Tag: north carolina
Pardoned January 6 Defendant Wants His Child Porn Indictment Dismissed Too

Pardoned January 6 Defendant Wants His Child Porn Indictment Dismissed Too

One man granted clemency by President Donald Trump for laying siege to the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 is now hoping that his pardon will be extended to a separate charge for possession of child pornography.

Politico legal correspondent Kyle Cheney tweeted Wednesday that the legal counsel for 37 year-old David Paul Daniel of North Carolina is now arguing in federal court that his client's child pornography charge should be thrown out based on what he admitted was an "unprecedented legal question."

In the 14-page filing submitted to U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, attorney William Terpening asserted that Trump's January 20 executive order pardoning the approximately 1,500 people charged in connection with January 6 also covers Daniel's alleged possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) due to how it was obtained by law enforcement.

According to Terpening, when police executed a search warrant on Daniel's property and subsequently found an iPhone and a laptop that contained images of a "nude minor female," they were doing so as part of the January 6 charge. He then posited that because Trump pardoned his client for the January 6 charge, the other "derivative" charges that were brought about as a result of the initial charge should be automatically dismissed.

"A pardon completely exonerates a person — it is as if the conviction that is pardoned was never prosecuted in the first instance," Terpening wrote. "The expansive effect of Trump’s Executive Order in erasing not only Mr. Daniel’s January 6 crime, but also any basis for prosecuting it in the first instance, is apparent from the Executive Order’s plain text, which describes the DC Case as 'a grave national injustice that has been perpetrated upon the American people over the last four years' ... The Order’s intent is undisputedly to convey that the DC Case had no legal basis."

Terpening further argued that the Trump administration's Department of Justice has intervened on behalf of other January 6 defendants facing separate charges that were brought about as a result of January 6-related search warrants. The filing noted that in the case of Capitol rioter Elias Costianes — who had illegal weapons seized at his home following the execution of the initial search warrant — the Trump DOJ clarified in federal court that Trump's pardon extended to the gun charge.

Additionally, January 6 defendant Jeremy Brown, who was convicted on both possession of illegal weapons and classified information from his time in the U.S. military, also had his other charges thrown out. Terpening also attempted to bolster his case by looping in the case of Daniel Ball, who was arrested on federal gun charges just one day after Trump handed down his pardon, but later had those charges dismissed by the DOJ.

"Although the crimes with which Costianes, Ball, and Brown were charged in Maryland and Florida were unrelated to their January 6 charges, the government concluded that the Executive Order required their dismissal because they were based on information discovered by the government during January 6 related searches," Terpening wrote. "Mr. Daniel’s pardon in the DC Case requires dismissal of the unrelated charges in this case because the evidence allegedly supporting the instant charges was discovered during a January 6 related search."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Allison Riggs

In North Carolina, Political Power Grab Thwarts Voters

Some people just won’t take no for an answer.

Put in that category the Republican candidate for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Jefferson Griffin lost that race to incumbent Democratic Justice Allison Riggs by just 734 votes out of more than 5.5 million cast, which has to hurt. Ask Democrat Cheri Beasley, who in 2020 lost her North Carolina chief justice race to Republican Paul Newby by about 400 votes from almost 5.4 million ballots cast.

Since two recounts have confirmed the Riggs win, you might think Griffin would have conceded by now, as Beasley did after two recounts.

You would be wrong.

Without pointing to one illegal or fraudulent vote, Griffin is trying to have 60,000 votes thrown out — including the votes of Riggs’ parents — mostly because either a driver’s license number or the last four digits of a Social Security number were not attached to those voters’ registrations.

There may be good reasons for that, as many registered before those items were required, or the “missing” information was not attached because of bureaucratic error. Last year, a federal judge, a Trump appointee, dismissed part of a suit brought by the Republican Party that sought to purge 225,000 voters from the rolls.

Because of North Carolina law, everyone who voted in November had to show an accepted form of ID — for many, a driver’s license. They walked out of their polling places satisfied they had performed their civic duty.

If Griffin and state Republicans have their way, many of their votes may not count.

