1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

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"

[Rick Plant]

Proud Boys conspirator Charles Donohoe reaches plea deal in Jan. 6 case



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/

[Rick Plant]

Jury convicts former police officer Thomas Robertson on 6 counts related to January 6


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

[Rick Plant]

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.

[Rick Plant]

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

[Rick Plant]

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".

[Rick Plant]

MAGA rioter tells court he wanted Trump's 'approval' because he had no other 'strong male figures' in his life



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