Jan. 6 Organizers Used Anonymous 'Burner Phones' to Communicate with White House and Trump Family, S

[demmiblue]

Source: Rolling Stone

Some of the organizers who planned the rally that took place on the White House Ellipse on Jan. 6 allegedly used difficult to trace burner phones for their most “high level” communications with former President Trump’s team.

Kylie Kremer, a top official in the “March for Trump” group that helped plan the Ellipse rally, directed an aide to pick up three burner phones days before Jan. 6, according to three sources who were involved in the event. One of the sources, a member of the “March for Trump” team, says Kremer insisted the phones be purchased using cash and described this as being “of the utmost importance.”

Kylie and Amy Kremer did not immediately respond to a request for comment on record.

The team member said Kylie Kremer took one of the phones and used it to communicate with top White House and Trump campaign officials, including Eric Trump, the president’s second-oldest son, who leads the family’s real-estate business; Lara Trump, Eric’s wife and a former senior Trump campaign consultant; Mark Meadows, the former White House chief of staff; and Katrina Pierson, a Trump surrogate and campaign consultant.


Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jan-6-rally-organizers-trump-white-house-1262122/

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Link to tweet

[madaboutharry]

1. Trump planned a complete overthrow of the U.S. government.

Everyone in his orbit was in on it. They all belong in prison. Every single one of them.

[Eyeball_Kid]

51. If they haven't been held to account, then they haven't stopped the overthrow.

Until they are stopped by LEAs, THEY WILL NOT STOP. They will continue to attack the government.

[Joinfortmill]

59. 👍

[applegrove]

2. Criminals.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. For the longest while I thought cell phones captured everything

wasn't that the issue behind meta-data? International calls were treated differently. In a city with embassies we don't monitor all cell network traffic? With the highest security requirements any government could require? Seems none too credible to me.

[monkeyman1]

4. once a crook , alway's a crook !

[Joinfortmill]

60. 👍

[blm]

5. Consciousness of guilt

[Girard442]

6. The idea that 1/6 was a protest that ran outof control has been dead for a long time.

[louis-t]

7. But her emails....

[sarcasmo]

8. I bet Kimberly Guilfoyle had one of those burner phones.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/kimberly-guilfoyle-jan-6-save-america-rally-1259673/

[COL Mustard]

22. If You Were A Phone

Would you want to be HER phone?????


I didn't think so.

[Progressive Jones]

31. LOL ! nt

[UpInArms]

9. A criminal operation

using the tools of criminals …

Shows intent

[dem4decades]

10. So where's DOJ if this is a big a crime as I hear suggested?

Seriously, if this is all I get, a Congressional investigation and no DOJ investigation I'm done. Why even give a shit anymore?

[reACTIONary]

11. I don't see anything in any of this reporting ...

... that could be called criminal. A group of people who organized a public rally talk to each other on cell phones. So what? And some of those people are with the administration!?! Well, TFG appeared at the rally and gave a speech. Of course his people were talking to the organizers.

Was there anything more sinister going on? Maybe, but so far nothing in the public record shows that to be the case.

[gab13by13]

13. C'mon man,

every brick combined makes a wall. There is more than enough evidence for DOJ to open up an investigation into the attempted coup.

DOJ should be investigating, if as you claim there is no criminality then DOJ won't indict.

[reACTIONary]

44. If they have opened an investigation...

... they aren't going to tell anyone about it. How sure are you they haven't?

But if they have it would be based on something more substantial than what is now in the public record.

[stopdiggin]

15. thanks. I keep looking

and (so far) I'm not seeing it either. Hasten to add that that doesn't mean it doesn't exist - but to this point, the public record really hasn't revealed anything like a smoking gun. (that I am aware of)

And you can't go to court with, "Well everyone knows that ... "

[gab13by13]

19. No one is talking about going to court,

DOJ needs to open an investigation, as a matter of fact, Garland needs to appoint a special counsel just like Barr did when he appointed John Durham, when there was no evidence, to investigate the Russia investigation.

By the bye, Barr put in guardrails to ensure that Durham couldn't be dismissed, last I checked Durham is still digging.

[stopdiggin]

30. I think there is quite a bit of investigation going on

as we speak. If you think a special counsel is a necessary step - I don't have any particular problem with that.

(and the reference to going 'to court' was meant to juxtapose to the quality of evidence at hand vs vocal public opinion. the article referenced in the OP as case in point. a good deal of hue and cry - but exceedingly lean as far as substance or real meat.)

[Eyeball_Kid]

32. As the time windows narrow,

appointing a special prosecutor might be necessary if the investigations extend beyond the next election cycle.

