Thread by @NoOneUnscripted

‘We were told to remove our lapel pins…on January 6, 2021, the pin that once was a badge of honor and distinction turned into a bullseye.’

- Forward by Chairman @BennieGThompson of @January6thCmte

"The President of the United States inciting a mob to march on the Capitol and impede the work of Congress is not a scenario our intelligence and law enforcement communities envisioned for this country."

"...the only advisor present who supported President Trump’s inclination to declare victory was Rudy Giuliani..."

"Ordinarily, the 'Red Mirage' anomaly does not create problems in the election process...Trump, however, made a different choice. In an extraordinary breach of the American democratic process, he decided to exploit the potential for confusion about the staggered timing."

Tom Fitton is about to go through some things.

Tom Fitton pushed Donald Trump to declare victory before the results were in & election was officially called. He went out of his way. @DOJNatSec Tom Fitton is a danger to our republic. I hope you investigate him.

Donald Trump weaponized propaganda around mail-in ballots & the Red Mirage electoral phenomenon to push his 'big lie.'

“And I remember sharing with him that we weren't finding anything that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states,” Cannon told Meadows. “So there is no there, there?” Meadows replied.

Literally multiple people at multiple levels & on multiple occasions told Donald Trump he had lost the election based on data. He did not listen.

He had his day in court & lost 61 times:

"Out of 62 cases, only one case resulted in a victory for the President Trump or his allies, which affected relatively few votes, did not vindicate any underlying claims of fraud, and would not have changed the outcome in Pennsylvania."

"In all, the judges who heard these post-election cases included 22 Federal judges appointed by Republican presidents."

Donald Trump "was not simply led astray by those around him. The opposite was true. He actively promoted conspiracy theories and false election fraud claims even after being informed they were baseless."

"Social media played a prominent role in amplifying erroneous claims of election fraud...influencers echoed President Trump’s premature declaration of victory, asserting... it was the responsibility of American 'patriots' to combat this sup- posed injustice."

Giving Donald Trump a smartphone is like giving a toddler a loaded gun.

"...Two case studies demonstrating how President Trump and his surrogates lied in the face of overwhelming evidence:'

"Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency...emphasized: “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised...Trump chose the lies."

Donald turned ONE minor human error in Michigan - that was promptly rectified - into the spearhead of his attacks on election integrity.

"President Trump, Mark Meadows, and Rudy Giuliani were repeatedly asking the leadership of DHS whether the agency had authority to seize voting machines."

Rudy Giuliani should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law!

Sidney Powell is an irreverent, seditious vermin who should be investigated, prosecuted, disbarred & then imprisoned.

Giuliani falsely accused Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two Black public servants shown in the Fulton County video, of “surreptitiously passing around USB ports as if they’re vials of heroin or cocaine.” In fact, Moss had been given a ginger mint by her mother, Freeman.

"By the Select Committee’s assessment, there were more than 100 times during his [January 6th] speech in which [ ] Trump falsely claimed that either the election had been stolen from him, or falsely claimed that votes had been compromised by some specific act..."

"Trump's rhetoric endangered innocent officials and private citizens, and fueled death threats against Georgia election workers, sexualized threats directed towards Raffensperger's wife, and harassment at the homes of Georgia election officials."

Haunting:

"Had enough State officials gone along with President Trump’s plot, his attempt to stay in power might have worked."

Brief & effective explanation of how presidential voting works:

Fake-elector scheme, tritely put: Operative words are italicized - 'before the election' & 'after seeing the election results.'

The fake-elector conspiracy takes form:

Donald Trump made his own son a criminal coconspirator:

They were literally advocating for political tribalism - a barbaric form of democratic politics you generally see in new & turbulent developing democracies in the world. Toxic partisanship that translates to poll violence & massive electoral fraud & they were advocating FOR it.

Vince Haley isn't a name I remember hearing much at the hearings. But, boy, does he have some dangerous ideas. And those ideas got as high as they could get. Wow. I am truly aghast that somebody like this was advising a President of the United States.

Newt Gingrich:

"President Trump could encourage 'GOP legislatures elect not to send in electors,' forcing a House vote by State delegations on January 6th that Gingrich expected President Trump would win.'

Meadows replied: “Thanks Speaker.”

#NewtGingrichIsATraitor

Morgan Warstler & John Robison, Texas entrepreneurs close to former Governor Rick Perry instigated Donald Trump & egged him on as well. Pretty forceful in their advocacy to upend our republic. Even Dan Scavino Jr. called their approach 'Bat. Shit. Crazy.' But Donald liked it.

In the days & weeks that followed...

Outreach & implantation of the fake-elector scheme. Donald took Newt's advice. That's smells like a conspiracy to me. DOJ needs to subpoena Newt Gingrich. #NewtGingrichIsATraitor

From members of congress like Tim Walberg of Michigan to Republican state leaders like Kelli Ward, Donald Trump conspired with each of them individually & they committed overt acts in furtherance of Donald Trump's conspiracy to overthrow our government.

And for those who didn't agree to conspire with Donald Trump, he publicly targeted them by tweeting out their information so Donald's foot-soldiers could intimidate them. Like Republican Philadelphia City Commissioner, Al Schmidt.

Rudy Giuliani & Jenna Ellis make too many appearances in the Committee's final report to clip & post on Twitter. They were all in. Here's them working their seditious, flatulent magic in Arizona.

Here's Rudy & Jenna in Michigan.

Then there were Rudy's attacks on Ruby Freeman & Shaye Moss in Georgia.

BTW: Here's a link to the full report. You can read it for yourself as well. I'm just picking out excerpts from it that stick out to me. Please read on your own as well. You may catch important details I am missing as I speed-read through this beast. documentcloud.org/documents/2351…

A campaign advisor & a lobbyist all in one. Woot!

They were proud of their scare tactics.

