Capitol Riots 2

mickeyrat

https://apnews.com/article/jan-6-capitol-riot-defendants-fugitives-c5e18267f95c2a5873f6d4fd80ee283f

 

U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime District of Columbia Riots

2 Capitol riot defendants sought by FBI after disappearing

By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER

Yesterday

The FBI is searching for a Florida woman who was supposed to stand trial Monday on charges stemming from the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack as well as another riot defendant who has also gone missing, officials said.

A federal judge in Washington issued bench warrants for the arrest of Olivia Pollock and Joseph Hutchinson III last week after the court was notified that they had tampered with or removed the ankle monitors that track their location, said Joe Boland, a supervisory special agent with the FBI's Lakeland, Florida office.

Boland said the FBI has recovered one of the defendants' ankle monitors after they removed it, but declined to say whether it was Pollock's or Hutchinson's. As of Monday afternoon, the FBI had not located either of them, he said.

Olivia Pollock, of Lakeland, is the sister of another Jan. 6 defendant, Jonathan Pollock, who has been on the lam for months. The FBI has offered a reward of up $30,000 in exchange for information leading to the arrest and conviction of her brother, who is accused of assaulting multiple police officers during the riot.

Olivia Pollock and Hutchinson were initially arrested in 2021 and charged in a five-person indictment with assaulting law enforcement and other crimes. Hutchinson is representing himself at trial, and an attorney appointed to assist him as standby counsel declined to comment on Monday.

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Olivia Pollock's lawyer, Elita Amato, said Monday that her client “had been diligently assisting in her defense for her upcoming trial prior to her disappearance.”

Authorities encouraged anyone with information about their whereabouts to contact the FBI.

Olivia Pollock, who was wearing a ballistic plate-carrier vest during the riot, is accused of elbowing an officer in the chest and trying to strip the officer's baton away during the melee. Jonathan Pollock is accused of thrusting a riot shield into an officer's face and throat, pulling an officer down steps and punching others.

Authorities say Hutchinson pulled back a fence that allowed other rioters to swarm police trying to defend the Capitol, punched an officer and grabbed the sleeve of another before throwing the officer out of his way.

Hutchinson, who now lives in Georgia, was scheduled to face trial in August. The judge on Monday rescheduled Olivia Pollock's trial for August as well.

Also on Monday, a Colorado man pleaded guilty on to using a chemical spray to attack police officers who were trying to hold off the mob.

Robert Gieswein, of Woodland Park, Colorado, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 9. Estimated sentencing guidelines for Gieswein recommend a prison sentence ranging from three years and five months to four years and three months, according to his plea agreement.

Gieswein was wearing a helmet, flak jacket and goggles and carrying a baseball bat when he stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He marched to the building from the Washington Monument with members of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group.

Gieswein repeatedly sprayed an “aerosol irritant” at police officers, pushed against a line of police and was one of the first rioters to enter the Capitol, according to a court filing accompanying his guilty plea to assault charges.

Federal authorities have said Gieswein appeared to be an adherent of the Three Percenters militia movement and ran a private paramilitary training group called the Woodland Wild Dogs.

Nearly 1,000 people have been charged so far in the riot. Sentences have ranged from probation for people who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor crimes to 10 years in prison for a retired New York Police Department officer who used a metal flagpole to assault an officer.

____

Associated Press reporter Michael Kunzelman in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the Capitol riot at https://apnews.com/hub/capitol-siege

mickeyrat

https://apnews.com/article/hatchet-speed-capitol-riot-sentence-d9fddc4b2ea7275c62ae9d720c05ba95

 

Joe Biden District of Columbia Legal proceedings United States Virginia Indictments Capitol siege

Military veteran convicted of obstruction in Capitol riot

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

Today

WASHINGTON (AP) — A military veteran accused of telling an undercover FBI agent about a plan to "wipe out" the nation's Jewish population was convicted on Tuesday of storming the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's 2020 electoral victory.

A federal judge heard trial testimony without a jury before convicting Virginia resident Hatchet Speed, a former U.S. Naval reservist who was assigned to an agency that operates spy satellites. U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden is scheduled to sentence Speed on May 8 for his role in a mob’s attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

McFadden convicted Speed of all five charges in his indictment, including a felony count of obstructing an official proceeding, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying the Electoral College vote. The judge also convicted Speed of four misdemeanors.

The FBI recorded Speed's conversations with the undercover agent more than a year after the riot. Speed told the agent that he marched to the Capitol with members of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group, authorities said.

Speed also spewed antisemitic rhetoric linked to his dislike for government, according to prosecutors. They argued that Speed’s hateful ideology helps explain why he joined the Capitol attack.

---

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Speed was “deeply worried about a Biden presidency” and believed false claims that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from Donald Trump, the Republican incumbent, prosecutors wrote in a court filing. They said Speed expressed his admiration for Adolf Hitler and told the undercover agent that he believes Jewish people control Biden, a Democrat.

“Speed saw the Jews as ‘everywhere,’ fighting to destroy Christians, and he was not willing to sit by,” prosecutors wrote.

McFadden said the limited trial testimony about Speed's antisemitism wasn't a factor in his verdict. But the judge cited statements that Speed made about Jan. 6 in support of his conviction on the obstruction charge.

“His own words show the defendant's actions were knowing and willful,” the judge said.

Speed, 41, was arrested in June 2022 on riot-related misdemeanor charges. A grand jury later indicted him on the felony obstruction charge.

On Jan. 6, Speed drove to Washington, D.C, from his home in Vienna, Virginia. After attending the “Stop the Steal” rally, where Trump addressed a crowd of supporters, Speed joined the mob that attacked the Capitol.

Around 3 p.m., Speed entered the building through a door to the Senate wing of the Capitol after other rioters breached it. He remained inside the Capitol for roughly 40 minutes.

After leaving, he texted another rioter that he had “backed out” after hearing that the “vote had been postponed.”

“In other words,” prosecutors wrote, “because Speed thought he succeeded in obstructing the certification, he left the U.S. Capitol Building.”

An undercover FBI agent, posing as “a like-minded individual,” met with Speed at least three times in March 2022 and April 2022. The FBI recorded their discussions of his motives and actions on Jan. 6.

“Speed wanted to stop that certification. He left the U.S. Capitol only because he believed he succeeded in that effort,” prosecutors wrote.

During the recorded conversations, Speed also “outlined a plan to enlist Christians to wipe out the country’s entire Jewish population."

"To defeat the Jewish threat and topple the government, Speed told the (agent) that a violent response was necessary — and that the Jews stood in the way," prosecutors wrote.

Speed began “panic buying” thousands of dollars worth of firearms and silencers in February 2021, prosecutors wrote. They said Speed later told the agent that he had a plan “to kidnap and disappear his enemies after mock trials, and he thought the silencers could come in useful for the effort."

The undercover agent testified under a pseudonym at a separate trial for Speed in Virginia on gun charges. After a retrial in January, a federal jury in the Eastern District of Virginia convicted Speed of three counts of unlawful possession of an unregistered firearm silencer. He is sentenced to be sentenced for those convictions on April 13.

Speed's attorneys accused prosecutors of treating him like “a political puppet." They also accused the Justice Department of engaging in “last-minute gamesmanship,” bringing the felony obstruction charge in Speed's Washington case only after his first trial in Virginia ended in December with a deadlocked jury and a mistrial.

"Because the government failed to convince a jury of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt under the crimes alleged, the government simply chose to allege more crimes," they wrote in a court filing.

Prosecutors said they decided to bring the obstruction charge as they began preparing for trial “in earnest."

"This is not a vindictive prosecution. It is a well-founded one," they wrote.

