Right-wing Domestic Terrorism

[LFC]

A scumbag attorney for right-wing domestic terrorists was just disbarred for being a lying sack of shit.

An attorney known for representing a number of infamous defendants facing charges over the Jan. 6 insurrection, including leaders of the alt-right Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, has been disbarred by a Virginia state court, according to Politico. Following a two-day hearing, Jonathan Moseley had his law license revoked on Friday, the outlet reported Tuesday night. It was found he had violated “professional rules that govern safekeeping property; meritorious claims and contentions; candor toward the tribunal; fairness to opposing party and counsel; unauthorized practice of law, multijurisdictional practice of law; bar admission and disciplinary matters… and misconduct.” Among Moseley’s most notorious clients are Kelly Meggs and Stewart Rhodes, two Oath Keeper ringleaders charged with seditious conspiracy; Aaron Whallon Wolkind and Enrique Tarrio, both Proud Boys bosses, and Ali Alexander, a Stop the Steal rally founder. It was not immediately clear how the bar action would affect their cases. The lawyer, planning to fight the decision, told Politico he’d have to “wait” to comment.

[LFC]

Moscow Mitch and other sane but evil Republicans understood long ago the value of packing the courts at every level with partisan hacks. One of Trump's judges, who is clearly a partisan hack, just acquitted a Jan. 6 insurrectionists on the flimsiest of flimsy excuses. This lands in "the dog ate my homework" territory.

First Acquittal In Jan. 6 Trial

Yesterday saw the first time a Jan. 6 Capitol insurrectionist was found not guilty in their criminal case: A judge acquitted a federal contractor who admitted to entering the Capitol building but claimed that he didn’t know he was there illegally even though there was teargas and alarms going off. Police officers had let him in, the contractor claimed.

[LFC]

You can't get through this level of ignorance and assuredness.

A former Virginia police officer testified against another former cop charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Jacob Fracker, who pleaded guilty last month to a felony in his own case, told a jury during the trial of Thomas Robertson that he believed the police officers fighting back the mob of Donald Trump supporters should have been on their side instead of protecting the U.S. Capitol and the lawmakers inside, reported NBC News.

“As a cop, I felt like they should have been on our side, like marching with us and doing stuff instead of trying to hold us back," Fracker testified, explaining why he didn't offer assistance to the on-duty police.

The former officer testified that he believed the 2020 election had been stolen from Trump, although he admitted to not understanding how the electoral process worked but had hoped the presence of so many protesters would convince Congress to overturn the former president's loss.

“I felt like we had maybe been heard by whoever it was we needed to be heard by,” Fracker said, "[and] maybe, possibly, have the election results overturned.”

Fracker said the rioters all wanted the same thing, even if they had no specific verbal agreement.

“We all understood that we had the same goal," Fracker said. "It didn’t have to be said out loud."

[LFC]

Trump on the insurrection he drove forward: "It's Nancy's fault!"

Donald Trump, the twice-impeached former president who lost re-election by over seven million votes and 74 Electoral College votes, sat down with The Washington Post for an interview given Wednesday, one day after his daughter Ivanka Trump testified – without taking the Fifth once – for eight hours before the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.

Trump, who that day was still the President of the United States, laid blame at the feet of other people.

He falsely claims Speaker Nancy Pelosi was responsible for ending the attack many say he incited that led to the deaths of at least five people and another four Capitol Police officers by suicide within months, and 138 police injuries.

“I thought it was a shame, and I kept asking why isn’t she doing something about it? Why isn’t Nancy Pelosi doing something about it?" Trump told The Post. "And the mayor of D.C. also. The mayor of D.C. and Nancy Pelosi are in charge,” Trump said, which is false. “I hated seeing it. I hated seeing it. And I said, ‘It’s got to be taken care of,’ and I assumed they were taking care of it.”

Multiple reports state many of Trump's allies, administration officials, and even First Daughter and senior White House advisor Ivanka Trump begged him to call off the attack.

The Post notes that the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, "does not have total control over the Capitol Police, as Trump alleged, but shares control of the Capitol with the Senate majority leader. Most decisions on securing the Capitol are made by a police board. He also blamed the D.C. mayor, whose advisers furiously tried to reach Trump’s team that day."

Political analyst and advisor Eric Garland characterized Trump's false claims: "Trump blames Pelosi for not stopping the Mob he whipped up to hang her."

[LFC]

Right-wing terrorist Ammon Bundy is going to jail for 10 days for contempt. I wish it was more like 10 years.

Anti-government extremist and Idaho gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy was sentenced to 10 days in jail on Thursday after a county judge found him in contempt of court.

Ada County Magistrate Judge Annie McDevitt hit Bundy with the jail sentence and a $3,000 fine for refusing to do the 40 hours of community service he’d been ordered to complete when he was convicted of trespassing last year in connection with his COVID protest at the Idaho State Capitol in 2020.

“You didn’t just blow it off. Rather, you took the time and effort to blatantly disrespect the court’s order, making a mockery of the sentence you received,” the judge told Bundy during his hearing on Thursday, per the Idaho Statesman. “You were given an opportunity to go complete public service — you could have done it.”

His defense was downright comical.

Bundy had tried to argue that he did complete his community service — by making public appearances around the state as part of his campaign for governor.

His campaign treasurer, Aaron Welling, told Idaho’s 4th District Court on Nov. 29 that the candidate had done “1,621 hours of public service” on the campaign trail by encouraging Idahoans to “become more active in holding public officials accountable to the people of Idaho.”

McDevitt didn’t quite buy that argument on Thursday.

[LFC]

The plot to kidnap and murder the governor of Michigan wasn't just a bunch of loudmouth idiots. It was a real risk and the biggest plot against our nation since 9/11.

More than any story other than the attempted right-wing coup d’état of Jan. 6, the conspiracy to assassinate Gov. Gretchen Whitmer illustrates the escalating threat of political violence, the diminution of America’s civil society and the growing menace of a Republican Party willing to excuse, diminish, and at times, even encourage extralegal extremism as a means to achieve its political ends.

Yet the trial against four of the 14 alleged members of the Michigan domestic terrorist organization, Wolverine Watchmen, who planned to abduct and publicly murder Whitmer, a Democrat, has largely escaped national media attention. Americans ignore this trial, where a verdict is expected any day now, at their own peril.

In laying out their case, prosecutors have detailed how the Wolverine Watchmen had amassed a stockpile of firearms, ammunition, and military equipment, had carefully scouted Whitmer’s vacation home on multiple occasions, and formulated a series of contingency plans to ensure that their primary mission of executing the governor would succeed. This, prosecutors say, was a real plot, not delusional or drunken chatter.

According to an undercover FBI agent who embedded himself with the hate group, and two of its own members who have pleaded guilty and become government witnesses, the ultimate hope of the plotters was to kidnap Whitmer, restrain her, and broadcast her live execution on the internet. They also expressed eagerness to murder agents of law enforcement tasked with protecting Whitmer, viewing them as traitors working on behalf of the “tyrant.”

The similarities with ISIS do not end with the desire to broadcast an assassination. Understanding that they would quickly find themselves under siege from police officers and FBI agents, the plotters articulated, without knowing their conversations were being recorded, their intention to perform a suicide mission. In several discussions, they explained that, in all likelihood, they would have to quickly “cap” Whitmer in the moments immediately before their own deaths.

Javed Ali, a professor of public policy at the University of Michigan and former senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council, told me in a recent email exchange that the plot against Whitmer, the “single biggest terrorism plot within the US since 9/11,” represents a turning point for right-wing violence:

“The large number of FBI investigations, which Director Wray has acknowledged is over 2,000, violent events and plots like Jan. 6, and the Whitmer kidnapping case, the significant amount of social-media accounts and platforms which host or facilitate the exchange of toxic ideas and beliefs, and what is likely a very large pool of Americans who believe in them” separates the current era of right-wing extremism from previous spikes in militia and anti-government activity, he said. Even if those decades included horrific terrorist attacks, such as Timothy McVeigh’s bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City, they were, according to Ali, “nothing at the scale of the current landscape.”

The additional stats in this article that are scary as shit. It shows just how far down the fascist terrorism hole we've fallen.

In only a small sampling of districts, Reuters found 220 examples of death threats against school board members. Similarly, the Brennan Center for Justice reports that one in six election officials have received direct threats against themselves and their families since November 2020. Hopped up on their own “stop the steal” supply, right-wing activists have become vicious and devoted to the point that USA Today reports political intimidation might “jeopardize the 2022 midterms,” due to widespread resignation of election officials.