[Ford_Prefect]

17. The point of the Burner phones is the same reason drug runners use them.

The whole thing adds up to more than the simple sum of the parts and many of those point to deliberate evasion. QED

[stopdiggin]

25. I think the element of evasion is fairly obvious

but evasion may be employed in many situations that do not involve 'criminal.' (and, believe me - I'm not at all anxious to defend this crew. but what this story actually gives us is - at best, background w/ a slightly suggestive tinge.)

[Ford_Prefect]

28. It is a mistake to view this as either innocent or unrelated to the larger event.

While he was President, Trump refused to use the encoded phones provided to keep presidential conversations secure. He insisted on using domestic phones which belonged to himself and his staff as a means of bypassing formal record keeping rules and federal archiving requirements.

If the committee members were using burners there was not an innocent reason for it. They did it to ensure their conversations would be as far off record as they could get.

[Progressive Jones]

34. Oh, it's certainly a piece of the picture. It's adding up.

I also have no doubt that DOJ is more on top of this than we mere mortals know.
While I'm nbot happy with the punishment end of the Jan 6th coup attempt so far,
I do have faith in the DOJ on these matters of Trump's criminal and treasonous behavior.
It's a tough situation. The criminality must be exposed and prosecuted, but the DOJ
has to steer clear of making it a political prosecution. I say this because in the end, I suspect that many GOP elected members of Congress will be wrapped up in this. This will ripple to every edge of one of the two major political parties in the US. It will be easy for critics to call it a political witch hunt.
Personally, I don't care what it "looks like", as long as the rats are rounded up, and justice is being served.

[reACTIONary]

45. If you add up enough zeros...

... it adds up to zero. So far, given what's known, and including the "burner phones", we are at zero.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

39. You are trying to be cute. Five people died. Democracy is on a gurney. . . nt

[LeftInTX]

14. There were two events: A rally and a riot

The rally was a legal event, the riot was not.

The organizers of the rally are the ones who used the burner phones and maybe someone in the Trump admin also did. The specific organizers referenced in this report were not part of the riot.

[stopdiggin]

18. correct. and that is the great divide

that everyone would like to bridge - and so far have not (at least so far as the public record currently offers).

[Ford_Prefect]

20. It was not a riot, which would have been a spontaneous event. It was a planned assault which

was intended to accomplish specific interference with the counting of the electoral votes. There is far more here than we've seen in the press up to now. More coordination and more planning. They built a lynch mob and Trump lit the fuse to set them off but they were not a headless group simply out of control. There is evidence of coordination and control within the groups like the Oath Keepers hidden in the crowd and who were also using burner phones. The crowd were directed to those particular windows in order to break in. That was not spontaneous nor was the trashing of the office where the vote tallies were kept.

[gab13by13]

24. How do you know the organizers weren't a part of the insurrection?

If I plan a bank robbery and get people to follow my plan am I innocent?

The use of the word riot implies a haphazard event, a rally gone bad, which was not what happened. There were people who rioted and there were people planning to overturn a fair election. You are aware that militia members had stored a cache of weapons in a hotel in Virginia? Why did they do that? Who told them to do that? They were there if needed, needed for what?

[stopdiggin]

29. we DON'T know that

Just saying that those 'connections' have not been made public (to this point). Was someone in the administration involved with this cache of weapons being secured in a DC hotel? Provide that link - and then you're talking a different ballgame.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

40. That's like spreading gasoline around because you know people flick lit cigarettes away

"Oh, gosh, look, a smoker started a fire."

Not.

The smoker had a bit part but was not the main actor.

The "tourists" clubbing police officers on Jan 6 were not the main actors. The ones with the burner phones were. If they weren't metaphorically spreading gasoline, what did they need BURNER phones for?

[reACTIONary]

46. +10 nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

47. The riot was cover for the tactical teams that ransacked for 50 states certificates & Pelosi's lapto

The riot was part of the plan of the insurrection.

The Claremont Institute lays it all out in chilling detail, before the election day, even:

https://www.thebulwark.com/notes-on-an-authoritarian-conspiracy-inside-the-claremont-institutes-79-days-to-inauguration-report/

(emphasis added)

a report published in mid-October 2020 by the Claremont Institute and Texas Public Policy Foundation’s (TPPF) called “79 Days to Inauguration,” prepared by “Constitutional scholars, along with experts in election law, foreign affairs, law enforcement, and media . . . coordinated by a retired military officer experienced in running hundreds of wargames.”

Among these luminaries were figures such as John Eastman—lawyer for Donald Trump and author of a memo advising Vice President Mike Pence to unilaterally block certification of Joe Biden’s win in order to buy time for GOP-controlled state legislatures to send competing slates of electors—and K.T. McFarland, who served as deputy national security advisor under Michael Flynn in the Trump White House.

