General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsToday, If the committee proves a tie between the Whitehouse and people already charged with
seditious conspiracy. That's game over. There is no way Garland could ignore that. This is the largest conspiracy ever investigated in our history. It's going to take time.
The committee has said they have the evidence and they do not bullshit.
Trump and his inner circle are going down.
It's amazing, On Maddows show last night she showed the proud boys and oath keepers also video taped themselves while planning for the coup. Most of the coup plotters at all levels video taped, talked about their plans. People like Navarro described the entire coup attempt on TV. Bannon on his podcast described what was going to happen on Jan 6th. People like Stone and Flynn were hanging out with the proud boys and oath keepers.
This is truly, The Traitors Who Couldn't Shoot Straight.
padfun
(1,787 posts)The new founding fathers and they wanted themselves in that future documentary. So, they filmed everything.
czarjak
(11,289 posts)PatSeg
(47,587 posts)that they might fail, probably because they get all their knowledge about history and government from action flicks and TV, not books. They are uneducated rebels looking for a cause. They look in the mirror and they see Rambo, whereas normal people see Deliverance.
gab13by13
(21,405 posts)When Mark Meadows goes before a grand jury then I will know that Merrick Garland has made up his mind.
jaxexpat
(6,849 posts)to prosecute their fellow Republicans in the manner they deserve. Can the DOJ muster a sense of urgency about anything? It would seem simple enough. It seems like you could just look into the sky and see the signs.
It's like the whole country is a vacuum that can only be filled with MAGA prosecution, and the DOJ is fighting (in a strain) to prevent the balance nature demands. You can almost feel their unused muscles burn as they desperately struggle to hold it back. Do they expect people to have sympathy when they herniate? Everybody knows you can't win a fight against nature except these guys.
For those still supporting patience, confident in the institution, exhorting their fellows to trust the system, I say. We were all so smug, so confident the Republicans had lost their political minds running Donald Trump for the presidency. There was really no way that an abomination like Trump could ever come to power. It was unimaginable. Do I need to remind anyone how that gut punch felt the next morning as reality closed in? The shock to your system, the gray around the edges tunnel vision and surprise as you remembered to breathe, as all the pieces and their implications fell into place, did that ever go away? Well learn.
onenote
(42,759 posts)You think are calling the shots at DOJ.
jaxexpat
(6,849 posts)If we knew their names we'd probably know where the DOJ is on the Jan. 6 prosecution schedule and maybe even why. But really, they're not calling shots so much as creating excuses for delay. Though, to be fair, I do expect there's a very real reluctance on the part of DOJ attorneys to prosecute Jan. 6 cases which may end up before federal judges who've been appointed by Mr's. Bush and Trump. They'd want to have their cases "airtight", perhaps seriously airtight or even super-seriously airtight, maybe even a level 7G supremely airtight for, good measure just to be sure.
Please identify the people you think are calling the shots at DOJ. I agree it is a good question.
As an aside: I really want to be all wrong about this and as far as I know there's no such thing as "level 7G supremely airtight" level of airtightness.
Does it bother anybody else that the DOJ seems to want a committee in the US House of Representatives to do their legwork for them?
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)onenote
(42,759 posts)First and foremost, obviously, is Merrick Garland, the Attorney General.
Below Garland, those with lead responsibility for the prosecution of January 6-related cases include:
Lisa Oudens Monaco, Deputy Attorney General since April 2021. Prior to that she served as Obama's Homeland Security Advisor, and before that she was appointed by Obama as Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division. She left federal service when Trump was inaugurated and returned under Biden.
Matt Graves: US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Appointed by Biden in July 2021, on the recommendation of Eleanor Holmes Norton.
Bridget Fitzgerald: Principal Deputy US Attorney for the District of Columbia. Selected by Graves in January 2022; prior to that she was a senior litigation counsel at the SEC, where she first served during the Obama administration.
Kenneth Polite: Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division since July 2021. Previously was named as an US Attorney by Obama (and left that position when Trump took office).
Matthew Olsen: Assistant Attorney General for the National Security Division since April 2021. He was appointed as the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center by Obama in 2011; he served on the Homeland Security Advisory Council after Obama left office, but resigned in 2018 in protest of the Trump administration's family separation policy.
Polite and Olsen. along with Graves, are the DOJ lawyers that wrote to the January 6 committee asking for transcripts of their interviews.
I could go on. For example, the lead attorney on filings being made in the Seditious Conspiracy case brought against the Oath Keepers is Conor Mulroe, who joined DOJ during the Obama administration.
The idea that all of these senior officials, many of whom are signing pleadings in the cases being brought against the January 6 insurrectionists, are looking the other way while unnamed underlings "delay" DOJ's efforts is laughable.
The DOJ, and in particular, the Office of the US Attorney for DC, has its hands full not only with January 6 cases, but with lots of other cases. The wheels of justice turn slowly in these cases because that is the nature of our judicial system. Defendants get a lot of leeway from courts when they seek extensions, make motions, etc.
Here is the docket in the Oath Keepers case -- it will give you a good idea how busy DOJ has been kept with just this one case. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59704100/united-states-v-nordean/
Here is a summary of all of the January 6 prosecutions that have been or are being handled by DOJ's prosecutorial team:https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/18-months-jan-6-attack-capitol
And here is a summary of all of the other actions taken by DOJ in the past few weeks. https://www.justice.gov/news?page=1
Again, the notion that there are a bunch of well-placed Magat "moles" gumming up DOJ's work is too ridiculous to take seriously.
jaxexpat
(6,849 posts)I'm also in the peculiar position of making an argument I really don't want to win, you see.
But I've some items by way of response:
1. "The wheels of justice turn slowly in these cases because that is the nature of our judicial system." You're probably right about that but it doesn't do much but expound the case questioning our justice system's ability to set appropriate priorities. The house is on fire and its business as usual? Is the glacial nature of their progress in this matter not something which can be abandoned for more appropriate means? (Hell, they invented the FBI to fight crime against their prohibition. Are conservatives the only people who can work outside the norms? But only when their cause is bogus.)
2. I'd asked about the apparency of the DOJ relying on a congressional committee to do their leg work. Does the FBI still work for the DOJ or is that only when Republicans need something? Like they needed a favor in October 2016 in order to defeat Clinton. They got that favor.
3."........ unnamed underlings "delay" DOJ's efforts is laughable." and ".......Magat "moles" gumming up DOJ's work is too ridiculous to take seriously." Really? Are you so confident in the justice system that you find it ridiculous and laughable to question their lack of urgency to prosecute the very top? Is the evidence in common knowledge among a preponderance of the population insufficient to prosecute the cabal? Is it not sufficient to arrest, charge the criminals and, with what is already known, prevail in court? I, and I'm sure many others, feel that if they are refusing to "go after Trump" they should just go ahead and say as much.
I think it is fear, onenote, that stays their hands. After so many decades of justice for sale, wherein the powerful are granted every consideration while the poor get slammed and destroyed, they just can't make the call because they don't have the heart left to care. They're afraid they may not wield the where-with-all to hold the country together if they do wreak justice.
blueinredohio
(6,797 posts)certainot
(9,090 posts)phone with him i'll bet stone especially would be cautious to have him around when they were talking about details relative to the dinky boys and oaf keepers. but he wouldd have been there to see trump's reaction when it was happening and the previous planning around electors, and which of the dittohead reps and senators were going to do what.
i doubt meadows wanted to be in that mess but he might know about extended scenarios these dumbasses developed. and because trump was never wrong and was always right he would not have imagined failure or allowed much for those scenarios. but they would have been planning for when weapons would get delivered to the capitol, who in the military was on their side, etc
and trump would have had little orgasms thinking about the death/certainty of pence, pelosi, etc
they need to get the militia leaders to rat out stone, flynn, bannon and other intermediaries.
and they need to put meadows and graham on suicide watch
Novara
(5,851 posts)I hadn't heard that.
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)They were all gathered together at the Willard Hotel. I imagine the committee may have phone records, etc. We will find out what evidence they have today at 1pm. Big day.
Novara
(5,851 posts)I want to see definitive proof there was coordination. That will sink them all.
DownriverDem
(6,231 posts)anti Biden left leaners to focus on the Midterms. Incumbent presidents up for reelection who are challenged by their own party not only lose, but the whole party loses. We have a slim margin which is why we are being held back by the Senate repubs. Sometimes I just want to scream at those who want to just stand in the way with their naive views.
gab13by13
(21,405 posts)Moderates Sinema and Manchin are the people who fucked President Biden.
Magoo48
(4,720 posts)Hell, I go out to left field, hop the fence and turn left, when I hit the left coast, where I live, I get on board my boat and head South. Im a left-leaner. If Im gonna participate at all, I must vote Democratic; and DU is where Democrats hang out and toss about thoughts and ideas.
So, here I is, I share my thoughts and feelings about this and that, like yall, take my reprimands with a little salt and go on. One thing I dont do is tell anyone what not to post. Censorship sucks, be it dictated or self imposed.
Wednesdays
(17,408 posts)Trueblue Texan
(2,440 posts)...it would be their ignorance and arrogance that did them in.
sop
(10,246 posts)When challenged, he justifies breaking the law by concocting some bullshit version of reality only he believes. When finally confronted with damning evidence of his sedition at trial, Trump will admit to it all, then claim he was forced to act to save the country from a stolen election.
Samrob
(4,298 posts)were on their side. That's what happens when you live inside the bubble you created., no respect for law and order, thinking it only would apply to "those others." They believed that ALL law enforcement and the courts were on their side because so many of them actually are and they had been working with those who favored them while Trump was in office.
It's going to be a long trudge, but the good will overcome eventually. What Democrats have to learn over time is that the big difference between us and them is summed up thusly:
The GOP and their RW conservative sociopaths spend all their time and resources focused inwardly at maintaining their own power and wealth. The Dems and their progressive, liberal base spend most of their time focused outwardly on trying to give others a share of the wealth and power. The takers vs the givers. The bullies vs the friendlies. The liars vs the truth-seekers. The selfish vs the sharers. The fake vs the real.
Once upon a time this nation's leaders "preached" wholesome altruistic values of inclusion. Beginning with Ronald Reagan the message by those in leadership seemed to change and became a full blown message of selfish exclusion with Trump. In truth, on the whole we never fully practiced what we preached.
Scrivener7
(51,007 posts)Laxman
(2,419 posts)we used to have a saying-You should get extra time for being stupid. It was amazing just how insanely stupid some of the criminals were. (Jumping the turnstiles in the subway to save $1.50 fare while carrying a kilo of cocaine in a backpack, for example) If these guys were dumb enough to believe in the conspiracy theories that motivated them and that they could pull of their coup, then they're stupid enough to video tape their planning. There's a long line of stupid criminals who preceded them-just carrying on a tradition.
fightforfreedom
(4,913 posts)It is not going to be difficult to prove the crimes they committed. It's just going time to put everything together because so many people are involved.
Skittles
(153,193 posts)I mean, WTF how stupid were they
this time
Beetwasher.
(2,981 posts)They thought they would never face consequences.