Trump supporters behaving like the bags of ass that they are
- Thread starter PliggaNease
- Start date
Mustve gotten turned away cause no one else is reporting on this..
GOP Oversight Chair Says He’s Lost Track of His Biden Corruption Informant
A top witness in a Republican investigation into the Biden family has apparently up and disappeared without a trace—or at least that’s what Rep. James Comer (R-KY) said Sunday on Fox News.On Wednesday, Comer—the chairman of the House Oversight Committee—held a much-hyped press conference in which he promised to expose the preliminary findings of four months’ worth of scrutiny into the Biden family’s business dealings. Publicized as a “judgment day” for President Joe Biden, the conference ultimately proved anticlimactic, largely consisting of Comer throwing around vague, unsubstantiated accusations and failing to link the president to any of his relatives’ alleged “influence peddling.”
But on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, Comer offered up what appeared to be a partial excuse: The probe’s primary informant had flown the coop.
“Well, unfortunately, we can’t track down the informant,” the Kentucky representative told host Maria Bartiromo. “We’re hopeful that the informant is still there. The whistleblower knows the informant. The whistleblower is very credible.”
A credulous Bartiromo interrupted. “Hold on a second, Congressman. Did you just say that the whistleblower or the informant is now missing?”
“Well, we’re hopeful that we can find the informant,” Comer said. “Remember, these informants are kind of in the spy business, so they don’t make a habit of being seen a lot or being high profile or anything like that.”
With this sort-of-spy having apparently melted into the shadows, Comer said that Republicans had “basic information with respect” to what they had alleged, “and it’s very serious.” He went on to briefly outline an alleged “quid pro quo” deal for foreign aid between an Obama-era Biden and an unnamed country. “This is a very serious accusation,” Comer repeated.
He explained to Bartiromo that “nine of the ten people that we’ve identified that have very good knowledge with respect to the Bidens—they’re one of three things, Maria. They’re either currently in court, they're currently in jail, or they're currently missing.”
Comer implied hazily that witnesses were being intimidated by an unnamed force within the White House, and that Democrats on the Oversight Committee were playing “criminal defense attorney” to the Bidens.
“Absolutely extraordinary,” Bartiromo remarked. She later concluded the segment by saying, “Just stunning. A stunning breaking news story this morning that some of these people now may be missing.”
Bartiromo is one of the few voices—even at Fox—willing to take Comer’s claims at face value. On Thursday, her colleague Steve Doocey interviewed the Kentuckian with considerable skepticism.
“Your party, the Republican investigators, say that that’s proof of influence peddling by Hunter and James [Biden], but that’s just your suggestion,” Doocey said. “You don’t actually have any facts to that point. You’ve got some circumstantial evidence.”
“Of all those names,” he added, “the one person who didn’t profit—there’s no evidence that Joe Biden did anything illegally.”
Less than an hour later, Comer jumped into an interview with none other than Bartiromo, promising her that Republicans would “move forward with plan B,” without elaborating.
January 6 rioter shot in face by police sentenced to nearly two years in prison
Matthew Black was the first rioter to breach a barricade, and later rummaged through Ted Cruz’s desk as the senator hid in a closet
Associated Press in Washington
Tue 16 May 2023 17.48 EDT
amp.theguardian.com
A Capitol rioter from Alabama who was shot in the face by police but still invaded Congress with a knife on his hip and rummaged through Ted Cruz’s desk while the Texas senator hid in a closet, was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly two years in prison.
On 6 January 2021, outside the Capitol in Washington, a police officer shot Joshua Matthew Black in his left cheek with a crowd-control munition. The resulting bloody hole in his face did not stop Black from occupying the Senate with other rioters after lawmakers ran.
Matthew Black
Matthew Black was the first rioter to breach a barricade, and later rummaged through Ted Cruz’s desk as the senator hid in a closet
Associated Press in Washington
Tue 16 May 2023 17.48 EDT
January 6 rioter shot in face by police sentenced to nearly two years in prison
Matthew Black was the first rioter to breach a barricade, and later rummaged through Ted Cruz’s desk as the senator hid in a closet
A Capitol rioter from Alabama who was shot in the face by police but still invaded Congress with a knife on his hip and rummaged through Ted Cruz’s desk while the Texas senator hid in a closet, was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly two years in prison.
