January’s insurrection/riot at the US Capitol building is still fresh in the air, but the ghastly event was perpetrated by self-centered dimwits like this coffee-shop owner in Ohio: ‘“If you voted for Joe Biden, don’t buy our coffee, it’s not for you,” he said. “If you feel that America is on the right track and there’s nothing wrong with gender neutral, don’t know which bathroom to use, use whichever bathroom you feel like during the day… don’t buy our coffee cause it’s not for you.”‘
WTF!
The event was terrifying to say the least, and an attempt to further a lie with atrocious terror as this clip of the event depicts (h/t tweet Susie):
NEW: The horrific and terrifying story of how police tried to "HOLD THE LINE" on the Capitol steps as they did hand to hand combat w/Trump supporters. It's based on new police radio traffic synchronized w/footage from the scene. w/@robinnyc7 @heytherehaIey https://t.co/gepbkOW6el
— Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) March 21, 2021
Updates on the on-going, full-steam investigation of the attack came last night from the lead prosecutor in the Capitol building insurrection/riot, with possible sedition charges toward those involved — via Vanity Fair this morning:
“I personally believe the evidence is trending toward that, and probably meets those elements,” Michael Sherwin, who until recently oversaw the criminal investigation — the largest in U.S. history — as acting U.S. attorney in Washington, said in a 60 Minutes interview that aired Sunday, reiterating comments from January, shortly after the breach, when he said prosecutors were looking at evidence relating to such a charge.
Those who conspire to forcibly oppose government authority or who use force “to prevent, hinder or delay the execution of any law of the United States” can be charged with sedition, the New York Times reports of the statute.Of the more than 400 people charged thus far in the Capitol riot, Sherwin told CBS’s Scott Pelley that the majority are accused of trespassing, as well as more than 100 charged with assaulting law enforcement. But ten percent of what Sherwin called “the more complex conspiracy cases” involve “individual militia groups from different facets,” including the Oath Keepers, Three Percenters, and Proud Boys, planning “to come to D.C., organize, and breach the Capitol in some manner.”
Some members of those far-right groups have already been charged with conspiring to obstruct Congress’ Electoral College count, said Sherwin, who stepped down from the interim position earlier this month as he moved on to a new role in the Department.In the interview, Pelley also asked the outgoing federal prosecutor whether former President Donald Trump’s role in the attack is still of interest to the investigation.
While “it’s unequivocal that Trump was the magnet that brought the people to D.C. on the 6th,” Sherwin said whether he is criminally responsible for that day’s breach has yet to be determined—but confirmed “we have people looking at everything,” including Trump’s conduct.“We have soccer moms from Ohio that were arrested saying, ‘Well, I did this because my president said I had to take back our house,’” Sherwin said.
“That moves the needle towards that direction. Maybe the president is culpable for those actions.” The prosecutor witnessed Trump’s speech firsthand on January 6, dressing in running clothes and joining D.C. police at the rally to “gauge the temperature of the crowd,” which he observed was partly made up of “typical, like, carnival-type people” but also some members “in tactical gear” wearing “military helmets” and ballistic vests.
“Those people, I noticed, left the speeches early,” Sherwin said, and he followed them to the Capitol.
And T-Rump bad boy, Roger Stone, is up to his slimy neck, too — from the Guardian, also this morning:
As the federal investigation of the 6 January Capitol insurrection expands, scrutiny of Donald Trump’s decades-long ally Roger Stone is expected to intensify, given his links to at least four far-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who had been charged, plus Stone’s incendiary comments at rallies the night before the riot and in prior weeks, say ex-prosecutors and Stone associates.
Although Stone was not part of the attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob that shocked America, the self-styled “dirty trickster” – who was convicted on seven counts in the Russia investigations into the 2016 elections but later pardoned by Trump – had numerous contacts with key groups and figures involved in the riot in the weeks before and just before its start.
The night before the riot, Stone spoke at a Washington DC “Rally to Save America” where the former president’s unfounded claims that the election was stolen by Democrats were pushed and Stone urged an “epic struggle for the future of this country, between dark and light, between the godly and the godless, between good and evil”.
Early on 6 January, Stone was seen in cellphone videos near a Washington hotel hanging out with six members of the far-right militia Oath Keepers serving as his “bodyguards,” including three who have been charged in the federal investigation.
Stone, according to Mother Jones, also raised funds for “private security” events on 5 and 6 January before the Capitol attack, which included a rambling talk by Trump urging his supporters to “fight like hell.”
Onward…
