Thread: Right-wing domestic terrorists

• Jan. 6 committee argues Trump election attorney John Eastman 'consistently unreliable' as he's tried to protect emails from investigators

The House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, argued to a federal judge Monday night that Trump election attorney John Eastman has been “consistently unreliable” as he’s tried to protect his communications from the ongoing probe and that the investigators should now get access to more emails from one of his work email accounts.

The judge, David O. Carter of the federal district court in central California, already released many of Eastman’s emails from around January 2021 to House investigators, but the two sides are still arguing over 562 additional documents from Eastman’s Chapman University email account.

The latest court filing from the House highlights how the January 6 probe has already collected troves of communications and continues to push for information.

In their filing Monday night, lawyers for the House argued that Eastman is unreliable because he said previously that some of his emails were attorney communications, such as confidential legal advice and co-counsel discussions. But when the House probe received them, they said, the documents shouldn’t have been protected.

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Extra

• Oath Keepers leader regretted not having guns on Jan. 6, prosecutors say at seditious conspiracy trial

The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers was recorded days after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol saying his "only regret" about that day is that the group "should have brought rifles," federal prosecutors revealed in federal court Monday.

Opening statements began Monday in the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes alongside Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell. Other members of the alleged conspiracy will go on trial in November.

The Justice Department alleges that Rhodes and members of his organization plotted to oppose the peaceful transfer of power, stockpiling guns in "quick reaction forces" just outside of D.C. that could be brought into the city at a moment's notice. Rhodes' lawyers have noted that he followed D.C.'s strict gun laws, which they say is an indication that he would have only acted upon an order from then-President Donald Trump. But the audio recording and other evidence prosecutors presented Monday suggest that Rhodes planned to disrupt certification of the presidential election regardless of what Trump said.

“My only regret is that they should have brought rifles,” Rhodes said in a recording from Jan. 10 played by the government. He added that they could’ve “fixed it right then and there” if they had weapons with them at the Capitol.

Rhodes' defense attorneys are using a novel legal defense strategy, arguing that he believed his actions leading up to Jan. 6 were legal because he believed Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler said that Rhodes' references to the Insurrection Act were nothing more than an attempt to give legal cover for something that Rhodes, a Yale-educated attorney, knew was illegal. His proof? A recording of Rhodes saying the Insurrection Act references were "legal cover," which Nestler played for the jury.

• Georgia Election Probe Enters New Phase With Search Warrants

The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke the law trying to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state is seeking search warrants in the case, a sign that the wide-ranging probe has entered a new phase.

The revelation came Monday in a court order filed by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, who’s overseeing the special grand jury seated to help the investigation. In an order sealing any search warrants and related documents from being made public, McBurney wrote that District Attorney Fani Willis’ office is “now seeking to obtain and execute a series of search warrants, the affidavits for which are predicated on sensitive information acquired during the investigation.”

Disclosure of the information could compromise the investigation, McBurney wrote, “by, among other things, causing flight from prosecution, destruction of or tampering with evidence, and intimidation of potential witnesses.” It could also result in risks to the “safety and well-being” of people involved in the investigation, he wrote.

It wasn’t immediately clear who the targets of the search warrants are or whether any search warrants had yet to be approved by a judge. To obtain a search warrant, prosecutors must convince a judge they have probable cause that a crime occurred at the location where authorities want to search.

As Willis’ investigation ramps up, the public court filings in the case have provided a rare window into the workings of a special grand jury that meets behind closed doors.

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• Secret recording played at trial shows Oath Keepers allegedly planning for violence in DC

Federal prosecutors played audio recording in court on Tuesday of an alleged November 2020 Oath Keepers planning meeting that discussed plans to bring weapons to Washington, DC, and prepare to “fight” on behalf of former President Donald Trump.

The meeting lasted about two hours and was secretly recorded by an attendee, FBI agent Michael Palian told jurors during the second day of the trial of far-right militia Oath Keepers leaders on seditious conspiracy charges.

The attendee, Palian said, sent a tip to the FBI later that month but was not contacted by agents. They then resubmitted the tip in March 2021, was interviewed with agents and gave them the recording.

The recording, which is primarily of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, is the first major piece of evidence that prosecutors have used to establish a plan by the far-right group to allegedly descend on Washington and oppose the transfer of power.

“We’re not getting out of this without a fight. There’s going to be a fight,” Rhodes said in the recording played in court. “But let’s just do it smart and let’s do it while President Trump is still commander in chief,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes repeatedly said that people should put pressure on Trump to invoke the Insurrection Act, and that the Oath Keepers would be “awaiting the president’s orders.”

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Extra.

up to life in prison

• 3 accused of assisting governor kidnapping plot stand trial

Jurors in the trial of three men charged in connection with a 2020 anti-government plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer were told Wednesday about the formation and actions of a paramilitary group the government says trained as part of the scheme.

Assistant Attorney General Bill Rollstin presented the Wolverine Watchmen as a gang and said in his opening statements in Jackson County Circuit Court that its purpose “was to target law enforcement for violent action.”

Joe Morrison, Pete Musico and Paul Bellar are not charged with directly participating in the kidnapping scheme. Instead, they are accused of assisting others who did. Each man is charged with three crimes, including providing material support for a terrorist act, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years.

The three were members of the Wolverine Watchmen, a group that trained in Jackson County, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of Detroit.

“Everybody in the Wolverine Watchmen shared a very common ideology in that they hated our government, they wanted to kill law enforcement police officers, and that the gang gave them motive, means and opportunity to train Adam Fox knowing he was going to commit an act of terrorism,” Rollstin said.

A jury convicted Fox and Barry Croft in August of two federal counts of conspiracy related to the kidnapping scheme and attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. They face up to life in prison when they’re sentenced Dec. 28.

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Little more

• Ohio pastor facing multiple Jan. 6 charges

Federal authorities on Wednesday arrested an Ohio pastor and charged him with felony and misdemeanor charges after he allegedly entered the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, rioting.

William Dunfee, 57, of Frazeysburg, is charged with obstructing an official proceeding and interfering with a law enforcement officer, according to a release from the Department of Justice (DOJ), along with five other misdemeanor charges.


Dunfee is scheduled to make an appearance Wednesday in front of a judge at the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Ohio.

He is a pastor at the Christian church New Beginning Ministries in Warsaw, Ohio. According to his biographical page, Dunfee became a pastor in 1994 and helped found the New Beginnings church in 2001.

In late December 2020, Dunfee delivered a sermon asking his followers if they were “ready” for Jan. 4 through Jan. 6, according to the DOJ.

“The Government, the tyrants, the socialists, the Marxists, the progressives, the RINOs [Republicans in Name Only], they fear you. And they should,” he allegedly said. “Our problem is we haven’t given them reason to fear us.”

On Jan. 6, Dunfee arrived at the Capitol and led other rioters into the building in a bid to stop the certification of the 2020 election. He used a bullhorn to address other Capitol rioters and exclaimed “Hallelujah!” during the deadly attacks.

Dunfee is also a member of the Salt and Light Brigade, a pro-Christian movement that vows to “defend the Judeo-Christian worldview” and take “the fight to the enemy.”

The Salt and Light Brigade is part of Pass the Salt Ministries, an Ohio-based charity founded by Dave Daubenmire that has offered armed tactical training to members.

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Just for fun.

Moving traffic cones forever

• Far-right group launches effort to get jobs for insurrectionists

A right-wing organization that calls the perpetrators of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol “political prisoners” is trying to find jobs for the insurrectionists.

“Many of these folks, for ultimately being charged with misdemeanor trespass, have had their savings wiped out, lost their jobs, lost their homes, lost their businesses,” Matt Braynard, executive director of Look Ahead, told the Arizona Mirror.

Braynard said he’d spoken with countless people who had lost their jobs because they attended the rally or following riot on Jan. 6, and added that many of the insurrectionists who took plea deals will soon be released from prison and will need jobs.

Some 380 people have pleaded guilty — 80 of them to felonies and 300 to misdemeanors, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Another 13 people have been found guilty through jury trials.

Ten of the people charged were from Arizona or had Arizona associations, and five of those pleaded guilty.

“I think that everybody that’s been convicted and serves their time deserves a chance,” Braynard said, but added that he believes political protesters on the left have a better support system.

The group’s Jobs for #J6 platform has already gotten interest from a few dozen businesses, Braynard said, but he wouldn’t share the names of the businesses or their locations because he said journalists would “try to put those employers on the spot and destroy them.”

Braynard claimed that the media treats employers as heroes if they hire a murderer after his release from prison, but would vilify those who employ Jan. 6 rioters. He falsely said that the campaign of U.S. Senate candidate in Pennsylvania John Fetterman employed two murderers and was lauded for it. Fetterman’s campaign employs Dennis Horton and Lee Horton, who were convicted for a 1993 murder despite evidence that they were not involved; they served 30 years in prison before their sentences were commuted last year by Gov. Tom Wolf.

• Jan. 6 committee hearing set for Oct. 13

The Jan. 6 select committee on Thursday announced that its next public hearing will be Oct. 13.

Why it matters: The hearing comes just a few weeks before the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

• Members of the committee have said the hearing is expected to be panel's last.

Driving the news: The committee scheduled the hearing for 1pm ET, though it has not announced a theme. The hearing was originally scheduled for Sept. 28 but postponed due to Hurricane Ian.

• Members told Axios that the primary factor in rescheduling was making sure all members could be physically present.
• Rep. Stephanie Murphy (D-Fla.) was waylaid by the storm, while Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) is locked in a highly competitive reelection battle.
• "We're each going to play a role, so we need everybody here," Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) told Axios last week.

What we're watching: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said the hearing will "fill in some details that underscore the basic elements of the narrative that we've recounted before, but there are definitely some significant details that are being added."

• Raskin said of the delay, "We ended up with a few extra days to incorporate new information."
• Members have said they will consider including footage of conservative activist Ginni Thomas' testimony to the panel last week.

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• Arizona Fake Elector Kelli Ward Took The Fifth In Jan. 6 Committee Deposition

A lawyer for the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol said Tuesday that Kelli Ward, the chair of Arizona’s Republican Party who posed as a fake elector for former President Donald Trump, refused to answer “substantive” questions when she testified before the panel.

“She declined to answer on every substantive question and asserted her rights under the Fifth Amendment,” lawyer Eric Columbus told a judge at a hearing regarding Ward’s efforts to stop the committee from accessing her phone records from Nov. 3, 2020, to Jan. 20, 2021, according to Politico.

Ward was one of six individuals subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 panel in mid-February for their involvement in the fake electors scheme Trump and his allies devised to overturn election results in key battleground states won by now-President Joe Biden in 2020.

U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa previously denied Ward’s motion to block the release of her call logs and text messages, which the Arizona Republican appealed. At Tuesday’s hearing, Ward’s lawyers aimed to convince the judge to delay the release of the records until her appeal is decided.

Ward, who works as a doctor, appealed on the grounds that T-Mobile turning over the records to the committee would violate the privacy of her patients. In addition, she argued it would infringe on her own First Amendment rights as well as those of people “who were in contact with her for political purposes during one of the most contentious periods in American history.”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kelli...b028164531c6c7

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Extra

• Stewart Rhodes claimed Secret Service contact months before Jan. 6 attack, former Oath Keeper testifies

The founder of the Oath Keepers indicated in the months before the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol that he was in contact with a member of the Secret Service, a former member of the far-right organization testified during a seditious conspiracy trial on Thursday.

Former Oath Keepers member John Zimmerman testified that Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes told him he had a contact in the Secret Service, and Zimmerman said he heard Rhodes talking with someone he believed to be a member of the Secret Service in Sept. 2020, a bit over three months before the Jan. 6 attack. The reported call came ahead of a Trump rally in North Carolina, where Zimmerman was an Oath Keepers county leader before leaving the organization.

Rhodes got on the phone with the unknown individual to ask about “parameters” that the Oath Keepers could operate under during the rally, Zimmerman said. He said that Oath Keepers attended the rally to escort attendees from the rally location to their vehicles.

“From the questions Stewart — Mr. Rhodes — was asking, it sounded like it could’ve been” a Secret Service agent, Zimmerman said. NBC News has reached out to the Secret Service for comment.

Another member of the Oath Keepers, one of three who pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, has told the court that Rhodes tried to get in touch with Trump through an intermediary on the night of Jan. 6 after the Capitol attack. It is unclear who was on the other end of that Jan. 6 phone call. Another member of the Oath Keepers, Kellye SoRelle, was in touch with former White House aide Andrew Giuliani in November 2020, as NBC News has reported.

Zimmerman recalled going to an Oath Keepers meeting when they were trying to get a state chapter relaunched and being frustrated with a lack of organization. He ended up leading a county chapter of the Oath Keepers, and traveling to the D.C. area with members of the organization for the Million MAGA March in November, following Trump's election loss.

Zimmerman testified Thursday in the trial of Rhodes and four other Oath Keepers charged with seditious conspiracy: Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell. The trial — the Justice Department’s biggest challenge to date — is set to last five or six weeks.

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Little more

A seditious conspiracy conviction carries up to 20 years in prison. six such weapons when they searched his home, including an AR-15 style gun. That charge carries up to 10 years in prison.

• Proud Boys member pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy over Jan. 6

A member of the Proud Boys on Thursday pleaded guilty to a charge of seditious conspiracy over his role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, becoming the first member of the far-right group to plead guilty to such charges.

Why it matters: Jeremy Bertino's guilty plea potentially gives the Department of Justice a key witness against Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio and four other members who will face trial over seditious conspiracy and other charges later this year.

• Bertino, 43, a former leader of the Proud Boys, also pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful possession of a firearm, the Justice Department said.
• Bertino faces up to 20 years in prison for the seditious conspiracy charge and up to 10 years in prison for the firearms charge, including potential financial penalties. A sentencing date has yet to be set.

