Bennie Thompson to Ivanka: Come In from the Conspiracy
Even though you read this site, you may not recognize the names Brad Smith or Marshall Neefe. Even though I’ve focused some attention to his case, you may not remember the significance of Ronnie Sandlin. You might not even remember that the Oath Keeper conspiracy was named after retired Navy officer Thomas Caldwell before he was spun off into the sedition conspiracy named after Stewart Rhodes.
But those are all references of import to understand this footnote in the letter Bennie Thompson sent to Ivanka Trump, inviting her to testify voluntarily.
The Select Committee is aware of the motivation of many of the violent rioters from their posts on social media, from their contemporaneous statements on video, and from the hundreds of filings in federal court.11
11 For example, many defendants in pending criminal cases identified President Trump’s allegations about the “stolen election” as a motivation for their activities at the Capitol; a number also specifically cited President Trump’s tweets asking that supporters come to Washington, D.C. on January 6th. See, e.g., United States of America v. Ronald L. Sandlin https://www.justice.gov/opa/page/file/1362396/download: “I’m going to be there to show support for our president and to do my part to stop the steal and stand behind Trump when he decides to cross the rubicon.” United States of America v. Marshall Neefe and Charles Bradford Smith https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/case-multi-defendant/file/1432686/download: “Trump is literally calling people to DC in a show of force. Militias will be there and if there’s enough people they may fucking storm the buildings and take out the trash right there.” United States of America v. Caldwell et al. https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/case-multi-defendant/file/1369071/download: “Trump said It’s gonna be wild!!!!!!! It’s gonna be wild!!!!!!! He wants us to make it WILD that’s what he’s saying. He called us all to the Capitol and wants us to make it wild!! ! Sir Yes Sir!!! Gentlemen we are heading to DC pack your shit!!”
The Select Committee could have chosen any number of individual defendants to support the claim that Trump was the motivating force for the participants of the mob that stormed the Capitol on January 6.
It did not.
Instead, without saying that it had, it cited three conspiracy indictments: a conspiracy that involved totally random guys who met online coming armed to DC and assaulting officers to break open the East doors and break into the Senate chamber, a conspiracy where guys armed themselves to come to DC based on a motivation that, “Why shouldn’t we be the ones” to kick off war, and a conspiracy that has now officially been charged as sedition.
What the Select Committee just said to Ivanka, very subtly (and without the hotlinks to these court filings to make it easy) is that multiple organizers across multiple conspiracies — all involving arming themselves before traveling to DC — acted on Trump’s comments in December and January as instructions.
What the Select Committee has laid out in this footnote is that key members of conspiracies that led to violent assaults on January 6 entered into an agreement with Donald Trump to engage in violence.
Other coverage of this letter has focused on the many other scathing details included in it:
- Proof that Trump knew he was making an illegal request of Mike Pence (and that Ivanka knew such pressure was wrong)
- Proof that multiple people attempted to get Trump to call off the violence (and that staffers repeatedly asked Ivanka to intercede to get him to do so)
- Proof that advisors including Kaleigh McEnany and Sean Hannity attempted to get Trump to disavow these efforts
In response to the letter, Ivanka issued a statement making it clear that on January 6 she disavowed the violence caused by her father.
Ivanka Trump just learned that the Jan. 6 Committee issued a public letter asking her to appear. As the Committee already knows, Ivanka did not speak at the January 6 rally. As she publicly stated that day at 3:15pm, “any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable. The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.”
But that doesn’t account for another detail of the letter that has gotten far less attention than the eye-popping new details about Trump’s actions: Chairman Thompson reminded Ivanka (in a paragraph that seemingly addresses another topic) not just of the requirements of the Presidential Records Act, but also that she got formal notice of those requirements in 2017.
The Select Committee would like to discuss this effort after January 6th to persuade President Trump not to associate himself with certain people, and to avoid further discussion regarding election fraud allegations. We also wish to share with you a memorandum from former White House Counsel Donald McGahn (attached), regarding the legal requirements on White House personnel to turn over to the National Archives any work-related messages from personal devices. We wish to be certain that former White House staff are fully aware of these obligations.
Ivanka, of course, is not just the former President’s daughter. She’s also someone legally obliged to share all the communications conducted while performing whatever role it is she played in the White House — up to and including begging her Daddy to call off a violent mob — with the National Archives.
Thompson would not have mentioned this if the committee had been able to obtain Ivanka’s side of many of these communications from the Archives (or at least seen them in documents Trump was attempting to claim privilege over). Thompson seems to know that Ivanka is not in compliance with the Presidential Records Act specifically as it pertains to her role on January 6.
Here’s the thing about conspiracies. Once you join them, you’re in them — you’re on the hook for what all other co-conspirators do, from acquiring weapons to bring to DC, to assaulting cops, to planning to overthrow the government — unless you make an affirmative effort to leave the conspiracy.
Ivanka might well point to that comment in her statement — The violence must stop immediately — as an effort to leave a conspiracy.
Except if she is covering up some of the things she knows by withholding records from the Archives, she’s going to have a hard time arguing that she didn’t remain in the conspiracy with all those people plotting violence by helping to cover it up.
Delicious in its entirity as always Dr. EW. And we arrive full-circle to: “But her emails…”. The magnitiude of comparative collective corruption can’t be comprehended. Huge thanks for your ongoing suprahuman and dire distillations of these sagas, and carrying me through.
“The magnitiude of comparative collective corruption can’t be comprehended”
Indeed
I’ll be 68 a month from today and I’ve seen govt corruption over time. But this scale is beyond my ability to understand
I recall in Douglas Hofstadter’s book “Metamagocal Themas” a photo of a log jam on a River. It had about 10,000 logs in it. He said that 10,000 is about the limit of what we can envision. This conspiracy is similarly so vast that comprehending it is nearly impossible, I don’t mean that in the sense of Marcy”s article on understanding the scope in a numerical sense per se, but on the how could so many people be involved in such a blatantly illegal plan. My mind boggles
This past week it clicked in my mind too about just how many individual groups and people were involved in this illegal plan/action. My mind kind of wobbled a bit trying to grasp it but I visualized the space the players of this illegal plan/action occupy in my brain and then I stretched out the edges of the space so all the known players could fit comfortably. The size of it was disconcerting for a couple of days but my mind has adjusted. Then I thought- how do all these people stay on point together throughout the plan? And I think there’s kind of an electrical current that runs through all of them which consists of these three things- white nationalism/misogyny, Christianism and egomania with inferiority complex. All the players are at least one of these three things and all the players adopt the trapping of the three things to meet their own goal and the plan’s/action’s goal. I know this is heady and focused on personalities but this whole thing is just made up of people who are acting out their personalities (12 step would say ‘character defects’).
