Mike Johnson Let a Terrorist Roam the Capitol Yesterday
Mike Johnson had a wild run yesterday. Having once called for “any individual who committed violence” on January 6 to be “prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Johnson seemed to agree with JD Vance that violent attackers should not get pardons.
But after Trump put over a hundred violent criminals out on the streets, Johnson then defended Trump’s pardons, calling to move on.
Over the course of the day, Johnson set up a Committee to keep investigating January 6, boasted about Americans “deserving safety and security” — a wildly inconsistent stance with releasing a bunch of violent criminals, and then accusing Bishop Budde of “sow[ing] division” because she spoke of mercy.
Meanwhile, as this was all going on, Mike Johnson (who as Speaker plays a role in overseeing the Capitol Police) let a terrorist prowl the Capitol.
Stewart Rhodes was in Longworth Office Building lobbying that Jeremy Brown — who, because he also got prosecuted for having unlawful weapons and classified documents in his Florida home, was not released yesterday — get a further pardon so he can be released (it’s unclear how a member of Congress would make this happen, but maybe Yale Law grad Stewie doesn’t understand the legal posture of Brown’s case).
Rhodes was spotted in the Dunkin’ Donuts inside Longworth House Office Building, which is accessible to the public, with a group of people. He said he did not go into the actual Capitol building.
Rhodes said he was advocating for the release of Jeremy Brown, another Oath Keeper who is in prison on federal weapons charges stemming from an investigation into his alleged involvement in the riot.
Rhodes said Brown was not included in Trump’s sweeping pardon of nearly 1,600 people arrested in connection to the rampage and that he went to the Capitol with Brown’s family members. He said that no members of Congress invited him to the Capitol specifically.
“We’re advocating members of Congress, advocating that he be given a pardon also,” Rhodes told reporters.
Rhodes is one of the fourteen people whose sentence Trump commuted, but did not pardon. And he was not only convicted by a jury of sedition and obstructing the vote certification, but Judge Amit Mehta applied a 6-level terrorism enhancement at sentencing.
As Kathryn Rakoczy successfully argued at sentencing, Rhodes had organized an armed force across the river, and regretted not deploying it that day.
I think organizing an armed force across the river that was prepared to come in comes pretty close to being pretty much like advocating for actions that could cause the loss of life. The repeated uses of how we need to have a bloody Civil War comes pretty close. And it is incredibly hard to forget the chilling words of Mr. Rhodes on January 10th that suggests that on January 6th, he was playing a little bit of the long game, but that were the President not to do something about calling up the Oath Keepers and literally starting a civil war, that his view was, “Actually, I should have called in the QRF on the 6th.” And I think when you’re thinking about whether this was terrorism, which we believe it was, all of those factors suggest that something around the level of a six-level adjustment feels right.
This is terrorism. It’s not blowing up a building directly or directing someone else to blow up a building. But certainly in light of the threat of harm and the historic significance of attempting to stop the certification of an election for the first time in U.S. history, those facts together we do think provide a factual basis that supports an increase of roughly six levels.
As Mehta laid out when applying the enhancement, the goal of all this was to influence the conduct of government by coercion.
As I said yesterday, I think as a matter of law, the conduct of conviction of seditious conspiracy meets the description foursquare of what that element — excuse me, what that enhancement requires a showing of, which is an offense other than the one that is enumerated in the Guideline, but the motive was to intimidate or coerce a civilian — I’m sorry, rather than — sorry.
The motive was to — calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, which were to retaliate against government conduct. Certainly that first clause applies squarely to the conduct of conviction.
And based upon the facts as I found them yesterday and have incorporated them today, Mr. Rhodes and his compatriots’ objective was to affect the conduct of government, specifically Congress, and to do so through intimidation and coercion by means of force, both through the stockpiling of weapons in the event that they needed to be brought across the river — there was an agreement as to that — and then, of course, the actual use of force by others who went into the building and applied that force against police officers who were doing their duty that day.
Trump did not, as he did with Enrique Tarrio, pardon Rhodes. Rather, he left the judgement against Rhodes in place; he simply said, effectively, that three years and a week was a sufficient sentence for a guy who plotted an armed attack on the government.
At least one staffer tried to tell Stewie that it was disrespectful to return to the scene of the crime.
He obfuscated, as he always does.
But the legal fact remains. He has not been pardoned of his sedition conviction and terrorism enhancement. Donald Trump chose to leave the judgment in place (for now, though Rhodes is reportedly still pressing Trump for a full pardon).