On 6 January 2021, outside the Capitol in Washington, a police officer shot Joshua Matthew Black in his left cheek with a crowd-control munition. The resulting bloody hole in his face did not stop Black from occupying the Senate with other rioters after lawmakers ran.
Matthew Black
Why weren't more of the rioters repelled with non lethal munitions?January 6 rioter shot in face by police sentenced to nearly two years in prison
Matthew Black was the first rioter to breach a barricade, and later rummaged through Ted Cruz’s desk as the senator hid in a closet
Associated Press in Washington
Tue 16 May 2023 17.48 EDT
January 6 rioter shot in face by police sentenced to nearly two years in prison
Matthew Black was the first rioter to breach a barricade, and later rummaged through Ted Cruz’s desk as the senator hid in a closet
A Capitol rioter from Alabama who was shot in the face by police but still invaded Congress with a knife on his hip and rummaged through Ted Cruz’s desk while the Texas senator hid in a closet, was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly two years in prison.
On 6 January 2021, outside the Capitol in Washington, a police officer shot Joshua Matthew Black in his left cheek with a crowd-control munition. The resulting bloody hole in his face did not stop Black from occupying the Senate with other rioters after lawmakers ran.
Matthew Black
Reporter Slammed For 'Both Sides' Tweet On Man Who Carries AR-15 At School Bus Stop
A Maryland reporter got scolded Thursday on social media for soft-pedaling his story about a local man who routinely carries an AR-15-style rifle near a school bus stop in Severn.“Tonight on @wbaltv11: A man with an AR-15 has been showing up for weeks to a school bus drop off for local elementary school students,” tweeted Tolly Taylor, a journalist for NBC affiliate WBAL-TV.
“Parents say their kids are afraid, the man says he’s protesting @GovWesMoore’s new gun control law,” Taylor added, using the Twitter handle for Democratic Gov. Wes Moore. “You’ll hear from both sides at 5+6pm.”
Tolly Taylor's tweet.
It was his “both sides” framing that rankled critics. The comment brought to mind former President Donald Trump’s remark about “very fine people on both sides” of a 2017 white supremacist rally in Virginia that was also attended by counterprotesters, one of whom was killed by a neo-Nazi.
It also wasn’t the best choice of words given the chilling sight of an aggrieved, gun-toting man parading around a bus stop amid a rash of school shootings nationwide.
“Nope…there are not two sides of bringing an assault weapon to an elementary school bus stop,” tweeted MSNBC’s Jen Psaki, the former White House press secretary for President Joe Biden.
“‘Both sides’? Seriously?” her MSNBC colleague Mehdi Hasan wrote. “I feel like I am losing my mind. STOP WITH THE BOTHSIDES-ISM!”
The man with the rifle, J’den McAdory, told WBAL-TV that he was asserting his legal right. Police in Anne Arundel County, where Severn is located, said he’s not violating the law.
One understandably freaked-out parent told Taylor that it could be “too late” if something is not done soon. And the school even changed its dismissal time Monday because of the issue.
Taylor reported that McAdory eventually agreed not to protest during school drop-off or pickup.
D.C. police lieutenant indicted on charge of tipping off Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio about arrest
After Jan. 6, Lt. Shane Lamond said he supported the group and didn't "want to see your group’s name or reputation dragged through the mud," an indictment alleged.
By Ryan J. Reilly
May 19, 2023, 10:11 AM EDT / Updated May 19, 2023, 12:00 PM EDT
www.nbcnews.com
WASHINGTON — A Metropolitan Police Department lieutenant who supervised the intelligence branch of the Washington, D.C., police was indicted this week, charged with tipping off former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio about a pending warrant for his arrest just ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Tarrio, the former chair of the Proud Boys, was recently found guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol attack, along with other members of the far-right group. Tarrio was not in Washington on Jan. 6 after his arrest in connection with the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner, as he was banned from the city by a judge the day before the attack.
Shane Lamond, 47, was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said Friday. A federal grand jury charged Lamond with obstructing the investigation into the burning of the banner Dec. 12, 2020, when the Proud Boys were roaming the streets of Washington for a pro-Trump event.
Between July 2019 and January 2021, Tarrio and Lamond communicated "at least 500 times using cloud-based messaging services, including Google Voice, Apple iMessages, and Telegram, an encrypted messaging application," the indictment said. They sent approximately 145 messages using a secret chat function on Telegram that causes messages to disappear, the indictment charged, adding “at least 101 of these messages were destroyed.”
