S4 E14 The Secret Service

Capitol Insurrection Report

Returning again to the "19th Brumaire Scenario," I examine what documentary evidence there is regarding the "OTR movement" on January 6th, 2021, when the Secret Service informed Trump they would not take him to the Capitol. It is likely that this is a key question for the evidentiary hearings in DC before Judge Chutkan, presuming these actually move forward. Key questions include what Trump's intent was in his plan to go to the Capitol, what he intended to do once there, and the possibility that Trump had intended to lead a "procession" of 10,000 National Guard personnel from the Ellipse to the Capitol as a show of force to cow Congress.

I will discuss the evidence that shows that there are documents cited in the Final Report that have not been uploaded to the GovInfo site for the Committee: though insurrection apologists have asserted this is evidence of obstructing, it seems far more likely that his is evidence that there are materials the Committee thought were vital to any DOJ case that would be brought, and so were reserved for any future prosecution. The identifying information of these witnesses p[rovided by the Committee are listed: there are six anonymized transcripts cited in seven pages of Chapter 7 that may be pivotal. I include selected evidence from the documentary record, mainly the materials cited in the Final Report of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack. This includes some of the 26 documents submitted by the Secret Service and cited in the Report, the transcripts of Max Miller, Katrina Pierson, Tony Ornato, and more.

I will also suggest that, while there's plenty of support for the idea that the USSS under Trump was obstructionist, the documentary evidence supports the idea that there was a "team normal" at the USSS, and these included the persons who ultimately did block the OTR movement. Although the documentary evidence is more scant than one would like, it seems probable that the final decision on the OTR movement was made by Kimberly Cheatle, who was the Assistant Director in charge of the Office of Protective Operations on January 6th, but who since has been promoted to Director.

Some discussion also of the recent events in Butler, Pennsylvania, and how the evidence from January 6th shows that Donald Trump is an extraordinarily uncooperative and difficult person for the Secret Service to protect.

https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GPO-J6-WITHOLDING/

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000021632_00096/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000021632_00096.pdf

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000030809/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000030809.pdf

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000021633_00030/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000021633_00030.pdf

https://archive.org/details/january-6th-committee-witness-testimony-20221129-anthony-ornato-1

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000152321/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000152321.pdf

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000028929_00001/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000028929_00001.pdf

https://www.cnn.com/2024/03/11/politics/house-gop-january-6-committee-report/index.html

https://www.congress.gov/118/meeting/house/117118/witnesses/HHRG-118-HA06-Wstate-MatthewsE-20240417.pdf

https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000208061/pdf/GPO-J6-DOC-CTRL0000208061.pdf