russell taylor 3%
<div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">tag many docs (print button grabbed only one doc]</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/russell-taylor/">https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/russell-taylor/</a></font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">=</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">indictment</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">hostetter, russ taylor...</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21046979-210609-hostetter-et-al">https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21046979-210609-hostetter-et-al</a></font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></span></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">proud boys and OK got more attn but</font></span></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><span times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/08/23/stop-the-steal-hints-of-the-january-5-rallies-in-the-january-6-riot-investigation/">https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/08/23/stop-the-steal-hints-of-the-january-5-rallies-in-the-january-6-riot-investigation/</a></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>
</div><div>s<a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/08/23/stop-the-steal-hints-of-the-january-5-rallies-in-the-january-6-riot-investigation/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Stop the Steal: Hints of the January 5 Rallies in the January 6 Riot Investigation" data-wpel-link="internal" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: inherit; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">TOP THE STEAL: HINTS OF THE JANUARY 5 RALLIES IN THE JANUARY 6 RIOT INVESTIGATION</a></div><div><b>
</b></div><header class="entry-content-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240);"><span class="post-meta-infos" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; top: -8px; display: block;"><time class="date-container minor-meta updated" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>August 23, 2021</b></time><span class="text-sep text-sep-date" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">/</span><span class="blog-categories minor-meta" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">in <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2020-presidential-election/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">2020 Presidential Election</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/emptywheel/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">emptywheel</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/january-6-insurrection/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">January 6 Insurrection</a> </span></span></header><div class="entry-content" itemprop="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">With the charges against Owen Shroyer, the government has now charged three people who had a speaking part in several rallies tied to Stop the Steal the day before the insurrection: Brandon Straka, Russell Taylor and his co-conspirators, and Shroyer.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240);"> Because I’m working on some gaps in the government’s story — gaps that must be intentional, for investigative or prosecutorial reasons — I want to look at how DOJ is beginning to fill in the story about January 5.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>With Walk Away founder Brandon Straka,</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> who was arrested on January 25, the mention of his speech at the Stop the Steal rally at Freedom Plaza in </span><a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/capitol-breach-cases" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">his arrest affidavit</a><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> was almost incidental, included along with the rest of his incendiary speech directly tied to the riot (but the affidavit didn’t include his other public comments over a broader period — for example, it doesn’t mention Straka’s role in sowing suspicion of the Michigan vote tally).</span></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); font-weight: inherit;">My review of STRAKA’s Twitter account on January 11, also found a video he had posted of himself speaking at a “Stop the Steal” rally held at </span><b style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);">Freedom Plaza </b><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);">in Washington, D.C. on January 5, 2021.</span><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> As of January 13, STRAKA had removed this video from his Twitter account, but a video of the entire event had been posted to YouTube. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">The video showed that STRAKA was introduced by name and brought onto stage. STRAKA spoke for about five minutes during which time he repeatedly </span><b>referred to the attendees as “Patriots” and referenced the “revolution” multiple times. STRAKA told the attendees to “fight back” and ended by saying, “We are sending a message to the Democrats, we are not going away, you’ve got a problem!”</b></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><b>Though Straka was charged with civil disorder for encouraging others to strip an officer of his riot shield, he has not yet been indicted</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">, with or without obstruction, which these statements would seem to support. Instead, the government has gotten two 90-plus day continuances in this case with Straka’s consent, offering </span><a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.226339/gov.uscourts.dcd.226339.9.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="font-weight: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">the explanation</a><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> that, “are continuing to communicate in an effort to resolve this matter.” Straka currently has a status hearing scheduled on August 25, Wednesday, though these things do get moved quickly.