1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

Who is Sarah Matthews, the Trump White House aide testifying to Jan. 6 panel?



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/

[Rick Plant]

Former Fort Bragg soldier receives one of the harshest sentences tied to Capitol riot



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

[Rick Plant]

Nevada Senate candidate's spox marched with Oath Keepers to the Capitol on J6



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/

[Rick Plant]

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.



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

[Rick Plant]

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

[Rick Plant]

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



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/

[Rick Plant]

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."



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://twitter.com/pennstatetom/status/1393382541130936324