JAN 6 3

ESTB 4 25 FOR RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS

SEE PRONG 3 THREE CNP

SEE GONDOR ACTIVE DUTY INFILTRATION

SEE LIE GASLT REVISIONCASSIDY H TARGET 2X 3 26

ECHO CRM FOX --> EARTH2 POLARIZ

SEE WWW MEMORY HOLE

SEE ED FUCKING MARTIN

SEE TRUMP PARDON

---

-=-=

AN 9 26

President Donald Trump has behaved so erratically and flip-flopped on important issues like war and affordability so often that experts often wonder why millions of Americans continue to support him regardless.

Now Sarah Longwell, a political consultant at the conservative website The Bulwark, shed light on that by exploring why millions of Trump supporters continued to back him even after he attempted a coup after losing the 2020 presidential election.

After explaining how an alternate right-wing media ecosystem existed for roughly two decades before Trump became president, and based on the presumption that there is a pervasive liberal media bias, Longwell described how she tried to explore the influence of this ecosystem in her own research.

"At first, Trump voters—even ones who’d supported him twice—were genuinely shaken," Longwell wrote. "I did a couple of focus groups six days after January 6, 2021, in the aftermath of Trump supporters violently storming the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which Trump told them had been rigged."

"One group was with women who voted for Trump in both 2016 and 2020, and another was with women who’d voted for Trump in 2016 and then switched to Biden. In the two-time-Trump-voter group, Jamie from Pennsylvania said she was 'appalled' and 'shocked' by what she saw," Longwell wrote. “I realized, but yet I didn’t, if that makes any sense, that there are people out there that could do that.”

Longwell proceeded to quote various survey subjects.

"Audra from Arizona said, 'I think the reason he should be impeached is really just so that he can’t run ever again,'" Longwell reported. "Trump was impeached the next day. The Trump-to-Biden group was similarly harsh. Like Tina from Pennsylvania: 'The windows were being cracked, people were being killed, I don’t understand how this happened like this. And if he’s behind it, they really should impeach him, get rid of it and that’s it.' For a brief moment, reality was undeniable, and people’s opinions of Trump became soft and changeable."

But from there, Longwell had bad news.

"Then the Republican Triangle of Doom kicked in—the toxic and symbiotic relationship between Republican voters, elected officials, and the right-wing infotainment media," Longwell wrote. "The voters who were horrified got bombarded with whitewashing spin almost instantly."

She described how everyone from conservative influencers to former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) sold out the truth about Trump's insurrection in order to validate the biases of Trump supporters.

"Now, some Trump voters understood what happened and never came back," Longwell observed. "But the majority of them had spent four years defending Trump—online, at the dinner table, at work. They’d lost friendships over him. So when right-wing media offered them an alternative explanation, they took it. And then their opinions started to harden. Like cement."

She added, "Six months later, the narrative had completely shifted. I did focus groups in July, and Republicans had flipped completely from where they’d been on January 12. Annette, a 2020 Trump voter from Arizona, told me it was '100 percent orchestrated from Antifa.' Robert, a two-time Trump voter from Alaska, said, 'It’s been shown that they purposely let those people in the building.' He added that January 6th was 'all set up by the Democrat Party to make those people look bad.'"

Longwell concluded, "Without trusted messengers to help them make sense of what’s happening, voters are vulnerable to whoever gets there first with a compelling story. In our communications environment, public opinion can harden in days or even hours. If you don’t know where or how to talk to people, then you are going to miss every one of those persuasion opportunities."

Speaking to AlterNet in August, Dr. Steven Hassan — cult expert and author of "Combating Cult Mind Control" and "The Cult of Trump" — also argued, as did Longwell, that Trump supporters choose a biased information ecosystem to validate their cult-like support for the president.

"I talk about cults being spread across the entire continuum," Hassan told AlterNet. "There are a lot of cultish groups, but they give informed consent and encourage people to follow their conscience — they don't tell people what they can and can't read, et cetera — all the way to authoritarianism. And I see the people following Trump as largely being mind-controlled through information: through their social media posts, whether on Facebook, Telegram or WhatsApp, or through Fox News."

Hassan added, "So, going back to your initial question about how people are voting against their self-interest — it really comes down to what information sources they're relying on and who their network is that they identify with. So if they really love Joe Rogan, they're going to follow a lot of his views. And consequently, when he turns against Trump, Trump loses a lot of followers. What I'm trying to convey is that we're living in an age of digital manipulation that's never been seen before, with people's personal data being used to silo information — to drive them further left if they're already progressive-leaning, or further right if they're already Republican or conservative-leaning. And it's quite strategic in its use of algorithms. So it's not simply about looking at personality type, Matthew — the disposition of a person who becomes a Trump follower — but the social and information environment people are being subjected to."

