President-elect Donald Trump said he could start pardons for “most” convicted Jan. 6 protesters during his first minutes in the White House.
Read MoreTrump Could Start Pardons for January 6 Protesters in ‘First Nine Minutes’ in Office
Tag: January 6
Commentary: Nearly Four Years Later, No Letup in Jan. 6 Prosecutions, Possible Pardons or Not
by Julie Kelley Even as President-elect Donald Trump promised on Sunday to act “very quickly” on pardons for many of the protesters involved in the events of January 6, the Biden administration’s Justice Department is continuing to arrest and try people for actions that occurred almost four years ago while opposing…
Read MoreSpecial Counsel Jack Smith Files to Drop January 6 Charges Against Donald Trump
Special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion on Monday to drop all four felony charges against President-elect Donald Trump related to his effort to contest his 2020 presidential election loss to President Biden and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S Capitol.
Read MoreJ6 Shocker: Phone Companies Dispute FBI Testimony on Pipe Bombs Suspect, Key Lawmaker Reveals
Cellular carriers have told Congress they possess intact phone usage data from the vicinity where two pipe bombs were planted during the Jan. 6 incident, directly disputing FBI testimony that agents couldn’t identify a suspect because the phone data was corrupted, a key House chairman tells Just the News.
Read MoreLawyer Working for Trump Says DOJ Attorneys Who Don’t Get on Board with Trump Agenda May Get Fired
A conservative attorney on President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team said that attorneys at the Department of Justice could face getting fired if they don’t cooperate with his agenda.
“Once the decision is made to move forward, career employees are required to implement the President’s plan,” Mark Paoletta wrote on the social media platform, X.
Read MoreCommentary: The Real Threat to American Democracy
Heading into Election Day, we hear constantly that the presidential candidates are mortal threats to American democracy. Anxieties about Donald Trump’s role in the Jan. 6, 2021, rampage at the U.S. Capitol and his declaration that he would act as “dictator for a day” are countered by Elon Musk’s warning that if Harris wins, “this will be the last election,” or alarms that Harris’ designs on overhauling the Supreme Court will lead to an end to the rule the law.
The very idea that our republic’s future hangs on the outcome of a single presidential contest, however, reveals the deeper, unacknowledged, underlying danger: a Congress incapable of performing its constitutional duties as our country’s lawmaking body and the guarantor of our representative democracy.
Read MoreJudge Chutkan in Special Prosecutor Jack Smith’s Trump Probe Unseals More Docs Ahead of Election
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over former President Donald Trump’s federal Jan. 6 election interference case, on Friday unsealed nearly 1,900 pages of documents from special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation for the public to view.
Read MoreJack Smith Argues Trump Isn’t Immune to Charges in D.C. Election Case
Special counsel Jack Smith on Wednesday submitted a new filing in his DC election case against former President Donald Trump, arguing that he is not immune from prosecution in light of the Supreme Court’s recent ruling on presidential immunity. Smith originally charged Trump with four counts related to his efforts to challenge the 2020 presidential election. Trump had argued he was immune form prosecution due to presidential immunity. The Supreme Court, earlier this year, found that the president enjoys immunity for constitutional acts and presumptive immunity for official acts. Smith subsequently filed a revised indictment and has asked the court to determine that Trump’s alleged conduct does not fall within the scope of presidential immunity.
Read MoreKey House Chairman to Ask Congress to Repudiate Democrats’ January 6 Findings in Face of New Evidence
No, Donald Trump didn’t grab the wheel of his presidential limousine and try to commandeer it. Yes, Nancy Pelosi felt responsible for security lapses at the Capitol, including the failure to pre-position National Guard there.
There’s no doubt that Trump did in fact order the Pentagon to send troops to secure the U.S. Capitol ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, certification of electoral votes, but political and military brass declined to do so. And yes, there were both intelligence and security blunders by police that led to the breach of one of America’s most storied buildings.