What they're saying: The Justice Department said Bertino joined the Proud Boys in 2018 and was at one point the vice president of a group chapter in South Carolina.

• It said he traveled to Washington, D.C., multiple times in 202o for Proud Boys rallies and participated in planning sessions for the group's appearance in the capital on Jan. 6.
• The DOJ said Bertino knew that the purpose of the trip to D.C. "was to stop the certification of the Electoral College Vote" and that group leaders "were willing to do whatever it would take, including using force against police and others, to achieve that objective."

The big picture: Bertino previously told the Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot that the group saw an exponential growth in membership following former President Trump's "stand back and stand by" comment during the first 2020 presidential debate.

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documen...1/bertino1.pdf - https://thehill.com/policy/national-...us-conspiracy/ - https://www.axios.com/2022/10/06/pro...nspiracy-jan-6

• Feds: Stewart Rhodes Saw Jan. 6 as Hard Deadline for Trump

‘He Needs to Do It Now’: Stewart Rhodes Saw Jan. 6 as Crucial Deadline for Trump to Take Action, D.C. Jury Hears

Testimony in the seditious conspiracy trial against Rhodes continued into its fourth day Friday. Rhodes, along with Kelly Meggs, Thomas Caldwell, Jessica Watkins, and Kenneth Harrelson, are accused of plotting to disrupt the transition of presidential power from Trump to President Joe Biden. According to prosecutors, the ardently pro-Trump Rhodes started forming his plan in the early days of November 2020, shortly after Election Day — a plan that allegedly included having a heavily-armed “Quick Reaction Force” ready to ferry weapons stashed at a hotel across the Potomac River to the Capitol.

The first to testify Friday was U.S. Capitol Police Special Agent Ryan McCamley, a task for officer who serves as a liaison between Capitol Police and the FBI.

McCamley testified that that Rhodes first popped up on his radar in December 2020, after he read a magazine article that focused on the Oath Keepers group and its efforts to recruit former law enforcement. He told Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler that it was his first time reading about the group and its leader.

Days later, on Dec. 12, 2020, McCamley saw Rhodes in person.

Rhodes and others were in the capital for a pro-Trump demonstration that included a so-called “Stop the Steal” rally and a “Jericho March.” McCamley, who was working a countersurveillance assignment at the time, said that as he and his partner were observing the grounds near the Supreme Court and the Capitol building, he noticed a cameraman talking to a group of people.

“It piqued our interest,” McCamley said.

“Had you seen anyone you recently read about?” Nestler asked.

“I noticed a cowboy hat and an eyepatch,” McCamley said, as well as another person wearing an Oath Keepers patch, and “it started to click.”

Rhodes tells the crowd that under the Insurrection Act, they can be “called up” as a militia until they are 65 years old.

“He needs to know from you that you are with him,” Rhodes said at the rally. “That if he does not do it now, while he is Commander in Chief, we are going to have to do it ourselves later, in a much more desperate, much more bloody war. Let’s get it on now while he is still the Commander in Chief.”

Toward the end of his questioning, Nestler showed McCamley a picture of Rhodes’ Capitol access badge from when the defendant was a legislative correspondent for former Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tx.). McCamley confirmed that it was, essentially, an all-access badge that granted unescorted access to the Capitol building. It was valid from June 1998 to February 1999.

The government’s second witness for the day was another law enforcement official, FBI Special Agent Byron Cody. His role on Friday was largely to confirm texts and other messages showing that Rhodes had become fixated on Trump invoking the Insurrection Act before Jan. 6.

“Here is the real way forward,” Rhodes wrote in December to an Oath Keepers leaders group chat on Signal. He then set forth the steps he believed were necessary to get states to “decertify” their election results before Jan. 6.

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Little more.

faces up to 12 years total in prison

• Mark Rissi Accused of 2020 Election-Related Phone Threats

‘Torches and Pitchforks. That’s Your Future, Dipsh*t’: Iowa Man Claiming to Be 2020 Election Crime Victim Allegedly Targeted Arizona Officials with Threats of Hangings

A man from out of state enraged about the “theft of the 2020 election” left voicemail threats to a Maricopa County election official and an official in the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, the Department of Justice said Thursday.

The suspect, identified as 64-year-old Hiawatha, Iowa resident Mark A. Rissi, faces an indictment of two interstate threat counts and a count for a threatening interstate telephone call.

Rissi allegedly threatened Maricopa County Board of Supervisors official Clint Hickman, calling the Republican a “Commie” and promising a hanging.

“Hello Mr. [VICTIM], I am glad that you are standing up for democracy and want to place your hand on the Bible and say that the election was honest and fair. I really appreciate that,” said a voicemail threat left around Sept. 27, 2021. “When we come to lynch your stupid lying Commie ass, you’ll remember that you lied on the fucking Bible, you piece of shit. You’re gonna die, you piece of shit. We’re going to hang you. We’re going to hang you.”

“I’m a victim of a crime. My family is a victim of a crime. My extended family is a victim of a crime. That crime was the theft of the 2020 election. The election that was fraudulent across the state of Arizona, that [VICTIM] knows was fraudulent, that [VICTIM] has images of the conspirators deleting election fraud data from the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors computer system. Do your job, [VICTIM], or you will hang with those son-of-a-bitches in the end. We will see to it. Torches and pitchforks. That’s your future, dipshit. Do your job.”

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documen...mark-rissi.pdf

• Judge rules Jan. 6 panel can see Arizona GOP chair's phone records

A federal judge in Phoenix has opened the door for the Jan. 6 select committee to receive the phone records of Arizona Republican Party leader Kelli Ward.

Why it matters: The judge rejected Ward's claims that her First Amendment rights would be challenged if investigators uncovered who she spoke with when trying to challenge the 2020 presidential election results.

Details: U.S. District Judge Diane Humetewa said Friday she wouldn't stop her own order to require Ward's phone records to be turned over to the Jan. 6 select panel, the Associated Press reports.

• She said Friday that the GOP chair had failed to show how her First Amendment rights would be harmed by sharing the records with investigators.
• Humetewa said she found Ward's “alleged concern speculative — and in light of disclosures made during oral argument — dubious," per AP.

Context: Humetewa's ruling comes days after arguments in court over the subpoena, which asked for her cellphone provider T-Mobile to turn over all call and text message activity from November 2020 to January 2021, the Arizona Republic reports.

• That time period was selected because it includes when Ward helped bring together electors at the state party headquarters to cast votes for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election if he had won.
• Trump lost Arizona to Biden in the election, but Ward and others still met, declaring themselves Arizona's “duly elected and qualified” electors, according to the Republic.

The big picture: Ward, who posed as a fake elector for Trump, refused to answer questions during her own testimony with the panel, Politico reports.

• “She declined to answer on every substantive question and asserted her rights under the Fifth Amendment,” lawyer Eric Columbus told Humetewa at a hearing earlier this month, according to Politico.

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• Georgia election probe seeks Flynn, Gingrich testimony

The Georgia prosecutor investigating whether or not former President Trump and others tried to interfere in the 2020 presidential election is seeking testimony from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former national security adviser Michael Flynn, AP reports.

Why it matters: Multiple Trump allies have been tapped as targets in the investigation, including his former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and 16 potential Republican electors.

Details: Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis filed paperwork Friday for Gingrich, Flynn and former White House lawyer Eric Herschmann, among others, to testify before a special grand jury next month, AP reports.

• Each of the petitions seeks to have the witnesses appear in court after the November midterms.
• Willis hopes to take a monthlong break in the lead-up to the midterms, per AP.

State of play: A number of Trump allies have been called to testify in the case, including Giuliani, as well as attorneys John Eastman and Kenneth Chesebro, Axios' Ivana Saric reports.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has asked for a federal court to deny his subpoena.
• Paperwork has also been filed for former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows to testify.
• Trump legal adviser Jenna Ellis was ordered to appear before the jury back in August.
• Willis said in the past that Trump could be called to testify, too, Saric writes.

https://www.axios.com/2022/10/08/geo...rich-testimony


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Something a little off with this one. Oath Keepers' founder

• Tasha Adams said the turning point in her marriage to Oath Keepers' founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes was the day he choked their 13-year-old daughter.

Snip (should read this)

When asked how her children felt about Rhodes' arrest, Adams said they were "really happy" and "relieved."

She says her children lived in fear of Rhodes showing up in their lives again. Adams says she was constantly keeping tabs on his movements by following extremist experts on Twitter.

Sequoia Rhodes said her younger siblings have "regular nightmares" about their father.

"Everyone's absolutely terrified of him," she said.

https://www.insider.com/oath-keepers...-arrest-2022-1

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Extra

4 years in prison

• Michigan man sentenced to 4 years over plot to kidnap Gov. Whitmer

A Michigan man involved in a plot to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in 2020 was sentenced to four years in prison on Thursday, federal prosecutors announced.

The big picture: Kaleb Franks, 28, of Waterford, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiring to kidnap the Michigan governor, had faced up to life in prison. But his sentence was reduced due to factors including testifying at two federal trials, per a Department of Justice statement.

• Those trials "cumulatively resulted in the convictions of co-defendants Adam Fox and Barry Croft and the acquittals of Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta," the DOJ noted.
• Ty Garbin, who was the first person to plead guilty in the case, had his prison sentence reduced from 75 months to 30 months due to his cooperation at the trials.

Context: The FBI said in October 2020 its agents uncovered a plot to violently overthrow the government and kidnap Whitmer because the plotters believed she and other elected officials were violating the U.S. Constitution with measures such as pandemic restrictions.

What's next: Fox and Croft are due to be sentenced in December.

• Franks, who must also pay a $2,500 fine, will be placed under court supervision for three years following his release from federal prison, according to the DOJ.

https://www.axios.com/2022/10/07/mic...-man-sentenced

Might be a good idea to thin out my saved right wing terrorist articles.

24 months probation and 100 hours of community service

• Capitol rioter who testified before Jan. 6 committee sentenced to probation

A former Donald Trump supporter, who participated in the attack on the U.S. Capitol and testified before the Jan. 6 Committee, was sentenced Thursday to 24 months probation and 100 hours of community service.

Stephen Ayres of Ohio pleaded guilty to one count of disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building in June.

During a virtual sentencing hearing Thursday, Ayres grew emotional as he expressed remorse for his participation in the Jan. 6 attack, telling Judge John Bates that he wanted to apologize to “the court and the American people.”

“I went down there that day not with the intention to cause any violence or anything like that,” Ayres said. “But I did get caught up on all the stuff online, on Facebook, which ultimately I felt like was steering me in the wrong direction.”

Ayres remarked that he is “over all the division in the country,” and said that he prays every day for all participants in the Jan. 6 riot as well as “officers that are struggling with this” and the families of those who died as a result of the attack on the Capitol.

“I just hope one day I can wake up and not have to live with it everyday, because I do, everyday,” Ayres said.

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• Judge: No Privacy Expectation When Live-Streaming on Facebook

Chief D.C. Judge Finds Jan. 6 Rioter Who Live-Streamed Capitol Breach on Facebook Had No Reasonable Expectation of Privacy in Location Data

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ruled that the disclosure of location information provided by Facebook to the FBI about users inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 did not violate Fourth Amendment privacy rights of a defendant who live-streamed his breach of the building.

Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell issued the ruling Wednesday in the case of Matthew Bledsoe, 38, who was convicted by a jury in July of a felony and four misdemeanors in connection with the attack at the U.S. Capitol, when Donald Trump supporters, angry over the results of the 2020 presidential election, stormed the building as Congress had begun to certify the Electoral College vote count.

According to court filings, Bledsoe live-streamed his activities at the Capitol to Facebook that day — evidence prosecutors recovered pursuant to a warrant after seeking user location information from the social media platform.

Before trial, Bledsoe filed a motion to suppress that evidence, arguing that both the government’s initial requests of Facebook and the subsequent search warrants were unconstitutional. Howell had denied his request days before trial started, indicating that a written ruling was forthcoming.

The judge filed that ruling on Wednesday.

In recapping the events of the day — including the fact that lawmakers and Capitol staffers were “evacuated under police guard and experienced the terror of hiding from the mob” — Howell noted that many in that mob were making documenting their experience.

“[M]any rioters celebrated this chilling historic moment by photographing and recording both themselves and others on restricted grounds surrounding and inside the Capitol Building and promptly posting their user-generated content online to various social media platforms,” Howell noted, adding that the breach of the building during as Congress was due to certify Joe Biden’s win was “nothing less than catastrophic.”

“Nothing About the Circumstances in Which These Account Users Found Themselves Even Hints at an Expectation of Privacy in Their Physical Location.”

In seeking to suppress evidence derived from the search warrants, Bledsoe argued that the initial information voluntarily provided by Facebook violated his Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure, because he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the non-content information Facebook provided. He also argued that the subsequent search warrant wasn’t supported by probable cause.

Howell disagreed.

The judge, a Barack Obama appointee, found that the defendant had not shown that he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the user-generated location information (UGLI) provided by Facebook.

“[D]efendant fails to offer any factual support, and only sparse briefing, establishing how the requested information presents the same privacy concerns” identified in prior cases where a reasonable expectation of privacy did exist in location information, Howell wrote.

Howell said that Bledsoe “voluntarily conveyed” his location information to Facebook, citing the platforms Data Policy to which Bledsoe had agreed.

Bledsoe is set to be sentenced on Oct. 21. He faces up to 20 years in prison for felony obstruction, and a combined three years behind bars for the misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct charges.

https://s3.documentcloud.org/documen...-streaming.pdf

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• 'Baked Alaska' guilty in US Capitol riot

The far-right media personality known as "Baked Alaska" has pleaded guilty in federal court over his role in the storming of the US Capitol by supporters of then-president Donald Trump.

Anthime "Tim" Gionet, 34, also admitted in an "statement of offence" filed with his guilty plea to being part of the mob that entered the Capitol without authorisation and occupied the building for hours.

