Capitol Insurrection / rebellion thread

[Mihalik]

just broke a May, 22 Justice Dept MEMO from MERRICK GARLAND that basically says there will be no substantial indictments before midterms citing Bill Barr's 2020 DOJ policy.

"Election sensitivities"

This confirms what I (+ others) have been attacked for saying.

I have a bad feeling about this.

Posted that yesterday myself. Garland has no intention to prosecute. Worse he effectively forbid the DoJ from investigating anyone without his prior permission. Which is why Hutchinson's testimony completely blindsided the DoJ. Nobody spoke to her before.

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Garland's the AG. His investigations should be way ahead of Congress'. Sure, maybe they catch something he missed, but he's apparently just sitting on his ass doing fuck-all rather than pursuing anything to do with anyone meaningful in the orchestration of January 6.

He kneecapped his own department by effectively making it impossible to investigate anyone with GOP ties without his prior approval.

Garland is not worried about Gilead. If Gilead would come, he'd be the uncomfortable "good" Commander.

[Edge-]

Mr. Pillow himself, Mike Lindell, claims a billion people will watch him lie to everyone. Well, he will need some of his pillows because he must be dreaming.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world...42b84679228785

Honestly, reporting on his insanity without giant disclaimers to the effect of, "THIS PERSON IS A CRAZY, UNHINGED NUTJOB WHO HAS LIED FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS AND SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM." should be journalistic malpractice or some shit.

Fuck your clicks, for-profit media. Stop giving free promotion to this absolute fucking moron.

[Endus]

Honestly, reporting on his insanity without giant disclaimers to the effect of, "THIS PERSON IS A CRAZY, UNHINGED NUTJOB WHO HAS LIED FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS AND SHOULD NOT BE TRUSTED IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM." should be journalistic malpractice or some shit.

Fuck your clicks, for-profit media. Stop giving free promotion to this absolute fucking moron.

This attitude of false neutrality that the media effects is poison. If someone resurrected Hitler's corpse as a reanimant Zombie Lord, and said Zomboid Hitler ran on a campaign of "Jew Brains First, Everyone's Brains Later" the media would be dancing around it with statements like "the newly-animate candidate's platform is challenging, but clear, and he's garnering a lot of support from many interest groups in the United States. It's certainly shaping up to be an interesting Presidential race!"

As opposed to "Someone shoot Zombie Hitler in the fucking head before he eats anyone! Jesus wept, why is nobody shooting the zombie? It's not even an innocent person! It was Hitler! Oh god, it's got Adam Schiff, and Schiff's down! He's going for the, oh god he's eating Shiff's brain! Why won't anyone SHOOT THE MONSTER!"

(Adam Schiff only picked out because he's relatively well-known and happens to be a Jewish Democrat which is not important other than being someone Zombie Hitler would target).

[Gabriel]

All opinions are equally valid. I just hope everyone has fun.

[bladeXcrasher]

All opinions are equally valid. I just hope everyone has fun.

Patently false statement. All opinions aren't equally valid.

[Gabriel]

Patently false statement. All opinions aren't equally valid.

Stop oppressing me.

[Paranoid Android]

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says former President Trump called him last week in another push to decertify Wisconsin’s 2020 presidential results after the WI Supreme Court ruling on absentee ballot drop boxes. Shortly after, Vos says, Trump posted on social media calling him a RINO

This mother bleeper still trying to overthrow an election and continue want asking people to commit treason.



This dumbshit thinks this is retroactive. An oh btw this is voter suppression for next election cycle, but what's new.

[Breccia]

This mother bleeper still trying to overthrow an election and continue want asking people to commit treason.

Trump really needs to ex post facto right off. But until he does, stuff like this needs to be accumulated as evidence.

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Group accused of deleting messages claims they looked around and couldn't find any deleted messages.

Well, this is an easy one. All posters who even once said Clinton was dirty for her emails are now also on record as saying the Secret Service is dirty for hiding their text messages. No 24 hours, no need to reply, it's now just applied to all of them. To the point that I will applaud their forced consistency in the next post then write.

"But wh--"

No, there is no option this time. If they said Clinton was hiding something, they are now saying the Secret Service is hiding something. There will be no exceptions.