Other participants include Kevin Roberts, then-executive director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation (soon to be head of the Heritage Foundation), Jeff Giesea, “a [Peter] Thiel protégé and secret funder of alt-right causes,” and Charles Haywood, a fringe blogger who anxiously awaits an American “Caesar, authoritarian reconstructor of our institutions.”

Law enforcement plays an openly insurrectionist role throughout the “79 Days” exercise, defying civilian leaders, refusing to offer them protection, and threatening them with arrest.

Practically, the report is an instruction manual for how Trump partisans at all levels of government—aided by citizen “posses” of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers—could, quite literally, round up opposition activists, kill their leaders, and install Donald Trump for a second term in office.

[LeftInTX]

36. Using burner phones is not a crime

The Democratic party will provide them to phone bankers who don't want to "use their own phones"...

Anyone on a government dime could be committing a violation if they engaged in a political rally while on duty.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

41. Using burner phones for what would otherwise be legal is a strong indication of illegality. Get real

Last edited Wed Nov 24, 2021, 06:53 AM - Edit history (1)

In the case of the insurrection attempted coup, they were calling people known to them, who would not be tracing a phone number and burning poop on their doorstep or spray painting their car.

Plus it would have to be coordinated in advance because most people, especially high-ups, routinely don't even hear buzzes when unknown phone numbers call.

[LeftInTX]

55. The burner phones referenced in the article

were for the rally at the WH.

The Kremers weren't at the insurrection.

I would not be surprised if much of the WH staff had burner phones, but the article states the Kremers purchased them.

[Deminpenn]

12. Seems Mark Meadows is in real trouble here

He seems to be at the nexus of a whole lot of what was going on that day and before.

Bannon and Stone are true believers and tough nuts to crack, but Meadows is the weak link. The 1/6 panel should immediately refer him to DoJ for criminal contempt. Bannon and Stone equate jail with martyrdom to the cause, but Meadows is going to throw whoever he needs to under the bus to save himself from jail.

[PSPS]

16. None of these people will ever see the inside of any jail cell. They'll all skate, guaranteed.

[gab13by13]

27. I agree if DOJ does nothing.

The select committee can prove everything beyond the shadow of a doubt and it won't matter one iota. The select committee can only refer information to DOJ.

[Deminpenn]

53. Here's the thing

Meadows is a politician. He believes jail is for other people, not him. Yeah, he believes in rw policies, but that's just "politics" to him. A grand jury indictment is a whole nother animal and a trial would be in DC, not friendly territory in NC. The likelihood of conviction would be high. Jmho, but faced with that, Meadows would fold like a cheap tent.

[Deminpenn]

52. Doubtful

nt

[Joinfortmill]

61. 👍

[COL Mustard]

21. We Did Save America, As The Banner Says

We voted T***p out of office, all 81 million of us! And I'd do it again.......

[gab13by13]

26. Yet the insurrection is ongoing,

is growing, has gotten worse since 1/6. Our country is in a lot more danger since 1/6.

[Orrex]

23. There's a good chance those phones can be traced to point of purchase

And a fair chance that those businesses captured the purchase on camera.

[LeftInTX]

35. The Kremers are campaign PAC type people

My hunch some of this was to avoid blurring government and campaign activities.

[Orrex]

38. Good call.

Wouldn't surprise me a bit.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

42. ... and wiped the "tapes" routinely a week later. . . . nt

[Monohull]

49. Any purchases caught on camera from 11 months ago

has long since been recorded over.

Most of those systems write over previous data after 30 60 or 90 days.

[Orrex]

57. Maybe, maybe not

Depends how it was recorded

[Joinfortmill]

62. 👍

[Hekate]

33. Of course they did. I would expect no less. nt

[Bayard]

37. Untraceable burner phones, that had to be paid for in cash

If it walks like a criminal, and talks like a criminal....... then it must have something to do with trump.

[bucolic_frolic]

43. I still rhetorically ask

how anonymous those are in the world's superpower capitol, with the security surveillance that goes on routinely, and with voice recognition software these days. Makes little sense to me.

[WestIndianArchie]

48. This is a mystery

I was under the impression that they were capable of doing a voice analysis of the phones in this type of situation. So unless they used voice scramblers, they still have a connection to who used the phone.

[Eyeball_Kid]

50. The next Question: Did the Trump White House ALSO use burner phones? n/t

[Joinfortmill]

63. 👍

[Jimbo S]

54. Something straight out of "The Sopranos"

So evidence couldn't be traced back to Tony, I mean TFG.

[orangecrush]

56. Rolling Stone often gets the scoop first

MSM seems to catch up later.

[BlueIdaho]

58. Which mafia family

Did TFG family learn that from?

[oasis]

64. These snakes are guilty as hell. nt