Jan 6 Breach of the Capitol: Consequences & Repercussions III

[essentialsaltes]

‘I was wrong. Period’: █████ Shaman apologizes for entering Capitol​

Jan. 6 rioter '█████ Shaman' Jacob Chansley secures early release from prison to halfway house, lawyer says​

US Bureau of Prisons records indicate Chansley has been released to halfway house after serving 16 months of 3.5 year prison sentence​

 

[Hans Blaster]

Fascinating stuff.

FBI informant testifies at Proud Boys sedition trial — for the defense​

The man, going only by “Aaron,” joined a Kansas City chapter of the far-right Proud Boys organization in 2019. He had another relationship that went back a decade, with federal law enforcement.

As Donald Trump’s supporters swarmed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, Aaron sent a quick series of messages to an FBI agent.

“Barriers down at capitol building,” he said, according to evidence shown in court. “Crowd surged forward. About to [reach] the building now.” He told his FBI handler, “PB did not do it, nor inspire.”

But in one of the most high-profile Jan. 6 prosecutions, it isn’t the government calling its own informants as witnesses. Instead, at least four FBI sources were approached by the defense. Two others are on trial. And it was federal prosecutors who undermined the credibility of a federal informant, suggesting that Aaron had deleted evidence and eliciting testimony that he repeatedly understated his own participation in the riot.

The evidence shown in court indicates that many of the FBI sources inside the Proud Boys were asked only about their ideological opponents on the left, even as the right-wing group was implicated in threats and violence at protests across the United States.

Aaron testified Wednesday that before Jan. 6, the FBI never asked him to look for information about the Proud Boys. When he informed his handler that he was coming to D.C. for the protest, he was asked only “to try to see if I could locate someone in D.C. that had nothing to do with the Proud Boys,” he testified.

Biggs has said in filings that he agreed to “share information about Antifa networks” with the FBI in 2020.

Salinas had sworn under oath that she only reported to federal agents on “antifa and the border” — not about the Proud Boys.

Proud Boy Matthew Walter of Tennessee was also a potential defense witness. He ... had several conversations with an FBI agent between August 2020 and January 2021.
“The rules were, don’t ask me about the Proud Boys,” Walter said. “They didn’t want to know about the Proud Boys, they wanted to know about antifa.”

The witness "Aaron" didn't exactly do himself any favors on the stand, but before I get to the mess he stepped in, a brief overview of the case:

The Government's case is that the PB leaders using their couple hundred members and other excitable members of the crowd to pierce all of the security layers and infiltrate the Capitol with hundreds and of people to influence Congress in Trump's favor by interfering with their ability to count the electoral votes.

The defense case is (at least in part) focused on trying to show there was no planning prior to the day or coordination on the day. They want to show that their preparations were about self defense, particularly from "Antifa". They have done this in part by having several other members of the PBs testify to that effect. These PB witnesses haven't been all that great for the defense in general, a couple are probably net negative (after cross-examination), but "Aaron" may have walked himself into charges.

From "Aaron"s cross-examination by the government:

[Gov. shows CCTV video of officers trying to shut an interior gate to stop rioters (descending from ceiling). Some rioters try to block gate and others throw things at officers.]:

Q: police are trying to push down that gate?
A:yes

Q: you'd agree with me that police wanted that gate closed?
Defense: objection -- overruled
A: yes. i wasn't considering that when i put my hands on that man's shoulder.

Q: gate would've kept officers safer?
A: i see the police wanted it down.

Q: focus your attention on left side of screen. You and Chris moved chair aside and put a larger podium in path of gate?
A: i was being instructed to do that?

Q: by FBI?
A: no, but chris. Gate was already blocked at that time.

Q: did FBI tell you to put that podium under the gate?
A: no

Q: you and another PB put that podium under the gate?
A: correct.

-end of extract-

h/t to Roger Parloff https://twitter.com/rparloff

Oops, interfering with [federal] officers doing their jobs during a civil disturbance. Sounds like an 18 USC 231 charge to me.

I believe the correct answer to all of those questions was "I respectfully invoke my 5th amendment right to decline to answer this question as my answer may tend to incriminate me."

 

[Hans Blaster]

The jury finished its work today. Bennie Parker *was* found guilty of conspiracy to obtruct, but remained hung on 1512(c)(2) charge [for Michael Greene] and the judge declared a mistrial on that count. No word yet on retrial or not.

DOJ decides not to retry Greene ending that trial fully. Greene was only convicted of a misdemeanor.

The "leftover" cases are now being combined into one case (including the OK "lawyer" who was indicted separately).

 

[essentialsaltes]

The Department of Homeland Security’s chief watchdog scrapped its investigative team’s effort to collect agency phones to try to recover deleted Secret Service texts this year, according to four people with knowledge of the decision and internal records reviewed by The Washington Post.
Staff at Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari’s office planned to contact all DHS agencies offering to have data specialists help retrieve messages from their phones, according to two government whistleblowers who provided reports to Congress. But later that month, Cuffari’s office decided it would not collect or review any agency phones, according to three people briefed on the decision.

Cuffari, a former adviser to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey (R), has been in his post since July 2019 after being nominated by Trump.

Probe widens into federal watchdog over missing Jan. 6 Secret Service texts​

A nearly two-year investigation into allegations of misconduct by the Department of Homeland Security’s chief watchdog expanded this week to include his role in missing Secret Service text messages from the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

On Monday, investigators demanded records related to the deleted texts from the Office of Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari, an appointee of President Donald Trump whose office shut down an inquiry into the Secret Service messages last year amid the House’s probe of the insurrection.

The records request, which was revealed in a federal lawsuit this week filed by Cuffari and his staff against the panel of inspectors leading the probe, suggests new urgency in a high-profile investigation that began in May 2021 and has since evolved into a wide-ranging inquiry into dozens of allegations of misconduct, including partisan decision-making, investigative failures and retaliation against whistleblowers.

“He’s challenged the structure of a body statutorily created by Congress,” said one inspector general, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations. “We’re appalled and exhausted by him.”

When a federal watchdog is accused of misconduct and the organization [the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE)] decides that it warrants attention, another inspector general is assigned to investigate, under a system set up by Congress. [CIGIE is still investigating Cuffari -- Biden says he won't act to fire Cuffari until they make their conclusions.]

 

[essentialsaltes]

Proud Boys juror raises concern she’s being followed, sources say​

A juror told the court an individual came up to her outside of a Washington, DC, metro station and asked if she was a juror, multiple sources told CNN. The juror told court staff she had seen the same individual on several occasions and thought they might be following her.

 

[Hans Blaster]

A couple of stiff sentences for assaulting officers today.

Josiah Kenyon, 72 Months (6 y)

Nevada Man Sentenced for Assaulting Officers During Jan. 6 Capitol Breach

Kenyon threw a plastic pylon (I believe a stand for a fire extinguisher on the inaugural stage) at officers and then hit officers with a table leg.

Robert Sanford, 52 Months (4y 4m)

Sanford (a retired firefighter from near Philadelphia)
Trump fan gets 4-year sentence for hitting officers with a fire extinguisher on Jan. 6

Sanford threw a fire extinguisher down a level that hit three officers.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Trump’s former White House ethics lawyer told Cassidy Hutchinson to give misleading testimony to January 6 committee, sources say​

Stefan Passantino, the top ethics attorney in the Trump White House, is the lawyer who allegedly advised his then-client, former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, to tell the committee that she did not recall details that she did, sources familiar with the committee’s work tell CNN.

Ms Hutchinson said the same in public testimony. But Passantino is suing the panel for leaking this 'false narrative'.

Ex-Trump, Hutchinson Lawyer Passantino Sues January 6 Committee​

Former Trump White House lawyer Stefan Passantino is suing the House Jan. 6 committee, alleging its members pushed a “false narrative” that he encouraged star witness Cassidy Hutchinson to lie to the panel.

The committee leaked “an outrageous tale” about Passantino to the news media, he said in a complaint filed Tuesday.

Passantino came under fire in December after the panel released testimonyfrom Hutchinson, a Trump White House staffer. She said Passantino advised her to mislead the committee about certain events surrounding the attack on the US Capitol.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Judge revokes bond for Navy reservist Jan 6 defendant who praised Hitler (and was just convicted of firearms charges)​

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden ordered Hatchet Speed, of McLean, Virginia, held without bond after a jury in the Eastern District of Virginia convicted him earlier this month of possessing multiple silencers disguised to look like cleaning supplies.

The silencers were discovered during a search of Speed’s residence following his arrest on multiple charges for allegedly entering the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021.

Navy veteran who stormed Capitol on Jan. 6 gets 3 years in prison on gun charges​

A former Navy reservist who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and expressed admiration for Adolf Hitler was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison on firearms charges.

[He will be sentenced next month for the Jan 6 obstruction charges.]

 

[Whyayeman]

From the LA Times article:

Speed’s lawyers asked the judge not to be prejudiced against him because of his inflammatory views. In conversations with an FBI undercover employee in 2022, Speed expressed admiration not only for Hitler but also for Centennial Olympic Park bomber Eric Rudolph and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski.

In recorded conversations, Speed also made antisemitic comments and proposed targeting Jewish people with violence. He also collected neo-Nazi memorabilia.

I expect he was one of the people being described as 'tourists' at the time.

 

[essentialsaltes]

From the LA Times article:

He also collected neo-Nazi memorabilia.

When you're a billionaire, like Justice Thomas' pal, you can afford to collect the real thing. And then you're a respected member of society. But when you're a veteran struggling to get by, you have to settle for modern knock-offs. A shame, really.

 

[Whyayeman]

When you're a billionaire, like Justice Thomas' pal, you can afford to collect the real thing. And then you're a respected member of society. But when you're a veteran struggling to get by, you have to settle for modern knock-offs. A shame, really.

I once found a pile of photographs of Hitler and several of his cabinet in a box of oddments in an art auction. They were not the printed jobs handed out by the ton by the Party. They were big originals obviously taken by a member of the Inner Circle. I still shudder...

 

[DaisyDay]

I once found a pile of photographs of Hitler and several of his cabinet in a box of oddments in an art auction. They were not the printed jobs handed out by the ton by the Party. They were big originals obviously taken by a member of the Inner Circle. I still shudder...

What did you do with them?

 

[Whyayeman]

What did you do with them?

Nothing. I considered buying them. They were at the bottom of a box of worthless prints and stuff that is always to be found in auction houses. I guessed they might have been overlooked. In the end I didn't bid for them. I wasn't in the room when they were sold. I don't know who bought them or what happened to them, though I have often wondered. It was years ago, but I can never forget the shock of seeing Adolf's smiling face at the bottom of the box.

 

[essentialsaltes]

Vincent J. Gillespie, 61, was sentenced Friday morning to 68 months in prison after a jury in December found him guilty of assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers, civil disorder, engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds, and disorderly conduct in a Capitol building. U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell ordered Gillespie to pay a fine of $25,000, restitution of $2,000, and to serve 36 months of supervised release.

According to the U.S. District Court, the evidence at trial showed that from approximately 4:11 p.m. to 4:26 p.m. on Jan. 6, 2021, Gillespie was among rioters engaging in pushing, shoving, yelling and fighting with law enforcement officers in the Lower West Terrace of the Capitol.

“At one point, he gained control of a police shield and used it to ram the police. He then used two hands to grab a Metropolitan Police Department sergeant by the arm, yanking him toward the mob. He then screamed ‘traitor’ and ‘treason’ at the police.”

 

[essentialsaltes]

Capitol rioter who crushed officer with shield gets 7 years​

WASHINGTON (AP) — A man who used a stolen riot shield to crush a police officer in a doorframe during the U.S. Capitol insurrection was sentenced on Friday to more than seven years in prison for his role in one of the most violent episodes of the Jan. 6 attack.

 

[USincognito]

Nothing. I considered buying them. They were at the bottom of a box of worthless prints and stuff that is always to be found in auction houses. I guessed they might have been overlooked. In the end I didn't bid for them. I wasn't in the room when they were sold. I don't know who bought them or what happened to them, though I have often wondered. It was years ago, but I can never forget the shock of seeing Adolf's smiling face at the bottom of the box.

Reminds me of Band of Brothers when Easy Company took the Eagle's Nest and one of the soldiers found, and kept, a photo album belonging to Hitler.

I visited Berchtesgaden four times in my youth and only recently realized that two generations of Jewish soldiers and airmen assigned to Germany were able to enjoy the finest accommodations the Third Reich had to offer.

 

[Whyayeman]

Reminds me of Band of Brothers when Easy Company took the Eagle's Nest and one of the soldiers found, and kept, a photo album belonging to Hitler.

I thought much the same. Somebody must have come across the photos I saw at some point during or shortly after the fall of Germany. They must have lain forgotten about for forty-odd years. If they had been spotted by the auction house I am pretty sure they would have sold for what they were.

 

[essentialsaltes]

New audio shows Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo followed Trump campaign directives to promote January 6​

The Trump campaign told Bartiromo to push January 6, 2021, as the date to overturn the 2020 election. Then she did it.

New audio revealed as part of Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News — which Fox allegedly failed to provide to Dominion in the discovery process — shows how Fox News and Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo took directives from the Trump campaign to promote the campaign’s plan to overturn the 2020 presidential election results on January 6, 2021.

 

[Hans Blaster]

The PB leaders trial is still going on. (Day 55 by some counts.) On the last day of testimony (Wed), the first of two defendants expected to testify on their behalf (sic) Zach Rehl of Philly was on the stand. His laywer stretched out his testimony with an dull list of elements of the various crimes (Did you X?) and other things (incuding minute long shuffles through her note pad "looking" for something) in an apparent attempt to hit the long break (due to a juror scheduling issue) before the start of cross-examination by the prosecution. She finished about an hour before the end of court and then a lawyer for a different PB filled up the rest of the day and crossed over into the morning today.

It's a little harder to tell what is happening today since the Judge in a fit of pique over a leak on Thursday, decided to close the media room and there is no live tweeting today. (The reporters can only use pen+paper, then type it up during breaks.) Thursday there was a sealed hearing (about possible jury intimidation/tampering issues) and the court officials forgot to turn off the feed to the media room (where they can use cell phones and laptops and the internet) and three outlets (incl. CNN) reported on the sealed hearing despite desperate begging to reporters from the defense attorneys to the reports to not report what they heard from the sealed courtroom. (It was not the prosecution begging, most likely, because that would implicate 1st amendment issues.)

So the most important days of the most important (so far) jan 6 trial are going to be less well reported.

 

[Hans Blaster]

The PB leaders trial is still going on. (Day 55 by some counts.) On the last day of testimony (Wed), the first of two defendants expected to testify on their behalf (sic) Zach Rehl of Philly was on the stand. His laywer stretched out his testimony with an dull list of elements of the various crimes (Did you X?) and other things (incuding minute long shuffles through her note pad "looking" for something) in an apparent attempt to hit the long break (due to a juror scheduling issue) before the start of cross-examination by the prosecution. She finished about an hour before the end of court and then a lawyer for a different PB filled up the rest of the day and crossed over into the morning today.

It's a little harder to tell what is happening today since the Judge in a fit of pique over a leak on Thursday, decided to close the media room and there is no live tweeting today. (The reporters can only use pen+paper, then type it up during breaks.) Thursday there was a sealed hearing (about possible jury intimidation/tampering issues) and the court officials forgot to turn off the feed to the media room (where they can use cell phones and laptops and the internet) and three outlets (incl. CNN) reported on the sealed hearing despite desperate begging to reporters from the defense attorneys to the reports to not report what they heard from the sealed courtroom. (It was not the prosecution begging, most likely, because that would implicate 1st amendment issues.)

So the most important days of the most important (so far) jan 6 trial are going to be less well reported.

Late in the afternoon the Judge did open the media room back up, but before that we have an example of why the constitution provides an absolute right to not testify against yourself, but if you do...

Setup: Prosecutors allege the Proud Boys used as a recruiting tool a video from a Nov 2020 rally in DC of a woman brandishing a knife and surrounded by PBs that the PBs claimed was antifa being knocked over the head with a helmet before crumpling to the ground.

Rehl (the testifying defendant) denied it.

Then the prosecutor asked him if he was ecstatic about the violence in the video. Rehl dodged, weaved, and wandered about the answer, but didn't say yes/no? So the prosecutor asks again. Defense attorneys object each time. Repeat 7 times. (after the 5th time the prosecutor says "I've got all day". Finally after the seventh time:

Rehl: Ecstatic? No. much worse. woman gets hit--it's hard to defend to the public, right?

Prosecutor: you didn't just put the video on Parler, did you?

Rehl: there's a lot of different variations of that video. it went viral.

Prosecutor shows Parler post from Rehl with video captioned "she got what she deserved."

Prosecutor: you sent this to your mother?

When he resists answering, the prosecutor walks him through his text messages to his mom including one with the video attached that read "This [is] one of my Philly guys. ENJOY!!!"

And then because Rehl won't just verify that the video is the same one previously seen by the jury the prosecutor plays it for him.

Then the prosecutor walks him through other postings with captions including phrases like "when some antifa scum tried stabbing some PBs" and "careful what you ask for" and finally one with contact information for recruits. After each posting Rehl's answer again compelled the prosecutor to show the video again and again and again.

After the jury left Rehl's lawyer moved for a mistrial (it's been a while, but there have been a lot of mistrial motions) "Its just not a fair way... I guess they're going to play it until they inflame the jury..."

Prosecutor: " that's not on the govt. When we play video to establish hes sending to his mom, that's on Mr. Rehl.", etc.
Judge Kelly agrees, saying its not grounds for a mistrial.

What was that all about? The prosecution was trying to tear down the PB narrative that they were only interested in "self defense" and didn't use violence as a recruitment. I think they accomplished that.

The cross-exam of defendant Rehl continues tomorrow. Then probably the testimony of defendant Pezzola. (No I don't expect that to go well for him either.)

I sourced this from the live (and not quite live) tweets of reporters Brandi_Buchman and rparloff. Most of their tweets are about the trial. (No direct links, the PBs violate CF profanity rules about every other quoted text, video, or posting.)