January 6th legal proceedings and investigations megathread

[President Johnson]

https://mobile.twitter.com/RollingStone/status/1553896625021624321

This seems like a naive argument you would expect from a third grader and not professional lawyers that cash in a ton of money for their "work"? How do you shift blame to advisers when Trump is multipe times on record - tape, video, written statements and Twitter - that he wouldn't accept defeat and promoting conspiracies about fraud? It's so plain obvious this a very cheap excuse that doesn't pass the most simple of tests.

Even if you were to believe that, a president who allows his advisers to do this kind of stuff would be totally inept in his leadership skills.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://mobile.twitter.com/RollingStone/status/1553896625021624321

This seems like a naive argument you would expect from a third grader and not professional lawyers that cash in a ton of money for their "work"? How do you shift blame to advisers when Trump is multipe times on record - tape, video, written statements and Twitter - that he wouldn't accept defeat and promoting conspiracies about fraud? It's so plain obvious this a very cheap excuse that doesn't pass the most simple of tests.

Even if you were to believe that, a president who allows his advisers to do this kind of stuff would be totally inept in his leadership skills.

Remember who we're talking about here.

[emailking]

The judge not allowing the terrorism enhancement is going to hamstring prosecutors going forward who have been taking it off the table to get cooperation.

[OSR stands with Israel]

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1554204595651596295

Apparently their mom told their dad not to take a plea as well.

[LBJer]

The very fact that Trump's lawyers are said to be "brainstorming" defenses for him shows he's guilty as can be.  If someone charged with a crime has any kind of decent defense, their lawyers hardly need to "brainstorm" anything. 

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

The RNc is paying Trump legal bills you have to mount a defense if you are criminally investigation

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/hugolowell/status/1554497700443340802

[Torie]

It appears that the DOD was into erasing evidence as well. Honor and good judgement is just so yesterday.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/02/politics/defense-department-missing-january-6-texts/index.html

[Yoda]

It appears that the DOD was into erasing evidence as well. Honor and good judgement is just so yesterday.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/02/politics/defense-department-missing-january-6-texts/index.html

I'm officially on Team Coverup as opposed to Team Simply Inept. These are no coincidences; at this point it's an unmistakable pattern. Texts did not get permanently wiped from phones at the SS, White House and DoD that all concerned Jan 6th by accident. This was intentional evidence destruction in order to cover up a crime or at the very least, awareness that a crime or crimes had been committed. People need to go to prison for a long time over this.

[GeorgiaModerate]

https://mobile.twitter.com/KFaulders/status/1554654882833043457

[Torie]

https://mobile.twitter.com/KFaulders/status/1554654882833043457

CNN has a well done summary of the implications of this subpoena and the state of play of Trump's legal position. I still think more than we now know needs to be out there to nail Trump, but it is certainly possible that there is more out there that would serve as the predicate for establishing his criminality.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/politics/trump-justice-department-probe-subpoenas/index.html

[GeorgiaModerate]

CNN has a well done summary of the implications of this subpoena and the state of play of Trump's legal position. I still think more than we now know needs to be out there to nail Trump, but it is certainly possible that there is more out there that would serve as the predicate for establishing his criminality.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/politics/trump-justice-department-probe-subpoenas/index.html

That's a good article, thanks for posting the link.

[LBJer]

CNN has a well done summary of the implications of this subpoena and the state of play of Trump's legal position. I still think more than we now know needs to be out there to nail Trump, but it is certainly possible that there is more out there that would serve as the predicate for establishing his criminality.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/politics/trump-justice-department-probe-subpoenas/index.html

That's a good article, thanks for posting the link.

It's worth reading, but I'm finding the idea that Garland has a huge dilemma to be rather lame at this point.  IMO, one now has to be pretty obtuse to conclude there's not enough evidence to convict Donald Trump.  And if the evidence is strong enough, no amount of defense cross-examination will be sufficient.  Cross-examination wouldn't have gotten Nixon off the hook if he had stood trial for his part in Watergate. 

And what is the alternative to prosecuting?  As has been said elsewhere, why shouldn't an amoral future losing candidate--whether Trump himself or perhaps someone equally horrible but smarter--attempt a coup if they know that the legal system is too chicken to take them on?

[Inmate Trump]

CNN has a well done summary of the implications of this subpoena and the state of play of Trump's legal position. I still think more than we now know needs to be out there to nail Trump, but it is certainly possible that there is more out there that would serve as the predicate for establishing his criminality.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/politics/trump-justice-department-probe-subpoenas/index.html

That's a good article, thanks for posting the link.

It's worth reading, but I'm finding the idea that Garland has a huge dilemma to be rather lame at this point.  IMO, one now has to be pretty obtuse to conclude there's not enough evidence to convict Donald Trump.  And if the evidence is strong enough, no amount of defense cross-examination will be sufficient.  Cross-examination wouldn't have gotten Nixon off the hook if he had stood trial for his part in Watergate. 

And what is the alternative to prosecuting?  As has been said elsewhere, why shouldn't an amoral future losing candidate--whether Trump himself or perhaps someone equally horrible but smarter--attempt a coup if they know that the legal system is too chicken to take them on?

Definitely.

I can’t sympathize with Garland’s position. Doing something will create some kind of havoc in the country and Republicans will then go out of their way to create spectacles of the Justice department and themselves by going after former Dem presidents for dumb reasons. They’ll grasp at straws.

But doing nothing means a coup attempt is okay and opens the door for future, bolder attempts.

