John Solomon: Oathkeepers Charges, Declass

First the easy part, which takes up the major part of the Lou Dobbs interview with John Solomon: Solomon confirms that the FBI docs on the Russia Hoax have been declassified, and he's just waiting for them to be distributed. That's most of what we have for now. However, in a brief article, Solomon states that there will still be some "modest" redactions. Those redaction issues were raised by the FBI on January 17, which looks like a last ditch effort to derail the declass:

Trump revealed in a statement issued by the White House that the materials were not previously shared with Congress or the public and he received them on Dec. 30 in a binder, determining they ought to be made public. The binder is about a foot tall, according to officials who have seen it.

"I determined that the materials in that binder should be declassified to the maximum extent possible," the president said.

The effort to release the materials, however, hit a bump when the FBI objected on Sunday to a complete release of the information. The president nonetheless ordered them released but allowed for some modest redactions to be made.

"As part of the iterative process of the declassification review, under a cover letter dated January 17, 2021, the Federal Bureau of Investigation noted its continuing objection to any further declassification of the materials in the binder and also, on the basis of a review that included Intelligence Community equities, identified the passages that it believed it was most crucial to keep from public disclosure. I have determined to accept the redactions proposed for continued classification by the FBI in that January 17 submission."

 

The first few minutes of the interview are, if anything, more important. The FBI has built a conspiracy case against several--at least three, perhaps more--individuals who belong to the Oath Keepers. and who appear to have acted as provocateurs in the events of January 6 at the US Capitol. As Solomon explains, it is now known that--contrary to claims by Mitch McConnell and Bluto Barr, the plans by the Oath Keepers to enter the Capitol were developed well before Trump's address to the protesters--at least as early as January 1, but possibly earlier. The significance of these facts that the FBI has uncovered is that the illegal activities that took place on January 6 had nothing to do with Trump's actual address to the crowd--the entry to the Capitol was long planned. Now, Bluto Barr will maintain that Trump's claims of election fraud for the preceding two months served as incitement. But those claims are too remote from the events in terms of causation to be used as evidence of "high crimes" or "misdemeanors." Moreover, they are protected by the First Amendment.

UPDATED: Rasmussen Gives GOPe More Pause To Reconsider

Obviously it's too late to take back what they've already done, but the GOP can still step back from the brink of the abyss. Because they're playing with fire.

Last night commenter Ray So-Cal cited a story at Newsmax claiming that Trump's polling since Wednesday is actually looking quite good. This morning Thomas Lifson confirms that report with details: Stunning Rasmussen poll shows rising approval of Trump in the wake of the Capitol incursion. 

Here's the money quote from Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll, Sponsored by SLANTED from Sharyl Attkisson, for Friday shows that 48% of Likely U.S. Voters approve of President Trump’s job performance. Fifty percent (50%) disapprove.

The latest figures include 35% who Strongly Approve of the job Trump is doing and 42% who Strongly Disapprove. This gives him a Presidential Approval Index rating of -7. (see trends)

This survey includes the first full night of polling following the events on Wednesday in Washington, DC.

The messaging of the MSM and Big Tech may not be all it's cracked up to be. Or perhaps they'll have to work much harder than they ever imagined to overcome what may be behind these numbers--not only a very strong base of support for Trump's agenda but also a visceral distrust for the Imperial City on the Potomac, and all its works. Bear in mind, these numbers were produced at the height of the Establishment outcry against Trump's supposed 'insurrection'.

With any luck, Trump will indeed get into the social media field, as has been rumored. There would appear to be a vast market awaiting such an initiative.

UPDATE: In a totally related development, Monica Showalter has smartly noted that Twitter's banning of Trump has backfired big time. That is, if Twitter is actually running a business. Here's the graph that Showalter provides, along with commentary:

Showalter's conclusion:

I'm not a stock trader, but based on the figures cited, this doesn't look like an auspicious picture for the Twitter stock. Multiple factors included, it might still be a star performer, but it clearly has some weakness.

And amazingly, it was a self-inflicted wound, given that Twitter banned Trump on its own volition, chasing more users out. Smart companies don't alienate and lose customers. Memo to Twitter: Remember MySpace.

Just more evidence that the Left is out of touch. Again, Trump may well see a business opportunity in this.

UPDATED: The Shape Of The Coup Plot: Obama And The Brits

Yesterday, in Is There A Prosecutive Theory To Fit The Russia Hoax? I outlined a prosecutive theory that might be able to encompass the enormity of the Leftist/Prog plot against our constitutional order (please do yourself a favor and give it a careful reading). Today there are analyses available that advance the snowballing effort to flesh out the full detail of this plot.

First let's turn to Byron York, who describes the increasing Leftist/Prog desperation as they find that the Mueller Dossier "has changed everything"--and not in their favor:

The ground has shifted in the month since the report became public. Before the release, many Democrats adopted a "wait for Mueller" stance, basing their anti-Trump strategy on the hope that Mueller would find the much-anticipated conspiracy. 

Then Mueller did not deliver. ... Democrats searched for a way to convince Americans that the president was still guilty of something serious. 

They devised a plan to turn the Mueller report into a TV show, ... 

At the same time, they would insist that Attorney General William Barr, who has allowed top lawmakers to see the full Mueller report with the exception of a small amount of grand jury material, was hiding something, and that the hidden material might reveal presidential wrongdoing. 

So far, the strategy has not worked. ... 

... 

In the meantime, House Democrats have been reduced to stunts to try to grab the public's attention. At the Capitol recently, they enlisted Hollywood star John Cusack to take part in a public reading of the entire Mueller report — it took 12 hours — as C-Span cameras rolled. The event did not exactly captivate the nation.

Then, last week, Bill Barr gave his bombshell The Answers I'm Getting To My Questions Don't Hang Together interview. The bombshell in the interview was the revelation of what Barr personally finds most riveting: