Month: January 2022

Categories
Capitol Insurrection Donald Trump

Bob Woodward: Here’s How The 1/6 Committee Can Prove Trump Is Complicit In The Capitol Insurrection

 

Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward says the House Select Committee on January 6 has a witness who can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that failed ex-President Donald Trump was complicit in the Capitol insurrection.

During an appearance on CNN, Woodward referenced retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, who was a longtime Trump ally and is key to finding out exactly what Trump knew and when he knew it:

“Keith Kellogg … is somebody who is a Trump loyalist, but also an institutionalist. He used to say within the White House that Trump and Pence, the vice president, were fire and ice. You can guess who was fire, Trump, and Pence was ice.

“Kellogg, as we found from multiple first-hand witnesses, was with Trump on January 6th, in the office with Trump, begging Trump to tweet out to stop the violence, and he said memorably, ‘Mr. President, not everyone is carrying a television on their shoulder,’ says go out and tweet, and this is a mob and when you have a mob, you have lost it.'”

Trump reportedly refused to heed Kellogg’s warnings, Woodward continued:

“Trump would not respond, and so Kellogg went to find Ivanka Trump, Trump’s daughter, and she went to see Trump, her father, in the Oval Office dining room three times from multiple witnesses, and one of the things she said to President Trump is, let this thing go. Eventually he did tweet but it was delayed.”

That, Woodward concluded, makes Kellogg of major importance for the House Select Committee:

“So in a sense, from the point of view of an investigation, having somebody like Keith Kellogg there who was a participant, who is now under oath, you couldn’t get a better witness. It’s somebody that Republicans would have to look at and say, wait a minute, this is a credible strong person, somebody who served in the military for decades.”

Here’s the video from CNN:

 

Categories
Capitol Insurrection Crime Donald Trump January 6 The Trump Adminstration

Security Expert: DOJ May Have Already Charged Trump’s Associates For Their Role In January 6

Considering what we already know about what transpired on January 6 and the revelations we’ve had from the House Select Committee on the Capitol insurrection, some have suggested that the Justice Department should have begun arresting top Trump administration officials and associates for their role in riots.

Recently, Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe noted that he believes Attorney General Merrick Garland is moving far too slowly:

But what if people have already been arrested and charged without any announcement? Could that have taken place in secret?

Security expert and journalist Marcy Wheeler notes on Twitter that arrests may have been made and the DOJ is now using those people to work their way up the food chain for even bigger fish.

Wheeler, who publishes on her own highly-acclaimed web site, Emptywheel.net, laid out a fascinating premise:

Think about it: Former Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s so-called “attorney,” Rudy Giuliani, could already have been arrested, booked, and charged with all sorts of crimes related to Jan. 6. Now DOJ prosecutors are getting them to cooperate in exchange for sentencing consideration.

That’s the way the FBI and Justice Department has worked when going after the mafia: They get lower level soldiers in the organization to tell what they know about the capos and bosses. It’s a bottom-up way of dealing with criminal acts that’s been used for decades by law enforcement.

Now that the House Select Committee is about to hold public hearings, it’s not a stretch to suggest we may start seeing who has been charged and some of the court filings that could still be under seal.

Stay tuned.

 

Categories
Crime Donald Trump The Trump Organization

Michael Cohen Says ‘Very Exciting’ Indictments Are Coming Soon From The Manhattan DA’s Office

According to Michael Cohen, who was personal attorney to failed, one-term former President Donald Trump for several years, he expects the office of new Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will call him back very soon and predicts “very exciting” indictments are coming in the case against Trump and the Trump Organization.

Cohen was a guest on MSNBC Sunday and was asked by host Alex Witt:

“What are your predictions for 2022 relative to the Trump probe? The fact that Cy Vance has now left office, do you think you’ll be contacted by the new Manhattan DA?”

Cohen replied:

“Yeah, I absolutely do. I think we’re going to start to see a lot of movement now. There’s a lot of momentum going on both at the DA’s office as well as the [New York State] attorney general.”

And Cohen then made his prediction of new indictments in the weeks ahead:

“This case is not over simply because Cy Vance is now out of office. To the contrary, I believe things are going to start ramping up. I think they’ll start moving quickly. I do believe that 2022, especially the early part is going to see some indictments and some very exciting ones for those of us that want to see justice.”