It’s no coincidence that analysis has shown that voters the GOP point to as suspect are disproportionately young, non-white or less likely to vote for Republicans.

Griffin, who hasn’t tried to defend his reasoning out loud, is only questioning results in his race, knowing the doubt and confusion it would cause in other, already certified state races. State and federal courts, and even some right-wing, so-called voter integrity groups have in the past rejected the arguments Griffin makes.

It’s easy yet dangerous to dismiss it as the usual GOP tactic of sowing doubt about any election a Republican loses, crying “wolf” or “rigged,” while declaring an election free and fair if it goes the other way; it gradually causes Americans to reject the integrity of any election.

And it is a tactic overwhelmingly used by one party.

The difference between the two major parties on how they handle wins and losses is why the transfer of power in January 2025 — with Vice President Kamala Harris honorably certifying an electoral count she lost — looked nothing like the violent insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021, when losing candidate Donald Trump incited followers to resist instead of choosing democracy.

Now, Griffin’s case is getting national attention because the GOP-dominated, seven-member North Carolina Supreme Court is giving it oxygen, offering national Republicans a blueprint. Four of the five GOP justices voted to temporarily put the brakes on the certification. Riggs understandably recused herself, and Justice Anita Earls, the only other Democrat on the court, voted to let the state Board of Elections decision, and the Riggs win, stand.

Showing some independence as well as common sense, Republican Justice Richard Dietz joined Earls in rejecting the post-election maneuvering, and wrote in dissent: “Permitting post-election litigation that seeks to rewrite our state’s election rules — and, as a result, remove the right to vote in an election from people who already lawfully voted under the existing rules — invites incredible mischief.”

A challenge to the state Supreme Court action has already come in the form of a recent filing from the Democratic National Committee. On a press call earlier this week, former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, outgoing DNC Chair Jaime Harrison and state party chair Anderson Clayton talked about what the case means beyond North Carolina.

“The eyes of the entire country are on this race because the implications of having free and fair elections that are being questioned and potentially overturned are devastating,” said Cooper. “If they are successful in this scheme,” he said, “there will be copycat lawsuits across this country for races where they don’t like the result.”

“This time it’s 60,000 ballots, next time it’s 100,000 ballots, and then it’s 250,000 ballots until no ballots get counted,” said Clayton, whose national profile rose during the swing state attention North Carolina received in the last election cycle. “This playbook is not new to our state, but it is one that Republicans will take and make a national playbook if they’re able to succeed here.”

“As a party, our responsibility is to the voters — not a politician,” said Harrison. He admitted the result at the top of the ticket was not what Democrats worked for or wanted, but noted how well his party did downballot in North Carolina, including capturing the offices of governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general, and breaking, by one seat, the GOP supermajority in the state legislature.

The move to reject ballots to put Griffin on the court is a Republican reaction to those wins, Harrison said, a “temper tantrum” to try to change the rules, something GOP state legislators already did when they passed, while they still held that supermajority, last-minute laws to diminish incoming Gov. Josh Stein’s already limited powers.

Harrison, a South Carolinian, recalled a time in the South when not all Americans, including his own grandparents, had the right to vote.

Maybe Griffin and his enablers have forgotten that all-too-recent history, when brave patriots fought and died expanding that precious franchise so all Americans’ voices could be heard and respected.

Or maybe a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court is more important.

Reprinted with permission from Roll Call.

Democrat Crushes 'Black Nazi' Robinson In North Carolina Governor's Race

Democrat Crushes 'Black Nazi' Robinson In North Carolina Governor's Race

Republican Mark Robinson, a reportedly self-described “Black Nazi” and “perv,” handily lost his bid for governor of North Carolina on Tuesday night, giving him ample time to go back to doing what he allegedly loves: posting racist and creepy stuff on a forum for a porn site.

Robinson lost to North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, 58.1 percent to 37.8 percent, with 11 percent of precincts reporting, according to NBC News, which called the race less than an hour after polls closed.

Stein, who makes history as the state’s first Jewish governor, had a strong lead in the polling thanks to Robinson’s long history of making racist, sexist, and other incendiary remarks.