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If the name Rusty Bowers sounds familiar, it should. Even if we haven't mentioned him before, he's an Arizona GOP member who Trump called to overturn the election. Bowers asked for proof of fraud, none was given, Bowers refused.

The Arizona GOP just censured him for that.

Bowers earned national acclaim with his recitation of the pressure he faced from Trump and his allies, including angry and noisy protests outside his home as his adult daughter lay dying inside from an extended illness. Bowers says he supported Trump’s campaign in 2020 but would not help the former president overturn his loss in Arizona.

In his testimony last month, Bowers walked through what started with a Trump phone call on a Sunday after he returned from church. The defeated president laid out a proposal to have the state replace its electors for Biden with others favoring Trump.

“I said, ‘Look, you’re asking me to do something that is counter to my oath, ’” Bowers testified.

Bowers insisted on seeing Trump’s evidence of voter fraud, which he said Trump’s team never produced beyond vague allegations. He recalled Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani later told him, “We’ve got lots of theories; we just don’t have the evidence.”

He took heat for telling The Associated Press before his testimony that he would support Trump if he won the GOP nomination. He has since walked that back, saying he’s even more opposed to Trump after testifying publicly before the Jan. 6 committee.

[Edge-]

https://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/wa...g-144507461566

We'll find out more at the hearing, but surprising nobody, it appears that Trump spend most of Jan. 6 watching the violence on TV and...well that's legitimately it. After his speech he just chilled out for the day and watched his followers begin rioting, break into the Capitol building, and assault Capitol PD live on TV.

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https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/21/crim...-messages.html

The Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog has opened a criminal investigation into the destruction of Secret Service phone text messages related to the days around the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.

The Secret Service was informed of the probe Wednesday night by the Inspector General of DHS, who ordered the agency to stop internal investigations into the deleted text messages, NBC reported.

The Secret Service in a statement said it was “in receipt of the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s letter.”

“We have informed the January 6th Select Committee of the Inspector General’s request and will conduct a thorough legal review to ensure we are fully cooperative with all oversight efforts and that they do not conflict with each other,” the Secret Service said.

Now there's a criminal investigation into the USSS's deleted and unretrievable text messages.

[Breccia]

Now there's a criminal investigation into the USSS's deleted and unretrievable text messages.

This is exactly what Trump supporters have been asking for since 2016. As posted before, their agreement and support is already on record.

Also, this headline was too good to pass up.

Georgia Fake Electors Say Plot To Overturn Vote Was Legal. Or Rudy Giuliani's Fault. Or The Prosecutor Is Mean. Or ... SQUIRREL!

The article says some stuff we already know, but:

1) The 16 Fake Electors have filed a motion to stop the subpoena on the grounds that they just don't want to testify.

2) The Fake Electors are claiming that what they did was legal, because if somehow Trump managed to win a lawsuit, that forged document would magically become un-forged and they needed it to be ready to go in a hurry. Because, you know, Georgia was dragging its feet due to the 3 recounts the Fake Electors demand they do.

3) They are claiming now they weren't working that closely with Giuliani and Eastman, although we've known they had contact with Trump's campaign for months.

A staffer for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign instructed Republicans planning to cast electoral college votes for Trump in Georgia despite Joe Biden’s victory to operate in “complete secrecy,” an email obtained by The Washington Post shows.

“I must ask for your complete discretion in this process,” wrote Robert Sinners, the campaign’s election operations director for Georgia, the day before the 16 Republicans gathered at the Georgia Capitol to sign certificates declaring themselves duly elected. “Your duties are imperative to ensure the end result — a win in Georgia for President Trump — but will be hampered unless we have complete secrecy and discretion.”

The Dec. 13, 2020, email went on to instruct the electors to tell security guards at the building that they had an appointment with one of two state senators. “Please, at no point should you mention anything to do with Presidential Electors or speak to the media,” Sinners continued in bold.

And also this:

Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said in pre-recorded testimony that Trump called her so that one of his lawyers, John Eastman, could outline how the party organization could play its part in trying to certify Trump slates from states that voted for Biden.

