Category: January 6

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January 6 Mike Pence The Trump Adminstration

Adam Schiff Has The Perfect Clapback When Mike Pence Refuses To Comply With A DOJ Subpoena

Former Vice President Mike Pence has decided that he will not comply with a subpoena from Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is investigating efforts by ex-president Donald Trump to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

CNN reports that Pence will say the subpoena cannot be enforced because he was president of the Senate and is therefore immune from questions about his official duties in that capacity.

Pence is expected to address the subpoena and his response to it during a trip to Iowa on Wednesday, according to a source familiar with his plans. His decision to fight the subpoena comes as the former vice president is mulling a 2024 presidential bid.

Pence has been subpoenaed by Jack Smith, the special counsel investigating Trump and his role in January 6, 2021, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. Smith’s office is seeking documents and testimony, the source said. Investigators want the former vice president to testify about his interactions with Trump leading up to the 2020 election and the day of the attack on the US Capitol.

What Pence is actually doing, however, is trying to have it both ways. He wants to pretend that he has scruples while at the same time refusing to say anything that might harm his former political patron, the disgraced former president who is running for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination. Pence is also expected to be a contender for the Republican nomination, though he has yet to announce his intentions.

Dennis Aftergut and Harvard Law Professor Laurence Tribe put Pence’s refusal to comply with the special counsel’s subpoena this way:

His purpose is transparent. It’s not to protect our legal institutions but to protect himself and his ambition to run for the White House. He knows that courts have consistently shot down claims of separation of powers and executive privilege in the context of attempts by Trump to shield his role in Jan. 6 and the events leading up to it. So Pence now makes a novel, if legally frivolous claim.


But by far the best response to what Pence is expected to do came from Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), who noted:

“Pence is now claiming the Speech and Debate Clause — meant for senators and members — allows him to avoid testifying about Jan 6.

“Just shows the lengths Pence will go to avoid doing his duty and telling the truth.

“What a way to launch a presidential campaign.”

 

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Capitol Insurrection Congress GOP January 6

WATCH Jamie Raskin Destroy Marjorie Taylor Greene For Continuing To Defend Jan. 6 Rioters

During a meeting of the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) chastised Georgia Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) for claiming that the “major civil rights issue” facing the country is the pro-Trump rioters who have been criminally charged and incarcerated for taking part in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Raskin noted that Greene is blind to the mistreatment of those who live in Washington, D.C. and instead whines about “MAGA insurrectionists who are in jail for assaulting officers, interfering with a federal proceeding, and engaging in seditious conspiracy.”

The Maryland Democrat added that House Republicans would love to “turn the clock back on D.C.’s home rule power and relive the glory days when Washington was run like a colony by some racist Dixiecrats out of the House district committee.”

He finished his verbal destruction of Greene and her GOP colleagues by remarking:

“Today, it’s the GOP that is determined to put the people of Washington in their place … attacking Washington not just for its local voting rights policies and criminal justice code, but for its gun safety policies, for its defensive abortion rights and LGBTQ rights, its decriminalization of marijuana, and dozens of other issues potentially headed to the House floor.”

Raskin is absolutely right about House Republicans and their colleagues in the Senate who are still trying to minimize what took place on Jan. 6. To hear them tell it, the rioting was “legitimate political speech” and no one should be punished for taking part in the attack on the Capitol.

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Capitol Insurrection Donald Trump January 6 Justice Department

DOJ Plans To Hit Trump With An ‘Appeal-Proof’ Charge For His Role In January 6: Report

Now that several members of the domestic terrorist group the Oath Keepers have been convicted for seditious conspiracy, many have suggested that disgraced, one-term former president Donald Trump should be charged with the same thing for his role in inciting the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 referred the ex-president to the Justice Department on four charges — obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress, conspiracy to defraud the United States, inciting or assisting an insurrection, and conspiracy to make a false statement — in December, but Hugo Lowell of The Guardian suggested Tuesday morning that the DOJ will likely try to build a narrow, “appeal-proof” case against Trump.

During an appearance on MSNBC, Lowell remarked:

“The Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy verdicts really come about because the government had concrete evidence that the leaders of the Oath Keepers effectively engaged in political violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power, and because it was presented in that way and because, you know, the Oath Keepers had a quick reaction force across the river in Virginia. They had weapons and ammunition, and they were texting about we can come to the Capitol, and, you know, bring fire support if you really need it. I think that’s the kind of evidence that’s convincing for a jury.”

