emptywheel Takes to MSNBC to Explain the January 6 Investigation
MSNBC was kind enough to invite me to make the case, again, that those blaming Merrick Garland for delays in the January 6 investigation simply aren’t familiar with the investigation. Readers will be familiar with much of this, but two details are new.
First, I describe what investigative steps prosecutors had to take to prepare the most obvious piece of evidence, Trump’s 2:24 tweet targeting Mike Pence.
Take the tweet Trump sent at 2:24 p.m. Jan. 6: “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage.” It was right there in public! But to present that in court first required the exploitation of at least two phones, nine months of fights over executive privilege, a 23-day stall from Twitter and two sets of interviews with at least eight different top aides.
And something that’s long overdue: Holding the January 6 Committee responsible for their unnecessary delays, which almost bolloxed the Proud Boys trial.
One delay that was unnecessary was caused by some of the people who most loudly blamed Garland: the Jan. 6 Committee. DOJ first asked the committee for witness transcripts in April 2022. That June, prosecutors in the trial of leaders of the Proud Boys agreed to reschedule their trial from August until December because the committee would not release transcripts until September. The prosecutors were vindicated when those transcripts finally came out in December, after three additional months of delay and jury selection had already started. Twice during the trial, prosecutors learned that witnesses had told the committee something they hadn’t told the FBI; in one instance, a committee transcript revealed an attorney conflict that threatened prosecutors’ reliance on testimony from their most important cooperating witness. Given that court filings suggest Smith will treat the Proud Boys akin to co-conspirators when this case finally goes to trial, those are the kinds of unnecessary screw-ups that could jeopardize Trump’s trial itself.
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Thank you.
I still don’t buy that Merrick Garland was working to investigate Trump and his minions in 2021. The only reason they even needed to form a Jan. 6 Committee in mid-2022 was because MG was dragging his feet and only targeting low level J6 offenders. Cassidy Hutchinson had a front row seat to the post-election interference and the Jan 6 insurrection, and yet she wasn’t interviewed until Liz Cheney opened a can of whoop ass with her J6 Committee.
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A congressional oversight investigation is NOT the same as a criminal investigation. There needed to be a congressional oversight investigation into January 6 because a criminal investigation — especially the largest ever which is ongoing and lasted more than a congressional term — can’t tell Congress what legislative solutions are necessary to prevent a future attack on the Capitol and on the electoral process.
Criminal investigations also have no obligation to disclose to the public facts uncovered if the facts aren’t used inside the four corners of an indictment. Imagine how much less the public would know today about January 6 without congressional oversight hearings and documents.
Rayne is right. (Right as rain?)
In addition, I see it as exceedingly valuable that the proceedings of the J-6 committee are recorded in the Congressional Record.
Pow!! Go get em, Marcy.
Excellent article by EW. I highly recommend that others here read it; there’s considerably more substance than what was quoted above. Only wish it was required for so many on the DOJ beat.
You reference the invisibility of certain essential aspects of these complex and intertwined investigations. While I wish Jack Smith would indict Roger Stone two years ago, having learned all I have here, I actually take heart from the inference that what finally emerges in regards to Stone’s (and others’) machinations will be that much more deeply borne out by the evidence.
Thanks for keeping your eye on the ball. All the balls.
Much as I would have preferred to watch you school Nicolle Wallace live and on-air about how wrong most of the MSNBC pundits have been (she being one of the loudest and whiniest “Merrick Garland is sooooooooo sloooooooooow” voices), I’m actually a little stunned that MSNBC gave you any real estate at all to counter one of their favorite topics; a point in MSNBC’s favor, I guess. And I have your beautiful article to link to now, too, for the rest of the whiners in my threads. Thank you most sincerely for everything you’re doing, Marcy!!
MSNBC might be willing to invite Marcy to write a piece for their website, but they are still apparently gunshy about putting her in front of a live camera and a hot mic.
“Doo-pah-tum-ka-kum-bah-pah-ta-da-da
Ah yeah
Oh yeah”
https://youtu.be/iuDJue0r2G8
Nicole Sandler hosts Marcy every Friday. It is so wonderful to hear her on that platform.
I just finished reading Marcy’s article on MSNBC’s website – very well-written and comprehensive. I have been a fan for a long time, so I know the breadth and depth of your knowledge about J6 and related matters. I am not aware of anyone who knows more and has identified the linkages so well. I hope you are being well-compensated for all of your extracurricular writing – you deserve it! Well done!
Excellent piece, thank you.
Direct, pointed, concise, beautifully written. Thank you.
Yes, exactly. Almost feels like a brief.
An elegant, exquisite brief.
I absolutely agree.
And this piece is more necessary now than ever.
It seems to me that as the delay tactics by Trump gain traction in some courts, the frustrations amongst Democrats/pro-democracy advocates increases and the facile arguments that Garland and/or Jack Smith were too slow are expressed with greater vehemence, which in turn is demoralising and counterproductive.
The beauty of this piece is that it concisely identifies the major flaws in such thinking and provides an accessible starting point from which to get deeper into the weeds to get a more profound understanding of the complex strands of the investigations and prosecutions.
Providing an accurate sense of the complexities involved, without overwhelming the intended audience with intricate and arcane details unfamiliar to them, requires real skill and this is a masterpiece.
