homemade signs "radical leftists" and are calling this peaceful protest an "insurrection".
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106828932-1611356814485-sabol.jpg?v=1611357086&w=1920&h=1080)
Pathetic MAGAs claim Trump supporters beating police in a real insurrection is just a "peaceful protest".
They are truly pathetic.
-
Investigation into government watchdog’s alleged role in deleted Secret Service Jan. 6 texts swells
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/head-of-trump-secret-service-detail-spoke-with-house-investigators-about-jan-6th-report.jpg?id=29947244&width=2400&height=1518)
Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffarti has filed a lawsuit against the leaders of an ongoing probe into the agency's top watchdog's alleged role in "missing Secret Service text messages from the Jan. 6" insurrection, The Washington Post reports.
The two-year investigation, according to The Post, "has paralyzed" Cuffarti's office," leaving him "alienated from the watchdog community," and has even sparked "calls for President Joe Biden to fire him."
The news outlet reports: "The president has signaled that he intends to stay out of the process until the panel from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) completes its work. When a federal watchdog is accused of misconduct and the organization decides that it warrants attention, another inspector general is assigned to investigate, under a system set up by Congress."
Regarding Cuffarti's lawsuit, The Post reports:
The lawsuit, an unusual broadside against the federal watchdog community by one of its own, accuses the panel of exceeding its authority and of 'illegal interference' in the operations of one of the government's largest oversight offices.
It has set off hand-wringing and anger in the inspector general community. CIGIE leaders met by Zoom on Wednesday to discuss how to proceed and notified the Justice Department, which will represent them.
The Intercept reported last year the Secret Service messages "went missing after oversight investigators requested them," according to MSNBC.
Matt Miller, former chief spokesperson for the Department of Justice, said during a 2022 MSNBC, the incident is "very serious." He emphasized, "It's obviously completely indefensible by the Secret Service," noting, "Secret Service, in addition to protecting the president and other dignitaries, is also a law enforcement agency that conducts investigations and demands that subjects under investigation turn over emails and other documents. So, if there's anyone you ought to expect to honor a document preservation request, it is a law enforcement agency."
In July 2022, the now defunct Jan. 6 House Committee requested "a new inspector general be appointed to lead an investigation," according to NPR.
"Inspector General Cuffari is required by law to 'immediately' report problems or abuses that are 'particularly serious or flagrant,'" Reps. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Carolyn Maloney (D-NC) wrote in the letter of request. "Yet, Inspector General Cuffari failed to provide adequate or timely notice that the Secret Service had refused for months to comply with DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) requests for information related to the January 6 attack and failed to notify Congress after DHS OIG learned that the Secret Service had erased text messages related to this matter."
The Post reports:
Cuffari's 173-page complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia discloses that investigators from CIGIE's Integrity Committee recently told Cuffari and Fredericks that 'alleged deletions of the U.S. Secret Service text messages which referenced the events of January 6, 2021' are a new subject of their probe. The lawsuit denies that any official in the inspector general's office 'has any control over the Secret Service or over where texts by members of that organization go.'
Per The Post, Rep. Thompson said in a statement regarding the lawsuit, "CIGIE's congressional mandate is not only to develop policies for offices of inspectors general, but to promptly investigate allegations of wrongdoing made against inspectors general or their staff. It must be allowed to do its job."
https://www.rawstory.com/secret-service-text-messages-jan-6/
-
Feds seek longest sentence yet for J6 rioter who assaulted Capitol cop
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/j6-rioter-convicted-of-seven-felonies-could-face-decades-in-prison-report.jpg?id=31701718&width=2400&height=1350)
A January 6 Capitol rioter who was convicted in September 2022 on nine charges, including multiple counts of assaulting police and obstruction of Congress’ January 6, 2021, proceedings, could be serving 16 years in prison if federal prosecutors get their way.
According to a report from Politico, Patrick McCaughey is facing what could be the longest sentence among all of the rioters who took part in the assault on the Capitol inspired by former president Donald Trump that forced lawmakers from both sides of the aisle to flee for their lives.
McCaughey is notable for his part in pinning D.C. Police Officer Daniel Hodges in a Capitol doorway that was caught on video and horrified the nation.
According to a sentencing memo from Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall, "McCaughey taunted police officers at the West Front bike racks and joined the mob that threw its weight against the beleaguered line of officers guarding the Capitol. McCaughey used a deadly and dangerous weapon against Officer Hodges, where he spent over two minutes using his body weight to crush the officer in the doorframe.”
Politico reports, "The recommendation for McCaughey surpasses the 15-year sentence the Justice Department recommended for Guy Reffitt, the first Jan. 6 rioter convicted by a jury. Reffitt, a militia member, planned for violence with associates ahead of Jan. 6, carried a firearm and engaged with police in a lengthy standoff that enabled the mob to start amassing at the base of the Capitol. Ultimately, the judge in his case, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich, sentenced Reffitt to just over seven years in prison."
You can read more here: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/04/07/prosecutors-lengthiest-jan-6-sentence-00091099
-
MAGAs want to ridiculously claim a peaceful student protest over gun violence is an "insurrection". The students held this protest because of the deadly school mass shooting in Nashville and they are afraid of being killed in their own schools. Does that kid holding the homemade sign look like an "insurrectionist" to you? Pathetic MAGAs will do anything to downplay the January 6th insurrection that their own base took part in.
Tennessee students protest gun violence in schools
Pathetic MAGAs try to claim a deadly insurrection with thousands of Trump supporters at the US Capitol was a "peaceful protest". Does all that violence that Trump supporters engaged in look "peaceful" to you? It's totally absurd and these MAGAs who make that asinine claim are totally pathetic.
Video Of Capitol Riot Shown During First Jan. 6 Committee Hearing
-
Plea hearing set for May 5 in Capitol riot case of Jonathan Mellis of Virginia. He's accused of attempting to strike officers between their helmets and body armor.
This image is from the charging documents in his case.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtOyXKuWIAAkPDa?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
WATCH: In new Jan. 6 footage, congressional leaders shelter and call for help during Capitol attack
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., introduced previously unreleased footage of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer sheltering in a secure location while the pro-Trump mob overran the U.S. Capitol. In the footage, congressional leaders ask for help and resources to secure the building. They also discuss how to continue the certification of the election results.
In the video, Pelosi and Schumer are seen calling state and federal officials like Gov. Ralph Northam of Virginia and the acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to get more law enforcement to respond to the riot. Republican leadership also joined the two, making calls to help secure the Capitol. This was interspersed with clips of violent Trump supporters invading the Capitol..
“Congressional leadership recognized on a bipartisan basis that President Trump was the only person who could get the mob to end its violent siege of the Congress, leave the Capitol and go home,” Raskin said in the hearing,
The committee returned to its public-facing work after nearly three months, having rescheduled the current hearing two weeks ago in light of Hurricane Ian.
Watch:
-
1,000 people have been charged for the Capitol riot. Here's where their cases stand
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/25/1165022885/1000-defendants-january-6-capitol-riot
-
Plea agreement is scheduled for April 19 in the US Capitol breach case of Zvonimir Jurlina of Texas. Jurlina is accused of kicking, stomping and attempting to set fire to media equipment at the Capitol .. amid the mob.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtY4qnDXgAAWmeV?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
New ruling against Jan. 6 rioters is 'a gift' to Jack Smith's pursuit of Trump: legal analyst
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106822651-1610409078172-wind.jpg?v=1610409131)
A ruling last Friday by a panel of appellate judges that Jan. 6 insurrectionists can face obstruction charges will come in handy for special counsel Jack Smith's investigation of Donald Trump's links to the Capitol riot.
That is the opinion of former Assistant United States Attorney Andrew Wiessmann during an appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
Speaking with the hosts, the legal expert characterized the ruling as a "gift" to Smith that could speed along his investigation.
According to reporting from NBC, "The three-judge panel, on a 2-1 vote, upheld the use of the obstruction of an official proceeding charge against defendants who assaulted law enforcement during the Capitol attack. A lower court judge, Trump appointee U.S. District Court Judge Carl Nichols, had previously tossed the charge, a decision the appeals court reversed."
Asked about the repercussions, Weissmann explained, "This is really a gift for Jack Smith because, as good as it is for the Washington, D.C. prosecutors who have hundreds of pending cases, who want to know that this is a charge they can continue charging, Jack Smith is going to be thinking about this obstruction charge with respect to the former president."
"There's nothing better for Jack Smith than to know that this is already been approved by the D.C. circuit, meaning he can charge it and, unless the Supreme Court disagrees with the D.C. circuit, he knows that this is a rock solid legally, a legal rock solid charge that he has to prove it factually, but getting the sort of pre-clearance is unusual to have and he has to be happy that the court ruled that this is a charge that will stick for any potential charge he is thinking with respect to the former president,' he added.
Watch:
-
Donald Trump attempting to stop Mike Pence from testifying about Jan. 6 Capitol riot
https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-attempting-stop-mike-181415207.html
-
Jan. 6 rioter who wore 'Jack Skellington' costume gets hit with prison time
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/josiah-kenyon.jpg?id=31718954&width=2400&height=1350)
A Nevada man who donned a "Jack Skellington" costume during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced to six years in prison for assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon amid the insurrection attempt.
Josiah Kenyon, of Winnemucca, Nevada, was sentenced to 72 months in prison, 36 months of supervised release, and was ordered to pay more than $43,000 in restitution for damages, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia. It was previously reported last year that Kenyon agreed to a plea deal that calls for 78 to 97 months.
Kenyon was accused of illegally entering the Capitol building in a costume inspired by "The Nightmare Before Christmas." He and others allegedly caused more than $40,000 in damage outside the building.
After attempting to break a window with his fist and then breaking it using a flagpole, Kenyon assaulted officers in the tunnel leading to the Capitol, including by using a large plastic pylon and a table leg, according to the prosecution.
The government alleged that Kenyon caused one officer to fall to the ground and experience pain and swelling to his right ankle, and hit another officer in the head with the table leg.
Kenyon was arrested on Dec. 1, 2021, and later pleaded guilty to assaulting a law enforcement officer with a dangerous weapon and assaulting a law enforcement officer with a dangerous weapon resulting in bodily injury in September 2022. He and his wife also faced child endangerment charges after they allegedly hid from the FBI in the Nevada foothills.
Kenyon is purportedly one of more than 1,000 people who have been arrested for crimes related to the U.S. Capitol breach, according to prosecutors who are still searching for more information in the ongoing investigation.
https://www.rawstory.com/josiah-kenyon-sentenced/
-
Trump aide Stephen Miller returns to federal grand jury to testify about Jan. 6: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/stephen-miller-is-behind-trump-s-new-slash-and-burn-campaign-against-joe-biden-report.jpg?id=24840451&width=2400&height=1290)
Former White House senior advisor Stephen Miller, the architect of ex-president Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant separation policies, is once again testifying before a federal grand jury as DOJ Special Counsel Jack Smith continues his investigation into the January 6 insurrection.
Miller’s appearance Tuesday comes “after the courts ordered that he and other top advisers must share their recollections of direct conversations with the then-president related to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot,” CNN reports. “Miller is likely to be asked in the grand jury about his phone call with Trump minutes before the Ellipse rally that day, and other conversations they had about the election. The grand jury is hearing evidence as part of a special counsel’s criminal investigation.”
Trump had tried to block Miller from testifying, claiming “executive privilege,” which he has no legal or constitutional authority to invoke, as courts have repeatedly ruled.
In response to a Bloomberg News reporter tweeting Tuesday morning that Miller had just gone through security at a federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Dáte noted, “Stephen Miller was on Fox News the morning of Dec 14 2020 *bragging* about the fraudulent elector scheme they were doing.”
In addition to reports of him testifying before the D.C. grand jury Tuesday, Miller is trending on Twitter after a just-published New York Times report reveals his child-separation policy, designed to send the message to migrants in Central America to not try to travel to the U.S., “a significant number of U.S. citizen children were also removed from their parents under the so-called zero tolerance policy, in which migrant parents were criminally prosecuted and jailed for crossing the border without authorization.”
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-aide-stephen-miller-returns-to-grand-jury-to-testify-about-jan-6/
-
Ex-firefighter sentenced to 52 months for attacking police with fire extinguisher on Jan. 6
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/man-arrested-for-hurling-fire-extinguisher-at-cop-s-head-during-pro-trump-capitol-riot.jpg?id=25454596&width=2400&height=1350)
A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to 52 months in prison after he pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.
At a hearing on Tuesday, prosecutors asked for Robert Sanford Jr., 57, to be sent to prison for 71 months.
"While [at the Capitol], he threw a fire extinguisher at a group of U.S. Capitol Police officers, striking three of them in the head. He also threw a traffic cone in the direction of officers. He screamed in the direction of officers that they were 'traitors,'" a statement from the Department of Justice explained.
Former Capitol Police officer Aquilino Gonell spoke at the sentencing and told Judge Paul Friedman that he had left the force because of the actions of people like Sanford.
Gonell noted that Sanford "sounds remorseful" but "don't buy it," according to CBS News correspondent Scott MacFarlane.
The former sergeant suggested rioters were "playing with Trump's fire," referring to former President Donald Trump.
Defense counsel asked the judge to sentence Sanford to 12 months of prison and 12 months of home detention.
"That's not gonna happen, and you know it's not gonna happen," the judge replied.
Friedman observed that defendants could not be punished "just because they believe in Donald Trump.. and still do."
The judge argued that Sanford, a former firefighter, "of all people," should have known the damage a fire extinguisher could cause when used as a weapon.
"There are still people who believe the election was rigged," the judge added. "There are still people who support Donald Trump... Though not many showed up at the court in Manhattan... We'll see what happens here at this court when the Justice Dept moves in a few months, I suspect."
Friedman concluded by sentencing Sanford to 52 months in prison.
https://www.rawstory.com/robert-sanford-sentenced/
-
Judge says Proud Boys Jan. 6 trial will go to jury next week
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/proud-boy-founder-scrambling-to-salvage-bitterly-divided-group-after-informant-revelations-report.jpg?id=31883904&width=2400&height=1334)
Federal District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly revealed on Tuesday that a jury is expected to begin deliberating verdicts for five members of the Proud Boys far-right extremist group.
Kelly informed the jury that the case was concluding. Deliberations could come as soon as next week, according to reports.
"We're going to hear evidence today and tomorrow," the judge said, according to reporter Brandi Buchman. "We will not sit to hear evidence on Thursday and Friday of this week. We do expect you'll receive the case next week for deliberation."
The report noted it had been 53 days since the beginning of the trial.
The five defendants are facing charges of seditious conspiracy after they allegedly participated in a riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
https://www.rawstory.com/proud-boys-jury-deliberations/
-
'Don't buy it': Former Capitol cop warns jury against believing MAGA rioter's claims of remorse
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/us-capitol-police-officer-sgt-aquilino-gonell-dc-metropolitan-police-department-officer-michael-fanone-dc-metropolitan-police.jpg?id=27072877&width=2400&height=1508)
Former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, who resigned late last year while citing trauma from being attacked by Trump supporters during the January 6 Capitol riots, made an appearance in court on Tuesday during the sentencing of MAGA rioter Robert Sanford.
As reported by CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, Gonell warned jurors against going easy on Sanford, who has said he regrets throwing a fire extinguisher at Capitol Police while also striking them in the head.
"Don't buy it," Gonell said of Sanford's professions of remorse.
Gonell also described how Sanford's actions personally hurt him while he was trying to protect the Capitol building from angry rioters.
"After we lost the police line... Sanford took a cone and hit me in the head," Gonell said, as transcribed by MacFarlane. "His intent was to hurt."
The former Capitol Police sergeant also expressed dismay that some of the rioters are receiving home detention or probation sentences, as he said stiffer punishments were needed to deter future attempts to attack the democratic process.
Sanford's lawyers argued for leniency, however, by noting that Sanford didn't actually enter the Capitol on January 6, even though he did violently assault police officers who were trying to defend the building.
Prosecutors are seeking 71 months in prison for Sanford, or just under six years.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-sentence-2659835427/
-
Authorities nab Jan. 6 suspect who is accused of 'grabbing and throwing' a police officer
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/january-6-riot-at-the-capitol.jpg?id=33010576&width=2400&height=1350)
Just as other participants in the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are being sentenced, authorities have arrested another.
Rockne Earles, of New Mexico, was arrested on Tuesday on felony charges for his role in disrupting the congressional session meant to count the electoral votes for the 2020 presidential election, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.
The Justice Department further said that Earles, who was hit with the felony charges of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers and civil disorder, can be seen on video "grabbing and throwing a U.S. Capitol Police Officer."
Earles was reportedly also charged with misdemeanors, including entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, act of physical violence in the Capitol grounds or buildings, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building.
The victim officer seen being thrown in the video was purportedly concussed and out of work for 45 days due to that incident and other injuries stemming from the rioters on that day.
Law enforcement officials say Earles was physically inside the U.S. Capitol between around 2:17 P.M. and 2:44 P.M. on Jan. 6, 2021. He is one of more than 1,000 individuals to be arrested in the sprawling probe stemming from crimes that occurred during the breach.
The news comes shortly after the same U.S. Attorney's Office announced that the rioter who donned a "Jack Skellington" onesie during the breach was sentenced to six years in prison for assaulting law enforcement officers with a dangerous weapon. That man, Josiah Kenyon, was also sentenced to 36 months of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $43,000 in restitution for damages, prosecutors said.
https://www.rawstory.com/authorities-nab-yet-another-jan-6-rioter-accused-of-assaulting-officer/
-
Sentencing today in Capitol riot case of Robert Dennis of Texas. Justice Dept seeks 64-months prison arguing his "aggressive actions included grabbing (officer) by the neck, toppling (officer) to the ground & punching & kicking (officer) & those who tried to restrain Dennis".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtdmXjSXsAEVOe2?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtdmXjWWAAkJl4U?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Judge sentenced Jan 6th defendant Josiah Kenyon of Nevada to 6 years in prison.
Feds said "Kenyon used a table leg with a protruding nail to strike an officer in the leg & then to strike a 2nd officer on the head such that...weapon became lodged in the officer’s face shield & helmet".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fthxou1XwA0QDgD?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Hitler-loving Jan. 6 rioter sentenced to 3-years in prison
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30022240&width=2400&height=1350)
A Jan. 6 rioter who has praised Adolf Hitler and expressed support for Nazi ideology was sentenced to three years in prison this Thursday for possessing unregistered firearm silencers, The Washington Post reported.
U.S. District Judge Michael S. Nachmanoff said that Hatchet M. Speed, 41, betrayed “everything he pledged to protect” and posed a danger to society due to his extremist views.
“It is difficult to understand how anyone could conclude that the Unabomber and Eric Rudolph and Hitler could be a positive influence on anyone, much less role models worthy of admiration and emulation,” said Nachmanoff, referring to the high-profile historical figures Speed was obsessed with.
“You served your country honorably until you went down the path that led you here,” the judge told Speed, who is a former Navy reservist who held a top-secret security clearance. “So why? Why?”
Speed initially faced charges of illegal entry, disorderly conduct and parading in the U.S. Capitol.
In March of 2022, Speed met with an FBI undercover agent who was presented to him as “a like-minded individual." In his conversations with the undercover agent, Speed described his participation in the riot.
“SPEED explained that he had hoped that more and more people would have shown up,” the report stated. “It should have gotten to the point where Nancy Pelosi should have resigned out of fear for her life. That’s what should have happened.” Speed also observed that “there are too many Americans that have this idea that we have to be peaceful all costs,” the FBI stated.
At his sentencing hearing Thursday, a prosecutor cited Speed’s involvement with the Proud Boys and his statements to the undercover agent.
“He talked about studying Eric Rudolph’s and the Unabomber’s manifestos to come up with a better game plan than they had,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas W. Traxler said. “He talked about wiping out the Jewish population.”
Read the full report at The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/13/hatchet-speed-jan6-nazi-sympathizer-sentenced/
-
Sentencing today in Jan 6th case of Vince Gillespie, who's accused of assaulting police & yanking officer toward mob & of boasting "We were very close. We were almost overpowering them... That’s what I would hope they would do. Take it over, take it over. Own it for a few days."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ftg5mxWWIAACv7i?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ftg5mxQWcAQf5iq?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Sentencing in Capitol riot case of Logan Barnhart of Michigan. Feds seek 5+ years prison arguing "Barnhart grabbed an officer’s neck and torso and dragged him in a prone position from the police line, out of the Archway, and down a set of stairs into the violent mob".
Judge: "prison is needed in this case to ensure general deterrence to others."
Judge Contreras says lawmakers were forced to hide until they could be safely evacuated. Judge says Trump and Trump allies “bear a lot of responsibility for what happened that day.”
Judge R Contreras sentences Logan Barnhart of Michigan to 3 years in prison in Capitol riot case, in which Barnhart was accused of dragging police officer into riotous mob.
And $2,000 restitution and $3,688 fine (projected cost of a month in federal prison)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtmRkZKXwAAbxyt?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Only a guilty man would try to block testimony.
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe testifies to grand jury in January 6 probe
Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe testified before a federal grand jury Thursday in Washington, DC, as part of the special counsel's criminal probe into the aftermath of the 2020 election.
Former President Donald Trump had sought to block testimony from Ratcliffe and other top officials from his administration, but courts have rejected his executive privilege claims.
The investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith has focused on January 6, 2021, and other efforts to overturn the presidential election.
Ratcliffe is likely of interest to investigators because he personally told Trump and his allies that there was no evidence of foreign election interference or widespread fraud.
https://www.weny.com/story/48716650/former-director-of-national-intelligence-john-ratcliffe-testifies-to-grand-jury-in-january-6-probe
-
The recently released surveillance footage of the 1/6 "insurrection" debunks much of the Democratic narrative on the subject. Kudos to Tucker Carlson for reviewing key parts of this footage on his show and calling out the 1/6 subcommittee for suppressing it.
-
The recently released surveillance footage of the 1/6 "insurrection" debunks much of the Democratic narrative on the subject. Kudos to Tucker Carlson for reviewing key parts of this footage on his show and calling out the 1/6 subcommittee for suppressing it.
Jan. 6 is possibly the most overblown media story in history. The leftist have milked it for two years and counting for every ounce of political value because it played into their desired narrative. There certainly were crimes committed but everyone and their brother was sent to prison if they so much as scratched their nose. Most protestors just walked about and did nothing including the "shaman" who was escorted by multiple officers into the chamber (unlike the unarmed woman who was murdered). Those people face years in jail for trespass. Meanwhile leftist terrorists are committing actual violence around the country. And where is the manifesto of the recent Nashville shooter? Why is the FBI allowed to suppress that item when the leftist terrorist is dead? Why not release it to the public as they would have done on day one if someone with right wing background had been involved in a hate crime?
-
Jan. 6 rioter who crushed officer with shield sentenced to over 7 years in prison
(https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/04/14/9fac71ee-7058-42b2-9af9-e58c22a8391a/thumbnail/620x340g2/7ce72d18a65811fc1116edef9d838191/mccaughey.png)
A man who used a stolen riot shield to crush a police officer in a doorframe during the assault on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced on Friday to more than seven years in prison for his role in one of the most violent episodes of the riot.
(https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/04/14/6cc3779c-af9a-47ec-8d3b-b2f176fe6486/thumbnail/620x337/b46d59c30502964c6d5b8bc36881cdef/daniel-hodges.png)
FILE: MPD Officer Daniel Hodges being crushed by riot shield allegedly held by Jan. 6 defendant Patrick McCaughey.
Federal prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 15 years and eight months for Patrick McCaughey III, which would have been the longest sentence for a Capitol riot case by more than five years.
U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden sentenced McCaughey to seven years and six months in prison followed by two years of supervised release. The judge described McCaughey, 25, as a "poster child of all that was dangerous and appalling about" the Jan. 6, 2021, riot.
"Your actions are some of the most egregious crimes that were committed on that dark day," the judge told McCaughey.
McCaughey, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, expressed shame for joining the mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters who "violated" the Capitol.
"I'm sorry that I conducted myself less like a citizen and more like an animal that day," he said.
McCaughey's 90-month sentence matches the second longest prison sentence so far for a Capitol riot defendant. It's the same length as the sentence that another judge handed down to Albuquerque Cosper Head, a Tennessee man who dragged Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanone into a crowd of rioters.
McCaughey was convicted by the judge of nine counts, including felony assault charges, after the judge heard trial testimony without a jury in September.
Nine people, including McCaughey, were charged with joining one of the most brutal clashes at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Police and rioters were fighting for control of a tunnel entrance on the Lower West Terrace when MPD Officer Daniel Hodges came face to face with McCaughey, who used a stolen riot shield to pin Hodges to a metal doorframe.
"Go home!" McCaughey shouted at the officer.
Hodges testified that the riot shield magnified the pressure against his body.
"There's no good way to fight back against it, really," he said.
Hodges screamed out for help when another rioter grabbed the officer's baton and struck him in the face with it.
"It was only then, over two minutes after the assault began, that McCaughey relented and pulled Officer Hodges's face shield down over his eyes," Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimberly Paschall wrote in a court filing.
Hodges managed to retreat inside the Capitol building and was taken to a hospital. McCaughey struck a second officer with the shield before another officer sprayed him with a chemical irritant, backing him away.
"It is not an exaggeration to state the actions of these officers in thwarting the mob at the Lower West Terrace entrance potentially saved the lives of others, including members of Congress," Paschall wrote.
The judge convicted McCaughey of obstructing an official proceeding, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying Joe Biden's presidential election victory over Trump.
Earlier this year, the judge sentenced four of McCaughey's co-defendants to prison terms ranging from 14 months to five years. Paschall argued that McCaughey's conduct was more "egregious and protracted" than the others'.
A probation officer's calculation of the sentencing guidelines for McCaughey recommend a prison term ranging from nine years to 11 years and three months.
McCaughey's attorneys requested a sentence of one year behind bars. They said McCaughey's "reprehensible" actions were motivated by his "misunderstanding" about the 2020 presidential election. Trump, the Republican incumbent, falsely claimed that Democrats stole the election from him.
"There remain many grifters out there who remain free to continue propagating the 'great lie' that Trump won the election, Donald Trump being among the most prominent. Mr. McCaughey is not one of these individuals; he knows he was wrong," his lawyers wrote.
McCaughey, a carpenter employed by his father's construction company, drove about 300 miles (480 kilometers) from his Connecticut home to Washington, D.C., to attend Trump's "Stop the Steal" rally on Jan. 6. After listening to speeches, McCaughey went to the Capitol and joined other rioters in confronting police officers guarding the West Plaza.
When the rioters broke through the police line, McCaughey climbed up the steps inside construction scaffolding and took a selfie atop the structure. Minutes later, he joined the mob in a coordinated "heave-ho" push against officers guarding the Lower West Terrace tunnel entrance.
More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the deadly Jan. 6 riot. Over 600 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted after trials decided by a jury or a judge. Over 450 of them have been sentenced.
The 10-year prison sentence was for retired New York City police officer Thomas Webster, who was convicted by a jury of assaulting a Metropolitan Police Department officer with a metal flagpole.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jan-6-capitol-rioter-crushed-officer-with-shield-prison-sentence/
-
Video of the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021
On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a large mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Watch:
-
The recently released surveillance footage of the 1/6 "insurrection" debunks much of the Democratic narrative on the subject. Kudos to Tucker Carlson for reviewing key parts of this footage on his show and calling out the 1/6 subcommittee for suppressing it.
The only thing that has been debunked is Tucker Carlson's right wing propaganda. Even Republicans called out his lies.
Even Republicans Are Bashing Tucker Carlson for Lying About Jan. 6 Violence
I think it's bu******," Thom Tillis told reporters on Tuesday, joining several other GOP lawmakers in decrying the Fox News host's conspiracy theorizing
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-bash-tucker-carlson-lying-jan-6-violence-1234692024/
-
Where is the manifesto of the radical leftist Nashville shooter? Why has the FBI suppressed it from release for weeks? Why is the FBI even involved since the leftist terrorist responsible is dead? They are clearly trying to delay the release of the contents for political reasons.
-
Electrocuted, beaten, abused: Capitol Police recall their own ‘vulnerability’ on Jan. 6
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/electrocuted-beaten-abused-capitol-police-recall-their-own-vulnerability-on-jan-6
-
Where is the Nashville manifesto of the radical leftist terrorist?
-
Justice Dept announces the judge has sentenced Vince Gillespie to 68 months prison in Capitol attack case. Feds argued Gillespie ram police with shield, yanked officer toward mob, screamed "traitor" and "treason".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ftg6FC_XoAI5L6J?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
New Capitol riot video shows Patrick McCaughey, pro-Trump mob crushing DC Police Officer Daniel Hodges
On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a large violent mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
WUSA9 and other outlets fought for the release of Capitol riot video showing Patrick McCaughey and others crushing Officer Daniel Hodges on January 6.
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 rioter who brought guns onto US Capitol grounds sentenced to 5 years in jail
https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/21/politics/january-6-capitol-rioter-guns-sentenced/index.html
-
Feds to seek longest prison sentence in ANY Capitol riot case so far.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft9M6jcX0AI6fj-?format=jpg&name=medium)
24 years prison & $71,000+ fine for Pete Schwartz of Pennsylvania, accusing him of series of violent Jan 6 acts & calling him "felon who has racked up numerous convictions for drugs, weapons &violence".
Justice Dept argues Schwartz "stole chemical munitions, including pepper spray.. left behind by the fleeing officers and used that pepper spray as a weapon to attack those same officers as they desperately tried to escape".
According to Justice Dept sentencing memo, Schwartz assaulted group of police officers.. then "Schwartz did not back down. He then joined the larger mob inside of the tunnel in attempting to push through the police line and into the Capitol Building".
By Schwartz’s own admission, he viewed himself as being at “war” that day, stating in a Facebook post on January 7, 2021, “What happened yesterday was the opening of a war. I was there and whether people will acknowledge it or not we are now at war.”
Schwartz, in his defense's request for leniency, recommends 54 months prison. His defense memo says, "There remain many grifters out there who remain free to continue propagating the “great lie” that Trump won the election, Donald Trump being among the most prominent".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft9PSHiWwAoiVtZ?format=jpg&name=medium)
Schwartz's defense argues: "His actions were motivated by a misunderstanding as to the facts surrounding the 2020 election. Indeed, Mr. Schwartz knew next to nothing about the 2020 election and listened to sources of information that were clearly false".
Sentencing is set for May 5, in front of federal judge Amit Mehta in US District Court for the District of Columbia.
-
Court sets June hearing in Capitol riot case of Emanuel Jackson, who is accused of assault near west terrace entrance.
Feds allege Jackson was "wielding a metal baseball bat and repeatedly and forcefully striking a group of U.S. Capitol Police".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ft9Lo26WIAAiLxu?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FuAzID-XwBIchWP?format=jpg&name=medium)
Lying right wing Faux Propaganda hack Tucker Carlson lied about the 2020 election being "rigged" and "stolen" from Donald Trump via "voter fraud". His election disinformation helped to incite the January 6th insurrection when the violent Trump mob attacked the US Capitol and Capitol police officers.
Now, lying right wing Faux Propaganda hack Tucker Carlson is lying and gaslighting about the January 6th insurrection claiming the violent Trump mob were only "sightseers" and "peaceful people".
The scene in the photo above, is Trump mob insurrectionist Thomas Webster violently gouging the eyes of a Capitol police officer with his thumbs. But Carlson wants his ignorant viewers to believe Webster was just outside snapping pictures of the Capitol building that day.
The Faux Propaganda outlet lies constantly to their viewers. They make the sheep that watch actually believe 2+2=5 because they push the same lies and conspiracies daily 24/7.
Faux Propaganda now has to pay up nearly 1 Billion for their election disinformation, but professional liars like Tucker Carlson will keep pushing more propaganda to the sheep each night for ratings.
-
Jan. 6 rioter agrees to testify in Three Percenters trial
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=26430737&width=2400&height=1349)
A California man pleaded guilty in connection with the Jan. 6 insurrection on Wednesday and has agreed to cooperate at the trial of members of a far-right militia movement, NBC News reports.
Russell Taylor pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of an official proceeding. He was initially charged with being part of a criminal conspiracy that involved the Oath Keepers and the Three Percenters.
His attorney told the network that Taylor was in court to “do the right thing” and “take full responsibility” for his role in the attack on the Capitol.
Prosecutors alleged that Taylor organized a group to travel to Washington D.C. after former President Donald Trump tweeted in advance of the insurrection that Jan. 6 "will be wild."
Prosecutors asked that Taylor’s sentencing date be postponed until after the Three Percenters trial in which Taylor has agreed to cooperate.
The Three Percenters are a movement that’s part of the broader far-right, anti-government militia movement.
Taylor is expected to testify at the Three Percenters trial in July against Alan Hostetter, Ronald Mele, Derek Kinnison, Felipe Antonio Martinez. and Erik Warner.
Hostetter previously served as police chief of the city of La Habra (Orange County, California).
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-rioter-agrees-to-testify-in-three-percenters-trial/
-
Justice Dept will seek *15+* years in prison for Capitol riot defendant Markus Maly, who allegedly deployed chemical spray at police, stole police riot shield as trophy, confronted police in tunnel & "sent a Facebook message to his wife telling her “we took the f capital".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FuCjPjWaUAEQgUa?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Ukraine Joe doesn't have time to honor the hero cops who killed the radical leftist terrorist in Nashville or send his condolences to the families of the children killed, but today he is meeting with the three TN representatives who staged an insurrection in the state house. Unreal and insulting. And where is the shooter's manifesto? The families have not been provided with an explanation of the crime because the FBI is illegally withholding it from the public. Why? For political reasons. A shameful display.
-
Ukraine Joe doesn't have time to honor the hero cops who killed the radical leftist terrorist in Nashville or send his condolences to the families of the children killed, but today he is meeting with the three TN representatives who staged an insurrection in the state house. Unreal and insulting. And where is the shooter's manifesto? The families have not been provided with an explanation of the crime because the FBI is illegally withholding it from the public. Why? For political reasons. A shameful display.
the three TN representatives who staged an insurrection in the state house.
Are you sure you understand the meaning of the word "insurrection"?
I doubt it. To me you seem utterly clueless.
-
the three TN representatives who staged an insurrection in the state house.
Are you sure you understand the meaning of the word "insurrection"?
I doubt it. To me you seem utterly clueless.
Just using the term as I understand leftist to have applied it. The hypocrisy is astounding. There are grandmothers and hundreds of others who did nothing other than walk around the Capitol on Jan. 6 who have been in jail for years. But the leftist radicals who actually took over a government building and shutdown the business being conducted are invited to the WH. Sickening. That leftist mob was deflecting blame from the radical leftist terrorist who attacked a religious school and killed three children. Ukraine Joe has no time for law abiding cops or parents, though. He has to make it political. And where is your concern with the FBI suppressing the manifesto of the leftist terrorist? Suddenly the "official" story is hunky dory. Nothing to see there. Just the FBI hiding the motive of the crime from the parents and public.
-
Just using the term as I understand leftist to have applied it. The hypocrisy is astounding. There are grandmothers and hundreds of others who did nothing other than walk around the Capitol on Jan. 6 who have been in jail for years. But the leftist radicals who actually took over a government building and shutdown the business being conducted are invited to the WH. Sickening. That leftist mob was deflecting blame from the radical leftist terrorist who attacked a religious school and killed three children. Ukraine Joe has no time for law abiding cops or parents, though. He has to make it political. And where is your concern with the FBI suppressing the manifesto of the leftist terrorist? Suddenly the "official" story is hunky dory. Nothing to see there. Just the FBI hiding the motive of the crime from the parents and public.
There are grandmothers and hundreds of others who did nothing other than walk around the Capitol on Jan. 6 who have been in jail for years.
Name one grandmother who did nothing other than walk around the Capitol on Jan. 6 and is in jail right now for years! Go on then, just one will do...
But the leftist radicals who actually took over a government building and shutdown the business being conducted
Who exactly did that? Were they armed and did they injure any police officers?
That leftist mob was deflecting blame from the radical leftist terrorist who attacked a religious school and killed three children.
Really? And here's me thinking they were protesting gun violence and the Republicans doing nothing about it in the wake of another school shooting in Nashville on March 27.
If that's an "insurrection", then why did the Republican majority expel two Democrats for procedural rules violations?
As I said earlier, you seem utterly clueless....
-
Jan. 6 defendant opens fire on cops in Texas after being told of Capitol riot charges
(https://seditiontracker.com/images/preview/nathan-pelham.jpg)
A Jan. 6 defendant opened fire on cops who had been sent to check on him hours after he was told he'd been charged with participating in the storming of the Capitol, the Department of Justice said in a news release.
Nathan Donald Pelham, 40, of Greenville, Texas, was taken into custody after a standoff that lasted nearly three hours. He was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm in connection with the April 12 incident.
No injuries were reported in connection with the shootings.
The previous day he had been charged with four misdemeanor counts in connection with the attack on the Capitol. An FBI agent told him of the charges hours before the shooting and told him he had been given until April 17 to surrender.
But later that day, the local sheriff’s office got a call from one of Pelham's relatives who was concerned about him and saying he had a gun.
When cops got to the house they found it dark and lit it with lights from their patrol car. Shortly afterwards, Pelham's daughter left the house and was taken into a police car, before officers heard gunshots and took cover.
“About an hour later, at approximately 9:38 p.m., Mr. Pelham – a previously convicted felon – walked onto the porch and allegedly fired towards several deputies, who could be heard on body-worn camera video noting bullets ‘whiz’ by them,” the DOJ said.
“A deputy instructed Mr. Pelham to put his gun down, but he continued to wave it until re-entering his home. At 10:46 p.m., Mr. Pelham again exited the residence and fired multiple rounds.”
Nobody was hurt and law enforcement left at 12:21 a.m., the Department of Justice said. It's unclear when Pelham was arrested.
During a search of Pelham’s home, a Smith & Wesson 9mm pistol and four boxes of ammunition were found, along with several 9 mm-sized holes were found in the walls.
Pelham faces up to 15 years in federal prison on the felony gun charge and three years on the misdemeanor charges. He has been detained pending trial in both cases.
https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-defendant-opens-fire-on-cops-before-surrendering/
-
Rockne Earles of New Mexico, another MAGA seditionist has been arrested for taking part in an insurrection to overthrow the US government.
Charge: incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority.
(https://seditiontracker.com/images/suspect/rockne-earles.jpg)
(https://seditiontracker.com/images/booking/rockne-earles.jpg)
-
As I've said in a previous post, the radical right is desperate to downplay the January 6th insurrection because it is the biggest stain on our country and Trump's MAGA extremists were involved in an insurrection to overthrow the US government.
The liars on Faux News like Tucker Carlson are paid to push propaganda that's favorable to Trump and the GOP. Carlson is an outed liar for pushing fraudulent conspiracies and disinformation about the 2020 election. Faux News has to pay nearly 1 billion dollars for their lies and will be paying even more from future lawsuits.
Now Carlson is gaslighting and lying about the January 6th insurrection. He says there were "only grandmothers walking around the US Capitol". That is an absolute lie but Faux lies about everything.
Does this photo below of the January 6th insurrection look like "grandmothers walking around"?
No, these are Trump MAGA insurrectionists, mostly men, using objects as weapons to break into the US Capitol trying to stop the certification process from happening. They were attempting to overthrow the US government to keep Donald Trump illegally in power.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FVFGY17WIAAzcps?format=jpg&name=medium)
In order to deflect and downplay the MAGA role in the January 6th insurrection, right wingers want to ridiculously compare young students peacfully protesting with homemade signs at the Tennessee State Capitol to a MAGA violent coup.
These right wingers want to gaslight you. They want to call a violent Trump MAGA insurrection and coup "a peaceful protest with grandmothers walking around". They want to lie calling a peaceful protest with young kids protesting gun violence "an insurrection". That's called gaslighting. It's absolutely pathetic and it's a reason why Faux News has to pay nearly 1 billion dollars for their lies.
Do these kids in the photo below at the Tennessee State Capitol peacefully holding homemade signs look like "radical leftists" "a leftist mob" or an "insurrection" to you?
Of course not, these kids peacefully holding homemade signs are scared and sick of mass shootings happening in Tennessee because of Republicans allowing violent criminals and mentally unstable people to purchase assault weapons to commit mass shootings. They are demanding action from their Republican lawmakers and they have every right to do so.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtEHvV5WYAAVfUN?format=jpg&name=medium)
Pathetic MAGAs are calling Nashville kids holding homemade signs "radical leftists" and are calling this peaceful protest an "insurrection".
(https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/106828932-1611356814485-sabol.jpg?v=1611357086&w=1920&h=1080)
Pathetic MAGAs claim Trump supporters beating police in a real insurrection is just a "peaceful protest".
So, we have Trump MAGA supporters using pipes and other dangerous objects to bash in the US Capitol windows trying to gain access inside the Capitol building, but Tucker Carlson and his cult calls that a "peaceful protest". We also have Trump MAGA supporters using dangerous objects to severely beat the Capitol police. Do MAGA right wingers want to call beating police "peaceful"? That's what they are telling you with their pathetic gaslighting.
We have young kids holding homemade signs peacefully protesting at the Tennessee State Capitol against gun violence in their communities and schools, but lying propagandists like Tucker Carlson call them "radical leftists" and "insurrectionists".
It's truly pathetic and the worst gaslighting attempt in history. There's nothing these MAGA right wingers can do to erase their stain of attempting to overthrow the US government in a violent coup and insurrection to illegally keep Trump in power.
And trying to falsely attack President Biden for the mass shootings Republicans are allowing in this nation is absolutely pathetic.
Republicans allow anyone to purchase and conceal assault weapons even if they are violent criminals or mentally unstable like the Nashville shooter. Republicans tell us "we have to live like this" where mass shootings occur daily but they want to just attack President Biden to disparage him. Again, it's truly pathetic and it proves once again that Republicans are the problem.
-
The radical right wants you to believe that this insurrectionist is just an "elderly grandmother" peacefully walking around the Capitol on January 6th. They want you to believe these seditious traitors "did nothing" on January 6th. It's all bogus conspiracy theories and propaganda being pushed by the radical right. That's why Faux News has to pay up nearly 1 Billion dollars for their disinformation.
David Judd, who was part of the "heave-ho" against the police line on Jan 6 and threw a firecracker at police amid the attack, has begun serving his federal prison sentence.
Through May 26, 2025 at the federal correctional facility in Seagoville, Texas.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FuLEeP9XwAkfszA?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Most heavily armed January 6 rioter pleads guilty to bringing five firearms and 11 Molotov cocktails to Capitol
Lonnie Coffman admits federal weapons charges after bringing arsenal of firearms and explosive devices to Capitol
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/capitol-riot-molotov-cocktail-trump-b1957164.html
-
Another day without any explanation for the FBI illegally suppressing the manifesto of the radical leftist terrorist in Nashville. While Ukraine Joe celebrated with the insurrectionists who tried to deflect blame from the leftist terrorist, the parents are left with no explanation for the death of their children. Shameful.
-
Another day without any explanation for the FBI illegally suppressing the manifesto of the radical leftist terrorist in Nashville. While Ukraine Joe celebrated with the insurrectionists who tried to deflect blame from the leftist terrorist, the parents are left with no explanation for the death of their children. Shameful.
Another day without any explanation for the FBI illegally suppressing the manifesto of the radical leftist terrorist in Nashville.
There is nothing illegal about the FBI not releasing a document that is in fact evidence!
-
Another day without any explanation for the FBI illegally suppressing the manifesto of the radical leftist terrorist in Nashville.
There is nothing illegal about the FBI not releasing a document that is in fact evidence!
Evidence for what? The shooter is dead. It was her manifesto. No one else was involved in her leftist hate crime. There will never be a trial. The FBI can "analyze" the manifesto even if it is made available to the public. The parents deserve an explanation. You are fine with the "official" story and trusts the FBI when it suits your narrative. The FBI is clearly keeping this from the public (i.e. banning it) for political purposes to avoid any embarrassing revelations for their leftist political masters. Such hypocrisy from a JFK conspiracy theorist who believes the FBI was involved in the frame up of Oswald.
-
Evidence for what? The shooter is dead. It was her manifesto. No one else was involved in her leftist hate crime. There will never be a trial. The FBI can "analyze" the manifesto even if it is made available to the public. The parents deserve an explanation. You are fine with the "official" story and trusts the FBI when it suits your narrative. The FBI is clearly keeping this from the public (i.e. banning it) for political purposes to avoid any embarrassing revelations for their leftist political masters. Such hypocrisy from a JFK conspiracy theorist who believes the FBI was involved in the frame up of Oswald.
Evidence for what? The shooter is dead.
So was Oswald, yet they still searched for evidence, didn't they?
No one else was involved in her leftist hate crime.
And you know this, how?
Two years ago, a famous TV crime reported was shot and killed in Amsterdam. They quickly arrested the two shooters and the case went to trial about a year later. Since then, the trial has been stopped as further investigation discovered several other people that somehow were involved in the crime.
The parents deserve an explanation.
And, I'm sure they will get one. But that's not your concern. Not really! You want to read the manifesto for your own purposes!
You are fine with the "official" story and trusts the FBI when it suits your narrative.
What's the official story, other than that an investigation is still going on?
The FBI is clearly keeping this from the public (i.e. banning it) for political purposes to avoid any embarrassing revelations for their leftist political masters.
Clearly? Yeah right. Sure they are... they do that all the time, right? Except not in the Kennedy case, of course...
-
Justice Dept will seek 70 months in prison in Capitol riot case of Jeffrey Brown, arguing Brown sprayed orange liquid at police and joined the "heave-ho" attack in tunnel on Jan 6th.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FuP21v9X0AEOKro?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Justice Dept will seek 84 months prison in Capitol riot case of Jacob Therres, arguing he threw wooden plank at police "striking an officer in the head and causing him to briefly lose consciousness and suffer concussion-like symptoms"... then continuing assault.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FuPj5-mWwAE5O6X?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Capitol riot defendant Doug Jensen, who was wearing the Q-Anon shirt, ahead of the violent pro Trump mob confronting Capitol Police near US Senate is serving a federal prison sentence through June 27, 2025 at the Federal Bureau of Prisons facility in Ft. Worth, Texas.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtwTaUqXgAAT5TY?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtwTaUpX0AAXEZs?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FtwTaUpXoAA6ezE?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Video shows rioters beating officer with American flag
(https://people.com/thmb/W5ZXt7rdo4pR-cIIP6Kw48CcD2g=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(344x179:346x181)/Peter-Stager-f84d4eed807042f4927b9d32f001dfb2.jpg)
Video from the Capitol Hill insurrection shows rioters beating a police officer on the Capitol Hill steps.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/01/10/capitol-riot-officer-beating-trump-go-home-message-sot-vpx.cnn
-
‘Zip ties! I need to get me some’: Tactical vest-wearing, Taser-carrying Jan. 6 rioter known as ‘Zip Tie Guy’ convicted after stipulated trial
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/zip-ties-i-need-to-get-me-some-tactical-vest-wearing-taser-carrying-jan-6-rioter-known-as-zip-tie-guy-convicted-after-stipulated-trial/
-
The FBI continues to suppress the manifesto of the radical leftist terrorist who targeted a religious institution and murdered three children. The Biden administration is trying to protect a terrorist who committed a hate crime for their own political reasons. They are "banning" the contents. The only writing in the United States that is actually banned from the public by the government.