Speed was a petty officer first class in the U.S. Naval Reserves and was assigned to the Naval Warfare Space Field Activity at the National Reconnaissance Office, the FBI said. The National Reconnaissance Office operates U.S. spy satellites used by the Pentagon and intelligence agencies. The agency said Speed was not part of the reserve unit at the time of the Jan. 6 riot.

The Juggler

Woops...this has not gone as Maga Marge/Mccarthy expected.....


https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/07/capitol-police-jan-6-carlson-00085904

House GOP faces a new Jan. 6 headache, courtesy of Tucker Carlson

The Capitol Police chief and Republican senators slammed the Fox News host for falsely characterizing the violent riot — using footage Speaker Kevin McCarthy provided him.

Tucker Carlson’s selective use of footage from Jan. 6, 2021, brought extensive blowback from members of Congress on Tuesday. | Jason Koerner/Getty Images

House Republicans arrived in the Capitol on Tuesday facing a torrent of questions about the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.

This time it was a headache of their own making.

Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s decision to release thousands of hours of security footage from that day to Fox News has reopened a painful fault line that his party has repeatedly tried to mend. Two years after the violent assault on the Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters, with most of its members no longer openly parroting the former president’s false claims that Joe Biden’s win was illegitimate, the GOP is still stuck reliving Jan. 6.

Inside McCarthy’s conference, few if any members would say outright on Tuesday night that their speaker made a mistake by sharing the footage with Carlson — in fact, only a handful admitted to watching the segment at all. One of those is McCarthy himself, who defended the move in the name of transparency when pressed by reporters Tuesday night.

But some House Republicans aired their displeasure with being forced to revisit the attack on their workplace.

“It’s definitely stupid to keep talking about this … So what is the purpose of continuing to bring it up unless you’re trying to feed Democrat narratives even further?” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) said in an interview, noting the videos didn’t show “anything we don’t already know.”

“I don’t really have a problem with making it all public. But if your message is then to try and convince people that nothing bad happened, then it’s just gonna make us look silly.”

While GOP senators — and their leader, Mitch McConnell — more vocally criticized Carlson for falsely portraying the attack as peaceful, House Republicans danced around the issue. (McCarthy responded to McConnell’s jabs by alleging that CNN published information about party leaders’ whereabouts on Jan. 6, saying he hoped the Senate leader would also be concerned by that.)

And many in the House GOP, as well as McCarthy himself, touted his goal of more transparency surrounding the attack or criticized what they argued was a one-sided narrative put forward by the last Congress’ Democratic-run Jan. 6 committee.

Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) said he has “a hard time with all of it,” contending that Jan. 6 “was not a peaceful protest. It was not an insurrection. It was a riot that should have never happened. And a lot of people share blame for that. The truth is always messier than any narrative.”

Asked if he disagreed with McCarthy’s decision to share footage with Carlson, Armstrong replied: “I don’t disagree with it any more than I disagree with the 1/6 committee narrative. It’s a red lens, blue lens. They are flip sides to the same coin. The truth is just a lot messier.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger wrote in an internal message to officers that Carlson’s Monday night primetime program “conveniently cherry-picked from the calmer moments of our 41,000 hours of video” to incorrectly portray the violent assault as more akin to a peaceful protest. He added that Carlson’s “commentary fails to provide context about the chaos and violence that happened before or during these less tense moments.”

It’s an unusually blunt statement from Manger, who has labored keep his department away from political conflagrations. And the pushback could easily put the chief at odds with McCarthy, who had granted Carlson unfettered access to internal footage related to the riot.

But Manger wasn’t alone — a number of Republican senators said they were, at the very least, troubled by Carlson’s depiction.

“Anybody that trespassed into the United States Capitol, you know, whether they did peacefully … did it illegally,” Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said. “I think that it’s unfortunate that [Carlson] is the exclusive holder of the tape recording. I just think it’s the kind of thing that should be made available to everybody at the same time, so as to not have a political angle to it.”

