During the four years of the Civil War, the confederates never got closer to Washington than Fort Stevens. Until today, when insurrectionist supporters of paraded through the U.S. Capitol Building carrying the Confederate battle flag.
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Jordan Fischer
@JordanOnRecord
Investigative reporter covering the justice beat in the D.C. area with focus on the Capitol riot. Hot sauce enthusiast.
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In which the Brits and Americans debate whose country is sillier.
I get why people are mad at the press. I do. We have privileged jobs. But I promise you that when we're all gone, when the companies you work for use pandemic relief to do stock buybacks and pad CEO bonuses instead of helping you, they aren't going to write about it themselves.
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The level of anger directed at the media from these protestors was alarming. As always, I will tell a fair and unbiased story today.
BREAKING: Julian Khater, 33, of Pennsylvania, has been sentenced to 80 months (6 years, 8 months) in prison for assaulting USCP Officers Brian Sicknick and Caroline Edwards on Jan. 6, 2021.
As he was led out of court today, Daniel Rodriguez yelled, "Trump won!"
"He'll have 13 years to think about that," Mike Fanone told reporters outside.
NEW: Daniel Rodriguez's attorneys say he admired and idolized Donald Trump — who he saw as "the father he wished he had."
Prosecutors are decidedly less sentimental. They say he's a violent criminal and they want him to serve 14 years behind bars.
NEW: U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden has revoked bond for Hatchet Speed, a Navy reservist charged w/ entering the Capitol, following his conviction in Virginia for possessing unregistered silencers.
NEW: The FBI says the latest defendant charged in the Capitol riot — Adam Ryan Obest, of Maryland — took the day off work from his federal job at the Dept. of Health and Human Services on Jan. 6. He's facing multiple felony counts.
BREAKING: The DOJ has filed its sentencing memo asking a judge to order Guy Reffitt — the first J6 defendant convicted at trial — to serve 15 years in prison. They argue his actions warrant a terrorism enhancement. Link: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco
🚨 SENTENCE: Former Army Ranger Robert Morss, of Pennsylvania, ordered to serve 66 months (5.5 years) in prison for assaulting and robbing police in the Lower West Terrace Tunnel on Jan. 6.
NEW: The DOJ wants 188 months (15.6 years) in prison for Kyle Fitzsimons, of Lebanon, Maine. Fitzsimons was convicted in a bench trial of repeatedly assaulting police who were defending the Lower West Terrace Tunnel on Jan. 6. Sentencing is June 13.
Meanwhile in the Proud Boys trial, jurors just saw this video of rioters being invited into the U.S. Capitol.
NEW: Former Fairfax Co. police officer Jason Michael Colley appeared before a Maryland judge today — accused for the second time of abusing one of his children.
This time, the judge didn't let him go home.
NEW: "Victor Sean of Dennison, trust protector" failed to show for his Capitol riot trial on Monday.
Judge McFadden, now quite experienced in sovereign citizen defendants, has issued a warrant for his arrest.
This is "Walk Away" founder Brandon Straka — who did not serve any prison time in his Jan. 6 case thanks to, as his attorneys described it in their sentencing memos, "substantial" cooperation with investigators.
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Replying to @LauraJedeed
What I need you to understand is that I stood here for about half an hour yesterday and this guy NEVER broke character
He wept sitting on the bench
He wept sitting on the floor
He tallied days on a chalkboard set up for the purpise
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At 3 o'clock, the DOJ will ask Judge Mehta to exceed the longest sentence handed down in a Capitol riot case to date (which he also gave) and order Peter Schwartz to serve more than 24 years in prison.
NOW: Retired firefighter Robert Sanford, of PA, will spend more than 4 years in prison for striking three officers in the head w/ a fire extinguisher on Jan. 6. Judge Friedman said he should have known "better than most" the damage he could have caused.
NEW: As a group of House Republicans gears up to investigate the DC Jail, a federal judge made it clear today that not only does he not see constitutional violations there for Jan. 6 defendants — they're actually getting perks he's never seen before.
Received this statement tonight from Tasha Adams, the estranged wife of Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. She says after today's verdict he can "now disappear into obscurity where he belongs."
"I plan on declaring innocence of these charges, because I am," InfoWars host Owen Shroyer told his audience the day he learned of the warrant out for his arrest.
On Friday, he's now set to plead guilty.
