Tag: Trump insurrection

DOJ releases video of Trump insurrectionist punching federal officer in the face

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The U.S. Dept. of Justice has released another video of insurrectionist activity at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. This one appears to show a man in a camouflage jacket shoving and then punching a federal officer in the face, hitting his face-shield.

“Prosecutors say this is NJ gym owner Scott Fairlamb (in the camo jacket) shoving a cop (at 0:28), and then punching him in the face (at 0:31). Fairlamb pleaded not guilty,” CNN’s Marshall Cohen reports (tweet and video below.)

There is a DOJ Criminal Complaint for Fairlamb filed January 21 that lists offenses including “Certain Acts During Civil Disorder,” “Assaulting a Federal Officer,” “Carrying a Dangerous Weapon,” and “Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds.” Continue reading.

GOP Congressman: FBI ‘participated’ in insurrection to ‘entrap’ harmless protestors and ‘frame the MAGA movement’

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U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) is demanding the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Dept. of Justice tell Congress what they know about their own alleged “participation” in Donald Trump’s January 6 insurrection, which led to at least seven deaths. Gohmert falsely claims the attack on the U.S. Capitol – which in reality was an attempted coup designed to overturn a free and fair election – was instead a “monumental entrapment scheme used as a pretext to imprison otherwise harmless protestors” and used to “frame the entire MAGA movement as potential domestic terrorists.”

News organization The Recount calls Gohmert’s assertions “a bullshit baseless conspiracy theory.”

The Texas Republican congressman, explained on Thursday on the floor of the House that his “friend,” Fox News white supremacist host Tucker Carlson “covered this last night,” called the conspiracy theory “really disturbing… because we don’t like to see government agents stirring up trouble or find that there are criminal acts that would not likely have occurred had not the federal government been participating.” Continue reading.

Greene claims Capitol riot ‘ruined’ all the work she did to throw out Biden votes

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene complained that the Jan. 6 riot undid her work to overturn millions of votes cast for Joe Biden.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) complained on Tuesday that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol “ruined” her attempt to throw out millions of votes in the presidential election that were cast for Joe Biden.

Appearing on “War Room: Pandemic,” a program on the right-wing Real America’s Voice network hosted by disgraced former Donald Trump campaign manager Steve Bannon, Greene said she was “very upset” by the events of the day.

“I worked hard. I led an effort and worked very hard to object to Joe Biden’s Electoral College votes for six states. I worked my tail off and the riot at the Capitol – or, you know, whatever you want to call it – guess what? It ruined it. So it ruined my job, it ruined all of us, there was many of us involved in this, and it ruined our ability to object,” she said. Continue reading.

In first, U.S. charges Jan. 6 defendant with bringing firearms to Capitol under controversial federal rioting law

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U.S. prosecutors for the first time have charged a defendant in the Jan. 6 Capitol breach with violating a federal law that makes it a crime to transport a firearm or explosive for unlawful use in a riot.

The rare weapons charge was handed up Wednesday in a five-count superseding indictment against Guy Wesley Reffitt, 48, who prosecutors say brought a rifle and semiautomatic handgun to Washington and recruited members to a right-wing Texas Three Percenters group claiming he had created a new security business to circumvent gun laws.

“We can get ammo and weapons available to law enforcement. . . . The fight has only just begun,” Reffitt allegedly wrote, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey S. Nestler said earlier this year. Continue reading.

MAGA-rioting granny now says she’s ‘horrified’ by violence at Capitol as she pleads for leniency

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A grandmother who broke into the United States Capitol building on January 6th now says she’s “horrified” by the violence that took place there as she pleads for a lenient sentence.

Via NBC 4 Washington investigative reporter Scott MacFarlane, an attorney representing 49-year-old Florida resident Anna Morgan-Lloyd says that she now regrets her decision to go into the Capitol building during the riot in a letter sent to a judge.

Additionally, Morgan-Lloyd also did something former President Donald Trump has not done and admitted that President Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 presidential election. Continue reading.

Arizona vote ‘audit’ data taken to mysterious ‘lab’ deep in the woods of Montana: CNN

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Data collected from the widely criticized pro-Trump Arizona vote “audit” has now been shipped to a mysterious “lab” in Montana to be “forensically evaluated.”

CNN reports that the data was shipped to property in Montana owned by Cipher LLC, a contractor hired by vote audit firm Cyber Ninjas to analyze data.

