Two more Marines with intelligence jobs plead guilty in Jan. 6 riot

[ancianita]

Source: Washington Post

By Rachel Weiner and Dan Lamothe
June 12, 2023 at 7:00 p.m. EDT

Two Marines who worked in intelligence gathering and were on active duty during the Jan. 6 riot pleaded guilty Monday to their involvement with the mob at the U.S. Capitol, joining a colleague who admitted his participation last month.

Sgts. Joshua Abate, 22, and Dodge Dale Hellonen, 23, were arrested in January along with Cpl. Micah R. Coomer, 24. All three pleaded to the misdemeanor charge of illegally demonstrating inside the Capitol building...

A fourth active-duty Marine, Maj. Christopher Warnagiris, was arrested in May 2021 and is set to go to trial this fall on charges that include felony obstruction of Congress and interfering with police. An active-duty Navy sailor who was stationed on an aircraft carrier in Norfolk at the time of the riot was arrested in April and charged with misdemeanor crimes. And a veteran re-enlisted in the Army after the FBI identified him as having attacked police outside the Capitol with chemical spray. He has been sentenced to 44 months in prison.

Over 10 percent of those charged with breaking the law during the Capitol assault have a military background, according to studies by the University of Maryland and George Washington University. The Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, whose leaders have been convicted of engaging in seditious conspiracy, both recruited heavily among veterans. After the Capitol attack, the Pentagon updated its personnel policies to prohibit endorsement or promotion of extremist views and the Defense Department began engaging in “continuous vetting” of employeerecords. But officials said they did not plan to proactively monitor social media for violations and that they could not do much about veterans who began embracing such beliefs.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/06/12/marines-jan6-capitol-guilty/

---

Misdemeanors, true, but three more down.

[COL Mustard]

1. Time to inventory the nuts and bolts in the warehouse

And every other trivial, shitty little job they can be given until their term of service is up.

[GP6971]

7. They'll probably get

Less Than Honorable discharges.

[jmowreader]

32. If they were in the Army, they would

If you are (1) found guilty in civil court of an offense that'll get you thrown out of the Army in a court-martial, or (2) locked up for more than six months, Chapter 14 of AR 635-200 applies. "Under other than honorable conditions" is the default discharge.

[SouthernDem4ever]

42. I hope they stick to that statute

They deserve to lose all government benefits.

[Drum]

2. Shame!

You swore an oath!

[ancianita]

6. The report notes that over 10% of those involved in Jan 6 had military background.

[Talitha]

13. My goodness, I had to take a 2nd look to make sure I read that right!

Over 10% - that's quite a surprise to this old gal.

[The Grand Illuminist]

52. And out of those 10%...

How many did they train in the skills they were taught at tax payer expense? There is a greater threat to all decent minded Americans than what is anticipated.

[msfiddlestix]

3. But they were given NEW intelligence-related assignments AFTER Jan 6

[C Moon]

4. Paysite. Are they going to be dishonorably discharged?

[yankee87]

9. Hopefully

I would love to think so

[Lisa0825]

12. Here is a "gift" link:

https://wapo.st/43V23cZ

[C Moon]

20. Thank you!!!

[ancianita]

25. Cool, how did you get that?

[Lisa0825]

28. I am a subscriber, so I can share it using their gift link and there will be no paywall. nt

[ancianita]

43. Ah, thank you so much! I'm a subscriber and never saw the gift link. Poor page orientation.

Now I see it.

[ancianita]

14. I thought my subscription link would allow reading the whole thing. I'm sorry if you

couldn't get in. They're considering discharges, though nothing's said about 'dishonorable.

Here's more from the article:

An attorney for Hellonen said in court Monday that her client will “likely” face consequences in the military system as well, but “it has not happened yet.” She added that “he may be separated” from the Marines rather than charged in military court.

As of May 19, the three Marines were still on active duty, said Yvonne Carlock, a service spokeswoman. It was not clear on Monday if any of them recently has been removed from the service.