In August, Hassan even described why so many Trump supporters receive the specific plastic surgery practice known as "Mar-a-Lago face" in order to show their loyalty to the aforementioned cult.

"My work is to really try to illuminate the mind and how undue influence can be exerted and the whole idea of cults all along the continuum from ethical tight-knit groups where there's freedom to think and question and leave without fear or harassment," Dr. Hassan argued at the time.

"... [W]e were talking about how so many MAGA people are getting plastic surgery, and they all look alike," he said, adding that if an individual is "in a mind control cult, you want to look the right way to fit in [with] that idyllic image of Christian white nationalists."

-=-=

---

MSN = FOX?!

NO LNX

A Trump-appointed federal judge on Friday reluctantly dismissed the Jan. 6 prosecution of four Proud Boys members, saying the law left him no authority to block the Justice Department's request.

U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted the Justice Department's motion to dismiss the case with prejudice against Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola after a federal appeals court had already vacated their convictions.

Right-wing media react to Trump's slush fund for allies with unquestioning loyalty — and some vague skepticism

Written by Sophie Lawton

:{Published 05/21/26

Some right-wing media figures are jumping on board with the Trump administration's newest effort to support MAGA allies despite numerous questions about its legality; a few are voicing light skepticism of the plan.

This week, the Department of Justice announced that the Trump family had agreed to drop a legally questionable $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for the creation of a $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” According to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, the fund's intended recipients are “victims of lawfare and weaponization” by the federal government. Critics of the move are calling the idea a “slush fund,” and The New York Times called the deal “highly unusual” and wrote that the fund is “a pipeline to funnel taxpayer money to President Trump’s allies.”

Some right-wing media figures have been praising the fund, calling it a great idea and complementing Trump for his “patriotic” use of the number 1776 while ignoring the more problematic details of the fund.

Newsmax host Carl Higbie staunchly defended the fund, claiming that Trump has “dropped — he dropped — his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS in exchange for a $1.776 — 1776 — billion-dollar fund set up for truth and justice compensation for people who were victims of Biden's weaponization of government” and that “Trump and his family will get $0 in exchange for just simply an apology from the IRS and a fund set up for every other person who Biden targeted.”

:{Video

Citation

From the May 18, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie: Frontline

Fox's Sean Hannity said the Department of Justice “rightly agreed to set aside the patriotic amount of $1.76 billion to settle other claims like this.”

:{Video

Citation

From the May 19, 2026, edition of Fox News' Hannity

Trump's former co-deputy director of the FBI Dan Bogino praised the fund and the Trump administration on his podcast, saying that “things are happening all over the place, good, positive things.”

Another right-wing podcaster, Vince Coglianese, said on his show that the fund “sounds like justice” and said, “I think it's perfectly wonderful.”

Coglianese also suggested a few people and groups who could benefit from the fund, including anti-abortion activist Mark Houck, other “conservatives who stood outside of abortion mills” and who faced charges, “parents at school board meetings” complaining about curricula and gender-neutral bathrooms who he said were attacked by the FBI and left-wing groups, and “traditional Catholics” who he claimed were targeted by Biden's FBI.

:{Video

Citation

From the May 19, 2026, edition of VINCEstreamed on Rumble

Greg Kelly took to his Newsmax show to make specific claims about the legal precedent for the fund, stating, “The US government gets sued all the time, and they make settlements. This is not an outlandish arrangement. It actually makes a lot of sense.”

Kelly also claimed that the announcement of the fund came after he sat down with Trump and proposed a “compensation fund for the January 6ers.”

:{Video

Citation

From the May 19, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Greg Kelly Reports

The DOJ also claims there is precedent for this type of fund, saying it’s similar to the Obama-era "Keepseagle" case. In reality, the fund seems to have little legal basis.

As Mike Masnick wrote for Techdirt, the fund was created as a settlement offer because “Trump needed to drop that lawsuit in order to end it before a judge called bullshit on the fact that he was negotiating with himself to take $10 billion from American taxpayers.”

Masknick also refuted the DOJ claims of legal precedent, writing, “The Keepseagle settlement was approved by a court in response to a class action lawsuit. Here, this fund, is being created in a manner deliberately to avoid having the court review it.”

