#SeditionHunters - Alex Jones finally appeared for his deposition yesterday, mostly pleading the 5th. To remind: on Jan 6 Alex began trekking to the Capitol exactly when needed to bring crowds, seemingly on instructions, and the whole InfoWars crew seemed to expect the attack. 1/
Alex did not rush to the Capitol - instead he leads a crowd there only about 1:34 PM, when the attack had stalled. It's the same moment Proud Boy Zach Rehl texts "We’re at a standstill, cops are dropping concussion bombs and pepper spraying..." 1/
You can see the sequence in our agency response timeline. Breaches are in red. Notice after an initial swift attack, there's a blank: for nearly an hour, officers held off the attack on the W. Plaza. That's when Rehl texts, and Alex Jones and Ali Alexander head to the Capitol. 2/
During this "faceoff" period, you can the Proud Boys re-regrouping. You can also see efforts to build up the crowd; Alex & Ali are involved. This is the ONLY time all day when Ali Tweets instructions to his followers: first come to the Capitol, then go around the other side. 3/
That "messages" timeline was made for the Alex Jones and Ali Alexander depositions, to show how their actions served a strategic purpose on Jan 6th. Yesterday Alex pleaded the 5th rather than explain them. 4/
The InfoWars Jan 6 show makes clear they expected the attack. Listen to host Harrison Smith cheerfully talk about expected attacks on State Capitols - and then stop, dumbfounded and angry, after a rumor spreads that Trump has called the National Guard. 5/
Joe Biggs, who marched over 200 Proud Boys to the Capitol and led the attack, is a former employee of Alex Jones at InfoWars. Alex is deeply tied with the people directing the assault - and on Jan 6, they openly say they met with him. (h/t @creek_twit) 6/
These people are all connected, deeply, and with links that pre-date Trump. Biggs first appears on Alex's show in 2013, 8 years before the Capitol attack. But to understand their tangled connections you need to go back further, to when Biggs says he served in Afghanistan... 7/
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Today 19 Dem Senators helped enable both Trump's attack on science and the techbro power grab by confirming the most unqualified person ever to lead the Office of Science & Technology Policy: a non-scientist (BA in politics) who spent 8 years working for Peter Thiel. 1/
The Senate-confirmed head of OSTP has ALWAYS been a high-level scientist - this is the person who advises the president on science and technology. Why Kratsios? Because he's a Thiel protege. In 2017, Trump picked him up directly from his job at Thiel Capital - a VC guy. 2/
By now Kratisos is in AI. In Dec. Trump nominated a slew of AI-tinged science advisors. Of 4 names here, only one (the woman) has science PhD: Lynne Parker is an EE prof & NSF director. The other 3 are Thiel / Andreessen VC men, techbro nepo babies. The Pete Hegseths of tech. 3/
Mother Jones has written on this story from 2023, that our now-US-Attorney for DC brokered Michael Flynn's pardon as a quid pro quo. I can't QT Dan Friedman since he's since blocked me. But Martin's involvement in Flynn's pardon is an important story and it's worth revisiting. 1/
This paragraph in the article, which says Ali Alexander used Ed Martin to process funds for the Jan 6 rally, seems wrong, maybe got scrambled. Charlie Kirk's TPUSA handled the money, which Caroline Wren got from donor Julie Fancelli. There IS an Ed Martin connection tho... 2/
Ali Alexander's testimony shows the J6C were going after Ed Martin's involvement with busing people to DC. They ask if Martin fronted money for buses and got reimbursed by Kirk's TPUSA. Ali swears he doesn't know about logistics, just helped publicize. 3/ govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GP…
As Trump begins disobeying court orders, watch for support from Josh Hawley (Yale Law, here with new theories on how US courts work) and Ted Cruz (Princeton). Both are proteges of Peter Thiel (Stanford), as is JD Vance (Yale). Hawley & Cruz were key to Trump's plans on Jan 6.. 1/
In the weeks leading up to January 6, Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz were treated as a pair by other Senators, and were assumed to be LEADING the plot. Trump called them over and over in the hours before the attack, threatened them after. He'll use them now. 2/
On Jan 6, Hawley and Cruz were the two Senators who stood to sustain objections to the vote - vital for producing a delay. Then night before, Trump called Hawley 3 times and Cruz once. On Jan 6 he called Hawley again. He needed them then, and will now. 3/
Why is Chuck Schumer caving and supporting Trump's spending bill, despite public outrage? Note that Schumer's in deep with the crypto industry, the largest donor of the last election cycle and the same Silicon Valley set trying to take over the U.S. now 1/ cnn.com/2025/03/13/pol…
Schumer had already caved by staying servile to the industry that denied him a Senate majority by spending $40M to knock out Sherrod Brown. They took Schumer's power! For him to rationalize supporting Trump's spending bill is just a small step further. 2/ commondreams.org/news/sherrod-b…
In 2024 Schumer feuded with Sherrod Brown, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, over Brown's push to regulate crypto. Schumer then became Kamala Harris' crypto liaison, even as crypto poured millions into taking the Senate from him by defeating Brown. 3/ prospect.org/power/2024-04-…
This story is truly alarming - @kyledcheney has buried the lede. The FBI has told Citibank that recipients of EPA climate grants are being considered as potentially liable for fraud. That is, the Trump administration wants to criminalize work on climate science and impacts. 1/
It's staggering that this could happen in the US: an incoming administration not only cancels federal grants but declares recipients as criminals. All these grantees applied under government calls FOR ENVIRONMENTAL WORK, were reviewed and accepted. Trump wants to jail them. 2/
Obviously we need more details but the letter from the FBI lists 28 organizations, mostly nonprofits serving communities: e.g. the DC Green Bank helps DC residents finance solar energy and building efficiency projects. This is not fraud. This is targeted harassment. 3/
Many people are talking about the WSJ's new reporting that Kash Patel wants to live part-time in Las Vegas and run the FBI remotely. Seems like people missed some key context provided earlier by the Nevada Independent: Kash lives there with timeshare scammer Michael Muldoon. 1/
The Nevada Independent reports that Patel, who's known Muldoon since at least 2019, has been registered to vote at Muldoon's Las Vegas home since January 2022. Muldoon states in FEC filings he lives there too. But he won't answer questions about Patel. 2/ thenevadaindependent.com/article/trump-…
What's disturbing about this is the secrecy. Kash won't explain, and Muldoon hung up on reporters. The FBI Director, who is privy to the nation's secrets, isn't supposed to have secrets of his own. It's a security risk. Reporters must demand an explanation. 3/