I'm going to go out on a limb and assume the Back the Blue and Blue Lives Matter people aren't going to get behind this for some reason or another.
If there's a cop version "RINO" he'll certainly get the label.
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Ray Epps, a target of Jan. 6 conspiracy theories, gets a year of probation for his Capitol riot role
By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN
Today
WASHINGTON (AP) — A man targeted by right-wing conspiracy theories about the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Tuesday to a year of probation for joining the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of fellow Donald Trump supporters.
Ray Epps, a former Arizona resident who was driven into hiding by death threats, pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanor charge. He received no jail time, and there were no restrictions placed on his travel during his probation, but he will have to serve 100 hours of community service.
He appeared remotely by video conference and wasn't in the Washington, D.C., courtroom when Chief Judge James Boasberg sentenced him. Prosecutors had recommended a six-month term of imprisonment for Epps.
Fox News Channel and other right-wing media outlets amplified conspiracy theories that Epps, 62, was an undercover government agent who helped incite the Capitol attack to entrap Trump supporters. Epps filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News last year, saying the network was to blame for spreading baseless claims about him.
Epps told the judge that he now knows that he never should have believed the lies about a stolen election that Trump and his allies told and that Fox News broadcast.
“I have learned that truth is not always found in the places that I used to trust,” said Epps, who asked for mercy before learning his sentence.
The judge noted that many conspiracy theorists still refuse to believe that the Capitol riot was an insurrection carried out by Trump supporters. The judge said he hopes that the threats against Epps and his wife subside so they can move on with their lives.
“You were hounded out of your home," the judge said. “You were hounded out of your town.”
Federal prosecutors have backed up Epps’ vehement denials that he was a government plant or FBI operative. They say Epps has never been a government employee or agent beyond serving in the U.S. Marines from 1979 to 1983.
The ordeal has forced Epps and his wife to sell their property and businesses and flee their home in Queen Creek, Arizona, according to his lawyer.
“He enjoys no golf, tennis, travel, or other trappings of retirement. They live in a trailer in the woods, away from their family, friends, and community,” attorney Edward Ungvarsky wrote in a court filing.
The internet-fueled accusations that upended Epps' life have persisted even after the Justice Department charged him with participating in the Jan. 6 siege.
“Fear of demented extremists has no apparent end in sight so long as those who spread hate and lies about Mr. Epps don’t speak loudly and publicly to correct the messaging they delivered,” Epps' lawyer wrote.
Epps pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on restricted grounds, a charge punishable by a maximum of one year behind bars.
A prosecutor, Michael Gordon, said Epps doesn't deserve to be inundated with death threats but should serve jail time for his conduct on Jan. 6.
“He didn't start the riot. He made it worse.” Gordon told the judge.
Epps' lawyer sought six months of probation without any jail time. Ungvarsky says his client went to Washington on Jan. 6 to peacefully protest the certification of the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden, a Democrat, over Trump, a Republican.
“You're never going to see Mr. Epps commit a crime again,” the defense attorney said.
Prosecutors say Epps encouraged the mob to storm the Capitol, helped other rioters push a large metal-framed sign into a group of officers and participated in “a rugby scrum-like group effort” to push past a line of police officers.
“Even if Epps did not physically touch law enforcement officers or go inside of the building, he undoubtedly engaged in collective aggressive conduct,” Gordon, an assistant U.S. attorney, wrote in a court filing.
Epps surrendered to the FBI two days after the riot after learning that agents were trying to identify him. He agreed to be interviewed by FBI agents as well as by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The government initially declined to prosecute Epps in 2021 after the FBI investigated his conduct on Jan. 6 and found insufficient evidence to charge him with a crime, according to Ungvarsky. Epps isn't accused of entering the Capitol or engaging in any violence or destruction on Jan. 6.
“Mr. Epps was one of many who trespassed outside the Capitol building. Through the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, most of those persons will never be charged,” the defense lawyer wrote.
More than 1,200 defendants have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 900 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted after trials decided by a judge or jury. Approximately 750 rioters have been sentenced, with nearly two-thirds getting some term of imprisonment.
Epps once served as an Arizona chapter leader for the Oath Keepers, but he parted ways with the anti-government extremist group a few years before the Jan. 6 attack.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden after the 2020 election. Rhodes was sentenced last year to 18 years in prison.
Fox News hasn't responded to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment on Epps' lawsuit.
