1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

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.

[Rick Plant]

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

[Rick Plant]

J6 witnesses found on Oath Keeper's 'death list': report



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

[Rick Plant]

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:

[Rick Plant]

Why a White House valet may be the big reveal in season two of J6 hearings



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

[Rick Plant]

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:

[Rick Plant]

‘Not how you do it’: Jamie Raskin warns GOP legislators not to ignore Jan. 6 subpoenas



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/

[Rick Plant]

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: