#SeditionHunters - at the impeachment trial in 2021, we saw chilling footage of Sen. Chuck Schumer trying to evacuate and nearly running into invaders - he did a U-turn and fled. Now we know who he encountered: the hulking Proud Boy Joshua Pruitt, #BaldBulldog. 1/
Here's what Schumer nearly ran into - a massive, muscled bodybuilder, inducted into the Proud Boys only in November as they prepped for the Capitol attack. Read about encounter in Pruitt's new Statement of Offense - he just pled guilty (h/t @emptywheel) 2/ documentcloud.org/documents/2205…
Minutes before, at 2:28 PM, Pruitt (#BaldBulldog) helped lead the mob breaking the police line in the Crypt above. They seemed fixated on getting down to the Visitor's Center quickly. 3/
Maryland Proud Boy Pruitt moved separately from the main Proud Boy crew breaking into the Visitor's Center, the #OrangeTapeGroup (mostly from the Kansas City chapter). In the Visitor's Center they all came together though - Pruitt here w/ bare arms. 4/
The hulking, intimidating Joshua Pruitt #BaldBulldog was a fairly late addition to the Proud Boys. He was inducted only at the first DC "rehearsal rally", on Nov 14, 2020. Video from Brendan Gutenschwager. 5/
Pruitt was inducted a month before PB leader Joe Biggs' famous text Dec. 19, right after the attack was green-lit, saying they needed better-quality Proud Boys: "Let's get radical and recruit real men". But maybe recruiting stepped up already in Nov. 6/ docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
Pruitt's guilty plea may help us understand one of the ongoing Jan 6 mysteries: the goal of the rush to the Visitor's Center. To intercept lawmakers, block police reinforcements, something else?
(Here's longer impeachment footage, Swalwell narrating) 7/
And for the record, here's a selfie from Joshua Pruitt #BaldBulldog, posing with an assault rifle. We are incredibly lucky that the Capitol attack was not worse than it was. 8/
Update: just pulled Josh Pruitt #BaldBulldog in Capitol surveillance cam. Here he's moving from the Crypt toward the stairs down to the Visitors' Center, a bit over 2 minutes before his near-miss with Schumer. Neither he nor the #OrangeTapeGroup seem in a hurry, no urgency. 9/
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
CBS' 60 Minutes is airing a puff piece about weapons maker Anduril, a company backed by Peter Thiel, whose CEO is Matt Gaetz's brother-in-law. Let's remember that both the exec producer of 60 Minutes and the CEO of CBS recently quit saying they were losing editorial control. 1/
Palmer Luckey, Anduril CEO, is eagerly promoting it - it's not going to be hard-hitting. Ask why CBS, facing a bs lawsuit by Trump, is airing a promo for a wanna-be defense contractor deeply tied to the people now tearing apart the federal government. 2/ npr.org/2025/05/19/nx-…
Anduril was founded by Luckey and execs from Peter Thiel's Palantir - like all Thiel's companies, it got a name from "Lord of the Rings". Peter now has all your data - he wants to control your military too. He's leading a new funding round for Anduril. 3/ reuters.com/business/aeros…
Everyone's talking about the bribery part of Trump's gift of a $400M superluxury airplane from the Emir of Qatar but no one's covered the security risk part. Trump will be doing private meetings in a vehicle provided by a foreign government. 1/ abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump…
Is it likely Trump's folks can effectively sweep that plane for listening devices? Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff just walked into a meeting with Putin using a Russian intelligence officer as his translator. They're not the sharpest pencils in the box. 2/
OK, some are raising security fears, just not in the published articles. Garrett Graff calls it an "unmeasurable risk" and points out: the president can't even accept a helicopter ride from a foreign government. He travels with his own helicopter. But sure, use a Qatari plane. 3/
Ed Martin just got named Trump's "Pardon Attorney" (plus Associate Deputy AG). He does know the subject - in 2020, Martin brokered a pardon for Michael Flynn in exchange for Flynn's speaking at Stop the Steal rallies. Martin knows how to cut a pardon deal. 1/
This 2023 thread covers the story. Nov. 4, the day after the election, Ali Alexander spun up Stop the Steal with Ed Martin as a top recruit. Nov. 7, Martin reaches out to the White House with a deal: pardon Flynn and he'll help with "base-rallying". 2/
People like to think of Michael Flynn as a villain but in 2020, it was Ed Martin leading. Flynn would do nothing til he got that pardon - a straight quid pro quo. But Ed Martin was all-in from the start, busily working to overthrow the rule of law. 3/
Trump just declared Harvard ineligible for all grants and the NYT botches the story. It's not that "Harvard.. relies on federal money..[for] its projects". It's the federal government that relies on Harvard for its projects. Harvard provides services for you, the taxpayer. 1/
The NYT's phrasing is as dumb as saying gosh, your plumber relies on your money for HIS plumbing projects! What happens is the federal government puts out a call for research in some area, on YOUR behalf. Individuals then submit proposals to do that work. Just like plumbers. 2/
The NYT article is astoundingly backwards. You'd think @alanblinder, an education reporter, would know better, if he'd ever lifted his head beyond admissions grievances and culture wars to consider what universities actually do. Unpaywalled link. 2/ archive.is/Mcwtc#selectio…
Reporters: yes, alt-right gadfly Ivan Raiklin says crazy stuff, but what's most interesting about him is the backstory, how he was groomed to be an influencer. Because Raiklin is of Russian origin: parents are Russian emigres, brother a Russian scholar, wife a Russian teacher. 1/
Ivan Raiklin could have been on a list since his summer in Moscow in 2002. His brother Ben would be known from his PhD ("Stalin’s Documentary Filmmaking Industry, 1926-1946"). And Ben's insecure little brother, an officer in the National Guard, would be such a tempting target. 2/
We have to stop pretending far-right influencers appear spontaneously. They have histories: normal childhoods, then they're recruited into the game. It's rarely natural. Always ask: how did this person become known, who set them onto this new path? That's the bigger story. 3/
Stephen Miller confirms what anyone who studies Jan 6 knows: Trump's government wants to control education and impose a national 'patriotic' curriculum. It was OBVIOUS this was coming: Trump promised this in 2020 in exchange for support for his coup. But pundits ignored it. 1/
This account first called it in 2022. THE DAY BEFORE THE ELECTION Trump set up a commission on patriotic education. The people who led it - from Hillsdale & Claremont - then wrote his election-fraud lawsuits, arranged fake electors. They met on Jan 5. 2/
Education was Trump's barter with the religious right: public funds for private religious schools and a national 'patriotic' curriculum. It could have been stopped: Michigan should have indicted Larry Arnn, Hillsdale president, 176 Commission leader. 3/