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Opinion | A federal judge is fed up with those defending the Jan. 6 rioters Opinion by Ruth Marcus Associate editor January 29, 2024 at 7:15 ET Sentencing hearings are ordinarily about criminal defendants. What did they do? Have they demonstrated remorse? What factors in their background argue in favor of leniency or for the stiffest possible sentence? The scene in U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth’s courtroom on Thursday was all that — but something more, and something even more important, as well. Because Lamberth, a senior judge named to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, was not merely sentencing the defendant before him, James Little, one of the many Jan. 6, 2021, defendants whose cases have piled up before judges at the D.C. federal courthouse. He was also pronouncing judgment on the politicians and pundits who diminish the significance of Jan. 6 and instead laud its perpetrators as heroes. Lamberth, a native Texan and Army veteran, has never been shy about calling the powerful to account. When Native Americans accused the Interior Department of mismanaging trust funds, an exasperated Lamberth held Bill Clinton’s interior secretary, Bruce Babbitt, in contempt and then proceeded to do the same with President George W. Bush’s interior secretary, Gale Norton. (The federal appeals court ultimately ordered Lamberth removed from the case.) After Russian President Vladimir Putin, balking at an order issued by Lamberth to turn over stolen Jewish artifacts, said he didn’t have to obey a “cowboy judge,” Lamberth — who’s been known to wear cowboy boots to legal events — described the epithet as “one of the highlights of my life.”
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By Jim Thomas | Saturday, 09 March 2024 02:08 PM EST
The Jan. 6 select committee suppressed testimony from former White House deputy chief of staff Anthony Ornato that proves former President Donald Trump was "willing to ask for" 10,000 National Guard troops to safeguard the nation's capital on Jan. 6, 2021, according to Rep. Barry Loudermilk, chairman of the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Oversight.
The Georgia Republican released the transcribed interview Friday in a press release.
When interviewed by the select committee on Jan. 28, 2022, Ornato was asked whether he recalled "any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th."
Ornato replied that he remembered a conversation between White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser.
"I remember he had — he was on the phone with her, and we — I had walked in for something, and I was there, and he was on the phone with her and wanted to make sure she had everything that she needed. Because I think it was the concern of anti and pro groups clashing is what I recall. And not anywhere near the Capitol, this was just out on the mall area or at the event; and wanted to know if she need[ed] any more guardsmen," Ornato said.
"And I remember the number 10,000 coming up of, you know, the President wants to make sure that you have enough. You know, he is willing to ask for 10,000. I remember that number. Now that you said it, it reminded me of it. And that she was all set. She had, I think it was like 350 or so for intersection control and those types of thing not in the law enforcement capacity at the time," he continued.
"And then that's the only thing I recall with that number 10,000 National Guard guardsmen."
The distinction between the select committee's findings and Ornato's testimony turns on the word "order."
In its report, the select committee wrote: "Some have suggested that President Trump gave an order to have 10,000 troops ready for January 6th. The Select Committee found no evidence of this."
While the select committee said Trump did not "order" 10,000 troops to be deployed, Ornato testified that he heard Meadows say the president was "willing to ask for 10,000."
"The former J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato's critical witness testimony from the American people because it contradicted their pre-determined narrative," Loudermilk said Friday in a statement.
"Mr. Ornato's testimony proves what Mr. Meadows has said all along, President Trump did in fact offer 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. Capitol, which was turned down.
"This is just one example of important information the former Select Committee hid from the public because it contradicted what they wanted the American people to believe. And, this is exactly why my investigation is committed to uncovering all the facts, no matter the outcome," Loudermilk said.
Ornato testified that "even though the Mayor didn't want any more National Guard in D.C., that a request was made to have kind of a, lack of better term, a quick reaction force [QRF] out at Joint Base Andrews being that it was a military installation."
As events unfolded on Jan. 6, Ornato recounted Meadows urging Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to deploy the QRF.
"So then I remember the chief saying, hey, I'm calling Secretary of Defense to get that QRF in here," Ornato testified. Ornato got Miller on the phone for Meadows. "And then I remember the chief telling Miller, get them in here, get them in here to secure the Capitol now. And that's where I remember the National Guard being, you know, ordered by the chief."
The Federalist reported that the Jan. 6 Committee had suppressed exonerating evidence and that former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was present during the interview and asked questions of Ornato.
Cheney frequently points to the Government Publishing Office website that she says posted "transcripts, documents, exhibits & our meticulously sourced 800+ page final report," The Federalist reported, noting that the "supporting documents" include only those that back up claims made by Cheney and others who are anti-Trump.