The threat of right-wing violence isn’t coming only from extremist organizations. In a close examination of Jan. 6, Robert Pape, a professor at the University of Chicago and one of the world’s leading academic specialists on terrorism, found that most insurrectionists were unaffiliated with militias or white supremacist organizations, and more closely resembled the average Republican voter than a member of the Wolverine Watchmen. Through extensive polling, Pape has also found 21 million right-wing Americans readily proclaim that “use of force is justified” for political purposes.

And more establishment right-wingers have been trying to defend or downplay the plot. Greenwald, being Greenwald, blames the deep state FBI for creating the plot and entrapping them despite there being no evidence that's true. It would be comical if it wasn't so likely to lead to more attacks and deaths at the hands of the right-wing domestic terrorists they're supporting.

When details of the terrorist plot hit the press, Dar Leaf, the Republican Sheriff of Barry County, Michigan, initially defended the suspects, claiming that they were merely trying to make a “citizen’s arrest” of the governor. More significantly, Trump continued to lead Michigan audiences in sadistic “Lock Her Up” chants, and later “joked” that the attempt to murder her was “maybe a problem, but maybe it wasn’t.”

The trial against the Wolverine Watchmen itself was subject to attempted subversion through violence. On March 30, the Detroit Free Press reported that the FBI raided a Michigan home in response to death threats against the presiding judge in the case, the attorneys, and a former FBI informant who assisted the prosecution.

But no gruesome detail or amount of evidence has deterred those who seek to diminish the significance of the plot against Whitmer. The right wing continues to ignore it, while nominally “left” commentators like Glenn Greenwald and Krystal Ball suggest, without evidence, that the charges against the Wolverine Watchmen are nothing more than “Deep State” FBI entrapment.

In my exchange with Javed Ali, the counterterrorism expert addressed the conspiracy theory apologetics directly, “The level of commitment towards, and the concrete operational steps taken in furtherance of the kidnapping objective—tactical firearms training, the exploration of building improvised explosive devices, two surveillance dry runs on Governor Whitmer’s second residence, and the purchase of other equipment, like stun guns—seems to take the entrapment defense off the table.”

Bolstering Ali’s assessment, the two members of the Wolverine Watchmen who have pleaded guilty have stated that no member of law enforcement suggested kidnapping or killing Whitmer.

[LFC]

Two of the Michigan terrorists were acquitted and two were declared mistrials. I can hardly wait to hear the details.

The weeks-long trial of four men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) ended Friday with no guilty verdicts.

Accused plotters Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were found not guilty Friday after five days of jury deliberations, while Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker declared mistrials for Adam Fox and Barry Croft due to the jury being unable to reach a verdict. Fox and Croft will return to jail for now, The Detroit News reported.

Two others charged federally in the alleged plot, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, have already pleaded guilty. Several others faces state charges, including providing material support for terrorist acts.

[goldenvalley]

Apr 8, 2022 21:26:23 GMT LFC said:

Two of the Michigan terrorists were acquitted and two were declared mistrials. I can hardly wait to hear the details.

The weeks-long trial of four men accused of conspiring to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) ended Friday with no guilty verdicts.

Accused plotters Daniel Harris and Brandon Caserta were found not guilty Friday after five days of jury deliberations, while Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Jonker declared mistrials for Adam Fox and Barry Croft due to the jury being unable to reach a verdict. Fox and Croft will return to jail for now, The Detroit News reported.

Two others charged federally in the alleged plot, Ty Garbin and Kaleb Franks, have already pleaded guilty. Several others faces state charges, including providing material support for terrorist acts.

That must have been a gullible jury. I hope the DA will go for a retrial.  

[pnwguy]

Apr 8, 2022 21:57:21 GMT goldenvalley said:

Apr 8, 2022 21:26:23 GMT LFC said:

Two of the Michigan terrorists were acquitted and two were declared mistrials. I can hardly wait to hear the details.

That must have been a gullible jury. I hope the DA will go for a retrial.  

Well, in liberal Portland, Bundy and the other yahoos from the Malheur federal wildlife takeover still were acquitted in federal court, as hard as that is to believe.  As the stand-off was constant news in Oregon, any "un-biased" people who didn't have any preconceived ideas about their guilt were pretty clueless jurists.

[jackd]

I suspect the jurors decided the defendants were entrapped by the FBI agents urging them on and bought the defense argument that the defendants were guilty of braggadocio, sort of like Trump's claim of "locker room talk".

[goldenvalley]

Apr 9, 2022 2:31:40 GMT jackd said:

I suspect the jurors decided the defendants were entrapped by the FBI agents urging them on and bought the defense argument that the defendants were guilty of braggadocio, sort of like Trump's claim of "locker room talk".

Apparently the case outlined more than just talk.  There was evidence that some more affirmative action took place.

Kessler said the scheming stretched back to a national meeting of self-styled militia groups in Ohio in the summer of 2020, then expanded to include other “training” meetings, and a trip at night to look at the governor’s home and inspect a nearby bridge, which they talked about blowing up to hamper any law enforcement response.

The men also practiced at what they called a “shoot house” to simulate entering Whitmer’s home with guns, according to trial evidence.

I wonder how many jurors voted not guilty on the two acquitted.

[jackd]

I wonder if there was active FBI participation and encouragement in those affirmative actions. I doubt the verdict was political although, as you say, the division numbers on the jury would be interesting.

Grand Rapids, itself, tends Democratic and the outlying areas, Republican.

[LFC]

Apr 9, 2022 2:31:40 GMT jackd said:

I suspect the jurors decided the defendants were entrapped by the FBI agents urging them on and bought the defense argument that the defendants were guilty of braggadocio, sort of like Trump's claim of "locker room talk".

The years of work that the Republican Party has done tearing down any authority they don't control is bearing fruit. How many jurors at least had "deep state" thoughts in their heads which created suspicion?

[LFC]

Investigators have unlocked the phone of an arrested and charged leader of the Proud Boys. Who knows what we'll learn about the size of the plot to overthrow democracy.

It took a full year for investigators to unlock the cell phone of Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio. Now the information collected is causing the trial over his actions on Jan. 6 to be put on hold.

Tarrio's phone wasn't encrypted, the investigators explained it was a bureaucratic problem. What was contained in those files is enough that Judge Timothy Kelly put the May trial date on hold, court documents show.

Legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney posted excerpts from the court filings, saying that the judge found evidence gathered from the phone along with the unprecedented complexity of the Jan. 6 investigation was enough of a reason for the delay. The statement led Ethan Nordean's lawyers to argue that the delay is violating his Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. Judge Kelly, however, said that the Justice Department has acted with “reasonably diligence” in providing evidence and information to defendants.

[LFC]

One of the insurrectionists uses the "Trump told me to" defense.

On Tuesday, NBC News reported that Dustin Thompson, an Ohio man charged for his role in the January 6 Capitol attack, is arguing in court that former President Donald Trump "authorized" the insurrection.

"Dustin Thompson, 38, of Ohio, is the third Jan. 6 defendant to face a trial by jury after the convictions of Guy Reffitt and former police officer Thomas Robertson," reported Ryan Reilly. "Thompson faces six charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding and theft of government property. His co-defendant, Robert Lyon, pleaded guilty last month, admitting that he and Thompson traveled to Washington together and saying stole the coat rack and fled from police when they were confronted on the grounds of the Capitol."

[goldenvalley]

Apr 13, 2022 17:05:31 GMT LFC said:

One of the insurrectionists uses the "Trump told me to" defense.

On Tuesday, NBC News reported that Dustin Thompson, an Ohio man charged for his role in the January 6 Capitol attack, is arguing in court that former President Donald Trump "authorized" the insurrection.

"Dustin Thompson, 38, of Ohio, is the third Jan. 6 defendant to face a trial by jury after the convictions of Guy Reffitt and former police officer Thomas Robertson," reported Ryan Reilly. "Thompson faces six charges, including obstruction of an official proceeding and theft of government property. His co-defendant, Robert Lyon, pleaded guilty last month, admitting that he and Thompson traveled to Washington together and saying stole the coat rack and fled from police when they were confronted on the grounds of the Capitol."

He took a coat rack from the Capitol?  This was some sort of juvenile prank against a rival school situation for this guy.  

[andydp]

I wonder if exporting this garbage will help the balance of payments

4 arrested for allegedly plotting to cause nationwide blackout and kidnap well-known figures to create "civil war" conditions in Germany

Four people were arrested in Germany and weapons were seized in an investigation into suspected anti-government extremists who allegedly planned to cause a long nationwide blackout and kidnap well-known figures including the country's health minister, authorities said Thursday.