The riot on January 6, 2021, left more than 140 police officers injured and disrupted congressional certification of the November 2020 presidential election victory of Democrat Joe Biden over Trump, who led Republicans in falsely claiming he lost due to widespread fraud.

The attack on the Capitol also led to several deaths.

Gionet, a banned YouTube prankster and former BuzzFeed social media strategist calling himself Baked Alaska, pleaded guilty on Friday in US District Court for the District of Columbia to one count of unlawfully "parading, demonstrating or picketing in a Capitol building".

The misdemeanour offence carries a maximum sentence of six months in prison and a fine up to $US5000. Sentencing was set for January 12. He remains free on personal recognisance.

In his statement, Gionet acknowledged egging on other rioters to "come in" and "make yourself at home", as well as live-streaming the event for 27 minutes and joining in various chants.

Gionet also filmed himself pretending to make a call from a Senate conference room and propped his feet up on a table in another Senate office, admonishing others "not to break anything" before eventually being ushered to an exit by law enforcement whom he cursed as "oath-breakers".

More than 850 people have been charged with taking part in the riot, with more than 325 guilty pleas so far.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/baked-alas...023627190.html

• Secret Service has given investigators over 1 million electronic communications agents sent before and on Jan. 6, 2021

The Secret Service has handed congressional investigators more than 1 million electronic communications sent by agents in the lead-up to and during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

While the communications do not include text messages, they do include emails and other electronic messages, according to a Secret Service spokesperson.

The communications may shed light on lingering questions, including contact agents may have had with rioters, their efforts to protect then-Vice President Mike Pence and what occurred inside then-President Donald Trump’s car when Trump allegedly ordered Secret Service agents to take him to the Capitol.

“We have and continue to fully cooperate with the Jan. 6 select committee. While no additional text messages were recovered, we have provided a significant level of details from emails, radio transmissions, Microsoft Teams chat messages and exhibits that address aspects of planning, operations and communications surrounding Jan. 6,” said Secret Service spokesperson Special Agent Steve Kopek.

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack subpoenaed the Secret Service for the communications in July, shortly after it was revealed that most text messages sent by agents via their official cellphones on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, were deleted as part of a pre-planned phone upgrade.

NBC News previously reported that Secret Service agents have been trying to get an account of what information may have been taken from their personal phones and handed over to congressional investigators, but they were recently denied.

While the contents of the messages remain unknown, the committee may use them as exhibits in a hearing scheduled for Thursday.

The content of texts Secret Service agents sent on Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, attracted increased interest in June, after former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson told the House Jan. 6 committee that she had heard secondhand that Trump lunged at a Secret Service agent when he refused to drive Trump’s car toward the Capitol during the insurrection. Trump has denied lunging at the agent.

Most recently, a member of the far-right Oath Keepers group testified in court he believed their leader, Stewart Rhodes, was in communication with at least one Secret Service agent prior to the Jan. 6 insurrection. Rhodes and other Oath Keepers have been charged with sedition for their roles in the attack on the Capitol. They have pleaded not guilty.

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up to 20 years in prison upon conviction

• Fewer than 2 dozen Oath Keepers attended Jan. 6 riot, FBI agent testifies

A Federal Bureau of Investigation agent testified Tuesday in the seditious conspiracy trial of members of the Oath Keepers militia that fewer than two dozen members of the far-right group were actually present in the nation’s capital when supporters of then-President Donald Trump engaged in a riot to try to block the Electoral College certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

FBI Special Agent Byron Cody initially told the jury Tuesday that approximately 24 to 30 Oath Keepers had traveled to Washington on Jan. 5 and 6, but over the course of his testimony he lowered that figure to between 15 and 20 members of the group.

Prosecutors in the case have often portrayed the Oath Keepers as an organization that counts thousands of members across the country, and whose leaders, particularly Stewart Rhodes, had discussed using violence to extend Trump’s tenure as president and block Biden from replacing him.

While cross-examining Cody, one defense lawyer said that in the weeks before the Jan. 6 riot and months afterward, Rhodes’s phone records showed he was plugged into more than 150 separate chat groups, and that the Oath Keepers believed their membership totaled as many as 40,000, a figure Cody did not dispute. Yet those figures stood in contrast to the comparatively much smaller number of members who traveled to Washington and participated in the riot.

In the weeks and months before the riot, Cody testified when cross-examined, Rhodes had likely been unemployed and had made a living off of Oath Keeper dues. Rhodes would travel around the country to various Oath Keepers events and had also purchased guns, Cody added.

In an open letter published Dec. 14, 2020, on the Oath Keepers website, Rhodes and Kelly SoRelle, an Oath Keepers lawyer and close Rhodes associate, told Trump that he “must use the insurrection act to stop the steal and defeat the coup,” adding that “millions of American military and law enforcement veterans” were standing by for Trump’s orders.

Five days later, in a private Oath Keepers leadership chat, Rhodes said he was “only guessing” about what was going on in Trump’s head but said that “part of him [Trump] now understands” that some kind of rebellion against Biden’s confirmation as president was needed. But Rhodes added that if Trump “doesn't do it, we will. ... We will not submit to an illegitimate Chicom [member of the Communist Party of China] puppet regime. That we will nullify, refuse to comply, defy, resist and defend. The same path the Founders walk.”

Justin Eller, an FBI counterterrorism agent based in Cincinnati, testified Tuesday that he was initially assigned to investigate the case of Jessica Watkins, a co-defendant of Rhodes and leader of the Oath Keepers in Ohio. In a Nov. 16, 2020, Facebook message posted under the pen name Jolly Roger, Watkins wrote that “Anything he [Biden] signs into law we won’t recognize as legitimate,” adding that America’s largest militia said it would refuse to recognize Biden as president and “resist” his administration, Eller testified.

In a Dec. 4 message to Donovan Crowl, an Oath Keepers leader who was arrested and faces trial with a separate Oath Keepers group in February, Thomas Caldwell, one of Rhodes’s current co-defendants, discussed how “North Carolina boys” were happy with a plan proposed by Crowl to send teams of three to four men to participate in a protest scheduled for Washington later that December. Caldwell advised Crowl that Doug Smith, a North Carolina Oath Keepers leader known as Ranger, was thinking it might be better for the group to plan for action on a scale that would be “much larger and involve supporting the President directly and taking our country back.”

“That would be our last chance to save the country and may be quite violent,” Crowl said. He added, however, that “Stewie” Rhodes “has never talked to me or sent me shit since the DC op. He might see me as a threat though I have no desire to replace him.” Crowl added, however, that "I will be ready for violence if it comes. You know me. ... I think if the militia is called out in December or January to stop the socialists for me anyway it would feel very right.”

“I have your back, sir,” Crowl wrote Caldwell.

Rhodes and his co-defendants face multiple federal criminal charges stemming from their participation in the riot at the Capitol, including seditious conspiracy, a rare and politically controversial charge carrying a penalty of up to 20 years in prison upon conviction.

• January 6 committee to argue in upcoming hearing Trump remains a '''clear and present danger'

The House Select Committee investigating the January 6 attack on the US Capitol will treat its Thursday hearing as a closing argument ahead of the November midterms, which will seek to hammer home that former President Donald Trump remains a clear and present danger to democracy, particularly in the context of the upcoming 2024 presidential election, multiple sources tell CNN.

Although there will not be witnesses appearing in-person on Thursday, sources say, the hearing will feature new testimony and evidence that the committee has uncovered. Since its last hearing in July, the committee has interviewed more former members of Trump’s cabinet, received more than a million communications from the Secret Service from the lead-up to the riot, and sat down with Ginni Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

“We discovered through our work through this summer what the President’s intentions were, what he knew, what he did, what others did,” committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren told CNN on Tuesday evening, referring to the material gathered since the panel’s last hearing in July.

Some of the evidence presented on Thursday will come from new witnesses, sources say, which could include Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former Secretary of Treasury Steve Mnuchin, and former Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. Some of the new testimony will come from witnesses the committee has presented in previous hearings.

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• Firearms were stashed in hotel room before U.S. Capitol riot, Oath Keeper trial hears

A recruit of the far-right Oath Keepers group displayed for a jury on Wednesday the AR-15 assault-style rifle he said was among a large stash of firearms cases he saw in a hotel room the day before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Terry Cummings, a Florida resident and former member of the U.S. military, was testifying in the trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four others. The defendants are accused of plotting to use force to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's election victory in a failed bid to keep then-President Donald Trump in power.

Rhodes and his four co-defendants - Jessica Watkins, Thomas Caldwell, Kenneth Harrelson and Kelly Meggs - are charged with seditious conspiracy, a rarely prosecuted crime under a statute dating to the Civil War era that is defined as attempting "to overthrow, put down or to destroy by force the government of the United States."

On Jan. 6, some of the group's members were among the thousands of pro-Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, interrupting the electoral vote count and sending members of Congress scrambling for cover. Several of the defendants were among them.

Prosecutors called Cummings to the stand to show evidence that the Oath Keepers had organized a so-called quick reaction force of armed members who were waiting across the Potomac River at a hotel in northern Virginia to ferry arms into the capital if called upon.

Cummings acknowledged leaving his assault-style rifle and box of ammunition in a room in a Virginia hotel filled with many cases used to transport firearms. He said he had not seen so many in one place since his days in the military.

He said he had brought his gun only as a "show of force," and that none of the Oath Keepers actually used or attempted to use the weapons left at the hotel on Jan. 6.

"Are you aware of anyone that day had attempted to access the [quick reaction force] in the district?" asked Stanley Woodward, an attorney for Meggs.

"Not that I'm aware of," Cummings replied.

Cummings traveled to Washington with Harrelson, and Jason Dolan, another Florida Oath Keeper who pleaded guilty to his role in the attack in September 2021.

He said they traveled there out of frustration over the outcome of the 2020 election, and their plan had been to provide security to certain "VIPs" who were speaking at political rallies.

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• Munn family: Texas family of five sentenced for storming the US Capitol on January 6

A Texas family of five was sentenced together on Wednesday for storming the Capitol on January 6, with the two parents getting jail time and three adult children given probation and some home confinement.

The Munn family from Borger, Texas, was among some of the first to enter the Capitol on January 6, climbing through a broken window and making their way through the crypt and the visitor center before entering a Senate conference room, according to their sentencing memos.

Parents Dawn and Thomas Munn were reprimanded by DC Chief Judge Beryl Howell for bringing four of their eight children – three adults and one minor child – to Washington with the intent to investigate the results of the 2020 election.

Before being sentenced, Dawn Munn said she was in Washington in order to get answers about whether the 2020 election was secure.

“I was looking for somebody to show me proof that our election was going to be secure,” Dawn Munn said. “If we don’t have a secure election, we don’t have a country. This is a country by the voice of the people.”

Howell said that didn’t justify violence.

“There is no question that can justify disrupting the democratic process,” Howell said.

In explaining his reason for traveling to DC, Thomas Munn told the judge he had never been political before but “I just kept watching what was happening on the news, and I felt we should speak out.”

Dawn and Thomas Munn were sentenced to 14 days behind bars. Their adult children, Kayli, Joshua and Kristi, were sentenced to probation and some home confinement.

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Federal prosecutors suggest a sentencing guideline of 41 to 51 months in prison

• Minnesota Trump supporter who falsely accused left-wing vandals of setting fire he staged pleads guilty to fraud

A Minnesota supporter of former President Donald Trump who officials say staged a fire that he blamed on left-wing radicals pleaded guilty Tuesday to wire fraud, prosecutors said.

Denis Molla, 30, had claimed that his camper was targeted because of his Trump flag.

He filed fraudulent insurance claims worth hundreds of thousands of dollars after the 2020 incident at his Minneapolis-area residence, prosecutors said.

Molla also created a GoFundMe fundraiser after the fire.

Molla took more than $78,000 from an insurance company and donors who used GoFundMe, prosecutors said. He submitted insurance claims worth more than $300,000, they said.

Trump Supporter Pleads Guilty to Staging Arson Hate Crime

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Last one

• The number of Republicans who believe Trump’s 'big lie' has fallen since the Jan. 6 hearings

Over the course of nine public opinion surveys by Yahoo News/YouGov between January 2021 and early June 2022, the average number of Republicans who believed incorrectly that the 2020 election was rigged was 66%.

But in three Yahoo News/YouGov polls conducted since the Jan. 6 committee held its eight hearings from June 9 to July 21, the number of Republicans who believed Trump’s “big lie” had fallen to 60%.

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-republi...190912807.html

• Jan. 6 committee unanimously votes to subpoena Trump

Members of the Jan. 6 select committee unanimously voted on Thursday to issue a subpoena to former President Trump.

Why it matters: The 9-0 vote came during Thursday's televised meeting aimed at making the case that Trump was the central antagonist in the attack and in preceding efforts to overturn the election.

Between the lines: Trump has been the central figure of the committee’s investigation, which has focused on proving his culpability for what happened on Jan. 6.

• A key question the panel has grappled with for months has been whether to compel testimony from Trump himself. However, a subpoena this late in their investigation — when the committee is expected to sunset at the end of the year — is largely symbolic.
• It is unlikely that it would result in Trump's actual testimony. Instead, the committee is setting down a marker to show it sought to hear from Trump himself — with the knowledge that doing so will force a response from his team.

While the former president did not say whether he'd appear before the committee, he did fire off a series of responses to the meeting on his Truth Social app.

• “Why didn’t the Unselect Committee ask me to testify months ago? Why did they wait until the very end, the final moments of their last meeting?” Trump wrote Thursday afternoon.

What they're saying: "He is the one person at the center of the story of what happened on Jan. 6. So we want to hear from him," said Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.).

