1/6 Insurrection Investigation

[Rick Plant]

WATCH: Former Oath Keeper spokesperson fears for next election cycle if Trump runs for office

Jason Van Tatenhove, former spokesperson for the far-right military group the Oath Keepers, testified on July 12 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The focus of the hearing was on extremist far-right groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and the role they played in the Capitol insurrection.

He spoke about his view that the group hoped to become a paramilitary force. Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., asked Van Tatenhove about whether the group had discussed committing violence against elected political leaders. Van Tatenhove said the Oath Keepers leader he spoke with wanted to make up a deck of cards of “key players that they wanted to take out,” similar to military cards, which Van Tatenhove did not do.

“I do fear for this next election cycle because who knows what that might bring? If a president that's willing to try to instill and encourage to whip up a civil war amongst his followers, using lies and deceit and snake oil, regardless of the human impact, what else is he going to do if he gets elected again? All bets are off at that point,” Van Tatenhove said. “And that's a scary notion.”

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

What we learned on Day 7 of the Jan. 6 hearings

The Jan. 6 committee held its seventh public hearing Tuesday afternoon with a focus on connections between extremist groups and the Trump White House. The hearing ended with a dramatic revelation that former President Trump recently called a witness the panel was talking to, an action referred to the Justice Department. Lisa Desjardins and Laura Barrón-López join Judy Woodruff to discuss.

Watch:

[Rick Plant]

Knife-wielding Capitol rioter gets five months for bashing cop with Confederate flag



A Maryland man was sentenced to five months in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

David Blair, of Clarksburg, brought a a knife and a lacrosse stick with a Confederate flag attached to the U.S. Capitol and struck a police officer with the improvised flagpole while shouting encouragement to other rioters to keep fighting.

“Hell naw, quit backing up, don’t be scared," Blair shouted, according to prosecutors.

Blair did not go inside the Capitol but later pleaded guilty to interfering with law enforcement during a civil disorder, a felony that carries up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine, and prosecutors agreed to drop eight other charges.

He was taken into custody moments after bashing the officer and offered an apology and asked to be let go.

“While in handcuffs and not in response to any questions prompted by any members of MPD, defendant Blair stated words to the effect of, ‘I understand, what I did, the one guy swung at me so I kinda switched … so I apologize, we’re done though,'” said the statement of offense.

However, police found a knife and tape in his bag during a search.

Blair told police he came to the Capitol to protest the removal of Confederate monuments, which he complained was the “erasing of history."

© 2022 Reuters

[Rick Plant]

A 'significant development': Job of the staffer Trump called revealed by CNN



One day after GOP. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming dropped a bombshell about potential witness tampering during her closing statement at a Jan. 6 select committee hearing, CNN has learned more about the witness in question.

"After our last hearing, President Trump tried to call a witness in our investigation," Cheney said.

"A witness you have not yet seen in these hearings," she explained. "That person declined to answer or respond to President Trump's call and, instead, alerted their lawyer to the call. Their lawyer alerted us and this committee has supplied that information to the Department of Justice."

"Let me say one more time, we will take any effort to influence witness testimony very seriously," Cheney warned.

"Former President Donald Trump tried to call a member of the White House support staff who was talking to the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, two sources familiar with the matter tell CNN," reporters Ryan Nobles, Dana Bash, Annie Grayer, and Zachary Cohen reported.

Legal experts said on Tuesday that the call made Trump look guilty.

"The support staffer was not someone who routinely communicated with the former President and was concerned about the contact, according to the sources, and informed their attorney. The call was made after former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson testified publicly to the committee. The White House staffer was in a position to corroborate part of what Hutchinson had said under oath, according to the sources."

Nobles offered his analysis on CNN.

"So this is a significant development, something that many people have been trying to figure out and we can now report that the person who received this phone call was a member of the White House support staff who at least had some knowledge of Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony," he said.

Watch below:

[Rick Plant]

J6 committee member hints at new whistleblower testimony at future hearing

Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland hinted that the House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol may hear testimony from a whistleblower in future hearings.

The former constitutional law professor who sits on the select committee was interviewed my MSNBC's Chris Hayes.