BREAKING: A federal grand jury has indicted Hatchet Speed, the Naval Reserves petty officer already charged in the Capitol riot, on three new felony counts for allegedly possessing unregistered silencers. Speed made his initial court appearance at 2 p.m.
JUST NOW: After saying he'd accepted responsibility and sobbing for mercy in front of Judge Kelly — and receiving a 10-year downward variance — a smiling Dominic Pezzola raised his fist and shouted "Trump won!" as he was led out of the courtroom.
NOW: U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden has convicted Navy Reservist Hatchet Speed on all counts for joining the mob that stormed and occupied the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6.
Bike racks going up outside the U.S. Capitol Building tonight.
This morning, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Larry Brock will be in court for sentencing. The DOJ is asking for 5 years in prison, which seems... fairly generous, considering the plan Brock had for Jan. 6.
NEW: A federal judge has issued a bench warrant for Florida Proud Boy Christopher Worrell — who went missing this week from home detention (and GPS monitoring) days before his sentencing hearing.
BREAKING: A New Mexico judge has ordered Couy Griffin removed from office as a county commissioner over his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Judge Francis Matthew rules Griffin is barred from public office under the 14th Amendment's disqualification clause.
NEW: Steve Bannon this week was accused of defying another subpoena — this one from a former Trump campaign staffer. Now, she's asking a D.C. judge to hold him in contempt and, if necessary, issue a bench warrant to force him to comply.
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One of the first photos from the interior of #NotreDame from Reuters' Philippe Wojazer shows the altar's cross illuminated by spotlight, with the Coustous' Pietà seemingly unharmed underneath. The statue was one of the few that avoided mutilation during the French Revolution.
Incidentally, Judge Moss told a Jan. 6 defendant last week it seemed to him antifa was a "convenient, made-up goblin to justify whatever you want to do."
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HARRISONBURG, Va. – Gerald Leonard Drake, 63, from Winchester, was indicted Thursday for planting a pipe bomb at a Civil War reenactment event in 2017.
Drake purported to be a member of Antifa, was a member of the org he threatened to bomb. justice.gov/usao-wdva/pr/c
🚨 SENTENCE: Daniel Rodriguez, 40, of California, ordered to serve 151 months in prison (12.5 years) and pay $96,927 in restitution for hospital bills and medical leave caused by his repeated tasing of former DC Police Officer Michael Fanone.
Twitter is currently recommending I follow neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin. Incredible stuff.
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Journalism isn't just the handful of people who make you mad on cable news. It's journalists across the planet who you've never heard of -- who are happily nameless -- working to help illuminate the world around you. And I promise you it will be a darker world for their absence.
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It wasn't UPS that decided to report on their dozens of federal lawsuits about dangerous work conditions and alleged retaliation against those who spoke up. It was my friend .
🚨BREAKING: A jury has convicted anti-abortion activist Lauren Handy and four co-defendants on ALL COUNTS for blockading a D.C. clinic in October 2020.
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People keep tweeting this shit at me from Lin Wood, who, I don't know how to tell you this, is not a reputable source for anything. But that guy on the far right there is Matthew Heimbach, a well-known neo-Nazi and white supremacist from my home state of Indiana. Not Antifa.
That's Jan. 6 defense attorney Joseph McBride in the first picture sitting next to Donald Trump Jr. on Saturday.
He was supposed to begin a trial Monday for Richard Barnett, but asked for a continuance because he had an unspecified "necessary medical procedure" on Dec. 9.
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Replying to @MichaelEHayden
Donald Trump Jr.’s table with faces — for your records.
Bonus: Raheem Kassam taking pictures of his own fac and texting them.
Hey, why did Breitbart UK part ways with Kassam? I have heard stories!
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It wasn't the Army and the Air Force who took themselves to task about the unsafe and unhealthy conditions military families are living in. It was dogged reporting from that forced them to acknowledge it and apologize.
BREAKING: Federico Klein, a former Trump campaign worker and State Department appointee, was convicted today on 8 felonies, including 6 counts of assaulting police inside the Lower West Terrace Tunnel.
Hire people from "flyover country" and let them report from and on their communities. No more parachute reporting. No more small-town diner stories.
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What do you think big media outlets need to do/do better in covering the 2020 presidential election?
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Indianapolis didn't just decided out of nowhere to find $300,000 to fund the city's first-ever witness protection program. They did it because and shined a light on how witnesses were getting intimidated and killed.
