You should be watching
‘Member this? “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
If you reading this, the latest , live January 6 hearing in the House is already underway. It started at 10 a.m. ET. The focus today is (or is reportedly) the a) extremists who planned and materially advanced the assault on the U.S. Capitol, and b) their ties to President Trump and the White House.
CNN has a preview of coming defendents whose names may come up today:
Joe Biggs, a Proud Boys leader from Florida and former InfoWars correspondent, assumed a top leadership role within the Proud Boys after the January 4 arrest of Proud Boys Chairman Enrique Tarrio, according to the Justice Department. Biggs allegedly led the Proud Boys in a march to and around the Capitol building, and was present at the initial breach of Capitol grounds.
Biggs faces nine federal charges including seditious conspiracy and has pleaded not guilty.
Kelly Meggs is a leader of the Florida chapter of the Oath Keepers and is one of several members charged with seditious conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty. Text messages from around January 6 show that Meggs discussed the possibility of using the Proud Boys as a “force multiplier” on January 6 with other Oath Keepers, and that he was in touch with former Trump adviser Roger Stone about providing security during the Stop the Steal rally.
Meggs allegedly led the infamous first “stack” of Oath Keepers up the steps and into the Capitol building on January 6, according to the Justice Department. Once inside, Meggs allegedly went searching for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Rochester Proud Boys member Dominic Pezzola is accused of smashing a window with a stolen police officer’s riot shield, precipitating the first breach of the Capitol building.
He was allegedly one of the first rioters inside, and was at the front of the group who chased Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman up the stairs.
Pezzola faces 10 federal charges including seditious conspiracy and has pleaded not guilty.
Stewart Rhodes, an Army veteran and graduate of Yale law school, founded the Oath Keepers in 2009 and has led the far-right organization ever since. Rhodes was at the Capitol on January 6 but is not alleged to have entered the building, though phone records show he allegedly communicated with members who did go inside the Capitol and with members staged at an armed “quick reaction force” just outside Washington, DC.
Rhodes was also a member of a “VIP” Signal chat alongside Roger Stone, Ali Alexander, Alex Jones and other key Trump allies, according to people familiar with Signal messages that prosecutors have obtained.
Rhodes, along with nine other members of the Oath Keepers, is set to go to trial in September on charges of seditious conspiracy. He is currently being held in a federal detention facility near Washington, DC. Rhodes has pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges stemming from January 6.
There are more.
Having lost over 60 court cases challenging his 2020 election loss, Trump turned to promoting/encouraging/suggesting violence on Jan. 6 to stop certification of Joe Biden’s win.
A committee aide told reporters Monday night:
“We will show how some of these right-wing extremist groups who came to D.C. and led the attack on the Capitol had ties to Trump associates, including Roger Stone and Gen. Mike Flynn,” said the committee aide.
You should be watching. Now.
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