BREAKING: Virginia couple Joshua & Jessica Bustle won’t get jail time for entering Capitol amid riot. Judge notes Bustles were in DC for anti-vaccine rally, not Trump rally. Despite inflammatory web posts, they say were unaware of violence as it happened politi.co/3iGyhEI
Joshua Bustle sentence: 24 months probation…30 days home confinement….40 hrs community service…no fine, $500 restitution
Judge says Jessica Bustle’s conduct was more serious….she gets 60 days home confinement (allows for work & medical appts)….$500 restitution…no fine….40 hrs community service….
Judge also mentions that Mrs. Bustle is pregnant….says he won’t lecture her on vaccine choices but hopes she’s reading appropriate and accurate media….
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HAPPENING NOW: Giuliani associates are seeking delay in their trial on campaign finance & fraud charges from October to next February. Wife of 1 defendant, Lev Parnas, is expecting in November.
Judge has carved out the most Giuliani-related portion of the case, though.
Prosecutor says 1-2 week trial and about a dozen witnesses
#CapitolRiot defendant Brandon Fellows left voicemail for pretrial services supervision in which he said of her colleague: ‘I know [she] was just trying to do her job and so were the Nazis.’ And: ‘This is how you radicalize people, man.'
Also he explained he didn’t want to come to pretrial services office in Albany, NY because his car was in disrepair and he didn’t want to take bus because: ‘I like starting fights random people over masks.'
Also made comments to pretrial officials about hormones and sex drive and his genitalia. He also allegedly called mother of a pretrial services officer which scared mother & her. Sent officer screenshot of Google search of her. Fellows has said he has mild autism.
Judge Mehta has rebuffed defendants' request to set a trial date now in Oathkeepers’ #capitolriot case, which keeps growing, standing at 16 defendants, with several others referenced but uncharged. Doc: bit.ly/3vFu1Je
Judge still talking about splitting trials into 2 or more if necessary because of impracticality of a trial that large. Of course, some defendants will likely plead out.
Carmen Hernandez, atty for deft Donovan Crowl: 'My concern is we’re at 16 defendants at this point and if the govenrment’s going to be be seuprseidng every two months, I don’t know where we end….’
Trump is claiming absolute immunity (again), saying that his speech on 1/6 and his actions challenging the election were taken in his official capacity as president. Brief also takes obligatory shots at some standard Trump targets...
Says Maxine Waters is 'far more culpable' for her statements related to Chauvin/George Floyd, than anything Trump said. Brief also says Swalwell makes 'poor decisions,' and references alleged honeytrap/China episode.
In court, #CapitolRiot arrestee Freddie Klein's defense attorney confirms POLITICO report that Klein was 'working the #FOIA desk' at State Department around time of the Jan. 6 assault. Earlier: politi.co/3eb9mXm
Klein's phone had 90GB of data on it, and prosecutors just got access to it this week because a taint team had to go through for possibly atty-client material.....
Govt struggling w/video at this hearing. I will predict that judge releases Klein w/conditions, probably GPS.
Note: Unlike a similar filing in Oregon a couple weeks ago, this new one has sign-off of DOJ HQ's National Security Division. DOJ wouldn't say if it signed off on the earlier one.
The new Main-Justice-approved brief appears to omit the provocative claim that prosecutors' use of the statute, which has an interference-with-commerce provision, was appropriate because many #BLM demonstrations included paid protesters.