-
The FBI continues to suppress the manifesto of the radical leftist terrorist who targeted a religious institution and murdered three children. The Biden administration is trying to protect a terrorist who committed a hate crime for their own political reasons. They are "banning" the contents. The only writing in the United States that is actually banned from the public by the government.
The FBI continues to suppress the manifesto of the radical leftist terrorist who targeted a religious institution and murdered three children.
You can repeat this BS as many times as you like, it will not change the fact that the FBI is not going to make public evidence that's part of an ongoing investigation.
The only writing in the United States that is actually banned from the public by the government.
Really? I seem to recall that the evidence in the Kennedy murder was originally classified as secret for 75 years and still some of it isn't released.
As for the terrorist manifesto, nobody is banning it. It just hasn't been released yet.
-
The FBI continues to suppress the manifesto of the radical leftist terrorist who targeted a religious institution and murdered three children.
You can repeat this BS as many times as you like, it will not change the fact that the FBI is not going to make public evidence that's part of an ongoing investigation.
The only writing in the United States that is actually banned from the public by the government.
Really? I seem to recall that the evidence in the Kennedy murder was originally classified as secret for 75 years and still some of it isn't released.
As for the terrorist manifesto, nobody is banning it. It just hasn't been released yet.
Very silly and factually incorrect. Again, what is the FBI investigating? The shooter has been dead for a month. The FBI is not "investigating" anything even according to them. They are "analyzing" the manifesto for psychological insights into the dead shooter. Something they could do even if they released the manifesto. They are simply delaying its release for as long as possible for political reasons. Hoping the news cycle and public interest wanes over time. No doubt they will eventually be forced to release it in a supposedly free society where the government cannot suppress information. It is interesting, however, to see you change your tune and suddenly support the FBI and oppose release of information.
-
Very silly and factually incorrect. Again, what is the FBI investigating? The shooter has been dead for a month. The FBI is not "investigating" anything even according to them. They are "analyzing" the manifesto for psychological insights into the dead shooter. Something they could do even if they released the manifesto. They are simply delaying its release for as long as possible for political reasons. Hoping the news cycle and public interest wanes over time. No doubt they will eventually be forced to release it in a supposedly free society where the government cannot suppress information. It is interesting, however, to see you change your tune and suddenly support the FBI and oppose release of information.
They are simply delaying its release for as long as possible for political reasons. Hoping the news cycle and public interest wanes over time. No doubt they will eventually be forced to release it in a supposedly free society where the government cannot suppress information.
If you say so :D :D :D
It is interesting, however, to see you change your tune and suddenly support the FBI and oppose release of information.
No, what's interesting is you always finding a way to misrepresent facts. I have never said I am opposed to the release of information.
When the FBI is finished with the manifesto, I'm sure it will be released. That's fine by me.
-
How the Capitol attack unfolded
Watch: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-the-capitol-attack-unfolded
-
Feds to seek 51-months prison in Jan 6 case of Nic Brockhoff, arguing he assaulted police with fire extinguisher and "rifled through belongings in the Senate taking home writing on a Senate notepad".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FuHtj1ZWIAAbEcb?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Initial appearance set for Tuesday in Capitol riot case of Rockne Earles.
Earles of New Mexico is charged with assaulting and resisting police. Feds allege Earles grabbed and threw an officer to the ground using "what appears to be a significant amount of force."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FuUUUr_WIAEfohl?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Trial of Proud Boys Another Test for January 6 Prosecutors
(https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0aff-0242-f7bf-08db428ed6e3_w1023_r1_s.jpg)
FILE - Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl, left, and Ethan Nordean walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, in support of President Donald Trump, Jan. 6, 2021.
WASHINGTON — Five members the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist group, are on trial in Washington for seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
The defendants are accused of plotting and coordinating the bloody rampage in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power from then-President Donald Trump to Joe Biden, the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
If convicted, the defendants could face up to 20 years in prison.
The trial, now in its fourth month, is also a critical test of the government's resolve to pursue the rarely used seditious conspiracy charge against those who planned and directed the attack.
In two earlier cases, juries convicted Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and a top lieutenant of seditious conspiracy in November, and found four other members of the anti-government militia guilty of the charge in January.
(https://gdb.voanews.com/013b0000-0aff-0242-4f43-08daa89d05bb_w650_r0_s.jpg)
FILE - This artist sketch depicts the trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, center, and four others charged with seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, in Washington, Oct. 6, 2022.
"The stakes are every bit as high in this case," said Jordan Strauss, a former federal prosecutor, now a managing director at Kroll, a New York-based corporate investigation and risk consulting company.
It remains unclear how the jury will judge the Proud Boys case. The trial is nearing a conclusion as the defense wraps up its case and the jury begins deliberations.
A conviction would mark a significant victory for the U.S. Justice Department as it continues to hunt down the perpetrators of the attack two years later.
Here are several questions about the case:
Who are the Proud Boys?
The Proud Boys are a right-wing extremist group that emerged during the 2016 presidential election.
They describe themselves as a "pro-Western fraternal organization for men who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world; aka Western Chauvinists."
However, extremism researchers say that public persona is a smokescreen.
(https://gdb.voanews.com/10070000-0aff-0242-fa55-08da6376d395_w650_r0_s.jpg)
FILE - A video is displayed by the committee that claims to shows Proud Boys in front of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol a hearing at the Capitol in Washington, June 9, 2022.
In reality, they say, the group harbors a violent agenda and promotes misogyny, Islamophobia, transphobia and anti-immigration sentiment.
According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Proud Boys have been "regulars" at Trump rallies and far-right demonstrations, including the 2017 Unite the Right Rally where one counter-protester was killed.
Former FBI special agent Tom O'Connor compared the Proud Boys to thuggish "soccer hooligans" of the extreme right, in contrast to the Oath Keepers who fancy themselves as "the special forces of the far right."
The Proud Boys were thrust into the spotlight during the 2020 presidential campaign when Trump, speaking during a presidential debate, exhorted: "Proud Boys, stand back and stand by!"
A Congressional committee investigating the January 6 riot at the Capitol singled out the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers as two of several extremist groups that spearheaded the assault.
Who are the defendants?
Along with Enrique Tarrio, the former chairman of the Proud Boys, the group includes three local ring leaders – Joseph Biggs, Ethan Nordean and Zachary Rehl.
(https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0a00-0242-70fe-08db428ed6e8_w650_r0_s.jpg)
FILE - Proud Boys including Joseph Biggs, front left, walk toward the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Jan. 6, 2021.
The fifth defendant, Dominic Pezzola, is a former Marine from Rochester, New York, who joined the Proud Boys after the 2020 election.
Pezzola became the face of the January 6 attack when he was filmed using a stolen police riot shield to smash a window, clearing the way for a mob of rioters to storm the building.
What are the charges?
The Proud Boys face a total of nine charges, including seditious conspiracy.
Federal law defines seditious conspiracy as a plot to use force to "overthrow," "oppose" the authority of the government or "prevent" the execution of its laws.
The indictment against the defendants alleges that they conspired to ‘"oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force."
In addition to seditious conspiracy, the five men are charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, destroying government property, assaulting a federal office, and other charges.
Pezolla faces an additional robbery charge.
What do prosecutors say?
Prosecutors say the Proud Boys viewed a Biden presidency as an existential threat and were determined to stop him from taking office, even by force if necessary.
To back up their claim, prosecutors offered a trove of evidence, including social media posts, texts, emails, and phone calls exchanged by the Proud Boys in the run-up to January 6, 2021.
(https://gdb.voanews.com/09410000-0a00-0242-d23f-08dae20cb3f6_w650_r0_s.jpg)
FILE - Proud Boys leader Henry "Enrique" Tarrio wears a hat that says The War Boys during a rally in Portland, Oregon, on Sept. 26, 2020.
As early as November 16, less than two weeks after the election, Tarrio posted an ominous message online.
"If Biden steals this election," Tarrio wrote, the Proud Boys "will be political prisoners. We won't go quietly … I promise."
Jeremy Bertino, one of two ex-Proud Boys to testify against them, told the jury that the group believed "they had to take the reins" and lead the people to "all out revolution."
(https://gdb.voanews.com/03990000-0aff-0242-f1da-08daa7f9cf06_w650_r0_s.jpg)
FILE - Proud Boys member Jeremy Bertino, second from left, joins other supporters of President Donald Trump at a rally at Freedom Plaza, in Washington, Dec. 12, 2020.
In late December 2020, as Trump's lawsuits to overturn the election results floundered, Tarrio and his cohorts created a "national rally planning" group that they called "Ministry of Self Defense."
That's when the Proud Boys began to prepare for January 6, the day Congress would certify Biden's victory, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say while the Proud Boys leaders didn't bring firearms to Washington, they "enlisted" their members as "tools" to carry out the attack.
Tarrio was arrested in Washington two days before the Capitol breach and banned from the city. But he stayed in touch with the other four as they led the charge on the Capitol.
"Make no mistake," he boasted in a message after the attack. "We did this."
What is the defense's argument?
The defense has claimed that Tarrio's message and other supposedly incriminating messages exchanged among the Proud Boys had been distorted and twisted out of context.
The prosecution, defense lawyers insisted, showed no proof of a plan to storm the Capitol.
It was Trump, not the Proud Boys on trial, who "unleashed the mob" that breached the Capitol, a lawyer for Tarrio said in January.
The Proud Boys, the lawyers said, were simply caught up in a spontaneous eruption of fury over Trump's defeat.
Defense lawyers have also challenged the prosecution's theory that the defendants deployed other members as "tools" in the Capitol breach.
In a risky move for the defense, two of the five defendants took the stand in their own defense this month, trying to downplay their role in the attack.
Echoing other defense witnesses, they insisted they had not heard of any plans to attack the Capitol ahead of time.
Rehl, the leader of the Proud Boys in Philadelphia, said the Proud Boys were just following the "rowdy" crowd.
(https://gdb.voanews.com/01000000-0a00-0242-7311-08db428ed6de_w650_r0_s.jpg)
FILE - Rioters, including Dominic Pezzola, center with police shield, are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers outside the Senate Chamber inside the Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021
Pezzola, the Proud Boy from New York, said the Proud Boys were "acting as trespassing protesters" rather than an invading force.
But other defense witnesses were put on the spot. Under cross examination by prosecutors, they admitted that the Proud Boys were more bent on wreaking havoc than they had let on.
What do experts say about the case?
The trial's outcome is up in the air, but experts say the Proud Boys face an uphill battle.
The seditious conspiracy charge doesn't necessarily require prosecutors to prove all of the Proud Boys actually committed violence, Strauss noted.
All prosecutors need to show is that the group "conspired" to sabotage the presidential transfer of power.
"Conspiracy can look like giving comfort or equipping someone or helping someone plan for an act of violence, while knowing what they are going to do," Strauss said.
O'Connor, the former FBI special agent, concurred.
"The Proud Boys didn't just show up on January 6," O'Connor said. "It took some coordination and effort to take the sheep that followed along and went towards the capitol in large numbers."
The jury will ultimately determine whether the Proud Boys' actions amounted to seditious conspiracy, O'Connor said.
"That's our system and no matter which way it goes, you have to accept the jury's verdict on that," he said.
https://www.voanews.com/a/trial-of-proud-boys-another-test-for-january-6-prosecutors-/7060880.html
-
Still no sign of the Nashville shooter's manifesto after a month and counting. Even after it caused an insurrection in the TN state house. Nothing to see there. Just government suppression of information for political purposes. In violation of numerous laws. I'm sure the leftist media won't stand for this. They are unbiased arbiters of truth and justice who won't stand for government coverups. LOL.
-
Still no sign of the Nashville shooter's manifesto after a month and counting. Even after it caused an insurrection in the TN state house. Nothing to see there. Just government suppression of information for political purposes. In violation of numerous laws. I'm sure the leftist media won't stand for this. They are unbiased arbiters of truth and justice who won't stand for government coverups. LOL.
There was no "insurrection" in the Tennessee State Capitol. Post a declaration of an "insurrection" from the Governor of Tennessee. You won't be able to because there wasn't one.
Students with homemade signs were protesting gun violence. That's not an "insurrection". :D
(https://thehill.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2023/04/students_gun-control_protest_tn_040623ap_wedge-issues.jpeg?strip=1)
-
'Goodness gracious!' DC judge snaps at Proud Boys lawyer in the final days of the trial
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/proud-boys.jpg?id=28161907&width=2400&height=1608)
U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly in Washington, D.C. snapped at one of the lawyers of the Proud Boys in court Monday. Lawfare editor Roger Parloff has spent the last 61 days live-tweeting 61 days live-tweeting what he observes in the trial that isn't being streamed to the public, only the audio has been available at times.
The top five members of the Proud Boys that are appearing in court face "a ten-count indictment, the government alleges that five Proud Boy defendants ... conspired to oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force," Parloff explained in January when the trial began. The men are former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio, Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.
Monday marked closing statements from the lawyers and theoretically should be the final day of the trial, and the next steps are the jury's decision.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason McCullough asked the judge for a sidebar as the Proud Boys lawyer walked through all of the things they took issue with something said by the Proud Boys' lawyer.
Nicholas Smith, attorney for Ethan Nordean, accused the prosecutors of building a case on “misdirection and innuendo.” He went on to say that the prosecutors repeatedly played clips of Trump in an effort to manipulate the jury.
“Does that prove some conspiracy by the men here?” Smith asked jurors. “We all know it doesn’t.”
He went on to cite the definition of seditious conspiracy and argue that the government hasn't shown any proof other than the men engaged in a protest and march. He said that the prosecutors hadn't shown when an agreement was reached or by whom, and if there was a conspiracy, then the men would have been aware of a plan. The government prosecutors objected to the comment, which was sustained by the judge. That's when the court reporter asked for a 10-minute break.
When the jury left, Judge Kelly chastised the Proud Boys' lawyers. He said that so much of the closing statements are consistent with how the lawyer has conducted himself throughout the case.
"You've got misstatements of the law. You've stated them, and now you've got a graphic. When you're done, I'm going to instruct the juror that what you've told them is wrong. It's not the law land. It's quite misleading. Tell me why you should tell them what the law is and not me."
Smith claimed the other prosecutors instructed the jury on the law in their statements.
"We're not reading law that inconsistent — it's from a supreme court case," said Smith
"It's taken out of context," the judge said. He also argued that Smith has repeatedly commented on whose been charged and who has not. "We've litigated this many times, but goodness gracious."
After a back and forth, the judge told Smith, "I halve to correct them after you're done. That is not the law and they are to disregard it. This is what happens when we take a lot of time to litigate jury instructions and you disregard them."
Read the full thread here: https://twitter.com/rparloff/status/1650572540710903817
-
Closing arguments in the marathon Jan 6 seditious conspiracy trial of the group of accused Proud Boys....including Domenic Pezzola.
Pezzola was cross-examined last week....He's accused of smashing open Capitol window with police riot shield.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FuayGAWXwAsoq6r?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Proud Boys were ready for ‘all-out war’ before January 6, prosecutors argue
The neo-fascist group’s leader and four lieutenants are accused of seditious conspiracy to forcibly stop the transfer of power in 2021
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/27ef1112d2b51f9afdbe61d871ccd07b60569fd9/0_99_2958_1776/master/2958.jpg?width=620&quality=45&dpr=2&s=none)
Proud Boys members Zachary Rehl, left, and Ethan Nordean walk toward the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP
Ready for “all-out war”, leaders of the far-right Proud Boys viewed themselves as foot soldiers for Donald Trump as he clung to power after the 2020 election, a prosecutor said on Monday at the close of a historic trial over the January 6 Capitol attack.
After more than three months of testimony, jurors began hearing closing arguments in the seditious conspiracy case accusing the former Proud Boys national chairman, Enrique Tarrio, and four lieutenants of plotting to forcibly stop the transfer of power.
The Proud Boys were “lined up behind Donald Trump and willing to commit violence on his behalf”, prosecutor Conor Mulroe said. “These defendants saw themselves as Donald Trump’s army, fighting to keep their preferred leader in power no matter what the law or the courts had to say about it.”
The justice department has worked to link the violence of 6 January 2021 to Trump. Prosecutors have repeatedly shown a video clip of Trump telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during his first debate with Joe Biden.
Tarrio is one of the top targets of the Capitol attack investigation. He wasn’t in Washington but is accused of orchestrating it from afar. Defense attorneys say there is no evidence of a conspiracy or a plan to attack the Capitol.
Nicholas Smith, an attorney for the former Proud Boys chapter leader Ethan Nordean, said prosecutors built their case on “misdirection and innuendo”, accusing them of repeatedly playing the clip of Trump to manipulate jurors.
“Does that prove some conspiracy by the men here?” Smith asked. “We all know it doesn’t.”
Mulroe said a conspiracy can be an unspoken and implicit “mutual understanding, reached with a wink and a nod”.
Seditious conspiracy, a civil war-era charge that can be difficult to prove, carries a sentence of up to 20 years. The Proud Boys face other charges too.
The justice department has secured seditious conspiracy convictions against the founder and members of another far-right group, the Oath Keepers. But this is the first major trial involving the Proud Boys, a neo-fascist group that remains a force in Republican politics.
The government’s case is founded on messages leaders and members exchanged in encrypted chats and posted on social media before, during and after the January 6 attack. The messages show Proud Boys celebrating when Trump told them to “stand back and stand by”. After the election, they raged online about baseless claims of a stolen election and what would happen when Biden took office.
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/8675a493cbcbda7b05af34e2d6bd7c52b19886fb/0_0_2952_1968/master/2952.jpg?width=620&quality=45&dpr=2&s=none)
Dominic Pezzola, center with police shield, inside the US Capitol on 6 January 2021. Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP
“If Biden steals this election, [the Proud Boys] will be political prisoners,” Tarrio posted. “We won’t go quietly … I promise.”
Jurors also saw gleeful messages posted during the Capitol riot when a group marched to the Capitol and some of them entered the building after the mob overwhelmed police.
“Make no mistake,” Tarrio wrote. “We did this.”
Prosecutors showed videos during closing statements, including one that appeared to show defendant Zachary Rehl spraying police with pepper spray. Confronted with the images earlier in the trial, Rehl said he didn’t remember it and couldn’t tell if it was him. Mulroe said the images show “he did it and he lied under oath about it”.
Tarrio, a Miami resident, Nordean and Rehl are on trial with Joseph Biggs and Dominic Pezzola. Nordean, of Auburn, Washington, was a chapter president. Biggs, of Ormond Beach, Florida, was a self-described organizer. Rehl was president of a chapter in Philadelphia. Pezzola was a member from Rochester, New York.
Tarrio was arrested in Washington two days before the January 6 attack on charges that he burned a church’s Black Lives Matter banner. He followed a judge’s order to leave town.
Defense attorneys called several current and former Proud Boys, trying to portray the group as a drinking club that only engaged in violence for self-defense.
“If you don’t like what some of them say, that doesn’t make them guilty,” Rehl’s attorney, Carmen Hernandez, told jurors.
Rehl said the group had “no objective” on 6 January. Pezzola testified that he got “caught up in the craziness” and acted alone when he used a riot shield to smash a Capitol window.
The prosecutor told jurors the Proud Boys leaders wanted to stop Congress from certifying Biden’s victory “by any means necessary, including force”.
“You want to call this a drinking club? You want to call this a men’s fraternal organization? Ladies and gentlemen, let’s call this what it is … a violent gang that came together to use force against its enemies,” Mulroe said.
Key witnesses included two former Proud Boys who pleaded guilty to riot-related charges and are cooperating with the government in hope of lighter sentences.
The first, Matthew Greene, testified that group members were expecting a “civil war”. The second, Jeremy Bertino, testified that he viewed the Proud Boys as leaders of the conservative movement and “the tip of the spear”.
The Proud Boys’ defense mirrored arguments made by lawyers for members of the Oath Keepers: that there was no evidence of a plan to attack the Capitol.
Prosecutors secured seditious conspiracy convictions against six Oath Keepers, while three were acquitted. Those three, however, were convicted of obstructing certification of Biden’s victory.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/24/proud-boys-jan-6-attack-trial-closing-arguments
-
Proud Boys were ‘Donald Trump’s army,’ prosecutor says in closing arguments of seditious conspiracy trial
Washington CNN — After months of legal battles, infighting between defense lawyers and dozens of rejected mistrial motions, the federal criminal trial against five Proud Boys accused of plotting to attack the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, moved to its final stage Monday.
One prosecutor and two defense attorneys gave their closing arguments to the Washington, DC, jury tasked with deciding whether Enrique Tarrio, Dominic Pezzola, Zachary Rehl, Joseph Biggs and Ethan Nordean are guilty of several federal crimes, including seditious conspiracy.
The Justice Department’s Conor Mulroe argued that the defendants stirred fellow members of the far-right Proud Boys toward violence in the lead up to January 6 and directed them that day to attack the iconic building.
Attorneys for Nordean and Rehl repeatedly said that the mountains of evidence only showed vulgar, stupid messages from their clients and violence from others in the crowd on January 6 – none of which amounted to the seditious conspiracy charge their clients face.
All five of the defendants have pleaded not guilty. Closing arguments are expected to continue into Tuesday.
DOJ: ‘The Capitol was the focus from the start’
In the lead-up to January 6, Mulroe argued, the defendants were infuriated by then-President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss and began calling for revolutionary action to oppose the incoming administration.
"The founders of this country fought to create a nation where the leader is chosen by the will of the people and power is handed over peacefully following a process of law,” Mulroe said. “These defendants saw themselves as Donald Trump’s army, fighting to keep their leader in power no matter what the law or the courts had to say about it.”
Mulroe showed the jury countless messages and videos the defendants sent to one another in the weeks and months before the attack, calling for violence against politicians, police and left-wingers, arguing the five men “had been thirsting for violence and organizing for action.”
“To these defendants, politics was no longer something for the debating floor or voting booth. To them, politics meant actual physical combat, a battle between good and evil in the most literal sense,” Mulroe said.
“The Capitol was the focus from the start,” he said. “They made it plain as day why they were there. It was not to see Donald Trump’s speech, it was not to protect patriots, it was certainly not to protest peacefully. They were there to threaten and, if necessary, use force to stop the certification of the election.”
As the attack unfolded, Mulroe said, several of the defendants took part in breaking down police barriers, signaled directions to one another, and at a critical moment when police had reestablished a line in front of the Capitol, the men pressed forward.
Playing the jury audio clips of panicked US Capitol Police officers begging for backup as the mob breached the Capitol grounds, Mulroe said, “That is what it looks like when the process of government is brought to a screeching halt. Those radio calls are the sound of a 200-year tradition of the peaceful transfer of power being shattered.”
He added: “Ladies and gentlemen, this was a national disgrace. To them, it was mission accomplished. They had done it. They had stopped the certification.”
But in the days after the riot, Mulroe said, and the defendants became angry more wasn’t done to keep Trump in power.
“They came up short,” Mulroe added. “So now, they are facing consequences.”
Defense attorney: ‘Even if you don’t like what some of them say, it doesn’t make them guilty’
Defense attorneys told jurors their clients never entered a conspiracy to attack the Capitol and chided prosecutors for trying to connect their clients to Trump.
Nordean’s attorney, Nicholas Smith, argued that prosecutors only used the infamous video from a 2020 debate stage where Trump told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” to rile up the jury.
“It was played to manipulate you into confusing your dislike for a politician with whether these men are guilty of a crime,” Smith said. “Whatever the former president’s personal crimes are, you have seen no evidence that Mr. Trump conspired with Ethan Nordean from Seattle.”
The prosecutors’ case, Smith said, “was designed to make you hate these men and find them fearful,” adding that several of the statements shown by prosecutors were from before January 6 and that videos of violence between Proud Boys and others played for the jury were from past rallies immediately after the 2020 election.
"The loud sounds and scary and chaotic scenes” from those rallies, Smith argued, were tactic by prosecutors. “It was designed to make you hate these men and find them fearful,” he said.
Smith and Carmen Hernandez, who represents Rehl, argued there was not a single message, video or statement from the defendants outlining a specific plan to stop Congress’ certification of the 2020 presidential election on January 6.
Hernandez also rebuked the “mountain of evidence” prosecutors showed as inflammatory, saying that “much of it, in my humble opinion, (had) nothing to do with Mr. Rehl.”
“We think these guys are racist and sexist,” Carmen said, pointing at the five defendants sitting in the courtroom, “and they may be. But that’s not what they’re charged with. Even if you don’t like what some of them say, it doesn’t make them guilty.”
Both Hernandez and Smith told jurors that while their clients acted inappropriately, neither of them had come to Washington, DC, as part of an explicit plan for violence in the Capitol.
“Were not debating for a second that it wasn’t inappropriate for a person to go into the Capitol building, of course it was,” Smith said, adding that Nordean “should not have gone into the Capitol. He should not have been where he was.”
https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/24/politics/proud-boys-seditious-conspiracy-trial-closing-arguments/index.html
-
Faux News fired right wing propagandist hack Tucker Carlson yesterday. He was pushing disinformation about the January 6th insurrection on his fake propaganda program. Good riddance!
Tucker Carlson amplifies Jan. 6 lies with GOP-provided video
(https://storage.googleapis.com/afs-prod/media/20f5c60019e84f5abdece4680bac53d7/1000.webp)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Handed some 41,000 hours of Jan. 6 security footage, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson has launched an impassioned new effort to explain away the deadly Capitol attack, linking the Republican Party ever more closely to pro-Trump conspiracy theories about the 2021 riot.
The conservative commentator aired a first installment to millions of viewers on his prime-time show Monday, working to bend perceptions of the violent, grueling siege that played out for the world to see into a narrative favorable to Donald Trump. A small additional bit was shown Tuesday amid calls from critics to stop.
The undertaking by Fox News comes as Trump is again running for president, and executives at the highest levels of the cable news giant have admitted in unrelated court proceedings that it spread the former president’s false claims about the 2020 election despite dismissing Trump’s assertions privately.
The effort dovetails with the work of Republicans on Capitol Hill, led by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who turned over the security footage to Fox. The Republicans are trying to claw back the findings of the House Jan. 6 investigation, which painstakingly documented, with testimony and video evidence, how Trump rallied his supporters to head to the Capitol and “fight like hell” as Congress was certifying his loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump on Tuesday contended that Carlson’s presentation was “irrefutable” evidence that rioters have been wrongly accused of crimes and he thanked the host and the speaker for their work. Carlson praised McCarthy as having “rectified” the official record.
Trump called anew for the release from custody of people who have been convicted or have pleaded guilty to charges from the attack.
At the same time, criticism poured in from Democrats — and some top Republicans, too — over the GOP’s attempt to amplify falsehoods about the attack that was seen around the world as Trump supporters laid siege to the seat of U.S. democracy.
Rep. Bennie G. Thompson, the Democrat who chaired the House Jan. 6 Committee investigating the riot, called McCarthy’s decision to selectively release the security footage “a dereliction of duty.”
“The speaker decided it was more important to give in to a Fox host who spews lies and propaganda than to protect the Capitol,” Thompson said in a statement. He called Jan. 6 “one of the darkest days in the history of our democracy.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the Monday night Fox News episode from Carlson “one of the most shameful hours we have ever seen on television.”
The show’s portrayal was “an insult to every single police officer,” Schumer said, especially the family of Brian Sicknick, who died later after fighting the mob. “Nonviolent? Ask his family.”
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said it was a mistake for Fox News to depict the footage as it did — at odds with the Capitol Police assessment and what he and others witnessed firsthand at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
But McCarthy, who has shifted from blaming Trump for the riot to softening his criticism of the former president, stood by his decision, saying people can watch and “come up with their own conclusion.”
In the roughly 30-minute segment, Fox distilled the thousands of hours of footage of the gruesome scenes at the Capitol that day and did show some of the hand-to-hand combat as rioters laid siege to the building, broke windows and kicked down doors to gain entry.
But Carlson also emphasized imagery of the invaders, some in combat gear and wielding flagpoles, merely milling about the gilded halls, taking pictures of the surroundings during pauses in the hours-long attack.
“These were not insurrectionists. They were sightseers,” Carlson said.
The footage he aired focused on one of the highest-profile rioters, Jacob Chansley, the “QAnon Shaman,” garbed in his horned hat and bare chested, as he poked around the building, officers standing by or opening doors. Chansley pleaded guilty to a felony charge of obstructing an official proceeding and was sentenced to 41 months in prison.
Carlson denounced the Jan. 6 committee led by Democrats in the past Congress, and called out Trump’s chief Republican critics Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger as liars on the panel.
Carlson is reviving the falsehoods launched by Trump and his allies, including Republicans in Congress, that the attackers were peaceful protesters and acted like tourists, despite the well-documented carnage of the day and the deaths of five people in the riot and its aftermath. It’s part of an effort to reverse criminal charges for those being prosecuted in the attack, many of whom have pleaded guilty and said they regretted their actions on Jan. 6.
Capitol Police officers who were defending against the mob have testified to their harrowing experiences — one said she was slipping in other people’s blood, while another told of being crushed in the mob — as they worked and ultimately failed to block the rioters from storming the Capitol.
The criminal cases stemming from the riot have laid bare the violence. Officers have testified in court about being chased, hit, dragged and scared for their lives as they tried to defend the Capitol. One tweeted images late Monday of his cuts, stitches and swollen bruises from that day.
Among those who died in the riot and its aftermath were Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt who was shot by police and Capitol Police officer Sicknick who died after fighting the mob.
Carlson aired footage of Sicknick inside the Capitol picking up posters and politely ushering protesters out the door, portraying that as evidence the officer was not killed in the crush.
That last was denounced by Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger as “the most disturbing accusation from last night.”
“The Department maintains, as anyone with common sense would, that had Officer Sicknick not fought valiantly for hours on the day he was violently assaulted, Officer Sicknick would not have died the next day,” Chief Manger said in a memo to his police force.
He said the program “cherry-picked” from calmer moments of the day, ignoring “the chaos and violence that happened before or during.”
The Sicknick family said in a statement that the footage simply showed that Brian Sicknick bravely resumed his duties for a time after he had been attacked by a chemical agent.
Ken Sicknick, Brian Sicknick’s brother, said in an interview that the family is “at a loss” about how to fight back against a network with millions of viewers and the speaker of the House who gave access to the footage.
Law enforcement failures on Jan. 6 have been investigated in Congress and acknowledged: Police failed to heed signs of a looming attack and were slow to provide an adequate response, including reinforcement from the National Guard.
More than half of the roughly 1,000 people charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes have pleaded guilty, including more than 130 who pleaded guilty to felony crimes, according to an Associated Press tally.
Members of the extremist Proud Boys and Oath Keepers groups are facing rare charges of sedition for their roles at the front of the assault. Several members of the Oath Keepers have been found guilty of sedition. Hundreds of other rioters were charged only with misdemeanor offenses and many have served no prison time.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are mounting an effort to retell the history of Jan. 6 through the House Administration Committee, which has opened an online portal for submissions from the public.
Some GOP leaders, however, appeared uncomfortable with McCarthy’s move and the way the footage was being used.
Senate Republican leader McConnell quickly distanced himself from the endeavor, saying he wanted to “associate myself entirely” with the police chief’s views.
McConnell said, “Clearly the chief of the Capitol Police correctly describes what most of us witnessed firsthand on Jan. 6.”
AP reporters Michael Balsamo and Alanna Durkin Richer and videojournalist Rick Gentilo contributed to this story.
https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-tucker-carlson-capitol-riot-mccarthy-adc245e22f50b076925eb72948062808
-
Donald Trump central to Proud Boys trial as DOJ, defense attorneys blame him for Jan. 6 attack
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2021/06/20/USAT/3566f179-ccd4-4793-a558-2b2583f86ce2-AFP_AFP_9AR2XW.jpg?width=1320&height=880&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
As the seditious conspiracy trial of five Proud Boys comes to an end, both prosecutors and defense attorneys have made it clear there's an elephant not in the courtroom: former President Donald Trump.
Prosecutors are accusing the defendants of acting like "Donald Trump's army," motivated to keep Trump in power after what they viewed as a fraudulent presidential election in 2020.
Defense attorneys for the Proud Boys on trial agree Trump is to blame, but for different reasons; they say that the former president's rhetoric inflamed the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 — not members of the right-wing extremist group.
"It was Donald Trump’s words, it was his motivation, it was his anger that caused what occurred on Jan. 6," Tarrio attorney Nayib Hassan said in his closing remarks. "They want to use Enrique Tarrio as a scapegoat for Donald Trump and those in power."
Longtime Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four lieutenants — Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola — face trial for seditious conspiracy in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. The Civil War-era charge is rarely alleged and even more rarely convicted. They face an array of other serious charges.
Closing remarks began Monday in the historic trial. In its 15 weeks, Trump has been central to the cases built by both the government and the Proud Boys' attorneys.
“The most interesting thing to me is the idea of Trump as the empty chair in these trials,” said Jill Huntley Taylor, CEO of Taylor Trial Consulting. “On both sides, both sides are pointing to Trump.”
DOJ portrays Trump as Jan. 6 instigator
(https://www.gannett-cdn.com/presto/2022/12/23/USAT/c5c12951-5de2-4ef4-8819-4bce20b325d1-jan_6.jpg?width=1320&height=743&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp)
Violent Trump mob storms the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Government prosecutors have portrayed Trump as an instigator who boosted the Proud Boys' credibility and their resolve in the months leading up to Jan. 6.
After Trump told the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by" during a September 2020 presidential debate, members of the right-wing extremist group celebrated and expressed an increased sense of importance in private Telegram messages, according to evidence introduced in court.
They sent a flurry of messages to a group chat called "Official Presidents Chat," which prosecutors say was populated by Proud Boys chapter presidents across the country. Tarrio, Nordean and Rehl were in the chat.
"PROUD BOYS"
"SHOUT OUT"
"Wouldn't condemn us," said the messages from different Proud Boys, pouring in within milliseconds of each other.
Once it became clear Trump lost the 2020 presidential election and Joe Biden would become president, the Proud Boys mobilized to keep him in the White House, prosecutors argued.
"These defendants saw themselves as Donald Trump’s army, fighting to keep their preferred leader in power no matter what the law or the courts had to say about it," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Conor Mulroe.
Proud Boys defense attorneys blame Trump for Jan. 6
Defense attorneys have directed fire toward the former president for entirely different reasons. They say Trump's incendiary rhetoric and false claims of election fraud inflamed the mob that attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6, not the Proud Boys.
On Dec. 19, 2020, Trump tweeted that a "big protest" would take place on Jan. 6, the same day as the joint session of Congress where the 2020 presidential election votes would be certified and Biden would officially be named president-elect. He told his followers: “Be there, will be wild!”
In February, Biggs attorney Norman Pattis raised the possibility of subpoenaing Trump as a witness in the high-profile trial, but the long-shot bid to put Trump on the witness stand was not taken up by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Kelly, who is presiding over the case.
Experts in extremism told USA TODAY that Trump acted as a uniting force for the disparate group of Americans that descended on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
"When we look at January 6, you kind of have that perfect storm," said Jon Lewis, a research fellow at the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. "You have the mob. You have the 'Stop the Steal' influencers...You have your extremist groups — your Proud Boys, your Oath Keepers. And then you have Trump who in that moment acted as that focusing lens."
"He gave them the time, the place and the enemy," Lewis added.
House Jan. 6 committee also blamed Trump
The House Jan. 6 committee that investigated the Capitol attack in March said it had gathered evidence indicating that former President Donald Trump and others "engaged in a criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States."
"The evidence supports an inference that President Trump and members of his campaign knew he had not won enough legitimate state electoral votes to be declared the winner of the 2020 Presidential election during the January 6 Joint Session of Congress," the committee disclosed in court documents. "But the President nevertheless sought to use the Vice President to manipulate the results in his favor."
Trump has not faced any charges tied to the Capitol attack, though Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith is investigating Trump's role in the events of that day.
After closing remarks in Proud Boys trial, the jury decides
Closing remarks are still ongoing in the Proud Boys trial. But the jury will soon get the chance to decide whether the blame for the defendants' actions fall on them alone.
"The jurors want to get it right; they will pay a lot of attention to all of the evidence that's coming in and try to block out whatever noise is associated with the trial," Taylor said. "I do think that they may be extraordinarily careful about what decisions they make...all jurors do, but maybe to a greater degree under these circumstances."
Watch video in link below:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/04/25/proud-boys-trial-doj-donald-trump-jan-6/11734356002/
-
This says it all. This is coming from the Proud Boys' defense attorney.
In closing argument to jury, defense attorney for accused Jan 6 seditious conspiracy defendant Enrique Tarrio:
“It was Donald Trump’s words, it was his motivation, it was his anger that caused what occurred on January 6 in your amazing and beautiful city"
So, the defense attorney for Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the right wing hate group "the Proud Boys" is putting the blame on Donald Trump for the January 6th insurrection. This debunks all the bogus right wing propaganda that the fired Faux News liar Tucker Carlson was promoting about January 6th being "peaceful".
The defense attorney is blaming Donald Trump for all the violence and the attempted coup on January 6th.
Yes, Donald Trump is to blame for January 6th because it was his lies and violent rhetoric that incited his gullible base into believing the election was stolen.
But, that does not excuse his violent supporters for storming the Capitol trying to overthrow the US government and preventing a peaceful transfer of power.
Trump's MAGA supporters engaged in seditious criminal activity and they are being held accountable for their crimes.
-
Some of the dangerous weapons Trump rioters used to beat and attack police officers with at the MAGA armed insurrection.
A four foot rod
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E61GYp7WEAE7wtS?format=jpg&name=small)
A metal whip
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E7AbQvaWYAQC9Gr?format=jpg&name=medium)
A hockey stick, poles, and bottles
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FBajJkRXEAEArdr?format=jpg&name=medium)
A pitchfork
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FCJBtZTXoAUZGIl?format=jpg&name=medium)
Plywood
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FDbeY09WUAUbA54?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
The Biden administration continues to suppress the manifesto of the leftist terrorist for political reasons. The only real banned writing in the US despite the fake leftist talking points. It is "too dangerous" for the public according to Big Brother. The parents and citizens of Nashville apparently can't handle the truth. Old Joe decides what information the public can have. Like his efforts to censor dissent on social media and suppress the Hunter laptop story.
-
CBS Mornings @CBSMornings
After more than four months, the jury in the Proud Boys seditious conspiracy case will begin deliberations today.
A defense lawyer for Enrique Tarrio, a Proud Boys leader, said blame for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack lies squarely with Donald Trump.
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1651193553836556290
https://twitter.com/CBSMornings/status/1651193553836556290
-
Department of Justice releases video from Jan. 6 Capitol riot
Watch:
-
Florida man gets prison term for his role in the attack on the Capitol
27-year-old Christian Matthew Manley from Fort Walton Beach was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in the District of Columbia, according to court records.
(https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2f5c196/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4666x2624+0+0/resize/1760x990!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fassets%2Fimg%2F2021%2F11%2F16%2Fgettyimages-1230455457_wide-77c682f5572d7ef901105e1f894e36cfb92556b4.jpg)
A Florida man has been sentenced to four years and two months in federal prison for attacking police officers during the insurrection and storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Christian Matthew Manley, 27, of Fort Walton Beach, Florida, was sentenced Tuesday in federal court in the District of Columbia, according to court records. He pleaded guilty in November to assaulting, resisting and impeding law enforcement while using a dangerous weapon.
According to court documents, Manley joined with others in objecting to Democrat Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over then-President Donald Trump. A mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying election results for Biden over Trump, a Republican, authorities have said. Five people died in the violence.
According to the criminal complaint, Manley was captured on video outside the Capitol wearing a flak jacket and armed with bear spray, a collapsible police baton and handcuffs. Video shows Manley spraying bear spray at U.S. Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police Department officers as they defended an entrance from rioters.
Manley threw the empty bear spray container at officers, then sprayed a second cannister at officers before throwing it at them, prosecutors said. A short time later, Manley accepted a metal rod from another rioter and threw it at the officers, investigators said. They added that Manley also wedged his body against a wall in a tunnel and used force to push the security door against officers defending the Capitol.
Since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,000 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for alleged crimes related to the Capitol breach, officials said. More than 320 people have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
https://wusfnews.wusf.usf.edu/courts-law/2023-04-26/florida-man-prison-term-role-attack-capitol
-
Here's an excellent piece from The New Yorker detailing the lead up to January 6th. It also goes in depth with the violence on January 6th and the January 6 Committee investigation.
Make sure to watch the video in the link.
The Devastating New History of the January 6th Insurrection
The House report describes both a catastrophe and a way forward.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/american-chronicles/the-devastating-new-history-of-the-january-sixth-insurrection
-
Tucker Carlson Was Obsessed with Blaming Jan. 6 Insurrection on FBI, Ex Producer Says
Fired Fox News host Tucker Carlson was hellbent on spinning a conspiracy theory that the FBI had instigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, said former producer Abby Grossberg, who is suing the station for alleged discrimination
In an interview on MSNBC, Grossberg said Carlson was obsessed with “finding an FBI person who was implanted in the crowd” in order to suggest the riot was a false flag by the government.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy turned over 41,000 hours of Jan. 6 security footage to Fox, which Carlson cherry-picked to peddle a false narrative.
Tucker was “spinning this conspiracy that they were ultimately the ones responsible for the Capitol attack, not Fox News as they’re about to go into the Dominion trial,” Grossberg said.
“It was really the FBI that set up this thing, not Fox telling the American people that the election was rigged and the voting machines did it.”
At one point, Grossberg said she talked to an attorney representing one of the Proud Boys “and he flat-out told me, on two occasions, ‘there is no conspiracy. Get away from this stuff. This is dangerous. Tell Tucker to stop. I’ll come on your show and represent and my client. But I absolutely will walk off if he asks me this.’ And the response was, ‘Well, find somebody else, Tucker is really intent on this.’”
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1650960176042725376
https://ticklethewire.com/tucker-carlson-was-obsessed-with-blaming-jan-6-insurrection-on-fbi-ex-producer-says/
-
And still no sign of the suppressed manifesto of the leftist terrorist. Where are the old school liberals who fought tirelessly for free speech? Don' t the new leftists want greater transparency from law enforcement? Instead they want to ban information. Why isn't the ACLU suing the FBI to release this information? It is not the subject of any criminal investigation since the terrorist is dead. It's been over a month and counting without an explanation for what is going on. The public deserves an explanation. There is no privilege to assert to avoid disclosing this information.
-
Mike Pence testifies to grand jury about Donald Trump and January 6
Former vice-president’s proximity to the ex-president during the Capitol attack makes him a key witness in the criminal inquiry
(https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/2423a686deffa3f291d8d36e81adba4676df2926/0_0_7500_5000/master/7500.jpg?width=620&quality=45&dpr=2&s=none)
Mike Pence testified before a federal grand jury on Thursday in Washington about Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, according to a source familiar with the matter, a day after an appeals court rejected a last-ditch motion to block his appearance.
The former vice-president’s testimony lasted for around seven hours and took place behind closed doors, meaning the details of what he told the prosecutors hearing evidence in the case remains uncertain.
His appearance is a moment of constitutional consequence and potential legal peril for the former president. Pence is considered a major witness in the criminal investigation led by special counsel Jack Smith, since Trump pressured him to unlawfully reject electoral college votes for Joe Biden at the joint session of Congress, and was at the White House meeting with Republican lawmakers who discussed objections to Biden’s win.
The two interactions are of particular investigative interest to Smith as his office examines whether Trump sought to unlawfully obstruct the certification and defrauded the United States in seeking to overturn the 2020 election results.
Pence had privately suggested to advisers that he would provide as complete an account as possible of what took place inside and outside the White House in the weeks leading up to the 6 January Capitol attack, as well as how Trump had been told his plans could violate the law.
His appearance came the morning after the US court of appeals for the DC circuit rejected an emergency legal challenge seeking to block Pence’s testimony on executive privilege grounds, and Trump ran out of road to take the matter to the full DC circuit or the supreme court.
The government has been trying to get Pence’s testimony for months, starting with requests from the justice department last year and then through a grand jury subpoena issued by Smith, who inherited the complicated criminal investigation into Trump’s efforts to stay in power.
The subpoena came under immediate challenges from Trump’s lawyers, who invoked executive privilege to limit the scope of Pence’s testimony, as well as from Pence’s lawyer, who argued his role as president of the Senate on 6 January meant he was protected from legal scrutiny by the executive branch.
Both requests to limit the scope of Pence’s testimony were largely denied by the new chief US judge for the court James Boasberg, who issued a clear-cut denial to Trump and a more nuanced ruling to Pence that upheld that he was protected in part by speech or debate protections.
Still, Boasberg ruled that speech or debate protections did not shield him from testifying about any instances of potential criminality.
The former vice-president’s team declined to challenge the ruling. But Trump’s legal team disagreed, and filed the emergency motion that was denied late on Wednesday by judges Gregory Katsas, Patricia Millett and Robert Wilkins.
Starting weeks after the 2020 election, Trump tried to cajole Pence into helping him reverse his defeat by using his largely ceremonial role of the presiding officer of the Senate on 6 January to reject the legitimate Biden slates of electors and prevent his certification.
The effort relied in large part on Pence accepting fake slates of electors for Trump – now a major part of the criminal investigation – to create a pretext for suggesting the results of the election were somehow in doubt and stop Biden from being pronounced president.
The pressure campaign involved Trump, but it also came from a number of other officials inside and outside the government, including Trump’s lawyer John Eastman, other Trump campaign-affiliated lawyers such as Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, and dozens of Republican members of Congress.