The Republican has denied the atrocities of the Holocaust, falsely saying, “This foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash.”

Robinson also called for “wicked people” and socialists to be killed, saying in a speech ironically delivered at a church where parishioners are taught that murder is a sin, “Some folks need killing!

However, the race was all but over in September, when CNN reported that Robinson had posted repulsive things on a porn website called Nude Africa.

Some of the horrific things he allegedly wrote include:

  • An assertion that he is a self-proclaimed “black NAZI!” and that “Slavery is not bad.”
  • Attacks on civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., whom Robinson called a “commie bastard,” “worse than a maggot,” a “phony,” and a “huckster.”
  • Robinson also said the only reason he wasn’t in the KKK was because it doesn’t “let blacks join,” and added of King, “If I was in the KKK I would have called him Martin Lucifer K--n!”
  • And a number of sexually explicit posts culminating in Robsinson calling himself a “perv.”

Republicans hoped they could get Robinson out of the race after the gross comments surfaced, but Robinson dug in his heels, denied the report, and stayed in the race, dooming the GOP’s chances at victory.

Revelations of the vile posts led Robinson’s campaign team to flee en masse, despite that his open Holocaust denial wasn’t too far for them.

Prior to the CNN report, Donald Trump had praised Robinson as “better than Martin Luther King,” but after it, he stopped inviting Robinson to his North Carolina rallies.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos

Mark Robinson

Scandal-Scarred Robinson Embraced By Mike Flynn At Trump Event

North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson recently spoke on the Trump-backed “ReAwaken America” tour, where he compared fighting the news media to battling Nazis at Normandy Beach. His speech was well-received by Trump ally and ReAwaken America co-organizer Mike Flynn, who asked the audience to donate to Robinson’s campaign.

Robinson’s rhetoric echoes that of former President Donald Trump, who has referred to the news media as the “enemy of the American people.” Trump has also explicitly threatened to use government resources to target news organizations.

Robinson has a long history of toxic remarks and antisemitic rhetoric on social media from his time as a right-wing commentator. Conservative media figures including Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump have supported his campaign.

Last month, CNN reported that Robinson made a “series of inflammatory comments on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago, in which he referred to himself as a 'black NAZI!' and expressed support for reinstating slavery.” Robinson responded by suing CNN.

Despite Donald Trump’s connections to Robinson, including endorsing his campaign, the former president has recently feigned ignorance of Robinson. But this past weekend, in a seemingly unannounced and little-noticed appearance, Robinson spoke at the ReAwaken America tour’s stop in Selma, North Carolina, alongside members of Trump’s “inner circle.”

The event featured speeches from Trump surrogates Eric Trump, Kash Patel, and Alina Habba, along with several extremists who have pushed the conspiracy theory that Hurricane Helene was a controlled or manipulated weather event. (ReAwaken America events have also hosted multiple antisemitic speakers.) Other stops on the tour have been held at a Trump property.

Co-organizer Clay Clark recently said that close friend Eric Trump and others requested the event because North Carolina “is a state that we need to win to restore President Donald J. Trump back into the White House.” Clark also organized Donald Trump’s October 21 event with pastors.

Robinson appeared on the second day of the Selma event on October 19. During his speech, Robinson told the audience about Allied forces fighting Nazi Germany during World War II, including at the Battle of Normandy. He then compared his “fight” against the news media to the D-Day landings by American troops, stating:

MARK ROBINSON: I guarantee you, CNN will not win that fight. They will not. Because we're going to take them to task, folks. It's high time that we stop being afraid of the news media. High time. Those boys in those Higgins boats weren't afraid of those Germans. Why in the hell should I be afraid of CNN?

Following the speech, Clark said that Robinson is “a real American hero.” Flynn, who is a potential member of Trump’s second administration, also praised Robinson, saying that “we need him in the governor's office,” and encouraged people to donate to his campaign to combat the “demons” fighting against them.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Shop our Store

Headlines

Editor's Blog

Corona Virus

Trending

World