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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

After Being Mocked Over Three ‘Nutcase’ Whistleblowers Jim Jordan Now Threatening 16 FBI Agents With Subpoenas

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House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, who infamously refused to honor a lawful subpoena from the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack requiring his testimony last year, on Friday issued a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray demanding 16 FBI agents testify before his committee or face subpoenas to do so.

The letter is officially from the Judiciary Committee but was tweeted out by the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which is also chaired by Jordan. That new subcommittee has been the subject of scrutiny and mockery over the past 24 hours after Jordan claimed he had three FBI “whistleblowers” who Democrats in a damning 300-page report say have no first-hand knowledge of any wrongdoing.

Democrats are demanding Jordan make the three agents testify in public “about the so-called ‘weaponization’ of the law enforcement agency,” Raw Story reported.

READ MORE: Haley Tells Half-Empty Room at CPAC ‘America Is Not a Racist Country’ and ‘Wokeness’ Is More Dangerous Than COVID

“A series of reports have shown that Jim Jordan’s new ‘weaponization subcommittee’ is based on lies,” says MSNBC executive producer Kyle Griffin. “Witnesses who appeared at hearings have spread conspiracies about Jan. 6, some have zero firsthand knowledge of any FBI wrongdoing, and some have been paid by Trump allies.”

The New York Times reported at least two of the so-called whistleblowers were compensated by a top Trump ally, Kash Patel.

“Nick Akerman, former assistant special Watergate prosecutor and former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, told Newsweek on Friday that Jordan and the Republicans are relying on ‘three nutcases’ to provide evidence of a ‘Deep State conspiracy’ about COVID-19, January 6, 2021, Capitol riot or the 2020 presidential election being stolen,” Newsweek reports.

Chairman Jordan’s three-page Friday letter to the FBI Director appeared at the far-right wing website Breitbart as an “exclusive,” and was posted to Twitter by Jordan’s committee, which also retweeted the Breitbart story. The Judiciary Committee also quickly republished the Breitbart story to the Committee’s website.

The letter begins, “The Committee on the Judiciary is conducting oversight of the programs and operations of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). As part of our constitutional oversight responsibilities, we require testimony from employees of the FBI about the matters we are examining. We expect your cooperation in this process.”

It does not state what the investigation is about, nor does it offer Wray any information on what the 16 agents would be testifying about. It does, however, make clear the threat of subpoenas: “Please be aware that the committee will resort to compulsory process to obtain the required testimony.”

READ MORE: You Might Be Gay if You Drink Tap Water Says DeSantis Nominee Who Calls LGBTQ People ‘Evil’

It appears Jordan or someone on his subcommittee may have given Breitbart information from their investigation.

“Jordan named in the letter 16 individuals, all of whom are current or recent FBI employees and had been named by the three witnesses in the closed-door interviews, according to interview transcriptions and notes reviewed by Breitbart News.”

Late last year the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack found that Rep. Jordan had violated congressional ethics when he refused to honor their lawful subpoena.

“Ohio GOP Congressman Jim Jordan was unanimously referred to the bipartisan House Ethics Committee,” WSYX reported, “for refusing to share what he knows about former President Donald Trump’s role in the U.S. Capitol insurrection nearly two years ago.”

See Jordan’s letter to Director Wray below or at this link:

Image by Gage Skidmore via Flickr and a CC license

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

Trump Appeals After Judge Agrees With Special Counsel on Crime-Fraud Exception and Requires His Attorney to Testify

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Donald Trump’s attorneys have appealed a ruling that requires one of his lawyers to testify before a grand jury investigating his unlawful removal, retention, and refusal to return classified documents from the White House.

Attorneys for the Special Counsel “said there is evidence of a deliberate effort not to turn over all the material covered by the subpoena,” The Washington Post reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell had reportedly agreed with Special Counsel Smith that there is sufficient evidence proving Donald Trump may have committed a crime via his attorneys, and ruled his attorney must testify before a grand jury. The ruling, which was not made public, was handed down Friday night, NBC News reported Wednesday afternoon.

Judge Howell “ruled in favor of applying the ‘crime fraud’ exception to Trump’s attorney-client privilege and ordered Trump lawyer Evan Corcoran to testify before the federal grand jury.”

READ MORE: ‘On Standby’: Experts Say Manhattan Hush Money Grand Jury Delay ‘Not All That Surprising’

Trump’s attorneys have already appealed the ruling.

“People familiar with the matter said an appeals panel has already begun reviewing the decision, after Trump’s lawyers appealed,” The Washington Post adds. “The extraordinarily quick timeline suggests that the judges — all nominated by Democratic presidents — intend to rule swiftly.”

Trump could take his case all the way to the Supreme Court, but The Post says it’s “not clear he would have a much better chance of success there.”