Pence was also unique in having one-on-one discussions with Trump the day before the Capitol attack and on the day of, which House January 6 select committee investigators last year came to believe was a conspiracy that the former president had at least some advance knowledge.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/apr/27/mike-pence-testifies-donald-trump-january-6
-
Justice Dept will seek 70 months in prison in Capitol riot case of Jeffrey Brown, arguing Brown sprayed orange liquid at police and joined in the "heave-ho" attack in tunnel on Jan 6th.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fu0LQ1fXsAk0CjL?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
And still no manifesto. The Nashville police are indicating that they might release a "version" of the manifesto at some point. LOL. The parents and public deserve a complete and unredacted explanation for mass murder. Politicizing events to protect a political narrative, as the leftists did with COVID, only harms the public.
-
Justice Dept to seek 41 months prison in Jan 6 case of Grayson Sherill of N. Carolina, arguing he "banged on a door with his metal pole, joined a mob of rioters that overtook a police line in the Crypt, chanted “NANCY! NANCY!” as he approached Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fu5_RyBWAAEa5zj?format=jpg&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fu5_RyKXsAADtep?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jan. 6 rioter who assaulted Capitol Officer Sicknick sentenced to 6 years in prison
(https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2023/01/27/ap23027673274225-6054f3386c2690c228322bfede73dfd8b98ee2e8-s1800-c85.webp)
Brianne Chapman protests outside the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Friday, during the sentencing hearing for Julian Khater and George Tanios. Khater pleaded guilty to assaulting Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick with pepper spray on Jan. 6, 2021.
A rioter who assaulted law enforcement officers with pepper spray outside the Capitol Building during the Jan. 6 riot was sentenced to 80 months in prison Friday with credit for time served.
Julian Khater of Somerset, N.J., pleaded guilty last September to two felony counts of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon during the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol. He's been incarcerated since March 14, 2021.
One of the officers Khater was charged with assaulting, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, died the day after the attack. Washington, D.C., Chief Medical Examiner Francisco Diaz found that Sicknick died from natural causes after suffering multiple strokes; Diaz told the Washington Post, "all that transpired played a role in his condition."
In court Friday, Sicknick's mother, Gladys Sicknick, told Khater, "You attacked my son like he was an animal. You are the animal, Mr. Khater. ... How does it feel to be headed to jail for a bald-faced lie?"
Khater's role in the insurrection
Khater traveled to the Capitol on Jan. 6, with his now co-defendant, George Pierre Tanios of Morgantown, W.V. Tanios had purchased two cannisters of pepper spray and two cannisters of bear spray sometime before the two men arrived in D.C., the Justice Department says.
They attended former President Donald Trump's rally at the Ellipse and then marched to the Capitol building, where they joined the mob.
As the mob pushed to enter the building, law enforcement officers attempted to keep protesters back by utilizing a bike rack as a barrier. At 2:23 p.m., rioters tried to pull the rack away from officers, which is when Khater pepper-sprayed Sicknick in the face, forcing the officer to retreat, the DOJ statement said.
Khater then sprayed two other officers, who were also forced to retreat.
"All three officers suffered bodily injury from the pepper spray attack and were incapacitated and unable to perform their duties," the DOJ statement said.
Officer Caroline Edwards, who was sprayed at the same time as Sicknick, said he turned "ghostly pale." She went on to explain that she couldn't help him because she was temporarily blinded from the chemical spray, and as a result continues to struggle with survivor's guilt.
"Brian gave some of the very last breaths he had defending the Capitol building ... and our democracy," Edwards said Friday.
Khater and Tanios were arrested in March 2021 and both pleaded guilty to the charges brought against them. Tanios was sentenced Friday to time served.
Khater wasn't charged with murder
Khater's lawyers noted that Sicknick died of natural causes on Jan. 7, 2021, and argued that the defendant wasn't responsible either directly or indirectly for the officer's death.
Judge Thomas Hogan labeled that issue "the elephant in the room" and said he would not sentence Khater or Tanios for a crime they had not been charged with.
Having said that, Hogan also said that assaulting the officers with chemical spray was "inexcusable."
Hogan said he didn't hear Khater apologize to the officers, including dozens who were injured and some who can never return to duty.
"I find that is a very self-centered approach," Hogan told Khater Friday.
In response, Khater told the judge that he had worked on "many drafts" of his statement, but that he didn't apologize because of ongoing civil cases. Hogan told Khater that he should be concerned about civil liability.
Sicknick's longtime partner Sandra Garza sued the two rioters as well as Trump for Sicknick's wrongful death. She is seeking $10 million in damages from each defendant.
Garza said at the sentencing that she has seen "zero remorse" from either Khater or Tanios.
On the two-year anniversary of the insurrection earlier this month, President Biden awarded 14 people the Presidential Citizens Medal for defending the Capitol, including posthumous awards for Sicknick and fellow Capitol Police Officer Howard Liebengood. Liebengood died by suicide, according to a family attorney, just a few days after defending the Capitol Building.
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/27/1152111889/khater-sentenced-prison-pepper-spraying-officers-jan-6#:~:text=Jan.,years%20for%20assaulting%20officers%20%3A%20NPR&text=Press-,Jan.,a%20D.C.%20court%20last%20September.
-
Former Uniontown, Pa., Woman Sentenced for Role in Jan. 6 Capitol Riot
The former Fayette County woman who pleaded guilty to participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol alongside her husband was sentenced last week to serve two years in federal prison for showering pepper spray onto police officers protecting Congress from the riotous mob.
Shelly Stallings appeared Friday afternoon in federal court in Washington, D.C., and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to spend 24 months in prison, which was less than half what federal prosecutors were asking for her to serve for her role in the riot.
Stallings, 43, pleaded guilty in August after she and her husband, Peter Schwartz, traveled from their Uniontown apartment to the nation’s capital and participated in the attack in which both of them used pepper spray on police officers. Schwartz was convicted in December on all charges following a six-day jury trial in federal court in Washington, D.C.
Stallings said little before her sentencing Friday, according to CBS News national correspondent Scott MacFarlane, who apparently attended the proceeding and posted portions of it on his professional Twitter page.
“I regret January 6th,” Stallings said before her sentencing, according to MacFarlane. “It was just a bad thing.”
While live audio for most cases involving Jan. 6 defendants has been available to the public, reporters attempting to listen to Friday’s sentencing hearing through teleconferencing could not access the proceeding remotely as in the past. But pre-sentencing memos filed by both sides indicated a wide canyon in what prosecutors and her defense attorney thought Stallings should receive as her sentence.
Federal prosecutors were seeking a 51-month prison sentence and $2,000 fine for Stallings, according to their pre-sentence memorandum file last month.
"The need for the sentence to provide specific deterrence to Stallings also weighs toward incarceration,” federal prosecutors wrote in the memo. “Although Stallings has now expressed remorse and contrition, she had prior multiple opportunities to confess and accept responsibility for her crimes, and she not only failed to do so, but misled law enforcement officials about them.”
Her federal public defender, Scott Wendelsdorf, pointed out that Stallings pleaded guilty to all charges and “accepted full responsibility” for her actions while cooperating with federal investigators during Schwartz’s trial. He suggested she should receive one year of home confinement followed by three years on probation.
“Shelly Stallings should not escape punishment, but that punishment should be a just punishment, not one that serves only one of the purposes of sentencing to the exclusion of all of the others,” Wendelsdorf wrote in his memo. “Justice and respect for the law are promoted by reasonable sentences, rehabilitation, and the safe return of offenders to society. Shelly can be redeemed. She is worthy of redemption.”
Mehta appeared to split the difference by requiring Stallings to serve two years in federal prison.
“The public needs to understand when police officers are attacked, there need to be consequences,” Mehta told the Stallings before sentencing her, according to MacFarlane’s reporting.
Stallings pleaded guilty Aug. 24 to civil disorder; resisting, imposing, intimidating or impeding certain officers; unlawfully entering and remaining on Capitol property with a dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct on restricted grounds; engaging in physical violence; disorderly conduct; and acts of physical violence on Capitol grounds. The sentencing range for the charges meant she could have faced 46 to 57 months in federal prison.
Stallings was charged in February 2022 after photographs and videos surfaced showing her using pepper spray on police officers at the Capitol. She’s been free on bond since her arrest, and has been living in her hometown of Morganfield, Ky., for the past two years. It’s not known when she will report to prison or where she’ll serve her sentence.
Her husband, Schwartz, was arrested at the couple’s Uniontown apartment in February 2021 less than a month after the attack on the Capitol. According to court documents, Schwartz assaulted Stallings two days before his arrest and later contacted her from jail threatening to kill her if she cooperated with federal investigators. The couple is now estranged and Stallings has filed for divorce, according to court documents.
The couple is originally from Kentucky, but came to Fayette County while Schwartz was working as a traveling welder working on various construction sites in the area. Schwartz is also a convicted felon on state charges in Kentucky and was released from prison in that state in 2020 due to COVID-19 safety protocols.
Schwartz, 49, was convicted Dec. 6 on 10 charges – including four felonies – alongside two co-defendants. Schwartz has been jailed without bond since his arrest, and he faces up to 20 years in prison when Mehta is expected to sentence him at 3 p.m. May 5.
https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/community/2023/04/former-uniontown-pa-woman-sentenced-for-role-in-jan-6-capitol-riot/
-
Another day without the release of the manifesto. I guess leftist radicals are not for law enforcement transparency unless it suits their narrative. They staged an insurrection in Nashville over this event but for some reason the public can't be told why it happened.
-
Sentencing begins today in Jan 6 case of Deborah Sandoval of Iowa. Feds to seek 3-months prison arguing "she loudly yelled for Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, to be brought before the angry mob" and "used social media to glorify the political violence".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvDCJ7fXsAMUWWd?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvDCJ7hXoAM1E6z?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Feds to seek 5-years prison in Jan 6 case of Josh Black of Alabama, arguing he pushed at police & "rifled through Senators’ papers; took a photo of a document related to... Arizona’s Electoral College vote count; posed for photos on the Senate dais; sprawled himself on the floor".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvAkKhgWYAEThkx?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Yet another day of suppression by the Nashville police and FBI. No sign of the manifesto after a month and counting. The actual "banning" or "suppression" of the contents by the government. They have provided no legal basis to suppress this information from the public. The only suspect (a radicalized leftist terrorist) is dead. Leftists clamor for transparency by law enforcement in other situations. But not a peep here. Contrarians and CTers distrust the FBI and constantly suggest they release all documents relating to the JFK assassination. But not a peep here. In fact, our resident contrarian has made false arguments to defend the FBI. Astounding hypocrisy.
-
Justice Dept announces arrest of Daniel Ball of Florida, alleging he "hurled an ignited device at the officers in the tunnel" at Capitol on Jan 6
Per feds: "Several officers were injured as a result of the explosion."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvJmfByX0AUdqha?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Former FBI agent just arrested for J6 riot called for cops to be 'killed':
A former FBI agent was arrested on Monday in Oregon in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, NBC News reports.
Jared L. Wise was charged with entering and remaining in a restricted building; disorderly conduct in a restricted building; disorderly conduct with an intent to impede an orderly session of Congress; and unlawfully parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building, the report said.
Wise served in the FBI as a special agent and supervisory special agent from 2004 until 2017.
The former FBI agent repeatedly urged fellow rioters to “kill” law enforcement officers at the Capitol amid the insurrection.
Federal authorities told NBC News that Wise during the insurrection said: "I’m former—I’m former law enforcement. You’re disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo. You can’t see it. . . . Shame on you! Shame on you! Shame on you!...Yeah, kill 'em! Yeah, kill ‘em! Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em!”
Wise was seen in surveillance footage entering the Capitol through the Senate wing door, and cellphone data confirmed his presence at the Capitol.
https://www.rawstory.com/ex-fbi-agent-charged-in-j6-insurrection-called-law-enforcement-nazis-agency-says-report/
-
And another day has passed with no sign of the suppressed manifesto. Coming up on two months. The FBI might string this out longer than the Hunter Biden investigation. Total corruption and bias at the highest levels of the justice system. No wonder the polls indicate disgust with the status quo establishment.
-
Charging documents say a former FBI agent has been arrested in Jan 6 case. They allege Jared Wise was agent til 2017 and was amid mob. Feds say Wise “shouted in the direction of the rioters attacking the police line, “Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em! Kill ‘em!”.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvMtvpRXwAAqNdz?format=jpg&name=medium)
Charging documents allege Wise told DC police on Jan 6, “You guys are disgusting. I’m former—I’m former law enforcement. You’re disgusting. You are the Nazi. You are the Gestapo.”
About Wise’s background in law enforcement.…
Note this excerpt from charging document:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvMwbFyWcAEEGWw?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Justice Department to seek longest sentence in any Jan. 6 riot case so far
The U.S. Department of Justice will seek the longest prison sentence in any January 6 riot case to date when it argues for more than 24 years in prison for Peter Schwartz of Pennsylvania at sentencing on May 5. If imposed, the sentence would be more than twice as long as any handed down so far in the approximately 450 cases related to the January 6, 2021, assault that have reached sentencing.
In a sentencing memo submitted Monday, federal prosecutors argue Schwartz already had a lengthy criminal history when he entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, where he then unleashed a series of violent assaults against groups of officers. He was convicted at trial in December on several charges, including four counts of felony assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers using a dangerous weapon.
In a request for a more lenient sentence, his defense argued Schwartz was the victim of political grifters and misinformation. A sentencing memo submitted on his behalf Monday in federal court in Washington, D.C., said, "There remain many grifters out there who remain free to continue propagating the 'great lie' that Trump won the election. Donald Trump being among the most prominent."
In arguing for the lengthy prison sentence, the Justice Department said Schwartz "stole chemical munitions, including pepper spray... left behind by the fleeing officers and used that pepper spray as a weapon to attack those same officers as they desperately tried to escape."
Prosecutors also argue Schwartz assaulted several groups of police officers and "did not back down. He then joined the larger mob inside of the tunnel in attempting to push through the police line and into the Capitol Building."
"By Schwartz's own admission, he viewed himself as being at 'war' that day, stating in a Facebook post on January 7, 2021, 'What happened yesterday was the opening of a war. I was there and whether people will acknowledge it or not we are now at war,'" the Justice Department's sentencing memo notes.
Schwartz's wife, Shelly Stallings, was also charged for her role in the riot. She pleaded guilty last August and was sentenced to two years in prison earlier this year.
In requesting the 24-year sentence for Schwartz, prosecutors accused him of profiting from his arrest. Prosecutors allege, "As of April 17, 2023, Schwartz has raised $71,541 in an online campaign styled as a 'Patriot Pete Political Prisoner in DC' with an image of Peter Schwartz at the top."
Schwartz's defense recommends a sentence of 54 months in prison. The defense argues, "Mr. Schwartz travelled to Washington D.C. with his wife to listen to former President Trump's speech and walked to the Capitol Building alongside hundreds of other protestors. Mr. Schwartz did not come prepared to incite violence, attack the Capitol Building or any officers that day—none of his actions on January 6th were planned in anticipation of his travels."
The defense also wrote that "Although his conduct is indeed serious, it is significant to note that Mr. Schwartz's actions were not motivated by any desire for personal financial gain or any other type of benefit."
The memo states that Schwartz knew "next to nothing to nothing about the 2020 election and listened to sources of information that were clearly false. Mr. Schwartz has learned valuable life lessons from this incident, and he will never repeat the actions that bring him before the Court in this case."
But as recently as February 2023, Schwartz made jailhouse phone calls to a widely-streamed protest outside the Washington, D.C., jail where he is being held, claiming to have been "entrapped" by the U.S. government and referring to government officials as traitors.
In previous January 6 cases in which federal prosecutors have sought multi-year or higher-end sentences, federal judges have opted for more moderate sentences, lower in range or below federal sentencing guidelines.
More than 1,000 defendants have thus far been charged with federal crimes in connection with the U.S. Capitol attack, according to the Justice Department. Hundreds more arrests are expected.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/january-6-peter-schwartz-sentencing-recommendation/
-
U.S. House Jan. 6 panel report finds Trump incited insurrection, demands accountability
(https://www.politico.com/dims4/default/dc2603c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1160x773+0+0/resize/630x420!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F50%2F8d%2F64c0b684421e8651af708b4fd5c3%2F210323-riot-ap-773.jpg)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House Jan. 6 committee late Thursday published its findings in a nearly 850-page report that accused former President Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection and recommended Congress consider how to determine whether those found to be insurrectionists should be barred from holding office ever again.
The report caps 18 months of work for the committee, which the House voted to form, mostly along party lines, in June 2021. It details the committee’s central finding, gleaned through records reviews and dozens of interviews with White House, Trump campaign and other officials, that Trump’s desire to overturn the results of a lawful and legitimate election was the driving factor in the unprecedented attack on the Capitol.
“[P]reventing another January 6th will require a broader sort of accountability. Ultimately, the American people chart the course for our country’s future,” Committee Chair Rep. Bennie Thompson wrote in his foreword to the report.
“The American people decide whom to give the reins of power. If this Select Committee has accomplished one thing, I hope it has shed light on how dangerous it would be to empower anyone whose desire for authority comes before their commitment to American democracy and the Constitution,” the Mississippi Democrat continued.
The report includes criminal referrals to the U.S. Department of Justice for four counts against Trump, including inciting, assisting or aiding an insurrection.
It is the first time in U.S. history a congressional body has recommended to criminally charge — and not simply impeach — a former president.
The panel has no power to actually bring criminal charges and the Justice Department has not said how it will proceed, though Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed special counsel Jack Smith to investigate.
The eight-chapter report chronicles Trump’s “Big Lie,” his and others’ efforts to deliver a fake slate of electors to Vice President Mike Pence, the major events and players involved in the planning of the insurrection, and the committee’s witness interviews and information gathering.
Recommendations for the future
The report also includes recommendations to tweak the nation’s electoral process and guard against future insurrections through legislative action, including amending the Electoral Count Act of 1887 — a proposal that is part of Congress’ year-end government funding deal.
The panel also advises the courts and bar to review the conduct of attorneys who supported Trump’s actions or participated in activities “aimed at subverting the rule of law.”
The report also discusses whether Trump, who has announced he will seek the presidency in 2024, should be prevented from holding office, given his actions on Jan. 6.
It notes that under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, an individual who takes an oath to protect the Constitution but has “engaged in an insurrection” or given “aid or comfort to the enemies of the Constitution” can be disqualified from holding future state or federal office. The committee points out it referred Trump and others for possible prosecution, that he was impeached in the House, and that 57 senators also voted for impeachment.
“Congressional committees of jurisdiction should consider creating a formal mechanism for evaluating whether to bar those individuals identified in this report under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment from holding future federal or state office,” the report says.
“The Committee believes that those who took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and then, on January 6th, engaged in insurrection can appropriately be disqualified and barred from holding government office — whether federal or state, civilian or military — absent at least two-thirds of Congress acting to remove the disability pursuant to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment,” the report adds.
Legislation that could create a process has been introduced in Congress by Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, it says.
Among other recommendations, the report says:
The government should ensure that federal agencies with investigative or intelligence jurisdictions employ a “whole-of-government strategy” to combat violent extremism.
Congress should enhance penalties for threats to election workers and expand protections for them.
Congress should “evaluate” policies of media companies “that have had the effect of radicalizing their consumers, including by provoking people to attack their own country.”
Congressional committees should further review evidence that Trump considered possible use of the 1807 Insurrection Act — which allows the president to deploy troops to suppress a rebellion– and consider risks to future elections
Those recommendations are not likely to find a receptive audience, as a Republican conference that has been largely dismissive — if not disparaging — of the panel’s work will take control of the House on Jan. 3.
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump dismissed the report.
Witness transcripts
The committee has also begun releasing transcripts of interviews its members and staffers conducted.
Transcripts released Thursday of the committee’s interviews with key witness Cassidy Hutchinson, who was an aide to Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, a former North Carolina congressman, detailed how those in Trump’s network became involved in her search for legal counsel.
Hutchinson’s interview transcript reveals key details that the committee alluded to Monday — that a Trump-affiliated attorney instructed a key witness to mislead or hide information from the committee.
Hutchinson testified that White House ethics lawyer Stefan Passantino instructed her to downplay and omit details surrounding Jan. 6.
“The less you remember, the better,” Hutchinson recalled Passantino telling her.
Hutchinson also recalled asking Passantino how to answer questions about things she overheard or were relayed to her secondhand, including details from a Secret Service official about Trump’s physical altercation with an agent inside his limousine on Jan. 6.
“What’s the line I draw here? Like, do I not ever say anything I overheard, because I overheard a lot of things?” she recalled asking Passantino.
“Look, the goal with you is to get in and out. Keep your answers short, sweet and simple, seven words or less. The less the committee thinks you know, the better, the quicker it’s going to go,” he replied to her, according to her testimony.
On the morning of her first interview, Hutchinson recalled being nervous and Passantino telling her “Your go-to, Cass, is ‘I don’t recall’ … If you start using that at the beginning, they’re going to realize really quick that they have better witnesses than you, and they’re not going to ask you as complicated of questions as you’re worried about.”
On Wednesday, the panel also published transcripts of 34 interviews, including with central figures in the scheme they say Trump led to overturn the election, such as former assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Clark and campaign legal advisers John Eastman and Jenna Ellis.
The witnesses largely invoked Fifth Amendment rights and executive privilege not to answer questions about Jan. 6 and the Trump effort to challenge the election results.
Multipart scheme
The committee’s seven Democrats and two Republicans have repeated the thesis of the report — that Trump led a multipart scheme to overturn the election results that escalated until the Jan. 6, 2021, attack — from the start of their public hearings.
And as the committee did in a series of hearings over the summer, the report details different elements of Trump’s push to invalidate his loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump planned to declare victory in the election, regardless of the results, the committee said.
He followed through and called himself the winner, despite knowing that he’d lost to Biden, the panel found.
He then pressured state officials to fraudulently change results in some states he lost, most famously in a call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump told to “find” enough votes to erase his margin of defeat.
Trump and his allies worked to compile slates of fake electors to replace the legitimate Biden electors in states the outgoing president lost: Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Some 84 Republicans, including dozens of party leaders, signed on to the bogus documents, which formed the basis for two of the panel’s charges against Trump: that he likely conspired to defraud the United States and that he conspired to make a false statement.
Trump also pressured officials at the Department of Justice to say it was investigating fraud in the election, though Attorney General William Barr and others had investigated and rejected several claims of fraud.
Barr called the sometimes-outlandish fraud allegations “bulls—,” he told committee investigators in a portion of a taped deposition the panel played in multiple hearings.
But Trump wouldn’t be deterred. Barr stepped down and Trump moved his pressure campaign to his replacements, according to the committee’s evidence.
“Just say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen,” Trump said in a Dec. 27, 2020, call with Justice Department leaders, according to acting Attorney General Jeffrey Donoghue’s testimony to the panel.
When nearly all the Justice Department leaders threatened to resign if Trump pursued a plan to use the department to further the fake electors plan, the president relented, according to witnesses who testified to the committee.
But Trump continued to push Pence to use the fake electors to declare that it was unclear who won and thereby delay the certification of the election on Jan. 6, according to the report.
Trump also summoned his supporters to the Capitol for a protest on the day election results were to be certified. Despite knowing some were armed, Trump encouraged them to march on the Capitol in a speech on the morning of Jan. 6.
Hutchinson testified that Trump would have gone to the Capitol, if not for a Secret Service agent restraining him.
Pence refused to support Trump’s plan, placing the vice president in danger on the day of the attack. Rather than protect Pence, a Trump tweet inflamed the mob that was chanting its desire to “hang Mike Pence.”
The Pence tweet was one example of what the committee called Trump’s dereliction of duty for 187 minutes on Jan. 6, as he watched the insurrection unfold on a White House dining room TV without taking any action to intervene.
Shaking the foundations of democracy
Trump’s conduct was the first challenge to the peaceful transition of presidential power since the Civil War — and the first ever by a sitting U.S. president. It shook the foundation of U.S. democracy, committee members have said.
“Jan. 6, 2021, was the first time one American president refused his constitutional duty to transfer power peacefully to the next,” committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, a Republican from Wyoming, said Monday during the panel’s final meeting. “The Select Committee has recognized our obligation to do everything we can to ensure this never happens again.”
The panel’s final recommendations urge Congress to reform criminal statutes to include harsher penalties for those involved in obstructing a joint session of Congress and the peaceful transition of power.
The report also added details about efforts by Trump and those close to him to interfere with the panel’s investigation.
In the days before an interview with the committee, a witness was offered a job that would make her “very financially comfortable” by those apparently linked to Trump. The committee did not specify which witness.
Additionally, the committee cited concern from the Department of Justice regarding Trump’s Save America PAC, which the Washington Post has reported is paying the legal bills of lawyers involved with Trump’s attempts to keep classified documents from his Mar-a-Lago residence secret.
“This Committee also has these concerns, including that lawyers who are receiving such payments have specific incentives to defend President Trump rather than zealously represent their own clients,” the report stated.
GOP response
Though the committee was nominally bipartisan, with Republicans Cheney and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois joining seven Democrats, most House Republicans dismissed it as a partisan exercise.
During 2021 negotiations about the panel’s makeup, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, rejected two of Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s picks for the committee, Jim Banks of Indiana and Jim Jordan of Ohio, because their close contact with Trump may have brought them within the purview of the investigation.
McCarthy responded by pulling all five of his picks, even those Pelosi didn’t object to.
Those five Republicans produced their own report Wednesday on the security failures of the attack. House Democratic leadership and the leaders of the U.S. Capitol Police left the complex unprepared for the security threat they faced, the GOP report said.
The Republicans who remained on the Jan. 6 panel did so in defiance of their leader and will not return to Congress in 2023. Kinzinger retired, while Cheney lost her primary reelection by a wide margin.
The committee referred four Republican House members, McCarthy, Jordan, Arizona’s Andy Biggs and Pennsylvania’s Scott Perry to the House Ethics Committee for failure to comply with subpoenas. Each had communication with Trump about the election or the attack that would have been relevant to the investigation, the committee said.
Jordan and Biggs each released statements attacking the committee’s legitimacy.
“This referral is their final political stunt,” Biggs said in a Monday tweet. “The J6 Committee has defamed my name and my character and I look forward to reviewing their documents, publishing their lies and setting the record straight” in the next Congress.
“This is just another partisan and political stunt made by” the committee, Jordan spokesman Russell M. Dye wrote in an email.
McCarthy did not address the referral directly, but criticized the panel in a Wednesday tweet promoting the GOP report.
“Pelosi’s Select Committee has been focused on political theater and posturing,” he said.
A representative for Perry did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Next steps
The House resolution creating the Jan. 6 committee, formally named the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, calls for it to dissolve 30 days after its final report.
That dissolution will likely come sooner, as the new House Republican majority sworn in on Jan. 3 will not retain the panel.
In the next two weeks, the panel is expected to release more deposition transcripts and other materials it used to produce its report.
The Justice Department investigation is ongoing.
https://tennesseelookout.com/2022/12/23/u-s-house-jan-6-panel-report-finds-trump-incited-insurrection-demands-accountability/
-
Four Proud Boys guilty in major US Capitol riot case
(https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/10B2A/production/_116349386_gettyimages-1230094432.jpg.webp)
Five members of the far-right Proud Boys, including former leader Enrique Tarrio, face decades in prison after being found guilty for their role in the January 6 US Capitol riot.
Four were convicted of seditious conspiracy, and all five were found guilty of obstructing official proceedings, alongside other felonies.
The most serious charges carry penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
More than 100 members of the far-right, all-male group joined the Capitol riot.
All five defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to prevent officials from discharging their duties, impeding officers during civil disorder, and destruction of a fence protecting the Capitol.
A mistrial was declared on a total of 10 charges against the men where the jury failed to come to a conclusion, after a complex trial that took nearly four months - more than twice as long as planned.
The Proud Boys were steadfast supporters of Donald Trump who marched several times in Washington DC after the 2020 election, often clashing with far-left anti-fascists.
Their protests culminated on 6 January 2021, as the election results were due to be certified by Congress.
Unlike his co-defendants, former Proud Boy chairman Henry "Enrique" Tarrio was not in Washington that day.
He was arrested two days before for previously burning a Black Lives Matter banner and weapons charges. He was ordered by a judge to leave the city and ended up watching events from a hotel room in nearby Baltimore.
Tarrio's co-defendants included Ethan Nordean, 31, of Washington state, who goes by the alias "Rufio Panman".
Nordean was active in Proud Boy street protests and brawls with anti-fascist activists in the Pacific Northwest. In video from 6 January, he was seen leading members of the group around the Capitol along with co-defendant Joe Biggs, 38, of Florida, a US Army veteran and former broadcaster for Alex Jones's Infowars.
Zachary Rehl, 36, a former US Marine and leader of the Philadelphia branch of the Proud Boys, was also part of a group that stormed the building.
A fifth defendant, 44-year-old Dominic Pezzola of Rochester, New York, was found not guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Pezzola, also a former US Marine and at the time a relatively recent recruit to the group, took a riot shield from police officer and smashed a window. He was one of the first people inside the building and lit a cigar in celebration.
However, while testifying in his own defence he said he was acting alone and had not met his co-defendants prior to that day. He was convicted of assaulting a police officer while taking the riot shield, while the others were found not guilty on that charge.
Rehl also testified in his own defence, but the others did not take the stand.
Evidence of planning
In court, prosecutors introduced a large volume of text messages, social media posts and videos to prove that the group's actions amounted to a co-ordinated plot to try to stop the certification of the 2020 election result.
The Proud Boys repeatedly posted a number of violent threats online. For instance, in November 2020, Tarrio wrote on a post by Joe Biden: "YOU need to remember the American people are at war with YOU. No Trump… No peace. No quarter."
Others posted about civil war, firing squads and "traitors".
The trial was delayed by slow jury selection, motions for mistrial by defence lawyers, numerous arguments over witnesses and evidence, and concerns about possible juror intimidation.
Lawyers for the defendants argued that the group was poorly organised, mostly non-violent, and that there was no preconceived plan to storm the building.
They also noted that Tarrio, a long-time police informant, was in touch with Washington DC police before 6 January and informed an officer of the group's plans for the day.
In closing arguments lawyers for the defendants placed the blame on Mr Trump, saying they merely followed his suggestion to show up.
"'Be there, it's going to be wild,' the commander-in-chief said. And so they did," said Norm Pattis, an attorney for Biggs, referencing one of Mr Trump's tweets.
Who are the Proud Boys?
The Proud Boys were founded in New York City in 2016 by Gavin McInnes, a co-founder of Vice who left the media company to embark on a career as a right-wing commentator and podcaster.
They describe themselves as an all-male drinking club or a "pro-Western fraternal organisation".
Under US law, seditious conspiracy is defined as a plot to overthrow the government or use force "to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States".
It is a rarely used law that dates from the US Civil War. Last year two leaders of the Oath Keepers - one of the other major organised groups present at the Capitol riot - were convicted in the first successful prosecution for seditious conspiracy since 1995. Three other members of that militia were acquitted of the charge during last year's trial.
Seditious conspiracy is less serious than treason, which is the only crime specifically spelled out in the US Constitution and requires a high standard of proof - the testimony of at least two witnesses in open court or a confession. Treason can also be punishable by the death penalty.
The government's case in the Proud Boys trial relied in part on another Proud Boy, Jeremy Bertino, who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and testified for the prosecution.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65307770
-
Proud Boys members convicted of seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 case
A jury convicted members of the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys for their involvement in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. A federal jury found four Proud Boys guilty of seditious conspiracy, including the group's former leader, Enrique Tarrio, and members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl.
Watch:
-
The number of Jan 6 defendants continues to grow.
Court unsealed case of Jonathan Bonney of Colorado, alleging image of Bonney is captured on security camera. Charging doc. says FBI was tipped by someone who said Bonney talked while flying home of being in Capitol.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvUJmg6XoAIkLvj?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Justice Dept will seek 18 months in prison in Jan 6 case of Josiah Colt of Idaho, arguing Colt scaled his way onto the Senate floor and sat in VP Pence's chair.
He allegedly boasted "I changed history when I sat in that seat.”
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvSPeiAWYAIvRM6?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Today: Feds to seek 41 months prison in Jan 6 case of Grayson Sherill of N. Carolina, arguing he "banged on a door with his metal pole, joined a mob of rioters that overtook a police line in the Crypt, chanted “NANCY! NANCY!” as he approached Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvOu_6sXsAExJq6?format=jpg&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvOu_6rXgAonzpB?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
WATCH: Garland makes remarks after 4 Proud Boys convicted of seditious conspiracy
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland hailed the conviction of four Proud Boys who were found guilty Thursday of seditious conspiracy by a Washington, D.C. jury.
Speaking at the Justice Department Thursday afternoon, Garland said the verdict “makes clear that the Justice Department will do everything in its power to defend the American people and American democracy.”
Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group were convicted of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol in a desperate bid to keep Donald Trump in power after the Republican lost the 2020 presidential election.
The jury found Tarrio and three lieutenants guilty of seditious conspiracy after hearing from dozens of witnesses over more than three months in one of the most serious cases brought in the stunning attack that unfolded on Jan. 6, 2021, as the world watched on live TV.
Jurors cleared a fifth defendant — Dominic Pezzola — of the sedition charge, though he was convicted of other serious felonies.
It’s a significant milestone for the Justice Department, which has now secured seditious conspiracy convictions against the leaders of two major extremist groups prosecutors say were intent on keeping Democratic President Joe Biden out of the White House at all costs. The charge carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
“The Justice Department will never stop working to defend the democracy to which all Americans are entitled,” Garland said at the news conference.
Watch:
-
'Disgusting': Ana Navarro shreds Trump for lionizing J6 'choir' charged with assaulting cops
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump.jpg?id=30142673&width=2400&height=1350)
A new report from The Washington Post this week revealed that at least five of the members of the jailhouse "January 6 choir" whose song has become an unofficial anthem for former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign were either charged with or convicted of attacking police officers — including Officer Brian Sicknick, who died shortly after the attack.
Speaking to CNN on Thursday, Ana Navarro — a host of "The View" and former Republican — tore into Trump for empowering these individuals.
"The brother of Brian Sicknick told The Post he was, quote, 'disgusted by Trump's glorification of these accused criminals,'" said anchor Jake Tapper. "It seems that Donald Trump is, of course, not going to stop celebrating these rioters, these people who allegedly attacked police, as long as it fires up his base on the 2024 campaign trail."
"Well, I feel exactly the same way as Officer Sicknick's brother," said Navarro. "I think it is disgusting. But I think it's more of Trump, right? There is absolutely nothing in this story that is shocking at this point. Except for the part about prisoners shooting selfies of each other and then being able to send them to social media platforms, which I think is crazy and the D.C. Correctional Department has got some explaining to do. Look, the contrast could not be more stark. Are you with somebody — you now know what you're voting for when you're voting for Donald Trump. You're voting for someone who not only promoted the insurrection back then, but continues to promote that insurrection to glorify it, to turn them into heroes, to celebrate it, to embrace it today. That's the contrast. and that's the choice for Republicans, the 'law and order' party."
Navarro also turned her ire on Fox News, for fanning the flames of hatred among Trump's supporters.
"I was actually shocked the other day, and it takes [a lot] for Fox News to shock me these days," said Navarro. 'But on the day when incredibly disturbing texts from Tucker Carlson were revealed—"
"About how white men don't fight that way, or something like that," Tapper cut in.
"And how he was basically at some point rooting for the death of this kid who was getting beat up by three white men," agreed Navarro. "On that same day, Jesse Watters was on the air talking about how he had seen a family of illegal immigrants and somebody said, well, how do you know they're illegal? He said, oh, you can tell. Really? So the difference is, they're not putting it on text form that would get on — you know, that would be part of a trial."
Watch:
-
CBS Mornings @CBSMornings
In a landmark case, four members of the Proud Boys have been convicted of seditious conspiracy for their roles in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Prosecutors linked their actions to Pres. Trump’s words during a 2020 presidential debate: “Stand back and stand by.”
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1654471195499143168
https://twitter.com/CBSMornings/status/1654471195499143168
-
US Bureau of Prisons reports Capitol riot defendant Riley Williams is now serving her prison sentence at the Hazelton federal correctional facility in West Virginia.
She was convicted at trial in November, after being accused of helping coordinate the mob inside Capitol.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvZV1wXXwAAh9mp?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Sentencing in Capitol riot case of Peter Schwartz.
*Feds will seek longest sentence issued in any Jan 6 case so far*.
24+ years in prison.
Feds say Schwartz used chemical spray on police who "desperately tried to escape", threw chair at police, opening breach in line.
Feds argue: "Armed with a wooden tire knocker, Schwartz & his then-wife made their way to the thick of the violence & aggressively participated in the effort to overwhelm the police line".
"He then stole chemical munitions, including pepper spray left behind by fleeing officers".
Schwartz, of Pennsylvania, will request a 54-month prison sentence
Defense argues in sentencing memo that Schwartz "accepts responsibility for his wrongdoing and is sincerely remorseful for his conduct. He is committed to facing the consequences of his actions.
Judge Amit Mehta issues longest sentence in any Capitol riot case so far.
Approx. 14 years in prison in case of Peter Schwartz.
Schwartz had dozens of prior criminal cases.
Schwartz sat in orange jumpsuit at defense table as retired Capitol Police Sgt Aquilino Gonell asked for max sentence.
“Neither Mr. Trump or Mr. Schwartz have been held accountable & if they’re not the only lesson they’d learn is they can get away with anything without repercussions”.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvYdqjYXgAAsnX_?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Justice Dept will seek 25 years in prison for Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes in Jan 6 seditious conspiracy case.
They’ll seek between 10-21 years for other Oath Keeper defendants. Per Friday night court filing.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvZ6QtbXwAE4nr6?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
The jury's verdict forms in the landmark US Capitol seditious conspiracy case of the Proud Boys.
Page 1-2 - SEDITIOUS CONSPIRACY
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvcaqRVXsAEJT4Q?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvcaqRVXsAEJT4Q?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Kentucky rioter gets harshest sentence yet: 14 years for attacking police amid Jan. 6 insurrection
A Kentucky man was just handed down the harshest-yet sentence among those who have been charged in connection with the insurrection attempt in January 2021, according to reports.
Peter Schwartz, who already had a history of criminal activity prior to the insurrection, reportedly threw a chair at officers and sprayed them with pepper spray as he and his then-wife stormed the Capitol.
Lawyers for Schwartz sought a sentence of four years and six months, arguing that his actions were based on a "misunderstanding" of what happened in the 2020 election, but U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta felt that 14 years was appropriate, Associated Press reports.
Mehta said Schwartz was a “soldier against democracy” who participated in “the kind of mayhem, chaos that had never been seen in the country’s history," AP says.
The outlet added some additional quotes from Mehta to Schwartz:
“You are not a political prisoner,” the judge told him, the report says. “You’re not somebody who is standing up against injustice or fighting against an autocratic regime.”
As for Schwartz, he quickly addressed the judge prior to hearing the sentence, saying, “I do sincerely regret the damage that Jan. 6 has caused to so many people and their lives.”
AFP
Proud Boys juror says deleted messages convinced him of guilt
Despite sifting through thousands of text messages and private chats sent by Proud Boys leaders in the run-up to the Jan. 6, attack on the U.S. Capitol, it was the ones that were absent that helped seal the seditious conspiracy case against them, a juror said.
Speaking to Vice News, juror Andre Mundell said he was convinced that four of the Proud Boys that stood trial in Washington DC were guilty because of the lengths they went to cover their tracks.
That included deleting key messages.
“The Proud Boys didn’t want everybody to know the plan, because then I guess it would have gotten out,” he said. “And they didn’t want it to get out,”
He said the many messages the jury reviewed, sent between defendants Enrique Tarrio Ethan Nordean, Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl, were littered with blank spaces where others had been deleted.
All were found guilty of the conspiracy charge Thursday. A fifth defendant, Dominic Pezzola, was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other charges.
“So, they definitely didn’t want people to know,” he said.
He said the jury was also struck by the lack of messages telling followers to withdraw from the attack on the Capitol.
“That factored in for me,” he said. “It showed an absence of evidence of standing down. No one says, ‘no, don’t do this. We’re not going to do this.’ There was none of that,”
“And that was probably because they never said it.”
Read More Here: https://www.vice.com/en/article/epvxqw/enrique-tarrio-proud-boys-jury
-
Jan. 6 prosecutors seek 25 years for Oath Keepers' Rhodes
(https://media.wfaa.com/assets/WFAA/images/6de8b36e-d339-43fc-92bf-c13cedc51930/6de8b36e-d339-43fc-92bf-c13cedc51930_1920x1080.jpg)
The Justice Department is seeking 25 years in prison for Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers founder convicted of seditious conspiracy for what prosecutors described as a violent plot to keep President Joe Biden out of the White House, according to court papers filed Friday.
A Washington, D.C., jury convicted Rhodes in November in one of the most consequential cases brought in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, when a mob of then-President Donald Trump's supporters assaulted police officers, smashed windows and temporarily halted Congress' certification of Biden's victory.
Rhodes was convicted of plotting an armed rebellion with members of his far-right extremist group to stop the transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden.
Prosecutors asked the judge to impose the quarter-century sentence, noting Rhodes had been convicted of multiple crimes — which also carry hefty sentences — in addition to seditious conspiracy, which calls for up 20 years in prison.
They asked the judge to go above the standard sentencing guidelines, arguing the offenses constitute terrorism.
The trial proved that Rhodes "led a conspiracy to use any means necessary, up to and including the use of force, to oppose the lawful transfer of power," prosecutors wrote. They said Rhodes "presents a current and unique danger to the community and to our democracy."
"Using their positions of prominence within, and in affiliation with, the Oath Keepers organization, these defendants played a central and damning role in opposing by force the government of the United States, breaking the solemn oath many of them swore as members of the United States Armed Forces," prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors are seeking prison sentences ranging from 10 to 21 years for eight other Oath Keepers defendants convicted at trials.
The sentencing recommendations come a day after jurors in a different case convicted four leaders of another extremist group, the Proud Boys — including former national chairman Enrique Tarrio — of seditious conspiracy. The Proud Boys were accused of a separate plot to forcibly keep Trump in power after he lost the 2020 election.
Rhodes is scheduled to be sentenced on May 25. Rhodes' attorneys haven't yet filed papers indicating how much time they will ask the judge to impose. They have vowed to appeal his conviction.
Prosecutors built their case around dozens of encrypted messages and other communications in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6 that showed Rhodes rallying his followers to fight to defend Trump and warning they might need to "rise up in insurrection" to defeat Biden if Trump didn't act.
Hundreds of people have been convicted in the attack that left dozens of officers injured and sent lawmakers running for their lives. But Rhodes and a co-defendant — Florida Oath Keepers chapter leader Kelly Meggs — were the first Jan. 6 defendants to be convicted at trial of seditious conspiracy.
Rhodes, who didn't go inside the Capitol, was cleared of two other conspiracy charges, but found guilty of obstructing Congress' certification of Biden's electoral victory.
The Yale Law School graduate and former Army paratrooper, who took the witness stand at trial, insisted there was no plan to attack the Capitol and said the Oath Keepers who did acted on their own. Rhodes said the Oath Keepers' only mission that day was to provide security for Trump ally Roger Stone and other figures at events before the riot.
Three other defendants on trial with Rhodes and Meggs were acquitted of seditious conspiracy, but convicted of obstructing Congress, which also carries up to 20 years in prison. Another four Oath Keepers were convicted of the sedition charge during a second trial.
Jurors in Rhodes' case saw video of his followers wearing combat gear and shouldering their way through the crowd in military-style stack formation before forcing their way into the Capitol. After the riot, Rhodes and other Oath Keepers went to an Olive Garden restaurant to celebrate, according to prosecutors.
Rhodes spent thousands of dollars on an AR-platform rifle, magazines, mounts, sights and other equipment on his way to Washington ahead of the riot, prosecutors told jurors. Prosecutors said Oath Keepers stashed weapons for "quick reaction force" teams prosecutors said were ready to get weapons into the city quickly if they were needed. The weapons were never deployed.
The trial revealed new details about Rhodes' efforts to pressure Trump to fight to stay in the White House in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6. Shortly after the election, in a group chat that included Stone, Rhodes wrote, "So will you step up and push Trump to FINALLY take decisive action?"
Another man testified that after the riot, Rhodes tried to persuade him to pass along a message to Trump that urged the president not to give up his fight to hold onto power. The intermediary — a man who told jurors he had an indirect way to reach the president — recorded his meeting with Rhodes and went to the FBI instead of giving the message to Trump.
"If he's not going to do the right thing and he's just gonna let himself be removed illegally then we should have brought rifles," Rhodes said during that meeting, according to a recording played for jurors.
"We should have fixed it right then and there. I'd hang (expletive) Pelosi from the lamppost," Rhodes said, referring to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/jan-6-prosecutors-seek-25-years-for-oath-keepers-rhodes/
-
Jan. 6 rioter in pink beret identified after ex spotted her in a viral FBI tweet
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jan-6-rioter-pink-beret-identified-ex-spotted-viral-fbi-tweet-rcna82286
-
Here's the Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio (the guy on the right) who has just been found guilty of Seditious Conspiracy against the United States of America hanging out with Donald Trump Jr. and posing for pictures before January 6th.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvSxbDDXwAAol29?format=jpg&name=360x360)
-
Hitler-praising Capitol rioter slapped with 4 years in prison
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=30022240&width=2400&height=1350)
A Hitler-praising Capitol rioter was sentenced this Monday for his role violence on Jan. 6, WUSA reported.
According to prosecutors, former Navy reservist Hatchet Speed, 41, praised Hitler and idolized the Unabomber.
“It is not clear why this military veteran with a TS/SCI clearance became enamored with Hitler, began to embrace street fighting, and call for the execution of the country’s entire Jewish population,” prosecutors argued in court documents.
As WUSA's report points out, Speed was convicted in a March of one felony count of obstruction of an official proceeding and four misdemeanor charges. He was convicted separately in January for possessing three unregistered silencers. He was sentenced to three years in prison last month on the silencer charges.
On Monday, he was sentenced to an additional four years in prison for his role in the Capitol riot along with a $10,000 fine and $2,000 in restitution.
Prosecutors said Speed "hoped the mob’s resistance would spark a larger uprising that would so intimidate Congress that then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi would ‘resign out of fear for her life.'"
https://www.rawstory.com/hitler-praising-capitol-rioter-slapped-with-4-years-in-prison/
-
Judge sentences US Army veteran Landon Copeland of Utah to 3 years in prison (minus his lengthy time in pretrial detention), followed by six months of home detention, in US Capitol riot case.
