A bit of drama in the dockets of brothers and Jan. 6 defendants Matthew and Gregory Purdy. Last year, they and their co-defendant, Robert Turner, all decided to fire their lawyers and be represented by a single, new attorney. Judge Lamberth was skeptical but allowed it... Then, last month, the new attorney asked for a continuance of their April 22 trial date — noting, among other reasons, that she had applied for a judgeship in Alabama. I was not at the hearing but Judge Lamberth was, I gather, not impressed. Motion denied.

Former Trump WH trade adviser Peter Navarro's sentencing hearing is set to begin shortly. DOJ is seeking 6 months in jail for Navarro defying a subpoena from the January 6th Committee. google.com/amp/s/www.wusa… Like most, Peter Navarro's sentencing hearing begins with arguments over enhancements and credits. Navarro wants 2 levels of credit for acceptance of responsibility. Judge Mehta seems dubious.

Mehta: “I haven’t heard a word of contrition from Dr. Navarro since this case began.”

Rudy Giuliani's civil trial resumes this morning at 9:15 with more of the plaintiffs' case.

https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1734337875519402397

The plaintiffs are showing a video deposition w/ Mary Frances Watson, a former police lieutenant who was the chief investigator for the Georgia Secretary of State's Investigations Division during the 2020 election.

Rudy Giuliani's civil trial is starting. He's sitting at the defense table with his attorney, Joseph Sibley, as Judge Howell instructs the jury.

She tells them Giuliani has already been found liable for defamation. Their job is only to determine damages. wusa9.com/article/news/n… Judge Howell is instructing the jury on the consequences of his failure to provide discovery. They must assume he:

- Intentionally tried to hide financial information to deflate his worth
- Intentionally tried to hide info about his podcast to deflate the reach of his words

I mean, I guess you can play dumb and say it was your law clerk who wrote this so it shouldn't reflect on the sincerity of your client's guilty plea... but Judge Lamberth is the absolute last judge on the D.C. bench I'd want to play that game with in a Jan. 6 case. The prosecutor in Ryan Nichols' case predicted this kind of thing and so asked Judge Lamberth to ask Nichols and attorney Joe McBride directly if they were contesting any of the facts in his plea deal.

McBride say there was "no controversy" about them. wusa9.com/article/news/n…

John Sullivan took the stand briefly yesterday afternoon. He's set to resume his testimony in earnest at 10:30.

https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1724554519109922905

Sullivan's contention during his direct examination this morning was that he was a journalist on Jan. 6 who said inflammatory things to blend into the crowd as a way of protecting himself. Direct exam was fairly short, probably less than an hour between yesterday and today.

Back in federal court today, where prosecutors will seek a gag order on Donald Trump. google.com/amp/s/www.wusa… Judge Chutkan is on the bench and the hearing is underway. The DOJ is seeking a gag order limiting Trump and his attorneys from attacking the court, prosecutors and potential witnesses. They also want limits on what Trump can ask in pre-trial polling.

Popped into the trial this afternoon of ex-sheriff's deputy Ronald Colton McAbee. He's taken the stand in support of his defense theory, which is that seconds after he admits to assaulting one police officer he attempted to help a second. wusa9.com/amp/article/ne… Much of McAbee's defense rests on his efforts later to aid to Rosanne Boyland, who collapsed on the steps leading into the Lower West Terrace Tunnel. He's asking jurors to believe that because he tried to help a fellow rioter, he was also trying to help a downed officer.

The sentencing hearing for former Proud Boys chairman Enrique Tarrio has started. He's in court with a shaved head and dark black beard and wearing an orange jumpsuit. He's sitting w/ his attorneys Sabino Jauregui and Nayib Hassan. Jauregui is arguing, as he did at trial, that Enrique Tarrio wasn't controlling and in fact could not control the Proud Boys on Jan. 6. That he was being a "keyboard ninja" from Baltimore. That he was not in direct communication w/ Ethan Nordean and Joe Biggs.

At 10 a.m. today it's the sentencing hearing for Dominic Pezzola, the Marine Corps veteran and Proud Boy who smashed the window that created the first breach into the Capitol. Prosecutors are seeking 20 years. Two other military vets and Proud Boys, Joe Biggs and Zachary Rehl, were sentenced yesterday to 17 and 15 years in prison, respectively.

https://twitter.com/JordanOnRecord/status/1697357056636801062

Former InfoWars employee Joe Biggs will now be the first of a group of Proud Boys leaders sentenced for their role in the Capitol riot. His hearing is set to begin at 10 a.m. google.com/amp/s/www.wusa… It's been a long, strange trip for Joe Biggs — a U.S. Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient who first worked for the conspiracy site InfoWars and then wound up in the Proud Boys, where even other members of the group warned Enrique Tarrio he was too extreme.

Good morning. Donald Trump's attorneys will be back in federal court in D.C. today at 10 a.m. in his election fraud case. What we might get today is a trial date, so stay tuned. Donald Trump's attorneys Todd Blanche, John Lauro and Gregory Singer all appear to be in court and seated at the defense table. There was a modest line to sit in the public gallery, which has now filled in. Prosecutors aren't in court yet.

NEW: A woman testified today she had to climb through a window to get past anti-abortion activists who were harassing her and physically blocking all the doors to a D.C. clinic.

Video played for the jury showed her increasingly distraught calls for help. wusa9.com/article/news/c… The woman, who testified under a pseudonym, said the anti-abortion activists began grabbing at her and telling her she was going to hell as soon as she got out of her car.

"I felt very overwhelmed. Not OK at all," she said. wusa9.com/article/news/c…

Donald Trump's attorney(s) will be back in a D.C. courtroom this morning to argue over the particulars of a protective order. Trump is opposing limits on his ability to share evidence in the case. google.com/amp/s/www.wusa… All three of Donald Trump's attorneys who have entered the case so far are present for the hearing:

· John Lauro
· Todd Blanche
· Gregory Singer

The government is represented by Thomas Windom and Molly Gaston, both senior assistant special counsels.

BREAKING: Oath Keepers Jan. 6 operations leader Michael "Whip" Greene sentenced to probation and 60 hours of community service for misdemeanor trespassing. Judge Mehta said the jury acquitted him and that verdict "has to be respected." wusa9.com/article/news/n… "I feel pretty damn good," Michael Greene told me outside of court today.

🚨 SENTENCE: Christopher Alberts, a former National Guardsman from Maryland, ordered to serve 7 years in prison for assaulting police and carrying a gun onto Capitol grounds. Judge Cooper described him a a leader of the mob on Jan. 6. Story TK. google.com/amp/s/www.wusa… Christopher Alberts' attorneys, John Pierce and Roger Roots, failed to convince Judge Cooper not to apply any of the enhancements they opposed, including one for lying on the stand. He hardly acknowledged the extreme downward departure to a 6-month sentence they requested.

NOW: Prosecutors tell Judge Faruqui they WILL be seeking additional charges for Taylor Taranto. No specifics on date or type yet. Taranto also appears to have brought on private counsel, although he's not entered the case yet. wusa9.com/article/news/n… More: This was unclear earlier but private counsel seems actually to be advising Mrs. Taranto, who had been prepared to answer questions from the judge about being a third-party custodian.

Today's the day for Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes. His seditious conspiracy sentencing hearing begins at 9:30 a.m. DOJ is asking for 25 years in prison. google.com/amp/s/www.wusa… Despite all the work yesterday at the omnibus hearing, today is still starting off with more arguments about sentencing enhancements. One thing to note so far: Judge Mehta says he does find the armed QRF was *not* intended simply to be reactionary.

The DOJ wants 9 years in prison for former Army Ranger Robert Morss. (The DOJ will not get 9 years in prison for him.)

The big question: Will a (second) federal judge agree he used his military training to make fellow rioters "more effective" on Jan. 6?
wusa9.com/article/news/n… Two of Robert Morss' co-defendants convicted alongside him on the same day have received 4.3 and 2.6 years in prison. He seems likely to receive something in that range — unless one side is especially persuasive about the weight of his military service. wusa9.com/article/news/n…

A three-judge panel from the D.C. Circuit has DENIED the request to rehear a case that upheld the use of obstruction of an official proceeding (18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2)) in Jan. 6 cases. Window to request full en banc hearing appears to have passed, so SCOTUS is what's left. Here's my story from April on the circuit panel overturning a decision by a district court judge to dismiss the obstruction charges against some Jan. 6 defendants. wusa9.com/article/news/n…

NOW: Hearing there's a partial verdict in the Proud Boys trial. Judge Kelly is discussing how to instruct the jurors once they return what they've agreed on. DOJ wants an Allen charge/Thomas instruction telling them to keep working. COUNT 1: Seditious Conspiracy

Ethan Nordean: GUILTY
Joseph Biggs: GUILTY
Zachary Rehl: GUILTY
Enrique Tarrio: GUILTY
Dominic Pezzola: [NO VERDICT]