Telling the Story of January 6 to the Judges Who Know It Best: The Two FBI Lawsuits
There are a number of outlets tracking every legal challenge to Trump and Elon Musk’s power grabs. For example, JustSecurity has this litigation tracker, including the multiple suits (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven) that attempt to stop Elon’s invasion. Some may well succeed in enjoining Elon’s actions — but they’ll lead to a confrontation over who will enforce the orders.
Two lawsuits filed yesterday by FBI agents may be better vehicles both legally and in generating stories that might lead to pushback from Republicans. The first represents nine Jane and John Doe FBI personnel, fashions itself as a class action, and demands a jury trial; it has been assigned to Biden appointee Jia Cobb. It makes claims under the First Amendment, Fifth Amendment (and Fifth Amendment Privacy), and Privacy Act. It provides these details about how much the government spends to obtain the expertise of FBI agents.
13. FBI agents are chosen through a highly selective process, and are carefully screened for aptitude and trustworthiness.
14. FBI agents go through more than four months of intensive training at the FBI academy before beginning their duties, and attend numerous training sessions throughout their careers to adapt to new technologies and emerging threats.
15. Many FBI agents are multi-lingual and routinely interface with intelligence agencies from allied nations.
16. The training FBI agents receive is comprehensive, and in some instances, extremely expensive.
17. On information and belief, Plaintiffs assert that each agent of the FBI receives more than 3 million dollars-worth of training in a twenty (20) year career.
18. FBI agents also develop specific expertise from their assignments and field duties, much of which cannot be replicated solely by training.
The second represents seven Jane and John Doe FBI personnel, and the FBI Agent’s Association, which represents most active duty Agents; it has been assigned to the Trump appointee who presided over the Proud Boy leaders’ trial, Tim Kelly. Mark Zaid, a highly experienced lawyer in this field, is leading this suit. [Update: This case has been reassigned to Judge Cobb.]
This FBIAA suit makes two claims under the Privacy Act, a First Amendment, two Due Process claims, and this mandamus claim.
64. The provisions of 28 U.S.C. § 1361 provide a statutory basis for jurisdiction in cases seeking relief in the nature of mandamus against federal officers, employees, and agencies, and they provide for an independent cause of action in the absence of any other available remedies.
65. Defendants’ actions, as set forth above, constitute unlawful, intimidating, and threatening behavior towards Plaintiffs in response to Plaintiffs’ lawful actions of executing lawful search and arrest warrants and participating in lawful investigations of crimes committed by January 6 perpetrators.
66. Defendants do not have discretion to redefine the truth of January 6, 2021. Nor do Defendants have any discretion to recast the lawful actions taken by the FBI and the previous leaders within the Department of Justice as illegal, let alone any discretion to retaliate and disclose names.
67. Defendants have no discretion when it comes to ensuring the safety of the American people from extremist violence, let alone the safety of their own employees.
68. If no other remedy is available through which the unlawful termination orders may be rescinded, then Plaintiffs are entitled to relief in the nature of mandamus compelling Defendants to recognize Plaintiff to rescind the unlawful termination orders.
Both tell stories about Trump’s personal involvement in January 6 and describe a fear that lists of FBI Agents who worked on the January 6 cases will be used by those they investigated for retribution. The second also cites multiple cases of Jan6ers — including Enrique Tarrio, over whose prosecution Judge Kelly presided — promising retribution. [Update: As noted, this case has been reassigned to Judge Cobb.]
The second suit — the FBIAA one — substantiates its description of the events of January 6 far better, relying on opinions written by the judges who’ll preside over this case, as in these two citations to the DC Circuit opinion in the January 6 Committee’s lawsuit to access Archives documents.
13. The events of January 6, 2021, and the activities leading up to the violence that ensued on the U.S. Capitol on that day, have been well documented by courts in this circuit. Specifically, “[o]n January 6, 2021, a mob professing support for then-President Trump violently attacked the United States Capitol in an effort to prevent a Joint Session of Congress from certifying the electoral college votes designating Joseph R. Biden the 46th President of the United States. The rampage left multiple people dead, injured more than 140 people, and inflicted millions of dollars in damage to the Capitol. Then-Vice President Pence, Senators, and Representatives were all forced to halt their constitutional duties and flee the House and Senate chambers for safety.” Trump v. Thompson, 20 F.4th 10, at 15-16 (D.C. Cir. 2021).