• In his opening statement, Thompson said the committee was technically convening as a "formal committee business meeting."
• "In addition to presenting evidence, we can potentially hold a committee vote on further investigative action based upon that evidence," he said.
• Vice Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) also reminded viewers at the top of the hearing that the committee “may ultimately decide” to make criminal referrals to the Justice Department, adding that the panel’s role isn’t to prosecute but to recommend “reforms.”

The backdrop: During public hearings over the summer, as the panel weighed whether to seek testimony from Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, Thompson told reporters, “They both have, I would think, significant knowledge of what [went] on.”

• On July 19, Thompson said, “Donald Trump is just like every other American citizen in this situation. And if [he has some information] that the public can benefit from him as a witness … then we’ll make every attempt to bring him in."

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• Jan. 6 meeting updates: Panel has "information" to consider criminal referrals

Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), the vice chair of the Jan. 6 select committee, said Thursday that the panel has information to consider criminal referrals for multiple individuals.

Driving the news: "We have sufficient information to consider criminal referrals ... and recommend a range of legislative proposals to guard against another Jan. 6," Cheney said just before the committee voted to subpoena former President Trump.

The latest: The panel also played new materials from the Secret Service that underscores the agency's advanced knowledge of the violence planned for that day.

• "Their plan is to literally kill people. Please please take this tip seriously and investigate further," one tip to the Secret Service from Dec. 26, 2020, said of the Proud Boys' plan, per messages obtained and displayed by the panel.
• "By the morning of Jan 6, it was clear that the Secret Service anticipated violence," Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said during Thursday's meeting.
• The Secret Service on Jan. 6 also received notice of online threats directed toward former Vice President Mike Pence.
• A message at 10:39am ET on Jan. 6 said: "[A]lert at 1022 regarding the VP being a dead man walking if he doesn't do the right thing," per a message displayed during the hearing.

Committee says Trump had premeditated victory plan

The panel during its Thursday hearing, the last televised meeting before the midterms, and perhaps ever, is highlighting evidence that former President Trump planned before the election to declare victory regardless of the actual results in November 2020.

• "President Trump knew the truth," but decided to conduct an "unlawful effort to overturn the election," Cheney said on Thursday.
• “This big lie, President Trump’s effort to convince Americans that he had won the 2020 election, began before the election results even came in," Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said on Thursday.
• "It was intentional, it was premeditated, it was not based on election results or any evidence of actual fraud affecting the results or any actual problems with voting machines. It was a plan concocted in advance, to convince his supporters that he won.”

Ex-officials testify Trump privately acknowledged election loss

Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, testified to the committee that Trump was irate after the Supreme Court rejected a case challenging election results.

• "I don't want people to know we lost, this is embarrassing. ... I don't want people to know that we lost," Trump told Meadows, Hutchinson recalled.

An email from the Secret Service obtained by the committee also showed Trump's increasing frustration over losing an elections case at the Supreme Court.

• "Just fyi. POTUS is pissed - breaking news - Supreme Court denied his law suit. He is livid now," the email from Dec. 11, 2020, read.

Stephen K. Bannon, a former Trump campaign manager and White House adviser, per audio days before the election, said, "If Biden's winning, Trump is gonna do some crazy chit."

• Footage from Danish documentary filmmakers shows Trump associate Roger Stone saying ahead of the election that Trump should declare victory while the result is “still up in the air.”
• The footage also shows Stone saying, “F--k the voting, let’s get straight to the violence,” and “it’s time to start smashing pumpkins if you know what I mean.”

The big picture: "The central cause of Jan. 6 was one man: Donald Trump, who many others followed," Cheney said on Thursday

• "None of this would have happened without him, he was personally and substantially involved in all of it."
• Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), during opening remarks on Thursday, also said that the bulk of evidence used by the committee came from Republicans.
• "When you look back at what has come out through this committee’s work, the most striking fact is that this evidence comes almost entirely from Republicans," he said.

Committee warns about future threats in upcoming elections

Cheney issued a warning with a look toward November, the 2024 election and beyond: “Our institutions only hold when men and women of good faith make them hold, regardless of the political cost. We have no guarantee that these men and women will be in place next time.”

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• Oath Keepers discussed possibility of 'blood in the streets' on Jan. 6, FBI agent testifies

In the weeks before Jan. 6, several members of a far-right militia group discussed the possibility of violence breaking out around the certification of President Joe Biden's election victory, an FBI agent testified on Thursday.

Under questioning by federal prosecutors, FBI special agent and witness Kelsey Harris read through a series of messages between Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members who were in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, amid then-President Donald Trump's push to reverse his loss to Biden.

"Trump needs to know we support him in using the Insurrection Act ... and we will support him with our boots on the ground nationwide," Rhodes wrote in a December 2020 group chat with other Oath Keeper members, according to a copy of the message that Harris read and which was displayed for the jury.

"The only chance we/he has is if we scare the s--- out of them and convince them it will be torches and pitchforks if they don't do the right thing," Rhodes wrote, according to the message shown Thursday.

At the time, Trump was urging lawmakers not to certify Biden's win -- and he was urging his supporters to pressure Congress as lawmakers were gathering in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

The evidence prosecutors presented Thursday, via the messages that Harris read, was intended to bolster the government's case that Rhodes and the others "concocted a plan for an armed rebellion to shatter a bedrock of American democracy."

At one point, according to Thursday's testimony, Rhodes suggested to others that he believed the Oath Keepers would have the support of the Secret Service if Trump did invoke the Insurrection Act to try and block the transfer of power. But Rhodes added that the group would need to wait for Trump's call.

"I think the Secret Service would be happy to have us out there based on prior positive relations with him at a dozen Trump rallies," his message read, according to what was shown in court.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/oath...ry?id=91460102

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he may face life in prison

• Self-described ‘incel’ pleads guilty in Ohio mass shooting case

A self-described “incel” pleaded guilty in Ohio on Tuesday to plotting and attempting a mass shooting of women at a university in the state.

Identifying as an “involuntary celibate,” 22-year-old Tres Genco was part of the predominantly male online community centered on anger toward women, according to a release from the Department of Justice.

He was found by local sheriff’s deputies in 2020 with a firearm, loaded magazines, boxes of ammunition and body armor in the trunk of his vehicle, according to the Justice Department release, and as part of a plea admitted before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio that he had the weapons in his possession in order to commit a hate crime and shoot women.

The Hillsboro, Ohio, man maintained profiles and posted hundreds of times on a popular website for the incel movement and appeared to idolize known incel Elliot Rodger, who killed six people and injured 14 others in a 2014 shooting outside a California sorority house, according to the Justice Department.

The agency’s investigation revealed that Genco had penned a manifesto asserting his plans to “slaughter” women “out of hatred, jealousy and revenge” and that he had searched online for Ohio sororities and universities.

His search history also included inquiries like “planning a shooting crime” and “when does preparing for a crime become an attempt,” according to the Justice Department.

“Genco formulated a plot to kill women and intended to carry it out. Our federal and local law enforcement partners stopped that from happening. Hate has no place in our country — including gender-based hate,” said U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker for the Southern District of Ohio.

Federal agents arrested Genco in July 2021, and he has since been in custody. His guilty plea Tuesday means he may face life in prison.

https://news.yahoo.com/self-describe...153051401.html

• Judge denies Eastman attempt to reclaim phone seized by FBI

A federal judge on Friday denied an effort by John Eastman, the attorney who helped devise Donald Trump’s last-ditch effort to subvert the 2020 election, to reclaim his phone from the Justice Department.

New Mexico-based Senior U.S. District Court Judge Robert Brack ruled that Eastman had failed to show that the government’s seizure of his phone — by FBI agents who confronted him outside a restaurant in June — had caused “irreparable harm.” Brack noted that Eastman had obtained a replacement phone and that his desire to bar the government from combing the contents of his seized phone was not a sufficient reason to reclaim it from the Justice Department.

“Eastman wholly fails to show and in fact disclaims any need for the actual phone,” Brack noted in the 17-page ruling.

FBI agents investigating efforts by Trump allies to overturn the 2020 election seized Eastman’s phone in June as he exited a restaurant in New Mexico, where he lives. Eastman was a key architect of Trump’s plan to appoint false presidential electors and pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to consider them on Jan. 6, 2021, when he presided over the certification of the election results by Congress.

Eastman, who also failed to fend off an effort by congressional investigators to access a large cache of his emails, argued in his original complaint that FBI investigators might access privileged information on his phone. But after seizing his phone, federal prosecutors obtained a second search warrant that included safeguards to protect privileged material. This development made Eastman’s complaint “practically moot,” Brack noted.

In addition, Brack ruled that Eastman’s claims that the government’s seizure of his phone could chill his First Amendment-protected speech or associations would be better addressed in front of the U.S. District Court of Washington D.C., which issued the second search warrant.

“Eastman’s argument regarding privileged material fails for the same reason that his argument on the purported First Amendment violation fails: he is pressing this issue with the wrong court,” Brack ruled. “Should Eastman be concerned that the Government has access to material protected by the attorney-client privilege or work-product doctrine, he may file a motion for relief in the District of Columbia.”

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000...b-dceb470c0000

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• Prosecutors Focus on Thomas Caldwell in Oath Keepers Trial

‘It’s Kill or Be Killed’: Federal Prosecutors Share Messages from Oath Keepers Jan. 6 Defendant Who Claims to Be Little More Than Elderly Bystander

Federal prosecutors in the Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case against members of the Oath Keepers militia group zeroed in on the role of one defendant in particular on Friday — a Navy veteran whose lawyer has insisted is nothing more than a feeble veteran who is being unfairly targeted by the government.

Prosecutors say Caldwell organized and led the effort to set up the QRF, but during opening statements, Caldwell’s lawyer David Fischer said that the government’s prosecution of his client is nothing more than a “bait and switch” and an “absolute outrage.” He has described Caldwell as an “elderly veteran” who “couldn’t storm his way out of a paper bag,” a man whose primary concern about Jan. 6 was where to find the porta-potties.

On Friday, the government presented evidence it hoped would indicate otherwise to the jury, including numerous messages from Caldwell suggesting an intense desire to keep Trump in office, a readiness to engage in violence in order to do so, and a dogged effort to acquire at least one boat to ferry weapons from the QRF over the Potomac River to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“If We Don’t Start Mowing Down Masses of These Shitballs They Will Come for All of Us. It’s Kill or Be Killed.”

FBI agent Sylvia Hilgeman, who has been with the bureau for 13 years, was tasked with investigating the QRF, although she also has another connection to the Capitol riot: she and some of her colleagues, who were working in Virginia that day, were called to the Capitol to support the police at around 2:00 or 3:00 p.m. At the start of her testimony, she told prosecutor Louis Manzo that they assisted police in clearing the Capitol grounds, largely by standing behind Metropolitan Police and U.S. Capitol Police.

A significant part of Hilgeman’s testimony on Friday was spent showing jurors messages from Caldwell dating back to the days after the 2020 presidential election — messages that appeared to show that Caldwell was angry and ready for a fight.

“Sharon and I are going to this rally tomorrow for the President,” Caldwell wrote in a Facebook message to someone named Adrian Grimes. “It’s a show of support. If we lose him from the White House our country is dead.”

“They are asking that folks Trump Train it over there with flags flying,” Caldwell also said. “This may be the last hurrah. Or a final push to let people know we are not going down easily.”

“Next step, I guess, if the Democraps throw out the Constitution, is Civil War,” Caldwell added.

Days later, Caldwell wrote to Grimes again.

“If we cannot get the President another term, we are well and truly fucked,” he wrote on Nov. 14, 2020, the same day that he attended a pro-Trump “Million MAGA March” in Washington. “If we don’t start mowing down masses of these shitballs they will come for all of us. It’s kill or be killed I am afraid.”

“I don’t want to live in a communist country,” Caldwell also said. “I kinda hope there is some shit tomorrow in some ways just so we can get ON with it.”

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• Jan. 6 probe hears of contacts between Secret Service, Oath Keepers

Jan. 6 Capitol riot panel briefed on multiple calls between Secret Service and Oath Keepers, NBC News reports

Staff members of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot investigative committee have been briefed on multiple phone calls in 2020 between an agent in the Secret Service’s protective intelligence division and members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group, NBC News reported Friday.

The House select committee on Friday requested from the Secret Service all records related to communications between the agency and the Oath Keepers, including any contacts leading up to and after the violent Jan. 6, 2021, invasion of the U.S. Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters, NBC reported.

The briefing to committee staff and subsequent records request was spurred by recent testimony at the ongoing federal criminal trial of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, who is accused with other defendants of seditious conspiracy.

Rhodes and his co-defendants are accused of plotting to stop the lawful transfer of power from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden.

Former North Carolina Oath Keepers leader John Zimmerman earlier this month testified about seeing Rhodes speaking on the telephone with a person Zimmerman believed to be a Secret Service agent about what weapons the group’s members could carry at an upcoming rally by Trump in September 2020.

Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi told NBC earlier Friday that members of the Oath Keepers “reached out concerning logistics about demonstration areas and rules for attending Presidential events.”

“This is common activity between organized groups and advance agents,” Guglielmi said.

He later issued a statement that said, “Following the (Oath Keepers) trial, the committee reached out to the Secret Service and a verbal briefing was provided to staff, which was specific to the comments made at trial.”

“Today, the committee has followed up with a formal inquiry for records regarding that and January 6, which we will provide,” Guglielmi said.

Frank Figliuzzi, a former assistant FBI director who currently is NBC’s national security analyst, told the news outlet that while it is common for law enforcement to speak with a protest group or a group acting as security for an event, regular contact with a militia group such as the Oath Keepers raises concerns.

The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the president, vice president and others, has been embarrassed this year by a series of controversies.

