Capitol Insurrection / rebellion thread

[Flarelaine]

Most of you already know, but this thread is about internal threats to the US government.

[diller]

Lets not forget that Liberalism is a right wing ideology very much opposed to socialism.

[Edge-]

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaig...-cpac-exhibit/

Do you want to play the "January 6: The Pinball Game!" pinball game? You can at CPAC!

The game can be played over several modes, including “Stop the Steal,” “Fake News,” “Peaceful Protest,” “It’s a Setup,” “Babbitt Murder” — a reference to the Jan. 6 rioter who was shot and killed by police after trying to climb barriers at the Capitol — “Have Faith” and “Political Prisoners.” As you play each mode, videos from the insurrection play on a screen above.

Yep, still an extremist convention. Also, still attended by many notable Republicans who are themselves extremists -

CPAC kicked off its second day Thursday, featuring a series of Republican speakers including Rep. Byron Donalds (Fla.), Sen. Tommy Tuberville (Ala.) and Lara Trump — the daughter-in-law of Trump and his pick for co-chair of the Republican National Conference (RNC).

The event will run through Saturday, with other high-profile Republicans expected to deliver remarks, including the former president, Reps. Jim Jordan (Ohio), Matt Gaetz (Fla.) and Elise Stefanik (N.Y.), as well as Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) and Republican Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake.

And as The Hill reminds us -

More than 1,100 people have been charged in nearly every state since the Jan. 6 riots on the Capitol, according to the D.C. U.S. attorney’s office.

So actually yes, it's quite literally a game!

[DarkTZeratul]

Do you want to play the "January 6: The Pinball Game!" pinball game? You can at CPAC!

I can't help feel like that pinball machine was designed to be satirical, and CPAC is taking it entirely seriously because they utterly missed the point.

[Shadowferal]

So actually yes, it's quite literally a game!

More people charged than people in attendance at cpac it seems.

[Flarelaine]

Despite denying under oath he ever used Twitter, Chesebro appears to have had a secret account.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/26/p...ile/index.html

[postman1782]

Despite denying under oath he ever used Twitter, Chesebro appears to have had a secret account.

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/02/26/p...ile/index.html

Yep, and he had DMs in there with incriminating evidence to show their entire plan to keep Trump in office. Including using Chuck Grassley because their entire plan was to keep Pence away, that is why he didn't get in that car with the Secret Service.

[Edge-]

https://thehill.com/policy/national-...ced-to-prison/

A Michigan man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for assaulting law enforcement officers with a hockey stick during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.

District Judge Tanya Chutkan sentenced Michael Joseph Foy, 32, to 40 months in prison and two years of supervised release for actions he took during the Capitol attack. He was convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers for those actions last year in a stipulated bench trial.

Court documents show Foy traveled from Wixom, Mich., to the nation’s capital to attend the “Stop the Steal” rally, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney’s office for the District of Columbia. He attended wearing an American flag around his shoulders and carried a “Trump 2020” flag that was attached to a hockey stick.

The press release stated Foy pushed his way through a mob of protesters to the entrance of the Lower West Terrace tunnel of the Capitol building, where he picked up a sharp metal pole and “threw it over the head of rioters into the body of a police officer.”

The pole knocked the officer into the archway and Foy proceeded to use his hockey stick to attack the police, according to the release. Video footage showed Foy swinging his hockey stick and hitting officers at least 11 times within 16 seconds, including an officer who was already injured on the ground and another who was knocked backward.

Court documents say that Foy swung his hockey stick over his head and downward at police officers as if he were chopping wood with an ax. Body-worn camera, taken from a police officer prone on the ground, shows Foy swinging down onto the officer’s exposed body. Court documents say Foy attacked an officer in the face, head, neck, and body area, and not in self-defense.

The press release said he shouted “let’s go” to other rioters after assaulting multiple officers with the hockey stick. He then proceeded to climb through the shattered window, bringing his hockey stick with him.

The attorney’s office noted that more than 1,313 individuals have been charged with crimes related to the riot at the Capitol since Jan. 6, 2021.

Another violent right wing insurrectionist who assaulted law enforcement is behind bars for a few years. Even three years on from the attempted insurrection, folks who fucked around are still finding out.

[Edge-]

Gosh, second page? There's been so much activity though!