[snip]
19. “The events of January 6, 2021 marked the most significant assault on the Capitol since the War of 1812. The building was desecrated, blood was shed, and several individuals lost their lives. Approximately 140 law enforcement officers were injured, and one officer who had been attacked died the next day. In the aftermath, workers labored to sweep up broken glass, wipe away blood, and clean feces off the walls. Portions of the building’s historic architecture were damaged or destroyed.” Thompson, 20 F.4th at 19.
That’s not the only way the FBIAA suit foregrounds the way judges have approved of the January 6 investigation. It also describes how everything happened with the involvement of judges and much of the legal process for that went through DC.
21. Investigative efforts were centralized out of the District of Columbia federal district (“DDC”). Functionally, this meant that FBI agents swore out arrest warrant affidavits in front of DDC magistrate judges. Upon receipt and review of the sworn affidavit, DDC magistrate judges approved the FBI’s arrest warrant applications and provided a signed, lawful arrest warrant to the arresting FBI agent or FBI task force officer (local law enforcement detailed to the FBI) for execution.
22. In some instances, individuals were arrested pursuant to a grand jury indictment. In these cases, FBI agents testified in front of a federal grand jury under Fed. R. Crim P. 6. If the grand jury found probable cause based on the evidence presented, a supervising court would then issue a lawful arrest warrant for execution
23. Many of the perpetrators of the January 6 riots fled Washington, D.C., immediately after the carnage. Because of this, the FBI had to coordinate efforts across the country in order to amass evidence. This frequently entailed applying for search warrants under Fed. R. Crim. P. 41 in the district where the evidence was to be located. Again, the FBI applied for warrants via sworn affidavits presented to neutral and detached magistrate judges. In the context of search warrants for physical property (e.g., phones, clothes, stolen property), these lawful warrants were issued by a multitude of magistrate judges outside of DDC.
Every DC Judge has affirmed the import of these cases and the danger of the January 6 attack (though some have questioned the prosecution of so many trespassers). They’re all likely facing the same threats that these FBI agents are.
And they are being asked to preside over suits that pit the FBI agents who carried out this investigation against a DOJ led by Trump’s defense attorneys (including Pam Bondi, who was confirmed with the help of John Fetterman but no other Democrats yesterday).
The Mandamus requested by the FBIAA suit is a big ask — the Privacy Act violations in both suits are more likely to work. But the judges in question are likely to agree that, “Defendants do not have discretion to redefine the truth of January 6, 2021.”
According to Ken Dilanian, the FBI did turn over a list of the people involved in the January 6 investigation, though provided employee ID numbers in lieu of names.
Over four years ago, and a blanket pardon. Move on. But this retribution. Is it real or is it a smokescreen Trump is creating to obscure news of other things happening now? Going after FBI members seems an unpopular step. The FBI investigated. Handed the cases to DOJ. Most discretion rested with DOJ. The FBI seemed to find things and without bias or culling, agents passed info to DOJ. Nobody can credibly deny an incursion happened. Who actually did what is nulled now by a blanket pardon or commutation. Reporting should say it’s improper and a wasteful effort, it’s old, agents showed no bias in doing the job, and then look to details of firings and Musk amok. Reviving yesterday’s new and retreading it must mean Musk is finding no real government error for Trump to pitch. Are Trump and his people ultimately intending to claim it was false flag? That’s a remote possibility, but one nonetheless.
For four years, they’ve been lusting to “Investigate the Investigators!” for engaging in a witch hunt. Trump & Co. are not going to let a pesky little thing like facts get in the way.
Another reason for investigating the investigators is to make agents reluctant to investigate any future wrongdoing that might reflect badly on the Trump administration.
This.
“Nice career you’ve got here. Be a shame if something were to happen to it . . . “
‘False flag’ claims have been floated before (ANTIFA and FBI informants, etc.) so that option is already in play.
The alternative scenarios are alive and well in the muck of the MAGAsphere. Because of the way ‘truth’ works, as opposed to how facts underpin truth, the scenarios are robust and not anchored to, or able to be anchored to, facts or evidence.
When you have an eco-system literally built to propagandize, spin false narratives, feed confirmation bias and, above all, inform identification, there will arise a sturdy (sub)culture built on such stories.
(My favorite are the ones that start by revealing the motive for J6: that it was an inside job cooked up by deep state operators in the aftermath of Biden’s victory solely to damage Trump’s political future. I guess this makes Biden a sore winner!)
