Philly DA seeks contempt charge for Vets for Trump cofounder
Source: Fresno Bee/AP
Philadelphia prosecutors asked a judge on Monday to hold a Virginia man in contempt of court over video that shows him meeting with top leaders of two-far right extremist groups in Washington D.C. the day before the Jan. 6 riot. The request from Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner in the case against 43-year-old Joshua Macias comes after the House committee investigating the insurrection put a spotlight on the Jan. 5 underground garage meeting between the leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, who have been charged with seditious conspiracy in the Capitol attack.
Macias was arrested on weapons and elections law charges in November 2020 after he drove to the Pennsylvania Convention Center where votes were being counted with guns and ammunition. He was out on bail on Jan. 6. Macias, the co-founder of the group Vets for Trump, hasn't been charged in the Capitol riot. But Philadelphia prosecutors say his presence at the meeting of the extremist leaders the day before indicates he had a much more prominent role in the insurrection than they had previously realized. Enrique Tarrio, the former Proud Boys chairman, and Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers leader, have both been charged with plotting with other extremists to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
“We need to radically reconsider whether Joshua Macias is a mid-sized fish or a shark. I believe he is a shark,” Krasner said. “He is already up for violations of conditions of bail this week. But this is a startling revelation.” Attorney William J. Brennan, who represents Macias, declined to comment on the new filing Monday, but said he planned to continue to try the case in court rather than in the media. A phone message left for co-counsel in the case was not returned Monday. The Philadelphia filing comes as the House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection has made a point to highlight the secretive parking garage meeting mentioned in federal indictments and raises further questions about how many people may have known about what the far-right extremist groups were planning to carry out the next day.
Publicly released video of the meeting between Rhodes and Tarrio doesn’t reveal much about their discussion. A documentary filmmaker — who was filming Tarrio and testified at last week's House committee hearing — recorded part of the meeting, but Tarrio and others motioned for him to stop. Federal prosecutors have said only that one of the meeting’s participants “referenced the Capitol," but no other details about what the two extremist group leaders discussed have been revealed in the criminal cases or House committee hearings.
Read more: https://www.fresnobee.com/news/nation-world/national/article262477957.html
I believe this was one of the ones in the hummer that was parked outside of the PA Convention Center as the vote count was underway.
Meanwhile, the GOP in the PA state legislature are trying to move ahead with impeaching the Philly D.A. I wonder why?
The announcement came the same day House Republicans buried a slate of gun-violence reduction bills
John L. Micek
June 14, 2022 7:21 am
Good Tuesday Morning, Fellow Seekers.
A trio of Republican state lawmakers who live hours away from Pennsylvania’s biggest city are readying articles of impeachment against Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, saying the “unchecked violent crime” there has “has reached a breaking point.” GOP Reps. Josh Kail, of Beaver County, whose district sits hard against the Ohio state line; Torren Ecker, of Adams County, whose seat is closer to Maryland than it is to Germantown, and Tim O’Neal, of Washington County, whose district is closer to West Virginia than it is to South Philly, announced their push on Monday.
The lawmakers began circulating a memo seeking co-sponsors for their proposal. That’s the starting point for a process that likely will take months — assuming it ever makes it to the House floor, and then to the state Senate for a trial, as NBC-10 in Philadelphia reports.
In a statement, the lawmakers said a June 5 mass shooting in South Philadelphia had underscored the urgency of acting in a city that already has seen nearly 1,000 people injured or killed by gun violence since the beginning of the year. “We did not arrive at this decision lightly or easily. In fact, we are taking this action after we have taken significant steps to pass legislation that addresses violent crime in Philadelphia by ensuring our current laws are enforced,” Kail said in the joint statement.
“We are starting this process now because the unchecked violent crime in Philadelphia has reached a breaking point due to the willful refusal by District Attorney Krasner to enforce existing laws,” Kail continued. It’s probably worth pausing to note here that the GOP trio made their announcement on the same day that a Republican-controlled House committee effectively killed a package of gun violence reduction bills, authored by Democrats, that would have helped to reduce the bloodshed.
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https://www.penncapital-star.com/commentary/pa-house-gop-moves-to-impeach-philly-da-larry-krasner-tuesday-morning-coffee/
