1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

Ivanka Trump falling under scrutiny shows ‘puzzle pieces coming together’ in Jan. 6 probe

The House select committee wants to talk to Ivanka Trump, and MSNBC's Joe Scarborough said that shows the Jan. 6 investigation is starting to come into focus.

Donald Trump raged against the committee's request for an interview with his eldest daughter, saying the panel was willing to "go after children," but "Morning Joe" panelists pointed out that the former White House adviser was indeed an adult with valuable information to share about the insurrection.

"She is 40 years old and she served four years in the White House as adviser, along with her husband Jared Kushner," said MSNBC's Jonathan Lemire. "She by no estimation is a child. She also was one of the leading voices in the administration and, frankly, one of the last senior advisers still left as Jan. 6 rolled around. Chief of staff [Mark] Meadows was still there, but so much of that West Wing had hollowed out. People left for other jobs because they believed the race was indeed over and Donald Trump lost. There also had been a couple of COVID outbreaks in the building and a lot of folks were working from home."

Witnesses have told investigators that Ivanka Trump unsuccessfully tried to get her father to call off his mob of supporters, and Lemire said she could describe those discussions and explain why the former president decided not to act.

"Her testimony would, of course, be of great interest to the Jan. 6 select committee," Lemire said. "It comes, as we mentioned earlier, at a very tough stretch for the president with the National Archives turning over thousands upon thousands upon thousands of documents to the committee, which is also looking to ramp up the public face of these investigations, looking to have televised hearings, potentially even in primetime some time this spring."

Scarborough said all these developments showed the investigation had reached an inflection point.

"Over the past two weeks the momentum has picked up on the Jan. 6 committee despite all of the arguments, despite all of the Republicans trying to block this, the law is the law is the law," Scarborough said. "They've got a Supreme Court ruling that says Jan. 6 committee has the right to get the information. They've got volumes of documents, had volumes of documents before that. They have former Trump White House people like Kayleigh McEnany and others who were working with this committee, trying to get information. They certainly weren't in support of the Jan. 6 commission."

"It seems to me they're going to be able to piece together whatever timeline they want to piece together," Scarborough added, "not only on Jan. 6 but in the days leading up to Jan. 6. I mean, you can see the puzzle pieces really coming together here."

[Richard Smith]

Yes, it's all "coming together."  Any day now.  Like Russia collusion and every other fake anti-Trump conspiracy theory.  The goal here is to undermine the democratic process by keeping Trump from running again in 2024.  That's the real insurrection.  The American public can't be trusted to elect the "right" candidate.  They need a Stasi-like process to help them out.  The red tsunami is coming, though.  Closer every day to the mid-term elections and 2024.  Old Joe has reached historic lows in the polls not seen since Watergate.  The bottom is dropping out.  And it has only been one year!

[Rick Plant]

Oath Keepers leader and 10 others charged with 'seditious conspiracy' related to US Capitol attack



The Justice Department escalated its January 6 investigation by bringing seditious conspiracy charges against 11 defendants, including the leader of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes.

The latest accusations -- with a charge that had not previously been brought in the department's US Capitol attack prosecutions -- remove any sense that prosecutors believe the riot emerged from just a group of overzealous protestors, with new details about the planning and logistics alleged to have predated the Capitol breach.
The Justice Department until now had been careful not to push the idea of sedition, instead charging defendants affiliated with right-wing groups with conspiracy to obstruct the congressional proceeding on January 6. The seditious conspiracy charge carries the same possible consequence as an obstruction charge, but is rarely used, politically loaded and has been difficult for the Justice Department to use successfully against defendants in the past.

Attorney General Merrick Garland had balked at the earlier efforts to bring the seditious conspiracy charge. But in the months since, people briefed on the matter say FBI investigators and DC federal prosecutors have spent much time building the case, at least in part with the help of cooperators and the benefit of internal communications among the Oath Keepers.

The new indictment brings to light planning the Oath Keepers are accused to have done ahead of the Capitol attack, as they allegedly recruited members, stocked up on weapons and organized to disrupt Congress' certification of the 2020 election. Prosecutors say they also continued to plot "to oppose by force the lawful transfer of presidential power" after the Capitol riot failed to block the electoral college vote, according to a Justice Department statement on Thursday.

One Oath Keeper claimed to travel to Washington, DC, for a scouting trip ahead of January 6, according to the indictment. The new court filings also detail accusations that the defendants stashed weapons at a Virginia hotel and that they were prepared to "rapidly transport firearms and other weapons into Washington, D.C." to support the efforts to stop the presidential certification vote.

Rhodes was arrested Thursday in Little Elm, Texas.