Copeland pleaded guilty to assaulting/resisting police. He was on frontlines at Capitol.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvpBs3MWYAAMz0Y?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
This is Jeremy Bertino, one of the Proud Boys who just pled guilty to seditious conspiracy on January 6. See the patch he’s wearing that says “RWDS” (Right Wing Death Squad)?
The Allen, Texas mass shooter was wearing the same patch.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvjqUrMXsAEPy-L?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Sentencing begins shortly in Jan 6 case of James Robinson of Pennsylvania. Feds argue "As part of his resistance to leaving the Rotunda, Robinson punched a police officer in the head. After leaving the US Capitol, he lingered on the Capitol steps & sang “Proud to be an American".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvsYo40WwAAv97t?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvsYo4yXoAAiq5w?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Sentencing set for Thursday in Capitol breach case of Dale Shalvey who, according to signed statement of facts, "took a letter written by Senator Mitt Romney to Vice-President Michael Pence from a Senator’s desk and destroyed it after leaving the Capitol".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvUDJ4SWIAATkPM?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvUDJ4RXwAA5SEj?format=jpg&name=small)
-
A Pennsylvania man said he rescued a woman from Capitol rioters on Jan. 6. Video shows him punching a cop in the head.
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=33635627&width=980&quality=85)
Jim Robinson, of Schwenksville, Pennsylvania, told a federal judge last year he’d entered the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, only to help people in distress — including a 60-year-old woman he says he rescued from nearly being trampled by the mob that had stormed the building.
Newly discovered surveillance footage says otherwise, prosecutors said, as the 61-year-old martial arts instructor was sentenced Tuesday to six months in prison.
The video, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Lawrence Jones told the court, offers no evidence to support Robinson’s contention that he helped anyone. Nor does it show him, as he’s also claimed, stopping other rioters from throwing a bucket of paint or from smashing statues in the Capitol Rotunda.
In fact, the prosecutor said, it shows Robinson at the forefront of the crowd, pumping his fist and chanting, with a velvet rope stolen from a security stanchion draped over his shoulder like a trophy.
And that all comes before the part where Robinson is caught on tape punching a police officer in the head — an act he followed, after he was finally pushed out of the building, by lingering on the Capitol steps and belting “Proud to be and American” as he raised his arms in victory.
U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich cited all of that during Robinson’s sentencing Tuesday as she imposed the maximum sentence allowable under the misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds to which he pleaded guilty earlier this year. She also ordered him to pay $1,500 in restitution and fines.
But prosecutors noted that had the footage of his assault on officers surfaced earlier, it’s almost certain Robinson would have been charged with felony crimes — and facing much more serious time. His punishment, Jones wrote in court filings, is “still the lightest sentence any January 6 defendant has received who punched a police officer.”
Robinson’s case is hardly the first instance of a Capitol rioter dodging serious charges due to the late discovery of crucial evidence as investigators pore over the thousands of hours of surveillance footage and social media videos as part of what the U.S. Justice Department has described as the largest investigation in its history.
Last month, prosecutors confronted Zach Rehl — the former president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Proud Boys — as he testified in his own defense at a sedition trial with newly surfaced police body cam footage that appeared to show him pepper-spraying officers. He hadn’t previously been accused of attacking cops.
But the case of Robinson — known to his students as “Master J” and former owner of the now-defunct King of Prussia-based Robinson’s Martial Arts & Fitness — stands out for significant disparities between the role he described playing in the riot when he was charged and pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in February and the conduct for which he was ultimately sentenced Tuesday.
In his telling, he entered the Capitol as a hero.
A fourth-degree master black belt in the Korean fighting style of Tang Soo Do, he said he’d always been taught to help people in need and had rushed into the fray on Jan. 6 by screams and cries of people in distress.
In addition to the 60-year-old woman he claimed to have rescued, he said he’d chided another rioter for lighting up a joint in the Capitol Rotunda.
"No matter what side or what beliefs you have, that’s not what you do in the building,” he told Friedrich at his guilty plea hearing earlier this year.
But his respect for the sanctity of the halls of U.S. government apparently did not extend to those charged with protecting it.
In the footage shown to the court Tuesday, he could be seen swatting at and pushing an officer who attempted to remove him from the Capitol Rotunda. When the officer raised his baton, Robinson balled his hand into a fist and punched.
It wasn’t the only instance during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing of Robinson’s version of events falling short of the full truth.
In filings leading up to the proceeding, his attorney Allen Howard Orenberg maintained Robinson doesn’t subscribe to any “far-right political views.”
“He has been the subject of a number of media accounts lumping him in with others that were there on January 6,” Orenberg wrote.
But Robinson’s social media, littered with images of him in various martial-arts posts, feature one photo of him holding an American flag with the logo of the antigovernment militia the Three Percenters. Other posts are peppered with right-wing messages railing against everything from inflation to COVID-19 precautions and vaccines.
Orenberg also described his client expressing “sincere and complete remorse.”
But an online fundraising site launched to pay for his legal defense on GiveSendGo, a website popular among right-wing figures and Jan. 6 defendants, indicates otherwise.
“Their goal is to harass conservatives,” the pitch for $20,000 in contributions reads. His prosecution “may bankrupt Jim.”
As of Tuesday, it had raised $930.
https://www.rawstory.com/a-pennsylvania-man-said-he-rescued-a-woman-from-capitol-rioters-on-jan-6-video-shows-him-punching-a-cop-in-the-head/
-
Idaho man who dangled from Senate balcony during Jan. 6 riot receives 15-month prison sentence
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/crime/idaho-man-dangled-from-senate-balcony-during-capitol-riot-receives-15-month-prison-sentence/277-caa07db4-0268-496d-87d5-61a7f13f8e89
-
Man gets 14 years in 1/6 case, longest sentence imposed yet
https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-capitol-peter-schwartz-insurrection-9176bad22fff2bafaea5c32ce06bb772
-
DC judge sentences Jan 6 defendant Nathaniel Degrave of Nevada to 37 months prison.
Feds recommended 37 months, arguing "He directly assaulted at least two US Capitol Police, notably, after pulling down his face mask to shield his identity—and abetted the assaults of four others.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FvyIiriWAAESF2K?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
January 6 hearing: Harrowing unseen footage released of Capitol riot
It became known as the ‘Big Lie’: the notion, formulated inside Donald Trump's head that he had in fact won the election.
He clung to it even though his own attorney general, daughter, son-in-law and chief of staff as well as all the evidence spelled out he was wrong.
And yet such was the power of Trump that his lie helped to mobilise a mob that came close to overturning American democracy.
Watch:
-
Two months and counting and no sign of the leftist manifesto that resulted in the Nashville insurrection. An insurrection celebrated by Old Joe. As with Hunter's laptop and the document linking Biden to bribes, it is being illegally suppressed by the FBI.
-
Two months and counting and no sign of the leftist manifesto that resulted in the Nashville insurrection. An insurrection celebrated by Old Joe. As with Hunter's laptop and the document linking Biden to bribes, it is being illegally suppressed by the FBI.
Two months and counting and no sign of the leftist manifesto
Did you forget to write to them to tell them that you, "Richard Smith", disagree with the way they conduct their investigation and that they should release the manifesto instantly?
:D :D :D :D :D :D
-
Jan. 6 rioter living in Las Vegas sentenced to 3 years in prison
https://www.8newsnow.com/investigators/jan-6-rioter-living-in-las-vegas-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/
-
Capitol riots timeline: What happened on 6 January 2021?
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56004916
-
Judge sentenced Jan 6 defendant Dale Shalvey to 41-months prison. Feds argued he "rifled through Senators’ desks, took pictures of their documents, and stole and destroyed a letter written by Senator Mitt Romney".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fv4hTSPX0AE3ais?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
A real insurrection doesn't involve a group of random people roaming about like tourists. It looks more like the situation described by Durham in his report. Too late to matter now but the use of the FBI and justice system to influence elections with false investigations and hoaxes is how you get someone like Old Joe elected. An old CIA-trick used in third world countries to influence elections. The "New" Democracy. Where is the punishment for the journalists who perpetuated this obviously fake story for years? Did they really not know it was a fake hoax? Maybe some are that dumb, but any reasonable person knew this entire investigation was politically motivated. It was the most outlandish fake conspiracy theory in history with not an iota of supporting evidence. The leftist media reported it continuously for four years as though it had validity. Then suddenly dropped it.
-
A real insurrection doesn't involve a group of random people roaming about like tourists. It looks more like the situation described by Durham in his report. Too late to matter now but the use of the FBI and justice system to influence elections with false investigations and hoaxes is how you get someone like Old Joe elected. An old CIA-trick used in third world countries to influence elections. The "New" Democracy. Where is the punishment for the journalists who perpetuated this obviously fake story for years? Did they really not know it was a fake hoax? Maybe some are that dumb, but any reasonable person knew this entire investigation was politically motivated. It was the most outlandish fake conspiracy theory in history with not an iota of supporting evidence. The leftist media reported it continuously for four years as though it had validity. Then suddenly dropped it.
More gaslighting, conspiracy theories, and propaganda from this guy. Just total nonsense. Here is Trump's supporters rioting and beating police.
Video of the Capitol breach on January 6, 2021
Watch:
-
Justice Dept will seek 27-month prison sentence in Jan 6 case of Julio Baquero of Florida. They argue he pushed at police line, grabbed at officer's baton, confronted officers "aggressively".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwRR0jjWYBAGC2D?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
WATCH: Trump willfully incited the insurrection and encouraged violence from his mob of supporters, says Rep. Neguse
Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo. spoke Feb. 11 as House impeachment managers continued to present evidence for why the Senate should convict former President Donald Trump of inciting an insurrection for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Trump was impeached by the House in January, while he was still in office.
Neguse said Trump willfully incited the insurrection and encouraged the violence. Trump knew his supporters were violent, he said, noting that his supporters sent death threats to election officials who refused the former president’s calls to overturn the election. He also noted Trump’s celebrations of his supporters who promoted violence, including those tried to run a Biden/Harris bus off the road.
“He implied that it was OK to break the law because the election was being stolen,” Neguse said, referring to Trump’s speech prior to the attack when he told supporters, “When you catch somebody in a fraud you’re allowed to go by very different rules.”
He said Trump’s words and tweets leading up to the Jan. 6 attack inflamed his base. He noted that Trump did not condemn the violence on the day of the attack, sympathized with the insurrectionists and further inflamed them by continuing to spread lies of a stolen election.
Watch:
-
Sentencing dates in Proud Boys Jan 6 case:
Enrique Tarrio - August 30 at 10:00am
Ethan Nordean - August 30 at 2:00pm
Joe Biggs - August 31 at 10am
Zach Rehl on August 31 at 2:00pm
Domenic Pezzola on September 1 at 10:00am
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwVnQcpWAAAzbvE?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Justice Dept to seek 7 years in prison for Capitol riot case of Richard Bigo Barnett.
Feds argue "Barnett’s conduct on January 6, his testimony at trial, and his statements afterward suggest that Barnett believes his political violence was justified and he would resort to it again".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwW3d1RWAAIqYPn?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Two months and counting and still no sign of the radical leftist manifesto from the Nashville police or FBI. The motive behind the crime that led to an insurrection. Incredibly, the school that was victimized by the radical leftist terrorist is having to sue to get the manifesto released. What a sad state of affairs when the leftist FBI won't provide an explanation for political reasons to a school and parents for the deaths of their children. Instead they are protecting the mass murderer. It is unreal that things have come to this point under Old Joe's extreme clown show.
-
Electrocuted, beaten, abused: Capitol Police recall their own 'vulnerability' on Jan. 6
Watch:
-
TWO MORE JAN. 6 CAPITOL RIOTERS HAVE FLED CHARGES, BRINGING TOTAL TO SIX
Four of the AWOL Trump supporters remain at large.
(https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/GettyImages-1230501926-j6-attack-supporters-fled1.jpg?fit=2500%2C1250)
OVER TWO YEARS since a mob of Donald Trump’s supporters rioted at the U.S. Capitol, a small but growing number are on the run after being hit with federal charges for their involvement in the attack.
Federal authorities have launched an ongoing dragnet to identify and detain individuals wanted for crimes that took place at the Capitol on January 6, 2021, in the wake of Trump’s election loss. Despite these efforts, several of those identified on video footage remain at large, while others, who have been identified, arrested, and are facing charges, have decided to try their luck on the lam — including at least one man who has fled abroad to claim political asylum.
This week, the U.S. issued arrest warrants for accused Capitol rioters Olivia Michele Pollock and Joseph Daniel Hutchinson, who, while out on bail, slipped their ankle monitors and escaped days before they were supposed to go on trial. They became the fifth and sixth Capitol rioters to flee following their arrests — with four of those still on the loose.
Pollock’s brother, Jonathan Daniel Pollock, was one of those already on the run from charges related to his own involvement in the riot, where he is alleged to have shown up in combat gear and physically attacked several Capitol Police officers.
The Pollock siblings and Hutchinson, all of whose whereabouts are unknown, were seen in footage of January 6 wearing tactical vests and engaging in clashes with police, as the authorities attempted to keep rioters out of the Capitol building.
Over a thousand people have been charged for their involvement in the Capitol attack, according to Insider. More than half of those already pleaded guilty to federal charges.
A few of the people arrested were kept in pre-trial confinement awaiting trial, with allegations by some lawyers that their conditions have been punitive and entailed violations of their civil rights.
A FEW FORMER fugitives who, like the Pollock siblings and Hutchinson, went on the run after being hit with charges have since turned themselves in or been recaptured by authorities. Among those are Michael Gareth Adams, a Virginia man seen on footage from the Capitol brandishing a skateboard, who turned himself in last month, and Darrell Neely of North Carolina, who was arrested last fall after failing to show up to court hearings and allegedly selling his house in anticipation of fleeing the country.
The most bizarre of all the Capitol riot fugitive stories, however, is the case of Evan Neumann. A January 6 participant who was seen helping shove a metal barricade past a line of police officers, Neumann fled the U.S. to Italy in the aftermath of the riot, traveling onward to Belarus where he applied for political asylum.
In the spring of 2022, Neumann was granted asylum by the dictatorial government of Alexander Lukashenko. Before his asylum came through, though, Neumann appeared on Belarusian state television for a special titled “Goodbye America,” where he claimed that the Capitol riot had been staged and that he faced torture if returned back to the United States.
Neumann had previously been charged in connection with an incident where he and his brother entered an evacuation area during a fire to retrieve personal possessions. A local news story about the 2018 incident referred to him as a “self-described libertarian.”
According to later reports, the incident, which, according to Neumann’s statements, involved guns being brandished by National Guard members at him and his brother, sowed a sense of grievance on his part against the government. Neumann acted as his own attorney in that case and eventually pleaded guilty in exchange for community service and a fine.
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT crackdown against participants in the Capitol riot continues, over two years after the attack.
The FBI has released photos of others it believes committed crimes during the attack to solicit public help in identifying and arresting culprits, while the riot itself and the fate of the arrested participants has become a political football between Democrats and some Republicans.
The defiance of those currently on the run from charges is unlikely to endear them further to law enforcement agencies and the Justice Department. Many rioters, including the notorious “QAnon Shaman,” have received significant prison terms already, and more such sentences are likely to come.
Neumann likely feared this outcome when he made the decision to sell his Mill Valley, California, home for $1.3 million and flee the country in 2021, rather than face trial for his role in the attack.
They added my picture to the FBI’s most wanted list of criminals, asking for the public’s help to identify me. I knew I would be identified immediately,” Neumann said, according to a transcript of his Belarusian television segment. “So the first thing I did was to leave my place.”
https://theintercept.com/2023/03/10/jan-6-capitol-riot-fugitives/
-
Another day passes with no answers for the parents of the children murdered by a radicalized leftist. Did she believe the conspiracy theories about Russian collusion? Did she believe Hunter's laptop was the product of Russian disinformation? Did she believe "Christian nationalists" were out to get her? Which fake leftist conspiracy theory drove her to mass murder? Maybe someday the public will be allowed to know. That information is made available instantly if anyone with a hint of right-wing background commits a crime. But not here.
-
Justice Dept to seek 10 months prison in Jan 6 case of Luke Lints of Michigan. Feds will argue he pushed against police line and say he "obtained a police riot shield & used it to prevent a police officer from closing the metal door to separate the police from the rioters"
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fwg_aUrWIA8VR__?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
We learn today that the FBI conducted tens of thousands of warrantless searches of Jan. 6 suspects. Incredible. Nothing like this since the McCarthy ear. And, of course, they make this announcement late on Friday to diminish any publicity. The New America.
-
We learn today that the FBI conducted tens of thousands of warrantless searches of Jan. 6 suspects. Incredible. Nothing like this since the McCarthy ear. And, of course, they make this announcement late on Friday to diminish any publicity. The New America.
They are domestic terrorists that engaged in a violent coup brutally beating police. Why are you defending it?
Capitol riot: Videos shows men beat, drag officer into savage mob
New video from the Capitol riot investigation shows one of the most violent assaults on police from January 6.
Watch:
-
Initial appearance set for May 30 in new Capitol breach case of Odin Meacham.
Feds allege “Meacham rushed towards several officers, raised a wooden pole above his head, and slammed the pole on the upper body one at least one officer”.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwgD5cBWAAEV_xP?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Texas man who knocked out officer during Jan 6. Capitol riot learns his sentence
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=33713863&width=980&quality=85)
Donald Hazard, of Hurst, Texas, received a sentence of four years and nine months for physically attacking U.S. Capitol Police officers on Jan 6, 2021. - U.S. Attorney's Office/TNS/TNS
FORT WORTH, Texas — A North Texas man was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison Friday for assaulting law enforcement resulting in bodily injury during the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot, the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia announced.
“His actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election,” the U.S attorney’s office said in a news release.
Donald Hazard, 44, of Hurst, was sentenced to 57 months in prison for assaulting, resisting or impeding officers.
Hazard pleaded guilty to the charge Feb. 16.
In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Randolph D. Moss ordered 36 months of supervised release. Hazard also must pay a fine of $2,000.
According to court documents, Hazard was the sergeant-at-arms of the Patriot Boys of North Texas, a self-described militia.
In preparation for the riot in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6, 2021, Hazard gathered protective gear and other supplies including a military-style helmet, knuckle gloves, goggles, body armor and pepper spray, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
”Make sure you get my face and everything on your news channel. I want the enemy to know exactly who is coming after them,” Hazard said in a video that a photographer recorded at the riot.
At around 2 p.m. that day, Hazard was standing under scaffolding that had been erected over the stairs on the northwest side of the U.S. Capitol building. As Hazard and other rioters attempted to climb the steps, they were met by Capitol Police officers.
An officer approached Hazard in order to force him back. Hazard grabbed the officer as he fell and continued to fight. The two fell down the stairs and the officer hit his head and was knocked unconscious. He also had injuries on his head, foot and arm — some of which required surgery.
At another point during the riot, Hazard advanced toward a line of police officers on the west side of the Capitol with pepper spray in his hand.
At 2:56 p.m., Hazard entered the Capitol building and was inside for about five minutes. Hazard posted “selfie-style” videos inside and outside of the Capitol building and made statements including, “We’re here at the nation’s capitol and we’re storming it. We’re taking the Capitol ... This is America baby.”
Hazard was arrested Dec. 13, 2021.
This case was prosecuted by the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section. The U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Texas assisted in the case.
The case was investigated by the Fort Worth Resident Agency of the FBI’s Dallas Field Office along with the FBI’s Washington Field Office. The Texas Department of Public Safety, the Hurst Police Department, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the U.S. Capitol Police also assisted.
In the 28 months since Jan. 6, more than 1,000 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 320 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, according to the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia.
The investigation remains ongoing.
© Fort Worth Star-Telegram
-
Donald Hazard is sentenced to 57 months prison in Jan 6 case.
Feds said: "Hazard was the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Patriot Boys of North Texas, a self-described militia. Hazard gathered protective gear, military-style helmet, knuckle gloves, goggles, body armor, and pepper spray".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fwk-tV0WAAIbQ-p?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Yet another day and no answer for the parents of the dead children in Nashville. Maybe the lawsuit filed by the school will eventually force the FBI to hand over the manifesto. They have no legal justification to suppress this material. The leftist terrorist is deceased. There is nothing to investigate from a law enforcement perspective. Just another of growing list of judicial abuses by law enforcement and the judicial system.
-
Jan 6 defendant Mark Ponder of DC is serving sentence at Edgefield federal prison in South Carolina, thorugh Oct 2025, according to US Bureau of Prisons.
Ponder was charged with assaulting police holding shield. Feds: "Ponder struck the shield with his pole, snapping it in two".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwqrYDFWAAAMh-r?format=jpg&name=small)
-
These January 6th insurrectionists domestic terrorists all believe they are above the law just like their messiah Criminal Donald.
The ‘Beverly Hills Insurrectionist’ and the Big Myth About Jan. 6
Gina Bisignano became famous for participating in the Capitol riot clad in a Louis Vuitton sweater and Chanel boots, but her insurrection story reveals a deeper truth
(https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/bisignano.jpg?w=1581&h=1054&crop=1)
THE FIRST TIME Gina Bisignano ran afoul of the law in Washington, D.C., she was recorded standing on a ledge in front of a broken window on the U.S. Capitol Building’s West Terrace, adorned in a Louis Vuitton sweater and Chanel boots. “We the people are not going to take it anymore. You are not going to take away our Trumpy Bear!” the Beverly Hills cosmetologist bellowed through a bullhorn on Jan. 6.
“Everybody, we need gas masks. We need weapons. We need strong, angry patriots to help our boys, they don’t want to leave. We need protection,” she yelled, her mascara running from tear gas.
Two years and multiple criminal charges later, Bisignano returned to Washington on March 1 of this year — and promptly ran afoul of the law again. Bisignano’s return journey to D.C. involved a deal she struck with prosecutors in which she pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors and two felonies and agreed to cooperate with investigators and the Department of Justice in return for special considerations at sentencing.
Nominally in D.C. to testify against a former associate, Bisignano took a detour to a vigil held near the jail where several dozen alleged insurrectionists were awaiting their trials. There, she shared details of her testimony in an ongoing trial, spoke with a convicted Jan. 6 felon, and admitted to hanging out with other Jan. 6 participants.
All of these were violations of the terms of her pre-trial release, and all of them — again — were caught on camera. But despite her Jan. 6 actions and her pre-trial agreement violations, Bisignano is not in jail. Instead, she’s on a particularly lenient version of house arrest as she awaits trial after withdrawing her guilty plea for felony obstruction of an official proceeding. She has already pleaded guilty to six counts, including felony civil disorder, and awaits sentencing after her felony trial concludes.
The supposed unjust treatment and persecution of Jan. 6 participants has become core to the prevailing conservative counter-narrative around the violent riot, an account that characterizes the participants as “political prisoners.” But contrary to the claims of heavy-handed political persecution, cases like Bisignano show how, in some instances, the legal system has afforded Jan. 6 defendants a far more judicious process than standard federal criminal defendants. And indeed, many experts believe the insurrectionists have been given far softer treatment than one might expect for attempting to storm the Capitol to block the certification of a presidential election.
“As a general trend, the January 6 people, especially given the violent nature of their protest, got off quite lightly in terms of the charges they face [and] the average sentence they face when they plead guilty and/or are found guilty,” says Wadie Said, a former federal public defender who studies national security prosecutions at the University of South Carolina School of Law. “That doesn’t mean that the result is always in their favor or that they don’t get punished, but just that their claims are certainly heard more, and their position certainly seems to be understood a little bit more.”
Early indications suggest that insurrectionists are, in fact, getting off easy. Data examined by Slate on the first anniversary of the insurrection found that Jan. 6 defendants were receiving significantly lighter sentences than what prosecutors have asked for. They also, at least as of the one-year mark, enjoyed a far higher rate of pretrial release — 70 percent — than other federal defendants, only 32 percent of whom were granted pretrial release.
Even outside of the immediate political context, other demographic factors may play a role in the disparate treatment, says Georgetown Law Professor Vida Johnson. Federal criminal defendants are disproportionately young, male people of color, and largely face charges related to drug and immigration violations — crimes that are highly racialized in their own right — whereas 93 percent of charged Jan. 6 participants are white, according to the University of Chicago Project on Security and Threats.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment, citing the ongoing matter. In response to a request for comment, Bisignano’s lawyer Charles Peruto tells Rolling Stone, “Any comment I give would just add to the over exposure this defendant has received. Therefore, I feel it’s best to do all of my talking in court.”
For obvious reasons, Bisignano received almost immediate and arguably disproportionate attention following the Capitol breach. In an interview with The Beverly Hills Courier following the riot, she said that she was initially unaware of plans to breach the Capitol. “I didn’t know we were storming the Capitol,” she recalled thinking. “I should have dressed different.”
This sartorial claim of innocence did not seem to persuade investigators, and Bisignano was soon arrested and charged with six misdemeanors and two felonies.
Among the first wave of insurrectionists charged for their actions, Bisignano faced both a public and a legal system at the zenith of its outrage and concern over the assault. With the indictment of more central actors like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers more than a year away, Bisignano does appear to have had the book thrown at her at first. A magistrate judge imposing a $170,000 bail on her and even after making bail, a federal judge ordered her back in custody, where she spent the next month.
But Bisignano’s fortunes improved as Jan. 6 went from a source of shame among the right to a cause célèbre.
The legal tides turned for her in August 2021 when she reached a deal with prosecutors, pleading guilty to six of the counts, including two felonies, and agreeing to cooperate with the Department of Justice and investigators. In court before Judge Carl J. Nichols, Bisignano expressed contrition for her actions on the day. At that point, she was looking at between 41 to 51 months in federal prison, with hopes of receiving a lighter sentence for her help.
But the relationship between Bisignano and prosecutors quickly deteriorated, with audio leaking in February 2022 of a conversation she had with supporters in which she spoke out against her plea deal and backtracked on her apology to Judge Nichols. Her attorney soon filed to undo her guilty plea on the felony count of obstructing an official proceeding.
Yet even with questions surrounding Bisignano’s cooperation, in a May 4 hearing concerning her pretrial violations and plea deal, Judge Nichols allowed Bisignano to back out of the guilty plea for felony obstruction of an official proceeding. Bisignano’s usefulness as a witness had also come into question, with the judge presiding over a separate case in which she provided testimony describing Bisignano as a “hot mess” and one of the worst witnesses she had ever seen take the stand.
Said characterizes the ruling as “unusual,” explaining that defendants face a high burden to reverse a guilty plea.
Ironically, the apparent latitude afforded to Bisignano by her judge has now placed her in more legal jeopardy, with a guilty verdict potentially delivering a higher sentence than she would have received as part of her deal with prosecutors.
Nichols’ ruling on her guilty plea came alongside a hearing on Bisignano’s many pretrial violations stemming from what prosecutors termed the “January 6 Block Party.”
Bisignano had long taken a liberal interpretation of her pretrial release agreement, which explicitly forbids “communications with anyone who was at the event on January 6, 2021,” speaking about the case with anyone aside from her “attorney, [the] government, and people that are directly associated with your case,” and maintaining a presence on social media. Furthermore, the terms exhort her to “avoid all contact, directly or indirectly, with any person who is or may be a victim or witness in the investigation or prosecution.”
Her visit to Washington wasn’t even the first time Bisignano had rallied on behalf of Jan. 6 participants.
A year to the day after the insurrection, on Jan. 6, 2022, Bisignano — her face partially covered by a pink Louis Vuitton scarf — appeared at a Beverly Hills rally held in honor of Ashli Babbitt, who was fatally shot by police while attempting to get closer to lawmakers. At least one other Jan. 6 participant was present at the rally. Bisignano also went to a May 2022 rally organized by a convicted Jan. 6 participant, Brandon Straka, and was caught on camera speaking with Siaka Massaquoi, an actor who entered the Capitol on Jan. 6.
It’s unclear whether prosecutors are aware of these incidents. While prosecutors cite two documents in reference to other violations, they remain restricted to the public.
But Bisignano did not have the same luck when she went to the March block party in Washington this year.
Broadcast nightly via livestream, the festive vigil featured live music, barbecue, and pie — and even once received a call from Donald Trump, who inveighed that Jan. 6 prisoners “are being treated very, very unfairly” — an increasingly common refrain among conservative politicians and their base.
Capitalizing on the growing clout of the insurrectionists, a MAGA rapper joined the vigil on March 1 to film a music video with Micki Witthoeft, the mother of Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by Capitol police while attempting to enter the Speaker’s Lobby. (“They left blood on the Capitol steps, yeah, they set us up / Patriots fightin’ for freedom, yeah we ain’t lettin’ up / I’m a god fearing soldier, I keep my weapons up / Can’t put no needle in my arm ‘cause I’m a pure blood.”)
Bisignano herself makes a couple of appearances in the music video. On the livestream of the event, she speaks to the crowd and tearfully proclaims Ashli Babbitt “a fallen hero,” rails against the “one world agenda,” and offers a rambling summary of the testimony she had proffered in court earlier that day. Later in the night, she talks on speakerphone with Shane Jenkins, a Jan. 6 rioter convicted of smashing a window with a tomahawk and throwing objects like a desk drawer at Capitol Police.
All of this, it goes without saying, violated her pretrial release agreement — a fact Bisignano herself is caught acknowledging on camera. “I’m on pretrial, I’m not supposed to be here,” she tells another attendee, skewer of meat in hand.
“My family’s angry at me because I hang out with January 6 people and I’m on pretrial,” she adds, apparently admitting to more pretrial violations.
“All the other January 6 people do, too,” the attendee responds sympathetically.
Ultimately, Bisignano paid a price for attending the rally, though not a particularly steep one: Judge Nichols reinstated Bisignano’s house arrest, limiting her to her Beverly Hills condominium except for work, church, and doctor’s appointments.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/gina-bisisnano-jan6-beverly-hills-insurrectionist-1234739137/
-
Seeking leniency in his Jan 6 case, defense for Julio Baquero of Florida argues: "While President Trump does not regret what he unleashed on January 6th, Mr. Baquero is deeply ashamed of his conduct that day and will spend the rest of his life atoning for his actions".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwgD_WLXgAASzaA?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
In new letter seeking leniency for Capitol riot defendant Noah Bacon, a relative writes that Bacon was "suckered by Trump's rhetoric and lies" and says Bacon was a "fool" to believe Trump.
She says Bacon expected Trump to make a "big announcement" with proof about the election.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwgBIMcWwAMsHFR?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Another day passes with no sign of the leftist manifesto to explain the massacre of schoolchildren. It is still being suppressed by the US government for political purposes. Where are the leftists who want transparency from law enforcement and oppose "banning books"? Suddenly silence. All Americans should demand equal justice. The school involved is now suing for release of the manifesto. Imagine to be victimized in this way by a mass murdering terrorist and have to sue the government to get an explanation for why it happened. It is a sad world when the justice department protects a child murderer over the interest of victims.
-
Another day passes with no sign of the leftist manifesto to explain the massacre of schoolchildren. It is still being suppressed by the US government for political purposes. Where are the leftists who want transparency from law enforcement and oppose "banning books"? Suddenly silence. All Americans should demand equal justice. The school involved is now suing for release of the manifesto. Imagine to be victimized in this way by a mass murdering terrorist and have to sue the government to get an explanation for why it happened. It is a sad world when the justice department protects a child murderer over the interest of victims.
Another day, and another off topic post from you, this has nothing to do with the January 6th insurrection. But Trump insurrectionists are still going to prison and so will Donald Trump.
Man gets 14 years in 1/6 case, longest sentence imposed yet
https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-capitol-peter-schwartz-insurrection-9176bad22fff2bafaea5c32ce06bb772
Texas militia member sentenced to almost 5 years in prison in Jan. 6 case
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4014482-texas-militia-member-sentenced-to-almost-5-years-in-prison-in-jan-6-case/
-
"Historically dangerous efforts to oppose by force the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election"
Justice Dept slams Jan 6 Oath Keepers requests for leniency:
"Defendants were not mere trespassers or rioters & they are not comparable to any other defendant who has been convicted for a role in the attack on the Capitol".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwqrWSdXwAMD3yA?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Feds continue to slam Jan 6 defendants arguments Trump "authorized" them:
DOJ filing: "Courts in (DC) have considered various defendants’ arguments that the former president’s words immunized their actions on Jan 6. To the government’s knowledge, all these arguments have failed".
A wide view of the January 6th insurrection with the Trump mob about to overrun Capitol Police.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FwlenScWwAA7qr0?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Justice Dept will seek 78-months prison in high-profile Capitol riot case of Pauline Bauer of Pennsylvania. They'll argue Bauer "physically accosted at least one officer and made incendiary threats to kill Nancy Pelosi".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fw1ZVUQWcAA4Kos?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Pizzeria Owner Who Said Nancy Pelosi Needed to ‘Hang’ Convicted of Jan. 6 Charges
(https://am24.mediaite.com/lc/cnt/uploads/2023/01/Pauline-Bauer-Jan.-6-Capitol.jpg)
The Pennsylvania pizzeria owner who demanded that police at the U.S. Capitol “bring Nancy Pelosi out” to the mob of Donald Trump supporters on Jan. 6 has been convicted of all five charges against her.
Pauline Bauer, 55, who memorably spouted sovereign citizen talking points before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, was charged with obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, a felony that carries a potential 20-year prison sentence, and misdemeanor charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct.
According to prosecutors, Bauer screamed at police gathered in the Capitol to produce then-Speaker of the House Pelosi (D-Calif.), who was among the lawmakers at the Capitol that day to certify Joe Biden‘s 2020 electoral win. Bauer was standing approximately 30 feet from the House Speaker’s office when she was recorded by police-worn body cameras.
“Bring that f— b– out here now,” Bauer said, according to a Justice Department press release Tuesday. “Bring her out. Bring her out here. We’re coming in if you don’t bring her out here.”
When a Metropolitan Police Department officer tried to push Bauer away from the area he was protecting, she engaged in a confrontation, the DOJ says.
“You back up,” she screamed. “Don’t even try.” Prosecutors say that she then pushed the officer. She was physically removed from the Rotunda by MPD officers in riot gear shortly thereafter.
Prosecutors presented evidence of Bauer’s confrontation with police in the Capitol Rotunda that day, as well as texts and social media postings both on Jan. 6 and in the days following suggesting that the pro-Trump fight was far from over.
“We need to stand firm and strong now more than ever,” she wrote in a text message on Jan. 8.
Evidence also showed that Bauer was among the thousands of Americans who believed the false claims that Biden won the election due to voter fraud.
“We took over our capital [sic] like patriots for a stolen election one person was shot with a rubber bullet by the cops,” she wrote in a comment on Facebook the evening of Jan. 6, according to prosecutors.
The verdict comes after a two-day bench trial in front of McFadden, a Trump appointee who was the first judge to acquit a Jan. 6 defendant of multiple misdemeanor charges. Bauer represented herself, although defense attorney Carmen Hernandez — who represents Proud Boys member Zachary Rehl, currently on trial for seditious conspiracy and other charges — stayed on as advisory counsel.
At Tuesday’s sentencing hearing, McFadden told Bauer that she was one of the rioters who posed an “obvious and grave security risk,” according to CBS News. The judge reportedly rejected Bauer’s defense that she “blacked out” during the riot.
Bauer had faced off against the judge several times over his decision to keep her in pretrial detention. In one memorable exchange, she told McFadden that she was “not a person” and claimed to have diplomatic immunity before getting into a Bible quote battle with the judge. McFadden ultimately decided to revoke her release for refusing to comply with the mandatory conditions, a decision which was upheld on appeal.
According to the court docket, Bauer was released in September, some four months before her trial began.
Bauer’s co-defendant, William Blauser, pleaded guilty in November 2021 to a single misdemeanor count of parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building. McFadden sentenced Blauser in February to probation and ordered him to pay a $500 fine, apparently believing that the military veteran had “probably been coerced in one way or the other by Ms. Bauer.”
Bauer faces up to 20 years on the obstruction charge and three years on the combined misdemeanor charges. McFadden has set sentencing for May 1, and according to CBS News, McFadden agreed to allow Bauer to stay out on release until then.
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/pizzeria-owner-who-said-nancy-pelosi-needed-to-hang-convicted-of-jan-6-charges/
-
New January 6 video shows three hours of violent and chaotic assault on police
December 24, 2021
The Justice Department this week released a three-hour video of a battle between rioters and the police at the US Capitol Building on January 6 where rioters brandished weapons, officers were viciously beaten, and a member of the mob died on Capitol steps.
The assault on the Lower West Terrace was one of the most violent confrontations between Capitol Police and the crowd. Officers held the line until the building was cleared without letting rioters inside. Some officers have since said they did not know the Capitol had already been breached in other areas.
The video, taken from a Capitol security camera, does not have sound. It starts as officers retreat, helping each other as they stumble inside and washing their eyes out with water from chemical spray. Rioters crowd in behind them, coordinate efforts to attack and push through in infamous moments that have haunted the public, and officers, ever since.
The Justice Department released the videos after CNN and other outlets sued for access. It is the longest video from the riot released by the government thus far.
The assault
Once rioters invaded the platform built for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, every officer on it retreated into the tunnel to make their stand, shooting projectiles at rioters as they begin to enter. Members of the crowd climbed on top of each other, swinging fists and poles at the police. Brawls broke out throughout the assault, with rioters punching and kicking at officers on the front line.
Inside the tunnel, rioters pushed police further back, jabbing at them with flag poles and hitting them with a baton, spraying pepper spray, taking riot shields and crushing an officer in a door all while banging against the walls and cheering as they filmed the assault on their phones.
Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone was pulled out of the police line and into the crowd by a rioter who had his arm around his neck. The video shows Fanone eventually falling down and disappearing into the mass of rioters, where he said he was tased in the neck, beaten with a flagpole and heard rioters screaming “kill him with his own gun.” Fanone said he suffered a heart attack and fell unconscious during the attack.
Police were able to push the rioters to the edge of the tunnel’s entrance over half an hour into the assault, using pepper spray and their batons against the crowd. Still, after a long standoff with police, the rioters began a second attack on the line of officers.
At the entrance of the tunnel, rioter and QAnon supporter Rosanne Boyland lay on the ground. She had died of an accidental overdose, according to DC’s chief medical examiner. Heeding her friends’ call for help, prosecutors say two officers waded into the crowd to help Boyland.
The two officers were knocked down and dragged into the mob where they were viciously beaten with an upside-down American flag and other weapons. The attack landed one officer in the hospital with staples in his head to stop the bleeding, and the other with injuries to his face and shoulder according to court documents.
Weapons used by rioters
In the grueling attack, rioters not only used weapons but also whatever they could get their hands on to attack the police, jabbing them with metal poles, throwing furniture and an audio speaker, spraying a fire extinguisher and pepper spray, using crutches to hit the police, and assaulting the officers with fists and feet.
The rioters also used items taken from the police, including riot shields which they continued to pass up their ranks to push against the officers, and batons which they assaulted police with. At one point in the video, a person can be seen even throwing a firework at the line of officers.
Arrests
Prosecutors have arrested and charged dozens of rioters for their part in the grisly battle inside the Lower West Terrace tunnel.
Robert Morss, who prosecutors allege planned to start his own militia, is being held in jail until he faces trial after a judge slammed him for using his training as an Army Ranger to help organize and lead the mob inside the tunnel. Morss is charged with eight other men, including Patrick McCaughey, who was captured in a viral video crushing Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges in a door, and Federico Klein, a former Trump State Department official. All nine have pleaded not guilty.
Albuquerque Head, who allegedly dragged Fanone out into the crowd, has also been charged in the attack. So has Daniel Rodriguez, who prosecutors say tased Fanone in the neck. They, too, have pleaded not guilty.
Jeffrey Sabol, Jack Whitton and Ronald McAbee are part of an indictment with six other rioters who allegedly worked together to drag officers into the crowd. Whitton later boasted to friends, saying that “I fed him to the people,” referring to the officer, according to court filings. They haven’t yet entered a formal plea.
Two of the defendants who were part of the tunnel scene have already been sentenced. Devlyn Thompson, who admitted to throwing a speaker at police officers and hitting an officer in the hand with a baton, was sentenced to nearly four years in jail. Robert Palmer, who used a fire extinguisher, a wooden plank and a pole to attack police, was sentenced to more than five years in prison. Both pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon.
Watch video in link: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/12/24/politics/january-6-video-capitol-hill-riot/index.html
-
Rioters used 'bear spray' to blind police officers during Capitol Insurrection
February 12, 2021
(https://media.wusa9.com/assets/WUSA/images/2541ed50-e2a9-4da6-a76d-3845917bce70/2541ed50-e2a9-4da6-a76d-3845917bce70_1920x1080.png)
WASHINGTON — Chilling new videos of the Capitol riot released at former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial are giving the public a more graphic picture of what police faced while being attacked by a violent mob January 6th.
The never-before-seen images show rioters shooting officers with “bear spray” – a toxic pesticide designed to help hikers fight off bears.
The newly released videos of the insurrection confirmed what DC Police Officer Christina Laurie told WUSA9 in January.
“By the time I got there, you know, officers were already getting sprayed with whatever these individuals had, which, you know, I believe they had bear mace which is literally used for bears,” she said in an interview. “I mean, I got hit with it a plenty of times that day and it just seals your eyes shut. And you just would see officers going down trying to douse themselves with water trying to open their eyes up so they can see again, and at the same point, these people are still trying to push and gain access to the Capitol.
Court documents say Jon Ryan Schafer of Columbus, Indiana was among the rioters who sprayed United States Capitol Police officers with “bear spray.” So why did accused rioters allegedly come armed to the Capitol with the powerful toxic pesticide?
"It seems like the planning was very covert and under the radar in a lot of instances,” said Dr. Kelly Johnson- Arbor, medical director at The National Capitol Poison Center.
Johnson said you don’t have to register bear spray as a weapon like you’re required to with pepper spray or mace in some states.
“And so if somebody was trying to stay anonymous, and under the radar, they might not want to purchase pepper spray, if they lived in a state where they had to register it or if it was illegal to ship it or to possess it in certain quantities,” Johnson said, adding bear spray often comes packaged in much larger canisters, so it won’t run out as quickly when it’s being used.
CNN is reporting investigators now want to know if bear spray may have played a role in the death of Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick and whether Sicknick had some sort of fatal reaction after being sprayed with it.
It’s been 35 days since he passed away still no arrests made and no cause of death released. Initial reports he died from injuries suffered from being hit with a fire extinguisher have never been confirmed.
A spokesperson for the D.C. Chief Medical Examiner's Office told us the national standard to determine the cause of death is within 90 days.
But, for cases that are more complex it could be longer.
“OCME medical examiners comply with the National Association of Medical Examiners’ (NAME) standard to determine the cause and manner of death within 90 days;” wrote DCME spokesperson Cheryle E. Adams. “However, for cases that are more complex it could be longer. Therefore, when this information is available and the decedent’s next of kin has been notified, I will provide you with the cause and manner of death.”
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/capitol-riot-bear-spray-officer-brian-sicknick/65-976cf73a-e850-4fc9-a7cf-d6a199b1b5ed
Watch:
January 6 United States Capitol attack • On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
-
Pre-sentencing hearings begin TODAY in seditious conspiracy case of Stewart Rhodes.
Victim impact statements will be heard by judge.
Justice Dept is going to try to secure a 25-year prison sentence against Stewart Rhodes.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fw166ynWYAMwOTw?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Jan. 6 defendant who put foot on desk in Pelosi's office sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison
(https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/01/23/aae85d3f-e148-47ba-a467-1498996efd3a/thumbnail/1240x826g8/033ebed0eee781efc83658c77de2585b/gettyimages-1230454190.jpg)
Washington — An Arkansas man who was photographed propping his foot on a desk in the House speaker's office during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol was sentenced to 4 and a half years in prison on Wednesday, with a judge saying he had "not shown any acceptance of responsibility."
Richard "Bigo" Barnett was convicted on eight counts including civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and theft of government property after a trial earlier this year. A photo showing him seated at a desk in then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office became one of the most indelible images of Jan. 6.
On Wednesday, he appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before Judge Christopher Cooper, who handed down his sentence of 54 months. Prosecutors had sought a prison term of more than seven years, noting that Barnett admitted to entering the Capitol wielding a stun gun and carrying an American flag. Cooper seemed skeptical of some of the government's arguments and imposed a shorter sentence.
Barnett addressed the court during Wednesday's sentencing hearing, saying he was "not proud" of his conduct but arguing it was not "threatening."
"They want me to be remorseful for things I did not do," he said at one point, adding that he plans to appeal his convictions and "wasn't treated fairly."
"This was an enigma in my life," Barnett said, asking for a sentence of probation. "Jan. 6 was a traumatic day for everyone … I admit I was angry and I apologize for that."
Prosecutors told the judge that Barnett played a "very important role" in delaying the certification of the 2020 election, saying, "We are not here because he was on the front of the New York Times."
His defense team argued that prosecutors went too far in bringing some of the most severe charges and said jurors in Washington, D.C., were biased against him, echoing a claim made by many Jan. 6 defendants before him. Prosecutors did not allege Barnett took part in any violent conduct.
At trial and during Wednesday's sentencing hearing, prosecutors said the 63-year-old retired firefighter and bull rider prepared to travel to Washington ahead of Jan. 6 to keep Donald Trump in power. They said he made his way into the Capitol on the day of the riot after yelling at officers outside the building. Once inside, according to the government, Barnett stole an envelope, sat behind a desk in Pelosi's office and scrawled on a piece of paper, "Hey Nancy, Bigo was here you b*****."
It was only after he threatened police and was hit with chemical spray in the Rotunda that the government says Barnett was forced out of the Capitol. Once outside, prosecutors allege Barnett "bragged" about his entry into the speaker's office and encouraged the other rioters, saying, "This is a war." He "immediately began celebrating his conquests," the government contended on Wednesday, even as the riot was still happening.
Barnett testified in his own defense at trial and underwent a lengthy and, at times, heated cross-examination. He admitted to having regrets for using a vulgar, misogynistic phrase about Pelosi and for putting his feet on the desk. He testified he was a idiot on Jan. 6, but argued his acts were not criminal.
Prosecutors alleged that much of the defendant's testimony from the stand was not true. Since the January trial, they said, he has "demonstrated his lack of remorse and refusal to take responsibility for his actions." Barnett's attorneys contended the government "has no evidence that Mr. Barnett perjured himself."