Lamond was in communication with Tarrio about the banner investigation and advised Tarrio that he told another unit within the police department, trying to convince them that the Proud Boys weren't racist, the indictment said.
"I told them you are made up a lot of Latinos and blacks so not a racist thing. If anything I said it's political but then I drew attention to the Trump and American flags that were taken by Antifa and set on fire," Lamond wrote in a message contained in the indictment. "I said all those would have to be classified as hate crimes too."
Lamond sent a similar message to an official with the U.S. Capitol Police, also cited by the indictment, saying that he'd told his colleagues that if they charged Tarrio with a hate crime, they'd have to charge what he called "Antifa hate crimes." (There's no federal law that makes politically motivated attacks a hate crime, but Washington law does allow for a sentencing enhancement if a locally charged crime can be proven to be based on the "political affiliation of a victim.")
While on a flight from Miami to the Washington area Jan. 4, 2021, Tarrio relayed information he received from Lamond about his pending warrant to another person, the grand jury said. Tarrio was arrested when he arrived in Washington the same day.
After the Jan. 6 attack, Lamond and Tarrio continued communicating, with Tarrio telling Lamond he thought he "could have stopped this whole thing," meaning the Capitol attack, in another message cited by the indictment.
Lamond said Jan. 8 that he hoped that none of the Proud Boys would be arrested, according to the indictment.
"Of course I can't say it officially, but personally I support you all and don't want to see your group's name or reputation dragged through the mud," he said in that message.
Lamond will be arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui on Friday.
After Jan. 6, Lt. Shane Lamond said he supported the group and didn't "want to see your group’s name or reputation dragged through the mud," an indictment alleged.
By Ryan J. Reilly
May 19, 2023, 10:11 AM EDT / Updated May 19, 2023, 12:00 PM EDT
D.C. police lieutenant indicted on charge of tipping off Proud Boy Enrique Tarrio about arrest
After Jan. 6, Lt. Shane Lamond said he supported the group and didn't "want to see your group’s name or reputation dragged through the mud," an indictment alleged.
WASHINGTON — A Metropolitan Police Department lieutenant who supervised the intelligence branch of the Washington, D.C., police was indicted this week, charged with tipping off former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio about a pending warrant for his arrest just ahead of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Tarrio, the former chair of the Proud Boys, was recently found guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the Capitol attack, along with other members of the far-right group. Tarrio was not in Washington on Jan. 6 after his arrest in connection with the burning of a Black Lives Matter banner, as he was banned from the city by a judge the day before the attack.
Shane Lamond, 47, was indicted on one count of obstruction of justice and three counts of making false statements, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia said Friday. A federal grand jury charged Lamond with obstructing the investigation into the burning of the banner Dec. 12, 2020, when the Proud Boys were roaming the streets of Washington for a pro-Trump event.
Between July 2019 and January 2021, Tarrio and Lamond communicated "at least 500 times using cloud-based messaging services, including Google Voice, Apple iMessages, and Telegram, an encrypted messaging application," the indictment said. They sent approximately 145 messages using a secret chat function on Telegram that causes messages to disappear, the indictment charged, adding “at least 101 of these messages were destroyed.”
Lamond was in communication with Tarrio about the banner investigation and advised Tarrio that he told another unit within the police department, trying to convince them that the Proud Boys weren't racist, the indictment said.
"I told them you are made up a lot of Latinos and blacks so not a racist thing. If anything I said it's political but then I drew attention to the Trump and American flags that were taken by Antifa and set on fire," Lamond wrote in a message contained in the indictment. "I said all those would have to be classified as hate crimes too."
Lamond sent a similar message to an official with the U.S. Capitol Police, also cited by the indictment, saying that he'd told his colleagues that if they charged Tarrio with a hate crime, they'd have to charge what he called "Antifa hate crimes." (There's no federal law that makes politically motivated attacks a hate crime, but Washington law does allow for a sentencing enhancement if a locally charged crime can be proven to be based on the "political affiliation of a victim.")
While on a flight from Miami to the Washington area Jan. 4, 2021, Tarrio relayed information he received from Lamond about his pending warrant to another person, the grand jury said. Tarrio was arrested when he arrived in Washington the same day.
After the Jan. 6 attack, Lamond and Tarrio continued communicating, with Tarrio telling Lamond he thought he "could have stopped this whole thing," meaning the Capitol attack, in another message cited by the indictment.