“Then I thought- how do all these people stay on point together throughout the plan?”
Any different than any government, business?
I can’t fathom how they can keep going when something little can mess up the works.
Airlines have so many pieces to put together to get a plane somewhere.
Or a manufacturer.
I have never gotten my head wrapped around it.
It takes more ingenuity and deep knowledge to build an airplane than to build a human political structure typically. Much more. Human beings are innately able to create political structures, born with certain aspects of our political penchant hardwired. Powered flying machines? Not so much.
That’s a crock. You assume that innate knowledge is a freebie, and that social ability hasn’t been something we’ve acquired throughout our lifetimes beginning in utero. Just because most humans don’t pay to learn that innate knowledge of society doesn’t mean that knowledge isn’t deep or incapable of ingenious expression.
This is exactly why emotional labor gets such short shrift — it’s discounted as a function of automatic wetware. No, it’s not. Look around at the death wreaked by its absence, quite a bit more than casualties from plane crashes.
What exactly is a crock? I said that human beings are born with more innate ability to build political structures than they have to build powered flight machines…
How do organized crime syndicates work? There are rules of which one of the most important is omertà, which isn’t unique to the Italian mafia.
The most important rule guiding the Trumpist insurrectionists is keep Trump in office. Everything is derived from that and from the unexpressed code of omertà. These two simple rules are the glue between disparate subordinate conspiracies – fractal, in nature, someone in the community here suggested — and the filler between them.
Once you understand how organized crime works the rest falls into place. The many associates, soldats, capos de regime, were all working in concert to maintain the mob boss’s regime.
“ 10,000 is about the limit of what we can envision “
This was recognized in Ancient Greek, where the word myriad means 10,000 and also a multitude.
Thanks for that.
I couldn’t find that pic; I did find this:
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IKfwM54KqZo/T5AFCvaNP2I/AAAAAAAABHI/7J3L8PsAGhQ/s400/log_jam.jpg
(from here: https://bookaliciousbabe.blogspot.com/2012/04/reading-log-jam.html)
Funny, but I still have the book. I bought it for my dad and he died in 1985. Here’s the photo and the text explaining how to visualize a large number.
https://twitter.com/CfaAlan/status/1485312891226103810
Thank you!
“But Ivanka’s emails on her private account….”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ivanka-trump-used-a-personal-email-account-to-send-hundreds-of-emails-about-government-business-last-year/2018/11/19/6515d1e0-e7a1-11e8-a939-9469f1166f9d_story.html
Thank you gmoke for the apposite link. So ‘reminder’ in the j6 letter rather kind..
Ivanka Trump has a long life ahead of her, and Donald Trump’s standing in the Republican Party is already declining. What is her calculation about regaining some part of public respectability that she will have and can use after her father is gone, and getting some type of immunity agreement from the DofJ?
Her celebrity would be permanent if she were to go live with her attempt to abandon the conspiracy.
As to the records issue, I doubt the records would confirm that she took a position against the attempted coup before the House members successfully evacuated and the FBI deployed a tactical team. That’s probably why she cannot comply the National Archives requirement. Up until 2:52-53PM she was silent.
I doubt the committee will allow her to tell a story without full record disclosure, with no erasures.
Brilliant work by Ms. Wheeler, as always.
I’m not so sure Ivanka could survive in the wild without the DJT brand influence, witness how she was snubbed by the world leaders when she trying to horn in on a discussion. In short, no one really likes her, they just tolerate her as long as she has some pull. She’s also wasted her opportunity to show she was an improvement upon her father (remember how she was portrayed as a moderating influence early in DJT’s reign) by her statements and actions while an “unpaid” Senior WH Advisor.
So, if she cooperates with the J6 Select Committee she’ll be a pariah to the MAGA tribe and if she does not the J6SC might just hammer her anyway. Would Individual-1 protect her, and by what means? I think he would do a pro-forma defense (more than he’d do for Eric or Junior) but I do not see it lasting more than a couple of rounds. No way he “dies on the hill” for her if he can save his own flabby arse by letting the J6SC or DoJ have Ivanka in exchange.
Exactly that was Michael Cohen’s conclusion when asked if DJT would protect Ivanka, his answer essentially you have to be kidding. He throws her under the bus with everyone else if she is in the way of his survival. It would be nice if we could see that happen here.
But does Daddy’s little girl feel able and willing to do the same?
Doubful Ivanka wants to be princess in the pokey.
Ivanka takes Trump down to save herself feels like poetic justice.
No. She won’t give up anything useful — on purpose. Unintentionally, maybe some interesting factoids on the margin. But no way she truthfully indicts her dad.
If she’s in a vise, I feel there’s no question Ivanka would give up what she could to cut herself a deal.
But poetic justice is when the good guy wins, and the bad guy loses through some twist of fate.
Both should lose no matter how she pleads.
Any of them would flip on Dad, just as he would flip on them. No honor among thieves, esp. this bunch. Reality is just starting to crash in on all of them after lifetimes of privilege and protection. Soon, all bets will be off.
Buy popcorn futures.
Have any of them done it so far? Doesn’t seem so…yet.
People have been saying that for the last 6 years. Every 6 months there’s another “we got ’em!” moment. No one in Trump’s core circle is flipping. They don’t need to flip, because the Trumps always outsource their dirty work to others to maintain plausible deniability and apparently there are plenty of idiots out there to do it and then take the fall. Remember Michael Cohen? He sure took down Trump, didn’t he? Remember Roger Stone? Stephanie Grisham? Anthony Scaramucci? Allen Weisselberg? Remember how they’re all gonna take down Trump? Remember how nothing’s happened? Nothing’s gonna happen. Trump’s superpower is his ability to evade criminal prosecution.
If she is facing conspiracy charges, that could help her motivation to cooperate.
Q: do the terrorism enhancements the oath keepers are facing apply to Ivanka?
I’m thinking that like a corporation with 3 subsidiaries, the 3 conspiracies described puts anyone in the HQ, so to speak, as a roll-up of the conspiracies beneath it. Thus, Ivanka was covering up for a terrorist act by the oath keepers. That she was responsible for the violent acts of the seditious conspirators.
Is this correct or am I off-base?
p.s. I don’t like conspiracy thinking, but Fox is filling Putin’s goal of disrupting the west. I know Marcy mentioned Carlson’s claim about someone leaking his communications as an effort to get ahead of a story. Either in that or another piece she mentioned a possible Russian recruitment, but I don’t know how likely she thought that was. I’m starting to think the whole lot of them are compromised by Russia and it doesn’t seem crazy (how crazy is that?)
