January 6th legal proceedings and investigations megathread

[emailking]

Judge weighs whether special counsel can compel Pence's testimony, sources say

A federal judge heard arguments Thursday in a dispute between former Vice President Mike Pence, attorneys for former President Donald Trump and special counsel Jack Smith over whether Pence can be compelled to testify in Smith's probe of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, three sources tell CBS News.

Smith issued the subpoena for Pence's testimony before a federal grand jury in February, and the former vice president said he would contest it, calling it "unconstitutional" and "unprecedented." Trump's legal team claimed executive privilege over Pence's testimony after CBS News first reported prosecutors filed a motion asking the federal courts to compel the former vice president to testify.

Emmet Flood, Pence's attorney, as well as Trump's legal team — Evan Corcoran, Jim Trusty, Tim Parlatore and John Rowley — were spotted inside the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., on Thursday ahead of the expected hearing. Legal teams for both Trump and Pence are working to fight the subpoena. Justice Department prosecutor Thomas Windom was also at the federal courthouse.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/mike-pence-testimony-special-counsel-jack-smith-january-6-2021-investigation/

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/harrylitman/status/1639304710573420545

[emailking]

Mike Pence must testify about conversations he had with Donald Trump leading up to January 6, judge rules

A federal judge has decided that former Vice President Mike Pence must testify to a grand jury about conversations he had with Donald Trump leading up to January 6, 2021, according to multiple sources familiar with a recent federal court ruling.

But the judge said – in a ruling that remains under seal – that Pence can still decline to answer questions related to his actions on January 6 itself, when he was serving as president of the Senate for the certification of the 2020 presidential election, according to one of the sources.

 The ruling from chief judge James Boasberg of the US District Court in Washington, DC, is a major win for special counsel Jack Smith, who is spearheading the Justice Department investigation. Pence still has the ability to appeal.

In the lead-up to the congressional certification vote, Pence faced enormous pressure from Trump and his allies to disrupt lawmakers’ plans to validate Joe Biden’s win. As president of the Senate, Pence was tasked with presiding over the certification proceedings.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/28/politics/mike-pence-grand-jury-testimony/index.html

[emailking]

Mike Pence won’t appeal ruling ordering him to testify in special counsel probe, spokesman says

Mike Pence will not appeal a federal court ruling ordering him to testify in a special counsel probe into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to subvert the 2020 election, a spokesman for the former vice president said Wednesday, teeing up a historic moment in both the special counsel’s investigation and for the presidency.

Pence is poised to recount for the first time under oath his direct conversations with Trump leading up to January 6, 2021, when Trump pressured him unsuccessfully to block the 2020 election’s result and may have been acting corruptly, according to sources who have explained the judge’s ruling.

A date for Pence’s grand jury appearance is not yet known.

A former vice president has never before complied with a criminal probe subpoena to testify about the actions of a then-president, putting Pence in a position to define the powers of his former office.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/politics/mike-pence/index.html

[Sir Mohamed]

Mike Pence won’t appeal ruling ordering him to testify in special counsel probe, spokesman says

Mike Pence will not appeal a federal court ruling ordering him to testify in a special counsel probe into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to subvert the 2020 election, a spokesman for the former vice president said Wednesday, teeing up a historic moment in both the special counsel’s investigation and for the presidency.

Pence is poised to recount for the first time under oath his direct conversations with Trump leading up to January 6, 2021, when Trump pressured him unsuccessfully to block the 2020 election’s result and may have been acting corruptly, according to sources who have explained the judge’s ruling.

A date for Pence’s grand jury appearance is not yet known.

A former vice president has never before complied with a criminal probe subpoena to testify about the actions of a then-president, putting Pence in a position to define the powers of his former office.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/politics/mike-pence/index.html

I'm kind of surprised that isn't talked more in general. Seems to be a huge deal and something that could put in much bigger trouble than Bragg's indictment.

[Badger]

Mike Pence won’t appeal ruling ordering him to testify in special counsel probe, spokesman says

Mike Pence will not appeal a federal court ruling ordering him to testify in a special counsel probe into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to subvert the 2020 election, a spokesman for the former vice president said Wednesday, teeing up a historic moment in both the special counsel’s investigation and for the presidency.