A New York Times piece reported that “legal experts struggled to make sense of this week’s developments, saying tentatively that it was unlikely anyone could sue to stop the moves.” The article noted nevertheless that the fund’s creation is a “jarring shock to the conventional understanding of the constitutional system.”

Reuters quoted Tax Law Center policy director Brandon DeBot calling the fund a “breathtaking abuse of the tax and legal system" and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) calling it a “slush fund” that represented “a stunning act of corruption.”

Some Republican lawmakers have spoken out against the fund, such as Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who said he doesn't “see a purpose” for it, and others seem bothered by the lack of details surrounding where the money might go. “I’ve got more questions than I’ve heard answers for,” said Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).

January 6 Capitol Police Officers have sued to block the fund on the grounds that it violates the 14th Amendment's prohibition on using federal funds for “any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”

Even a few right-wing media voices have been lightly skeptical of the move.

On Fox's Special Report, guest anchor Trace Gallagher admitted that “who gets the money and where it comes from is a bit unclear.”

Special Report's reporting on the topic also included clips of Sens. John Kennedy (R-LA) and Jerry Moran (R-KS) asking for clarity on where the money is coming from and “the legality of creating a fund that Congress hasn't had anything to say about.”

The Daily Wire's Ben Shapiro touched on the matter, saying on his show, “I'm generally against slush funds, to be clear. I do not like them. I think there are other ways of pursuing redress for grievances in this fashion. However, many of the myths that you're hearing about it are overstated.”

Megyn Kelly said on her podcast about the fund, “I don't like it,” explaining that she'd rather see individual suits. But she also made false correlations between this move and Obama's Keepseagle fund, saying, “This was created by Barack Obama,” and, “The same media that's now ripping Trump to shreds for doing it said nothing, nothing when Barack Obama started it. … So I really have no tolerance for their cries and protestations about what Trump is doing.”

Already, January 6 rioters, election deniers, and Trump allies are lining up for a chance at the taxpayer money.

### True the Vote founder hopes “we will see some level of compensation” from Trump's weaponization fund

05/21/26 11:50 AM EDT

### Enrique Tarrio: “Every J6er needs to be able to get some type of funds” from Trump's weaponization money

05/20/26 5:26 PM EDT

### Newsmax's Greg Kelly defends Trump “weaponization” fund: “This is not an outlandish arrangement”

05/20/26

---

no lnx

Trump's $4 billion empire could evaporate — thanks to one judge's ruling

Sabrina Haake April 25, 2026

With all the ruin emanating from the Oval Office on a daily basis, it’s easy to fall into quiet despair. Following the news feels like monitoring a malignant tumor as it spreads outward from the epicenter of the free world, jumping oceans, URLs, and psyches, threatening the globe on macro and micro levels simultaneously. Only this sickness, this decidedly opportunistic cancer, has never been seen before. Certainly this level of rot has not been diagnosed in our 250 year history.

Trump’s singularly corrupt and destructive appetite, both fed and insulated by the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, is hard to stomach. After SCOTUS handed criminal immunity to a psychopath, despondency set in as the world resentfully assumed that Trump would get away with his crimes against humanity forever.

Then, just there, on the unlit edge of the blackest cloud to have darkened the world in a very long time, a glimmering trace of silver peaked out. In a development that should have streaked across the headlines, but barely got a mention, a federal judge ruled that Trump will pay for at least one of his crimes: J6.

Trump will likely lose his ill-got gains

Measuring the amount of corruption lining Trump’s pocket is like shoveling on a snowy day. As of late January, Trump had pocketed upwards of $4 billion from untraceable crypto currency ventures, suspicious market manipulations, and outright bribery from foreign and domestic sources during his first year back in office. He’d better be thinking on how to hide it, because on March 31, 2026, U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta ruled that Trump. Is. Civilly. Liable for the damages he caused on January 6, 2021.

Judge Mehta’s cautious 79 page ruling (found here) denied Trump civil immunity through a careful analysis largely devoted to distinguishing between Trump’s criminal actions as an office-holder (official-acts immunity), and his actions in seeking office, which were not official acts and therefore are not immune. The decision carefully followed the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, and will allow claims against him from members of Congress and capital police officers to proceed to trial.

