J6 pardons immediate fallout

The largest police union in the country - the Fraternal Order of Police, and the International Association of Chiefs of Police both denounced Trump’s pardon of J6 insurrectionists. Their joint statement: “Allowing those convicted of crimes to be released early diminishes accountability and devalues the sacrifices made by courageous law enforcement officers and their families.”

More from the statement: “It sends a dangerous message that the consequences for attacking law enforcement are not severe, potentially emboldening others to commit similar acts of violence.”

Oathkeepers leader Stewart Rhodes walked out of prison and was asked by a reporter what he wanted to see happen next. He said that he wanted the Capitol Police officers prosecuted for supposedly lying on the stand in his trial. He specifically mentioned Harry Dunn.

Former Capitol Police Office Michael Fanone was asked if he had anything to say to Stewart Rhodes on CNN: “This is what I would say to Stewart Rhodes - go fuck yourself. You’re a liar.” Since it was live, CNN apologized for the F word.

Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio walked out of prison and immediately called for Merrick Garland and others to be arrested: “We need people like Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, and the rest of the Trump cabinet to right all these wrongs. The people who did this, they need to feel the heat. They need to be put behind bars.”

J6 insurrectionist Vital Gossjankowski also walked out of prison. He tried to attack his judge during the sentencing and had to be tackled and physically restrained by court bailiffs.

  Meidas Touch

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Well!

He'll have lots of time to think about what he's done.

He's lucky.  The feds asked for 25 years.

Thread starts here.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 05:49 pm:  Meggs sentenced.

That IS the big question

And I'm not feeling very optimistic.

I think it's quite possible Roger Stone and Rudy Giuliani, and maybe Mark Meadows, will spend a little time locked up.  But I have a feeling Trump will skate.  Straight to Hell, where we're all being dragged by the GOP and SCOTUS.

That's the sentence for Oath Keeper Stewart Rhodes.

UPDATE 02:34 pm:

Stewart Rhodes: Guilty

Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the rightwing Oath Keepers militia [who wears an eye patch after accidentally shooting himself in the face], has been found guilty of seditious conspiracy, a charge arising from the attack on the US Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.

[...]

In an eight-week trial, Rhodes, a Yale Law-educated former paratrooper and disbarred attorney, was accused with four associates of fomenting a plot to use force to stop Congress certifying Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory.

[...]

Rhodes did not go inside the Capitol but was accused of leading the plot.

[...]

US district judge, Amit Mehta, presided. The 12-member jury deliberated for three days.

[...]

The rarely used, civil war-era charge calls for up to 20 years behind bars.

[...]

Rhodes’ four co-defendants were Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson, Jessica Watkins and Thomas Caldwell.

[...]

Meggs, Watkins and Harrelson entered the Capitol wearing tactical gear.

[...]

Meggs was convicted of seditious conspiracy. Harrelson, Caldwell and Watkins were acquitted.

[...]

Rhodes and two others [Watkins, a transgender woman who fled the US army, and Caldwell, a disabled navy veteran,] testified in their own defense. They denied plotting an attack or seeking to stop Congress certifying results. Rhodes insisted that his followers who went inside went rogue.

  The Guardian

I guess the jury didn't buy it.

Rhodes shot himself in the face and then in the foot, so to speak.

Caldwell, who like Rhodes did not enter the Capitol, never formally joined the Oath Keepers. He tried to downplay inflammatory texts he sent in connection with the attack, saying some of the lines were adapted from or inspired by movies such as The Princess Bride or cartoons such as Bugs Bunny.

Oh dear god. What is he, 12?

Four other Oath Keepers members charged with seditious conspiracy are due to go to trial in December. Members of another rightwing group, the Proud Boys, including its former chairman Enrique Tarrio, also are due for trial on seditious conspiracy charges in December.

I'm guessing they won't be having a very merry Christmas. And after Trump made it okay to say Merry Christmas again. Sad!

P.S.  Some interesting background on Rhodes.

UPDATE:

Oath Keepers trial

Jessica Watkins, a former bar owner in Ohio and an Army veteran, took the stand on Wednesday in a high-stakes trial charging Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and four other militia members with the rarely used charge of seditious conspiracy.

Watkins, who has been locked up for two years following her arrest in the case, said she did not intend to stop certification of President Biden’s 2020 election victory when she stormed the Capitol in a military stack formation with other Oath Keepers.

[...]

Watkins explained she was given a “steady diet” of conspiracy theories about the 2020 election from “Infowars” host Alex Jones.

  The Hill

Force fed, I guess.

Watkins, Rhodes and three other Oath Keeper members on trial face up to 20 years in prison if convicted on the seditious conspiracy charges. Closing arguments could begin as early as this week.

[...]

When he took the stand, Rhodes also said it was “stupid” for Oath Keepers members to charge into the Capitol and repeated that he never meant to overturn certification of the 2020 election.

Rather, Rhodes said he and other militia members were awaiting orders from former President Trump to invoke an old series of laws known as the Insurrection Act, which allows the commander-in-chief to call up a militia to quell a domestic disturbance.

Then it follows that they created the disturbance in order to have Trump make the call. Which is, of course what the plan was, and Trump was in on it.

But Watkins on Wednesday said there was no plan to invoke the Insurrection Act.

[...]

“There was talk of the Insurrection Act, but no one was taking it seriously."

[...]

[Another Oath Keeper on trial, Thomas] Caldwell, a retired Navy intelligence officer, said he was not serious when he wrote messages to the militia group about ferrying “heavy weapons” across the Potomac River into Oath Keepers’ “waiting arms,” according to the AP.

Caldwell called those messages “creative writing.”

Sure.

At least Watkins and Caldwell - or their attorneys - understood Rhodes' admission they were waiting for the Insurrection Act call up was a bad mistake.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Standing by

Oath Keepers militia leader Stewart Rhodes said members of his militia will be at polling locations on Election Day to “protect” Trump voters during an appearance on far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ program.

After making that claim, Rhodes made a number of unhinged statements, including saying Oath Keepers would follow directives from President Donald Trump to take members of the “deep state” into custody and “do what we have to do,” that Trump should invoke the Insurrection Act before the election, that Oath Keepers will “be in range” of Washington D.C., to stop a “Benghazi-style” attack on the White House on election night, and that a war will have to be fought against Democrats on the West Coast who are “bought” by the Chinese government. Rhodes also hyped the possibility of a second civil war where his “battle-hardened” supporters kill the “street soldiers” and “command and control” of “the radical left.” He later claimed the United States is already in a civil war because “you have sitting politicians who are part of the enemy’s ranks.”

Disturbingly, Rhodes telegraphed how he will interpret election results, saying that he would consider a win by Democratic nominee Joe Biden illegitimate and evidence the election had been stolen.

[...]

Rhodes’ Oath Keepers militia, which is comprised of “former law enforcement officials and military veterans,” is described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as “one of the largest radical antigovernment groups in the U.S. today.” The Los Angeles Times reported Rhodes has indicated that some Oath Keepers “have signed up as poll watchers, while others plan to monitor the election armed and ‘undercover,’ drawing their weapons if needed.”

[...]

Rhodes said that “bought” Democrats and “leftists” on the West Coast are participants in a proxy war being waged by China against the U.S., saying, “That’s who we are fighting right now on the streets.” (Rhodes and other Oath Keeper supporters have showed up at protests against police brutality carrying weapons.) Rhodes then said, “You got to defeat them in warfare, and then you got to figure out, it’s kind of like with the Founding Fathers dealing with the loyalists, what do you do with these people?”

After Jones asked him about “military rules of engagement,” Rhodes predicted a possible civil war between the right and left and said that “our side will not just go and fight their street soldiers; we will go for their command and control also” because “that’s a smart thing to do in warfare. That’s what’s going to happen.”

[...]

Jones then raised the prospect of up to 20,000 antifa supporters storming the White House on the night of the election and predicted that would cause the Secret Service to “run out of bullets.” Rhodes said “that’s what we’re concerned about,” claiming the people who would plan an attack on the White House “have a lot of jihadists who are well-trained and experienced in warfare.”

  Media Matters

The fact that these guys are crazy is no comfort.

I presume the FBI is on alert.