A thread, if you'll indulge me.
Tomorrow, a federal judge will hand down what will almost certainly be the strongest U.S. Capitol attack sentence to date.
But this story really starts with "Amy" and a team of citizens who came together on this very website after Jan. 6.
Tomorrow, a federal judge will hand down what will almost certainly be the strongest U.S. Capitol attack sentence to date.
But this story really starts with "Amy" and a team of citizens who came together on this very website after Jan. 6.
Last January, when Amy was at home isolating with COVID, she sickened by the brutal attack she saw unfolding at the U.S. Capitol.
The feds said they needed help. So Amy joined the hunt.
huffpost.com/entry/robert-p…
The feds said they needed help. So Amy joined the hunt.
huffpost.com/entry/robert-p…
As she watched footage of the awful assault on officers in the tunnel at the top of the inauguration platform, one suspect really jumped out at her.
It was a man in an American flag sweatshirt emblazoned with Trump's name.
huffpost.com/entry/robert-p…
It was a man in an American flag sweatshirt emblazoned with Trump's name.
huffpost.com/entry/robert-p…
The FBI was overwhelmed. But a growing community of online sleuths from all walks of life were putting pieces of the puzzle together using whatever skills they could bring to the table. huffpost.com/entry/sedition…
The FBI wasn't build for this kind of massive digital manhunt. For the first few weeks, in fact, the bureau was issuing PDFs featuring 10 tiny thumbnail photos of potential suspects. (They've since upgraded a bit.) huffpost.com/entry/fbi-capi…
The Capitol investigation is incomprehensibly large, and the FBI is a massive bureaucracy with a lot of silos. They were dealing with literally hundreds of thousands of tips. They didn't have the manpower to scour hours and hours of public video. huffpost.com/entry/fanone-t…
Americans were turning in people they knew personally (or at least knew from social media) left and right: huffpost.com/entry/facebook…
But in those early days, the budding #SeditionHunters community was doing critical work that is still paying off today and will continue to pay off going forward. (Remember, they're still a very long road ahead!) huffpost.com/entry/feds-mad…
A key power of the #SeditionHunters community early on was seizing the power of the crowd. You needed lots of eyes.
That's how someone found #FloridaFlagJacket, who'd assaulted police officers with a fire extinguisher, saying his name on a livestream.
huffpost.com/entry/robert-p…
That's how someone found #FloridaFlagJacket, who'd assaulted police officers with a fire extinguisher, saying his name on a livestream.
huffpost.com/entry/robert-p…
Amy turned Robert Scott Palmer into the FBI. But her tip got buried in an overwhelmed bureaucracy. Weeks after she's already correctly identified Palmer, the FBI added his image to their website, looking for tips. huffpost.com/entry/robert-p…
After we identified Danny Rodriguez as the rioter who electroshocked Officer Mike Fanone, Amy reached out. huffpost.com/entry/fanone-t…
Amy had the goods, and she trusted us to tell the story. So @JessReports gave Robert Scott Palmer a ring. He thought he'd gotten away with it. huffpost.com/entry/robert-p…
He had not. Palmer lawyered up and turned himself into the FBI just 12 days later. huffpost.com/entry/florida-…
The story behind Robert Scott Palmer's identification -- self-doxxing in a livestream -- looks fairly simple if you compared it to some of the more mind-blowing and technologically sophisticated finds by online sleuths: huffpost.com/entry/logan-ba…
But imagine how much longer this case may have took if it wasn't for citizen efforts. There was even a case where a rioter said his name on police body camera that took longer because the video wasn't publicly available. huffpost.com/entry/nicholas…
Which brings us to this week. Robert Scott Palmer now says he realizes that he was conned by a "false narrative about a stolen election," and says he now realizes Trump and his team "were the tyrannical ones desperate to hold on to power at any cost." huffpost.com/entry/trump-li…
Robert Scott Palmer has been locked up since his guilty plea in October. Tomorrow, he'll appear before Judge Tanya Chutkan to learn his fate. DOJ is seeking more than five years in federal prison. Stay tuned.
huffpost.com/entry/trump-ca…
huffpost.com/entry/trump-ca…
After he assaulted cops during the Capitol attack, Robert Scott Palmer’s Facebook page looked just as you’d imagine it would.
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