Allegedly opposing 'by force' the lawful transfer of power

The new indictment, approved by a grand jury on Wednesday and made public Thursday, alleges that Rhodes and his co-conspirators engaged in a conspiracy to "oppose the lawful transfer of presidential power by force, by preventing, hindering, or delaying by force execution of laws governing the transfer of power."

The latest court filings revealed that Oath Keeper Thomas Caldwell, who was arrested in January, claimed to take a reconnaissance trip to DC before January 6. The indictment also surfaces previously unknown communications Rhodes is alleged to have sent that prosecutors say encouraged the use of force to oppose the lawful transfer of power.

"We aren't going through this without civil war. Too late for that. Prepare your mind, body and spirit," Rhodes allegedly said in a November 5, 2020, Signal message. In December, Rhodes -- according to the indictment -- wrote of the electoral college certification that "there is no standard political or legal way out of this."
Prosecutors have previously said that Rhodes used Signal during the attack to communicate with other members of the Oath Keepers who were at the Capitol.

"All I see Trump doing is complaining. I see no intent by him to do anything," Rhodes allegedly wrote. "So the patriots are taking it into their own hands. They've had enough," he allegedly said on Signal at 1:38 p.m. that day, shortly after the siege had begun.

Additionally, the indictment says that Oath Keepers from three different states, including newly charged Edward Vallejo, stashed weapons in a Virginia hotel as part of a quick reaction force.

"Quick reaction force teams were prepared to rapidly transport firearms and other weapons into Washington, D.C., in support of operations aimed at using force to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power," the indictment said.

On his way to DC on January 3, Rhodes allegedly bought an AR-platform rifle and other firearms equipment, including sights, mounts, triggers, slings, and other firearms attachments in Texas. The next day, he allegedly bought more firearms equipment in Mississippi including sights, mounts, an optic plate, and a magazine, according to the filings.

Accusations of plotting before and after the Capitol attack

The Rhodes indictment walks through public and private statements the Oath Keeper leader made, starting just days after the election, that prosecutors say illuminate the plot to oppose by force the transfer of presidential power.

Those alleged discussions include a November readout that Caldwell reached out to provide Rhodes about a November 9 trip he had taken to DC to do recon for an upcoming "op." Communications about the "bloody" "fight" and "revolution" were accompanied by logistical planning, prosecutors alleged, with defendants discussing obtaining and bringing weapons to the Washington area. Rhodes allegedly spent thousands on firearms equipment en route to DC, prosecutors allege.

On January 6, prosecutors allege that Oath Keepers stationed themselves around the DC area -- some near the Capitol, others providing security and a third group waiting across the river in a Virginia hotel with a cache of weapons. At the Capitol, some members moved in a military "stack" formation into the Capitol where they fought with police, and a small group unsuccessfully looked for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to court documents.

The plotting didn't end with the Capitol riot, prosecutors say, alleging Rhodes and other co-conspirators met in Virginia to "celebrate" the attack and "discuss next steps." In a Signal chat to other members of Oath Keepers leadership, Rhodes allegedly said that "Patriots entering their own Capitol to send a message to the traitors is NOTHING compared to what's coming."

In the week after the riot, Rhodes allegedly spent more than $17,500 on weapons, equipment, and ammunition. One member, according to the filings, said Rhodes should stay "below the radar," while another brought what he called "all available weapons" to Rhodes' home in Texas.

Around Inauguration Day, January 20, Rhodes allegedly told associates to organize local militias to oppose the Biden administration. Another member allegedly said, "After this... if nothing happens...its war...Civil War 2.0."

Change in approach

The charges mark a dramatic change in the Justice Department's January 6 probe.

Previously, some Biden administration officials believed using the sedition charge could politicize the Justice Department's prosecution of the Capitol attackers, and the department recoiled after the former top prosecutor over the investigation, Michael Sherwin, said on CBS' "60 Minutes" he believed seditious conspiracy could be charged.
Garland said in a speech last week commemorating the Capitol attack that the department was "committed to holding all January 6th perpetrators, at any level, accountable under law -- whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy."

Rhodes has also been of interest to the House's January 6 investigation, which issued subpoenas in November for him and his organization for a deposition and documents related to the events of that day.

In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper Thursday night, Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, who serves on the January 6 committee, said he hopes the newly filed charges will "shut up those of our colleagues who keep saying, 'Well if it was a conspiracy, how come there are no conspiracy charges? If it was seditious, how come there were no sedition charges?'"

"So, there we go," he continued. "We've got those with, undoubtedly, a lot more to come soon."
CNN reported in July that Rhodes gave a voluntary interview to the FBI and that investigators seized his cell phone. He has denied all wrongdoing.