Asked about the portrayal of Jan. 6 on Carlson’s show, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) described the day as a violent attack and said any effort to “normalize that behavior is dangerous and disgusting.“

“I was here. It was not peaceful. It was an abomination,” added Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) “You’re entitled to believe what you want in America, but you can’t resort to violence to try to convince others of your point of view.”

McConnell disses Fox News' coverage of Jan. 6 footage

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McConnell held up Manger’s letter during his weekly briefing with reporters, saying that he would “associate myself entirely with the opinion of the chief of the Capitol Police about what happened on January 6th.”

A Fox News spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment on Carlson’s use of the footage from Jan. 6, when Donald Trump supporters overran the building in an attempt to disrupt lawmakers’ certification of Trump’s loss.

 Capitol Police had previously turned over about 14,000 hours of footage — capturing events between noon and 8 p.m. on that day — to the FBI, which shared it with Jan. 6 defendants as part of criminal proceedings.

While dozens of hours of footage have emerged in public court filings, the bulk of it has remained under seal, and the Hill’s police force has warned that wide release of the footage could expose security vulnerabilities in the Capitol complex. McCarthy has indicated he hopes to publicly release large amounts of the video files, with some exceptions to protect the security of the campus.

Several Senate Republicans, including Sens. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Kennedy, said Tuesday that most of the footage should simply be made public.

Attorney General Merrick Garland declined to comment directly on Carlson’s report during a Tuesday press conference at Justice Department headquarters, but said the facts about the Capitol riot are well-established.

“Over 100 officers were assaulted on that day, five officers died. We have charged more than 1,000 people with their crimes on that day and more than 500 have already been convicted,” the attorney general added. “I think it’s very clear what happened on Jan. 6.”

McCarthy’s decision to share the footage with Carlson has already roiled some of the ongoing prosecutions of Jan. 6 defendants, several of whom have demanded delays in their criminal proceedings to review the voluminous materials. An attorney for a member of the Proud Boys, currently on trial for alleged seditious conspiracy on Jan. 6, said he intends to move for a mistrial as a result of the new footage.

A McCarthy spokesperson did not immediately return a request for comment.

On his Monday show, Carlson focused particularly on video of Capitol Police officers calmly accompanying Jacob Chansley — known as the “QAnon Shaman” for the garb and mannerisms he adopted on the day of the attack — through the halls.

Carlson inaccurately stated on-air that Chansley’s entrance to the Capitol remained mysterious, omitting footage showing Chansley inside the Senate chamber scrawling a menacing note to then-Vice President Mike Pence, who had declined then-President Trump’s calls for Pence to single-handedly overturn the election results. Chansley pleaded guilty in September 2021 to obstructing Congress’ proceedings and was sentenced to 41 months in prison.

Manger, in his note to officers, emphasized that Carlson never reached out for context about the officers’ actions.

“One false allegation is that our officers helped the rioters and acted as ‘tour guides.’ This is outrageous and false,” Manger wrote.

Manger also took particular issue with what he said was a “disturbing” suggestion by Carlson that the late Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick — who died of strokes on Jan. 7, 2021 — did not die because of anything that occurred the day before. Sicknick had been involved in some intense clashes with rioters and was assaulted with chemical spray in the early afternoon of the siege.

A medical examiner later concluded that Sicknick died of natural causes but suggested the stress caused by the riot could have been a contributor.

“The Department maintains, as anyone with common sense would, that had Officer Sicknick not fought valiantly for hours on the day he was violently assaulted, Officer Sicknick would not have died the next day,” Manger wrote.

The Juggler

maga meltdown
Mitch McConnell's Fox News Denouncement Sends MAGA Into Meltdown (msn.com)

gimmesometruth27

The Juggler said:

maga meltdown
Mitch McConnell's Fox News Denouncement Sends MAGA Into Meltdown (msn.com)

i am so sick of hearing about maga meltdowns. i swear to christ all of them are just toddlers.

