Frank Eathorne, chair of the Wyoming GOP, is - like other politicians at the Jan 6 Capitol attack - a liar: “No violence or property damage was observed during my..brief stop there” But Eathorne was at the Capitol for 2.5 hours and saw violence up close - we’ll show you. 1/
Because Eathorne was on Capitol grounds so long - with a radio - we held off Tweeting to try to understand more. But now that NBC is reporting on him, it’s time to go over his footage. This thread has highlights; see the full report for video links. 2/ docs.google.com/document/d/1WT…
Eathorne seems to head to the Capitol directly from the Trump rally, arriving around 1:30 PM, right behind GA State Rep Vernon Jones. By that time police are fighting hard on the Plaza and lobbing tear gas and flashbangs into the crowd. Everyone comments on it. 3/
Eathorne stayed on the W. lawn for an hour while the Plaza battle raged. He wasn’t up at the police lines, but would have seen the tear gas, heard people yelling on bullhorns: “Move forward - they can’t arrest all of us!” This is 2:06 PM. 4/
Eathorne would have seen invaders seize the NW Scaffolds and methodically slash its tarp all the way up to the top (“no..property damage was observed”). This clip is 2:07 and 2:08 PM. 5/
At 2:28 PM, after invaders had breached the Capitol, a coordinated violent attack broke the police lines on the W. Plaza. Eathorne wasn’t this close but he would still have seen something from the lawn. 6/
Here’s what the fall of the W. Plaza looked like from about where Eathorne stood. The crowd cheers “We did it!” “F— yeah!” “Let’s go!” as the mob moves forward, and others carry police barricades away. 7/
At 2:37 PM (L), while the last police officers retreat, Eathorne is still on the lawn, but by 2:45 PM (R), he’s moved forward with the mob onto the W. Plaza. 8/
This is the peak of the coordinated attack, when invaders breached multiple doors to the Capitol, and several signals appear set off to mark the successes. At 2:46 PM, Eathorne is right next to the red smoke signal on the Plaza. 9/
Eathorne stays on the Plaza for at least another hour, gradually moving forward, while the mob attacks at the tunnel above. He would have seen the bleachers fill with invaders, heard the shouts. At 3:32 he’s looking cheerful. 10/
At 3:50 PM, a half hour after Officer Fanone was dragged, Eathorne is still there. 11/
Here’s Eathorne’s full statement issued after the riot. It is a lie. Video shows he “personally witnessed” violence. That he personally witnessed property damage. And 2.5 hours is not a “brief stop”. 12/ wyomingnewsnow.tv/2021/01/10/sta…
If Eathorne was just making a peaceful, normal, protest, it’s worth asking also: what’s with the costume? We literally found no photographs of him without his cowboy hat - except at the Capitol attack. 13/
At Saturday’s rally in Casper, Eathorne talked tough, said he’d “crawl over barbed wire for Trump”. But like other J6 politicians, ask him a question about Jan 6 and he sounds like a toddler instead: “no no, not me!” Might reconsider that barbed wire. 14/ cowboystatedaily.com/2022/05/28/gop…
Eathorne’s not alone: other politicians of the insurrection also sound like toddlers. They all stayed outside; they’re unlikely to be arrested - but they lie anyway, instead of owning up to their actions. They can’t handle the smallest accountability. 15/
Lots of competition for the most spineless politician of the insurrection. Eathorne is Candidate 1. Candidate 2 is Mark Finchem, former AZ State Rep, running for AZ Sec. of State. Came to watch on the E. Plaza, then claimed “I was never really there”. 16/
Candidate 3 is Doug Mastriano, former PA State Senator, running for PA Governor. Toured the insurrection, walking over barricades, police retreating before him. Then claimed “I respected all police lines” except that, well, “police lines did shift.” 17/
Here are Mastriano's exact words, in a statement he issued after news reports of his presence at the Capitol on Jan 6. 18/ senatormastriano.com/2021/05/25/mas…
Candidate 4 is JR Majewski, running for Congress in OH-9. Rushed in in the first wave with his QAnon pal Zak Paine (RedPill78), stayed on the W. Plaza through concussion bombs & tear gas. Then swore on Twitter he’d never been on illegal grounds & had been “cleared by the FBI” 19/
Another strong contender would be Dana Rohrabacher, formerly “Putin’s favorite Congressman” (CA). Bravado on Jan 5: “Now I’m headed to DC to join the patriots that are mobilizing there..” Watched for over an hour, then blamed “leftist provocateurs” 20/
Vote: which Jan 6 politician had the most spineless excuses? (Only 4 options so choose among the current pols.) Please retweet for maximum voter turnout. 21/
In tonight's military purge, Tump named as Chair of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine, a retired Lt. Gen so underqualified he'd need a waiver. Oddly, Caine was installed last month at 3 VC firms doing crypto, AI, and defense tech, including Thrive, founded by Jared Kushner's brother. 1/
