• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Criminal Charges / Prosecutions January 6 and Investigations

Capitol rioter gets prison as feds reach 100 sentencings

A Seattle man who punched two police officers during last year's riot at the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to six months imprisonment on Thursday, as the Justice Department reached a milestone in one of the largest federal investigations in American history.

Mark Leffingwell, a 52-year-old military veteran who was wounded in Iraq, is at least the 100th person to be sentenced after pleading guilty to a Capitol riot-related charge, according to an Associated Press review of court records.

The judge who sentenced Leffingwell pushed back on a recent Republican National Committee resolution that accused the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack of leading a “persecution of ordinary citizens engaged in legitimate political discourse.” U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson also lamented that mainstream news outlets are still amplifying the lie that the 2020 presidential election was illegitimate and stolen from former President Donald Trump.

"And, worse, it has become heresy for a member of the former president’s party to say otherwise,” the judge said. “It needs to be crystal clear that it is not patriotism, it is not standing up for America, it is not legitimate political discourse and it is not justified to descend on the nation’s capital at the direction of a disappointed candidate and disrupt the electoral process.”

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ngs/ar-AATHZBH
 
Kyle Griffin
@kylegriffin1
·2h

NBC News: A federal judge has ruled that Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes will remain in detention pending trial.

Judge Mehta said the allegations contained in the indictment weighed in favor of detaining Rhodes. @NBCNews
__________________
 
Bozeman man pleads guilty to involvement in Capitol riot

A Bozeman man pleaded guilty this week to his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, break-in and riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Andrew Cavanaugh, the owner of the now-defunct Tactical Citizen firearm academy in Belgrade and a former Marine, pleaded guilty this week to parading, demonstrating and picketing in the Capitol. The plea was first reported by KTVQ.

Cavanaugh was arrested by the FBI in Bozeman in March 2021 for his involvement in the Capitol riot. According to court documents, Cavanaugh wore a hat with the name of his business as he and hundreds of others broke into the Capitol building, where lawmakers were meeting to certify the electoral college votes for the 2020 presidential election. Then-Vice President Mike Pence was evacuated from the building, followed by senators and reporters who were there.

A video of Cavanaugh wearing the hat on the first floor of the U.S. Capitol in the Small House Rotunda was posted on the conservative social media site Parler. The hat and the video helped the FBI identify and locate Cavanaugh.

Read more: https://www.bozemandailychronicle.co...89b6b255e.html

On a side note, I have so many to post and the board is so dang slow today
 
Last edited:
Oath Keepers Member Pleads Guilty to Seditious Conspiracy and Obstruction in Jan. 6 Capitol Attack

A member of the Oath Keepers right-wing militia group charged in the Jan. 6 siege at the U.S. Capitol has pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding of Congress. He vowed to “fully cooperate” with the federal investigation into the attack.

Joshua James, 34, is the first member of the militia group charged with seditious conspiracy to plead guilty to that charge. At a hearing Wednesday, he confirmed that under the plea agreement, he will “fully cooperate” with the government’s prosecution and testify before a grand jury and at trial.

The seditious conspiracy and obstruction charges, both felonies, carry potential jail sentences of 20 years each. The seditious conspiracy charge is the most serious charge yet in the federal government’s sprawling prosecution of those who participated in the Jan. 6 siege.

James was named in a 17-count indictment that also charged Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. According to prosecutors, James and the other Oath Keepers made plans to bring a variety of weapons to support the mob of Donald Trump supporters who violently overran police to swarm the Capitol building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden‘s win in the 2020 presidential election.

At Wednesday’s hearing before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, James confirmed the Statement of Offense

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-...ate-with-feds/
 
@kyledcheney
HAPPENING NOW: The first Jan. 6 trial is underway in the case of GUY REFFITT, a member of the Three Percenters militia who is charged with confronting police officers while carrying a gun on Capitol grounds.