They include several agents being duped by men posing as Department of Homeland Security agents who provided them with pricey gifts; the revelation that the agency deleted agents’ cell-phone text messages that were sent around the time of the riot; and the failure to fully detail an auto accident involving a vehicle carrying Vice President Kamala Harris.

faces a statutory maximum of five years in prison and potential financial penalties

• New Jersey Woman Pleads Guilty to Felony Charge for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach - Defendant Encouraged Mob in Confrontations With Officers

A New Jersey woman pleaded guilty today to a felony charge for her actions during the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Her actions and the actions of others disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress convened to ascertain and count the electoral votes related to the 2020 presidential election.

Stephanie Hazelton, 50, of Medford, New Jersey, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to interfering with law enforcement officers during a civil disorder and aiding and abetting.

According to court documents, on Jan. 6, 2021, Hazelton illegally entered the Capitol grounds and joined in multiple confrontations with law enforcement officers. At approximately 2:45 p.m., she approached the west front of the Capitol building and joined a mob there. As she approached, she made various statements encouraging the crowd, including, “Let’s go! Move forward! They cannot stop us all,” and, “This is the battle. This is it. This is the battle.”

Hazelton then approached the Lower West Terrace, which was packed with rioters pushing forward against law enforcement officers who were attempting to prevent the mob from moving through a tunnel and into the Capitol building. From outside the tunnel, she turned towards rioters, and waved them up, encouraging more to move into the area. She moved to the front of the mob, which was pushing against the officers. As others in the crowd assaulted officers, Hazelton remained in the area, yelling, among other things, “We need more men! We need more men! Keep going!”

Hazelton was arrested on Jan. 22, 2021. She is to be sentenced on Feb. 1, 2023. She faces a statutory maximum of five years in prison and potential financial penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case, with valuable assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.

The case is being investigated by the FBI’s Newark Field Office. Valuable assistance was provided by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Capitol Police, and the Metropolitan Police Department.

In the 21 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 880 individuals have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including over 270 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement. The investigation remains ongoing.

New Jersey Woman Pleads Guilty to Felony Charge for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | USAO-DC | Department of Justice

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facing up to life in prison, with a 20-year mandatory minimum for discharging the firearm

• Cops say a Trump supporter attacked Biden fans in Miami. Does an impartial jury exist?

While voters all over Miami-Dade County were casting their ballots in the contentious presidential election on Nov. 3, 2020, police say one Donald Trump supporter was dangerously expressing his political opinions out on Biscayne Bay with threats and a handgun.

Triggered, police say, by a Joe Biden flag on a personal watercraft, Eduardo Acosta allegedly went ballistic and attacked two men, firing at them as they fled on the water and then chasing them down and threatening them at gunpoint — all while repeating a conspiracy that Biden supporters are child molesters.

Two years later, Acosta, 39, is fighting charges that include two counts of premeditated attempted murder with a weapon, two counts of aggravated assault with a weapon and robbery with a weapon. His trial began this week as attorneys attempted to select a jury.

He is facing up to life in prison, with a 20-year mandatory minimum for discharging the firearm.

Though the charges are in dispute, the altercation — some of which was caught on video — was a clear reflection of how tense the political environment in South Florida had become by Election Day 2020. Now, efforts to find an impartial jury to decide Acosta’s fate have provided a window into how politically divided Miami remains ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm election.

What’s typically the more tedious part of a trial, the jury selection process in Acosta’s trial — which has lasted two days and could spill into next week — has exposed raw feelings, with dozens of potential jurors forced to discuss their feelings about the country’s polarized politics.

On Tuesday, one potential juror said she could try to cope through the case’s allusions to violence, despite having a person close to her brutally murdered in recent years. But she couldn’t put aside the politics.

“It’s not that I think Biden is awesome, but Trump represents everything that I... have a disdain for,” said the woman. “I think he’s a vile human being.”

• Sex, guns and sedition: Prosecutors describe Oath Keeper road trip to D.C.

Prosecutors on Monday entered the sex, guns and road trip portion of their sprawling seditious conspiracy case against five leaders of the far-right Oath Keepers, presenting a new pile of vivid, granular and, at times, R-rated evidence to the jury.

Justice Department attorneys, who have charged Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and several allies with plotting to forcibly prevent Joe Biden from taking office, reconstructed the group’s movements in the days before Jan. 6, 2021, as members from across the country drove to Washington, D.C., with a massive arsenal of firearms in tow.

At the same time, Rhodes was helping amass his own contributions to the Oath Keepers weapons cache, which would later be stashed at an Arlington, Va., Comfort Inn, strategically located to ensure the weapons could be ferried downtown at a moment’s notice. Prosecutors showed messages in which Rhodes negotiated to purchase firearms and other equipment ahead of Jan 6 and drew down bank accounts to the tune of more than $100,000 along the way.

In the third week of the government’s case against Rhodes and Oath Keepers Kelly Meggs, Jessica Watkins, Thomas Caldwell and Kenneth Harrelson, prosecutors are attempting to fill in their extensive evidence about the group’s cache of arms and how it methodically planned to bring them to D.C. ahead of Congress’ Jan. 6 session to certify the 2020 election results.

Dozens of Oath Keepers came to Washington that day, and more than 20, including Rhodes, were spotted on the Capitol grounds as a pro-Donald Trump mob stormed the building. Although Rhodes didn’t enter the building himself, two groups of his allies — including Meggs, Watkins and Harrelson, surged inside with the crowd while clad in military-style garb. Back at the Comfort Inn, Oath Keeper Ed Vallejo — who is also charged with seditious conspiracy and will be tried in November — stood ready for orders to transport the weapons into Washington, either by van or by boat.

Among the new details: Surveillance footage taken from the Comfort Inn showing Watkins, Caldwell and another Oath Keeper, Donovan Crowl, saluting each other hours after returning from the mob riot at the Capitol. The footage showed members of the Oath Keepers hauling large carts of cases that prosecutors say contained weapons into their hotel rooms.

Prosecutors also showed the jury a new series of text messages sent among leaders of the group as they traveled to Washington in the days before Jan. 6. It showed them carefully coordinating their locations and plans as they converged on Washington, with some stopping at prearranged outposts outside Washington on the way.

Amid that travel, prosecutors revealed messages between Rhodes and Kellye SoRelle, an attorney who Rhodes has claimed served as the group’s general counsel — but who prosecutors say did not act in that capacity — engaging in sexually explicit banter.

“Speaking of fucking … if you need some come over,” Rhodes wrote to SoRelle on Jan. 2, 2021. SoRelle replied that she couldn’t but after a lengthier exchange said, “You’re too good at what you do. Whole bad boy thing. I am a damn moth to a [flame emoji]. I really am replaying my teenage years.”

The messages underscore the personal relationship between Rhodes and SoRelle even as some of the defendants have sought to keep some of her messages excluded by claiming attorney-client privilege.

Prosecutors also sought to continue undercutting a key defense of the Oath Keepers — that they were in Washington only to serve as security details for VIPs attending pro-Trump rallies, not as part of any plan to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.

DOJ attorneys played several audio segments of a podcast joined by two Arizona Oath Keepers, Vallejo and Todd Kandaris, on the morning of Jan. 6. The pair described their presence in Washington as part of an effort to forcibly prevent Biden from taking office.

“We are the final check and balance to this process,” Kandaris said. “Is there a ‘shot heard round the world’ moment? The possibility definitely exists.”

Kandaris has not been charged.

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sentencing guidelines range between five and seven years

• Former Oath Keeper Felt He Needed To Be Willing To ‘Conquer Or Die’ On Jan. 6

ason Dolan, a former member of the extremist group the Oath Keepers, testified Tuesday that he was prepared to take up arms to keep former President Donald Trump in office as members of a far-right mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Dolan, a 20-year veteran of the Marine Corps, pleaded guilty to one federal count of conspiracy and one count of obstruction of an official proceeding in September. He agreed to cooperate fully with prosecutors and testified Tuesday as part of an ongoing seditious conspiracy trial of five members of the Oath Keepers.

The group’s leader, Stewart Rhodes, is among those on trial.

“I was watching a lot of videos about the election. At the time I felt like the election had been stolen,” Dolan, 46, testified, according to NBC News.

He joined the Oath Keepers, a far-right group largely made up of retired military members and law enforcement.

“It felt like within the group I was with … that there was a core group that would be willing to fight,” he testified later, adding he felt he needed to be willing to “conquer or die” and “take up arms and fight back” to defend Trump’s presidency.

Part of that plan included members of the group stashing weapons in hotel rooms in nearby Virginia in preparation for any conflict between those defending Trump or then-President-elect Joe Biden, Dolan testified.

Dolan added he took firearms to Washington, D.C., in the days before the Jan. 6 attack. Prosecutors displayed two weapons, a rifle Dolan built and a pistol.

His testimony was the first time a cooperating witness shared an account of being in the pro-Trump mob and the first time a jury heard evidence the Oath Keepers directly sought to disrupt the certification of the Electoral College results on Jan. 6.

Dolan’s federal sentencing guidelines range between five and seven years, although he could receive some leniency as part of his plea deal with the government.

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• DOJ seeks 6-month prison sentence for Steve Bannon

The Department of Justice on Monday recommended that former Trump adviser Steve Bannon receive a six-month jail sentence and a $200,000 fine for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee.

Driving the news: The DOJ in the Monday filing said that Bannon from the moment that he accepted the subpoena "has pursued a bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt."

• "The defendant flouted the Committee's authority and ignored the subpoena's demands."
• "For his sustained, bad-faith contempt of Congress, the Defendant should be sentenced to six months' imprisonment—the top end of the Sentencing Guidelines' range—and fined $200,000—based on his insistence on paying the maximum fine rather than cooperate with the Probation Office’s routine pre-sentencing financial investigation."

What he's saying: In a sentencing memorandum, Bannon on Monday asked the judge to impose a sentence of probation instead of jail time and also asked to put any sentencing on hold pending appeal.

• "Over the last year, Mr. Bannon has demonstrated that he is willing and able to comply with any conditions of release imposed by the Court," Bannon's team said.
• "He also has the financial ability to pay an appeal bond, if one is set by this Court," they said.
• "The current state of the law burdens subpoenaed congressional witnesses with navigating complex legal principles – such as executive privilege – that are the argot of lawyers, not laymen."
• "The inherent risks of this approach cannot be understated," Bannon's team said.

The big picture: Bannon in July was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress for failing to comply with a subpoena issued by the Jan. 6 select committee.

• A day after his conviction, Bannon said that he was willing to go to jail over his support for former President Trump.
• "I support Trump and the Constitution, and if they want to put me in jail for that, so be it,” Bannon told Fox News host Tucker Carlson during an episode of "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

When does Bannon go to prison for fraud? That will be far more interesting.

he could now face up to 25 years in prison

• Man charged for threatening to kill Biden, Bennie Thompson

Prosecutors on Wednesday said a federal grand jury indicted a Pennsylvania man for threatening to kill House Jan. 6, 2021, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) in a letter sent to his Capitol office last week.

Maverick Vargo, 25, threatened President Biden, Thompson, Thompson’s family, and U.S. District Court Judge Robert Mariani in the letter, also sending what appeared to be a white powder and alluding to anthrax, prosecutors said.

Vargo, who is from Berwick, Pa., is charged with threatening the president, sending interstate communications with a threat and influencing a federal official by threat, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced.

Prosecutors alleged Vargo sent the letter from the Luzerne County Correctional Facility in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and he could now face up to 25 years in prison for the new charge.

The letter arrived at Thompson’s office in the Rayburn House Office Building days before he and his colleagues on the Jan. 6 panel held what may be their final hearing in the committee’s months-long series to convince the public of former President Trump’s culpability for the Capitol attack.

Prosecutors said Vargas wrote to Thompson, “I’m going to kill you! I will make you feel the rest of our pain & suffering. There is nowhere or nobody who can keep you from me. I am going to kill you & those you love. I promise you that I will keep my promise until the day of my death.”

The letter also allegedly said, “you & Joe Biden soon will face death for the wrongs you’ve done to US.”

Man charged for threatening to kill Biden, Bennie Thompson: prosecutors | The Hill

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Secor will still spend 42 months in prison and serve 36 months of supervised release

• Ex-UCLA student sentenced to 3.5 years in prison over Capitol riot

A former UCLA student was sentenced to 3.5 years in prison on Wednesday over his involvement in the U.S. Capitol riot.

The big picture: Christian Secor, a self-described fascist who was still enrolled at the college at the time, was among a group of rioters forcing their way through a doorway into the Capitol that was blocked by police officers, according to the Department of Justice.

The 24-year-old was charged with obstructing Congress, civil disorder and assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, among others.

Secor pleaded guilty in May and faces 42 months in prison, three years of supervised release and $2,000 in restitution.

Details: Secor wore a red MAGA cap and carried a large blue flag with "America First" written on it after joining the mob invading the Capitol building. He sat in the House speaker's chair at one point, video footage shows.

Federal prosecutors say Secor, an avid follower of far-right white nationalist Nick Fuentes, openly posted calls for America to become a whites-only nation.

Secor also served as president of the UCLA campus organization America First Bruins — a movement spearheaded by Fuentes.

What they're saying: Judge Trevor McFadden, a Trump nominee who oversaw Secor's case, called his actions "about as blatant and obstructive as any [he's] seen from that day that didn't include actual violence," NPR reports.

Just a moment... - Ex-UCLA Student Christian Secor Sentenced for Jan. 6 Felony

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• Judge: Trump signed off on voter fraud allegations he knew were false in legal docs

A federal judge implied Wednesday former President Trump signed legal documents alleging instances of fraud during the 2020 election that he knew were false.

Why it matters: U.S. District Court Judge David Carter, in an 18-page opinion, said these knowingly false allegations were used in at least one lawsuit filed by Trump and his attorneys in a Georgia state court.

Context: The opinion stemmed from ex-Trump attorney John Eastman's lawsuit against the Jan. 6 select committee, which is seeking emails from Eastman that he's declined to turn over citing attorney-client privilege.

