Next up in the courtroom in DC is Josiah Colt, of Boise, Idaho, the Senate chamber dangler.
Answering questions about whether he is eligible for appointed counsel, Colt is asked how much money he has in the bank right now.
"Negative $463," he says.
As Judge Harvey decides on the Senate dangler's release conditions, prosecutors unseal charges against Gina Bisignano, a Beverly Hills hair salon owner who led crowds at the Capitol riot w/a bullhorn.
After being expelled from the Capitol sallyport by police officers---"You hurt my f---ing leg," she yelled at one--Bisignano raised "her fist in an apparent gesture of defiance."
Gina Bisignano, the Beverly Hills hair salon owner, went to the Capitol riot in a Louis Vuitton sweater.
"Everybody, we need gas masks…we need weapons...we need strong, angry patriots to help our boys," she yelled through a bullhorn at the crowd.
Back in Washington DC, Josiah Colt, 34, the Senate dangler, is being released pending trial.
Charges have also just been unsealed against LA doctor & hydroxychloroquine advocate Simone Gold.
Meanwhile, in Washington DC, Judge Harvey is releasing Douglas Sweet, 58, of Virginia, who just said he has a total of $123 in the bank.
Even as hearings are being held for 10 Capitol rioters in Washington DC, new charges are unsealed against Patrick Montgomery, owner of an outdoor store in Littleton, Colo.
"This is Americans fighting for their country!" Montgomery posted on social media w/photos of the mob in DC.
Prosecutors say Montgomery was inside the Capitol taking photos--photos that ultimately led to his arrest.
DC Judge Michael Harvey releases Cindy Sue Fitchett, 58, of Virginia, on misdemeanor charges connected to the Capitol riot.
Next defendant up for a hearing in DC is Robert Keith Packer, of Newport News, Va., best known for storming the Capitol in a "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt.
Packer, 56, is asking for a court-appointed attorney. He says he has about $1000 in the bank. Judge Harvey grants the appointment of counsel.
The government is not seeking to detain Packer. But prosecutors want him to stay away from DC, no travel outside of his home state, and not have any firearms.
As Judge Harvey decides about whether to detain Packer, new charges are filed against Michael Perna, described in court papers as a Trump supporter & follower of Qanon.
Perna claims he was pushed into the Capitol unintentionally by the mob & only spent 5-10 minutes there.
Prosecutors have also unsealed charges against Gabriel Garcia of Florida who confronted cops inside the Capitol.
"Ain't holding a million of us," Garcia is said to have told the cops. "USA! Storm this shit!"
At one point, court papers say, Garcia also calls out, "Free Enrique!"
Prosecutors say that's a reference to Enrique Tarrio, the chairman of the Proud Boys who was arrested days before the Capitol riot.
Robert K. Packer, the "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt guy, is released pending trial.
More new charges unsealed against Matt Mazzocco, of San Antonio, Texas, a self-described "Mortgage Loan Ninja" who is ranked the #1 branch manager in the world by his mom.
"The capital (sic) is ours," Mazzocco wrote on social media after storming the building.
Next up in DC, Bryan Betancur, a "self-professed white surpremacist" & "member of several white supremacy organizations," prosecutors said.
He "has voiced homicidal ideations, made comments about conducting a school shooting, & has researched mass shootings," court papers say.
Prosecutors want a 10-day hold on Betancur who was on parole for a burglary case in Baltimore when he stormed the Capitol.
Judge Harvey detains Betancur for 10 days pending another hearing.
The next defendant to be heard in DC is Peter Harding, accused (among other things) of burning media equipment outside the Capitol after invading the building.
The government is not seeking detention but wants location monitoring.
A prosecutor says he wants it b/c when the FBI arrested Harding he had a backpack and plastic container w/$729 in cash, clothes, razor & 5 cellphones, suggesting he was trying to flee.
NEW: Prosecutors have unsealed charges against Proud Boys media figure, Nicholas DeCarlo, seen below in a pic at the Capitol with Hawaii Proud Boy Nick Ochs.
DeCarlo, from Texas, works with an outfit called Murder the Media (see his MT Media shirt & graffiti behind him.)
Back in DC, Judge Harvey releases Peter Harding, the camera equipment burner, with the condition he wears a GPS monitor.