What masks as retribution is a purge.
One thing lacking about Orwell’s 1984 as a guide for today is that the reader has no witness for the formation of Oceania, but Animal Farm is different. Jessie and Bluebell were good farm dogs whose job was to protect the sheep though they could be firm. When under the coercion of the power dynamic they allowed Napoleon to take away their nine puppies, Animal Farm was lost. The FBI is the central fight with regard to whether or not we have a Secret Police. This post was reassuring because it shows how in all the DC cases and throughout the land the Jan 6 trials created a factual record of what truly happened, and because the judicial branch itself is on the line, they will have the ability to reaffirm the truth of what actually happened on Jan 6, which is like the voice within us or the fire that shouldn’t go out.
“Move on.” Error Prone, I have to assume this is an ironic invocation of MAGAspeak. Otherwise…? Otherwise, it suggest complicity with their project of revising history so it says what they want it say.
“But this retribution. Is it real or is it a smokescreen…?” Does it matter–to those who’ve dedicated their careers to an agency’s mission and now face losing their pensions, this is a distinction without a difference.
This, by which I mean the Trump / Miller / Musk Presidency’s actions to date, all look entirely deliberate to me. A gamed-out scenario along the following lines:
1 – Break the law through executive order. Flood the zone. Move fast and break things. Overwhelm the media’s and the public’s and the Courts’ ability to respond.
2 – Obfuscate, lie, act in bad faith, game the system at every turn to maintain a pretense that you are not defying Court orders.
3 – Defy Court orders openly in selected areas. Prepare the public for an environment where compliance with Court orders is optional.
4 – Openly defy Court orders across the board, because the Courts are wrong, the President knows best, and the President is Supreme ruler.
5 – If Congress investigates, obstruct any congressional inquiries, pardon any wrong-doing and nullify any wobbly votes in the majority party through any means necessary. Congress has never impeached and removed an executive branch official, and this Congress certainly won’t be the first.
6 – Celebrate the victory of the unitary executive over the other branches.
7 – Profit.
I’ve been feeling the same way. Trump signs an executive order and it becomes law. It takes him all of five seconds and costs one Sharpie. Fighting that EO takes months, if not years, of litigation and costs untold dollars and man-hours. He’s pumping those out by the dozens.
I liken it to this Sunday’s Super Bowl where your team takes the field with eleven guys and the other team has 50, all of them receiver eligible. You can’t cover them all.
Litigates with standing can bring suits against a Trump EO and a judge can stay the EO pending litigation.
This is the quickest way to temporarily suspend the EO.
you forgot step one: Steal Underpants
I’d rather have the Underpants Gnomes in charge of the government than these guys.
My confidence that we don’t have Underpants Gnomes in charge is actually pretty low.
Also, “Underpants Gnomes” is a phrase I never thought I would see or type on Marcy’s blog, but in 2025, it seems entirely appropriate!
“Underpants gnomes” have been mentioned here in one post and seven earlier comments since 2013. :-)
Re
“According to Ken Dilanian, the FBI did turn over a list of the people involved in the January 6 investigation, though provided employee ID numbers in lieu of names.”
Here is link to Mueller She Wrote screenshot of memo from Driscoll explaining to staff the actions he took re using staff identifiers and job descriptions but not other personal identification information
https://bsky.app/profile/muellershewrote.bsky.social/post/3lhf6rdyt3c2n
That statement by Dilanian is a distinction without a difference. Since Musk’s commissar Marko Elez (among others) has been granted admin rights over at the finance office (they write the actual checks) there is no expectation that there won’t be an effort to match names to numbers.
1 It is not Delanian’s statement it is Driscoll’s
2 this is what he said in relevant part:
“and I want to explain what we have provided. We are extremely sensitive to protecting the personal safety and security of our personnel.
Therefore, the data we provided identified employees only by Unique Employee Identifier (UEID), their current title, their title at the time of the relevant investigation or prosecution, the office to which they are currently assigned, their role in the relevant investigation or prosecution, and the date of last activity related to the investigation or prosecution.
As many of you know, there is no automated way to gather that data, so multiple Headquarters teams endeavored to do so manually, along with your input through the survey many of you received. We recognize there remains confusion regarding the methodology used to compile these lists. We also recognize that there are discrepancies among the lists of names ultimately pulled from the system due to employee attrition, name changes, and other factors. We have made these potential discrepancies and our concerns regarding the accuracy and reliability of the data clear in a letter to the Department of Justice.”
