Texas
How Texans helped scheme, foment and carry out the Jan. 6 insurrection
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Editor’s observe: This story accommodates specific language.
The Jan. 6, 2021, rebellion wouldn’t have been potential with out the assistance of numerous key Texans.
That a lot is evident on the two-year anniversary of the assault and within the wake of an enormous congressional report that exhaustively particulars how former President Donald Trump sought to overturn the outcomes of the 2020 presidential election, regardless of figuring out there was no proof of widespread fraud.
Launched late final month, the report and accompanying interview transcripts — which collectively span greater than 10,000 pages — learn like a who’s who of Texas conspiracy theorists, conservative activists and extremists.
From those that planted the seeds of Trump’s technique to attempt to problem the election to others who sowed doubt and anger by spreading baseless theories on election fraud, Texans performed main roles in fomenting, planning and, ultimately, finishing up the lethal riot on the U.S. Capitol.
And but, two years later, it’s unclear if something has modified. The Home Choose Committee has referred Trump to the Justice Division for expenses together with conspiracy to defraud the federal government and inciting or aiding an rebellion, and greater than 900 folks — together with at the least 75 Texans — have been charged with crimes associated to the Capitol breach. However most Republican leaders have been, at greatest, reticent to talk out in opposition to Trump, if not outright defending his actions and endorsing his lies.
Others have continued to courtroom the kind of extremist teams and figures that performed central roles within the riot or pushed the baseless election fraud myths that have been the pretext for his or her violence.
“Jan. 6 has continued to be extremely polarized,” stated Catrina Doxsee, an skilled on home terrorism on the Heart for Strategic and Worldwide Research, a Washington, D.C.-based suppose tank that focuses on nationwide safety. “There isn’t a one, single consensus or condemnation of the occasions. And the truth that these conspiracies proceed to take maintain — that that rhetoric remains to be so prevalent — could be very regarding, particularly as we begin to flip our consideration to a high-profile 2024 presidential season.”
A lot of these conspiracy theories have Texas roots. In 2018, Sidney Powell, a Dallas-based lawyer with no experience in election regulation, first met Russell Ramsland, a rich Dallas businessman and failed congressional candidate, in an airplane hangar exterior of Dallas, Powell advised the Jan. 6 congressional committee. Ramsland was joined by Laura Pressley, who had claimed in a 2014 lawsuit that voter fraud prompted her to lose her bid for Austin Metropolis Council — and who, extra lately, has tried to sue Gillespie County over the outcomes of a referendum to place fluoride within the water.
On the assembly within the hangar, the 2 pushed the idea that voting machines have been being rigged and advised the group, which reportedly included distinguished Texas conservatives, that difficult election outcomes might power audits that might show as a lot.
Powell advised the committee she stored in contact with Ramsland after the 2018 Dallas assembly.
“I knew he understood points of it that I don’t have data of,” Powell advised the Choose Committee. “I knew he had labored within the space.”
Their relationship would show essential two years later, as Trump desperately appeared for proof to show that the 2020 contest was stolen from him — regardless of objections from prime advisers, together with his then-Lawyer Normal William Barr. Based on the Choose Committee, Trump discovered his reply in a report by Ramsland’s Dallas-based cybersecurity firm, Allied Safety Operations Group, that alleged there have been inconsistent vote tallies in quite a few states that used voting machines by Dominion Voting Techniques.
The Choose Committee stated Powell and former U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Tyler, helped get the report in entrance of Trump, who later provided Powell a place as Particular Counsel for election-related conferences. White Home legal professionals “vehemently opposed” Powell’s appointment, and so it was by no means made formal.
Ramsland’s work, the Choose Committee discovered, was “very amateurish,” “false and deceptive” and was “extensively ridiculed” by the general public after it was found he’d confused Michigan and Minnesota precinct knowledge, amongst different errors.
“I advised him that the stuff that his folks have been shoveling out to the general public was bullshit, I imply, that the claims of fraud have been bullshit,” Barr recalled. “And, , he was indignant about that. And I reiterated that they wasted an entire month of those claims on the Dominion voting machines and so they have been idiotic claims.”
However, Trump “was adamant that the report should be correct, that it proved that the election was faulty, that he actually gained the election, and the [Department of Justice] ought to be utilizing that report back to principally inform the American people who the outcomes weren’t reliable,” Richard Donoghue, then the performing deputy lawyer normal, advised the Choose Committee.