Read MoreDOJ IG Horowitz Won’t Say How Many Confidential Human Sources Were Among Crowd on January 6, 2021
U.S. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz on Wednesday would not say how many U.S. government confidential human sources were among the protestors during the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, when pressed on the matter by a lawmaker on Wednesday. Horowitz was asked if he has evidence of the number of confidential human sources that were operating on the Capitol grounds on January 6th.
Read MoreBombshell Transcripts: Trump Urged Use of Troops to Protect Capitol on January 6 , but Was Rebuffed
Then-President Donald Trump gave clear instructions to Pentagon brass days before the Jan. 6 riots to “do whatever it takes” to keep the U.S. Capitol safe, including deploying National Guard or active-duty troops, but top officials did not comply because of political concerns, according to transcripts of bombshell interviews conducted by the Defense Department’s chief watchdog that shine new light on government disfunction ahead of the historic tragedy.
Gen. Mark Milley, the former chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff, confirmed to the Pentagon inspector general three years ago that during a Jan. 3, 2021, Oval Office meeting Trump pre-approved the use of National Guard or active duty troops to keep peace in the nation’s capital on the day Congress was to certify the results of the 2020 election.
Read MoreTrump Attorneys Ask Judge to Stop Jack Smith from Making Case in ‘Court of Public Opinion’ Before Election
Special counsel Jack Smith should not be allowed to make an important public filing in his election interference case against former president Donald Trump while there are lingering evidence disputes, Trump’s attorneys told the judge Thursday.
His attorneys urged Judge Tanya Chutkan, who set a schedule allowing prosecutors to file the first brief on presidential immunity Sept. 26, to reconsider her decision. Without addressing ongoing evidence issues, Smith’s filing would “amount to an improper motion for summary judgment in the court of public opinion” ahead of the election, they argued.
Read MoreCommentary: DOJ Gets Political Before 2024 Election
Attorney General Merrick Garland broke precedent just weeks before the November election, delivering politically charged remarks at the U.S. Attorneys’ National Conference in Washington – pointedly speaking publicly rather than privately in a departure from his usual practice. “Our norms are a promise that we will not allow this department to be used as a political weapon,” he said before a packed house, gathered in the Great Hall of DOJ headquarters on Sept. 12. “Federal prosecutors and agents may never make a decision regarding an investigation or prosecution for the purpose of affecting any election or the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.”
Read MoreBiden DOJ Dropped Nearly Half of Pending Obstruction Charges for January 6 Defendants After Supreme Court Ruling
The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) dropped nearly half of pending obstruction charges against Jan. 6 defendants since the Supreme Court issued a major ruling in June, according to recent data.
The Supreme Court ruled in June that in charging Jan. 6 defendants, the DOJ had interpreted too broadly a statute that carries up to 20 years in prison for anyone who corruptly “obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding.” Since the Fischer v. United States ruling, around 60 of 126 defendants had the pending obstruction charges dropped, DOJ data from Sept. 6 shows.
Read MoreUtah Man Arrested in Connection with January 6 Capitol Riot
The Justice Department announced the arrest of a Utah man for alleged felony and misdemeanor offenses during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
The FBI arrested Hal Ray Huddleston on Monday in Utah.
Read MoreSecret Service Bombshell: Mike Pence Escape Car Left Its Position During January 6, Redactions Reveal
The Secret Service failures at last month’s Trump rally were foreshadowed in once-redacted passages from a Jan. 6 after-action report that was shared with agency brass weeks before the Butler, Pa., assassination attempt and exposed harrowing blunders that may have put the lives of Mike Pence and Kamala Harris in jeopardy.
The redacted sections from a recently released Homeland Security inspector general report, obtained by Just the News, chronicle how Pence’s escape vehicle left its post without explicit permission and left him stranded at an increasingly violent scene at the Capitol.
Read MoreCommentary: Media Continues to Ignore Kamala Harris’ DNC Pipe Bomb Scare
Confirmation last week by the Department of Homeland Security that Vice President Kamala Harris came within several yards of an explosive device on the afternoon of January 6, 2021 should be one of the hottest stories right now.
