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For weeks, if not months, leadership at the Department of Justice has repeatedly told us they will follow the facts and the law and will hold Jan. 6 wrongdoers accountable at any level. Yet they provide few updates or concrete information. We have seen zero overt law enforcement activity against anyone but the foot soldiers of former President Donald Trumps insurrection. In substance, the DOJ is asking the American people to trust them. But following the Houses final (at least for a while) Jan. 6 committee hearing on Thursday, that trust is eroding.

Over the course of these eight public Jan. 6 committee hearings, we have seen compelling (not circumstantial) evidence of Trumps potential crimes.

Over the course of these eight public Jan. 6 committee hearings, we have seen compelling (not circumstantial) evidence of Trumps potential crimes. Former acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue testified that Trump told a group of department officials that it didnt matter if the election was rife with fraud, adding, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican congressmen. This is direct evidence relayed by Donoghue under oath of criminal intent. Trump apparently neither believed nor cared whether there was provable evidence of widespread election fraud, he simply wanted his DOJ officials to lie "just say the election was corrupt" and let him use that lie to help steal a second presidential term.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder described these statements as a smoking gun proving Trumps corrupt intent, adding that it would be laughable for anyone to argue otherwise to a jury. I agree wholeheartedly with Holder. (Full disclosure: He was my direct boss when he was the United States attorney for the District of Columbia.) And for anyone who might dismiss Holder as hopelessly partisan, its worth remembering that before he served as U.S. attorney for D.C., he was nominated to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia by President Ronald Reagan.

Similarly, Cassidy Hutchinson testified that prior to Trump's Jan. 6 speech on the Ellipse, he was informed that some of his supporters were armed with rifles, pistols and other deadly weapons. In a staggering display of callousness and disregard for the safety of others, Trump responded by demanding that security take down the metal detectors and let his supporters in anyway, because theyre not here to hurt me. As a career prosecutor, I would argue that the only reasonable inference from that statement is that Trump fully understood his armed supporters were a danger to lawmakers certifying the election win of his opponent. Trump also said that after his speech (i.e., after the metal detectors were removed and his armed mob was allowed in), they would all then march to the Capitol. This is powerful, direct evidence relayed by Hutchinson under oath that Trump intended to lead an armed mob to stop the election certification.

As weve watched this staggering and, Id hasten to add, legally admissible evidence of Trumps alleged crimes accumulate, DOJ inaction feels increasingly inexcusable.

Add to that the alarming recent New York Times reporting claiming Hutchinsons testimony jolted the DOJ into a more direct consideration of Trumps potential criminal responsibility. This revelation prompted former federal prosecutor Andrew Weissmann to accuse the DOJ of a myopic focus on the Jan. 6 riot, with too few signs of a robust (DOJ) investigation.

Even former U.S. Attorney (and MSNBC Columnist) Barb McQuaid, a long-time federal prosecutor with impeccable credentials and a healthy dose of circumspection, is now asking, DOJ, you up yet?

Lawlessness, unaddressed, begets lawlessness. And we now see Team Trump engaging in possible witness tampering as well. Given the lack of DOJ action, there seems to be no serious deterrence in place.

And to be clear, if the revelations of Donoghue and Hutchinson, detailed above, are smoking-gun evidence, witness tampering is loaded-gun evidence. Professionally, Ive had far too many chances to deal with instances of such meddling. Corruptly attempting to influence, impede or prevent the truthful testimony of a witness strikes right at the very heart of the integrity of any investigation, congressional or criminal. Prosecutors take these allegations seriously, and investigate them as quickly as possible.

Is federal law enforcement doing the same?

Lest we forget, the House voted to hold Mark Meadows in contempt of Congress for refusing to appear before the Jan. 6 committee. Meadows, Trump's former chief of staff, appeared so determined to conceal Trumps behavior that he risked possible criminal charges. But DOJ declined to indict. In a legal sense, I think DOJ should be looking at Meadows not only for the crime of contempt of Congress but also the federal offenses of accessory after the fact and misprision of a felony. In a lay sense, Meadows certainly appears to be involved in a cover-up. And still, he has been given a pass.

