January 6th legal proceedings and investigations megathread

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1549455493093281792

Not a surprise, but it's good to have them publicly confirm it.

Hopefully this will calm down the Twitterers who are worried about the recently released memo around investigations of presidential candidates.

[emailking]

Here's the take of people with more expertise than any of us:

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-must-be-charged-january-6-former-doj-officials-2022-7

Yeah there's a ton of circumstantial evidence, which is never proof of anything but you can still convict on circumstantial evidence. There's probably not going to be the kind of direct evidence some are looking for because he's careful.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Trump isnt gonna win anyways he's not gonna to crack the Blue wall with the Senate map the way it is now and in 24, they have Trump leading in some polls but those are silly without any campaign going on

D's are leading in 303 swing states and are competetive in Red states so Trump won't be Prez

[LBJer]

Here's the take of people with more expertise than any of us:

https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-must-be-charged-january-6-former-doj-officials-2022-7

Yeah there's a ton of circumstantial evidence, which is never proof of anything but you can still convict on circumstantial evidence. There's probably not going to be the kind of direct evidence some are looking for because he's careful.

If anyone else would be prosecuted based on this evidence, Trump should be as well. 

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

https://twitter.com/MuellerSheWrote/status/1549455493093281792

Not a surprise, but it's good to have them publicly confirm it.

I'm more concerned that they're going to "keep investigating" until  he orders it stopped on Jan 20, 2025.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Secret Service Jan. 6 texts erased despite Congress’ request

Secret Service text messages from around the time of the attack on the U.S. Capitol were deleted despite requests from Congress and federal investigators that they be preserved, the agency confirmed Tuesday in response to a subpoena from the House Jan. 6 committee.

Florida Rep. Stephanie Murphy, a Democratic member of the Jan 6. panel, said the Secret Service acknowledged the erasure in a letter Tuesday, detailing how agency phones were migrated to a new system in the weeks after the 2021 attack.

January 6th was already quite sinister enough, but this puts a new light on Pence's refusal to get into a Secret Service vehicle even as Trump's stormtroopers were trying to hunt him down and kill him.

And in case you missed it:

Secret Service Director James Murray to retire (July 7, 2022)

James Murray, the director of the Secret Service for the last three years, will retire at the end of the month, the agency announced Thursday.

Personally, I think the Secret Service needs to go as the President's protective detail. It's had multiple incidences of unprofessional conduct for years, but flouting Congress and the DoJ over a coup investigation is a bridge too far. Even if it is simple incompetence, it demonstrates they're unfit to be trusted with that level of vital responsibility.


And speaking of details I'd missed during Trump's treasonous coup attempt on January 6th:
Harris was at DNC when a pipe bomb was found outside building on Jan. 6 (1/6/22)

Vice President Harris was at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters on Jan. 6, 2021, until she was evacuated because a pipe bomb was discovered outside the premises, a White House official confirmed to The Hill on Thursday.

I knew about the pipe bombs, but not that one of them had potentially been targeted at then VP-elect Harris.

[Inmate Trump]

Wow.

If the Secret Service can’t produce those text messages then the only conclusion I can make is that they had something truly nefarious and damning in them.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

Urban League on Morning Joe just called out DOJ not going after Trump in GA Prosecution they are going after electors it looks like Trump is gonna escape any criminal investigation but he isn't gonna win anyways Biden isn't Hillary he won't crack the 303 wall anyways no matter how much Traggy has him up on Biden which is false, the only pollster showing Biden trailing Trump 47/42 every other Pollster have Biden lead 45/42

They said an independent counsel should be used to investigate Trump, Garland is a good judge but he has failed so far in holding Trump accountable

[emailking]

Lindsey Graham has changed course and will cooperate with the Georgia grand jury subpoena.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Lindsey Graham has changed course and will cooperate with the Georgia grand jury subpoena.

Not quite.  He's reached an agreement with Willis's office that he'll drop the challenge he filed in South Carolina and move any further challenges to Georgia.

The parties vowed in a new filing to withdraw proceedings that had been initiated in federal courts in South Carolina and Washington, D.C., in favor of a local venue, either in Fulton County Superior Court or the federal U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.

