Thread by @ZoeTillman

Hello from the DC federal courthouse, where a one-day bench trial is set for Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin, facing misdemeanor charges for going to the Capitol on Jan. 6.

On how things have gotten complicated for the govt leading up to today:

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1504866160986177543

On Couy Griffin's arrest and the allegations against him: buzzfeednews.com/article/claudi…

"It’s a great day for America. The people are showing that they have had enough. People are ready for fair and legal elections, or this is what you’re gonna get and you’re gonna get more of it."

There won't be a public line to listen remotely to today's court proceedings. We've been told there'll be an audio stream in the media room, and the public/press will be allowed in the courtroom (there's no jury, which means more space than the Guy Reffitt trial)

Sorry to everyone hoping to kick off Monday with a horse sighting

https://twitter.com/ryanjreilly/status/1505894000817025025?t=562WT6ah4r3_SuuZYzf8sg&s=19

Can confirm Griffin is wearing a black cowboy hat, he's still waiting to get through the security line at the courthouse

Brief chat with Couy Griffin as he walked to the elevator, seemed upbeat, said he's ready for his day in court. In addition to the cowboy hat, he's wearing a white shirt with "C4T" on the collar. Mask below his nose.

Guard: "Sir put your mask on your face"

Griffin: "Okay!"

Judge Trevor McFadden takes the bench (I'm in the media room where it's audio only, so no visual descriptions I'm afraid)

McFadden asks if everyone is ready for trial, Griffin's lawyer Nicholas Smith addresses recent motions they filed accusing the govt of producing evidence days before trial that they haven't been able to fully go through, incl. videos, defense wants those struck

As an aside, McFadden also says that if anyone wants to remove their mask in the courtroom they can (you still have to wear a mask in public areas of the courthouse, but judges can manage their courtrooms as they see fit at this stage)

Before getting to the evidence-related issues raised by the defense, McFadden is taking a step back to confirm that Griffin wants to waive his right to a jury trial and proceed with a bench trial before the judge alone

McFadden asked standard questions, incl. if Griffin had taken drugs/consumed alcohol in the last 24 hours, Griffin initially says no, but then clarifies he had a couple beers last night at the hotel (feels clear-headed now, judge has him confirm)

McFadden addresses defense motion for govt to disclose any photos that may exist in the Archives of Pence in an underground garage where he was reportedly taken on Jan. 6 — judge is denying, saying generally production rules only apply to materials the govt (aka prosecutors) has

McFadden rejects the govt's final push to limit questioning of a Secret Service agent about where exactly they took VP Pence while Couy Griffin was on the grounds

AUSA says this puts the govt in a bind, because there is surveillance video re: Pence's location, and it was not turned over to the defense because USCP contends it's covered by shield for sensitive info. Prosecutors had it, possession has since been clawed back to USCP

McFadden says this is the trial date, and asks if the govt wants to show the defense the video over lunch. AUSA says they can't. USCP general counsel gets up to explain that the USCP board would have to give its approval to show the video to a third party now

McFadden isn't budging, says that the govt can dismiss the case or proceed with trial now (he's not going to allow more time for the USCP board to approve releasing the video — the issue is, once Pence's location is fair game, the govt may have obligation to produce such video)

AUSA Kimberly Paschall says they will go ahead with trial, and if the judge finds they've committed a discovery production violation, they'll address the question of sanctions at a later time, judge says okay

Govt explains last week's production of videos from Matthew Struck, who was w/ Griffin recording video on Jan. 6 and received immunity to testify — AUSA says that in double checking w/ Struck's atty that they had all his videos, they learned there were more and got them last week

AUSA argues they don't think the videos are Brady material (that they're not exculpatory), but they alerted Griffin's lawyer about them because they included Griffin talking about the events of Jan. 6 and his beliefs about VP Pence's location

Griffin's lawyer Nick Smith is back up, argues the govt has breached its discovery obligations re: CCV video of Pence's location that the govt now acknowledges it's relevant given the judge's decision not to restrict questioning about that issue

Smith next argues about a redacted set of emails they recently received re: Secret Service agent who is set to testify; judge has Smith acknowledge that under Jencks, the govt doesn't have to produce that before witness testifies, but Smith says it goes against DOJ policy

