I Guess it's Time to Discuss January 6th

[Chuck Naill]

From Heather Cox Richardson regarding the Dominion vs Fox.

"Grossberg recorded Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and others saying they didn’t have evidence for their accusations of fraud. A Trump advisor also emphasized that January 6 was the “backstop” for determining who won the election. "

And, Trump is surging in the polls and ahead of every Republican contender.

[TSherbs]

7yrs + 6mos:

https://www.wtnh.com/news/connecticu...-capitol-riot/

[TSherbs]

Zip tie guy (and his mother): guilty on multiple counts. Sentencing in September.

Now over two dozen arrests of persons from Tennessee....hmmm...

https://www.tennessean.com/story/new...s/70126910007/

[Chuck Naill]

A bunch of neerdowells. 😂😂😂

[TSherbs]

Oh, no. Don't shoot at FBI agents:
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...rges-rcna80725

[TSherbs]

Big case has gone to jury:
https://apnews.com/article/capitol-r...7bc6b4d01013af

[dneal]

The opposing narrative:

It’s week five of the Justice Department’s most high-profile—and high-stakes—criminal trial related to the events of January 6, 2021. Five members of the Proud Boys face the rare “seditious conspiracy” charge. Guilty verdicts—almost certain given the government’s near-perfect conviction rate for January 6 defendants—would build legal momentum for a similar indictment against Donald Trump. (The trial is so crucial that Matthew Graves, the Biden-appointed U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia responsible for prosecuting every January 6 case, has shown up in the courtroom on at least three occasions.)

Trump is a major figure in this trial, an unindicted coconspirator of sorts. Last week, Judge Timothy Kelly allowed prosecutors to play a clip of Trump’s extemporaneous comment for the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”—a remark uttered during a presidential debate in September 2020 more than three months before the Capitol protest. The Justice Department wants to portray the comment as a call to arms, tying the alleged “militia” group to the former president.

The clip is just another thin reed of evidence in the government’s landmark domestic terrorism case. In fact, much of the “evidence” amounts to nothing more than worthless trinkets, braggadocious group chats, and otherwise protected political speech.

It now appears that one key piece of evidence was not the work of any defendant in this case but rather written by a one-time government intelligence asset with unusual ties to both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, another group involved in January 6.

A document titled “1776 Returns” is cited by the government to indicate the group had an advanced plan to “attack” the Capitol. In two separate criminal indictments, prosecutors explained how the document ended up in the hands of Enrique Tarrio, the leader of the Proud Boys: “On December 30, 2020 [an unnamed] individual sent Tarrio a document—[that] set forth a plan to occupy a few ‘crucial buildings’ in Washington, D.C. on January 6, including House and Senate buildings around the Capitol, with ‘as many people as possible’ to ‘show our politicians We the People are in charge.’”

Calling the document a “high-level summary,” a prosecutor last week combed through each page of “1776 Returns” with an expert witness even though the government conceded there was no proof Tarrio opened the file or shared it with others.

“The plan, essentially, is to have individuals inside these buildings, either cause a distraction, or—pull fire alarms in other parts of the city to distract law enforcement so that a crowd can then rush the buildings and occupy the interior so they can demand a new election,” FBI Agent Peter Dubrowski told the jury.

In other words, an “insurrection!”

But a bombshell motion filed over the weekend debunks the Justice Department’s suggestion that the document was a product, or at least a roadmap, used to guide the group’s conduct on January 6. The filing suggests that the handling of “1776 Returns,” like so much of January 6, was yet another sting operation.

“It appears that the government itself is the author of the most incriminating and damning document in this case, which was mysteriously sent at government request to Proud Boy leader Enrique Tarrio immediately prior to January 6 in order to frame or implicate Tarrio in a government created scheme to storm buildings around the Capitol,” wrote Roger Roots, attorney for Dominic Pezzola, in the motion seeking a mistrial. “As such, [the document] and the government’s efforts to frame or smear defendants with it, constitutes outrageous government conduct.”

Turns out, the person responsible for preparing the document is a man named Samuel Armes, a young cryptocurrency expert living in Florida. But Armes’ résumé raises many red flags, particularly in a case involving the use of multiple government informants.

Armes told the January 6 select committee last year that he has worked for the State Department and Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa. “A lot of the work that I did for the government was in counterthreat finance or regulatory environments around crypto,” he testified.

