#SeditionHunters - a big one has dropped, the first major arrest of Nick Fuentes' Groypers: the neo-Nazi #SuitGuy, Joseph Brody, and his 4 friends (#SuitGuysFlock). This is a big one and some things about it are still embargoed - it will only get bigger. 1/
#SeditionHunters have maintained a mega-thread on this set since March 2021. #SuitGuysFlock walked in with Fuentes' Groyper Army (he brought over 200 followers) but then moved together all day: four young college-aged men and their older mentor. 2/
The iconic picture of #SuitGuy in Tweet 1 is by Victor Blue and was named one of Time's Top 100 photos of the year. He is as scary as the photo implies. Inside the Capitol, his flock following him, he reached the Senate floor. 3/ storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
#WhitePufferBrat, one of the Flock members, is SUNY Binghamton student Jon Lizak, president of the NY Federation of College Republicans and a public figure in his own right, famous for suing his university in 2020: he felt he was 'censored' after a 'leftist mob' hassled him. 4/
SUNY-Binghamton students scuffled before a talk by economist Art Laffer; Lizak's group and TPUSA sued the college president. Figuring out what happened is hard since articles are mostly from one side. Lizak's vandalism on Jan 6 doesn't help his case. 5/
On Jan 6 morning, Fuentes' Groypers gathered near the Washington Monument, then marched to the Capitol, chanting "we want Trump". #SuitGuy had his gaiter down. 7/
Photojournalist @sandibachom filmed the Groypers marching too, now chanting "Christ is King" and "f-k you journalist". The older guy in front with the megaphone is S. Calif. extremist Kim Sorgente (#BigBadSamaritan), arrested for assault at the tunnel. 8/
#SuitGuysFlock thought they were super-stealthy going covered up all day on Jan 6, but they went to the 'rehearsal' rallies in months before with faces uncovered, sometimes even wearing the same clothes. On Dec. 12 they marched with Proud Boys around them. 9/
Correction: Kim Sorgente, the older man with the Groypers carrying a megaphone & wearing a "Deus Vult" Jesus shirt, is tagged #BadSamaritanGrey. He & #BigBadSamaritan got their tags by falling on Rosanne Boyland at the tunnel - and walking away from her body without helping. 10/
The Jan 6 Capitol attack was fueled by a long, deliberate campaign of rallies and social media. Nick Fuentes (#IamNickFuentes) - who praised Hitler at this year's AFPAC conference - was a major player. His extremism was tolerated if he brought a crowd. 1/
Hitler-loving Nick Fuentes brought the 2nd largest group to the Capitol on Jan 6, after the Proud Boys. He showed his intent in his speech from the Peace Monument: "We should not leave this Capitol until Donald Trump is inaugurated president!" Conspiracy charges may be coming 12/
Footage in Tweet 12 is from @LCRWnews; search hashtags for much more. On Jan 6 Fuentes' Groypers spread all over the Capitol, often moving in groups with their flags. Since that day he's called the attack "f--ing awesome". But reckoning is coming. 13/
Those spreading hate now worked previous ops too. Chad Prather & CJ LeRose, backing DeSanti's anti-immigrant stunt with a viral song, were inner-circle Stop the Stealers in 2021: here with police-assaulter Nathan Hughes, rally MC Matt Couch, Russian influencer Anna Khait. 1/
It's actually comforting that the same folks are involved, because it means it's not a mass movement. Instead it's highly manufactured, recycling the same faces. Also politically unsuccessful: Prather tried to unseat TX Governor Greg Abbott in 2022... 2/
... but Prather failed miserably, getting just 3.8% of the vote. The ultra-MAGA fascist movement is amplified by stunts and social media, powered by complicit judges and politicians - but actual popular support is not deep. It can be defeated. 3/ ballotpedia.org/Chad_Prather
Disgraced Oath Keeper lawyer @JonMoseley is not doing well at Twitter: tried to 'help' his old client Stewart Rhodes by trashing his estranged family, got owned instead.
He can't even help by throwing the trial for ineffective counsel since Moseley's already been disbarred. 1/
@JonMoseley appealed his disbarment but tossing out false allegations of parental alienation is awfully helpful in convincing the court their decision was solid.
Rhodes' son @DakotaVAdams got his mama's smarts instead of his daddy's sedition & messing with him is best avoided 2/
Interestingly Stewart Rhodes (Yale Law School 2004, now charged with seditious conspiracy), is also prone to inappropriate choices and was disbarred, so he and Moseley have a lot in common. 3/
As expected, DOJ has quickly appealed to the 11th Circuit. From @dnlbrns. They bluntly say Trump "has no claim to return of those records" & that national security concerns mean "the government and the public would suffer irreparable harm absent a stay" 1/ fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/…
The writing is very crisp and efficient, nearly every sentence would ordinarily be a highlight. No punches are pulled. On page 1, they say flatly that Judge Cannon's initial appointment of a Special Master was wrong. 2/
On p. 2, they go through why the government's case would likely succeed anyway. First: Trump has "no claim for the return of these records, which belong to the government and were seized in a court-authorized search." 3/
NEW: As predicted, Judge Cannon has blocked the investigation of Trump, & WaPo helped make it happen. Cynical people saw this coming when @DevlinBarrett dropped a seeming inside leak the day after Cannon's ruling. Now she piously writes, DOJ can't have access; too many leaks. 1/
Here's the full ruling; still reading. But the number one reason Cannon gives is, there were leaks.
The WaPo story on 9/6 went huge, amplified naively by many. But every leak is an attempt to use media. You have to ask, who wanted this & why? Why now? 2/ storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usco…
The WaPo story should have rung alarm bells. Sourced from "people familiar with the search", no mention of DOJ - looked like Trumpworld. Most of the article described how to treat TS/SAP documents, already known to be there. The new stuff used "nuclear" but had no specifics. 3/
IMPORTANT: rumor is spreading that the J6 Committee now has the missing Secret Service texts. This is not what's reported; hope is distorting judgment. Bloomberg reports only that J6C has received SOME unspecified material by subpoena. Unpaywalled here. 1/ archive.ph/0npBs
Breaking a paywall feels wrong in most cases since journalists need to be paid, but in this case the lack of access is feeding the rumor and so it seems best to post an archived version. 2/ archive.ph/0npBs
Here's a 9 minute excerpt of the interview with Rep. Zoe Lofgren that is the source of the rumor, posted by Sarah Burris of Raw Story. Lofgren: "You know our rules don't allow us to categorize or discuss the evidence, but new information has come in." 3/
A common theme this year is extremist takeover of local GOP organizations. Last week it was Sarasota Fl, which elected Michael Flynn & Proud Boy James Hoel. The Daily Beast article left 1 thing out: Hoel is #SecretSquirrel, wanted by the MPD for Jan 6. 1/ thedailybeast.com/making-michael…
On Jan 6, Hoel marched to the Capitol with the main group of over 200 Proud Boys, sticking close to his now-arrested FL buddies Dan Scott (#MilkshakePB) and Christopher Worrell (#SgtPepperSprayer), and confronted officers on the W. Plaza. (Annotation by @CassanderGrant.) 2/
Here's James Hoel aka #SecretSquirrel staging with his buddies a group of Proud Boys in front of the NW Scaffolds just before they were violently breached. Dan Scott was up front attacking police; Hoel and Worrell ducked out. 3/