Free Republic

The evidence-tampering statute being used by the U.S. Department of Justice to prosecute hundreds of Jan. 6 defendants is unconstitutionally broad, interferes with First Amendment free speech, and has left prosecutors with “unbridled, standardless discretion to effectively make up their own law,” a new Supreme Court filing argues. The High Court is considering whether to take up a challenge to the use of the law (pdf) brought by Jan. 6 defendant Edward Jacob Lang, 28, of New York. Mr. Lang, at least 317 other defendants, and former President Donald Trump have been charged with corruptly obstructing an official proceeding: the...

Rachel Powell’s life has been living Hell since she broke a window to “save lives” near the tunnel where Roseanne Boyland died on Jan. 6. With her upcoming sentencing hearing in October, Powell fears she may be sentenced to years in prison because of the decisions she made that day.For most of her confinement from Feb. 4, 2021, until now, Powell has been on strict court-ordered confinement with an ankle monitor inside a small cabin in rural Pennsylvania. At times, she, her family, and her old employer have been relentlessly harassed. The silver lining, says Powell, is that her immediate...

Nejourde Meacham, a 22-year-old non-violent defendant charged with entering the U.S. Capitol on during the January 6, 2021, riot, has died while facing prosecution for four misdemeanors in what may have been a suicide. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Meacham traveled to Washington, D.C., with his uncle, Odin. Both attended the “Stop the Steal” rally at the Washington Monument before proceeding to the U.S. Capitol. Odin was arrested in May this year and charged with violent felonies, including attacking police officers with a wooden pole.

Proud Boy Dominic Pezzola sobbed in a Washington, D.C., courtroom on Friday, as he asked a federal judge for leniency in his Jan. 6 sentence and vowed to stay out of politics in the future. However, after receiving a 10-year prison sentence, Pezzola reportedly raised his fist and shouted, “Trump won,” as he left the courtroom, according to WUSA. The 46-year-old, who smashed a Capitol window with a stolen police riot shield, stood trial alongside four other members of the Proud Boys earlier this year in one of the most high-profiles cases related to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on...

As he makes his actions on January 6 the centerpiece of his campaign, Pence appears to have a different recollection than those of his top aides. During last week’s GOP debate in Milwaukee, the former vice president forced his Republican opponents to thank him for allegedly saving the republic on January 6, 2021. “The American people deserve to know whether everyone on this stage agrees that I kept my oath to the Constitution that day,” Pence declared. Unfortunately, the rest of the field complied. “Mike Pence stood for the Constitution and he deserves not grudging credit, he deserves our thanks...

A federal appeals court on Friday ordered a new sentence for a North Carolina man who pleaded guilty to a petty offense in the Capitol riot — a ruling that could impact dozens of low-level cases in the massive Jan. 6, 2021 prosecution. The appeals court in Washington said James Little was wrongly sentenced for his conviction on a misdemeanor offense to both prison time and probation, which is court-ordered monitoring of defendants who are not behind bars. Little, who entered the Capitol but didn't join in any destruction or violence, pleaded guilty in 2021 to a charge that carries...

FIRST ON FOX: The House select committee that investigated the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021 failed to adequately preserve documents, data and video depositions – including communications it had with the Biden White House that are still missing – according to the Republican lawmaker overseeing the GOP investigation into the committee's work.The now-disbanded "J6" committee, which was run by Democrats and included only two GOP members, has also failed to provide any evidence that it looked into Capitol Hill security failures on the day of the riot, Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga., chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight for the...

Beginning in the summer of 2020, when myriad states, legally and illegally, changed their voting rules in a way that removed all safeguards against fraud, it was clear that there might be problems in November. Then, on election night, six major precincts — election outcome–changing precincts — stopped counting votes altogether. When you add in all the other evidence adduced in subsequent weeks showing fraud (including Biden's unbelievably soaring vote count long after the election ended), there was good reason to question the election. Mike Pence has now conceded that he believes he could at least have opened the path...

Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz says that under his own “fraud” standard, Special Counsel Jack Smith could be indicted for omitting a key portion of then-President Donald Trump’s speech in Washington, D.C. on January 6, 2021.The indictment charges Trump with four counts, including “conspiracy to defraud the United States.” But in a portion recounting Trump’s speech at the “Stop the Steal” rally, Smith repeats the errors made by House Democrats in Trump’s second impeachment trial: he focuses on Trump’s use of the phrase “fight like hell,” and omits a sentence highlighted by Trump’s defense team: “I know that...