Which I take to mean there is no automated way of tracing the employees via their personal id number without manually checking records.
I may be wrong, but the indication is the process of IDing the employees via their id number will be cumbersome and a little time consuming, and rely on the cooperation of the employees, which they aren’t obliged to give.
Fair enough, but admin access (plus rumored machinations inside the agency) also includes linkage ability, either pre-existing or to be coded into the system.
I don’t think the data that Marko Elez gets his hands on at Treasury is going to be of much use for identifying individual FBI agents.
It is just a surmise, but I imagine that Treasury will probably dispense tranches of monies to the FBI for it to allocate. It may be that salaries comprise a tranche or set of tranches to individual offices throughout the year, and the relevant subdivisions of FBI Human Resources Division of The Human Resources Branch, are responsible for the salaries being paid to employees.
No, that system at Treasury makes the direct deposits for payroll for all federal employees (not “cuts their checks”, because all are required to use direct deposit for paychecks). It may well not include the employee ID used in eOPF (official personnel folder).
But the database at OPM also accessed by Musk minions has the full eOPF information: job title & series, location, grade & step, and history of every personnel action and performance evaluation. If the FBI UEID is the same as the eOPF employee ID (I’ve never seen “UEID” on my eOPF paperwork), that is a simple crosswalk from the OPM database. But, it might be that the FBI UEID is a separate ID used to further protect identities of agents, in which case the query by current office & job title, previous office & job title, and a broad role may be a difficult crosswalk to generate from the list of UEIDs and roles back to the eOPF employee ID and name. I don’t think that AI will be any faster than a careful series of SQL queries: it is based on a pretty narrow knowledge set.
Eschscholzia
February 6, 2025 at 1:02 am
Thanks for your input, I am always happy to have the complexities explained and my surmises corrected
If I have understood the latter part of your comment correctly:
1 by reason of FBI needs to protect the confidentiality employee data it may be difficult to cross reference UEIDs with eOPF database
2 “I don’t think that AI will be any faster than a careful series of SQL queries: it is based on a pretty narrow knowledge set.”
— does this mean that NEITHER A.I. nor a careful series of SQL queries with get the cross-referencing (that DOJ wants to ID the agents etc) done swiftly?
Sorry if this question is dimwitted, I am just trying to understand what sort of road block Driscoll has/may have erected and how effective it may be over what sort of time period.
Thanks again
SteveBev @8:49
Both your #1 & #2 align with my thinking, but now we won’t know for sure the actual situation. CNN reported that after some “back and forth” the FBI gave DOJ another version of that list with names attached. https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/06/politics/fbi-january-6-employee-names-trump-doj/index.html
I read the 2nd and 5th paragraphs as suggesting that the FBI does have a second classified set of employee ID numbers not tied to the eOPF employee IDs, and used those in what they gave to DOJ. Bove playing hardball and demanding another list with actual names could imply that Musk’s highly trained experts could not rapidly use the OPM data they had to match names, but it could also be that Bove’s action was about “dominating” and bullying to ensure future cooperation and fear. My take is that while these updates are consistent with my thinking, there are enough other possibilities that these updates aren’t evidence that I was correct.
Also, the last sentence in that CNN piece triggers my spidey-sense: “DOJ attorney Jeremy Simon told a judge that “there has not been an official disclosure outside the department,” while also acknowledging that other government officials could have gotten access to the list through “unofficial” means.”
Further this report from AP today on a further memo from Bove sheds some further light on the back and forth between Bove and Driscoll.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-justice-department-jan-6-ff003e46ea48c4e8be710d1ba2eb2d02
“Bove, in his memo on Wednesday, accused Driscoll, the FBI’s acting chief, of “insubordination” for resisting his request “to identify the core team” responsible for Jan. 6 investigations. After Driscoll refused to comply, Bove wrote, he broadened the request for information about all FBI employees who participated in the investigations”.
Snip
“Let me be clear,” wrote Bove, who was previously part of Trump’s legal team in his criminal cases. “No FBI employee who simply followed orders and carried out their duties in an ethical manner with respect to January 6 investigations is at risk of termination or other penalties.”
But, he added, “The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI.”
I don’t think this effort by Bove to pour oil on troubled waters is going to have the effect he wants.
He has managed to be hamfisted and heavy handed with no colourable claims of misconduct at all.