….Opening statements are moments away at the U.S. District Court of D.C.

….DOJ's opening statements in the Reffit trial have begun. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler, says the Capitol — "'The Heart of democracy' was attack by a mob in what was the worst assualt on the Capitol since the War of 1812."

…."A mob needs leader," Nestler says. "Mr. Reffitt helepd lead the mob up the stairs of the Capitol building ... In the defendant's own words, he lit the match that started the fire."

….Prosecutors say REFFITT specifically intended to target Speaker Pelosi and Leader McConnell during his charge on the Capitol. They'll hear testimony from the Capitol Police who confronted him, a Senate aide present during the riot +a militia member who accompanited Reffitt to DC.

….Most notably, Nestler says jurors will hear from Reffitt's son JACKSON, who reported his dad to the FBI before Jan. 6 and later recorded him and shared those files with the FBI. Prosceutors say Reffitt threatened his kids to prevent them from turning on him.

==============================================
Guy Reffitt’s son testifying at his trial today, the son who had turned his father in. He had recorded his father.


@ryanjreilly
In dramatic testimony at Guy Reffitt’s Jan. 6 trial, his son Jackson Reffitt testifies that he sent a tip to the FBI while alone in his bedroom on Christmas Eve 2020. He never heard from the FBI until after the Jan. 6 attack.

….Jackson Reffitt: “Yeah you know they are tracking down everyone who was there right?”
Guy Reffitt: “Yeppers.”

….Jackson Reffitt: “Through the media and cell phone footage? Isn’t that ya know bad…”
Guy Reffitt: “Yep, don’t care. I broke no laws.”

….Jackson: “Like felons and 20 years in prison.”
Guy: “Like nope. Didn’t break any laws.”
Jackson: “I thought you overtook the united states capital? And broke through police barricades. And assaulted by police.”
Guy: “We did but I didn’t break any laws."

….“Me telling Patriots to hold my beer and watch this.” — Guy Reffitt, who circled himself in Fox News footage from the Jan. 6 attack, in a family text chain.

….Jackson Reffitt testified that Guy Reffitt was “very happy” when he arrived back home after Jan. 6.

….Jackson Reffitt testifying about recording his dad, but says he felt “pretty gross” about it.

….“I had a good time. I had a very epic moment… I felt so patriotic… I felt so good.” — Guy Reffitt, as recorded by his son.

….Government plays a lengthy recording of Guy Reffitt bragging to his family about his actions. Says people called him a “patriot” after he got sprayed.

…“She was cute, you know,” Guy Reffitt says of the officer who shot at him with less lethal projectiles as charged up the stairs.

….“There was no reason for me to give up,” Guy Reffitt said. “The bad people are in that building… They’re disgusting people."

…."What happened was only the preface of the book,” Guy Reffitt said. “It’s just a notification of what you’re going to read in the future.”

.…“This gun right here was loaded,” Guy Reffitt said.

….In the clip, Guy Reffitt talked about how many people he knew who were armed in the crowd.

…In the clip, Guy Reffitt says he told the officer who testified yesterday that she’d be tried for treason on Jan. 6. “That’s treason, against the people of the republic,” he says in the clip.

….“I did bring a weapon,” Guy Reffitt told his son in the recording, after Jackson Reffitt asked him about bringing a gun onto federal property.

….“That was a historic day,” Guy Reffitt said. “I’m not done yet… The beginning, bro!”

….“Clearly he wasn’t just talking at this point,” Jackson Reffitt testifies.