During sentencing on Wednesday, the judge listed numerous cases in which he found Barnett to have been untruthful on the stand and in court documents – calling them an "affront" — and dismissed claims that Barnett was involuntarily pushed into the Capitol and had no intention of impeding Congress.
Barnett, prosecutors said in court on Wednesday, expressed "downright mockery of the Justice System" even after he was convicted, and demonstrated an "absolute absence of remorse" for his actions that day. He has since tried to downplay the events of Jan. 6, the government argued, with "nonsensical" claims.
After his participation in the riot, according to prosecutors, Barnett even sold signed copies of photos depicting him sitting with his feet on the desk, "a picture that he characterized as 'the face of the new anti-federalist movement.'" Barnett said at sentencing that the ploy was his former attorney's idea and he never profited from the sales.
His defense team argued that the years-long penalty the government sought was unjust and rejected prosecutors' claims that the case was not solely about the picture of him behind the desk.
"Mr. Barnett is here because of the picture," his defense attorney Jonathan Gross said in court. "The government was mad because Richard Barnett was sitting at a desk."
"The worst accusations against Mr. Barnett amounted to 20 minutes of nonviolence in the Capitol, a stolen envelope, and literally seconds of verbal altercation with a police officer," his defense attorneys wrote in pretrial filings, arguing he brought the stun gun to Washington for self-protection. "Mr. Barnett never called for violence. Never called for insurrection. He was mad, but even in his anger his rhetoric was restrained and he never called for actual violence, not on January 6 and not for any time in the future."
In sentencing Barnett to 54 months in prison, Cooper said Barnett had not shown remorse.
"While you may regret having gone there that day, you have so far not shown any acceptance of responsibility," Cooper said, adding later, "You're too old for this nonsense."
Cooper commended Barnett for his life leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, but said it was hard to reconcile the defendant's actions during the riot with the rest of his life. "It was not a spur-of-the-moment reaction," he said.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/richard-barnett-january-6-pelosi-desk-sentencing/
-
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years for seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 attack
https://apnews.com/article/stewart-rhodes-oath-keepers-seditious-conspiracy-sentencing-b3ed4556a3dec577539c4181639f666c
-
Mark Meadows Flipping on Donald Trump Is 'Game Over'—Legal Expert
https://www.newsweek.com/mark-meadows-trump-special-counsel-jan6-1802571
Out of the spotlight, Mark Meadows wields quiet political power amid Trump legal woes
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/05/24/politics/meadows-dc-political-operation-legal-woes-trump/index.html
Is Mark Meadows cooperating with Jan. 6 investigators? If so it's 'game over': legal experts
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1661403841173024774/kbXEp4iM?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Mark Meadows is rumored to be cooperating with federal investigators looking into Donald Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss, which legal experts say could be ruinous for the former president.
A source connected to Trump told CNN they've heard rumors that the former White House chief of staff, who's advising Republican lawmakers during the ongoing debt-ceiling negotiation, may be cooperating with federal investigators or possibly is a target of a criminal probe himself, and Newsweek reported that legal expert Ryan Goodman said that would be a major development.
"If he's cooperating, it's game over," tweeted Goodman, a former Defense Department special counsel.
Meadows spent Jan. 6, 2021, with Trump as the insurrection unfolded and played a key role in the ex-president's attempts to remain in power in spite of his election loss, and he reportedly was in direct communication with the organizers of the "Stop the Steal" protest that preceded the U.S. Capitol riot.
Special counsel Jack Smith reportedly subpoenaed Meadows in February to testify before a special grand jury, but it's unclear whether he has answered questions under oath after a judge rejected Trump's claims of executive privilege over his testimony.
https://twitter.com/rgoodlaw/status/1661418642423021572
-
Oath Keepers founder sentenced to 18 years in Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case
Stewart Rhodes, who said after the Capitol attack that the rioters “should have brought rifles," received the longest sentence of any Jan. 6 defendant to date.
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/stewart-rhodes-mugshot.jpg?id=29375958&width=2400&height=1350)
WASHINGTON — The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol following his conviction on seditious conspiracy.
The sentence for Stewart Rhodes is the longest imposed on a Jan. 6 defendant to date. In a politically-charged speech in the courtroom just before his sentencing, he called himself a "political prisoner" and said that when he talked about "regime change" in a phone call with supporters earlier this week, he meant he hopes that former President Donald Trump will win in 2024.
The judge disagreed that Rhodes had been locked up for politics, saying it was his actions that led to his criminal convictions.
“You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country and to the republic and to the very fabric of this democracy," Judge Amit Mehta said before handing down the sentence.
Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November along with Kelly Meggs, a fellow Oath Keepers member.
"They won't fear us until we come with rifles in hand," Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of the Jan. 6 attack. After the attack, in a recording that was played in court during his trial, he said his only regret was that they “should have brought rifles.”
Wearing an orange prison jumpsuit Thursday, Rhodes said he believes the only crime he committed was opposing those who are “destroying our country.”
Mehta told Rhodes that he was found guilty of seditious conspiracy “not because of your beliefs, not because you supported the other guy, not because Joe Biden is president right now,” but because of the facts of the case, and his actions before, during and after Jan. 6.
“You are not a political prisoner, Mr. Rhodes,” he said.
Meggs was also sentenced by Judge Mehta Thursday, to 12 years in federal prison. Mehta said Meggs did not pose the same continuing threat as Rhodes and a shorter sentence was more appropriate. The 12-year sentence for Meggs is the third longest handed down for a Jan. 6 defendant.
An emotional Meggs delivered a statement and apologized to his family for the pain and suffering he’d caused them. Meggs’ sister, brother and son were in the courtroom — his wife Connie, who also participated in the Jan. 6 riot and has been separately convicted on multiple counts, was not present.
“I want to apologize to those that I’ve disappointed and let down,” Meggs said. “My deepest regret is the pain and suffering I’ve caused my family.”
Rhodes and Meggs were put on trial alongside Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell, fellow Oath Keepers who were convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, but not seditious conspiracy. Watkins and Harrelson will be sentenced Friday.
Rhodes took the stand in his case, saying at the trial that the other members of the Oath Keepers were "stupid" to storm the Capitol and that he disagreed with those who went inside; Rhodes did not enter the building. “I had no idea that any Oath Keeper was even thinking about going inside or would go inside,” he said.
But the government also produced messages in which Rhodes said he thought that Jan. 6 was the last opportunity to stop what he saw as a takeover of the government.
"On the 6th, they are going to put the final nail in the coffin of this Republic, unless we fight our way out. With Trump (preferably) or without him, we have no choice," Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of Jan. 6.
He also celebrated Oath Keepers' actions in the immediate aftermath of the attack, after meeting with other members of the group at an Olive Garden restaurant in Virginia that night.
“Patriots, it was a long day but a day when patriots began to stand," he wrote the night of Jan. 6. "Stand now or kneel forever. Honor your oaths. Remember your legacy."
Prior to Thursday's sentence, Peter Schwartz, who was armed with a wooden tire knocker and engaged in a series of assaults on officers during the Capitol attack, had received the longest time behind bars for a Jan. 6 defendant: just more than 14 years. Schwartz had 38 prior convictions.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/oath-keepers-founder-sentenced-18-years-jan-6-seditious-conspiracy-cas-rcna85852
'You are not a political prisoner': Judge delivers brutal smackdown of Stewart Rhodes
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/stewart-rhodes-mugshot.jpg?id=29375958&width=2400&height=1350)
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was hit with an 18-year prison sentence on Thursday -- but not before he received a brutal smackdown from Judge Amit Mehta.
As recounted by CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, Mehta singled out Rhodes for his singular role in pushing his organization to help take over the United States Capitol building on January 6th, 2021.
He also made sure that Rhodes knew the severity of this offense.
"A seditious conspiracy... is among the most serious crimes an individual American can commit," Mehta informed him. "It's an offense against the government, to use force. It's an offense against the people of the country."
Mehta also took exception to Rhodes' claims of persecution and pointedly told him, "You are not a political prisoner."
"What we cannot have is a group of citizens... who because they didn't like the outcome of the election... are then prepared to take up arms to foment a revolution," he said, according to MacFarlane's transcription. "That's what you did."
Mehta also said that Rhodes and his allies remained a threat to the future of the American republic, as their violent actions had set a precedent for potentially more violence to come during next year's election.
6
"We all now hold our collective breaths with an election approaching," said Mehta. "Will we have another January 6th? That remains to be seen."
Shortly afterward, the judge told Rhodes that "you still present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country."
https://www.rawstory.com/stewart-rhodes-2660616526/
Oath Keeper Kelly Meggs sentenced to 12 years
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/kelly-meggs.jpg?id=28056613&width=2400&height=1350)
Kelly Meggs, the Florida leader of the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 12 years in prison Thursday for his part in the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection.
The sentencing came just hours after the group's national leader, Elmer Stewart Rhodes, was sent to jail for 18 years. Roger Parloff from Lawfare, Brandi Buchanan from Empty Wheel and Scott MacFarlane from CBS News all live-tweeted as the sentencing hearing unfolded.
At the beginning of the sentencing, District Court Judge Amit Mehta suggested that Meggs had not been coordinating with other Oath Keepers, a fact the assistant US Attorneys disputed.
Messages from Meggs indicated that days before the Jan. 6 attack, he and others assumed President Donald Trump was seeking to invoke the Insurrection Act, which would permit him to stay in office.
“Trump’s staying in, he’s gonna use the emergency broadcast system on cell phones to broadcast to the American people. Then he will claim the insurrection act,” Meggs said in one Facebook message on Dec. 26.
“Any idea when?” a person replied.
“Next week,” Meggs said. “Then wait for the 6th when we are all in dc to insurrection.”
Meggs' lawyer, Stanley Woodward, objected to characterizations from the jury that his client was "co-terminus with the conspiracy."
"We respect that the jury found when Meggs went in that the purpose was criminal, but that doesn't change the fact that there wasn't evidence of that kind of plan."
Meggs said that he had resigned from the Oath Keeprs and had made it clear to Rhodes he didn't want to participate in Jan. 6, but he remained on the calls and contacts.
"This is the moment we signed up for," Meggs said on Jan. 6.
Meggs later wrote: "Easy to chat here, the real question is who is ready to die?" and "Scare the hell out of them..." Another suggested flying Oath Keeper flags over Washington. Another said: "There'll be blood in streets no matter what."
Meggs' lawyers claimed this was overactive hyperbole.
"Truth was, it wasn't," said Mehta.
The judge also said that Meggs was responsible for the destruction of property on the east side of the U.S. Capitol doors. On the level 2 enhancement of his charges, Mehta said that he believes he was directed to go into the Capitol.
"It is because of Mr. Rhodes that Mr. Meggs is, in part, sitting here today," Mehta said. "I'm not suggesting I'm absolving him of responsibility or he didn't act of his own free will. But Rhodes' influence on Meggs and dozens of other people who came to Washington that day."
He went on to say that many of those who ultimately broke the law "require(s) that the court make clear that Stewart Rhodes' conduct warrants greater enhancement than Meggs."
Mehta had earlier set the sentencing guideline at 15.5-20 years.
Before Mehta announced the sentence, Meggs' lawyer implored Mehta for leniency.
Mehta also reiterated what a unique charge and conviction it has been.
He said that in this case, "a substantial sentence is necessary" because of the nature of the circumstance, citing whether Meggs was looking for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi while he was making his way through the Capitol. Today, he said, Meggs called it unfortunate and hyperbolic — but if that's hyperbole, Mehta said that there's quite a lot of it.
Mehta cited Rhodes' words on the group call, saying, "There's nothing left to do but fight," the idea that Meggs would see that as doing nothing more than security isn't believable. He said he didn't know how anyone could stand in the court and say that it was all just "bombast" when Meggs was telling others on the Oath Keepers Florida chat that he was prepared to die, because thats what patriots do. Again, it doesn't sound like just a "security detail," as Meggs claimed.
He repeated something he said he's also mentioned in the other Jan. 6 cases: "It is astonishing to me how average Americans somehow transformed into criminals in the weeks before Jan. 6."
He closed by saying the sentence will reflect that the United States has a process, an election, "and if your guy or gal loses, you hope for a better result next time. You don't take to the streets or join in for a war in the streets. You don't rush into the U.S. Capitol with the hope of trying to stop the electoral count." He said if that is allowed to happen, and the rule of law is not upheld, the country will descend into chaos. That, he said, is why they're in the courtroom today.
https://www.rawstory.com/oath-keepers-kelly-meggs/
-
'A great week for us': Stewart Rhodes' ex-wife happy he's behind bars where he 'can't hurt' her family
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/stewart-rhodes-tasha-adams.jpg?id=28823607&width=2400&height=1350)
Oath Keepers militia leader Stewart Rhodes may have been sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol — but the damage he has done, and could do, is still tremendous, his ex-wife Tasha Adams told CNN's Abby Phillip on Thursday.
Despite this, she said, she is glad he is in a place where he is not a danger to her family anymore.
"You have known Stewart Rhodes for a long time," said Phillip. "You know, deeply, this organization, the Oath Keepers. Knowing that for the next 18 years, you and your six children can live your lives with Stewart Rhodes behind bars, how do you feel about that?"
"I'm very happy about it," said Adams, who has previously detailed Rhodes' physical and emotional abuse against her and their children. "It's been a great week for us as a family. We are happy to feel safe. We are happy he is in a place where he can't hurt us, he can't hurt anybody else. Of course, there's that dark cloud looming of a pardon, depending on who gets in office next or even beyond that, the next election. There's some reason for concern. But other than that, it's been great to feel safe really. It's been — my divorce was finalized this week after five and a half years of trying to deal with that. It's been a lot at once."
"Are you worried at all that if Rhodes were pardoned, there would be risk of another potential January 6?" asked Phillip.
"Absolutely," said Adams. "This is Stewart's life's work. This is what he does. He is incredibly brilliant. Completely manipulative. He is good at what he does. He will just regroup immediately. I guarantee he also has plans in the works for as soon as he is out. He will do this again until he creates the chaos he wants to create."
"Today, Rhodes stood up in court and he called himself a political prisoner," said Phillip. "He equated himself to the former President Trump, members of Congress have use that same term, 'political prisoner,' to describe January 6 defendants. What should they know about your ex-husband before they go and champion the cause of those people? I guess I should say, it's not just lawmakers. I think there are probably millions of people, millions of their supporters who do view January 6 prisoners as political prisoners."
"I would want people to know that Stewart Rhodes in particular, but a lot of these leaders on January 6 have a lot of similar personality traits," said Adams. "Stewart has destroyed the lives of everyone he touched, not just his political enemies. He has destroyed the lives of people on his own side. There are hundreds of people who desperately, desperately wish they had never gone to the Capitol on January 6. They don't know what they were thinking. They don't know why they let themselves get talked into this kind of thing. There is nothing that Stewart Rhodes or anyone like him can bring to anyone except more destruction. That's what they are in it for. That's the goal. That's all he is interested in."
Watch:
'He's a danger to our democracy': former national security official slams Oath Keepers founder
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=32055636&width=2400&height=1599)
If Oath Keeper founder Stewart Rhodes was pardoned, he'd be out on the streets the next day threatening to take up arms against the government, a national security expert and former DOJ official said Thursday.
The conversation about domestic terrorism stemming from right-wing militias and fringe groups began Thursday as the Heritage Foundation, Fox and Rep. Jim Jordan complained about the Department of Homeland Security looking to them as the base from which some forms of extremism grow. It ended with two high-profile Oath Keepers being sentenced later that day, Elmer Stewart Rhodes (18 years) and Kelly Meggs (12 years).
"Donald Trump has already said that he would pardon those people. Patriots," said Obama's former Under Secretary of State Rick Stengel, speaking on MSNBC. "You have one party that's an apologist for this insurrection and idea that are using rhetoric to excuse it. Ronald Reagan said the government was the problem. It's not the solution. But then Donald Trump lights a fuse to that and engages people to use violence to undermine the government. To go back to our point, the federal government doesn't do everything right. But to have people who want to physically overthrow it and you have one party that supports that, those people are aiding and abetting terrorism. So you have to make a choice."
Stengel later said it shouldn't be difficult for politicians and conservative groups to disavow people like the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and other anti-government groups.
Mary McCord, the former acting assistant attorney general for national security starting in 2014, expressed her concern of the GOP's promise to pardon members of such militia groups.
"Not only did he engage in extensive planning from the time of the election up until the actual insurrection and beyond. He was intending to be there as this force that they could call forth to be his own army to prevent the actual transfer of power," said McCord. "Never mind that you can't manufacture an insurrection and then invoke the Insurrection Act. This is something that Stewart Rhodes has been agitating for for years. This wasn't even new to 2020. Back during the first impeachment, he famously tweeted to the former president, if there's an attempt to remove you from office, all you have to do is call us up. We will answer the call. And our weapon of choice is an AR-15. We can go back even further."
She characterized it as an "armed standoff" that Rhodes and his Oath Keepers "engaged in against the federal government several times" before Jan. 6. Each time they disagree with policies, they pick up wapons and stand up to the federal government. On Jan. 6 he attempted to violently overthrow the government.
"This wasn't a one-off thing in 2020. It would have been bad enough to just 17 years, even if it was a one-off," McCord continued. "This is somebody who, deep in his soul, has this insurrectionist view. This view that he can take up arms against the United States and he can bring along his own private army to do so. So as the judge said, he's a danger. He's a danger to our democracy. If we were to let him out on the street, he would be threatening the very next day to take up arms against the country."
Watch:
-
Another day goes by with no answers for parents or school victimized by a leftist terrorist. The FBI continues to suppress the motive. The FBI also continues to suppress information relating to the corruption of Biden, Inc. to the point of punishing whistleblowers. Are the Dems outraged? No. Are they protecting the "hero" whistleblowers as they did when Trump was president? Of course not. Hypocrisy abounds.
-
Another day goes by with no answers for parents or school victimized by a leftist terrorist. The FBI continues to suppress the motive. The FBI also continues to suppress information relating to the corruption of Biden, Inc. to the point of punishing whistleblowers. Are the Dems outraged? No. Are they protecting the "hero" whistleblowers as they did when Trump was president? Of course not. Hypocrisy abounds.
Another day and another off topic post from you that has nothing to do with the January 6th insurrection. Just more disinformation. But violent Trump insurrectionists are still going to prison and so will Criminal Donald.
Oath Keepers leader gets 8.5 years in prison for Jan. 6 attack
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/us-elections-government/ny-oath-keepers-leader-gets-8-years-for-january-6-20230526-l36syvpjencwrijsmv2opatzae-story.html
-
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years in prison on Jan. 6 charges
Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right group known as the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, receiving by far the longest sentence in a Jan. 6 case to date.
Watch:
-
Justice Dept to seek 9-years prison in Jan 6 case of Barry Ramey of Florida.
They argue Ramey used pepper spray against police, has history of threats & violence, had ties to Proud Boys & tried to intimidate FBI agent.
Feds say Ramey contributed to collapse of Jan 6 police line.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/rockcms/2022-04/220421-Barry-Bennett-Ramey-al-1313-f3c830.jpg)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxFQI9QXsAA4NGw?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Check That VIN Number’: Federal Agent Busted Suspected Proud Boy Who Allegedly Sent Menacing Texts to Him During Jan. 6 Investigation
Apr 21st, 2022
An alleged member of the Proud Boys accused of assaulting police officers with chemical spray during the melee outside the Capitol building on Jan. 6 was busted by the very federal agent he allegedly tried to intimidate through menacing text messages.
Barry Bennet Ramey, 38, of Plantation, Florida, is accused of deploying chemical spray from a can on at least two police officers trying to hold off the crowd of Donald Trump supporters trying to break into the Capitol building that day.
“According to a review of video footage posted on ProPublica’s Parler repository, Florida resident, Barry Bennett Ramey was observed assaulting law enforcement officers by spraying them with an unknown orange substance that is consistent with pepper spray,” the FBI affidavit in support of Ramey’s arrest says.
“Specifically, at approximately 0:27 of the video, Ramey is observed spraying a USCP Officer (Victim Officer 1) in the eyes. This assault resulted in Victim Officer 1 losing ground against the crowd and having to back away up the stairs,” the affidavit says. Ramey is seen spraying a second Capitol Police officer seconds later, according to the filing.
Investigators said that Ramey’s name appears on a “master list” of Proud Boys members. Several members of the so-called “Western chauvinist” extremist group have been identified in connection with the Capitol attack, including Enrique Tarrio, the group’s leader now charged with conspiracy, obstruction, and destruction of federal property.
Hundreds of Trump supporters angry about Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win overran police at the Capitol and stormed the building on Jan. 6, forcing legislators to evacuate and temporarily stopping Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote.
Since then, prosecutors have arrested nearly 800 people in connection with the Capitol breach, and while many suspects have cooperated with federal investigators, Ramey does not appear to be one of them.
According to the affidavit, Ramey appears to have tried to intimidate the investigating agent through texts and a phone call.
As the filing describes:
On February 11, 2022, your affiant left his business card with a close associate of Ramey during an attempted interview. Your affiant’s business card contained your affiant’s work cell phone number and identified him as an FBI Special Agent. Subsequent to the attempted interview, on February 12, 2022, your affiant received a phone call from an individual who claimed to be Ramey’s attorney and who said that Ramey contacted him because Ramey had been informed that the FBI was asking about him.
On April 8, 2022, your affiant received a phone call on his work cell phone from telephone number [redacted]. When your affiant answered the call, your affiant recognized the voice of the male individual on the phone as consistent with the voice of Barry Bennett Ramey. Your affiant had recently listened to Ramey speak at length on a YouTube video. “Is this [redacted] And you still live at [your affiant’s home address].” Your affiant replied, “Who is this?” The caller then immediately terminated the phone call. Shortly thereafter, your affiant received a text message from the same number [redacted] which included the VIN number for a vehicle previously owned by your affiant without any other text. Your affiant replied via text message, “????” Your affiant then received the following text message from the same number, “Check that VIN number.;)”.
The FBI’s investigation revealed that service provider for the incoming calls and texts “generally does not have retail subscriber/end user information on file.” From this, the affidavit says, “it can reasonably be inferred that Ramey had obtained your affiant’s contact information via the business card left with Ramey’s associate and that Ramey called and sent a text to your affiant[.]”
Ramey was arrested Thursday. He is charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with a dangerous weapon, civil disorder, engaging in physical violence in a restricted buildings or grounds with a dangerous weapon, and other offenses, the DOJ announced.
Ramey will make his initial court appearance in Florida on Friday.
Read the statement of facts attached to the complaint against Ramey in link below.
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/check-that-vin-number-federal-agent-busted-suspected-proud-boy-who-allegedly-sent-menacing-texts-to-him-during-jan-6-investigation/
-
The case against a DC police lieutenant accused of helping Proud Boys is growing increasingly 'terrifying'
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced earlier this month that District of Columbia Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Lt. Shane Lamond had been indicted on four federal criminal charges: one for obstruction of justice, three for making false statements. DOJ prosecutors allege that Lamond shared police information with Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and tipped him off about a case against him: the one in which he was arrested for his part in burning a Black Lives Matter sign that had been stolen from an African-American church in late 2020.
Lamond's arrest follows Tarrio's conviction in a separate case. Tarrio, along with three other members of the Proud Boys, was found guilty of seditious conspiracy for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building.
In an article published on May 26, Politico's Michael Schaffer emphasizes that the allegations against Lamond are especially troubling in light of his position in the MPD.
"The indicted officer is not some random beat cop," Schaffer notes. "A 24-year veteran of the department, Lamond led the Intelligence Branch of the department’s Homeland Security unit until last year, when he was suspended after coming under investigation. That investigation culminated in a May 19 obstruction of justice indictment for allegedly lying to investigators who were looking into the relationship with Tarrio…. According to prosecutors, Lamond and Tarrio communicated 500 times beginning in 2019, often via chummy exchanges."
Michael Fanone, a former MPD officer who was violently attacked by Donald Trump supporters inside the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021, has been sounding the alarm about far-right extremists working for police departments.
Fanone, now a CNN contributor, told Politico, "I think that most law enforcement agencies in this country are scrambling to maintain the officers they have and recruit new ones to replace the hundreds that they've lost. The last thing that they're worried about is coming up with a comprehensive screening process for domestic extremism.”
Schaffer warns that "the idea of even a small number of domestic extremists" being on the MPD "ought to be terrifying."
Civil rights attorney Mara Verheyden-Hilliard told Politico, "You'd be hard-pressed to think of a city where this is a more critical issue than Washington, D.C. What happens the next time we go on the January 6 path, which we all know could happen? What happens if there's this festering group within the MPD that haven't been weeded out? It's very dangerous.”
Read More Here: https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/05/26/dc-police-extremism-lamond-00098893
-
WATCH: Video presentation of key findings from House investigation | Jan. 6 final meeting
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., introduced a video presentation on Dec. 19 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its final findings to the public.
Before presenting the video, Thompson said “it’s important to remember what we’ve learned and, critically, exactly what happened at the United States Capitol on January 6th.” He noted that the presentation would include “some of the key evidence” collected during the investigation.
The compilation included footage from the Capitol insurrection and video testimony from White House staff and advisors, state elections officials, leaders at the Department of Justice and other key witnesses called over the course of the committee's hearings.
It was divided into labeled sections that asserted former President Donald Trump knew he lost the election, that he pressured state officials, the Department of Justice and former Vice President Mike Pence to overturn the election results and that Trump summoned the mob that carried out the insurrection.
-
Court has unsealed another new Jan 6 case.
Feds allege Ulises Wilkinson entered Senate chamber while amid mob. Charging document he says "told officers that he had been invited to join the Proud Boys at one point around the time of the rallies leading up to Jan 6,. but refused".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxZuPO3XsAAqL15?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxZuPO5WAAMV14m?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Jan. 6 rioter who wanted Pelosi brought out to mob is sentenced to 2 years
Pauline Bauer was near the speaker’s office and said “we’re coming in if you don’t bring her out here.” She also fought police, officials said.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2023-05/230530-Pauline-Bauer-capitol-rioter-sentenced-ac-923p-faf373.jpg)
She was convicted at a bench trial — meaning before a judge rather than a jury — in January on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building, disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building and other counts.
An attorney listed as representing her did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Prosecutors said Bauer was part of a mob of supporters of then-President Donald Trump who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, as Congress was formally counting the electoral votes affirming Trump’s loss.
Trump and his supporters had spread lies about the 2020 election, and Trump falsely said that then-Vice President Mike Pence could halt the proceedings. Pence refused, saying he had no authority to do so.
Bauer had also pushed a Washington police officer during a confrontation and was physically removed from the area by officers in riot gear, the U.S. attorney's office said.
Bauer’s attorney argued for a period of supervision without additional imprisonment, writing in a sentencing memorandum that she regrets and takes responsibility for her actions and poses no threat to society.
Prosecutors sought 78 months in prison, or 6½ years, according to the government’s sentencing memo.
They argued that Bauer threatened to kill Pelosi of California, the Democratic House speaker at the time, yelling “They’re criminals. They need to hang,” and threatening to hang Pelosi by name.
In addition to the prison time, Bauer was sentenced to 24 months' supervised release and a $2,000 fine, the U.S. attorney's office said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/jan-6-rioter-wanted-pelosi-brought-mob-sentenced-2-years-rcna86961
Woman who wanted Nancy Pelosi to "hang" on Jan. 6 sentenced
(https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/05/30/6c5c8fc4-b8fa-4e5b-b900-9abbc99907a9/thumbnail/620x286/9f037196723005c0a6cb630ed32a05a5/pauline-bauer.png)
A 55-year-old Pennsylvania woman who said she wanted to "hang" House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Tuesday to more than two years behind bars.
Pauline Bauer was sentenced to 27 months in prison, 24 months of supervised release and fined $2,000 for her conviction on charges including obstructing an official proceeding, entering and remaining in a restricted building and disorderly or disruptive conduct in a Capitol building.
Prosecutors said that on Jan. 6, as she was close to Pelosi's office, Bauer yelled, "They're criminals. They need to hang. Bring Nancy Pelosi out here now. We want to hang that f****** b****." Prosecutors also introduced body camera footage showing Bauer about 30 feet from Pelosi's office, saying, "Bring her out. Bring her out here. We're coming in if you don't bring her out here." When a Washington, D.C., police officer tried to push Bauer from the vicinity, Bauer pushed the officer back, according to prosecutors.
Bauer was a part of the crowd that forced the U.S. Capitol Police to retreat up the stairs, before she was eventually escorted out of the building, the federal government said.
More than 1,000 people have been arrested on charges related to the Capitol breach on Jan. 6, 2021, in the largest criminal investigation in the Justice Department's history. And over 300 defendants have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, according to the Justice Department.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jan-6-woman-who-threatened-to-hang-nancy-pelosi-sentenced/
-
In letter today seeking leniency for convicted Jan 6 defendant Noah Bacon, a supporter writes to judge that she doubts Bacon was "intending to commit insurrection...and said Trump's words & encouragement at rally impacted Bacon, who was "naive and impressionable".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxdsIEtXwAIs_a3?format=jpg&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxdsIEtXgAYdpFf?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jan. 6 rioter who invaded Nancy Pelosi’s office denied summer respite and cushy prison camp recommendation
(https://am21.mediaite.com/lc/cnt/uploads/2023/05/Bigo-AP-with-inset.jpg)
A Jan. 6th rioter seen gleefully kicking his foot up on a desk inside of then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office had wanted the rest of the summer to “arrange for his affairs” before reporting to prison. That man, Richard “Bigo” Barnett, also wanted a federal judge to recommend a low-security camp for him to serve his 4 1/2-year prison sentence.
On Tuesday, a federal judge refused to make those recommendations, leaving Barnett’s fate in the hands of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP).
“Defendant has had ample time since his conviction to prepare for his incarceration and presents no compelling reasons to justify additional delay,” U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper wrote in a brief minute order. “Defendant’s request for a recommendation for a BOP placement beyond 500 miles from his home in order to qualify him for a minimum-security facility is also DENIED. Determinations regarding security-level placements lie in the sound discretion of BOP based on its internal criteria. The Court generally plays no role in those determinations.”
Barnett had requested a surrender date of Aug. 22, 2023, claiming it’s “not uncommon” to have a 90-day window between sentencing and prison. His attorney claimed that his client’s life circumstances warranted a summer recess.
“Specifically, Mr. Barnett’s significant other is disabled and he will need to liquidate personal property and try to earn some extra income to help her before he leaves,” his attorney Jonathan S. Gross wrote in a motion. “Additionally, he needs to do repairs to her home to make sure everything is in working order and other miscellaneous projects that will be unduly burdensome on her as she is not in a financial position to hire someone to do these projects.”
According to the motion, the Bureau of Prisons doesn’t typically support a prison recommendation that’s more than 500 miles away from the defendant’s residence. Barnett is from Gravette, Arkansas, a city of a little more than 3,500 people. Court papers do not disclose what prisons are being considered for Barnett’s term.
When photographed inside Pelosi’s office, Barnett smiled ear to ear with a stun gun in his pants and a foot kicked up on a desk. He left a note on the desk sneering: “Bigo was here b—-.” He then swiped an envelope from the office and claimed it as a prize in an interview outside of the building.
Barnett’s attorneys called his offense a nonviolent one and argued that he was being harshly punished because his case was “famous.” But Judge Cooper said that Barnett enjoyed the “notoriety.” A federal jury convicted him of obstructing an official proceeding, interfering with a police officer during a civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous or deadly weapon, and disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon.
The dangerous weapon was a 950,000-volt stun gun and walking stick, with the brand name “Hike ‘n Strike.”
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-riot/jan-6-rioter-who-invaded-nancy-pelosis-office-denied-summer-respite-and-cushy-prison-camp-recommendation/
-
Another month passes and still no answers for the parents of the children killed in Nashville. The FBI continues to illegally suppress the leftist manifesto. They are being sued by the school that was victimized. Disgraceful. The FBI has also refused to provide a document alleging corruption by Old Joe while VP. This despite a subpoena from Congress to make the document available. They also continue to sit on the Hunter laptop. Nearly a decade now. How about they either confirm that there is no crime or prosecute Hunter? Why sit on this? Are they waiting until after the 2024 election as they did in 2020 with the fake Russian disinformation story? Where are the prosecutions for the IRS officials who pulled the whistleblowers off the Hunter tax investigation when they reported that they were being stonewalled? Retaliation against whistleblowers is a crime. Remember when Dems told us that such whistleblowers were heroes? I guess that works only one way.
-
Another month passes and still no answers for the parents of the children killed in Nashville. The FBI continues to illegally suppress the leftist manifesto. They are being sued by the school that was victimized. Disgraceful. The FBI has also refused to provide a document alleging corruption by Old Joe while VP. This despite a subpoena from Congress to make the document available. They also continue to sit on the Hunter laptop. Nearly a decade now. How about they either confirm that there is no crime or prosecute Hunter? Why sit on this? Are they waiting until after the 2024 election as they did in 2020 with the fake Russian disinformation story? Where are the prosecutions for the IRS officials who pulled the whistleblowers off the Hunter tax investigation when they reported that they were being stonewalled? Retaliation against whistleblowers is a crime. Remember when Dems told us that such whistleblowers were heroes? I guess that works only one way.
More bogus propaganda, and another off topic post, but Trump insurrectionists are still going to prison and Criminal Donald is on his way.
Oath Keeper convicted of sedition in US Capitol attack sentenced to 4.5 years
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/more-oath-keepers-convicted-sedition-us-capitol-attack-face-sentencing-2023-06-01/
-
Judge sentences Roberto Minuta to 54 months prison in Jan 6 OathKeepers case.
Defense attorney leaned into argument today that MInuta "harangued but didn't threaten police" & said Minuta was in "fight or flight mode fueled by adrenaline".
Feds recited MInuta's talk of "civil war".
Oath Keeper who guarded Roger Stone before Jan. 6 attack gets more than 4 years in prison
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-oath-keepers-seditious-conspiracy-sentencings-7a826241ad3a667cfec9a8c4538c36b2
-
Four Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy in Jan. 6 attack
Watch:
-
A new month and still no leftist manifesto. Maybe after the 2024 election we will finally have answers for the parents of the murdered children.
-
Sentencing today in Jan 6 case of Johnny Harris of NC. Feds argue Harris told FBI "that if he had it all to do again, he would do it the same way".
They say he "placed his hand on a police officer’s chest & pushed that officer, while reaching down to retrieve his phone".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxjuCQ-WIBAe9lD?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FxjuCQ9WIBwe0JK?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Albuquerque Head sentencing: Man who pulled officer into mob during Capitol attack gets over 7 years
(https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://arc-anglerfish-washpost-prod-washpost.s3.amazonaws.com/public/36LAGAH7FNELDAE6BMKW7JPCEQ.png&w=1484)
The man who pulled former Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone into the crowd of violent rioters on January 6, 2021, yelling "I got one!" was sentenced Thursday to 90 months behind bars.
In the lower west terrace tunnel, a small entryway into the Capitol, the mob fought police with chemical spray, poles, bats, and officers' own batons and shields against the line of police -- including Fanone -- protecting the building and those inside.
It was during this battle that a man named Albuquerque Head pulled Fanone away from his fellow officers, wrapping his arm around Fanone's neck, tearing him into the crowd, according to court documents, which consumed Fanone and beat him unconscious.
"These were some of the darkest acts on one of (our) darkest days," district Judge Amy Berman Jackson said before handing down the sentence Thursday.
"He was your prey, he was your trophy," she said of Fanone, adding later that the officer "was protecting America" that day.
Head, of Kingsport, Tennessee, pleaded guilty in May to assaulting a police officer and has been detained since April 2021.
During the hearing, prosecutors played video from Fanone's body-worn camera on January 6, which showed Head initially tell Fanone, "I'm going to get you out of here."
"Thank you," Fanone replied.
Fanone testified during the sentencing that at first he believed Head was trying to help him, CNN reported. Seconds later, however, Head yelled "I got one!" to the mob.
Fanone testified he felt Head "choke me and drag me out into the vicious crowd," holding onto Fanone as another rioter tased him. The officer suffered a heart attack as rioters beat him and tased him in his neck repeatedly, Fanone said.
"Show Mr. Head the same mercy he showed me on January 6," Fanone told the judge Thursday. "None."
The footage also showed Fanone's first words when he regained consciousness as officers carried him inside the Capitol. "We took the door back?" he asked his fellow officers.
Fanone is now a CNN contributor.
Head chose not to speak during Thursday's hearing.
"Head appears before this Honorable Court as a 43-year-old seeking redemption and mercy," his defense attorney, Nicholas Wallace, wrote in a sentencing memorandum, noting that his father had passed away while he was in prison and his mother is in "declining health."
Head's attorney also blamed his clients lengthy rap sheet on a former addiction to opioids and other drugs, saying that his crimes came to a "screeching halt" after he became sober several years ago.
Head's fiancé and mother of his two daughters was at the sentencing Thursday and wrote a letter to the judge on Head's behalf, which Jackson called "raw" and "true."
Jackson, reading from the letter, noted "it's the women who will suffer."
Fanone told CNN's Anderson Cooper on "Anderson Cooper 360" Thursday that he thought the punishment was appropriate and that Jackson was "thoughtful in her sentencing," but added that the long sentences handed to some convicted January 6 defendants may be "inspiring" some Americans to "fight harder and to be more violent."
Asked if he believed if the long sentences have "a deterrent effect" on potential future attacks, Fanone said, "I would traditionally say yes, but these are not traditional crimes. These are politically inspired attacks on law enforcement and on our democracy."
"Unfortunately, you still have individuals, a former president, many of his allies, that continue to espouse the same lies that motivated these attacks," Fanone added. "So while I think that [the long sentences] may prevent many Americans from participating in something similar to January 6, I think it's also inspiring many Americans to fight harder and to be more violent."
Watch video in link: https://abc7chicago.com/albuquerque-cosper-head-sentencing-officer-michael-fanone-capitol-riot/12388168/
-
'It was dumb to follow him': MAGA rioter throws fellow Oath Keeper under the bus at sentencing
David Moerschel, a member of the Oath Keepers who was convicted of seditious conspiracy earlier this year, admitted that he made a mistake in deciding to join the militia to storm the United States Capitol on January 6th, 2021.
As reported by Politico's Kyle Cheney, Moerschel said during a sentencing hearing that he regrets getting mixed up with Kelly Meggs, the leader of the Florida Oath Keepers who was sentenced last month to more than a decade in jail after also being convicted on seditious conspiracy charges.
"I don't mean anything bad about Kelly Meggs, but he was a used car salesman," Moerschel told the court, according to Cheney. "It was dumb to follow that guy."
Cheney also notes that Moerschel was a neuroscientist by trade before he got himself involved in trying to block the peaceful transfer of power in the name of former President Donald Trump, who prior to getting involved in politics was the host of "Celebrity Apprentice."
According to independent journalist Brandi Buchman, Moerschel attorney Scott Weinberg told the court that his client's career as a neuroscientist is over in the wake of his conviction.
"David lost a lot," Weinberg argued. "His degrees are no longer worth the paper they were printed on."
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1664645177909059592
-
Oath Keeper sentenced to 3 years in prison for sedition in US Capitol attack
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=33790695&width=980&quality=85)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Oath Keepers militant group member David Moerschel was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other crimes arising from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by then-President Donald Trump's supporters.
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said that Moerschel transporting weapons, including a semiautomatic AR-15 rifle, to the Washington area ahead of Jan. 6 brought "its own degree of danger" because of his political motivations.
But the judge said that he was less culpable than other Oath Keepers convicted in the Capitol attack.
Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to sentence Moerschel to 10 years. One of his co-defendants, Joseph Hackett, will be sentenced later Friday, and prosecutors are seeking 12 years in prison for him.
Mehta since last week has sentenced six other members of the far-right Oath Keepers to prison terms ranging from three to 18 years.
Hackett and Moerschel were convicted of seditious conspiracy - a felony charge involving attempts "to overthrow, put down or to destroy by force the government of the United States" - as well as obstructing an official proceeding and conspiracy to prevent members of Congress from discharging their duties.
Hackett also was convicted of tampering with documents or proceedings.
Both men were among a group of Oath Keepers who breached the Capitol on the day of the attack, clad in paramilitary gear. The attack was intended to prevent Congress from certifying Democrat Joe Biden's victory over Trump, a Republican, in the November 2020 U.S. presidential election. Hackett and Moerschel were near the House of Representatives chamber as lawmakers were gathered for the certification process.
In an emotional statement, Moerschel said that when he was in the Capitol on Jan. 6, "I felt like God was saying to me, 'Get out of here,' and I didn’t. And I disobeyed God and I broke laws."
Moerschel's lawyer on Friday asked that this client be sentenced to home detention or minimal incarceration. "He has lived an exemplary life other than those 11 minutes" Moerschel was in the Capitol building, attorney Scott Weinberg said.
Prosecutor Troy Edwards said that Moerschel's bringing of guns to a Virginia hotel near Washington merited a strong sentence. "When he came to this district, he brought weapons of war and he wanted his guy," Edwards said, referring to Trump. "And he was ready to act."
The two men are among six Oath Keepers found guilty of seditious conspiracy. Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, a former U.S. Army paratrooper turned Yale University-educated lawyer, last week was sentenced to 18 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down yet over the Jan. 6 attack.
Prosecutors in court papers described Hackett as a low-level leader in the Oath Keepers, and pointed to his call for the arrest of "corrupt politicians" as foreshadowing his actions at the Capitol including "forcing his way" toward the office of the leader of the House of Representatives.
Hackett's lawyer in a separate legal filing asked that Mehta "primarily focus on alternatives to incarceration" in issuing a sentence.
Two other Oath Keepers convicted of seditious conspiracy, Robert Minuta and Edward Vallejo, were sentenced on Thursday. Minuta was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison and Vallejo to three. Three others were sentenced last week to between four and 12 years in prison.
The judge has delayed the sentencing of Thomas Caldwell, another Oath Keepers member who acquitted on the seditious conspiracy charge but convicted of other crimes.
© Reuters
-
A Confederate flag also hung from the Inaugural scaffolding on Jan 6, 2021
Via newly released US Justice Dept video court exhibit ===>
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fxub3ZGXoAQavCs?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Judge has sentenced Jan 6th defendant Greg Nix to 42 MONTHS in prison.
Here's his story:
Suspect in Capitol riot attack on officer arrested after another suspect identifies him
Gregory Lamar Nix, 52, of Cleveland, Alabama, hit the Capitol Police officer twice, once on the head, and threw a flagpole at him, prosecutors said.
Nov. 11, 2021
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-320w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2021-11/211111-Gregory-Lamar-Nix-al-0830-0118ce.jpg)
An Alabama man accused of hitting a U.S. Capitol Police officer with a flagpole during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was arrested Wednesday after another riot suspect identified him, the Justice Department said.
The man, Gregory Lamar Nix, 52, is charged with engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds; civil disorder; assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers with a dangerous weapon; and other counts.
He was arrested in Cleveland, Alabama, where he lives, and made his first court appearance Wednesday in U.S. District Court for Northern Alabama, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement. It is unclear whether Nix has a lawyer.
A criminal complaint said a separate person, "the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation" who "minimized his/her own role in the events of January 6," had identified Nix as a person as having entered the Capitol unlawfully.
The suspect, who was not identified, said they knew Nix before Jan. 6, according to the complaint.
The identification of Nix lined up with other evidence, including cellphone data that indicated that he was in the Capitol on Jan. 6, it said.
The criminal complaint includes several photos that appear to show Nix inside and outside the Capitol on Jan. 6. One photo, a screenshot taken from surveillance video, shows Nix flashing his middle finger to the camera, according to the complaint.
Not long afterward, Nix can be seen on video approaching Capitol Police officers who were standing guard in front of the East House doors before he attacked one with a flagpole, officials said.
The criminal complaint said he tried to assault the officer with the flagpole seven times.
Nix hit the officer twice, once on the head, and threw the flagpole at him, the government said. The officer told investigators that he woke up with a knot on his head the next day.
After the assault, Nix tried to break the glass panes of the East House doors using a black baton, according to allegations in the complaint.
It is not clear whether the baton came from officers who had "been overrun in that location" or whether it was Nix's "personal baton," the complaint said.
The doors were eventually opened, and Nix entered with the black baton, officials said.
More than 675 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol breach, the Justice Department said. More than a third of them have been charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alabama-man-accused-hitting-officer-flagpole-jan-6-rcna5229
-
Sentencing today in Jan 6 case of Dan Goodwyn. Feds say Goodwyn used a bullhorn to incite other rioters saying, among other things, “we need critical mass for this to work".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fx0H2w0XoAgBOfz?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Partner of fallen Capitol police officer 'was really shocked' by protest lionizing Jan. 6 rioters
A right-wing protest recently attempted to portray the Jan. 6 rioters as patriots. As some on the right turn the defense of the violent January 6th criminals into a movement, critics accuse Kevin McCarthy of being complicit. Sandra Garza, partner of fallen Capitol police officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries sustained while defending the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, joins Joy Reid with her perspective.
Watch video in link: https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/right-wing-protest-attempting-to-portray-the-jan-6-rioters-as-patriots-discussed-by-partner-of-fallen-capitol-police-officer-brian-sicknick-179231301599
-
Jan 6 defendant Mark Mazza is serving federal sentence thru February 2026 at fed prison in Michigan
Feds argued Mazza brought a Taurus revolver, loaded with 3 shotgun shells and 2 hollow point bullets, into DC, to the Ellipse, and then to the Capitol.
https://justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/indiana-man-sentenced-prison-carrying-gun-and-assaulting-law-enforcement-officers-jan-6
Jan. 6 rioter who brought two guns to Capitol sentenced to five years in prison
Mark Mazza dropped one of his guns at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and then claimed it was stolen
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-320w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2022-10/221021-mark-mazza-capitol-riot-1-se-109p-4e1811.jpg)
WASHINGTON — A Donald Trump supporter who brought two guns to the Capitol on Jan. 6, and dropped one of them on Capitol grounds, was sentenced to five years in federal prison on Friday.
Mark Mazza was sentenced to 60 months behind bars by Judge James E. Boasberg. Before he was sentenced, Mazza told the court he got "caught up in a mob mentality that I never anticipated" and that he was "not quite the monster that the prosecution has described me as."
