Tag Archives: January 6

Snapshot: No Insurrectionists in America’s Diplomatic Service #18USC2383

April 26, 2021 By in Appointments, Foreign Service, Regulations, State Department Tags: , , , ,
Once a year, we ask for your support to keep this blog and your dedicated blogger going. So here we are on Week #7 of our eight-week annual fundraising. Our previous funding ran out in August 2020. We recognize that blogging life has no certainty, and this year is no exception.  If you care what we do here, please see GFM: https://gofund.me/32671a27.  We could use your help. Grazie!  Merci! Gracias!

 

Via 3 FAM 2210:

 

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Ex-@StateDept Staffer Charged in 1/6 Insurrection to Remain in Custody Pending Trial

March 10, 2021 By in Court Cases, Govt Documents, Political Appointees, State Department, Trump Tags: , , , ,
On March 4, former political appointee at the State Department Federico Klein was arrested in connection with the January 6 insurrection (see Three Current/Former @StateDept Employees Float to the Top in Crowded Bad News Cycle).  Klein is really going to be unhappy with his continued accommodations at the D.C. jail. On March 9 the DOJ filed its memo in support of pre-trial detention and the judge agreed to keep him in custody. Excerpt below from the pre-trial detention memo:
The dangerousness of Klein’s participation in the mob that day is only heightened by the fact that, at that time, he was an employee of the Department of State, with an obligation to uphold the Constitution. By law, federal employees are required to take an oath of office, swearing to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…” 5 U.S.C. § 3331. Presumably, Klein took that same oath of office when he entered federal employment. Despite his oath to support and defend the Constitution, Klein demonstrated his contempt for that oath, the legitimate functions of the government, and for the Constitution itself when he assaulted officers in an attempt to stop the certification of a lawful election. By his actions on January 6, 2021, Klein abdicated his responsibilities to the country and the Constitution. Despite the trust the country and government placed in Klein’s character, stability, trustworthiness, reliability, discretion, honesty, judgment, and unquestionable loyalty to the United States,5 Klein’s behavior revealed that his true allegiance lies elsewhere. Rather, Klein’s actions established that his own personal beliefs override the rule of law and that he will use violence in an attempt to halt the legitimate functions of the United States government with which he disagrees. Such blatant disregard of the law and the authority of a lawful government, along with his indifference to keeping his own commitments – even when made under oath – weigh in favor of detention. If Klein is unwilling to obey orders while in full view of law enforcement, or to conform his behavior to the law even when he disagrees with it, despite his oath to the Constitution, it is unlikely that he would adhere to this Court’s directions and release orders.
The criminal complaint dated March 2, 2021 charged Klein with the following:
18 U.S.C. § 1752(a)(1) – Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority,
40 U.S.C. § 5104(e)(2) – Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct on Capitol Grounds,
18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(2) – Obstruction of Justice/Congress,
18 U.S.C. § 231(a)(3) – Obstruction of Law Enforcement During Civil Disorder,
18 U.S.C. § 111(a)(1) – Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers,
18 U.S.C. § 111(b) – Assaulting, Resisting, or Impeding Certain Officers Using a Dangerous Weapon

 

Forty-Four Blind Mice on the Senate Floor

February 11, 2021 By in Senators, Trends, Trump, U.S. Senate Tags: , ,

Note: This week feels like reliving the nightmare of January 6 but one could not just look away. It was a close call. Closer than we ever imagined. It was more than just an attack of the Capitol, it was an assault on our democracy. And forty-four senators want to just look away, hide under their desks and not have to deal with the insurrection that killed five people, wounded many, and could have resulted in the deaths of so many more. So I wrote the piece below for these blind mice disgracing the Senate floor.

–Domani Spero

 

Forty-Four Blind Mice on the Senate Floor

Day 1 of the Second Trump Impeachment Trial

 

The “world’s greatest deliberative body”
Is now the world’s most cowardly one.
The most cowardly one for all to see.
Lookit! Except Sasse, Toomey, Cassidy
Also Collins, Romney, and Murkowski.
Poor senators like three blind mice
Three blind ones times fourteen plus two.
Watch them willfully go blind, go blind
In the service of self, not country.
In a chamber still fresh from that mad kind.
See how they run. See how run.
Who cut off their spines with a carving knife?
Have you ever see such a sad sight in your life
As forty-four blind mice on the Senate floor?
–February 9, 2021

 

 

 

 

World Watches With Shock as Trump Mob Storms United States Capitol

January 6, 2021 By in Chaos, Realities of the FS, Transition, Trump, US Presidents Tags: , , ,

 

We wished we could say that we were shocked with the insurrection that happened at the U.S. capital city today.  Given the last four years of  the president and his enablers living in world based in an alternate reality, this was the unavoidable conclusion. It is not a coincidence that a U.S. president who gave a speech about the American carnage during his inauguration now ends his administration this way. We kept hearing from TV people that they have never seen anything like this before. That’s true but if you have lived overseas in developing countries, you have seen something like this happened before, others have seen this many times before. It almost always never ends well for the country.
We as a country cannot let this stand. If there are no consequences for these actions, this is bound to happen again. How easy was it again for the mob to breach the U.S. capitol? How long did it take for reinforcement to come? Four hours? What’s going to happen next time, take lawmakers hostages so they cannot continue with the election certification?  For the elected officials who sheltered in place today inside the capitol, this guy sure learned his lesson!  Where is your red line?
Below, the world watched with shock and disbelief.

GERMANY

AUSTRIA

UNITED KINGDOM

SPAIN

ITALY

FRANCE

EUROPEAN UNION

OSCE

NATO

UKRAINE

LITHUANIA

ESTONIA

COLOMBIA

IRELAND

NORWAY

CROATIA

CANADA

AUSTRALIA