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/0...ified-00146630

The head of Donald Trump’s Secret Service detail informed an agitated president on Jan. 6, 2021, that large groups of people had been denied entry to his rally that day because they were carrying prohibited items, the driver of his presidential SUV told congressional investigators, according to a transcript reviewed by POLITICO.

The testimony is further evidence that Trump was aware of potential security risks in the crowd, even before the mob had breached the Capitol.

The driver, who remains unidentified, drove Trump to and from his rally at the Ellipse on Jan. 6. After the rally, Trump’s supporters — riled up by his fervid speech — marched down the street, where Congress was attempting to certify the results of the 2020 election.

The driver described Trump’s exchange that day with his lead Secret Service agent, Robert Engel, in testimony he gave in November 2022 to the House Jan. 6 select committee. The transcript of his testimony had remained in the custody of the Department of Homeland Security — under terms the committee agreed to in order to secure the witness’ testimony — after the committee dissolved last year, until this week.

The driver told lawmakers that Trump pressed Engel for information about why large swaths of the crowd were not permitted past security magnetometers. Engel responded, according to the driver, by indicating that they had been stopped because they were carrying unspecified items that were prohibited past the security checkpoint.

The New York Times and the Washington Post reported on other aspects of the driver’s testimony earlier this week.

The driver’s account adds to the body of evidence that captures Trump’s state of mind on Jan. 6, a key aspect of the ongoing federal prosecution of the former president for attempting to subvert the election. Special counsel Jack Smith is attempting to prove that Trump was aware that the crowd he called to Washington presented a danger to the transfer of power, even as he made public statements that initially inflamed the crowd further. The transcript provides a new, firsthand glimpse of a private, unguarded moment Trump shared with his Secret Service detail.

President Joe Biden, according to the transcript, waived executive privilege to permit the driver to testify.


The driver couldn’t recall whether Engel told Trump about the security risks before his rally speech — when Trump urged the crowd he assembled to march on the Capitol and “fight like hell” to persuade Congress to deny Biden the presidency — or shortly after. The driver also recalled that Engel didn’t explicitly say members of the crowd were carrying weapons; rather, he said Engel informed Trump that members of the crowd had items that were not allowed through the magnetometers.

The exchange preceded — by at least an hour — Trump’s tweet assailing his vice president, Mike Pence, who was sheltering inside the Capitol, for refusing to acquiesce to his plan to block Biden’s victory. Investigators have contended Trump’s tweet was a trigger for some of the worst moments of violence that day.

The driver’s testimony corroborates a key piece of testimony provided to the select committee by Cassidy Hutchinson, a former top aide to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows. Hutchinson’s explosive public testimony in June 2022 included her assertion that she overheard Trump, on the sidelines of his rally, concerned that his crowd looked too small and worrying that the magnetometers were keeping people out.

“I overheard the president say something to the effect of … ‘They’re not here to hurt me. Take the F’ing mags away. Let my people in,’” Hutchinson told the panel. “‘They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the F’ing mags away.’”

Trump has sharply disputed Hutchinson’s account, most forcefully her claim that another top Trump aide — Tony Ornato — had relayed an account that Trump was furious after his rally speech because the Secret Service had denied his plan to join supporters at the Capitol. Hutchinson recalled that Ornato had told her Trump became so irate that he lunged at Engel and toward the steering wheel of the SUV.

In an interview with conservative journalist John Solomon, Trump reiterated his objections to her account on Monday, calling them “made up, fabricated stories.” He also acknowledged, as he has before, that he pressed his Secret Service detail to take him to the Capitol, but denied that it was contentious.

“I said, I think, let’s go down to the Capitol. And the Secret Service was very nice and said, ‘Sir, really better for you to go back to the White House … we’re not prepared to go down there,’” Trump recalled. “And I understood that and it was no big argument.”


The driver told the Jan. 6 committee that he had no recollection of Trump lunging toward Engle and toward the steering wheel, and that he likely would have noticed if such a scuffle had occurred.

But the driver also confirmed other aspects of Hutchinson’s testimony, including that Trump was irate that morning because Pence had refused to accede to his demands. And he said that after Trump’s rally, Trump became insistent that the Secret Service take him to the Capitol, even though he was repeatedly told that doing so would be unsafe. Trump countered that he wasn’t concerned because the crowd was made up of his own supporters, the driver indicated.

In one exchange, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) emphasized that the committee had not interpreted Hutchinson’s testimony to suggest a physical assault had actually occurred. Rather, Cheney emphasized that Hutchinson was relaying a third-hand account. The driver agreed with her characterization and noted that he only watched Hutchinson’s testimony once — at the request of another investigating entity, though he didn’t specify which.

Smith, the special counsel prosecuting Trump, was appointed the same month the driver testified, but Justice Department prosecutors had been pursuing aspects of their Trump-related investigations for months before he joined. Inspectors general of multiple agencies have also been probing Jan. 6 and the government’s response.

The driver also indicated that he was summoned to answer questions about the episode by Secret Service attorneys two days after Hutchinson’s testimony.

In an exchange at the outset of the hearing, the driver’s attorney indicated that the driver had hoped to testify months earlier, shortly after Hutchinson’s bombshell allegations. Cheney responded that the reason for the months-long delay was that the Secret Service abruptly produced thousands of documents in August, September and October 2022, and the committee wanted to digest them before bringing in key witnesses.

The driver also indicated that he was among the large group of Secret Service officials who wiped his government-issued phone at the agency’s request during a 2021 upgrade, a decision that prompted significant scrutiny by the Jan. 6 committee.

Engel also testified to the select committee. His testimony is among the committee’s transcripts that remains nonpublic and in the custody of the Biden administration, though House Republicans are attempting to negotiate terms to obtain and potentially release some or all of his testimony.

It continues to appear that Donald Trump knowingly whipped his mob of armed and violent followers into a frenzy and allowed the assault on the Capitol building to take place, adding his own fuel to the fire, until he was forced to tweet out some half-hearted requests for people to stop.

And everyone around Trump knows, and knew this.

What items generally aren't allowed through magnometers? Generally, weapons that trip the sensors. Because most other things that trip the censors like watches or phones are allowed through without issue.

[Odinfrost]

Gosh, second page? There's been so much activity though!

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/0...ified-00146630



It continues to appear that Donald Trump knowingly whipped his mob of armed and violent followers into a frenzy and allowed the assault on the Capitol building to take place, adding his own fuel to the fire, until he was forced to tweet out some half-hearted requests for people to stop.

And everyone around Trump knows, and knew this.

What items generally aren't allowed through magnometers? Generally, weapons that trip the sensors. Because most other things that trip the censors like watches or phones are allowed through without issue.

But that doesn't mean he apply's for 14:3 you guyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyys.
-The Republicans, probably

[Shadowferal]

Supreme Court won’t review New Mexico official’s ballot disqualification

Long and short of it; Couy Griffin, a former New Mexico county commissioner and founder of Cowboys for Trump, is the only known elected official to be disqualified under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection ban in connection with Jan. 6.

Notably, Griffin was disqualified from state office. By declining to hear his case, the court leaves open the possibility that courts could still move to disqualify other state and local officials who participated in Jan. 6, despite the Supreme Court sidelining Trump’s ballot challenges.

A little odd to me, probably since at least in this case it makes sense.

[masterhorus8]

Supreme Court won’t review New Mexico official’s ballot disqualification

Long and short of it; Couy Griffin, a former New Mexico county commissioner and founder of Cowboys for Trump, is the only known elected official to be disqualified under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection ban in connection with Jan. 6.

Notably, Griffin was disqualified from state office. By declining to hear his case, the court leaves open the possibility that courts could still move to disqualify other state and local officials who participated in Jan. 6, despite the Supreme Court sidelining Trump’s ballot challenges.

A little odd to me, probably since at least in this case it makes sense.

I'm wondering if they're trying to draw a line between "the state can choose who goes onto the state election ballots" and "the federal government needs to decide who goes on the federal election ballots."

[Flarelaine]

I'm wondering if they're trying to draw a line between "the state can choose who goes onto the state election ballots" and "the federal government needs to decide who goes on the federal election ballots."

That would actually be a somewhat reasonable take... were it not for centuries of states deciding everything about elections.

[Surfd]

I'm wondering if they're trying to draw a line between "the state can choose who goes onto the state election ballots" and "the federal government needs to decide who goes on the federal election ballots."

Which immediately falls apart when you ask "so, if the federal government controls who appears on federal election ballots, then why isn't there a federal standard for conducting a federal election that applies universally to every state?"

[Edge-]

Which immediately falls apart when you ask "so, if the federal government controls who appears on federal election ballots, then why isn't there a federal standard for conducting a federal election that applies universally to every state?"

SCOTUS faced an extremely difficult case because ruling the way the Constitution is written would unarguably lead to the floodgates of bad faith Republican states kicking every Democrat off their elections "because insurrection", resulting in an avalanche of court cases seeking to clarify what may legally qualify as an insurrection or not, absent action from Congress.

That's why their ruling, despite being unanimous, is so weird in how it's argued between the different Justices. That's also why they didn't take up this case, because this case highlights the fact that the Roberts court has, again, created new legislation out of thin air to resolve a political question. This is a case where they do so unanimously which is more rare, but this is absolutely a case of the SCOTUS writing new legislation from the bench.

Ultimately, this is the least-bad ruling and subsequent decision they could have made in these pair of cases, probably. At least in terms of preventing general electoral chaos, practically.

[Edge-]

https://www.axios.com/2024/04/02/bob...ement-congress

House Freedom Caucus Chair Bob Good (R-Va.) endorsed a convicted Capitol rioter in his primary challenge against a sitting House Republican.

Why it matters: It's a stark escalation of Republicans' lionization of those imprisoned for their roles on Jan. 6.

Good said in a statement he is supporting former West Virginia legislator Derrick Evans, who was sentenced three months in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 attack, over Rep. Carol Miller (R-W.Va.).
"It is my privilege to endorse Derrick Evans for Congress in West Virginia's first congressional district. We cannot change Washington and save the country by electing the status quo," said Good.

Welp, I don't think that Derrick Evans is the first Capitol Rioter to run for Congress, but he is the first one convicted of crimes and sentenced to prison to be endorsed by a Republican in the House.

It' unsurprising that it's a House Treason Caucus member doing so, and the Treason Caucus Chari Bob Good (R.-Va.) to do so.

Zoom in: Evans would be the first convicted Capitol rioter to serve in Congress – Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisc.), elected in 2022, was present on Capitol grounds but not charged.

They have someone who was just there hanging out and all, but nobody with a criminal record, now.

The overton window for the Republican party continues to shift further and further towards extremism.

- - - Updated - - -

https://apnews.com/article/taylor-jo...12e408ac80abd4

A Washington state man who used a megaphone to orchestrate a mob’s attack on police officers guarding the U.S. Capitol was sentenced on Wednesday to more than seven years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth said videos captured Taylor James Johnatakis playing a leadership role during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Johnatakis led other rioters on a charge against a police line, “barked commands” over his megaphone and shouted step-by-step directions for overpowering officers, the judge said.

“In any angry mob, there are leaders and there are followers. Mr. Johnatakis was a leader. He knew what he was doing that day,” the judge said before sentencing him to seven years and three months behind bars.

Johnatakis, who represented himself with an attorney on standby, has repeatedly expressed rhetoric that appears to be inspired by the anti-government “ sovereign citizen ” movement. He asked the judge questions at his sentencing, including, “Does the record reflect that I repent in my sins?”

Lamberth, who referred to some of Johnatakis’ words as “gobbledygook,” said, “I’m not answering questions here.”

Prosecutors recommended a nine-year prison sentence for Johnatakis, a self-employed installer of septic systems.

“Johnatakis was not just any rioter; he led, organized, and encouraged the assault of officers at the U.S. Capitol on January 6,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing.

A jury convicted him of felony charges after a trial last year in Washington, D.C.

Johnatakis, 40, of Kingston, Washington, had a megaphone strapped to his back when he marched to the Capitol from then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6.

“It’s over,” he shouted at the crowd of Trump supporters. “Michael Pence has voted against the president. We are down to the nuclear option.”

Johnatakis was one of the first rioters to chase a group of police officers who were retreating up stairs outside the Capitol. He shouted and gestured for other rioters to “pack it in” and prepare to attack.

Johnatakis shouted “Go!” before he and other rioters shoved a metal barricade into a line of police officers. He also grabbed an officer’s arm.

“The crime is complete,” Johnatakis posted on social media several hours after he left the Capitol.

He was arrested in February 2021. He has been jailed since November 2023, when jurors convicted him of seven counts, including obstruction of the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress that certified Joe Biden’s 2020 electoral victory. The jury also convicted him of assault and civil disorder charges.

Justice Department prosecutor Courtney Howard said Johnatakis hasn’t expressed any sincere remorse or accepted responsibility for his crimes on Jan. 6.

“He’s going so far as to portray himself as a persecuted victim,” she said.

Lamberth said he received over 20 letters from Johnatakis, his relatives and friends. Some of his supporters don’t seem to know the full extent of Johnatakis’ crimes on Jan. 6, the judge added. He said he would order the clerk of court’s office to send all them copies of his prepared remarks during the sentencing hearing.

“There can be no room in our country for this sort of political violence,” Lamberth said.

Last April, Lamberth ordered a psychologist to examine Johnatakis and determine if he was mentally competent to stand trial. The judge ultimately ruled that Johnatakis could understand the proceedings and assist in his defense.

Approximately 1,350 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 800 of them have been sentenced, with roughly two-thirds getting terms of imprisonment ranging from several days to 22 years.

Another violent rioter sentenced for their crimes.

[gondrin]

I keep saying that those who identify as sovereign citizens or espouse the ideals of that ideology(as that is what it is anymore), they should be deported to some random country. I mean, if they aren't citizens of the country they reside in, we have laws to deal with that. That should be what the punishment is, threaten with deportation due to them being here illegally.

If it were only that easy though.

[Endus]

I keep saying that those who identify as sovereign citizens or espouse the ideals of that ideology(as that is what it is anymore), they should be deported to some random country. I mean, if they aren't citizens of the country they reside in, we have laws to deal with that. That should be what the punishment is, threaten with deportation due to them being here illegally.

If it were only that easy though.

Heinlein proposed an interesting idea; a place called Coventry, that was basically an open-air prison, in the same sense as you get in the Kurt Russel Escape from NY/LA films. Big walls around it, no exit allowed save through highly difficult formal processes to rejoin society, you can fuck off into Coventry and build yourself whatever little empire you want, surrounded by people who all want their own little empires. You get whatever laws you can enact yourselves. The government will provide food shipments if you can't feed yourselves, but other than that, you're on your own. Go on be sovereign, you fuckin' morons.

There's also the real historical concept of being "outlaw", which is where we get that term, but it's largely different historically than the modern context. In the past, being declared "outlaw" meant you were literally outside the law. You were not a citizen. You were fundamentally considered no different than a deer or a badger or whatnot. If you were a bother, anyone could just kill you; you're not a person, so it's not murder. And nobody wants to eat you, so it can't be considered poaching. No one can steal from you because you can't own anything; they're just taking stuff nobody has a claim to. You're nobody, you have no rights, no protections. This is why outlaws hid in the woods. If you pissed someone off in town, they'd just knife you and let you bleed to death in the street, since there's nothing wrong with doing that to an outlaw.

Necessary statement that I think these things are abominable, but they're what sovereign citizens are begging for.

[Edge-]

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...n-6-rcna148966

A former New Jersey National Guard police sergeant who went on the run in November, after the FBI came to arrest him in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, pleaded guilty on Thursday to assaulting officers.

Gregory Yetman pleaded guilty to assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers with physical contact and the intent to commit another felony during a hearing before Chief Judge James E. Boasberg. The parties agreed that Yetman's sentencing guidelines were between 37 and 46 months in federal prison.

Yetman, a heavy equipment operator who was at the time an enlisted military police officer, admitted that he attended then-President Donald Trump's speech on Jan. 6 and understood that Trump said they were going to the Capitol.

"Yetman then walked to the west side of U.S. Capitol building, where he heard people chanting, 'Stop the Steal.' While there, he heard 'flash bangs' and observed tear gas being deployed by U.S. Capitol police officers who were defending the Capitol," according to the agreed-upon statement of offense. "He observed rioters who had been exposed to gas and oleoresin capsicum ('OC') spray and watched as other rioters attempted to break windows. He also saw a police officer get pulled into the crowd but did not attempt to help the officer."

Yetman then saw officers who were surrounded by other members of the mob, picked up a canister of OC spray, and "intentionally assaulted the same group of besieged police officers by spraying them."

Yetman also admitted that he fled when the FBI showed up to arrest him, dropping a knife and a cellular telephone. He admitted that law enforcement located "multiple firearms and significant quantities of ammunition at his residence, a loaded firearm in his vehicle, and additional firearms and weapons in a storage unit."

Another violent insurrectionist, and one who fled from the FBI rather than face justice, pleads guilty after making things worse.