Tag: protests

Video of Oath Keepers Rescuing 16 Police Officers Deflates Jan. 6 Sedition Narrative, Attorneys Say

A video widely circulated in 2021 that shows a Capitol Police lieutenant asking members of the Oath Keepers for rescue help at the U.S. Capitol blows a hole in the seditious conspiracy charges brought against the group by federal prosecutors, two defense attorneys say.

In the video, Lt. Tarik Khalid Johnson asks a group of men to help him get more than a dozen trapped Capitol Police officers out of the Capitol and through a tightly packed crowd of protesters on the building’s east steps.

It was widely reported in January 2021 that Johnson wore a red Make America Great Again cap on Jan. 6 as a ruse to “trick” supporters of President Donald Trump into helping him rescue fellow officers from the Capitol. He was later suspended for wearing the MAGA cap. Johnson is a registered Democrat, according to online records.

The men who answered the call to help were members of the Oath Keepers, a nationwide group of current and former military, law enforcement, and first responders who have been targeted by federal prosecutors for allegedly conspiring to attack the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

The video is at least the second example showing the Oath Keepers coming to the aid of Capitol Police inside the building that day.

Would a group of men seditiously plotting an attack on the Capitol, allegedly to prevent certification of Electoral College votes, rush into the building to extract police trapped inside—all while being followed by a filmmaker?

Keep reading

80 ‘Suspicious Actors’ and ‘Material Witnesses’ Under Scrutiny by Jan. 6 Defense Attorneys

Defense attorneys seek to identify and investigate 80 suspicious actors and material witnesses, some of whom allegedly ran an entrapment operation against the Oath Keepers on January 6, 2021, and committed crimes including the removal of security fencing, breaching police lines, attacking officers, and inciting crowds to storm into the Capitol.

In a motion (pdf) and supplement (pdf) filed after 11 p.m. on May 5 in federal court in Washington, attorney Brad Geyer listed 80 people, some of whom he said could be government agents or provocateurs. The people are seen on video operating in a coordinated fashion across the Capitol grounds on January 6, the attorney alleged.

Geyer’s suggestion of an entrapment scheme will resonate with dozens of January 6 defense attorneys, coming shortly after two men were acquitted of an alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D). There was a hung jury on charges against two other defendants. The jury in that case was allowed to consider FBI entrapment as a defense.

Geyer, who represents Oath Keepers defendant Kenneth Harrelson, is seeking a court order from U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta compelling federal prosecutors to help identify the individuals and disclose whether they were working for law enforcement or any government agency on January 6. Geyer wrote that the information is exculpatory, which compels the government to produce it. Other Oath Keepers defendants are expected to join in the motion.

Keep reading

Arizona parents sue school district for compiling creepy dossier containing sensitive info on them as retaliation for CRT, COVID protests

Three Arizona parents have filed a lawsuit against their children’s school district over its alleged creation of an online dossier to be used against them in response to their protesting of COVID-19 policies and critical race theory being taught in classrooms.

In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in Maricopa County Superior Court, the parents — Amanda Wray, Kimberly Stafford, and Edmond Richard — claim their First Amendment rights to free speech and government redress were violated when the district “maliciously targeted” them for raising concerns about the district policies.

Specifically, the parents accuse the Scottsdale Unified School District No. 48, school board president Jann-Michael Greenburg; his father, Mark Greenburg; and Mark Greenburg’s wife, Dagmar Greenburg, of collecting and storing roughly 100 gigabytes of personal data about them on a Google Drive file to be used as intimidation and potentially retaliation.

The Washington Times first reported on the lawsuit.

“The goal of defendants’ conspiracy was clear: to silence and punish dissenting voices and frighten away other potential speakers who might dare express an opposing point of view,” the suit alleges.

Keep reading

Left-Wing Group Targets Homes Of 6 Conservative SCOTUS Justices

A left-wing group published its plans for protests outside of the six conservative Supreme Court justices’ homes, calling them “extremist.”

The group, going by “Ruth Sent Us,” published what it claims are the addresses of Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts, seemingly in response to the Monday SCOTUS draft opinion leak that signaled the majority of the court may vote to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“ANNOUNCING: Walk-by Wednesday, May 11, 2022! At the homes of the six extremist justices, three in Virginia and three in Maryland. If you’d like to join or lead a peaceful protest, let us know,” the website of “Ruth Sent Us” states.

“Our 6-3 extremist Supreme Court routinely issues rulings that hurt women, racial minorities, LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights. We must rise up to force accountability using a diversity of tactics,” it adds.

Keep reading

A High-Ranking Proud Boy Is Now Snitching for the Feds

Federal prosecutors appear to have made their biggest breakthrough yet in their sprawling investigation into the violent riot at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A high-ranking Proud Boy has flipped, agreeing to testify in any and all cases where his testimony might be “deemed relevant by the government.” 

It’s the latest example of the government strengthening its case against the far-right street-fighting gang that’s become a national household name since its leaders and dozens of members have been charged in relation to the Capitol riot. 

Late last week, the Justice Department announced that Charles Donohoe, leader of the North Carolina Proud Boys chapter, had pleaded guilty to two charges—conspiring to disrupt the certification of the 2020 election results, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement officers.