Nearing the end of today's Capitol riot court appearances in DC. Next up: Jacob Fracker & Thomas Robertson, two off-duty Virginia cops charged last week.
Government is not seeking detention of either Virginia police officer, Jacob Fracker, 29, or Thomas Robertson, 27.
Government is asking for a court order banning the cops from having firearms, especially after the FBI conducted a search at Robertson's home today and found "numerous" guns, a prosecutor says, and both men have made social media posts calling for "armed rebellion."
Judge Harvey releases both Virginia cops, Jacob Fracker & Thomas Robertson, barring them from possessing firearms.
We're now on our 10th defendant in this marathon of DC hearings. It's Adam Johnson who is charged w/stealing Nancy Pelosi's lectern.
The government is not seeking detention for Adam Johnson, the Pelosi lectern thief.
So he'll be getting out, joining other well-known Capitol riot defendants like the Senate balcony dangler, the "Camp Auschwitz" sweatshirt guy, and the two small-town Virginia cops.
The releases of these defendants pending trial mostly seem to be related to the fact that they're charged w/misdemeanors, not felonies or crimes of violence.
The next defendant (the last? please...) to be called in DC is Emmanuel Jackson, charged w/assaulting police at the Capitol w/a metal baseball bat.
Speaking of releases, prosecutors in NJ have filed an emergency motion to stay the release of Timothy Hale-Cusanelli, an alleged white supremacist with a secret clearance who works at an NJ naval station.
"Defendant’s release will likely leave him with nowhere
to go and nothing to do except pursue his fantasy of participating in a civil war...Releasing Defendant to rejoin their fold and plan their next attack poses a
potentially catastrophic risk of danger to the community."
Prosecutors say the FBI, executing a search warrant at Hale-Cusanelli's home in Colts Neck, found a copy of "Mein Kampf" and the "The Turner Diaries," "which depicts a violent revolution in the United States."
Hale-Cusanelli's actions "make plain his beliefs in White Supremacy, and his interest in participating in a civil war," prosecutors say.
“It’s going to be the fucking good old boys in the Midwest, Texas, and Arkansas,” who prevail, he said, according to the government.
Prosecutors charge another former Marine, Barton W. Shively, for assault in the Capitol attack.
Shively pictured in a Marine Corps hat. Prosecutors say he served from 1985 to 1992.
Catching up from last night, charges have been unsealed against Chris Spencer of North Carolina.
As he walked through the Capitol's Statuary Hall, Spencer was caught on video saying, "Who would’ve knew the first time I ever come would be to storm?”
After invading the hall of Congress, Jorge Riley, of California, posted for the world to see on social media.
"Hey We're storming the Capitol," he wrote. "What are you doing?"
Riley is a former state Republican leader from Sacramento.
In a video--screen shot below--he described what he did outside of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office.
Someone captured Matthew Caspel, in a TikiTok video, charging a line of National Guardsmen. One of Caspel's former neighbors later told the FBI was “known to be violent.”
Even as the inaugural crowd gathers, prosecutors unseal more charges including against Jorden Mink, of Oakdale, Pa., who is accused of taking a baseball bat to a Capitol window. On Election Day Mink took a pic of his rifle w/an "I Voted" sticker, feds say.
NEW: Joe Biggs, a leader of the Proud Boys, has been charged in connection with the Capitol riot.
Prosecutors say Biggs, seen left in the cap & flannel, led a crew of Proud Boys at the Capitol, all of them eschewing the typical gold-and-brown Fred Perry polo shirts for regular clothing, following instructions from Enrique Tarrio, the group's chairman.
Biggs & crew started their march on the Capitol, court papers say, with chants of "F*ck Antifa!"
Biggs ultimately entered the Capitol, prosecutors say, adding that the other Proud Boys did so too. Among them was Dominic Pezzola, a PB and former Marine from Rochester who was charged last week.
The FBI says Pezzola may have been wearing an earpiece that could "be used to receive communications from others in real time." (See below.) Agents also say that some Proud Boys were using walkie-talkies at the event.
After the Capitol riot, someone asked Samuel Fisher of New York if he got to the frontlines.
“i was there," he wrote "it was awesome” / “it
was dangerous and violent” / “people died . . . but it was fucking great if you ask me."