BREAKING: Judge Mehta says he will issue a restore competency order for former Oath Keepers general counsel Kellye SoRelle. Both her attorney and the DOJ agreed today that federal law requires that to take place at an in-patient facility. Updated story TK.
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🚨 VERDICT: Jury finds Douglas Jensen, of Des Moines, Iowa, GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS for obstructing the joint session of Congress on Jan. 6 and assaulting, resisting or impeding USCP Officer Eugene Goodman.
🚨 SENTENCE: Hatchet Speed, a former Navy Reservist from Virginia, ordered to serve 4 years in prison for obstructing the joint session of Congress. Sentence will run consecutive to 3 years he received in illegal silencers case.
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To be clear, I did not take this picture. I'll post credit as soon as I figure out who did. If you know the photog's name, DM me or tag 'em.
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It was my friend who looked at how banks redlining black neighborhoods in Indianapolis was hurting families there. The banks didn't just come out one day and say, yep, we did it.
🚨 SENTENCE: Christopher Alberts, a former National Guardsman from Maryland, ordered to serve 7 years in prison for assaulting police and carrying a gun onto Capitol grounds. Judge Cooper described him a a leader of the mob on Jan. 6. Story TK.
In the Proud Boys jury selection, a potential juror has been excused after telling Judge Kelly he'd developed serious anxiety over worries about possible retaliation were he to vote to find any of the defendants guilty.
BREAKING: Adam Nettina, a former GOP campaign copywriter and Catholic blogger who warned of "trans radicalization" has been charged with threatening to "put a bullet" in civil rights activists in response to the Covenant School shooting.
Capitol bomb threat suspect Floyd Roseberry spent a lot of time on stream talking about his insurance woes. But the registered Republican comes from a state, North Carolina, where his own party has blocked the ACA's Medicaid expansion. Map via : kff.org/medicaid/issue
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These things don't just come out on their own. It was a reporter, , who broke open the details of the sweetheart deal that let Jeffrey Epstein keep preying on young girls.
This is Ed Vallejo. He was one of the Oath Keepers in the seditious conspiracy indictment unsealed today. He's alleged to have organized the "quick reaction force."
He posted today he was going to "interrogate" the FBI about the #CapitolRiot. They just arrested him instead.
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We'll, my friends...
I about to enter the Phoenix Field Office of the FBI to interrogate them regarding the January 6th affair.
Wish me luck. Report to follow. 
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It was reporters who've uncovered how painkiller manufacturers intentionally flooded small towns with opioids, how incompetence and cynical politics poisoned the water in Michigan, how the wealthy the world over were using a Panamanian firm to evade international sanctions.
NOW: Judge Mehta says the jury has indicated it has a unanimous verdict on both contempt of Congress counts against former White House trade advisor Peter Navarro.
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But most journalists don't write about politics. They cover school boards & police departments & why the nice part of town gets its roads plowed before everybody else. They cover fundraisers to pay for critical surgeries. They write about quiet helpers making the world better.
MORE about that unsealed filing in Brandon Straka's case. In now-public memo, his attorney documented at least 18 people the "Walk Away" founder provided info to the FBI about. They included J6 rally organizers and at least one person DOJ wasn't aware of.
Reax from a local defense attorney: "That is f***ing awful. And selfish."
Says it will hurt Ethan Nordean and Enrique Tarrio, who still await sentencing.
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JUST NOW: After saying he'd accepted responsibility and sobbing for mercy in front of Judge Kelly — and receiving a 10-year downward variance — a smiling Dominic Pezzola raised his fist and shouted "Trump won!" as he was led out of the courtroom.
wusa9.com/article/news/n
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It was who forced the state of Indiana to confront how schools were misreporting and abusing how they were using seclusion and restraint on children. theindychannel.com/news/call-6-in
DOJ asking for 3.5 years in prison for Charles Bradford Smith and 3.8 years for co-defendant Marshall Neefe, who both pleaded guilty earlier this year to obstruction and aiding & abetting assault on police.
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“We are literally storming the Capitol. The gate – this whole area is blocked off to the public. We’re saying, ‘Fuck it!’ Sic semper tyrannis, bitch. Down with tyrants.”
DOJ wants 44 months in prison for Charles Bradford Smith, a.k.a. Brad Smith (left, and outlined in green).
Indiana man arrested for alleged assault at #Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally after video posted by : theindychannel.com/news/local-new
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These stories don't get told without journalists in markets across the country working diligently to uncover them. Even the simplest of these stories had so much inertia against them coming to light. It just doesn't happen on its own. And it won't when journalists are gone.