If anything this will have the effect of raising Driscoll even higher in the estimation of his rank and file, I would guess .
Again thanks to MSW we can read the memo of Bove, which Driscoll shared in an email to all staff
https://bsky.app/profile/muellershewrote.bsky.social/post/3lhhby5itlc2e
It’s worth a read to see exactly how Bove makes things worse for himself
All the fbi actions were done in the light of day with support of doj and courts. All the cases that have been appealed have been upheld
“The only individuals who should be concerned about the process initiated by my January 31, 2025 memo are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent, who blatantly defied orders from Department leadership, or who exercised discretion in weaponizing the FBI.”
If Bondi, Kash, and Bove are the ones evaluating which activities meet that standard, that’s a worthless promise.
@Scott
Next sentence:
“There is no honor in the ongoing efforts to distort that simple truth or protect culpable actors from scrutiny on these issues, which have politicized the Bureau, harmed its credibility, and distracted the public”
Which is a clear statement
‘there be witches, and Bove will have them’
Clear evidence that there is already a settled conclusion that weaponisation occurred and that claims of privacy due process and the protections of the law are dishonest attempts to shield the presumptively guilty.
Anyone who’s noted how the administration magically transformed virtually all undocumented persons into “criminals” via presto-chango language-twisting will understand exactly what Bove’s weasel words really mean.
Where did our country go? Down the same toilet as the literal meanings of words. With the same flush–or fifteen flushes, I’d like to think.
The second suit contained a cite, interesting to those of us who try to document the crazy but are unable to keep up with it by tracking one by one: CREW, Trump has spread conspiracy theories about January 6th more than 175 times on Truth Social (6 Jun 2024). The author gives readers a bit of a dive into the various theories Trump has offered as to why the January 6th Capitol attack was not his fault.
Norm Eisen is listed as co-counsel, and probably was the source of the cite.
Hopefully these judges who worked faithfully for so many hours on these cases will continue to make their voices heard in their opinions/orders, telling the TRUTH about what happened that day.
Does anyone know if the Criminals-in-Charge now have access to
identifying information about grand jurors on these cases?
Also, what will happen WHEN, not if the Federal Government of the United States declines to follow rulings of the Judicial Branch?
And… can The ROBERTS COURTesan Majority Faction
FINALLY be made to feel ANY responsibility for this MESS?
Come on. A court that does what this one did will feel no responsibility for anything.
That assumes that Alito, et al think it is a mess instead of their desired outcome to remove what they consider to be DFHs.
SCOTUS justices aren’t stupid as a rule, but some of them are amoral and think they know better what is for our own good.
…and Rollo T 38…
Yes, that was badly worded. What I should have written:
Can we FINALLY,
SOMEhow, SOME way,
make them pay a price [feel the pain]
for their part in getting US into this mess?
I REALLY want them to feel the pain.
Agreed.
“including the multiple suits (one, two, three, four, five, six, seven) that attempt to stop Elon’s invasion. ”
As a non-expert, I’m sure this is a naive question, but why aren’t there immediate injunctions to prevent further invasions of this type if they are truly illegal and/or unconstitutional?
I have been wondering the same. Why aren’t these goons being stopped?
I suspect that none of the judges want to give an order they know won’t be obeyed, so they’re taking their time and making sure they’ve got either the means of compelling obedience or that they can get the principals into their courtrooms and hit them immediately for contempt, thus jailing them, if necessary. They may also be talking about combining the cases.
A few Temporary Restraining Orders and at least one injunction have issued. More will certainly come, but indeed it does take time.
Years ago I worked on a case where a state court judge was issuing orders to contradict a federal court’s orders. The federal court would order an entity to do A, B and C. The state judge would then order the same entity to NOT do A, B and C. We believed the state judge was doing it to posture as defiant so as to assure re-election for many years in a state that elected judges. What to do about it? We subpoenaed the state court judge to appear before the federal court judge to explain himself. Before the federal court the state judge was appropriately meek and mild – he had accomplished his notoriety well before the hearing. Which solved the problem.
At some point judges will be holding such hearings. But there will likely be much broken china before that point in reached. This is really a job for Congress to solve, but the only chance for any protection is going to be the courts. Which means a slow, arithmetic solution to problems growing exponentially.
Stopped by whom? The Executive is the one authorizing the laws being broken. These lawsuits will languish for years, then any favorable verdicts will be appealed to the same SCOTUS that granted the Executive complete immunity. There are no checks. There are no balances. This is the GOP’s ultimate dream of a government that will not govern.
