Justice Department says an Oath Keepers leader waited for Trump's direction before Capitol attack

[brooklynite]

Source: CNN

(CNN)The Justice Department is now making clear that a leader among the Oath Keepers paramilitary group -- who planned and led others in the Capitol siege to attempt to stop the Biden presidency -- believed she was responding to the call from then-President Donald Trump himself.

"As the inauguration grew nearer, [Jessica] Watkins indicated that she was awaiting direction from President Trump," prosecutors wrote in the filing Thursday morning.

This is the most direct language yet from federal prosecutors linking Trump's requests for support in Washington, DC, to the most militant aspects of the insurrection.

Previously, the Justice Department has somewhat held back on linking Trump's words so closely to the extremist group's actions during the riot. At least four defendants this week have argued in court they followed Trump's direction to go to the Capitol building on January 6.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/11/politics/oath-keeper-justice-trump-capitol/index.html

[LiberalLoner]

1. Why can't Trump be arrested for this? Charles Manson was arrested for something very

Similar, at least that’s how it looks to me.

Why isn’t Trump in any legal jeopardy from his role in this?

[jmowreader]

5. Trump is in a TON of legal jeopardy

It appears they’re waiting until Congress has had its say and we have an Attorney General before the Justice Department starts filing charges against him. Biden’s crew is much better at keeping secrets than Trump’s was; they probably have the charges written up.

[LiberalLoner]

6. Thank you, I'm so glad to hear this! 😍👍🌹

[Aerator]

9. If they filed charges the Senators would be screaming that he was President and had immunity.

They argue you can’t impeach him because he’s no longer President and the same time they would argue the crimes he committed happened when he was President and had absolute immunity. The whole bunch are scared of him and his supporters and could care less of the damage they are doing to our country.

[BobTheSubgenius]

10. And they are better at keeping secrets because they are better choices for the jobs they hold.

Clearly.

AND....they have leadership they can trust and take pride in, even if President Biden has a hands-off policy towards the JD, and leadership, good or bad, flows from the top down.

[matt819]

20. Civil lawsuits as well

Wrongful death, or something like that, from the Capitol police officer who was killed and the scores who were injured.

[robertpaulsen]

23. Acquitted by GOP; convicted by DOJ. Not a good look for 2022 or 2024.

But that is exactly what kind of albatross will be hanging around the neck of every GOP Rep or Senator who votes to acquit Trump and then sees him indicted and convicted by the DOJ. They can either plead stupidity or admit complicity.

[riversedge]

25. I am hoping you are right.

[Duppers]

7. Exactly! Thank you!

👍

[bucolic_frolic]

2. These goons should have spent less time overreaching their capabilities

and more time on bettering their lives through conventional methods. And shaving.

[LiberalLoner]

3. They really are losers, aren't they? A couple are okay as far as careers go but most of them

Have had run ins with the law before this, have been abusive to women, etc. As far as I’m concerned anyone who is abusive to others is a loser, no matter how much money they make.

[Turin_C3PO]

4. 27% were actually

of those arrested are actually white collar, college educated. It kinda surprised me but then I thought of the fact that they had to have money to travel, stay in hotels, skip work, etc.

[highplainsdem]

8. Much more about her and that filing here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100215090588

[Politicub]

11. Witnesses should be called for the trial

The house managers are doing a great job presenting the case. Questioning witnesses on the stand would make it stronger.

[DallasNE]

12. A Line Of Questioning Not Heard

If the rioters were not responding to commands from Trump, who's commands were they responding to? It most certainly was not spontaneous. Several of those arrested have said they were responding to commands from Trump.

[mr_lebowski]

13. I'm not sure how legally compelling this particular fact is ...

Random people claiming that they're awaiting the 'go ahead' of the POTUS to engage in illegal activities and then presuming they've gotten said word and may therefore proceed ... lets just say if it was anyone but Trump we'd just look at these people like they're delusional/crazy. And they may be.

I think you kinda have to prove that Trump TOLD these people to await his word to take action, and that he directed the particular action ... to hold him legally accountable.

Just saying.

[Mr.Bill]

15. He said go to the capitol

and fight like hell. Pretty clear to me.

[mr_lebowski]

16. That's a different fact from the situation of the person saying they believed they

were awaiting directions from the POTUS to commit violence.

Anyone could SAY that. Including a crazy person.

Manson thought he was waiting for the Beatles to tell him when to unleash Helter Skelter

[Mr.Bill]

17. Well, I don't know if you are watching the trial right now,

but the House managers are doing a very good job of showing how Trump has been directing people to commit violence for about five years, and praising them when they do it. Pretty easy since he does it on camera with millions of people watching.

[mr_lebowski]

18. Perfect. Because that is the piece of the equation that's actually incriminating ...

Not so much that a handful of people are claiming they were 'waiting for a sign' from POTUS. It's too easy for such people to be dismissed as imbalanced is basically what I'm saying.

Showing PROOF that IQ45 really WAS encouraging violence ... is the important piece

[NotASurfer]

14. Now, if you can connect certain dots, it becomes damning

We know Individual 1 had a team actively monitoring RW platforms. If you establish that (a) those discussions were looking for certain words or phrases as a signal to attack, (b) Individual 1 was or should have been aware that those words or phrases would trigger an attack, and (c) he incorporated those triggers into his speech January 6, I think then you're onto something. I don't recall those dots have been connected yet. But he strikes me as malevolent enough to do it and inept enough to leave a trail visible from orbit

[IronLionZion]

19. Time for the Senate to confirm Merrick Garland as Attorney General

he'll know how to prosecute Trump for this. There is probably evidence of coordination somewhere since so many of these terrorists believe they were following his orders.

[bucolic_frolic]

21. Seems Trump thought this whole thing would work

No room for error, no concern about consequences of failure, calling Pence a coward while fighting the insurrection in a business suit on the Ellipse. Poor planning and even poorer execution. Most countries would not have given this insurrection room to maneuver. Rioters would have been met with crack troops, and please I'm not denigrating the Capitol Police, I'm just saying the insurrection was no match for a well-planned security force.

[matt819]

22. I think the missing link. . .

will be from someone who reports that trump's use of a word or directive was the directive to attack, and that this came from trump or stone or bannon or flynn or someone like that. IOW, it was not merely their assumption that that's what it meant but that trump told them what to listen for. In the same way that trump's directive to Russia in the 2016 campaign to release the emails was a specific, known key word/directive. The Russians knew that was a genuine directive, not merely campaign gibberish.

After all, these morons assuming that that was what trump was telling them is one thing. That just makes them, well, morons. But someone at the top told them to listen out for a word or phrase, then that is direction.

[FakeNoose]

24. The meeting they had the day before is when all that happened

If someone who attended that meeting on Jan 5th ever talks to the FBI, that will be the evidence that damns Chump. I have a feeling the feds are already on this.