January 6th legal proceedings and investigations megathread

[GeorgiaModerate]

If (like me) you're not in a position to watch the hearing live, here's a good live tweet feed: https://twitter.com/HC_Richardson

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/oliverdarcy/status/1536366363425505281

[emailking]

Barr said that Trump handed him a report that he claimed was definitive proof of fraud in the Dominion voting machines. Trump went on and on about the report and said it meant he would get a 2nd term. Barr said the report looked amateurish, the authors did not appear to have proper credentials, and its conclusions were not supported by facts in the report. He said he thought if Trump believed this, he must have become detached from reality.

[Torie]

The one thing I found interesting from today's hearing is the following narrative. Long, long before election night (like 3-4 months before), Trump had this scenario in mind that he would be ahead in the early and election day vote as the votes were counted and released to the media, but as the VBM's came in he would fall behind, and that he would then characterize the valid VBM votes as ballot box stuffing, electronic vote switching and so forth. So he was encouraging his voters to vote in person and not by mail, the better to increase his early lead to fuel the narrative. He campaign manager and Kevin McCarthy were worried that would cost the Pubs votes net, and tried to get Trump to change course, but there was no deflecting Trump on any of this.

So the only piece missing was to find someone who would hawk his crazed narrative and make court filings based on it as the VBM's did indeed tank him as they flooded in. And voila - Rudy Giuliani appears from stage left just perfect for the role. And the rest is history. All  that is left is for Trump to grift his supporters, for dough ostensibly to be used to fight the fraud, but actually used to self aggrandize himself.

[LBJer]

The one thing I found interesting from today's hearing is the following narrative. Long, long before election night (like 3-4 months before), Trump had this scenario in mind that he would be ahead in the early and election day vote as the votes were counted and released to the media, but as the VBM's came in he would fall behind, and that he would then characterize the valid VBM votes as ballot box stuffing, electronic vote switching and so forth. So he was encouraging his voters to vote in person and not by mail, the better to increase his early lead to fuel the narrative. He campaign manager and Kevin McCarthy were worried that would cost the Pubs votes net, and tried to get Trump to change course, but there was no deflecting Trump on any of this.

So the only piece missing was to find someone who would hawk his crazed narrative and make court filings based on it as the VBM's did indeed tank him as they flooded in. And voila - Rudy Giuliani appears from stage left just perfect for the role. And the rest is history. All  that is left is for Trump to grift his supporters, for dough ostensibly to be used to fight the fraud, but actually used to self aggrandize himself.

Yes.  If Trump had encouraged Republican voters to vote by mail, he wouldn't have been able to use the issue after the election as an argument for fraud.  It just shows how much premeditation there was on his part--he decided long beforehand that if he lost, he would maintain that the election had  been stolen from him.  To this end, he was actually willing to do something that reduced his chances of a legitimate victory!

[emailking]

So the only piece missing was to find someone who would hawk his crazed narrative and make court filings based on it as the VBM's did indeed tank him as they flooded in. And voila - Rudy Giuliani appears from stage left just perfect for the role. And the rest is history. All  that is left is for Trump to grift his supporters, for dough ostensibly to be used to fight the fraud, but actually used to self aggrandize himself.

Yes and we heard video testimony at the end that there was no "official election defense fund" that his campaign e-mailed supporters about hundreds of times.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

FBI arrests Michigan gubernatorial candidate on charges related to involvement in January 6 riot

A GOP Michigan gubernatorial candidate, Ryan Kelley, was arrested Thursday on misdemeanor charges related to his involvement in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, according to the Justice Department.

"Ryan Kelley, 40, of Allendale, Michigan, was arrested this morning on misdemeanor charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol breach. He was arrested in Allendale. Mr. Kelley is to make his initial appearance this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan," said Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in the District of Columbia.

The Detroit FBI field office confirmed Kelley's arrest and said his home was searched on Thursday morning.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/09/politics/fbi-arrest-michigan-gubernatorial-candidate-ryan-kelley/index.html

Another misdemeanor raid and arrest? 

What do you think happens to people with arrest warrants even for misdemeanors?

They don't have the FBI looking like this on the way in the front door.

[Badger]

FBI arrests Michigan gubernatorial candidate on charges related to involvement in January 6 riot

A GOP Michigan gubernatorial candidate, Ryan Kelley, was arrested Thursday on misdemeanor charges related to his involvement in the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021, according to the Justice Department.

"Ryan Kelley, 40, of Allendale, Michigan, was arrested this morning on misdemeanor charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol breach. He was arrested in Allendale. Mr. Kelley is to make his initial appearance this afternoon in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan," said Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in the District of Columbia.

