1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

In this thread we will discuss the GOP attempted coup and insurrection which is now under investigation by the U.S. House bipartisan committee.   

[Rick Plant]

Donald Trump Jr. must 'definitely' be subpoenaed — this former GOP congresswoman explains why

One of the most prominent Republicans who investigated President Bill Clinton in the 1990's called for the House select committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots to subpoena Donald Trump, Jr.

Former Rep. Barbara Comstock (R-VA) rose to prominence a quarter century ago as the senior counsel on the House Committee on Government Reform. In 2000, she led opposition research into Vice President Al Gore for George W. Bush's successful campaign for president. After working in private practice, she served three terms representing Virginia in Congress.

MSNBC anchor Nicolle Wallace interviewed Comstock to hear her analysis of the investigation into January 6th after the select committee issued four subpoenas to top Trump advisors.

"Barbara, I set this up with sort of a nod to your history as an incredibly competent and tough investigator," Wallace said. "And I want to come back to you on the same question. What is it you want to know about these men individually and in terms of what ties them together in the planning of and the conduct during the insurrection?"

"Well, I think we need to get every, you know, email, every text, every document that's out there because I don't particularly expect them to be very forthcoming," Comstock replied.

Comstock explained why the former president's eldest son needs to be subpoenaed.

"I think people like Trump, Jr. definitely needs to be subpoenaed. Remember, he was in that tent right before Donald Trump went out to speak," she explained.

"He's there with Mark Meadows saying, 'Hey, you know how to fight, you're fighting.' He obviously knows a lot of what went on in that lead up as do other members of the family and certainly members of the family who knew exactly what was going on on January 6th and from the entire time from election night until then," Comstock said.

[Rick Plant]

New subpoenas show House panel 'looking beyond just the attack' to nail Trump for insurrection: analysis



A round of new subpoenas show the House select committee is investigating events that led up to the Jan. 6 insurrection and lawmakers have a pretty clear idea of which Donald Trump loyalists played the biggest role in the attack.

The panel requested records and testimony from former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, former White House strategist Steve Bannon, former Trump deputy chief of staff and director of social media Dan Scavino, and former Pentagon official and Trump loyalist Kashyap Patel -- and the subpoenas show lawmakers are looking beyond the insurrection, reported Rolling Stone.

"Among other things, those requests show the committee is investigating the communications various security agencies had with the White House and with each other," wrote Hunter Walker for the magazine. "It is also examining personnel changes at some of those agencies, including the installation of Patel, a Trump loyalist who was placed at the Pentagon in the days after the election, and the firing of Homeland Security cybersecurity chief Christopher Krebs, who loudly refuted Trump's suggestion there was election fraud at play in his defeat."

The committee also wants to see records related to gathering and sharing intelligence before the attack, as well as security plans for the Capitol and any changes made to the way agencies monitor social media for threats before the "Stop the Steal" rally that preceded the attack.

"Those record requests also indicate the committee is looking beyond just the attack on January 6," Walker wrote. "The committee specifically requested records related to demonstrations against the election that were staged by Trump supporters in D.C. on November 14, 2020, December 12, 2020, and January 5 of this year. It also asked for documents related to attempts that Trump associates (including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and lawyer Sidney Powell) made to allege election fraud, as well documents related to efforts to solicit Justice Department intervention in multiple states."

The FBI's investigation has so far focused on the Trump supporters who stormed into the Capitol, while the congressional probe seems to be focusing on individuals who can describe the former president's actions on that day and what steps they took to prevent an effective response.

"In the statement announcing those subpoenas, the committee indicated it was interested in Patel both for his role in 'discussions among senior Pentagon officials prior to and on January 6th, 2021, regarding 'security at the Capitol' and to a reported effort to place him at the Central Intelligence Agency last December in the aftermath of the election," Walker wrote. "Bannon, a former White House official and on-again-off-again Trump confidant, was cited by the committee for a reported conversation he had with the former president last December 30th, where he pressed Trump 'to focus his efforts on January 6th,' and for allegedly attending 'a gathering at the Willard Hotel on January 5th, 2021, as part of an effort to persuade members of Congress to block the certification of the election the next day.'"

"Meadows, who was Trump's White House chief of staff, was cited by the committee for reportedly communicating 'with officials at the state level and in the Department of Justice as part of an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election or prevent the election's certification' and for being in touch with organizers of pro-Trump rallies in Washington on January 6," Walker added. "The subpoena announcement indicated Scavino, a former caddy at Trump's golf club who became his social media guru on the campaign trail, attracted the committee's interest due to his promotion of the January 6 rallies and because he was reportedly present 'during a discussion of how to convince Members of Congress not to certify the election for Joe Biden' with Trump the day before the Capitol attack."

https://www.rawstory.com/jan-6-investigation-2655095087/

[Rick Plant]

When did Kevin McCarthy call Trump on Jan. 6 ? Here's why it matters

On Friday, writing for The Washington Post, Aaron Blake highlighted the massive scope of the House January 6 committee's investigation suggested by the subpoenas of Trump allies and the possibility the White House could turn over additional records — and, if they do, the most important questions the committee could answer.

"Should the Biden White House do this — which hasn't been fully decided and would be subject to a court challenge — it would be significant," wrote Blake. "However little regard Biden's White House might have for Trump's, even White Houses of opposing parties generally avoid this kind of thing. No White House wants to potentially undermine its claims to executive privilege or to set a precedent that its inner workings could one day be disclosed by its successors."

But one of the most significant questions the move could answer, wrote Blake is the timeline of when House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had his infamous phone call with Trump — and what it could reveal.

"If the call to McCarthy came earlier, it would suggest Trump's response was even more delayed. If it came later, it would suggest Trump's callousness about the scenes lasted well into the situation," said Blake. "Even if we might not know the full content of these calls, in other words, the timing of them would fill out the picture of Trump's slow response and possibly how much he liked what he was seeing, even as the situation progressively spiraled out of control.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/09/24/white-house-might-give-up-goods-what-trump-did-jan-6-what-would-that-mean/

[Rick Plant]

Legal expert shreds Trump's executive privilege claims: 'You can't tell your lawyer you're going to commit a crime'




As a House select committee investigates the Capitol insurrection, former president Donald Trump's attorneys are widely expected to argue in court that "executive privilege" prevents administration officials from testifying and documents from being turned over.

However, one former high-ranking federal prosecutor said Friday he believes judges will ultimately reject many of Trump's "executive privilege" claims.

Elliot Williams, a CNN legal analyst who served as deputy assistant attorney general in the Department of Justice, explained that presidents should enjoy executive privilege, so they can have candid conversations with advisers without being sued or subpoenaed every time.

However, Williams said Trump faces two major obstacles when it comes to arguing executive privilege in response to subpoenas from the House select committee investigating the insurrection.

"The problem here for president Trump is that, No. 1, a lot of these communications were in the capacity of him as candidate Trump, not president Trump, and those just aren't going to be protected communications," Williams said. "And No. 2, it can't be a shield for wrongdoing. You can't tell your lawyer you're going to commit a crime, and then say that those are privileged communications. It's the same thing here. He can't have had conversations that teed up wrongdoing, and then claim that he's hiding behind a privilege. So he can make the argument — it's going to be really tricky — because it's hard legally to separate the man from the candidate from the president, but that's going to happen in the courts over the next couple of weeks."

Watch below:

[Rick Plant]

Trump supporters were breaching the Capitol as Homeland Security claimed 'no major incidents of illegal activity'





A Homeland Security whistleblower came forward Sunday to reveal that under President Donald Trump's administration, he and other DHS officials were ordered to downplay possible threats on the United States from Russia and white supremacists and to play up incidents at the border.

The misinformation stretched even further, according to Politico reporter Betsy Woodruff Swan, who revealed Tuesday that DHS sent out reports saying everything was fine during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"There are no major incidents of illegal activity at this time," read an internal Army email sent to senior leaders at 1:40 p.m. on Jan. 6. It was referring to an update they had received moments before from DHS's National Operations Center (NOC).

The email was obtained from a public records request by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

"These emails raise serious questions about the response to the threat of January 6th," Swan cited spokesperson Jordan Libowitz, from CREW.

The documents show that the first report from DHS on Jan. 6 at 1:30 p.m. EST didn't even have to do with the mass of Trump supporters marching with weapons to the Capitol. That communication was about the National Guard troops deployed in Wisconsin "in anticipation of prosecutorial decision" in the case of the police officer who shot Jacob Blake in the back seven times. They said that there was 851 National Guard personnel ready on hand. They weren't needed there.

The second item on the report says: "In the last 2 hrs - There are no major incidents of illegal activity at this time."

They also mentioned what they characterized as "non-issues," such as a suspicious package at a Metro station near the Capitol. Threats by the Proud Boys "to shut down the water system in the downtown area," weren't credible. It then mentioned, "Protestors near 16th & Pennsylvania Ave reportedly with baseball bats; exaggerated report."

It then commented on two buildings being evacuated because of a bomb threat against the Capitol Hill Club. That was the pipebomb found in front of the Republican Party headquarters and the one found at the Democratic National Committee. The FBI believes that the bombs were placed to explode and distract police from the U.S. Capitol so insurrectionists could get into the building without any barriers.

See the documents and read the full story from Betsy Woodruff Swan here.

https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/28/dhs-pentagon-jan-6-capitol-riot-514527

[Richard Smith]

There are only 824 days until 2024! 

[Rick Plant]

There are only 824 days until 2024!

Yes, and another GOP defeat like in 2018 and 2020!