Also, as 99.9% of social media believes, that Capitol pipe bomb person DOES walk like MTG, The person is about her size and knowing her psychotic nature, i not only believe her capable, I am starting to see her as the only one possible. She would blow up bombs and kill people with glee.
“…. I’m starting to think the whole lot of them are compromised by Russia…. ”
No one has to be coerced if they are willing. Just saying.
Please point us to how Ivanka Trump could be charged with conspiracy, especially given that she went to great pains to disassociate herself from the rally and then issued a public plea to the insurrectionists to not commit crimes.
As Marcy pointed out, she didn’t turn over her records under the presidential records act. That means she is covering for Donald/obstructing justice and advances the conspiracy. It puts her in deep.
Uh… one doesn’t directly imply the other at all. There are any number of other reasons, completely separate from the insurrectionist conspiracy, that might motivate her not to turn over those emails.
If you read the article, the Jan 6th committee has the other side of Ivanka’s text messages, you know, someone who turned over their texts showing they conversed with Ivanka. They know HER replies from those texts. So, if they have that info, they know the reasons she didn’t turn it over. They are telling her that they’ve seen her texts and know she is covering for Donald. If you still claim to not understand, you are trolling.
Any of them would flip on Dad, just as he would flip on them. No honor among thieves, esp. this bunch. Reality is just starting to crash in on all of them after lifetimes of privilege and protection. Soon, all bets will be off.
Buy popcorn futures.
I think there is a fine distinction to be made here between those DJT throws under the bus and those, such as may be Ivanka, who become the metaphorical garbage cans he overturns as obstacles to his pursuers as he flees down the dead-end alleyway towards the chain-link fence.
I don’t think that those under the bus or turned over like alleyway garbage cans would see the distinction, nor do I think Donald would make it.
I’m not the Bawiggins whisperer, but I understand the distinction as
When Donald throws someone under the bus, he does so out of a desire for revenge.
When Donald overturns someone as a trash can, he does so out of fear for himself.
And I recognize that these categories can overlap when specific people are involved.
From the perspective of the cited participants, my comment stands.
How quickly do you think love (and lust) would turn to hate and revenge if TFG thought Ivanka had turned state’s evidence on daddy, threatening his empire and his liberty? Raymond Reddington comes to mind. I think being cut out of the will – assuming there’s any estate left to administer – would be the least of her worries.
“Heaven knows no anger like love to hatred turned”
William Congreve
It’s depressing how much time and energy the country has devoted to mulling over the psychological nuances of this psychopath. If he were a homeless guy, he would be just another boring crazy person.
He can hate all he wants—that’s all he will have left. She’s young and wants no part of prison. She and Jared have plenty of grift to keep them in a high standard of living.
Everybody is abandoning Donald. That he is so stupid to have thought this would work is one thing, but the number of people who have forfeited their lives for him is unreal.
True, the distinction is in the eye of the beholder of the narrative. Under-busing tends to happen in the middle episodes, affording more leisurely contemplation. The frantic toppling of cans comes in a rush near the end. The sacrificed will find this a distinction without a difference and, yes, we have all been sacrificed to Trump’s pathology and his party’s venality. Still, I take a kind of aesthetic solace where I can find it.
Just like Anjelica Huston driving away at the end in the Grifters
I thought I was the only one who saw that movie! In the theater, no less!
At this point, if you’re Ivanka (and you have a little common sense and can read the room) you’re not playing the game to “retain your celebrity.” You’re playing it to get away with 5-10 million dollars (mainly to live off the investment if Jared goes down,) not go to jail, and maybe keep enough dignity that you can attend a PTA meeting or somesuch and not get thrown out.
Whether Ivanka has enough sense to know that’s the thing to play for is another matter, of course!
Honestly, I think you hit on two attributes that she sorely lacks. For Daddy, she’s always been the obedient puppy, just happy to do whatever he pleases. I don’t think she’s ever had to evaluate the ramifications of what she does, and her performance shows that she doesn’t think much before she speaks.
I believe I’ve read that barbie played her father for the fool he is/was. She’d alter her voice to be the little-girl begging for treats. Otherwise she seemed to be a conniving hard-hearted “person” – just like almost anyone that could stand djt.
I am looking forward to when the committee subpoenas Mr. Ivanka. Jerrod had a lot of important portfolios from achieving peace in the Middle East to controlling COVID19 pandemic. I am very interested in his communications.
I think the Jan 6 Committee only requested the Trump administration’s archives for events surrounding the attempted coup.
Meadows has already supplied evidence of his attempted intervention on 1/6, and I think there is going to be more evidence that people like Ivanka and Meadows went to Trump to call for him to gain control of the Capitol.
I think the question is why and how this happened.
For example, is evidence going to come out that these contacts were preplanned well in advance? Did they know about the plan and that it involved violence, and were they just performing a scripted role rather than spontaneously reacting to events?
At a minimum, were they carrying out a pro forma role as a sinkhole for anticipated requests which Trump already knew could be ignored?
Or more ominously, were they part of a plan to create a pretext for Trump to take command of law enforcement or military forces and send them to the Capitol?
Like a lot of other public calls for testimony by 1/6 from very reluctant witnesses, I think this may need to be read as a warning more than a request, and in this case the warning may be that the cover story won’t hold.
Agreed. The so called response was clownishly inadequate. If that letter indicates the level of advice she is getting she will stonewall herself into exile.
How do Jared’s feelings about his father Charlie’s federal conviction and imprisonment factor into this, do you think? I’m sure he would have some role or say related to Ivanka’s cooperation (or refusal) with authorities.
As Marcy continues to point out, one of the first things achieved by the Biden Administration was the indictment against Tom Barrack for foreign lobbying. Barrack’s Middle East connections enabled Kushner and his criminal father to engage in lots of juicy transnational corruption, e.g. financing and bailout of 666 5th Avenue by shaking down the Qataris with support for a blockade and dalliances with MBS leading to the murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Jared and his father are dangerous sociopaths and should be treated as such.
https://www.justsecurity.org/69094/timeline-on-jared-kushner-qatar-666-fifth-avenue-and-white-house-policy/
You do understand how criminal activity works, right? What exactly are they going to charge Ivanka with? Conspiracy? Great, where’s the evidence? Ivanka was a “senior advisor” to the Trump Administration, but her job on paper was “Director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship”. Anyone who thinks Ivanka is in serious legal jeopardy is wishcasting and wasting precious energy.
