HOO BOY: Arraignment in high-level #Jan6 case of John Banuelos of Ill., who’s accused of firing gun amid mob
& it went off the rails… 👉🏼w Banuelos concluding: “Trump’s going to be back in office in 6 mos, I’ve got nothing to worry about”
Banuelos appeared by vid from jail in Chicago & blasted his appointed defense lawyers, calling them “public pretenders”, said he isn’t being well-represented. “They’re f***ing” w me, he tells judge
As with all of her postings, everything Heather Cox Richardson says today deserves attention. She opens by noting that the Dow Jones closed above 40,000 for the first time in history. But "in comparison to the breathless coverage of the stock market during Trump’s administration, this milestone is getting very little coverage."
One reason for this is that "the constant stream of outrageous news coming from the radical right" sucks the air out of media focus on Biden's important accomplishments.
To wit: a sitting Supreme Court justice, hearing cases about Trump and the insurrection, had an upside-down insurrection flag flying at his house after Jan. 6.
Richardson summarizes what we know about this shocking story, including that Alito does not deny it.
Alito blames his wife for flying the flag – at their house. He blames neighbors for irking her by putting out an anti-Trump sign, and says she wanted to counter that sign because school children waiting for their bus could see the rude anti-Trump message.
But the pandemic had schools shut down in that area at that time, so there was no school bus….
"The entire Republican party is engaged in a massive act of historical vandalism concerning the events of that day, and the guy in the special counsel’s crosshairs is the presumptive GOP presidential nominee. And the angriest, most arrogant member of the carefully cultivated conservative majority had the ultimate symbol of wing-nut vengeance flying above his house."
"Leo Brent Bozell IV of Pennsylvania, son of Brent Bozell, the conservative founder of the Media Research Center, CNSNews, and the Parents Television Counsel, was sentenced to three years and nine months in prison Friday for his raucous role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, amid throngs of Donald Trump supporters."
While the flag was up, the court was still contending w/whether to hear a #2020election case, w/Justice #Alito on the losing end of that decision. In coming wks, the justices will rule on 2 climactic cases involving the storming of the Capitol on #Jan6, incl’g whether #Trump has #immunity for his actions. Their decisions will shape how accountable he can be held for trying to overturn the last presidential election & his chances for re-election in the upcoming one.
Cross-examination of #MichaelCohen resumes, an opportunity for the defense to poke holes in his testimony & perhaps trip up or provoke the state’s key witness. The questioning of Cohen, #Trump’s fmr fixer, is the beginning of the end of Trump’s #criminal trial, which began April 15 & might conclude before Memorial Day weekend at this pace.
NEW: Justice Dept secures another #Jan6 guilty plea
Paul Orta acknowledges being in front of mob, w/ tactical vest & handheld radio .. pushing at barricade and advancing toward Capitol, yelling "We're taking that sh** today!"
#Trump has his posse again. Today it’s more #Republican elected officials. Today, Trump will be joined by the #House speaker, #MikeJohnson, as well as #NorthDakota’s governor, #DougBurgum, a contender to be Trump's running mate. Also present will be Representatives #ByronDonalds & #CoryMills of Florida, & #VivekRamaswamy, who was one of Trump's primary rivals this year. Both Donalds & Ramaswamy are longshot hopefuls to be Trump's running mate.
#Republican#LizCheney, the fmr congresswoman, #Jan6 cmte co-chair & #Trump critic, assailed #House Speaker #MikeJohnson for his impending appearance outside the courthouse where Trump's #ElectionInterference / #HushMoney trial is taking place. “Have to admit I’m surprised that SpeakerJohnson wants to be in the ’I cheated on my wife with a porn star’club,” she wrote on X. “I guess he’s not that concerned with teaching morality to our young people after all.”
The decision by the court means that #SteveBannon could soon become the second former #Trump aide to be jailed for ignoring a subpoena from the #Jan6 committee, #PeterNavarrowas the first. #Bannon is facing a 4-month term in #prison.
#NealKatyal says while #JackSmithcould appeal #AileenCannon’s decision, it’s unlikely that he will. The writ of mandamus standard is too high a bar for removal & #DOJ is loathe to cast aspersions on any judge.
He’s more optimistic about the possibility of #Trump’s #Jan6 case getting scheduled now that the #ClassifiedDocuments case is indefinitely delayed.
They’ve yet to rule on either Trump’s #immunity claim or the #Jan6 case disputing the use of the #obstruction of an official proceeding by defendant Fischer that could impact #Trump as well as other #J6 defendants.
Robert Reich sketches the context, the troubling period of history, in which students are graduating from college:
"My students are graduating at a tremulous time.
The largest campus protest movement of the 21st century. The first criminal trial of a former U.S. president. The most restrictive abortion laws in the nation. Two horrific wars."
"All of this coming after the first pandemic in living memory, one that claimed the lives of a million Americans. And after the first attack on the U.S. Capitol in history, provoked by the first president who refused to accept electoral defeat.
Perhaps most troubling, the nation is bitterly split."
Reich tells his students what was happening in 1968 when he graduated from college.
Man who bragged that he ‘fed’ an officer to the mob of Jan. 6 Capitol rioters gets nearly 5 years in prison
Jack Wade Whitton, of Locust Grove, Ga., struck an officer with a metal crutch and dragged him — head first and face down — into the crowd. And he wasn't done.
Kaitlan Collins asks bash-the-protesters Sen. J.D. Vance,
"So you agree that people who break in and vandalize the building should be prosecuted?”
Vance replies, “Exactly.”
Collins then says,
"I’m just checking because you did help raise money for people who did so on January 6, which was impeding an official proceeding, breaking into a building that they weren’t allowed to be in and vandalizing the Capitol."