any thorough RICO investigation will catch entire GOP as a party in its dragnet #hint
— Will's Media Reform School #DoBetter ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) February 3, 2021
(This post has updates below including addition of Publix heiress funding sedition and a new headline to better reflect sweeping investigation into gop malfeasance. As of 11 July 2023, a new grand jury is being empaneled in Fulton County to decide fate of gop’s criminal enterprise, which could include, if past reporting is accurate, RICO charges.)
Part of my mission here at CrankyYank HQ is to boil stuff down and spot trends. And I feel like national media’s been dancing around edges of looming scandal: republican officials who participated in sedition should probably start planning their RICO defense now.
One political party with functioning adults (Democrats) will need to investigate the other—demonstrably filled with wrongdoers who have, to varying degrees, coordinated funding and planning of criminal activities. Prosecuting congressional colleagues creates an awkward-but-necessary dynamic from which Democrats should NOT shrink.
Jan 6 sedition: Reducing America to warring factions has ALWAYS been Russia’s goal [UPDATED]
For those playing Coordinated Treason Home Game, quick explainer: Organized Crime Control Act of 1970, RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) allows law enforcement to investigate and prosecute groups of folk engaged in coordinated criminality. RICO has been used to prosecute organized crime, but also Major League Baseball and corrupt poh-poh departments. (Read the RICO wiki page for more.)
WAPO: FBI PROBE OF U.S. CAPITOL RIOT FINDS EVIDENCE OF COORDINATION
Check out NYPD Sergeant Dana M. Martillo — here with Trump patches on her vest last night.
Anything political on the uniform is against department policy.
And she’s wearing her mask wrong. Smh… https://t.co/BMa9hFA9LQ
— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) February 6, 2021
In a piece shared by Twitter pal and former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, Reuters reporters Mark Hosenball & Sarah N. Lynch summarize:
The RICO law was crafted to help prosecutors convict top Mafia leaders who ordered others to commit crimes. RICO cases are complex, often take years to develop, and require approval from Justice Department leadership
As has been widely reported, lots of sub-groups like Oathkeepers and others were actively organizing plans for 6 January sedition-bonanza. Many rioters appeared to have ample knowledge about their invaded landscape, which likely required insider help. We still don’t have any further details about members of congress giving tours to seditionistas the day prior to Capitol attack. Not only do visitors leave paper trails in the form of logs but there is likely CCTV footage of their visits, too.
Point of my post is simple: once Biden’s Department of Justice starts peeling sedition onion it’ll reveal MANY additional networked-layers that deserve scrutiny. Setting aside Tangerine Nixon who’s the head of the snake, here’s an incomplete list of seditious-GOP folk who are about to go through some things:
Ginni Thomas
A wife of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice funded an operation of domestic terrorists to attack the U.S. Capitol to help hold hostage elected leaders and staff, in an effort to overturn an election and prevent a peaceful transition of power, of which people died and were injured. https://t.co/mac7w0nuIl
— Alexandra Chalupa 🇺🇦 (@AlexandraChalup) January 9, 2021
Clarence Thomas
here's when I pop in to remind Clarence Thomas NEVER RECUSED HIMSELF from issues Ginni was *actively pushing*
he needs to resign
via @mjs_DC pic.twitter.com/3xWv7ooD9a
— Will's Media Reform School #DoBetter ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) January 9, 2021
Jack Posobiec & Roger Stone
Roger Stone first launched "Stop the Steal" in 2016 and passed it onto extremist protégés like Jack Posobiec and Ali Alexander.
Nobody should be shocked to see him organizing with far-right muscle in advance of the attack: https://t.co/it4qoHrO2n https://t.co/gyAqNzjzEO
— Michael Edison Hayden (@MichaelEHayden) February 5, 2021
Lauren Boebert
I think Lauren Boebert's stay in Congress may be mercifully short. She gave "detailed" tours of the Capitol to her QAnon-radicalized mother prior to the terrorist attack. (h/t @bywillpollock) https://t.co/VFGmDw78vu pic.twitter.com/KjOInAPlsM
— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) January 16, 2021
Marjorie Taylor Greene
Madge @RepMTG & QBert @RepBoebert being in congress and @GOPLeader canoodling donny in Florida PROVE sedition op is *ongoing*
MCCARTHY PUT MADGE ON EDUCATION COMMITTEE FFShttps://t.co/BERVvxkQ5M
— Will's Media Reform School #DoBetter ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) January 29, 2021
Bob & Bekkah Mercer
The Mercer family bankrolled far right candidates, the "big lie" that Trump won the election, and even the January 6th insurrectionists. If you need a concrete example of the threat that dark money poses for our democracy, this is it.https://t.co/QY9nJY0CMq
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) February 4, 2021
Republican Attorneys General Association
BREAKING – the Executive Director of the Republican AG Association, Adam Piper, has resigned after the fallout from a robocall placed by a RAGA fundraising arm to urge Trump supporters to march on the US Capitol on January 6th as per a RAGA spokesperson. #CapitolRiot
— Laura Strickler (@strickdc) January 11, 2021
Josh Hawley & Ted Cruz
Lindsey Graham
are we supposed to believe @LindseyGrahamSC's actions and donald's hysterical desire to flip Georgia were separate? https://t.co/BV4HWnd10W
— Will's Media Reform School #DoBetter ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) January 24, 2021
Fixed Noise aka SeditionTV™
New name for Fox News, Sedition Channel.
I think FOX is in real big trouble. https://t.co/MYjAEVnGVT via @dailysoundnfury— Donald Wilkerson (@withinflyer) February 6, 2021
Since RICO is current in people’s minds—I mean while the iron’s hot—we should also rewind to that sweeping conspiracy to steal 2016 election too. We cannot consign any of this to history by “moving on.”