Graham will accept service for a subpoena for his testimony but won’t drop his right to challenge the legality of the summons, technically known as a certificate of material witness, or any claims to privilege or immunity, according to the agreement. A Wednesday hearing initially set for Charleston, S.C., was cancelled.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/graham-agrees-to-launch-subpoena-challenge-in-georgia/T63ER5YE5RFKDKTCMQAJQZDD5M/

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/kyledcheney/status/1549769523942891522

[GeneralMacArthur]

Are there hearings today or no?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Are there hearings today or no?

Tomorrow.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Are there hearings today or no?

Tomorrow at 8pm EDT.  Two former Trump aides are expected to testify: Matthew Pottinger (deputy national security advisor) and Sarah Matthews (deputy press secretary).  This will be the last of the current set of hearings, but it is widely expected that additional hearings will be scheduled later in the year.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

More details on Secret Service text messages:

Secret Service provided a single text exchange to IG after request for many records

Inspector General Joseph Cuffari -- having already received an initial batch of documents including "hundreds of thousands of disclosures of agency documents, policies, radio communications, emails, briefings and interviews" -- requested in June 2021 text messages sent and received by 24 Secret Service personnel between December 7, 2020 and January 8, 2021, according to the letter, the details of which had not been previously reported. The letter does not identify the 24 personnel.

"The Secret Service submitted the responsive records it identified, namely, a text message conversation from former US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to former Secret Service Uniformed Division Chief Thomas Sullivan requesting assistance on January 6, 2021, and advised the agency did not have any further records responsive to the DHS OIG's request for text messages," Assistant Director Ronald Rowe wrote in the letter to the January 6 committee.

Beyond the inspector general requests, the Secret Service was also sent a broad preservation and production request by Congress on January 16, 2021, which asked for documents and materials related to January 6. A second request in March from several House committees specifically requested communications "received, prepared or sent" between January 5 and January 7.

The agency explained that it was up to employees to conduct the necessary preservation of records from their phones. The letter said the service did provide personnel a "step-by-step" guide to preserve mobile phone content, including text messages, prior to the phone migration that began January 27. It went on to explain that "all Secret Service employees are responsible for appropriately preserving government records that may be created via text messaging."
The Secret Service wrote in the letter that it was still working to determine if any relevant information was lost in the phone migration but said it was "currently unaware of text messages issued by Secret Service employees" that were requested by the inspector general "that were not retained."

[emailking]

AG Garland reiterates 'no person' -- not even Trump -- is above the law over Jan. 6

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Wednesday reiterated that "no person," not even a former president, was above the law amid calls from some congressional Democrats to charge Donald Trump after last year's Capitol riot.

During a press conference, a visibly animated Garland twice said that "no person" was above the law when pressed specifically about Trump, whom Democrats say incited the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection over his unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud in 2020. Democrats also cite Trump's larger, months-long campaign to try and reverse his election loss. (Trump insists he did nothing wrong.)

...

"We have to hold accountable every person who is criminally responsible for trying to overturn a legitimate election, and we must do it in a way filled with integrity and professionalism," Garland added.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ag-garland-reiterates-person-trump-law-jan/story?id=87140695

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/AccountableGOP/status/1549889767927697408

[Yoda]

Can we fire the SS Director before he retires so he can't collect his pension, like the trump criminal cabal did to Andrew McCabe? Is this a possibility?

[Blue3]

https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1550143966904975360

https://twitter.com/morninggloria/status/1549910236269449217

[Torie]

How about having a bunch of these agents testify under oath about who was doing what to whom when?

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

How about having a bunch of these agents testify under oath about who was doing what to whom when?

They've subpoenaed everyone but you and me so yep, haul 'em in and make them testify under oath.

[emailking]

SS & the committee are in negotiations about the agents testifying.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://twitter.com/laurenpeikoff/status/1550177513720119297

[Torie]

Agents who did not follow the protocol to not erase their messages and did erase their messages are going to be in deep trouble. That assumes they received the  protocol. This story I think has legs. It's really bad if there were mass erasures.

[Badger]

https://twitter.com/AccountableGOP/status/1549889767927697408

He seems nice.