According to previous court filings submitted by the Justice Department in other cases, Rhodes said at a November 2020 online meeting, "We're going to defend the president, the duly elected president, and we call on him to do what needs to be done to save our country. Because if you don't guys, you're going to be in a bloody, bloody civil war and a bloody -- you can call it an insurrection, or you can call it a war or fight."

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/13/politics/oathkeeper-rhodes-arrested-doj/index.html

[Rick Plant]

Phoenix Man Charged for Conspiring in January 6 Attack



Seven from the Valley were charged for their role in the riot inside and around the U.S. Capitol on January 6 last year. Those were merely the foot soldiers.

A federal grand jury Thursday indicted ten people, including one Phoenix man, with the much more serious charge of seditious conspiracy.

Edward Vallejo, 63, was also charged with conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging during duty.

“We have only [begun] the fight!” Vallejo said in the hours following the attack, according to a 48-page indictment filed in federal court.

Vallejo is a born and bred Arizonan, records show. He doesn’t have a criminal history. Instead, he has spent his career with Homefront Battle Buddies, an Arizona nonprofit providing resources to veterans. His photo appears on the homepage of the organization’s website.

Vallejo was integral in coordinating the attack on the U.S. Capitol, federal agents claim in court documents. They allege he helped transport firearms, organized teams and combat training, and used violence against law enforcement in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election by force.

On December 30, 2020, Vallejo was added to a group chat on Google Hangouts called “DC OP: Jan 6 21,” records show. He and other co-conspirators, orchestrated by alt-right Oath Keepers militia leader Stewart Rhodes of Texas, plotted the insurrection in a conversation of encrypted instant messages there.

"We will have to do a bloody, massively bloody revolution against them,” he told other Oath Keepers, speaking of the incoming Biden Administration. “That’s what’s going to have to happen.”

In the days leading up to the riot, cabalists checked into a Comfort Inn hotel in Arlington, Virginia, records show. One room was occupied by Vallejo and other members of the “Arizona Quick Reaction Force.” The group used the hotel room to store and guard firearms, according to the indictment.

On January 4, 2021, Vallejo messaged co-defendant in the indictment Kelly Meggs of Florida, saying “Sir, Ed Vallejo of Arizona in Tenn. With cadre requesting coordinates to Allied encampment outside DC boundaries to rendezvous. Please respond ASAP. For the Republic.”

Between January 1 and 5, Vallejo transported firearms, ammunition, and tactical gear from Virginia to Washington, D.C., according to court documents.

On the morning of the attack, Vallejo discussed the probability of “armed conflict” and “guerrilla war” between his group and law enforcement after he and co-conspirators would breach the Capitol.

“There are people who are prepared, have the will, have the facilities to do more than taunt,” he said.

Around 2:30 p.m. on January 6, Vallejo told the group he had two trucks on standby, according to court records, saying, “Just say the word.”

After the mob of more than 2,000 forced entry into the Senate chamber, Vallejo met his cronies at a restaurant in suburban D.C. to celebrate the attack and discuss next steps, court documents allege. After dinner, he messaged the group.

“We’ll be back at 6am to do it again … they should let us in,” he said. “We got food for 30 days.”

On January 12, while in Texas on the drive back to Arizona from Washington, D.C., an Arizona QRF team member messaged Rhodes, “Hi Stewart. I’m sure you’re busy but wanted to let you know that [Vallejo] and I are here … We are excited to learn next steps and would like to know what we should be doing right now.”

Five people died and several more were injured in the attack. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland this month called the resulting Justice Department probe “the largest federal investigation in history.”

The latest of more than 700 people to be named as suspects brought the Oath Keeper militia founder Rhodes, a good friend of Vallejo’s, and nine of his cohort before a federal grand jury.

Also affiliated with the Oath Keepers is Queen Creek resident James Ray Epps, who was seen on video encouraging the mob to enter the U.S. Capitol and was the center of an FBI informant conspiracy theory that was busted this week.

Epps, who was listed as Arizona Oath Keeper State Chapter president in 2011, runs Rocking R Farms and Knotty Barn out of Queen Creek, less than 30 miles from where former President Donald Trump will rally in Florence on SaPersonay. He hasn’t been charged or arrested for his role in the January 6, 2021 agitation.

Dozens of one-star reviews on the wedding venue he owns with his wife point to his role in the attack on the capitol with calls for the business to shut down for good.

“Great place to plan an insurrection,” Derek Helbert wrote in a review.

“This guy is a far right nut-job, steer clear,” wrote another reviewer.

"Storming the capitol in their free time,” wrote Tiffany Hernandez. “This is not the type of business owner I want to do business with. Very dangerous.”