"Essentially he turned the call over to Mr. Eastman who then proceeded to talk about the importance of the RNC helping the campaign gather these contingent electors in case any of the legal challenges that were ongoing changed the result of any of the states," McDaniel said, revealing Trump's direct knowledge of the effort to undermine the election.

The effort to organize counterfeit electors was one part of a broader campaign by the just-defeated president to cling to power.

But, according to the committee, it demonstrated Trump's willingness to use any means — regardless of their legality — to reverse the will of voters. Trump's team turned to the "fake electors" plan when it became clear that state officials in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania and other key battlegrounds would not overturn the results in their states and replace Biden electors with Trump electors.

Yeah both of those articles are old. But for the Fake Electors to claim this didn't come from Team Trump is pretty demonstrably false.

4) Graham dropped the challenge to his subpoena. So...that's new.

5) The Fake Electors are also claiming that Willis lacks the authority to do this. Yeah, all that about voting being a state issue? Now they're claiming it isn't. The article suggests that, if in fact a state cannot go after Fake Electors, that means the current VP can look at the real electors, look at the Fake Electors, and just decide which one he wants. Meaning, Trump could have "won" 435 to 0.

Yeah, pretty sure that argument will be handwaved.

6) Giuliani hasn't responded to...um...

(checks last weeks' articles)

Anything. Therefore, he's on the hook for August 9 testimony in Georgia. And I imagine he has to turn over all his communications as well.

Testimony from Eastman (oh right, he also got subpoena'd) Giuliani and Graham will be what we expect. Eastman and Giuliani will claim they did nothing wrong then take the Fifth. Graham will claim, possibly accurately, he was not working for Trump and was only showing concern that Georgia wasn't taking evidenceless conspiracy theories seriously enough for Trump's voters. The 16 Fake Electors...they're pretty much fucked. The article I posted says, and I agree, that they'll be forced to take the Fifth on the stand and doing so will damage or end their political aspirations. The connections between them and Trump's campaign are objective and clear. Their signatures on an invalid ballot are in the evidence locker. And they have not yet said anything other than "trying to throw out Georgia's legitimate and legal election was the right thing to do".

I wonder if the peach trees of Georgia have branches strong enough to hang 'em all.

[Edge-]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/steve-...ed-out-instead

For all his bloviating and grandstanding about making his contempt trial a spectacle and sticking it to the corrupt courts and whatnot...Bannon has been surprisingly silent.

Apparently his only comments in court have been, "Yes, your honor."

Beyond that his legal team is just dragging this out as long as possible, but offering no actual defense on his behalf. Seriously, they're not introducing any evidence or anything. Just asking witnesses about their suspicious membership in...a book club, lol.

Once more, the MACHO, MASCULINE, MANLY men show themselves to be spineless cowards.

[Breccia]

they're not introducing any evidence or anything

Not a huge surprise. The messages Bannon got from the panel were almost certainly specific to the point of no confusion being possible by a reasonable person. The judge threw that defense out. The only evidence possible would be to citing case law that Congress didn't have the authority, good luck with that, or some other communication with some other time, day, or indication that it was optional, which Congress would not have done. Bannon cannot face the charges on the merits and has no choice but to get the jury to buy "WITCH HUNT!"

Also, the Jan 6th panel has published a list of all phone calls made to, or from, the WH from 11 to 6 on the day of the murderous insurrection.

Yeah, Trump's WH said there were none. No calls, either direction, during the insurrection. In addition, Trump kicked the WH photographer -- whom he hired -- out so he could watch his armed mob on FOX News behind closed doors for 2 and a half hours. Oh, she said that under oath, by the way.

There is no reasonable situation in which a President would watch the Capitol building come under siege by anyone and not make a single phone call. And we have plenty of articles of people calling the WH, getting no answer, then calling people on Trump's staff which, somehow, places like FOX News had the phone numbers of Trump's cabinet. But for there to be no records of any incoming calls at all? For those seven hours? The logs are doctored. The blank logs are simply false.

"I know that seems very very unlikely, but impossible?"