Cohen has previously said that he’s provided Manhattan prosecutors with everything they’ve asked for, and remarked in June of last year:

“I do believe that there is a mounting amount of evidence that they will be prosecuting upon. Some of it of course is civil, and other parts of it are criminal.”

How sweet it would be to see Trump and members of his family indicted for their decades of skirting the laws that are supposed to apply to all of us! It’s Donald’s worst nightmare, and it may be on the verge of finally happening.

Here’s the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5NIBvrw920&feature=emb_logo

Categories
Capitol Insurrection Congress

Jim Jordan Is Facing ‘Jail Time’ If He Refuses To Testify Before Jan. 6 Committee: Former US Attorney

A former U.S. Attorney says that if Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) tries to defy the House Committee on the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, he won’t “have a leg to stand on” and will be facing significant jail time for his obstinance.

Barbara McQuade, who was a U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan from 2010 to 2017, told MSNBC host Jonathan Capehart:

“You know, the word unprecedented is sometimes overused I think in these days. But this is absolutely a situation that’s unprecedented, subpoenaing a member of Congress. As a professional courtesy, they have first been requested to come forward, but if they continue to refuse, Chairman [Bennie] Thompson said they will use subpoenas if necessary.”

McQuade added that even though members of Congress are rarely subpoenaed, Jordan had better not expect he’ll get off scot-free:

“I imagine they will fight them, you know, asserting some of the same legal arguments we heard from others. But I think, if Congress wants this information, there is nothing in the law that prohibits them from issuing subpoenas to fellow members of Congress.”

After Capehart played a video clip of Jordan nervously admitting that he spoke with failed ex-President Donald Trump on Jan. 6, McQuade noted:

“Well, I think at some point if he continues to fight, then the committee will demand that he come by issuing a subpoena. At that point his options are to be held in contempt, which can include jail time if he is prosecuted for that crime; so the same path that we have seen for Steve Bannon. So I think it is going to be difficult for him to manage, because unlike Steve Bannon, he’s an elected official.”

“At some point I think his refusal to testify could impact his candidacy down the road. Of course, he represents a base that perhaps would see that sort of defiance as being more attractive rather than less attractive. He’s clearly somebody who has information. I think if I put somebody on the stand with that kind of evasive answer, I would use that as evidence of consciousness of guilt. I want to know what they discussed that day, before that day, and after that day.”

If Jordan is subpoenaed and remains unwilling to testify, he needs to be referred to the Justice Department for criminal contempt of Congress, which could result in him serving two years in prison.

Lock him up!

Here’s the clip from MSNBC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOxqmnRERrA&feature=emb_logo
 

Categories
Capitol Insurrection Crime Donald Trump Donald Trump Jr. Eric Trump

House 1/6 Committee Has Evidence Incriminating Donald Trump And His Sons: Report

The House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection is about to begin holding public hearings, and according to a reporter familiar with the what’s happening inside the committee, they will present evidence which incriminates former President Donald Trump and his two oldest sons, Don Jr. and Eric.

Appearing on MSNBC, Hugo Lowell of The Guardian noted that open hearings will allow the committee to lay out proof that Trump and members of his family directly coordinated with the insurrectionists:

“The Select Committee is unlikely, I think, to issue an interim report in the next few weeks and months, but what they are going to do is hold a series of televised public hearings where they want to show the American public what the committee has learned in its closed-door evidence gathering process to date.”

Lowell added that so far the Jan. 6 panel has interviewed about 300 people and obtained more than 30,000 documents, including emails and text messages which implicate former White House officials and others connected to the ex-president:

“Including, of course, Tump’s former White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who turned over a series of really damning messages that seemed to incriminate the White House and Trump, and Trump’s sons, and Fox News hosts, and Republican members of Congress, so this is a really big deal. And this is going to feature large in how the committee moves forward. They’re still going to be doing investigations and evidence gathering on the side, but I think they’re going to really ramp up the pace and try and share with the American people what they’ve learned to date.”

The hearings will also increase pressure on the Justice Department, which can file criminal charges against anyone who violated federal law. And if attacking the seat of American government isn’t a crime, then what in the hell is?