More to follow

__________________
 
Last edited:
More..
@JordanOnRecord
Jurors now hearing this recording Jackson made of his father, Guy Reffitt, in their home after the riot.
….At the time of the recording, Reffitt was showing video from his helmet camera and narrating over it.
…."I lit the fire," Reffitt says.
….Reffitt's wife, Nicole, suggested Reffitt shouldn't be talking openly about his actions on Jan. 6. Reffitt responded that he was in the security of his own home.
…."I was willing to die when I was there," Reffitt says. "I was willing to die."
….Reffitt can be heard narrating: "And this is where I turned my camera back on before going on up to the insurrection, I guess I'll call it."
….Court taking a 10-minute break.
….First audio clip back from break is Guy Reffitt's wife, Nicole: "We have to have a moment of sadness because Dad didn't get a video of him storming the Capitol."
…."I'm fine with it. I had a good time. I had a really epic point in my life," Guy Reffitt says. "I felt so patriotic and felt like an American... I felt so good."
…."Honestly, the sixth, and the fun I had all day... I had a great time," Guy Reffitt can be heard saying. Says if he took off his clothes his family would see bruises "all up and down my leg."
…."People were constantly coming up to me and saying, 'You're such a f***ing patriot! You lit the fire!'" Guy Reffitt says. "I went up there to take on the Capitol Police like nobody else was doing."
….Jurors have heard Guy Reffitt describe himself as having "stormed the Capitol" multiple times now.
….He says he told others "we have to move forward" and pushed people out of the way so he could get to the front and lead the charge.
….Guy Reffitt now describing USCP Officer Shauni Kerkhoff, says he told her, "I'm not stopping!" Then she shot him with pepperballs but they didn't stop him.
…."There was no reason for me to give up, because I had come so far to do what we needed to do," Reffitt says.
 
New Jan. 6 Footage Shows Capitol Rioter Threatening To 'Cut Their Head Off'

Newly released video from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack shows a Texas man ranting about a “stolen” presidential election and calling for elected officials to be publicly killed.

“Cut their head off!” he yells at one point.

Its release by the Justice Department came just hours after top Republican Party officials issued a resolution on Friday stating that the people who mobbed the Capitol had engaged in “legitimate political discourse.”

The man in the video, Ryan Nichols, was arrested in the days after the attack and pleaded guilty to all of the charges against him, which include assault with a crowbar and pepper spray. His case is still pending in federal court.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/capit...b0f8a1b8451dd5

 
FBI arrests Trump supporter who stormed Capitol while on bail for attempted murder

Matthew Beddingfield, of North Carolina, was first identified by online sleuths two months after the Jan. 6 attack.

Snipped


Quote:
A Jan. 6 rioter who stormed the Capitol while he was out on bail for attempted first-degree murder was arrested by the FBI on Tuesday, more than 10 months after he was first identified by online sleuths.

Matthew Jason Beddingfield, of North Carolina, faces felony charges of assaulting officers, impeding officers during a civil disorder, and carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon on restricted Capitol grounds, as well as several misdemeanors, according to court records.

Beddingfield was first publicly identified in a HuffPost story in March after online sleuths investigating the Jan. 6 attack used facial recognition to find his mugshot and then confirmed his identification with the help of his father’s Facebook page.

Beddingfield traveled to D.C. on Jan. 6 with his father, a fellow Donald Trump supporter who also believed the former president’s lies about a stolen election.

The two had attended a November 2020 rally in D.C. in support of Trump’s efforts to overturn his election loss. Images that Beddingfield’s father posted of that rally showed his son wearing identical Nike sneakers and carrying the same pole attached to an American flag as he did on Jan. 6.
Snipped

Quote:
Video compiled with the help of online investigators shows Beddingfield at the front of the mob outside the Capitol, jabbing at the police line with his American flag, throwing a metal object at the police, and appearing to give a Nazi salute.

By the time Beddingfield emerged from the Capitol, his father, Jason Beddingfield, like thousands of others, was on the restricted exterior grounds of the U.S. Capitol, but he is not facing charges as of Tuesday. The elder Beddingfield, who posted on Facebook on Jan. 6 about taking “the country back,” can be seen hopping over a fence restricting access to the Capitol grounds while carrying a pro-Trump flag.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...rder-rcna15169
 
Exclusive: FBI probes pre-Capitol riot meeting of far-right groups


Quote:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is probing a meeting in a downtown DC garage the day before the January 6 Capitol Hill riot between the then-leader of the Proud Boys extremist group, the now-indicted leader of the Oath Keepers militia and other far-right figures, according to two witnesses interviewed by FBI agents.