In his wild & seditious abuse of his bully pulpit, Donald Trump repeatedly targeted multiple public officials & inadvertently endangered private citizens. Here's another example:

The report shows that Mark Meadows worked overtime to forward Donald Trump's seditious conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election. DOJ didn't indict him for criminal contempt of Congress because they have bigger plans for him. They have to. Information is overwhelming.

Offers of bribery by Mark Meadows.

Donald Trump abused the power of the presidency to bear down on Georgia state officials & election workers. This incident ALONE is enough to support multiple felony indictments. It was relentless & vicious & persistent.

Doug Mastriano played a bigger role in Donald Trump's plans to overthrow our government than previously thought. Not only did he organize a group & go to the insurrection, he actively participated & conspired with Donald Trump between the election & the insurrection.

Rudy Giuliani & his pardoned felon assistant, Bernard Kerik, actually e-mail their seditious plan. So smart.

Yeah, nothing to see here. Just two people employed by a sitting President of the United States conspiring to 'apply pressure' on state officials to change the outcome of a free & fair election‼️‼️

They had actually drafted a plan to target election officials IN THEIR HOMES! This was part of their plan. Written down, e-mailed, passed around, agreed upon. All to overthrow the 2020 election.

Related documents received from Rudy show they were explicitly TARGETING election officials in several states.

"We gotta start WORKING ON the leadership.'

Pardoned felon Bernard Kerik really went above & beyond with his overt acts in furtherance of Donald Trump's seditious conspiracy. And his words weren't just empty words. They actually incited people into menacing elected officials in their homes.

Again, Rudy & his pressure. Rudy Giuliani will be indicted for multiple felonies in connection with January 6th. The information laid out in the Committee's report leaves no shadow of doubt about that.

By signing this letter, elected officials signed on to Donald Trump's seditious conspiracy to overthrow the government of the United States.

Donald Trump & Rudy Giuliani's pressure campaign had real consequences. Elected officials had to get security for their families & were targeted with racist, anti-Semitic attacks.

Committee points out the examples of targeted attacks on state election officials & workers was widespread. It notes several, but clarifies that there were more.

More examples of the widespread harm caused by Donald Trump's pressure campaign to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

The terror Ruby Freeman & Shaye Moss experienced because of Rudy Giuliani's racist dogwhistles should be enough to charge Rudy Giuliani with assault & a slew of other charges in Georgia alone.

Donald Trump pressure campaign on state election officials & workers turned into a pressure campaign on Mike Pence at Donald's rally speech on January 6th.

The fake elector plan & Kenneth Chesebro:

Kenneth own words incriminate him. Contingent plan of fake electors so someone in Congress could argue that fake electors should be counted.

Kenneth Chesebro drafted & orchestrated the plan to pull Mike Pence into Donald Trump's seditious conspiracy & created the premise for Donald attacking Mike Pence when Pence wouldn't comply.

And of course Mark Meadows took Kenneth's fake elector plan & ran with it. At every step of the way, Mark Meadows operated as a facilitator of seditious plans to overthrow our republic. He had the choice of stopping them. He did the opposite.

Cassidy Hutchinson's conscience saved the American people a lot of time & money. Her testimony & her corroborations have had the most powerful impact on the Committee's investigation. It's no wonder Donald tried to buy her loyalty by paying for her lawyer in the beginning.

Ronna Romney McDaniel will be going through some things:

"...she called President Trump back soon after the call ended, letting him know that she agreed to his request and that some RNC staffers were already assisting."

Rudy Giuliani & Kenneth Chesebro: A seditious match made in trumpian hell.

Another name we didn't really hear about at the hearings: Michael Roman. In charge of the 'electors whip operation.'

Donald Trump is the head of the seditious snake. That's the resounding finding of the #January6thReport

Kenneth Chesebro, Mark Meadows, Michael Roman & Ronna Romney McDaniel delivered the fake electors to Donald Trump.

Kenneth Chesebro & John Eastman advocated making Mike Pence the 'ultimate arbiter' to 'derail the joint session of Congress.'

Senator Ron Johnson & his staff did everything they could to get fake elector packets to Vice President Pence before the January 6th joint session of Congress. They weren't successful, but not for lack of trying.

"The Trump team’s activities were based on the false pretense that these fake electoral votes...And yet...would have helped UNLAWFULLY OBSTRUCT an official proceeding that determines how our Nation carries out the peaceful transfer of power between Presidents."

Bill Barr said this to Donald Trump. He resigned not too long after that.

Bill Barr had more than one conversation with Donald Trump about the lack of election fraud. Donald Trump blew up on Bill Barr & accepted his resignation the instant Bill offered it.

Because of Donald Trump's seditious tantrums, Bill Barr initiated sprawling DOJ investigations into allegations of fraud. Despite appeasing Donald & investigating, they found 'NO EVIDENCE OF FRAUD.'

Enter Jeffery Clark, courtesy of Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania.

Scott Perry went out of his way to violate DOJ policy & advocate for Jeffrey Clark to become Donald's Attorney General.

“Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.”

"President Trump did not want to accept that the Department of Justice was not an arm of his election campaign."

Again, Scott Perry: He will be going through some things. Maybe he'll keep Donald company in prison. Maybe Scott was just planning ahead. He cannot live in peace with Donald in prison all alone. The love is palpable.

Jeffrey Clark's crackpot later that could have triggered a bigger constitutional crisis than the one we're wading through now.

Of course, Jeffrey Clark pleaded the 5th when the January 6th Committee asked him about this letter. Of course, he did.

Jeffrey Clark was actively working to undermine the DOJ itself. He communicated with the White House against DOJ policy. He drafted seditious letters that he wanted Acting AG Rosen to sign. He was openly insubordinate, with Donald's blessing, of course.

Donald Trump really coasted on the belief for four years as POTUS that the Justice Department was HIS personal law firm. This exchange illustrates that in epic fashion. What a dangerous dunce.