You Rock Dr. Wheeler, and then some. Thanks for all you do for America.
Keep hammering Dr W.
With maybe more than a bit(ten) tongue in cheek I am holding out for Trump coming out with an insult directed at you as sort of a badge of – crazy it’s hard to characterize anything he says or does as complimentary – well
“honor” meaning by me in only the utmost of complimentary ways.
If you can get under Trump’s skin (and hell his MAGA minions too) with the truth then you have achieved a level of additional recognition though it may not be truly needed based on all that you have done, do, and will no doubt continue to do.
It is a target rich environment though far from easy – usually.
We are blessed to have you.
Trump will never have any idea who Marcy is unless somebody in his real life circle or his social media circle makes a noisy effort to underbus her. Since news is analyzed here rather than broken, that seems somewhat unlikely.
Mind you, if he wanted to trigger the Barbara Streisand effect and make millions of people smarter by elevating her platform, I’d welcome it.
Trump will never have any idea who (Dr) Marcy (Wheeler) is unless somebody in his real life circle….
reads him aloud some of her bedtime stories. and then tucks him in and says, nitey-nite.
Trump denied stay on paying his defamation judgement. “Mr. Trump’s current situation is a result of his own dilatory actions,” Kaplan wrote.
https://apnews.com/article/e-jean-carroll-trump-defamation-appeal-eaa22724e1f40a6b6389517e07534cf3
Trump was denied an emergency request for a stay, which would have allowed him not to post bond until Kaplan decided another pending Trump motion. The denial did not relate to paying the judgment.
The motion Kaplan is still considering is Trump’s unsupported motion that he not be required to post bond, or be allowed to post a lesser bond, in order to obtain a stay pending his appeal to the Appellate Division.
The deadline for Trump to post bond is Monday. Trump can appeal without posting bond, but without a stay, Carroll can attempt to collect her judgment while he does so.
I thought the bond was a guarantee the appeal would be granted. Thus keeping bad faith actions from unnecessarily extending final resolution of the matter. He can appeal, but they can deny the appeal without the bond.
No, the bond is a guarantee that the defendant will have the funds to pay the judgement, should the appeal fail. It’s a way of saying “you can’t file an appeal only to give yourself time to hide or give away the money you have been ordered to pay.”
An appeals bond in a civil case is required to stay enforcement of a lower court judgment, while an appeal is litigated. In NY state, the bond is required in order to appeal, unless exceptional leave is granted. In the federal system, it’s not, but it is required to stay enforcement of the lower court award.
In the state civil fraud case decided by Judge Engoron, Trump has a right to appeal to the NY state Supreme Court, Appellate Division. An appeal of its judgment would be to NY Court of Appeals, which is discretionary.
The E. Jean Carroll defamation cases are in federal court. Trump has a right of appeal to the Second Circuit. Appeal from an adverse judgment is to the Supreme Court, which is discretionary.
An appeals bond’s purpose is to keep the winning litigant whole during the lengthy appeals process. It is also intended to preclude the loser from filing an appeal merely to delay payment. Both reasons support requiring the appellant to file a bond larger than the award, to cover interest and fees. In NY state, the cost of a bond is about 120% of the award. In the federal system, it’s about 110%.
Thanks. I forgot they were in two different court systems. I am still not totally convinced this is not his usual game. We’ll know more in the coming days.
“I am still not totally convinced this is not his usual game.”
Paying the bills when they’re due is anything but Trump’s “usual game.”
I corrected that comment elsewhere. Trump can appeal in NY state, as he can in the federal system, without posting bond, but he has to post an acceptable bond to stay enforcement.
Judge Kaplan is a federal district court judge in Manhattan, so Trump’s appeal would be to the Second Circuit, not the Appellate Division, which is a NY state first-level appeals court.
Do you know, in general, what are the federal procedures for enforcing a civil judgment? How slowly or quickly do the wheels turn?
Briefly, it takes a few months to become a judgment lien creditor and to set the wheels in motion to enforce judgment. Collecting cash could take years if a creditor has to force the sale of real property. With Trump, it’s even more complicated.
Trump’s largest properties will have mortgages on them, and possibly other liens. The mortgage holder’s interest will have to be satisfied before funds are available to other creditors. Plus, Trump owns only a minority interest in some of his largest properties. Selling his interest would require successful negotiations with at least the majority stakeholders.
Moreover, the sale of one large real estate holding may trigger defaults on Trump’s other large loans, either on their own, or because the sale and use of the proceeds reduces Trump’s net worth and/or cash on hand below the amounts he committed to in his loan documents. That would force Trump to consider bankruptcy or renegotiating all his principal loans. It’s a mess.
I am dying to know if that springing loan in Chicago has now sprung.
Looks like Trump secured bond on the E Jean Carroll case.
Link for the notice is below. $91.63 million. I made a comment in the most recent post about it.
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.543790/gov.uscourts.nysd.543790.317.0.pdf
Am I correct that the Jan. 6th Committee is looked upon as a hindrance to obtaining justice for the conspiracy that hit a zenith on that day? That conspiracy that continues, I add.
It is all so simple
If Trump loses the election the delay’s won’t matter
If Trumps wins the election there will be plenty of finger pointing to go around