2020 Election: Predictions, Results and Reactions

[N.E. Brigand]

Among the potential jurors today for Steve Bannon's trial was a Morning Consult reporter named Eli Yokley who said that Bannon has been a source for one of his stories. Yokley was dismissed and will not be on Bannon's jury.

[N.E. Brigand]

The FBI is still identifying and charging insurrectionists. Today, more then 18 months after the attack on the Capitol, saw the arrest of William Hendry Mellors, a Texas man charged on seven counts including "assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers using a dangerous weapon or inflicting bodily injury." He is alleged to have used bear spray against the Capitol police. The FBI found Mellors in part by subpoenaing records from the conservative social media website Parler. Mellors had previously attended another Trump rally with members of the Proud Boys, although he isn't part of that group.

[N.E. Brigand]

The Wall Street Journal published a report today titled "Former GOP Donors Charged in Investment Fraud Scheme Involving Illegal Contributions" with the sub-head: "Two are accused of using foreign nationals' money to make political donations to gain access to then-President Trump and others." Here's the first couple sentences:

The Justice Department charged on Monday two former top Republican donors with operating a fraudulent $27 million investment scheme involving illegal political contributions to help foreign nationals gain access to former President Donald Trump and other U.S. politicians. Business partners Sherry Xue Li and Lianbo Wang are accused of conspiring to make hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations in their own names with money from foreign nationals, including many from China. The defendants concealed the source of the contributions to U.S. candidates and political committees, according to a criminal complaint federal prosecutors filed in Brooklyn.

Emphasis added.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The Bannon trial is finally getting ready to begin. They have picked a jury of 14 people (including 2 alternates), and Bannon's latest request for another delay has been denied by the judge, after addressing a last minute issue regarding the admissibliity of a letter from the select committee to Bannon in October 2021, with references to privilege redacted.

Meanwhile, committee chairman Bennie Thompson has tested positive for Covid, so will not be present for the prime time public hearing on Thursday. Presumably that means that Liz Cheney will preside over the hearing.

[N.E. Brigand]

Last night the Jan. 6th Committee subpoenaed the Secret Service for the missing text messages and other materials. The Committee points out that multiple House committees first asked the Department of Homeland Security (of which the Secret Service operates) for all relevant documents on January 16, 2021, just ten days after the attempted insurrection. Two days ago, the Secret Service issued a statement claiming that they've been fully responsive, but it appears they were playing games with that letter: it says that the systems upgrade (which may have resulted in texts being deleted) was initiated "in January 2021" and that "DHS OIG requested electronic communications for the first time on Feb. 26, 2021, after the migration was under way" (emphasis original).

As others have noted, that's clearly b.s. meant to deceive. When exactly in January 2021 did the project start? Was it before or after the Congressional request on Jan. 16? Why is that request not mentioned?

Oh, and just in the past hour the Guardian reported that the DHS Inspector General yesterday told the Jan. 6th Committee that "the Secret Service’s explanation for the 'erased' texts kept shifting".

At this point, I think the big question will be: did Donald Trump order the text messages to be destroyed or did Tony Ornato come up with the idea on his own?

The Secret Service has informed the January 6th Committee that it cannot find the deleted texts.

The National Archives is investigating whether the Secret Service broke the law by deleting these texts.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

This description of a line from Bannon's attorney's opening statement caught my attention:

Corcoran told the jury that the evidence will be “crystal clear” that “no one, no one believed Steve Bannon was going to appear on Oct. 14, 2021."

That pretty much is true, but the reason why no one believed that Bannon would appear on that date (or anytime soon after) was that everyone knew that he would thumb his nose at the committee. That certainly should not be sufficient to avoid culpability for failing to abide by the subpoena.

[N.E. Brigand]

The Secret Service has informed the January 6th Committee that it cannot find the deleted texts.

The National Archives is investigating whether the Secret Service broke the law by deleting these texts.

"Agents, many of whom protect the president, vice president and other senior government leaders, were instructed to upload any old text messages involving government business to an internal agency drive before the reset . . . but many agents appear not to have done so."

Each of those agents who failed to do so should be required to testify about that -- and at a minimum should lose their jobs if they don't.

[N.E. Brigand]

The Secret Service has informed the January 6th Committee that it cannot find the deleted texts.

The National Archives is investigating whether the Secret Service broke the law by deleting these texts.

"Agents, many of whom protect the president, vice president and other senior government leaders, were instructed to upload any old text messages involving government business to an internal agency drive before the reset . . . but many agents appear not to have done so."

Each of those agents who failed to do so should be required to testify about that -- and at a minimum should lose their jobs if they don't.