I have a question: Are they (they is, I concede, nebulous but, for example, current and future employees of DOJ and FBI) so sure that they have co-opted the reigns of power that they will always in control of government or are they just relying on the Democrats not prosecuting them in return for their actions while “simply doing their job” should they win the next election (again, if there is one)?
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I think the point is moot. I think 2024 will be our last legit federal election. Even if dems win in w6 and 28 trump/musk/maga will say the election was stolen and overturn. Remember bonding and patel both refused to acknowledge biden won in 20.
The line for doom scrollers starts on the left, next to the one for sparkle ponies.
Immediate surrender and despair is probably not the best option here.
I have to believe that the USAID and anybody else operating under any kind of agreement with the US govt will a) have grounds to sue the DOGE idiots for tortious interference of a contract, and b) the DOGE guys are not protected by governmental immunity. Sue them and seize personal assets. Don’t worry about the Judge enforcing an injunction yet.
IANAL but believe these suits will be civil and thus probably not subject to a (um) President’s pardon power.
To enforce or not to enforce; that is the question.
Now that Bondi has been sworn in by Thomas (no surprise) the DoJ will apply the commitment to law enforcement like Bondi did with Trump University (among many other examples).
The 19-year-old who’s playing expert:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/5/2301626/-Meet-Edward-Coristine-the-19-year-old-expert-helping-lead-Elon-Musk-s-coup-of-the-US-government
This is the most astonishing and troubling thing about this whole doge thing.
President Musk has sold them a bill of lies, and they’re too inexperienced to realize it.
If Musk has gained control of OPM and the Treasury payment system, all federal employees’ information has been compromised. Members of Congress and federal judges would be included. Remembering Michael Cohen’s warning about the dangers Trump poses, it’s not far-fetched that judges and MOC’s might be rewarded or doxxed (and paid or not) using this information. One would think the GOP might choose to eliminate such a threat by joining forces with their Democratic colleagues. When you give a bully your lunch money, pretty soon he wants your new basketball shoes.
In the civil suit filed by those 3 unions of federal employees against Bessent and the Treasury (courtlistener page):
ArsTechnica has a summary of the first hearing.
Order from the 2nd hearing:
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69607077/alliance-for-retired-americans-v-bessent/#minute-entry-415728919
Sounds like no TRO yet but something will be in place by noon tomorrow.
OT There are going to be a lot of wealthy landlords that aren’t going to be too happy:
Trump and Musk demand termination of federal office leases through General Services Administration
Last week, regional managers for the General Services Administration, or GSA, received a message from the agency’s Washington headquarters to begin terminating leases on all of the roughly 7,500 federal offices nationwide, according to an email shared with The Associated Press by a GSA employee.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-musk-gsa-terminate-office-leases-f8faac5e2038722f705587c8dd21ab26
Thats crazy, how can that possibly be legal?
Probably like with federal employees, they offer them a buyout.
They don’t care about how much it’ll cost, it’s show for their supporters that we’re gutting big government like we promised.
With no office space, the employees had to work from home which has been (illegally, but yet) forbidden, so the can be fired because they don’t fulfill their obligations.
They don’t care. They will ‘settle’ with the landlords for the full cost of the lease. Claim they saved money because they eliminated an ongoing cost.
Win/ win for the wealthy.
So the local SSA office, which is in an otherwise-anonymous industrial building?
They’re fcking clueless, aren’t they?
(Multi-year leases, inexpensive buildings, inconspicuous locations. Because they do stuff mostly by phoone.)
Timothy Snyder writes today: Of Course Its A Coup “Miss the obvious, lose your republic”
He’s saying basically what I’ve been saying for the last 2 days (although more eloquently and with more authority).
All I can say is that last I saw, Elon had started investigating fraud at Medicare & Medicaid & today I tried to register my newly disabled husband for out patient therapy but his Medicare & supplemental could not be verified. He voted for this & when I informed him what was going on he yelled at me that he didn’t want to hear it. I suffer along with him, as intended by the party.
Functionally it’s good to think of the situation as being a one party state. China of course is the ultimate one party state. Xi must be laughing his ass off at MAGA’s clown car cadres. So one party state it is now and the police have not even entered the picture. And boy oh boy, the police are going to enter the picture. One party states always have visible police and military presences.