Lamond said Jan. 8 that he hoped that none of the Proud Boys would be arrested, according to the indictment.
"Of course I can't say it officially, but personally I support you all and don't want to see your group's name or reputation dragged through the mud," he said in that message.
Lamond will be arraigned before U.S. Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui on Friday.
Why was this massive Trump scandal hiding in plain sight for 28 months?
A shocking allegation that then-President Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani was selling pardons for $2 million got lost. Why it matters now.
www.inquirer.com
Pro-Trump Tucker Carlson Regular Comes Right Out and Says It: ‘This Country Needs a Dictator’
Podcaster Jesse Kelly, who appeared frequently on Fox News' now-defunct Tucker Carlson Show, made a stunning claim Tuesday that goes against the Constitution he swore to uphold as a U.S. Marine: "This country needs a dictator."
www.mediaite.com
TEXAS LEGISLATURE 2023
Texas AG Ken Paxton reaches $3.3 million settlement with former employees in whistleblower case
The Texas Legislature will have to approve the settlement agreement, which will be paid for with public dollars.www.wfaa.com
Texas AG Ken Paxton reaches $3.3 million settlement with former employees in whistleblower case
The Texas Legislature will have to approve the settlement agreement, which will be paid for with public dollar$.
Investigators detail years of alleged misconduct by Texas AG Ken Paxton in stunning House committee hearing
Many allegations against Paxton were already known, but the airing of them revealed the scope of the investigation by the committee, which has the power to recommend censure or impeachment.BY ZACH DESPART AND JAMES BARRAGÁN MAY 24, 2023
A Texas House committee heard stunning testimony Wednesday from investigators over allegations of a yearslong pattern of misconduct and questionable actions by Attorney General Ken Paxton, the result of a probe the committee had secretly authorized in March.
In painstaking and methodical detail in a rare public forum, four investigators for the House General Investigating Committee testified that their inquiry focused first on a proposed $3.3 million agreement to settle a whistleblower lawsuit filed by four high-ranking deputies who were fired after accusing Paxton of accepting bribes and other misconduct.
Many of the allegations were already known, but the public airing of them revealed the wide scope of the committee’s investigation into the state’s top lawyer and a member of the ruling Republican Party. The investigative committee has broad power to investigate state officials for wrongdoing, and three weeks ago the House expelled Bryan Slaton, R-Royse City, on its recommendation.
In this case, it could recommend the House censure or impeach Paxton — a new threat to an attorney general who has for years survived scandals and been reelected twice despite securities fraud charges in 2015 and news of a federal investigation into the whistleblowers’ claims in 2020.
Erin Epley, lead counsel for the investigating committee, said the inquiry also delved into the whistleblowers’ allegations by conducting multiple interviews with employees of Paxton’s agency — many of whom expressed fears of retaliation by Paxton if their testimony were to be revealed — as well as the whistleblowers and others with pertinent information.
According to state law, Epley told the committee in a hearing at the Capitol, a government official cannot fire or retaliate against “a public employee who in good faith reports a violation of law … to an appropriate law enforcement authority.”
The four whistleblowers, however, were fired months after telling federal and state investigators about their concerns over Paxton’s actions on behalf of Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor and a friend and political donor to Paxton.
“Each of these four men is a conservative Republican civil servant,” Epley said. “Interviews show that they wanted to be loyal to General Paxton and they tried to advise him well, often and strongly, and when that failed each was fired after reporting General Paxton to law enforcement.”
Epley and the other investigators then walked the committee through the whistleblowers’ allegations, including help Paxton gave Paul that went beyond his normal scope of his duties.
“I ask that you look at the pattern and the deviations from the norm, questions not just of criminal activity but of ethical impropriety and for lacking in transparency,” investigator Erin Epley told the committee. “I ask you to consider the benefits [for Paxton].”
Minutes into the hearing, Paxton called into a Dallas radio show and blasted the investigation as unprecedented. As for the settlement, Paxton told host Mark Davis that his office always knew it would be the Legislature's decision whether to authorize taxpayer money for it.
“So this is a level that is shocking to me, especially from a Republican House,” Paxton said. “This is what they have time to do as opposed to some of the important things like school choice or fixing the fact that the Court of Criminal Appeals struck down my ability to prosecute voter fraud.”