In case you hadn’t noticed, they’re collecting all that evidence *now*. Including evidence from (and about) those people claim will never flip.
“I doubt the records would confirm that she took a position against the attempted coup before the House members successfully evacuated and the FBI deployed a tactical team.”
In other words, once the coup was lost, because the government escaped, she turned up in opposition to it.
That sequence would not be a surprise.
In fact, the opposite sequence would be a surprise.
That she tried to stop her daddy from an autocoup. I’d love to see any sense of humanity from any of the spawns. If someone wants to study their genetics and find out the malevolent genes, it may help to save the world in the future.
I wonder how Donald’s draft “National Healing” memo will be perceived by the Oath Keepers.
“I would like to begin today by addressing the heinous attack that took place yesterday at the United States Capitol,” it opens. “Like all Americans, I was outraged and sickened by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem. I immediately deployed the National Guard and federal law enforcement to secure the building and expel the intruders. America is, and must always be, a nation of law and order.”
“The Demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American Democracy,” the remarks state. “I am directing the Department of Justice to ensure all lawbreakers are prosecuted to the fullest extent” of the law.”
Going by past responses, they’ll interpret and continue to live out of their “Deep State socialist Democrats are taking our liberties” fantasy and give low importance to Trump’s inconvenient statements.
Ew,
“ Except if she is covering up some of the things she knows by withholding records from the Archives, she’s going to have a hard time arguing that she didn’t remain in the conspiracy with all those people plotting violence by helping to cover it up”
Exceptional analysis of daughters NARA records exception. Ivanka’s golden handcuffs are exceptional too.
Father’s instigation of 1000’s of plaintiffs legal actions may be influential? What are the odds a daughter defies tradition? Nachum the beggar wants to know.
I laughed out loud [but, not for the first time] when I got to the “Enclosure”:
“Don MCGAHN’s 2/22/2017 memo to all personnel re: “Presidential Records Act Obligations”.
The first LOL was on page 1:
Brilliantly connecting the dots as always, EW.
However, I’ve got different take on the reason the letter was released publicly. This appears to be a very strategic decision by J6 to up the pressure on Daddy Insurrection-bucks.
If a similar letter was released on Jr, TFG would just shrug it off, and mutter “See ya when you get out.’ But not for she who walks on water. I’d bet the old anger meter is pegged at 11 about now. And that will only make his normally bad decisions worse.
Let’s see what his desk has to say tonight and Saturday.
The report that the J6SC already has the proof in hand about the knowledge (by both DJT and Ivanka, et al) of illegality from the WH Counsel’s office will make it much harder to claim ignorance or take the 5th down the road. Any ignorance claim will go as well as it did for Pooh-Bah in “The Mikado” trying to pretend he “wasn’t there” at the fully attested sham execution by Ko-Ko. The Mikado wasn’t having it (it was worked out later…) as an excuse, nor will the J6SC accept this CYA exercise from Ivanka.
How about Jared, where was he? As the team known for being the SABI (Source of All Bad Ideas) Jarvanka worked as a tandem in just about everything else.
Jared was in Cancun with the kids because the kids are scared by DC winter coups.
Thanks Rugger for a Pooh-Bah perspective. Clearly superior to my mental veer into the I, Claudius world.
Jared was fondling his snicker snee
Great post. Great footnote catch. The sound of clocks ticking must be haunting to Ivanka after this letter was released. The McGahn memo reference is a chef’s kiss.
“How about Jared, where was he?” Don’t know but if he was smart he was in his office saving the Middle East. If not J6 will eventually get to him.
If I recall correctly, on Jan. 6th Jared was returning from a trip to the Middle East where he was either wrapping up his stint as Trump’s extra special envoy or negotiating with his new friends for investments in his companies, or both.
Ivanka is every bit the evil scammer as her father. to wit, the Trump Baja Resort grift.
https://youtu.be/XFRyYKbIITs
Cue Ivanka at 18 seconds in…
Another “Trump Brand” name licensing thingy. They were not “the Developers.”
She was deeply involved in the failed Baku hotel grift/money-laundering exercise.
And I’m sure you have the proof to back that up and confirmation that the authorities are moving to charge her with a crime, right?
You must have missed the big story about it, complete with pics of her in a hard hat.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/03/13/donald-trumps-worst-deal
It’s hard not to think a key reason Trump launched his run for POTUS in 2015 was to shield Ivanka and himself from charges under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act — especially after reading that particular article.
I’ve been curious about this since the day it happened. https://www.citizensforethics.org/reports-investigations/crew-investigations/ivanka-trump-trademarks/ “The trademarks also cover items including nursing homes, sausage casing, and voting machines.”
WTF would Ms. Mini-me be trying to trademark a line of voting machines? Pre-planning for Daddy’s coup-to-come?
! The jokes for Trump Voting Machines just write themselves !
Just like the Trump voting machines, I’d guess.
Trump Voting Machines — when you need all the votes all the time!
No, only when you need 11,780 votes
OT: I also see Michael Flynn is back in the news for allegedly doing oppo research and other dirty tricks. It might help explain DJT’s interest in trying to get Flynn out of his plea deal with as few fingerprints as he could, but for me it might also potentially push the Army to look at UCMJ Article 134 for bringing discredit upon the service. Let’s recall that Flynn talks up his general officer status as his principal qualification.
While it does not yet seem to be tied in to RF duties while he was under orders in the Army, it could be leveraged that his brief WH tenure would also qualify for the same restriction.
Do you think they are waiting until the rest of this all shakes out ?
Possibly, but there’s more than enough now if the Army had the … gumption (this is a class joint).
As usual, I felt smarter after I read this. As you say, once you’re in, you’re in; you can get out, but those efforts seem to require some recognition that you were once in something to now be out of. Alternatively, it’s ever so tempting to pretend–“cover-up”, is a better description; “obstructing justice” is what mean spirited lawyers call it–that there was either nothing to be a part of in the first place–very difficult given the riot–or that you were not in on it. Also to be remembered: it’s possible to obstruct justice even if your participation was, in fact, entirely innocent.
Elegant post. I hope we’ll see whether this logic plays out with others, like, oh, Sean Hannity. In his case, his persistently hypocritical public vs. private messaging should doom his chances of proving that he attempted to leave any alleged conspiracy. Have you taken sufficient steps to leave a conspiracy if you continue to hide and protect its members and their purposes?
I’m not really a seditionist; I just play one on TV. Although I did stay at the Ballston Comfort Inn Express.
No doubt, as she was almost five years ago, Ivanka was complicit with J6 activities: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7o4oMKbStE
I have no idea how this comment got through, but, please, never spam us with this junk again.
