Tag: Trump big lie

Two men charged in alleged plot to firebomb California Democratic Party headquarters

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Two men have been charged in an alleged plot to firebomb the California Democratic Party’s headquarters in Sacramento, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.

Ian Benjamin Rogers and Jarrod Copeland were “prompted by the outcome of the 2020 Presidential election” and believed their attack would spark a “movement,” according to federal prosecutors, who said the men were members of a militia group.

Law enforcement officers seized five pipe bombs, thousands of rounds of ammunition and “between 45 and 50 firearms, including at least three fully-automatic weapons” during a January search of Rogers’s home and business, according to the indictment. Continue reading.

Capitol rioter Proud Boy being ‘threatened’ in jail by fellow inmates: attorney

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On Thursday, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that a key high-ranking member of the Proud Boys being held in a jail in Seminole County, Florida is alleging to have been “threatened” by other inmates in the facility while awaiting trial for his involvement in planning the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Joseph R. Biggs, 37, was a leader among the Proud Boys in planning ‘an organized and violent attack’ upon the country’s democracy and its Capitol building on Jan. 6, according to federal prosecutors,” the paper reported. “And word that Biggs is locked up in a subsection of the Seminole County Jail, which holds about 150 federal inmates in other cases, has been getting around, according to J. Daniel Hull, who represents Biggs. ‘I do worry about somebody wanting to test Joe Biggs’ mettle,’ Hull said. ‘I think that’s going to be coming up more and more.'”

Biggs has been charged as part of a conspiracy — videos taken of the incident shows his fellow Proud Boys violently stampeding into the Capitol. Continue reading.

Anatomy of an insurrection: How military veterans and other rioters carried out the Jan. 6 assault on democracy

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More than six months after the storming of the US Capitol, more than 550 people have been arrested, with an estimated 800 people surging into the building during the hours-long assault. Members of the Oath Keepers, a loosely organized right-wing paramilitary, and Proud Boys street fighters galvanized by then-President Trump’s call to “stand back and stand by” have been indicted on conspiracy to disrupt Congress, which delayed the certification of Joe Biden as president by almost six hours.

“Every single person charged, at the very least, contributed to the inability of Congress to carry out the certification of our presidential election,” prosecutors wrote in memorandum filed with the court on Tuesday.

The slow-moving tedium of prosecutorial legal machinery and the GOP campaign to deflect responsibility can make it easy to lose sight of the big picture of what transpired on Jan. 6. But based on an aggregate review of individuals cases, along with other sources, a Raw Story analysis of the critical events in the Jan. 6 siege reveals a striking degree of coordination, sustained and intentional violence, planning and preparation, and determined effort to disable the United States’ critical governance apparatus by participants, including many with recent military experience. Many of the rioters who played critical roles in breaching the Capitol came away from the experience vowing to wage war against the United States. Few among those who are being prosecuted have expressed any remorse for their actions. Continue reading.

Judge loses patience with MAGA rioter: ‘I can no longer give the defendant the benefit of the doubt’

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A federal judge on Thursday lost patience with an accused Capitol rioter who expressed “no regrets” about his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Brandon Fellows, a former grocery store worker from Schenectady, New York, was ordered back to jail while awaiting trial after a federal judge ruled he had violatedthe terms of his pretrial release by calling his probation officer’s mother.

“I can no longer give the defendant the benefit of the doubt,” said District Court Judge Trevor McFadden. “I’ve tried, but we are where we are.” Continue reading.

Michigan GOP official who said Trump ‘blew it’ resigns from executive director post

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The executive director of the Michigan Republican Party, who said the 2020 presidential election wasn’t stolen and blamed Donald Trump for the GOP loss, has resigned.

Jason Roe, a veteran strategist who was brought on in February, stepped down from the post but declined to expand on why he resigned less than six months later, the Detroit Free Press reported.

“I resigned my position as executive director and the reasons will remain between me and Chairman Weiser,” he said in a statement to the newspaper, referring to Michigan GOP Party Chairman Ron Weiser. “We’ve built an amazing team and I know they will be very successful in 2022. I look forward to helping however I can.” Continue reading.