This failure to charge Meadows, Trump or any of the other Trump associates who seem to be in the thick of the corrupt efforts to overthrow our democracy exposes a deep injustice presently at play.

The testimony of defendant Stephen Ayres during the last hearing highlighted the DOJs disparity of treatment. Trump deceived, duped and lied to the American people, telling them their votes were stolen, the presidential election was corrupt, urging them to come to D.C. for a wild protest and then whipping them into a frenzy and instructing them to fight like hell.

Thousands of loyal supporters believed these lies and acted on these commands. And now, hundreds upon hundreds of his supporters are being prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned for doing precisely what their president told them to do.

And where is Donald Trump? Golfing and holding rallies at which he still pushes the big lie, inciting and enraging those who still choose to listen to a two-bit conman. And almost a year and a half after Joe Bidens inauguration, Wisconsin state Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says Trump called him this very month and pushed him to try to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Such inequity is a stain on our government.

Now, I have long cautioned that we should give the DOJ enough time to do its thing. But my view has always been premised on the assumption that DOJ has, indeed been doing a thorough, far-reaching, aggressive investigation behind the scenes. My growing concern with each new data point is that for reasons that may have little to do with the facts or the law, DOJ is not doing the kind of investigation our democracy needs to survive.

Link:
Jan. 6 hearing witnesses prove Trump's criminal intent - MSNBC

Eric Holder is standing trial for the murder of Nipsey Hussle, and on Wednesday, prosecutors began to reveal terrifying details about the tragic incident.

According to TMZ, Deputy District Attorney John McKinney addressed the jury Wednesday, detailing Holders alleged actions following Nipseys death. McKinney alleged that after Eric gunned Nipsey down in the parking lot of his Marathon clothing store, he walked over to the rapper and kicked him in the head.

Holder allegedly addressed Nipsey saying, Youre through, and Nipsey responded with, You got me, before the gunman fled the scene.

Eric Holder was arrested and charged with murder, attempted murder and possession of a firearm by a felon in connection to the murder of Nipsey Hussle. He was indicted by a grand jury in December, and DA McKinney argued that Holder intentionally killed Hussle due to a prior dispute.

Grand jury transcripts indicate that Holder approached Hussle for a brief conversation in the Crenshaw parking lot moment before Eric Holder loaded a gun and, subsequently shot Nipsey multiple times.

Apparently the conversation had something to do with Mr. Asghedom telling Mr. Holder that word on the street was that Mr. Holder was snitching. The conversation wasnt particularly belligerent, and it lasted about four minutes.

Holder was initially being represented by Chris Darden, famously known for working the OJ Simpson trial, but he withdrew from the case alleging his family was receiving death threats. Eric Holder is now being represented by a public defender, who plans to argue that he is being overcharged.

Read more here:
Eric Holder Trial Reveals Gruesome Details About Nipsey Hussle's Passing

Former Attorney General Eric Holder warned on Monday that the United States is "slipping into" a "political apartheid system" because conservatives have greater influence than their numbers would suggest.

During an interview with Washington Post Live, Holder said he was concerned that gerrymandering allows politicians to pick their voters instead of voters making the choice.

"We are in danger of slipping into what I would call a political apartheid system, where a minority of the people in this country will have disproportionate amounts of power," Holders said, "and be able to put in place things that are not supported by the majority."

The former attorney general pointed to the expected loss of abortion rights as one example.

"The minority [of voters] will be represented by the majority that was put on the Supreme Court by two presidents who did not win the majority of the vote because of our Electoral College," Holder explained. "[Conservative justices] will have the ability to foist on the nation a policy with regards to reproductive rights that is not supported by the people of this country."

"A whole range of things where the American people are essentially together," he added. "And yet, we don't see our laws, our regulations, our policies reflected of what in a lot of places is consensus on the part of the American people."

The infamous apartheid policy of South Africa was used to give the country's white minority power over its non-white majority. The policy was denounced by countries around the world and was eventually overturned in the 1990s.

Watch the video below or at this link.

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Eric Holder warns of 'apartheid system' in US as conservative 'minority ...