"First just on the note that I started the show on, I wonder if you also noticed the sort of strange, willful naivete that is coming from some of the people in the inner circle, who are giving, I think, forthright and truthful testimony, but I wonder, like, do you think they really didn't see what was happening until they did?" Hayes asked.

"Well, that is a tough question of personal psychology for each of these people, but I am with you that we have seen somewhat depreciated the meaning of heroism when we call someone a hero, just for not participating in a violent insurrection or not supporting the efforts of a coup to overthrow an election," Raskin replied.

"That's really the least we should be expecting of public officials, we should be asking these people, actually, to blow the whistle publicly," Raskin said. "They could've gotten in touch with Sen. [Mitch] McConnell (R-KY), they could've gotten in touch with Speaker Pelosi, they could have gone to the newspapers and TV to say, there is something very troubling happening here."

"I think that we may be hearing some more people about people who actually try to do that," Raskin hinted.

Watch below:

[Rick Plant]

WATCH: Former Trump supporter Stephen Ayres describes what he’s lost since Jan. 6 guilty plea

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., questioned Stephen Ayres, who pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct for entering the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, on July 12 as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack presented its findings to the public. The focus of the hearing was on extremist far-right groups like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers and the role they played in the Capitol insurrection.

Raskin asked Ayres what prompted him to leave the insurrection, and whether a message shared by former President Donald Trump on social media that afternoon instructing people to go home impacted his actions.

“As soon as that came out, everybody started talking about it. It seemed like it started to disperse some of the crowd. Once we got back to the hotel room, we seen that it was still going on. But it definitely dispersed a lot of the crowd,” Ayres testified, confirming that he and the people he attended the rally left when they saw that message from the former president.

Raskin also asked what has happened in Ayres’ life since Jan 6, noting that his prior testimony confirms that Ayres no longer believes Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Ayres testified that he has since lost his job, sold his house and that his decisions on Jan. 6 changed his life, “definitely not for the better.”

Ayres added that it makes him “mad” that Trump is still spreading lies about the 2020 election, and that he used to hang onto every word the former president said, much like “hundreds of thousands or millions” of other supporters who did the same.

J6 committee considering 'second series of hearings' in August: report

The House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol is considering another round of hearings during the August Recess.

"New: Jan. 6 committee is considering a 'second series of hearings' sometime towards the end of August, after next week’s prime time finale on Thursday, per a source familiar," Guardian correspondent Hugo Lowell reported.

The committee has had difficulty at scheduling, with the start of Tuesday's hearing moved and Thursday's hearing canceled.

Earlier on Wednesday, select committee Chairman Bennie Thompson explained that he could not rule out more hearings.

“No, I can’t. I’m hoping it is, but something could come up, just like the Hutchinson situation that warranted what we felt was an immediate hearing," NBC News reported.

AFP


Jan. 6 committee heard more evidence from earlier witnesses after Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), a member of the House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, revealed that since former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson appeared in a public hearing, more evidence has been gathered by witnesses willing to come forward.

Aguilar explained that not only have they had more people willing to come forward, but "people who we had previously heard from have shared more."

He explained that they're continuing to gather evidence, adding kudos to the committee staff members working diligently to collect this additional information.

Rep. Liz Cheney's (R-WY) revealed Tuesday that former President Donald Trump called another witness, even after it was revealed others were intimidated by third-party individuals in Trump's circle. This could be an indication that Trump's lawyers don't have a hold on him the way that they thought. Aguilar didn't get the sense that Trump's lawyers ever had a hold on someone like Pat Cipollone the way that it appears they did on Hutchinson, who had Trump's PAC paying for her lawyer until she got a new one.

"We intend to share more," said Aguilar. "The scale and the scope, we're still working through. But, we want it to be something that people can digest and understand and find value in helping us protect democracy."

AFP

[Rick Plant]

Jan. 6 committee holds hearing focused on extremists at U.S. Capitol | July 12

[Rick Plant]

Jan. 6 panel’s next hearing will focus on Trump’s hourslong failure to stop the Capitol riot
https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/14/next-january-6-committee-hearing-will-focus-on-trump-silence-during-riot.html