It is clearer eyed to think in terms of a one party state, vs fascism. Whatever fascism stands for doesn’t matter, as long as you have the power. So now they have it. Sure a lot of them believe in the grand Destiny of themselves and their own, but first is that it pays.
Trump wants revenge on the F.B.I. so he is trying to fire, have them resign, anything to get rid of them. Now as I understand it the F.B.I. is the major national police agency which deals with all sorts of crime and in a country with approx. 340M people there is the potential for a lot of crime, not to mention those outside the country who wish to do harm to American citizens. I’m sure they deal with drug trafficking and the illegal importing of drugs into the U.S.A. My question is, if he is telling Mexico and Canada they have to stop people from sending fent. into the U.S.A. why is he trying to eliminate the people who work to ensure it doesn’t happen? I think Canada and Mexico can just tell Trump there isn’t a problem because he is firing the people who work to combat the problem. its not like Canada is going to be able to stop all that fent. from crossing the border (less than 1% of all fent. in the U.S.A. comes from Canada)
You have to wonder how the U.S.A. is going to deal with the things the F.B.I. work on now, if the most of the F.B.I. is gone? Local police don’t have the time, money, expertise to replace them and their supporters who they might want to install in the place of the F.B.I. are too stupid to do the work the F.B.I. does.
As I understand it the F.B.I. meets and works with police forces on cases from to time and have meetings with other countries’ police forces. So if the F.B.I. agents aren’t there anymore and the “replacements” aren’t up to standard, how does that improve the safety of the American people? Its not like other countries are going to share information with a bunch of untrained, inexperienced, idiots who endangered the lives of F.B.I. agents.
It’s not only the FBI. All federal government agencies provide support to foreign governments, state and local agencies and vice versa.
Hypothetical, what happens if all CIA and other government personnel take buyouts?
I guess you call other shit countries or Elon’s pros to train new recruits.
NOAA workers received orders to pause “ALL INTERNATIONAL ENGAGEMENTS.”
Dell Cameron Politics Feb 5, 2025 7:29 PM
A number of federal employees at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the US federal agency that monitors and models the oceans and atmosphere for the purpose of predicting changes in climate and weather, have received orders to temporarily cease communicating with foreign nationals, including those working directly with the US government, WIRED has learned.
https://www.wired.com/story/noaa-employees-foreign-nationals/
More on aviation safety and NOAA, long thread:
https://bsky.app/profile/airplaney.bsky.social/post/3lhjlwco2lc2h
some quick hits, but lots more in the thread:
-On Sunday, Duffy appeared on Fox News. He did little to reassure the public about the professionalism of the people working to keep us safe. Instead, he focused on nonsense such as the FAA using the term “flight deck” instead of “cockpit” and claimed the focus on safety was lost in the last 4 years.
-As horrible as the crash was, somehow, we are now faced with an even more serious situation as Secretary Duffy has openly invited the DOGE brigade inside the FAA to “plug in to help upgrade our aviation system” …and Elon Musk says DOGE will make ‘rapid safety upgrades’ to the air traffic control system….if the man who described the explosion of one of SpaceX’s rockets as a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” is bringing the tech-bro “Move Fast. Break Things.” attitude to air traffic control, we are well past the point of concern about what comes next.
-Don’t think it’s a good idea to fly through a hailstorm?, etc.
Better have a good weather report.
FBIAA filing has misplaced “B.”, going from A to C … p4, p7. Will it revise ?
ProPublica, today:
Memory-Holing Jan. 6: What Happens When You Try to Make History Vanish?
The Trump administration’s decision to delete a DOJ database of cases against Capitol riot defendants places those who seek to preserve the historical record in direct opposition to their own government.
https://www.propublica.org/article/january-6-erasure-doj-database-trump-history
Alec MacGillis Feb. 6, 2025, 6 a.m. EST
“Yes, the long memory is the most radical idea in this country. It is the loss of that long memory which deprives our people of that connective flow of thoughts and events that clarifies our vision, not of where we’re going, but where we want to go.”
— U. Utah Phillips, 1935-2008
OT, from the AP today:
“Related to Rubio’s first stop on his trip, the U.S. State Department said late Wednesday on X that the Panamanians had agreed to allow U.S. warships to transit the Panama Canal without charge.
“But Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino later denied that, saying Thursday he had told U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth a day earlier that he could neither set the fees to transit the canal nor exempt anyone from them and that he was surprised by the U.S. State Department’s statement suggesting otherwise.
