Chronicles of a Stillborn Zombie Coup

[L'Emmerdeur]

US Representative Scott Perry (Pennsylvania) was one of the main pushers and plotters in the effort to overthrow democracy in the US and install Trump as El Caudillo Supremo. Of course he is unlikely to face any consequences, but he may be feeling a little uncomfortable.

'Fight over Rep. Perry’s phone has prevented review of 2,200 documents in Jan. 6 probe'

A secret legal fight over Rep. Scott Perry’s (R-Pa.) phone has prevented the Justice Department from reviewing more than 2,200 documents for more than six months in the criminal investigation of efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, a federal judge disclosed Friday evening.

Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington, D.C., released a series of previously sealed opinions after finding that the “powerful public interest” in the constitutional battle over Perry’s claims and the probe into whether President Donald Trump and his supporters violated criminal laws outweighed the need for secrecy.

The Pennsylvania Republican has asserted that 2,219 documents contained on his phone are shielded by the Constitution’s “speech or debate” clause, which grants members of Congress immunity from criminal investigation. But in a December ruling, Howell rejected that claim for more than 90 percent of the records, ordering Perry to turn over 2,055 texts, emails and attachments after finding they were only incidentally related to his status as a lawmaker, not core and constitutionally protected actions of lawmaking.

“What is plain is that the Clause does not shield Rep. Perry’s random musings with private individuals touting an expertise in cybersecurity or political discussions with attorneys from a presidential campaign, or with state legislators concerning hearings before them about possible local election fraud or actions they could take to challenge election results in Pennsylvania,” Howell wrote.

...

Perry is a key figure who sought to help Trump replace the attorney general after the 2020 election with former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark and get the Justice Department to reverse its finding that President Biden was elected fairly, according to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters. The Justice Department has separately prioritized and obtained access to 37 emails between Perry and Trump-connected attorneys John Eastman, a lawyer who pushed false claims of mass voter fraud in 2020, Clark and aide Ken Klukowski, as well as 331 documents from Clark about his Jan. 6 role, according to the filings.

[L'Emmerdeur]

The former president made three phone calls pressuring Georgia state officials to diddle the election. We knew about two of them, but the report is that the grand jury in Georgia has listened to a recording of a third. A clear pattern, which doesn't support a possible defense claim that it was merely an impulsive lapse in judgement.

'Behind the scenes of Trump grand jury; jurors hear 3rd leaked Trump call'

[Grand jurors] heard a recording of a phone call Trump placed to late Georgia House Speaker David Ralston in which the president asked the fellow Republican to convene a special session of the Legislature to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia.

One juror said Ralston proved to be “an amazing politician.”

The speaker “basically cut the president off. He said, ‘I will do everything in my power that I think is appropriate.’ … He just basically took the wind out of the sails,” the juror said. “‘Well, thank you,’ you know, is all the president could say.”

Ralston, who died in November, and other legislative leaders did not call a special session. A former Ralston aide declined to comment for this story, and a Trump campaign spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Ralston had previously told a North Georgia media outlet that he was contacted by Trump and his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in December 2020, but the existence of a tape had not been previously known.

[rasetsu]

[JimC]

It's a race between Stormy Daniels and various Georgian election officials!

[Joe]

Poor Jack Smith. They got a head start.

[JimC]

I think we'll see Stormy breast the tape at the finish line...

[Tero]

On Mastodon today:
Dog whistle to English dictionary:

Soros - Jews
Coastal elites - Jews
New York values - Jews
Hollywood liberals - Jews
Globalists - Jews
International bankers - Jews
American Jews - Jews who dare question Israel’s government

I hope you enjoyed this week’s Jews Clues

[L'Emmerdeur]

Oh those Proud Boys, the little scamps. A bit of harmless fun, really.

'Proud Boys leader found guilty of seditious conspiracy for driving Jan. 6 attack'

A jury on Thursday convicted Enrique Tarrio, the former leader of the Proud Boys, and three allies of a seditious conspiracy to derail the transfer of power from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, a historic verdict following the most significant trial to emerge from the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Jurors also convicted the four men — who also include Ethan Nordean, Joseph Biggs and Zachary Rehl — of conspiring to obstruct Congress’ proceedings on Jan. 6 and destroying government property. The jury deadlocked on seditious conspiracy against a fifth defendant, Dominic Pezzola, but convicted him of obstructing Congress’ Jan. 6 proceedings as well as several other felony charges.

Prosecutors cast Tarrio and the Proud Boys leaders as the most significant drivers of the Jan. 6 attack, assembling a “fighting force” that arrived at the Capitol even while Trump addressed a crowd of supporters near the White House. Members of the group were present for and involved in multiple breaches of police lines. They later celebrated their role in the breach.

[rasetsu]

But this was NOT, I repeat, NOT an insurrection!

[Brian Peacock]

I bet they're still very proud. Probably banking on President Trump granting them a pardon on day one.

[L'Emmerdeur]

Indeed. They're being treated very unfairly. Perhaps they will be awarded medals for their patriotism when Dear Leader finally regains his destined place.

[JimC]

"Why doth treason never prosper?
Why, if it prospers, none dare call it treason..."

[Joe]

So I guess that's the top of the ladder for the J6 soldiers. I wonder which of the "officers" DOJ will go after first.

I remember reading that Trump's buddy Roger Stone is connected to the Proud Boys and took the Fifth when he appeared before the J6 Committee.

Wasn't he the Trump campaign's go between to Wikileaks in 2016?

[Brian Peacock]

Officers rarely carry the can for the misdeeds of the troops.

[aufbahrung]

When Visigoth's attack more a marker for the history books than a meaningful event. How could it be meaningful? The decline to fall is a ongoing and unstoppable event. The Visigoth component shows the fall is real and happening. No amount of autopsy will show greater significance than that.