After a prior ruling that Trump’s speech on the Ellipse plausibly amounted to incitement, which is not protected under the First Amendment, Trump’s legal team sought to substitute the United States as the defendant under the Westfall Act, arguing that Trump’s acts fell within the scope of his employment as President. That motion was denied. The critical contextual question, following the 2023 decision in Blassingame v. Trump, was whether Trump was speaking or engaging in conduct “in an official capacity as office-holder or instead in an unofficial capacity as office-seeker.”

Applying the immunity ruling, the court observed that “many uses of the presidential bully pulpit fall comfortably within the outer perimeter of [the President’s] official responsibility” and are therefore immune. “The Court’s approach recognizes that presidential speech on matters of public concern will very often be official—and thus immunized.” But the immunity decision itself recognized that there may “be contexts in which the President, notwithstanding the prominence of his position, speaks in an unofficial capacity—perhaps as a candidate for office or party leader.” Trump, 603 U.S. at 629. Acting or campaigning to attain the Office of the President, is not an official function of the office.

Proving damages will be easy

The cause-damages link on J6 is obvious.

On December 19, 2020, Trump sent out a tweet targeting extremist groups, urging them to come to the U.S. Capitol to make their anger known about a “stolen” presidential election. In follow up communications, he teased a “wild” rally, and convinced 74 million supporters who had voted for him that their votes weren’t counted, which, predictably, angered them.

On Jan. 6, 2021, on the White House Ellipse where his summoned supporters gathered, Trump gave a fiery speech telling those in attendance, “We fight. We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.” He then urged them to “walk down Pennsylvania Avenue” to “take back our country.”

Following Trump’s instructions, the summoned people then marched to the Capitol Building, which they breached with unprecedented political violence seen around the world. Although many people pleaded with Trump to stop the violence, he safely enjoyed it on TV for over three hours before he told rioters to stop.

At least seven people died from the attack.

Trump will bring this same contempt to the courtroom when he is personally sued for billions over J6, when he falsely brays, again, that he won in 2020. Juries don’t like him, most Americans don’t like him. He has assaulted women, stolen from our nation, and put our fragile democracy on life support. No verdict will be too high, and Americans are here for it.

Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A defense. She writes the free Substack, The Haake Take.

---

OMFG

Justice Department moves to toss seditious conspiracy convictions of Oath Keepers and Proud Boys

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to throw out the seditious conspiracy convictions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders who were sentenced to prison terms for leading members of the far-right extremist groups in attacking the U.S. Capitol to keep President Donald Trump in office over five years ago.

Trump commuted the prison sentences of several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders last January in a sweeping act of clemency for all 1,500-plus defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

The request by the Justice Department would go a step further and erase all the convictions for extremist group leaders, including Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who didn’t receive pardons last January.

The move to abandon the convictions represented a stunning reversal from the Biden administration, which hailed the guilty verdicts as a crucial victory in its bid to hold accountable those responsible for what prosecutors described as an attack on the heart of American democracy. It’s part of the Trump administration’s continued efforts to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 attack and downplay the violence carried out by the mob of Trump supporters that left more than 100 police officers injured.

AP correspondent Ben Thomas reports the Justice Department is seeking the dismissal of seditious conspiracy convictions over the Capitol Riot.

In court filings, prosecutors asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to vacate the convictions so that the government can permanently dismiss the indictments.

Man charged with planting pipe bombs before the Jan. 6 riot argues Trump's mass pardons apply to him

Brawl erupts in Turkey's parliament over justice minister appointment

“The government’s motion to vacate in this case is consistent with its practice of moving the Supreme Court to vacate convictions in cases where the government has decided in its prosecutorial discretion that dismissal of a criminal case is in the interests of justice — motions that the Supreme Court routinely grants,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing signed by U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

Juries in Washington, D.C., convicted the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers leaders of orchestrating violent plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Trump’s 2020 election loss to Democratic President Joe Biden.

The department’s dismissal request also includes the convictions of Oath Keepers members Kelly Meggs, Kenneth Harrelson and Jessica Watkins and Proud Boys members Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs, Zachary Rehl and Dominic Pezzola.

Other extremist group members, including former Proud Boys national chairman Enrique Tarrio, received pardons from Trump on the first day of his second term in the White House.

Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison after he and several lieutenants were convicted in one of the most consequential cases arising from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a mob of Trump supporters.

Prosecutors said Rhodes and his followers stockpiled guns for possible use by “quick reaction force” teams at a Virginia hotel, but they never deployed the weapons.

Nordean’s attorney, Nicholas Smith, said they are grateful to the Justice Department for its “wise decision” in seeking dismissal of the convictions.