Donald wanted the Justice Department & DHS to seize voting machines.

Jeffrey Clark as Acting Attorney General & the DOJ standoff that stopped it.

Jeffrey Rosen summed up his short time as the Acting Attorney General like this:

"President Trump knew, or should have known, that this scheme was illegal—in fact, it violated the Electoral Count Act and the U.S. Constitution. President Trump repeatedly demanded that Vice President Pence go through with it anyway."

"Vice President Pence correctly pointed out that he had no power to take any action other than counting the certified electoral votes."

It was all happening in plain view for all of us to see. It was like a slow-moving seditious freight train that slowly & deliberately trampled over every law it could find.

The thing I cannot yet understand: Why is Mike Pence STILL against DOJ indicting Donald Trump. Donald Trump put him & his family in mortal danger. Was it because Pence knew he wouldn't actually be hurt because he had Secret Service? Or some other reason?

I'm not a stable genius so I don't get this. Will somebody please explain to me how calls to hang Mike Pence was 'common sense?'

Pressuring Mike Pence to overturn the 2020 election was Donald's last big gambit. It failed.

Couple of points: The 'President of the Senate' is the Vice President & the Vice President has NO discretion to make judgements on conflicting votes. And there weren't conflicting votes. there as the official electors & then the fake electors. False premise galore.

Everything John Eastman said to support his 'VP is the ultimate arbiter' nonsense is...nonsense. The Vice President's authority in counting electoral votes is purely ministerial. VP has NO discretion to change the votes, let alone do it without permission.

Curious point: John Eastman changed his position on the 12th Amendment & the power of the Vice President to overrule a free & fair election. Wonder what caused this....hm. Money, maybe?

John Eastman isn't a constitutional scholar. He's a criminal who manipulated & distorted the Constitution & laws flowing from it. He actively advocated breaking with procedures set in the Electoral Count Act.

They were simultaneously working on both ends to facilitate breaking the law. Together. That's the basic definition of a conspiracy. What was the end goal? Throw out free & fair elections & upend our constitutional order. That is SEDITION!

We heard this at the hearing, but it's shocking to me even now. Eastman was boldfaced about his criminal conspiracy to overthrow the will of the people. And he tried to flip the script & argue that HIS idea was the patriotic one. Eric Herschmann wouldn't have it.

Mike Pence's lawyers weigh in on John Eastman's plan. Note: In legal circles, 'shall' means 'must.' 'May' means can. When a statute or a Constitutional provision says 'shall' there is no discretionary leeway in enforcing that provision.

Louie Gohmert actually sued Mike Pence to force him to break the law. I mean, you can't make this nonsense up. Whoever gave Gohmert legal advice should be disbarred & sanctioned. And I wish the judge would have issued an opinion that raised the red flag.

John McEntee (not a lawyer) & Jenna Ellis (barely a lawyer) also chimed in with their traffic court arguments for why Mike Pence can & should break the law & stop the electoral vote count.

Mike Pence & his staff did their due diligence in reviewing & rejecting claims of voter fraud & 'legal' theories that gave the Vice President powers not mentioned anywhere in the Constitution.

While Mike Pence was busy covering his own ass, he sent out this statement. It was ambiguous, at best. Nothing forceful. Nothing clearly stating that he did not have the authority people were claiming he had. Pence could have spoken up louder. He chose to be ambiguous instead.

Under the guise of free speech, Steve Bannon & John Eastman misinformed the American people listening to Bannon's show. He expressly lied about the Vice President's role & added to the outside pressure on Pence to break the law & destroy our republic. Not just words. Incitement.

John Eastman knew the the legal theories he proposed were illegal & had no basis in law or precedent. But that did not stop him from peddling those seditious lies. It begs the question: Why? The man who once rejected these seditious theories was now their primary advocate. Why?

It's sadly transparent but important to point out: John Eastman's pressure on Mike Pence was entirely based on the concurrent fake-elector scheme Donald & his goons were trying to implement in seven states. It was a criminal conspiracy atop another criminal conspiracy.

In a meeting at the Oval Office with Donald Trump & Mike Pence, John Eastman went back on his advocacy of Mike Pence being the ultimate arbiter. Did that change Donald's mind? Of course, it didn't. Also, Pence could have started 25th Amendment procedures at this point.

This is all well & good, but Pence did not take any active steps to stop Donald Trump's burgeoning seditious conspiracy. He played a passive role where he covered his own ass & did the bare minimum. That is not leadership.

Donald continued targeting Pence. Every meeting with Donald to convince him of the truth about the 2020 election was an epic waste of time. They accomplished nothing. Pence, despite being the primary target of the criminal pressure campaign, did not invoke the 25th Amendment.

As Eastman aggressively advocated for the fake elector scheme & Pence's fictional authority to upend the election, he conceded his arguments on the merits. Repeatedly. It's almost like he would tell the truth & then somebody would tell him to get in line & next day he would.

Speculative assessment: There's a force, yet unseen, that orchestrated this treason plot & it wasn't just Eastman & the people we're reading about. It wasn't just Trump. It's an establishment force that wanted to install Trump as a one-off & destroy our constitutional order.

I want to know who 'THEY' are. If Eastman was only working for Donald Trump, he would have said "HE's going to be..."

I find it particularly astounding that Mike Pence's aides were more worried bout Pence being mischaracterized than Trump committing seditious conspiracy before their eyes. All the while, Donald disregarded every sound advice & went full speed to his last option: Insurrection.

Bannon, Navarro, Posobiec & others openly discussed their plans & predictions about how their treason plot would play out. These were people who were ancillary to Trump & Eastman.

It was an organized, orchestrated disinformation campaign working in tandem with a treason plot.

