Thread by @ChristopherJM

Mornin'. It's day 17/week 4 of Sines v Kessler in Charlottesville. Defense will continue cross-examining Chris Cantwell, plaintiffs last witness. We should hear defense's case today. Closing arguments maybe tomorrow? Folks saying this is on track to wrap up Friday but we'll see.

Here's a thread from yesterday. Things got pretty rowdy in court:

https://twitter.com/ChristopherJM/status/1460246854013263884

And here's my summary of what went down for @BuzzFeedNews: buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…

We are now hearing neo-nazi Chris Cantwell cross-examine himself because he's defending himself in court (more on that: buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…)

Cantwell begins by asking the judge to clarify if he needs to actually ask himself questions and then answer them.

Cantwell crossing himself is just one of the many, many surreal elements of this trial, now in its fourth week. Cantwell begins his cross by playing a clip from his podcast in which he spouts vile and racist things. How he thinks this is going to help his case, I have no idea.

Cantwell gets scolded by Judge Moon for playing a clip in which he talks about Tucker Carlson's opinions. He tells the court that "The message here is politics is violence."

ICYMI, Cantwell, who is serving a prison sentence for an unrelated crime, has been watching Tucker Carlson every evening in the slammer with a group of neo-nazis and white supremacists. buzzfeednews.com/article/christ…

Plaintiffs interrupt Cantwell's nonsensical rant now to ask for a sidebar with the judge. "I'm just gonna close it. The point has been made," Cantwell says, avoiding that sidebar. But he's still talking...and thumbing through notes.

Loooong awkward silence in court while we wait for Cantwell to play a video.

Now he says he needs to reboot the computer.

More silence.

Judge Moon after several minutes of silence: "How much longer do you think this will take?"

OK so after short discussion the plaintiffs offered (and Cantwell agreed it was fine) to play two short videos to end their case. First is a video interview with Ben Dailey of the Rise Above Movement who was at Charlottesville and a violent rally in Berkeley.

Plaintiffs counsel to Daley: You conspired to commit violence with others at Unite the Right in Charlottesville in 2017?
Daley: Yes.
Plaintiffs show a signed statement of offense in which Daley states this.

Plaintiffs counsel asking Daley about Rise Above Movement, RAM. He says he was one of the founders (others include Robert Rundo, who is hiding out in Europe). A photo of RAM members Daly and Rundo and others wearing skull masks being shown now.

Q: Isn't it true that RAM regularly helped prepare people for violence at political rallies?
Daley: Yes.

Q: You would go to rallies with RAM with the expectation that there would be physical violence with protesters?
Daley: Yes, it was well known that there was more than likely going to be confrontations.

Daley says RAM members would do combat training a couple times a month throughout 2017.

Asked if the training was aimed for combat with protesters at political rallies specifically, Daley takes the fifth.

At the Battle of Berkeley, Daley says he and RAM members met up with 10-12 Identity Evropa members, including Nathan Damigo. (IE and Damigo are defendants in this Unite the Right lawsuit.)

Video of violence at Battle of Berkeley plays showing RAM guys punching protesters, including a woman. A post by Daley after that calling for white nationalists to come to Unite the Right shown. It reads: "It's going to be like Berkeley again, going to be the event of the year."

Plaintiffs' counsel asks a series of questions to Daley about his violent actions at Unite the Right, to which he mostly pleads the fifth to not incriminate himself.

He does admit to striking counterprotesters with a torch and says his violent actions were not in self-defense. But he doesn't want to answer a question about going there specifically seeking violence.

Daley pleads the fifth when asked a series of questions about bringing weapons to Unite the Right and encouraging other white nationalists to do so.

This Daley deposition is damning. It shows there was recruitment, planning, & coordination among violent white nationalists to commit racially motivated violence at Unite the Right in 2017. This is the heart of the plaintiffs case and what they must ultimately prove to the jury.

Daley video ends with counsel showing Daley a photo of himself from Unite the Right in which he appears to be making a throat-slicing gesture. But asked about it, Daley says he was making a "sideways thumbs-up." Counsel follows up, "The old sideways thumbs-up?" "Yep," says Daley.

Next video deposition from the plaintiffs is League of the South's Brad Griffin. He's saying he promoted Unite the Right with Jason Kessler and Elliott Kline, defendants in this lawsuit. He also says he saw several of the defendants at the rally.

OK back to Cantwell who apparently was able to reboot his computer and now has his video ready to show to the court as part of his cross-examination of himself.

The video is footage of Cantwell at the Unite the Right torch march. He plays it in normal speed, telling the jury he can be seen trying to disarm a female counterprotester and heard shouting, "Take that shit from her. Take that shit from her. Get that fucking stick."

Cantwell plays it again in slow motion and we hear all of that cursing in slooowww moootiooon.

Cantwell wraps up his own cross-examination.

After a short break, Michael Bloch is redirecting after Cantwell's own cross-examination. He's showing Cantwell's video back to him and circling him in it. He's showing RAM's Ben Daley also circled beside Cantwell. And that's it. Bloch is done. Cantwell steps down.

