Hoo boy. A detention hearing is about to start for Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin. Someone on the line goes, if you can hear me say "canteloupe," a bunch of people say canteloupe, dude laughs and says he was messing with everyone. Chatter chatter. Finally court mutes all.
Detention hearing has started for Couy Griffin, founder of Cowboys for Trump, before Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui in DC. Prosecutors are seeking pretrial detention, arguing he's a danger + flight risk; Griffin is arguing for release
Hearing begins with the judge officially approving Griffin's court-appointed lawyers because he attests he can't afford counsel (he has lawyers from the panel of private lawyers who handle court-appointed cases, not from the federal public defender office)
AUSA Janani Iyengar arguing now, says Griffin is a flight risk + govt is concerned about his vows to come back to DC with guns. Re: Griffin's arg that he's not accused of going *inside* the Capitol, Iyengar says he went past barriers into a clearly restricted area
Griffin's lawyer is up, says he has finally taken a COVID test and is out of isolation and in the general population at the DC Jail
Re: issues with Griffin's nonparticipation at his first court appearance by phone, his lawyer claims he didn't understand what jail guards were telling him was going on because he's hard of hearing and they were wearing masks. Judge says don't worry about it, moving on
Griffin's lawyer begins his arguments by noting that Griffin is facing a single misdemeanor count, as opposed to other cases where the govt also argued for detention for defendants who are facing more serious felonies — argues this mitigates flight risk
Griffin's lawyer says he's not a "crazy person" but made "unfortunate statements" — he doesn't specify which ones — and he understands why the govt is concerned, but there's case law that says the judge can't consider that in deciding whether to grant pretrial release
For a refresher, the govt has highlighted comments Griffin made after the Jan. 6 insurrection about going back to DC for inauguration, including, "there’s gonna be blood running out of that building"
Faruqui is preparing to announce his decision re: Griffin. He begins by going through factors the court considers for detention. Griffin's lawyer argued the govt asks for detention all the time, but Faruqui says the govt has taken a "very measured approach" in the Capitol cases
Now: A federal magistrate judge just announced from the bench that he's ordering pretrial detention for Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin, agreeing with the govt that there are no possible release conditions. More to come
Judge says what Griffin is charged with isn't a simple misdemeanor — he says it's "beyond implausible" people didn't know the area was restricted, they were there *because* Congress was there with VP Pence to certify the election and transition of power was "at its crescendo"
Judge says Griffin's arg that he didn't go inside the Capitol isn't persuasive, that it's not a situation where it's ok to go as far as you can into a restricted area as long as you do it politely. He also says he considers Griffin's comments threatening violence — "words matter"
Judge says Griffin's refusal to recognize the results of the election — and that being the reason he participated in the insurrection — worked against him in arguing he would follow a judge's orders if released. Also notes he showed no remorse and "doubled down" after Jan. 6
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