It would be one thing if the only thing Donald did was tweet out his treason plot & let it take form without his active involvement. As the report reveals, that's not the case. Donald was marketing his treason plot with his tweets & using it as a public pressure campaign.

Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani & John Eastman made "...direct appeal to the large angry crowd to pressure [ ] Pence to change his settled and oft-repeated conclusion about the limits of his authority. It was a shocking attempt to use public opinion to change the [Pence's] position."

"Trump launched a mob toward the Capitol with the false hope that there was a scenario in which [ ] Pence would do what Eastman and [ ]Trump had asked him to do, preventing the transfer of authority to President-elect Biden."

Instead, Pence released the “Dear Colleague” letter.

"Vice President Pence and the Parliamentarian agreed that the Vice President’s role is ministerial...he revised the script for the joint session to be transparent with the American people about what the Vice President would—and wouldn’t—be doing during the joint session."

Donald Trump endangered the lives of Mike Pence, his family & his staff. With his tweet targeting Pence, Donald directed his insurrectionist army to go after Mike Pence for not breaking the law & upending our constitutional order. It's remarkable that Donald's still walking free.

"It was an unprecedented scene in American history. The President of the United States had riled up a mob that hunted his own Vice President."

Well, this is likely to come up in John Eastman's trial. By not refuting the assertion that the Capitol was under 'siege' & blaming Pence for causing it by not following the seditious plan Eastman & Trump had set into motion, Eastman exposes the direct connection between the two.

And despite saying this in Congress during a joint session, Mike Pence still believes to this day that Congress does not have a the right to his testimony. Why? Does he not think the unprecedented violence should be investigated & its perpetrators brought to justice?

The 'be there, will be wild tweet.'

"The tweet created a 'fire hose' of calls to overthrow the U.S. Government. President Trump’s supporters had a new sense of urgency because they felt 'as if their Commander in Chief' had summoned them."

The 'will be wild' tweet galvanized extremist groups across the country. Proud Boys led the charge.

"Tarrio told his men that they should 'storm the Capitol.' While the attack was underway, Tarrio claimed credit in a private chat, writing: 'We did this.'"

Donald Trump exploited an existing problem of domestic extremism to his seditious benefit. Oathkeepers founder Elmer Stewart Rhodes' conviction for seditious conspiracy proves this. Donald consolidated every subversive element in our country lying-in-wait to destroy our republic.

QAnon & Alex Jones also played outsized roles in planing the insurrection. This titbit is new:

"A wealthy heiress paid for the [January 6th Ellipse rally] event after listening to Jones’ InfoWars rant about the importance of President Trump’s tweet."

These are words of incitement, not protected by the First Amendment or any kind of presidential privilege.

Here's a link to a discussion about 'words of incitement' & why they are not protected speech - this topic is likely to come up any day now: oeishik.substack.com/p/the-brandenb…

Roger Stone coined the term 'Stop The Steal' for Donald Trump in 2016. Then he repurposed it in 2020. The man isn't only tackily treasonous, he also is intellectually barren. Repurposing propaganda like he's the Salvation Army of propaganda.

Ali Alexander took Roger Stone's 'Stop The Steal' slogan & ran with it. Alex Jones helped.

Birds of seditious feathers flock together. Thanks to Roger Stone, Ali Alexander & Alex Jones. Also, isn't this the same Nick Fuentes who recently had a nazi dinner with Donald Trump? Didn't Donald say he didn't know Nick? Maybe he didn't 'know' him. But did he know ABOUT him?

Donald Trump incited & encouraged his incited flock for weeks before the insurrection. He primed them & inundated them with lies. He then sprinkled on little shows of support to keep the fire burning. Alex Jones used InfoWars to spread Donald's seditious messages far & wide.

This is a tacit form of militant recruitment. Donald is master manipulator who knows how to draw anarchists into the fold. Then he uses them both as shields against liability & foot soldiers of his various crimes.

Donald Trump was animating his shadow army months in advance. He knew the electorate was against him. Even with heavy gerrymandering, he had no chance. Only way to keep power was upending the rule of law & our Constitution. And so began the recruitment of extremist anarchists.

After the 'will be wild' tweet, the Proud Boys mobilized their resources to prepare for the insurrection.

We'll hear more about 🔽 at Enrique Tarrio's seditious conspiracy trial.

Curious how extremists knew about rumors that Donald would march to the Capitol with his shadow army. This was a hush-hush off-the-schedule plan. How did extremist groups know about it two days before the insurrection?

This news came out right after the insurrection but was buried in the avalanche of news. Donald Trump wanted the National Guard to come & protect him & his protestors during the insurrection. This would have made the National Guard part of the insurrection.

Donald chose to not intercede & stop the insurrection. It's understandable that he wouldn't want to stop the attack he himself ordered in open & plain view - but it's worth repeating because it is chilling. And even to this day Donald has the audacity to play the victim.

Instead of stopping the insurrection, Donald "reached out to [Rudy] and friendly Members of Congress, seeking their assistance in delaying the joint session of Congress" during those 187 minutes. He quite literally kept up his multi-prong attack till the bitter end.

Mark Meadows was busy building new false narratives all the way through.

Donald Trump's followers believed his lies, followed his orders & ruined their lives. Countless of them. Donald Trump has ruined more of his own followers' lives than his opponents'.

Donald Trump wanted to pardon insurrectionists & seditionists who assisted him in his seditious conspiracy. That's not consciousness of guilt. At all. 😉😉

Donald's January 6th rally "speech had come together over the course of 36 hours, going from a screed aimed at encour- aging congressional objections to one that would ultimately incite mob violence."

Seditious sociopaths can't really take criticism or dissent. Pence resisted Donald's pressure campaign & Donald retaliated by directing & inciting an armed mob against Mike Pence.

Donald Trump ad-libbed his attacks on Mike Pence at the rally speech on January 6th. Off-script. No advisors. All Donald. Liability's also all Donald's.