The fact that the installed Democratic candidate for president barely escaped an attempt on her life by an alleged MAGA terrorist during what she compares to 9/11 and Pearl Harbor makes for ripe clickbait. Further, her stoicism in the face of such a grave threat—she has never discussed the matter publicly—not just to herself but to her staff and police officers protecting her that day at the DNC is the stuff heroes are made of.
Read MoreJanuary 6 Bombshell: Secret Service Got Intel on ‘High Potential’ for Violence but Didn’t Tell Agents
The Secret Service developed intelligence that there was a “high potential for violence” before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot but failed to share that information with its agents guarding Donald Trump, Mike Pence or Kamala Harris that fateful day, according to a bombshell report delivered to Congress on Thursday that exposed a fresh round of failures by the presidential protection agency.
Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph Cuffari’s report was forced into the public by pressure from House Administration Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., and it confirmed earlier Just the News reporting, including that the Secret Service whisked Harris, then the Vice President-elect, within 20 feet of an undetected pipe bomb at Democrat National Committee (DNC) headquarters in Washington because it failed to employ its normal explosive detection tools.
Read MoreLoudermilk Seeks Records from Capitol Police on Investigation of Gallows on Capitol Grounds January 6
Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Oversight Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., is pressing United States Capitol Police (USCP) Chief J. Thomas Manger for “records and information” related to their investigation of the “gallows assembled on the Capitol Grounds on January 6, 2021,” according to a news release sent out on Tuesday.
Read MoreAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez Introduces Articles of Impeachment Against Alito and Thomas
Progressive New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced articles of impeachment on Wednesday against Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
Read MoreSupreme Court Rules Trump has absolute immunity for some Official Acts, But Not Unofficial Ones
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that former President Donald Trump is immune from federal prosecution for official acts he took while in office in split 6-3 ruling. However, the court ruled that there is no immunity for unofficial acts.
Read MoreCommentary: Supreme Court Overturns DOJ’s Use of Key January 6 Felony Court
In a devastating but well-deserved blow to the Department of Justice’s criminal prosecution of January 6 protesters, the U.S. Supreme Court today overturned the DOJ’s use of 18 USC 1512(c)(2), the most prevalent felony in J6 cases.
The statute, commonly referred to as “obstruction of an official proceeding,” has been applied in roughly 350 J6 cases; it also represents two of four counts in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s J6-related criminal indictment of Donald Trump in Washington.
Read MoreKey House Chairman Intervenes in Bannon Case, Tells Supreme Court Democrat January 6 Contempt Was ‘Invalid’
The House subcommittee chairman investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot’s intelligence and security failures made an extraordinary intervention Wednesday at the Supreme Court, telling the justices he believes an earlier Democrat-led investigation into the tragedy was “factually and procedurally invalid” and therefore could not lawfully hold ex-Trump adviser Stephen Bannon in contempt.
Read MoreHouse Republicans Request All Documents Previously Turned over to January 6 Committee
House Chairman Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., sent requests to 15 federal agencies Wednesday asking for all documents that were previously turned over to the Jan. 6 Select Committee after that Democrat-led committee failed to hand over a majority of those files to the new Republican majority after the 2022 election.
Loudermilk’s House Administration Committee Subcommittee on Oversight has been investigating the response to Jan. 6 by various federal agencies and the Capitol Police as well as the investigation of the Democrat-run Jan. 6 committee and its final report.
Read MoreCommentary: J6 Vampiress Swoops Down to Salvage Decomposing Carcass of Insurrection Narrative
For more than three years, Democrats, the news media, and a fair share of Republicans have insisted Donald Trump was solely responsible for security failures at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
Never mind he already had warned of potential violence—not at the hands of his supporters but by BLM and antifa thugs who tried to burn down the nation’s capital for weeks after George Floyd overdosed in May 2020 then attacked pro-Trump demonstrators on the streets of D.C. during “Stop the Steal” events in November and December 2020—and urged deployment of the National Guard for that day.