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
By Jim Thomas | Saturday, 09 March 2024 02:08 PM EST
The Jan. 6 select committee suppressed testimony from former White House deputy chief of staff Anthony Ornato that proves former President Donald Trump was "willing to ask for" 10,000 National Guard troops to safeguard the nation's capital on Jan. 6, 2021, according to Rep. Barry Loudermilk, chairman of the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Oversight.
The Georgia Republican released the transcribed interview Friday in a press release.
When interviewed by the select committee on Jan. 28, 2022, Ornato was asked whether he recalled "any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th."
Ornato replied that he remembered a conversation between White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser.
"I remember he had — he was on the phone with her, and we — I had walked in for something, and I was there, and he was on the phone with her and wanted to make sure she had everything that she needed. Because I think it was the concern of anti and pro groups clashing is what I recall. And not anywhere near the Capitol, this was just out on the mall area or at the event; and wanted to know if she need[ed] any more guardsmen," Ornato said.
"And I remember the number 10,000 coming up of, you know, the President wants to make sure that you have enough. You know, he is willing to ask for 10,000. I remember that number. Now that you said it, it reminded me of it. And that she was all set. She had, I think it was like 350 or so for intersection control and those types of thing not in the law enforcement capacity at the time," he continued.
"And then that's the only thing I recall with that number 10,000 National Guard guardsmen."
The distinction between the select committee's findings and Ornato's testimony turns on the word "order."
In its report, the select committee wrote: "Some have suggested that President Trump gave an order to have 10,000 troops ready for January 6th. The Select Committee found no evidence of this."
While the select committee said Trump did not "order" 10,000 troops to be deployed, Ornato testified that he heard Meadows say the president was "willing to ask for 10,000."
"The former J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato's critical witness testimony from the American people because it contradicted their pre-determined narrative," Loudermilk said Friday in a statement.
"Mr. Ornato's testimony proves what Mr. Meadows has said all along, President Trump did in fact offer 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. Capitol, which was turned down.
"This is just one example of important information the former Select Committee hid from the public because it contradicted what they wanted the American people to believe. And, this is exactly why my investigation is committed to uncovering all the facts, no matter the outcome," Loudermilk said.
Ornato testified that "even though the Mayor didn't want any more National Guard in D.C., that a request was made to have kind of a, lack of better term, a quick reaction force [QRF] out at Joint Base Andrews being that it was a military installation."
As events unfolded on Jan. 6, Ornato recounted Meadows urging Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to deploy the QRF.
"So then I remember the chief saying, hey, I'm calling Secretary of Defense to get that QRF in here," Ornato testified. Ornato got Miller on the phone for Meadows. "And then I remember the chief telling Miller, get them in here, get them in here to secure the Capitol now. And that's where I remember the National Guard being, you know, ordered by the chief."
The Federalist reported that the Jan. 6 Committee had suppressed exonerating evidence and that former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was present during the interview and asked questions of Ornato.
Cheney frequently points to the Government Publishing Office website that she says posted "transcripts, documents, exhibits & our meticulously sourced 800+ page final report," The Federalist reported, noting that the "supporting documents" include only those that back up claims made by Cheney and others who are anti-Trump.
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
Well this begs multiple questions that I'm sure you will ignore, since the depth of your arguments are an inch deep:
1. Why didn't Trump order the soldiers in advance, considering he has control of the DC National Guard? 2. Why would we need these troops anyway? Tucker recently showed me lots of footage that it was a peaceful protest? Why would a peaceful protest need 10k Guardsman? 3. What exactly do you think is "exonerating" about this conversation between Meadows Bowser?
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A man targeted by right-wing conspiracy theories about the U.S. Capitol riot was sentenced on Tuesday to a year of probation for joining the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of fellow Donald Trump supporters.
Ray Epps, a former Arizona resident who was driven into hiding by death threats, pleaded guilty in September to a misdemeanor charge. He received no jail time, and there were no restrictions placed on his travel during his probation, but he will have to serve 100 hours of community service.
He appeared remotely by video conference and wasn't in the Washington, D.C., courtroom when Chief Judge James Boasberg sentenced him. Prosecutors had recommended a six-month term of imprisonment for Epps.
Epps' sentencing took place in the same building where Trump was attending an appeals court hearing as the Republican former president's lawyers argued he's immune from prosecution on charges he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost.