As Donald Trump was being arraigned in Washington on yet another round of criminal charges, his running mate-turned-rival Mike Pence hurried to capitalize on the news. Pence’s campaign unveiled new T-shirts and baseball caps for sale featuring the phrase “Too Honest” in big red letters — a reference to an episode in the indictment in which the former president called Pence to berate him over his refusal to go along with Trump’s scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “You’re too honest,” Trump allegedly scoffed at his second-in-command on New Year’s Day. Pence’s decision to seize on the...

Looks like there are more problems with that indictment from Special Counsel Jack Smith, even as it just getting started with the arraignment of former President Donald Trump on Thursday.Trump entered a not guilty plea to the four counts, which included conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.According to a report from CBS News’ Catherine Herridge, Tim Parlatore, who is the attorney for former NYPD Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik, provided records to Jack Smith on July 23. Parlatore thinks the Special Counsel...

Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges of attempting to subvert the will of voters and remain in power after his 2020 election loss — a case poised to change America’s legal and political landscape for decades to come. Appearing in the E. Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse just blocks from the U.S. Capitol, Mr. Trump said he didn’t break the law. A pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, moments after a rally where Mr. Trump claimed he won the election. “Not guilty,” Mr. Trump told U.S. Magistrate Judge Moxila Upadhyaya as he stood...

Jack Smith, in his rush to ‘get Trump,’ has done serious violence to our constitutional order and Bill of Rights.Special Counsel Jack Smith’s latest indictment against President Trump seeks to criminalize political speech and taking incorrect legal advice. Americans of all political stripes should be furious and deeply concerned by the course Smith has set this country on.I have reviewed the new Trump indictment closely, and sadly, it is exactly what we have come to expect from Smith’s team — a highly political document, riddled with legal and factual infirmities. This indictment should have never been brought to a grand...

On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Special Report,” Fox News Contributor and George Washington University Law Professor Jonathan Turley Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of 2024 Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump “basically just accuses him of disinformation. This is a disinformation indictment” and charges “many” things that are protected by the First Amendment. Turley said, “There’s less than meets the eye in this indictment. I thought the last indictment was a very serious threat for Donald Trump. When I take a red pen through material that is protected by the First Amendment, it reduces much of...

Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 @julie_kelly2 BREAKING: Trump indicted on 4 counts 4:33 PM · Aug 1, 2023

Word circulating DOJ announces new Trump indictments at 4p, Smith press statement at 5p

Former President Donald Trump has been indicted on charges related to special counsel Jack Smith's probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources with direct knowledge tell ABC News. It marks the third time the former president has been indicted on criminal charges, following his indictment last month in the special counsel's probe into his handling of classified materials after leaving office, and his indictment in April on New York state charges of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump, who has decried the probes as political witch...

FIRST ON FOX: Former President Trump was indicted Tuesday on charges stemming from Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021, Fox News Digital has learned. Trump was indicted on four federal charges out of the probe, including Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; Obstruction of, and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding; and Conspiracy Against rights. This is the second federal indictment the former president faces out of Smith’s investigation. Trump, who leads the 2024 GOP presidential primary field, has already pleaded not guilty to 37 counts related...

According to CBS News, the DC grand jury investigating Trump may indict the former president as early as Tuesday afternoon. “If there’s going to be an indictment here in DC in the special counsel’s January 6 investigation, it could come as early as tomorrow, 1 pm Eastern time when the grand jury is here in the courthouse. The January 6 grand jury tends to meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” CBS reporter Scott MacFarlane reported. “That’s the soonest it could happen but there is certainly no date on the calendar…there’s no indictment that is certain…” he said.

FOX News legal analyst Jonathan Turley comments on reports that former President Trump will be indicted again over his actions or nonaction around January 6, 2021:"JONATHAN TURLEY: This is a step that usually will come towards the end of an investigation when you receive these types of letters, it gives your client the opportunity to appear in a grand jury. They are never a welcomed thing to receive. Usually, a target letter is before you receive an indictment, that's not necessarily the case. But it is viewed that way by most criminal defense attorneys. These letters often tell the target...