#SeditionHunters - today's arrest of former Green Beret & Florida Congressional candidate Jeremy Brown suggests that FBI now has a strategy for going after the semi-organized groups who arrived armed and ready on Jan 6, but remained on the edges waiting. 1/
Brown's Signal chat (L) shows intent to storm the Capitol; he called his group "Ground Force One". But, on Jan 6, while he was on the E. Plaza, he didn't attack. (The pic at R is him shoved BY police). How to avoid a defense of `selective prosecution'? 2/ extremism.gwu.edu/sites/g/files/…
Brown's charging documents start with 11 pages describing the Capitol attack in detail as an attempt to stop certification of the election. Only on p. 12 do "facts specific" to him appear. He's quoted as telling police they're "violating the laws"... 3/
..but documents spend more time on intent, pre-planning, & coordination than on Jan 6 actions. He met beforehand with someone who pled guilty to conspiracy (likely an Oath Keeper since he is #GoatOK, h/t @bennybryant17 ). Watch his March interview... 4/
Brown aka #GoatOK was interviewed by FBI already in early Jan; he claimed his role was to "provide[] security for VIPs at the 'Stop the Steal' rally." By Oct., FBI's made it clear that excuse doesn't wash. Pre-planning, knowledge of the attack, presence on grounds seem enough. 5/
Brown / #GoatOK's interview was posted by @visionsurreal in July in thread exploring links between 1AP and groups like the Oath Keepers. By now it is very clear that many groups were at the Capitol, with coordination and some view of a larger plan. 6/
At end of day, a frustrated Jeremy Brown, like many other Capitol 'hard men', was sulking on the NE path, fuming over the police pushback. Hear him shout about "tyrants all over the world". (h/t @OSINTyeti, & journo @sandibachom for great footage). 7/
Track Jeremy Brown throughout the day on Jan 6 w/ help from @OSINTyeti. In the morning he's at the Ellipse rally wearing a baseball cap (L), in the afternoon on the E. Plaza in tactical vest and bike helmet (top R), then at end of day on the NE path with gear off (bottom R). 8/
Photographer Yuri Gripas caught Jeremy Brown aka #GoatOK at the morning rally with other Oath Keepers. The OKs are one of the few militia groups at the Capitol in full-blown logo gear; even Brown has his shirt with gold lettering on - you can see it peeking out of his jacket. 9/
For an interesting perspective on Brown's presence at the Capitol (& on political grandstanding by servicemembers in general), here's a Connecting Vets article by journalist @JackMurphyRGR, who served with Brown & saw his radicalization in recent years 10/ audacy.com/connectingvets…
Another interesting article by @JackMurphyRGR from Aug. 2020 mentions the now-arrested Jeremy Brown (his "team sergeant") as an example of a veteran falling for conspiracy theories after leaving the service. 11/ audacy.com/connectingvets…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Our new Navy Director of Communications watched the action at the Capitol on Jan 6 for Breitbart News. Her worst post might be this one: she flippantly captioned a video of people attacking the North Doors: "Things got a lil sporty here". To her it was a joke. Video tk. 1/
Here's Wong's video of the attack on the North Doors. She can claim she was just a reporter, but her caption shows that she thinks an attack on our Capitol and officers is funny. @SECNAV: is this the message you want to send to the troops, who swear to uphold the Constitution? 2/
Actual reporters, not Breitbart hacks, should ask @SecNav John Phelan: why was Kristina Wong picked? Is this the right message to send the US Navy? That attacking our own Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power is just "a lil sporty"? 3/
It's clear by now: we WILL lose US democracy without a civil society pushback. Today the universities finally rose up, bluntly denouncing "undue government intrusion". The coalition is is now top-heavy with establishment heavyweights. Summary follows. 1/ theguardian.com/us-news/2025/a…
Who signed? Let's start with the Ivies. Status-worship is gross, but it matters that they're nearly all leading now:
* Ivy: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Penn, Brown
NOT Columbia, Dartmouth
* Ivy-plus: MIT, Duke
NOT Stanford, Univ. of Chicago
2/
continuing... universities with big research arms:
* Other elite tech:
NOT Caltech, Rice, Georgia Tech
* Big state R1s: Rutgers, U WA, U MD, U WI Madison, U HI, UC Riverside, Stony Brook
NOT U MI, UIUC, other UCs, UT, etc.
3/
When Trump's goons threatened Harvard it was clear what would happen: first PR, then lawyers. Harvard has now filed suit, solo against 8 government agencies. Two main points: 1) government did not follow procedure, 2) government cannot dictate speech. 1/ harvard.edu/research-fundi…
As you'd expect, Harvard has also put out a smooth letter explaining their lawsuit. It starts by outlining the 5 attacks Trump has made on Harvard. Then pivots to defending research. Then thoughts on antisemitism - giving Trump an offramp he could take. 2/ harvard.edu/president/news…
More careful work: Harvard has kept the 2 ultra-Trumpy lawyers originally hired to negotiate, but added 14 more from 2 specialty law firms: Ropes & Gray, experts in life sciences & pharma research, and Lehotsky Keller Cohn, experts in federal regulations. Choose your fighter. 3/
The public needs to learn how Kristi Noem, a cabinet official with Secret Service protection, got her purse snatched with DHS badge, passport, maybe phone: now a security risk. If she'd asked the SS to stand down for privacy, we need to know who was she having dinner with. 1/
Either #1: Noem had an intimate restaurant dinner (on Easter?) she felt was so important she put US security at risk. Or, #2: Noem didn't ask the Secret Service to back off, and our elite agency let a purse-snatcher get within arm's length of a cabinet secretary. Or.. 2/
Or, #3: everyone is lying and something else happened that resulted in Noem losing her badge and passport. We cannot know without more reporting. Reporters should not let this story get lost in the deluge of scandal. It needs follow-up. 3/
The Trump admin now CLAIMS to have made a mistake. Not "acknowledges". Trump's clowns sent a letter signed by 3 government officials, got the predictable response (mighty Harvard swung into battle), tried to amplify and flopped, and so now are whining it's all Harvard's fault. 1/
The NYT article is pretty good. It repeats admin claims, but makes it clear that they're in chaos. They know they messed up and are scrambling. Predictably, Harvard had been negotiating, before that letter - but it sent them into battle. Unpaywalled link: archive.is/YsHpJ
The timeline: as soon as Harvard rolled out their resistance PR on Monday, the Trump admin knew they blew it. Immediately tried to walk it back. Harvard says no. On Wednesday, they escalated the threats. Still no. Now they're down to complaining it's all Harvard's fault. 3/
A new attack on Harvard, another attempt to impose government control. Trump first tried with $: canceling researchers' grants, threatening taxes. Now an attack via visas: to deport ALL Harvard's international students (38% of PhDs doing lab research). 1/ thecrimson.com/article/2025/4…
Trump's demand, again, is a classic from the fascist playbook: to force Harvard to monitor its students and report to the US government. This visa threat can't be countered with money. But Trump is missing one key issue. Many Harvard international undergrads are global elites. 2/
Harvard educates the children of Saudi sheiks and Russian oligarchs and Greek shipping magnates. Deporting the PhD students would cripple Harvard research. Deporting the UGs would alienate powerful people across the world, people whose respect Trump craves. He may not dare. 3/