The Detroit FBI field office confirmed Kelley's arrest and said his home was searched on Thursday morning.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/09/politics/fbi-arrest-michigan-gubernatorial-candidate-ryan-kelley/index.html

Another misdemeanor raid and arrest? 

What do you think happens to people with arrest warrants even for misdemeanors?

They don't have the FBI looking like this on the way in the front door.

Yeah, pretty sure that this picture of riot police wasn't what happened there, Grumps.

[emailking]

Yeah that's from Ferguson.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1536500061626109958

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

So we might not see any action from him until September or later?

[emailking]

There's definitely not going to be anything before the midterms. Longstanding DOJ policy is to not announce anything politically toxic in the runup to an election.

[Inmate Trump]

The longer he drags his feet the worse it’ll be. Especially if Trump announces a 2024 run beforehand.

[Buffalo Mayor Young Kim]

There's definitely not going to be anything before the midterms. Longstanding DOJ policy is to not announce anything politically toxic in the runup to an election.

Except when it hurts Democrats.

[emailking]

January 6 committee postpones Wednesday hearing

The House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol has postponed its hearing scheduled for Wednesday.

The next hearing will be on Thursday.

Democratic Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California, a member of the committee, told reporters that the reason for the rescheduling was due to "technical issues" and "not a big deal."

...

Lofgren said Wednesday's hearing topic, which was focused on the Department of Justice, will get moved to another day, and Thursday will still focus on then-President Donald Trump's efforts to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to certify the election results.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/06/14/politics/january-6-committee-wednesday-hearing/index.html

The amount of video to be organized was overwhelming the staff so they are giving them some more time.

[Sir Mohamed]

There's definitely not going to be anything before the midterms. Longstanding DOJ policy is to not announce anything politically toxic in the runup to an election.

So during the lame duck session?

The committee definitely carry into the next congress because a GOP majority will immediately shut any investigations down and open phony investigations into Biden with single purpose of taking him down in 2024.

[emailking]

There's definitely not going to be anything before the midterms. Longstanding DOJ policy is to not announce anything politically toxic in the runup to an election.

So during the lame duck session?

The committee definitely carry into the next congress because a GOP majority will immediately shut any investigations down and open phony investigations into Biden with single purpose of taking him down in 2024.

The Committee being shut down isn't really relevant to the DOD investigation though, other than they'll no longer be getting all this free investigative work.

[GeorgiaModerate]

There's definitely not going to be anything before the midterms. Longstanding DOJ policy is to not announce anything politically toxic in the runup to an election.

So during the lame duck session?

The committee definitely carry into the next congress because a GOP majority will immediately shut any investigations down and open phony investigations into Biden with single purpose of taking him down in 2024.

The Committee being shut down isn't really relevant to the DOD investigation though, other than they'll no longer be getting all this free investigative work.

DOJ.

[Dr Oz Lost Party!]

There's definitely not going to be anything before the midterms. Longstanding DOJ policy is to not announce anything politically toxic in the runup to an election.

Except when it hurts Democrats.

People are quick to forget about the Comey letter being released literally a week before the 2016 election.

[emailking]

I didn't forget it. He made an executive decision to break the norm because he was worried what the ramifications would be if it got out after Clinton had won. Maybe he shouldn't have done it  anyway, but I don't think there's going to be an analogous scenario.

[LBJer]

I didn't forget it. He made an executive decision to break the norm because he was worried what the ramifications would be if it got out after Clinton had won. Maybe he shouldn't have done it  anyway, but I don't think there's going to be an analogous scenario.

Comey put his own personal reputation ahead of what was good for the country.  That was wrong.  Moreover, the FBI exists for the well-being of the United States, not the other way around.

Comey's defense that he didn't want to mislead Congress and the public rings hollow, given that he neglected to mention that the Trump campaign was under investigation for collusion with Russia--something far more serious than Hillary Clinton's email issue.  

[emailking]

I don't think he was doing it for himself. I believe his explanation. (No that doesn't mean it was right.)

[Koharu]

https://twitter.com/January6thCmte/status/1536815728208355330?s=20&t=O9aGIWr...

Bummed that tomorrow's hearing is while I'm working and I'll have to watch afterwards, but I definitely will be watching after work.

Looks like they will be focusing on possible criminal concerns tomorrow, based on what Ms Cheney said and the clip they chose.

[emailking]

The hearing tomorrow was indefinitely postponed actually. I think that's for Thursday's hearing.

[Koharu]

The hearing tomorrow was indefinitely postponed actually. I think that's for Thursday's hearing.

Yep, I just noticed now that it's for Thursday. Oops.