If I’m Traitor Tot, and I’m sure as shit glad that I’m not, I’m not very happy right now. The first J6 committee public hearing will be on Thursday, in prime time. And it’s bad news for Trump. Because the Democrats on the committee hired a documentary filmmaker to help them shape the look of the hearings. At least the Democrats know what they don’t know, and they know dick about mass media presentations. Trump knows it like the back of his hand, so he has to know this is not good news.
Watch for fireworks on Thursday night. According to Rachel Maddow, among the live witnesses on Thursday night will be the first female Capitol Hill police officer injured by the mob at the Capitol. Along with an independent documentary filmmaker who was literally embedded with the Loud Toys for several days before January 6th. This will include footage of a January 5th meeting in a DC garage between the founder of the Oath Creepers and the Loud Toys to discuss strategy. And they’re just getting started.
But don’t take your eye off of the separate DOJ investigation either. Rachel led off tonight with a recap of the last two times that the DOJ filed Sedition Conspiracy charges, in 2010 and 1988. In both cases, the far right groups were working to commit mass atrocities in order to trigger a national war, although no overt acts were committed. In both cases, all defendants were acquitted, which included giving them their weapons back. She made the point that these cases are incredibly difficult to prove.
But this time is different. Because this time it isn’t just a shitload of guns, ammo, IED’s, and bullshit planning. This time the Loud Toys and Oath Kreepers violently stormed the Capitol, assaulted police officers and actively tried to stop the mandatory congressional counting of the electoral votes.
And the difference is already showing up. In January, the DOJ indicted 11 members of the Oath Kreepers for seditious conspiracy, and already, 3 of the defendants have pleaded guilty and started cooperating with the DOJ. And now today, the DOJ announced indictments of 5 Loud Toy members for seditious conspiracy. Watch for more plea deals to follow there.
There is a critical point that needs to be made here. Right now, there are two completely separate individual federal grand juries hearing January 6th evidence right now. When a chamber of congress votes Contempt of Congress charges, it is the DC US Attorney who handles the case. Take for granted that they checked with Main Justice, but that’s one grand jury. And then the DOJ has its own grand jury hearing evidence from their own investigation. The DC grand jury indicted Bannon and Navarro, but the DOJ grand jury indicted the Oath Kreepers and Loud Toys. It may seem a petty difference, but it signals that both investigations are proceeding on separate tracks, with no cross pollination.
Y’all remember a little while ago, when I told you to take a deep breath, cut Merrick Garland some slack, and let the boy work? This is exactly what I was talking about. The DOJ is running like the freakin‘ DOJ again, It’s conducting its investigation in private, no public bullshit, and if there are charges to be brought, we’ll know about it when the indictments are announced.
And here are some things you can look forward to going forward. We already knew that the DOJ was investigating the multi state scam to submit fake slated of Trump electors to congress and the National Archives. It was leaked that the DOJ is also looking into not only the funding for the January 6th rally, but also the funding of organized groups to get to DC for the rally. And the DOJ itself just announced that it is actively investigating whether or not the actions of Trump, Meadows, Lindsey Graham and others in attempting to change the Georgia election results was criminal.
But my favorite two so far are Dan Scavino and Mark Meadows. On the same day that the indictments were announced against former Trump stooge Peter Navarro for contempt of congress, the DOJ announced that it would not be prosecuting Scavino and Meadows on the same charges. These two must have PhD’s in stupid, since both immediately came out with statements thanking the DOJ for confirming their innocence. Stand up and take a bow, fools! The DOJ never said that they might not indict you for something else, only that they weren’t going to indict you for contempt of congress. Don’t fire those lawyers just yet, guys.
Look, here’s the down and dirty. The DOJ has manpower, money, and resources far beyond anything the J6 committee cold ever even dream of. And their subpoenas are in a whole nother class. Also, they don’t have the artificial timeline of the midterm elections to worry about. Long after the J6 committee has issued its final report, the DOJ will still be plugging away at the coal face, hampered by nothing other than the 5 year statute of limitations. Don’t touch that dial.
There’s another point to think about. Federal prosecutors are pretty gutless when they have anything less than a slam dunk case. If they believe the charges are complicated & tough to prove, especially when a defendant can afford good lawyers (and these asshats WILL have good lawyers) federal prosecutors have a long history of hemming and hawing behind the scenes and deciding not to stick their necks out.
However, they are charging sedition which as Rachael noted is a tough case to make. To me at least that means they’ve got one helluva case against every person charged. The fact some have flipped so quickly suggests just how good it is. Do you think their lawyers saw ALL the evidence against their clients? I don’t. But it was enough to have them tell their clients to cut a deal RIGHT FUCKING NOW! The old “the first person(s) through the door get the deal” type thing. And if these “true believers” saw they really were well and truly fucked and looking at a long, long time in prison unless they had some serious evidence to give up, evidence they could back up by the way and decided to cut their losses.
Again, when the charges are tough to prove even under the best of circumstances federal prosecutors HATE bringing charges unless they are SURE they’ve got the goods. How do you think Trump and so many others skated up there in NYC for decades? For that matter, same applies in DC where white collar crime is also rampant! So the fact they’ve sought and obtained indictments on SEDITION (as you say a tough case to make) is a BFD.
Federal prosecutors apparently do not want to do their jobs.
Spoken with zero understanding of how the legal system works, especially at the federal level, Spike. A prosecutor’s job performance is dependent upon their conviction rates, so rolling the dice on every criminal charge that comes your way is self-defeating if you want to keep said job. And the higher up the chain you are, the less you can afford a mistake. That’s why federal prosecutors are less willing to have anything less than airtight.
I am suspecting, sedition being sedition, that besides charging the appropriate offense, thet=y may be using these cases to practice up on how to prosecute it,, strengthening what works and correcting what doesn’t, with an eye to ensuring that the worstcriminals of all don’t get away.
And, if that’s so and if they thought long and hard about it right from the begining, that may very well explain a lot of the delay we have already been suffering under for God knows how long. It may torn out to have been worth it.
W
Given Garland’s track record, if I were Formerly, at this point I’d be renewing my passport.
Or you would if the government would allow you to. It may already be too late for that.
I prefer slow and steady b over quick and rash. But I want Meadows sand his pals in jail. Withhold judgement for the time being,but the clock is beginning to count down. I disagree with their regusal.to prosecute Meadows et al.for contempt of Congress but hope theyvwill.prosecute them for their other crimes.
Has anyone considered the possibility that Scavino and Meadows are not being charged with anything is perhaps they flipped and co-operated in return for immunity?
That is certainly one possibility. Another is that DOJ is holding out on the contempt charges in order to roll them in later. Or maybe both. Even if they are cooperating now, they might stop – or or slip.