Thanks for the warning, I was about to innocently click the link!
It’s innocent — it’s an SNL skit parody of Ivanka.
I let it through, bmaz, because it was about Ivanka and we do have other comments poking fun at these parasites. Not my cuppa, but might be somebody else’s.
Glad you OK’ed this; I thought there was something wrong with me after I watched it and thought it was funny. Well, there is something wrong with me, but that’s another story.
Thank you – I’m disappointed with the unusual amount of wishcasting on this thread about how “Ivanka’s going down, so she’s gonna flip on the Trumps”. Where do they come up with this stuff?
The one thing nearly everybody pooh-poohing the notion of flipping Ivanka forgets is that she’s got young kids and quite possibly no one to care for them if this all goes south badly. They’re unmentioned leverage. The question is whether she’s as detached a parent as her dad or not, and that factor most of us can’t qualify/quantify.
ADDER: Five comments inside 15 minutes this evening. Perhaps you should slow your roll with your evidence-free defense for Ivanka; methinks you need to re-read Marcy’s post c a r e f u l l y rather than get snotty with community members.
IVANKA’s statement is interesting because she leaves out a few things:
1] It was a retweet of TRUMP’s 3:13 PM tweet with an added message.
2] She left out that she addressed that message in her statement to “American Patriots”
3] According to WaPo, the tweet was criticized and she then deleted it.
“THE ATTACK: Before, During and After”. A @washingtonpost investigative series about the causes, cost and aftermath of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2021/jan-6-insurrection-capitol/
10/31/21
3:13 PM TRUMP tweets: I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order – respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!
3:15 PM IVANKA retweets TRUMP’s 3:13 PM tweet, adding: American Patriots – any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable.
The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.
I hope we’ll see all the tweets and background communications, not just the exculpatory ones.
Hey harpie — not related to your comment, sorry, but I ran across this last night and I’ve been stewing on it since. AP report published last April contained this bit:
See your comment from November 14 last year with Acting AG Rosen’s phone record and note the timing:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/11/09/minority-report-botheration-benefits-bannon/#comment-907926
I am wondering about DOD calls before 3:37 pm and then shortly after, whether there was some effort related to DOJ to the National Guard because the DOD had already deemed conditions risky enough to dispatch security personnel to DOD officials’ homes.
There’s more to this but I’m wondering if you have anything more which intersects this 3:37 p.m. January 6 time. THANKS!
hmmm…I remember stewing about that tidbit back in April…the whole article, really, because AP seemed to just take DOD’s word for the truth. I’ll see what I can find.
That’s the tricky part, not knowing who their sources were. Were they on Milley’s side or on Miller’s side? Did they cross-check sources across both sides? I’d trust the Milley side first; I think he and his people would know corroborating documentation will eventually come out. But I can’t be certain Pence’s team wasn’t also involved which could skew this another way.
If it was Milley’s side calling the shots, dispatching security to military leaders’ homes means there was intelligence that concerned them reflecting an attempted autogolpe, shaping the call for National Guard. But if it was Miller’s side, dispatching security may have been intended for other purposes altogether, like locking down leadership and keeping them from acting or preparing to hold hostages to support the autogolpe.
You’ve got mail.
ADDED:
My comment that I link to at 10:14 has been DELETED. [?]
OH! Too many links!
I’ve reposted, so no need for you to go digging…Sorry!
3:30 PM STONE planned for and promoted Freedom Rally 2021 at 300 First St. NE Washington, DC, but DOES NOT show up. [That’s north of HART and RUSSEL Senate office buildings and near the CAPITOL POLICE.] [One block NORTH of intersection of Constitution Ave/First St. NE AND “Area 8” of CAPITOL Grounds. [Near AREA 8]
3:35-3:41 PM RHODES is on the NORTHEAST CAPITOL Steps
3:37 PM BIGGS et al photo on the EAST SIDE
3:38 PM DONOHOE announces on the “Boots on the Ground” channel: “[W]e are regrouping with a second force.” [I think he’s on the WEST SIDE]
3:40 PM JAMES to PERSON TEN [SIMMONS] Call 3:04
3:40 PM JONES broadcasts live a roof just across from the EAST SIDE of the CAPITOL
Map: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8925615,-77.0218172,16z
CAPITOL GROUNDS DEMONSTRATION AREAS https://www.uscp.gov/sites/uscapitolpolice.house.gov/files/wysiwyg_uploaded/U.S.%20Capitol%20Grounds%20Demonstration%20Area%20Map.pdf
Continuing this down here:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/01/21/bennie-thompson-to-ivanka-come-in-from-the-conspiracy/#comment-917999
Disregard the above!
NEW LINK:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/01/21/bennie-thompson-to-ivanka-come-in-from-the-conspiracy/#comment-918003
I must say, all these people phoning and emailing and messaging to Trump to stop the Lynch Mob indicates that 1. They knew he was responsible and 2. They knew he could stop it without military intervention. Nobody seems to be arguing that point.
Exactly. They knew. They did nothing but whinge quietly. They should have some ‘splaining to do. Given what they let happen, some liability should attach, too, even if only socially or career-wise.
Shouldn’t the J6SC summon Quayle to find out what Pence asked of him?
How about no?
I suspect that many in the Trump White House thought that the Presidential Records Act only applied to Democrats.
The January 6th Committee’s public letters inviting people to testify are superbly crafted and designed to achieve the obvious purpose of encouraging voluntary cooperation. The letters serve as warning shots across the bow. The Committee is letting the recipient know enough of what evidence it already has in order to give the recipient fair warning and, perhaps, the incentive to cooperate.
My recollection is that there were press reports from the period from Dec. 14th until January 6th to the effect that Ivanka and Jared were trying to distance themselves from the “crazies” surrounding Trump. On that basis I doubt that Ivanka was a participant but she would be a witness. And she has a chance to avoid the taint of sedition and cover up. The Committee is extending her a lifeline.
But the public letters also serve another purpose. They let others know that the Committee has evidence pertaining to or of interest to them. In this regard, on Page 3 of the letter to Ivanka, is this gem: “Similarly, in the days before January 6th, a member of the House freedom Caucus with knowledge of the President’s planning for that day sent a message to the White House Chief of Staff with this explicit warning: “If POTUS allows this to occur …we’re driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic.”. Someone in the House Freedom Caucus might just possibly be looking for a good defense lawyer today.
Yes…Love that often used footnote: 6 Documents on file with the Select Committee.
