Louie Gohmert Demands His Right to Lie to the FBI

Rep Louie Gohmert on Navarro indictment: "If you're a Republican, you can't even lie to Congress or lie to an FBI agent or they're coming after you" pic.twitter.com/8eIkkycukd

— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) June 3, 2022

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R, TX-1) told Newsmax it’s unfair that Republicans can’t lie to the FBI. The former Texas judge was speaking about former Trump aide Peter Navarro, indicted for criminal contempt of Congress, not for lying to anybody. Yet. Mr. Gohmert was miffed that a federal jury aquitted Democrat Michael Sussman of such an offense.

FYI: Nobody, Democrat or Republican, should lie to FBI agents, since it’s a felony. The best policy is to shut up, something beyond the ability of Louie Gohmert. He recently blamed wearing masks for his COVID diagnosis and asked the National Forest Service to alter the Moon’s orbit.

More:

“Louie Gohmert Whines That Republicans Aren’t Allowed to Lie to the FBI — Which Is a Felony,” William Vaillancourt, Rolling Stone

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The FBI Wants the Public to ID Capitol Insurrectionists. Here’s One.

In a statement shared online, the FBI asks the public to help identify the domestic terrorists who broke into the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday:

“The FBI is seeking information that will assist in identifying individuals who are actively instigating violence in Washington, D.C. The FBI is accepting tips and digital media depicting rioting and violence in the U.S. Capitol Building and surrounding area in Washington, D.C., on January 6, 2021.”

They can start with Derrick Evans, a newly-elected Republican member of West Virginia’s House of Delegates. He bragged about the deed, and there are videos.

Since most of the rioters wore no facemasks, it shouldn’t be hard to find other insurrectionists. On Thursday morning, former Obama speechwriter Cody Keenan suggested that questing G-Men should look in the breakfast bar of the Hyatt Regency, two blocks from FBI headquarters. Reporters had been interviewing the seditionists in the Hyatt lobby for days.

Updates:

“US Capitol Building Riot: Justice Dept. Pursues at Least 150 Suspects,” Katie Benner and Adam Goldman, New York Times

“Who were they? Records reveal Trump fans who stormed Capitol,” Michael Biesecker,
Michael Kunzelman, Gillian Flaccus, and Jim Mustian, Associated Press

“‘Trump said I could’: One possible legal defense for accused rioters,” Teri Kanefield and Mark Reichel, Washington Post

More:

“West Virginia delegate records himself storming U.S. Capitol,” Cuneyt Dil, Associated Press

“W.Va. delegate, just sworn in, was among the mob storming U.S. Capitol,” Brad McElhinny, W.Va. MetroNews

“Remove House of Delegates Member Derrick Evans for Terrorism,” Change.org petition

Related:

Online FBI Tip Form

“13 federal criminal laws that the pro-Trump mob may have violated, explained,” Ian Millhiser, Vox

“People at the US Capitol riot are being identified and losing their jobs,” AJ Willingham and Carma Hassan, CNN

Ill-Wind-Blows-Someone-Good Department:

“Trump Supporters Gave D.C. Hotel Business Shot In The Arm Before Capitol Insurrection,” Jon Banister, Bisnow

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Comey to Testify on June 8th

The Senate Intelligence Committee has scheduled public testimony by recently terminated FBI director James Comey for 10:00 AM Eastern Time on Thursday, June 8th. The session will be streamed live on PBS.

The Intelligence Committee is investigating links between Russia and the 2016 Trump campaign. Mr. Trump told Lester Holt of NBC News that he fired Mr. Comey to end the FBI’s criminal investigation of the same matter.

More:

“Comey to testify publicly next week,” Morgan Chalfant, The Hill

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FBI Director Comey Seeking New Opportunities

In a stunning act of ingratitude towards the man who made him President, Donald Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey. Maybe it’s a reflex Mr. Trump developed during his reality TV career.

Hey, this couldn’t have anything to do with the ongoing FBI investigation of the Trump Campaign’s Russian ties, could it?