And there are dozens more. The venue’s profile on Google is littered with pleas for his prosecution. Sixty-two of its 170 reviews are one-star jabs that reference January 6.

Epps didn’t return Phoenix New Times’ attempts to contact him over phone and email, a trend he’s upheld since a solitary interview with the Arizona Republic on January 11, 2021. He’s been called a coward online.

“If you do not speak out publicly I can assure you the time will come when you will have no choice,” reviewer Mike Boileau wrote to Epps just this week. “A time when you will find yourself in jail.”

Vallejo faces 20 years in prison for conspiring to overthrow the U.S. government.

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/phoenix-man-edward-vallejo-accused-of-organizing-january-6-insurrection-12822379

[Rick Plant]

John Eastman pleads the Fifth 146 times when asked about his infamous 'coup memo' at hearing



Attorney John Eastman has worked to try to block his former employer from handing over approximately 19,000 emails that are being requested by the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S.

CNN justice reporter Katelyn Polantz reported from the case that it was established Eastman worked for former President Donald Trump without getting permission from his existing employer, Chapman University. According to his attorney, Eastman worked for Trump during many relevant moments, without asking permission.

Judge David Carter, who is presiding over the case, asked for specifics about what kind of work Eastman was doing for Trump. He admitted to briefing hundreds of state legislators, and also said that he was at the Willard with Trump strategists on Jan. 6 and that he met with Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on Jan. 3, 2021.

It was ten days later that Eastman resigned from the University.

During the case, CNN reporter Ana Cabrara tweeted that Chapman University decided that they would not help Eastman in his attempt to block his university emails from January 6 committee.

Yahoo News reporter Michael Isikoff revealed that at one point, the House counsel, Doug Letter, revealed that Eastman authored the memo on how Pence could stop the certification of the 2020 election. Eastman then invoked his Fifth Amendment rights 146 times.

https://www.rawstory.com/john-eastman-pleads-fifth-amendment/


John Eastman's former university wants to hand over 19,000 of his emails on its server to Congress



On Monday, Yahoo News' Michael Isikoff reported that Chapman University supports a subpoena from the House January 6 Committee requesting 19,000 emails from pro-Trump lawyer John Eastman relating to his work for the former president to overturn the 2020 presidential election, which are apparently on the school servers.

At a hearing on the matter, a lawyer for the university said that Eastman's use of their server to conduct that business was "improper, unauthorized and I liken to contraband."

Eastman, who previously taught constitutional law at Chapman University, was forced into retirement after he spoke at the pro-Trump "Stop the Steal" rally calling to overturn the election that immediately preceded the attack on the Capitol on January 6.

It was subsequently revealed that he drafted a memo for the Trump team outlining a strategy to execute a coup using Vice President Mike Pence to toss out the electors of several states that narrowly voted for Joe Biden, a strategy Pence rejected as unconstitutional.

Now facing a complaint at the California State Bar for his actions, Eastman now claims he didn't actually intend for the memo to be used to execute a coup.

https://www.rawstory.com/john-eastman-2656471056/

[Rick Plant]

Dangerous precedent': Jan. 6 committee trains its sights on false pro-Trump electors
GOP officials in five states illegitimately claimed to be qualified to declare Donald Trump the winner in 2020. And Trump allies were openly involved.

As Capitol attack investigators dig into efforts by state-level Republicans to send Congress “alternative” slates of 2020 presidential electors, they're zeroing in on the involvement of Donald Trump's White House and campaign operations.

As presidential electors gathered in December 2020 to affirm Joe Biden’s victory, the Republicans who would have been Trump’s electors in several states that Biden won gathered anyway to cast unofficial votes. In five of those states — Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia — those electors then signed certificates claiming they were “duly elected and qualified” to represent their states.

Those certificates were then mailed to the National Archives and Congress. Now the Jan. 6 select panel is looking deeper at the Trump network's role in that strategy, which Democrats increasingly say may have amounted to a crime.

“We want to look at the fraudulent activity that was contained in the preparation of these fake Electoral College certificates,” said Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a member of the Capitol riot committee. “And then we want to look to see to what extent this was part of a comprehensive plan to overthrow the 2020 election.”

The select committee is expecting a new tranche of documents from the National Archives related to its false-electors inquiry, according to its chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.). The Archives has confirmed it's compiling materials on the matter, Thompson told reporters, describing the Trump political or governing apparatus's apparent involvement in the certificates as a “concern.”

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), another panel member, said the submission of the electoral certificates — claiming to be legitimate — was a “dangerous precedent.”

The false-electors push was well-known at the time, but it’s drawn fresh scrutiny amid indications that the select committee has received documents from multiple states shedding new light on the efforts. Michigan’s top prosecutor, Attorney General Dana Nessel, recently suggested she’s been investigating the submission of illegitimate GOP electors for a year.

