Then-President Donald Trump's "instructions" led members of a crowd to attack the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, according to a federal judge.
In a ruling on Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly found that Trump supporter Danean MacAndrew was guilty on four counts related to Jan. 6.
"After MacAndrew read then-President Trump's announcement that he would hold a rally on January 6, 2021 that 'w[ould] be wild,' she made plans to attend, excited to hear then-President Trump speak and to protest against the 2020 Presidential Election," Kollar-Kotelly wrote.
The judge continued: "And at the 'Stop the Steal' rally, then-President Trump eponymously exhorted his supporters to, in fact, stop the steal by marching to the Capitol. Defendant marched to the Capitol where, she testified, she understood that only Congress had the power to fix the election's outcome and that Congress was likely in session while she was around and in the Capitol."
Kollar-Kotelly suggested that the crowd had acted at the behest of Trump.
"Having followed then-President Trump's instructions, which were in line with her stated desires, the Court therefore finds that Defendant intended her presence to be disruptive to Congressional business," the order said.
"[H]eeding the call of former President Trump, she continued onwards to 'stop the steal,'" Kollar-Kotelly concluded. "For her participation in the insurrection of January 6, the Court finds Danean MacAndrew GUILTY."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign was rattled this week by an embarrassing leak from a strategy meeting with donors, with leaked audio and slides showing aides trying to put a positive spin on data that clearly showed Trump has an advantage in the 2024 primary and that an unusually large chunk of voters have negative views of DeSantis despite high name recognition.
But perhaps just as embarrassing as the leak itself might be how the leak happened, according to Peter Schorsch, publisher of Florida Politics, the campaign insider site which first broke the leak.
The first hint of how it happened came from a tweet by DeSantis spokesperson and campaign official Christina Pushaw, showing a picture of the person claimed to be the leaker and saying, "As you can see, not a member of our team. Team DeSantis does not leak. But larger events with many outside attendees sometimes run the risk of infiltration."
Schorsch then confirmed Pushaw's account — and added a new twist.
"My source who was a conduit to me receiving the audio from the DeSantis donor briefing confirms this was the source of the audio," tweeted Schorsch. "this person says he was invited to the briefing after interacting with a @RonDeSantis campaign staffer on the dating app @Hinge."
Alex Bruesewitz, a Republican consultant aligned with former President Donald Trump, ruthlessly mocked the DeSantis campaign over the revelation: "It came from a HINGE dating app match of one Team DeSantis’ staff members," wrote Bruesewitz, asking Pushaw, "who on your team is inviting Hinge matches to donor retreats?!"
This comes as new polling shows that DeSantis is a distant second behind Trump. DeSantis' current strategy is to invest heavily in Iowa, the first contest of the cycle, in the hope that a potential win there could be leveraged into greater national attention which would allow him to stay in until Florida's contest, where a huge amount of delegates are up for grabs.
The Trump campaign on Wednesday issued a fiery rebuke to the Department of Justice alleging the agency leaked information to CNN after the outlet reported that federal prosecutors are in possession of audio in which the former president admits he kept a classified document describing a potential attack on Iran.
Trump is heard on the recording suggesting that, although he wishes to share the information, he’s aware that as a former president he can’t declassify them, multiple sources told the cable news channel, indicating he understood he was in possession of classified material.
CNN has not heard the audio.
The Trump campaign accused the DOJ of engaging in “political persecution” that aims to further divide the country in a statement obtained by Kaitlan Collins.
“Leaks from radical partisans behind this political persecution are designed to inflame tensions and continue the media’s harassment of President Trump and his supporters,” the statement said.
“It’s just more proof that when it comes to President Trump, there are absolutely no depths to which they will not sink as they pursue their witch hunts. The DOJ’s continued interference in the presidential election is shameful and this meritless investigation should cease wasting the American taxpayer’s money on Democrat political objectives.”
According to the report, prosecutors have interviewed witnesses before a federal grand jury about the about the recording and the document, and Gen. Mark Milley, was also questioned.
Katelyn Polantz, Paula Reid, and Collins write for CNN that “Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the Justice Department investigation into Trump, has focused on the meeting as part of the criminal investigation into Trump’s handling of national security secrets. Sources describe the recording as an ‘important piece of evidence in a possible case against Trump,' who has repeatedly asserted he could retain presidential records and ‘automatically’ declassify documents.”
\u201cTrump campaign response: \u201cLeaks from radical partisans behind this political persecution are designed to inflame tensions and continue the media\u2019s harassment of President Trump and his supporters. It\u2019s just more proof that when it comes to President Trump, there are absolutely no\u2026\u201d— Kaitlan Collins (@Kaitlan Collins) 1685563628
Former FBI general counsel Andrew Weissmann warned that the new tape recording of Donald Trump bragging that he had classified documents that he wanted to show people, if verified, could be the final straw leading to Trump's conviction.
"If this reporting is true, and I'm trying not to use hyperbole, this is game over," said Weissmann. "There is no way that he will not be charged. One, it is a tape recording. Even though the reporting is there are also witnesses, so there could be a tape recording with witnesses, it involves not just possession of classified information, but the dissemination of classified information. That puts it into a completely different ballpark when you are at the Department of Justice examining the seriousness of the violation and whether to bring charges."
He explained that it also adds another crime, whereas before, it was simply the possession of the documents, refusal to give them over, and obstruction of an investigation. Now, a separate crime would be to disseminate.
"And it differentiates Joe Biden an Mike Pence," he continued. Both men were found to have documents, including some classified information. They responded by immediately handing it over. Trump did not. "So from a political perspective, it is huge because there is no evidence this happened with respect to President Biden or former Vice President Pence. The information is not just classified information. It is one of the most sensitive types of classified information, which is war plans involving a potential attack on Iran. So, from every single aspect of this, if this reporting is accurate and there is this tape recording, there will be an indictment and it is hard to see how given all the evidence that we've been talking about that there will not be a conviction here. I mean, this is a tape recording."
Weissmann went on to list all of the crimes that are involved based on the federal statutes, espionage charges, or a violation of the Espionage Act. Another is that it is a crime to possess national defense information and it is a crime to disseminate it.
"And here it apparently is shared with people who don't have clearance to get this information," he explained. "And again this — this is not like a foot fault. These are war plans given to people who have no clearance to get it. It is hard to imagine — this is their worst nightmare as to what they were thinking would happen with this information which is that Donald Trump was at the very least lax in how he was handling it and it is going to have huge repercussions within the intelligence community in terms of making sure that this is not the only thing that was disseminated."
See the explanation below or at the link here.
'This is game over': Former FBI general counsel predicts 'conviction' of Trump youtu.be
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