Read MoreJustice Alito Refuses to Recuse Himself in January 6 Cases
Justice Samuel Alito refused Democrats’ calls to recuse himself from pending cases Wednesday over two flags flown on his property, which they argued created an “appearance of impropriety” and doubt about his impartiality.
Read MoreJulie Kelly Commentary: The Absurd Alito Flag Controversy Is a Good Sign
While it is excruciating to endure the latest political crisis manufactured by Democrats and the leftwing news media, I advise a different approach.
Read MoreJulie Kelly Commentary: The Audacity of Merrick Garland
FBI agents last week arrested a man from Maine for his involvement in the events of January 6. According to a Department of Justice press release, Lincoln Deming spent about 30 minutes inside the building after entering through an open door with Capitol Police standing by. Deming faces numerous charges including civil disorder and the dreaded “parading” in the Capitol misdemeanor.
Read MoreBiden Attempt to Hide Tapes to Collide with Precedent from Past Democratic Probes
President Joe Biden’s attempt to assert executive privilege over the tapes of his interview with federal investigators in his own classified documents case could run into the history of Democratic tactics to obtain information from former President Trump.
For example, recent court decisions surrounding Trump’s efforts to invoke executive privilege over subpoenaed documents by the Jan. 6 Select Committee confirmed a legitimate congressional investigation is often a strong basis for requesting documents or information from the executive. Though, Biden’s current control of the executive branch may allow him to stonewall successfully.
Read MoreCommentary: Defund and Investigate Jack Smith
Special Counsel Jack Smith was supposed to be basking in glory right now.
In his ideal world, Smith would be hot off a quick conviction of Donald Trump in Washington, D.C. for the former president’s alleged role in the events of January 6 and attempts to “overturn” the 2020 election. The special counsel then would have immediately moved his victorious prosecutors to Palm Beach for the summer to prepare for Trump’s second federal trial related to allegedly stealing national defense information and impeding the Department of Justice’s investigation.
Read MoreLawyer for Steve Bannon Releases Statement After Appeals Court Upholds Bannon’s January 6 Contempt Conviction
The Court of Appeals panel held today that it does not have the authority to overrule the 1961 panel of the Court that issued the decision in the Licavoli case on the definition of the word “willfully” as used in the Contempt of Congress statute. Mr. Bannon will now seek redress before the full Court of Appeals, which has the authority to overrule Licavoli.
Read MoreJulie Kelly Commentary: The Supreme Court Can Right an Egregious Wrong in Jan 6 Cases, But Will It?
In July 2023, Joshua Youngerman was arrested in California on five misdemeanors for his participation in the events of January 6. According to charging documents, Youngerman entered the Capitol at 2:37 p.m. — 20 minutes after the House went into recess amid the escalating chaos — through an open door as Capitol…
Read MoreSupreme Court Rules: Trump Can Remain on Ballot
The Supreme Court on Monday ruled that former President Donald Trump can remain on the 2024 presidential ballot in a decision that comes one day before the Colorado Republican primary after the Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the top Republican contender is ineligible.
Read MoreHouse Speaker Johnson Announces the Release of 5,000 More Hours of January 6 Footage
House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Friday the release of 5,000 additional hours of video from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
The additional video, equal to roughly 208 straight days of viewing, is being released by the House Administration Oversight Subcommittee.
Read MoreCommentary: The Pipe Bombs Before January 6 Is a Capital Mystery That Doesn’t Add Up
The newly disclosed video shows a dark SUV pulling up to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee in Washington, D.C., at 9:44 a.m. on Jan. 6, 2021. It sits for several minutes until a uniformed man with a bomb-sniffing dog enters from the right and steps up to the vehicle. The driver complies with his command, the dog sniffs inside and outside the car which is soon allowed to enter the parking garage. The man and his dog exit back to the right.