Here's a quote from Judge McFadden today to keep in your back pocket: "I think there's a particular concern that a Jan. 6 defendant might be dragging his feet for strategic reasons."
Another judge snookered.
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JUST NOW: After saying he'd accepted responsibility and sobbing for mercy in front of Judge Kelly — and receiving a 10-year downward variance — a smiling Dominic Pezzola raised his fist and shouted "Trump won!" as he was led out of the courtroom.
wusa9.com/article/news/n
🚨 SENTENCE: Peter Schwartz, of Pennsylvania, ordered to serve 170 months (14 yrs. 2 months) in prison for repeatedly assaulting police w/ pepper spray on Jan. 6.
This is now the longest sentence to date in any Capitol riot case.
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At 3 o'clock, the DOJ will ask Judge Mehta to exceed the longest sentence handed down in a Capitol riot case to date (which he also gave) and order Peter Schwartz to serve more than 24 years in prison. wusa9.com/article/news/n
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This isn't the first time a Jan. 6 defendant has shouted those exact words as he was led out of court. In June, Danny Rodriguez shouted the same thing.
The police officer Rodriguez assaulted told reporters, "He'll have 13 years to think about that."
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U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden, a former AUSA and 2017 Trump appointee, told Christopher Quaglin's attorney that in 10 years he's never seen defendants given tablets to view their discovery at a jail. But Jan. 6 detainees at the D.C. Jail get that.
🚨 VERDICT: A jury has convicted Richard "Bigo" Barnett, of Arkansas, on eight counts for carrying a stun gun walking stick into the office of the Speaker of the House on Jan. 6. Sentencing set for May 3. Story to come soon.
NEW: Eric "Zip Tie Guy" Munchel and his mother, Lisa Eisenhart, were convicted of conspiracy and multiple other counts — including, in Munchel's case, carrying a dangerous weapon into the Capitol — following a brief bench trial today.
NOW: Oath Keepers attorney Kellye SoRelle has been determined NOT to be competent to stand trial at this time, the DOJ and her attorney told Judge Mehta just now. Story to come soon.
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COUNT 1: Seditious Conspiracy
Ethan Nordean: GUILTY
Joseph Biggs: GUILTY
Zachary Rehl: GUILTY
Enrique Tarrio: GUILTY
Dominic Pezzola: [NO VERDICT]
*Disastrous* sentencing hearing just now for Audrey Southard-Rumsey, of FL, who is the first non-conspiracy defendant to receive a terrorism enhancement. Judge Mehta also revoked her acceptance of responsibility credit based on her in-court statements today.
Sentence: 6 years.
The four longest Jan. 6 sentences to date have all now been handed down by Judge Mehta:
18 years - Stewart Rhodes
14 years - Peter Schwartz
12 years - Kelly Meggs
10 years - Thomas Webster
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Every day demands a lot of journalists, and we don't always rise to the occasion. If you think the press did a generally pretty bad job covering 2016, I agree with you. If you think we're doing a generally pretty bad job covering 2020... I agree with you.
🚨 SENTENCE: Kyle Fitzsimons, of Maine, ordered to serve 87 months (7 yrs., 3 months) in prison for assaulting multiple officers on Jan. 6. Judge Contreras described it as a "burst of frenzied fury."
More than two years after their FBI interview, the DOJ has filed misdemeanor charges against Kimberly and Steven Dragoo, of Missouri. FBI says Kimberly posed for a picture before entering the U.S. Capitol through a broken window on Jan. 6. Docs: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco
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Judge McFadden is hardly the first to note the extraordinary treatment Jan. 6 defendants have received. As Judge Mehta pointed out, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes was transported from Alexandria to the D.C. courthouse every day to view discovery.
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🚨 SENTENCE: Proud Boy Joshua Pruitt ordered to serve 55 months in prison, to be followed by 36 months of supervised release, on one count of obstruction of an official proceeding. Judge Kelly said Pruitt put himself at "forefront" of the mob on Jan. 6.
Outside of the courthouse, a line of U.S. Capitol Police waits to see Brian Sicknick's family off following today's sentencing.
According to the Daily Princetonian, Larry Fife Giberson graduated last month with a certificate in values and public life.
He pleaded guilty today to a felony for joining one of the most pitched conflicts with police on Jan. 6.
