1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

‘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



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/

[Rick Plant]

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".

[Rick Plant]

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.

[Rick Plant]

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

[Rick Plant]

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.)

[Rick Plant]

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

[Rick Plant]

Jan. 6 committee’s bombshells hiding in plain sight


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