“We don’t want a precedent that says that any physical confrontation between protesters and law enforcement means a crime akin to treason, such as seditious conspiracy,” Smith said.

Former Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was dragged into the mob and suffered a heart attack after a rioter shocked him with a stun gun, was disappointed but not surprised by the latest milestone in the dismantling of Capitol riot prosecutions.

“I would remind Americans that these were traitors to this country,” Fanone said. “They planned, incited and carried out an insurrection.”

ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

Richer covers the Justice Department and federal courts. She joined The AP in 2013 and is based in Washington.

---

guk 4 26

The US Department of Justice has requested that a federal appeals judge overturn convictions for members of far-right groups Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, who were previously found guilty of seditious conspiracy in connection with the violent siege of the US capitol in 2021.

Jeanine Pirro, the Donald Trump-appointed US attorney for the District of Columbia, signed separate motions on Tuesday to vacate convictions for a slew of individuals, including the Proud Boys’ leaders Ethan Nordean and Joseph Biggs as well as Stewart Rhodes, a former attorney who founded the Oath Keepers’ militia.

The filings represent the latest move the Trump administration has made to absolve the January 6 rioters, a group composed largely of the president’s supporters who stormed the US Capitol in a desperate attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory over Trump.

[

‘We feel this incredible tension at all times’: what happened to small-town USA when extremists moved in

Read more](https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/apr/11/strange-people-on-the-hill-michael-edison-hayden)

Several members of the two far-right groups were later sentenced to prison for their attempted roles to obstruct a peaceful transfer of power. The lengthiest prison term was given to Enrique Tarrio, the former chair of the Proud Boys, who faced 22 years behind bars.

However, Tarrio was released from prison in January 2025, when Trump, on the first day of his second term, issued sweeping pardons and commutations to roughly 1,600 people who had been charged related to the Capitol mob attack. Several Proud Boys and Oath Keepers’ leaders were granted clemency as part of that action.

Tuesday’s filing would erase the convictions from their records.

The move to abandon the convictions represented a stunning reversal from the Biden administration, which hailed the guilty verdicts as a crucial victory in its bid to hold accountable those responsible for what prosecutors described as an attack on the heart of US democracy. The Trump administration has sought to rewrite the history of that attack, portraying the rioters as patriots and peaceful protesters, being used as pawns by his political rivals, and repeating baseless claims of widespread election fraud.

“In truth, it was the Democrats who staged the real insurrection by certifying a fraud-ridden election, ignoring widespread irregularities, and weaponizing federal agencies to hunt down dissenters,” reads a paragraph from the White House’s web page on January 6.

More than 100 law enforcement officers were injured during the attack, including one who suffered a heart attack after being tased by a stun gun and one who was stabbed with a metal fence stake, according to a 2021 bipartisan Senate report examining the January 6 security response. Four officers who responded to the attack later died by suicide.

*The Associated Press contributed reporting

---

COINCIDENCE 2 ON SAME DAY?

rww

03/30/2026

Kyle Mantyla

Kathryn Wilkens @ Mediaite: ‘Trump Is Winning’: FCC Chair Boasts He’s Remaking the Media by Pushing Out Left-Leaning Figures

During a Friday CPAC appearance, FCC Chair Brendan Carr bragged that he’s remaking the media by pushing out left-leaning figures, declaring, “[President Donald] Trump is winning.”

Patrick Marley @ The Washington Post: He took Pelosi’s lectern on Jan. 6. Now he’s running for office.

Adam Johnson has rarely voted and embraces his role as clown prince of Jan. 6. Floridians will decide whether a man who tried to upend democracy can help lead one.

Hafiz Rashid @ The New Republic: January 6 Rioters Pardoned by Trump Sue Over “Emotional Distress”

January 6 insurrectionists say police used excessive force while trying to stop them from storming the Capitol.

REF

Rioters who took part in the January 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection, and were then pardoned by President Trump, are now suing Capitol and D.C. Police for excessive force.

Several of the rioters filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court Middle District of Florida Friday alleging that U.S. Capitol Police and the Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia fired chemicals and pepper spray into the “peaceful crowd” that day.

The lawsuit also claims that the demonstrators were hit by billy clubs and strikes to the head, which caused injuries, including “chemical burns, concussive trauma, emotional distress, and other damages.” The plaintiffs say they were “overwhelmingly peaceful” until police used force against them, and that they weren’t given warnings.