Paxton was referring to Gov. Greg Abbott’s priority proposal this legislative session to divert taxpayer dollars to let parents take their kids out of public schools. The proposal has encountered stiff resistance in the House and remains one of the big pending issues before the session ends Monday.
As the hearing unfolded, Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy nonprofit, called on Paxton to resign.
“If he refuses to go willingly, the Texas Legislature must act to remove him,” Adrian Shelley, Public Citizen's Texas director, said in a statement. “A running series of scandals and an alleged pattern of corruption have clouded Paxton’s entire time in office. The people of Texas simply can’t trust that he is working for their interests, not his.”
The hearing capped a whirlwind 24 hours at the Capitol where Paxton unexpectedly called on Speaker Dade Phelan to resign, alleging the Beaumont Republican recently presided over the chamber while drunk. Hours later, the investigative committee revealed it was looking into Paxton, and Phelan dismissed the attorney general’s request that he step down as a “last ditch effort to save face.”
Committee investigators said their probe involved Paxton’s actions to help Paul, who contributed $25,000 to Paxton’s campaign in 2018.
The relationship between Paxton and Paul was the basis of whistleblower complaints to state and federal authorities, alleging that Paxton had used his office to benefit his friend. That sparked an FBI investigation in November 2020.
The committee introduced a team of five investigators, including multiple attorneys who had served as prosecutors specializing in white collar crime and public integrity cases.
The team included Epley, a former prosecutor for Harris County and Ryan Patrick, a Donald Trump-appointed U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Texas and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s son; Terese Buess, a veteran prosecutor with the Harris County district attorney’s office; Mark Donnelly, who served 12 years as a prosecutor for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of Texas and served for two years as that office’s fraud division chief, specializing in white collar crimes; Donna Cameron, a career prosecutor in various Texas counties with experience prosecuting public officials; and Brian Benken, a former prosecutor with the Harris County district attorney’s office with more than 30 years of legal experience. The group also worked with a former Houston Police Department officer in its investigation.
Murr said the team made up more than 120 years of legal experience.
The investigators interviewed 15 employees for the attorney general’s office, including Joshua Godby, who worked for the open records division when Paxton pressured the division’s staff to get involved in a records fight to benefit Paul in a lawsuit.
Out of the 15 people, investigators said, all except one expressed concern about retaliation from Paxton for speaking on the matter. The investigators also interviewed a special prosecutor, Brian Wice, in a separate securities fraud case that has been ongoing for eight years, as well as representatives for the Mitte Foundation, an Austin nonprofit involved in a legal dispute with Paul.
The investigators outlined the alleged favors Paxton did for Paul. In exchange, Paul helped with a “floor to ceiling renovation” of Paxton’s Austin home and employed a woman with whom Paxton was allegedly in a relationship. Paxton is married to state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, who learned of the affair in 2019, leading to a brief hiatus before it resumed in 2020, Epley told the committee.
The investigative committee has broad power to investigate potential wrongdoing by House members as well as officials and departments throughout state government. It can subpoena witnesses and records and recommend the impeachment of state officials.
This session, the committee’s three Republicans and two Democrats have demonstrated they take this oversight role seriously. The committee quickly investigated allegations that Slaton had an inappropriate sexual relationship with a 19-year-old aide in his office and also provided her alcohol. The committee’s report found these claims to be true, and the House on May 9 expelled Slaton based on its recommendation.
Only the Texas House can bring impeachment proceedings against state officials, which would lead to a trial by the Senate. Removal requires two-thirds support in both chambers. This has only happened twice in Texas history, to Gov. James Ferguson in 1917 and District Judge O.P. Carrillo in 1975.
Even though the regular legislative session will end on May 29, the House investigative committee can meet whenever it pleases. A special session to consider impeachment can only take place, however, with the permission of the governor, the House speaker and 50 members, or a majority of all House members.
Georgia GOP Chair is a flat-earther and says we are being brainwashed by "globes everywhere"
www.rollingstone.com
Georgia GOP Chair is a flat-earther and says we are being brainwashed by "globes everywhere"
Move over Marjorie Taylor Greene! Georgia has another very stable MAGA genius named Kandiss Taylor who shares your intelligence, self-confidence, and ability to see through bullshit and tell it like…
boingboing.net
Georgia GOP Chair Goes Full Flat-Earth, Says Globes Are Part of a Conspiracy
“Every store, you buy a globe. There’s globes everywhere. Every movie, every TV show, news media — why? It doesn’t make sense.”
www.rollingstone.com
Last edited:
Oath Keepers founder sentenced to 18 years in Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case
Stewart Rhodes, who said after the Capitol attack that the rioters “should have brought rifles," received the longest sentence of any Jan. 6 defendant to date.