This scene is unremarkable except for one detail: The uniformed man and his trained canine came within a few feet of where a plainclothes Capitol Police officer would soon discover a pipe bomb that had been planted there the night before. The bomb, which the FBI has described as viable and capable of inflicting serious injury, along with a similar one found at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee, would appear to be the most overt act of violence perpetrated on Jan. 6.
Read MoreHouse January 6 Investigator Says White House Foot-Dragging ‘Unacceptable,’ Warns of Subpoenas Ahead
The House subcommittee chairman leading the Jan. 6 investigation is declaring that the Biden White House’s foot-dragging has been “unacceptable” and he is putting both presidential aides and the Georgia county prosecutor pursuing Donald Trump on notice that Congress is prepared to pursue evidence, up to and including subpoenas and contempt.
Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., on Thursday evening gave a sweeping update on his House Administration oversight subcommittee’s efforts to obtain evidence, saying Democrats from the White House and Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., were not providing the cooperation needed to give Americans the facts and answers they are missing from the tragedy three years ago in the U.S. Capitol.
Read MoreBiden DOJ Wants Former Trump Advisor Peter Navarro to Spend Six Months in Jail
The Department of Justice (DOJ) argued Thursday that Peter Navarro, previously a trade advisor to former President Donald Trump, should face six months in jail and pay $200,000 for failing to comply with a Jan. 6 select committee subpoena.
Prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memo Thursday that Navarro “exacerbated” the “assault” on the rule of law that occurred on Jan. 6 by flouting the subpoena, stating that his “bad-faith strategy of defiance and contempt deserves severe punishment.” Navarro was indicted on contempt of Congress charges in June 2022 after he declined to testify during his deposition and did not produce the documents requested by the select committee.
Read MoreCommentary: The Hackery of Judge Florence Pan
If a court proceeding held in the nation’s capital on Tuesday is an indication of how 2024 will go—things will be a lot worse than even the biggest skeptic predicted.
A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia—Biden appointees Florence Pan and Michelle Childs and George H. W. Bush appointee Karen Henderson—heard oral arguments for Donald Trump’s appeal of a lower court decision that concluded presidents are not immune from criminal prosecution for their conduct in office. The appeal originated out of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s four-count indictment against the former president related to the events of January 6.
Read MoreRepublicans Threaten to Remove Biden from 2024 Ballot, Mirroring Efforts to Jettison Trump
Republicans are calling for President Joe Biden to be removed from the 2024 primary ballot as former President Donald Trump is facing challenges to remove him from ballots in multiple states.
As challenges are brought to disqualify Trump from 2024 GOP primary ballots in more than 30 states for allegedly instigating an insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021, Republicans are suggesting that Biden should be removed from the ballot in response, but because of the increased volume of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. through the southern border.
Read MoreRay Epps, Accused of Being FBI Informant on January 6, Sentenced to One Year Probation
An Arizona man who was believed to an FBI plant in the Jan 6. Capitol riot, was sentenced Tuesday to one-year probation for his participation in the incident.
The rioter, 62-year-old Ray Epps, was sentenced to probation in deal with federal prosecutors, after pleading guilty in September to a single charge of engaging in disorderly or disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, according to The Hill newspaper.
Read MoreInternal Secret Service Records Undercut Another Key J6 Committee Democrat Narrative
It has become one of the enduring messages of the House Democrats’ final report on the Jan. 6 riot: Donald Trump had a plan and an intention to go directly to the U.S. Capitol to join those disrupting the certification of the 2020 election results.
Read MoreCommentary: As DOJ Threatens to Charge ‘Thousands’ over J6 Trespassing, Judges Signal Skepticism
In a brazen act of political theater worthy of an ethics investigation, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves gave an hourlong rehash of the events of January 6 to a handful of reporters last week. Graves, a Biden 2020 campaign advisor who was appointed by Biden in November 2021, is overseeing the Department of Justice’s unprecedented and ongoing criminal investigation into the four-hour disturbance that has so far resulted in the arrest of more than 1,200 Americans.