More than likely one of the texts turned over to the Committee by Mark Meadows before the Don took him out to the proverbial woodshed.
“If POTUS allows this to occur …we’re driving a stake in the heart of the federal republic.”
Did the member consider that to be a bad thing?
concur with parker dooley question.
quote is ambiguous, can be read several different ways.
disagreement — shock & horror at driving a stake through heart of federal republic
approval — glee & approval at driving a stake through heart of the federal republic
“If POTUS allows this to occur” — what is “this”? preventing coup? or enabling start of coup?
Whatever the “this” was, the Member of Congress knew that it was bad for the ‘federal republic”.
Another gem from the J6 letter is that it answers the question of what she was doing in the White House that made her subject to sending everything to the archives in paragraph 1
Welp. she was a “senior assistant”, right?
I love it.
One of my fav articles in the last week or so. Brilliant as always. Thank you!
Trump, Junior & Eric don’t seem anything like the Succession characters Logan, Kendall and Roman, but it’s very easy to imagine Shiv as Ivanka. I’m thinking of the episode where Logan has gone mad from his urinary tract infection and Shiv tries to step in to right the ship. Trump is like piss-mad Logan all the time.
Super-mal-a-barrel-toxic-intel-spells-
Seditious!
Supermalabarreltoxicintelspelseditious,
Even though the sound of it
is very surreptitious,
If you say it loud enough
It always sounds malicious,
Supermalabarreltoxicintelspelseditious.
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Because I was afraid to speak
when I was just a lass,
My father gave my nose a tweak
and told me it must pass,
So then one day I learned a word
that saved my aching nose,
The biggest word you ever heard
And this is how it goes.
Supermalabarreltoxicintelspelseditious,
Even though the sound of it
is very surreptitious,
If you say it loud enough
it always sounds malicious,
Supermalabarreltoxicintelspelseditious.
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
I’ll travel all around the world
and everywhere I go,
I’ll use this word & all will say
she’s someone in the know,
When UAE or Saudi sheiks
pass the time of day with me,
I’ll say my special word and then
they’ll ask me out to tea (woo).
Supermalabarreltoxicintelspelseditious,
Even though the sound of it
is very surreptitious,
If you say it loud enough
it always sounds malicious,
Supermalabarreltoxicintelspelseditious.
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
Um-dittle-ittl-um-dittle-I
So when the cat has got your tongue
there’s no need for dismay (oui, oui),
Just summon up this word
then you’ve got lots to say.
But better use it carefully
because it can change your life,
And if you don’t believe me,
then just ask Kushner’s wife.
Supermalabarreltoxicintelspelseditious,
Even though the sound of it
is very surreptitious,
If you say it loud enough
It always sounds malicious,
Supermalabarreltoxicintelspelseditious.
https://youtu.be/uZNRzc3hWvE
Mary Poppins (1964) – “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” – Video/Lyrics
If it’s what you say, I love it!
Brilliant. Worthy of Callahan’s Bar.
Need a fireplace for that. And someone to sweep out the glass every so often.
Why sweep it out? Like peanut shells, it adds to the homey feeling and makes a nice crunchy sound.
1- Because few who frequent Callahan’s have ever managed to stay on their feet at all times, for a variety of reasons, and
2- Glass is neither soft nor absorbent, and those are what you want on your favorite bar floor, considering #1.
This fireplace is designed to hold the glass – it’s tradition to throw it there after a toast.
Love it, SL!
Good to hear from you. I’ve been thinking of you. I think you once told us that January is a tough month for you. Hope all is well.
Thank you Dr. Marcy. Great post.
“I’ve never had a sense of entitlement. I saw how hard my father worked for his money, and it was always made very clear to me that things wouldn’t just be given to me.”
Ivanka Trump
“If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps I’d be dating her.” Donald Trump
I think we need to help the Jan 6 Select Committee staff get some decent PDF redaction software. The first pages of their letters to witnesses seem to be images with non-searchable text simply so that they can redact the addresses. There must be some staffer who prints page one, redacts the address, scans that page, and then replaces page one with the scanned image.
Yes, I have an unhealthy obsession with document construction, why do you ask?
Have you considered treatment? I hear the xerigraphic cure is very effective.
Similar problem with lots of DOJ docs for J6 cases, except in those instances the whole page is rendered into an un-OCR-able image when DOJ inserts an image (with outside text) into a page, as I’m recalling the tendency — and so the image pages tend to occur mid-/dotted throughout a given filing.
—
ETA: no clue why this landed in moderation (twice, now- though on this try I double-checked for email typos and thought I’d passed!)
Will Abbe Lowell be representing Ivanka in NY and DC?
Should she be the linchpin pulled out to take the old man down, it’s Shakespearean.
I have found terribly few places in the webs where references of HST and Callahan’s Saloon are appreciated by a participatory audience who are generally thoughtful, erudite, informed, and willing to accept responsibility. Thanks be to the god(ess)(es)(s) for all of you.
But what I came to say before that distraction was hot damn, here come the leaks:
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/01/21/read-the-never-issued-trump-order-that-would-have-seized-voting-machines-527572
There’s an embedded pdf at the link. Let the fun begin!
Ms Trumps request for non violent conduct is too late, and she doesn’t call for the rioters to leave the capital. So she was still following her father’s lead, even after it was likely the coup was going to fail.
Ivanka, “The Spyette Who Came In From The Cold?”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spy_Who_Came_In_from_the_Cold_(film)
I don’t see very much coming out of this request made to Ivanka. Her entire act seems to consist of platinum hair, a vacuous smile, questionable fashion choices, and weak attempts at virtue signaling. If she does show, I would expect her to be accompanied by her lawyer, who would tell her when to invoke the Fifth and when to answer, if ever. Any answers she gives will be akin to those given by St. Ronnie at the Iran-Contra hearings.
Ivanka might give the impression of general innocence or non-involvement, but as several here have pointed out, she has been involved up to the jawbone in several family grifts, as well as a few involving her clothing line and several other grifts for which she was the putative head.
There’s a particular family dynamic that I realized during my time counseling addicts in the criminal justice system. For most, their addiction didn’t show up in drug arrests. Instead, their arrests were usually for theft or fraud perpetrated in order to buy more drugs or to support themselves and their families so they could spend more money on their drug of choice. But even in recovery, many would catch themselves, or be caught, in morally iffy behavior, from scamming their bosses, to petty theft or just constant lying, even to their friends.
When we discussed these things, it almost always came up that their parents or other close family members had the same types of behaviors, although sometimes manifesting differently. It wasn’t because of “bad blood.” It was because, in their upbringings, “normal” involved some very dishonest behavior. It never occurred to them that lying and cheating was wrong; they judged it by the standards they had learned, including convenience and necessity.