The president and his allies, together with Powell and Trump’s private lawyer Rudy Giuliani, continued to push Ramsland’s report as proof that there was widespread fraud. Within the following weeks and months, they routinely alleged that Dominion was a part of a plot to overturn the election — maybe on the course of the Venezuelan authorities or a shadowy community of “international pursuits.”
The Dominion conspiracy was a key plank of Trump’s technique and was cited in a fruitless lawsuit by Texas Lawyer Normal Ken Paxton that challenged the result of the 2020 contest in 4 states exterior of Texas. Dominion has since filed a $1.3 billion defamation go well with in opposition to Powell. And each she and Paxton have fought efforts to be disbarred after being reprimanded by the State Bar of Texas for making false claims about election fraud.
In her closing remarks to the committee, Powell stood by her actions — and recommended a lot of the Capitol siege was orchestrated by folks aside from Trump supporters, together with “antifa” or the FBI. “I believe there are undoubtedly some people who did some issues incorrect that they need to not have finished, however, sure, I believe there was an enormous set-up issue contributed to by the FBI and others,” Powell stated.
She added: “I don’t just like the flip any of our politics and actions have taken typically within the final twenty years.”
Powell was not the one Texan to play a vital function in Trump’s makes an attempt to overturn the election. Across the similar time that the then-president was seizing on the Dominion conspiracy, two Austin-area businessmen pitched him on a fringe concept that state legislatures might overturn the 2020 contest by sending separate electors.
The 2 males, Morgan Warstler and John S. Robison, didn’t reply to requests for remark, and so it’s unclear how they have been in a position to safe the assembly with Trump. However that they had earlier ties to former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who later served as Trump’s power secretary and reportedly endorsed an identical plan in textual content messages to Trump’s Chief of Workers Mark Meadows. The concept to make use of alternate electors grew to become central to Trump’s alleged plot to overturn the election.
One other Texan, retired Military Col. Phil Waldron, was enlisted by Trump allies to disrupt the election’s certification. Waldron, of Dripping Springs, declined to reply a lot of the Choose Committee’s questions throughout his interview, however circulated a 38-page PowerPoint presentation that, amongst different issues, referred to as for Trump to declare a state of emergency and seize voting machines, the Choose Committee stated. The plan was dismissed by most White Home officers however intrigued Trump, who “was very fascinated by protecting pathways to victory open,” Trump marketing campaign supervisor Invoice Stepien advised the Choose Committee.
Extremist teams
Extremism consultants say the rebellion was a case research within the fusion of extremist teams that after had comparatively disparate targets however ultimately coalesced round broader conspiracy theories — together with people who borrow from white supremacist worldviews.
“Their ideologies are bleeding collectively,” stated Freddy Cruz, who research militia actions on the Southern Poverty Legislation Heart. “Numerous these teams are principally choosing off core messages from completely different actions and adopting them to recruit new members and keep alive.”
Cruz famous that the Oath Keepers, the far-right anti-government militia that was based by Granbury resident Stewart Rhodes, was primarily centered on anti-immigration points when it started to develop in the course of the early years of the Obama administration. However he stated that messaging modified as Trump, who the Oath Keepers noticed as an ideological ally, more and more infused election-fraud myths with nativist conspiracy theories equivalent to Nice Alternative Principle, which claims that there’s an intentional effort to dilute white, typically Christian, energy in America via immigration, interracial marriage and different means.
All through the Trump period, such radical conspiracies have been more and more mainstreamed by figures equivalent to Fox Information host Tucker Carlson. And so they have been intensified amid COVID-19 lockdowns that drew protests from far-right activists and, in response to the Jan. 6 congressional report, grew to become a nexus level for some who performed key roles within the rebellion.
Rhodes, for instance, advised the committee that he met a key Oath Keepers determine, Granbury lawyer Kellye SoRelle, at an anti-lockdown protest in Austin. SoRelle, who unsuccessfully ran to characterize Texas Home District 60 within the 2020 Republican major, ultimately grew to become the group’s lawyer and was indicted final yr for her alleged function within the Capitol riot. Attorneys for Rhodes and SoRelle didn’t reply to requests for remark this week.
The Jan. 6 report additionally exhibits how protest occasions introduced the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, a violent far-right avenue gang, along with conspiracy theorists equivalent to Austin-based Alex Jones and Ali Alexander, a Fort Price activist who was instrumental within the “Cease the Steal” motion. These relationships would show essential to Trump’s potential to mobilize loyalists after he misplaced the November 2020 election, the report discovered.