TJ25487

gimmesometruth27 said:

The Juggler said:

maga meltdown
Mitch McConnell's Fox News Denouncement Sends MAGA Into Meltdown (msn.com)

i am so sick of hearing about maga meltdowns. i swear to christ all of them are just toddlers.

I resemble that statement! 

KP_McMinn

How dumb does the January 6 committee look now they have been exposed as liars? 

The Juggler

KP_McMinn said:

How dumb does the January 6 committee look now they have been exposed as liars? 

Ha....how are they, and all the republicans that offered testimony under oath, liars?

josevolution

KP_McMinn said:

How dumb does the January 6 committee look now they have been exposed as liars? 

Ok tell us what they lied about? 

Halifax2TheMax

TJ25487 said:

gimmesometruth27 said:

The Juggler said:

maga meltdown
Mitch McConnell's Fox News Denouncement Sends MAGA Into Meltdown (msn.com)

i am so sick of hearing about maga meltdowns. i swear to christ all of them are just toddlers.

I resemble that statement! 

You don't need to remind us. We know.

mrussel1

KP_McMinn said:

How dumb does the January 6 committee look now they have been exposed as liars? 

Why did all of these people plead guilty?  And if I commit a crime on tape, does all the footage that shows me not committing a crime at another point offset that crime?  Asking just in case I rob a bank.  

brianlux

I almost wonder if The Guardian is vying to be the new The Onion, lol:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/mar/11/republicans-reframing-january-6-attack

Republicans try to reframe January 6 as a sightseeing tour – will it work?

mickeyrat

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3895306-carlson-comes-up-short-on-jan-6-bombshells/

 

Carlson comes up short on Jan. 6 bombshells 

by Rebecca Beitsch and Emily Brooks - 03/12/23 8:00 AM ET

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Fox News host Tucker Carlson promised never-before-seen footage of the Jan. 6 riot that would reveal new details and alter public perceptions of the Capitol breach. But in his first shows dedicated to the topic, he largely came up short in delivering smoking guns. 

Carlson gained access to some 44,000 hours of the attack by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a move that was opposed by former members of the Jan. 6 committee and alarmed Capitol Police who said it had remained unaired due to security concerns. 

Carlson featured footage of Trump supporters milling about the Capitol, exploring the building after rioters had smashed windows and forced their way in. 

“The video record does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim,” Carlson said on the opening night of his program. 

continues....

brianlux

mickeyrat said:

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3895306-carlson-comes-up-short-on-jan-6-bombshells/

 

Carlson comes up short on Jan. 6 bombshells 

by Rebecca Beitsch and Emily Brooks - 03/12/23 8:00 AM ET

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Fox News host Tucker Carlson promised never-before-seen footage of the Jan. 6 riot that would reveal new details and alter public perceptions of the Capitol breach. But in his first shows dedicated to the topic, he largely came up short in delivering smoking guns. 

Carlson gained access to some 44,000 hours of the attack by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a move that was opposed by former members of the Jan. 6 committee and alarmed Capitol Police who said it had remained unaired due to security concerns. 

Carlson featured footage of Trump supporters milling about the Capitol, exploring the building after rioters had smashed windows and forced their way in. 

“The video record does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim,” Carlson said on the opening night of his program. 

continues....

Tucker Carlson followers are in serious need of an intervention.

The Juggler

brianlux said:

mickeyrat said:

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3895306-carlson-comes-up-short-on-jan-6-bombshells/

 

Carlson comes up short on Jan. 6 bombshells 

by Rebecca Beitsch and Emily Brooks - 03/12/23 8:00 AM ET

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... More

Fox News host Tucker Carlson promised never-before-seen footage of the Jan. 6 riot that would reveal new details and alter public perceptions of the Capitol breach. But in his first shows dedicated to the topic, he largely came up short in delivering smoking guns. 

Carlson gained access to some 44,000 hours of the attack by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a move that was opposed by former members of the Jan. 6 committee and alarmed Capitol Police who said it had remained unaired due to security concerns. 

Carlson featured footage of Trump supporters milling about the Capitol, exploring the building after rioters had smashed windows and forced their way in. 

“The video record does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim,” Carlson said on the opening night of his program. 

continues....

Tucker Carlson followers are in serious need of an intervention.

44,000 hours and he aired like 10 minutes of a footage. 

womp
womp

Go Beavers

mickeyrat said:

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3895306-carlson-comes-up-short-on-jan-6-bombshells/

 

Carlson comes up short on Jan. 6 bombshells 

by Rebecca Beitsch and Emily Brooks - 03/12/23 8:00 AM ET

Share

Tweet

... More

Fox News host Tucker Carlson promised never-before-seen footage of the Jan. 6 riot that would reveal new details and alter public perceptions of the Capitol breach. But in his first shows dedicated to the topic, he largely came up short in delivering smoking guns. 

Carlson gained access to some 44,000 hours of the attack by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a move that was opposed by former members of the Jan. 6 committee and alarmed Capitol Police who said it had remained unaired due to security concerns. 

Carlson featured footage of Trump supporters milling about the Capitol, exploring the building after rioters had smashed windows and forced their way in. 

“The video record does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim,” Carlson said on the opening night of his program. 

continues....

Naturally in maga world it’s the opposite reaction. They’re excited for retrials. 

Merkin Baller

Go Beavers said:

mickeyrat said:

https://thehill.com/homenews/house/3895306-carlson-comes-up-short-on-jan-6-bombshells/

 

Carlson comes up short on Jan. 6 bombshells 

by Rebecca Beitsch and Emily Brooks - 03/12/23 8:00 AM ET

Share

Tweet

... More

Fox News host Tucker Carlson promised never-before-seen footage of the Jan. 6 riot that would reveal new details and alter public perceptions of the Capitol breach. But in his first shows dedicated to the topic, he largely came up short in delivering smoking guns. 

Carlson gained access to some 44,000 hours of the attack by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), a move that was opposed by former members of the Jan. 6 committee and alarmed Capitol Police who said it had remained unaired due to security concerns. 

Carlson featured footage of Trump supporters milling about the Capitol, exploring the building after rioters had smashed windows and forced their way in. 

“The video record does not support the claim that Jan. 6 was an insurrection. In fact, it demolishes that claim,” Carlson said on the opening night of his program. 

continues....

Naturally in maga world it’s the opposite reaction. They’re excited for retrials. 

People have questions based on the footage Tucker released which is only natural... it's not as if Tucker has ulterior motives or has ever steered his audience wrong before. 

mickeyrat

just benign sightseeing.

https://twitter.com/MacFarlaneNews/status/1634971263809495040?t=_kemmMRI0FLuCx2VGPuxGA&s=19

mickeyrat

https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-larry-brock-jan-6-4e25827679950d620ad0cc384a6e450f

 

United States Senate

Former Air Force officer gets prison term for Capitol attack

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

Today

WASHINGTON (AP) — A retired Air Force officer who stormed the U.S. Capitol dressed in combat gear and carried zip-tie handcuffs into the Senate gallery was sentenced on Friday to two years in prison.

Larry Brock joined other rioters on the Senate floor only minutes after then-Vice President Mike Pence, senators and their staff evacuated the chamber to escape the mob attacking the building on Jan. 6, 2021.

U.S. District Judge John Bates also sentenced Brock to two years of supervised release after his prison term and ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service. Brock, who declined to speak in court before the judge imposed his sentence, remains free until he must report to prison at a date to be determined.