Lowell continued:

“It’s the kind of evidence that we’re missing as of yet with Trump, and that’s why I think that the Justice Department is looking more at an obstruction of an official proceeding kind of thing for Trump, as opposed to, you know, seditious conspiracy. I don’t think it materially makes any difference because they are still really serious felonies and they carry lengthy prison terms, and the Justice Department doesn’t like to score big home runs, they like to score single hits, and if they can find one charge that sticks with Trump, they would much prefer that.”

Ultimately, Lowell concluded, the Justice Department wants a solid case that will stand up to any appeal:

“They want a sustained conviction, they just don’t want a conviction, they want to sustain it upon appeal,” he added, “and I think he was talking about how you want to make sure it follows through all the way. They’re much more likely to take a lesser charge that is more likely to be sustained than the big charge.”

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Capitol Insurrection Congress January 6

January 6 Rioter Draws A Blank When Prosecutors Ask Him About The Bill Of Rights

It became one of the most famous images from the January 6. 2021 attack on the Capitol: A man sitting at a desk in the office of then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, his feet propped up as if he belonged there.

But as Richard “Bigo” Barnett soon learned, his brush with fame had serious consequences, as he’s now facing years in prison for what he later dubbed a “joke.”

Barnett appeared in a federal court Thursday and tried to make it sound like he had merely gotten caught up in the moment and was sorry for his actions:

“Because of all the controversies. I probably shouldn’t have put my feet on the desk. And my language.” Although he still suspects that former president Donald Trump was fraudulently denied reelection and that “nefarious characters” on the political left are intent on destroying the Constitution, he told the jury he would apologize to Pelosi in person if he could.

“I’m a Christian. It just wasn’t good. It wasn’t who I am.”

Barnett, you may recall, left a hateful message for Pelosi, which also came up Thursday:

“Nancy, Bigo was here, you b—-,” he said he wrote in a note, leaving it on the desk before departing with an item that didn’t belong to him: an empty envelope addressed to a House Democrat and bearing the digital signature of Pelosi (D-Calif.). “I put a quarter on the desk even though she ain’t f—-ing worth it,” he shouted hoarsely outside the Capitol, displaying his souvenir for video cameras.

At one point, a prosecutor asked Barnett, “You love the Constitution?” 

Barnett: “Love it!”

Prosecutor: “First Amendment?”

Barnett: “Yes.”

Prosecutor: “Second Amendment?”

Barnett: “Yes.”

Prosecutor: “Love the Third Amendment?”

Barnett: “Yes.”

The prosecutor then inquired, “What’s the Third Amendment?”

Barnett paused and sheepishly admitted, “I don’t know.”

The Third Amendment prohibits the government from quartering troops in civilian homes.

Barnett has been indicted on eight criminal counts, including felony obstruction of an official proceeding and entering a restricted building with a dangerous weapon.

 

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Capitol Insurrection Crime Donald Trump January 6

New Legal Liability For Trump – Judge Rules Jan. 6 Rioter ‘Followed’ Ex-President’s ‘Instructions’

As he waits to find out if the Justice Department will charge him for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, one-term, twice-impeached former president Donald Trump will now have to contend with a federal judge’s ruling that a January 6 rioter “followed President Trump’s instructions” on the day of the riot.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found Trump supporter Danean MacAndrew guilty on four counts Tuesday, but she also ruled that MacAndrew had acted on the advice of the ex-president, writing:

“After MacAndrew read then-President Trump’s announcement that he would hold a rally on January 6, 2021 that ‘w[ould] be wild,’ she made plans to attend, excited to hear then-President Trump speak and to protest against the 2020 Presidential Election.

 “And at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally, then-President Trump eponymously exhorted his supporters to, in fact, stop the steal by marching to the Capitol. Defendant marched to the Capitol where, she testified, she understood that only Congress had the power to fix the election’s outcome and that Congress was likely in session while she was around and in the Capitol.”

Next was the direct mention of Trump, with the judge concluding:

“Having followed then-President Trump’s instructions, which were in line with her stated desires, the Court therefore finds that Defendant intended her presence to be disruptive to Congressional business.

“[H]eeding the call of former President Trump, she continued onwards to ‘stop the steal. For her participation in the insurrection of January 6, the Court finds Danean MacAndrew GUILTY.”

This latest ruling could help DOJ prosecutors decide to indict Trump for his role in the horrors of Jan. 6, and it also gives potential plaintiffs a legal footing to sue the former president for millions of dollars in damages.

Special Counsel Jack Smith has been appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to determine if Trump should be charged for Jan. 6 also also for hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.