As Trump continued to push his baseless claims of widespread fraud, “Cease the Steal” teams mobilized at protests in or exterior state capitol or different authorities buildings — a preview of the eventual violence on the U.S. Capitol, the Choose Committee stated. The report outlines how these teams, galvanized by Trump’s help and emboldened by the GOP’s widespread proliferation of conspiracy theories, steadily escalated their rhetoric and deliberate for violence.
“These occasions offered a chance for radicals and extremists to coalesce,” the report stated. “Cease the Steal occasions and different protests all through 2020 helped construct the momentum for Jan. 6.”
In Atlanta in mid-November 2020, Jones, Alexander and white supremacist Nick Fuentes led supporters into the state Capitol. “We’ll gentle the entire shit on hearth,” Alexander advised the group that day. “Storm the capitol,” he stated at one other level.
Different teams, together with the Proud Boys, equally capitalized on Trump’s baseless election fraud claims.
“It’s time for fucking warfare in the event that they steal this shit,” one chief, Joe Biggs, posted on social media. One other chief, Ethan Nordean, referenced the “Day of the Rope” — an allusion to the fictionalized day on which “race traitors” are lynched en masse in “The Turner Diaries,” a white supremacist novel that has impressed quite a few murders and assaults by far-right teams.
At a November rally in Washington, D.C., Proud Boys chief Enrique Tarrio was photographed with Alexander and shared a stage with Jones. He additionally stated on social media that he had a gathering on the White Home that, in response to the congressional report, “seems to have been facilitated” by Bianca Gracia, a Harris County resident who was then-head of the Latinos For Trump group, and who misplaced her 2022 major bid for Texas’ eleventh State Senate district.
Gracia, Tarrio, Jones and Alexander didn’t reply to requests for remark this week.
Issues solely escalated in December 2020, after Trump referred to as for supporters to descend on Washington for what he promised could be a “wild” protest on Jan. 6. Quickly after, Jones’ web site requested readers in the event that they “would reply President Trump’s name to defend the Republic?”
“He’s calling you, he wants your assist, we want your assist, we want 10 million folks there,” Jones stated on a Dec. 20 episode of his present, InfoWars. “We’d like martial regulation and have to forestall the police state of foreigners from taking up.”
“It’s actually in our fingers,” Jones stated at one other level. “It’s actually as much as us.”
In the meantime, leaders of the Oath Keepers continued to arrange for Trump to invoke the Rebel Act — a 200-year-old regulation that might enable him to droop civil liberties and deputize militias such because the Oath Keepers to implement the rule of regulation. On a November episode of InfoWars, Rhodes advised Jones that they had established a “fast response power” to do as a lot. And, within the days earlier than the Jan. 6 rebellion, Rhodes purchased greater than $10,000 in weapons and tactical gear that have been stashed in numerous spots simply exterior of Washington in anticipation of violence.
Rhodes and SoRelle arrived in Washington on Jan. 5; Gracia, the Texas-based chief of Latinos For Trump, later facilitated a gathering in a parking storage between the 2 and Tarrio, the Proud Boys chief, in response to the Jan. 6 report. There, Tarrio stated that he and Rhodes “don’t get alongside,” however that conditions like Jan. 6 referred to as for the teams to “unite no matter our variations.” Tarrio left Washington quickly after beneath the phrases of an arrest the day prior for stealing and burning a Black Lives Matter flag from a church months earlier, in addition to for having a high-capacity journal.
The following day, leaders of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers allegedly led separate assaults on the Capitol that resulted in 5 deaths and an estimated $1.5 million in harm. Rhodes and quite a few different Oath Keepers have been discovered responsible in November of seditious conspiracy, amongst different expenses.
Tarrio and different Proud Boys leaders have been charged final yr with comparable crimes. Prosecutors say the group was a part of a particular unit that supposed to breach and occupy the Capitol. That trial begins this month.
Jones has not been charged with any crimes related to the Jan. 6 rebellion however was required to pay almost $1.5 billion in lawsuit judgments to households of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary College taking pictures that he accused of being disaster actors — claims that led to years of harassment and threats by his followers.
Alexander, in the meantime, has sought to distance himself from the violence on the Capitol. In testimony to the congressional committee, he stated he was being scapegoated partially as a result of he’s Black and his authorized identify, Ali Abdul-Razaq Akbar, sounds overseas. And he has more and more adopted weird claims — together with that he might use time-travel to “will” a victory for Kari Lake, the Trump-endorsed Arizona gubernatorial candidate who continues to assert that the 2022 election there was stolen from her.