The man on trial for the murder of rapper Nipsey Hussle was absent from court Tuesday after he suffered a beating in jail, a report said.

Eric Holder, 32, was attacked by two inmates after he was transported back to the facility after he left court around 4 p.m. on Monday, his public defender, Aaron Jansen, told Rolling Stone.

Jansen said Holder, who required medical treatment for his injuries, was cut to the back to his head with a razor.

His face is swollen and his eye is swollen, Jansen told the magazine.

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge H. Clay Jack told jurors Tuesday the days session was canceled due to unforeseen circumstances, and asked them to return Wednesday unless they hear otherwise.

Defense attorney Aaron Jansen told the magazine outside of the courtroom that the delay was medical related, but was not due to COVID-19.

Its not clear exactly where the accused killer was attacked. Holder has been ordered to be kept separately from other inmates when hes being transported, Rolling Stone reported.

Holders murder trial began earlier this month, over three years after he allegedly gunned down Hussle whose real name is Ermias Joseph Asghedom outside of his Los Angeles clothing shop, The Marathon, in May 2019.

He allegedly walked up to Hussle, 33, while he was speaking to a group of men and opened fire with an automatic handgun, hitting him 11 times and injuring two other people. Video shows Holder kicking Hussles head while he was on the ground bleeding.

Jansen admitted in his opening remarks that his client did shoot Hussle, 33, but denied that it was premeditated.

This is a case of heat of passion, Jansen told jurors. Hussle, he said, made an accusation against Mr. Holder that he was a snitch.

Both men grew up in the same neighborhood and were affiliated with the same street gang the Rollin 60s Neighborhood Crips in South Los Angeles.

Ten minutes before the shooting, Hussle and Holder had a short conversation in which the rapper warned him of a rumor circulating that he had been cooperating with law enforcement and giving up names, Hussles close friend Herman Douglas testified.

Holder didnt seem upset when Hussle told him about his concerns, he said.

Holders former gal pal Bryannita Nicholson testified last week that she had driven Holder to a restaurant in the same shopping complex as Hussles store.

Nicholson said she heard Holder say to Hussle in a loud voice, Did you say I snitched, before walking away from the rapper and two other men. After Hussle and Holder talked, Holder got back in the car and asked Nicholson to drive around the block twice.

Stay up on the very latest with Evening Update.

After passing the store a second time, he began loading his gun inside the car, she said. He told her to park in an alleyway, took two bites of chili cheese fries and walked in the store.

Moments later Nicholson said she heard gunshots and debated fleeing but was worried that Holder was hurt. He got back in the car and yelled at her to drive away from the alley and saw him put two guns in a bag.

Nicholson, who was intimate with Holder but had only known him for a month, said she didnt realize Holder mightve been involved with the shooting until after he spent the night and saw news reports of Hussles death.

Holder faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted.

When court resumes, Holders defense is expected to call two witnesses to the stand and take less than a day before closing arguments, Rolling Stone reported.

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Eric Holder, man accused of murdering Nipsey Hussle, beat up in jail: report - New York Post

A judge issued a warrant Thursday for an eyewitness to the shooting death of rapper Nipsey Hussle for failing to appear to testify at the trial of the man charged in the slaying, and in his absence, a police detective testified about the reluctance of witnesses that has marked the case.

Evan "Rimpau" MacKenzie, a close friend of Hussle's who was a pallbearer at his funeral and was standing next to him when he was shot, has repeatedly ignored subpoenas ordering him to appear and testify for the prosecution, resulting in Judge H. Clay Jacke II issuing the bench warrant with $500,000 bail.

"Mr. MacKenzie, did he express a reluctance to testify?" Aaron Jansen, attorney for defendant Eric Holder, asked Los Angeles police Detective Cedric Washington, who answered that MacKenzie had said as much in phone conversations.

The taboo against "snitching" has pervaded every part of the trial of Holder, who is charged with first-degree murder in the 2019 death of Hussle and with attempted murder because two bystanders were struck with gunfire.

It was a conversation between Holder and Hussle on the subject in which Hussle told Holder there were rumors of "paperwork" suggesting he'd been talking to authorities that prosecutors peg as Holder's motive for returning minutes later to gun Hussle down.