[C Moon]

53. Thanks very much. That was kind of you!

[ancianita]

54. Very welcome! Now that I know how to gift my subscription links, it's foregone.

[Angleae]

35. No. Only a military court can give a dishonorable discharge.

This is in a federal district court, so no discharge can be give by such. The worst discharge they can get is "other than honorable"

[GB_RN]

37. At Minimum...

They’re going to get “less than honorable” discharges.

[Rebl2]

5. Hope they

are kicked out of Marines.

[Cha]

8. TY.. Can they still be in the Military?

[Traildogbob]

10. Space force will take em.

[ancianita]

11. The article says that the military is considering discharges and/or court martials in the context of

Sec of Defense Austin reviewing extremist culture in the militaries.

From the article:

An attorney for Hellonen said in court Monday that her client will “likely” face consequences in the military system as well, but “it has not happened yet.” She added that “he may be separated” from the Marines rather than charged in military court.

[Cha]

15. Mahalo.. sorry I dinn't

read it the article.

What were they thinking .. that trump would get them off for breaking the law?

It's a beautiful thing that Biden Won!

[Hekate]

36. I was hoping to read that. Courts martial for active-duty military seems like a very good idea. nt

[kairos12]

16. Traitors. Send them to GITMO.

[ancianita]

17. For misdemeanors?

The three men traveled to Washington, D.C. from Marine Corps Base Quantico in Prince William County, Va., according to the court record. They entered the Capitol about 10 minutes after other rioters first breached the building, and stayed inside for almost an hour. They joined chants of “Stop the Steal!” and “Four More Years!”; they put Coomer’s “Make America Great Again” hat on a statue in the Rotunda and took pictures of it.

They were identified to the FBI by fellow Marines; Abate also admitted his involvement in a security clearance interview in June 2022, more than a year after the riot. In that interview, Abate said the three “buddies” entered the Capitol together and “walked around and tried not to get hit with tear gas.” He said one of his friends also smoked a cigarette inside the Rotunda.

I agree that they were criminal, but Gitmo's for terrorists.

[cstanleytech]

31. That's civilian law not military for which they appear to have violated the oath they took.

As for sending them to Gitmo? No.
Now kicking them out of the military with a less than honorable should be done at the very least.

[Shipwack]

18. I find this part especially loathsome...

But officials said they did not plan to proactively monitor social media for violations and that they could not do much about veterans who began embracing such beliefs.

Back in the 80s they had plenty of time to investigate and entrap suspected homosexuals, but heaven forbid they make an effort to ensure our warfighters aren't traitors...

[ancianita]

19. I hear you.

I think this just describes what the military won't do. However, the larger context proves that the rest of government does investigate social media. Here's what the Brennan Center for Justice claims; still, when you read the whole page, you see that they find it troubling:

Social media has become a significant source of information for U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
The Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, and the State Department are among the many federal agencies that routinely monitor social platforms, for purposes ranging from conducting investigations to identifying threats to screening travelers and immigrants. This is not surprising; as the U.S. Supreme Court has said, social media platforms have become “for many . . . the principal sources for knowing current events, . . . speaking and listening in the modern public square, and otherwise exploring the vast realms of human thought and knowledge” — in other words, an essential means for participating in public life and communicating with others.

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/social-media-surveillance-us-government

So I'm pretty sure that they keep an eye out, which is what the Brennan Center calls surveillance, which might be okay under the Patriot Act and most recent NDAA. I just haven't looked into it.

None of this makes anyone feel better, but overall I still see extremism as a groomed culture that foments irresponsible use of freedoms. Freedoms that aren't quite criminal but foment turmoil and fear. Even here, the continual sloppy use of the term traitor annoys me to no end; that DU'ers should know better, since it promotes a right wing lingo style of labeling irresponsibility as treacherous, when those called "traitor" are fear-driven tools of media and political drama. Everyone on the right side are not traitors.

[Shipwack]

34. Lots of food for thought there... Thank you!

[boilinmad]

21. 22 and 23 years old...

.. and they have so many grievances about politicians and the state of the country. Stupid idiots that know nothing and were raised poorly. Disgusting.