Politics as common
Within the wake of the Choose Committee’s yr of labor detailing the moments earlier than and in the course of the Capitol assault, Texas Democrats on the Hill have referred to as for accountability and framed the rebellion as a part of a broader normalization of conspiracies and fraud myths that was perpetuated by Trump.
“This was a lot greater than a single day’s lethal, harmful riot,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin, stated in an announcement. “Like different insurrectionists already convicted of seditious conspiracy, Trump tried to overthrow the federal government — to throw a dagger within the coronary heart of our democracy.”
Most Texas Republicans serving in Congress didn’t reply to requests for remark. However those that did framed the Jan. 6 committee’s work as a partisan witch hunt.
“Their singular focus has been to assault President Trump and punish anybody related to him on the taxpayer dime,” Sugarland Rep. Randy Weber stated. “In the event that they genuinely wished to make bipartisan efforts to know the truths behind that day, they wouldn’t have restricted Republicans like Kevin McCarthy and Jim Jordan from the committee.”
However Republicans did serve on the committee and accounted for just about the entire interviews the committee performed for the report. Many Republicans, together with Jordan and McCarthy, refused to adjust to subpoenas from the committee; and McCarthy, then the minority chief, was initially allowed to fill 5 seats on the committee however reportedly pulled his nominations after two of them have been vetoed as a result of they have been 2020 election-deniers.
Nonetheless, in Texas and nationally, the election-fraud myths proceed to be unfold by prime Republicans. Final yr, the Texas GOP formally codified election denialism into its platform after delegates on the state conference voted to declare that Joe Biden was not the president.
And prime Republicans have continued to stoke election-fraud myths, notably within the lead-up to the 2022 midterm elections. Final summer time, Powell, whose claims in regards to the 2020 election had by then been discredited advert nauseum, was featured alongside Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller at a Dallas screening of “2000 Mules,” the debunked movie on election fraud. Paxton’s workplace additionally screened the movie. And a current NPR investigation discovered that, because the rebellion, greater than two dozen conservative teams within the state have hosted election-deniers — together with Seth Keshel, who appeared within the Jan. 6 report and is scheduled to talk subsequent month to a Houston-area group that beforehand hosted Ramsland and Waldron, the retired Military colonel who pitched Trump on martial regulation.
In the meantime, Trump is operating for president once more, no much less hellbent on convincing voters he was robbed and even suggesting the Structure ought to be terminated so he might be reinstated as president. Final yr, Trump met at Mar-a-Lago with Fuentes, the avowed fascist and Holocaust denier who was a staple at “Cease the Steal” rallies and was interviewed by the Jan. 6 committee; and, whereas the group’s prime management has gone quiet forward of their prison sedition trial, Proud Boys stay a fixture at GOP occasions throughout the nation, together with drag present protests which were promoted by conservative elected officers.
Doxsee, the home terrorism skilled, stated the sedition expenses in opposition to the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys could result in a fracturing of some far-right teams. However that will simply push America’s extremist motion again towards the “leaderless resistance” mannequin that was its norm till lately, when far-right views have been more and more normalized.
What’s clear, Doxsee stated, is that extra folks of affect want to talk out in opposition to such teams and the myths that they’ve seized upon post-Trump.
“When people in positions of energy, both deliberately or inadvertently, make feedback that extremists interpret as condoning their actions or advocating for his or her beliefs, they’re extra more likely to be empowered to really take motion, to rally within the public eye, and to incite or conduct violence,” she stated.
Matthew Choi contributed to this reporting.
Disclosure: Southern Poverty Legislation Heart and State Bar of Texas have been monetary supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no function within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full checklist of them right here.
Texas
Texas High School Football Team In Trouble For Whipping Opponents With Belts After Blowout Victory
A Texas High School football team is facing criticism after not only putting a beating on their opponents 77-0, but also taking belts and whipping some of the opposing team’s players afterward in the handshake line.
Players at the Houston-based Willis High School were seen on a video posted on Facebook taking large belts and swinging them at members of the Cleveland High School team during the customary postgame sportsmanship handshake. At one point, one of the Cleveland players jumps out of the way in order to avoid getting whipped while Willis’s players laugh at their opponent.
WINNING FOOTBALL TEAM TOOK BELTS AND SPANKED / WHIPPED OPPONENTS
Yikes.
If being shut out by 70+ points wasn’t humiliating enough, imagine having your opponents then haze you in front of your teammates, family and school? Not a laughing matter, according to some of the Cleveland player’s parents.
