I did it. I found the single weirdest moment in the Jan. 6 committee transcripts released so far.
Between witness Samuel Armes and his lawyer Anessa Santos.
Jacquelyn STARER, a doctor from Ashland, Mass., literally throwing her long career away by striking a cop in the rotunda on Jan. 6.
She's been arrested on felony charges, DOJ announed today.
BREAKING: The Jan. 6 select committee says it has obtained evidence that Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) led a tour through the Capitol on Jan. 5, 2021 — contradicting earlier denials by GOP lawmakers that any tours occurred that day.
Story TK
Rep, Elijah Cummings has been a brutal bully, shouting and screaming at the great men & women of Border Patrol about conditions at the Southern Border, when actually his Baltimore district is FAR WORSE and more dangerous. His district is considered the Worst in the USA......
JUST IN: A federal appeals court has ruled that the 14th Amendment's bar on insurrectionists holding office may be applied to current/future political candidates.
BREAKING: The Jan. 6 select committee says it believes Donald Trump violated multiple laws in his quest to overturn the 2020 election — including obstruction of Congress and defrauding the United States.
NEWS: GAO has concluded that Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf and Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli were invalidly appointed and are *ineligible* to serve in their current roles.
JUST IN: The Senate Intelligence Committee affirms the intelligence community's conclusion that Russia acted to aid Trump in 2016 — and explicitly breaks with the House GOP.
"The ICA reflects strong tradecraft," said Burr.
JUST IN: Judge Amy Berman JACKSON just chewed out Jan. 6 defendant Gabrial Garcia for lying about his recent trip to DC — attending CPAC despite claiming he was in DC to attend trials — and orderd him on home detention.
"You are finished making up your own rules," she said.
PSAKI says Biden has decided he will NOT invoke executive privilege on Trump's behalf to shield any of his White House records from the Jan. 6 committee.
INBOX: Top House Dem Hakeem Jeffries and Rep. Ted Lieu are urging the FBI “to evaluate whether Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, or Members of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service, committed any crimes in light of nationwide delays and issues with USPS.”
Don't think this one has fully sunk in yet: A member of Congress suggested that GOP-controlled states anoint Trump electors **before those states were even called.**
This wasn't overturning the election. This was scrapping democracy before the votes were even counted.
NEW: The Biden administration has a literal Trump card to play against the House GOP impeachment inquiry:
In 2020, Trump’s DOJ issued a binding legal opinion that impeachment inquiries are invalid without an official vote of the House.
w/
@joshgerstein
JUST IN: Judge Tanya Chutkan has sentenced Jan. 6 defendant Mark PONDER to 63 months in prison for assault, one of the stiffest sentences handed down yet, and steeper than DOJ's request for five years.
Donald Trump swore in court yesterday he would not attempt to influence or intimidate witnesses, retaliate against anyone, or in any other way attempt to obstruct the administration of justice.
“Are you prepared to comply?” the magistrate judge asked.
“Yes,” Trump replied.
Even if members of Congress don't "read Twitter," it would seem to be a pretty basic responsibility of governing to know what the president of the United States is communicating to millions of people at any given time.
TUBERVILLE tells reporters tonight that when Trump called him on Jan. 6, he informed the president that security had just taken Pence out of the chamber for safety.
"I said ‘Mr. President, they just took the vice president out, I’ve got to go.”
JUST IN: Proud Boy Christopher Worrell has been sentenced to 10 years in prison for spraying police on Jan. 6 and then fleeing for 45 days ahead of sentencing.
But it was far from a typical hearing …
EXPLOSIVE late-night court filing fomr National Archives details what Trump is trying to block the Jan. 6 committee from obtaining.
They include "daily presidential diaries, schedules, appointments showing White House visitors, activity logs" and records of calls to Trump/Pence.
JUST IN: A federal judge in Florida has sanctioned Donald Trump's attorneys *$938,000* for what he says is a pattern of abusing the court system for political purposes
It's Judge MIddlebrooks' second blistering sanctions order against Habba et al
HAPPENING NOW: I have dialed in to Judge Dearie's courtroom, and apparently the system has left every single caller unmuted -- so it sounds roughly like midtown at rush hour, but with the added benefit of dozens of people screaming at each other to shut up.