The lawsuit’s allegations are rich, considering that 140 police officers were injured as a result of the rioters, who breached the Capitol building and caused extensive damage. At least seven people died in connection with the insurrection, including Ashli Babbit, who was shot by police, and Officer Brian Sicknick, who was attacked by the mob and died the next day. Four police officers committed suicide in the days and weeks following the attack.

Just days into his presidency, Trump pardoned over 1,500 rioters convicted for their role in the insurrection, including members of the radical Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who were charged with seditious conspiracy. But being let off for their crimes on that day isn’t enough for these people, who now want a payday from the police. If anyone should be paying, it should be the man who egged the rioters on—but Trump has gotten off scot-free.

ENDIT?

Jason Wilson @ The Guardian: College Republicans director made racist and sexist remarks on live streams

Review of Kai Schwemmer’s broadcasts undermines claim ‘process of growth’ had led him to abandon bigoted views.

Lydia O'Connor @ HuffPost: A Running List Of The Totally Real, Not At All Fake Awards Donald Trump Has Received

The president is the "undisputed champion of beautiful clean coal," and he has the trophy to prove it.

Amogh Dimri @ The Atlantic: Nick Fuentes’s Strategy is Working

Viral clips of the far-right white supremacist are growing his audience.

Ben Jacobs @ Slate: CPAC Now Has No Trump and No Swag

CPAC was never cool, but it was once exciting. In 2026 the conference was no longer a hotbed of insurgents against a Republican establishment, let alone a place where factions of conservatives maneuvered for dominance. It wasn’t even an out-and-out MAGA pep rally that celebrated the ascension of Trump. It didn’t have a clear function anymore. Instead, it just felt like an event held out of habit.

---

AN 3 26

Republicans are attempting to rewrite the narrative of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, but Virginia is not letting that narrative permeate public classrooms.

The Washington Post reported Friday that the Virginia state governor will likely sign a measure that was passed by the state House of Delegates and Senate that bars any public schools from teaching that the attack was a "peaceful" protest. President Donald Trump has long maintained that the violence was peaceful. Other Republicans have referred to it as nothing more than a "tourist visit."

One lawmaker complained that the White House webpage calls January 6 "a peaceful protest, and people who instigated it were the police and National Guard,” said Delegate Dan Helmer (D).

“This is a preventative measure against a massive disinformation campaign on the part of the White House," he added.

Republicans are calling it "mind control," the report said.

"It tells us what we’re not allowed to say, and it tells us what we must say,” complained Del. Tom Garrett (R) in a floor speech. He said that the bill was "evil" and akin to "Nazi Germany" and "Soviet Russia."

In 2022, Virginia's Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin proposed new teaching requirements for those discussing the history of the U.S. around slavery and the Native Americans. Laws in Germany today bar expressions of Holocaust denialism in public.

Trump pardoned 1,500 people charged with crimes related to Jan. 6, even if they accepted their guilt.

---

AN 2 26

Hailing it as a "truly heartening" decision while Donald Trump acts with almost total impunity, legal expert Steven Lubet commended the disbarment recommendation against a MAGA lawyer for taking part in the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

Writing for The Hill on Monday, Lubet, a professor emeritus at Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law and prolific writer on the subject of legal ethics, relayed the story of Georgia-based lawyer, William McCall Calhoun Jr. Last month, Lubet explained, the state's nine Supreme Court Justices, including eight Republican appointees, unanimously issued an opinion that Calhoun must be disbarred for his participation in the Capitol Riots.

While Trump issued a mass pardon for all Jan. 6 participants when he returned to the White House, and while he himself acts with "total immunity" granted to him by the U.S. Supreme Court, Lubet held up the ruling against Calhoun as an example of meaningful consequences for "law-breaking" committed in the name of the MAGA movement.

"There have been few if any lasting consequences for crimes or malfeasance in Trump world," he wrote. "It was, therefore, truly heartening to see a group of Republicans acknowledge that law-breaking must be meaningfully penalized, even if committed under the MAGA banner."

Calhoun was arrested not long after his participation in the Capitol riots back in 2021, and was ultimately convicted on four misdemeanors and one felony charge. In addition to being sentenced to serve 18 months in prison, his law license was also suspended.

Despite his conviction being wiped away by Trump last year, Calhoun remained disbarred in Georgia, a fact he petitioned to have overturned. The state's bar disciplinary counsel decided that the petition had merit and that only “a public reprimand was warranted.” Last month, however, the state's Supreme Court denied the petition.

“Pardons do not prevent disbarment for the underlying activity that formed the basis of the crime," the court's ruling detailed, concluding that it was "hard … to see how anything less than disbarment can be accepted."