“This is a crime. This is election fraud,” Nessel told reporters recently. “And it's many other crimes, as well; both, I believe, at the state and federal level.”

Like Nessel, some members of the Jan. 6 select committee say the signed documents could have broken the law.

“I would hope that the full extent of the law was used to prosecute anyone trying to falsify any documents, including those,” said Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.), another Jan. 6 panel member, who underscored that she is not sure of the status of any state-level investigations into the matter.

Under federal law, after states certify their presidential balloting, electors for the winning candidate are required to meet in their state capitals on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. In 2020, that was Dec. 14. While Democratic electors in key swing states met to cast their votes, Republicans who would have been electors had Trump won gathered as well.

Those sideline pro-Trump gatherings, organizers said, were meant to preserve legal options in case Trump prevailed in any of his doomed court cases. Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, organized the efforts, according to The Washington Post and CNN.

In addition to the five states where GOP officials claimed to be the true electors despite Biden’s victory, Trump backers in Pennsylvania and New Mexico also signed certificates. But those Republicans hedged, saying their votes should only be counted if Trump prevailed in his legal challenges.

Nevertheless, New Mexico’s attorney general has referred the matter to federal prosecutors and continues to review potential violations of state law. The Pennsylvania attorney general's office said the documents didn’t meet their standard for forgery because of the caveat that their signatories invoked.

POLITICO also obtained records indicating that National Archives investigators pursued a case of potential fraud against a second slate of would-be Trump electors in Arizona who identified themselves as “sovereign citizens.” An Archives inspector general official said the agency declined to comment on “ongoing” work.

The decision to deploy illegitimate electors highlights the deliberation of Trump's allies in their attempts to keep his effort to reverse the election alive. Top Trump White House officials at the time — including adviser Stephen Miller — made clear they were tracking “alternative” slates of electors in real time.

And several state parties said the Trump campaign played a role in directing them to hold their elector meetings, describing it at the time as a way to preserve the defeated president’s legal options as he fought doomed court battles to overturn the results.

“While President Trump’s campaign continues to pursue legal options for Wisconsin, Republican electors met today in accordance with statutory guidelines to preserve our role in the electoral process with the final outcome still pending in the courts,” Wisconsin GOP Chair Andrew Hitt said at the time.

When those court battles failed, other Trump allies — like attorney John Eastman — suggested that then-Vice President Mike Pence, tasked with presiding over the counting of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021, could introduce the unofficial pro-Trump electors to cast Biden’s victory into doubt.

Nessel, in recent interviews, has said the evidence points toward a coordinated effort to convene GOP electors in multiple states Trump lost and have them declare themselves authentic electors for that state. She noted that the forms the electors used in different locations were nearly identical, from their wording to their fonts.

“It's clear to me that this was not independent, rogue actors that were unknowingly doing the same thing as they had done in many other states,” she said.

The Hawaii factor

Republicans at the time emphasized that their decision to hold unsanctioned elector votes had a precedent. In 1960, three Democratic electors from Hawaii met to cast votes for John F. Kennedy, even though the election results showed that Richard Nixon had narrowly prevailed in the state. With a recount underway, those pro-Kennedy electors met to cast their votes anyway and submitted those results to Congress and the National Archives, the clearinghouse for elector certificates.

Hawaii’s recount ultimately reversed the outcome, showing Kennedy had won by fewer than 200 votes, and the state’s governor then certified the Democratic slate as well. On Jan. 6, 1961, the Democratic electors were the ones counted by Congress, with Nixon, then vice president, presiding.

Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward later pointed to that episode when describing her decision to deliver GOP electors to Congress in 2020.

In a statement this week, the Wisconsin GOP also pointed to Hawaii's electors in 1960 — and emphasized that it had received legal advice to assemble GOP electors, in case Trump found a way to prevail.

Meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers from some of the states where Republicans submitted false elector slates have also seized on the issue. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) wrote a letter Friday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging him to investigate the "attempted fraud" and vowed to introduce legislation that would create penalties for Electoral College-related deception.

In the chaotic days after Trump’s defeat, a handful of other GOP electors indicated in interviews that they saw merit in the emerging strategy to send alternative electors to Washington in an effort to undermine Biden’s victory.

Michigan GOP elector Meshawn Maddock said at the time that she had been researching legal options. “What I might want to do can be completely different from what we are legally capable of doing, does that make sense?” she said in an email.

Ultimately, Maddock joined a slew of other Michigan Republicans to sign the unofficial certificates. Maddock, now co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party, and other GOP electors also joined a lawsuit by Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) seeking to empower Pence to unilaterally prevent Biden’s election. (The lawsuit failed, and Pence declined to do so.)