This is still striking to me: Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony about Donald Trump's response when he learned people at his rally were armed & couldn't come through the metal detectors.

Don't forget: Members of extremist groups somehow knew about this off-the-record movement. Jack Smith will have to uncover the link - HOW did they know about this movement that only select people in Trump's immediate orbit knew about? Who told them?

Donald Trump directed his shadow army to fight & directed them towards the Capitol to give weak Republicans "pride and boldness that they need to take back our country."

Kevin McCarthy expressly did not want Donald Trump to march to the Capitol. He may not recall this conversation when he's asked about under oath. Maybe that's why he didn't testify under oath to the Committee. He won't have that option when he gets a DOJ grand jury subpoena.

White House officials monitoring Donald's speech on January 6th figured out quickly that Donald's speech had taken a turn from being a political exercise to the beginning of an insurrection.

Multiple witnesses spoke with the Committee & confirmed that Donald Trump sincerely intended to go to the Capitol with his insurrectionist mob on January 6th. Oh & Mark Meadows wrote a book of lies to counter this - it didn't work.

Multiple witnesses corroborated Cassidy Hutchinson's testimony about Donald's altercation with Secret Service agents in the car at he Ellipse.

'I do not recall' is a testimonial state of limbo. It is neither the truth nor the lie. It is neither an admission, nor a denial. It is the oldest & most effective trick in the book to avoid answering questions you don't want to answer. But at least they testified.

White House time-logs prove that Donald Trump knew about the insurrection by 1:21 pm on January 6th.

"For the rest of the afternoon—as his country faced an hours-long attack—he hunkered down in or around the dining room, watching television."

Trump enacted an informal information blackout in the White House during the insurrection. White House photographer was not allowed into the White House. His White House officials refused to comply with the Committee's subpoenas to answer questions & many simply 'did not recall.'

Notice the difference in demeanor between Pat Cipollone & Mark Meadows. Pat wasn't in on the seditious conspiracy & Mark Meadows, as the Committee's report shows, very much was. Yet, Cipollone invoked executive privilege. Jack Smith will have to get Pat's testimony on this.

It's hard to believe Pat Cipollone would continue to invoke executive privilege over conversations that have probative value in a criminal investigation with national security implications. I believe Jack Smith's DOJ subpoena & testimony took care of that. Time will tell.

I would suspect Jack Smith already has Pat Cipollone's testimony on this matter. But what frustrates me is that Pat would invoke executive privilege over this to begin with. He was covering his own ass here. But I believe DOJ has turned this hearsay information into testimony.

Donald Trump precisely, methodically & continuously targeted Mike Pence to the point of endangering the lives of Pence, his family, his staff & his Secret Service agents. And YET, Mike Pence does not think DOJ should indict Donald Trump for his crimes. TO THIS DAY!

Each of these conversations have to be independently pursued by Jack Smith. The Committee provides a compelling narrative shaped by sworn testimony of only a few of these people. Others have stonewalled. DOJ needs their testimonies. Grand jury subpoena would remedy that.

Donald Trump waited over three hours to see if his insurrection would succeed. When he realized it wouldn't, he told his shadow army to go home & blamed Mike Pence for letting him down.

This is unbelievable. Even after all we've seen. Even AFTER the insurrection, Donald & Rudy Giuliani were pressuring members of Congress about the joint session votes & objections.

Rudy Giuliani & Donald Trump kept at it AFTER the insurrection. Notice Rudy's key words: object & delay. That word, delay, will be relevant when DOJ issues indictments with Rudy's name on them.

The people closest to Donald Trump on a day-to-day basis realized right away what had happened. From their messages, you can read how they realize that this wouldn't go away. They also say this was predictable. So why there weren't any whistleblowers from the White House?

Enrique Tarrio & the Proud Boys played a foundational role in facilitating the insurrection. While Tarrio was forbidden by court order to enter DC, he coordinated the Proud Boys operation from elsewhere.

Extremists & insurrectionists prepared for an insurrection while unaffiliated MAGA Americans inundated by Donald Trump for months provided Donald with the foot soldiers & human shields. Proud Boys, Oathkeepers & other groups harnessed the mob's manic anger.

This has been said & proven many times over, but it is worth reminding: January 6th, 2021 was an ARMED INSURRECTION ordered by Donald Trump against the government of the United States.

For people who wonder why law enforcement on the ground did not do more to stop Donald's insurrectionist crowd, here's why: They were outnumbered 100 to 1 & the insurrectionists were itching for a fight because they had been primed to FIGHT by Donald Trump & extremist groups.

"Kevin Seefried carried a Confederate Battle Flag with him and unfurled it inside the building. [W]hile the Confederate Flag has appeared in the building before, it was the first time that an insurrectionist ever carried the banner inside the U.S. Capitol."

Alex Jones incited & led part of the insurrection & then cut & run the minute he figured out he would be blamed for it because of his visible role on the ground. This is how traitorous cowards operate.

Stewart Rhodes wasn't just coordinating the Oathkeepers attack on January 6th. He was also providing real-time updates to 'Friends of Stone' group chat that included its namesake, Roger Stone, among other seditionists not present at the scene of the crime. Their point person.

Office Michael Fanone's attack. Please read this excerpt. He endured it. We should at least learn what he endured in service of our republic.

#January6thCommittee Recommendations

1. Electoral Count Act

#January6thReport Recommendations

2. Accountability

Not limited to criminal referrals but investigation of the various Trump attorneys who were explicitly professionally irresponsible.

#January6thCommittee Recommendations

3. Violent Extremism

While the Committee did not particularly investigate law enforcement failures, this recommendation indicates that the Committee is aware of lapses in security & the report points those lapses out where relevant.

#January6thReport Recommendations

4. Fourteenth Amendment, Section Three

While Trump's disqualification can be easily pursued through his prosecution for 18 USC 2383, until Congress finalizes procedures to enforce Section 3, disqualifying others will be an uphill battle.