[ancianita]

24. Right? Not knowing they haven't studied enough about the systems that were here before they were

born. How they work. Reading, reading, reading. Reading history beyond high school history. They've not put enough up front time into prepping for the real world so that they can smoothly deal with all its old and changing systems.

I don't know about poorly raised, I just tend to think that people are just trying to work with what they've got, including their parents. That's why we need public libraries, road trips and foreign travel; they'll rearrange people's brain cells.

[Drum]

29. 👆👏👆

Yes and yes!

[Dustlawyer]

39. The military is very RW. I have a former HS classmate who became an Airborne Ranger.

He has been hard core RW ever since as are everyone he served with.

[Crowman2009]

45. That's funny, because after my only Iraq deployment I never voted GOPer ever again.

Me and some of the other Marines in my Aviation Ordnance (I-level) felt like the whole thing was just a no-bid contractor tax money scam.

[Mysterian]

48. Lloyd Austin was an Airborne Ranger and he's not a RWer.

I was an Airborne Ranger and I'm not a RWer.

Too bad about your classmate but he does not represent "the military."

[Dustlawyer]

50. Good to know! I see the comments on his facebook and they are really bad all of the time.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

40. TFG lost big with youth voters n 2020

but it was still 35% of 18-30 y/os who voted for him. That was *up* from the 28% who voted for him in 2016.

And for a sobering view: In 2016, more white 18-30 y/os voted for him, 48%, than for Hillary, 43%.

In 2020, white males 18-30 supported TFG, 51%, over Biden, 45%.

So these nitwits' falling for the MAGAt cult comes as no surprise.

[bottomofthehill]

23. Buy the ticket, take the ride.

Active duty marines part of the crowd that tried to overthrow democracy. Fucking asshats. Throw them out of the Marine Corps and throw them behind bars. They have proven their oath to the Constitution means nothing to them. Dishonorable discharge for a dishonorable act.

[Permanut]

26. These Marine and Navy morons..

Are supporting a piece of orange sewer scum who referred to the over 1800 marines who lost their lives at Belleau Wood during WWI as "losers".

This post is brought to you by an honorably discharged Navy veteran who has two friends on the Vietnam Memorial wall.

[ancianita]

30. Yep,

though they seem young and without much exposure to older veterans' wisdom.

Which makes me, a former officer's wife, wonder if vets ever visit military bases and meet the enlisteds; I suppose forts and bases probably don't have space or time for such contact. I worked on base at Fort Gordon but can't remember whether or not the military co-mingled vets and active duty people. Probably not. But I could be wrong.

[ExWhoDoesntCare]

41. i was active duty

The only time we had vets around was on veterans day, and POW-MIA day.

Other than that, little to no contact from the veterans, not even the local ones.

Since I've become a vet, I can understand why: We did our time. I don't regret it or hold any of the common grudges against the experience, but...I did my time. I even live down the road from a base, and I never set foot on it. I'm done with that part of my life, and have moved on.

We earned the right to do our own thing after serving. We don't owe them more than that.

[Crowman2009]

44. Or as we call such Marines nowadays: Rocks

I've met quite a few in my time as an Aviation Ordnanceman Systems Technician in the USMC.

[LudwigPastorius]

27. Give 'em both a Big Chicken Dinner.

[SeattleVet]

33. BCD and please, at least just a LITTLE time in USP Leavenworth.

Just to make sure they remember in the future. Even 6 months hard labor may make a more lasting impression.

[Lonestarblue]

38. The military may not be able to ban media like Fox and Newsmax because of free speech, but

they do need to include training on media bias and the historic use of propaganda to promote ideas of fascism and the false views of government.

[Crowman2009]

46. Or better yet they should just get rid of the cable TV altogether and have only local stations...

...picked up via outdoor antenna shown at the mess hall.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

47. Their ass is grass

[Vinca]

49. Why on earth is the military loyal to Trump? He calls them suckers and losers.

[flying_wahini]

51. Send them to Gitmo to 'Watch Over' Trump for the next 10 years.

They will get so sick of him …….