(PS) Right now I’m working on a shocking follow-up to this article. By “shocking” I mean that it’s literally full of things that I didn’t previously know and am shocked by. Its focus will be not just on Grassley and—critically—his staff, but also on Clarence Thomas’s wife Ginni.
(PS2) I want to add how thrilled I am at how large the PROOF community is getting. The comment sections are so vibrant—with new leads offered and great comments like this: “Grassley’s statement could’ve been the exact reason Pence didn’t get in the Secret Service car [on 1/6].”
(PS3) Indeed, <24 hours after Grassley inexplicably said—appearing to do Trump’s bidding—that on January 6 Pence might find himself having to “step away” from the Capitol, Secret Service agents Pence believed were doing Trump’s bidding asked him to.... step away from the Capitol.
(PS4) To be clear, the evidence suggests that Pence was aware of Grassley’s comments, and that his office had to move proactively on Insurrection Eve—when it had a million things to do—to push back on Grassley and whoever (if anyone) was behind the statements Grassley was making.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
1/ Americans already know the information House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy would testify to before the House January 6 Committee (though to be clear, PROOF still believes he must be subpoenaed and deposed).
We know what he’ll say because he’s said it publicly at least twice.
2/ CNN reports McCarthy revealed the content of his January 6 call with Trump both in a January 12, 2021 radio interview *and* in a transcribed GOP caucus meeting—and we also have testimony from another Republican rep, who McCarthy described the call to shortly after it happened.
Rep. Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger), note too that in the video Cruz shows it's domestic terrorist Tim Gionet—who was subsequently arrested for storming the Capitol, and from his own livestream always intended to do so—who starts the "Fed!" chant Cruz now deems inculpatory of *Epps*.
PS/ And @AdamKinzinger, PROOF published more sections from the Gionet-Epps exchange that explain *why* Gionet began a "Fed!" chant. Epps had already mentioned storming the Capitol to Gionet on camera—before which Gionet tried to stop him *because he didn't want the words filmed*.
PS2/ So we *know*—the evidence confirms—that the "Fed!" chant was launched by a group that was *planning* to storm the Capitol on January 6 and didn't want Epps (who was not in their group) giving up the plan in a livestream in a way that would lead to a law enforcement response.
If you follow the far right closely, you’ve noticed that with greater and greater frequency it is employing a particular disinformation technique on a key topic: it repeatedly—and falsely—says “the left” wants “civil war” as a means of moving the Overton Window in that direction.
(PS) Needless to say, these far-right media personalities would retreat to their bunkers or take a long vacation overseas if there were ever to be widespread civil unrest in America. They’re stoking violent fervor on the right because it gets them attention and makes them money.
(PS2) Also, I guess it goes without saying that what Jones is putting out in this video is somewhere two football fields beyond preposterous. The notion that the FBI whips up an investigation and arrest as a 24-hour “quick response” to something it sees on TV is almost hilarious.
I wrote a book on the first Russian invasion of Ukraine (Proof of Corruption, 2020), then took to Twitter to say that the evidence we see now—and all we know about Putin—suggests he’ll invade again. For some reason, folks got angry. Well, see what happens. cnn.com/2022/01/14/pol…
(PS) Putin’s scheme in Ukraine is *so transparently obvious* that not only is it apocalyptically condescending that he’s going through certain motions to pretend he won’t invade, but it’s almost *as* condescending that the federal government keeps telling us this can be avoided.
(PS2) The sort of actions that would be required to prevent Russia from invading Europe for the second time in a decade are just the sort of actions no one in the federal government is willing to take. NATO should have been *melodramatically expanding itself* this entire decade.
(🔐) PROOF: "The Story Behind the 'Ray Epps' Conspiracy Theory Now Burning Through Congress and Far-Right Social Media"
This is both absolutely unbelievable *and* absolutely believable. The depths insurrectionists sink to to cover their trail are amazing. sethabramson.substack.com/p/the-story-be…
1/ The key point here is that Ray Epps was *chosen*—he was selected to be the target of this conspiracy theory, and *not* for the reasons the insurrectionists say. (This is why the conspiracy theory makes no sense; it started with a need to "get" Epps, not any coherent evidence.)
2/ The reason the *intent* behind the "Ray Epps" conspiracy theory has to be understood is that otherwise it will seem like the insurrectionists—and those among their leaders in Congress who are now parroting the theory in hearings—are merely delusional. No, it's worse than that.
One day America will wake up and realize that if Donald Trump’s political plants inside the Secret Service get VP Pence into that car in the Capitol garage on January 6, 2021, events—and American democracy—turn out very differently.
That’s how close we came to losing everything.
The January 6 scandal inside the Secret Service that PROOF has reported on repeatedly should be a major topic of conversation in America. I’ve detailed a concerted effort by Trump to infiltrate the Secret Service in a way he aimed to exploit on January 6. sethabramson.substack.com/p/a-january-6-…
Remember, Trump’s backup plan was to have six state legislatures meet in special session the week of January 6 to issue declarations casting legal doubt on the slates of electors that had been sent to DC. Giuliani insisted he only needed 48 hours to get competing slates to DC.