Americans Want Some Real Accountability!
So many trials for Trump era accountability! Even after refusing to express any kind of remorse, Bannon was sentenced to a mere 4 months in prison this morning by federal Judge Carl Nichols. Apparently it wasn't a mistake for Bannon’s crazy right wing lawyer to say “Mr. Bannon should make no apology; there is nothing here to deter, there is nothing here to punish,” after the Nichols noted that Bannon “has expressed no remorse for his actions.” Still, the judge ruled that Bannon— being a white guy, won’t have to serve any time in jail until after he appeals and that whole drama plays out over the next several years. Meanwhile, the most scientific currently available polling shows very clearly that most intelligent American patriots are unhappy with Bannon's extremely light sentence:
Meanwhile, the domestic terrorist trial— they’re calling it a seditious conspiracy trial— for Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and 4 of his lackeys (Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell) is picking up steam. Writing for the NY Times, Alan Feuer and Zach Montague reported than on January 6, 2021 the Oath Keepers had their own little intelligence network in the midst of the insurrection at the Capitol. The messages revealed yesterday at the trial “were shared with the jury along with striking audio and video recordings of the Capitol attack, presenting what amounted to a panoramic view of the chaos at the building and the move to push inside it as the crowd began to overwhelm the police. Here, in one message, was a description of the mob hurling rocks and chunks of concrete. There, in another, was an account of flash grenades exploding. The jury saw images of riled-up Trump supporters chanting violent threats at law-enforcement officers and then in a rush bursting through the Capitol’s doors… In recent days, the jury has seen evidence that Rhodes, a former Army paratrooper with a law degree from Yale, spent nearly $20,000 on an arsenal of weapons as he made his way to Washington from Texas in the week leading up to Jan. 6. Jurors have also heard from a former Oath Keeper who testified that the group intended to block the election certification ‘by any means necessary,’ including by stashing weapons at a hotel in Virginia in anticipation of supporting Trump in his bid to keep Biden out of the White House. But on Thursday, prosecutors focused their attention on the storming of the Capitol itself, presenting the attack from multiple points of view… Lawyers for the Oath Keepers had tried unsuccessfully in pretrial filings to keep some of the evidence presented on Thursday from reaching the jury.”
The prosecution was lucky that T-Mobile had preserved the messages from Stewart’s phone. CNN reported that in private texts the jury was shown between Rhodes and his lover, Kelly SoRelle, another insurrectionist who claims she’s an Oath Keepers attorney, Stewart had an alternative or contingency plan if Trump didn’t call out the Oath Keepers as a militia, presumably to kill the police guarding Congress.
If the Insurrection Act isn’t invoked “then I’ll make peace with it,” Rhodes allegedly texted SoRelle in late December 2020, days before January 6. “And then I’ll turn my attention to what I need to do as the founder and leader of the Oath Keepers to prepare for what comes after Trump fails to do his duty.”
The Oath Keepers would have a plan for if Trump invokes the Insurrection Act, Rhodes said in one text, “but most of my focus will be on presuming he won’t. And preparing for the worst.”
Rhodes also expressed his doubts that Trump would act in Signal messages to a close group of Oath Keepers leaders presented by prosecutors.
“Either Trump gets off his ass and uses the insurrection Act to defeat the ChiCom puppet coup or we will have to rise up in insurrection (rebllion) against the ChiCom puppet Biden,” Rhodes said on one Signal message from early December. “Take your pick.”
“This will be a DC rally number three,” Rhodes allegedly wrote the Signal group a week before January 6. “Getting kinda old. They don’t give a shit.”
He added, “They won’t fear us till we come with rifles in hand.”
Just before the building was breached on January 6, Rhodes allegedly sent out a Signal message to Oath Keepers leaders with a final warning toward the then-President.
He wrote, “Trump has one last chance to man up and fulfill his oath. Will he?”
…When a mob breached the US Capitol… SoRelle responded on Rhodes’ behalf; “We are acting like the founding fathers. Can’t stand down. Stewart and I concur.”
And the Trumpnzee subpoena that was issued today… we don’t want to leave that out, right? It requires Trump handover documents by Nov. 4 and sit for a deposition— under oath— on or around Nov. 14 (so after the midterms). The letter by Bennie Thompson and Liz Cheney that accompanied the subpoena said that “we have assembled overwhelming evidence, including from dozens of your former appointees and staff, that you personally orchestrated and oversaw a multi-part effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election and to obstruct the peaceful transition of power” and that Trump “purposely and maliciously” disseminated false claims that the 2020 election was stolen in order to help his plan to overturn the election and to solicit contributions. The committee paints Trump as ‘orchestrating and overseeing’ the effort to obtain false state electors. On pressure campaigns Trump enacted, the panel highlight says Trump attempted to ‘corrupt the Department of Justice,’ by getting officials to make ‘false statements,’ illegally pressured state officials to change election results, pressured former Vice President Mike Pence to refuse to count electoral votes on January 6 ‘despite knowing specifically that it was illegal,’ and pressured members of Congress to object to valid electors.
In its subpoena, the committee specifically demands Trump turn over any communications, sent or received during the period of November 3, 2020, to January 20, 2021, with more than a dozen of his close allies who have emerged as key players in the broader plan to overturn the 2020 election:
Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security adviser
Roger Stone, a long-time Republican operative, pardoned by Trump
Stephen Bannon, former Trump adviser, convicted of contempt of Congress
Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s former attorney
Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official
John Eastman, a conservative attorney who worked with Trump to overturn 2020 election
Christina Bobb, a former One America News Network host and current Trump lawyer
Jenna Ellis, a former member of Trump’s legal team
Sidney Powell, a former member of Trump’s legal team
Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney behind legal theories for overturning 2020 election
Boris Epshteyn, a Trump adviser
Cleta Mitchell, an attorney who worked with Trump campaign after 2020 election
Patrick Byrne, a former Overstock CEO and election denier