A Georgia GOP elector, Cathy Latham, initially refused in late 2020 to say whether she would endorse sending alternative electors to Washington. “Bahahaha you think I’m going to respond to you?” she said in an email. “You don’t know GA law. Read the Constitution.”

When pressed, she replied, “I am a Republican elector for Trump. I serve at the pleasure of the President and the GAGOP. I will serve when called and directed to cast my vote for Trump.”

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/21/january-6-committee-precedent-pro-trump-electors-527528

[Rick Plant]

Supreme Court rejects Trump’s bid to shield records from Jan. 6 committee
The only member of the high court who signaled he would have granted Trump’s request was Justice Clarence Thomas



The Supreme Court has rejected former President Donald Trump’s bid to use executive privilege to block a House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection from accessing a trove of records created by Trump’s White House.

The ruling on Wednesday opens up a trove of documents to congressional investigators who have sought them to determine Trump’s actions and mindset in the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, as well as what he did as his supporters were rioting at the Capitol.

Among the documents sought by the committee are speech drafts, call and visitor logs, handwritten notes and other files previously kept by senior Trump aides like chief of staff Mark Meadows, adviser Stephen Miller, press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and White House associate counsel Patrick Philbin.

The only member of the high court who signaled he would have granted Trump’s request for emergency relief was Justice Clarence Thomas.

Trump had sought to block access to more than 750 pages of records that the National Archives, which house the former president’s records, determined were relevant to the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation. The records include “draft text of a presidential speech for the January 6, 2021, Save America March; a handwritten list of potential or scheduled briefings and telephone calls concerning election issues; and a draft Executive Order concerning election integrity … a draft proclamation honoring deceased Capitol Police officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood, and associated e-mails from the Office of the Executive Clerk, which relate to the Select Committee’s interest in the White House’s response to the Capitol attack.”

The ruling may be the most significant moment yet for the Jan. 6 select committee investigating the attack on the Capitol. It will help the panel connect dots between Trump’s efforts to stoke disinformation about the 2020 election results and his awareness of the threat of violence posed by the groups that heeded his call to descend on Washington. They’ll also reveal details about what actions he took as the mob of his supporters surrounded and breached the Capitol, overrunning law enforcement and sending Congress fleeing for safety.

In a statement hailing the ruling, the Jan. 6 committee‘s chair, Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.), and vice chair, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), said on Wednesday night that Trump's White House records had already begun arriving.

"The Supreme Court’s action tonight is a victory for the rule of law and American democracy," they said. "The Select Committee has already begun to receive records that the former President had hoped to keep hidden and we look forward to additional productions regarding this important information."

The court’s action left in effect a ruling last month from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, in which a three-judge panel said Trump had not met his legal burden to block disclosure of the records. It also will likely have a huge cascading effect on litigation brought against the Jan. 6 committee by other top Trump allies, including Meadows, who has similarly urged the court to uphold Trump’s claim of privilege. Meadows is facing potential charges of criminal contempt for refusing to testify to the panel.

The appeals court panel concluded unanimously that Trump could not assert executive privilege over the records as a former president because the incumbent, President Joe Biden, had agreed to hand the files over to the House committee.

The Supreme Court’s order on Wednesday did not reach a final conclusion on this point but said Trump’s effort failed because his assertion of executive privilege would have failed even if he were still in office.

“The questions whether and in what circumstances a former President may obtain a court order preventing disclosure of privileged records from his tenure in office, in the face of a determination by the incumbent President to waive the privilege, are unprecedented and raise serious and substantial concerns,” the high court said.

“Because the Court of Appeals concluded that President Trump’s claims would have failed even if he were the incumbent, his status as a former President necessarily made no difference to the court’s decision,” the unsigned Supreme Court order added.

The ruling drove the point home by dismissing as “nonbinding dicta” the D.C. Circuit’s conclusion that Trump couldn’t pursue an executive privilege claim in this situation because he’s a former president.

The Jan. 6 committee requested the records in August, and the archivist began producing tranches on a rolling basis. But before they could be released, the archivist submitted them to Biden to determine whether to waive executive privilege.

For the vast majority of the records, Biden agreed to waive privilege. But Trump filed suit in October, claiming he had authority as a former president to assert privilege over his records.

While Thomas did not elaborate on why he would have granted Trump’s request for an emergency stay, Justice Brett Kavanaugh — a Trump appointee and a staunch advocate for executive power — issued an opinion that went further than the court’s main, unsigned order. He said the D.C. Circuit was wrong to conclude that a former president couldn’t assert executive privilege without the backing of the incumbent.