Among the half dozen people gathered at a garage near the Phoenix Park Hotel was Oath Keepers head Stewart Rhodes, who was indicted this year on charges of “seditious conspiracy” in the insurrection. Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio, who was not present at the riot, was also at the garage meeting but left Washington afterward.

The meeting put the heads of the nation’s two best-known violent far-right pro-Trump groups in immediate proximity to each other 24 hours before the breach of the Capitol. Three attendees or their representatives contacted by Reuters say they did not discuss matters related to January 6.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/exc...ps-2022-02-08/
 
"And, worse, it has become heresy for a member of the former president’s party to say otherwise,” the judge said. “It needs to be crystal clear that it is not patriotism, it is not standing up for America, it is not legitimate political discourse and it is not justified to descend on the nation’s capital at the direction of a disappointed candidate and disrupt the electoral process.”

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/polit...ngs/ar-AATHZBH

Excellent food for thought ..............
 
‘I Feel Betrayed’: Woman Sentenced for Jan. 6 Breach Claims She Was ‘Promised’ White House Job, Gets Jail Time Instead

Quote:
A Pennsylvania woman convicted of breaching a “sensitive space” of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 told a sentencing judge on Wednesday that people close to former President Donald Trump “promised” her a White House job.

Instead, she received a jail sentence that she fears could lose her custody of her kid.
Quote:
Annie Howell, 31, recorded at least five videos that day, including one of her in a ransacked conference room in what prosecutors described as a “sensitive space” inside the Capitol building.

According to prosecutors, she can be heard leading a chant of “Whose house? Our house!”

She also recorded multiple videos of law enforcement being attacked by the violent mob of Donald Trump supporters who stormed the building in an effort to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden‘s win in the 2020 presidential election.

At her sentencing hearing Wednesday, Howell said that she had been told by GOP officials that she would be rewarded for her dedication to keeping Trump in office.
Quote:
“I feel betrayed by the former president,” she said during the hearing. “I was promised things by people that were close to him, such as a job in the White House.”

“I Helped Set Up Security for Trump”

Howell elaborated on her connections to the GOP in Pennsylvania in a letter she filed with the court ahead of the sentencing hearing. She said that as a result of her work as a volunteer, she was invited to an “exclusive, invitation only, dinner with Eric Trump” and became more “politically connected” after that.

“I was surrounded by Congressman, Senators, even Trump advisers. I helped set up security for Trump and his family with the secret service,” Howell claimed in her letter.
https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-...-time-instead/
 
More on Annie Howell:

She had direct contact with Eric Trump, Congressmen, Senators, Trump advisers and the Secret Service!?
Quote:
Howell elaborated on her connections to the GOP in Pennsylvania in a letter she filed with the court ahead of the sentencing hearing. She said that as a result of her work as a volunteer, she was invited to an “exclusive, invitation only, dinner with Eric Trump” and became more “politically connected” after that.

“I was surrounded by Congressman, Senators, even Trump advisers. I helped set up security for Trump and his family with the secret service,” Howell claimed in her letter.

“By this point in time I had a large social media following and was enthusiastic about the 2020 election and Donald Trump, my candidate,” she continued. “I was promised future benefits, including a possible White House job for my hard work, my loyalty and my dedication to Trump and his family. Immediately following the election, I was asked directly by a Trump adviser and supposed close friend to help collect affidavits from PA. residents in eight [8] Pennsylvania counties.”
The judge gets to the heart of the matter here.
Quote:

“I am concerned because what we have going on in this country is certain legislators in our Congress and Senate [are] trying to downplay the riot, tending to whitewash it, attempting to provide a different narrative,” Hogan said.