CHENEY at Reagan Library tonight:
"At this moment, we are confronting a domestic threat we have never faced before– a former president who is attempting to unravel the foundations of our Constitutional Republic."
GOP leaders, she says, have become "willing hostages."
NEWS: Bennie Thompson tells us that after Thursday, the select committee will resume hearings in July. The panel is reassessing its schedule after significant new tranches of evidence have arrived — including documentary footage, NARA productions and new tips.
! TRUMP to Hannity on declassifying documents:
There doesn’t have to be a process, as I understand it. If you’re the president of the United states, you can declasify ... **even by thinking about it**"
JUST LEFT the courtroom where Trump was arraigned. The most interesting part? Several of the federal judges of the district court filled the back row — including Chief Judge James Boasberg, Amy Berman Jackson and Randy Moss.
BREAKING: House Democrats have subpoenaed four top aides to Secretary POMPEO, citing resistance to appearing for depositions about the firing of inspector general Steve LINICK.
Good news for the Jan. 6 Committee:
The Trump executive privilege lawsuit has been assigned to Judge Tanya Chutkan, who has expressed horror about the Jan. 6 attack and extended sentences beyond what prosecutors have asked for in a couple cases.
???: This is wild.
As many have pointed out, the first letter in each of the top 23 tweets on
@RepGosar
's account spell "Epstein Didn't Kill Himself."
NEW: DC Police chief at a briefing with Mayor Bowser on Jan. 5-6 protests:
"We have received some information that there are individuals intent on bringing firearms into our city. That just will not be tolerated."
Just popped into the trial for Jan. 6 defendant John Todd of Missouri.
First witness: A woman who met him at a martini bar after she overheard him bragging about being at the Capitol. He showed her pictures and videos to prove it.
She reported him to the FBI.
Extremely bad luck for Trump. He filed a lawsuit against NYAG Letitia James in Florida state court. James yesterday removed the case to federal court and it landed before ... Judge Donald Middlebrooks, who just days ago sanctioned Trump attorneys for a frivolous lawsuit.
Proud Boy leader Ethan Nordean lashed out at Trump on Jan. 20, when it dawned on him that he’d likely be going to jail for the ex-president, according to new messages revealed by prosecutors last night.
Rep. LOFGREN, who chairs the House Administration Committee, says the Capitol Police chief incorrectly told her that the National Guard was at the ready ahead of the Jan. 6 session.
"What they told me about the National Guard was just not true."
TO RECAP: Trump demanded a special master and won. He asked for Raymond Dearie and won. Now his legal team is upset that Dearie is asking for evidence of what he claims to have declassified and is setting aggressive deadlines.
HAPPENING NOW: A federal judge preparing to sentence a Jan. 6 rioter says the US is headed in a dangerous direction.
"That’s what we see in countries, like what we’re experiencing now in Ukraine," Judge WALTON said. "That’s where we’re headed if we don’t do anything to stop it."
JUST IN: Jim TRUSTY, who dropped off of Trump's criminal defense team last week, is now withdrawing from Trump's lawsuit against CNN, citing "irreconcilable differences" with his client.
A 40-year friend of a Capitol Police officer reported the officer for disclosing the secure location he evacuated lawmakers to on Jan. 6.
The friend believed the officer was aligned with the rioters, per USCP discipline reports obtained by McClatchy.
JUST IN: After an 8 month delay, a federal judge has cleared the way for DC bar authorities to continue disciplinary proceedings against former Trump DOJ attorney Jeffrey CLARK.
Seems significant that a senator is acknowledging telling Trump *directly* that Pence was under threat, and Trump still didn't say anything publicly about it.
NEW: Defense Department directed Laura COOPER not to appear for her deposition today. Dems issues a subpoena and she is testifying anyway, per an official working on the impeachment inquiry.
Same story as several State Dept. witnesses.
HAPPENING NOW: The Bannon trial has resumed with DOJ arguing that Bannon is improperly injecting politics into the jury's mind. DOJ wants to limit the questions his lawyers can ask on that, and Judge Nichols agrees.
HAPPENING NOW: Heated sentencing hearing in case of Jan. 6 defendant James Bonet.
DEFENSE LAWYER: Our president was inciting some people to do this.