Next is Smith's argument against the govt showing a 20-minute montage of footage from Jan. 6 that generally shows the timeline of the breach/violence (not clips specific to Griffin), judge questions if he needs to watch it before ruling

Now Smith is discussing the new cache of footage that the govt received from witness Matthew Struck. McFadden asks if Griffin already had the footage since he'd hired Struck. Smith says Struck was hired by Cowboys for Trump, not to create "cinematic experience" just for Griffin

McFadden asks the AUSA if they plan to use any of the 78 videos that were recently turned over, AUSA says yes, five of them. Judge says it feels a little bit like "sandbagging," given the timing. AUSA insists the exhibit list they gave defense wasn't presented as final

Okay McFadden is ruling on the pretrial issues:
- Won't compel govt to produce CCV video of Pence's location on Jan. 6, but that's separate from question of whether the govt violated its discovery obligation, which isn't being addressed now

- Re: Jencks: Govt has agreed to share unredacted emails related to the Secret Service witness with the defense, so that's moot, judge says he understands defense is frustrated, but doesn't see violation by the govt

- Re: defense motion to exclude montage of Jan. 6 events, judge says he'll consider its relevance after seeing it, since it's a bench trial it's easier for him to deal with it as they go

- Finally, re: defense motion to sanction govt for late produced videos from witness Matthew Struck, McFadden says he'll wait to rule on that until hearing from Struck to better understand his relationship with Griffin and Griffin's access to the footage

Okay, the trial begins. Judge tells govt to call its first witness, Nick Smith asks for a few minutes for an opening statement, judge allows it.

Smith's presentation focuses on what he says are a series of false pieces of info the govt relied on to arrest, charge, detain Griffin

Smith argues the govt won't be able to prove Griffin was within a restricted area that had been clearly marked (what he argues is the standard) or that he was in an area w/ a Secret Service protectee because VP Pence was underground — he was in "a different spatial dimension"

Smith argues the evidence will also show that Griffin believed Pence had already certified the election and was surprised later to learn that Pence had come back to the Capitol. Finally, he argues Griffin's conduct — leading the crowd in prayer — also won't satisfy elements

With that, the government is calling its first witness, Matthew Struck, the person who was with Griffin at the Capitol and was filming; he's received immunity to testify

Matt Struck says he's a self-employed video editor from Colorado, met Couy Griffin around July 4, 2019, they became friends, and he'd film events for Cowboys for Trump; he says he didn't give Griffin footage, he'd post videos he made on Twitter until his account was shut down

AUSA is going to play videos that Struck filmed that are not part of the late-produced batch, so they've been entered without objection from the defense. We can't see them in the media room — hearing some general crowd noise so far, people chanting "decertify"

McFadden asks the govt to replay a clip that the AUSA says shows what the govt contends is a barrier Griffin crossed when he first made entry into the restricted area, judge describes it as a wall (we can't see videos in the media room)

Going up to see if I can get into the courtroom, since it sounds like this is going to be a lot of video, no devices allowed

Back, saw a few of the govt's videos, incl. one where you can see Couy Griffin smiling as he walks up what appeared to be a wooden plank leading to a large open area in front of the Capitol building

Govt also played video of Griffin proceeding up a set of stairs in what I think is the temporary inauguration scaffolding to another platform outside, smiling — the AUSA indicated that's when they believed he was recorded saying "I love the smell of napalm in the air"

There was a video from Jan. 5 of Griffin standing outside the Capitol in a parking lot in front of a black SUV with "C4T" on the side (Struck said it was a rental), talking about praying for Mike Pence, tomorrow being a historic day for the country

McFadden has govt replay a Jan. 7 video — Griffin talks about learning Pence "sold us out" on the walk to the Capitol, saying when DC police told ppl they couldn't go into area set up for inauguration, what did they think would happen, ppl spilled over, became like a Trump rally

In the courtroom, there's a gentleman sitting near the front wearing a black leather vest with "RELEASE THE KRAKEN" on the back along with a picture of said sea monster

Struck testified that after Couy Griffin was released from jail on the Jan. 6 charges, Griffin had asked him for the videos he'd recorded to give them to reporters, and Struck said no. He said he wasn't there working on behalf of Griffin/C4T, wasn't being paid