The Gekas Loophole

On April 16th, 21-year-old Dylann Roof was allowed to purchase a 45 caliber Glock handgun from retailer Shooter’s Choice of West Columbia SC, despite his arrest, indictment, and his pending trial for felony possession of a narcotic prescription drug. Why was this sale permitted? The FBI is taking the blame for an incomplete background check, but the purchase went through because of the gentleman pictured above, former Congressman George W. Gekas, who represented Pennsylvania’s 17th District for 20 years.

When the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act was on the House floor in 1993, Rep. Gekas (R, PA-17) introduced Amendment 390, requiring a technologically impossible “instant background check” and, if the FBI couldn’t clear the purchaser within five days (later 3 days) then the sale could go through. This “Gekas Loophole” or “default proceed sale” provision was added, the bill passed, and President Clinton signed it into law.

Today, explains the New York Times‘ Michael S. Schmidt:

“Many major gun retailers, like Walmart, will not sell a weapon if they do not have an answer from the F.B.I., because of the fear of public criticism if the gun is used in a crime. The marginal sale of one gun means little to the bottom line of a large dealer, which is not the case for smaller stores like the one that sold Mr. Roof his gun.”

Honest Abe Schock Says Farewell

Disgraced Congressman Aaron Schock (R, IL-18), who resigned to forestall an Office of Congressional Ethics investigation, compared himself to Abraham Lincoln in a farewell speech on the House floor on Thursday:

“Abraham Lincoln held this seat in Congress for one term. But few faced as many defeats in his personal business and public life as he did. His continual perseverance in the face of these trials, never giving up, is something all of us Americans should be inspired by, especially when going through a valley in life.”

Of course President Lincoln didn’t have the FBI and a grand jury investigating his possible misuse of campaign funds and taxpayer dollars.

Congressman Schock’s resignation is effective March 31st. He will be returning to his humble log cabin somewhere in the wilds of Illinois. Near a golf course, perhaps.

Related:

“Aaron Schock leaving Congress with $3.3M in campaign funds,” Chicago Tribune

“Ex-Schock aide dishes to FBI,” Jake Sherman and John Bresnahan, Politico

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Gun Enthusiast & Football Fan Persecuted by FBI

Toledo businessman and convicted killer Richard Schmidt amassed an arsenal of 18 guns and assault rifles, 40,000 rounds of ammunition, and body armor despite his record as a violent felon. A White Supremacist, his activities only endangered the lives of people in ethnic minorities, so naturally he was ignored.

But then he went too far. Mr. Schmidt had the temerity to counterfeit NFL team jerseys, diverting dozens of dollars from the coffers of America’s professional football monopoly and the bank accounts of billionaire team owners. After getting a tip, FBI squads swiftly descended on his  store and home. Some red lines simply cannot be crossed. The NRA is one thing, the NFL quite another.

The U.S. Postal Service Is Logging Your Mail

Snail Mail surveillance is lots older than PRISM, but it’s now computerized through the Mail Isolation Control and Tracking program. Postal Service computers photograph all the 160 billion envelopes processed in the USA each year. Law enforcement agents don’t need a judge’s approval to request this information.

More:

“U.S. Postal Service Logging All Mail for Law Enforcement,” Ron Nixon, New York Times

“USPS Procedures: Mail Cover Requests,” Postal Inspection Service via NYT

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FBI Has Eyes on Bachmann

“The FBI is investigating complaints of alleged campaign finance violations in Rep. Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign.

Marx. Lenin. Charlie Chaplin.

Was Charlie Chaplin a Commie? J. Edgar Hoover thought so. The FBI Director asked Britain’s MI5 intelligence agency to check out the silent film star’s background. The British spies looked into it throughout the 1950s and found no evidence of radical politics. They also found no birth certificate, so J. Edgar was probably as riled as 21st century conspiracy nuts are. Perhaps the lack of documents has something to do with the fact that Somerset House, the U.K.’s resposity of vital statistics, was hit by a German bomb in 1940.

So if Sir Charles Spencer Chaplain wasn’t a communist, he must have been a secret French (or Russian) Jew named Israel Thornton, right? No,  though he may have been part Romanichal. Chaplin was merely a talented actor, acrobat, writer, composer, director, producer, and the biggest movie star in the world. No wonder J. Edgar Hoover hounded him out of the country.

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