Replies to post #452233 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

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AND now... a few words from the CLOWN

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Man who threw flagpole at police during Jan. 6 riot gets more than 6 years in prison


This image from police-worn body cam video contained in the statement of facts to support the arrest of Joseph Padilla, shows Padilla on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. Padilla, who wrote on social media about wanting to “take over the Capitol building” before the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, where he threw a flagpole at a police officer’s head, has been sentenced to more than six years in prison on Sept. 13, 2023. (Department of Justice via AP)

BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Updated 6:43 PM CDT, September 13, 2023

WASHINGTON (AP) — A Tennessee man who wrote on social media about wanting to “take over the Capitol building” before the Jan. 6, 2021, riot, where he threw a flagpole at a police officer’s head, was sentenced on Wednesday to more than six years in prison.

Joseph Padilla, of Cleveland, Tennessee, was convicted in May of assault with a dangerous weapon, obstruction of Congress and other charges after a bench trial in Washington’s federal court.

Padilla has been behind bars since his February 2021 arrest. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates, who found him guilty after the bench trial, ordered him this week to serve 6 1/2 years in prison.

Prosecutors say Padilla, a former prison corrections officer, spent hours the day of the riot verbally and physically attacking police, who were trying to beat back the angry mob of Donald Trump supporters as lawmakers met in the Capitol to certify then-President-elect Joe Biden ‘s electoral victory.

After other rioters attacked police with objects such as crutches and a hockey stick, Padilla launched a flagpole toward officers, hitting one of them in the head, prosecutors said in court records. Prosecutors say he then lied under oath on the witness stand about it, claiming he was trying to hit another rioter.

A day after the riot, Padilla wrote on social media that he was “proud” of his actions, adding: “It’s guns next, that’s the only way,” prosecutors said. Prosecutors also pointed to several of Padilla’s social media comments calling for a revolution ahead of Jan. 6.

“We’ve gotta do it on the 6th or never at all. We have to take over the Capitol Building, immediately pass acts dissolving the current Legislative body, and fill the places with uncompromising Patriots from among those of us there,” Padilla wrote in one post in late December 2020.

Padilla’s lawyer told the judge that his client, a U.S. Army veteran, “regrets ever having gone to the Capitol on January 6th, 2021.” Padilla’s lawyer said the man has lived an “exemplary life” despite a “troubled upbringing,” which included a stint of homelessness, and that his actions on Jan. 6 were “not typical of his life pattern.”

Padilla “states that every day is torture having to live with the fact that his actions are the direct reason for his family’s separation and hardship. He understands that his actions on January 6th caused himself and his family the pain and suffering they now deal with daily,” defense attorney Michael Cronkright wrote in court papers.

An email seeking comment was sent to Conkright after Wednesday’s hearing.

More than 1,100 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot, .. (graphics) . https://interactives.ap.org/jan-6-prosecutions/ .. which left dozens of police officers injured and halted Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory.
Over 650 defendants have pleaded guilty. More than 600 have been sentenced, with over half receiving terms of imprisonment ranging from three days to 22 years.

https://apnews.com/article/capitol-riot-assault-tennessee-flagpole-police-sentencing-378d427e81bf5691b403579eac3bc0e0

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'Indicative of moral rot': Texas GOP House speaker slams right-wing super PAC meeting with infamous Nazi

"Jan. 6 sentences are piling up. Here’s a look at some of the longest handed down.
[... to bottom ...]"
Riley Williams: 3 years
Riley Williams was sentenced to three years .. https://www.politico.com/news/2023/03/23/jan-6-defendant-riley-williams-sentenced-00088569 .. in prison in March after she surged with the mob into Pelosi’s office on Jan. 6.
Williams, a devotee of white nationalist Nick Fuentes, is seen on tape entering Pelosi’s conference room while other rioters took Pelosi’s laptop, and she encouraged them to steal it, but Williams’ lawyers contended that it was unclear whether the rioters heard her comment.

Brad Reed
October 9, 2023 12:05PM ET


Dade Phelan (Photo via the Texas Tribune)

Dade Phelan, the speaker of Texas' House of Representatives, took a shot at some of his own political allies on Monday for meeting with infamous Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes .. https://www.rawstory.com/nick-fuentes-2659863518/ .

The meeting in question was hosted by Jonathan Stickland .. https://www.rawstory.com/nick-fuentes-2665851327/ , the president of the Defend Texas Liberty PAC that has donated generously to Texas Republicans.

In condemning the meeting ..

The Republican Party is no place for Hitler apologists. My full statement here: pic.twitter.com/WgZ1JDY9Qw

— Dade Phelan (@DadePhelan) October 9, 2023

, Phelan emphasized that "this [is] not just a casual misstep" but is instead "indicative of the moral, political rot that has been festering in a certain segment of our party for far too long."

POLL: Should Trump be allowed to run for office?
https://www.rawstory.com/donald-trump-2663537597/

"Anti-Semitism, bigotry and Hitler apologists should find no sanctuary in the Republican Party," he continued. "We cannot -- and must not -- tolerate the tacit endorsement of such vile ideologies."

Phelan went on to document some of the big money that Defend Texas Liberty PAC has been shelling out, including $132,000 given to the Texas GOP and a $3 million to Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

He then called upon Republicans in the state to donate these funds to charities.