According to an NBC News report from October, Corcoran directed another Trump attorney, Christina Bobb, to sign the letter claiming a thorough search of Mar-a-Lago had been made and all classified or “sensitive” documents had been returned. That was proven untrue after federal agents, executing a search warrant, recovered hundreds of documents with classified markings.

NEW: ‘National Security Implications’: Former DOJ Official Speculates on Ruling Ordering Trump Attorney to Hand Over Docs

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘Complete Dog Whistle’: Experts Say Trump Sending Coded Message to Far-Right With Location of Next Rally

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As Donald Trump continues his recently launched campaign for 2024, his next stop is raising the eyebrows of some experts who say it’s a deliberate message to the far-right, AZ Central reported.

Trump plans to hold a rally this Saturday in the city of Waco, Texas — on the anniversary of the infamous ATF siege that ended in the fiery deaths of cult leader David Koresh and over 80 of his followers, including 25 children.

The event has been a rallying point for many in far-right anti-government movements, including Timothy McVeigh, who carried out the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City in 1995, which caused the deaths 198 people, including 19 children. The Waco siege has also been the catalyst for a wave of anti-government conspiracy theories since then. It also is central to many pro-2nd Amendment advocates, since the ATF initially carried out a raid on Koresh’s compound accusing him and his group of stockpiling illegal weapons.

Experts speaking to AZ Central say that’s exactly why Trump chose Waco.

IN OTHER NEWS: Anti-Trump protesters vastly outnumber MAGA supporters outside Manhattan courthouse: report

“Waco is hugely symbolic on the far right,” said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. “There’s not really another place in the U.S. that you could pick that would tap into these deep veins of anti-government hatred – Christian nationalist skepticism of the government – and I find it hard to believe that Trump doesn’t know that Waco represents all of these things.”

“Waco has a sense of grievance among people that I know he’s (Trump’s) got to be trying to tap into,” Beirich said. “He’s being unjustly accused, like the Branch Davidians were unjustly accused – and the deep state is out to get them all.”

Deputy director for data analytics at the Southern Poverty Law Center, Megan Squire, was a little more direct.

“Give me a break! There’s no reason to go to Waco, Texas, other than one thing – in April,” Squire said. “I can’t even fathom what’s what that’s about other than just a complete dog whistle – actually forget dog whistle, that is just a train whistle to the folks who still remember that event and are still mad about it.”

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RIGHT WING EXTREMISM

‘Chilling’: Law Enforcement ‘Seriously’ Investigating Threats Ahead of Possible Trump Indictment Says Top WaPo Reporter

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Ahead of a possible indictment of Donald Trump, law enforcement agencies are investigating “chilling” threats, including against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, according to top Washington Post investigative reporter Carol Leonnig.

Leonnig was careful to say she is not aware of any of the threats being deemed credible, but also noted that “all sorts of law enforcement agencies” seem to be taking much more interest than some agencies did in the weeks before the January 6, 2021 insurrection.

“I have received copies and screenshots and internal documents and emails flagging concerns about specific protests, investigations into specific online threats that have been made that are not yet determined to be ‘credible and likely to occur’ but have been chilling nonetheless in terms of the threats that have been made about killing certain people,” Leonning, a Pulitzer-Prize winning author, said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline: White House.”

“Claims of, you know, ‘Alvin Bragg needs to needs to die,’ and claims online that could just be, you know, bravado, but are being seriously investigated and checked into this time around, ones that were not checked into as clearly at all in the weeks before January 6, despite significant warnings to the FBI about what these threats meant.”

Mirroring Leonnig’s reporting, Rolling Stone, citing law enforcement reports, on Tuesday noted: “Violent extremists are advocating lethal attacks and proclaiming their willingness to die for the cause.”

READ MORE: ‘All-Out War’: Trump’s Attorney Tells Kimberly Guilfoyle Ex-President Will Be ‘Loud and Proud’ When Showing Up for Indictment

“U.S. Capitol Police, the D.C. Fusion Center, and the Federal Highway Administration have all circulated warnings about the uptick in online threats over the past 48 hours. The bulletins and threat assessments detail some of the online threats and discussions about the use of specific tactics and methods for carrying out attacks — including online discussions about lethal attacks if Trump is arrested.”

On Saturday in an explosive series of social media posts Donald Trump urged his supporters to “protest” and “take our nation back.”

That “announcement was met with an immediate increase in violent online rhetoric and expressed threats toward government and law enforcement targets perceived as participating in a political persecution of the former president, as well as calls for ‘Civil War’ more generally.”

The DC Fusion Center, which analyzes threats, in a report stated it “assesses that potential criminal justice actions taken toward a former US president — or actions perceived to be taken toward the former president — remain a ‘line in the sand’ for [Domestic Violent Extremist] communities and thus have the potential to manifest in violence toward government targets or political officials,” Rolling Stone added.

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