As a student at the University of Southern Florida, Armes was enrolled in a special program that prepared graduates for a career in the intelligence sector. Armes told House investigators he was “groomed to be in the CIA, FBI, or any intel agencies.” When asked to clarify what that meant, Armes explained he was “trained and educated” to eventually work as an intelligence asset.

Part of that training required preparing different responses to potential terror threats. And Armes was no slouch. “I reported under Colonel [Joshua] Potter’s counterthreat finance unit. And I actually developed for them critical research on cryptocurrency that may have been used by drug cartels or ISIS. And so I did similar scenarios with them, wargaming scenarios, of why these terrorist groups might be using cryptocurrency and how they might go about doing so.”

That background in “war games” apparently motivated Armes to do the same before January 6. After reading reports about the Transition Integrity Project, a collection of high-level Trump foes plotting to remove Trump from office regardless of the election’s outcome, Armes said he felt compelled to perform his own “worst case scenario.”

Hence the “1776 Returns” paper.

But Armes’ explanation as to why he put thoughts on paper is strange, to say the least. His reasons for “brainstorming,” as he called it, what might happen after the election veered from the Terry Schiavo case—“when government authorities are kind of confused and people don’t know who to obey or who to answer to, anarchy kind of breaks out, and certain parties take advantage of that anarchy,” he said of the protracted legal battle over the famous right-to-die case two decades ago—to Trump’s unpredictability, to the 2020 summer riots, to total anarchy in the streets.

Even more odd is that his internal “brainstorming” document ended up in the inbox of Erica Flores, a business associate in Florida—who just happened to be Tarrio’s girlfriend at the time. “I had told her that I was kind of brainstorming what I think might happen, and she seemed interested. And she asked if she could see it, and I said sure. And so I ended up sharing it with her on a Google Drive.”

Flores then sent the document to Tarrio.

Flores’ version of events, however, is quite different from Armes’ account. While he disputed being the sole author of the document, Flores reportedly told the January 6 committee that Armes wrote the whole thing. Further, contrary to Armes’ testimony to the committee, she said Armes told her to send it to Tarrio.

For now, it’s unclear whether the public, or more importantly, the defendants, will learn the truth about the origins of the “1776 Returns” missive. Armes admitted he cannot find the original document in his Google files. And although Flores spoke with the January 6 committee, her transcript is not publicly available, buried with hundreds more at the National Archives.

That’s not the end of Armes’ weird story; he also was in contact with a member of the Oath Keepers in 2020. Armes’ name showed up on a hotel reservation for James Beeks, now on trial in D.C. for his participation in the January 6 Capitol protest. When House investigators asked Armes why Beeks included his name on the same hotel room, Armes claimed the man had a romantic interest in him.

Armes also admitted he and Beeks had many conversations before January 6 on topics such as the election and domestic politics. But just like Armes’ original “1776” document, those messages are missing, too.

As evidence piles up to show how federal assets played an animating role before and on January 6, Armes’ weird account—and background in government intelligence—cannot be dismissed as coincidence.

[TSherbs]

One smiling dude from my state:

https://www.wmtw.com/article/capitol...enced/43700319

[TSherbs]

One smiling dude from my state:

https://www.wmtw.com/article/capitol...enced/43700319

"Colgan was the fourth Mainer arrested for participating in the Capitol Riot. Currently, a total of seven men who reside in or are from Maine have been charged, and five have been convicted."

Yay, Maine /s

[TSherbs]

4.5 years for this man with pepper spray:

https://apnews.com/article/capitol-i...9aca61f5f8f6cd

[Chip]

Pence testified to the grand jury for more than seven hours.

Which is by far the longest anyone's ever listened to Mike Pence.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65423301

[TSherbs]

Another four "Proud Boys" found guilty of seditious conspiracy: CNN: Proud Boys Guilty

[Chip]

Proud Boys leader and three others convicted of seditious conspiracy for January 6 attack

Enrique Tarrio’s conviction follows seven-day jury deliberation

Maya Yang
Thu 4 May 2023



Former Proud Boys extremist group leader Enrique Tarrio has been convicted of seditious conspiracy. The conviction follows a seven-day jury deliberation on five members of the far-right neo-fascist organizations who have been accused of conspiring against the peaceful power transition between Donald Trump and Joe Biden in January 2021.

Three other members of the Proud Boys – Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl – have also been convicted after facing a slew of charges including conspiracy charges, evidence tampering and obstruction of the Electoral College vote.