"There is no excuse to keep tainted funds from an organization that provides a platform for hatemongers, sexual predators, racists and Nazi sympathizers," he said.

https://www.rawstory.com/texas-republican-nazis/

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Judge Rejects Trump’s Effort to Delay Jan. 6 Civil Cases

"Jan. 6 sentences are piling up. Here’s a look at some of the longest handed down.
"Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio gets 22 years, longest Jan. 6 sentence yet
The former Proud Boys chairman wasn't present at the Capitol attack, but prosecutors said he acted as "a general rather than a soldier."""

Related: A Related of yours - Steve Bannon's Delayed Prison Sentence a 'Miscarriage of Justice': Attorney
[...]"There's an interesting disparity in what's happened to Navarro versus what happened to Bannon, because Bannon committed virtually the same crimes," Kirschner said. "But Bannon is out, pending appeals. He hasn't had to spend one minute behind bars, yet. So why is there this disparity in the way that two convicted defendants are being treated? Well, the judge who presided over Peter Navarro's case is a judge named Amit Mehta. He is a straight-up, fair, impartial, no-nonsense judge."
P - He continued: "Steve Bannon committed the same crimes, was convicted of the same offenses, was handed the same sentence, four months in prison, but the judge who presided over Steve Bannon's trial is a guy named Carl Nichols. Guess who he was appointed by? He's a Trump appointee. And I think it represents a real miscarriage of justice that Steve Bannon has been permitted to be out, out and out about."
https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=173895263

The former president had sought to have lawsuits against him put on hold until after his federal criminal trial on charges of plotting to overturn the 2020 election.


A judge overseeing a group of civil lawsuits against former President Donald J. Trump must decide whether his fiery speech on Jan. 6, 2021,
urging his supporters to march to the Capitol, should be considered an official presidential act or a private one related to his re-election
campaign. Pete Marovich for The New York Times

By Alan Feuer
April 18, 2024, 4:45 p.m. ET

A federal judge on Thursday rejected former President Donald J. Trump’s attempt to delay a group of civil lawsuits that are seeking to hold him accountable for inspiring the violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Mr. Trump had sought to have the suits put on hold until after the completion of his federal criminal trial connected to many of the same events. But in a nine-page ruling, the judge, Amit P. Mehta, decided that the civil lawsuits could move forward without running the risk that Mr. Trump might damage his chances in the criminal case by revealing his defense strategy prematurely or making statements that prosecutors might use against him.

Last month, when lawyers for Mr. Trump first asked Judge Mehta to postpone the civil cases .. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/us/politics/trump-delay-civil-cases.html , it was the latest example of the former president seeking to pit his multiple legal matters against one another in an effort to delay them.

In the past few days, Mr. Trump has also sought to push back an important filing deadline he is facing in his classified documents case in Florida by arguing that the lawyers who have to write the court papers in question need more time because they are busy representing him at yet another criminal trial — the one in Manhattan where he stands accused of falsifying business records to cover up a sex scandal on the eve of the 2016 election.

While Judge Mehta’s decision to let the civil suits move forward struck a blow against Mr. Trump’s delay tactics, he and his lawyers have been remarkably successful overall at throwing sand into the gears of all four of the criminal cases he is facing .. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/16/nyregion/donald-trump-trial-delay-strategy.html . The Manhattan trial, which is now in jury selection, may turn out to be the only one of the four to go in front of a jury before this fall’s election.

The Jan. 6 civil suits are an often forgotten aspect of the barrage of legal proceedings confronting Mr. Trump. In the months after the Capitol attack, a half-dozen of them were filed by members of Congress and police officers who were at the building that day, accusing Mr. Trump of inciting the mob that stormed the building.

The suits, which all are being heard in Federal District Court in Washington, have sought unspecified financial damages from the former president.

In his ruling, Judge Mehta acknowledged that there can often be dangers involved in permitting civil and criminal cases that touch on the same subject to move forward simultaneously. But he determined that the potential perils in this particular situation were relatively limited.

In December, a federal appeals court in Washington rejected Mr. Trump’s claim .. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/01/us/politics/trump-jan-6-lawsuits.html .. that he was immune to the civil suits because their allegations arose from official acts he took while he was president.

As part of its decision, the appeals court sent the case back to Judge Mehta to decide whether Mr. Trump’s fiery speech on Jan. 6, in which he urged his supporters to march to the Capitol, should be considered an official act of his presidency or was instead a private act related to his re-election campaign.

It was that fact-finding process, which has not yet started, that prompted Mr. Trump’s lawyers to ask that the civil cases be put on hold. The lawyers were concerned that if Mr. Trump or his allies were forced to provide information about the nature of his speech or any other remarks he had made concerning Jan. 6, it could be used against him by prosecutors in the criminal case.

But Judge Mehta disagreed, saying that any new information that might come out about Mr. Trump’s speech would be limited and that prosecutors would likely not be able to use it against Mr. Trump in the criminal proceeding in any meaningful or damaging way.

The criminal case itself has been on hold for months as a series of courts have considered Mr. Trump’s attempt to use a similar immunity defense to derail it. The Supreme Court is poised to hear a final round of arguments on the immunity claim .. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/19/us/trump-supreme-court-immunity.html .. on April 25.

Alan Feuer covers extremism and political violence for The Times, focusing on the criminal cases involving the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and against former President Donald J. Trump. More about Alan Feuer

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/us/politics/trump-delay-jan-6-civil-cases.html