Federal prosecutors said that Mazza, "while armed with [a] .40 caliber loaded firearm, engaged in multiple efforts to break through the police line: he repeatedly pushed against officers using the combined physical exertion of the mob; he armed himself with a stolen police baton and assaulted officers with the baton; he yelled at officers telling them to get out the mob’s way and to 'Get out of our house!'; he held open the door to the tunnel entrance against the resistance of officers, and after being rebuffed, he gathered additional rioters into the tunnel area to continue 'heave-ho' pushes against officers in the doorway."
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2022-10/221021-mark-mazza-capitol-riot-2-se-109p-1c4dc2.jpg)
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2022-10/221021-mark-mazza-capitol-riot-4-se-109p-d5d1bd.jpg)
The government also said that, after Mazza came out of the tunnel, he was nearby as officers including Mike Fanone were assaulted, but that Mazza "did not assault the officers and video appears to show him trying to protect both officers from other rioters who were assaulting them."
Mazza told the judge he brought the weapons to D.C. because he brings weapons everywhere and had thought he and the person he was traveling with were staying in a dangerous location in the nation's capital. Although Mazza now admits he lost one of his guns at the U.S. Capitol, he filed a false police report claiming it was stolen back in his home state of Indiana.
Mazza said he regretted coming to the Capitol on Jan. 6.
“I wish I could erase it. I wish I could go back and take that hour back" and maybe go to a museum and grab some dinner, he said. He said he felt bad for his children and hoped that his parents won't die before he gets out of federal prison.
“I’m treating this kind of like another military step, like it’s something I’ve got to do,” Mazza, a veteran, said.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jan-6-rioter-brought-two-guns-capitol-sentenced-five-years-prison-rcna53454
-
Incredibly another week passes with no sign of the leftist manifesto in the Nashville shooting. Parents are still being denied answers from the FBI regarding the reason their children were killed due to political motivations. It is disgusting. At least the FBI director is finally going to be held accountable for obstructing the investigation into Biden, Inc. Finally going to be held in contempt of Congress. Russia and Putin have nothing on the corruption and abuse of power going on in the US. I'm surprised the FBI has not staged another tactical raid on Trump's home after the CNN report that the pool overflowed. Must be the Russians at work.
-
Another new Jan 6 case is unsealed this week. Feds charge Scott Columbus of Central New York, alleging he was near mob ransacking a Capitol office.
They say Columbus claimed to have been "pushed in" at Capitol.. but feds argue the video shows otherwise.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fx80uqyXwAIP3D-?format=jpg&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fx80urBWcAIOuXT?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Plea agreement hearing today in Jan 6 case of James Breheny of N. Jersey who allegedly posted on Jan 6 "The Government has become tyrannical. The People’s Duty is to replace that Government with one they agree with" He allegedly deleted social media account to avoid detection.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fx8X6pVXoAAZ9pY?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Jan 6 rioter who broke through Capitol windows with baseball bat is sentenced
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=33811455&width=2400&height=1350)
A Pittsburgh man who was seen in images using a baseball bat to smash through windows in the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, has been sentenced to 51 months in prison, Patch.com reported.
Jorden Robert Mink, 29, was also sentenced to 36 months of supervised release and was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution. He was charged with assaulting, impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon, theft of government property and aiding and abetting.
Prosecutors say Mink shattered a window on the Capitol building with a baseball bat and started removing property, which he handed to people in the crowd outside. He was also seen using the bat to shatter another window.
He was also seen spitting at police officers and throwing several objects at them.
Read More Here: https://patch.com/pennsylvania/pittsburgh/pittsburgh-area-man-sentenced-u-s-capitol-riot-role
-
BREAKING: Mark Meadows has already testified against Donald Trump to Jack Smith’s 1/6 grand jury, per the NYT. It didn’t happen today, it happened at some unknown point in the past. This means Trump’s 1/6 indictment process could be complete, along with the Trump docs indictment.
This does not tell us if Meadows has “flipped” on Trump. Meadows was already under court order to testify to testify about every Trump crime that Meadows witnessed but did not participate in.
If Meadows has flipped, he would also testify about Trump crimes he participated in.
But it does tell us that Meadows wasn’t stupid enough to get immediately hauled off for contempt of court, which is what would have happened if Meadows had refused to testify at all.
It also shatters the myth that the media can spot every witness entering or exiting the courthouse.
Meadows testified without the media spotting him. It’s only coming out now because someone is talking.
-
Mark Meadows is the 'single most important witness' — on multiple federal cases: legal expert
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/mark-meadows-grilled-by-reporeters.jpg?id=29487740&width=2400&height=1344)
Former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows testified to a grand jury in the federal investigations of Donald Trump, according to a bombshell report on Tuesday. He could reportedly be a very important witness.
Speaking to CNN, legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elie Honig outlined just how valuable a witness Meadows is, in not one but both of the federal investigations into the former president.
"Pretty big win for the special counsel, Jack Smith, to secure the testimony of Mark Meadows," said anchor Jake Tapper.
"Yeah, Jake, this is significant in a few respects," said Honig. "First of all, Mark Meadows was one of the last remaining major witnesses who we knew was outstanding, who, until this point, we did not know had testified. Now he has testified. If it's in a grand jury, he has testified under oath. He obviously was very close to Donald Trump throughout the lead-up to and during January 6th. I think he's the single most important witness as to January 6th and, as you said, he would have relevant information, potentially, as well about the retention of sensitive or classified documents that underlies the Mar-a-Lago examination and investigation. So Mark Meadows is a crucial witness on both of the matters that the special counsel has before him right now."
"I personally, as a journalist, have a lot of questions for him about these conversations," said Tapper. "One of the questions is, what exactly did he convey to the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, if anything, leading up to that time? There's talk of them reaching out to Meadows and Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, who are the individuals that have the relationships with those far-right paramilitary groups."
"I think that's the issue with Mark Meadows: he seems to have been a fulcrum of communications," said Honig. "Everything went through him, and Meadows did cooperate briefly with the January 6th Committee and turned over those hundreds or thousands of very revealing text messages where we saw members of Congress and members of Donald Trump's family and White House advisers reaching out to him saying, you've got to do something, you have to get him to do something. Now Mark Meadows then suddenly hit a wall and basically said, I'm not cooperating then, and he was held in contempt by the January 6th Committee, although DOJ declined to prosecute him."
"One big question I have about the testimony that we're now learning Mark Meadows gave is, under what conditions did he give that testimony?" Honig added. "We know that he raised an executive privilege objection, basically saying, I can't testify about these confidential communications with the president, but he lost that fight. He and Donald Trump lost that fight in court. I wonder whether Mark Meadows took the Fifth and had to be given immunity in order to testify, and it's really important to know, did he have any agreement in place with prosecutors that underlied his testimony?"
Watch:
-
Odds of a January 6 prosecution for Donald Trump just went up: Legal expert
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/donald-trump.jpg?id=30822356&width=2400&height=1350)
New reporting this week revealed that special counsel Jack Smith secured testimony from former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, a massively important figure who was close to former President Donald Trump for years. That could make insurrection-related charges more likely.
A key takeaway, said New York University law professor Ryan Goodman on CNN's "OutFront," is that the January 6 investigation — long considered less likely than the classified documents investigation to produce charges against Trump — should not be ruled out so quickly.
"If you had [Meadows] and he really did give you those keys to the kingdom — we don't fully know that yet, but if so, how much — how does that change your view on the potential slate of charges related to January 6th?" asked Burnett.
"I think it really rachets up the likelihood that there will be charges against Donald Trump for January 6th, and especially the false slate of electors, which we know is one of the most robust parts of the investigation and there would have to have been court approval of the Justice Department's criminal theory of the case, because they have approved search warrants in that case," said Goodman.
The key question to ask here, argued Goodman, is "Why would they give Meadows immunity?"
"They would give him immunity because he could go — he could give them access to the star suspect," Goodman added. "That's the reason that you would give somebody immunity who otherwise has a lot of criminal jeopardy on his own. That's the deal. And so that's why it's enormously significant if he's cooperating."
Watch:
-
Trump indictment for Jan. 6 may be 'just as imminent' as classified docs case: ex-prosecutor
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best/newscms/2017_03/1872261/trump_faceinhands.jpg)
It is going to be extremely difficult for former president Donald Trump to overcome testimony provided by Mark Meadows, and such testimony could mean a Jan. 6 indictment is "just as imminent" as in the confidential docs case, a former federal prosecutor and legal expert said Tuesday night.
Former U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade was on MSNBC when the host of The 11th Hour With Stephanie Ruhle asked her about what the Mark Meadows testimony could mean for Trump.
"Well, I think it could be very challenging for Donald Trump to get around testimony by Mark Meadows," McQuade said. "Mark Meadows was the right-hand man, he was the chief of staff. He's got key evidence in both cases."
McQuade added that, while the focus has been on the classified documents probe, there is reason to shift it.
"I know lately we've been talking a lot about the Mar-a-Lago case, because that one seems to be nearing completion. I think Mark Meadows is exceptionally important in the January 6th investigation," she said.
McQuade also noted that she thinks the testimony was "kind of a last piece that seemed necessary for Jack Smith to hear."
"We've been talking a lot about the imminence of the Mar-a-Lago indictment. I'm now thinking the January 6th indictment is just as imminent."
Watch:
-
New York business owner Peter Moloney, charged in Jan 6th case. He's accused of using insecticide against officers -- and targeting member of the media. He'll appear in DC court on June 20th.
(https://assets3.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/06/07/28d4ed1a-53db-4034-a068-d1bc1a6c249c/thumbnail/620x346/81f312f540da7ee0dd5afa2217c38ea1/screenshot-2023-06-07-at-12-23-27-pm.png)
New York business owner charged with attacking police with insecticide at the Capitol on Jan. 6
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1666486693526921218/OlDew6_i?format=jpg&name=medium)
A well-known Long Island business owner faces federal charges for allegedly spraying insecticide against police and targeting members of the news media during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Peter Moloney, 58, was arrested in Bayport, New York, on Wednesday and is charged in Washington, D.C., with eight counts, including civil disorder and assaulting and resisting police officers. He is scheduled to make an initial appearance in federal court in Central Islip, New York, on Wednesday afternoon.
"Moloney did not simply march to the Capitol with other protestors. He brought protective eyewear, a helmet, and a can of Black Flag, Wasp, Hornet & Yellow Jacket Killer2," an FBI special agent alleged in an affidavit. "This indicates that he went to the Capitol on January 6, 2021, prepared for violence."
The Justice Department said Moloney sprayed the chemicals "in the direction of police officers' faces and bodies" amid the mob.
The FBI affidavit also accused Moloney of striking a member of the news media. Citing video footage, the affidavit said Moloney "participate[d] in the initial attack on this member of the news media by grabbing onto his camera and pulling, causing him to stumble down the stairs."
The charging document said, "Moloney then continues punching and shoving the member of the news media away from the West Plaza, with other rioters eventually pushing the member of the news media over a wall. The distinctive elements of Moloney's attire that day (bicycle helmet, gaiter, eyewear, gloves) and the can of Black Flag, Wasp, Hornet & Yellow Jacket Killer2 are clearly visible in several of the screenshots."
The FBI agent's affidavit indicated the member of the news media was a photographer for the Associated Press.
The affidavit and charging document said a "colleague" of Moloney's was next to Moloney during the riot. But the charging document specified that Moloney is the only person "being charged at this time."
A CBS News review of Justice Department reports shows approximately 350 other Capitol riot defendants have also been charged with assaulting and resisting police. At least 11 other defendants have been accused of assaulting members of the news media or destroying media equipment during the Jan. 6 attack.
Moloney's listed defense attorney could not be immediately reached for comment.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/peter-moloney-january-6-capitol-insecticide-police/
-
Steve Bannon subpoenaed in special counsel's Jan. 6 investigation
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.png?id=24839339&width=2400&height=1290)
NBC News reported Wednesday afternoon that Steve Bannon had been subpoenaed to speak before the grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Congress and the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election.
The news comes after it was reported that former President Donald Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has potentially reached an agreement with the Justice Department. At the same time, The Independent reported Wednesday that the DOJ is ready to ask the grand jury to indict Trump on both obstruction and Espionage Act charges. The Guardian reported that Trump's lawyers informed him he was a target in the Mar-a-Lago documents probe.
"The subpoena, for documents and testimony, was sent out in late May," NBC reported, citing multiple sources. "The grand jury investigating Trump's actions surrounding Jan. 6 and in connection with efforts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power is separate from the grand jury in Miami that heard testimony on Wednesday about Trump's handling of classified documents."
The special counsel declined to comment as did Bannon.
The subpoena was for Washington, D.C., and likely looks at his role from inside the so-called "War Room" at The Willard Hotel on Jan. 6, and in his mobilizing of followers ahead of the day.
Read More From NBC News: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/steve-bannon-subpoenaed-special-counsel-jan-6-rcna88248
He's at the center of everything': Jan 6 investigator discusses Mark Meadows' involvement in Trump case
(https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/mark-meadows-racist.jpg)
Donald Trump's chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has reportedly reached an agreement with the Justice Department in which he'll give a guilty plea to federal charges.
"It is understood that the former North Carolina congressman will plead guilty to several federal charges as part of a deal for which he has already received limited immunity in exchange for his testimony," reporter Andrew Feinberg wrote for The Independent.
The Independent reported Wednesday that the DOJ is ready to ask the grand jury to indict Trump on both obstruction and Espionage Act charges.
Speaking to MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Wednesday afternoon about Meadows' testimony to the Trump grand jury was Timothy Heaphy, former lead investigator for the House Select Committee probing the Jan. 6 attack on Congress. He opened by explaining that he thinks his talking was related to Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Trump's alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election result.
"He's at the center of everything," Heaphy said. "He's at the president's right hand throughout all of the movements. All of the multipronged pieces of the plot that the select committee articulated, Mark Meadows was right there. He was right there on Jan. 6. He was right there in efforts to potentially change personnel at [the Department of] Justice.
"As you just indicated, he went to Georgia before the certification and after the election. He's involved with contacting Congress. He's such a vital player in all of this. And if he's cooperating, it's hard to say what he said in the grand jury, but if he's truthfully cooperating, it's a pretty significant step for the special counsel."
He went on to say that it's common that, in a conspiracy investigation, someone would ultimately agree to cooperate. Some suggested that was happening after Meadows' lawyer sent out an "ominous" statement.
"The special counsel is looking at concerted action to disrupt the joint session" of Congress," continued Heaphy.
"Some co-conspirators who have exposure have a strong incentive to cooperate with the government and reduce that exposure. So, I don't know if there's been some sort of deal made between Meadows through counsel and Jack Smith and his team, essentially not being charged, or charged without a specific sentencing request, in exchange for cooperation. That may be what's going on here. it may be that he's testifying in the hope that he isn't somehow implicated or indicted.
"My guess is there are extensive discussions between Meadows' counsel and the special counsel, sort of articulating the terms of his testimony, the expectations on both sides, before he would engage in testimony."
He explained that Meadows has exposure from his actions before, on and after Jan. 6, which he said "give rise to participation in a conspiracy."
As well as the attempts to overturn the election case, Smith is also investigating allegations that Trump kept classified documents in his Mar-a-Lago home.
Former U.S. Attorney Barb McQuade anticipated Tuesday evening that the Jan. 6 charges could be "just as imminent" as the documents case.
Watch:
-
Actor Jay Johnston is arrested over Jan. 6 riot after internet sleuths identified 'Bob's Burgers' star in 'attack on cops with stolen riot shield'
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12171091/Bobs-Burgers-star-Jay-Johnston-arrested-Jan-6-riot-internet-sleuths-identified-him.html
-
Another week ends with no sign of the Nashville shooter's leftist manifesto. The FBI is sitting on it like they have done for years with Dirty Hunter's laptop and evidence of Old Joe accepting bribes.
-
Jack Smith’s coup probe hits MAGA convict Steve Bannon
NBC News reports Former Trump White House official Steve Bannon was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., in connection with special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Jan. 6. . Former civil prosecutor with the Southern District of New York Maya Wiley and former federal prosecutor John Flannery join MSNBC’s Ari Melber on “The Beat.”
Watch:
-
Another day passes with no sign of the Nashville shooter's leftist manifesto. The parents of dead children are being denied an explanation by the FBI for political reasons. An absolute disgrace. The Biden administration is shameless.
-
Mike Pence denounces Trump for January 6 insurrection
Watch:
-
Reminder: Jack Smith Could Also Indict Trump for Trying to Overturn the Election
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/06/donald-trump-jack-smith-election-investigation
-
Justice Dept recommends 42 months prison in Capitol riot case of Grady Owens of Floria, arguing Owens "violently attacked" an officer with a skateboard and triggering "a ripple effect in which other rioters assaulted other police".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FyN08_6WwAEL64E?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FyN08_RWIAE7bBn?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Listen to the Crowd in This Clip From January 6
This is not what "tourists" sound like
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a37091791/january-6-video-crowd-chant-capitol-riot/
Police officer crushed in doorway by rioters during Capitol breach – video
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2021/jan/10/police-officer-crushed-in-doorway-by-rioters-during-capitol-breach-video
Disturbing video shows officer crushed against door by mob storming the Capitol
January 9, 2021
(https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2022/09/14/9b614c0a-5fe2-4520-b5c6-f8da8bb61b30/thumbnail/1200x630/3aefa846920e97e805c108316deb6a18/daniel-hodges.png)
CNN — A horrifying video from Wednesday’s Capitol riots showed an officer crushed between waves of a pro-Trump mob and officers defending the building.
During the confrontation, captured on video by investigative outlet Status Coup, one officer was pinned between a door and the masses of people.
At least one individual attempted to rip away the officer’s mask while he was wedged, as he screamed in agony.
The video panned over to the rioters, who chanted, “Heave, ho! Heave, ho!” while pushing further into the entryway.
The officer reenters the frame of the video stuck in the same position, now maskless and bloodied, screaming for help. A voice can be heard amid the fray, yelling, “Let him back, let him out!”
The officer eventually was able to free himself from the door. He appeared to answer in the affirmative when asked if he was OK. The condition of the officer is not known.
CNN spoke with the individual who shot the video, Jon Farina, who noted the clash between police and rioters was constant.
“There was no talking to them,” Farina said of the rioters. “They were going to get in there regardless of what was in their way.”
“Nothing really fazed them,” Farina said. “They just kept rotating in and out. They would say ‘We need fresh patriots.’”
Farina said police eventually repelled rioters from that location.
Wednesday’s storming of the Capitol left five people dead, including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick.
Watch Video Here: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/09/us/officer-crushed-capitol-riot-video/index.html
Never-Before-Seen Footage of January 6 Capitol Riots Revealed
Never-before-seen footage of the January 6 riots.
Watch:
-
Another day passes with no sign of the Nashville shooter's leftist manifesto. The parents of dead children are being denied an explanation by the FBI for political reasons. An absolute disgrace. The Biden administration is shameless.
More of the same boring off topic anti Biden disinformation from you. Absolutely pathetic.
The release of the manifesto has nothing to with Biden or the FBI, because the Nashville Police Department is in possession of the shooter's manifesto. What do you have to say about that?
The Nashville Covenant School parents, the students, and the church do not want the manifesto to be released.
But here you are falsely accusing Biden and the FBI of keeping the manifesto hidden "for political reasons" to hurt the parents of dead children. Absolutely pathetic.
If you have a problem with the manifesto not being released, then take it up with the Nashville Police Department, the school parents, the school children, and the church who do not want the manifesto released to the public.
Why do you keep posting off topic blatant disinformation about the Nashville school shooting in a 1/6 Insurrection thread?
"However, the Metro Nashville Police Department remains in control of the manifesto, regardless of who technically owns the file. And police have said Hale’s writings are part of an ongoing investigation, which could take another year."
https://nypost.com/2023/06/09/audrey-hales-parents-transfer-manifesto-to-school/
"A legal battle is currently being fought over whether the documents should ever come to light. The parents of Covenant School students, the school itself, and an adjoining church have argued the writings should not be made public over concerns of retraumatizing victims and inspiring other would-be shooters. A group of news outlets and a gun rights organization argue the writings are important to understand why the massacre took place."
https://www.thedailybeast.com/nashville-school-shooters-family-will-give-manifesto-to-victims
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/08/us/nashville-school-shooting-writings-victims.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
-
Trump’s insurrectionists are waiting for "an order".
Oliya Scootercaster @ScooterCasterNY
"January 6th is gonna look like a playground" - Trump supporter Pat speaks outside of Trump National Doral Miami where Former President expected to arrive for his second Indictment - "All we need is an order, we are ready"
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1668297719889252352
https://twitter.com/ScooterCasterNY/status/1668297719889252352
-
DOJ seeks 14 years for Jan. 6 rioter who called Trump 'dad,' drove stun gun into Michael Fanone's neck
Daniel "D.J." Rodriguez wrote in a letter to the former officer he assaulted that he wished he were smarter. The feds say his actions amount to terrorism.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2023-06/230612-Daniel-Rodriguez-al-1148-2474c3.jpg)
WASHINGTON — Federal prosecutors are seeking 14 years in federal prison for a violent Jan. 6 rioter who his lawyers say "idolized" Donald Trump and thought of the former president as the "father figure" he never had.
Daniel "D.J. " Rodriguez pleaded guilty in February, admitting that he battled law enforcement officers on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and stunned former Washington Police Officer Mike Fanone in the neck before he stormed the building and smashed out a window. The government, in a sentencing memo filed late Friday, sought 168 months in federal prison, along with restitution of $98,927, saying Rodriguez's crimes were acts of terrorism that deserve an upward departure from the sentencing guidelines. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson will sentence Rodriguez on June 21.
Rodriguez, his defense attorneys wrote in a separate sentencing memo, "struggled to find a place where he felt he truly belonged" and "found a cause that gave his life meaning" when he became a part of the "Make America Great Again" movement in California. Rodriguez saw Trump as "the father figure and leader Mr. Rodriguez never had in his life," his attorneys wrote, adding that he "trusted Trump blindly and admired Trump so much" that he referred to Trump as "dad" in messages he sent to a "PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang" group on Telegram.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2023-06/230612-Daniel-Rodriguez-al-1149-796064.jpg)
Daniel Rodriguez inside the Capitol on Jan. 6.
"It was Mr. Rodriguez’s unwavering belief in the words of the former president that drove him to lose all sense of right and wrong and led him to take part in the tragic actions that unfolded in Washington, D.C. on January 6th," Rodriguez's lawyers wrote, seeking a sentence of a little more than five years in federal prison.
"Mr. Rodriguez, who grew up without a father and who never completed high school, was someone who believed the former president’s lies because Mr. Rodriguez deeply respected and idolized Trump," they wrote of Rodriguez, who they said held "low-level employment" in retail and factories for 20 years. "He believed Trump was someone to be admired: a multimillionaire who graduated from Wharton Business School, with his name massively displayed in gold on buildings across the United States."
Rodriguez — who called himself "so stupid" and a “f---ing piece of s--t” in an interview with the FBI — also denigrated his own intelligence in a letter to Fanone filed in court. (Fanone has called Rodriguez a “moron” who was “manipulated” by Trump.)
"I wish I was smarter," Rodriguez wrote. "I want to apologize to your children as well. If I could go back and change what I did, I would. I hope it makes you feel better that I am going through a very tough time in jail."
Rodriguez has been held in custody for more than two years, since his arrest in March 2021, about a month after he was named in a HuffPost story following his identification by online sleuths and anti-fascist activists in the Los Angeles area.
Jackson has sentenced at least two other defendants in connection with the assault on Fanone, giving Kyle Young, an HVAC worker from Iowa, more than seven years in federal prison in September and giving Albuquerque Head, of Tennessee, 7.5 years in federal prison in October.
Rodriguez was indicted alongside two co-defendants: Ed Badalian and a man known to online sleuths as "Swedish Scarf." Badalian was convicted on most charges in April and will be sentenced in mid-July, while "Swedish Scarf" — whose name has been redacted in court documents but whose identity is known to the FBI — is believed to have fled the country.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jan-6-rioter-called-trump-dad-tased-fanone-get-14-years-doj-says-rcna88853
-
WATCH: Many Trump supporters carried firearms on Jan. 6, police transmissions reveal
Jun 28, 2022
The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on Tuesday shared radio transmissions from police identifying supporters of former President Donald Trump who were carrying firearms including AR-15s, rifles and Glock pistols on the National Mall on the morning of the insurrection.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide, testified on June 28 and in an earlier deposition that former President Donald Trump and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows were aware that rioters were armed.
Hutchinson said she witnessed Tony Ornato, the former deputy chief of staff of operations who was responsible for security, brief Meadows about the number of weapons present among the crowd.
Watch:
-
2 Oath Keepers who helped amass guns before Jan. 6 attack sentenced to prison
(https://d3i6fh83elv35t.cloudfront.net/static/2023/06/2021-01-30T042731Z_728470215_RC24IL999NYU_RTRMADP_3_USA-TRUMP-CAPITOL-ARRESTS-1200x800.jpg)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Florida men who stormed the U.S. Capitol with other members of the far-right Oath Keepers group were sentenced Friday to three years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other charges — the latest in a historic string of sentences in the Jan. 6. 2021 attack.
David Moerschel, 45, a neurophysiologist from Punta Gorda, and Joseph Hackett, a 52-year-old chiropractor from Sarasota, were convicted in January alongside other members of the antigovernment extremist group for their roles in what prosecutors described as a violent plot to stop the transfer power from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
Both men were among the lower-level members charged with seditious conspiracy. Moerschel was sentenced to three years in prison and Hackett got three and a half years.
All told, nine people associated with the Oath Keepers have been tried for seditious conspiracy and six were convicted of the rarely used Civil War-era charge in two separate trials, including the group’s founder Stewart Rhodes. Rhodes was sentenced last week to 18 years in prison — a record for a Jan. 6 defendant. Three defendants were cleared of the sedition charge but found guilty of other Jan. 6 crimes.
Moerschel and Hackett helped amass guns and ammunition to stash in a Virginia hotel for a so-called “quick reaction force” that could be quickly shuttled to Washington, prosecutors said. The weapons were never deployed. Moerschel provided an AR-15 and a Glock semi-automatic handgun and Hackett helped transport weapons, prosecutors said.
On Jan. 6, both men dressed in paramilitary gear and marched into the Capitol with fellow Oath Keepers in a military-style line formation, charging documents stated.
“The security of our country and the safety of democracy should not hinge on the impulses of madmen,” Justice Department prosecutor Troy Edwards said.
Moerschel told the judge he was deeply ashamed of forcing his way into the Capitol and joining the riot that seriously injured police officers and sent staffers running in fear.
"When I was on the stairs, your honor, I felt like God said to me, ‘Get out here.’ And I didn’t,” he said in court, his voice cracking with emotion. “I disobeyed God and I broke laws.”
Moerschel was a neurophysiologist who monitored surgical patients under anesthesia before his arrest, though he’s since been fired and now works in construction and landscaping. A former missionary, he is married with three children.
Hackett similarly said he remembered feeling horrified as stepped foot in the Capitol that day: “I truly am sorry for my part in causing so much misery,” he said.
He originally joined the group after seeing vandalism at a commercial area near his house during the summer of 2020, when protests against police brutality were common, his attorney Angela Halim said. “He did not join this organization because he shared any beliefs of Stewart Rhodes,” she said.
Still, he later attended an “unconventional warfare” training, and in the leadup to Jan. 6 he repeatedly warned other Oath Keepers about “leaks” and the need to secure their communications, and later changed his online screen names, authorities have said.
“Taken together, his messages show he perceived the election as an existential threat,” said prosecutor Alexandra Hughes.
How the chiropractor and father ended up storming the Capitol, though, is “hard to wrap one’s head around,” said U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta. The group’s increasingly heated online conversations and false claims of a stolen election “can suck you in like a vortex make and make it very difficult to get out.”
Neither man was a top leader in the group, and both left shortly after Jan. 6. Both sentences were far lower than the 12 years prosecutors sought for Hackett and 10 for Moreschel.
Moreschel was in the Capitol for about 12 minutes, and didn’t do anything violent or scream at police officers, Mehta noted. He also handed his guns over to police.
“Sentencing shouldn’t be vengeful, it shouldn’t be such that it is unduly harsh simply for the sake of being harsh,” said the judge, who also imposed a three-year term of supervised release for both men.
Moerschel’s attorneys had asked for home confinement, arguing that he joined the Oath Keepers chats shortly before the riot and was not a leader.
“He was just in the back following the crowd,” attorney Scott Weinberg told the judge.
Defense attorneys have long said there was never a plan to attack the Capitol and prosecutors’ case was largely built on online messages cherry-picked out of context.
The charges against leaders of the Oath Keepers and another far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys, are among the most serious brought in the Justice Department’s sprawling riot investigation. Prosecutors have also won seditious conspiracy convictions in the case against former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio and three other group leaders in what prosecutors said was a separate plot to keep Trump in the White House.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/2-oath-keepers-who-helped-amass-guns-before-jan-6-attack-sentenced-to-prison
-
Court postpones Capitol riot sentencing of Kyle Fitzsimons from today, til next July 13. Feds recommend 15+ years in prison, arguing he committed 5 "separate violent assaults" against police.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FydDibXWwAApGQc?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Lindsey Graham says "Republicans won't accept" a January 6th indictment for Criminal Donald. :D :D :D
Who cares what "Republicans won't accept". Does what "Republicans want" outweigh the rule of law? Of course not.
Seriously, none of these Trump defenders ever proclaim Trump to be innocent. All they do is attack their opponents and the justice system for applying the rule of law to their criminal cult leader. And that's not a defense.
Republicans simply do not want Trump to be prosecuted for him crimes, but Republicans go after their Democratic opponents based on conspiracy theories and false allegations threatening to prosecute them and throw them in jail. It's so pathetic.
Lindsey Graham and the rest of these right wingers are scared to death of a January 6th indictment because the Republicans had a major hand in the coup plot to steal the presidency from Biden and the majority of Americans. They know that Republicans are going to get wrapped up in the indictment as well.
Did these right wingers actually believe that nothing was going to happen to Trump and his co-conspirators for committing treason against the United States for attempting steal an election from the American people by fraud and violent force?
Note to Lindsey: You have a weak pathetic argument and when a serious crime has been committed you'll get convicted, regardless of your political affiliation.
'Major outrage': Lindsey Graham warns that Republicans won't accept Jan. 6 indictment for Trump
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) warned that Republicans wouldn't accept an indictment of Donald Trump on charges related to the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Graham gave an impassioned speech hours after Trump supporters stormed into the U.S. Capitol to prevent the certification of President Joe Biden's election win, saying "count me out" of efforts to keep him in the White House – but he's since changed his tune.
The South Carolina Republican told CNN that the former president shouldn't be prosecuted for his role in the insurrection.
"If the special counsel indicts President Trump in Washington, DC for anything related to Jan. 6, that will be considered a major outrage by Republicans because you could convict any Republican of anything in Washington D.C.," Graham said. "I fear that's where this is going, as sort of an insurance policy."
Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1669023849533394944
-
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham had dinner with the Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs who was convicted for seditious conspiracy against the United States. Members of the Republican party associated with domestic terrorists before the January 6th insurrection.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fym_38mXoAAiGKP?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Worcester roommates arrested in FBI's Jan. 6 investigation
While inside the Capitol, prosecutors say, Long Duong and Julie Miller made their way into the Senate parliamentarian's office
https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/worcester-roommates-arrested-in-fbis-jan-6-investigation/3069090/
-
New footage reveals how violent Capitol rioters overwhelmed police on January 6
On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Watch:
-
Jan 6 defendant Klete Keller, a former US Olympic swimmer, has asked to delay sentencing in his case (again). And judge agreed
Per new court filing: "Keller has been actively cooperating in ongoing law enforcement investigations".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fyr88PjXoAAyTMK?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
NEW: Justice Dept to seek 5-years prison in Capitol riot case of Robert Gieswein, arguing he committed *five* assaults on police, including with chem. spray.
Feds say amid riot, "Gieswein told an interviewer that the solution to “this right here” was to “execute these fascists".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FyyB_YzXwAA7PE1?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Jan. 6 Capitol riot "poster boy" Doug Jensen sentenced to 5 years in prison
An Iowa man prosecutors called the "poster boy of the Insurrection" has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 attack. Doug Jensen was seen on video confronting a Capitol Police officer and was convicted on five felony counts. CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane joins anchors Elaine Quijano and Michelle Miller with the latest.
Watch:
-
Plea hearing is scheduled for July 20 in US Capitol riot case of Joshua Portlock of Tennessee.
He's accused of assaulting/resisting police & using large piece of plywood against police. This image is from charging documents.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FyN03FLWcAIpf1K?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Jan. 6 indictment for Trump 'is coming' former Jan. 6 select committee lead investigator says
Watch:
-
Bill Kristol @BillKristol
Bill Barr this morning on Face the Nation agrees with @rgoodlaw: DOJ Trump Jan. 6 indictment likely this summer.
"I think it’s very likely the special counsel indicts [Trump] on January 6th this summer...I think he’s going to indict Trump for the false slate of electors scheme, and quite probably possibly the pressure campaign against Mike Pence…"
Watch or listen: https://twitter.com/i/status/1670041720749273091
https://conversationswithbillkristol.org/video/ryan-goodman/
https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1670480519673282564
-
Jan. 6 rioter who assaulted cop, threatened Pelosi and Pence convicted of all charges
(https://am23.mediaite.com/lc/cnt/uploads/2023/06/Richard-L.-Harris-Jan.-6.jpg)
An Oregon man who was seen picking up a phone inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and shouting threats against then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence has been convicted of almost a dozen charges.
Richard L. Harris, 42, was found guilty Wednesday following a three-day bench trial. According to prosecutors, he was among the first in the crowd of Donald Trump supporters who violently breached the Capitol building as Congress was certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral win, having forced his way to the front of the crowd despite having been hit with chemical spray by police trying to keep the mob at bay.
Once inside, he was seen on video “menacing Capitol Police officers from the front of a large crowd, resulting in the officers moving aside so that Harris and the crowd could continue into the building.”
Video also recorded Harris picking up a landline phone in the Capitol Rotunda and demanding to speak with Pelosi, a Democrat and then-leader of the House of Representatives, and Pence, who was overseeing the certification process — both of whom were repeatedly targeted with vile, violent threats that day.
“Can I speak to Pelosi? We’re coming, b—-,” Harris said. “Oh, Mike Pence? We’re coming for you, too, you f—— traitor.”
Video from inside the Rotunda also showed Harris “physically assaulting a Metropolitan Police Department officer” by grabbing the officer’s baton and pulling it.
Harris was ultimately forced out by police after spending almost 90 minutes inside the building.
Video footage also shows Harris standing on a statue of former President Gerald Ford in the Capitol Rotunda, upon which a Trump flag and red baseball cap had been improperly placed.
Harris was arrested in Florida in March 2021. Prosecutors say that he had fled his home state of Oregon — where he allegedly tried to break into the state capitol building in December 2020, assaulting a journalist in the process — in order to evade post-Jan. 6 arrest by federal authorities.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, convicted Harris of all charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding, civil disorder, assaulting a police officer, and various trespassing and disorderly conduct crimes.
Harris faces a potential 20 years behind bars on the most severe charge of obstruction. Sentencing has been set for Sept. 27.
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-breach/were-coming-b-jan-6-rioter-who-assaulted-cop-threatened-pelosi-and-pence-convicted-of-all-charges/
-
Capitol rioter who was armed with gun on Jan. 6 found guilty on all charges
Christopher Alberts had a gun on his hip when he charged up the stairs of the Capitol on Jan. 6, and he later yelled at police officers before he was arrested.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2023-04/230417-christopher-alberts-capitol-riot-mn-1130-d9899a.jpg)
WASHINGTON — A Jan. 6 rioter who admitted he was armed with a concealed gun during the attack on the U.S. Capitol was found guilty Wednesday of all nine charges he faced.
Christopher Alberts, of Maryland, was arrested with a weapon on the night of Jan. 6, 2021, after having spent several hours on the Capitol grounds. He was wearing a gas mask and a protective vest and had a backpack containing ready-to-eat meals and other materials, including bungee cords.
After the verdict was read, Justice Department prosecutors sought to take Alberts into custody and keep him detained until his sentencing, which is scheduled for July 19. But U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper said he would allow Alberts to remain on pretrial release until then.
Alberts assured Cooper after his conviction that he would show up for his sentencing date.
The convictions could lead to more than five years in prison for Alberts, prosecutors said.
Alberts was accompanied by his fiancée in the courtroom Wednesday. Both appeared shocked when the verdict was read.
Alberts and one of his attorneys, John Pierce, declined to comment on the verdict.
In his testimony, Alberts said that “instinct took over” when he used a wooden pallet to “build a wall” between police and the rioters. He maintained that police used excessive force after thousands of Trump supporters entered the restricted grounds of the Capitol and began climbing the platform that had been set up for Joe Biden's inauguration.
“Somebody had to put a stop to it,” Alberts said. “It was wrong.”
Before he charged the police line, evidence showed Alberts assisted in keeping a pathway clear so that authorities could get another Jan. 6 rioter who needed medical assistance to safety.
On cross-examination, Alberts admitted that he called police "domestic terrorists," yelled "y'all wanted war, you asked for it, you got it," and threw a water bottle at police officers' feet.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/capitol-rioter-armed-gun-jan-6-found-guilty-charges-rcna80387
-
GOP leadership still 'flirting' with Jan. 6 extremists
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jim-jordan-buried-by-michael-cohen-attorney-for-running-interference-for-trump.jpg?id=33393837&width=2400&height=1353)
Republicans with an eye on the 2024 general election don't want to talk about the Jan 6th insurrection over fears that it will cripple their chances of retaking the White House and the Senate, but that doesn't mean that they are shunning far-right extremists who are still pushing conspiracy theories that it was instigated by the "deep state."
According to a report from Politico's Jordain Carney and Kyle Cheney, some GOP members of the House -- including some members of the leadership -- continue to pander to voters who believe the riot that sent lawmakers fleeing for their lives was a righteous cause.
According to the report, "At times, GOP lawmakers insist they’re uninterested in relitigating an attack that is political poison for the party outside of deep-red areas. But at other times, some Republicans have stoked narratives that falsely pin blame for the attack on police, Democrats or far-left agitators — or downplay the violence at the Capitol. The latter approach has seen a noticeable uptick of late."
The report notes that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) "encapsulates the half-hearted embrace. He angered some allies on the right this year by defending a Capitol Police officer’s decision to shoot a Jan. 6 rioter who was attempting to breach a room adjacent to the House chamber. But he’s also provided exclusive access to thousands of hours of security footage to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who’s used the film to demean and distort police officers’ actions."
Add to that, House Judiciary chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) has been focusing on Jan. 6 issues when he isn't holding hearings on the "weaponization" of the Department of Justice.
"Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) did recently release a wider report that accused the FBI of artificially conflating the number of Jan. 6-related investigations. The report and a subsequent hearing also included testimony from whistleblowers who lost their security clearances due to improper actions related to Jan. 6," Politico is reporting.
The report added, "Jordan also fired off new Jan. 6-related letters, one asking for more information on the FBI’s investigation into pipe bombs found near the Capitol the day of the attack and another expanding a probe into record-sharing with federal investigators. But those efforts make up a small slice of his collective, sweeping investigations."
Read More Here: https://www.politico.com/news/2023/06/18/house-gop-jan-6-extremism-00101259
-
'We were embarrassed': DOJ insiders told reporter they acted on Jan. 6 only after House committee shamed them
The Washington Post revealed that the Department of Justice and the FBI were resistant to opening a probe into Donald Trump for Jan. 6 for over a year, but reporter Carol Leonnig told MSNBC on Monday they were finally shamed into acting when the House Select Committee launched an investigation into the insurrection.
Leonnig began by explaining that between her and her co-author, they interviewed more than 100 people – and many had assumed that the DOJ was already involved in a Jan. 6 investigation. What her report revealed was that, at the time, it wasn't.
She said the reluctance was because the FBI was afraid of Donald Trump because so many people had lost their jobs or careers because of the FBI's probe into Trump and alleged Russia connections during the 2016 election.
At the same time, she said, the DOJ was scared that if it went after the Jan. 6 attacks it would appear as if it was going after the Republican Party because so many Republicans were involved.
"Merrick Garland and Lisa Monaco embraced the strategy of let's do it like a mob case," Leonnig said. "Build up from the riot. Figure out if there's somebody higher and higher and higher and perhaps it will lead to those individuals around Donald Trump. Perhaps not. Let's let the evidence lead us up that ladder.
"The problem is no ladder between militia members, the Oath Keepers, and the Proud Boys wearing flak jackets and bullet-proof vests and carrying bear spray and emails to Mark Meadows or Donald Trump or Rudy Giuliani about convincing state officials to help them create fake electors to swing the election for Trump and away from Biden.
"As it started to emerge in the summer and especially the fall of 2022, still, the DOJ sort of turned its eyes away from this until it became a drumbeat of criticism, news stories, some of them on this story and some of them in my paper. And a groundswell of concern that the Jan. 6th committee was really without the same kind of power as the Department of Justice uncovering stunning and worrisome and, likely criminal acts," she continued.
MSNBC Host Nicolle Wallace pointed to the important explanation she gave about missing the links between the militias and the White House.
"But it was also true that Trump committed crimes in plain sight," she said. "He committed the crime of blocking an official proceeding. Even with the limits to their investigative powers, he committed the crimes of insurrection. I mean, there were criminal acts that were ignored."
Leonnig said that inside the Justice Department, there are a lot of prosecutors that were more disheartened than angry about Jan. 6 going un-investigated. She said that there were many at the DOJ that were pressing to investigate the fake electors' scandal. It was even referred to the DOJ by the attorney general of Michigan. Still, the DOJ took a full year and four months before it acted.
"I think that another really important thing, Nicolle, which you have really zeroed in on over and over again is the Jan. 6th committee's work," Leonnig continued. "The Department of Justice has said to us, in different ways, this committee didn't influence us at all. Except when you interview people who were right in the thick of it, they said, 'Look, we were embarrassed and goaded into it.'"
It was the work of the Jan. 6 committee that made it impossible for the DOJ to justify its bottom-up strategy, she said.
Leonnig also said that the FBI is refusing to comment on the piece, answer questions about the decisions around Jan. 6, and blocked any of the principal decision-makers from giving a statement. The reporting on the FBI's resistance to investigate comes after it was revealed the FBI was told Jan. 6 was going to be violent, but did nothing to stop it.
Andrew Weissmann, a former prosecutor under Robert Mueller, explained that there is a philosophy that still persists among some in law enforcement: "Little cases, little problems. No cases, no problems. Big cases, big problems."
Watch:
-
Sentencing set for Sept 11 in Capitol riot case of Ralph Celentano of New York.
He was found guilty at trial. Feds argued "Celentano locked arms with other rioters & pushed forward to breach the police line and then repeatedly shoved a separate law enforcement officer backward".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fy_hPYJXwAEHF_U?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Feds announce MORE Jan 6 arrests, including Ken, Caleb & Nicholas Fuller of Minnesota.
Charging documents: "Nicholas Fuller & Caleb Fuller can be seen on body-worn camera footage allegedly pushing against police lines & pushing others to prevent the forward movement of officers".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fy_IyQDXoAEk7CO?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fy_IyQEWcAUECg_?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Judge orders OathKeepers lawyer & Jan 6 defendant Kellye Sorelle hospitalized for competency exam:
"Court finds by a preponderance of the evidence that Defendant is presently suffering from a mental
disease or defect rendering her mentally incompetent."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzE3R4cWAAEbgok?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Jan. 6 rioter who electroshocked Michael Fanone shouts 'Trump won' after receiving a 12.5 year sentence
Daniel "D.J." Rodriguez, who was wearing a MAGA hat when he drove a stun gun into the officer's neck at the Capitol, was arrested after the online "Sedition Hunters" community helped identify him.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2023-06/230612-Daniel-Rodriguez-al-1148-2474c3.jpg)
WASHINGTON — A Donald Trump supporter who drove a stun gun into the neck of a D.C. police officer who was abducted by the mob during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol shouted "Trump won" after being sentenced to 12.5 years in prison on Wednesday, multiple people present in the courtroom told NBC News.
Daniel "D.J." Rodriguez, a California man who traveled to D.C. with fellow Trump supporters who belonged to a Telegram group called the "PATRIOTS 45 MAGA Gang," pleaded guilty in February to felony conspiracy, obstruction of an official proceeding, tampering with documents or proceedings, and inflicting bodily injury on officers using a deadly or dangerous weapon.
"There will be blood," Rodriguez wrote in "MAGA Gang" Telegram chat on the night of Jan. 5, just hours before attending Trump's rally at the White House Ellipse. "Welcome to the revolution.”
On Jan. 6, after joining the fight in the Capitol's lower west tunnel — where some of the most violent scenes of the day played out — Rodriguez attacked officer Michael Fanone, later bragging about his actions in the Telegram chat.
“Omg I did so much f--- s--- [right now] and got away,” Rodriguez wrote to fellow members of the Patriots 45 MAGA Gang. “Tazzed the f--- out of the blue.”
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson imposed Rodriguez's 151-month sentence, saying he was a “one-man army of hate, attacking police officers and destroying property” on Jan. 6. Rodriguez was responsible for his own behavior even if Trump had been making "irresponsible and knowingly false claims that the election had been stolen," she said.
Fanone, Jackson said, was "protecting the very essence of democracy," and Rodriguez was "among the most serious offenders" on Jan. 6. "He's not just a follower, he calls for action," Jackson said, referencing Rodriguez's violent rhetoric immediately after Trump lost the 2020 election. Jackson said there was no indication that Rodriguez had any mental or cognitive impairments, referring to the defendant as "a man of average intelligence."
Ahead of his sentencing, Rodriguez spoke for about 20 minutes in a rambling speech, saying he “truly” thought a civil war was going to begin and that he believed the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers formed because police were standing down across the country. He acknowledged his actions against Fanone, but stopped short of an apology.
"Life has always seemed unfair to me," Rodriguez said, speaking of inequality in the country before referring to himself as "an American supremacist." If allowed to go home, Rodriguez said, he would go back to "driving a forklift with my GED and living with my mom," claiming that he did not present a future threat.
Fanone, speaking after Rodriguez's subsequent outburst, said "it’s been clear by the defendants' own behavior that there is no remorse, at least for the individuals in which I came in contact with on Jan. 6 who are criminally charged."
Fanone said Rodriguez's "halfhearted attempt to apologize for his conduct" and later outburst showed that stiff sentences were "the best assurance that we have that this won’t happen again."