“A former President must be able to successfully invoke the Presidential communications privilege for communications that occurred during his Presidency, even if the current President does not support the privilege claim,” Kavanaugh wrote. “Concluding otherwise would eviscerate the executive privilege for Presidential communications.”

“If Presidents and their advisers thought that the privilege’s protections would terminate at the end of the Presidency and that their privileged communications could be disclosed when the President left office (or were subject to the absolute control of a subsequent President who could be a political opponent of a former President), the consequences for the Presidency would be severe,” he added.

Kavanaugh’s solo opinion repeats the same language to dismiss the D.C. Circuit’s conclusion he disputes, twice calling it “dicta [that] should not be considered binding precedent going forward.” But he suggested that executive privilege is not “absolute” and might erode over time. In the end, he joined the majority’s overall conclusion that the appeals court’s ultimate decision to allow disclosure of the records to the House should not be disturbed at this time.

Trump’s petition to have the Supreme Court grant review of the D.C. Circuit ruling remains pending, but the justices may eventually conclude the issue is moot once the records reach the House.

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/19/trump-supreme-court-records-527421

[Rick Plant]

Judge calls Phoenix man facing charges in US Capitol riot 'a serious danger'



An Arizona man who the government says is dangerous and linked to the extremist group the Oath Keepers will remain in custody while he faces seditious conspiracy charges in the U.S. Capitol riot.

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Boyle said the seriousness of the allegations facing 63-year-old Edward Vallejo of Phoenix — that he stood ready to deliver weapons on Jan. 6, 2021, if the call came from the leader of the Oath Keepers — favored detention, though he doesn't consider the U.S. Army veteran a flight risk.

"I'm convinced had (the call) had been given, you believe so passionately in the cause you would have responded," Boyle told Vallejo at a federal court hearing in downtown Phoenix on Thursday.

He called Vallejo "a serious danger at this time."

Vallejo, who is in quarantine, attended the hearing by telephone. He gave short, polite answers, calling the judge "sir," and letting his attorney do the talking.

Prosecutors say the longtime Arizona resident was a key member of a conspiracy to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power, helping to coordinate an arsenal of weapons, ammunition and supplies at a Northern Virginia hotel the day before the Jan. 6 riot.

They allege he was one of at least three "quick reaction force teams" from Arizona, Florida and North Carolina that stationed themselves at a Comfort Inn in Arlington, Virginia. Vallejo guarded the stash of weapons and stood ready to respond if called by the leader of the Oath Keepers, said Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Louis Manzo.

But Vallejo's attorney, Debbie Jang, described the Army veteran as someone who played a minor role. He served in the military for two years in the 1970s before being medically discharged, and he suffers from asthma. He is involved in a nonprofit group that helps military veterans and is an Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, she said.

"It is clear he does not pose any danger to society," she said.

After the court hearing, Jang said in an email that she is disappointed in the judge's ruling and maintains he is neither a danger to the community nor a flight risk.

"Every person, including Mr. Vallejo, has a right to a defense of their constitutional rights. Mr. Vallejo looks forward to his day in Court," she said.

The federal case involves 10 other defendants, including the founder of the Oath Keepers, Elmer Stewart Rhodes III. The extremist group recruits former members of the military and law enforcement.


Stewart Rhodes

The government says Rhodes and his co-conspirators planned to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power by planning multiple ways to deploy force. They coordinated travel into Washington, D.C., equipped themselves with weapons, donned combat and tactical gear and were prepared to answer Rhodes' call to take up arms, the indictment said.

While some Oath Keepers breached the Capitol on Jan. 6, others remained outside the city as a quick reaction force to potentially transport firearms and other weapons into the city, according to court filings. The government has not introduced any evidence that Vallejo went into the Capitol, although he is alleged to have been outside the building at some point.

Federal court documents released earlier this week revealed more about the government's allegations against Vallejo:

Prosecutors say Vallejo and another Arizona team member — who the government didn't identify in court documents — arrived in Washington around noon on Jan. 5 and met up with the Oath Keepers at a nearby hotel. They used Signal, an encrypted message app, to communicate.

Court filings say Vallejo messaged Florida team member Kelly Meggs on Jan. 5, asking, "Please text location so we will know where to begin in the morning." The 52-year-old Meggs sent him the address for the Comfort Inn.

Meggs and his Florida team dropped off at least three luggage carts full of gun boxes, rifle cases and suitcases filled with ammunition with their quick response team. A second quick response team from North Carolina was made up of four men with rifles "ready to go" in a vehicle in the hotel parking lot.