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Bates convicted Brock in November after a trial without a jury. The judge said Brock expressed "very troubling" and violent rhetoric before the Jan. 6 riot. The judge read aloud several of Brock's social media postings calling it “really pretty astounding” that a former high-ranking military officer expressed those words.

“That's chilling stuff, and it does reflect a purpose to stop the certification of the election,” Bates said.

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Brock believed baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Republican incumbent Donald Trump, prosecutors said.

“When we get to the bottom of this conspiracy we need to execute the traitors that are trying to steal the election, and that includes the leaders of the media and social media aiding and abetting the coup plotters," Brock wrote in a Nov. 9. 2020, post on Facebook.

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In a Facebook message to another user on Christmas Eve, Brock outlined what he called a “plan of action if Congress fails to act” on Jan. 6. One of the “main tasks” in his plan was to “seize all Democratic politicians and Biden key staff and select Republicans.”

"Begin interrogations using measures we used on al-Qaida to gain evidence on the coup," he wrote.

Brock, a Texas native who lived in the Dallas area, flew combat missions in Afghanistan before retiring from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel.

His “plan of action” also called for a “general pardon for all crimes up to and including murder of those restoring the Constitution and putting down the Democratic Insurrection.”

“Do not kill LEO unless necessary,” he wrote, apparently referring to law enforcement officers.

Brock didn’t engage in any violence on Jan. 6, but prosecutors said his behavior was “disturbingly premediated.”

“Had the Senate Gallery not been emptied minutes before, Brock could have come face-to-face with the politicians he had fantasized about seizing and interrogating,” they wrote in a court filing.

Bates convicted Brock of all six counts in his indictment, including obstruction of an official proceeding, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden's electoral victory, The obstruction charge is a felony; the other five counts are misdemeanors.

Defense attorney Charles Burnham said it is “inconceivable that (Brock) was motivated by anything other than genuine concern for democracy.”

“If Mr. Brock was sincerely motivated by high ideals, it significantly reduces his culpability even if the Court should privately disagree with his view,” Burnham wrote in a court filing.

Brock attended the “Stop the Steal” rally where Trump addressed a crowd of supporters on Jan. 6. He was wearing a helmet and tactical vest when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He entered the building through Senate wing doors roughly 12 minutes after other rioters initially breached them.

On the floor near the East Rotunda stairs, Brock picked up a discarded pair of zip-tie handcuffs. He held the “flex-cuffs” in his right hand in the Senate gallery. On the Senate floor, he examined paperwork on senators' desks.

“This was consistent with Brock’s stated overall mission on January 6, which was intelligence gathering to stop the certification and the transfer of power,” prosecutors wrote.

Brock graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1989. He was on active duty until 1998 and served in the reserves until 2014.

In a letter to the judge, a retired Air Force major general praised Brock's military service. The major general, whose name was redacted from public court filings, said Brock risked his life to protect U.S. forces from a Taliban attack, flying below mountain peaks into a valley “saturated with enemy forces.”

"The result thwarted enemy advances on U.S. personnel, saved U.S. lives and defused an ever-escalating situation for the forces at that remote base in Afghanistan,” the major general wrote.

Brock was employed as a commercial airline pilot on Jan. 6. His lawyer said the Federal Aviation Administration revoked Brock's licenses after his January 2021 arrest.

Approximately 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot. More than 400 of them have been sentenced, with over half getting terms of imprisonment ranging from seven days to 10 years.

Halifax2TheMax

mickeyrat said:

https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-larry-brock-jan-6-4e25827679950d620ad0cc384a6e450f

 

United States Senate

Former Air Force officer gets prison term for Capitol attack

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

Today

WASHINGTON (AP) — A retired Air Force officer who stormed the U.S. Capitol dressed in combat gear and carried zip-tie handcuffs into the Senate gallery was sentenced on Friday to two years in prison.

Larry Brock joined other rioters on the Senate floor only minutes after then-Vice President Mike Pence, senators and their staff evacuated the chamber to escape the mob attacking the building on Jan. 6, 2021.

U.S. District Judge John Bates also sentenced Brock to two years of supervised release after his prison term and ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service. Brock, who declined to speak in court before the judge imposed his sentence, remains free until he must report to prison at a date to be determined.

Prosecutors had recommended a sentence of five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release.

Bates convicted Brock in November after a trial without a jury. The judge said Brock expressed "very troubling" and violent rhetoric before the Jan. 6 riot. The judge read aloud several of Brock's social media postings calling it “really pretty astounding” that a former high-ranking military officer expressed those words.

“That's chilling stuff, and it does reflect a purpose to stop the certification of the election,” Bates said.

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Brock believed baseless conspiracy theories that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Republican incumbent Donald Trump, prosecutors said.

“When we get to the bottom of this conspiracy we need to execute the traitors that are trying to steal the election, and that includes the leaders of the media and social media aiding and abetting the coup plotters," Brock wrote in a Nov. 9. 2020, post on Facebook.

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In a Facebook message to another user on Christmas Eve, Brock outlined what he called a “plan of action if Congress fails to act” on Jan. 6. One of the “main tasks” in his plan was to “seize all Democratic politicians and Biden key staff and select Republicans.”

"Begin interrogations using measures we used on al-Qaida to gain evidence on the coup," he wrote.

Brock, a Texas native who lived in the Dallas area, flew combat missions in Afghanistan before retiring from the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel.

His “plan of action” also called for a “general pardon for all crimes up to and including murder of those restoring the Constitution and putting down the Democratic Insurrection.”

“Do not kill LEO unless necessary,” he wrote, apparently referring to law enforcement officers.

Brock didn’t engage in any violence on Jan. 6, but prosecutors said his behavior was “disturbingly premediated.”

“Had the Senate Gallery not been emptied minutes before, Brock could have come face-to-face with the politicians he had fantasized about seizing and interrogating,” they wrote in a court filing.

Bates convicted Brock of all six counts in his indictment, including obstruction of an official proceeding, the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress for certifying President Joe Biden's electoral victory, The obstruction charge is a felony; the other five counts are misdemeanors.

Defense attorney Charles Burnham said it is “inconceivable that (Brock) was motivated by anything other than genuine concern for democracy.”

“If Mr. Brock was sincerely motivated by high ideals, it significantly reduces his culpability even if the Court should privately disagree with his view,” Burnham wrote in a court filing.

Brock attended the “Stop the Steal” rally where Trump addressed a crowd of supporters on Jan. 6. He was wearing a helmet and tactical vest when he joined the mob that attacked the Capitol. He entered the building through Senate wing doors roughly 12 minutes after other rioters initially breached them.

On the floor near the East Rotunda stairs, Brock picked up a discarded pair of zip-tie handcuffs. He held the “flex-cuffs” in his right hand in the Senate gallery. On the Senate floor, he examined paperwork on senators' desks.

“This was consistent with Brock’s stated overall mission on January 6, which was intelligence gathering to stop the certification and the transfer of power,” prosecutors wrote.

Brock graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1989. He was on active duty until 1998 and served in the reserves until 2014.

In a letter to the judge, a retired Air Force major general praised Brock's military service. The major general, whose name was redacted from public court filings, said Brock risked his life to protect U.S. forces from a Taliban attack, flying below mountain peaks into a valley “saturated with enemy forces.”

"The result thwarted enemy advances on U.S. personnel, saved U.S. lives and defused an ever-escalating situation for the forces at that remote base in Afghanistan,” the major general wrote.

Brock was employed as a commercial airline pilot on Jan. 6. His lawyer said the Federal Aviation Administration revoked Brock's licenses after his January 2021 arrest.

Approximately 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot. More than 400 of them have been sentenced, with over half getting terms of imprisonment ranging from seven days to 10 years.

Don't you typically carry zip ties on a tourist visit?