Trump’s Jan. 6 Cronies Might Never Have to Face Any Consequences

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We’re moving This Week in Subpoenas up top, because it’s been obvious for months that Republicans in Congress are purposely damaging and slowing the January 6 committee’s investigation and also trying to cover up what they may have witnessed that day. But now it appears they may never have to tell what they know.

House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, who pleaded with former President Donald Trump to call off his rioters, turned around to openly threaten companies that cooperate with the committee. Rep. Jim Jordan, who also spoke to Trump that day AND proposed a coup recipe via text the day before, later openly threatened political retribution on Democrats. Rep. Lauren Boebert, a fellow member of the Trumpist Freedom Caucus demanding a cover-up, also openly threatened mayhem. The list goes on.

And, of course, Trump targets (or ends) the careers of any elected official who participates in accountability. 

None of the lawmakers who can provide the committee with facts about Trump’s state of mind on Jan. 6, or about how the coup plot was coordinated in their ranks, will do so voluntarily. This week we learned they’re not likely to do it under subpoena, either. 

The January 6 committee, apparently leery of legal hurdles and intentional (and inevitable) delay tactics, reportedly won’t subpoena lawmakers who are also fact witnesses. If that holds, it means McCarthy, Jordan, and Freedom Caucus chair Scott Perry, who appears to have helped organize coup activities within the DOJ, won’t be directly questioned. 

That was undoubtedly great news over at the Republican National Committee, which likewise this week went to the mat to prevent its email fundraising vendor from complying with a subpoena. 

The RNC’s story is that the disclosure would expose donors to persecution and scrutiny for their political preferences. But given the top-to-bottom GOP strategy of obstruction and cover-up, the more likely reason can be found in what the committee is looking for. 

Before and after Jan. 6, the RNC built fundraising campaigns on the insidious myth that the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump. That included calls for voters to fight against the results of the election. It makes the RNC’s appeals to donors, and the fruits of those appeals, a potentially important link in the toxic information loop that brought rioters to the Capitol and built support for the broader coup attempt. 

And that loop isn’t theoretical! The thing about emails is that they go to specific recipients, who open and read them. Sometimes those very individuals go to rallies shortly thereafter, and sometimes, they maybe even riot in an effort to obstruct an official government proceeding and install an unelected president. Now you get the picture. 

The email vendor, Salesforce, is ready to comply with the committee’s subpoena, so the RNC sued Salesforce to make sure that doesn’t happen. That ruling is pending, all while the RNC tries to shield its “Stop the Steal” political strategy from public view in the name of what passes for legitimate political discourse.

Here’s a dispatch from VICE News’ David Gilbert, who’s been hot on the trail of our favorite Trumpist secretary of state candidate with multiple felony charges, Tina Peters, and the ongoing quest to unmask the man she allegedly snuck into a secure voting machine room. We like to call him “Fake Jerry.” 

Whatever you might think of MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, the man is permanently available. No matter what time of the day or night you call him, he’ll answer his phone and, more often than not, he’s willing to answer your questions.  

So it was when I dialed his number earlier this week to get his take on the decision by the local district attorney to indict Mesa County Clerk—and current Colorado secretary of state candidate—Tina Peters on multiple felony charges last week.

Lindell has a history with Peters: He flew her on his private jet to be the star guest at his “cyber symposium” in South Dakota last summer, and then stashed her in a safe house while authorities were looking to ask her questions about why she facilitated the leak of sensitive election data to QAnon influencer and congressional candidate Ron Watkins.

“What can I do for ya?” Lindell asked after a bout of laughter upon learning who I was and where I work.

When I asked about Peters and her arrest, Lindell said it was all a political hit job, that Peters had done nothing wrong, that she’s “gonna win hands-down” and she’ll be “the best secretary of state ever.”

Lindell offered to pay Peters’ bail when it was initially set at $500,000, but he said that Judge Matthew Barrett specifically said neither Lindell—nor any third party—could post her bond, even when he reduced it to $25,000. 

But Lindell couldn’t answer the biggest question about Peters’ harebrained apparent plot to steal election data: the identity of Fake Jerry, the man the Mesa County DA says used a fraudulent identity, provided by Peters, to breach voting machine data that was later posted online.

Lindell claimed he’s met the man most experts believe is Fake Jerry, but only once, at his cyber symposium months after Peters’ alleged plot was carried out.

After getting arrested last week in his pre-dawn undies, former Proud Boys leader Henry “Enrique” Tarrio is now being held pending trial for felony conspiracy charges. But prosecutors’ court filings in seeking Tarrio’s detention unveiled a bunch of evidence potentially linking Tarrio and his right-wing militia to a broad plot. 

Tarrio called his nucleus of Proud Boy leadership its “Ministry of Self-Defense,” or MOSD. And the best defense, according to prosecutors, is a criminal offense. 