“There are people of substance trying to mislead the United States and its citizens as to what really happened at the riot,” Hogan said. “I think that’s something we have to be very careful about. Jan. 6 was an insurrection.” Hogan said it was “probably the worst thing that’s happened” to attack democracy in the U.S. since the War of 1812 when British troops set fire to the White House.

Hogan added that it’s frightening that so many Americans “bought in so much to this belief that caused the riot, that they could continue to believe [up to] the next election, if the person they want is not elected, [they could] go back to rioting again and attacking our institutions. We need to be concerned about that in particular with those individuals who are trying to downplay the riot and what really happened.”
 
A Lawyer For Jan. 6 Defendants Is Giving Her Clients Remedial Lessons In American History
D.C. attorney H. Heather Shaner says that books and movies about the uglier parts of American history are "a revelation" for some of her Capitol attack clients.


Quote:
At first glance, you might mistake them for student’s book reports: extra-wide margins, awkward prose, an inflated summary leading up to a personal takeaway. One report focuses on the film “Schindler’s List,” the other on the book “Just Mercy” by Bryan Stevenson. The report’s author also read the book “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” and watched Netflix’s “Mudbound,” the PBS documentary “Slavery By Another Name,” and the History Channel’s “Burning Tulsa.” She, like many students, preferred to take the cinematic route. “I chose the movie whenever possible because it sinks in better,” she wrote.

The court case numbers in the header are a bit of a giveaway. The reports aren’t the work of a student with a socially conscious history teacher ― they’re the product of 49-year-old Anna Morgan-Lloyd, a Donald Trump supporter from Indiana who entered the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 attack.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/capit...b0a48ee253908e
 
First Person Sentenced for Storming the Capitol on Jan. 6, a Day She Considered the ‘Most Exciting’ of Her Life, Gets No Time Behind Bars


Quote:
Before sentencing, Lloyd’s lawyer H. Heather Shaner suggested that her client watch “Schindler’s List,” and read “Just Mercy” and “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” as her attorney put it, to “educate herself about ‘government policy’ toward Native Americans, African Americans and European Jews.” Scores of participants in the siege of the U.S. Capitol belonged to extremist, militia or white supremacist groups. Multiple people waved Confederate flags, and one wore a “Camp Auschwitz” hoodie, mocking the Holocaust.

In a movie review of “Schindler’s List” she filed with the court, Lloyd disclosed that she has a Holocaust denier in her family—and she did not exactly correct him on the facts.

“One of my Sons-in-Law is 1⁄2 German,” Lloyd wrote. “His mother was born in Germany and has never became an American Citizen. My Son-In-Law doesn’t believe the Holocaust happened as it did. He says ‘Only’ a million Jews died. One person being killed because of their faith is too many!”
Quote:
Also viewing “Mudbound,” “Slavery by Another Name,” and “Burning Tulsa” on the History Channel, Lloyd wrote that she had this takeaway from her book and film list about the sufferings of marginalized groups: “I’ve learned that even though we live in a wonderful country things still need to improve. People of all colors should feel as safe as I do to walk down the street.”
Quote:
Near the end of the hearing, Lloyd apologized.

“I would just like to apologize to the court, the American people and my family,” she said. “I am ashamed that it became a savage display of violence that day.”

“It was never my intent to be a part of something so disgraceful to our American people,” she added. https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-...e-behind-bars/

 

Exclusive: I-Team 8 talks with Indiana woman, first sentenced for US Capitol riots​

Jan. 6, 2021, was a dark day for Anna Morgan-Lloyd of Bloomfield, Indiana.

Morgan-Lloyd says she has been well-received in her hometown, and some people have called her a hero, a label she doesn’t like.

She regrets entering the U.S. Capitol and providing what she says was unintentional cover for people that were there to do harm.

