Assault on the Capitol (DC)

[bill_g]

Just a side note about these sentences DOJ is seeking and how they compare to other sentences DOJ has recently sought.

I understand his point but it's apples and oranges to me. Different times, different administrations, different priorities, and they weren't trying hundreds of related cases at the same time.

If they gave all the insurrectionists 20 years (or even 10, or 5) where would they put them all? And aren't most of the charges misdemeanors anyway?

Dry Tortuga, just dump 'em out there and let 'em fill out the place like "Escape from New York" No walls, no rules, no escape.

I was thinking more along the lines of the Bering.

[noblepa]

And aren't most of the charges misdemeanors anyway?

And that's the most aggravating thing about the whole deal. January 6 was nothing less than an attempted coup d'etat. IMHO, even the lowest level offenders should spend at least a year in jail.

[AndyinPA]

I have never seen how taking part in that in any way, particularly if you got inside, could be a misdemeanor.

[Kendra]

Court has unsealed yet another US Capitol breach case involving a defendant from Chicago

Justice Dept court filing says phone data & a neighbor linked Kimberly DiFrancesco to Capitiol on Jan 6

[raison de arizona]

Got turned on to a new podcast, Will Be Wild. And it is insane. I've only listened to the first episode so far, but I am beside myself. WTF, our system is broke yo! Anyway, highly recommend the podcast, and here is a quick interview with the journalists that host it.

[Kendra]

Former Proud Boy Joshua Pruitt now plans to take a plea tomorrow, per court docket.

New Jan. 6 case unsealed against Trudy Castle and Kimberly DiFrancesco:

[realist]

Sorry, not sorry. I live a mile down the road from the real Picket's Charge and it reminds me what happens when you try to have some "legitimate political discourse".

Wish the princess and I would have known that. We lived 45 minutes away for years and went there many times over that period. Woulda been nice to meet another Fogbower.

[Kendra]

Seems very touristy.

[Volkonski]

[much ado]

From the NYT article...

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/03/us/p ... jan-6.html

Navarro Indicted as Justice Dept. Opts Not to Charge Meadows and Scavino

The House had recommended contempt charges against all three Trump White House aides over their stonewalling of its Jan. 6 inquiry.

A federal grand jury on Friday indicted Peter Navarro, a White House adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, for failing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Capitol attack, even as the Justice Department declined to charge Mark Meadows and Dan Scavino Jr., two other top officials who have also refused to cooperate.

The indictment against Mr. Navarro, handed up in Federal District Court in Washington, marked the first time that an official who served in Mr. Trump’s White House during the events of Jan. 6, 2021, has been charged in connection with the investigation into the attack.

Prosecutors charged Mr. Navarro, 72, with what amounted to a misdemeanor process crime for having failed to appear for a deposition or provide documents to congressional investigators in response to a subpoena issued by the House committee on Feb. 9. The indictment includes two counts of criminal contempt of Congress that each carry a maximum sentence of a year in prison, as well as a fine of up to $100,000.

The Justice Department has declined to take similar steps against Mr. Meadows, Mr. Trump’s final chief of staff, and Mr. Scavino, the deputy chief of staff, according to people familiar with prosecutors’ decision and a letter reviewed by The New York Times informing the top House counsel of it.

“Based on the individual facts and circumstances of their alleged contempt, my office will not be initiating prosecutions for criminal contempt as requested in the referral against Messrs. Meadows and Scavino,” Matthew M. Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, wrote to Douglas N. Letter, the general counsel of the House, on Friday. “My office’s review of each of the contempt referrals arising from the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation is complete.”

Both Mr. Meadows and Mr. Scavino — who were deeply involved in the effort to overturn the 2020 election — engaged in weeks of negotiations with the committee’s lawyers, and Mr. Meadows turned over more than 9,000 documents to the panel, before the House voted to charge them with contempt.

By contrast, Mr. Navarro and his ally Stephen K. Bannon, who has also been charged with contempt, fought the committee’s subpoenas from Day 1 and never entered into negotiations.

Asked for comment, Mr. Meadows’s lawyer, George J. Terwilliger III, said, “The result speaks for itself.”

A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A lawyer for Mr. Scavino declined to comment.

[snip...]

Could it be that DoJ is not prosecuting because Meadows is cooperating? Just asking...

[Ben-Prime]

Could it be that DoJ is not prosecuting because Meadows is cooperating? Just asking...

To confirm: your supposition is that Meadows (and maybe Scavino) are refusing to participate with the process before Congress, but are cooperating privately (and with more discretion, let's be fair) with DoJ?

[Suranis]

I really doubt that's the case with Scavino. he has been a serious Trump head for years. A large chunk of the more coherent Trump posts are written by Scavino. Trump has that guy mesmerized.

Its possible that he has seen through it but I dint think he would be posting out the blather he has if he has seen the light, as it were. That said Self preservation is a hella drug.

[Kendra]

Justice Dept files motion to "preclude claim of self-defense" in Jan 6 case of Trump appointee Federico Klein:

"Available facts..show the defendant was the initial aggressor, attacking a police line that had only been established because the police had been forced to fall back"

[raison de arizona]

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/stat ... 8096377856

Justice Dept files motion to "preclude claim of self-defense" in Jan 6 case of Trump appointee Federico Klein:

"Available facts..show the defendant was the initial aggressor, attacking a police line that had only been established because the police had been forced to fall back"

WTF even? So if an officer tries to physically arrest you, you are justified in physically attacking him because it is self defense since the officer was the initial aggressor? Is that how to read this? That's not how any of this works.

[Kendra]

IIRC, this is the Trump campaign aide that got a cushy appointment to the State Department. Only the best for tfg

[much ado]

Could it be that DoJ is not prosecuting because Meadows is cooperating? Just asking...

To confirm: your supposition is that Meadows (and maybe Scavino) are refusing to participate with the process before Congress, but are cooperating privately (and with more discretion, let's be fair) with DoJ?

Well, I guess so. I was just trying to make sense of why DoJ would decline to prosecute Meadows. Has DoJ given an explicit reason for not prosecuting?

[bob]

Has DoJ given an explicit reason for not prosecuting?

Reading between the lines, it appears a "good faith" pushback on the subpoenas is being viewed as a possible defense to contempt of Congress, because it might create reasonable doubt as to whether the contempt was "intentional" (as the term is used legally).

In other words, if you have an honest and reasonable belief Congress is overreaching, and you take measures to protect your position while not flouting Congress' authority, that might be viewed by a jury as a viable defense. Which in turn might call into play a prosecutor's duty to seek justice, and not necessarily win.

Whereas a one-fingered response to Congress is just being contemptuous.

This may be a bigger-picture policy position: If, in 2023, [a Republican] Congress subpoenas people in the Biden administration, this provides a roadmap for them on how to avoid criminal prosecution. In 2023; there may be a different DOJ in 2025.

[much ado]

I see. Thanks, bob.

[Phoenix520]

Everything incriminating in the inner circle is long ago shredded. I just hope copies exist outside of the circle.

I have great hope but little faith that tfg will ever be held to account.

[Kendra]

Judge rules Justice Dept can admit evidence at trial in high-level Capitol riot case of Kyle Fitzimons:

Records of 4 calls made to two Congressional offices in Dec 2020 in which he referenced election fraud and indicated his belief that President Biden was not lawfully elected"

[Kendra]

In court filing today, Justice Dept says Jan 6 defendant Rachel Powell made social media post in 2020 about "surveillance of a public official’s home & questioned how to confirm, without entering a courthouse to seek records, that she had the official’s correct address"

Prosecutors add:

"In 2021, (Powell) shared custody of six minor children with her ex-husband. When the defendant left for Washington, D.C. to attend the events of January 6, 2021, she left her minor children at home, unattended"

Moar at the link.

[Kendra]

Sentencing at 2pm in Jan 6 case of medical clinic staffer Jody Tagaris of Florida. US Justice Dept will seek 30 days in jail for Tagaris. They've shown judge some photos of Tagaris inside a private Senate meeting room.. seated at conference table

[Kendra]

If you want to get a taste of what jurors in Jan. 6 cases have seen ahead of the House committee hearings on Thursday, here’s a 22-minute video compilation of CCTV footage from the U.S. Capitol:

Do watch the whole thing.

[raison de arizona]

In court filing today, Justice Dept says Jan 6 defendant Rachel Powell made social media post in 2020 about "surveillance of a public official’s home & questioned how to confirm, without entering a courthouse to seek records, that she had the official’s correct address"

Prosecutors add:

"In 2021, (Powell) shared custody of six minor children with her ex-husband. When the defendant left for Washington, D.C. to attend the events of January 6, 2021, she left her minor children at home, unattended"

Prosecutors say in Oct 2020 Powell posted:

"I agree with the possibility of civil war happening. I can see that too. Unfortunately, the only way this is probably capable of being fixed is bloodshed because I’m not so sure our government can be fixed the political way anymore.."

Powell is seeking looser pretrial release conditions.

Justice Dept is asking court NOT to loosen the conditions.

Powell has pleaded NOT GUILTY. Next court hearing is set for July

[bob]

Moseley, who now has plenty of free time, is making his case in the Court of Twitter Replies:

...and...

..etc.