Trump supporters and conspiracy theory - Part 2

[Rick Plant]

The DOJ is going to make Mark Meadows a suspect or target of an investigation: Ex-Justice Department official



Former U.S. Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman explained Wednesday on MSNBC that Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony before the House Select Committee was a "game-changer."

Hutchinson was a top aide in the White House in the lead-up to the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election and the attack on Congress on Jan. 6. Speaking under oath to the committee on Tuesday, she linked her former boss, then-chief of staff Mark Meadows to first-hand knowledge about several possible conspiracies.

Litman first explained that he thinks former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone will ultimately come forward about what he knows. Cipollone hasn't been willing to come forward, but he's been called out by the committee on several occasions. Just last week, co-chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) named him, but said that the evidence they've received from witnesses indicates he "tried to do the right thing."

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) noted that one of the reasons they've talked about him so much as a witness is that they have heard his name so many times from so many witnesses.

"We have a pressure of history, the kind of John Dean moment and 'what side are you on.' It is big enough that for a guy like Pat who wants to be an establishment figure, get further jobs in administrations and the like, her forthrightness and courage makes a poor contrast with his cravenness and his, sort of, I don't want to say hiding behind, but his assertions of privilege really are makeweight now because we know Biden says that there is no privilege," Litman explained. "Moreover, Cipollone is a told Bill Barr guy from the start and Bill Barr did come forward and testify. My best guess is that they are trying to work out an arrangement for him to come forward. Not because he is in general hot water, but because he doesn't want to be on the wrong side of history and a narrative that has now gotten profoundly more serious in the last 24 hours."

As for Meadows, host Chris Jansing asked why someone like him would come forward if he's a potential target for the Justice Department.

"This is what happens with potential criminals," Litman said frankly. "You decide maybe you should play an open hand. I have no doubt that Meadows is thinking about — you're right, Chris, he is too big to get a free ride, but he is not too big to get some consideration. So, he has to rethink his posture and think of what kind of problems he is in if he doesn't come forward. He is thinking mainly about himself and his own skin. But there are reasons that suspects have for not coming forward to cooperate. I don't see it happening with him. on the other hand I see it as way more likely than I did yesterday that the department will make him a very serious suspect or target of investigations."

See the discussion below:

[Rick Plant]

‘Send this to DOJ immediately’: Legal expert says Trump allies appear to have committed a 'very serious' crime

This Tuesday, the Jan. 6 committee warned about possible efforts by Trump allies to pressure witnesses into providing false testimony. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) said the committee was aware of multiple instances in which witnesses testifying before the committee were pressured by allies of former President Donald Trump to change their testimony.

CNN reported Thursday that Cassidy Hutchinson was one of those witnesses.

Speaking on CNN, legal analyst Elie Honig said that it is clear evidence of witness tampering.

"This is not 'arguable' witness tampering, this is not 'maybe' witness tampering -- you look at the content of those messages ... it's textbook," Honig said, adding that the committee "needs to send this to DOJ immediately, because that's a crime."

"Donald Trump and some of his supporters over the years have dismissed this kind of thing as a 'process crime,'" Honig continued. "I reject that kind of categorization as a former prosecutor. Crimes that intimidate witnesses, that interfere with the process undermine the heart of any truth-finding function, and so this is very serious."

Hutchinson has already been the source of several blockbuster revelations, appearing in videotaped depositions at two previous hearings and memorably naming a group of House Republicans who sought pardons from Trump following the violence.

She was also in contact with officials in the battleground state of Georgia, where Trump infamously pressured officials to "find" enough votes to overcome Biden's victory margin in a phone call that is the subject of a criminal probe.

It was Hutchinson, according to CNN, who told the select committee that Trump voiced approval for the "hang Mike Pence" chants from rioters at the Capitol -- an allegation that was among the many eye-popping claims to come out of the opening hearing on June 9.

Watch the video in link below:

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-witness-tampering/

[Rick Plant]

Trump's radical and violent cult is threatening the life of another person. 

Man behind J6 documentary needs 'two armed guards' due to Trump supporters' threats: BBC

Documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, whose film "Unprecedented" examines the final days of former President Donald Trump's White House, revealed this week that he needs armed security guards due to threats from Trump supporters.

