President Biden: The NEW one and only politics thread

Couple of holdovers from Jan. 6.

First, more info about Proud Boy No. 1’s cooperation with prosecutors.



Second, and more important, federal prosecutors said in court last week that the Oath Keepers crew Jan. 6 — and do remember that they’re mainly ex-military — had an armed quick-reaction backup force in place outside Washington that day.

A federal prosecutor said Friday that the federal government’s “working understanding” is that the Oath Keepers had a “quick reaction force” stationed outside the District of Columbia on Jan. 6, prepared with weapons during the siege at the Capitol.

Speaking in open court, prosecutors provided few additional details of what would represent evidence of a much larger threat to Congress and then–vice president Mike Pence on that day than previously known. None of the Oath Keepers charged so far are accused of carrying or using weapons, but the suggestion that they had a plan to access arms raises the specter that the insurrection could have been even more violent and dangerous for police and lawmakers inside the Capitol.

After US District Judge Amit Mehta pressed for more information, he and Assistant US Attorney Ahmed Baset quickly moved into an off-the-record session to discuss the government’s evidence.

The comments came during a detention hearing for Jessica Watkins, 38, the member of the Oath Keepers from Ohio charged with conspiracy and other crimes for leading others from that group into the Capitol. Watkins is facing some of the most serious charges to come out of the insurrection. A grand jury indicted her and eight others associated with the Oath Keepers on charges of descending on the Capitol in “an organized and practiced fashion” to stop Congress from certifying the election of Joe Biden as president.

Watkins was seeking to be released to home detention pending trial, arguing that she was not a danger to the community and was disbanding her militia and renouncing her affiliation with the Oath Keepers. Following a nearly two-hour hearing, Judge Mehta denied that bid, saying she posed an ongoing risk to the community.

He also referred, obliquely, to what he and prosecutors had discussed off the record about the quick reaction force, referring to “weapons placed outside” the District of Columbia and to the fact that “Ms. Watkins knew those instructions.”

That followed an earlier exchange in which the judge pressed the prosecutor on the question of whether there was a quick reaction force stationed outside Washington, DC. “I know there was evidence of planning,” the judge said. “Does the government have evidence that there were in fact … people with weapons?”

“That’s our understanding,” Baset answered. “The investigation is ongoing, but that is our understanding … our working understanding.”

The judge responded: “When you say working understanding, are you suggesting the government has proof that in fact there were people stationed outside the district? And if you want to do this in a non-public session, we can do that.”

At that point, the prosecutor and judge went off the record in a conversation that reporters could not hear

References to a quick reaction force have come up before in the Oath Keepers’ prosecution. Two weeks earlier, the same judge had denied the release of Thomas Caldwell, 66, who is accused of being one of Watkins’ co-conspirators. Prosecutors have accused him of exploring plans to use pickup trucks or boats to transport weapons across the Potomac River at a critical moment.

Watkins herself texted another member of her group on Jan. 3 that a “quick reaction force” would be the “law enforcement” arm of the Oath Keepers on Jan. 6, according to court papers.

Mehta, at the end of Friday’s hearing, called the quick reaction force “the most disturbing aspect of the planning in these cases.” He also noted: “The threats to democracy and threats on the capitol have not fully abated.”​

Prosecutors Suggest Oath Keepers Had Armed Reinforcements

 

This accurately describes three-fourths of the men I ever came in contact from New York.

 

And the sad part is the other fools know damn well these people are looney-tunes, and they're exploiting that to make money. I don't think Trump believes in QAnon for a second but he's sure willing to take advantage of the poor, miserable idiots who do.

 

I’m sure he does believe in it. He believes whatever he’s told or sees on the Internet, just like millions of other 70-something old folks.

 

I bought Fabio’s album.