“My remorse was sincere. It is still sincere. If I could take back being there that day, I would gladly take it back,” Morgan-Lloyd said.

Morgan-Lloyd agreed to an interview if News 8 did not show her face. A picture of her inside the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, helped the FBI build a case against her. In the picture, Morgan-Lloyd is in the gray sweatshirt; next to her in the red hat is Dona Bissey. A woman on the left was identified in court records as “Linda.”

Morgan-Lloyd told I-Team 8 that “Linda” was the reason she went into the Capitol in the first place.

Much more at link: https://www.wishtv.com/news/i-team-...a-woman-first-sentenced-for-us-capitol-riots/

 
Scott MacFarlane
@MacFarlaneNews

Mar 2, 2022
Here it comes. Plea agreement hearing is beginning in a Jan 6 OathKeepers seditious conspiracy case. Joshua James of Alabama .. who is a co-defendant of Stewart Rhodes Standby

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1499154686187913231|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=http://justicequest.net/forums/showthread.php?t=104857page=10

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1499154686187913231|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=http://justicequest.net/forums/showthread.php?t=104857page=10

And.. it’s going to be a guilty plea to seditious conspiracy. Big development in the OathKeepers case. And big win for the Justice Dept Less than 48 hours before Stewart Rhodes returns to court for hearing.
5:48 PM · Mar 2, 2022

Scott MacFarlane
@MacFarlaneNews

Mar 2, 2022
Replying to @MacFarlaneNews
This is potentially ……, problematic …. for Stewart Rhodes
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews?ref_src=twsrc^tfw|twcamp^tweetembed|twterm^1499159232255606793|twgr^|twcon^s1_&ref_url=http://justicequest.net/forums/showthread.php?t=104857page=10

Scott MacFarlane
@MacFarlaneNews
James is agreeing to allegations that he tried to disrupt the peaceful transfer of Presidential power And he’s acknowledging allegation that Stewart Rhodes had “plan”
6:06 PM · Mar 2, 2022
 
https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews?...est.net/forums/showthread.php?t=104857page=10
Scott MacFarlane
@MacFarlaneNews

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews?...est.net/forums/showthread.php?t=104857page=10
Mar 2, 2022
Replying to @MacFarlaneNews
James acknowledges that one of his purposes for entering Capitol was to delay certification of Joe Biden as President of the United States

James acknowledges he used force in Capitol to delay the transfer of power. It’s quite something to hear these words aloud
6:14 PM · Mar 2, 2022

James is cooperating with the Feds

James gets to forestall his sentencing as he cooperates. Remains free from jail til then
 
STATEMENT OF OFFENSE
Signed and Acknowledged as true and accurate by the defendant.


Quote:
On January 8, 2021, James met with Rhodes and others at a restaurant in Alabama. There, James showed Rhodes a video of James’s physical altercation with law enforcement officers inside the Capitol on January 6, 2021. Rhodes expressed gratitude for James’s actions and told James to alter his physical appearance to conceal his identity.

47. On January 8, 2021, James received a Signal message, in a group chat that included Rhodes, from an individual he understood to be an attorney for the Oath Keepers that stated, “STEWART: YOU ALL NEED TO DELETE ANY OF YOUR COMMENTS REGARDING WHO DID WHAT. You are under zero obligation to leave them up. You/we have not yet gotten a preservation order instructing us to retain those chat comments. So DELETE THEM. I can’t delete them because this is a legacy Signal chat that doesn’t let me delete comments. Only the comment author can delete a comment. So GET BUSY. DELETE your self-incriminating comments or those that can incriminate others. Start now …”

48. Thereafter, on January 8, 2021, James forwarded to Grods the message from the attorney and instructed him to “make sure that all signal comms about the op has been deleted and burned.” James also messaged Ulrich on Signal and instructed him to delete messages with photographs that included their faces.

https://storage.courtlistener.com/re...212.60.0_3.pdf
 
Back
Top Bottom