Capitol attack panel faces pivotal moment as Trump allies stonewall

Once again, it isn't about investigating the riot and subsequent breach of the Capitol Building. It's about nailing the case on Trump.

Who the fuck didn't know that from the outset?

He and his rat pack were the architects of the riot.  He deserves to get nailed.

Once again, it isn't about investigating the riot and subsequent breach of the Capitol Building. It's about nailing the case on Trump. Who the fuck didn't know that from the outset?

Of course.

As a group, they are amazingly uninspiring candidates.  Their best hopes for re-election are firmly rooted in keeping their based terrified about Trump.

Fox Nation is airing Patriot Purge to tell the full truth of what happened on 1-6 and bitter neocon Cheney is having a fit.   

I believe what FOX is airing is actually called Patriot Poutrage.

Not that there’s anything Patriot about congress woman Cheney but she’s expressed outrage at Tucker and Fox News for airing this expose of what happened that day.  She actually had the nerve to demand that Fox censor him.  Poor neocon coward.  

The day after the Jan 6 riot/insurrection, Republican after republican stood up in Congress and laid the blame at the feet of Donald Trump. Why?  Because they had seen him on tv the previous morning inciting the riot. It is actually captured for posterity on video. And there was also the small thing of Trump tweeting out love to the rioters, as the riot was going on , telling them that they had been cheated out of a great victory in the election, and thus they should remember the events at the Capitol Building for the rest of their lives. 

Everyone saw this, and the Republicans almost to a man or woman condemned Trump the next day or the day after.  But then, Trump, instead of slinking away in disgrace, dug in his heels and all of the sudden the Republicans began swallowing their tongues. Lets look at both sides of the story they began to say. Now their subservience to Trump is total. About a half dozen of the appx 265 republicans in Congress have shown any balls at all about this.  The other 260 are , at best "see no evil" about it all. 

Yes the committee is investigating Trump over Jan 6.   How the hell could they not be? 

The link embedded in the story at the Guardian is 'fun'.

"These Trump fans were at the Capitol on 6 January. Now they’re running for office"

theguardian

So the hell what? Is the media going to hyperventilate the same damn way when far leftist rioters decide to run for office?

Also, just attending the protest is not an unlawful act; no matter how badly the left want to do away with free speech they don't agree with.

Still more were outside, milling around and protesting against the lawful election of Joe Biden.

Teddy Daniels is running for Congress in Pennsylvania, where he aims to oust Representative Matt Cartwright. On 6 January he was at the US Capitol, where he posted a video as people surged into the building.

lengthy Snopes investigation found that Forte attended the Capitol riot, where she livestreamed videos from outside the building.

According to Snopes, Forte also “entered a restricted area after the crowd knocked down barriers that law enforcement installed”. In a photo posted on the day of the riot, Forte was wearing what appeared to be black body armor. The picture was captioned “1776”.

The Daily Beast, after analysing social media posts, reported that Van Orden entered a restricted area during the riot, contradicting an op-ed Van Orden wrote for the La Crosse Tribune newspaper in mid-January.

“When it became clear that a protest had become a mob, I left the area as to remain there could be construed as tacitly approving this unlawful conduct. At no time did I enter the grounds, let alone the building,” Van Orden wrote.

Wow, milling around and protesting. What the hell were they thinking, that they had a right to peacefully assemble and protest? Seems the same standards don't apply to far right protestors that tried to separate themselves from violence that were given to BLM, Antifa, and far left protesters across the US. Oh, and for those too stupid to do the damn research; which obviously applies to this author; the police did nothing to bar people from entering restricted areas after the riot was over.

legalinsurrection

After explaining that the government possesses “[t]housands of hours” of video footage from a variety of sources, they conceded these materials include recordings of Capitol Police Officers allowing protesters to enter the so-called “restricted” area into which Griffin is alleged to have trespassed. The prosecutors stated:

“[W]e are not in a position to turn over the universe of information we possess for Defendant to review. Although we are aware that we possess some information that the defense may view as supportive of arguments that law enforcement authorized defendants (including Defendant) to enter the restricted grounds, e.g., images of officers hugging or fist-bumping rioters, posing for photos with rioters, and moving bike racks , we are not in a position to state whether we have identified all such information” (emphasis is mine).

Let’s underline that point: federal prosecutors have evidence – which so far they refuse to provide to any of the Jan. 6 criminal defendants – that Capitol Police Department officers moved obstructions to allow protesters to enter locations that prosecutors are now calling “restricted areas.” And more than that, the government possesses evidence that the officers were taking photos with, hugging and fist-bumping many of those who they allowed to enter those areas.

Add to this the fact that of the course of an hour and a half, Griffin was never asked to leave the area by the police – an assertion by Griffin that the prosecutors do not challenge – and it becomes clear that the government is going to have a serious problem meeting its burden of proof.

Indeed, 18 USC § 1752(a) prohibits individuals from” knowingly enter[ing] or remain[ing] in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority to do so.” The Supreme Court held in Bryan v. United States that for a defendant to have acted willfully, he must have “acted with knowledge that his conduct was unlawful.”

But if the Capitol Police were allowing the protesters to access certain areas that the feds now claim were “restricted,” or were acting in a way that communicated their acquiescence or approval of the protesters’ physical presence in those locations, there is simply no way that the government can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that those protesters-cum-criminal defendants broke the law.

At the bail hearing, Chief Judge Howell presaged this issue, stating:

“The charge under 18 U.S.C. 1752(a)(1) with which Mr. Griffin is charged, you know, does require more than simply having – simply presenting proof of the fact that Mr. Griffin jumped over some fences or barriers, you know, to get onto the Capitol grounds …. that fact alone doesn’t constitute a crime under Section 1752(a)(1) …. In addition to breaching barriers of a restricted space, the Government also has to prove that the defendant knowingly entered this restricted building without lawful authority ” (emphasis is mine).

This week’s revelation by federal prosecutors that Capitol Police Officers either explicitly or implicitly authorized protesters to enter the very portions of the Capitol grounds that those protesters are now being charged with trespassing onto guts the government’s case.

It was hardly surprising news then that federal prosecutors offered Griffin a confidential plea deal this week.  In all likelihood, the prosecutors know that they can’t prevail at trial and so are doing whatever they can to scotch the matter as quickly and quietly as possible before they have to disclose the exculpatory evidence in their possession.

Once that material is provided to the defense, Griffin and others may well choose to take their cases to the mat.  And an acquittal at trial for a Jan. 6 defendant – let alone several of them – would be an enormous humiliation for the Department of Justice.

abcnews.go

At least 29 people arrested for their role in the Jan. 6 events have claimed they thought they were free to enter the Capitol because law enforcement authorities either didn't stop them from coming in or never told them they were not allowed to be there, according to affidavits and court filings reviewed by ABC News.

"He was not at the front of the lines, he didn't see barricades being knocked down, he didn't see officers getting assaulted, he didn't see anything other than large crowds at the Capitol," Thomas Mayr, the lawyer for Christopher Grider, one of the people accused of participating in the riot, told ABC News. "He went through an open door."

Grider, of Texas, is one of dozens of suspected rioters who claimed to be unaware they were not allowed inside -- some of whom argued that they were actually ushered in by officers. He now faces multiple charges including violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds.

Jacob Lewis of California told investigators he was never told that he could not enter the Capitol, and that he was "escorted" by police into the building. When reached by ABC News, Lewis said he would be releasing video footage to "back up his story." He declined to share the video with ABC News. Lewis was indicted on four misdemeanor charges, including disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building.