After a short break, McFadden is back on the bench; right before, he heard arguments on whether to allow the govt to introduce five videos from the late-produced cache the govt got from Struck. AUSA Janani Iyengar says 2/5 would have fallen w/in govt's original request to Struck

McFadden rules govt can introduce the two videos that would have fallen within its original request, but not the other three — says he doesn't think the govt did anything inappropriate, but the orig. video request was "unduly limited" and late production put defense "in a bind"

McFadden says the govt could have learned about these other videos from Struck, who was the govt's witness, through an exercise of due diligence well before the past week

Struck is back and the govt is playing the rest of his videos that they're allowed to introduce from the Capitol, can hear Griffin talking about how what's happening is a "peaceful" assembly but these assemblies will be less and less peaceful if laws aren't followed

Griffin's lawyer Nick Smith is up for cross, is trying to have Struck speak to whether Griffin believed VP Pence had already certified the electoral college results before they arrived at the Capitol, govt objects as hearsay

Smith plays one of the videos and asks Struck if he can hear Griffin say, "he certified it," Struck says he can't really hear that (a defense arg is that Griffin thought Pence's role was over already by the time he got to the Capitol)

Smith is showing more clips, from Jan. 7 and the night of Jan. 6, where Griffin is talking about learning that Pence had certified the election. Govt objects to this as hearsay, Smith argues they're not intro'ing it for truth of statement, but goes to state of mind

McFadden sustains govt objection to Griffin's comments in a video recorded the night of Jan. 6, agreeing w/ the govt its hearsay — Griffin talking about his belief Pence had certified the election in the moment it was all happening was fine re: state of mind, but not later on

Smith asks Struck if law enforcement ever told Griffin not to be a particular place at the Capitol, Struck says no. Smith has Struck walk through a video of them at the Trump rally earlier, when they encountered a Secret Service officer directing people

Smith is having Struck go through videos from the Capitol as Griffin recites a prayer (Struck says the crowd seemed "calmed" and were listening to him), talks about wanting free/legal elections and for his children to have the same opportunities as him

On redirect, re: Smith's arg that Griffin wasn't riling the crowd, AUSA plays video where you can hear Griffin saying things like "people are ready for fair and legal elections or this is what you're going to get and you're going to get more of it" and "we're not going anywhere"

Judge McFadden is back on the bench after the lunch break for part II of Jan. 6 defendant Couy Griffin's one-day bench trial

Griffin's lawyer lodges a complaint that the judge had ordered the govt to turn over a mostly unredacted version of Secret Service emails by the end of lunch, and they just got the docs, McFadden disagrees it's a "sandbag," moves on

The next witness is from US Capitol Police, so the Secret Service agent testimony issue remains as-yet unresolved

USCP Inspector John Erickson, a ~32-year veteran of the force is up, he's the commander of the Senate division

Erickson talks through the security perimeter around the Capitol grounds, how the surveillance camera network operates. On Jan. 6, he was leading the Inaugural Task Force, and wasn't at the building initially but went over around 1:30pm when he heard the breach was happening

On cross-ex, Griffin's lawyer Nick Smith tried to ask Erickson about charging/non-charging decisions related to arrests of people in restricted areas of the Capitol, the govt makes a series of objections to stop that, which the judge sustains

Smith has been walking Erickson through a detailed analysis of images of the area around the Capitol to parse where exactly the "restricted" zones were on Jan. 6, which is relevant to defense case re: when/where/whether Griffin went into it and Pence left it during evacuation

McFadden sounds like he's losing patience with Smith's questioning on this, urges him to get moving

Very short redirect from the govt, confirming the lines of the restricted area around the Capitol in the government's exhibit images, and that the USCP mission is to keep members/staff/visitors safe, and that would have incl. Pence on Jan. 6

After a short break, AUSA Kimberly Paschall (I believe) announces that USCP general counsel Thomas DiBiase *has* gotten approval from the USCP board to share the CCV footage of Pence's Jan. 6 evac with the defense, that's being prepared now

In the meantime, the govt starts to play a video of Griffin speaking after Jan. 6 about his experience, judge suggests he can just read the transcript and that'll save some time

