Capitol Insurrection / rebellion thread

[gondrin]

This reads like a totally fake name. Like, the name Jeffrey Epstein's brother would come up with on the spot when he needs to pretend he's not related.

*uses bad Russian accent*

"Jeffrey who? No, I am Russian, from Russia. My name...Boris...Ep...shteyn, Boris Epshteyn. Who is Jeffrey? I am new to this land of America."

:: puts on tinfoil hat ::

Maybe that is where Jeffery went since we all know from photographic evidence that Trump visited him quite a few times. Put on a little weight, change the hairstyle, could be possible.

[draynay]

This reads like a totally fake name. Like, the name Jeffrey Epstein's brother would come up with on the spot when he needs to pretend he's not related.

*uses bad Russian accent*

"Jeffrey who? No, I am Russian, from Russia. My name...Boris...Ep...shteyn, Boris Epshteyn. Who is Jeffrey? I am new to this land of America."

"I am, how you say? Russian Guyovich!"

[Flarelaine]

This reads like a totally fake name.

Even though that's the correct English spelling of the name's ostensibly proper original Yiddish/German form.

[Breccia]

Trump asks the judge to throw out the lawsuit against him filed by Capitol Police Officer Briana Kirkland. Um, again.

In his filing, he claims he has "absolute immunity".

No, really.

[gondrin]

Trump asks the judge to throw out the lawsuit against him filed by Capitol Police Officer Briana Kirkland. Um, again.

In his filing, he claims he has "absolute immunity".

No, really.

Sounds like something an anti-vaxxer would say after getting sick with something and then getting well. "I have ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY!!!"

[fwc577]

Sounds like something an anti-vaxxer would say after getting sick with something and then getting well. "I have ABSOLUTE IMMUNITY!!!"

But where you vaccinated?

"I've been immunized" - Aaron Rodgers

[Ripster42]

Eh, hearing a request and then not acting on it is fine. Legally, anyway. But as morals don't matter for the cult any more, only laws are left.

From a different, less partisan article than the daily kos:

At 11:36 a.m., Johnson says he got a text from Jim Troupis, then a Trump campaign counsel: "Need to get a document on Wisconsin electors to you and the VP immediately. Is there a staff person I can talk to immediately? Thanks, Jim." (Troupis led a lawsuit attempting to overturn Trump's Wisconsin loss.)

According to Johnson, 6 minutes later he connected Troupis with his chief of staff, Sean Riley, via text. "Jim Troupis meet Sean Riley," Johnson said it read.

Later that morning, Riley tried to get Pence a list of fake electors from Michigan and Wisconsin. A top aide to Pence rebuffed that effort, the Jan. 6 panel revealed earlier this week.

That's acting on it. That's coordinating the attempt to transfer those fake electors' slates and admitting it.

- - - Updated - - -

That is the thing though. We don't actually know if he was asked to do it and turned it down as he says it or helped plan it and then backed out at the last second due to second thoughts. Everyone knows that those who are part of it are willing to lie, even in the face of prison time.

We do know, he admitted it.

[Breccia]

And now, a metaphor.

Howard Richardson was one of the Jan 6th murderous insurrectionists who, amongst the other deplorable acts done by himself and the rabid mob he chose to be part of, hit a cop with a Trump flag until the flagpole broke. Yes, the Trump flag broke before the cop did.

He's been sentenced to 46 months.

"Is the cop okay?"

I mean, in the grand scheme of things, probably. Richardson is 72, and the Trump flag being a Trump flag was probably made on a cheapass lightweight pole from Jyna. That's no excuse for Richardson, of course.

Richardson, who again is already 72, will be 76 when he gets out of jail and 79 when his supervised release stops being supervised.

[Breccia]

GA Gov. Kemp manages to push off his testimony until after he's re-elected.

"Why the delay?"

Because when Trump supporters hear Kemp tell the truth, they won't vote for him.