Man who dangled from Senate balcony pleads guilty in Capitol riots, will cooperate against others

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An Idaho man photographed hanging from the Senate balcony and sitting in the presiding officer’s chair in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony obstruction of Congress, admitting to joining a group who came to Washington armed with firearms, knives and body armor to support President Donald Trump.

Josiah B. Colt, 34, became the latest defendant to agree to cooperate in the breach investigation, seeking to pare down a possible recommended five-year prison sentence.

Though Colt is not accused of being part of a larger militia-like group, he admitted in plea papers to joining at least two men from Nevada and Tennessee who arranged travel, raised funds, bought paramilitary gear and recorded themselves before breaking in to the building and rushing to the Senate just evacuated by lawmakers. Continue reading.

Joint Chiefs chairman feared potential ‘Reichstag moment’ aimed at keeping Trump in power

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In the waning weeks of Donald Trump’s term, the country’s top military leader repeatedly worried about what the president might do to maintain power after losing reelection, comparing his rhetoric to Adolf Hitler’s during the rise of Nazi Germany and asking confidants whether a coup was forthcoming, according to a new book by two Washington Post reporters.

As Trump ceaselessly pushed false claims about the 2020 presidential election, Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, grew more and more nervous, telling aides he feared that the president and his acolytes might attempt to use the military to stay in office, Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker report in “I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year.”

Milley described “a stomach-churning” feeling as he listened to Trump’s untrue complaints of election fraud, drawing a comparison to the 1933 attack on Germany’s parliament building that Hitler used as a pretext to establish a Nazi dictatorship. Continue reading.

House Dems launch investigation into Arizona ballot review

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The oversight committee is seeking a wide range of information from Cyber Ninjas, the firm overseeing the Arizona effort.

The House Oversight Committee is launching an investigation into the ballot review being run by the Republican-controlled state Senate in Arizona, the committee announced on Wednesday.

“Americans’ right to vote is protected by the Constitution and is the cornerstone of our democratic system of government,” Oversight Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), who helms the subcommittee on civil rights and civil liberties, said in a statement. 

The committee is seeking a wide range of information from Cyber Ninjas, the firm overseeing the Arizona effort, including communications it had with Maricopa County officials, former President Donald Trump or his representatives, and those who have advanced election-related falsehoods such as Sidney Powell, Mike Lindell and Lin Woods. Continue reading.

Oklahoma Election Board Secretary Shoots Down Republican’s Request For Audit Of 2020 Results

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Saying Oklahoma’s election system is “among the most accurate and secure anywhere in the entire world,” the state’s top election official on Tuesday rejected a call by a Republican state representative to audit the results of the 2020 general election.

“There is no controversy surrounding the 2020 General Election in Oklahoma,” Oklahoma State Election Board Secretary Paul Ziriax wrote in response to a letter from Rep. Sean Roberts (R-Hominy) which requested an investigation into last year’s election despite no evidence of any wrongdoing or inaccuracies. “Because of the strong protections our state has in place for the security and integrity of elections, there is no credible suspicion or evidence of pervasive fraud here. In fact, our state successfully defended a lawsuit against our election integrity laws in 2020. Furthermore, evidence suggests that voter suppression is virtually non-existent in our state.”

Ziriax said such an audit would be unnecessarily time-consuming and expensive, as well as potentially unlawful. Continue reading.

Select committee on Capitol attack to hear police testimony July 27

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The special congressional committee investigating the Capitol attack of Jan. 6 will hold its first hearing on July 27, Democratic leaders announced Wednesday.

The much-anticipated public hearing will feature testimony from police officers who defended the Capitol complex from the pro-Trump mob attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

The extraordinary episode prompted House Democrats, joined by 10 Republicans, to impeach Trump just a week later for inciting the violence. And last month, the House created the select committee to investigate the causes and security lapses surrounding the rampage. Continue reading.