#January6thCommittee Recommendations

5. National Special Security Event

"[D]esignate the joint session of Congress occurring on January 6th as a National Special Security Event."

#January6thReport Recommendations

6. Amend criminal statutes

Opinion: I believe the statutes criminally referred & the statute for seditious conspiracy (18 USC 2384) sufficiently cover the conduct described in the report. Time will tell if the courts & juries agree.

#January6thCommittee Recommendations

7. House of Representatives Civil Subpoena Enforcement Authority

This recommendation should be considered a priority by Congress. Congress must have authority to enforce their subpoenas. Inability to do that encumbered the Committee's work.

#January6thReport Recommendations

8. Threats To Election Workers

The omnibus bill did not include funding for security of election workers. So for now, state legislatures will have to take up this issue.

#January6thCommittee Recommendations

9. Capitol Police Oversight

The omnibus bill that just passed Congress includes funding for Capitol Police & I believe this will enable them to investigate & reform procedures to better address violence & threats to members of Congress.

#January6thReport Recommendations

10. Role of the Media

This is a much-needed recommendation that Congress must follow through on: We NEED truth in media. To ensure mass media isn't used to incite violence & lawless action, Congress must come up with a new Fairness Doctrine.

#January6thCommittee Recommendations

11. Discussion of the Insurrection Act

This is a tacit nudge by a congressional committee to all of Congress that it needs to look closely at finding legislative ways to limit expanding powers of the Presidency.

The Committee puts to rest the propaganda that Antifa caused the insurrection. Obviously, that will not stop Donald & his MAGA anarchists from peddling this lie. So now it falls on each of us to counter their lies with this truth.

ANALOGY: The 9/11 attack was a stranger breaking into your house & killing your loved ones. Jan. 6th was family members LIVING IN THE HOUSE attempting to murder you & your loved ones. National security apparatus simply didn't/couldn't take threat seriously & plan for it.

How exactly does one 'peacefully storm' something? I don't think I have ever heard of a peaceful storm. Have you? While Metropolitan Police Department took steps, DHS seems to have been minimizing the threat. WTF is a peaceful storm?

“President Trump supporters have proposed a movement to occupy Capitol Hill.”

If Secret Service had this information before the insurrection, they betrayed their oath to the Constitution by not red-flagging it & notifying all national security departments.

Capitol Police deployed all their resources upon receiving intelligence on upticks in violent rhetoric & a "surge in viewers of online maps of the Capitol complex’s underground tunnels."

@threadreaderapp Plz unroll

We need to have a serious discussion about the limits of free speech & draw better lines separating what is exercise of First Amendment rights & what is incitement specific enough to warrant FBI intervention.

This sure reads like a fairly specific threat assessment to trigger FBI investigation & intervention. This sure sounds like a threat assessment that Department of Homeland Security should have taken seriously & acted upon it by deploying all available law enforcement resources.

Was it that there were no credible, specific threats or that there were too many not-so-credible, semi-specific threats for the intelligence community to pinpoint the threats? Donald franchised his sedition. He built a grassroots pseudo-populist insurrection with bellicose lies.

Here's the first time in the #January6thReport where I see a specific instance where the FBI dropped the ball in a major way.

"While the incoming information was reviewed on a regular basis [ ] 'unified monitoring' of the items in the aggregate didn’t begin until January 5th."

Despite receiving multiple specific threat assessments, leading law enforcement officials thought they had enough procedures in place to handle the situation. Some went as far as to play the 'both-sides' argument, despite no tips/intelligence about Antifa or left-wing protestors.

"On December 31st, Mayor Bowser requested the assistance of the DC National Guard to assist the MPD at traffic points within the city."

In light of how protestors were handled by the Guard during summer protests involving Donald Trump, Mayor Bowser feared citizen intimidation.

Washington DC's Metropolitan Police Department deployed all their resources to help law enforcement efforts on January 6th.

Chief of Capitol Police made some conservative decisions that did not help the security posture on January 6th.

"In retrospect Chief Sund believed 'there should have been a plan for the joint session of Congress inside the Capitol..."

Ya think?!

👀😬‼️‼️

Department of Defense was recommending Department of Justice to be the lead federal agency overseeing security operations of January 6th at the same time when Donald was offering Jeffrey Clark the position of acting Attorney General.

"The question of a lead Federal agency remained 'an open, unanswered question' at the end of the January 3rd call." Security officials couldn't agree on a lead federal agency to lead the security mission of January 6th as late as January 3rd. They were woefully unprepared.

Government officials as senior as General Milley did not full understand the nature of the impending threat. They didn't assemble a quick reaction force, didn't think Guard support was necessary & waited until two days before January 6th to set up a security operations center.

While various permits were granted for January 6th, no agency granted a permit for the march from the Ellipse to the Capitol on that day.

Capitol Police chief Sund did not take the threats seriously. Based on assurances he provided, congressional staff “believed and the Speaker believed the security professionals were in charge of the security and they were prepared. We were told that there was a plan."

Ultimately though, the biggest wildcard for the insurrection that security professionals could have but did not factor into their threat assessment was Donald Trump. Despite the fact that he incited in open & plain view & intelligence picked up threats linked to that rhetoric.

Pipebombs. Donald planning on going to Capitol. Truck with guns & Molotov cocktails. Still AG "Rosen admits he was not very concerned with the situation at the time" & Deputy AG Donoghue..."wasn’t specifically monitoring the protests as 'there were a million things going on.'"

The #January6thReport shows how Mayor Bowser of Washington DC did everything to deploy whatever security forces she could & also notified other security officials to do their part.

Capitol Police Chief Sund is the ostrich who kept his head in the sand for a little too long. He realized the urgency literally when he was staring right at it. What's the use of intelligence units if department heads don't know what to do with the intelligence they gather?