Prosecutors allege that bags and large bins of weapons, ammunition and essential supplies were wheeled in, according to the filing. Surveillance photos purportedly show Vallejo and another man wheeling bins into the hotel the day before the Capitol riot.



The group prepared for a siege to last through Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, prosecutors said.

On Jan. 6, Vallejo and another team member spoke about their intentions on a podcast.

"The American people are going to be told today that we have liberty and justice for all, or they're going to be told 'F--- you.' OK? And if we're told, 'F--- you," that's going to be the declaration of a guerrilla war,'" Vallejo said.

Text messages continued between Vallejo and the leader of the Oath Keepers throughout the day and as it became clear that the Electoral College certification of the election was going to proceed as required by law, according to the federal filing.

As a crowd gathered on the Capitol grounds and headed toward the building, Rhodes texted Vallejo that "Pence is doing nothing," adding that the "patriots are taking it into their hands. They've had enough."

Around 2:30, Vallejo messaged that he was "back at the hotel and outfitted. Have 2 trucks available. Let me know how I can assist."  He sent another message minutes later that said the quick response team was standing by.

"Just say the word," he wrote.

The riot halted the official proceedings of Congress while law enforcement tried to restore order and clear the Capitol.

As the Capitol riot was happening, prosecutors said Vallejo also encouraged violence in Arizona, sending a text to someone that said, "Have you secured the Arizona Capitol yet? Waiting on you slacker."

Prosecutors say Vallejo and his co-conspirators continued plotting their next steps. Around 7:30 p.m., they say Oath Keepers leader Rhodes messaged, "Thousands of ticked off patriots spontaneously marched on the Capitol...You ain't seen nothing yet."

Vallejo messaged back, "We'll be back to 6am to do it again. We got food for 30 days."

The following morning, on Jan. 7, prosecutors say Vallejo sent a message shortly before 6 a.m. that he was "departing for Recon now." He asked Rhodes to call him.

"I'll depart when cleared by my Commander, sir," he wrote.

Later that day, prosecutors say Vallejo and another Arizona team member reappeared on the same podcast they spoke on the previous day. Vallejo said he got up before dawn, went to the Capitol and then returned to the hotel to take care of business.

Vallejo's unidentified team member said on the podcast that they were prepared to support the Constitution and honor their oaths.

When asked if he was going to return to Arizona, Vallejo said, "I don't know. We've got to figure out what happens on the 20th."

Jan. 20 is the day Joe Biden was to be inaugurated president.

Vallejo noted for the podcast that he was "never done...I'm waiting for orders from Stewart Rhodes."

Prosecutors say the men continued plotting further actions against the government. They say Rhodes purchased thousands of dollars worth of firearms, ammunition and equipment and went to Texas.

At one point, Vallejo tried to meet up with Rhodes in Texas. But court filings are unclear as to whether that actually happened.

Rhodes messaged Vallejo on Signal on Jan. 11, asking "Ed, what's your 20? You in TX?"

Vallejo said he had been delayed. Rhodes said he was in the Fort Worth area and Vallejo replied, "CU there Goodspeed sir."

In late January 2021, prosecutors say the co-conspirators tried to destroy evidence of their conspiracy and discussed securing their communications.

Rhodes messaged Vallejo on Jan. 24, 2021, that, "Ed, keep in mind this is NOT a secure chat. Contains at least one turncoat snitch. Keep that in mind. Please confirm you got this."

Vallejo said he got the message and that he was innocent.

"if you ever need me for ANYTHING I am on call at your service, Sir," he wrote, according to the court filing.

A year later, Vallejo and 10 others were arrested after a lengthy government investigation. He faces four federal charges, all felonies: seditious conspiracy, conspiracy to obstruct Congress, obstruction of an official proceeding and conspiracy to prevent an officer from discharging any duties.

The judge on Thursday said Vallejo will be transferred to Washington, D.C., to await trial.

Vallejo's wife of 34 years attended Thursday's court hearing and left after without speaking to the media.

Adam Kokesh, who serves with Vallejo on a nonprofit group called Homefront Battle Buddies, also attended the court hearing and spoke to the media afterward in support of his friend.

He said Vallejo was aware for several months that the FBI was investigating him. Kokesh said he was present when Vallejo was served with a search warrant last summer while the two were at a 10-acre homestead Kokesh owns in the small town of Ash Fork. After reading the warrant, he said Vallejo unlocked his cell phone and turned it over.

"He's absolutely not a threat to the community," Kokesh said. "It's a shame."

Kokesh said he anticipates there will be a second detention hearing after Vallejo is transferred to Washington, D.C.

"My focus now is getting him the legal support to ensure his release," he said.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2022/01/20/judge-calls-phoenix-man-edward-vallejo-a-serious-danger-denies-release/6592423001/