Former Trump staffer brags of leading 'huge' disinformation campaign supporting the MAGA rioters https://www.rawstory.com/trump-capitol-riot-2654688243/ On Monday, BuzzFeed News published an exposé on Matt Braynard — a one-time staffer on former President Donald Trump's campaign who has emerged as one of the fiercest pushers of right-wing propaganda about the January 6 Capitol attack. "Braynard, who worked for Trump for five months on the 2016 campaign before he was let go, has been Forrest Gumping his way through the postelection Trump universe," reported Sarah Mimms. "In December, he testified alongside Rudy Giuliani alleging mass voter fraud in Arizona. A week later, he told legislators in Georgia that he'd found 21,000 illegal ballots in the state (before his data was methodically torn apart by a Democratic legislator who tracked down several of the voters herself). He was a paid expert witness in three cases challenging the election results, none of which went anywhere." After pro-Trump rioters attacked the Capitol based on these lies, Braynard was a key voice trying to whitewash their actions, continued the report. He has led protests for the release of various rioters, calling them "political prisoners" even though only a small handful of violent and dangerous individuals were denied bail outright, and saying their release is "the modern civil rights struggle of our time." He has taken credit for the martyrization of Ashli Babbitt, a rioter who was shot while trying to force her way through a broken Capitol window; her cause has since been taken up by Trump himself. Braynard is also organizing another rally for September 18, telling longtime far-right strategist Steve Bannon on his show that "it's going to be huge."
Texas Republican who attended MAGA riot rages at Dem colleague's bill that would bar him from being an election worker https://www.rawstory.com/capitol-riot-texas/
Where's your thread dedicated to Trump opponents who prefer dictatorship (of the sweating class) over the perfumed class?
Far-Right Propagandist Turns up in Moscow After Jan. 6 Russia Insider founder Charles Bausman traveled from his home in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 6 and advanced as far as the Capitol’s balustrades after Trump’s speech, he said. Soon after, he left the country for Moscow. https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2021/09/01/far-right-propagandist-turns-moscow-after-jan-6 Bausman, 57, is an American man known for producing the pro-Kremlin website Russia Insider, which he has in recent years infused with overtly fascist and antisemitic content. He mystifies not only researchers of the far right, who struggle to understand his objectives or his funding, but also his own family. Bausman’s older sister, Mary Watkins, who says she loves her brother but opposes his fascist politics, told Hatewatch she watched online as his wife, Kristina Bausman, originally from the rural community of Mednogorsk, Russia, posted a video to Facebook of what looked to her like a live scene from the Trump rally that descended into violence. “I messaged her as everything was happening and said, ‘You’re not there, are you?’ She said, ‘No, no, we’re here in Lancaster,’” Watkins recalled of Jan. 6. Hatewatch launched this investigation in January after an anonymous tipster alleged to us that Bausman “fled the country” after traveling to Washington, D.C., for the fateful Trump event. Hatewatch then visited Bausman’s home in Lancaster twice in March and interviewed more than a dozen of his neighbors but found no trace of him. Neighbors told Hatewatch that Bausman moved into their community in 2018, shortly after relocating from Russia. He promoted hard-right causes, including the anti-lockdown protests during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. He involved himself in #StoptheSteal activism perpetuating the lie of a stolen election alongside others in the far right, such as members of the gun-worshipping Unification Church cult. He hyped the Jan. 6 event on social media. Then he seemed to disappear from Lancaster, leaving his 2020 Christmas lights and a Betsy Ross-style American flag dangling from his porch. “As I was just telling a friend, those are our neighbors. They’re big Trump supporters. They have ties to Russia. And they skipped town right after the insurrection,” a neighbor of Bausman’s told Hatewatch in March, pointing to the Christmas lights. Hatewatch has elected to withhold the names of Bausman’s Lancaster neighbors to protect them from potential harassment. They decorated his street with roughly two dozen antiracist signs following the publication of a Hatewatch investigation linking Russia Insider to a small network of racist junk news websites, including a hyper-partisan blog focused on Lancaster County. The reason for what appears to have been his abrupt departure, whether a reaction to the election of Biden, or something else—some of the neighbors speculated to Hatewatch that Bausman may have been trying to avoid scrutiny from law enforcement because of his support for the insurrection—is unclear. “Seems like he ran out of town in a big hurry,” one neighbor told Hatewatch, referring to the now-months-old Christmas lights. Hatewatch sent a request for comment to Bausman first by email and later by certified mail, which the post office returned without a signature. We finally confirmed that Bausman left the U.S. for Russia after translating into English three Russian television appearances he made. Bausman appears in studio during the videos. (Hatewatch geolocated a Moscow television studio which hosted Bausman in June.) He does not specify whether he relocated to Russia permanently or is visiting in the appearances. “America is awake now,” Bausman said in Russian on one program that aired in the immediate aftermath of the insurrection, referring to the willingness of Trump supporters to embrace Russia as an ally in a shared struggle. Russia “now has the chance to build big bridges with half of the United States,” Bausman also boasted. He described the U.S. as being irrevocably divided following Biden’s election. Bausman made those three appearances spanning from January to June. Each time, he talked about the insurrection in fluent Russian, presenting himself to a Russian-speaking audience as an expert on U.S. affairs. He pushed the lie that elites stole the election from Trump in the appearances. In one show, he asked the host to avoid saying he actively participated in the insurrection because he did not want someone to “show up at his door.” (Bausman denied direct involvement in the unlawful activities that day and instead framed himself as a journalist covering the event rather than a pro-Trump demonstrator.) Hatewatch reached out to the FBI to inquire whether they were investigating Bausman for any reason. They declined to respond. (More at above url)
While it is tempting to needle @Tsing Tao for his anti public health rhetoric and his infamous misinformation charts he finds on social media. I don't believe he is in any way a treason weasel involved with the Russians.
Capitol riot defendants raise more than $2 million from crowdfunding https://edition.cnn.com/2021/09/01/politics/capitol-riot-crowdfunding/index.html