In an interview with the BBC, Holder said that he's been getting multiple subpoena requests ever since he was called to testify earlier this month before the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riots.

"Well, my life changed about a week ago and I now literally have two armed guards outside this studio right now that follow me around everywhere," Holder told the BBC.

He then elaborated on accusations he's faced from conspiracy-minded Trump supporters.

"According to some, I’m an undercover FBI agent," he said. "Some think I’m an MI6 spy, and there’s all sorts of conspiracies and threats that are coming through."

Fellow Jan. 6 committee witness Cassidy Hutchinson has also received significant security due to threats she's faced ever since giving explosive testimony about the twice-impeached former president's actions before, during, and after the Capitol riots.

Watch video in link below:

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-61986714

[Rick Plant]

Trump admin official: Return of mysterious conspiracy theorist could threaten the life of J6 witness Cassidy Hutchinson



The targeting of Jan. 6 star witness Cassidy Hutchinson by the mysterious internet account behind the QAnon conspiracy theory could pose a threat to her safety, a former deputy director of the FBI told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Thursday

"Well, another person lining up against Cassidy Hutchinson is the online poster, q, whose completely absurd posts, which would be laughably cryptic and are actually never accurate are at the heart of the movement," CNN's Anderson Cooper reported. "After 18 months of silence, the Q account is back and on Wednesday, it aimed its conspiracies towards Hutchinson."

"It's really too stupid to even show the posts of this Q person, but they contain numerous cryptic questions and ended with asking who is Cassidy Hutchinson? And 'trust the plan,' which is a common Q catchphrase. the q stuff would be funny if it didn't have real-world consequences, the FBI says it's arrested more than 20 people involved in Capitol riots who said they followed Qanon."

Cooper replayed an interview with a former member of the cult who thought he himself was "worshipping Satan, drinking the blood of children" after the CNN anchor was mentioned by Q.

For analysis, Cooper interviewed former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe.

"Andrew, what is the significance of Q mentioning Hutchinson and what could be, do you think, the real-world consequences?" Cooper asked.

McCabe said, "There is no significance to the post beyond the fact that he included her name specifically. It's not because he said anything logical or factual, it's just the existence of her name in that post turns her into a target for people who ascribe to these beliefs."

He said the fact her name was listed is "very, very damaging to her in terms of the attention it will bring who believe in, who knows which of the Qanon conspiracies."

"And so if you toss this young woman's name into that conversation, into that froth, you run the risk that someone who is following these things and who's projecting their own rage and their dissatisfaction about whatever it is in life they're mad about is going to attach her to that and one of those people, maybe more than one, might decide to take the matter into their own hands and resort to an act of violence in the exact same way that the young man from North Carolina did about the nonsense around Comet Ping-Pong Pizza, the pizza restaurant here in Washington, D.C. when he had been digesting this material, got in his car, drove to D.C. on a Sunday with an AR-15 intending to shoot up the place."

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

'More than a dozen' Trump allies offered free legal services by key political action committee



On Thursday, The New York Times reported that "more than a dozen" of former President Donald Trump's allies are being offered a free ride on legal fees by a key political action committee associated with the former president, as the January 6 Committee's investigation continues to probe the events of the Capitol attack.

"The arrangement drew new scrutiny this week after Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide in his White House, made an explosive appearance before the House panel, providing damning new details about Mr. Trump’s actions and statements on the day of the deadly riot," reported Luke Broadwater, Maggie Haberman, Annie Karni, and Alan Feuer. "She did so after firing a lawyer who had been recommended to her by two of Mr. Trump’s former aides and paid for by his political action committee, and hiring new counsel. Under the representation of the new lawyer, Jody Hunt, Ms. Hutchinson sat for a fourth interview with the committee in which she divulged more revelations and agreed to come forward publicly to testify to them."

According to the report, it is unclear whether firing the Trump-recommended counsel cleared the way for Hutchinson to testify — although some members of the committee are suspicious that that is what happened.

"According to financial disclosures, in May alone, Mr. Trump’s 'Save America' political action committee paid about $200,000 to law firms," said the report. "That including $75,000 to JPRowley Law, which represents Cleta Mitchell, a pro-Trump lawyer who has filed suit to try to block the committee’s subpoena, and $50,000 to Silverman, Thompson, Slutkin & White, which has represented Stephen K. Bannon, a close ally of the former president who refused to meet with the panel and has been charged with criminal contempt."

"It was not immediately clear whether those payments were for covering legal fees connected to the Jan. 6 inquiry, but people familiar with the matter said the PAC has paid for the representation of several former officials and aides in the investigation, including some high-profile ones such as Stephen Miller, who served as a senior adviser to Mr. Trump," the report noted.

Hutchinson gave bombshell testimony in a surprise interview earlier this week, including that Trump knew the rioters were armed and demanded they be allowed to march to the Capitol anyway because "they're not here to hurt me," and that the former president got into a physical altercation with a Secret Service agent after being told he couldn't visit the scene of the riot. Another Trump official, Tony Ornato, has denied this sequence of events, although other officials have accused him of a track record of dishonesty.

Read More Here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/30/us/trump-jan-6-lawyers-witness-pressure.html

[Rick Plant]

Trump World prepping for 'worst-case scenarios' as investigations expand on multiple fronts: legal expert



MSNBC chief legal correspondent Ari Melber reported on Thursday that Donald Trump's political and legal operations are preparing for "worst-case scenarios" as investigations expand.

"We are tracking news in the insurrection probe with further fallout and cracks after that blockbuster testimony against Trump has really ricocheted around the nation. the testimony linked trump to the violence of that coup attempt, turbocharging Trumpworld anxieties as they prep for even worst-case scenarios," Melber reported.

"And there are more and more dominos falling on the right pause because of the power of this factual evidence.Take the Republican prosecutor we have cited before, Andrew McCarthy. He's a Fox News favorite who wrote a whole book defending Trump in the Mueller probe and accusing others of pushing the real collusion, which is one reason he is on Fox quite a bit and has a huge conservative legal following," he explained.

"He says, when you look at the evidence, as a criminal-legal matter, it is devastating against Trump and that the new evidence in that hearing makes a big difference. He is saying this in public and this week he is now emphasizing that really as far as he is concerned, for the first time, there is now direct evidence showing Trump committed crimes, and backed violence," Melber said.

Melber said it did not look like any of the investigations were winding down.

"So take it all together and what do you see coming in view? This is not the sign of some random kind of Washington process that is just winding down. The committee is not acting like that, the witness aren't acting like that, the Justice Department is not acting like that as it seizes phones and raids homes," Melber said.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Alberto Gonzales says DOJ must investigate Trump for at least 3 specific crimes

Former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales specified multiple potential crimes committed by Donald Trump that should be investigated by Merrick Garland, the man who currently holds his old job.

Gonzales, the Dean of Belmont University College of Law, was interviewed on Thursday afternoon by CNN's Jake Tapper.

Tapper noted a speech Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) gave on Wednesday evening at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

"The reality we face today as Republicans, as we think about the choice in front of us, we have to choose, because Republicans cannot be loyal to both Donald Trump and to the Constitution at this moment," Cheney said.

"Do you agree?" Tapper asked. "Do you see it that way?"

"I think that that is a very accurate statement, quite frankly," Gonzales replied.

He went on to say, "I believe that the Department is going to move forward with a more serious investigation now that this new information and there may be some indictments."

Tapper pushed him on which crimes may result in indictments.

"Have you seen evidence or at least possible evidence that leads you to wonder whether Donald Trump committed a crime?" Tapper asked. "And if so, which crime?"

"Yeah, I think that if you can tie him -- he knew about -- he knew the crowd was dangerous, he encouraged the crowd to go to the Capitol and he knew the crowd was armed, and he knew that the purpose of the -- what was going on in Congress, which was to certify the Electoral College count, and yeah, I think one might make the argument that there is certainly the beginnings of a case full of seditious conspiracy, obstruction of Congress," Gonzales replied. "So there are some things there that I think the attorney general will look at, along with witness tampering."

"So there is a lot there, Jake," he added.

Watch video below: