1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

New video of Capitol riot shown at insurrection hearing
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/07/27/insurrection-hearing-new-riot-footage-vpx.cnn

[Rick Plant]

Sentencing today

Justice Dept to seek 4-months prison in Jan 6 case of Dovid Schwartzberg, arguing he "proceeded to wave and
encourage others into the besieged US Capitol" and entered office of Sen Jeff Merkley (D-OR)... and failed to comply with terms of pretrial release.

[Rick Plant]

Justice Dept asks court to reject request by Jan 6 defendant Joseph Hutchinson to loosen release conditions (He's seeking to take job as pilot escort driver) 

Hutchinson is charged with assault and resisting police.

Feds note: His co-defendant, Jonathan Pollock, is *still* a fugitive.

[Rick Plant]

Watch: Mike Flynn freaks out on reporter who asks if he contacted his active general brother on Jan. 6



Former Trump national security adviser Michael Flynn recently walked out of an interview with Associated Press reporter Michelle Smith after she asked him if he was communicating with his brother, United States Army Gen. Charles Flynn, during the events leading up to the January 6 attack on the United States Capitol.

In a clip posted by PBS's Frontline, Flynn can be seen angrily attacking the Associated Press, which he describes as a "horrendous organization" that he then falsely claimed published a "false story" about him that "caused the Dow Jones to drop."

Things got even testier after Smith asked him about talking with his brother on January 6, 2021.

"Because of this interview, I will never talk to AP again," he fumed. "I'm so sick of this because it's so fake and it's so targeted, and it's all about, 'We're going to get this guy!'"

At this point, Flynn got up and walked out of the interview.

"I'll never speak to AP again because of this interview!" he emphasized as he left.

The clip released by PBS is part of a PBS documentary called "Mike Flynn's Holy War" that is scheduled to air on October 18, 2022.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Judge nixes Oath Keepers leader's bid to delay Jan. 6 trial

The high-profile seditious conspiracy trial for the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group will begin later his month after a judge rejected a last-minute bid by Stewart Rhodes to replace his lawyers and delay his Capitol riot case



The high-profile seditious conspiracy trial for the leader of the far-right Oath Keepers extremist group will begin this month after a judge on Wednesday rejected a last-minute bid by Stewart Rhodes to replace his lawyers and delay his Capitol riot case.

Rhodes said in court papers this week there had been a “breakdown” in communication between him and his two lawyers, who he claimed weren't defending him forcefully enough. Rhodes' new lawyer argued that the Oath Keepers founder has not been given enough time to adequately prepare for trial and urged the judge to delay his trial at least 90 days.

But the obviously irritated judge called the claim that Rhodes is being denied a fair trial “simply false.”

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta said Rhodes' suggestion that his lawyers are not providing effective counsel appeared to be “complete and utter nonsense” and questioned why concerns about his lawyers were surfacing for the first time just weeks before trial.

“The notion that you are going to create the kind of havoc that you will — and havoc is the only appropriate word I can think of — by moving Mr. Rhodes' trial, not going to happen,” Mehta told Edward Tarpley, whom Rhodes wanted as his new lawyer.

Mehta said Tarpley is free to join Rhodes' two other lawyers — James Lee Bright and Phillip Linder — but Mehta was not going to remove them from the case.

Tarpley told The Associated Press after the hearing that he's disappointed but respects the court's decision and remains willing to help Rhodes' defense team at trial.

“He never went into the Capitol ... he never told anybody to go into the Capitol,” Tarpley said. There’s a lot of things in his favor. And, you know, I just think that he’s been unfairly accused and wrongly prosecuted in this case."

The case against Rhodes and four co-defendants starting Sept. 27 in federal court will be the most serious case to go to trial so far in the riot of Jan. 6, 2021, that delayed the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 president victory over Donald Trump.

It will also be a major test for the Department of Justice, which has brought rarely used and difficult-to-prove charges of seditious conspiracy against Oath Keepers members and those of another far-right extremist group, the Proud Boys.

Authorities say Rhodes was the ringleader of the Oath Keepers' plot to violently stop the transfer of power. In the run-up to Jan. 6, authorities say the Oath Keepers recruited members, purchased weapons and set up a “quick reaction force” with guns on standby outside the capital with the goal of keeping President Donald Trump in office.

On Jan. 6, prosecutors say the Oath Keepers formed two teams, or “stacks,” that entered the Capitol. Rhodes is not accused of going inside the building, but was seen gathered outside the Capitol with several members after they did, authorities say.

Rhodes has said there was no plan to storm the Capitol and that the members who went inside the building went rogue. His lawyers have argued he believed Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act and call upon the Oath Keepers to support his bid to stay in power. When Trump did not do that, Rhodes took no action, his lawyers have said.

Three members of the Oath Keepers have already pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy, are cooperating with investigators and could testify against Rhodes at trial.

Rhodes claimed that his lawyers, Bright and Linder, were not answering his calls or visiting him enough and failed to file legal papers they promised to. The defense also argued its case would be hurt by the arrest this month of the the Oath Keepers' general counsel — Kellye SoRelle — whom the defense was expecting to call to the stand.

Bright denied not answering calls from Rhodes or failing to discuss the defense strategy with him. He called some of the new legal papers Rhodes wants to file “frivolous.”

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/judge-nixes-oath-keepers-leaders-bid-delay-jan-89485508

[Rick Plant]

Capitol rioter with middle-finger tattoo takes felony plea deal calling for 51 to 63 months in prison



A Michigan man pleaded guilty today to assaulting law enforcement officials and causing injuries that sent at least one to the hospital during the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Justin Jersey, 32, of Flint, pleaded guilty in the District of Columbia to a felony count of “assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers, inflicting bodily injury, according to the plea agreement with the Department of Justice (DOJ). The charges against Jersey carry up 20 years imprisonment, but an estimated federal guidelines range of 51-to-63 months is referenced in the plea deal.

Jersey was part of the mob that clashed with police officers late in the afternoon of January 6 at the Archway leading into the Capitol Building from the Lower West Terrace. Jersey was “carrying a large, gnarled stick…sprang at the line of officers charged at one…grabbing his face, and knocking him to the ground,” the FBI reported.

“As a result of the attack, the officer sustained serious physical injuries, including a laceration to his head, and bruising and abrasions to his body. Jersey, meanwhile, was able to grab another baton and used it to strike other officers in the Archway.”

Jersey was identified initially with the help of a distinctively tattooed obscenity on his middle finger which was visible as he swung at officers, as reported last December at Raw Story.

According to that report, Jersey “was shown attacking officers while wearing a University of Michigan sweatshirt in video circulated by the FBI over the summer. At the time, he was listed as No. 106 on the FBI’s Capitol wanted page.

"Jersey was friends with another Capitol riot defendant, Trevor Brown, and Jersey’s girlfriend publicly tagged the two men in a post about Jan. 6 on Facebook," the Huffington Post's Ryan Reilly reports. "Online sleuths found an Instagram image of Jersey that showed what appeared to be a 'F*** YOU' tattoo on his left middle finger — which can also be spotted in images of him swinging a stick at officers — erasing any doubt about the identification."

Reilly added on Twitter, "Tattoos are the unsung heroes of the Jan. 6 probe, probably followed closely by freckles and moles."

https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-rioter-with-middle-finger-tattoo-takes-felony-plea-deal-calling-for-51-to-63-months-in-prison/

[Rick Plant]

Trump aide targeted by FBI in election coup investigation: report



On Wednesday, The New York Times reported that the FBI sought to interview a personal aide to former President Donald Trump as part of their investigation into events leading up to the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

"This week, F.B.I. agents in Florida tried to interview William S. Russell, a 31-year-old aide to Mr. Trump who served as a special assistant and the deputy director of advance in the White House and continued to work for Mr. Trump as a personal aide after he left office, one of a small group of officials who did so," reported Adam Goldman and Maggie Haberman. "It was not immediately clear what questions the F.B.I. wanted to ask Mr. Russell; people familiar with the Justice Department’s inquiry said he has not yet been interviewed. But a person with knowledge of the F.B.I.’s interest said that it related to the grand jury investigation into events that led to the Capitol attack by Mr. Trump’s supporters."

"That investigation is said to have focused extensively on the attempts by some of Mr. Trump’s advisers and lawyers to create slates of fake electors from swing states," said the report. "Mr. Trump and his allies wanted Vice President Mike Pence to block or delay certification of the Electoral College results during a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 to allow consideration of Trump electors whose votes could have changed the outcome."

According to the report, Russell's attorney did not offer comment on the matter.

"It was not immediately clear which of Mr. Trump’s other aides the Justice Department may be interested in interviewing. Last week, the former White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, and his former deputy, Patrick Philbin, testified before the grand jury investigating the fake elector scheme and related issues," the report continued. "Both Mr. Cipollone and Mr. Philbin were present during key conversations in the White House as Mr. Trump sought to use the levers of the federal government to stay in office after his loss to Joseph R. Biden Jr."

The plot to overturn the election, outlined by Trump attorney John Eastman in an infamous memo, involved convening slates of fake electors in states Biden carried, then pressuring Pence to use those fake electors as a pretext for refusing to count the real ones during the ceremonial elector count in Congress and declaring Trump the winner.

https://www.rawstory.com/william-s-russell/

[Rick Plant]

Plea hearing today in Capitol riot case of Robert Sanford of Chester, Pennsylvania.

Sanford is a retired firefighter who allegedly threw a fire extinguisher at police on Jan 6.