Pence is poised to recount for the first time under oath his direct conversations with Trump leading up to January 6, 2021, when Trump pressured him unsuccessfully to block the 2020 election’s result and may have been acting corruptly, according to sources who have explained the judge’s ruling.

A date for Pence’s grand jury appearance is not yet known.

A former vice president has never before complied with a criminal probe subpoena to testify about the actions of a then-president, putting Pence in a position to define the powers of his former office.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/politics/mike-pence/index.html

I'm kind of surprised that isn't talked more in general. Seems to be a huge deal and something that could put in much bigger trouble than Bragg's indictment.

Do you mean Mike Pence's testimony or the January 6th investigation in general? I think most people acknowledge the latter has potentially far more severe consequences for Trump than anything Bragg might get on him. If the former, potentially? Yes, Trump had some phone conversations with Pence on and leading up to January 6th, but Pence was never really part of Trump's Inner Circle of consigliaries, so I wonder how likely it is that Trump would have solicited Pence to do something outright criminal rather than expounding upon utter BS pseudo constitutional arguments of how he could disregard / overrule the Congressional certification which, while again utter and complete nonsense, is arguably not Criminal solicitation.

[Torie]

We seem to have a race to the courthouse between GA and the Feds. Jack Smith and the GA DA (Fani T. Willis) do not seem to be cooperating. The klieg lights are just too alluring I guess.

The problem is the overlap in witnesses and the facts, potentially generating a lot of cross toe stepping. The law is just so much fun in the US. There is nothing else like it, in its glorious byzantine complexity due to the oddities of how the US came into being.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/07/us/politics/trump-georgia-justice-department.html

[Sir Mohamed]

Mike Pence won’t appeal ruling ordering him to testify in special counsel probe, spokesman says

Mike Pence will not appeal a federal court ruling ordering him to testify in a special counsel probe into efforts by Donald Trump and his allies to subvert the 2020 election, a spokesman for the former vice president said Wednesday, teeing up a historic moment in both the special counsel’s investigation and for the presidency.

Pence is poised to recount for the first time under oath his direct conversations with Trump leading up to January 6, 2021, when Trump pressured him unsuccessfully to block the 2020 election’s result and may have been acting corruptly, according to sources who have explained the judge’s ruling.

A date for Pence’s grand jury appearance is not yet known.

A former vice president has never before complied with a criminal probe subpoena to testify about the actions of a then-president, putting Pence in a position to define the powers of his former office.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/05/politics/mike-pence/index.html

I'm kind of surprised that isn't talked more in general. Seems to be a huge deal and something that could put in much bigger trouble than Bragg's indictment.

Do you mean Mike Pence's testimony or the January 6th investigation in general? I think most people acknowledge the latter has potentially far more severe consequences for Trump than anything Bragg might get on him. If the former, potentially? Yes, Trump had some phone conversations with Pence on and leading up to January 6th, but Pence was never really part of Trump's Inner Circle of consigliaries, so I wonder how likely it is that Trump would have solicited Pence to do something outright criminal rather than expounding upon utter BS pseudo constitutional arguments of how he could disregard / overrule the Congressional certification which, while again utter and complete nonsense, is arguably not Criminal solicitation.

I actually mean both. Or Pence's testimony could make a Trump indictment on said charges more likely. The DOJ needs high-profile witnesses who talk about what happened behind the scenes in order to convict the orange buffoon.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna79720

A man who crushed D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges with a police shield on Jan. 6 was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in federal prison on Friday.

Patrick McCaughey III, who was dubbed #ThePinman by online sleuths, was present during some of the worst violence inside the lower west tunnel, the spot where presidents emerge during inauguration ceremonies. McCaughey was sentenced by Judge Trevor McFadden, a Donald Trump appointee who previously delivered the only full acquittal for a Jan. 6 defendant to date and has imposed more lenient sentences than other judges in the Capitol riot cases.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna79720

A man who crushed D.C. Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges with a police shield on Jan. 6 was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in federal prison on Friday.