"But he told Trump no."

Correct, and Kemp would be forced under oath to give the details. I don't think he can take the Fifth, but even if he could, the optics would be just as bad.

Kemp has called the investigation into the election fraud, itself election fraud. He's claiming the DA is gunning for him for political reasons. This seems to be the Republican option they have left, hiding behind "you're only prosecuting me for the crimes I committed because you're a partisan hack and not the crimes I committed" and this is fairly obvious splashover. As you can see, it worked. Team Trump's election interference in Georgia will not be given to the jury until after 2022 ends.

- - - Flexed! - - -

Once again, it's time to play Guess the Speaker!

I did believe the election was stolen. I still do

"That could be literally any cultist."

Correct. But it was Joshua Pruitt, at his sentencing hearing, getting 55 months for being a Proud Boy. Followed by 3 years of supervised probation.


"I affirm my Constitutional Right to plead guilty!"

That...sounds familiar, I think I just commented on someone else who got that? The old guy?

When Graham warns of riots in the streets, I'm tempted to say "bring it on, your friends who run private jails will love that".

[Edge-]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...-6-s-rcna45368

An ex-NYPD officer convicted of attacking police at the Capitol on Jan. 6 says he in part blames his actions on “flashbacks” from his past years working as a cop in the Bronx.

Thomas Webster, 56, was found guilty in May after a jury didn't buy his story that he was acting in self-defense and attempting to help an officer "see my hands" when he grabbed the officer's face mask after he swung a flag at the officer and then charged through a police barricade and tackled the officer to the ground.

Ah yes, sudden PTSD that manifested as he attempted to gouge out a Capitol police officers eyes. PTSD which had never manifested before then, which he sought no treatment for, and which didn't seem to be an issue for him until he was facing sentencing for attempting to gouge out a Capitol police officers eyes with his hands.

In a letter they filed seeking a lower sentence, Webster told a psychologist that he could make a connection between his violent actions at the Capitol to a past fight with an armed robber in the Bronx who was trying to get his gun. Webster told the psychologist he attacked a Capitol Police officer with a metal flagpole because “at that moment, I had flashbacks of the struggle we had on the staircase.”

Man, all these flashbacks just coincidentally happened on the same day!

During his trial in May, Mr. Webster testified that he was merely trying to protect himself from a "rogue cop," and his lawyer claims that he showed "restraint" that day.

Note that he previously was claiming self defense, and not that he was having PTSD flashbacks, prior to his sentencing hearing and accusing the Capitol police of actually being the violent ones as he almost gouged out the eyes and choked one to death.

Sure makes you wonder what else he did when he was in uniform and with a badge if this is how he acts as a private citizen.

[Breccia]

PTSD which had never manifested before then, which he sought no treatment for, and which didn't seem to be an issue for him until he was facing sentencing for attempting to gouge out a Capitol police officers eyes with his hands.

"I was suddenly and untraceably insane" seems like a stupid thing to bring up at sentencing. You'd think, considering he had documentation, he'd have brought it up at trial. Not that "I was suddenly insane but now I'm already cured thanks" works in that part of the trial, either.

Unless it was bullshit.

Speaking of which: remember how the FBI seized Eastman's phone? He tried to get it back, claiming the government didn't have a warrant. Before you ask how that excuse will work in court, I'll tell you that the court date to test that theory was just canceled. I have the judge's ruling right here, but the important part is

Yes they did

Yeah, it's a page-and-a-half ruling. It even seems like the judge is issuing this as a warning, because Eastman's emails are now in the DOJ's hands and he's soooooooo fucked, that he's basically lying out of desperation.

[Breccia]

So in the Shitshow thread, due to recent events of course, @cubby has been kind enough to tell us what happens when, for example, you lie to your lawyer, or your lawyer takes the Fifth. In those, and previous discussions, we've talked about how lawyer-client privilege can't be used to protect a crime, such as conspiracy, or obstruction.