Govt does play one segment of the video where Griffin talks about going to the Capitol, and how there was fencing up and the crowd of Trump supporters pushed through over police warnings that it was reserved for Biden's inauguration, but he says he was in the back

McFadden is now allowing the govt to play a video montage of the official proceedings of Jan. 6, over defense objection that it's getting late and they still to deal with issues re: the Secret Service witness

Final govt witness takes the stand, Secret Service Inspector Lanelle Hawa, 23-year veteran of the force, was with the Liaison Division at the time of Jan. 6, which coordinates visits to the US Capitol for USSS protectees

Hawa was with Pence and his family when he arrived at the Capitol on Jan. 6. They were in his ceremonial office before heading to the Senate chamber and then moved to the House side, then back to the Senate side, for the certification proceedings

Hawa said they were getting reports of people breaking through fencing on the west side of the grounds, Pence moved back to his ceremonial office when there continued to be security breaches, ppl getting through fencing and bikes racks and getting onto inaugural stage

Hawa said it became a security situation even though crowd was outside at that point because people were surrounding a secure site, and it also became an issue when they're potentially taking away options for a route out

Hawa says that after Pence left his ceremonial office, they took him underground to a loading dock area, which the AUSA has Hawa confirm is under a plaza on the Senate side, within the restricted area perimeter the govt laid out

There'd been reporting on Pence's evacuation to an underground loading dock area (newsweek.com/mike-pence-jan…), but this is the first official confirmation from the Secret Service — it's a fact the govt had fought against discussing it on the public record in a Jan. 6 case like this

On cross-ex, Griffin's lawyer Nick Smith is trying to get Hawa to distinguish between how the security perimeter was handled around the Capitol and how the Secret Service typically handles establishing a security perimeter for protectees

Smith asks Hawa if Secret Service set the restricted area on Jan. 6, and when she pauses as she starts to answer, Smith presses her "just tell me," prompting objection from the govt. Hawa says there was a longstanding relationship with USCP and it was known where it would be

Govt has repeatedly objected to this line of questioning, saying they already litigated that USCP and Secret Service worked in tandem on security

Smith asks how people would be made aware of a Secret Service restricted area for a protectee, Hawa says it could be a sign or a verbal warning. Smith asks, what if there's no sign and no verbal warning, Hawa posits that eventually they'd come upon someone who would tell them

Smith asks if Hawa has encountered ppl who entered a restricted area and didn't know it. Govt objects, Smith says govt objections are getting "vexatious," McFadden says he disagrees but will overrule objection. Hawa says she can't recall a situation like that

Smith asks if USCP informed the Secret Service where the security perimeter would be. Hawa hedges a bit, saying she doesn't remember specific conversations, but based on their longstanding relationship, the USSS understands certain boundaries will be established for events

On govt's objection, McFadden cuts off Smith questioning Hawa about whether Secret Service performed adequately/followed policy in moving Pence to the loading dock, judge also cuts off hypo on whether a restricted area could go underground

Tense exchange where govt continues to object to Smith asking Hawa about hypothetical scenarios about how the security perimeter would work if a VP was traveling, Smith says the govt isn't letting him ask questions, McFadden disagrees and dings Smith for talking over him

When Smith tried to ask if a security perimeter would move if a VP left a restricted area, judge again sustained an objection from the govt, saying Hawa testified Pence stayed in the loading dock area for hours and Smith hadn't shown he left the restricted area

This was a significant moment, it appeared to show, at a minimum, that McFadden isn't sold on the defense theory that Pence was no longer in a restricted area once he was evacuated from the Senate chamber/his office to the underground loading dock

https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1506021233200148488

After brief redirect from the AUSA, which ends testimony from the Secret Service witness, McFadden calls the lawyers up to the bench for a nonpublic discussion

Clarification: This will not, in fact, be a one-day bench trial. McFadden asks Hawa to be back at 9:30am tomorrow for additional testimony, and then the lawyers will give their closing arguments.

Smith tells the judge he'll be submitting a rule 29 motion for acquittal

And that's a wrap on today's proceedings

On Day 1 of "Cowboys for Trump" leader Couy Griffin's Jan. 6 trial, and how the government was forced to disclose former VP Mike Pence's location that day after unsuccessfully fighting to keep that secret across these cases:
buzzfeednews.com/article/zoetil…