• Eastman was a primary architect behind a theory that the vice president could unilaterally reject electoral votes as part of a last-ditched effort to overturn the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election.
• He was previously ordered to turn a total of 101 emails, sent between Jan. 4 and Jan. 7, after a judge ruled he failed to adequately prove attorney-client privilege to prevent their release.
• Eastman sought a presidential pardon in the aftermath of the Jan. 6 riot, according to the select committee, which revealed this detail during a public hearing in June.

What they're saying: The opinion was part of a review to determine if Eastman’s emails between Nov. 3, 2020 and Jan. 20, 2021 are relevant to the committee's investigation or are protected by attorney-client privilege.

• Carter said at least 33 additional emails are related to the committee's investigation and must be turned over because they "show that President Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public."
• "The Court finds that these emails are sufficiently related to and in furtherance of a conspiracy to defraud the United States," the judge continued.

The big picture: Carter's allegation stems from a specific lawsuit filed by Trump and his lawyers in a Georgia state court, in which they claimed Fulton County — which includes Atlanta — improperly counted votes from 10,315 deceased people, 2,560 felons and 2,423 unregistered voters and asked the court to overturn the results of the election and order a new one.

• Before Trump and his lawyers appealed the case to Georgia's Supreme Court, Eastman told other Trump attorneys that the then-president "has since been made aware that some of the allegations (and evidence proffered by the experts) has [sic] been inaccurate. For him to sign a new verification with that knowledge (and incorporation by reference) would not be accurate."
• Despite Eastman's warning, Trump and his attorneys appealed the complaint to the state supreme court with the same false numbers without changing them, though the appeal was ultimately rejected.

• As part of the appeal, Trump signed "a verification swearing under oath that the incorporated, inaccurate numbers 'are true and correct' or 'believed to be true and correct' to the best of his knowledge and belief,' according to Judge Carter.

Carter also said the emails contain at least four instances of Eastman and other attorneys suggesting that filing lawsuits contesting the results in key battleground states could delay or disrupt Congress' certification of votes on Jan. 6, 2021.

• In one example, Carter said Trump's attorneys stated that having a case pending in the Supreme Court "might be enough to delay consideration of Georgia."
• "This email, read in context with other documents in this review, make clear that President Trump filed certain lawsuits not to obtain legal relief, but to disrupt or delay the January 6 congressional proceedings through the courts," Carter wrote.

https://www.axios.com/2022/10/19/jud...aud-allegation
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• ‘Does Trump Have Balls or Not?’: Encrypted Chats Show Stewart Rhodes Hoped Ex-President Would ‘Man Up’ on Jan. 6 and Militarize the Oath Keepers

In the days leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes grew increasingly frustrated that then-outgoing President Donald Trump didn’t invoke the Insurrection Act — a move that Rhodes believed would have militarized his extremist group.

A flood of private, encrypted messages introduced into evidence on Thursday appear to show that Rhodes taking it upon himself to disrupt the transfer of power.

Authenticated by ex-FBI agent Whitney Drew, the Signal messages show an impatient Rhodes pining for revolution.

“I’m tired of waiting for Trump to do his damn duty,” Rhodes groused in an email in December, referring to deputizing private paramilitaries.

In a later message, Rhodes said he would act on the assumption that Trump would not do that.

“They won’t fear us until we come with rifles in hand,” Rhodes said.

“Next comes our ‘Lexington.'” Rhodes also said.

Such encrypted messages, sent in Oath Keepers leadership chats on the Signal app, could be crucial to proving that Rhodes and four other Oath Keepers members engaged in a seditious conspiracy against the U.S. government.

https://lawandcrime.com/oath-keepers...-oath-keepers/?

• Cheney: Jan. 6 Panel Won't Accept Live TV Testimony From Trump

Raising the stakes on its extraordinary subpoena to Donald Trump, the House committee investigating the Capitol riot indicated Sunday it would not consider letting the former president testify live on television about the direct role that congressional investigators say he played in trying to overturn the 2020 election.

The committee is demanding Trump’s testimony under oath next month as well as records relevant to its investigation. To avoid a complicated and protracted legal battle, Trump reportedly had told associates he might consider complying with the subpoena if he could answer questions during live testimony.

But Rep. Liz Cheney, the committee’s vice chair, on Sunday rejected the possibility. She said the committee, which makes its major decisions with unanimous consent, would not allow Trump’s testimony to turn into a “food fight” on TV and she warned that the committee will take action if he does not comply with the subpoena.

“We are going to proceed in terms of the questioning of the former president under oath,” Cheney, R-Wyo., said on “Meet the Press” on NBC. “It may take multiple days, and it will be done with a level of rigor and discipline and seriousness that it deserves. We are not going to allow — he’s not going to turn this into a circus.”

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• Court clears way for Jan. 6 probe to get Ward’s phone records

A federal appeals court has turned down former Arizona GOP senate candidate Kelli Ward’s attempt to block a House committee subpoena for her phone records in connection with an investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building and other events related to the 2020 presidential election.

A divided panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voted, 2-1, to deny Ward’s request for an order preventing telephone carrier T-Mobile from complying with the subpoena issued by the House select committee probing Jan. 6.

“The investigation, after all, is not about Ward’s politics; it is about her involvement in the events leading up to the January 6 attack, and it seeks to uncover those with whom she communicated in connection with those events. That some of the people with whom Ward communicated may be members of a political party does not establish that the subpoena is likely to reveal ‘sensitive information about [the party’s] members and supporters,’” wrote Judges Barry Silverman, appointed by President Bill Clinton, and Eric Miller, appointed by President Donald Trump.

The third member of the panel, Judge Sandra Ikuta, dissented and said she would have granted Ward’s request to block the subpoena.

“The communications at issue here between members of a political party about an election implicate a core associational right protected by the First Amendment,” wrote Ikuta, an appointee of President George W. Bush.

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Just for fun.

• Pelosi: Trump is not "man enough" to show up and testify in Jan. 6 probe

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Sunday that former President Trump is not "man enough to show up" and obey a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.

Driving the news: "I don't think he's man enough to show up. I don't think his lawyers will want him to show up because he has to testify under oath," Pelosi said Sunday during an interview with MSNBC.

"We'll see if he's man enough to show up," she added.

first two felony counts carry a maximum 20-year sentence and the final count carries a mandatory two-year prison term.

• Three men convicted of supporting Whitmer kidnapping plot

Three men were convicted on Wednesday of all charges against them over supporting a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in 2020.

The jury found Joe Morrison, his father-in-law Pete Musico and Paul Bellar guilty of providing material support for terrorist acts, gang membership and carrying or possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony.

The men are members of the Wolverine Watchman, a far-right paramilitary group. Several others arrested in connection with the plot were also members of the group.

A jury previously convicted two men, Adam Fox and Barry Croft Jr., of conspiring to kidnap Whitmer in August. Another jury was unable to reach an unanimous conclusion on Fox and Croft and acquitted two other defendants.

The Associated Press reported that Morrison, Musico and Bellar held gun drills in a rural county with Fox, who led the plot and despised Whitmer.

Prosecutors argued the men were hoping to incite a civil war with the kidnapping.

Whitmer was ultimately not harmed, and the men were arrested before the plot could be set into motion. FBI informants and agents infiltrated the plan early on.

Michigan Jury Convicts 3 Men in Gretchen Whitmer Kidnap Plot

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• Stewart Rhodes, Sick with COVID-19, Waives Presence at Trial

Law Enforcement Witnesses Testify at Seditious Conspiracy Trial While Oath Keepers Leader Stewart Rhodes Is Sidelined with COVID-19

After contracting COVID-19 this past weekend inside a jail in Alexandria, Va., Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes waived his physical presence in federal court on Tuesday for law enforcement witnesses called by prosecutors.

Rhodes attended the proceedings virtually via a video link, and he intends to return — after jailhouse officials provide medical clearance — once the government calls more cooperating witnesses from within his organization who admitted to participating in the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol. Some of those members pleaded guilty to the top charge against Rhodes and his co-defendants: seditious conspiracy, a rarely charged statute punishing plots to “overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force” the U.S. government or the execution of its laws.

Ex-FBI agent Whitney Drew recently authenticated one such video of Rhodes outside the Capitol on Jan. 6, appearing to parrot the proclamation of Abraham Lincoln’s assassin John Wilkes Booth: “Sic semper tyrannis,” Latin for “thus always to tyrants.” Drew’s testimony continued on Tuesday after Rhodes waived his presence following a brief exchange with U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta. Various defense attorneys took turns trying to undermine her testimony, including lawyer Bradford Geyer, who represents Oath Keepers member Kenneth Harrelson.

A different law enforcement witness, ex-U.S. Capitol Police Officer Ryan Salke, demolished the notion that rioters were allowed inside the building. An ex-Marine Corps reservist who’s now a deputy with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s office in Wilmington, N.C., Salke repeatedly testified that the only reason he did not effectuate arrests on Jan. 6th was that the unruly mob made that impossible.

“I wasn’t able to,” he said. “It wasn’t practical.”

Asked why he didn’t call for additional backup, Salke responded: “Every unit at the Capitol was already being utilized,” adding that the radios were “unusable” because of all of the officers “screaming” on them.

Salke arrived armed at the Capitol with his service weapon, and asked about whether he ever considered removing it from his holster, he acknowledged that there was one such moment.

“A flashbang was thrown at my feet,” he recounted.

Throughout trial, defense attorneys highlighted portions of the footage showing the crowd singing the U.S. national anthem, but Salke quickly dispensed with sentimentalizing the mob.

“Completely ironic — to storm the Capitol steps and somehow feel that’s patriotic,” he said.

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• Former Trump Aide Hope Hicks Sits For Interview With Jan. 6 Committee

A former top aide to former President Donald Trump took part in a deposition with the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Hope Hicks, who served as Trump’s aide before becoming communications director and eventually landing a role as a senior White House advisor, took part in an interview with the Jan. 6 committee Tuesday, The New York Times first reported. The details of the interview have not yet been made public.

The House committee investigating the Capitol attack that left five dead and more than 140 officers injured voted unanimously earlier this month to subpoena Trump to testify under oath about his involvement in the attack and his attempt to stop the certification process for President Joe Biden. Trump responded to the news by issuing a 14-page letter that ranted about a “Rigged and Stolen” election.

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Extra

• Jacob Wohl, Jack Burkman May Do Time for Robocalls

Jack Burkman and Jacob Wohl May Do Time After Pleading Guilty to Voter Intimidation Robocall Scheme

Conservative conspiracy theorists and operatives Jack Burkman, 56, and Jacob Wohl, 24, pleaded guilty on Monday to one felony count of telecommunications fraud over a series of robocalls with false messages intended to dissuade Black voters from participating in the 2020 general election.

Charges were leveled against the pair in October 2020, after their group, Project 1599, placed several thousand phone calls to select area codes across the country – with significant populations of color – that spread misinformation about mail-in voting. In Cleveland alone, prosecutors said, some 8,000 calls targeted voters, according to Cleveland.com. Those numbers were lated dialed down to some 3,500 in Ohio – part of roughly 85,000 made nationally.

The defendants were allowed to change their pleas during Monday’s hearing via Zoom teleconferencing software by Judge Sutula. Sentencing in their case is currently slated for Nov. 29, 2022.

Jail time 7 ½ years

• Jan. 6 rioter gets 90-month sentence in assault of DC officer Fanone

Tennessee man was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to assaulting Washington, D.C., police officer Michael Fanone during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Albuquerque Head, 43, pleaded guilty in May to assaulting, resisting or impeding officers, and he will be placed on three years of supervised release following his prison time.

His 90-month sentence is less than prosecutors’ 96-month request, but it exceeds Head’s request to the court for 60 months. He will also pay restitution in an amount to be decided later by the court.

Court documents show Head pushed against a police line in a tunnel located in the Capitol’s lower west terrace.

Head subsequently wrapped his arm around Fanone’s neck and pulled him into the mob for 25 seconds, yelling “I got one!”

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2 years in prison

• Jonathan Joshua Munafo Sentenced for Michigan 911 Threats

‘I’m Gonna Cut Your Throat’: Jan. 6 Defendant Separately Sentenced for Calling 911 ‘Approximately 143’ Times and Threatening Dispatchers

A man charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Complex and who searched for information about Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) during the two days prior to the breach was sentenced Wednesday in a separate case involving “approximately 143” expletive-laden and violent threats to a Michigan 911 dispatch center on Jan. 5, 2021.

Jonathan Joshua Munafo, 35, will serve the next two years in prison, a federal judge determined, because of those rants and ravings — which included references to the “Insurrection Act.”

After serving two years behind bars, Munafo must serve three years on supervised release, according to a U.S. Department of Justice press release.

Munafo, described as being “originally of Massachusetts” but “most recently of Winter Park, Florida,” pleaded guilty in May to communicating threats in interstate commerce in connection with the 911 calls to Michigan.

Two of Munafo’s friends turned him in, the statement of facts says. At one point, Munafo had been given the nickname #boyinthehood online, the statement of facts indicates.

That case remains pending in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, but a mid-September document says that “good faith plea negotiations” are ongoing.

Man Sentenced To Prison For Threatening Emergency Dispatch | USAO-WDMI | Department of Justice
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• Jan. 6 committee to seek interviews with Secret Service officials

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack is planning to seek interviews with a half-dozen current and former Secret Service officials, according to a source familiar.

Dates for the interviews have not yet been set but come after the committee was given more than 1 million electronic communications from the Secret Service after an internal watchdog notified the panel that some of its texts from Jan. 6 appeared to have been “erased.”

The development was first reported by CNN.

Among those the panel wishes to speak with are two men whose names were brought to the forefront of the probe following explosive testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who detailed a story relayed to her about how then-President Trump “lunged” at his security detail after being told they would not transport him to the Capitol to join his supporters.