However, the so-called lab’s exact location in the state remains a secret. Continue reading.

Eric Swalwell reveals shocking thing Republican did after refusing to shake DC cop’s hand

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On CNN Wednesday, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) shredded his nearly two dozen Republican colleagues who voted against giving medals to Capitol Police officers who pushed back the rioters on January 6.

“To honor Donald Trump, you now have to dishonor the police, that’s the only explanation I have for you,” said Swalwell. “Officer Fanone and Officer Harry Dunn stopped by my office earlier today unannounced. They popped in, I chatted with them for a while. They told me how much it hurt to watch the vote yesterday where 21 Republicans voted against giving these hero officers the gold medals. They said they wanted to embark on going to those offices to meet the members of Congress, tell them about their experience and hopefully change their minds.”

“So Fanone called me about 20 minutes after he left my office and he was enraged,” continued Swalwell. “He said, is this really how it works around here? … He said that Congressman Clyde, after he refused to shake his hand, pulled out his cell phone and started recording him like he was some sort of criminal, that he had to document the interaction. That’s just where these guys are right now. I saw Clyde on the floor, scared for his life as all of us were, and I saw the brave officers who put their lives in front of ours and everyone else in that building. This is just no way to treat them.” Continue reading.

Alex Jones Says He Coordinated With White House On January 6

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Before Donald Trump’s presidency, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars was considered a fringe outlet in right-wing media circles; even former Fox News pundit Bill O’Reilly dismissed Jones as a buffoon. But the Trump White House treated Infowars like a serious news organization, and according to Free Speech TV, Jones “is now claiming that he coordinated with the Trump White House on the events of January 6.”

Free Speech TV, in a page for David Pakman’s show, explains, “The Infowars host made the claim last week that he even put up $500,000 of his own money to make it happen. Jones said, ‘The White House told me three days before: We’re going to have you lead the march.’ He went on to say that 30 minutes before the end of Trump’s speech at the Rotunda, the Secret Service planned to take Jones out of the crowd to the spot where the march was supposed to begin. He went on to say, ‘Trump will tell people: Go, and I’m going to meet you at the Capitol.’ Jones’ statements are basically a full-on admission about his involvement in the riots, although he can always hide behind saying he did not intend for the rally to get violent.”

Pakman, however, stressed that Jones has a long history of lying. Continue reading.

Trump supporter who led ‘armed fighters’ into the Capitol was just angry about having to wear a mask: lawyers

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According to The Daily Beast, an attorney for Russell Taylor, a California man accused of leading a group of “armed fighters” into the Capitol to stop election certification on January 6, insisted in court that he should be released ahead of trial because he is not really a terrorist or an insurrectionist — he’s just an ordinary guy who was driven to do what he did because he was angry about COVID-19 mask mandates.

“‘He’s kind of boring, this is probably the most exciting thing that’ll happen in his life,’ Taylor’s lawyer, Dyke Huish, said during a Tuesday detention hearing,” reported Pilar Melendez. “‘Really he’s kind of a vanilla kind of guy — though admittedly he was upset about the masks.’ Huish describing his client as ‘moderately successful,’ and a religious man who doesn’t drink and went to Brigham Young University. He insisted that Taylor’s actions during the insurrection were unique and spurred by his anger over the state-wide lockdown and mask mandate. He denied that Taylor is a militiaman — just that his documented violent actions were misunderstood. ‘This was a guy who got mad about the masks and so he got wound up and felt like this was an appropriate thing to do,’ Huish said during the hearing.”

Prosecutors, however, outlined evidence that Taylor wasn’t quite the easygoing family man his lawyer characterized him as. Continue reading.

Congressman reveals new photo from the Capitol riot after Republicans try to ‘memory hole’ the insurrection

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During a hearing this week, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) questioned FBI Director Christopher Wray over the shooting death of Ashli Babbitt, the QAnon-believing woman who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 along with a mob of Trump supporters, saying that she was “executed.”

“It’s disturbing,” Gosar said. “The Capitol Police officer that did that shooting appeared to be hiding, lying in wait and then gave no warning before killing her.”

But Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) doesn’t see it that way. Responding to Gosar’s comments on Twitter, Gallego posted a photo that he took on Jan. 6, showing the mob outside the door where Babbitt was shot. Continue reading.