“That’s just shady and there’s no point in doing that. It’s just very childish for them to do that,” Melanie Gonzales told KRHO TV.
“I just don’t get it. I don’t, and I’d be very pissed off if I’m scrolling on my phone, and I see my son getting hit with the belt,” Mary Almaguer also told the outlet as she said that the whole situation was ridiculous. In a statement, Willis High School said that the players involved in the whipping would be suspended for the first half of their next game, partake in community service and receive other disciplinary measures.
For Almaguer, that’s not enough.
PARENTS ARE CALLING THE SCHOOL DISTRICT TO FILE A COMPLAINT
“I think more than just half of a game suspension, maybe the rest of the season, some counseling,” the player’s mom said. Meanwhile, Cleveland High School released their own statement saying that Willis’s actions were uncalled for and they have contacted the proper district and league officials to file an official complaint.
How times have changed! Back when I was playing sports, the biggest thing we had to worry about was if someone spit on their hand before we all lined up. But to have to maneuver your way around the line so that you don’t get whipped and spanked is absurd.
Also, where were the coaches of either team while all of this was going on? How does nobody step up in that situation ?
Unfortunately, the whipping doesn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon as more Gen Zers are partaking in the trend for some unknown reason.
Texas
How to watch Texas A&M vs. Missouri Tigers football: Time, TV channel, FREE live streams
The 9th-ranked Missouri Tigers are road underdogs for a Saturday matchup with the No. 25 Texas A&M Aggies. The game is scheduled to start at noon ET with TV coverage on ABC and streaming on-demand.
- How to watch: Live streams of the Missouri vs. Texas A&M game are available with offers from FuboTV (free trial), SlingTV (low intro rate) and DirecTV Stream (free trial).
- For a limited time, FuboTV is offering $30 off the first month after the free trial period. With $30 offer, plans start at $49.99.
- The game will also stream on ESPN+, which costs $10.99 per month and carries live sporting events from around the world.
#9 Missouri Tigers (4-0) at #25 Texas A&M Aggies (4-1)
NCAA football matchup at a glance
When: Saturday, Oct. 5 at noon ET (11 a.m. CT)
Where: Kyle Field, College Station, Texas
TV channel: ABC and ESPN+
Live streams: FuboTV (free trial) | SlingTV (low intro rate) | DirecTV Stream (free trial) | ESPN+ ($10.99/mo.)
Texas A&M has won four straight games since falling to Notre Dame, 23-13, in its season opener, grinding through the most recent three over Arkansas (21-17), Bowling Green (26-20) and Florida (33-20). The Aggies are finding success on the ground with the nation’s No. 13 rushing attack (231.6 ypg), led by junior running back Le’Veon Moss’ 471 yards and three touchdowns.
Missouri needed overtime to take down Vanderbilt, 30-27, on its home field last weekend, but struggle or not, the Tigers still managed to improve to 4-0 while starting Southeast Conference play with a win. Missouri calls defense a strength, ranking among the top 10 teams in the country in total (219.0 ypg), passing (127.3 ypg) and scoring defense (12.0 ppg).
Texas A&M Aggies vs. Missouri Tigers Live Streaming Options
- FuboTV (free trial) – excellent viewer experience with huge library of live sports content; free trial lengths vary; monthly rate after free trial starts at $49.99 for duration of $30 first month discount.
- SlingTV (low intro rate) – discounted first month is best if you’ve run out of free trials or you’re in the market for 1+ month of TV
- DirecTV Stream (free trial) – not the same level of viewer experience as FuboTV, but the standard 7-day free trial is still the longest in streaming.
- ESPN+ ($10.99/mo.) – best standalone in the industry for delivering live college football, including exclusive games
The Aggies and Tigers are set for a noon ET start on ABC and ESPN+. Live streams are available from FuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial) and SlingTV (low intro rate).
Texas
Woman dies after shooting involving officers at Plano apartment complex
NORTH TEXAS — Police are investigating a shooting involving several officers in Plano.
It happened around 4:45 p.m. at the MAA Los Rios Apartments in the 4700 block of 14th Street near Los Rios Boulevard in Far East Plano.
Officers received a call about a disturbance at the apartments. They tried to negotiate with the woman, but after some time, they opened fire.
She was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The exact number of officers involved in the shooting is not known.
Investigators from the department’s crimes against persons unit were sent to the scene along with investigators from the Collin County district attorney’s office sent investigators to the scene.
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