Prosecutors in Koblenz and Rhineland-Palatinate's state criminal police office said that raids were carried out at 20 properties across Germany on Wednesday following an investigation launched in October. The suspects were members of a chat group called "United Patriots" on the Telegram messaging service.

Investigators said the suspects were associated with the protest movement against COVID-19 restrictions and with the Reich Citizens movement, which disputes the legitimacy of the post-World War II German constitution and, by extension, the current government. In all, 12 people are under investigation. ***

www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-arrests-blackout-kidnap-plot/?fbclid=IwAR2vfuuvfdJuDs2HNPsXFlFMUnQ4LQ3HDWJR1I2KsXlRoY4DJVEaifIruco

*** Does this sound like the March 14 inauguration/reinstatement crowd ?

[pnwguy]

Apr 16, 2022 16:26:33 GMT andydp said:

I wonder if exporting this garbage will help the balance of payments

4 arrested for allegedly plotting to cause nationwide blackout and kidnap well-known figures to create "civil war" conditions in Germany

I wonder how many had been guests on Steve Bannon's show.  Fascists, fascists, über alles....

[LFC]

Another Republican who may have aided the terrorists during the Jan 6 Republican Insurrection.

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) may have been in contact with Oath Keepers members during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

A newly released trove of text messages shows members of the right-wing militia discussing security for some top Donald Trump allies ahead of the congressional certification of Joe Biden's election win, and Oath Keepers co-founder Stewart Rhodes asked an associate for Jackson's cell phone number, reported Politico.

“Dr. Ronnie Jackson — on the move," wrote an unidentified person. "Needs protection. If anyone inside cover him. He has critical data to protect."

“Help with what?” Rhodes replied. “Give him my cell.”

A spokesperson for Jackson, who had served as White House physician to Trump and his two immediate predecessors, did not respond to request for comment.

Kelly Meggs, an Oath Keepers member among six indicted on seditious conspiracy charges, mentioned on Jan. 3, 2021, that allies had discussed militia members “on the call with congressmen” and “wanted to say thank you all for providing and protecting us.”

[goldenvalley]

Apr 19, 2022 20:43:31 GMT LFC said:

Another Republican who may have aided the terrorists during the Jan 6 Republican Insurrection.

Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) may have been in contact with Oath Keepers members during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

A newly released trove of text messages shows members of the right-wing militia discussing security for some top Donald Trump allies ahead of the congressional certification of Joe Biden's election win, and Oath Keepers co-founder Stewart Rhodes asked an associate for Jackson's cell phone number, reported Politico.

“Dr. Ronnie Jackson — on the move," wrote an unidentified person. "Needs protection. If anyone inside cover him. He has critical data to protect."

“Help with what?” Rhodes replied. “Give him my cell.”

A spokesperson for Jackson, who had served as White House physician to Trump and his two immediate predecessors, did not respond to request for comment.

Kelly Meggs, an Oath Keepers member among six indicted on seditious conspiracy charges, mentioned on Jan. 3, 2021, that allies had discussed militia members “on the call with congressmen” and “wanted to say thank you all for providing and protecting us.”

Well of course! I am not surprised by anything related to 1/6 anymore.  Every person who had some part in Trump's circle is gonna be involved in this nonsense somehow.

[LFC]

An Uber driver caught a Jan 6 terrorist's confession on video.

A defendant in one of the government’s newest Jan. 6 insurrection-related cases apparently hopped into an Uber after allegedly storming the Capitol sporting a freshly bloody eye socket and bragged to the driver about breaking into the Capitol building. And the driver caught the entire confession on tape, according to this court filing unsealed today.

The Uber driver allegedly started up a conversations with the man, who we now know to be Jerry Braun, who, according to the government’s statement of facts, got into the vehicle about an hour after the curfew Washington, D.C.’s mayor invoked on the day of the attack. In photos included in the recently unsealed records, a man alleged to be Braun is seen holding a tissue of some sort over his eye, which appears to be bleeding.

The photos were screenshots of the Uber driver’s dashcam footage, a popular feature, I’ve noticed, among ride-sharing drivers, perhaps in response to an uptick in assault allegations against drivers and passengers in recent years.

According to the court records, the could-be-scripted sounding convo unfolded like this:

“So, has it been violent all day?” the driver asked.

“Well, it started around, right when I got there. I tore down the barricades,” the man said.

“You did?” the driver said. “Why?”

“Well, because, so we could get to the Capitol,” he replied.

“Well, how’d that work out for ya?” the driver asked.

“Well,” he said, “it looks like, uh, Biden’s gonna be our president.”

The driver then turned over the footage to the feds, which is part of what led to his arrest earlier this month, according to the government’s filing. Braun is facing federal charges for obstruction during civil disorder, entering and remaining on restricted grounds, and violent or disorderly conduct.

[LFC]

Terrorist supporter and sympathizer Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) pulls a Sgt Schultz defense; "I know nuh-THING!"

GOP Rep. Claims To Know Nothing About Proud Boys Who Wanted To Protect Him On Jan. 6

According to Rep. Ronny Jackson’s (R-TX) office, the Texas Republican “does not know nor has he ever spoken to” the Proud Boy leaders who allegedly texted each other in a group chat during the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection saying Jackson was “on the move” and “needs protection.”

[LFC]

Nazis among the imprisoned Jan 6 Republican terrorists? I'm shocked, shocked I say.

Would you buddy up to a neo-Nazi for a cut of crowdfunded “patriot freedom” cash? That’s the question facing some alleged Jan. 6 rioters awaiting trial.

This week on Fever Dreams, hosts Will Sommer and Kelly Weill visit new NPR reporting on the rifts and feuds inside a notorious section of a Washington, D.C., jail. That cell block, hailed by Jan. 6 apologists as a “patriot wing” of the jail, is host to multiple alleged Capitol rioters. Although the crew used to be friendly (one defense attorney described the atmosphere as “cult-like”), those alliances are reportedly fraying, especially over financial matters. Although private groups have raised more than $1 million in donations for the defendants, some told NPR that the cash hasn’t been equally distributed. Some defendants accuse a fellow detainee—an alleged neo-Nazi famous for his Hitler mustache—of gatekeeping access to those funds, forcing them to buddy up to him for money.

“These folks want to say that they are not Nazis, are not white supremacists, et cetera,” Weill says, “that they’re just God-loving patriots. And yet when this is the guy that you’ve gotta suck up to, to get that sweet, sweet donation money, you might start to infer things about your peer group.”

[LFC]

Another terrorist, this one ex law enforcement, is going to jail.

Thomas Webster, a former Marine and 20-year NYPD veteran, was convicted by a federal jury on Monday of assaulting a D.C. police officer with a flagpole during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Webster was caught on camera rushing at Officer Noah Rathbun, hitting him with a flagpole, then tackling him to the ground and grabbing his gas mask when Rathbun wrested the pole from him. Rathbun testified that he started to choke as the gas mask’s strap pressed on his throat. Webster, who traveled to the riot alone wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a Marine Corps flag on a metal pole, tried to claim he was acting in self-defense after he was taunted and punched in the face by a “rogue” Rathbun. The verdict is a significant one as Webster is the first rioter to be tried on an assault charge and the first to claim self-defense before a jury, the Associated Press reports.

Self-defense. Wow. Just ... wow.

[goldenvalley]

May 3, 2022 14:33:10 GMT LFC said:

Another terrorist, this one ex law enforcement, is going to jail.

Thomas Webster, a former Marine and 20-year NYPD veteran, was convicted by a federal jury on Monday of assaulting a D.C. police officer with a flagpole during the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. Webster was caught on camera rushing at Officer Noah Rathbun, hitting him with a flagpole, then tackling him to the ground and grabbing his gas mask when Rathbun wrested the pole from him. Rathbun testified that he started to choke as the gas mask’s strap pressed on his throat. Webster, who traveled to the riot alone wearing a bulletproof vest and carrying a Marine Corps flag on a metal pole, tried to claim he was acting in self-defense after he was taunted and punched in the face by a “rogue” Rathbun. The verdict is a significant one as Webster is the first rioter to be tried on an assault charge and the first to claim self-defense before a jury, the Associated Press reports.

Self-defense. Wow. Just ... wow.

A real glimpse into this guy's psyche...the Capitol police officer "challenged" him, so mr retried cop wades right in because he has to prove something. "Hell no I won't plead.  I'm a Marine and 20 year veteran of the NYPD.  The jury will believe me over that jumped up wimpy Capitol so called police office."  I pity his lawyer trying to make the self defense argument with a straight face.