Patrick McCaughey III, who was dubbed #ThePinman by online sleuths, was present during some of the worst violence inside the lower west tunnel, the spot where presidents emerge during inauguration ceremonies. McCaughey was sentenced by Judge Trevor McFadden, a Donald Trump appointee who previously delivered the only full acquittal for a Jan. 6 defendant to date and has imposed more lenient sentences than other judges in the Capitol riot cases.

I read the tiny print inside the quote box and for a minute thought ThePinman was ThePieman.

[emailking]

Witness Testimony Helps Prosecutors Advance Trump Election Case
The Justice Department’s success in compelling top aides to former President Donald Trump to testify to a grand jury moves the special counsel closer to a decision on seeking indictments.

Without fanfare, the Justice Department’s investigation into former President Donald J. Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election is approaching an important milestone.

After nearly nine months of behind-the-scenes clashes, Mr. Trump’s lawyers have largely lost their battle to limit testimony from some of his closest aides to a federal grand jury. The decisions, in a string of related cases, represent an almost total failure by Mr. Trump to constrain the reach of the inquiry and have strengthened the position of Jack Smith, the special counsel overseeing the investigation, as he builds an accounting of the former president’s efforts to retain power after his defeat at the polls.

Having lost their challenges to grand jury subpoenas and largely failed to limit the scope of their testimony with assertions of executive and attorney-client privilege, a last group of aides is now being forced to answer questions.

...

While questions linger over pending appeals and potential efforts by some of the witnesses to delay things further by invoking the Fifth Amendment, the developments suggest that Mr. Smith is close to finishing the fact-finding phase of his work and is moving closer to a decision about seeking charges against Mr. Trump and others.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/13/us/politics/donald-trump-investigation.html

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Trump isn't gonna win anyways it's apparently he is gonna be the nominee and the RS are gonna lose they haven't won significant since 2018 when they handily won the S but lost 41 H seats

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/14/politics/special-counsel-witnesses-maralago-trump-paid-lawyers/index.html

Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents are pressing multiple witnesses for details about their attorneys, including whether any of them have attempted to influence testimony in order to protect the former president, multiple sources tell CNN.

Investigators have focused these questions toward a group of witnesses who either work for Trump or are represented by lawyers provided by him. In some instances, prosecutors have asked how witnesses found their lawyers and if they know how they were compensated during grand jury sessions.

The line of questioning about Trump-provided attorneys suggests prosecutors are looking at any efforts by the former president to keep control over more than two dozen Mar-a-Lago staffers and political aides who have become central witnesses in recent months, and whose legal bills are paid by Trump. Investigators working for special counsel Jack Smith are exploring multiple facets of a possible obstruction case, and that could include whether testimony has been improperly influenced and coordinated within Trump’s legal network.

Head of criminal organization named "Don" is acting like a mob boss? Quelle surprise!

[Torie]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/14/politics/special-counsel-witnesses-maralago-trump-paid-lawyers/index.html

Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents are pressing multiple witnesses for details about their attorneys, including whether any of them have attempted to influence testimony in order to protect the former president, multiple sources tell CNN.

Investigators have focused these questions toward a group of witnesses who either work for Trump or are represented by lawyers provided by him. In some instances, prosecutors have asked how witnesses found their lawyers and if they know how they were compensated during grand jury sessions.

The line of questioning about Trump-provided attorneys suggests prosecutors are looking at any efforts by the former president to keep control over more than two dozen Mar-a-Lago staffers and political aides who have become central witnesses in recent months, and whose legal bills are paid by Trump. Investigators working for special counsel Jack Smith are exploring multiple facets of a possible obstruction case, and that could include whether testimony has been improperly influenced and coordinated within Trump’s legal network.

Head of criminal organization named "Don" is acting like a mob boss? Quelle surprise!

In case anyone is wondering, the penalty for witness tampering is up to 20 years in prison. Trump is  doing all he can to maximize his legal exposure in this case bless him. It started out as a just say your sorry affair, ala Biden and Pence, and now it's up to 20 years in the slammer. Awesome!

