Revealed in court document following the arrest of an apparent Oath Keepers leader, prosecutors allege that militia members from six states coordinated their January 6th attack on Capitol and communicated in real-time to update each other on their progress, the Washington Post reports.

Documents filed in relation to the charges for Thomas Edward Caldwell, 66, of Clarke County, Virginia, state that Caldwell was working with 30-40 individuals to plan attacks on both sides of the Capitol and take advantage of the chaos caused by Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally.

Two other people–Jessica Watkins, 38, a U.S. Army veteran, and former U.S. Marine Donovan Crowl, 50,–were charged with Caldwell, a Navy veteran, in a conspiracy to stop the Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote declaring Joe Biden the victor of the November election.

There are consequences for interfering in the democratic process. Starting today, we are imposing visa restrictions on those involved in election interference in Tanzania. We remain committed to working together to advance democracy and mutual prosperity for both our countries.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) January 19, 2021

A soldier in the United States Army has been arrested in Georgia after he plotted online to blow up the 9/11 Memorial in New York City and other landmarks around the country, the Associated Press reports.

Cole James Bridges, a 20-year-old from Stow, Ohio, was arrested at Fort Stewart, Georgia for attempted material support of a terrorist organization and attempted murder of a military member.  Bridges, who is known as Cole Gonzales, reportedly thought he was talking with members of the Islamic State about killing soldiers in the Middle East.  He was unwittingly communicating with FBI agents.

“As we allege today, Bridges, a private in the U.S. Army, betrayed our country and his unit when he plotted with someone he believed was an ISIS sympathizer to help ISIS attack and kill U.S. soldiers in the Middle East,” said William F. Sweeney Jr., head of New York City’s FBI office.

AP: “In what could be the longest of legal longshots, several of those arrested for storming the U.S. Capitol are holding out hope that President Donald Trump will use some of his last hours in office to grant the rioters a full and complete pardon. Longtime advisers to Trump are urging him against such a move but the rioters contend their argument is compelling: They went to the Capitol to support Trump, and now that they are facing charges carrying up to 20 years in prison, it’s time for Trump to support them. ‘I feel like I was basically following my president. I was following what we were called to do. He asked us to fly there. He asked us to be there. So I was doing what he asked us to do,’ said Jenna Ryan, a Dallas-area real-estate agent who took a private jet to the Jan. 6 rally and ensuing riot to disrupt the certification of the election of President-elect Joe Biden. Ryan – who prosecutors say posted a now-deleted video of herself marching to the Capitol with the words, ‘We are going to fucking go in here. Life or death’ – told Dallas television station KTVT, ‘I think we all deserve a pardon. I’m facing a prison sentence. I think I do not deserve that.’

“Perhaps the most high-profile rioter, the so-called ‘QAnon Shaman’ who broke into the Senate chamber and posed at the dais with a spear, wearing a horned fur hat and animal skins, is also pleading for a pardon. Jacob Chansley’s lawyer told The Associated Press that he reached out to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows about a possible pardon on behalf of the Arizona man, acknowledging it might be a reach but that there’s nothing to lose in seeking one. If Chansley is not granted a pardon, attorney Albert Watkins said, it could offer the added benefit of further awakening his client to the fact that his devotion to Trump has not been reciprocated, comparing it to being a jilted lover or even a member of a cult.”

“Fox News political editor Chris Stirewalt was laid off today alongside just under 20 Fox News staffers. Stirewalt sat on the Fox News decision desk, which has come under fire for its early call on Arizona election night” reports Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post.

Republican Missouri freshman Senator Josh Hawley is objecting to “fast tracking” the nomination of Alejandro Mayorkas, President-elect Joe Biden’s appointee for Secretary of Homeland Security, claiming that his objection is based on his concerns about Biden’s announced immigration policy.

Hawley, who encouraged the mob of domestic terrorists who attacked the Capitol on January 6th, released a statement on Twitter:  “Mr. Mayorkas has not adequately explained how he will enforce federal law and secure the southern border given President-elect Biden’s promise to roll back major enforcement and security measures.”

The United States has passed another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic, with 400,000 people have died due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began, according to the Johns Hopkins University coronavirus tracker.

The US leads the world in fatalities:  with just 4% of the world’s population, the US has 20% of the fatalities.  Since March 1st, one person in the US has died of the coronavirus every 75 seconds.  One in 1,000 people in the US has died of the disease; 8% of people have been infected.

It took just five weeks for the nation to record 100,000 deaths, going from 300,000 deaths in mid-December to 400,000 deaths Tuesday.

Incoming Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell stated in no unequivocal terms Tuesday that the blame for the violent domestic terrorists attacking the Capitol on January 6th lies with Donald Trump and “powerful people” who consistently fed them lies about election fraud.

https://youtu.be/KGIMJ7E-pPg

In a statement in the Senate chamber, McConnell said, “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people.”

“Several Republican lawmakers who are alleged to have been involved in the rally that preceded the deadly riot on the US Capitol have sought clemency from Trump before he leaves office, but after meeting with his legal advisers for several hours on Saturday, the President decided he would not grant them, according to two people familiar with his plans” CNN reports.