JUDGE SULLIVAN: But that’s not a defense. The devil made me do it so I did it? That’s crazy.
BREAKING: Judge orders John Eastman to release emails he attempted to withhold from the Jan. 6 committee.
"Trump’s plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power,
undermining American democracy and the Constitution."
HAPPENING NOW: Jan. 6 defendant Richard Barnard, facing sentencing for a misdemeanor charge, tells a judge he lost a "six figure job," his retirement and his credit rating.
"There’s nothing the court can do to me that will come even close to what I’ve lost."
JUST IN: A federal judge, who has been sharply critical of Barr and DOJ, is asking the department to determine whether Trump’s recent tweet ordering blanket declassification of Russia docs, means the full Mueller report is now declassified.
JUST IN: Select committee releases new details of Loudermilk's tour, showing actual evidence of the guests photographing tunnels/hallways and other details of the complex that the committee says are not typically of interest to tours.
HAPPENING NOW: Bar discipline proceedings have begun in D.C. for Rudy GIULIANI. Investigator Phil FOX says Rudy “weaponized his law license” to file frivolous litigation that threatened democracy and the transfer of power.
NEW: PELOSI and Rep. RASKIN plan to introduce legislation tomorrow to establish a commission under the 25th Amendment charged with evaluating the president's mental/physical capacity.
BREAKING: Prosceutors are seeking 33 years in prison for Proud Boys leaders Enrique Tarrio and Joe Biggs.
Also: 30 years for Zach Rehl and 27 years for Ethan Nordean.
They want 20 years for Dominic Pezzola.
BREAKING: Jack Smith's team tells Judge Cannon that a key witness in Trump's Mar-a-Lago documents case retracted false testimony after switching lawyers.
Details TK
NEW: Geoff BERMAN told Congress today that BARR repeatedly pushed him to resign — starting with a June 18 meeting at a NY hotel and ending with a phone call that night.
He refused and Barr announced his resignation anyway
BERMAN's opening statement:
Last night, AG BARR made case for political role in DOJ and said of FBI agents: "Whose agents do you think you are?"
Today, Rep. Demings gave WRAY a change to respond:
"We, the FBI, work for the American people," Wray said.
BREAKING overnight: Rudy Giuliani concedes in a court filing that he made “false” statements about Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss and no longer contests the factual allegations in their defamation lawsuit.
Details TK
INBOX: Rudy GIULIANI has been ordered to appear at a video hearing tomorrow before Judge Beryl HOWELL as part of a discovery dispute in the lawsuit brought by GA election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss
NEW: Rep. Ted Lieu and five members of the House Judiciary Committee are proposing to formalize a system of "inherent contempt" to punish administration officials who stonewall their investigations.
Trump, on Truth Social, is attacking Judge Engoron's *clerk," — who is literally in the courtroom with him — while calling her "Chuck Schumer's girlfriend" and posting a link to her Instagram account.
I suspect this will be an exhibit in some gag order arguments.
NEW: The FBI is investigating a claim that a PA woman who rioted at the Capitol on Jan. 6 stole a laptop from Speaker Pelosi's office and intended to sell it to the Russians.
The FBI says she appears to have fled. More about this bizarre case:
JUST IN: A federal appeals court panel has rejected Trump's bid to block top aides from testifying to special counsel Jack Smith's Jan. 6 investigation.
Several close Trump advisers are the subject of this order, which was part of a rushed series of overnight filings.
Trump delivers a line that is an absolute jackpot for foreign adversaries:
"We run all over the world telling people how to run their elections. We don't even know how to run ours."
BREAKING: In letter to WH, Rep. Cummings reveals that KUSHNER was routinely using WhatsApp to conduct official business as recently as Dec. 2018. Kushner's lawyer told lawmakers he screenshots messages to preserve them.
Cummings wants details by April 4.
PELOSI now going down a list of cabinet secretaries asking why they wouldn't support invoking the 25th Amendment.
"Is it about success in business later? Do you believe in this?"
HAPPENING NOW: John Eastman's disbarment proceedings are underway in California, even as his indictment is now pending in Georgia.
Currently on the stand: Matthew Seligman, an expert in the Electoral Count Act, who is explaning its provisions as Eastman looks on.