The shooting took place in a predominately Black South Los Angeles neighborhood where both men and most of the witnesses grew up, and where mistrust of police and courts runs deep. Even Hussle's friends and fans, and people hit by Holder's gunfire, have been reluctant to talk in the public venue.

"I don't know nothing, don't see nothing," Kerry Lathan, who was wounded in the shooting, said on the stand last week, refusing to identify himself in surveillance video that was played for jurors. He then declined to identify Holder as the shooter.

"You don't want to testify about what happened?" Deputy District Attorney John McKinney asked him.

"That's right," Lathan replied.

On Thursday, Jansen sought to pin the hesitancy on Holder and Hussle's ties to the Rollin' 60s street gang.

"Typically in gang cases is there a reluctance to testify?" Jansen asked.

"I wouldn't limit it to gang cases," Washington replied.

"I'm asking about gang cases," Jansen said.

"I do believe it is common, yes," Washington said.

Jansen continued, "Several witnesses in this case have said they did not want to come to court, and they felt that their families would be in danger, right?"

Washington conceded that there were.

In follow-up questions from prosecutors, Washington downplayed the gang aspect.

"I've investigated many cases that are outside of the scope of gang cases. I've found that a majority of people are reluctant to come to court or talk to law enforcement," Washington said. "Everybody seems to think that from coming to court, they are going to be subject to retaliation."

"Has there been any threat to any witness in this case that accused them of snitching?" McKinney asked. "Do you know of any harm that came to anyone in this case for being a witness or talking to police?"

Washington said no to both questions, acknowledging there was a threat made last week by an anonymous caller to Bryannita Nicholson, who testified for the prosecution that she had acted as Holder's unwitting getaway driver.

Nicholson, who was given immunity in exchange for her testimony, had her identity kept secret when she testified before a grand jury in 2019.

Last week, after her identity was revealed but before she took the stand, she received the phone call.

"A male voice was heard saying something to the effect that 'You had Nipsey Hussle killed,'" Washington said. "Bryannita hung up."

McKinney emphasized that the threat was not about her testifying, but about her role in Hussle's death.

Nicholson was given extra security, and was escorted through a special entrance for her two days of testimony this week, in which she appeared to speak freely and confidently, showing no reluctance.

Others have been far more hesitant and tight-lipped on the stand, though several eyewitnesses have identified Holder as the shooter, making it unlikely the absence and silence of other witnesses will do much damage to a powerful prosecution case.

The defense has acknowledged that Holder shot Hussle, but says there was no premeditation and he is not guilty of first-degree murder.

Prosecutors have just one more witness before they rest their case, and the jury could have it soon.

"Unless Rimpau gets picked up," McKinney said after court.

Last week, Nipsey Hussle's brother, Samiel Asghedom,sat down with CBS Los Angeles to reflect on the past and the road ahead. Although he was aware of his brother's impact on the world, especially on people, Asghedom didn't realize how far it spread.

"We knew the impact," he said. "We just didn't know how wide it was."

Murals of Hussle have become a staple of Los Angeles, including one in Canoga Park which serves as the backdrop of the grand opening of the Marathon Collective a licensed marijuana shop.

"Just being able to open a legitimate shop being able to see it through it was good for the whole family," said Asghedom.

Hussle, born Ermias Asghedom, was a self-described marijuana connoisseur. He grew weed and sold it to fund his recording endeavors, which ultimately led to platinum records and Grammy Awards. However, the early pot deals also led to a lot of trouble.

"Marijuana, a lot of times people were going to jail," Ashgedom said. "Once it started legitimizing, it was a goal... We got to get into this legitimately."

The family decided to stay away from the courtroom as Hussle's murder is laid bare in graphic detail during his alleged murderer Eric Holder's trial.

"I will say that I got somebody there on our end," said Ashgedom. "A lawyer just kind of sending me the feedback so I can stay on top of what's happening day-to-day. My mother and grandmother will ask me questions so I'll give them the feedback."

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Witnesses reluctant to come forward at trial of Nipsey Hussle's accused shooter: "I don't know nothing" - CBS News