The facts include "agreeing to take part in a plan developed by Rhodes to stop the lawful transfer of presidential power by January 20, 2021" by force.
At the end of a 🔥 statement of the offense, the prosecutors let us know that the details included do not constitute a "complete statement of all facts known by Joshua James or the government."(#2)
They're not telling all they know.
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The easiest way to get convictions is to get people to plead guilty. Duh, right?
The DOJ now has a conviction for seditious conspiracy and conspiracy to prevent the transfer of power by force.
The easiest way to collect evidence is to get it directly from co-conspirators.
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Trials are unpredictable. It's so much easier when the person just says, "Yeah, I did it."
And it's always hard to get all the evidence, particularly because defendants don't have to talk.
Here's what Merrick Garland said on Jan. 5⤵️(his speech frustrated a lot of people).
Here are the elements of seditious conspiracy:
🔹Two or more persons . . .
🔹Conspire to overthrow . . . or destroy by force the Government of the US or to levy war against them . . .
🔹by force . . .
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. . . or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof.
The key to this crime is the use of force.
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Treason is almost impossible to charge. It’s defined in the Constitution as⤵️
SCOTUS has said that the “enemy” must be a country in which we are at open war, meaning a war declared by Congress.
So seditious conspiracy is the closest we have to a charge of treason.
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It is still going to take time.
Now the prosecutors follow all the evidence they get from James (who has to turn over everything he knows.)
The next ring will be confronted with evidence and a witness statement. They'll have to make their decision.
This was only the beginning. In the evening on Jan. 6, they planned to stop an inauguration (#1)
Then, on Jan. 8th, they're all like OMG we better start deleting our messages !!! (#2)
By Jan, 20, they were getting scared (#3)
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Reading the messages they sent each other is stunning.
They really thought they were going to overthrow the government of the United States.
They thought they would capture the Capitol and take on the "National Guard or other government actors."
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I suppose it's possible for these guys to be so delusional that they thought they could buy a bunch of guns and overthrow the US government (even if they did think the federal government consisted of a "cabal of elites).
Or they thought they had higher-up inside help.
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An FBI agent previously told the court that James chauffered Roger Stones in a golf cart on Jan. 5, the day before the insurrection.
I wish I knew what James told investigators about Roger Stone.
The prosecution has everyone confused because they are framing the case as "election fraud" and "election interference" so everyone is trying to connect the crimes we know about to "election fraud."
This would be clear: "It is election fraud. Here is how the evidence will support a charge of election fraud." Then show how the behavior supports election fraud.
For years I was perplexed by what I was seeing on left-leaning Twitter, political blogs, and partisan reporting.
I had the feeling that, in its way, what I was seeing was comparable to Fox: Lots of bad information and even unhinged conspiracy theories.
2terikanefield.com/invented-narra…
Of course, if I suggested that, I was blasted for "both-sidesing."
Then I discovered an area of scholarship: Communications and the overlap between communications and political science.
Another contradiction: when people demanded indictments RIGHT NOW (in 2021 and early 2022) the reason was, "Everyone knows he's guilty! Look at all the evidence!"
We saw the J6 committee findings.
Trump isn't saying "I didn't do it." He's saying, "I had the right to do it."
2
We all know what he did. The question is, "Do people want a president who acts like Trump?"
A lot of people do.
People show me polls that a guilty finding would change minds.
I say rubbish. Use common sense. He lost in 2020 and he lost the popular vote in 2016. . .
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. . . because it is designed to keep people hooked. People need to stay glued to the screen for hour after hour.
But to hook people, you need to scare them. The Facebook whistleblower testified that content that produces strong emotions like anger gets more engagement.
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Fox does the same thing. There is a few minutes of news, but the facts get lost as commentators and TV personalities speculate and scare their audiences.
Before you yell at me for comparing MSNBC to FOX, read all of this:
If I write another blog post addressing the outrage cycle here on Twitter and in the MSNBC ecosystem, it will be to explore why so many people who believe they are liberal or progressive actually want a police state.
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Today alone, a handful of people who consider themselves liberal or progressive told me that the "traitors need to be arrested and prosecuted."
In 2019, back when I wore myself out tamping down misinformation, I explained the legal meaning of treason.
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Back then, I now realize, people asked politely: "Can Trump be prosecuted for treason (over the Russia election stuff).
I explained that wouldn't happen.
Now it's different. It's more like fascist chants.
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