Tag: Capitol Insurrection

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Capitol Insurrection January 6 WTF?!

Jan. 6 Rioter Tells Judge He Only Showed Up At Capitol To Increase His Social Media Engagement

Ryan Zink is a resident of Arizona who showed up at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 and allegedly played a role in the events of that horrific day.

How do we know Zink was at the Capitol on Jan. 6? Because he was stupid enough to film himself charging towards the building and then post the videos on social media for others to see.

Including, of course, the FBI and other federal investigators.

During his testimony, Kyle Cheney of Politico reports, Zink attempted to defend his actions by claiming he was merely trying to boost is social media engagement.

However, such a defense is seriously undercut by statements Zink made that day, including:

  • “We’re storming the Capitol!”
  • “They can’t stop us!”

Here’s what else Cheney shared about Zink’s testimony.

Ryan Zink, a Jan. 6 defendant charged with obstruction, is on the stand in his ongoing trial. His dad ran against Ruben Gallego in the 2022 election and is running for the open seat in 2024.

The younger Zink testified that he was apolitical, disgusted by the violence he witnessed and tried to help cops that day. Videos of him charging toward the Capitol (and up the steps) while yelling “we’re storming the Capitol,” among other things, were just for clicks, he says.

In 5 videos Zink — who was with his father that day — yells “they can’t stop us” while surging with the crowd. “We’re in the doors,” he yells while the crowd breached (though he didn’t go in) His explanation today: “I’m embellishing my activity here to try to retain viewership”

NOTABLY Zink tried to subpoena Speaker McCarthy, Rep. Jim Jordan and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Last week, House lawyers sharply (and successfully) rejected the effort, saying the subpoena was improper and sought irrelevant info.

Since he was merely trying to get more views on Facebook, maybe Zink can get Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg to pay his legal bills or send him some money for his prison commissary account if and when he’s found guilty and incarcerated.

He might not want to hold his breath waiting for that to happen.

 

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Donald Trump GOP Justice Department The Trump Adminstration WTF?!

Evidence Suggests Some Congressional Republicans Could Be Charged For Jan. 6

While it’s been clear for some time now that former President Donald Trump was directly involved in fomenting the violence that took place on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol, reporting from The New York Times suggests that some Republicans in Congress also played a role in the efforts to subvert the 2020 election and keep power through a violent uprising.

Specifically, the Times reveals that notes taken by a top deputy to then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen point directly to a coordinated effort between Trump and members of Congress. Those notes, which were handwritten by deputy AG Richard Donoghue, report what Trump told Rosen:

“Just say that the election was corrupt + leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen.”

That, many legal experts said, is a literal smoking gun, and it means that several Republicans in Congress are facing indictment for their role in what transpired on that fateful day.

Philip Bump of The Washington Post focused in on the notation from Donoghue:

“What Donoghue’s notes suggest is that Trump had fully bought into the effort that would eventually become his Alamo: having Republican legislators block the electoral-vote counting due to take place at the Capitol on Jan. 6.”

Failing to certify counting of the electoral votes would have resulted in a Constitutional crisis. The added chaos of a riot at the Capitol would have provided the perfect opportunity for Trump to declare a national emergency and refuse to hand over the reins of power to Joe Biden. It also would have provided an “excuse” for a coup d’etat. And it would have even had the blessing of a faction in Congress.

Once again, quoting Philip Bump:

“Some congressional Republicans clearly did their best to aid Trump’s effort. On the morning of Jan. 6, (Rep Mo) Brooks spoke before Trump at a rally outside the White House. It was time, he said, to ‘start taking down names and kicking ass.’ It’s not clear if any of those in attendance did the former, but some clearly did the latter.”

Brooks, along with Reps. Jim Jordan, Jim Banks, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kevin McCarthy (and perhaps others) may well find themselves charged with crimes by the Justice Department.

 

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Capitol Insurrection Crime GOP

Eric Swalwell Draws A Line Between Jim Jordan’s Wrestling Scandal And His Actions On Jan. 6

For years, scandal has surrounded Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who has yet to fully explain why when he was an assistant coach on the Ohio State University wrestling team in the mid-1990s he failed to report that sexual abuse of young athletes was being committed by the team doctor, Richard Strauss. Strauss killed himself in 2005 and is believed to have abused at least 177 students from 1979 to 1996.

And now Jordan is at the center of yet another scandal, and this one could well cost him his political career and result in him being charged with crimes against the United States for his role in the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

 

One of Jordan’s colleagues, Rep. Eric Swalwell, says there’s a connection between the Ohio Republican’s actions at Ohio State and his alleged coordination with members of the Trump administration who attempted to orchestrate a coup on the 6th of January.