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Defense asking again to have evidence of hand grenades found in Florida Oath Keeper Jeremy Brown's RV excluded from trial. Says the RV was heavily used, including by Brown's dog.
Judge Mehta: "Are these the dog's grenades?"
Request denied.
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Former Officer Mike Fanone said the sentencing — now the third for a defendant involved in his assault — doesn't change how he feels about Jan. 6.
"I'm still holding out hope that I'll be delivering a victim impact statement at the conclusion of Donald Trump's trial," he said.
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At least one of the people Straka provided the FBI information about *is* currently serving time, though: Dr. Simone Gold. She was sentenced to 60 days in jail. Prosecutors described what Straka gave them as "valuable" in her prosecution.
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🚨 VERDICT: Judge Contreras finds Kyle Fitzsimons of Maine GUILTY on all 11 counts, including 6 felony counts: civil disorder, obstruction of an official proceeding and 4x of assault. Also finds Fitzsimons guilty of enhancement for causing bodily injury to Sgt. Aquilino Gonell.
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And other judges have noted how unusual the tablet discovery access is — and how the D.C. Jail created it specifically in response to the complexities of the Jan. 6 cases.
D.C., a city with 23 Michelin-starred restaurants and two(!) Taco Bell Cantinas, is a burnt-out hellscape.
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Replying to @maustermuhle
.@joniernst says D.C. is a "scarcely recognizable shadow of its former self."
"The D.C. Council is throwing gas on the fire with its woke policies," she says. "The sad reality is no one is off limits to the criminals running rampant in our capital. No one is safe."
🚨 SENTENCE: Douglas Jensen, of Iowa, was ordered to serve 60 months (5 years) behind bars to be followed by 36 months of supervised release. Judge Kelly said Jensen played a "significant role in a very black day in our country."
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Multiple judges have also pointed out that, because of COVID restrictions, hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants were able to participate in essentially the entirety of their cases remotely — without having to make costly and time-consuming trips to D.C.
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U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden told Robert Morss he was "completely out of control." He agreed w/ DOJ that it was especially troubling to see an Army Ranger in his military-issued body armor helping to organize the mob against police.
NEW: This photo of Eric Munchel — aka "zip tie guy" — leaping over seats in the Senate Gallery while holding flex cuffs was one of the most recognizable images of Jan. 6 in the weeks afterward. More than two years later, he'll now head to sentencing.
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#NotreDame's rose windows date back eight centuries -- some still containing the original stained glass. The south window -- the one you see in pictures from the plaza between the two towers -- has been repeatedly damaged and restored over the years.
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Steve Bannon's attorney David Schoen: "We have to make a decision... what's the point in going to trial here if there's no defenses?"
Judge Nichols: "Agreed."
NEW: Jacob Fracker has pleaded guilty to conspiracy. He'll testify next month against fellow police officer Thomas Robertson, who is facing multiple felony charges for his role in the #CapitolRiot.
At 9:30, Danny Rodriguez will be in court for sentencing for repeatedly tasing Officer Mike Fanone in the neck on Jan. 6. Prosecutors will seek 14 years in prison.
Charges were unsealed today against Dr. Jacquelyn Starer, of Ashland, Massachusetts. Starer is accused of assaulting an officer inside the Capitol Rotunda on Jan. 6.
NEW: The DOJ has filed its appellant brief asking the D.C. Circuit Court to overturn U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols' decision to dismiss obstruction charges against three Jan. 6 defendants. Prosecutors argue Nichols incorrectly applied the rule of lenity.
Alright, here's the new list of the longest sentences in Jan. 6 cases after today's hearings:
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Judge Nichols rules Steve Bannon CANNOT rely on an entrapment by estoppel or public authority defense. That means he CANNOT say he's innocent because former President Trump told him he'd invoked executive privilege.
NEW: DC Police Officer Christopher Owens said he'll never forget his wife bursting into tears at the sight of his bruised body. USCP Officer Harry Dunn said he's had to install a security system. Both testified today ahead of the Oath Keepers sentencings.
It's Thursday. The grand jury is here working at D.C. District Court but they've been here many a Thursday. The cafeteria is quietly playing Taylor Swift while they prep for lunch. Today's grill special is chicken quesadilla. Chili is the soup du jour.
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Going back over/comparing notes, this seems to be Judge Mehta's full "peril" quote:
“I dare say Mr. Rhodes, and I have never said this to anyone I have sentenced: You, sir, present an ongoing threat and a peril to this country, the republic and the very fabric of democracy."