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240);">The January 5 rally at the Supreme Court (which featured some of the same people as the Freedom Plaza one) appears in the</span><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21046979-210609-hostetter-et-al" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">So Cal Three Percenter conspiracy indictment</a></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102); font-weight: inherit;"> i</span><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240);">n part for the logistical challenges it posed.</span></p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-weight: inherit;"><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);">On December 30, 2020, KINNISON sent a text message to MELE, WARNER, and MARTINEZ in which he attached a flyer advertising the January 5, 2021 rally outside the Supreme Court, at which </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">TAYLOR, HOSTETTER,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);"> and </span></span><b style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);">PERSON ONE </b><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); font-weight: inherit;">were named speakers for the American Phoenix Project. After KINNISON set this message, MELE wrote, “We need to make sure we roll into town earlier on the 5th now,” to which KINNISON responded, “We can leave Saturday.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">But it still provided cause for DOJ to mention that </span><b>by December 30, Russell Taylor knew of a Stop the Steal plan to “surround the Capitol.”</b></p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">On December 30, 2020, TAYLOR posted to his “russ.taylor” Instagram account:</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Spread the word to other CALIFORNIA Patriots to join us as we March into the Capitol Jan 6. The Plan right now is to meet up at two occasions and locations: 1. Jan 5th 2pm at the Supreme Court steps for a rally. (Myself, Alan, [and others] will be speaking) 2. Jan 6th early 7am meet in front of the Kimpton George Hotel…we will leave at 7:30am sharp and March (15 mins) to the Capital [sic] <span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">to meet up with the stop the steal organization and surround the capital</span>. [sic] There will be speakers there and we will be part of the large effort for the “Wild Rally” that Trump has asked us all to be part of. [my emphasis]</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Mentioning this rally also gave DOJ an opportunity to describe Taylor promising to “fight” and “bleed” in his speech at the rally.</p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">On January 5, 2021, TAYLOR spoke at a Virginia Women for Trump rally in front of the United States Supreme Court as part of a panel of American Phoenix Project speakers. In his speech, he stated:</p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">I am Russell Taylor and I am a free American. And I stand here in the streets with you in defiance of a communist coup that is set to take over America. </span><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);">But we are awake and we are never going back to sleep. We are free Americans and in these streets we will fight and we will bleed before we allow our freedom to be taken from us. We declare that we will </span><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">never bend a knee to the Marxists within Antifa, to the tyrannical Democrat </span><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);">governors who are puppets, and to the </span><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">deep state commie actors</span><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);"> who </span><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 51);">threaten to destroy America…</span><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);">. But now these anti-Americans have made th</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">e fatal mistake, and they have brought out the Patriot’s fury onto these streets and they did so without knowing that we will not return to our </span><b>peaceful</b><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> way of life until this election is made right, our freedoms are restored, and American is preserved.</span></span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">That is, in the conspiracy indictment charging 3 percenters with organizing not just themselves to come armed to the Capitol, but others in Southern California, the earlier rally serves as both an organizational focus and a platform to sow violence.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21046736/8-19-21-us-v-jonathan-owen-shroyer-complaint-affidavit.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Shroyer’s affidavit</a> mentions several things he said on January 5</p><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 1em 20px 85.8875px; padding: 5px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-top-style: initial; border-right-style: initial; border-bottom-style: initial; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(127, 140, 94); border-image: initial; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);">SHROYER traveled to Washington, D.C. in January 2021, and</span><span style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> in advance of January 6, 2021, spoke of stopping the certification of the Electoral College vote.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242);"><span style="font-weight: inherit;"> In a video1 posted to the Infowars website on January 5, 2021, SHROYER gave an address in Freedom Plaza in Washington D.C., during which he stated: “</span><b>Americans are ready to fight. </b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">We’re not exactly sure what that’s going to look like perhaps in a couple of weeks if we can’t stop this certification of the fraudulent election . . . </span><b>we are the new revolution! We are going to restore and we are going to save the republic!”</b></span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-weight: inherit;">In another video2 posted to the Infowars website on January 5, 2021, SHROYER called into an Infowars live broadcast and said: “what I’m afraid of is if we do not get this false certification of Biden stopped this week. I’m afraid of what this means for the rest of the month . . .