”The Republican-led state Supreme Court has now exemplified the same integrity by disregarding Trump’s blanket pardons and recognizing the true nature of the Jan. 6 attack," Lubet wrote. "It was not a 'day of love' or a 'normal tourist visit,' or even a 'political protest that got out of hand.' Jan. 6 was an insurrection, and insurrectionists will not be practicing law in Georgia any time soon."

---

AN 1 26

A prominent Democrat is demanding to know how many January 6 “insurrectionists” have been hired by the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, as critics warn that federal agents under President Donald Trump are increasingly engaging in violent enforcement actions.

“We know that several participants in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol have been rewarded with high-ranking positions in the Department of Justice (DOJ),” U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD), the Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

“However, it remains unclear how many more have been invited to join the ranks of this Administration, including among the masked Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents and officers that have dragged, tackled, beaten, tased, shot, and killed citizens and non-citizens alike in communities across the country,” he added.

According to Raskin, Jared Wise, a former Supervisory Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), “stormed his way into the Capitol Building” on January 6, 2021.

“As he did so, he taunted and threaten police officers defending the building and the ones inside, screaming: ‘You guys are disgusting. I’m former—I’m former law enforcement. You’re disgusting.”

Raskin included additional language attributed to Wise, then wrote that he “has never expressed remorse or contrition for his criminal actions.”

Wise was pardoned by President Donald Trump, along with nearly 1,600 others, “including hundreds of cop beaters.”

“Today, Mr. Wise serves as senior adviser in the office of the Deputy Attorney General, alongside another January 6th participant, Ed Martin, the U.S. Pardon Attorney and head of the DOJ Weaponization Working Group,” Raskin wrote.

Congressman Raskin also blasted the recruitment and vetting processes being used by the Trump administration.

“For its part, DHS seems to be courting pardoned January 6th insurrectionists. It uses white nationalist ‘dog whistles’ in its recruitment campaign for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents that appear aimed at stirring members of extremist militias, including the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and Three Percenters, which participated in the insurrection,” he stated. “The recruitment campaign began with a $50,000 sign-on bonus, removal of the college degree requirement, and a relaxed vetting process.”

“Who is hiding behind these masks?” Raskin demanded to know. “How many of them were among the violent rioters who attacked the Capitol on January 6th and were convicted of their offenses? The American people deserve to know how many of these violent insurrectionists have been given guns and badges by this Administration.”

---

January 6: One year later, Americans still view the Capitol takeover with dismay | YouGov

---

nyt

Trump Still Pushing Conspiracies

False Narrative Posted

A Day of Rage

Presidential Rally Turned Rampage

Pardoned Rioters Rally

White House Posts False Jan. 6 Narrative on Riot’s 5th Anniversary

A new web page on the official White House site blames the Capitol Police and Democrats for the pro-Trump mob riot, absolving the president of responsibility and calling participants “innocent.”

Rioters enter the capitol building in riot gear.

Rioters walking through the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

Luke BroadwaterAlan Feuer

By Luke Broadwater and Alan Feuer

Luke Broadwater is a White House reporter who helped cover the Jan. 6 riot. Alan Feuer has reported on the hundreds of criminal cases stemming from the riot.

Jan. 6, 2026

On the fifth anniversary of the pro-Trump mob attack on the Capitol, the Trump administration created a new page on the official White House website that represented the president’s most brazen bid yet to rewrite the history of the Jan. 6 riot with false claims aimed at absolving him of responsibility.

The site blames Capitol Police officers, who defended lawmakers that day, for starting the assault; Democrats, who were the rioters’ main targets, for failing to prevent it; and former Vice President Mike Pence, who rejected falsehoods about the 2020 election, for allowing the results to be certified.

Mr. Trump has long sought to whitewash the violence and vandalism committed on Jan. 6, 2021, and reject responsibility for having instigated it. But the webpage, promoted on government social media accounts, put the official imprimatur of the White House on an astonishingly misleading account of the Capitol attack.

In one section, the webpage mentions several members of the pro-Trump mob who died during or in connection with the assault, identifying them by name. But it excises altogether any reference to the nearly 140 police officers who were injured when they were assaulted that day with weapons that included bear spray, stun guns, hockey sticks, fireworks, broken pieces of furniture and at least one flagpole flying the American flag. Nor does the page mention any of the officers who died in its aftermath. In fact, at one point, the timeline asserts: “Zero law enforcement officers lost their lives.”

Image

Demonstrators and police officers both pull at a guard rail. People in the background are waving Trump and American flags.

The violent rampage that unfolded over nearly five hours on that day caused injuries to roughly 140 police officers and left five people dead.Credit...Kenny Holston for The New York Times

Image

A door with its windows damaged. Rioters are gathered on the other side.

The attackers used a wide variety of weapons: bear spray, stun guns, hockey sticks, fireworks, broken pieces of furniture and even a flagpole holding a U.S. flag.Credit...Erin Schaff/The New York Times

The webpage includes a timeline of events on Jan. 6 that accuses the Capitol Police, who were attacked by the rioters for hours, of instigating the violence, and blames Mr. Pence for refusing to subvert the will of the voters to keep Mr. Trump in power.

“Vice President Mike Pence, who had the opportunity to return disputed electoral slates to state legislatures for review and decertification under the United States Constitution, chooses not to exercise that power in an act of cowardice and sabotage,” the webpage states.

“Stolen Election Certified,” another section says.

In a breathtaking reversal of reality, the site accuses Democrats of creating a “gaslighting narrative” about Jan. 6 in their efforts to certify “a fraud-ridden election” and to “persecute innocent Americans,” though those who were prosecuted for storming the Capitol were caught on video taken either by surveillance cameras or by other participants.

Instead, it is the White House account that twists the facts of the riot.

The timeline asserts, for example, that Mr. Trump invited his followers to come to Washington on Jan. 6 for “a peaceful and historic protest” over the 2020 election. It fails to mention that he also tweeted, “Be there, will be wild!” — a presidential imperative that, within hours of its posting, prompted scores of his supporters to issue calls for violence, even to post online images of the weapons, including assault rifles, that they said they planned to bring to the rally.

Image

President Donald J. Trump speaking to a crowd. The White House is behind him.

President Trump spoke at a rally in the Ellipse on the morning of the riot. Credit...Pete Marovich for The New York Times

Image

A man with his face masked with a U.S. flag and holding a pole with a flag, stands by the Capitol as others clamber up one of its walls.

The riot began after those at the rally streamed from the Ellipse to the Capitol. The violent attack lasted for hours. Credit...Jason Andrew for The New York Times

The White House’s timeline also fails to take note of how far-right extremist groups, like the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers militia, reacted to Mr. Trump’s summons: quickly setting up encrypted communications channels, acquiring protective gear and, in one instance, preparing heavily armed “quick reaction forces” to be staged outside Washington. Many later took the lead in attacking officers and breaching police security lines.

A separate section of the timeline, beginning at 1:10 p.m., asserts that the Capitol Police “aggressively” fired tear gas and other crowd control munitions at the crowd, suggesting falsely that the authorities had acted without cause and saying they “turned a peaceful demonstration into chaos.” But that account leaves out entirely what happened in the minutes leading up to the police response.

Shortly before 1 p.m. that day, a small group of pro-Trump protesters confronted and attacked police officers at metal barricades set up at an area outside the Capitol known as the Peace Circle. Once the barricades fell, thousands of protesters trampled over them and were able to gain access to a plaza where they massed, greatly outnumbering the police officers defending the building.

The webpage also contains blatant falsehoods about the Justice Department’s efforts to hold the rioters accountable. In a section the timeline titled, “Mass Arrests of Patriotic Protesters,” it says that the “Biden DOJ” began “a coordinated nationwide dragnet” leading to the arrest of more than 1,500 rioters.

In fact, the arrests began well before Mr. Trump left office on Jan. 20, 2021, and the investigation was carried out for weeks by Justice Department leaders that he had put in place.

Moreover, the webpage claims that hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants were held as “political prisoners for years” and were given “lengthy sentences.” In reality, far fewer rioters were held in pretrial detention than in cases brought against drug or immigration violation defendants, and the median sentence for the rioters was about 60 days in prison.

Mr. Trump, in one of the first official acts of his second term, issued a sweeping grant of clemency to all of the nearly 1,600 people charged.

Luke Broadwater covers the White House for The Times.

Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump.

See more on: Donald Trump, United States Capitol Police

Share full article

---

---}:

jan 6 5 yr anniv

all say fed deep state set up BS

Five years after January 6, the diehards came back to the scene of the crime. Pardoned rioters, conspiracy theories, and a fierce counter-protest collided on the National Mall. Jared Poland gives his take to Sam Stein on what he found from reporting on the ground as Americans argue again over what really happened on Jan. 6.