Good theory. I wonder what that would look like in practice?

Grand jury indicts Kellye SoRelle, Oath Keepers lawyer.

The indictment was on four counts, including obstruction of justice by concealing/destroying records, conspiracy to obstruct justice because she told other Oath Keepers to destroy records, and possession of too many E's in her name.

EDIT: A couple of articles I read since have also pointed out she's on the hook for witness tampering.

The FBI seized her phone, decrypted her text messages, and found she was trying to impede the grand jury's investigation, so goodbye privilege. Oh, and she also broke into the Capitol, so there's that. And she was one of the Lawyers for Trump in the 2020 election so...could be some fun stuff on that phone.

So the Oath Keepers have two massive new problems. One, their lawyer got arrested. Even if it had been unrelated, that's still bad. Two, their lawyer is now a fellow defendant, and worse, one who's about to look for a plea deal. Kellye already testified before the Jan 6th committee, so we know she's interested. And she told NBC News before that the leader of the Oath Keepers wanted all her contacts with Team Trump. She is 100% ready to turn his ass in.

Man, it's so satisfying when these insane criminals turn on and eat each other.

So you've had a sample and will soon see more of what happens when you conspire with your own lawyer to commit a crime, especially the crime of obstruction of justice. The answer is "the person who knows all your secrets tells them to the jury, and you don't have a lawyer anymore".

I wonder if three Florida lawyers are reading the headlines today.

[Edge-]

Oh, and she also broke into the Capitol, so there's that.

This was my favorite bit, and also very much the, "So...what the fuck did y'all expect she was going to do as a lawyer given her voluntary presence here?"

I'm fine with this though. Let them all obstruct and impede and get additional charges/jail time.

[Breccia]

Let them all obstruct and impede and get additional charges/jail time.

This is a guess, but my guess is "let them all obstruct...except one". I think one of the Oath Keepers handed the non-deleted text message SoRelle sent to the DA, probably while sobbing hysterically and begging for a jail cell that would at least have Duck Dynasty on. Everyone CCed on that gets to add SoRelle's conspiracy charges to their own.

And just so we're all clear, the conspiracy charges she's facing are not the sedition conspiracy charges we talked about earlier. YOU get a conspiracy, YOU get a conspiracy, EVERYONE gets a conspiracy, look under your witness stand...

- - - Updated - - -

Newly released emails show Ginni Thomas begged Wisconsin and Arizona legislators to overturn their fair and legal election, and replace it with a Trump win despite having fewer votes and no fraud found, and to send it to SCOTUS where her husband would (in theory) immediately endorse it.

[Edge-]

Newly released emails show Ginni Thomas begged Wisconsin and Arizona legislators to overturn their fair and legal election, and replace it with a Trump win despite having fewer votes and no fraud found, and to send it to SCOTUS where her husband would (in theory) immediately endorse it.

One day that massive pile of ethical problems and conflicts of interest will matter...one day. Wild that we straight up have vindictive extremists and their even more extremist, politically activist spouse on the SCOTUS.

[Breccia]

Julian Khater pleads guilty.

Khater is one of the murderous insurrectionists for whom the description is apt: he assaulted the cop who actually died.

[gondrin]

I think the judges are getting tired of the bullshit now.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...b92b9fe20b1ee4

Ex-NYPD cop who assaulted D.C. officer on Jan. 6 gets record-setting 10-year sentence

A retired New York City Police Department officer who was convicted of several felonies for attacking a D.C. cop with a flag pole and then tackling the officer to the ground and attempting to rip off his gas mask was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison on Thursday.

Thomas Webster was sentenced by Judge Amit P. Mehta to the longest sentence yet in a Jan. 6 case.

Webster, 56, was convicted by a jury in May after they determined he was lying on the stand when he tried to convince them he was trying to help the officer he assaulted to "see my hands" when he grabbed the officer's gas mask after he tackled him to the ground.