Updates as events warrant. As always, if you have information that can help me advance this story please reach out. 🔵
The Justice Department is considering whether to charge members of far-right groups involved in the Capitol insurrection under a federal law usually used against organized crime. https://t.co/iV7VnDlR0J
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) February 4, 2021
UPDATE: I included Billionaire Anarchy Funders The Mercers but neglected to mention Publix heiress and monied oligarch Julie Jenkins Fancelli shelling out $300k of couch-cushion cash to fund sedition. I’ve also added Lindsey Graham above because he’ll end up being a major link in the RICO chain: why did he turn on a dime as “principled republican” to sniveling sycophant and then later to active-sedition participant? He was blocking AG-designee Merrick Garland probably because he’s frightened by what Garland will make public after he’s confirmed. Given how Graham morphed to *spectacularly* hypocritical political operative we need an audit of his “win” against Jamie Harrison, too.
Jan. 6 Rally Funded by Top Trump Donor, Helped by Alex Jones, Organizers Say
Publix Super Markets heiress donated about $300,000https://t.co/3HXAjaVWKQ pic.twitter.com/8C6CGiz2sX
— Roshan Rinaldi (@Roshan_Rinaldi) February 1, 2021
UPDATE 2 (25 Jan 2022): Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ain’t playin’ around. Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean discovered an “Easter Egg” in Fani Willis’ filing that spells trouble for serial-felony-doer The Former Guy. And his henchfolk, too, for that matter.
Buried in this GA GJ order is a big-deal sentence: “This authorization shall include the investigation of any … predicate acts….” This authorizes a RICO racketeering investigation that reaches Trump’s illegal actions everywhere! GA has a nuclear weapon! https://t.co/nSztsZ6w4W
— John W. Dean (@JohnWDean) January 25, 2022
We recently learned Willis was granted a special-grand jury in my home district, which spells very big trouble for all the crims who tried to overturn the will of American people. Watch this space as more updates will be coming.
UPDATE 3 (27 Jan 2022): HuffPost’s S.V. Date has a jaw-dropping post up elucidating how a large batch of Qpubs are facing jail time over electoral forgeries.
UPDATE 23: those following my RICO reporting probably won't be surprised
via @svdate
@HunterJCullen @BaddCompani @BanksResearcher @MelissaJPeltier @UROCKlive1 @DavidManOnFire @Heidi_Cuda @100FrogLegs @carrybeyond https://t.co/rfHMbpfsIh pic.twitter.com/3aCBiD8gc8
— Will's Media Reform School #DoBetter ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) January 27, 2022
Date’s lede sentence: “Dozens of local and state Republican leaders who showed their loyalty to [TFG] by casting fake electoral votes for him a year ago may now face prison time in return for that devotion.” Dozens, you say? If you’ve been following my reporting here and on Twitter that should be both welcome news and 100% unsurprising.
FBI’s sedition dragnet will end in RICO charges for GOP https://t.co/88masBKke6
— Will's Media Reform School #DoBetter ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) February 6, 2021
UPDATE 4 (21 June 2022): Ron Johnson has a fake-elector problem. Kremlin Ron made last-ditch effort to save Casino Mobster from certain incarceration. Watch below:
dunno this feels kinda aiding-and-abetting-y, @SenRonJohnson https://t.co/CDXDjBuRWC
— Will's Media Reform School #DoBetter ⚖️ 🌻 (@bywillpollock) June 21, 2022
UPDATE 5 (11 July 2023): as mentioned above, a new grand jury is being empaneled in Fulton County to reportedly consider charges against The Former Guy’s mob. Although the Washington Post piece doesn’t mention RICO, we should all keep eyes peeled on whether (or not) forthcoming indictments are part of a broader-RICO narrative/strategy that, as AP’s Kate Brumback notes, “allows prosecutors to bring charges against multiple people that they believe committed separate crimes while working toward a common goal.”
If you’d like to jump in my megathread (30 updates and counting) you can do that right here.
Good morning from the Fulton County courthouse.
A grand jury that could consider criminal charges against Trump & his allies will be selected today.
I’m here for @lawfare.
Twitter continues to block links to our site, so you can find me on Threads: https://t.co/YvBVLVzBWT pic.twitter.com/kmrASS0gs9
— Anna Bower (@AnnaBower) July 11, 2023
Will Pollock is a perpetually crabby New York City escapee based in Midtown Atlanta. He’s a freelance multimedia journalist, media analyst and author of two books (award-winning Pizza for Good & Leaving Triscuit), with more on the way.
In 2001, Will earned his Masters from The Medill School of Journalism, graduating with highest honors from the magazine sequence. As permanent member of Journalism’s National Honors Society, he’s been active in monitoring, writing and blogging about media and journalism ever since he graduated.
Obsessed with good storytelling and journalistic excellence, Will uses snark, humor and reason to distill dumb shit and make it fun. He’s a seeker/maker of non-consensus news, and helps you cure crankies by finding the nut in every story.
As for-profit media continues to fail us, it’s more important than ever to find reliable sources. Authentic storytelling exists—you just have to look for it. On this blog you’ll get ideas, not ideology. Sass with class. Reporting with rapport. Evidence with a touch of evil. You get the idea.
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Brilliant blog, tweets, etc! Unfortunately, only just today discovered you. Will be a long-time fan, I’m sure.
Typo above, in the sentence “We cannot cosign any of this to history” cosign should be consign.
Please keep up the wonderful work. You encouraged me today. Thank you.
-Jim
you absolutely made my day, Jim, and thanks for that helpful note. correction made! day made! can I share your comments on social media? 🙂