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1512

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/14/politics/special-counsel-witnesses-maralago-trump-paid-lawyers/index.html

Federal prosecutors investigating former President Donald Trump’s handling of classified documents are pressing multiple witnesses for details about their attorneys, including whether any of them have attempted to influence testimony in order to protect the former president, multiple sources tell CNN.

Investigators have focused these questions toward a group of witnesses who either work for Trump or are represented by lawyers provided by him. In some instances, prosecutors have asked how witnesses found their lawyers and if they know how they were compensated during grand jury sessions.

The line of questioning about Trump-provided attorneys suggests prosecutors are looking at any efforts by the former president to keep control over more than two dozen Mar-a-Lago staffers and political aides who have become central witnesses in recent months, and whose legal bills are paid by Trump. Investigators working for special counsel Jack Smith are exploring multiple facets of a possible obstruction case, and that could include whether testimony has been improperly influenced and coordinated within Trump’s legal network.

Head of criminal organization named "Don" is acting like a mob boss? Quelle surprise!

In case anyone is wondering, the penalty for witness tampering is up to 20 years in prison. Trump is  doing all he can to maximize his legal exposure in this case bless him. It started out as a just say your sorry affair, ala Biden and Pence, and now it's up to 20 years in the slammer. Awesome!

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1512

The Secret Service provisions in the Constitution says that Ex Prez can enjoy Secrets Service after they leave office but it was changed to 15 yrs not a life time that's why Trump hasn't been thrown in jail because he has secret service protection and no way can they protect him in a community prison, if he is convicted he can serve his whole sentence on an ankle bracelet or if Biden loses too he can serve his sentence on an ankle bracelet on Hunter

But, once D's get Filibuster proof Trifecta they can change the law and discontinue Trump Secrets Service provisions, that's why it's critical either in 25 or 27 we get a Filibuster proof Trifecta Bernie says now ge has endorsed Gallego, Kunce, Boswell, Tester and Brown he was on the View talking about it, he said he wasn't worried after 22, he was sad Ryan and Barnes lost and they shouldn't have to Maga Vance and JOHNSON

Biden won't lose he is at 50 on Rassy tracking number

[Crumpets]

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1648120683103125507

[emailking]

Boris Epshteyn, Trump Legal Adviser, Is to Be Interviewed by Special Counsel
The interview is the latest example of the focus by the special counsel, Jack Smith, on the role of lawyers working for former President Donald Trump.

Boris Epshteyn, a top adviser to former President Donald J. Trump, is scheduled to be interviewed on Thursday by prosecutors in the office of the special counsel Jack Smith, according to people familiar with the matter, the latest example of the Justice Department’s efforts to secure testimony and evidence from current and former close aides to Mr. Trump.

It remained unclear what subjects the prosecutors wanted to discuss with Mr. Epshteyn. But given his expansive ties to Mr. Trump, Mr. Epshteyn is in a position to provide information in both of the investigations that Mr. Smith is overseeing: one focused on Mr. Trump’s efforts to retain power after losing the 2020 election and the other centered on his handling of classified documents after he left the White House.

Until recently, Mr. Epshteyn played a critical role coordinating Mr. Trump’s legal efforts in both inquiries.

...

The special counsel’s inquiries have focused in an unusually intense manner on the behavior of Mr. Trump’s lawyers, who have themselves faced an onslaught of criminal and civil exposure.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/us/politics/boris-epshteyn-special-counsel.html

[emailking]

Trump Can’t Stop Pence From Testifying to Jan. 6 Grand Jury, Court Rules
The ruling by an appeals court paved the way for the former vice president to appear before a federal grand jury as early as this week.

A federal appeals court rejected on Wednesday night an emergency attempt by former President Donald J. Trump to stop former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying in front of a grand jury investigating Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

The 11th-hour ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia paved the way for Mr. Pence to appear before the federal grand jury as early as this week.