[emailking]

It's also not Garland's job to decide whether or not it's in the country's interest to prosecute Trump. Prosecutors have discretion so yeah he could use that as a rationale for not prosecuting and it would be legal, but there's no reason he should have to. The President has the pardon power and one of the reasons for that is in a scenario like this. It should be up to Biden to decide whether the nation is best served by letting this go. Ford decided it was in Nixon's case. It seems Biden (thankfully) doesn't think that's a good idea with respect to Trump and the insurrection. But really, Garland should just be deciding whether there's enough evidence.

We can't know for sure, but I also think Trump was in the crosshairs before the hearings, based on the subpoena for phone records (April). But in any case, the hearings have lit a fire under DOJ's ass.

[emailking]

Trump lawyers in talks with Justice Department about January 6 criminal probe

Former President Donald Trump's legal team is in direct communication with Justice Department officials, the first sign of talks between the two sides as the criminal probe into January 6, 2021, accelerates, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

The talks revolve around whether Trump would be able to shield conversations he had while he was president from federal investigators

In recent weeks, investigators have moved aggressively into Trump's orbit, subpoenaing top former White House officials, focusing on efforts to overturn the 2020 election and executing searches of lawyers who sought to aid those efforts.

---

At this stage, the conversations are focused mostly on whether any communications that witnesses from the Trump West Wing had with the former president can be kept from a federal criminal grand jury under Trump's claims of executive privilege, the people said.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/politics/trump-justice-department-january-6-criminal-investigation/index.html

[NewYorkExpress]

The January 6 Committee and Federal Investigators are going after Alex Jones next

The attorney representing two Sandy Hook parents in the Alex Jones defamation case said Thursday that numerous federal and state investigators, including the House panel investigating the January 6, 2021, insurrection, have asked him to hand over text records mistakenly sent to him by the right-wing conspiracy theorist's law firm.

"I am under request from various federal agencies and law enforcement to provide (the records)," Mark Bankston, the plaintiffs' attorney, told Judge Maya Guerra Gamble. "Absent a ruling from you saying you cannot do that ... I intend to do so immediately following this hearing."

"I believe that there is absolutely nothing, nothing, that Mr. Reynal has done to fulfill his obligations to protect his client and prevent me from doing that," he said, referring to Jones' attorney, Andino Reynal.

Sandy Hook family attorney exposes Alex Jones' dishonesty during brutal cross-examination
"I've been asked by the January 6 committee to turn the documents over," Bankston added later.

Bankston declined to specify to CNN which other investigators outside of the House committee expressed interest in obtaining Jones' text records.

Bankston revealed in court on Wednesday that Reynal's firm, in an apparent mishap, sent him two years of cell phone records that included every text message Jones had sent.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

I am tired of Garland slowness Lake is going after Hobbs on Election fraud he needs to indict now, otherwise there is a possibility Lake can get elected, Trump says since DOJ isn't going after him, he has done nothing wrong, I am tired of Garland impatience, he has sat on this info since Jan 2021

Trump says since DoJ hasn't charged him he is going after CNN fir unfounded claims of Criminal charges and deformation and we already know Garland is a member of Federalist society that's why I don't watch hearings

The reason why Trump is an Election denier the RNC is paying his legal bills, but the insurrection isn't going after us, they are going after Biden, this is different than Kennedy and many of the assassinations there were mass murders thru the 1980s and of course 911 but this domestic terrorist attack is going after Biden, if Lake wins there won't be a certificate of Election fot Kelly in 22 or Sinema or Biden in 24

Also in the sixties when Russia was at Cold War we were under international terrorist as well as Nuke war threat , again this domestic terrorist isn't going after us it's against Voting Rights

[HisGrace]

If olawakandi had been the prosecutor Trump would have been impeached.

[GeorgiaModerate]

Approximately two years' worth of text messages sent and received by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones have been turned over to the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday.

The messages were handed over to the committee by Mark Bankston, the attorney who represented two Sandy Hook parents who successfully sued Jones in Texas and won nearly $50 million in a civil trial that concluded last week.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/politics/alex-jones-january-6/index.html

Some background for those not following the Jones defamation trial: in one of the all-time great legal blunders, his lawyer accidentally sent Bankston (the plaintiffs' lawyer) a digital copy of the entire contents of Jones's phone.  Bankston promptly notified the other lawyer of the accidental transmission, but Jones' lawyer failed to request its return or destruction within the time period legally mandated by Texas (where the trial took place), at which point Bankston was legally in possession of the information.  It was promptly subpoenaed by the J6 committee, and Bankston announced that he would cooperate with all such requests. 

Jones was involved in organizing the Jan. 6 rally that led to the march on the Capitol.  He was present on the Capitol grounds egging on the protestors, though he did not enter the building.  It's been reported that the information contained on the phone includes texts with key members of Trump's inner circle.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Unsure if this is January 6 related, but Mar-a-Lago was apparently raided by the FBI today.

[emailking]

It seems it was just about the National Archives investigation and documents he has failed to return after months of talks.

But they took a trove of documents including what was in every safe. And if there's any Jan 6 stuff in there that points to criminal wrongdoing, they can use that as evidence.

[GeorgiaModerate]

I'm guessing this is J6-related:

https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1557124189966016514

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I'm guessing this is J6-related:

https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1557124189966016514

Wasn’t he on the pardons list?

[Roll Roons]

I'm guessing this is J6-related:

https://twitter.com/FoxNews/status/1557124189966016514

Wasn’t he on the pardons list?

Yeah. It was Perry, MTG, Gaetz, Brooks, Gohmert and Biggs. I'd also keep an eye on Boebert, Cawthorn and Jordan.