By Ryan J. Reilly, Daniel Barnes and Gary Grumbach
May 25, 2023, 12:59 PM EDT / Updated May 25, 2023, 1:12 PM EDT
www.nbcnews.com
Stewart Rhodes at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol following his conviction on seditious conspiracy.
The sentence for Stewart Rhodes is the longest imposed on a Jan. 6 defendant to date. “You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country and to the republic and to the very fabric of this democracy," Judge Amit Mehta said before handing down the sentence.
Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November along with Kelly Meggs, a fellow Oath Keepers member who will be sentenced later Thursday afternoon.
"They won't fear us until we come with rifles in hand," Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of the Jan. 6 attack. After the attack, in a recording that was played in court during his trial, he said his only regret was that they “should have brought rifles.”
When given the chance to speak before sentencing, Rhodes, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, called himself a "political prisoner" and said he believes the only crime he committed was opposing those who are “destroying our country.” He added that he hopes former President Donald Trump wins in 2024.
Mehta told Rhodes that he was found guilty of seditious conspiracy “not because of your beliefs, not because you supported the other guy, not because Joe Biden is president right now,” but because of the facts of the case, and his actions before, during and after Jan. 6.
“You are not a political prisoner, Mr. Rhodes,” Mehta said.
Rhodes and Meggs were put on trial alongside Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell, fellow Oath Keepers who were convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, but not seditious conspiracy. Watkins and Harrelson will be sentenced on Friday.
Rhodes took the stand in his case, saying that the other members of the Oath Keepers were "stupid" to storm the Capitol and that he disagreed with those who went inside; Rhodes did not enter the building. “I had no idea that any Oath Keeper was even thinking about going inside or would go inside,” Rhodes said.
But the government also produced messages in which Rhodes said he thought that Jan. 6 was the last opportunity to stop what he saw as a takeover of the government.
"On the 6th, they are going to put the final nail in the coffin of this Republic, unless we fight our way out. With Trump (preferably) or without him, we have no choice," Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of Jan. 6.
He also celebrated Oath Keepers' actions in the immediate aftermath of the attack, after meeting with other members of the group at an Olive Garden in Virginia that night.
“Patriots, it was a long day but a day when patriots began to stand," Rhodes wrote the night of Jan. 6. "Stand now or kneel forever. Honor your oaths. Remember your legacy."
Prior to Thursday's sentence, Peter Schwartz, who was armed with a wooden tire knocker and engaged in a series of assaults on officers during the Capitol attack, had received the longest time behind bars for a Jan. 6 defendant: just over 14 years. Schwartz had 38 prior convictions.
Meanwhile in Mare Lago….
Stewart Rhodes, who said after the Capitol attack that the rioters “should have brought rifles," received the longest sentence of any Jan. 6 defendant to date.
By Ryan J. Reilly, Daniel Barnes and Gary Grumbach
May 25, 2023, 12:59 PM EDT / Updated May 25, 2023, 1:12 PM EDT
Oath Keepers founder sentenced to 18 years in Jan. 6 seditious conspiracy case
Stewart Rhodes, who said after the Capitol attack that the rioters “should have brought rifles," received the longest sentence of any Jan. 6 defendant to date.
Stewart Rhodes at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
The founder of the far-right Oath Keepers has been sentenced to 18 years in federal prison in connection with the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol following his conviction on seditious conspiracy.
The sentence for Stewart Rhodes is the longest imposed on a Jan. 6 defendant to date. “You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country and to the republic and to the very fabric of this democracy," Judge Amit Mehta said before handing down the sentence.
Rhodes was convicted of seditious conspiracy in November along with Kelly Meggs, a fellow Oath Keepers member who will be sentenced later Thursday afternoon.
"They won't fear us until we come with rifles in hand," Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of the Jan. 6 attack. After the attack, in a recording that was played in court during his trial, he said his only regret was that they “should have brought rifles.”
When given the chance to speak before sentencing, Rhodes, wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, called himself a "political prisoner" and said he believes the only crime he committed was opposing those who are “destroying our country.” He added that he hopes former President Donald Trump wins in 2024.