Mr. Pence has always been a potentially important witness in the inquiry because of conversations he took part in at the White House in the weeks leading up to the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. During that time, Mr. Trump repeatedly pressed Mr. Pence to use his ceremonial role overseeing the congressional count of Electoral College votes to block or delay certification of his defeat.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/us/politics/trump-pence-testimony-jan-6.html

[emailking]

A second firm hired by Trump campaign found no evidence of election fraud
The founder of the company has been interviewed by federal prosecutors investigating the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 results

Former president Trump’s campaign quietly commissioned a second firm to study election fraud claims in the weeks after the 2020 election, and the founder of the firm was recently questioned by the Justice Department about his work disproving the claims.

Ken Block, founder of the firm Simpatico Software Systems, studied more than a dozen voter fraud theories and allegations for Trump’s campaign in late 2020 and found they were “all false,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post.

“No substantive voter fraud was uncovered in my investigations looking for it, nor was I able to confirm any of the outside claims of voter fraud that I was asked to look at,” he said. “Every fraud claim I was asked to investigate was false.”

Block said he recently received a subpoena from special counsel Jack Smith’s office and met with federal prosecutors in Washington, but he declined to discuss his interactions with them. Block said he contemporaneously sent his findings disputing fraud claims in writing to the Trump campaign in late 2020.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/04/27/trump-false-election-fraud-claims/

[GeorgiaModerate]

Arrests are still happening in the J6 investigation:

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1651667414986129408

[emailking]

Pence apparently testified today!

[emailking]

Pence testifies before federal grand jury investigating Trump's role in Jan. 6
Special counsel Jack Smith is investigating whether Trump acted unlawfully in his efforts to overturn his 2020 presidential election loss and stop the peaceful transfer of power.

Former Vice President Mike Pence appeared Thursday before the federal grand jury convened as part of the special counsel investigation into former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and remain in power, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The testimony is a significant development in the special counsel’s probe, as Pence could provide critical insights into Trump’s thinking in the days leading up to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. The former vice president published a memoir and Wall Street Journal opinion article detailing several of his interactions with Trump, but some details were left vague. Special counsel Jack Smith’s team is particularly interested in Trump’s efforts to try to block the certification of the election, NBC News previously reported.

Pence's appearance came amid an increased security presence at the federal courthouse in Washington on Thursday. NBC News spotted multiple black SUVs with tinted windows entering the parking garage in the morning. Two black SUVs entered the courthouse garage at around 9 a.m., an entrance that would allow witnesses to head up to the grand jury rooms on the third floor without being seen in the public areas of the courthouse.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/mike-pence-testify-federal-grand-jury-donald-trump-rcna77281

[emailking]

Prosecutors in Jan. 6 Case Step up Inquiry Into Trump Fund-Raising
The Justice Department has been gathering evidence about whether the former president and his allies solicited donations with claims of election fraud they knew to be false.

As they investigate former President Donald J. Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, federal prosecutors have also been drilling down on whether Mr. Trump and a range of political aides knew that he had lost the race but still raised money off claims that they were fighting widespread fraud in the vote results, according to three people familiar with the matter.

Led by the special counsel Jack Smith, prosecutors are trying to determine whether Mr. Trump and his aides violated federal wire fraud statutes as they raised as much as $250 million through a political action committee by saying they needed the money to fight to reverse election fraud even though they had been told repeatedly that there was no evidence to back up those fraud claims.

The prosecutors are looking at the inner workings of the committee, Save America PAC, and at the Trump campaign’s efforts to prove its baseless case that Mr. Trump had been cheated out of victory.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/28/us/politics/jan-6-prosecutors-trump-fund-raising.html


Note Elizabeth Holmes got 11 years for wire fraud.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/dnlbrns/status/1653504812401545224

[ProudModerate2]

CNN video.
Conservative lawyer George Conway reacts to a photo taken of former President Donald Trump hugging a woman convicted for unlawfully entering Capitol grounds on January 6th.

Click here to watch ... https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2023/05/01/george-conway-trump-photo-hug-acostanr-vpx.cnn

How the Hell do Republicans actually support this scumbag?
It's just astonishing to me. Good Lord.