</span><b> Everybody knows election was stolen . . . are we just going to sit here and become activists for 4 years or are going to actually do something about this . </b><span style="font-weight: inherit;">. . whatever that cause or course of cause may be?”3</span></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">In addition, SHROYER was featured in promotional material circulated by Infowars. One promotional video urged listeners to “come to the big D.C. marches on the 5th and 6th of January, I’ll see you there.”4 The video ended with an edited graphic of SHROYER and others in front of the Capitol building. That graphic is depicted below:</p><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-08-22-at-2.49.52-PM.png" data-wpel-link="internal" class="alignnone" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; display: inline-block; position: relative; overflow: hidden;"><img loading="lazy" class="alignnone wp-image-93960" src="https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-08-22-at-2.49.52-PM-1030x694.png" alt="" width="450" height="303" srcset="https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-08-22-at-2.49.52-PM-1030x694.png 1030w, https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-08-22-at-2.49.52-PM-300x202.png 300w, https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-08-22-at-2.49.52-PM-768x517.png 768w, https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-08-22-at-2.49.52-PM-705x475.png 705w, https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/Screen-Shot-2021-08-22-at-2.49.52-PM.png 1078w" sizes="(max-width: 450px) 100vw, 450px" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: none rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: inline-block; max-width: 100%; height: auto;" /><span class="image-overlay overlay-type-image" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; background: rgb(255, 255, 255); z-index: 300; height: 310.15px; width: 450px; opacity: 0; transition: opacity 0.4s ease-in-out 0s; visibility: hidden;"><span class="image-overlay-inside" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: 310.15px; width: 450px; position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px;" /></span></a></p><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">1 https://banned.video/watch?id=5ff4aebaa285a02ed04c4d6e.</p><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">2 https://banned.video/watch?id=5ff511bb5a212330029f5a9c.</p><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">3 https://banned.video/watch?id=5ff511bb5a212330029f5a9c.</p><p style="font-weight: inherit; background-color: rgb(245, 246, 242); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">4 https://www.banned.video/watch?id=5ff22bb71f93a8267a6432ee.</p></blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><font style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">While Shroyer is circled in that graphic — which demonstrates that Jones had a plan to go to the Capitol (significantly, this is the East front) days in advance — it really is all about Jones.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">As I <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/08/20/the-how-of-owen-shroyers-arrest/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">noted</a>, this is just a trespass arrest, like hundreds of other trespass arrests (though by charging Shroyer with violating a pre-existing Deferred Prosecution Agreement, they lessen any claims of persecution that will come as they investigate Shroyer further).</p><p style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">But what these three arrests together show is that those involved as speakers on January 5 seem to have had advance knowledge of what would happen the next day.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0.85em 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">One of the other mentions of January 5 rallies thus far appears <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/07/27/dinesh-dsouza-and-the-gopro-the-import-of-the-disorganized-conspiracy-at-the-core-of-january-6/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">in the filings</a> for Josiah Colt, Ronnie Sandlin, and Nate DeGrave, three random guys who hooked up on the Internet and armed themselves for violence in advance of January 6. Though they have no ties to any organized militia, the day after they went to a January 5 rally, they seemed to know there would be a second front opening at the East door, and Sandlin and DeGrave were among those charged with forcibly ensuring that door was opened.</p><div class="pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-bottom-left" style="background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 5px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">
</div></div><footer class="entry-footer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(246, 246, 240);"><span class="blog-tags minor-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: 700; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">Tags:</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"> <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/alan-hostetter/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Alan Hostetter</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/brandon-straka/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Brandon Straka</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/josiah-colt/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Josiah Colt</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/owen-shroyer/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Owen Shroyer</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/ronnie-sandlin/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Ronnie Sandlin</a>, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/russell-taylor/" rel="tag" data-wpel-link="internal" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(212, 212, 212); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%;">Russell Taylor</a></span></span></footer><div>===</div><div>
</div><div><div class="pdfprnt_running_title bwsplgns_top_running_title" style="text-align: justify; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 900px; clear: both;"><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Logo-Web.png" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><img class="wp-image-54878 alignright" src="https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/Logo-Web.png" alt="" width="239" height="37" style="margin: 7px 0px 7px 24px; max-width: 100%; border: none; float: right;" /></a><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;" /><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left;">July 21, 2022 / by </p><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;"> </p></div><div class="entry-header" style="text-transform: uppercase !important;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="margin: 0.825em 0px 0.5em;"><font size="4" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">ON </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ENRIQUE TARRIO’S </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">COMPLEX PASSWORD AND OTHER REASONS THE JANUARY 6 INVESTIGATION CAN NOW MOVE TO ORGANIZER-INCITERS</span></font></h1></div><div class="postmetadata" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="postmetadata" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="post" style="text-align: justify;"><div class="entry-content" style=""><div class="pdfprnt-custom-post-field-before" style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">A <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.229064/gov.uscourts.dcd.229064.327.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Wednesday filing</a> in the Proud Boy leadership conspiracy revealed that, between cracking his password and conducting a filter review, DOJ had not been able to access Enrique Tarrio’s phone — which was seized even before the riot he allegedly had a central role in planning — until mid-January.</p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 1em 1em 18px; font-style: italic; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 7px; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;"><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">On January 4, 2021, Tarrio was arrested in Washington, D.C., and charged with destruction of property for his December 12, 2020, burning of a #BLACKLIVESMATTER banner and possession of two large capacity magazines. At the time of his arrest, Tarrio’s phone was seized by law enforcement. The government promptly sought a search warrant for that device in this investigation. Despite diligence, the government was not able to obtain access to Tarrio’s phone until December 2021. Thereafter, a filter team was utilized to ensure that only non-privileged materials were provided to the investigative team. The investigative team did not gain access to the materials on the phone until mid-January 2022, and it has worked expeditiously since that time to review these materials.</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">I can think of just a few other phones that have been this difficult for FBI to access (those of Zachary Alam and Brandon Fellows are others). The delay means that <em>the very first</em> phone DOJ seized pertaining to the January 6 investigation was one that, to date, has taken the longest to access.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">This is the kind of delay — presumably due to the physics involved in cracking a complex password and the due process of a privilege review — that is unavoidable. Yet it stalled DOJ’s efforts in <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/08/29/two-fbi-agents-were-palling-around-with-alleged-terrorist-joe-biggs/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">the most pivotal conspiracy case</a> as it tries to move from rioters at the Capitol through organizer-inciters to Trump himself.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">The delay in accessing Tarrio’s phone is one thing to keep in mind as you read the multiple reports that DOJ has sent out subpoenas to people who organized the rallies. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/03/30/jan-6-fbi-subpoena-justice/" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">WaPo reported</a> that these subpoenas first started going out two months ago — so late January, shortly after the time DOJ accessed Tarrio’s phone content. NYT <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/us/politics/justice-dept-widens-jan-6-inquiry.html" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> that the subpoenas focus on the rallies and the fake electors.</p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 1em 1em 18px; font-style: italic; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 7px; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;"><p class="css-g5piaz evys1bk0" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">One of the subpoenas, which was reviewed by The New York Times, sought information about people “classified as VIP attendees” at Mr. Trump’s Jan. 6 rally.</p><p class="css-g5piaz evys1bk0" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">It also sought information about members of the executive and legislative branches who had been involved in the “planning or execution of any rally or any attempt to obstruct, influence, impede or delay” the certification of the 2020 election.</p><p class="css-g5piaz evys1bk0" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">And it asked about the effort by Trump supporters to put forward alternate slates of electors as Mr. Trump and his allies were seeking to challenge the certification of the Electoral College outcome by Congress on Jan. 6.</p><p class="css-g5piaz evys1bk0" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">Another person briefed on the grand jury investigation said at least one person involved in the logistics of the Jan. 6 rally had been asked to appear.</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">None of this is a surprise or unexpected. Dana Nessel <a href="https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-government/michigans-dana-nessel-i-may-charge-fake-gop-electors-if-feds-dont" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">formally referred Michigan’s fake electors</a> to DOJ for investigation (the kind of referral that may have been important to DOJ assuming jurisdiction in state elections) on January 18, and Lisa Monaco <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/01/25/politics/fake-trump-electoral-certificates-justice-department/index.html" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">confirmed</a> DOJ was investigating the fake electors on January 25.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">As to the organizers, on December 16, <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/12/16/the-pied-piper-of-insurrection-and-other-challenges-in-charging-the-january-6-organizer-inciters/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">I wrote a piece</a> describing that DOJ would need to turn to “organizer-inciters” next — people like Alex Jones, who had a central role in turning rally-goers who imagined themselves to be peaceful protestors into an occupying force. We know of several other pieces of evidence that would have been important, if not necessary, to lock down before DOJ moved to those organizer-inciters.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">For example, DOJ likely <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/01/19/hold-the-line-dojs-late-research-into-brandon-strakas-grift/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">first obtained direct information</a> about tensions involving VIPs in <b>Brandon Straka’</b>s first and second FBI interviews in February and March of last year, information that the government claimed during his sentencing provided valuable new leads. Straka was one of those VIPs who expected to have a speaking slot on January 6 only to discover all he was getting was a seat at the front, next to Mike Flynn. Access to his phone would have provided the government comms depicting growing tensions tied to the extremism of Nick Fuentes and Ali Alexander described in <a href="https://www.propublica.org/article/new-details-suggest-senior-trump-aides-knew-jan-6-rally-could-get-chaotic" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">this ProPublica article</a>.</p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 1em 1em 18px; font-style: italic; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 7px; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;"><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="38.0" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">“Is Nick Fuentes now a prominent figure in Stop the Steal?” asked Brandon Straka, an openly gay conservative activist, in a November text message, obtained exclusively by ProPublica. “I find him disgusting,” Straka said, pointing to Fuentes’ vehemently anti-LGBT views.</p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="39.0" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">Alexander saw more people and more power. He wrote that Fuentes was “very valuable” at “putting bodies in places,” and that both Jones and Fuentes were “willing to push bodies … where we point.”</p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="39.1" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">Straka, Fuentes and Jones did not respond to requests for comment.</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">Straka was part of a Stop the Steal listserv on which Michael Courdrey and Alexander were on the day of the riot.</p><blockquote style="margin: 0px 1em 1em 18px; font-style: italic; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 7px; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;"><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="102.0" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">The Stop the Steal group chat shows a reckoning with these events in real time.</p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="102.1" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">“They stormed the capital,” wrote <b>Stop the Steal national coordinator Michael Coudrey</b> in a text message at 2:33 p.m. “Our event is on delay.”</p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="103.0" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;"><b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“I’m at the Capitol and just joined the breach!!!” texted Straka,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> who months earlier had raised concerns about allying with white nationalists. “I just got gassed! Never felt so fucking alive in my life!!!”</span></b></p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="104.0" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">Alexander and Coudrey advised the group to leave.</p><p data-pp-blocktype="copy" data-pp-id="104.1" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Everyone get out of there,” Alexander wrote. “The FBI is coming hunting.”</span></p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">The government described learning new information about Straka as recently as December 8 followed up in a January 2022 interview. Some of this <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/01/19/hold-the-line-dojs-late-research-into-brandon-strakas-grift/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">appears to have been a late discovery of his own grift</a> and, possibly, his role in inciting a riot at the TCF center in Michigan. But at sentencing, prosecutors reaffirmed that the sealed contents of his cooperation remained valuable.</p><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Some other existing defendants whose phone and/or cooperation could provide such insight are Simone Gold (who <a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.227167/gov.uscourts.dcd.227167.58.0.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">pled guilty</a> in early March but who had not yet done her FBI interview) and Alan Hostetter and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Russell Taylor;</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> prosecutors described still providing primary discovery in the latter case the other day, meaning they’re still getting phone contents there, too.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">Tarrio’s phone would include comms with many of the people DOJ has turned its focus to; he had known communications with Alex Jones, Ali Alexander, and Cindy Chafian, to say nothing of his close ties to Roger Stone.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">In addition to Tarrio’s phone, exploiting that of <b>Stewart Rhodes </b>— seized in May — <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/02/17/stewart-rhodes-detention-hearing-clarifies-investigative-challenges/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">took some time</a> because he had so many Signal texts that it was an extended process sorting through the inculpatory and exculpatory ones.</p><p style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The hold up on Rhodes’ phone is one of the things that held up his own arrest and </span><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/01/17/the-disappearing-willard-hotel-and-the-accused-seditionists-other-interlocutors/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">charges for Seditious Conspiracy</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. In that superseding indictment, DOJ </span><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/01/17/the-disappearing-willard-hotel-and-the-accused-seditionists-other-interlocutors/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">completely hid</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> what new information they had learned about the Oath Keeper ties with the Willard planners. But the seditious conspiracy charge (along with the cooperation of </span><a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/alabama-oath-keeper-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-charges-related-jan-6-capitol-breach" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">Mark Grods</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">) appears to have </span><a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.239212/gov.uscourts.dcd.239212.60.0_3.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">persuaded </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Joshua James to flip</span></a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. James’ cooperation would provide lots of new testimony about what Stone and other VIPs were doing on January 5 and 6, including an explanation as to why James felt </span><a href="https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.228786/gov.uscourts.dcd.228786.534.0_3.pdf" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-line: none;">he needed to call into</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Mike Simmons to report on what is almost certainly Stone’s anger about the sidelining of his extremist group at the main rally, something clearly at issue in these recent subpoenas.</span></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;"><a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Not-getting-VIP-Treatment.png" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-96285" src="https://www.emptywheel.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Not-getting-VIP-Treatment-1030x166.png" alt="" width="1030" height="166" style="margin: 5px 10px; max-width: 100%; border: none;" /></a></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">James would have proffered before he pled guilty (meaning prosecutors would have know what he would say if he did plead), but they would hold off on using his testimony for legal process until he testified before a grand jury in conjunction with his plea on March 2.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">Public reporting has <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/15/politics/january-6-doj-capitol-riot-video-documentary-crew/index.html" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">revealed</a> that both the January 6 and DOJ investigations have obtained at least <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2022/03/14/a-white-board-of-the-sedition-curious/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">some of the documentary footage</a><b> implicating Tarrio and Stone from the day of the riot.</b></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">And if the January 6 committee works like the SSCI investigation into Russia, it could share transcripts from obviously problematic testimony with DOJ. Ali Alexander spent most of day telling a story to the committee that <a href="https://www.emptywheel.net/2021/12/09/doj-already-debunked-the-lies-ali-alexander-is-about-to-tell-congress/" data-wpel-link="internal" style="text-decoration-line: none;">had already been debunked by DOJ</a>.</p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">On the anniversary of January 6, Merrick Garland <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-merrick-b-garland-delivers-remarks-first-anniversary-attack-capitol" data-wpel-link="external" rel="external noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none;">explained</a> that all of the arrests from the first year had laid the foundation for more complex cases.</p><blockquote style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 1em 1em 18px; font-style: italic; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 7px; padding-left: 20px; line-height: 1.5em;"><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">We build investigations by laying a foundation. We resolve more straightforward cases first because they provide the evidentiary foundation for more complex cases.</p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">Investigating the more overt crimes generates linkages to less overt ones. Overt actors and the evidence they provide can lead us to others who may also have been involved. And that evidence can serve as the foundation for further investigative leads and techniques.</p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">In circumstances like those of January 6th, a full accounting does not suddenly materialize. To ensure that all those criminally responsible are held accountable, we must collect the evidence.</p><p style="font-style: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">We follow the physical evidence. We follow the digital evidence. We follow the money.</p></blockquote><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: 1.65em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; text-align: left !important;">This is the kind of thing he was talking about: working your way up through Mark Grods to Joshua James to Stewart Rhodes to Roger Stone, taking the time to crack and exploit Tarrio’s phone, exploiting early access to Straka’s comms to get to the organizers. The investigation “aperture” hasn’t changed; what has changed is DOJ has acquired information it needed before it could take the next step.</p><div class="pdfprnt-custom-post-field-after" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="pdfprnt_running_title bwsplgns_bottom_running_title" style="text-align: justify; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); width: 900px; clear: both;">
<span style="text-align: left;">Originally Posted @ https://www.emptywheel.net/tag/russell-taylor/</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></div>