Member Domic Pezzola was also charged but the jury was unable to reach a verdict on his seditious conspiracy charge.

Tarrio was not in Washington on January 6, 2021 during the deadly Capitol riots but prosecutors said he organized and directed the attack by Proud Boys who stormed the Capitol where 5 people died. Since the riots, Tarrio became a top target of the largest investigation by the justice department in American history.

Defense lawyers argued that there was no plan to attack the Capitol or stop Congress’ certification of Biden’s win. One of Tarrio’s lawyer tried to divert the blame on Trump, saying that the former president incited the attack after he told the mob to “fight like hell,” the Associated Press reports.

The seditious conspiracy charge carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.

[TSherbs]

14 years for this bad hombre (38 priors). Longest sentence yet:

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...dant-rcna82982

[TSherbs]

Part of this guy's defense was that he didn't see any signs around the Capitol saying that he shouldn't be there.

That's....well...that "defense" was rejected.

https://www.kansascity.com/news/loca...274933261.html

[TSherbs]

This one, 7 months: https://news.yahoo.com/hate-did-nc-m...215300660.html

[TSherbs]

Lady Pink Beret (Ms Mein Kampf) nabbed.

[TSherbs]

Prosecutors ask 25 years for Rhodes

https://apnews.com/article/stewart-r...f042452696e9c8

[TSherbs]

Guilty plea and 13-mo jail sentence for this Texas army-vet who breached the capitol in gas mask, riot gear and physically resisted police in the premises: Justice Department news release

[Chip]

Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes sentenced to 18 years in prison on Jan. 6 charges

Robert Legare, Scott MacFarlane
May 25, 2023

Washington — Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right group known as the Oath Keepers, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy and other crimes related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, receiving the longest sentence in a Jan. 6 case to date.

Judge Amit Mehta of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia imposed the sentence Thursday after a hearing in which Rhodes declared himself a "political prisoner" and likened himself to former President Donald Trump.

Prosecutors had asked Mehta to impose a sentence of 25 years in prison, saying Rhodes, who is 58, qualified for a more lengthy sentence under federal anti-terrorism laws given the "threat of harm and the historic significance" of his crimes. Mehta agreed to impose the enhancements, noting that Rhodes did not demonstrate "acceptance of responsibility" for his role in the attack. It was the first time the terrorism enhancement has been applied to a Jan. 6 defendant.

Delivering a withering rebuke to Rhodes before handing down the sentence, Mehta said he presents "an ongoing threat and a peril to this country and its democracy." Seditious conspiracy "is among the most serious crimes an individual American can commit," he said. "It's an offense against the government, to use force. It's an offense against the people of the country."

A jury convicted Rhodes and other Oath Keepers last November for a host of crimes related to Jan. 6, when a mob of Trump supporters breached the Capitol in an attempt to block the formal transfer of power from Trump to President Biden. "You are not a political prisoner, Mr. Rhodes," Mehta said. "You are here for that conduct, not because of your beliefs … You stand convicted because 12 jurors in the District of Columbia ... convicted you of sedition."

"We all now hold our collective breaths with an election approaching. Will we have another January 6th? That remains to be seen," the judge said of the consequences of Rhodes' actions.

Rhodes — the first Jan. 6 defendant to be sentenced for the seditious conspiracy charge — "pushed the idea among Oath Keepers members and others that with a large enough mob, they could intimidate Congress and its Members and impose the conspirators' will rather than the American people's: to stop the certification of the next President of the United States," the government alleged in pre-sentencing filings.

Addressing the judge before the sentence was handed down, Rhodes said he was "sympathetic" to the trauma that many law enforcement experienced during the Jan. 6 attack, but argued many members of the Oath Keepers were not violent that day. "I believe this country is incredibly divided, and this prosecution — not just of me, but for every Jan. 6er — is making it even worse," he added. Rhodes told the judge that the Oath Keepers were not at the Capitol to instigate violence, unlike groups like the Proud Boys.

However, according to prosecutors, Rhodes and his fellow Oath Keepers planned for violence ahead of the Capitol breach, communicated via encrypted messages and radios during the attack, and celebrated their actions in its aftermath.

"It is conduct that threatened and continues to threaten the rule of law in the United States," prosecutors said in court on Thursday. "Mr. Rhodes has been calling for violent opposition to the authority of the government of the United States for well over a decade … He continues to advocate for political violence."


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stewart...ing-january-6/