"These are Americans that engaged in seditious activity," Fanone said. "I believe that they were traitors, and they should be sentenced accordingly. We need to stop treating these people as anything other than enemy combatants of our democracy."
Ahead of Rodriguez's sentencing, Fanone called Rodriguez's life story "pathetic" and said he himself had lost his career, friends, and faith in the criminal justice system because of what he went through that.
"I don’t give a s--- about Daniel Rodriguez. He ceased to exist to me as a person a long time ago," Fanone said. "Any compassion or empathy I felt toward those who laid siege to our Capitol, whose actions I felt were at least in part influenced by their leader Donald Trump and his lies, has been eroded — eroded by the attacks directed at me and my family by supporters of Donald Trump and the right- wing media."
Fanone, referencing special counsel Jack Smith's ongoing investigation into Trump's actions leading up to Jan. 6, called for the Justice Department to pursue an indictment against Trump and anyone else responsible "regardless of their wealth or current political position," and prove the mantra that no one is above the law.
"Your honor, we must all join in the fight against Donald Trump and the destructive divisive movement he has come to represent," Fanone said. "We must offer him no safe harbor, and to his enablers — whether in business, in politics and the media — give no quarter. In the fight to preserve our Republic, there can be no spectators.
Federal prosecutors wanted Rodriguez to spend 14 years in federal prison — an upward departure from his sentencing guidelines, which suggested a sentence of roughly eight to 10 years — saying that Rodriguez committed an act of terrorism. Rodriguez’s “egregious” conduct “displayed a clear intent to stop Congress from certifying the results of the election” and was “calculated to stop the peaceful transfer of Presidential power for the first time in the nation’s history,” prosecutors argued, calling Rodriguez’s efforts “a quintessential example of an intent to influence government conduct through intimidation or coercion.”
Rodriguez’s federal public defenders said Trump’s “incendiary lies” about the election “created a frenzy of anger and uncertainty” and that Rodriguez’s “unwavering belief in the words of the former president that drove him to lose all sense of right and wrong.” Rodriguez “deeply respected and idolized Trump,” whom he saw “as the father he wished he had,” they wrote, saying Rodriguez “believed Trump was someone to be admired: a multimillionaire who graduated from Wharton Business School, with his name massively displayed in gold on buildings across the United States.”
Forrest Rogers, an American living in Germany on Jan. 6, first surfaced evidence that Rodriguez electroshocked Fanone after pouring over online footage frame by frame as part of his work for "Deep State Dogs," one of the groups of online "Sedition Hunters" that popped up in the wake of Jan. 6 to identify Capitol rioters. After Rogers tweeted footage of the incident, Rodriguez was identified by activists who knew the MAGA-hatted man from the protest scene in Beverly Hills.
Rodriguez was then identified in a February 2021 HuffPost story, and was arrested by the FBI the next month. In an FBI interview after his arrest, Rodriguez called himself a "f---ing piece of s--t" and said he was "not smart." Rodriguez said he was influenced by the far-right conspiracy theory website InfoWars as well as conservative commentators like Steven Crowder, Mark Dice, and the "Hodgetwins" brothers duo. Rodriguez, who believed Trump's lies about the 2020 presidential election, told the FBI that Trump had "called us" to D.C. on Jan. 6, and that he felt a duty to respond to the commander-in-chief.
“Are we all that stupid that we thought we were going to go do this and save the country and it was all going to be fine after?" Rodriguez said during his FBI interview. "We really thought that. That’s so stupid, huh?”
More than 1,000 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, and nearly 600 have pleaded guilty. Of the approximately 524 defendants who have been sentenced, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia, about 310 have been sentenced to periods of incarceration that have ranged from a few days to nearly two decades in prison. The sentences continue on a nearly daily basis: D.C. chiropractor David Walls-Kaufman was sentenced to 60 days of incarceration after admitting that he "scuffled" with officers inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, including an officer who died by suicide nine days later.
The longest sentence for a Jan. 6 defendant to date — 18 years in federal prison — went to Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November 2022. Federal prosecutors had sought a sentence of 25 years in federal prison in that case.
Two other Jan. 6 defendants who assaulted Fanone have received significant sentences. Kyle Young — a Jan. 6 rioter who was accompanied by his teenage son when he handed Rodriguez the electroshock weapon used to attack Fanone, whom Young grabbed during the attack — was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison in September. Albuquerque Head — a Jan. 6 rioter who yelled "I got one!" when he seized Fanone and dragged him into the mob — was sentenced to 7.5 years in federal prison in October.
In addition to his violence against Fanone, Rodriguez entered an office space inside the U.S. Capitol through a broken window and urged the mob ahead. Using a pole, Rodriguez smashed out a window in the private "hideaway" office of Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho. Months after his arrest, Rodriguez was indicted along with two codefendants: Ed Badalian, who was found guilty of three counts in April; and a man known to online sleuths as #SwedishScarf, who has been identified by the FBI but who prosecutors have said is believed to have fled the country.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/jan-6-rioter-electroshocked-dc-officer-michael-fanone-sentenced-125-ye-rcna89388
-
Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis had an unconstitutional plan for Mike Pence on Jan. 6: report
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trumpster-jenna-ellis-breaks-out-turd-emoji-to-complain-about-11th-circuit-court-ruling.jpg?id=31799599&width=2400&height=1350)
MAGA lawyer John Eastman's disbarment hearing took another turn Wednesday, revealing that key players considered telling former Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally reject the result of the 2020 election.
Eastman, a former lawyer for Trump, is facing 11 disciplinary counts in California including "failure to support the Constitution and laws of the United States. He wrote the infamous so-called "coup memo" that urged former Vice President Mike Pence to reject certified election results on Jan. 6, 2021.
On Wednesday, legal affairs reporter Meghann Cuniff tweeted that Greg Jacob, the lawyer for Pence, revealed during testimony details of a Jan. 4 meeting in the Oval Office.
Clad in a maroon Heritage Foundation tie, he said he, Pence, Pence's chief of staff Marc Short, Eastman and Trump got together. "Eastman was proposing two actions, including unilateral rejection by Pence," said Cuniff.
Afterwards, Jacob said he wrote a memo for Pence about Eastman's suggestions, sending it at 9 a.m. the following morning. In it, Jacob explained why Eastman's theory was "unworkable."
Jacob said in an earlier comment that Donald Trump's lawyer Jenna Ellis suggested that Pence could go to Congress on Jan. 6 and simply refuse to open the envelopes that contained the Electoral College votes.
Jacob called it "clearly unconstitutional." "He definitely said it in a "what a moron" way, too," Cuniff reported.
"What he was asking us to do would've required departing from those procedures" in the Electoral Count Act and based on historical precedent, Jacob said, according to a tweet by NPR's investigative correspondent Tom Dreisbach.
Read More Here: https://twitter.com/meghanncuniff/status/1671559258511638529
-
Jan. 6 defendant Nathaniel DeGrave, who made plans on Facebook for riot, sentenced to 3 years in prison
(https://assets1.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/05/10/30b8c6ed-ca39-4aa0-9cbd-e0a1f9237c40/thumbnail/620x434/e15725b385ec9e45793623273caf443b/degrave.png?v=74b410729cdff54299e4158e8919d920)
A Las Vegas man who pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy and assaulting police officers on Jan. 6, 2021, was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for his role in the assault on the Capitol.
Nathaniel DeGrave, 32 years old, received his sentence at the D.C. District Court. He pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers.
DeGrave, along with two other co-defendants, Ronald Sandlin and Josiah Colt, began a private Facebook chat in late December to plan their travel to the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to court documents. Sandlin posted that he was going to Washington "to show support for our president and to do my part to stop the steal and stand behind Trump."
DeGrave posted in the chat, "It's time the American people rise and stand up for this country. We're tired of the corruption."
The three also allegedly discussed shipping guns to Tennessee before meeting there and driving to Washington, D.C.
They put on protective gear and traveled to the nation's capital, prosecutors alleged, and said DeGrave also had a can of bear spray and a walkie-talkie with him. His attorney, William Shipley, told the court his intent was to fight ANTIFA.
There were also guns in the car, but Shipley said DeGrave was not aware of this.
Prosecutors said the trio then went to the Capitol Complex, unlawfully breached barricades and the Capitol building and then ultimately entered the Senate gallery.
DeGrave was identified in a video outside the Capitol saying that Congress is "not certifying (Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election) if they know what is good for them."
Also, DeGrave was heard talking about assaulting an officer while he was inside the Capitol in a separate video.
District Judge Dabney Friedrich also sentenced him to 36 months of released supervision and fined him $25,000.
During the sentencing hearing, DeGrave expressed remorse, saying, "I wish anybody's lives that I put at risk, I wish I could look them in the eyes and tell them I'm sorry."
Colt, DeGrave's co-defendant, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison. He apologized to the American people in court, stating that "my actions were inappropriate, and I beg for forgiveness.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jan-6-defendant-nathaniel-degrave-who-made-plans-on-facebook-for-riot-sentenced-to-3-years-in-prison/
-
Bureau of Prisons report says Jan 6 defendant Pete Schwartz to serve 14-year sentence at high-security fed prison in Waymart, PA.
Feds: "Wielding a large MK-46 canister & carrying a wooden tire thumper, Schwartz began indiscriminately spraying..at any retreating police officers".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fywqp99XsAAe2wD?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fywqp-FWIAAmyd_?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Justice Dept to seek 5-years prison in Capitol riot case of Robert Gieswein, arguing he committed *five* assaults on police, including with pepper spray.
Feds say amid riot, "Gieswein told an interviewer that the solution to “this right here” was to “execute these fascists".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzGG4_MWAAELbuO?format=jpg&name=900x900)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzGG4_TWAAA3rUR?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Proud Boy who acted like the 'star of a war movie' on Jan. 6 is sentenced to prison
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=34161789&width=2400&height=1350)
A Proud Boy who took part in "warlike maneuvers" during the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol has been sentenced to over three years in prison, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
Prosecutors say James Robert Elliott “seemed to view himself as the star of a war movie,” repeatedly uttering a cry from the movie “300” during the Capitol riot.
“Patriots, what is your occupation? AAH-OOH, AAH-OOH, AAH-OOH!” he reportedly yelled that day.
Court records show he wore a helmet, goggles, a ballistic vest, hard-knuckle gloves, a radio and a Thor’s hammer pendant during the riot. According to prosecutors, he swung a flagpole he was carrying at police, striking an officer.
His advance on the Capitol was repelled by pepper spray.
Later that day, Elliott expressed anger towards then-President Donald Trump for not fighting harder to reverse the results of the 2020 election.
“Trump just said … that the [Jan. 6 rioters] don’t represent America,” Elliott allegedly said. “We f--- took the Capitol Building for this m---, and he has the gall to say that we don’t represent America. … And then the m--- bends over and lets Biden stick his f--- shoes in his a--- and kicks him out of the f--- White House. Whatever happened to ‘you refuse to concede no matter the results? … We f--- fought for him, we took the f--- Capitol for him, and then he f--- concedes to Biden!”
In addition to the time in prison, Elliott must also pay $2,000 in restitution.
Read More Here: https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/6/22/23770093/ex-proud-boy-from-aurora-gets-more-than-three-years-in-prison-for-jan-6-capitol-assault
-
Fanone calls for Trump indictment as attacker sentenced to over 12 years
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/06/21/daniel-rodriguez-capitol-riot-attacker-michael-fanone/
'Plenty Of Evidence' To Support Indictment Of Trump Says Michael Fanone
Former DC Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone discusses with Nicolle Wallace his new book and how to get more Americans to care about what happened at the Capitol on January 6th.
Watch:
-
'You attempted to punch police': Judge shoots down MAGA rioter's claim he wore tactical gear for self-defense
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rioter-rob-gieswein-at-the-united-states-capitol-building-on-january-6th.jpg?id=26773690&width=2400&height=1347)
A man who wore tactical military gear to the January 6th riots at the United States Capitol building got slapped down by a judge after he tried to argue that he only wore the gear to protect himself from left-wing counterdemonstrators.
As reported by CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, defense attorneys representing Capitol rioter Robert Gieswein told D.C. District Judge Trevor McFadden at a sentencing hearing on Friday that their client was "wearing gear strictly for protection purposes" when he joined his fellow Trump supporters in violently storming the Capitol.
McFadden seemed skeptical of this argument and noted that Gieswein, a resident of Colorado, was caught on camera committing violent acts for an hour.
After taking a short break, McFadden returned and gave Gieswein a verbal lashing as he handed down his sentence.
"You were a foot soldier in the most disturbing riot we’ve seen in years," he said, as transcribed by MacFarlane. "Your conduct was shocking... you attempted to punch a police officer."
In addition to trying to punch police, federal prosecutors also alleged that Gieswein "sprayed... aerosol substance at a group of officers who were in the process of arresting another rioter."
In the end, McFadden slapped Gieswein with a four-year prison sentence.
https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-sentence-2661756358/
-
Father & son sentenced in Jan 6 case.
Grady Owens gets 37 months prison. His dad, Jason, gets 24 months.
Feds said both joined mob seeking to push their way into East Rotunda doors & "Grady Owens turned, raised a skateboard in the air & struck an officer on the side of his body".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzVTWyBXwAAHAIE?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzVUVN_XwAAx_Ti?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)
-
Trump campaign's Election Day operations official appears before Jan. 6 grand jury
Gary Michael Brown appeared as part of special counsel Jack Smith's probe into the "fake electors" scheme to stop the lawful transfer of power to Joe Biden after the 2020 election.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2023-06/230622-g-michael-brown-mjf-1608-57ecc6.jpg)
WASHINGTON — The deputy director of Election Day operations for Donald Trump's 2020 presidential campaign appeared before a federal grand jury Thursday as part of special counsel Jack Smith's investigation into Jan. 6 and efforts to interfere with the lawful transfer of presidential power.
Gary Michael Brown, who has been accused of being involved in the so-called fake electors scheme after the 2020 election, was seen headed into the third-floor grand jury space at a courthouse in Washington where a grand jury has been hearing testimony about efforts to stop the transfer of power to President Joe Biden.
Stanley Woodward — an attorney who is representing several Trump aides, including Walt Nauta, who was indicted along with Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case — accompanied Brown in court Thursday. He declined to comment.
Brown, speaking with a member of the media after having emerged from the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse, declined to comment, saying he was “starving” and wanted to get a sandwich.
The defunct Jan. 6 committee in Congress, when it subpoenaed Brown last year, said it had found “credible evidence” that he was “aware of, and participated in, efforts to promote unsupported allegations of fraud in the November 2020 Presidential election and encourage state legislators to alter the outcome of the November 2020 election by, among other things, appointing alternate slates of electors to send competing electoral votes to the United States Congress.”
The committee also said Brown and other members of Trump’s campaign had a coordinated strategy “to contact Republican members of state legislatures in certain states that former President Trump had lost and urge them to ‘reclaim’ their authority by sending an alternate slate of electors that would support former President Trump.” The committee said it appeared Brown “helped manage the Trump campaign staffers participating in this effort.”
NBC News reported last week that two of the "fake electors" testified before the federal grand jury in Washington the same day Trump appeared at a federal courthouse in Miami in connection with his indictment over his handling of classified records. Trump pleaded not guilty.
Smith's investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and efforts to interfere in the transfer of power is separate from the probe that led to Trump’s indictment in Florida, although some of the grand jury proceedings related to that indictment took place in Washington, as well.
The special counsel's office declined to comment Thursday on Brown's appearance.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-campaign-official-appears-jan-6-grand-jury-dc-rcna90684
-
CNN, Bill Moyers, and Newsweek has done an excellent job providing a detailed timeline of the January 6th insurrection.
The January 6 insurrection: Minute-by-minute
https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/10/politics/jan-6-us-capitol-riot-timeline/index.html
UPDATED: Insurrection Timeline — First the Coup and Then the Cover-Up
https://billmoyers.com/story/insurrection-timeline-first-the-coup-and-then-the-cover-up-updated/
Jan. 6 Timeline: How The Day Of The Capitol Riot Unfolded
On Jan. 6, 2021, a joint session of Congress was held to certify Joe Biden’s electoral-vote win as thousands gathered for a rally in support of President Donald Trump. Trump falsely claimed that the 2020 election was "stolen" while many of his supporters marched to the U.S. Capitol. Soon after, an unprecedented riot broke out and protesters breached the Capitol building. The chaos resulted in five deaths. Here is a timeline of how the day unfolded.
Watch:
-
Court schedules THURSDAY initial appearance in newly-filed Capitol riot case of Alan St. Onge, a North Carolina man who's accused of being amid the mob that confronted police in the lower west terrace on Jan 6 2021.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzQOw2SWIAQvnvz?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
3 more Minnesotans charged for their roles in Jan. 6 riot
The three family members were recently charged with obstruction of law enforcement for their actions at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
https://www.kare11.com/article/news/local/three-minnesota-men-charged-in-connection-to-us-capitol-riot-january-6/89-fb489b6c-5574-45ec-b7ca-37219c2575d1
-
Putin just withstood an armed insurrection by a militia in Russia. Doesn't that make him a champion of democracy using the leftist standard?
-
Another Jan 6 case is unsealed.
Feds say Trevor Cain of Ohio said the following after being amid mob:
"History was in the air. And before you know it, we’re storming like the.. beaches of Normandy. The Capitol- take it back, because it’s not some dumb phrase, this is our house”.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzkPhLbWIAMSF9b?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Ex-Florida college student who hit cop with skateboard during Capitol riot gets 3 years in prison; father also sentenced
ORLANDO, Fla. — A former Full Sail University student who struck a police officer with a skateboard while participating in the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison last week.
Grady Douglas Owens, 22, of Blanco, Texas, was arrested in April 2021 in Winter Park, where he was attending college. His father, 50-year-old Jason Douglas Owens, was also sentenced Friday for his role in the attempted insurrection.
Authorities say Jason and Grady Owens had illegally entered the west lawn area of the Capitol when they encountered a group of officers with the Metropolitan Police Department. As the officers tried to get through the crowd of rioters, Jason Owens allegedly struck one on the side of his body with a skateboard he was carrying.
The older Owens also shoved an officer in the face, causing a struggle between the officers and rioters, authorities said.
The father and son later joined a group that unsuccessfully tried to force its way through the East Rotunda doors, during which Jason Owens is accused of grabbing a baton from a Capitol Police officer, leading to another skirmish.
Authorities said Grady Owens videotaped himself egging on his fellow rioters and taunting authorities: “Hold these traitors accountable.” “We will not concede.” “You can’t stop us.” “Tear gas ain’t [expletive], folks.”
Grady Owens in November pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers and disorderly conduct. On Friday, he was sentenced to 37 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release.
His father was sentenced to two years in prison and three years of supervised release.
More than 1,000 people have been arrested in connection with the Capitol riot, ranging from those without a prior record of extremist activity to the leaders of several hate and anti-government groups, like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
The riot began after a speech by then-President Donald Trump, who repeated lies that the election had been stolen from him through fraud. Rioters then stormed the Capitol and sought to prevent the counting of Electoral College votes, to halt the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
© Orlando Sentinel
MAGA rioter defending himself uses trial to question his son who turned him in
Brian Mock, a Minnesota man who stormed the Capitol on January 6 and is accused of assaulting police officers, was turned in to the FBI by his own son, A.J. — and he used part of his trial to speak to his son from the heart on the stand, reported NBC News on Monday.
Mock, who requested a bench trial, is representing himself in the case, according to the report.
"What you guys did today was treason and a homeland security threat ... Everyone there should be locked up for the rest of their lives, including you," wrote A.J. Mock in one text message that prosecutors showed at trial. "You STORMED THE F------ CAPITOL." He asked his father "what the hell" made him think "that was a good idea?" And he was, according to the report, "one of several tipsters who turned him into the FBI after the Capitol attack."
"Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gordon, on cross-examination, asked A.J. Mock to describe his relationship with his dad as complex. A.J. Mock testified that he loved his dad and that he doesn't want to see him go to prison," said the report. "A.J. Mock said that his dad was like a broken record when it came to talking about the 2020 presidential election, which Brian Mock believed was stolen. A.J. Mock said he'd make an effort to avoid discussing the topic with his dad and that he 'tried to tune it out' when his father talked about the election."
"At one point, on redirect, Brian Mock tried to elicit his son's sexual orientation on the stand, but Judge Boasberg said it was beyond the scope of his testimony. It's unclear what he intended by the question and he moved on," said the report. "Brian Mock said that he'd forgiven his son right away when he learned that A.J. Mock had turned him into the FBI and asked his son whether he would lie on the stand to keep him out of jail. 'No,' A.J. Mock said at trial. 'I just want the truth to be heard.'" The elder Mock told his son, "You know I'm proud of you, right? And you know I love you, right?" to which he said yes.
Over 1,000 people have been charged, convicted, or accepted deals in connection with the attack on the Capitol — the largest number of defendants for a single event in American history.
Far-right groups, most notably the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who were key figures in planning the violence, have been convicted of seditious conspiracy.
AFP
-
Weeks ago it was reported that “dozens” of Secret Service agents had testified against Donald Trump to the grand jury in Jack Smith’s classified documents probe. Now NBC News is reporting that multiple Secret Service agents have also testified against Trump to the grand jury in Jack Smith’s separate January 6th probe. Why is this a big deal?
To be clear, grand jury testimony isn’t optional. If prosecutors have a grand jury subpoena you to testify, your only real options are to comply or get swiftly hauled into court for contempt. So it’s not news that these agents went ahead and gave the testimony that they were subpoenaed to give. Regardless of how they feel about Trump, there’s no such thing as magically defying a grand jury subpoena.
What is notable is that Jack Smith’s probe was able to externally determine which Secret Service agents witnessed what. This is what allowed Smith to subpoena the correct agents, ask them the right questions on the stand, and obtain the relevant testimony.
It’s the latest sign of just how thorough Jack Smith’s January 6th probe has been, and how deeply it’s penetrated Trump’s inner circle. It’s also the latest sign that Jack Smith’s January 6th criminal indictment against Donald Trump is coming soon. These are the kinds of details that tend to surface just before the indictment happens.
Five or six Secret Service agents have testified before Jan. 6 grand jury, sources say
It is not known what the agents’ proximity to Trump was on Jan. 6 or what information they may have provided to the grand jury.
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:eco,dpr_2.0/rockcms/2023-06/230626-donald-trump-robert-engel-jm-1223-c61576.jpg)
About half a dozen Secret Service agents have testified before the grand jury that will decide whether to indict former President Donald Trump for his alleged role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol and efforts to interfere in the peaceful transfer of the presidency, according to two sources familiar with their testimony.
Roughly five or six agents have appeared, the sources said, in compliance with subpoenas they received. It is not known what the agents’ proximity to Trump was on Jan. 6 or what information they may have provided to the grand jury.
Special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the events of Jan. 6 is separate from his probe that led to Trump’s recent indictment in Florida for the handling of classified documents. Sources told NBC News that about 24 Secret Service agents appeared before the grand jury that considered that case in Washington before the case moved to Florida.
A spokeswoman for the Secret Service declined to comment.
While the exact content of their subpoenas and appearances is not known, Secret Service agents who were close to Trump on Jan. 6 may be able to confirm, deny or provide more details on a story first told by former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson to the now-defunct Jan. 6 committee in Congress.
One year ago, Hutchinson told the committee she heard secondhand that Trump wanted Secret Service agents to drive him to the Capitol to join the rioters, tried to grab the car’s steering wheel and then reached for the “clavicles” of the driver, Secret Service agent Bobby Engel. Trump later denied this account.
Hutchinson said she learned of the incident from Tony Ornato. Ornato took a leave of absence from the Secret Service to serve as deputy chief of staff for Trump beginning in 2019 and then returned to the Secret Service when Trump left office. Both Engel and Ornato have since left the Secret Service and it is not known whether they have testified before the grand jury.
Also of interest is what agents knew and discussed leading up to and during the Capitol insurrection. The Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General notified Congress last year that all text messages between agents on Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021, were lost. The agency said it was part of a pre-planned software upgrade. Their communications, and anything agents may be able to recall, could inform the grand jury about the extent to which Trump knew about the potential for violence on Jan. 6 and how he responded to threats made against then-Vice President Mike Pence.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/secret-service-agents-jan-6-grand-jury-trump-rcna91182
-
Corinne Montoni, one of multiple Jan 6 defendants from Lakeland, Florida, has pleaded guilty to felony
Feds said "On her Parler account, she stated in part, “WE BREACHED THE CAPITOL OMG“; “Insurrection is coming. Hold the line. Stay vigilant..."
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzqSkW2WYAEhwiR?format=jpg&name=medium)
Marc Bru of Washington state becomes latest Jan 6 defendant to "FAIL TO APPEAR" for a court hearing.
Per court, Bru failed to show for June 16 hearing. Then failed to show yesterday.
Bru is accused of grabbing police barricade & advancing with mob while wearing goggles & mask.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fzo8Lf0XwAIoAgW?format=jpg&name=medium)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Fzo8Lf0WcAIv-Zs?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani interviewed in Jan. 6 investigation
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rudy Giuliani, who as a member of Donald Trump’s legal team sought to overturn 2020 presidential election results in battleground states, was interviewed recently by investigators with the Justice Department special counsel’s office.
A spokesman for Giuliani confirmed he met with the special counsel. “The appearance was entirely voluntary and conducted in a professional manner,” Ted Goodman said in a statement.
A person familiar with the matter said the interview was not done before a grand jury. The person, who insisted on anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, would not say what questions investigators asked.
The interview is an additional sign of busy investigative activity by special counsel Jack Smith as his team of prosecutors scrutinizes efforts by Trump and his allies to undo the results of the election in the weeks before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Smith filed a separate case earlier this month charging Trump with illegally retaining classified documents at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.
As a lawyer for Trump, Giuliani pushed bogus legal challenges to the presidential election results. The legal team filed lawsuits in battleground states raising unsupported claims of vast election fraud even though officials, including Trump’s own attorney general, William Barr, said no such pervasive problems existed.
Giuliani’s efforts have made him a key figure in investigations. He was interviewed last year by a House committee that investigated the run-up to the Jan. 6 attack and by prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, who have been investigating efforts to subvert that state’s election.
Justice Department prosecutors have for months now been examining what role Trump legal advisers played in working to undo the election. Last July, John Eastman, a conservative lawyer who aided Trump’s efforts to challenge the election results, reported that federal agents had seized his phone.
A spokesman for the special counsel’s office did not immediately return an email seeking comment.
CNN first reported the interview with Giuliani.
https://ktla.com/news/politics/ap-politics/trump-lawyer-rudy-giuliani-interviewed-in-jan-6-investigation-ap-source-says/
Another Trump indictment? Legal vets see more charges for coup after Trump DOJ charges
There are signs of escalation in the open criminal probes into January 6th, after Trump’s DOJ indictment in the classified documents case. Former acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal explains why he expects a “new slew of criminal charges related to Jan. 6,” and former Deputy Chief of the SDNY Criminal Division Kristy Greenberg, agrees, discussing the path to possible new charges in Georgia. Both lawyers spoke with joins MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber on “The Beat.”
Watch:
-
Trump’s prison nightmare: Giuliani now talking to DOJ about Jan 6 for first time
Former Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani meets with Special Counsel Jack Smith as the Jan. 6 probe heats up. It marks the “latest indication that Mr. Smith and his team are actively seeking witnesses who might cooperate in the case," according to The New York Times. Former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman tells MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber the development is “the big kill."
https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/trump-s-prison-nightmare-giuliani-now-talking-to-doj-about-jan-6-for-first-time-185650245826
Fake Trump Electors Strike Deal to Testify in DOJ’s Jan. 6 Probe: Report
Special Counsel Jack Smith has offered immunity deals to two witnesses in the investigation into 2020 election meddling
(https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/jack-smith-fake-electors.jpg?w=1581&h=1054&crop=1)
SPECIAL COUNSEL JACK Smith may have already charged Donald Trump for hoarding classified material, but the Mar-a-Lago probe is not the only Justice Department investigation into the former president. According to CNN, Smith has traded partial immunity for the testimony of two fake electors in the probe into the effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
The individuals reportedly testified before a Washington, D.C., grand jury empaneled by Smith to investigate Trump’s efforts to override his election loss and his role in the events of Jan. 6.
In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Trump and his allies allegedly engaged in a scheme to provide an “alternate” set of pro-Trump Electoral College electors for states where Biden had secured a narrow victory. These states included Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
According to sources who spoke to CNN, Smith and his prosecutors have in recent weeks sought to compel the testimony of various, yet unidentified individuals involved in the plans, and have interviewed at least half a dozen witnesses in the past few days.
Smith’s office has also honed in on various key Trump allies in recent weeks, including his former attorneys Sidney Powell and Rudy Giuliani, as well as Jefferey Clark. Clark, a Trump DOJ appointee, pressured the department to falsely inform the Georgia legislature that they had uncovered “significant fraud” in the state and encourage them to put forth an alternate slate of electors.
It’s unclear if Trump will be indicted in the probe, but if he is it would be the second time Smith brings criminal charges against the former president. Earlier this month, Trump was arrested and arraigned on 37 federal charges related to his post-presidency hoarding of classified documents. The charges against Trump include conspiracy to obstruct justice, corruptly concealing a record or document, and concealing a document in a federal investigation.
Trump may also face charges from Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is widely expected to reveal an indictment in her own investigation into election interference in Georgia sometime this August
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jack-smith-trump-fake-electors-immunity-testimony-1234777165/
Georgia secretary of state to interview with Special Counsel Jack Smith as part of Jan. 6 probe
(https://s.abcnews.com/images/US/Brad-Raffensperger-gty-gmh-230627_1687874459297_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg)
Special Counsel Jack Smith is expected to interview Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger this week as part of his investigation into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Smith, who charged former President Donald Trump on 37 federal felony charges as part of his probe into the former president's alleged improper retention of classified records, was also tasked with taking over the Justice Department’s Jan. 6 investigation. Trump pleaded not guilty.
Smith, specifically, is investigating whether Trump or other officials and entities interfered with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election, including the certification of the Electoral College vote on Jan. 6, 2021.
Smith had subpoenaed Raffensperger for documents related to the case, but Wednesday will be the first time the Georgia secretary of state appears for an interview with the special counsel.
Raffensperger, back in 2021, took part in a phone call with then-President Trump, who allegedly urged the secretary of state to "find" enough votes to reverse the state’s election results.
During the call, according to audio recordings, Trump said: "All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state."
Georgia certified election results showed that Joe Biden won the state in the 2020 presidential race by 11,779 votes.
A spokesperson for Raffensperger told Fox News that the secretary of state will not comment on the call as part of the interview with the special counsel’s team.
Raffensperger’s interview with Smith comes as prosecutors in Fulton County are looking to wrap up their criminal investigation into Trump's alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the state.
A special grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, released portions of a report detailing findings from the investigation earlier this year, which indicated a majority of the grand jury believes one or more witnesses may have committed perjury in their testimony and recommends that prosecutors pursue indictments against them, if the district attorney finds the evidence compelling.
The special grand jury spent about seven months hearing testimony from witnesses, including high-profile Trump allies, such as attorney Rudy Giuliani and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and high-ranking Georgia officials, including Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp.
Meanwhile, Smith charged Trump earlier this month as part of the classified records probe. Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts. The charges include willful retention of national defense information, conspiracy to obstruct justice and false statements.
This is the first time in United States history that a former president has faced federal criminal charges.
AFP
-
Initial appearance TODAY in Jan 6 cases of Kenneth, Caleb & Nicholas Fuller of Minnesota.
Feds: "Nicholas Fuller & Caleb Fuller can be seen on body-worn camera footage allegedly pushing against police lines & pushing others to prevent the forward movement of... officers".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FzlZoA9WIAAcvQr?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
NEW FLIP: Ex-Trump Staffer Cuts Deal With Jack Smith Jan 6 Election Interference Probe
https://www.mediaite.com/news/new-flip-ex-trump-staffer-cuts-deal-with-jack-smith-jan-6-election-interference-probe/
-
Still no Nashville manifesto. Maybe someday the truth will come out. It usually does just after an election.
-
Fmr. Asst. U.S. Attorney on Jan. 6 probe: 'We're coming very close to an indictment'
Alyse Adamson, a former assistant U.S. attorney who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 and arraigned the first insurrectionists, speaks with Michael Steele about the "very damaging" audio tapes of Trump discussing classified documents and why it could lead to additional charges against the former president even after the initial indictment. She also explains why the new developments this week in the Jan. 6 probe are a significant "turning point" in the investigation.
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 rioter arrested with weapons near former President Barack Obama's home
A fugitive with a van full of weapons is in police custody after being arrested trying to run towards the Washington, D.C. home of former President Barack Obama. Taylor Taranto was wanted by the FBI for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Jeff Pegues reports from Washington, D.C.
Watch:
-
Michigan man arrested for striking Capitol officer with flagpole on Jan. 6
DETROIT — A Midland man, who previously worked as a staffer in the Michigan Senate, has been arrested for allegedly striking a Capitol Police officer with a flagpole and being within feet of the doors to the U.S. House chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.
A statement from an FBI agent filed in federal court and unsealed Friday showed images of Jeremy Rodgers, 28, a former Midland City Council candidate, carrying a Donald Trump flag as he moved through the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Rodgers allegedly used the flagpole as a weapon and struck one Capitol officer three times on the helmet, said the statement from Nicholas Vanderploeg, a special agent for the FBI.
"The strikes are loud enough to be heard in videos documenting the assault," Vanderploeg wrote.
The Department of Justice announced Friday that Rodgers was charged with several felonies: assault on a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon, civil disorder, entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon, and an act of physical violence in a restricted building or grounds with a deadly or dangerous weapon.
Rodgers was also charged with misdemeanor offenses of disorderly conduct in a Capitol building, act of physical violence in a Capitol building or on Capitol grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, the Department of Justice said.
The FBI received multiple tips from individuals who knew Rodgers personally and identified him as one of the individuals pictured among the FBI's "most wanted" from the Jan. 6, 2021, violence at the U.S. Capitol. The FBI says images from Jan. 6 showed Rodgers extending a "flagpole over his head immediately before bringing it down" on an officer's head, according to court documents.
Rodgers was arrested in Orlando, Florida, the Department of Justice said.
Court documents said Rodgers, carrying a blue flag attached to a wooden flagpole, approached a line of law enforcement officers guarding the East Rotunda Door and struck a Capitol police officer three times. Court documents said Rodgers struck down the flagpole twice more in the direction of the officers.
The FBI said images from Jan. 6 showed Rodgers "extending the flagpole over his head immediately before bringing it down" on an officer's head.
Twitter had given Rodgers the nickname "The Freshman Flagger," because of his youthful appearance and his use of the flagpole, according to court documents.
Rodgers previously and unsuccessfully sought election to Midland City Council in 2018 and 2020, according to The Midland Daily News. In November 2018, he lost a race for the Ward 1 seat on the council by 28 votes to Pam Hall, according to city election results.
A 2020 campaign finance disclosure identified Rodgers as a "constituent rep" for then-state Sen. Jim Stamas, a Republican. Stamas, who was then-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. Stamas was termed out of the Michigan Senate at the end of 2022.
"It is very disappointing to learn Jeremy may have been involved in any of the events on Jan. 6," Stamas said Saturday. "I believe any individual who illegally entered our Capital should be prosecuted according to the law."
Rodgers left Stamas' office in November 2020, the former senator said.
Campaign finance disclosures also show that former Attorney General Bill Schuette's 2018 gubernatorial campaign paid Rodgers $5,625 in wages.
In a Facebook post, the Midland County Republican Party said Rodgers had not been active in the party for some time.
"These charges are very serious," the post says. "The Midland County Republican Party supports our men and women in law enforcement. Political violence has no place in our constitutional republic."
© The Detroit News
-
Justice Dept to seek 56-months prison in Jan 6 case of Kevin Lyons, arguing he was in Nancy Pelosi’s private office, "took a wallet from a congressional staffer’s coat and a framed photograph of the Speaker with the Civil Rights icon and former member of Congress John Lewis".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0Tqy2bWYAA2xrl?format=jpg&name=small)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0Tqy2iXsAAgfrT?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Still image from a recently-filed US Capitol riot case.
Feds say this image was taken from a court-ordered search of a Jan 6 defendant's phone.
A rare look at what some members of the mob saw as some sought to break into US House chamber.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0OASVNXsAUqxKH?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Obama-targeting Jan. 6 rioter first entered elementary school
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/taylor-taranto.jpg?id=34287504&width=2400&height=1350)
Prior to being arrested near former president Barack Obama's residence with guns and other weapons, Jan. 6th insurrectionist Taylor Taranto entered a public elementary school, according to reports.
Taranto, who has been under confinement since being arrested near Obama's residence despite a judge saying he may have to free him, live-streamed his entrance into the school, according to a Thursday report from the Washington Post.
"Montgomery County Public Schools officials say they are investigating the use of school facilities after a man who was arrested with guns near former president Barack Obama’s house in Washington was found to have entered a school with a group that booked the elementary campus to show a Jan. 6-related film," according to the report. "Taylor Taranto, 37, live-streamed himself and several others entering a gymnasium and displaying the film at Piney Branch Elementary School in Takoma Park, just north of Washington, on June 18, according to U.S. prosecutors. Prosecutors said that Taranto said he chose the elementary school because it was close to the home of U.S. Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (D-Md.). Raskin has been a leading congressional critic of Donald Trump."
According to the report, Taranto's presence at the school wasn't specifically noted, and it wasn't part of a Jan. 6th group's request.
"Piney Branch Elementary School Principal Christine Oberdorf wrote to families Thursday explaining that a group that advocates for participants in the Jan. 6 insurrection, called Make America Safe Again or MASA, requested to use the school’s cafeteria from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. to show a film that day. Taranto was not a part of the permit request," it reported.
Oberdorf is quoted in the article as saying, "I understand that such news can be distressing, and I want to assure you that we are taking this matter seriously and prioritizing the safety and security of our students and staff."
Read More Here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2023/07/06/montgomery-school-taylor-taranto-jan6/
-
Jack Smith has 'steady stream of witnesses' giving him the goods on January 6: ex-prosecutor
While former President Donald Trump has already been indicted on Espionage Act and obstruction of justice charges for his stash of highly classified national defense information at Mar-a-Lago, another shoe is yet to drop: the investigation into January 6, which could also put him in legal jeopardy, which like the other case is being handled by special counsel Jack Smith.
Former federal prosecutor Kristy Greenberg joined MSNBC's Chris Hayes on Wednesday to walk through where that investigation currently stands.
"All of us are essentially flying blind, right?" said Hayes. "We don't know. We can just glean together from the public clues we have. But you said predictions, look for charges and special counsel Jack Smith January 6 probe against Trump and his former lawyers this summer. What sort of moved you to make that prediction?"
"Well, there's been some public reporting that prosecutors are nearing charging decisions, but you have seen a steady stream of witnesses for the federal grand jury in recent weeks," said Greenberg. "There's also reporting that the special counsel's office, which is really pressing attorneys not to have delays, they need to get into the grand jury before the end of June. Why is that the case? presumably they have a timetable here."
Specifically, Greenberg suggested, "I'm guessing at least part of that timetable is informed by what Fani Willis is doing in Georgia. She has already said her timetable is the end of July, early- to mid-August."
"I think you can also look at the fact that they have amassed evidence from, really, Donald Trump's inner circle," Greenberg continued. "We know that his campaign officials, Gary Michael Brown has been in the grand jury, Michael Roman apparently is cooperating. He was the director of Election Day operations. State officials in all the background states. You've got, potentially, Mark Meadows, White House counsel, Mike Pence. You know, if you have this inner circle, you're really, I think at that point, nearing the end of the investigation."
Watch:
-
'Corrosive to the rule of law': Legal analyst demands law enforcement hold Trump accountable
A prominent legal analyst on Tuesday called on law enforcement to hold Donald Trump accountable for the Jan. 6 insurrection and subsequent actions, citing the recent arrest of a Jan. 6 defendant found heavily armed near former President Barack Obama’s Washington D.C. home.
NBC News legal analyst Glenn Kirschner in a YouTube video said President Joe Biden had been asked by world leaders why Trump hadn’t yet been held to account for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Taylor Taranto, 37 of Seattle, had two guns, 400 rounds of ammunition, and a machete in his van that he appeared to be living in when he was arrested Thursday, NBC News reports.
“Yesterday leaders from around the world you know, the heads of democracies around the globe, are asking President Biden why? Why hasn't Donald Trump been held accountable for the insurrection?” Kirschner said.
“We don't know what President Biden tells them in reply, but Donald Trump's continued, supremely dangerous conduct going unaddressed by our law enforcement authorities is so infuriating.”
Kirschner said Trump poses an ongoing threat to public safety and American democracy.
“I am sick and tired of Donald Trump endangering our communities, endangering our society and endangering American democracy with nothing being done to address the danger,” Kirschner said.
Kirschner in the video notes that Trump on his Truth Social website posted Barack Obama’s Washington D.C. home address, which Taranto reposted.
Kirschner in a description of the video described the posting of Obama’s address as “a staggering show of disregard for the safety of another former president.”
Taranto traveled to the nation’s Capital on the invitation of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.), who offered Jan. 6 defendants an opportunity to view security footage from the insurrection for use in their defense.
“It's so disheartening, it's so corrosive to the rule of law. It's the antithesis of justice,” Kirschner said of Trump’s actions.
“And justice matters.”
Watch:
-
Incredibly still no sign of the Nashville shooter's manifesto. The DOJ leaks any information - real or imagined - that they have on Trump. But a tight lid on the manifesto and anything relating to Dirty Hunter. I guess that is just a coincidence.
-
'I have common sense': Judge slaps down MAGA rioter's excuses to his face
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=34299907&width=2400&height=1349)
United States District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich did not appear pleased with a convicted MAGA rioter's attempt to make excuses for himself during a Friday sentencing hearing.
As reported by CBS News' Scott MacFarlane, Friedrich delivered what he described as a "blistering" interjection during the sentencing hearing of Barry Ramey, a member of the Proud Boys who was charged with pepper-spraying police after he marched to the Capitol wearing tactical gear that prosecutors said showed he came prepared to commit acts of violence.
The interjection in question came when Ramey's attorney tried to argue that their client only wore a tactical vest for defensive purposes, while the knee pads he equipped during the riots were to protect his "vulnerable knees."
In addition to this, the attorney argued that Ramey didn't bring the pepper spray he used on Capitol police but only found it on the scene.
This was apparently too much for Judge Friedrich, however.
“That doesn’t ring true to me," she said, according to MacFarlane. "I have common sense."
Additionally, reports MacFarlane, Friedrich whacked Ramey's attorney for arguing their client had been "completely forthcoming," as she said he has only admitted to facts that the court has clear evidence to prove.
"What has he admitted that the court doesn’t already have evidence of?" she asked. “He’s admitting only what he can’t deny."
Friedrich would go on to give Ramey a five-year prison sentence.
AFP
Rudy Giuliani 'has exposure as a potential co-conspirator': J6 committee’s top investigator
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/rudy-giuliani.jpg?id=29804860&width=2400&height=1510)
A former U.S. Attorney who served as the House Jan. 6 committee’s top investigator said Thursday that former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani could be facing serious legal jeopardy of his own.
Timothy Heaphy during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House with Nicolle Wallace” said that the former New York City mayor “has exposure as a potential co-conspirator” in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation over allegations of election interference.
“Rudy Giuliani has had exposure from the beginning,” Heaphy said, noting that “he was directly soliciting the submission of these fake electors, and continuing to make these public statements with no basis in fact or law.”
Heaphy’s assertion is supported by the account of former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, who said Wednesday during an appearance on CNN that Giuliani, among others in the Trump orbit, offered him “proof” of election fraud that in his estimation was no such thing.
Heaphy suggested that Giuliani’s submission of fake electors is the reason “his license to practice law has been removed.”
“Now,” Heaphy added, “I don't know if he's continuing to stick to that when he goes in front of the grand jury – he did stick to that when he testified before the select committee – or whether or not he has changed his tune and has worked out some sort of deal with the special counsel where he will admit that he had awareness that there was no basis in fact in law and continued nonetheless to perpetuate the fake collector scheme, and ultimately aided and abetted the attempt to obstruct the official proceeding."
He noted:
“That's that is a missing piece, what Mr. Giuliani's status is, but there's no question to call just based on the record, we know that he has exposure as a potential co-conspirator.”
Watch:
-
NEW: Another new Capitol riot arrest. Feds announce they've charged Terry Allen of Pennsylvania, alleging "video evidence shows Allen shoving and physically assaulting (police) on west plaza by using his wooden flagpole as a lance, driving it into officers in a stabbing motion."
Here's an image of Terry Allen allegedly stabbing at police with flagpole amid the mob.
From charging documents:
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0dDHVCWYBkVjge?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Capitol riot defendant Landon Copeland of Utah, a US Army vet who was accused of grabbing, pushing police on Jan 6, is serving his federal prison sentence at the Sheridan federal correctional facility in Oregon.
http://e.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.235480/gov.uscourts.dcd.235480.34.0.pdf
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0WtCh6WYAEyKMi?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Rep. Schiff: Special Counsel ‘moved with swiftness’ in Jan. 6 probe
Rep. Adam Schiff tells MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell that reports Special Counsel Jack Smith is interviewing witnesses about a contentious White House meeting in December 2020 could be important for showing Trump’s willingness to defraud American people despite knowing he lost the election, adding “That could be very powerful evidence to a conspiracy charge.”
https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/rep-schiff-special-counsel-moved-with-swiftness-in-jan-6-probe-187090501507
'Antithetical to democracy’: Expert on Dec. 2020 White House meeting reportedly under DOJ scrutiny
During the January 6th committee hearings, we got a glimpse into a White House meeting that took place six weeks after Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, a meeting former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson called unhinged. Special counsel Jack Smith is questioning witnesses about that six-hour meeting, according to CNN.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-reidout/watch/special-counsel-reportedly-scrutinizing-white-house-meeting-of-december-2020-187223109868
The military ‘coup bomb’ goes off: Trump’s ‘unhinged’ WH plot gets the Jack Smith treatment
Special Counsel Jack Smith is reportedly digging into the infamous 2020 White House meeting where participants allegedly talked about seizing election machines. The move suggests Smith is building on the evidence gathered by the January 6 Congressional Committee. MSNBC Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber reports.
https://www.msnbc.com/the-beat-with-ari/watch/the-military-coup-bomb-goes-off-trump-s-unhinged-wh-plot-gets-the-jack-smith-treatment-187200581813
In new letter seeking leniency for Jan 6 defendant Noah Bacon, his father writes to judge:
"Our large family is baffled and perplexed as to why Noah took on an allegiance to Donald Trump"
He says Noah voted twice for Obama and is the "polar opposite" of Trump.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0hPoJUWcAEcuHE?format=jpg&name=small)
-
And still no answers on the Nashville manifesto. Hunter's laptop. The cocaine found in the WH. See any trend?