Prosecutors have charged Patrick McCaughey, 23, of Connecticut, in connection w/the brutal assault on Officer Daniel Hodges, seen below.
One day after storming the Capitol, Karl Dresch, of Calumet, Mich. commented on the FB page of a fellow insurrectionist, the FBI says.
“Mike Pence gave our country to the communist hordes, traitor scum like the rest of them," he wrote. "...we will be back even stronger.”
Prosecutors are seeking to detain Patrick McCaughey, the Capitol suspect accused of taking part in the brutal door-choking attack on Officer Daniel Hodges.
They say McCaughey, 23, held up a police riot shield and crushed Hodges against a door. Hodges screamed in agony.
The prosecutor is saying the rioters coordinated their attack on Hodges, bringing in fresh troops against cops and handing weapons, like the shield, forward. The crowd seemed to be yelling, "Heave Ho," to move together like rowers in a rowboat, he says.
NEW: Federal judge detains Patrick McCaughey, charged w/choking DC police officer at the Capitol w/a riot shield, pending trial.
Judge Andrew Krauss calls McCaughey's actions "extraordinarily disturbing."
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Interesting: Judge Cannon has told the defense and govt to file proposed jury instructions defining the terms of the Espionage Act disputed at last week's motions hearing and narrowing the Presidential Records Act claim by April 2.
That suggests...
at least in theory that she is intending to take Trump's classified documents case to trial.
It would seem (?) like a waste of time to ask the parties to define for the jury the disputed elements of the Espionage Act--i.e. the law's requirement that the govt prove Trump had "unauthorized possession" of docs related to "national defense"--if she wasn't picturing a trial.
JUST IN: Alexander Smirnov told the feds during an interview after is arrest that "officials associated with Russian intelligence" were involved in passing a story about Hunter Biden.
Smirnov also reported to the feds having contacts w/some pretty shady Russians including one connected to what seems like an assassination crew and an intel guy.
Now: The first Trump documents hearing in front of Judge Cannon in Florida has ended w/o a decision on the trial schedule. Cannon seemed skeptical of the govt’s request to go to trial in December but also seemed disinclined to let the trial stray until after the 2024 election.
Cannon pressed Trump’s lawyer if they wanted to delay the trial after voting and they affirmed they did. They said if a trial date must be set it should be for mid-Nov 2024.
Cannon said she would file a written order promptly.
Beneath the scheduling issues was a fascinating philosophical discussion of the nature of Trump as defendant. It revolved around the question of should Trump be treated like any other defendant or did his role as candidate need to be taken into account .
Now: DOJ responds, glancingly, to the uproar over the Jacob Chansley footage, clarifying that the images of him w/the police took place *after* he illegally entered the Senate gallery--the behavior that triggered his obstruction of Congress charge.
By glancingly, I mean prosecutors responded to the complaints of another defendant, Dominic Pezzola of the Proud Boys, about the footage, and clarified their position on the new video.
"In sum," prosecutors wrote, "Chansley was not some passive, chaperoned observer of events for the roughly hour that he was unlawfully inside the Capitol."
We've just received more information about the tantalizing FBI data snafu that temporarily paused the Proud Boys sedition trial late week for an evidentiary
A quick thread.
Background: The dispute concerns a log of internal FBI chats from one of the case agents, Nicole Miller. The log was given to the defense for impeachment of her testimony. Miller minimized or hid responses from other agents since, govt says, they were outside scope of cross-ex.
But the defense found the minimizations & opened them up. The newly opened messages had some tantalizing things from another agent who was writing to Miller. There were also some places where Miller's responses to that agent appeared to be missing.
Update: Prosecutors have told the judge in the Proud Boys sedition case that the Jencks issue may have been a result of a "spill" of classified information.
No one seems to know exactly what that means at this point.
Jocelyn Ballentine, the prosecutor who oversees the J6 conspiracy cases, tells Judge Kelly that the spreadsheet of internal FBI comms at issue here contained classified messages from "one other agent who does clandestine work" but who did not take part in the Proud Boys case.
The Proud Boys trial data issue is threatening to spin off into true chaos.
Norm Pattis, lawyer for Joe Biggs, is calling for the appointment of a special master to examine the spreadsheet of internal FBI comms to check for any classified messages.
(Gonna say that's unlikely...)