Yes. Kushner himself proved it. He said McCarthy called him and begged for Trump's help. Name a situation in which McCarthy not only calls Kushner, but calls Kushner first, before trying the WH. Or, better yet, calls Kushner and then just decides not to call the WH, assuming everything is fine.

It would be pretty easy for the Jan 6th panel to simply ask McCarthy why he didn't call the WH. McCarthy would, of course, under oath explain why he thought Kushner was the way to go...if that was true. But nobody here believes that.

[postman1782]

I love that EVERYONE is running over Josh Hawley the fucking insurrectionist piece of shit, that after he took his raised fist picture, that that pussy ran as fast as he could back into the Capitol building and evacuated with the rest the senators and representatives. I really liked that they literally LAUGHED at him in the committee room.

Was just hilarious watching people edit in music and movie quotes of him running.

[Paranoid Android]

Former DC officer assaulted by Jan. 6 mob: Josh Hawley ‘ran like a b—-‘

The best part of last night was them at least mentioning some of the Senators involved with this coup. They were very complicit, challenging votes from AZ, Michigan, Nevada and other states they didn't even represent. I believe almost 40 of those 50 or so Senators would have decertified the vote if they could.

[Edge-]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...rial-rcna39497

A jury on Friday found former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon guilty on two counts of contempt of Congress for blowing off the Jan. 6 select committee.

Bannon's sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 21 when he will face a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 30 days and up to one year behind bars. He could also be fined $100 to $100,000. He is expected to appeal.

“This case is not complicated, but it is important,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly Gaston told jurors during closing arguments on Friday.

Bannon, Gaston argued, “did not want to recognize Congress’ authority” or play by the government’s rules.

Bannon guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress. Hopefully he spends a bit more than 30 days in jail and pays a bit more than $100 for his bullshittery. But probably not.

[Breccia]

Bannon guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress.

I can't see how he'd get the minimum. His defenses were so pathetic the judge wouldn't even let him use them.

It took the jury less than 3 hours.

I don't know if this is an option, but I hope they take him from jail to testify in chains, then take him back to jail. That would be the best way of ensuring he actually shows up, after all.

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Actually I'm not done talking about the trial, and yes, my post will be longer than the trial was.

1) Bannon's team claims it has an appeal, based on the judge throwing out Bannon's claim of privilege.

"But he didn't have privilege. And he had to know that."

Well, he's claiming he didn't have to know that. Or at least, that's the only way to read this.

2) Bannon said:

The gutless members of that show trial J6 committee didn't have the guts to come down here and testify in open court.

"Wait, didn't Bannon have to show up in a kind of court and...didn't? Like, wasn't he accused of exactly what he's saying?"

Yes. And convicted.

"Was there any need for Jan 6th members to testify against Bannon?"

Apparently not. Evidence was provided Bannon knew he had to show up. Having Cheney on the stand changes nothing.

"Did Bannon testify in his own defense?"

No.

"So...he called himself gutless?"

In public, no less.

3) The last time someone was found guilty of this crime, it was literally Watergate.

4) Bannon, at the time he didn't comply with the subpoena, posted on Gettr that he wasn't going to comply. He admitted guilt, in public, and yes that did come up in trial.

5) The "activist judge" was appointed by Trump.

6) Bannon said, back in November, that this would be "the misdemeanor from Hell" for Biden. The trial went from jury sworn in, to conviction, in a week.

Bannon will appeal, but his appeal won't stop his testimony before the Jan 6th panel, possibly in shackles.

[Ripster42]

4) Graham dropped the challenge to his subpoena. So...that's new.

Dropped the challenge to his subpoena in SC, reserved his right to challenge in GA. Who knows if he'll follow through, but it's not definitively decided whether or not he'll comply.

[Breccia]

I find it unlikely the judge will give him the maximum time for both counts successively.

I mean, he refused to testify before Congress about the insurrection he helped plan, while also having no defenses at all. If that doesn't qualify for the maximum, what would it take?

[Poopymonster]

I mean, he refused to testify before Congress about the insurrection he helped plan, while also having no defenses at all. If that doesn't qualify for the maximum, what would it take?

Darker skin.

[Breccia]

Darker skin.

Fucking ouch, dude. You know Trump doesn't hire black guys to count his money.