DONALD TRUMP
Trump suggests unauthorized migrants will vote. The idea stirs his base, but ignores reality
With Trump present in court, judges express skepticism of claims that he's immune from prosecution
With Trump present in court, judges express skepticism of his immunity claims
With Trump present in court, judges express skepticism of claims that he's immune from prosecution
Fox News Channel and other right-wing media outlets amplified conspiracy theories that Epps, 62, was an undercover government agent who helped incite the Capitol attack to entrap Trump supporters. Epps filed a defamation lawsuit against Fox News last year, saying the network was to blame for spreading baseless claims about him.
Epps told the judge that he now knows that he never should have believed the lies about a stolen election that Trump and his allies told and that Fox News broadcast.
“I have learned that truth is not always found in the places that I used to trust,” said Epps, who asked for mercy before learning his sentence.
The judge noted that many conspiracy theorists still refuse to believe that the Capitol riot was an insurrection carried out by Trump supporters. The judge said he hopes that the threats against Epps and his wife subside so they can move on with their lives.
“You were hounded out of your home," the judge said. “You were hounded out of your town.”
Federal prosecutors have backed up Epps’ vehement denials that he was a government plant or FBI operative. They say Epps has never been a government employee or agent beyond serving in the U.S. Marines from 1979 to 1983.
The ordeal has forced Epps and his wife to sell their property and businesses and flee their home in Queen Creek, Arizona, according to his lawyer.
“He enjoys no golf, tennis, travel, or other trappings of retirement. They live in a trailer in the woods, away from their family, friends, and community,” attorney Edward Ungvarsky wrote in a court filing.
The internet-fueled accusations that upended Epps' life have persisted even after the Justice Department charged him with participating in the Jan. 6 siege.
“Fear of demented extremists has no apparent end in sight so long as those who spread hate and lies about Mr. Epps don’t speak loudly and publicly to correct the messaging they delivered,” Epps' lawyer wrote.
Epps pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct on restricted grounds, a charge punishable by a maximum of one year behind bars.
A prosecutor, Michael Gordon, said Epps doesn't deserve to be inundated with death threats but should serve jail time for his conduct on Jan. 6.
“He didn't start the riot. He made it worse.” Gordon told the judge.
Epps' lawyer sought six months of probation without any jail time. Ungvarsky says his client went to Washington on Jan. 6 to peacefully protest the certification of the Electoral College vote for Joe Biden, a Democrat, over Trump, a Republican.
“You're never going to see Mr. Epps commit a crime again,” the defense attorney said.
Prosecutors say Epps encouraged the mob to storm the Capitol, helped other rioters push a large metal-framed sign into a group of officers and participated in “a rugby scrum-like group effort” to push past a line of police officers.
“Even if Epps did not physically touch law enforcement officers or go inside of the building, he undoubtedly engaged in collective aggressive conduct,” Gordon, an assistant U.S. attorney, wrote in a court filing.
Epps surrendered to the FBI two days after the riot after learning that agents were trying to identify him. He agreed to be interviewed by FBI agents as well as by the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 insurrection.
The government initially declined to prosecute Epps in 2021 after the FBI investigated his conduct on Jan. 6 and found insufficient evidence to charge him with a crime, according to Ungvarsky. Epps isn't accused of entering the Capitol or engaging in any violence or destruction on Jan. 6.
“Mr. Epps was one of many who trespassed outside the Capitol building. Through the exercise of prosecutorial discretion, most of those persons will never be charged,” the defense lawyer wrote.
More than 1,200 defendants have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Over 900 of them have pleaded guilty or been convicted after trials decided by a judge or jury. Approximately 750 rioters have been sentenced, with nearly two-thirds getting some term of imprisonment.
Epps once served as an Arizona chapter leader for the Oath Keepers, but he parted ways with the anti-government extremist group a few years before the Jan. 6 attack.
Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes and other members were convicted of seditious conspiracy for plotting to stop the peaceful transfer of presidential power from Trump to Biden after the 2020 election. Rhodes was sentenced last year to 18 years in prison.
Fox News hasn't responded to messages from The Associated Press seeking comment on Epps' lawsuit.
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Opinion by Ruth Marcus
Associate editor
January 29, 2024 at 7:15 ET
Sentencing hearings are ordinarily about criminal defendants. What did they do? Have they demonstrated remorse? What factors in their background argue in favor of leniency or for the stiffest possible sentence?
The scene in U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth’s courtroom on Thursday was all that — but something more, and something even more important, as well. Because Lamberth, a senior judge named to the bench by President Ronald Reagan in 1987, was not merely sentencing the defendant before him, James Little, one of the many Jan. 6, 2021, defendants whose cases have piled up before judges at the D.C. federal courthouse. He was also pronouncing judgment on the politicians and pundits who diminish the significance of Jan. 6 and instead laud its perpetrators as heroes.
