“Rise of the American Gulag” panel. Brandon Straka and Kash Patel going IN on Andy Biggs (also on panel) for not doing enough to help J6 prisoners. Crowd booing Biggs. Now Biggs in effort to recover his standing is calling to defund “bad agencies” like DOJ and FBI pic.twitter.com/2MvitxGP8m
— Tess Owen (@misstessowen) August 5, 2022
Rep. Biggs (AZ) is best known as chairman of the GOP House ‘Freedom Caucus’, and for being rabidly anti-immigrant. Kash Patel is a former aide to Devin Nunes and ‘Trump loyalist’. Brandon Straka, well… he participated in the Jan. 6 riot, but sold out his fellows in return for a lighter sentence. Per NPR, on Friday:
A federal judge reprimanded a prominent pro-Trump social media personality and Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendant for making “questionable” comments in the media about his plea agreement and cooperation with law enforcement. Those comments, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich said, were “inconsistent” with what he previously told the court…
“What he needs to appreciate is he is potentially incriminating himself for [18 U.S. Code Section] 1001 prosecution,” said Friedrich, referring to the criminal law against making “materially false” statements to the federal government.
Straka, the founder of the conservative “#WalkAway” campaign, did not attend Wednesday’s hearing and was represented by his attorney. By this point, his case has largely been resolved.
Back in Sept. 2021, he agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of Engaging in Disorderly and Disruptive Conduct in the Capitol Building or Grounds. At sentencing, he avoided jail time, and instead received 90 days of home confinement and three years’ probation.
Wednesday’s hearing was ostensibly focused on an apparent mistake made by the court, in which a clerk accidentally unsealed sensitive records detailing Straka’s cooperation with federal investigators. A coalition of media organizations, which includes NPR, had asked the court to unseal documents in the case. The court inadvertently made more available than the judge had intended.
The records described how Straka provided “significant information” about pro-Trump “Stop The Steal” organizers including Ali Alexander, Amy and Kylie Kremer, and Cindy Chafian. Prosecutors said Straka provided investigators with a voicemail he had received from another Jan. 6 defendant, and that evidence was “valuable in the government’s prosecution.” In another instance, the records say Straka helped identify yet another potential suspect who “was not previously identified by the FBI.” …
“I’m wondering: should I be anticipating a motion to withdraw his plea?” Friedrich asked Straka’s attorney. “Because I want you to know I would gladly hold an evidentiary hearing to address his claims. Is that something that I should be expecting?”…
Essayli explained that Straka “is more of a public figure. He faces a lot of reporting – a lot of it he views as false reporting or misleading reporting, and it is difficult for him not to respond or be emotional.”
Friedrich was unpersuaded by that line of argument.
“I suggest that you tell him to exercise some discretion that he didn’t show before Jan. 6, during Jan. 6, and apparently after Jan. 6,” Friedrich said. “And also inform him that I will be asking probation for periodic status reports about his performance on supervision.”…
Grifters gonna grift... (trigger warning: MTGreene-level unhingedness)
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