So it is with Ivanka. She’s definitely Daddy’s girl. But look at Daddy. What she’s been presented as normal all her life is lack of affection, sexual preoccupation, and constant self-serving lies.
Did you see this case:
Man who threatened lynchings in emails to Police Commissioner Outlaw gets four years in federal prison/
https://www.inquirer.com/news/peter-fratus-sentence-danielle-outlaw-prison-maxine-waters-20220119.html
Violent MA drunk who also threatened Rep. Maxine Waters (and Black MOC generally) among other (alleged) crimes. His favored targets are women, POC, and authority figures so Outlaw and Waters hit his BINGO.
While he’s apparently abstaining in the confines, since it’s all about the family it seems fair to call him a dry* drunk given mom’s statement:
Paging Dr. Freud (I’d add a snark tag, but wait — there’s more … ).
—
*And so Ivanka et al. shall remain dry grifters evermore, at the least. There’s always Instagram.
Thanks, Eureka. I remember when he was arrested, but didn’t see the outcome. I did, however, see this arrest for similar stupidity.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/man-charged-with-making-election-related-threats-to-georgia-officials/ar-AAT158t
You’ll notice that he’s a Texan, but his hit-messages are written from the “us Georgians” POV.
Donald learned how to do business from his father and Ivanka learned from her father. Ivanka could be a somewhat sympathetic figure except for the almost complete lack of awareness she shows about her limitations
Continued from: https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/01/21/bennie-thompson-to-ivanka-come-in-from-the-conspiracy/#comment-917856
Mentions of “FBI” in TL:
XX:XX AM REPORT of overheard threat to FBI: “we are going to storm the FBI at 2PM.” [2:00 PM]
MAP: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8944362,-77.0264467,17z
12:40 PM BOMB reported at the
RNCCAPITOL HILL CLUB [CP, FBI and ATF respond]2:00 PM Time of overheard threat to “storm the FBI”
2:52 PM “Near the Capitol” [Parler VIDEO of FBI entering SOUTH DOOR of CAPITOL] https://d2hxwnssq7ss7g.cloudfront.net/QHORzN1dKMRY_cvt.mp4
7:00 PM [WaPo] FBI and ATF agents complete their sweep of the Capitol, going room to room looking for rioters, weapons or other security threats. BOWDICH leads the FBI team on one end of the building while DONOGHUE, of the Justice Department, leads the ATF agents at the other. When they meet in the middle, they have a quick conference CALL with PENCE, MILLER and CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
Mentions of “FBI” in TL:
XX:XX AM REPORT of overheard threat to FBI: “we are going to storm the FBI at 2PM.” [2:00 PM]
MAP: https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8944362,-77.0264467,17z
12:40 PM BOMB reported at the
RNCCAPITOL HILL CLUB [CP, FBI and ATF respond]2:00 PM Time of overheard threat to “storm the FBI”
2:52 PM “Near the Capitol” [Parler VIDEO of FBI entering SOUTH DOOR of CAPITOL] https://d2hxwnssq7ss7g.cloudfront.net/QHORzN1dKMRY_cvt.mp4
7:00 PM [WaPo] FBI and ATF agents complete their sweep of the Capitol, going room to room looking for rioters, weapons or other security threats. BOWDICH leads the FBI team on one end of the building while DONOGHUE, of the Justice Department, leads the ATF agents at the other. When they meet in the middle, they have a quick conference CALL with PENCE, MILLER and CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS
This continues a conversation from here:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/01/21/bennie-thompson-to-ivanka-come-in-from-the-conspiracy/#comment-917856
harpie, you started a thread here today about the draft EO to seize voting machines but the comments are closed:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/01/17/the-disappearing-willard-hotel-and-the-accused-seditionists-other-interlocutors/#comment-918019
On this topic, I wanted to remind you of Patrick Byrne’s Dec. 25th, 2021 interview with Ann Vandersteel where he references the Dec. 18th WH visit, complains that Meadows and Cipollone are keeping [them] away from Trump [even Lindell can’t get to him], and urges people (in her Qanon-oriented audience) to tweet at Trump:
https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/10/19/ryan-grims-gibberish-about-co-conspirator-statements/#comment-905408
Also Lindell on 1/8/21 (don’t have link where I posted about this _on_ 1/8 but video is here):
https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/01/23/crowdsourced-timeline-tick-tock-to-insurrection-and-beyond/#comment-878870
I saw mention of the EO draft elsewhere but I think they misconstrued the timeline.
23-NOV-2020 — GSA finally allows Biden transition team access;
04-DEC-2020 — Biden team complains DoD unilaterally imposed a 2-week “holiday pause” on DoD briefings for transition team with specific tensions about Biden team contacting military intelligence;
14-DEC-2020 — States certify elections;
14-DEC-2020 — AG Bill Barr announces resignation effective 23-DEC-2020;
16-DEC-2020 — Date EO drafted authorizing DoD to seize voting machines;
18-DEC-2020 — Biden team still not receiving DoD briefings with DoD personnel expressing multiple rationales for delays including Biden team not following regulations, impending government shutdown, pandemic protocols;
23-DEC-2020 — Barr’s last day in office.
Can see there was a tug of war going on but it’s so difficult to keep the non-Biden players straight. [#J6TL]
It appears there were multiple plans to get the military involved in a militarized coup. But active duty commanders and retired DofD secretaries were prepared to resist. The orders to send protection to the homes of military commanders has an unclear motive. Was to protect them, or to put them partial quarantine?
That’s what bothers me — can’t tell who dispatched them and why, though there were concerns about FBI being attacked on Jan 6 which could have spawned the security detailed to military leaders.
I’ve been trying all day, but it seems I literally can not process this stuff today… feel totally underwater. :-(
Maybe DOD felt a credible threat because SO MANY veterans, AND TRUMP, were aligning themselves with FLYNN et al and saying stuff like “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
Besides MILLER, PATEL and RATCLIFF were on the INside.
Not sure if that’s clear. I meant not only Miller, but also Patel and Ratcliffe.
Some things that might be added to the mix:
12/15/20 Ann Arbor attorney, Carson TUCKER, for his client, Barry County, Michigan Sheriff, Dar LEAF, contacts Lin WOOD’s Fight Back Foundation:
Fight Back Foundation’s Carissa KESHEL responds:
Carrissa KESHEL is married to Seth KESHELL, one of the men profiled in this article: The military-intelligence veterans who helped lead Trump’s campaign of disinformation After Donald Trump lost the White House, ex-National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and three other current and former U.S. Army officers challenged the vote’s legitimacy and pushed baseless conspiracy claims. Military ethicists say their actions threaten to weaken the public’s faith in democracy [b]
12/17/20 “DRAFT LETTER FROM POTUS TO SEIZE EVIDENCE IN THE INTEREST OF NATIONAL SECURITY FOR THE 2020 ELECTIONS.”