-
TUESDAY: DOJ will seek 33-months prison in Jan 6 case of Cale Clayton of Missouri. They argue Clayton grabbed an officers police shield.. & walked the police line "flaunting" a stolen police baton.. & resisted by shoving an officer in the head and grabbing officer's face mask".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0nMwOtWYAAMdHv?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
Sentencing set for July 28 in Capitol riot case of Thomas Sibick, who was accused of stealing badge and radio from beaten DC police officer on Jan 6. Feds say Sibick later *buried* the badge in his yard.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0M3s5lXwAAU9gB?format=jpg&name=medium)
-
And still no sign of the Nashville shooter's manifesto, Hunter's laptop, the cocaine person at the WH. So many mysteries when it comes to investigating leftists. It takes years to get to truth. Sometimes it never happens. When Trump is under investigation, the leaks come fast and furious. They even place the "evidence" on the floor and take pictures which they release to the press. The press is often notified in advance to film the raid. But there is no "double standard" of justice. Just ask Merrick Garland. He says so. It must be true despite the facts.
-
Court unseals Jan 6 case against Zach Boulton of Georgia.
Feds allege Boulton made several relevant posts on TIK-TOK, including one that said "We’re taking this place over” .. as he showed video of DC.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0sWvZBWIAIAPDX?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Here's the charging document:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.256446/gov.uscourts.dcd.256446.1.1.pdf
(https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1678452165478866944/TQtvdGVK?format=png&name=360x360)
-
Plea hearing next week in Capitol riot case of Anthony Sargent of Florida. Charging documents allege Sargent is linked to Proud Boys and to the damage of a US Capitol entrance on Jan 6.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F0dm_ydWAAMKKWR?format=jpg&name=900x900)
Video Highlighting How Proud Boys Coordinated For Capitol Riot
Watch:
-
Grand jury proceedings are secret by definition. That means we don’t learn about anything that’s going on in real time unless a prosecutor or target strategically gives something to the media, or the media spots a witness going in or out of the courthouse. The media, with its stakeouts, is actually pretty darn good at spotting witnesses – but they don’t always catch everyone.
That’s why it’s remarkable that Jack Smith’s January 6th grand jury met for about eight hours today, according to NBC News, but not a single known witness was spotted entering or exiting the courthouse. This only leaves two possibilities.
The first would be that the grand jury spent all day hearing from a highly sensitive witness who was snuck into the building with great care by prosecutors so that no one would spot or identify the person. This does sometimes happen. The second possibility would be that no one actually testified today – which would mean that prosecutors instead spent the day asking the grand jury to indict specific people.
If it’s the latter, we’ll find out soon enough. If any indictments have come down – or are set to come down the next time the grand jury meets – the news will break one way or the other, either from prosecutors or targets. So as always it’s a waiting game.
But it is highly notable that after so many signs over the past few weeks have pointed to Jack Smith being ready or nearly ready to start bringing criminal indictments in his January 6th probe, today’s reporting suggests that his grand jury may have indeed begun the process of bringing indictments. Buckle up.
Here's more reporting from NBC.
Dozens of witnesses have testified as the Jan. 6-focused grand jury probes Trump
WASHINGTON — Federal grand jurors probing Donald Trump’s attempts to stop the transfer of presidential power after his 2020 election loss have heard testimony from dozens of witnesses in a wide-ranging investigation that has examined the former president’s conduct spanning the time from before Election Day through the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, an NBC News analysis found.
Special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November to oversee the investigations into Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to stay in power, has led a sprawling investigation in the almost eight months since.
While a grand jury in Miami indicted Trump on 37 counts on seven federal charges in early June in connection with the documents investigation and alleged efforts to obstruct it, a federal grand jury in Washington has continued to meet on the third floor of the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in the 2020 election inquiry.
Smith was charged with investigating any violations of the law in connection with efforts to “interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote” on Jan. 6, “as well as any matters that arose or might arise directly from this investigation.”
Bringing charges against Trump in connection with his speech at the Ellipse before the Capitol attack on Jan. 6 was always going to pose a challenge. Trump’s words are protected by the First Amendment, and his rhetoric — telling the people in the crowd they were “not going to have a country anymore” if they didn’t “fight like hell” — could fit within the realm of heated political rhetoric. Trump also explicitly told the crowd to march “peacefully,” which would make charges even more difficult.
Instead, Smith’s team has investigated areas where there might be a clearer instance of potentially illegal conduct. The witnesses called indicate that the special counsel probe has focused particularly on the “fake electors“ scheme in which false slates of electors from states Trump lost would assert that he won. In total, 84 fake electors in seven swing states signed documents falsely declaring Trump the winner.
Reporters and producers regularly camp out in the courthouse lobby, watching the staircase and the elevators, trying to spot witnesses entering the grand jury area. Over the course of several months, the Washington residents sitting on the grand jury have heard testimony from witnesses ranging from little-known campaign aides to Secret Service agents to the former vice president of the United States.
Mike Pence, the highest profile witness to appear before the grand jury, testified in late April after a court order to comply with a subpoena, NBC News reported, just over a month before he announced he was challenging Trump for president in 2024. Two of Pence’s aides who were with him at the Capitol on Jan. 6 also testified before a grand jury last summer, before Smith’s appointment. Pence’s former chief of staff Marc Short appeared in July 2022, according to a source familiar with his testimony, and several news outlets reported that Greg Jacob, Pence’s counsel, testified as well; he declined to comment.
Last month, NBC News reported that two of the “fake electors” appeared before the Washington grand jury; their testimony came the same day that Trump made his first court appearance in Miami.
Gary Michael Brown, the former deputy director of Election Day operations for the Trump campaign, also testified before the federal grand jury on June 22 and declined to comment to NBC News outside the courthouse. The Jan. 6 committee said last year it had found evidence that Brown was “aware of, and participated in, efforts to promote unsupported allegations of fraud in the November 2020 Presidential election and encourage state legislators to alter the outcome of the November 2020 election by, among other things, appointing alternate slates of electors to send competing electoral votes to the United States Congress.” The committee obtained a text message Brown sent to other Trump campaign officials after he delivered the fake votes to Congress the day before the Jan. 6 attack, which included a selfie of him in front of the Capitol.
The investigation began in earnest last year, around the time federal law enforcement officials with the Justice Department’s Inspector General’s Office searched the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former DOJ official whom Trump considered making the acting attorney general despite his lack of any experience in criminal law. Court documents revealed that agents were at Clark’s home investigating potential charges of making false statements, criminal conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
Federal agents also seized phones from four key promoters of Trump’s stolen election claims: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who had his phone seized in a Hardee’s drive-thru; John Eastman, the Trump-aligned lawyer who pushed the discredited theory that Pence had the power to refuse to certify the election; Boris Epshteyn, a longtime Trump adviser who was part of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s legal efforts to overturn the election results; and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., who helped connect the White House with Clark.
In September 2022, before Smith took over the investigation, the Justice Department issued about 40 subpoenas, including to former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who also worked with Giuliani’s legal team, and Epshteyn, who recently met with the special counsel for two days, ABC News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Epshteyn did not respond to a request for comment on his reported appearance.
After Smith took over in November, his team subpoenaed officials in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Pennsylvania, asking them for communications with or involving Trump, his campaign and 19 Trump associates, including Eastman, Giuliani, Justin Clark, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis.
Giuliani spoke with members of Smith’s special counsel team in recent weeks, as CNN first reported. Robert Costello, Giuliani’s attorney, did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment, but a spokesman, Ted Goodman, confirmed that Giuliani and Costello had met with Smith’s team on an “entirely voluntary” basis.
Other individuals who have testified before the federal grand jury, received subpoenas, or spoken to investigators about Jan. 6 and efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power include:
Former White House lawyers Patrick Philbin and Pat Cipollone, who were scheduled to testify in September and were spotted at the courthouse in December. Both men testified before the Jan. 6 committee, saying they had opposed Eastman’s plan to have Pence refuse to certify the election because it was not legal.
Former Trump White House officials Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino, who was seen leaving the courthouse on May 2.
Former Department of Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli, who told NBC News he had testified, and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, according to an ABC News article that cited sources familiar with the matter. A Ratcliffe spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment seeking to confirm Ratcliffe’s appearance before the grand jury.
"Stop the Steal” leader Ali Alexander, whose group organized the rally that preceded the Capitol attack on Jan. 6. Alexander confirmed on social media last June that he’d testified before a federal grand jury.
Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, according to CNN. Gingrich, who suggested in an email cited by the Jan. 6 committee that Trump could encourage Republican-led legislatures to refuse to send electors to certify his loss, did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Steve Bannon, who was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress last year and sentenced to four months in federal prison, received a grand jury subpoena for testimony and documents in late May.
About half a dozen Secret Service agents, who also testified before the federal grand jury, according to two sources familiar with their testimony.
Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican who testified before the Jan. 6 committee about his refusal to back the fake electors scheme, has spoken with federal prosecutors. The special counsel also subpoenaed the Arizona secretary of state’s office.
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump asked to just “find 11,780 votes.” Raffensperger spoke with investigators from Smith’s office on June 28.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/dozens-witnesses-testified-jan-6-focused-grand-jury-probes-trump-rcna91171
-
Special Counsel Jack Smith zeroes in on 'fake electors' scheme in Jan. 6 investigation
https://www.msnbc.com/american-voices/watch/special-counsel-jack-smith-zeroes-in-on-fake-electors-scheme-in-jan-6-investigation-187286597552
The DOJ Is Probing Trump’s Push to Overturn the Election. Here’s What We Know
Special Counsel Jack Smith has already indicted Donald Trump, and his second investigation into the former president is heating up
THE DEPARTMENT OF Justice has already indicted former President Donald Trump on a myriad of charges related to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House, but Special Counsel Jack Smith’s work is far from over.
Among the torrent of headlines, Truth Social rants, and court rulings pertaining to the Mar-a-Lago investigation, it’s easy to forget that Smith was also tasked with overseeing a probe into the coordinated effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Jan. 6 committee determined last year that Trump was at the center of that effort, and asked the Justice Department to charge him criminally.
It’s been more than two years since the Jan 6. attack on the Capitol that capped the effort to overturn the election, and while there’s been congressional investigations, countless cases against rioters, and even a presidential impeachment, Smith’s investigation is the first to rigorously examine whether or not criminal conduct took place at the highest levels of government. So here’s what’s going on:
What is the Justice Department investigating?
In the early days of the Biden administration, Attorney General Merrick Garland — then a nominee for his current position — vowed that the DOJ would conduct a thorough investigation into the events precipitating the riot on Jan. 6, as well as into who was ultimately responsible for efforts to interfere in the 2020 election.
It took time for those efforts to come to full fruition. The Washington Post reported last month on how it took more than a year before federal prosecutors agreed to formally pursue an investigation into the Trump administration’s role in the chaos following the 2020 election.
Despite the delay, under Garland the department launched several probes into potential election interference that fell short of directly involving the former president. Last November, the department consolidated their work into a single investigation overseen by independent Special Counsel Jack Smith, and no one was off limits.
Garland tasked Smith with establishing if “any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or with the certification of electoral college vote held on or about Jan. 6 [2021].” Smith quickly empaneled a grand jury to oversee evidence related to the probe.
Smith’s appointment came less than a week after Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2024. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, Trump had made clear to his allies and advisers that his bid for re-election is at least partially an attempt to escape accountability for his potentially illegal conduct in and out of office.
What specifically is Special Counsel Jack Smith focusing on in the Jan. 6 investigation?
Smith’s investigation revolves around Trump and his allies’ effort to meddle with the certification of Electoral College votes that took place on Jan. 6, primarily through a scheme of fake electors that would swing the certification in Trump’s favor.
Smith has subpoenaed vast troves of materials from election officials in battleground states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin — some of whom allege the former president and his cronies attempted to pressure them into manipulating election results. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump personally attempted to bully into “finding” the votes to give him the state, was among the first witnesses called to testify.
Trump’s behind-the-scenes words and actions in the aftermath of his election loss are also of interest to the department. Smith has issued subpoenas to a myriad of the former president’s advisers and staff, including former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, in an attempt to gain deeper insight into the former president’s motivations, and his role in the escalating violence on Jan. 6.
CNN reported on Friday that Smith has been particularly interested in a meeting that took place in the Oval Office six weeks after Election Day. The meeting reportedly included Cipollone, Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidey Powell, as well as former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Attendees reportedly discussed several desperate ploys to keep Trump in power, including seizing voting machines and invoking martial law.
The investigation also probed Trump’s firing of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs, who publicly resisted the former president’s claims that the election had been fraudulent.
Outside of Trump’s desperation to cling to power, Smith is eying financial gain as a potential motivator of Trump’s election lies. In April, The Washington Post reported that the probe had expanded to include allegations that Trump knowingly used false claims of election fraud to scam potential donors.
Who has the Justice Department interviewed for the Jan. 6 investigation?
So many people. From former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to Steve Bannon, to former Vice President Mike Pence, Smith’s investigation is casting a wide net over Trumpworld.
The attorneys who worked with the former president to level legal challenges against Biden’s presidential victory have faced heavy scrutiny from the DOJ. According to The Wall Street Journal, Smith has requested testimony from Rudy Giuliani, election conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, and attorney Jenna Ellis — all members of Trump’s post-election legal team.
Giuliani reportedly gave more than eight hours of testimony to investigators, dishing on everything from Powell’s efforts to convince Trump to have the government seize voting machines, to pro-Trump attorney John Eastman’s efforts to orchestrate the fake electors scheme.
Eastman’s efforts were foiled by another (reluctant) witness for the special counsel: Mike Pence. The former vice president, who refused to illegally overthrow the election on behalf of his boss on Jan. 6, initially resisted Smith’s subpoena. It took a judge’s ruling to compel Pence to testify, although he was granted an exemption from directly discussing the events of Jan. 6, before he agreed to sit with prosecutors.
Aside from the major players, Smith is also looking to secure the cooperation of those who directly carried out the schemes to meddle with the election outcome. Last month, CNN reported that at least two fake electors had been granted immunity deals in exchange for testimony.
How has Trump responded to the Jan. 6 investigation?
Trump has responded with the unbridled public ire we’ve come to expect from the former president, and some not-so-covert digging to try and establish how screwed he might be.
Trump has publicly attacked Smith on Truth Social and at his public campaign events. Following his indictment and indictment in Smith’s Mar-a-Lago probe, Trump lost it on social media, calling the special counsel a “deranged ‘psycho’ that shouldn’t be involved in any case having to do with ‘Justice,’ other than to look at Biden as a criminal, which he is!”
Behind the scenes, the former president has been attempting to ascertain who in his orbit had flipped on him. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, Trump has sent his attorneys on a fact-finding mission to collect information on what exactly Mark Meadows has been telling investigators. Privately, his team now uses a rat emoji as shorthand for Meadows.
Will Trump be indicted again?
Trump’s stack of indictments could very well increase this summer, but someone else may beat Smith and the Justice Department to the punch. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is running a separate investigation into election meddling in Georgia, is preparing to level her own indictments in August — and could very likely include the former president. In April, Willis sent a letter to local law enforcement advising that her summer indictment could “provoke a significant public reaction,” that would likely require “heightened security.”
There are not yet indicators that charges in relation to Smith’s election meddling investigation are imminent, but the special counsel has already proven he won’t pull his punches. Smith last month leveled 37 criminal counts against the former president related to his handling of classified documents.
The Mar-a-Lago documents case led to very clear signs that charges were incoming. Trump’s lawyers rushed to Washington, D.C., for last-minute negotiations, and Trump was served a letter notifying him that he was the subject of a criminal probe. He also, of course, posted about it on social media. Similar signals could predate an indictment in the election meddling probe.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/jan-6-investigation-trump-election-meddling-probe-explained-1234784856/
-
Brian Mock, a Minnesota man accused of assaulting & shoving police & taking police riot shield is found GUILTY by federal judge.
He had a prior conviction and had been accused in 2010 of directing gun at 3 kids.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F029PaJXwAAv6jd?format=jpg&name=small)
-
NC man who slashed at cops with flagpole, gave Nazi salute, gets 38 months for Jan. 6 crime
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/nc-man-slashed-cops-flagpole-210426509.html
Jan. 6 rioter who beat cop with American flag pole and gave Nazi salute sentenced
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/matthew-beddingfield.jpg?id=34314510&width=2400&height=1254)
Another Jan. 6 attacker was sent to prison on Tuesday, CBS News reporter Scott MacFarlane reported on Twitter.
Matthew Beddingfield showed up at the U.S. Capitol in 2021, swinging a flag pole at cops trying to hold back the crowds and throwing Nazi salutes.
According to the federal indictment: "Beddingfield was on Capitol grounds using a flagpole with the Star-Spangled Banner still attached to strike police officers who were attempting to protect the Capitol and those inside. After attacking the police officers with the flagpole, Beddingfield threw a piece of the broken flagpole at another officer. Beddingfield then faced the Capitol and made a gesture (one that is commonly associated with the Nazis), extending his arm and hand forward and at an upward angle."
The officer he attacked was Aquilino Gonell, who has spoken out about his experience that day. The officer resigned from the force last year citing his trauma. U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols allowed Gonell to speak ahead of sentencing
Reading his victim-impact statement, Gonell explained how Beddingfield “desecrated the American flag by using it as a weapon” against the officers, The Charlotte News Observer reported. He then turned a wooden post into a spear to stab Gonell in his thighs and groin, inflicting “excruciating pain.”
“The vicious hits by him kept coming until his flagpole bended (sic), nearly breaking (from) so many strikes he did on us,” Gonell wrote in the statement.
Beddingfield pleaded guilty on July 7 and was sentenced Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors had asked for a 42-month prison sentence, but the judge sent him to prison for 38 months.
Beddingfield was already out on bail when he went to the Capitol on Jan. 6. He was accused of shooting a teen in the head at a Walmart in Smithfield, NC. He said that he was being robbed when he shot.
Read More Here: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/national/capitol-riots/capitol-rioter-with-adolescent-brain-sentenced-to-3-years-for-assaulting-police-matthew-beddingfield-north-carolina-nazi-salute/65-2d67bb55-3014-4bd0-b481-c39d7b6c2662
Watch:
-
Months after seven Oath Keepers were given rather long prison sentences by the court system for their seditious conspiracy convictions, the DOJ is now asking the courts to go back and make those sentences even longer. On first blush it feels like the DOJ is simply trying to send a message: even Stewart Rhodes’ eighteen year prison sentence isn’t long enough for trying to overthrow the United States government. But the timing of the move makes it feel like there could be more to it.
We still don’t know what precise charges Jack Smith is planning to bring against Donald Trump and his co-conspirators in relation to January 6th, the fake elector scheme, and the overall attempt at overthrowing the 2020 election. But we do know that Jack Smith’s grand jury is back in session this week, doesn’t appear to be hearing from any witnesses, and may now be in the process of issuing indictments.
So what’s going on here? The DOJ certainly had to be hoping that getting convicted at trial and sent to prison for the majority of their remaining lifespan would have been enough to get at least some of these Oath Keepers to enter into cooperation agreements. But as far as anyone knows, none of them have. A handful of Oath Keepers flipped a long time ago. But the ones who decided to go to trial and got convicted are still sticking to their guns. This could be an attempt at pressuring these Oath Keepers into flipping on people like Roger Stone and Michael Flynn, at a time when the likes of Stone and Flynn may be on the verge of indictment.
On the other hand, if Jack Smith is indeed about to indict any political figures for seditious conspiracy, the DOJ could now be trying to set a precedent for just how serious of a charge seditious conspiracy is and just how harsh the punishment should be. It’s almost as if the DOJ is trying to say that if Stewart Rhodes should get longer than eighteen years in prison for trying to overthrow the government, so should Donald Trump when he gets to trial.
We’ll see where this goes. Sometimes things do happen out of pure coincidence. But we’re at a point where the DOJ is making the extraordinarily rare move of going back well after the fact and asking the courts to make existing prison sentences for seditious conspiracy longer, just as the DOJ appears to be preparing to indict bigger fish on charges along the lines of seditious conspiracy. The timing of all this is at least worth keeping an eye on.
Justice Dept to appeal length of prison sentences for Stewart Rhodes, Oath Keepers for Jan. 6 attack
(https://thumbnails.texastribune.org/VgsU2if7nInZ6qxlmqi7hgFq5sc=/1200x630/filters:quality(95)/static.texastribune.org/media/files/4657f62936565dd01eb501424d4cf6bf/Stewart%20Rhodes%20Oath%20Keepers%20REUTERS%20TT%2001.jpg)
The Justice Department plans to appeal the 18-year-prison sentence handed down for Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers, in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol, as well as those of other Oath Keepers, because the terms were not as long as what prosecutors had sought, according to court papers filed Wednesday.
Although Rhodes received a lengthy sentence for seditious conspiracy and other convictions, the 18-year term was less than the 25 years the Justice Department had asked for in one of the most serious cases to go to trial in the Capitol riot and below the range recommended under federal guidelines. Still, Rhodes' sentence was the longest handed down so far in over 1,000 Capitol riot cases.
Defendants routinely appeal their convictions and sentences, but it is more unusual for prosecutors to challenge the length of a prison term imposed by judges who have wide discretion when handing down punishments.
Rhodes' attorney, James Lee Bright, called the government's decision to appeal "surprising." At his sentencing hearing in May, a defiant Rhodes claimed to be a "political prisoner," criticized prosecutors and the Biden administration and tried to play down his actions on Jan. 6.
The Justice Department filed notices in court that they they intend to appeal the sentences of other Oath Keepers, including Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs, who was convicted of seditious conspiracy alongside Rhodes and sentenced to 12 years behind bars.
Three other Oath Keepers tried with Rhodes were acquitted of the sedition charge but convicted of other felonies. Four Oath Keepers were convicted of the seditious conspiracy charge at a second trial in January.
An attorney for Meggs declined to comment Wednesday.
In May, prosecutors had argued before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta that Rhodes, who is 58, qualified for a more lengthy sentence under federal anti-terrorism laws given the "threat of harm and the historic significance" of his crimes. Mehta agreed to impose the terrorism enhancement, noting that Rhodes did not demonstrate "acceptance of responsibility" for his role in the attack. It was the first time the enhancement had been applied to a Jan. 6 defendant.
But the judge ultimately went below — in some cases far below — the sentence prosecutors were seeking for each defendant.
The Justice Department's announcement came after it suffered a rare setback in a related case involving Oath Keepers associates. A former "Jesus Christ Superstar" actor was acquitted Wednesday of conspiring with members of the far-right extremist group to obstruct Congress in the Capitol attack.
James Beeks — a former Oath Keeper and Florida resident who was playing Judas in the traveling production of the musical when he was arrested — was cleared of conspiracy to obstruct Congress' certification of the 2020 election and civil disorder after a trial in federal court.
Mehta, appointed to the bench by former President Obama, was also the judge in Beeks' case. He ruled Wednesday there was little evidence that Beeks actually planned ahead of Jan. 6 or was aware of the group's alleged conspiracy, according to WUSA Reporter Jordan Fischer. "I just can't get there based on this stipulated evidence," Mehta said, according to Fischer.
However, Mehta convicted Beeks' co-defendant, Ohio resident Donovan Crowl, of the same charges after hearing evidence without a jury. Crowl had pleaded not guilty.
Beeks is only the second Jan. 6 defendant to be acquitted of all charges after a trial. Beeks represented himself at trial, though he was assisted by a lawyer who served as stand-by counsel and delivered his closing argument. Approximately 100 others have been found guilty of at least one count after a trial decided by a jury or judge, and more than 600 have pleaded guilty.
Beeks and Crowl — who was a member of an Ohio militia — opted for what's known as a a stipulated bench trial, in which the defense and prosecutors agree to a set of facts and comply with a judge's decision on the defendants' guilt. Such trials allow defendants to admit to certain facts while maintaining a right to appeal any conviction.
Prosecutors had previously charged Beeks with other lower-level offenses, including illegally entering the Capitol. The pair had been indicted on multiple charges, but the parties agreed last week that the bench trial would only decide two felony counts — conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and civil disorder. In exchange, the government dropped the remaining counts.
Prosecutors say Beeks and Crowl were part of a group of Oath Keepers wearing paramilitary gear who stormed the Capitol alongside the mob of Trump supporters. Beeks joined the Oath Keepers in December 2020 and drove to Washington from Florida before meeting up with a group of extremists ahead of the riot, prosecutors said.
Beeks, who was also a Michael Jackson impersonator, wore a jacket from Jackson's "Bad" World Tour along with a helmet and was carrying a homemade shield during the riot, according to court papers.
Mehta said Beeks — unlike other Oath Keepers charged with riot-related crimes — didn't post any messages on social media or exchange text messages with other extremists that could establish what his "state of mind" was leading up to the Capitol riot. The judge also cited a lack of evidence about what Beeks did inside the Capitol that could support a conviction for interfering with police.
"His actions must rise and fall on their own," the judge said.
Beeks was arrested in November 2021 while he was traveling in Milwaukee with the "Jesus Christ Superstar" tour. He told reporters after the verdict that it "feels like a huge burden" has been lifted of his shoulders.
He acknowledged that he had joined the Oath Keepers through the group's website but said he never met or communicated with any of his alleged co-conspirators before Jan. 6. He said never knew of any plan to attack the Capitol and mistakenly believed the Oath Keepers "were the good guys."
"I met up with the wrong people," he said. "I lost my whole career. (Jan. 6) is like a scarlet letter."
Crowl was part of the Ohio State Regular Militia led by Jessica Watkins, who was acquitted of seditious conspiracy but convicted of other serious charges in the trial alongside Rhodes. In December 2022, Crowl sent a message in a group chat that included Watkins that said "law abiding citizens are fix'n to 'act out of character'... Time for talk'in is over."
Crowl's attorney, Carmen Hernandez, said her client was exercising his First Amendment free speech rights on Jan. 6 without any intent to obstruct Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.
"His conduct was no different than that of many Americans who've gone to Congress to peacefully protest and have not been charged with felonies," Hernandez wrote in an email.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-dept-appeal-stewart-rhodes-oath-keepers-jan-6-prison-sentences
-
There have been numerous signs this week that Jack Smith’s criminal indictment of Donald Trump for January 6th may be imminent. Smith’s grand jury has reportedly met at least twice this week, seemingly without hearing from any witnesses. And now the news broke today that Jared Kushner testified against Trump to the grand jury a month ago.
Now Trump is talking on his social media site like he expects to be imminently indicted again: “I never thought I would say that, as the leading political opponent of Crooked Joe Biden, getting Indicted and Arrested by sick government “Thugs” would be my great honor. I am doing it for our Country, to show how evil and sinister a place it has become.”
Did the DOJ just inform Trump that he’s being indicted again? Or is Trump simply reading the tea leaves after seeing the news break that his own family member has already testified against him? In any case, you only publicly declare that some punishment would be a “great honor” if you’ve given up any hope that you might avoid that punishment. Trump either expects, or knows, that he’s about to be indicted by Jack Smith again at any moment.
Special Counsel Jack Smith questioned Trump’s inner circle about 2020 election
Smith’s team reportedly asked witnesses – including the former president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner -- whether or not Trump acknowledged his loss in the days following the election.
Watch:
-
Jared Kushner and Hope Hicks key to zeroing in on Trump's intent: ex-prosecutor
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/jared-kushner.jpg?id=29620173&width=2400&height=1701)
Two of Donald Trump's longtime top aides — his son-in-law Jared Kushner, and political adviser Hope Hicks, were interviewed by special counsel Jack Smith as part of the criminal investigation into the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. According to reports, Kushner told Smith that Trump genuinely believed the election had been stolen from him.
These interviews are massively important to establish the former president's intent, argued former federal prosecutor Jennifer Rodgers on CNN Thursday.
"How much of a window can prosecutors get on Trump's intent — key word, intent — on his in-laws like Jared Kushner, his son-in-law?" asked Wolf.
"They can get a lot," said Rodgers. "Also Hope Hicks. These are two of the people who were around him most in those days following the election and leading up to January 6th."
"There were others as well, Mark Meadows and others," Rodgers continued, "But these are two people who were often in the room, and so as Trump and his allies were discussing what to do now about the election, the fact that he lost, how they're going to move forward with the court cases and the other steps they ended up taking, they would be two of the people there listening to the back and forth. Really critical evidence about what the former president knew when they were making all of those plans."
All of this comes amid the backdrop of the federal case Smith brought against Trump, involving the alleged theft of classified documents, continuing to move ahead, with a back and forth between prosecutors and defense about when to hold the trial.
Watch:
Jared Kushner appears before federal grand jury
Former lead investigator for the Jan. 6 Select Committee Tim Heaphy, former Justice Department prosecutor Andrew Weissmann, and former acting U.S. Solicitor General Neal Katyal react to the breaking news that Jared Kushner testified to the Jan. 6 grand jury.
Watch:
'Host of federal crimes Trump could be charged with’: Co-creator of Jan. 6 prosecution memorandum
Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner has testified to the January 6th grand jury. More on this breaking news in the special counsel’s investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to try to remain in power after his 2020 election loss.
Watch:
-
Feds will be seeking 15+ years in the Capitol siege case of Kyle Fitzsimons of Maine, arguing he was responsible for "five separate violent assaults against police officers during the brawl at the mouth of the tunnel”.
Fitzsimons wore a butcher coat while amid mob.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F07t-46WYAksYjl?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
After spending about one week the secret service has closed the cocaine investigation at the White House. They can't solve it. What a shock! Nothing to see there. Of course, if Trump had been in the WH there would have been armed raids, arrests, and interrogations of individuals. Trump would have been impeached and indicted even if he had nothing to do with it. But nothing to see here. They also found marijuana but never told anyone. No double standard of justice, however. Just ask Wray and Garland. Every Granny who was present on Jan. 6 has been investigated for years, placed in maximum security prisons. But one week and done at the White House.
-
Sentencing is beginning in Jan 6 case of Audrey Southard-Rumsey.
Prosecutors will ask for 6 years prison, arguing she went on "violent rampage" in Capitol. And they say, while carrying a pole, she was a "principal agitator" in the mob -- and called "for a 1776-style revolution."
Prosecutor argues Southard “led the mob toward the House Chamber” on Jan 6.
“She was directly terrorizing Congress”.
Prosecutor argues against the type of “caught up in the moment” defense that’s frequently invoked by Jan 6 defendants.
Asst US Attorney says Southard “worked on a revolutionary manifesto”.
Prosecutor says Southard sought to “install Donald Trump as President”.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F1A7zoyWAAEzCHf?format=jpg&name=900x900)
-
WATCH: Jan. 6 rioters came within feet of Pence
Former Vice President Mike Pence was evacuated to a secure location within the U.S. Capitol as rioters were overtaking the building.
-
'He's looking at everything': Legal expert says Jack Smith's new interviews show he's closing in
(https://www.rawstory.com/media-library/trump-warned-jack-smith-is-just-getting-warmed-up.jpg?id=34140716&width=2400&height=1339)
Special counsel Jack Smith is ramping up the investigation of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by interviewing election officials in Pennsylvania and New Mexico.
This is a huge indicator that Smith's investigation is going over the entire scheme with a fine tooth comb, argued former federal prosecutor Elie Honig on CNN Friday.
"As we have learned in recent weeks about truly how broad the January 6th investigation is, we now know it's gone into all seven of these battleground states," said anchor Kaitlan Collins. "What does it signify to you as we learn more about this investigation, where it could be going?"
"Two weeks ago, there were questions about just how broadly is Jack Smith looking here, is he looking narrowly at the submission of fake electors?" said Honig. "We now know the answer. He's looking at everything. He's looking at all seven states. He's focusing on all different aspects of the pressure campaign on state and local officials, on Mike Pence, the submission of the fake elector certificates."
In other words, Honig added, "He's doing what prosecutors have to do. He's getting all the information. Then he's got to sit down and winnow it down and figure out, is any of it criminal."
"One thing that's interesting about Al Schmidt, the Republican in Pennsylvania, is he said he was asked about how misinformation on widespread voter fraud impacted officials," said Collins. "That stood out to me, because [Michigan Secretary of State] Jocelyn Benson said the same thing, that she was asked about the impact these lies had on election officials. What would Jack Smith's team be trying to do with that information?"
"We used to sometimes say that building a case is like building a house," said Honig. "If you think of it that way, the misinformation is the foundation. Everything that followed, all these pressure campaigns, all these schemes were all based on a lot of disinformation. The false claim that Donald Trump had won this election and that there was massive fraud. And it's not surprising we're hearing similar things from different state officials in different states because you would want, as a prosecutor, to ask the same slate of questions. If you find yourself getting the same type of answer over and over, that contributes to an argument that this was coordinated, this was intentional, this was a conspiracy."
Watch:
-
Jack Smith can prove 'Trump participated in an insurrection': Former Bush official
Donald Ayer, a former deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush, appeared on CNN Friday to make the case that special counsel Jack Smith has the evidence he needs to show former President Donald Trump participated in an insurrection against the United States government.
Ayer started off by arguing that the DOJ would be very careful in bringing charges of supporting an insurrection against Trump, but he argued that prosecutors had what they needed to make such a charge stick.
"It fits like a glove, what Trump did," he said. "You can tell this story in terms of Trump summoning these people to Washington, and his conduct during the day... the tweet that he sent out [saying] Pence isn't doing his job, and then sitting there for 187 minutes and doing nothing, and really lending support. He participated in an insurrection and supported it."
Ayer also said that it was necessary from a practical perspective for Smith to prove that Trump knew he legitimately lost the 2020 election -- but he thinks that Smith has "overwhelming" evidence to support such a charge.
"He said it to a bunch of people," he said. "He may have said it to his family members. And so he knew he had lost, and he went ahead and did these things."
Watch:
-
More new charges are coming!
Legal experts see strong potential for Trump charges in Jan. 6 probe
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/4095773-legal-experts-see-strong-potential-for-trump-charges-in-jan-6-probe/
-
Feds to seek 10-year prison sentence in Jan 6 case of Chris Alberts, arguing he was "wearing metal-plated body armor.. carrying a concealed, fully loaded firearm (containing hollow point.. rounds), gas mask, throat mic, binoculars, bungee cords.. fully loaded ammunition magazine".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F1A4Ju0WAAUKs3m?format=jpg&name=small)
-
The newest wave of Jan 6 criminal cases continues to grow.
Court has unsealed case against Joshua Coker of Toledo, Ohio.
Charging documents allege Coker was inside Senate Chamber, while amid the mob.
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F1bEgHwWwAc5mZv?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Special Counsel Probes Team Trump’s Jan. 6 ‘War Room’
The special counsel's investigators are grilling Trump's allies about a series of meetings at the Willard Hotel ahead of Jan. 6, sources tell Rolling Stone
(https://www.rollingstone.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/rudy-j5-willard-meeting.jpg?w=1581&h=1054&crop=1)
IN THE DAYS and hours before the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, diehard Donald Trump allies gathered at Washington’s Willard Hotel, hunkered down as the last-ditch efforts to overturn the 2020 election went forward. What exactly they were doing in those meetings was a subject of intense interest for Congress’ Jan. 6 investigation, but the committee ran into the limits of its powers as it struggled to reconstruct the specifics of those eleventh-hour meetings.
Now, special counsel Jack Smith’s office is taking its shot, hoping to figure out exactly what went down in the Willard “war room” — and just how involved Trump himself was in the Willard-based efforts to stop the transfer of power to then president-elect Joe Biden.
Special counsel investigators are grilling witnesses about the crucial Willard meetings, two people with knowledge of the investigation tell Rolling Stone. It could prove to be a fruitful line of questioning. One former senior Trump administration official, who stayed on through the Jan. 6 riot, simply refers to it as “the crime headquarters.”
The Willard, a luxury hotel a block from the White House, became the site of what participants described as a “war room” for Trump-aligned lawyers and diehard MAGA operatives working to overturn the 2020 election. The summit took place in the days and hours before the certification of electoral college votes on Jan. 6, and participants included Trump advisers and allies such as Giuliani, John Eastman, Bernard Kerik, Boris Epshteyn, and Steve Bannon.
Investigators led by special counsel Jack Smith have questioned multiple witnesses — including then-top Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani — about the timeline and deliberations of the meetings, seeking to reconstruct the events, the sources say. The investigators also plan to bring in additional witnesses who have knowledge of the Willard meetings, the sources add.
The federal investigators are also focused on the level of Trump’s direct involvement in the meetings, the sources say. The then-president reportedly called Rudy Giuliani on Jan. 5 to complain about Vice President Mike Pence’s refusal to go along with a plan to block the counting of legitimate electoral college votes, according to interviews conducted by the Jan. 6 Committee.
The special counsel’s office declined to comment on this story. But Smith’s interest in Trump associates’ activities at the Willard Hotel, where the then-president’s lieutenants reportedly oversaw the effort to disrupt the count of legitimate electoral college votes, suggests the special counsel is exploring Trump’s role in and knowledge of the efforts to disrupt the proceedings.
Early this week, the former president was sent a target letter related to this investigation, strongly suggesting that an indictment — Trump’s third of the year — could be coming soon. The letter listed the federal statutes under which Trump is expected to be charged, including conspiracy, obstruction, and civil rights violations.
Smith’s office’s efforts to reconstruct what occurred at the Willard during the tumultuous Trump-Biden presidential transition could address questions left unanswered by Congress’ wide-ranging investigation into Trump and his associates.
The January 6 House committee interviewed a number of Trump allies in attendance about the Willard “war room,” including Giuliani and Kerik. But others, including Trumpist attorney Eastman, invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination when asked even basic questions about whether they were in attendance at the Trump “war room” in early Jan. 2021.
“We didn’t get to peek behind the curtain there because they stonewalled us,” a former Jan. 6 committee staffer tells Rolling Stone in reference to the Willard investigation.
The House committee also focused on the phone call Trump apparently made to deputies at the hotel the day before the insurrection.
During Giuliani’s interview with the January 6 House committee, investigators asked about a phone call which they said took place between Trump, Giuliani, and Bannon at the hotel. Trump, one investigator said during Giuliani’s deposition, “called you and Mr. Steve Bannon and conveyed to you that the Vice President was very arrogant and that the President wasn’t happy with him,” according to transcripts released by Congress.
Giuliani, citing attorney-client privilege issues, declined to describe the substance of his call with the former president.
The Trump “war room” at the hotel was a subject of particular interest for the committee’s investigation for its role as a hub for the Trump campaign’s attempts to block the counting of electoral votes on January 6. Top Trump advisers used the so-called “command center” while pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to reject the counting of legitimate electoral votes and encourage state legislatures to instead send slates of bogus pro-Trump electors in battleground states where the former president had lost to Joe Biden.
In a sign that the fake electors plot could be a key part of the Smith investigation, the special counsel’s office has issued subpoenas to election officials in Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin seeking information about the activities of the Trump campaign.
Despite the “command center’s” importance in Trump’s attempted coup, during the presidential transition, the Willard hub attracted the private ire of other Trump advisers who were quietly embarrassed by Giuliani and others’ efforts. Other members of the administration and Trump campaign advisers, the former official says, regularly mocked their work and had nicknames for the “Star Wars cantina” of 2020 dead-enders.
One former senior Trump campaign official tells Rolling Stone that, in discussions at the time with other Trump aides, they called the Willard hotspot “idiot island.”
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-jan-6-jack-smith-willard-war-room-1234792827/
Trump State Department appointee found guilty of seven felonies in Jan. 6 case
Federico Klein had a bench trial before another Trump appointee
(https://media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com/image/upload/t_fit-1240w,f_auto,q_auto:best/rockcms/2023-07/230719-capitol-riot-Federico-Klein-mn-1702-9f37a0.jpg)
WASHINGTON — A Donald Trump political appointee who attempted to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6 was convicted of seven felonies Thursday, the same day a grand jury deciding whether to indict the former president for his efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power was hearing testimony from former White House aide William Russell.
Federico Klein, who worked in the State Department during the Trump administration, was convicted by U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, also a Trump appointee, after a bench trial that unfolded last week. Klein was represented by Stanley Woodward, an attorney for several former Trump officials, including Russell, who was testifying elsewhere in the federal courthouse. Klein, who was 42 at the time of his arrest, faced charges of assaulting, resisting or impeding officers; obstruction of an official proceeding; and civil disorder; as well as misdemeanor offenses.
Klein was originally set to go to trial alongside two other co-defendants, but one of the men — Christopher Quaglin — admitted his guilt. Klein instead went to trial alongside Steven Cappuccio, of Texas, who authorities said ripped off an officer’s mask and joined an effort to try to charge past law enforcement.
Klein was in a tunnel leading into the U.S. Capitol, where some of the worst violence against police took place on Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors had argued. He did not enter the building, however.
During the trial, Woodward argued that it was in "the eye of the beholder" what Klein was doing in the tunnel. He acknowledged that Klein's presence at the front of the police line was not a factor in his favor but that the government had not proven Klein's intentions that day.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/trump-state-department-appointee-found-guilty-seven-felonies-jan-6-cas-rcna95194
-
Trump faces possible indictment in Jan. 6 probe
Donald Trump is facing a possible indictment in the Justice Department's Jan. 6 investigation. The grand jury met Thursday in Washington, D.C. CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa joins "America Decides" to discuss the potential crimes Trump could be charged with.
Watch:
Legal experts: Trump can be convicted for Jan. 6 with what we already know
NBC News has confirmed that Donald Trump received a target letter in Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s January 6th probe. Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe joins MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell to discuss that and a legal analysis by group of experts for Just Security stating Trump can be convicted with the evidence already publicly available.
Watch:
-
Jan. 6 investigation closes in on Trump
Already facing criminal cases in New York and Florida, former President Donald Trump is in increasing legal peril as investigations into his efforts to cling to power after his election loss appear to be coming to a head. (July 20)
Watch:
Trump prepares for ‘Arrest and Indictment’ in Jan 6. probe
"There is just no way for a reasonable person with elementary critical thinking skills to deny the seriousness of this case. This is about a real and existential threat to our nation. It’s about Donald Trump’s attempt and his continuing attempts to undermine and possibly end our democracy as we know it,” says Ali Velshi, as Trump faces a potential third indictment in the Department of Justice’s investigation into efforts to interfere with the 2020 Presidential election – which led to the insurrection on Jan. 6.
Watch:
-
'Better than Mark Meadows': Aide by Trump's side on Jan. 6 could be key Jack Smith witness
A little-known Donald Trump aide could provide a major boost to special counsel Jack Smith in his investigation of the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, a legal expert said Thursday.
Former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann said during an appearance on “Alex Wagner Tonight” that William Russell, who testified before Smith’s grand jury on Thursday, could provide Smith more details than some of the more high-profile witnesses.
Russell has remained in Trump’s orbit after serving as White House special assistant. He remained personal aide for Trump after the former president left office.
“William Russell really seems to know a lot about almost everything. So what was he doing with the grand jury today? And what can that tell us about where this whole investigation stands?” Wagner asked.
“It tells you it's at this point where I think we’re very much at the end stage, but to your point, he's that sort of natural person to make sure you’ve sort of gone through everything he knows because he is there with the former president day in and day out so in some ways, it's even better than Mark Meadows,” Weissman said.
“Plus he’s sort of a more junior person, so you might, ‘might’ I stress, get a more candid version of what happened.”
Watch:
-
In newly charged Jan 6 case of Ben Shuler, feds allege Shuler at first denied to FBI that he was amid the mob at Capitol. Then he was confronted with photos.
Feds allege Shuler "resisted the police line & began pushing a (Montgomery County, MD) officer's riot shield several times".
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F3lp2mGWAAAp27K?format=jpg&name=small)
-
Incredibly the leftist Nashville shooter's manifesto is still being repressed by the FBI. The parents of the children murdered by that leftist lunatic have been left without any closure due to politics. What a shameful time that we now live in where the corrupt legal system covers up crimes of democrats. A dual standard of justice.
-
WATCH LIVE: Trump indicted on federal charges in Jan. 6 case
On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C.
Watch:
-
Special counsel Jack Smith says Trump's lies fueled Jan. 6 attack
Special counsel Jack Smith says Donald Trump's lies "fueled" the Jan. 6 attack on Capitol. "The attack on our nation's capital on January 6, 2021 was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy," he said in a statement regarding Trump's indictment.
Watch:
-
When will the FBI release the Nashville shooter manifesto? It has been months. There was no federal crime and even if there were, the shooter was killed at the scene. What are they doing other than suppressing information for political purposes? When will the Dirty Hunter investigation ever be completed? They can charge Trump with hundreds of felonies after a few days of investigation but close to a decade with Dirty Hunter and nothing. Even leftist propagandists must wonder what is going on. It is not fair to Dirty Hunter to be under endless investigation. Either charge him with a crime or confirm that he has not done anything wrong. Are the deep staters holding this over Old Joe in case they think he can't win in 2024? They can use this to pressure him to drop out of the race.
-
Coup bomb goes off: New video places indicted Trump ally at Capitol on Jan. 6
New footage places Kenneth Chesebro, an architect behind the false elector plot, at the Capitol on January 6. There is currently no evidence Chesebro went inside the Capitol or committed violent acts. MSNBC’s Jason Johnson reports on the footage.
Watch:
-
Trump indicted in Jan. 6 investigation by grand jury
Donald Trump has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Washington on charges stemming from efforts to remain in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election. According to the indictment, Trump faces four charges: conspiracy to defraud the United States; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding; and conspiracy against rights. John Dickerson anchored CBS News' special report about the latest in the special counsel's investigation.
Watch:
-
Everything we know about Trump's Jan. 6 indictment
For the third time in recent months, a grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump, this time for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election. CBS News reporter Astrid Martinez, congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane and legal contributor Rebecca Roiphe have an overview of everything we know about the latest charges.
Watch:
-
21 Donald Trump election lies listed in his new indictment
Special counsel Jack Smith said that the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol was “fueled by lies” told by former President Donald Trump. The indictment of Trump on four new federal criminal charges, all related to the former president’s effort to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, lays out some of those lies one by one. CNN’s Daniel Dale reports.
Watch: