1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Richard Smith]

And still no answers on the Nashville manifesto.  Hunter's laptop.  The cocaine found in the WH.  See any trend?

[Rick Plant]

TUESDAY:  DOJ will seek 33-months prison in Jan 6 case of Cale Clayton of Missouri.  They argue Clayton grabbed an officers police shield.. & walked the police line "flaunting" a stolen police baton.. & resisted by shoving an officer in the head and grabbing officer's face mask".

[Rick Plant]

Sentencing set for July 28 in Capitol riot case of Thomas Sibick, who was accused of stealing badge and radio from beaten DC police officer on Jan 6.  Feds say Sibick later *buried* the badge in his yard.

[Richard Smith]

And still no sign of the Nashville shooter's manifesto, Hunter's laptop, the cocaine person at the WH.  So many mysteries when it comes to investigating leftists.  It takes years to get to truth.  Sometimes it never happens.  When Trump is under investigation, the leaks come fast and furious.  They even place the "evidence" on the floor and take pictures which they release to the press.  The press is often notified in advance to film the raid.  But there is no "double standard" of justice.  Just ask Merrick Garland.  He says so.  It must be true despite the facts.

[Rick Plant]

Court unseals Jan 6 case against Zach Boulton of Georgia. 

Feds allege Boulton made several relevant posts on TIK-TOK, including one that said "We’re taking this place over” .. as he showed video of DC.



Here's the charging document:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.256446/gov.uscourts.dcd.256446.1.1.pdf

[Rick Plant]

Plea hearing next week in Capitol riot case of Anthony Sargent of Florida. Charging documents allege Sargent is linked to Proud Boys and to the damage of a US Capitol entrance on Jan 6.




Video Highlighting How Proud Boys Coordinated For Capitol Riot

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Grand jury proceedings are secret by definition. That means we don’t learn about anything that’s going on in real time unless a prosecutor or target strategically gives something to the media, or the media spots a witness going in or out of the courthouse. The media, with its stakeouts, is actually pretty darn good at spotting witnesses – but they don’t always catch everyone.

That’s why it’s remarkable that Jack Smith’s January 6th grand jury met for about eight hours today, according to NBC News, but not a single known witness was spotted entering or exiting the courthouse. This only leaves two possibilities.

The first would be that the grand jury spent all day hearing from a highly sensitive witness who was snuck into the building with great care by prosecutors so that no one would spot or identify the person. This does sometimes happen. The second possibility would be that no one actually testified today – which would mean that prosecutors instead spent the day asking the grand jury to indict specific people.

If it’s the latter, we’ll find out soon enough. If any indictments have come down – or are set to come down the next time the grand jury meets – the news will break one way or the other, either from prosecutors or targets. So as always it’s a waiting game.

But it is highly notable that after so many signs over the past few weeks have pointed to Jack Smith being ready or nearly ready to start bringing criminal indictments in his January 6th probe, today’s reporting suggests that his grand jury may have indeed begun the process of bringing indictments. Buckle up.

Here's more reporting from NBC.


Dozens of witnesses have testified as the Jan. 6-focused grand jury probes Trump

WASHINGTON — Federal grand jurors probing Donald Trump’s attempts to stop the transfer of presidential power after his 2020 election loss have heard testimony from dozens of witnesses in a wide-ranging investigation that has examined the former president’s conduct spanning the time from before Election Day through the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, an NBC News analysis found.

Special counsel Jack Smith, appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland in November to oversee the investigations into Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to stay in power, has led a sprawling investigation in the almost eight months since.

While a grand jury in Miami indicted Trump on 37 counts on seven federal charges in early June in connection with the documents investigation and alleged efforts to obstruct it, a federal grand jury in Washington has continued to meet on the third floor of the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in the 2020 election inquiry.

Smith was charged with investigating any violations of the law in connection with efforts to “interfere with the lawful transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or the certification of the Electoral College vote” on Jan. 6, “as well as any matters that arose or might arise directly from this investigation.”

Bringing charges against Trump in connection with his speech at the Ellipse before the Capitol attack on Jan. 6 was always going to pose a challenge. Trump’s words are protected by the First Amendment, and his rhetoric — telling the people in the crowd they were “not going to have a country anymore” if they didn’t “fight like hell” — could fit within the realm of heated political rhetoric. Trump also explicitly told the crowd to march “peacefully,” which would make charges even more difficult.

Instead, Smith’s team has investigated areas where there might be a clearer instance of potentially illegal conduct. The witnesses called indicate that the special counsel probe has focused particularly on the “fake electors“ scheme in which false slates of electors from states Trump lost would assert that he won. In total, 84 fake electors in seven swing states signed documents falsely declaring Trump the winner.

Reporters and producers regularly camp out in the courthouse lobby, watching the staircase and the elevators, trying to spot witnesses entering the grand jury area. Over the course of several months, the Washington residents sitting on the grand jury have heard testimony from witnesses ranging from little-known campaign aides to Secret Service agents to the former vice president of the United States.

Mike Pence, the highest profile witness to appear before the grand jury, testified in late April after a court order to comply with a subpoena, NBC News reported, just over a month before he announced he was challenging Trump for president in 2024. Two of Pence’s aides who were with him at the Capitol on Jan. 6 also testified before a grand jury last summer, before Smith’s appointment. Pence’s former chief of staff Marc Short appeared in July 2022, according to a source familiar with his testimony, and several news outlets reported that Greg Jacob, Pence’s counsel, testified as well; he declined to comment.

Last month, NBC News reported that two of the “fake electors” appeared before the Washington grand jury; their testimony came the same day that Trump made his first court appearance in Miami.

Gary Michael Brown, the former deputy director of Election Day operations for the Trump campaign, also testified before the federal grand jury on June 22 and declined to comment to NBC News outside the courthouse. The Jan. 6 committee said last year it had found evidence that Brown was “aware of, and participated in, efforts to promote unsupported allegations of fraud in the November 2020 Presidential election and encourage state legislators to alter the outcome of the November 2020 election by, among other things, appointing alternate slates of electors to send competing electoral votes to the United States Congress.” The committee obtained a text message Brown sent to other Trump campaign officials after he delivered the fake votes to Congress the day before the Jan. 6 attack, which included a selfie of him in front of the Capitol.

The investigation began in earnest last year, around the time federal law enforcement officials with the Justice Department’s Inspector General’s Office searched the home of Jeffrey Clark, a former DOJ official whom Trump considered making the acting attorney general despite his lack of any experience in criminal law. Court documents revealed that agents were at Clark’s home investigating potential charges of making false statements, criminal conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

Federal agents also seized phones from four key promoters of Trump’s stolen election claims: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, who had his phone seized in a Hardee’s drive-thru; John Eastman, the Trump-aligned lawyer who pushed the discredited theory that Pence had the power to refuse to certify the election; Boris Epshteyn, a longtime Trump adviser who was part of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s legal efforts to overturn the election results; and Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., who helped connect the White House with Clark.

In September 2022, before Smith took over the investigation, the Justice Department issued about 40 subpoenas, including to former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, who also worked with Giuliani’s legal team, and Epshteyn, who recently met with the special counsel for two days, ABC News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. Epshteyn did not respond to a request for comment on his reported appearance.

After Smith took over in November, his team subpoenaed officials in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona and Pennsylvania, asking them for communications with or involving Trump, his campaign and 19 Trump associates, including Eastman, Giuliani, Justin Clark, Sidney Powell and Jenna Ellis.

Giuliani spoke with members of Smith’s special counsel team in recent weeks, as CNN first reported. Robert Costello, Giuliani’s attorney, did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment, but a spokesman, Ted Goodman, confirmed that Giuliani and Costello had met with Smith’s team on an “entirely voluntary” basis.

Other individuals who have testified before the federal grand jury, received subpoenas, or spoken to investigators about Jan. 6 and efforts to stop the peaceful transfer of power include:

Former White House lawyers Patrick Philbin and Pat Cipollone, who were scheduled to testify in September and were spotted at the courthouse in December. Both men testified before the Jan. 6 committee, saying they had opposed Eastman’s plan to have Pence refuse to certify the election because it was not legal.

Former Trump White House officials Stephen Miller and Dan Scavino, who was seen leaving the courthouse on May 2.

Former Department of Homeland Security official Ken Cuccinelli, who told NBC News he had testified, and former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, according to an ABC News article that cited sources familiar with the matter. A Ratcliffe spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment seeking to confirm Ratcliffe’s appearance before the grand jury.

"Stop the Steal” leader Ali Alexander, whose group organized the rally that preceded the Capitol attack on Jan. 6. Alexander confirmed on social media last June that he’d testified before a federal grand jury.

Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, according to CNN. Gingrich, who suggested in an email cited by the Jan. 6 committee that Trump could encourage Republican-led legislatures to refuse to send electors to certify his loss, did not respond to NBC News’ request for comment.

Steve Bannon, who was found guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress last year and sentenced to four months in federal prison, received a grand jury subpoena for testimony and documents in late May.

About half a dozen Secret Service agents, who also testified before the federal grand jury, according to two sources familiar with their testimony.

Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican who testified before the Jan. 6 committee about his refusal to back the fake electors scheme, has spoken with federal prosecutors. The special counsel also subpoenaed the Arizona secretary of state’s office.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump asked to just “find 11,780 votes.” Raffensperger spoke with investigators from Smith’s office on June 28.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/dozens-witnesses-testified-jan-6-focused-grand-jury-probes-trump-rcna91171

[Rick Plant]

Special Counsel Jack Smith zeroes in on 'fake electors' scheme in Jan. 6 investigation
https://www.msnbc.com/american-voices/watch/special-counsel-jack-smith-zeroes-in-on-fake-electors-scheme-in-jan-6-investigation-187286597552


The DOJ Is Probing Trump’s Push to Overturn the Election. Here’s What We Know

Special Counsel Jack Smith has already indicted Donald Trump, and his second investigation into the former president is heating up

THE DEPARTMENT OF Justice has already indicted former President Donald Trump on a myriad of charges related to his handling of classified documents after leaving the White House, but Special Counsel Jack Smith’s work is far from over.

Among the torrent of headlines, Truth Social rants, and court rulings pertaining to the Mar-a-Lago investigation, it’s easy to forget that Smith was also tasked with overseeing a probe into the coordinated effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The Jan. 6 committee determined last year that Trump was at the center of that effort, and asked the Justice Department to charge him criminally.

It’s been more than two years since the Jan 6. attack on the Capitol that capped the effort to overturn the election, and while there’s been congressional investigations, countless cases against rioters, and even a presidential impeachment, Smith’s investigation is the first to rigorously examine whether or not criminal conduct took place at the highest levels of government. So here’s what’s going on:

What is the Justice Department investigating?

In the early days of the Biden administration, Attorney General Merrick Garland — then a nominee for his current position — vowed that the DOJ would conduct a thorough investigation into the events precipitating the riot on Jan. 6, as well as into who was ultimately responsible for efforts to interfere in the 2020 election.

It took time for those efforts to come to full fruition. The Washington Post reported last month on how it took more than a year before federal prosecutors agreed to formally pursue an investigation into the Trump administration’s role in the chaos following the 2020 election.

Despite the delay, under Garland the department launched several probes into potential election interference that fell short of directly involving the former president. Last November, the department consolidated their work into a single investigation overseen by independent Special Counsel Jack Smith, and no one was off limits.

Garland tasked Smith with establishing if “any person or entity unlawfully interfered with the transfer of power following the 2020 presidential election or with the certification of electoral college vote held on or about Jan. 6 [2021].” Smith quickly empaneled a grand jury to oversee evidence related to the probe.

Smith’s appointment came less than a week after Trump announced his candidacy for the presidency in 2024. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, Trump had made clear to his allies and advisers that his bid for re-election is at least partially an attempt to escape accountability for his potentially illegal conduct in and out of office.

What specifically is Special Counsel Jack Smith focusing on in the Jan. 6 investigation?

Smith’s investigation revolves around Trump and his allies’ effort to meddle with the certification of Electoral College votes that took place on Jan. 6, primarily through a scheme of fake electors that would swing the certification in Trump’s favor. 

Smith has subpoenaed vast troves of materials from election officials in battleground states like Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Michigan, and Wisconsin — some of whom allege the former president and his cronies attempted to pressure them into manipulating election results. Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom Trump personally attempted to bully into “finding” the votes to give him the state, was among the first witnesses called to testify.

Trump’s behind-the-scenes words and actions in the aftermath of his election loss are also of interest to the department. Smith has issued subpoenas to a myriad of the former president’s advisers and staff, including former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, in an attempt to gain deeper insight into the former president’s motivations, and his role in the escalating violence on Jan. 6.

CNN reported on Friday that Smith has been particularly interested in a meeting that took place in the Oval Office six weeks after Election Day. The meeting reportedly included Cipollone, Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Sidey Powell, as well as former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn. Attendees reportedly discussed several desperate ploys to keep Trump in power, including seizing voting machines and invoking martial law.

The investigation also probed Trump’s firing of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Christopher Krebs, who publicly resisted the former president’s claims that the election had been fraudulent.

Outside of Trump’s desperation to cling to power, Smith is eying financial gain as a potential motivator of Trump’s election lies. In April, The Washington Post reported that the probe had expanded to include allegations that Trump knowingly used false claims of election fraud to scam potential donors.

Who has the Justice Department interviewed for the Jan. 6 investigation?

So many people. From former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to Steve Bannon, to former Vice President Mike Pence, Smith’s investigation is casting a wide net over Trumpworld.

The attorneys who worked with the former president to level legal challenges against Biden’s presidential victory have faced heavy scrutiny from the DOJ. According to The Wall Street Journal, Smith has requested testimony from Rudy Giuliani, election conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell, and attorney Jenna Ellis — all members of Trump’s post-election legal team.

Giuliani reportedly gave more than eight hours of testimony to investigators, dishing on everything from Powell’s efforts to convince Trump to have the government seize voting machines, to pro-Trump attorney John Eastman’s efforts to orchestrate the fake electors scheme.

Eastman’s efforts were foiled by another (reluctant) witness for the special counsel: Mike Pence. The former vice president, who refused to illegally overthrow the election on behalf of his boss on Jan. 6, initially resisted Smith’s subpoena. It took a judge’s ruling to compel Pence to testify, although he was granted an exemption from directly discussing the events of Jan. 6, before he agreed to sit with prosecutors.

Aside from the major players, Smith is also looking to secure the cooperation of those who directly carried out the schemes to meddle with the election outcome. Last month, CNN reported that at least two fake electors had been granted immunity deals in exchange for testimony.

How has Trump responded to the Jan. 6 investigation?

Trump has responded with the unbridled public ire we’ve come to expect from the former president, and some not-so-covert digging to try and establish how screwed he might be.

Trump has publicly attacked Smith on Truth Social and at his public campaign events. Following his indictment and indictment in Smith’s Mar-a-Lago probe, Trump lost it on social media, calling the special counsel a “deranged ‘psycho’ that shouldn’t be involved in any case having to do with ‘Justice,’ other than to look at Biden as a criminal, which he is!”

Behind the scenes, the former president has been attempting to ascertain who in his orbit had flipped on him. As previously reported by Rolling Stone, Trump has sent his attorneys on a fact-finding mission to collect information on what exactly Mark Meadows has been telling investigators. Privately, his team now uses a rat emoji as shorthand for Meadows.

Will Trump be indicted again?

Trump’s stack of indictments could very well increase this summer, but someone else may beat Smith and the Justice Department to the punch. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is running a separate investigation into election meddling in Georgia, is preparing to level her own indictments in August — and could very likely include the former president. In April, Willis sent a letter to local law enforcement advising that her summer indictment could “provoke a significant public reaction,” that would likely require “heightened security.”

There are not yet indicators that charges in relation to Smith’s election meddling investigation are imminent, but the special counsel has already proven he won’t pull his punches. Smith last month leveled 37 criminal counts against the former president related to his handling of classified documents.

The Mar-a-Lago documents case led to very clear signs that charges were incoming. Trump’s lawyers rushed to Washington, D.C., for last-minute negotiations, and Trump was served a letter notifying him that he was the subject of a criminal probe. He also, of course, posted about it on social media. Similar signals could predate an indictment in the election meddling probe.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/jan-6-investigation-trump-election-meddling-probe-explained-1234784856/