[This document is withheld from the J6 Committee by KERIK] [c]
12/19/20 TRUMP tweets about the Solar Winds hack, tagging RATCLIFFE and POMPEO
Marcy: https://twitter.com/emptywheel/status/1340666651658899457
12/23/20 TRUMP pardons Manafort, Stone, C. Kushner, and 23 others, including ex-Blackwater guard, and convicted war criminal Paul SLOUGH, who poses for a photo on 1/5/21 with his buddies in Alex JONES’ psd. [d]
12/23/20 RAIKLIN argues that PENCE has “the sole plenary authority” to take unilateral action to throw out electors from the contested states. // Doing so “changes the dynamic of the entire election,” forcing states & Biden/Harris to seek “recourse” in court. [e]
12/23/20 TRUMP receives what turns out to be his last CIA briefing [f]
12/23/20 TRUMP arrives late evening at Mar-a-Lago, to stay through 1/1/21
[a] https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/emails-michigan-sheriff-sought-seize-voting-machines-amid-trump-claims
[b] https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-military/
[c] https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/12/27/the-trump-to-willard-war-room-to-militia-connection/#comment-914344
[d] https://twitter.com/capitolhunters/status/1445571696153350144
[e] https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/10/19/ryan-grims-gibberish-about-co-conspirator-statements/#comment-905528
[f] https://www.cia.gov/static/9c2a8936ffa54054baf04e210c30a013/Chapter-9-Getting-to-Know-the-President-Fourth-Edition.pdf [p267]
Looks like Vision Surreal was following the breadcrumbs as I was trying to get my act together:
https://twitter.com/visionsurreal/status/1485370161230135298
Two more tangential tidbits which should be noted though they may/may not be relevant:
— two of the conspirators involved in the planned kidnapping/murder of Michigan’s Gov. Whitmer had been detained in Antrim County where the governor’s summer home is located;
— the Barry County sheriff Dar Leaf who attended an anti-Whitmer event with the Nulls said he didn’t think what they did was illegal if they were trying a to conduct a citizen’s arrest; the sheriff is a member of Constitutional Sheriff’s Peace Officers Association and had been trying to enlist other sheriffs to help seize Dominion voting machines. Leaf’s attorney gave updates to Sidney Powell and associate to former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, Carrissa Kashel.
Kashel’s spouse Seth was involved in false claims of election fraud in AZ having filed an affidavit about that state; I need to see if he was involved in other states.
Perhaps the executive order wasn’t signed because the conspirators had a different plan in their pocket?
Vision Surreal is guessing [link just above] it might have to do with the fact that Ratcliff didn’t get the report done by 12/18.
And that the 12/17/20 DRAFT LETTER was their next option.
Such a labyrinth…
[I deleted the dupes, no prob. /~Rayne]
Hey RAYNE, MARCY and ALL!
This was ONE YEAR AGO, today!
https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/01/23/crowdsourced-timeline-tick-tock-to-insurrection-and-beyond/
We’ve come a long way… Thank you, and great working with you all!
-harpie
Wow, looking back at that first timeline the pardons look so much more iffy than they did then, and they looked bad a year ago. Fundamentally the crime’s core remains unchanged: conspiracy/ies to corruptly obstruct official government proceedings, by halting the legitimate certification of the election and replacing it with a fraudulent certification for the benefit of Donald J. Trump.
A long way to get here, and a long way to go. Thanks for all your hard work, harpie.
What is the penalty for failing to comply with the Presidential records act? The notice from Consel Don McGahn at the bottom of Ivanka’s letter says that failure to comply could result in “administrative or even criminal penalties” (in bold italics no less). Who determines if someone is out of compliance and who issues charges? Does this change for former employees?
The only authority that could possibly charge is the DOJ. Is it really a crime? That is a different question.
Seems to me that, if it violates a law, it is. But in the synopsis on archives.gov I don’t see any penalty established.
Thanks, when I skimmed the text of 44 USC chapter 22 I couldn’t see anything about penalties for non compliance, how does that work?
With respect to determining compliance and charges, I was thinking of the angst about alleged Hatch Act violations under Trump, IIRC part of the problem was former employees can’t be charged for alleged Hatch Act violations, but I realised after commenting that the main problem was that Barr’s DOJ categorically refused to bring initial charges, which I doubt Garland’s DOJ would do.
Heh, that is the dirty little secret about Hatch Act violations, they are mostly civil in nature and pretty much never penalized. Same for the Logan Act. They are mostly rolling jokes to criminal lawyers.
And those are opportunities to improve legislation, giving teeth to both the Hatch and Logan Acts.
Hopefully there will be more teeth added to these laws so that there is more compelling reasons for government officials to not willfully break them.
For those of us who were wondering how Daddy would react, here it is. “They’re going after children!”
https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/590935-donald-trump-slams-jan-6-panel-after-ivanka-trump-interview-request
“…go after children,” who are ages 44, 40, and 38, an in-law who is 41, and a girlfriend who is 52. All old enough to have adult children of their own.
It’s amazing how he just spits out this propaganda. I really should put up a quick hit post about this nonsense.
“I think it’s the human condition to be frequently embarrassed by your parents.” Ivanka Trump
Poor Ivanka is on the horns of a dilemma. Unless the chessboard changes and someone comes to her rescue, either protect Daddy and risk being injured herself or step away from the conspiracy and expose Daddy. How to calculate which course of action is least injurious to herself?
In the meantime, I’m smiling to read in the Dear Ms. Trump letter that Bennie Thompson and Jan6th Committee are looking for the Donald Trump video outtakes:
“President Trump ultimately filmed a video statement from the Rose Garden, which was not released until 4:17 p.m. That video finally instructed the rioters to leave the Capitol, but it did not condemn the violence. [snip] Public reports suggest you had been urging President Trump to ask people to leave the Capitol for two hours by that point in time. The Select Committee understands that multiple takes of the video were filmed but not utilized. Information in the Select Committee’s
possession suggests that the President failed in the initial clips to ask rioters to leave the Capitol. The Select Committee has sought copies of those unused clips from the National Archives.”
Wow. Good one! Speechless here.
Thank you, Emptywheel. You are a National Treasure.