Lamberth, a native Texan and Army veteran, has never been shy about calling the powerful to account. When Native Americans accused the Interior Department of mismanaging trust funds, an exasperated Lamberth held Bill Clinton’s interior secretary, Bruce Babbitt, in contempt and then proceeded to do the same with President George W. Bush’s interior secretary, Gale Norton. (The federal appeals court ultimately ordered Lamberth removed from the case.)
After Russian President Vladimir Putin, balking at an order issued by Lamberth to turn over stolen Jewish artifacts, said he didn’t have to obey a “cowboy judge,” Lamberth — who’s been known to wear cowboy boots to legal events — described the epithet as “one of the highlights of my life.”
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Liz Cheney, Jan. 6 Committee Hid Trump Evidence
By Jim Thomas | Saturday, 09 March 2024 02:08 PM ESTThe Jan. 6 select committee suppressed testimony from former White House deputy chief of staff Anthony Ornato that proves former President Donald Trump was "willing to ask for" 10,000 National Guard troops to safeguard the nation's capital on Jan. 6, 2021, according to Rep. Barry Loudermilk, chairman of the Committee on House Administration's Subcommittee on Oversight.
The Georgia Republican released the transcribed interview Friday in a press release.
When interviewed by the select committee on Jan. 28, 2022, Ornato was asked whether he recalled "any discussion prior to the 6th about whether and how many National Guard troops to deploy on January 6th."
Ornato replied that he remembered a conversation between White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser.
"I remember he had — he was on the phone with her, and we — I had walked in for something, and I was there, and he was on the phone with her and wanted to make sure she had everything that she needed. Because I think it was the concern of anti and pro groups clashing is what I recall. And not anywhere near the Capitol, this was just out on the mall area or at the event; and wanted to know if she need[ed] any more guardsmen," Ornato said.
"And I remember the number 10,000 coming up of, you know, the President wants to make sure that you have enough. You know, he is willing to ask for 10,000. I remember that number. Now that you said it, it reminded me of it. And that she was all set. She had, I think it was like 350 or so for intersection control and those types of thing not in the law enforcement capacity at the time," he continued.
"And then that's the only thing I recall with that number 10,000 National Guard guardsmen."
The distinction between the select committee's findings and Ornato's testimony turns on the word "order."
In its report, the select committee wrote: "Some have suggested that President Trump gave an order to have 10,000 troops ready for January 6th. The Select Committee found no evidence of this."
While the select committee said Trump did not "order" 10,000 troops to be deployed, Ornato testified that he heard Meadows say the president was "willing to ask for 10,000."
"The former J6 Select Committee apparently withheld Mr. Ornato's critical witness testimony from the American people because it contradicted their pre-determined narrative," Loudermilk said Friday in a statement.
"Mr. Ornato's testimony proves what Mr. Meadows has said all along, President Trump did in fact offer 10,000 National Guard troops to secure the U.S. Capitol, which was turned down.
"This is just one example of important information the former Select Committee hid from the public because it contradicted what they wanted the American people to believe. And, this is exactly why my investigation is committed to uncovering all the facts, no matter the outcome," Loudermilk said.
Ornato testified that "even though the Mayor didn't want any more National Guard in D.C., that a request was made to have kind of a, lack of better term, a quick reaction force [QRF] out at Joint Base Andrews being that it was a military installation."
As events unfolded on Jan. 6, Ornato recounted Meadows urging Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to deploy the QRF.
"So then I remember the chief saying, hey, I'm calling Secretary of Defense to get that QRF in here," Ornato testified. Ornato got Miller on the phone for Meadows. "And then I remember the chief telling Miller, get them in here, get them in here to secure the Capitol now. And that's where I remember the National Guard being, you know, ordered by the chief."
The Federalist reported that the Jan. 6 Committee had suppressed exonerating evidence and that former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., was present during the interview and asked questions of Ornato.
Cheney frequently points to the Government Publishing Office website that she says posted "transcripts, documents, exhibits & our meticulously sourced 800+ page final report," The Federalist reported, noting that the "supporting documents" include only those that back up claims made by Cheney and others who are anti-Trump.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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1. Why didn't Trump order the soldiers in advance, considering he has control of the DC National Guard?
2. Why would we need these troops anyway? Tucker recently showed me lots of footage that it was a peaceful protest? Why would a peaceful protest need 10k Guardsman?
3. What exactly do you think is "exonerating" about this conversation between Meadows Bowser?
Libtardaplorable©. And proud of it.
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