“The department had no immediate comment Thursday.”
Boy, if Rubio doesn’t come home with the Canal in his pocket he may end up in it, along with the sharks and crocodiles.
US Sec’y of State Marco Rubio knows that an independent Panamanian company manages the Canal and sets its non-discriminatory fees and rules, as is required by treaty. It’s been doing that successfully for nearly half a decade. The Panamanian govt itself has no authority to do that. Trump is projecting, because he would violate such an arrangement in a heartbeat, just as he treats his 500 or so companies as his personal piggy banks.
Rubio also knows that acceding to his demands — to let US naval ships transit the Canal without cost — would constitute the very discriminatory treatment he falsely argues Panama is guilty of. Trump being Trump, his real complaint it that he’s NOT getting special treatment. To say that Rubio, Trump, and the US are arguing in bad faith would be a gross understatement.
OT “We’re going to win so much you may even get tired of winning. And you’ll say, ‘Please, please, it’s too much winning. We can’t take it anymore, Mr. President, it’s too much.”
Reporting by Manya Saini in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta
Feb 6 (Reuters) Trump Media and Technology Group (DJT.O) said on Thursday it has applied to trademark six investment products that track bitcoin and the U.S. manufacturing and energy sectors.
The trademarks include Truth.Fi Bitcoin Plus ETF, Truth.Fi Made in America ETF, and Truth.Fi U.S. Energy Independence ETF.
Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG) is yet to file for all six products with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
TMTG is also looking to launch three separately managed accounts (SMAs) focused on these assets, in partnership with financial services firm Charles Schwab.
SMAs are investment portfolios managed by professional asset managers for individual investors or institutions.
U.S. President Donald Trump is the majority owner of TMTG, which runs the social media platform Truth Social.
Last week, TMTG said its board approved the launch of a financial services and fintech brand, Truth.Fi. The new products are part of the strategy and include investments of up to $250 million, which will be custodied by Charles Schwab.
https://www.reuters.com/technology/trump-media-files-trademark-investment-products-targeting-bitcoin-us-industries-2025-02-06/
Schwab used to be a respectable brokerage. I wonder why they decided to fold.
They haven’t been respectable in the past. Schwab said it was going to stop political giving after Jan 6, but that’s the extent of their respectability.
I resent being forced to migrate to Schwab after TD Ameritrade merged with Schwab nearly two years ago. Now I have more reason to migrate to e*Trade.
I deal with Edward Jones, which apparently likes smaller accounts.
Do they make political contributions through a PAC? Does their management team make political donations? Rhetorical questions, no answer expected.
My account is so old I don’t even remember what the brokerage was — TD Waterhouse bought them (which had been a Canadian firm), which in turn became TD Ameritrade. I’ve simply gotten swept along with the rolling M&As. Finding a brokerage not invested in the success of fascism has been annoying.
Bondi is trying to reinvent law as the will of the emperor.
Which has venerable antecedents eg
Führerprinzip ;
Lèse-Trump-majesté !
https://bsky.app/profile/kyledcheney.bsky.social/post/3lhjxmjkuww2q
February 6, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Berman Jackson:
Breaking news regarding USAID:
The American Foreign Service Association and the American Federation of Government Employees have filed a lawsuit against Trump, the State Dept, USAID, Treasury and Secretary Rubio for “Declaratory and Injunctive Relief”. Here’s a link to the complaint, from this story at The Guardian.
Here’s a Courtlistener page for the docket for this case.
The “Prayer for relief” section asks for a bunch of stuff, including for the Court to issue a TRO and preliminary injunction, and also “Order Defendants to file a status report with the Court within 24 hours of entry of a temporary restraining order, and at regular intervals thereafter, confirming compliance with these orders”.
IANAL but I’m suddenly wondering if this might become the first big test case of whether any Court can actually force Trump’s government to follow the law.
“Feb 7, 2025 Case Assigned to Judge Carl J. Nichols. (znmw)”
Well, this should be interesting… Judge Nichols got his current job from Trump in 2019. He clerked for Clarence Thomas in the 90’s.
” In the aftermath, workers labored to sweep up broken glass, wipe away blood, and clean feces off the walls. Portions of the building’s historic architecture were damaged or destroyed.”
This should not have been done until the American people got a detailed look at the destruction left behind. By the next day, I didn’t see any of this. If it was detailed and documented I missed it.