In response to Rep. Mo Brooks seeking to have the US govt substituted as a defendant in Rep. Swalwell's Jan. 6 lawsuit — arguing he was acting within scope of employment — House GC says it won't participate, and disputes Brooks' theory to DOJ s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2101…
DOJ is also due to respond to Brooks' motion today, but there's no time deadline, so it could come in whenever tonight
Just in: DOJ won't certify that Rep. Mo Brooks was acting within the scope of his employment when he made the statements that got him sued by Rep. Swalwell for allegedly inciting the Jan. 6 riots.
DOJ: "The record indicates that Brooks’s appearance at the January 6 rally was campaign activity, and it is no part of the business of the United States to pick sides among candidates in federal election"
This doesn't end the fight totally — it's still up to the judge to grant or deny Brooks's motion to certify that he was acting w/in the scope of his employment and substitute the US govt as the defendant. But it's a much steeper hill to climb without DOJ on board
New tonight: The Justice Dept. won't agree to take over Rep. Mo Brooks' defense against claims that he conspired to undermine the election and incite the Jan. 6 riots. Brooks can keep arguing for a judge to force DOJ to do it, but he faces a steep climb buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
DOJ doesn't cite the E. Jean Carroll case, but explains where they draw the line — the feds will sometimes have to defend conduct they don't approve of, but not when an employee (member of Congress) is accused of trying to thwart their employer (Congress) buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
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Good morning from Chief Judge Beryl Howell's virtual courtroom, where Jan. 6 defendant Jack Griffith is set to enter a guilty plea. More on Griffith -->
Griffith is pleading guilty to parading, demonstrating, or picketing in the Capitol, which is a misdemeanor carrying a max sentence of 6 mos in jail — note that the indictment lists a felony up top for obstructing Congress, but that's only for his co-def Matthew Bledsoe
Griffith is represented by H. Heather Shaner. Shaner's other clients include Anna Morgan-Lloyd, who you may recall was assigned by Shaner to read/watch content about racism and antisemitism and submitted reports pre-sentencing. @ryanjreilly on that: huffpost.com/entry/capitol-…
A court loss this morning for Trump et al. — the 2nd Circuit ruled he and his co. and his family can't force a lawsuit into arbitration that accuses them of fraud in promoting a multi-level marketing company s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2101…
ACN, the MLM company, was sued by people who claimed they were duped into investing. Trump had been a spox for ACN before becoming president. The plaintiffs said Trump's endorsement convinced them to invest, but ACN didn't tell them Trump was being paid for that endorsement...
...fast forward, aggrieved investors sue ACN and Trump. Trump tried to invoke an arbitration clause in the contract investors signed with ACN, but the district judge (and now 2nd Circuit) said nope b/c a big part of the case is that customers didn't know Trump was in biz with ACN
As Congress kicks off its Jan. 6 investigation, the steady drip, drip, drip of details about what happened on the ground that day from the 500+ criminal cases continues buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
As police officers testified on the Hill today and shared harrowing accounts of violence:
- two defendants pleaded guilty
- one defendant charged with assaulting police was ordered to stay in jail
- new charges were unsealed in another assault case buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Bouncing between the House hearing and court action in Jan. 6 cases today, it was striking to see how the macro-level focus of the former dovetailed with the micro-level focus of the latter buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…
Switching from the Jan. 6 hearing to a plea hearing for two Jan. 6 defendants, Lori and Thomas Vinson. Could hear someone else on the line listening to Officer Hodges testify as the line gets muted/unmuted before the hearing starts
Feds note Lori Vinson told an interviewer: "people have asked are you sorry that you done that, absolutely I am not, I am not sorry for that, I would do it again tomorrow"
A common theme we've seen in misdemeanor cases like the Vinsons is this idea that they didn't encounter police telling them they couldn't go inside the Capitol. The officers appearing before Congress now are describing how they were outnumbered/overwhelmed by the violent mob
@kadiagoba One of the most oft-played videos from Jan. 6 shows Officer Daniel Hodges screaming as he's pinned between a door and rioters with shields — that starts at around the 1:46 mark in this clipped exhibit from one of the prosecutions
@kadiagoba Here's an annotated video exhibit that prosecutors say shows the mob assaulting Officer Michael Fanone, and specifically defendant Thomas Sibick grabbing for the officer's badge and radio
Julian Khater, one of two men charged with conspiring to assault Officer Brian Sicknick at the Capitol with a chemical spray, will remain in jail — the DC Circuit rejected his appeal of a judge's detention order. No ruling yet in co-def George Tanios' case s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2101…
Panel that upheld pretrial detention for Khater features newly confirmed DC Circuit Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson
Circuit found the district judge made the required "individualized assessment of future dangerousness" and that detention was reasonable here given that Khater is charged with actual violence at the Capitol — "coolly walked up to police officers and assaulted them, twice"