And Mike Johnson let him wander around the Capitol, all while claiming discussion of “mercy” was divisive.
When shame is expunged, there is no non-lethal weapon left in the arsenal.
[Moderator’s note: Avoid the appearance of calling for violence. It’s not acceptable here. /~Rayne]
I wonder if civil actions by individual Capitol cops against specific J6 participants are possible, including Tarrio and Rhodes. Civil action certainly made Alex Jones miserable.
There are already pending suits, including the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.
I gotta reply to this.
If you want to advocate for the breaching of the threshold for armed conflict in this country, take a flying fuck outta here.
I apoligize if I wasn’t clear enough. My point is that a direct assault is no longer possible. The only viable solution is to outflank them. This means education, civil disobedience, good trouble.
Again, sorry if I came across as supporting any type of violence. I do not.
Thanks for the explanation, sorry for the vitriol.
I can’t comment on whether Rhodes was in the Longworth Building because I didn’t see him.
I can’t comment on whether Dr. Wheeler wrote this because I didn’t see her write it.
Someone needs to remind Mike Johnson that he’s too short to be a nazi.
And I’m still trying to figure out what type of Christianity he practices- he is the flag-bearer of false witness. He rivals Trump in this department. Whenever he speaks, I assume that he’s lying.
I am not a theologian (and perhaps Peterr can correct me here), but for many of the evangelical denominations (especially the Dominionist ones) the sinner is completely forgiven all of their sins when they go to church on Sunday. Contrition and penance is not required.
It’s a bit more convoluted than that.
Catholics require confession, to an ordained priest, for absolution of sins. That can happen whenever confessions are scheduled.
Protestants don’t require Sunday service attendance for sin forgiveness; that’s between you and whatever version of God you subscribe to, the Evangelicals requiring usually a public profession of acceptance of Jesus as your personal savior.
“Christianity” is an almost useless heading for the determination of any set of New Testament belief systems.
Protestants of the mainline denominations have confessions of sin in their services. They *don’t* talk about Jesus as personal lord and savior.
A sign of someone with a twisted understanding of forgiveness is when they attempt to say “I’m forgiven, so you can’t judge me and you can’t hold me accountable.”
Sorry, but that’s now what forgiveness is about.
A battered spouse may forgive their batterer, but that does not automatically mean that they should or will continue to live with them. It is possible to forgive your batterer (“I refuse to spend my energy hating you, and I refuse to see you as a monster rather than a person”) while at the same time deciding to get divorced and deciding to press charges against the one who abused them.
They are under the new category and title for some Republicans that claim to be Christians: CINO, aka Christians in Name Only.
We entered such a toxic, Alice in Wonderland world on 1/20/25. Following it day by day, blow by blow is just too draining. We have an almost unfettered leader , a criminal & cesspool of character flaws surrounded by conscienceless henchmen willing to do anything to please him. Only their rank incompetence can save us from the worst outcomes.
I note that in the quoted tweets above Johnson wrote about the Laken Riley Act concluding with
“The American People demand Safety and Security”
It appears Johnson is unaware of the deep irony, particularly as regards the commuted yet still convicted seditionist Stewart Rhodes, and his personal investment in violence as a means of self expression.
Before committing his acts of sedition on and before J6, Rhodes spent years terrorising , coercively controlling and indoctrinating his wife and children. Such was their terror of him they planned their escape from his clutches meticulously for months and years before breaking free, and even and especially at that point feared death at his hands.
With these ideologues such as Rhodes violence is not merely an aspect of their political creed, it imbues every interpersonal interaction with menace.
MA Rep. Jim McGovern did a good job on the House floor debate yesterday, paraphrasing: I don’t ever want any of you on the other side to ever talk about Law and Order. He went on to ask why Johnson hasn’t ordered the hanging of the plaque in honor of law enforcement’s courageous actions of January 6.
Oh, Mikey. Whatever Trump did, it had nothing to do with mercy. As Ann Telnaes’s “Pardons for my Sturmabteilung” suggests, Trump did it to create the core of his Praetorian Guard, to demonstrate that under him, the rule of law was nothing, to sow chaos, fear, and bewilderment. To show that he was a king *without* mercy.
POOF!
https://bsky.app/profile/joncooper-us.bsky.social/post/3lggagmggjs22
January 23, 2025 at 10:52 AM
GOP enables, excuses and rewards abusive and violent behavior.