It does look bad if the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs is taking a paycheck from relatives of the president. But since Trump also fired the Judge Advocates General from all four military branches tonight, we might have to wait for an ethics ruling. 2/ military.com/daily-news/202…
The New York Times article tonight calls Lt Gen Caine a "serial entrepreneur and investor", but doesn't mention his role in Joshua Kushner's company. It's not a secret - it's on his LinkedIn. And it's very relevant - the public deserves to understand. 3/ archive.is/8Je1R
For journalists who need a handy reference guide to our new FBI Director, Kash Patel, the Jan 6 "Big Timeline" has 35 entries on him, from his early days attacking the FBI for investigating Trump's Russia ties to his 2024 book calling the FBI "gangsters" and promising a purge. 1/
The "1950-2019" historical tab has 5 entries, starting with Kash's attempts to subpoena the FBI and DOJ for investigating Trump's Russia ties. This is pushback even before Robert Mueller was appointed as Special Counsel. Just ctrl-F search on "Patel". 2/ docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
The "2020-Jan 6" tab has 6 entries. (More on that later). Kash was installed as part of Trump's maneuvers AFTER he lost the election. Chris Miller was made Acting SecDef and Kash his Chief of Staff. Kash delivered the order to withdraw from Afghanistan. 3/ docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
As Trump's folks repeat Elon Musk's bs that tens of millions of dead people are getting Social Security, here's the 2023 inspector general report on the SSA's death records - with facts. Yes, there are over 6M dead people in the database, but they are NOT PAID. Link follows. 1/
The false claim matters for two reasons. First, Elon & Trump may use these lies to justify cutting Social Security. Second, they may take credit for work already under way - 'we found dead people.' It's not a discovery! It's routine government stuff. 2/ oig.ssa.gov/assets/uploads…
The report is only 19 pages and Elon seems to have read none of them. This kind of reporting is why the US has an inspector general for all agencies - to look at data, to find mistakes or even fraud. Trump just fired 15 of those inspectors general. 3/
As US envoy Keith Kellogg tries to sideline Europe from talks over Ukraine, please remember: Kellogg has served Trump for years. Kellogg was on the 2019 phone call to extort Zelensky, then testified at Trump's impeachment: "I heard nothing wrong or improper on the call..." 1/
On Jan 6, Kellogg, who was Mike Pence's security advisor, spent the day with Trump instead. Here he is in the Oval Office with Trump. That's when Trump threatened Pence, then rewrote his speech to "re-insert the Pence lines". Kellogg stuck with Trump. 2/
Kellogg first came to public notice in 2016 when then-candidate Trump appointed a council of 5 national security advisors, names so obscure that the NYT called them "confound[ing]". 2 then got more famous in the Mueller report for their ties to Russia. 3/ web.archive.org/web/2016032302…
Today's news is grim: the two factions taking over our government are united on the one issue we had hoped they might split over. Turns out the techbro neo-fascists and the religious-right Project 2025 guys agree: US education should be gutted, privatized, and made religious. 1/
Here's the article laying it out: Elon Musk and Ted Cruz both urge the TX legislature to pass school vouchers that would push public funds to private religious schools. Musk of course is Peter Thiel's former partner, Cruz his first political protege. 2/ fox7austin.com/news/elon-musk…
Musk's announcement is the more surprising. In my taxonomy of the forces behind Jan 6, Ted Cruz is actually a crossover between the two wings: he's a protege of tech overlord Thiel but also deep in the far religious right, who backed him over Trump for president in 2016. 3/
As Elon Musk gives the Nazi salute in DC, let me just say that it was very clear, 4 years ago, at least to me, that Jan 6 was a precursor, and that this would be the result if we did not investigate it thoroughly - not the footsoldiers but the ones who gave orders that day. 1/
Some people say Jan 6 was more like the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch than the 1933 Reichstag fire, but either way, the analogy holds. The attack was planned; the Proud Boys were sub-contractors; there were people on the ground directing. And we missed it. 2/
Jan 6 is still relevant. Because there was so much effort to erase it, one key task is preserving its memory and its evidence. More broadly, resisting in a way that Germany did not in the 1930s. We need to read our history and listen to historians. 3/ lucid.substack.com/p/its-day-one-…