Read MoreCommentary: Biden’s Valley Forge Theater and the Unraveling of January 6
Joe Biden plans to commemorate the third anniversary of the events of January 6 by giving a speech Friday morning near Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, the historic site where General George Washington regrouped the Continental Army despite all odds in 1777-78.
After years of comparing Jan 6 to 9/11, Pearl Harbor, and the Oklahoma City bombing, Biden will again desecrate hallowed ground and the graves of the victims—roughly 2,000 soldiers died over a six-month period at the Valley Forge encampment—to prioritize the largely peaceful protest at the Capitol as a pivotal event in American history. Fighting Trump and his supporters, the stunt apparently is supposed to demonstrate, is just like living in subhuman conditions fighting starvation, hypothermia, and deadly diseases to prevail over the British crown. (Ironically, Biden moved up the speech from Saturday to Friday amid bad weather forecasts.)
Read MoreCommentary: The FBI-Tainted Whitmer ‘Kidnap Plot’ People Have Heard Next to Nothing About
In a fiery exchange last month, CNN anchorwoman Abby Phillip told GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that there was “no evidence” to support his claim that federal agents abetted protesters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Ramaswamy shot back that the FBI conspicuously has never denied that law enforcement agents were on duty in the crowd. He argued that federal officials have repeatedly “lied” to the American people about not only that investigation but one that has gotten much less attention: the alleged failed plot to kidnap and kill Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan in 2020.
Read MoreProsecutors Ask for January 6 Conspiracy Figure Ray Epps to Receive 6-Month Prison Sentence
Federal prosecutors are asking the court to sentence Ray Epps, the defendant at the center of Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot conspiracies, to six months in prison.
In a 29-page court filing Tuesday, prosecutors asked the court to sentence Epps to six months in prison, which they said is the “high end” of the applicable sentencing guidelines. Epps, a retired 62-year-old former Marine and former Arizona Oath Keeper leader, pleaded guilty in September to disorderly conduct in a restricted building, a misdemeanor, and agreed to pay $500 in restitution as part of a plea agreement.
Read MoreJulie Kelly Commentary: Lower Courts Dare SCOTUS to Act with Lawless Rulings, But Will They?
Throughout 2020, both Republicans and Democrats warned that the U.S. Supreme Court would ultimately determine the winner of the presidential election — albeit for different reasons.
Democrats feared a conservative majority would uphold what they called “voter suppression” laws to tighten voting requirements that might benefit President Trump. Republicans worried how the court would handle cases related to lax absentee voting measures enacted as a result of the coronavirus pandemic that gave Joe Biden a big advantage.
Read MoreMaine’s Secretary of State Removes Trump from State’s Primary Ballot
Former President Donald Trump was removed from Maine’s primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause on Thursday.
Read MoreCommentary: Partisan Lawfare’s Attempt to Destroy Trump
Trump Derangement Syndrome became Orwellian with the recent ruling of the Colorado Supreme Court.
It approved the erasure of Trump from the Republican primary ballot in Colorado, by invoking Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
Read MoreColorado Supreme Court Boots Trump from State Ballot
The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday determined that former President Donald Trump engaged in an insurrection against the United States via the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Riot and was therefore ineligible to appear on the 2024 presidential ballot, Politico reported.
Read MoreCommentary: Is SCOTUS Poised to Overturn Key J6 Felony Count?
An order published by the Supreme Court on December 13 represented a moment hundreds of January 6 defendants and their loved ones had been waiting for: the highest court granted a writ of certiorari petition in the case of Fischer v. USA.
In a nutshell, after more than two years of litigation before federal judges in Washington, SCOTUS will review the Department of Justice’s use of 1512(c)(2), obstruction of an official proceeding, in January 6 cases. A “splintered” 2-1 appellate court ruling issued in April just barely endorsed the DOJ’s unprecedented interpretation of the statute, passed in 2002 as part of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the aftermath of the Enron/Arthur Anderson accounting scandal.
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