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   From: NOT-SURE@idiocracy.gov   
      
   On 11/14/22 8:05 PM, Ubiquitous wrote:   
   > The F.B.I. had as many as eight informants inside the far-right Proud   
   > Boys in the months surrounding the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6,   
   > 2021, recent court papers indicate, raising questions about how much   
   > federal investigators were able to learn from them about the violent   
   > mob attack both before and after it took place.   
   >   
   > The existence of the informants came to light over the past few days in   
   > a flurry of veiled court filings by defense lawyers for five members of   
   > the Proud Boys who are set to go on trial next month on seditious   
   > conspiracy charges connected to the Capitol attack.   
   >   
   > In the papers, some of which were heavily redacted, the lawyers claimed   
   > that some of the information the confidential sources had provided to   
   > the government was favorable to their efforts to defend their clients   
   > against sedition charges and was improperly withheld by prosecutors   
   > until several days ago.   
   >   
   > In a sealed filing quoted by the defense, prosecutors argued that   
   > hundreds of pages of documents related to the F.B.I. informants were   
   > neither "suppressed" by the government nor directly relevant to the   
   > case of the Proud Boys facing sedition charges: Enrique Tarrio, the   
   > group's former leader; Joseph Biggs; Ethan Nordean; Zachary Rehl; and   
   > Dominic Pezzola.   
   >   
   > Because all of the material remains under a highly restrictive   
   > protective order, it is not possible to know what the informants told   
   > the government about the Proud Boys' role in the Capitol attack or how   
   > that information might affect the outcome of the trial.   
   >   
   > A closed court hearing was held on Monday to discuss the informants in   
   > Federal District Court in Washington. Lawyers for the Proud Boys have   
   > asked Judge Timothy J. Kelly, who is overseeing the case, to dismiss   
   > the indictment - or at least delay the trial to give them more time to   
   > investigate the newly revealed informants.   
   >   
   > Judge Kelly made no decision at the hearing, according to a notice   
   > placed on the docket after the proceeding ended. Because it was sealed,   
   > journalists were not allowed in the courtroom.   
   >   
   > The dispute about the informants in the Proud Boys came on the heels of   
   > revelations that the F.B.I. also had a well-placed source in the inner   
   > circle of Stewart Rhodes, the leader of the Oath Keepers militia,   
   > another far-right group that took part in the Capitol attack.   
   >   
   > Last week, lawyers for Mr. Rhodes and four other Oath Keepers who are   
   > being tried on sedition charges planned to call the informant - Greg   
   > McWhirter, the group's former vice president - as a defense witness,   
   > believing that his testimony would bolster their case. But on the eve   
   > of his planned appearance, Mr. McWhirter suffered a heart attack and   
   > the defense put other witnesses in his place.   
   >   
   > Questions about informants reporting to the government from inside   
   > extremist groups have been raised repeatedly throughout the Justice   
   > Department's sprawling investigation of the Capitol attack. They have   
   > included concerns about why the informants were not able to give the   
   > government advanced warning about plans to storm the Capitol on Jan. 6   
   > or seemingly to corroborate accusations after the fact that the groups   
   > conspired in plotting the attack.   
   >   
   > Former F.B.I. officials say there might have been gaps in what bureau   
   > intelligence analysts had told agents to ask their informants. Analysts   
   > at the bureau are supposed to help agents connect the intelligence dots   
   > to provide a clearer picture of threat activity. The F.B.I.'s   
   > intelligence directorate was created after Sept. 11 to help thwart   
   > terrorism and other threats.   
   >   
   > It remains unclear what sorts of questions the F.B.I. was asking its   
   > informants in the Proud Boys and how focused the bureau was on the   
   > group's activities to undermine the results of the elections as Jan. 6   
   > drew near. Previous court papers have suggested that some Proud Boys -   
   > including Mr. Biggs - were recruited by the F.B.I. before the election   
   > to provide information about their adversaries in the leftist movement   
   > known as antifa.   
   >   
   > Last year, The New York Times revealed the existence of an informant in   
   > the Kansas City chapter of the Proud Boys who took part in the storming   
   > of the Capitol with a group of his compatriots. After the attack, the   
   > informant told his handlers in interviews that he was not aware of a   
   > premeditated plan to break into the building on Jan. 6, although as a   
   > relatively low-level member of the group it is possible that he was   
   > simply not privy to the making of such plans.   
   >   
   > Right-wing media figures and Republican politicians have often sought   
   > to use the issue of F.B.I. informants in extremist groups to suggest   
   > that the bureau had a hand in guiding or encouraging the attack on the   
   > Capitol in a way that entrapped other rioters. No evidence has surfaced   
   > suggesting that the F.B.I. played any role in the attack.   
   >   
   > But the lawyers for the Proud Boys have made entirely different claims,   
   > arguing that the information the confidential sources provided to   
   > prosecutors appears to be exculpatory and could contradict the   
   > government's chief allegation in the case: that their clients went to   
   > Washington on Jan. 6 with a plan in place to storm the Capitol and   
   > disrupt the transfer of power from President Donald J. Trump to Joseph   
   > R. Biden Jr.   
   >   
   > The newly disclosed material called into question "whether a Proud Boy   
   > conspiracy plan to obstruct the Biden-Harris vote certification or to   
   > commit sedition ever existed or could have existed," J. Daniel Hull,   
   > Mr. Biggs's lawyer, wrote in papers filed on Monday.   
   >   
   > The notion of whether there was a predetermined plan to attack the   
   > Capitol or whether the violence that erupted there on Jan. 6 was more   
   > spontaneous will be one of the key disputes when the Proud Boys' trial   
   > - now scheduled to start on Dec. 12 - goes in front of a jury. To prove   
   > seditious conspiracy, prosecutors will have to show that the defendants   
   > knowingly entered into an agreement to use force to stop the lawful   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)