Mehta told Rhodes that he was found guilty of seditious conspiracy “not because of your beliefs, not because you supported the other guy, not because Joe Biden is president right now,” but because of the facts of the case, and his actions before, during and after Jan. 6.
“You are not a political prisoner, Mr. Rhodes,” Mehta said.
Rhodes and Meggs were put on trial alongside Jessica Watkins, Kenneth Harrelson and Thomas Caldwell, fellow Oath Keepers who were convicted of obstruction of an official proceeding and aiding and abetting, but not seditious conspiracy. Watkins and Harrelson will be sentenced on Friday.
Rhodes took the stand in his case, saying that the other members of the Oath Keepers were "stupid" to storm the Capitol and that he disagreed with those who went inside; Rhodes did not enter the building. “I had no idea that any Oath Keeper was even thinking about going inside or would go inside,” Rhodes said.
But the government also produced messages in which Rhodes said he thought that Jan. 6 was the last opportunity to stop what he saw as a takeover of the government.
"On the 6th, they are going to put the final nail in the coffin of this Republic, unless we fight our way out. With Trump (preferably) or without him, we have no choice," Rhodes wrote in a message ahead of Jan. 6.
He also celebrated Oath Keepers' actions in the immediate aftermath of the attack, after meeting with other members of the group at an Olive Garden in Virginia that night.
“Patriots, it was a long day but a day when patriots began to stand," Rhodes wrote the night of Jan. 6. "Stand now or kneel forever. Honor your oaths. Remember your legacy."
Prior to Thursday's sentence, Peter Schwartz, who was armed with a wooden tire knocker and engaged in a series of assaults on officers during the Capitol attack, had received the longest time behind bars for a Jan. 6 defendant: just over 14 years. Schwartz had 38 prior convictions.
Meanwhile in Mare Lago….
DeSantis says he’ll consider pardoning Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump
DeSantis says he’ll consider pardoning Jan. 6 defendants, including Trump
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) said Thursday that if elected president, he will consider pardoning all the Jan. 6 defendants — including former President Trump — on his first day in office. “On day …
thehill.com
Newly Freed ‘QAnon Shaman’ Just Can’t Keep His Mouth Shut
Stephanie Keith/ReutersJust hours after being released from federal custody Thursday, Jacob Chansley, the convicted Jan. 6 rioter dubbed “Qanon Shaman” for his distinctive Capitol riot costume, is back on Twitter. And it appears he isn’t giving up the bit.In his first post back, Chansley...
Did not listen to it all .....
BUT is a white version of this
Republicans triggered by Homeland Security chart showing right-wing extremism begins with GOP activism
Far-right groups are complaining about being included in a Department of Homeland Security chart called the "Pathways toward terrorism" which includes research on terrorism and political violence and was written in 2008 by Sophia Moskalenko and Clark McCauley.
Arizona Republicans Embrace QAnon With Quack Covid Hearing
A new committee has adopted a hashtag from the conspiracy theory’s followers, and is holding a two-day anti-vax circus at the state Capitol
ARIZONA REPUBLICANS ARE hosting a two-day, QAnon-inflected, anti-vaccine circus at the statehouse — focused on supposed “atrocities” committed by public health officials in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The hearings, which began this morning, are organized by a new state Senate body, the Novel Coronavirus South Western Intergovernmental Committee. The committee’s chosen acronym — NCSWIC, which has been plastered on posters promoting the hearings — offers unusual cross-branding. It shares the abbreviation of an infamous QAnon catchphrase, “Nothing Can Stop What Is Coming.
www.rollingstone.com
A new committee has adopted a hashtag from the conspiracy theory’s followers, and is holding a two-day anti-vax circus at the state Capitol
ARIZONA REPUBLICANS ARE hosting a two-day, QAnon-inflected, anti-vaccine circus at the statehouse — focused on supposed “atrocities” committed by public health officials in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The hearings, which began this morning, are organized by a new state Senate body, the Novel Coronavirus South Western Intergovernmental Committee. The committee’s chosen acronym — NCSWIC, which has been plastered on posters promoting the hearings — offers unusual cross-branding. It shares the abbreviation of an infamous QAnon catchphrase, “Nothing Can Stop What Is Coming.
Arizona Republicans Embrace QAnon With Quack Covid Hearing
A new committee has adopted a hashtag from the conspiracy theory’s followers, and is holding a two-day anti-vax circus at the state Capitol
www.rollingstone.com
Similar threads