CNN reports that the Secret Service did turn over some documents, but not the missing (and possibly permanently lost text messages), and also this:

Congress informed the Secret Service it needed to preserve and produce documents related to January 6 on January 16, 2021, and again on January 25, 2021, for four different committees who were investigating what happened, according to the source. The Secret Service migration did not start until the January 27, 2021.

So the Secret Service started the process of wiping phones after getting two Congressional document-preservation letters?

That sounds criminal to me.

[N.E. Brigand]

This also seems criminal:



Last week!

[River]

Not sure it's criminal for Trump to make the ask or to be a bully. I don't think it's possible for Vos to grant the request, though.

[RoseMorninStar]

I can certainly tell you that Voss is no RHINO, but he has a more 'Trumpian' challenger in the upcoming elections who says Voss hasn't done enough to overturn the election, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Another judge rules Speaker Robin Vos violated public records law in 2020 election review. Voss has been speaker since 2013.

[N.E. Brigand]

Business Insider reports that "An Oklahoma bakery owner faces January 6 charges after her friends tipped off the FBI." Here are photos of the baker, Dova Winegeart, one of which shows her trying to break the glass in a door to the Capitol:



Winegeart texted a friend that day: "Yes we are mad. Yes we want to go inside Capital [sic]. It's our building. Not the governments [sic] ... We are their bosses but get treated like dogs. I'm done with this government. It's fight time non stop now. They asked for it."

This is a useful reminder that even now, a year-and-a-half after the attack, there may be some violent insurrectionists who have yet to be charged.

[elengil]

I am not sure what I think of it, but I find it interesting how many people have been identified by friends or family.

[RoseMorninStar]

Thinking of that woman's words, "...I'm done with this government. It's fight time non stop now. They asked for it." and I'm reminded of an article I read recently about the anti-democratic movement which was begun even before Trump was elected. They believe (probably among others) that Roger Stone and Steve Bannon are behind it. 'Stop the Steal' was a registered domain (they believe by Roger Stone) before Trump was even elected.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

The government has already rested its case against Bannon after calling just two witnesses, a staffer of the 1/6 select committee and an FBI special agent. They essentially made the case that Bannon failed to comply with the subpoena with no justification, culminating in offering Bannon's own social media posts stating that he would never comply. Judge Nichols did allow Bannon's attorney to bring in Trump's recent letter purporting to rescind the executive privilege claim that he never made in the first place, and Bannon's subsequent offer to testify, but I don't it got much traction with the jury. It will be interesting to see what kind of defense Bannon puts on.

[N.E. Brigand]

CNN: "Former Trump White House aide who met with January 6 panel attacks witnesses, lawmakers in profane and sexist rant".

Garrett Ziegler worked in the White House for Peter Navarro, and apparently helped facilitate the insane Dec. 18, 2020 meeting that was the key subject of a recent Committee hearing. He met with the Committee yesterday, and then, in a "27-minute livestream, Ziegler used vulgar and misogynistic language to attack Cassidy Hutchinson and Alyssa Farah Griffin, two women who worked for the Trump White House but have since publicly broken from the former President and cooperated with the January 6 panel. He also accused the January 6 House select committee of being 'anti-White'".

[Voronwë the Faithful]

I tried to find the livestream, but I couldn't find it. Apparently, he basically pleaded the fifth and executive privilege and didn't really provide them with any real information.

[N.E. Brigand]

I tried to find the livestream, but I couldn't find it. Apparently, he basically pleaded the fifth and executive privilege and didn't really provide them with any real information.

There's a small portion of the stream here. In those excerpts Ziegler says that the "Bolshevistic" Jan. 6th Committee was targeting him as a Christian, and so "today was just a lot of saying that I am invoking my right to silence under executive privilege in the Fifth Amendment" (those are actually two separate things). Pardon the crude language, but: he referred to Cassidy Hutchinson and Alyssa Farrah as "total hoes and thots," adding that Farrah is a "hoebag." He described himself as "the least racist person that many of you have ever met" and said that he's "not a fame fag," contrasting himself to speed-talking conservative blogger Ben Shapiro, whom Ziegler described as "selling solar yarmulkes."

(Absolutely hilarious to see Mike Godwin, of internet law fame, explaining to William Gibson, the famous s.f. author who created cyberpunk, what "thot" means.)

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Not surprisingly, before putting on any defense, Bannon's lawyer has made a motion for acquittal. Judge Nichols has called a short recess to consider the motion. I will eat my hat if he grants the motion.

Of course, I'm not actually wearing a hat, but still.

[Voronwë the Faithful]

Bannon's lawyer has confirmed that they will not be putting on any defense. There has not been confirmation yet that I have seen that the judge has denied the motion for acquittal, but that seems to be the implication (because otherwise the case would be over!).