During an appearance on MSNBC, Swalwell noted:

“I’m not a Harvard lawyer. But the way that he has talked about his involvement certainly makes him look — the way that he is now moonwalk-ing away from responsibilities as to why — probably makes him complicit. This is an incident of workplace violence. Let us just step back. In any workplace — if this has happened. If you worked with contact with someone who is responsible for the workplace violence. If you did nothing wrong and you had nothing to do with it. You would raise your hand and say, let me help make this safer.”

Swalwell then added that Jordan’s refusal to speak to the House 1/6 Select Committee without being subpoenaed is the same sort of thing he did at Ohio State:

“The fact that he does not want to cooperate, I think, puts him in the category of the people who had some knowledge of what Trump wanted to do. And, by the way, Lawrence, this guy has priors. This is not the first time he has been accused of witnessing a crime and not wanting to report it or help investigators.”

 

Jim Jordan allegedly enabled the actions of sexual predator even though he could have reported what he knew and protected other students. And now he’s an enabler of a plot to overthrow the elected government of the United States. Both are disgusting and abhorrent, and it’s time that Jordan paid for his refusal to speak when others were in danger.

 

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Capitol Insurrection Crime Donald Trump January 6

Former Trump Attorney: Donald’s Indictment For Jan. 6 Crimes Is ‘About To Happen’

A former White House attorney in the administration of Donald Trump is predicting that the failed ex-president will soon be indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for crimes connected to the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the Capitol.

Ty Cobb told CNN’s Erin Burnett, “I believe it’s about to happen.”

“I think what is called the Jan. 6 case, which really encompasses all the attempts to cling to power and prevent the peaceful transfer of government, I think that has been a very important matter to the special prosecutor,” Cobb added. “I think he has gone about it very deliberately, I think they have moved heaven and earth to do it in a timely way.”

Cobb also told Burnett, “I think they are ready to go. I don’t think there are many i’s to dot or t’s to cross yet, but I do think there are some difficult decisions.”

Trump is facing other charges related to the 2020 election in the state of Georgia, where Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis seated two grand juries on Tuesday that will consider whether or to indict the ex-president for his role in attempting to overturn balloting in the Peach State so that he could be declared the winner even though he lost to President Joe Biden by nearly 12,000 votes. Those ballots were counted and recounted and always showed that Trump lost Georgia’s 16 electoral votes.

Here’s more on the new Georgia grand juries:

 

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Capitol Insurrection Crime January 6

Attorney For Jan. 6 Rioter Says The Attack Wasn’t Violent And Gets His Head Handed To Him By CNN Host

John Pierce is an attorney for one of the rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and his attempts to mansplain what transpired on that day to CNN host Abby Phillip got him fact-checked on real time during a Thursday appearance on the network.

Pierce was combative from the get-go, chastising Phillip for her introduction.

“I would actually take some issue with the language in some of your lead up about, you know, folks storming the Capitol,” he remarked. “January 6 was a very complex event. There were a lot of people who engaged in various kinds of conduct.”

Phillip asked Pierce if his client was “remorseful about his actions on January 6.”

The attorney replied:

“I think there are certain things that he wish had happened differently, but you know, the trial laid out very clearly that he was there to have his voice be heard, he was there to protect other people. There is very clear evidence that there was excessive force by police officers and he was trying to assist an elderly person who was being beaten by batons when he was on the ground.”

That led Phillip to interject, “Look, I have to stop you there because, honestly, we watched what happened on January 6, okay? And you can make sort of legalistic arguments about what exactly your client was convicted of and what he was not, [but] there’s no question that there was violence at the Capitol, that officers were assaulted on that day. There’s no question about that. There’s also no question that your client was participated in pushing back against law enforcement officers who were doing their jobs.”

Pierce: “The narrative that, with all due respect to your network, sometimes has been pushed, that this was a, you know, just a violent event that—there was violence on both sides.”

The host countered, “No, no, no. It was a violent event. Look, it was a violent event. Police officers were there doing their jobs.”

Instead of conceding the point, Pierce continued to push his lies:

“Trust me Abby, some of the police officers were not doing their jobs. Some of the police officers were going way beyond doing their jobs, including unjustified lethal force, okay? January 6 is not as simple…”

Phillip held her ground, telling the attorney, “John, a mob was attacking the Capitol. They were trying to break into the chamber. Some of them were armed. Many of them assaulted police officers to the point of permanent, long-term injury.”

And that’s when Pierce became a condescending jerk.

“You have to let me finish. The vast majority… I know this stuff better than you, with all due respect. Way better. The vast majority of individuals who were on the Capitol grounds were there and they were peaceful.”

Twitter users hailed Phillip for refusing to let Pierce gaslight viewers.