Those men are Tony Ornato, who briefly stepped away from the Secret Service to take a civil role as Trump’s deputy chief of staff, and Bobby Engel, who led Trump’s security detail that day. Ornato relayed the story to Hutchinson in front of Engel, who was said to have witnessed the event.

Both men have previously sat with the panel, but the committee is also seeking information from the yet-to-be-named driver of the car when Trump allegedly reached toward the steering wheel.

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• Trump team receives subpoena from Jan. 6 committee

Attorneys for Donald Trump have accepted service of a subpoena issued by the Jan. 6 select committee demanding documents and testimony from the former president by next month.

A person familiar with the matter confirmed that attorneys for the former president agreed to formally receive the committee’s summons. Matthew Sarelson — an attorney with The Dhillon Law Group, which is representing Trump in his dealings with the committee — accepted service of the subpoena on Monday. A Trump spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Jan. 6 panel wants Trump to provide relevant documents by Nov. 4 and appear for a deposition by Nov. 14, though neither deadline is likely to hold. Trump has given no public indication about whether he will challenge the subpoena in court, a process that would all but ensure he never testifies before the panel.

The Jan. 6 select committee voted unanimously Thursday to subpoena Donald Trump, a remarkable bid to tie up one of its last remaining threads that’s unlikely to successfully compel the former president’s testimony.

But Harmeet Dhillon, the top lawyer at The Dhillon Law Group, has retweeted multiple posts attacking the committee’s subpoena. In a statement last week, fellow Dhillon Law Group attorney David Warrington criticized the committee for publicly releasing a copy of the subpoena.

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• Secret Service Inspector Who Protected Mike Pence and Other U.S. Government Witnesses Cap off Another Week in Oath Keepers Trial

A Secret Service inspector who whisked former Vice President Mike Pence from the Senate floor narrated the scramble to safeguard her protectee as one of the final witnesses in another week of the Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy trial.

“The concern obviously was that we would get trapped inside the Senate chamber, which is not something obviously we wanted to have happen,” inspector Lanelle Hawa testified.

In March, Hawa told a separate jury in the trial of “Cowboys for Trump” leader Couy Griffin that Pence was moved to the loading dock underneath the U.S. Capitol — in what marked the first public confirmation of the vice president’s whereabouts during the riot. She repeated that account on Wednesday.

“We were in this secure location for several hours — five hours, give or take,” Hawa estimated.

Though not a new revelation, Hawa’s testimony was crucial in establishing what prosecutors identified as the goal of the Oath Keepers’ seditious conspiracy: disrupting the certification of Joe Biden’s election over defeated incumbent Donald Trump.

Along with Hawa, Metropolitan Police Officer Christopher Owens described the “surreal” scene he encountered at the Capitol as a member of the force’s Civil Disturbance Unit.

“The surge of us against the surge of the rioters coming at us lifted me up off my feet,” Owens recounted, explaining that he’s “not a small person.” The government showed jurors video clips of the chaotic scene, as the witness struggled to make out some of their shouts and taunts.

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes was diagnosed with COVID-19, and he agreed to appear remotely via closed-circuit TV for certain government witness until he’s cleared by the jailhouse. Attorney Stanley Woodward, who represents the group’s Florida chapter leader Kelly Meggs, has been unable to appear due to another medical issue.

It was Woodword’s illness that made presiding U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta reluctantly adjourn proceedings by mid-week. Woodward wanted to be present to cross-examine the government’s next witness: U.S. Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, who appeared in the debut hearing of the Jan. 6th Committee. That testimony is expected to kick off on Monday.

https://lawandcrime.com/oath-keepers...keepers-trial/

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• Judge to consider unsealing Trump grand jury filings

A federal judge is considering whether to unseal secret court documents detailing former President Donald Trump’s effort to prevent former aides from providing testimony to a grand jury investigating efforts to subvert the 2020 election.

Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on Wednesday asked the Justice Department to weigh in on unsealing requests made by two media organizations: POLITICO on Oct. 18 and the New York Times on Oct. 21.

Howell’s request comes as Trump has been quietly waging — and losing — a court battle in recent weeks to prevent former aides from testifying to the grand jury.

Marc Short, former chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, testified before a grand jury last Thursday just hours after a federal appeals court panel rejected a last-ditch appeal by Trump lawyers seeking to raise executive privilege concerns about the appearance.

After a rushed series of filings, three D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judges — Karen Henderson, Robert Wilkins and Florence Pan — turned down the emergency stay request at about 7 p.m. on the evening before Short testified, according to a court docket POLITICO reviewed that reflects the closed-door legal battle.

Trump’s team could have sought relief from the Supreme Court following that rejection, but such an application has yet to be filed in the dispute.

The appeals court panel’s ruling was the result of a four-month fight that was initiated on June 10 over testimony related to grand jury subpoenas pertaining to the investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. That fight began around the same time Short first appeared before federal investigators. But it accelerated rapidly on Sept. 28, when Howell ruled against Trump. The nature of the ruling remains sealed but it pertained to two grand jury subpoenas that Trump had challenged.

The identity of the recipients of those subpoenas is not clear, though the timing suggests they were connected to testimony from Short and Greg Jacob, Pence’s chief counsel.

POLITICO moved to unseal Howell’s Sept. 28 ruling and related filings last week. On Wednesday, Howell ordered the Justice Department and Trump attorneys to respond to that motion by Nov. 15. The New York Times filed a similar unsealing motion on Friday.

The Washington Post first reported on the appeals court ruling, but the identity of the judges who decided the matter and the precise timeline of Trump’s secret battle has not previously been reported. CNN first reported that Jacob, too, was the subject of Howell’s September ruling and Trump is mounting a separate challenge to potential testimony by former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone and his then-deputy, Pat Philbin.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/1...-jury-00063692

obstructing an official proceeding, carries a 20-year maximum sentence. The second, destroying property, has a 5-year cap

• Joshua Dillon Haynes Pleads Guilty in Jan. 6 Media Attack

U.S. Capitol Rioter Who Lol’d About Being Compared to ‘Antifa’ When He Destroyed TV News Equipment on Jan. 6 Isn’t Laughing Now

A U.S. Capitol rioter who boasted about attacking CNN reporters and destroying “tens of thousands of dollars” in the network’s TV equipment and cameras pleaded guilty to two felonies in federal court on Friday.

Though a 25-year sentence is theoretically possible, his plea agreement calculates his sentencing guidelines range between 27 and 33 months — or more than two to less than three years behind bars. He also faces a possible $250,000 fine per felony, though that penalty is likely to be lower because he’s been declared indigent.

Months after being charged in connection with the Jan. 6th attack, Virginia man Joshua Dillon Haynes racked up other felony charges in state court for abusing a family member. Charges in that domestic violence case included malicious bodily injury, strangling and multiple misdemeanor charges.

Prosecutors say that Haynes’ predilection for violence was also on display on Jan. 6, when he allegedly “picked up and slammed down multiple pieces of equipment that belonged to media outlets.”

After an unidentified associate told Haynes that he shouldn’t “be like antifa tearing stuff up,” the Virginia man replied “ahhhh tooooo late,” “broke lotsa stuff,” and “lol,” according to court papers.

After U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan asked the defendant whether he wrote those messages, Haines replied somberly: “Yes, ma’am.” He also agreed with the government that he removed an air conditioning unit from the Capitol and dropped it onto the ground.

Prosecutors say that Haynes forwarded a picture of himself committing the crime and admitting to other ones.

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former officer faces up to 20 years behind bars

• Ex-Capitol Police officer found guilty of obstructing Jan. 6 investigation

A former U.S. Capitol Police officer was found guilty of one count of obstruction Friday for helping hide evidence of a participant's involvement in the Jan. 6 riot, per NBC.

Driving the news: Michael A. Riley, who pled not guilty to the obstruction charges, was found guilty for deleting his own Facebook message warning another user to remove parts of their post about entering the Capitol during the insurrection.

But the Washington, DC, jury couldn’t reach a verdict on a second obstruction count Riley faced for advising the rioter to take down parts of his post.

The judge declared a mistrial on the second charge, CNN reports.

Catch up quick: Riley was accused of telling a Facebook friend to delete posts that showed the person in the Capitol during the attack.

He allegedly sent a message saying, "Im a capitol police officer who agrees with your political stance [sic]," according to the indictment. "Take down the part about being in the building they are currently investigating and everyone who was in the building is going to be charged. Just looking out!"

Riley had been on the force for 25 years when he resigned after being indicted last October.

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offense carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison

• Pennsylvania man pleads guilty after Rep. Swalwell death threats

A Pennsylvania man pled guilty Friday to making threats to kill a member of Congress, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said.

Driving the news: Joshua Hall, 22, was accused of making a series of calls from New York to the California office of Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) and making threats to kill the congressman to at least three different staffers.

Details: Hall pled guilty to one count of making interstate communications with a threat to injure, per the DOJ. The offense carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

During the calls, Hall claimed he had AR-15 rifles and said that he wanted to shoot the congressman; that he intended to come to Swalwell's office with firearms; and that if he saw the congressman, he would kill him, per the Department of Justice.

Of note: At the time of the threats, Hall was on pretrial release for a separate charge. He allegedly impersonated family members of then-President Donald Trump on social media to fraudulently raise funds for a fictitious political organization.

Hall pled guilty to one count of wire fraud stemming from the scheme, which could carry a 20-year prison sentence.

What they're saying: "Joshua Hall made terrifying threats to the staff of a United States Congressman whom he disliked rather than attempting to effect change through any of the freedoms of expression that all Americans enjoy," said Damian Williams, a U.S. Attorney, in the DOJ statement.

"These threats of violence endanger our public officials and thwart common decency, which is why this Office will continue to prosecute crimes like those committed by Joshua Hall."

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faces the possibility of decades of imprisonment

• Timothy Shea Convicted in We Build the Wall Fraud Case

Steve Bannon Associate Convicted on Second Try in We Build the Wall Fraud Case, Completing Sweep for Federal Prosecutors

Federal prosecutors scored the conviction of Steve Bannon associate Timothy Shea on their second try on Friday, as a jury found him guilty on all charges in the We Build the Wall fraud case.

A previous jury deadlocked with a lone holdout in July, leading to a mistrial.

For prosecutors, a speedy retrial proved more successful, with the jury achieving unanimity.

“Timothy Shea and his co-defendants orchestrated a crowdfunding scheme to purportedly raise funds to erect a border wall between Mexico and the United States,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams wrote in a statement following the verdict. “We Build The Wall’s public campaign promised that 100% of the funds raised would be used to build the wall, which induced over 100,000 victims to donate. Shea and his co-defendants lied. And they stole over $25 million from their victims.”

More than two years have passed since the Department of Justice — then under the stewardship of Attorney General Bill Barr — indicted Bannon, Shea, Brian Kolfage and Andrew Badolato on charges of conspiring to defraud donors in the crowdfunding border-wall initiative and launder the money. Prosecutors said that one of Bannon’s entities took $1 million of the $25 million raised, despite promises that every penny would go toward building a U.S.-Mexico barrier.

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Extra

• General accused of lying about Jan. 6 response passed over for promotion by White House

According to a report from the Washington Post, a lieutenant general who was backed by the Pentagon to become a four-star general, only to have his reputation damaged over his reported inaction -- and then accusations of lying -- related to the Jan. 6 riot, has been passed over by the White House.

Lt. Gen. Walter E. Piatt, the director of the Army staff, was slated to move up the chain based on a Pentagon recommendation, but the White House did not agree.

According to the report, "The White House declined to send a nomination for Piatt to the Senate for months, the officials said, effectively killing the possibility."

The Post report adds, "Piatt found himself in political crosshairs within days of Jan. 6 after former Capitol Police chief Steven Sund, who resigned after the attack, accused the general of saying in a key meeting during the riot that he could not recommend to his boss at the time, Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy, that the D.C. National Guard be deployed to help police quell the violence. Piatt, Sund said, exasperated other senior U.S. officials on a conference call by expressing concerns about how it would look if military personnel responded."

"Piatt initially denied Sund’s allegations in a statement but acknowledged in a call with reporters about two weeks later that he had conferred with others who were present that it was possible he made comments to that effect," the report added.

https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-piatt/

1 - Federal Charges

The intent to retaliate against the official on account of the performance of official duties, which carries a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, per the DOJ. - attempted kidnapping of a U.S. official on account of the performance of official duties, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

• Paul Pelosi's alleged attacker charged with attempted kidnapping

David DePape, the alleged perpetrator of the attack on Paul Pelosi, told police he planned to hold Speaker Nancy Pelosi hostage and was going to break “her kneecaps” if she “lied” to him, according to federal charging documents released Monday.

The new revelations from the harrowing attack on Paul Pelosi, 82, came as the Justice Department charged 42-year-old DePape with assault and attempted kidnapping of the speaker following his alleged break-in at the Pelosi home.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California brought the charges against DePape. The kidnapping charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, and the assault charge carries a maximum sentence of 30 years. Local prosecutors also leveled multiple felony charges against DePape on Monday.

DePape broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home through a glass door, according to DOJ’s affidavit accompanying the charges, and then entered the bedroom searching for Nancy Pelosi. Paul Pelosi was asleep when he arrived, after which point DePape said he wanted to tie him up and showed Paul Pelosi zip ties he was carrying after entering the home.

Paul Pelosi ultimately called 911 and struggled against DePape in the home’s foyer, and he was hospitalized after DePape allegedly struck him in the head with a hammer early Friday morning, according to DOJ’s affidavit. Police tackled DePape after arriving on the scene, where officers found a roll of tape, white rope, a second hammer, gloves and the zip ties, DOJ said Monday.

DePape told investigators he didn’t leave after the 911 call because he believed that “much like the American founding fathers with the British, he was fighting against tyranny without the option of surrender.”

He was immersed in 2020 election conspiracy theories and other political conspiracy theories, according to social media and other online posts.