Prosecutors described a document in Tarrio’s possession laying out a detailed plan for Proud Boys to lead unassuming-looking protesters to storm and occupy half a dozen buildings on Capitol Hill, in addition to the Supreme Court, on Jan. 6. It does not specifically describe infiltration of the Capitol Building itself, though it does call for protesters to distract authorities by activating fire alarms in nearby buildings and businesses. 

The document is called “1776 Returns” (sound familiar?), and it could point prosecutors toward tying Tarrio to a conspiracy, especially since he wasn’t in Washington on Jan. 6, having been ordered out of town by a judge. 

Know what else could tie Tarrio to a broader conspiracy to attack the Capitol? The documentary crew that was apparently filming the whole thing. That included an alleged Jan. 5 meeting with Oath Keepers founder and sedition suspect Stewart Rhodes.

Republicans intend to run against weakened Democrats in 2022, but not before Donald Trump makes the GOP primary a referendum on his “stolen election” platform. Trump spent a chunk of his South Carolina rally last weekend—and part of yesterday—attacking a pair of insufficiently loyal GOP incumbents. One was Rep. Nancy Mace, whose on-again, off-again flirtations with Trumpism exemplify the icky reality of a South Carolinian’s existence in Trump’s GOP. (Stay tuned for some Lindsey Graham news, btw.) Mace’s chief offense is that she voted to certify 2020’s election results on Jan. 6, while truly loyal Republicans did their part to back Trump’s months of disinfo. 

 The other target was GOP Rep. Tom Rice, who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 riot. Trump went after Rice, calling him “disgusting” and a bunch of other stuff. Now Rice is testing the anti-MAGA limits in his S.C. district. He encouraged voters to support his Trump-picked opponent if they prefer a candidate who backs “political violence” and “a would-be tyrant.” Rep. Liz Cheney, also on Trump’s target list, obviously, chimed in.

Rice is drawing clear battle lines for his primary, while Mace is still trying to love Trump, even if he won’t love her back. Much more to come on this, but it’s fair to say that results of primaries like these in South Carolina and across the country will be a key influence on Trump’s lock on the 2024 GOP nomination. The S.C. primary is June 14. 

In Lindsey news: Hours before he told the world to “count me out” of Trumpism, and months before he was once again all about it, South Carolina GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham threatened to try to have Donald Trump removed from office if he didn’t call off the Jan. 6 riot. According to the forthcoming book This Will Not Pass, Graham told White House counsel Pat Cipollone, “We’ll be asking for the 25th Amendment,” referring to the constitutional provision allowing the vice president and the Cabinet to notify Congress that the president is unable to carry out his duties. Within three months, Graham showed his disgust by golfing with Trump. 

“Miracle Number Five is the restoration of Donald Trump to the White House before 2024.” —Roger Stone, detailing for a QAnon conference his five-part “Stone Plan”, which includes installing Trump as Speaker of the House and removing Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris

Attack from a gov — Two Trump-endorsed governor candidates walked out of interviews this week after things got weird. Arizona’s Kari Lake, who’s dined with QAnon figures and endorsed the view that Jan. 6 rioters were welcomed to Capitol Hill, stormed out of an interview with 60 Minutes Australia after reporter Liam Bartlett asked her if she agrees with Trump that the rioters should be pardoned. 

Then there was Idaho Lt. Gov. Janice McGeachin, who squirmed for several minutes before fleeing an interview about her appearance before last month’s America First Politcal Action Conference, which was rife with antisemitic white nationalists. McGeachin has a long history with white nationalist militias, but she has faced calls for her resignation since attending AFPAC.

Reminder: House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy has still meted out zero apparent discipline on Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar for their AFPAC appearances last month.

Ginni’s Justice — Ginni Thomas has gotten attention lately for her statements cheering on Jan. 6 protesters and for her right-wing advocacy on abortion, guns, and other issues being considered by her husband, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Turns out Ginni Thomas’s support for the “Stop the Steal” protesters wasn’t just in spirit: She was one of them! Just a note: The Supreme Court’s recent ruling that Donald Trump can’t hide his White House records from the January 6 committee was 8-1, with Justice Thomas dissenting.

Nye impossible — A Nevada county with no evidence of fraud and where Trump won 70 percent of the vote is moving to eliminate all electronic voting machines… because fraud. Featuring a guest appearance from Nevada secretary of state candidate and QAnon-adjacent conspiracist Jim Marchant.

A Trump always pays his debts — A man charged with destruction of property for destroying media equipment during the Capitol Hill riot says Donald Trump should pay his legal fees. 

Where does democracy go from here? — Some weekend reading on the big, terrible question.

Seven steps to destroy a democracy. THE NEW YORK TIMES

What happened when a Georgia elections office was targeted for takeover by those who claim the 2020 election was a fraud. THE WASHINGTON POST

Trump White House aide was secret author of report used to push ‘big lie.’ THE GUARDIAN