Security officials were so woefully underprepared for the insurrection that the discovery of pipe-bombs was enough to derail their entire thinking process & operational strategy. But the pipe bombs were completely in-sync with the intelligence they were getting for weeks.

If security officials had taken the warnings coming at them for weeks seriously, they would have expected Donald's shadow army to behave exactly the way they did. But because they placated & didn't set up centralized operations until the day before, they weren't ready. Simple.

To quote @TeamPelosi, when the poo-poo started hitting the walls, Yogananda Pittman diverted resources to secure members of Congress. Individual law enforcement officers were heroes on that day. They defended the Capitol without a proper, organized command structure.

Mayor Bowser requested "the National Guard’s assistance...Meadows told Mayor Bowser that the President “had approved the request."

But we now know from the #January6thReport that Donald Trump approved no such request.

When you juxtapose the harrowing experience of law enforcement officers on the ground that day with the utter incompetence & inconsistency of security leaders & their intelligence officials, it's simply infuriating.

#January6thCommittee report findings confirm that Mayor Bowser of Washington DC did everything in her power from beginning to end. I can't imagine how frustrated & anxious she must have felt, with an insurrection endangering her city. Thank you @MurielBowser for your service.

Capitol Police chief Sund did not see the urgency of the situation even AFTER the attack. He didn't see the urgency of clearing the Capitol & getting back to certification. It would take DAYS to sweep & reopen the Capitol, he said. This man needs to be investigated.

Brief summary of the acute harm suffered by police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6th. These officers deserve justice.

🚨🚨 "[A]uthorities were in possession of multiple streams of intelligence predicting violence directed at the Capitol prior to January 6th...It should have been sufficient to warrant far more vigorous preparations...The failure...jeopardized the lives of the police officers..."

"The best defense against that danger will not come from law enforcement, but from an informed and active citizenry."

But a well-coordinated & trained security apparatus that knows the limits of free speech & can assess intelligence about domestic security threats would help.

Who commands the District of Columbia National Guard?

It was convenient for Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy to deploy DC Guard for the George Floyd protests indiscriminately & then learn the lesson of not doing it when it was actually needed. He learned all the wrong lessons.

Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy realized DC Guard was in disarray & acknowledged a need for a top-down command structure. Yet, an operational structure was unavailable for January 6th. So what exactly did Secretary McCarthy learn from his mistakes? Nothing.

Translation: The American military & justice apparatuses were wallowing in their failures & light-footing their security procedures for SEVEN MONTHS. We need change in leadership at the top. General Milley is nice & all, but nowhere in the report do I see leadership from him.

Red-tape bureaucracy go in the way of streamlined procedures. What leaders could do, how much they could deploy, whether it was narrow or specific: While they were discussing word-usage, Donald & his coconspirators were OPENLY conspiring & inviting extremists to Washington DC.

Secretary of the Army McCarthy really did not want to deploy the DC Guard for January 6th. He was worried about optics. And his excuse was, he learned lessons from the summer George Floyd protests. Yeah, I believe him. Completely. 🙄

But, you know, Secretary McCarthy had SEVEN MONTHS to implement the top-down structures he himself talked about after the summer protests. Did he implement them? No. Did he implement them after getting the request from Mayor Bowser? Nope.

The whole point of a top-down command structures is that middle management just CANNOT do whatever they want. These excerpts read like a lesson in bad & indecisive leadership. While some officials had it right, they weren't at the top of the command structure.

This concern was real: That Donald Trump would invoke the Insurrection Act & use the Guard to help in his insurrection.

Donald Trump's erratic & seditious behavior had military leadership walking on broken glass for months. I understand they were under pressure & acute stress, but isn't that what our military is designed to withstand?

This should really upset anybody who reads it. Even as late as two days before the insurrection, security officials couldn't agree on the National Guard's mission. All the while, Donald's shadow army planned & implemented their operations with ease & unity of mind. Shameful.

Information gathered by the #January6thCommittee repeatedly demonstrates how various law enforcement departments dropped the ball repeatedly when it came to readiness & planning ahead of January 6th. I share Mayor Bowser's alarm.

More law enforcement leadership failures. They had their head in the clouds. Would make any reasonable person think it was willful negligence.

Failure to consolidate & process intelligence about domestic terrorism on January 6th led to security failures that resulted in hundreds of injured police officers & a full-blown insurrection. Several police officers also died because of it.

Congressional leaders were not privy to security planning ahead of January 6th. The Committee writes that is normal. Perhaps after the insurrection they will implement a new normal.

The commander of the National Guard's 'Quick Reaction Force' was "provided little guidance on the contours of his mission." He took it upon himself to train the QRF for civil disturbance.

On-the-ground commanders prepared their troops for civil disturbance & took necessary steps.

"I think a local unit commander was anticipating more than what potentially we were prepared for," Secretary of War McCarthy conceded.

"But Army leadership did not know that."

You would think commanders of the DC National Guard would have unity of mind when it came to the Guard's core mission. You would think they would prepare in the face of unprecedented threats & agree on their core mission. Yet, here we are.

Despite indecision & confusion at the top levels of the National Guard & military, on-the-ground commanders were ready to deploy to assist local law enforcement in containing the insurrection.

House Sergeant at Arms Irving notified @SpeakerPelosi about requesting the National Guard on January 6th.

Speaker Pelosi's response: "Absolutely. Go!"

But this corroborated truth won't change MAGA's mind.

It shouldn't surprise you, but should most definitely boil your blood, that even nearly 40 MINUTES after the Capitol was breached Donald Trump's Defense Department & DOJ leadership wouldn't order deployment of the National guard. Despite pleas from multiple people.

Donald Trump's Pentagon officials cared more about optics - or whatever they call it in their own roundabout ways - than Capitol Police & Metropolitan Police officers being beaten bloody. 40 MINUTES AFTER THE CAPITOL WAS BREACHED! These 'generals' should be courtmartialed.

"Major General Walker—under whom 'it was actually written . . . would maintain control of National Guard forces'— said he was not privy to any planning...

'We were just told to hold,' he said.

How long did Major General Walker hold?

'Three hours and 19 minutes,' he said."

So, did Secretary lie when he told Mike Pence "National Guard . . . was activated, and we were throwing every asset we could marshal to support law enforcement.”

Because the investigation reveals that they were clearly still circumspecting.

Also, Donald Trump never called!

If Secretary Miller claims to have had this conversation with Donald & had the understanding that the DC Guard was under his command, why was he waiting for Donald Trump's call on January 6th? People like him don't belong in leadership positions.

‼️‼️ Alarming on many levels. I understand that Secretary Miller was in a very difficult position here. But leaders at that level should be able to withstand that pressure & keep their official charge short of a direct order from POTUS - that order did not come.

It sure reads like Secretary McCarthy tried to throw Major General Walker - ground command - under the bus when being interviewed by the Select Committee. Unfortunately for McCarthy, the evidence implicates him more than Walker.

Secretary McCarthy was lying to members of Congress during the insurrection. While he assured them that he was mobilizing the Guard, he had given no such order at the time of those conversations.

Secretary McCarthy was drafting an operations plan without the ground commander of the National Guard. He was doing this nearly TWO HOURS INTO the insurrection.

Secretary McCarthy's poor leadership delayed the National Guard's response time. It created confusion & misunderstanding among military commanders on the ground. Also, despite his explicit claims, McCarthy didn't employ any top-down structure to oversee the Guard.

Until the very end, operational & command dysfunction hamstrung the DC National Guard from supporting law enforcement at the Capitol on January 6th.

National Guard ground commander Captain Tarp said, "'by the time we got there, we were just holding back the people who remained past the curfew.' The height of the riot had passed." #January6thReport

There may not have been any intentional delays on January 6th, but there was definitely willful negligence & an abject failure of leadership.

Ground commander Walker testified, "it was clearly there. The decision paralysis, decision avoidance."

The #January6thReport, in so many words & very politely, pins National Guard failures on institutional ruts that compromised the National Guard's operations & effectiveness. This calls for Defense Department investigations into its intelligence & operations processes.

@threadreaderapp plz unroll

The Big Lie & the Big Ripoff | Donald's Big, Seditious Grift

While he incited his shadow army with his election lies, Donald Trump also fundraised based on those same lies.

Donald Trump & the Republican National Committee raised over $250 MILLION dollars based on the big lie. Most donations were from "small-dollar donors who were promised their money would 'Stop the Steal.'"

"[M]ost of their money was not used to stop any purported steal."

Donald Trump's post-election fundraising operation deliberately picked the most incendiary lie as a tool for fundraising AFTER the election. They actually discussed issuing truthful statements & then deliberately CHOSE the big lie as their fundraising tool.

Donald's campaign "used inflammatory language and false election fraud claims...because it was both effective at fundraising and accurately captured President Trump’s ongoing tone and messaging."

"Did not bother to confirm whether or not those inflammatory statements were true."

Donald Trump's campaign received "direction from the RNC’s lawyers shortly after the election to not say steal the election' and instead were told to use 'try to steal the election.'"

The RNC & Donald Trump's campaign were working hand-in-glove to mislead their supporters.

The RNC "knew that President Trump was lying to the American people. Yet, they did nothing to publicly distance themselves from his efforts...[Their] response was merely to tinker around the edges of the fundraising copy but...never challenge...Trump’s Big Lie."

This excerpt explains how Donald turned his campaign fundraising into the Save America PAC to continue the Big-Ripoff. As far as criminal conspiracies go, few people can match Donald Trump's operations. He truly is the Picasso of criminals.

The #January6thReport shows how Donald Trump's Save America PAC is essentially a bribery PAC that enriches Donald Trump's loyalists. Dan Scavino seems to be one of its principle beneficiaries.

Donald Trump's former personal assistant, Nick Luna, is another major beneficiary. Rewarding his loyalists by skimming from his supporters & keeping most of it for himself - that's what Donald Trump is doing with the money he raised to fight against 'election fraud.'

Donald Trump's Save America PAC paid Donald's former speech writers who wrote the January 6th speech under the guise of 'political consulting.'

Trump has been paying his motley crew of insurrectionists, seditionists & propagandists through his Save America PAC for the LAST TWO YEARS! And people wonder WHY these people are still out peddling his lies & throwing inadvertent 'I don't recall' wrenches into investigations.

#January6thReport reveals that Donald Trump used his campaign fundraising apparatus to incite his followers while also swindling them out of hundreds of millions of dollars. He was recruiting the 'Trump army' to 'Stop The Steal!' In open & plain view.

🚨 "Putin authorized...range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden’s candidacy...supporting [ ] Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US."

Russia played the most significant role in influencing our elections. Iran played a part. China decided it was against their best interest to do so. #January6thReport

🚨‼️‼️👇🏽

"Russian malign disinformation efforts are both strategic in scope and opportunistic in nature. They aim to corrode the power and appeal of the U.S. democratic processes, worsen U.S. domestic divisions, and weaken America at home and abroad."

Way "of concealing the foreign-state origin...use unattributable proxies - “cut-outs”- or fully independent ideological allies in the [USA] as messaging organs. A cooperative American messenger...to make the foreign-origin message congenial to" Americans.

I can think of a few.

"[S]uccess of the proxy depends on shielding its foreign sponsorship...difficult or impossible to determine [if] someone parroting a foreign government adversary’s point of view to a U.S. audience is [ ] proxy or a volunteer taking full advantage of U.S. 1st Amendment freedoms."

One last time for good measure, @threadreaderapp pls unroll! And Thank you!