Judge Moon reading to court now 'facts to be deemed as true' about Elliott Kline because he failed to comply with his obligations in the case. He was leader of Identity Evropa in 2017...

Kline entered into an agreement with one or more co-conspirators to enter into a conspiracy to commit racially motivated violence in Charlottesville on Aug. 11 and 12, 2017. He was motivated by racial animus against racial minorities, Jewish people, and their supporters.

Same with Robert "Azzmador" Ray. He entered into an agreement with one or more co-conspirators to enter into a conspiracy to commit racially motivated violence in Charlottesville. He was motivated by racial animus against racial minorities, Jewish people, and their supporters.

Judge Moon on the sanctions continued: After Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville Ray and Kline ratified the racially motivated violence that occurred at Unite the Right.

This doesn't relieve plaintiffs of the burden to prove their case in regards to the other defendants in the case.

Roberta Kaplan says the plaintiffs rest their case.

Cantwell is making a rule 50 motion in court. Judge sent out the jury for 10 min or so. Cantwell says there's been no evidence showing he planned, coordinated, or committed racially motivated violence, just that he has "unfashionable political views."

Spencer up and making the same rule 50 motion. He claims there's been nothing shown in court that shows he conspired with co-defendants to commit racially motivated violence. Spencer and Cantwell want the case dismissed.

Judge Moon now responding. He is laying into the defendants saying the court looks at the evidence in light most favorable to the plaintiffs. He says this appears like a clearly coordinated plan by the defendants to come to Charlottesville and commit racially motivated violence.

But he says it's a jury issue to decide whether they conspired to do this.

Judge Moon says it doesn't take much to be part of a conspiracy. "You just get in there, be there, go along with it, support it. You're part of the conspiracy. You have a misunderstanding, I'm afraid, of what conspiracy is. It's a long instruction but I read it several times."

You guessed it: Judge Moon denies all rule 50 motions at this time.

Defense is up to present its case. Richard Spencer goes first. "It's a bit like I'm asking myself questions," says Spencer, who is without a lawyer defending himself in court.

Spencer's defense is poorly put together. It's basically a video of him saying to police he isn't violent; video of him saying he & white nationalists were holding their ground while being kicked & hit; pics of him after being maced; selfies of him smiling.

He's presenting an alternative narrative to the plaintiffs'. This is his attempt to show he was peaceful and not seeking out violence at Unite the Right on Aug. 11 and 12, 2017. He's actually arguing that counterprotesters sought him out and targeted him for violence.

Spencer is entering in his own defense the recording of his vile "I RULE THE FUCKING WORLD" rant made on Aug. 12, 2017, after Heather Heyers was murdered by James Fields that day. Spencer says this is him warts and all.

Spencer plays the horrific recording and steps back from the podium, listening with his head down and finger pressed on his chin. He then tells the jury the "I'm so fucking angry" line in the video was about the city of Charlottesville for not allowing him to speak.

Spencer shows a tweet from Aug. 12, 12:38pm, in which he wrote,"My recommendation: Disperse. Get out of Charlottesville city limits. State of emergency has been called. "I had some bad moments that day, but I also had some good moments," he says. "I made the right call."

Spencer shows another tweet, from Aug. 18, 2017. It's him saying he "will no longer associate w/ Jason Kessler; no one should." It's a quote tweet of Kessler's vulgar tweet about Heather Heyer. But this is after Unite the Right.

Spencer wants to go through the entirety of his "What It Means To Be Alt-Right" manifesto but Judge Moon stops him and tells him to summarize it only. Spencer complains the plaintiffs have spent three and a half weeks presenting their case.

Spencer going on a tangent but Judge Moon tries to reel him back in, scolding him now. Spencer is arguing again that the plaintiffs took three weeks with their case. "This is going beyond the scope of this trial," Judge Moon tells Spencer.

Spencer raises his voice at Judge Moon: "I'm trying to humanize myself and I'm trying to do it in a reasonable amount of time."
"Well now we're going to lunch," Judge Moon says.

The second half of today has been neo-nazi Chris Cantwell presenting his defense, merely a series of shaky videos from Unite the Right & conspiracy theories stemming from them about counterprotesters allegedly being after him & targeting him for violence during Unite the Right.

At least twice — as if this situation wasn't surreal enough — Cantwell asked himself a question in court and then answered his own question. He acted it out like he was two different people. I wish I had a gif for this...

Court wrapped today with discussion about closing arguments, set for Thursday. Plaintiffs will get 2.5 hrs while defense will get 3.5 hrs. The two sides agreed today on the length of time. Jury will spend Friday in deliberations and everyone hopes a verdict will come before wknd.

In related news… James Fields, a defendant in this civil trial and the neo-nazi who rammed his car into counter-protesters and murdered activist Heather Heyer at 'Unite the Right' rally, has been denied appeal. wset.com/news/local/man…