In a statement later Monday, Nancy Pelosi expressed her gratitude for the support her family had received.

“Thanks to the excellent trauma care medical team at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Paul is making steady progress on what will be a long recovery process,” she added.

DePape told San Francisco police that Paul Pelosi had opened the front door to the home before their struggle for the hammer. Paul Pelosi’s actions meant he was “taking the punishment instead,” DePape said during his interview with officers, per the affidavit.

DePape called out for Nancy Pelosi during the break-in, according to law enforcement officials — an echo of rioters’ vocal search for the speaker during the Jan. 6 Capitol siege. DePape also told Paul Pelosi he viewed the speaker as the “leader of the pack” of the Democratic Party.

Prosecutors said he wanted to see the speaker wheeled into Congress with broken kneecaps, “which would show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions.”

Hours after federal prosecutors filed charges, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins filed six separate felony counts against DePape, including attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, false imprisonment of an elder, and threats to a public official and their family.

DePape faces a prison sentence of 13 years to life on those charges alone.

The attack was politically motivated “based on his statements and comments that were made in that house during his encounter with Mr. Pelosi,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins said no security was present at the time the intruder broke through a rear glass door.

DePape made his way up to Pelosi’s bedroom, where he was sleeping in a “loose-fitting pajama shirt and boxer shorts,” the DA said. She said Pelosi initially tried to make his way to a house elevator, which has a phone, to call the police, but that DePape blocked him. He later managed to get into the bathroom, where he was able to call 911 from a cell phone that had been charging there.

Jenkins said the defendant is likely to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon. Her office will file a motion to detain him without bail, based on “obvious and severe public safety risks that the defendant poses to San Francisco as well as the outer community.”

She said her office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will be conducting “parallel prosecutions.” She added that it was important to establish a clear picture of what transpired that morning. “We of course do not want distorted facts floating around,” she said, “certainly not in a manner that is traumatizing a family that’s been traumatized enough.”

The attack has rattled Capitol Hill, where members have warned of spiking threats against lawmakers in recent years, especially after the Jan. 6 riot. Some lawmakers have called for increased security; the Capitol Police is conducting a review of the Pelosi break-in, its division tasked with protecting lawmakers and the command center that was monitoring the security camera feed from the speaker’s home.

According to DOJ, FBI agents also searched DePape’s home, a garage in Richmond, Calif., where they found two hammers, a sword and gloves.

DocumentCloud

Paul Pelosi attack suspect charged with assault, attempted kidnapping

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• Paul Pelosi Conspiracy Theories Debunked by Attacker David DePape

A federal officer has laid out chilling new details of the investigation into a violent break-in Friday at the home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and husband Paul Pelosi, who was severely injured in the attack.

In a sworn affidavit with the U.S. District Court of Northern California, FBI Special Agent Stephanie Minor — a domestic terrorism specialist assigned to the bureau’s San Francisco Field Office — described how the alleged assailant, 42-year-old Berkeley man David DePape, told police that he planned to take Speaker Pelosi hostage, interrogate her, and possibly break her kneecaps.

According to an interview DePape gave to the San Francisco Police Department after his arrest last Friday, once he had Speaker Pelosi restrained, he was going to “talk to her.” If she told the “truth,” he was would release her, but if she “lied,” he would break “her kneecaps.” DePape described Speaker Pelosi as “‘leader of the pack’ of lies told by the Democratic Party,” the document notes.

DePape’s own account contradicts several right-wing conspiracy theories intended to deflect blame for his extremist ideology.

In his interview, DePape also “explained that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congressthere were consequences to actions.”

He further discussed a plan to use the speaker as a hostage to “lure another individual” to him. DePape brought a journal with him to the scene of the crime, and law enforcement have since confirmed that he had “a list of people he wanted to target.”

DePape told authorities that he didn’t flee after the emergency call was placed “because, much like the American founding fathers with the British, he was fighting against tyranny without the option of surrender.”

____________

2 - State Charges

13 years to life

• Alleged Paul Pelosi attacker enters not guilty plea for state charges

The man accused of attacking Paul Pelosi, the husband of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), at the couple’s California home last week entered a “not guilty” plea during his arraignment in San Francisco on Tuesday.

David Wayne DePape, 42 of California, is facing six state charges in connection to the alleged attack on Paul Pelosi, 82: attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, residential burglary false imprisonment and threatening the life or serious bodily harm to a public official. He is also facing federal assault and attempted kidnapping charges.

DePape made his first court appearance at the San Francisco Superior Court on Tuesday for his arraignment, wearing orange jail clothing.

DePape’s lawyer, Adam Lipson, entered the not guilty plea for DePape, a spokesperson for the court confirmed to The Hill. The suspect spoke briefly during the hearing to inform the judge of how to pronounce his last name (dih-PAP’).

Judge Diane Northway ordered DePape to be held in custody without bail. A subsequent hearing will be held on Friday to determine whether or not the defendant should be granted bail.

DePape is facing between 13 years and life in prison for the state charges, according to San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

On Monday, when announcing the state charges, Jenkins said her office would be filing a motion to detain DePape without bail because of “obvious and severe public safety risks that the defendant poses to San Francisco as well as the outer community.”

The judge also signed a protective order that prohibits DePape from getting in touch with the Pelosis or being within 150 yards of their house, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

After Tuesday’s hearing, Lipson told reporters he is “looking forward to providing a vigorous defense” for DePape and “getting to an equitable and just resolution of this matter.”

The lawyer — who is a deputy public defender — said he first met with DePape Monday night “for a brief meeting,” and has not yet seen the police reports.

He did, however, caution individuals from speculating too much about the case with so few details known.

“We have very little information about this case at this time. There’s been a lot of speculation, a lot of rumor, simply based on the nature of this case,” he said.

“What I will say is that there’s also been a lot of speculation regarding Mr. DePape’s vulnerability to misinformation, and that’s certainly something that we’re gonna look into, that we’re gonna delve into, as his defense team, but again it would be premature to talk about that at this time,” he added.

DePape reportedly posted a number of conspiracy theories on Facebook relating to COVID-19 vaccinations, the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

DePape was taken into custody on Friday after allegedly breaking into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home and striking Paul Pelosi with a hammer. According to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) affidavit, the defendant broke a glass door using a hammer to enter the house.

In an interview following the altercation, DePape told San Francisco police officers that he wanted to hold Speaker Pelosi hostage to talk to her, according to the affidavit. He said he wanted to wait for Pelosi — who was in Washington, D.C. at the time — to return home.

DePape told officers that if the Speaker told “the truth,” he would let her go, but if she “lied,” he was going to break “her kneecaps,” according to the DOJ’s charging document.

“DEPAPE also later explained that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions,” the affidavit reads.

Jenkins on Monday said DePape “specifically targeted the Pelosi home to confront Speaker Pelosi,” adding that the attack appears to be politically motivated, based on statements and comments the defendant made in the Pelosi residence during the altercation.

On Friday, a source familiar with the investigation told The Hill that the before the assault, the alleged attacker approached Paul Pelosi and shouted “where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?”

On Monday evening, Speaker Pelosi in a statement said her husband was “making steady progress on what will be a long recovery process.”

“Since the horrific attack on Paul early Friday, we have been deluged with thousands of messages conveying concern, prayers and warm wishes. We are most grateful,” she added.

a statuary maximum of eight years in federal prison for assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, and five years for civil disorder. Both charges also carry potential financial penalties.

• Houston man pleads guilty to rioting during Jan. 6 insurrection

Houston man pleads guilty after hitting police officer with flagpole during Jan. 6 insurrection

A Houston man accused of taking part in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and hitting a police officer with a flagpole pleaded guilty to multiple felony charges Wednesday.

Joshua Lee Hernandez, 29, was charged with assaulting, resisting and impeding law enforcement officers during the breach, according to a statement of offense summary. His actions, along with others, disrupted a joint session of the U.S. Congress during an electoral vote count for the 2020 presidential election, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

According to the court documents, Hernandez traveled from Memphis to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6. Once at the Capitol, he illegally entered the restricted grounds, headed to the Lower West Terrace area and incited the crowd below by waving an American flag and chanting.

Hernandez entered the Capitol building at 2:13 p.m. by climbing through a window near the Senate Wing Doors. With the flagpole in hand, he moved through the Senate Wing, the Crypt, the House Speaker’s Conference Room, the Rotunda and other places in the building all within about 40 minutes, according to the offense summary.

Law enforcement arrested Hernandez on Feb. 23 in Memphis. His sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 2, 2023. He could spend a statuary maximum of eight years in federal prison for assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, and five years for civil disorder. Both charges also carry potential financial penalties.

Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Felony Charges for Actions During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach | USAO-DC | Department of Justice

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sentenced to four months in prison, as well as 36 months of supervised release, 60 hours of community service and order to pay $2,000 in restitution

• Seabrook man sentenced to four months in prison for involvement in Jan. 6 insurrection

A Seabrook man on Wednesday was sentenced to four months in prison for his actions during the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia.

Christian Cortez, 28, was sentenced to four months in prison, as well as 36 months of supervised release, 60 hours of community service and order to pay $2,000 in restitution.

Cortez in May pleaded guilty to a felony charge of civil disorder. He and another man from Seabrook, Benjamin Larocca, were arrested on March 26, 2021.

Authorities said Cortez and Benjamin Larocca, also of Seabrook, traveled to Washington from Texas to attend a rally on Jan. 6 near the Washington Monument, according to court documents. After making their way to the Capitol from the rally, they joined insurrectionists in breaching a secured area by climbing the stairs and entering into the Capitol's upper west terrace.

Both men then entered the Parliamentarian door and were inside the Capitol building for about 13 minutes before law enforcement prevented them from proceeding further into the building, court records state.

____________

• ‘Sorry for what I did’: Oath Keeper who pleaded guilty for Jan. 6 breach breaks down on the stand

A member of the far-right Oath Keepers who pleaded guilty to his role in trying to disrupt the transition of presidential power broke down on the stand Monday as he testified against his former allies.

“I’m really sorry for what I did,” said Graydon Young of Florida, who pleaded guilty in June 2021 to a conspiracy to obstruct Congress’ Jan. 6, 2021, meeting to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.

Halting twice to choke back sobs, Young said he pleaded guilty because he had committed crimes, and that in order “to repent and be forgiven, you have to confess. Completely and wholly.”

“I won’t do anything like that ever again,” he said. “It’s really embarrassing.”

Young’s testimony provided jurors with a firsthand account of the Oath Keepers’ preparation to travel to Washington ahead of Jan. 6 and their decision to join the crowd that surged past police and into the Capitol. He is one of the prosecutors’ key witnesses in the seditious conspiracy trial of Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four associates, Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell.

The five Oath Keeper leaders are charged with plotting to violently oppose the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Biden.

Young’s testimony was the second time a member of the group who pleaded guilty to participating in the conspiracy took the stand against his former colleagues. Jason Dolan, another Florida Oath Keeper, testified earlier in the month.

___________

• Stewart Rhodes Wanted Me to Give Trump a Message: Witness

‘You Must Use the Insurrection Act’: Oath Keepers Trial Witness Says Stewart Rhodes Asked Him to Tell Trump to Seize Power by Force

A government witness in the seditious conspiracy trial of Stewart Rhodes claims the Oath Keepers leader asked him to deliver a message telling then-President Donald Trump to seize power by force.

“You must use the insurrection act and use the power of the Presidency to stop him,” Rhodes allegedly told Trump in a typewritten message entered into evidence. “And all us veterans will support you and so will the vast majority of military.”

According to the testimony, Rhodes personally entered that message into the phone of government witness Jason Alpers, a military veteran with combat and special ops experience in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He testified that Rhodes passed on the message during his meeting with the Oath Keepers leader in the parking lot of a Fry’s electronics store in Texas on Jan. 10, 2021.

Rhodes, he claims, wanted him to pass the message to Trump, knowing that Alpers had a line to the 45th president.

“Not directly but indirectly,” Alpers testified.

Alpers said that he furtively taped the meeting with a recording device — which he said resembled a thumb drive — in case he needed to pass on the message to Trump.

“I was really using it for my protection, making sure that I had an accurate account of it,” he said.

That recording, which Alpers turned over to the FBI months later, was entered into evidence and played in court. It features a lengthy discussion of the Insurrection Act, which Oath Keepers members believed would allow Trump to militarize groups like them to keep him in power.

“I mean we heard he dropped the Insurrection Act, now we’re hearing he didn’t drop it,” Rhodes said.

_____________


Just for fun.

There will always be traffic cones that need to be moved

• Florida Proud Boys poll worker fired after his Jan. 6 activities are exposed

On Monday, the Miami Herald reported that three former members of the Proud Boys have been hired to work polling places for Miami-Dade County, Florida — but one was kicked out after it surfaced he is awaiting trial for his participation in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"Two former members of the Proud Boys ... have qualified to serve as poll workers in Miami-Dade County and will be interacting with voters on election day," reported Charles Rabin. "A third former member, who actually wears an ankle monitor following an indictment for his part in the Jan. 6 insurrection on the nation’s capitol, also continues to appear on the county’s poll worker database. But the county on Monday said he was removed from the Election Day work schedule three weeks ago after Elections Supervisor Christina White learned he’d been charged with several felonies."

"Gabriel Garcia is scheduled to stand trial on six felony counts for his role in the insurrection, when federal prosecutors say he broke into the Capitol and is the infamous voice heard begging House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to 'come out and play,'" said the report. "Garcia has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial."

https://www.rawstory.com/florida-poll-workers/

As fascinating as this process might be to your fellow Americans, is it possible to précis the lengthy post and bring interested but less informed foreigners up to date with the current situation.
With my lack of understanding made more difficult by Trumps intention to run again next time, it would be useful if some basic assumptions were made clear for me, and of course, for the US tinfoil hat brigade.

Perhaps a step up from the insightful PH domino meme?