Donohoe was charged with conspiracy along with five prominent Proud Boys, including the group’s former national chairman Enrique Tarrio. 

But Donohoe’s agreement with the government could have cascading effects beyond his case.

Keep reading

20 Federal ‘Assets’ Embedded at Capitol on Jan. 6, Court Filing Says

At least 20 FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives “assets” were embedded around the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a defense attorney wrote in a court filing on April 12.

The disclosure was made in a motion seeking to dismiss seditious conspiracy and obstruction charges against 10 Oath Keepers defendants in one of the most prominent Jan. 6 criminal cases.

David W. Fischer, attorney for Thomas E. Caldwell of Berryville, Virginia, filed a 41-page motion to dismiss four counts on behalf of all Oath Keepers case defendants before U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta in Washington, D.C.

Caldwell is charged in the indictment, but is not a member of the Oath Keepers, he told The Epoch Times in March.

Keep reading

Cops Ruled Justified in Cracking Innocent Elderly Man’s Skull, Leaving Him Hospitalized for a Month

As TFTP reported at the time, a case out of Buffalo, New York received a lot of attention due to the unnecessary and disturbing nature of how it unfolded. A75-year-old man, Martin Gugino was shoved down so hard that his injuries landed him in the hospital for over a month. The two cops who shoved him were suspended and arrested as a result and following their discipline the entire Buffalo Police Department Emergency Response Team resigned in support of those two cops.

In total, 57 officers threw a collective temper tantrum, for their right to attack innocent elderly men with impunity.

And impunity is what they got. Over the weekend, an arbitrator ruled that officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski violated no policies when they shoved the frail 75-year-old man down so hard that he cracked his skull and began bleeding from his ears.

Arbitrator Jeffrey Selchick wrote, “Upon review, there is no evidence to sustain any claim that Respondents [police officers] had any other viable options other than to move Gugino out of the way of their forward movement.”

As TFTP reported, Gugino was on the sidewalk attempting to return one of the officer’s helmets he had found. The officers then walked up to him and shoved him to the ground. The impact of the elderly man’s head was so hard that he immediately began bleeding from the ears and was knocked unconscious.

After the cops shoved him, they looked down, noticed he was bleeding from the ears and kept walking — leaving the elderly man lying there on the pavement, bleeding.

After the assault, according to WBFO, two medics came forward and treated him. They helped put him in an ambulance and he was taken away. He spent the following month in the hospital as he was treated for a severe head injury.

After the incident made it to the news, Buffalo police put out a ridiculous statement claim the elderly man tripped.

A Buffalo Police spokesman issued a statement saying “a 5th person was arrested during a skirmish with other protestors and also charged with disorderly conduct. During that skirmish involving protestors, one person was injured when he tripped & fell.”

However, after the video was posted online, exactly 23 minutes later by WBFO, department officials changed their tone and said a full Internal Affairs investigation was underway and that Police Commissioner Byron Lockwood had ordered the immediate suspension of the two officers involved, without pay.

Keep reading

Canada’s new budget includes regulating crowdfunding after Freedom Convoy support

Canada’s new budget announced On April 8 includes restrictions on crowdfunding platforms and an investigation into cryptocurrency. The two provisions are some of the sanctions the government imposed under the Emergencies Act to stop the Freedom Convoy Protest.

While announcing the new budget, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said that there would be stricter regulations for crowdfunding platforms and payments processors and a “legislative review” of cryptocurrency.

“In the last several months … there have been a number of high-profile examples — both around the world and here in Canada — where digital assets and cryptocurrencies have been used to avoid global sanctions and fund illegal activities,” the government said, citing the use of crypto to evade sanctions imposed to end the Freedom Convoy Protests.

Keep reading

As Disney Employees Protest Florida for Protecting Kids, Dozens Have Been Arrested for Child Sex Crimes

“So far, a total of 32 have been convicted, with the remaining cases pending,” is not a comment you want to hear when it comes to an entertainment company. But the fact remains that dozens of Disney employees have been arrested for child sex crimes in the past and this is alarming.

Disney’s lengthy history of hiring individuals jailed for a multitude of child sex offences has fallen into criticism via the company’s resistance to Florida’s inaccurately labeled “Don’t Say Gay” policy, which tries to safeguard children from exposure to damaging gender ideology and activism.

Disney officials first remained neutral on the measure, which prohibits instructors from promoting alternative gender identities and LGBTQ activism to pupils in kindergarten through third grade, before being persuaded by their left-wing employees to condemn it.

“Florida’s HB 1557, also known as the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill, should never have passed and should never have been signed into law,” claimed the company in a public statement.

“Our goal as a company is for this law to be repealed by the legislature or struck down in the courts, and we remain committed to supporting the national and state organizations working to achieve that,” in a gesture presumably geared at calming its disgruntled staff, Disney added.

Workers at Disney, on the other hand, have been convicted for a range of sex crimes against children, such as attempting to have sex with kids and possessing child pornography.

In a 2014 CNN article, the company’s pedophilia issue was exposed, with at least 35 Disney World personnel jailed in the eight years since 2006 for alleged child sex crimes.

“So far, a total of 32 have been convicted, with the remaining cases pending,” explained CNN at the time of publication.

Keep reading