No one should be “gleeful” that Webster was facing 17.5 years in federal prison, Mehta said Thursday.

"What you did that day, it is hard to really put into words," Mehta told Webster. "I still remain shocked every single time I see [video of the attack]."

Mehta said Webster was "the first aggressor" in his confrontation with the D.C. police officer, and "all hell broke loose" on the police line when Webster showed up at that part of the police line.

"Nothing can explain or justify Mr. Webster's rage," Assistant U.S. Attorney Hava Arin Levenson Mirell told the judge. "Webster is one of the rioters who should have known better."

“No one knows better than a former cop how dangerous it was on Jan. 6,” the federal prosecutor said, saying that Webster's service made his behavior “particularly heinous.”

Even if he didn’t know better than “to believe Trump’s lie,” he knew better than to assault officers, Mirell said.

“He feels entitled to do what he wants as a former police officer,” Mirell said. Webster went "old-school" and "rogue" on Jan. 6, she said, adding that “instigated violence” and was clearly anticipating a violent clash.

The Justice Department argued, as the jury concluded, that Webster was very clearly lying on the stand, calling his claims that the officer he attacked instigated the fight, "preposterous." It would have been "absolutely insane" for the officer who Webster assaulted to have invited Webster to fight him, the prosecutor said.

The arguments that Webster and his team made "could not be more at odds with his testimony," Mehta said.

"I take no pleasure in doing this," Mehta said when imposing the sentence, saying that Webster "constructed an alternative truth" on the stand.

"The video doesn't lie," Mehta said. "The jury saw through it, I saw through it, it wasn't that hard. And I'm sorry you thought you could get up there and suggest otherwise."

Webster’s lawyers had sought a lower sentence, arguing in a filing earlier this week that he suffered from PTSD from his career as a police officer and blamed his actions on Jan. 6, in part, on “flashbacks.”

Thomas Robertson, another former officer, was sentenced to over seven years in federal prison last month, as was Texas extremist Guy Reffitt.

[Edge-]

I think the judges are getting tired of the bullshit now.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime...b92b9fe20b1ee4

Webster’s lawyers had sought a lower sentence, arguing in a filing earlier this week that he suffered from PTSD from his career as a police officer and blamed his actions on Jan. 6, in part, on “flashbacks.”

One would think this is a fairly slam-dunk case for some leniency or something...if there was anything akin to a documented history of PTSD or if this had been part of the initial defense rather than a last-ditch "let's just throw shit at a wall." Seems the evaluation for this diagnosis began in Oct. 2021, so 10 months after his attack. I'd probably have PTSD if I was involved in a violent insurrection and assaulted multiple police officers and then was faced with a trial that might end with me spending years/a decade behind bars.

[postman1782]

One would think this is a fairly slam-dunk case for some leniency or something...if there was anything akin to a documented history of PTSD or if this had been part of the initial defense rather than a last-ditch "let's just throw shit at a wall." Seems the evaluation for this diagnosis began in Oct. 2021, so 10 months after his attack. I'd probably have PTSD if I was involved in a violent insurrection and assaulted multiple police officers and then was faced with a trial that might end with me spending years/a decade behind bars.

Every single fucking arrest he ever had, should be immediately be questioned if it was from PTSD. Because you can pretty much guarantee that he had several assault claims against him if he is like this against cops.

[Paranoid Android]

BREAKING WaPo: Ginni Thomas pressed lawmakers to overturn Joe Biden's 2020 victory not only in Arizona, as previously reported, but also in a second battleground state, Wisconsin, according to emails obtained under state public-records law.

A few days ago I just wanted to post a random "What about Ginni Thomas?". Well, she just happens to show up in the news and you know, trying to overturn another state in Wisconsin. No big Deal. Umm, yeah this is huge and my goodness, she better be held accountable. Amazing how the political privileged can commit treason and nothing.