Capitol Insurrection Report

"It was just a delay that somebody or somebodies were willfully, deliberately delaying making the decision." (Transcript of Major General William Walker before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack, p 118) For three hours and 19 minutes, the NC National Guard waited in the DC Armory on January 6th, 2021, supposedly awaiting approval from Secretary of the

I interview Aquilino Gonell, formerly of the United States Capitol Police. Gonell has published American Shield, an autobiography recounting his life story from his childhood in the Dominican Republic, and New York City, his service in the Second Iraq War, and also detailing his leadership role in a Civil Disturbance Unit on January 6th, 2021, as well as the aftermath of the attack

For the third anniversary of the January 6th Attack, I speak with Riverfox, a sedition hunter whose current role includes a crowdsourced effort to debunk the "Fedsurrection" narrative. We discuss what this campaign of far-right propaganda is, why it is central to the politics of the Trumpist movement, and how to counter it. After the interview, I will review some recent development

This episode's guest is Julie Farnam, who was a witness before the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack, in which she testified regarding intelligence she had obtained before January 6th that attendees intended to come to the event armed, that white supremacists planned to attend, that participants were sharing maps of the Capitol tunnels, and many other dat

Following the latest developments in the January 6th story, including the arrest of the 1,200th January 6th Attack defendant, a key ruling by the DC Circuit Court in the Blassingame civil case in DC, the rejection of Trump's claim of absolute immunity in the election interference case in DC, the rape allegation against the Chairman of the Florida Republican Party, and the claim by

We get caught up on arrests in the January 6th Attack, which have picked up again. I also discuss the attempt by an AFO defendant in New Jersey to flee from the FBI, and the sentencings of some notable defendants. Also: leaked proffer videos in the Fulton County case, and the effort to get cameras in the courtroom in the Trump's DC case. Most of the episode consists of a review of

In this episode, I will read the final chapter of Franz Neumann's Behemoth, which I see as a touchstone for understanding Trumpism. Writing in exile, Neumann described Germany as a nullity, a place with no underlying political theory, no theory of society, and ultimately not even properly a state. He describes it as a nation where a coalition of elites rule through careful applicat

In this episode, I chat with sedition hunter Jewelz about the sedition VIPs who are still at large and apparently uncharged, which is concerning, given the expiration of the 5-year federal statute of limitations on January 6, 2026. I also discuss the recent plea deals of Sidney Powell, Ken Chesebro and Jenna Ellis in the Georgia election interference case in Fulton County. We also

In the intro to this episode, we hear Donald Trump declare the beginning of communism in our country in response to the failure of his own attorneys to request a jury trial in the civil case brought by Leticia James being heard before Judge Engoron. We will then review almost every new criminal defendant charged since the last episode: in the beginning of September, these were main

Over the summer of 2023, the pace of arrests quickened once again, with over 8 Capitol attackers arrested on average every week. These arrests included a great many individuals who assaulted police on January 6th, 2021, and a number of VIP defendants. We will catch up on these cases, and review a few other developments, including news that Molly Michael is offering evidence against