AP: “Ten additional U.S. Army National Guard members are being removed from the security mission for the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official and a U.S. Army official briefed on the matter. The two officials spoke on condition of anonymity citing Pentagon regulations. Early Tuesday morning, the FBI sent a list of names to the National Guard Bureau who were identified as having ties to fringe right-wing groups or had posted extremist views. No active plots against Biden were found. The information was passed from the National Guard Bureau to the D.C. National Guard.”

Outgoing Vice President Mike Pence will bid farewell to Donald Trump from the South Lawn of the White House because, he claims, it would be logistically difficult to get to Joint Base Andrews and attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

According to CNN, Pence has prioritized attending the inaugural over going to wave goodbye to Trump during an even that is expected to be sparsely attended.  In emailed invitations, people are being asked to bring five friends to the staged farewell, a sign that Trump’s handlers don’t think it will be a popular event.

The people invited to the Trump send-off seem to be a haphazard list, including Trump critics like Anthony Scaramucci and John Kelly, who was fired as Trump’s Chief of Staff.

“Appellants submit this Joint Motion to Dismiss, showing the agreement of all parties hereto that this case be dismissed, each party to bear their own costs. Wherefore, the parties respectfully request that this appeal be dismissed. Respectfully submitted, this 19th day of January 2021” says Sidney Powell, giving up the good fight for her Orange God Emperor on the final day of His reign.

Gwinnett Daily Post: “One of the Gwinnett County Republican Party’s two representatives on the bipartisan county elections board told fellow members of the GOP that she favors major elections changes at the local and state levels, including a move away from no excuse absentee voting for many Georgians.” Alice O’Lenick, who is the Gwinnett Board of Registrations and Elections chairwoman for 2021 and 2022, encouraged members of her party to write letters and make phone calls to state legislators to encourage them to make changes to state elections laws.”

“Republicans in Georgia, including members of the state legislature, have been calling for changes after experiencing losses in the 2020 election cycle. In that cycle, the Democratic Party had big wins in the state in the presidential, 7th Congressional District and both U.S. Senate races. ‘I was on a Zoom call the other day and I said, ‘I’m like a dog with a bone. I will not let them end this session without changing some of these laws,’ ‘ O’Lenick said. ‘They don’t have to change all of them, but they’ve got to change the major parts of them so that we at least have a shot at winning.’ O’Lenick – who referred to 2020 as a ‘terrible elections cycle’ during the GOP meeting – outlined several changes pertaining to elections that she would like to see made in Georgia. Several of them pertain to how Georgians can cast ballots ahead of election day.”

“Georgia election officials on Tuesday certified the victories of two Democrats who won in the state’s hard-fought U.S. Senate runoff elections earlier this month, paving the way for them to take office as early as Wednesday. Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock narrowly defeated Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the Jan. 5. runoffs, a stunning and unexpected boon for President-elect Joe Biden“ – Washington Post.

Axios: “Congressional leaders, including House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, will skip President Trump’s departure ceremony in Maryland tomorrow morning in favor of attending mass with incoming President Joe Biden ahead of his inauguration, congressional sources familiar with their plans tell Axios.“

Media Matters: “In a previously unreported interaction, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) agreed with a 2018 Facebook comment that the deadly mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, was actually a ‘false flag’ planned event. In a separate Facebook posting in 2018, Greene also claimed: ‘I am told that Nancy Pelosi tells Hillary Clinton several times a month that ‘we need another school shooting’ in order to persuade the public to want strict gun control.'”

“Greene was a right-wing commentator before successfully running for Congress in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District. She has pushed the QAnon and Pizzagate conspiracy theories; falsely claimed that there’s no evidence a plane crashed into the Pentagon on 9/11; labeled the 2018 pipe bomb packages to members of Congress and others a hoax; accused the Obama administration of killing former Democratic staffer Seth Rich; and pushed anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic rhetoric, among other things. Greene has frequently used social media to spread misinformation, toxic rhetoric, and conspiracy theories. Twitter recently suspended Greene’s Twitter account for 12 hours after she spread lies about the U.S. Senate elections in Georgia.”

“An apparent leader of the Oath Keepers, a far-right militia group, was arrested in Virginia on Tuesday for his alleged role in plotting to attack the Capitol. Thomas Edward Caldwell, 65, was arrested in Virginia on several federal charges, including conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, after he was allegedly involved in coordinating a plan to disrupt the Jan. 6 congressional session to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory. During the siege, in which thousands of MAGA supporters stormed the Capitol, five people died and dozens more were injured.”

“According to a criminal complaint first obtained by The Washington Post, prosecutors allege Caldwell helped organize a group of at least eight people, who were seen ‘aggressively approaching an entrance to the Capitol.’ The group was seen wearing military-style gear and helmets as they moved ‘in an organized and practiced fashion and force[d] their way to the ground of the crowd gathered around a door to the U.S. Capitol'” – Daily Beast.

AP: “Two U.S. Army National Guard members are being removed from the security mission to secure Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration. A U.S. Army official and a senior U.S. intelligence official say the two National Guard members have been found to have ties to fringe right group militias. No plot against Biden was found. The Army official and the intelligence official spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity due to Defense Department media regulations. They did not say what fringe group the Guard members belonged to or what unit they served in.”