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The Willard Hotel - January 6 Missing Link? [1]
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Date: 2023-08-21
The one thing that bothers me about Jack Smith’s J6 indictment is it really doesn’t address what happened on J6 (nor does Fani Willi’s Georgia indictment). More specifically, it doesn’t address what went on in the “Command Center” (War Room) set up by the Trump Cabal in the Willard Hotel. While some of the un-indicted co-conspirators mentioned in the J6 indictment were there on and during the days leading up to J6, the indictment does not mention anything about what went on at the Willard Hotel (WH) or presumably the key role this “Command Center” played in planning and executing the J6 insurrection.
From what we know so far, and it isn’t much, it seems probable or at least possible that the Willard Hotel Gang acted as a vital communications linkage between the foot soldiers who violently marched on the Capitol and conducted the insurrection (e.g., Proud Boys & Oath Keepers), and the folks inside the White House (including Trump of course), both on and a few days prior to J6. Uncovering such a linkage would mean that Trump and others in the White House were not just casual observers of the violent J6 insurrection, but were responsible its planning and execution.
So here’s what little we know so far about the players who were hold up in the Willard and what they were doing:
First, the Players — According to the World Socialist Web Site (Disclaimer — I know nothing about this suspicious sounding web site so I can’t vouch for its veracity, but it’s the only source where I could find what appears to be a credible list of Willard “War Room” participants) there were between 25 to 30 J6 related people occupying various rooms in the Willard Hotel either on or in the days leading up to J6. Here are some of the names according to the above source:
1. Michael Flynn — Trump’s former National Security Advisor, retired Army General was photographed at the Willard Hotel in the days leading up to the coup attempt.
2. Roger Stone — Trump political fixer and confidant was photographed at the Willard Hotel in the days leading up to the coup attempt.
3. Joe Oltmann — Founder of FEC United (Faith, Education, Commerce United), a reactionary Colorado group, which is closely linked to the United American Defense Force (UADF), a far-right militia, was reportedly a Willard Hotel participant.
4. John Eastman - Eastman was one of the speakers at the “Save America” rally headed by Trump outside the White House on the morning of January 6. He was the author of a memo to Vice President Mike Pence outlining Pence’s supposed constitutional power, while presiding over the January 6 joint session of Congress called to officially count the Electoral College vote results, to override the vote as certified by state officials (The “Coup Memo”). He is likely one of the un-indicted, co-conspirators in the J6 Federal indictment and an indicted, co-conspirator in the Georgia indictment. The [Washington] Post report notes that Eastman stayed at the Willard from “Jan. 4 until after breakfast on Jan. 8,” citing records showing that “the hotel charged $1,407 for his lodging and meals during that time.”
5. Rudolph Giuliani — Giuliani is the former mayor of New York City and a former US attorney for the Southern District of New York. As Trump’s personal lawyer, Giuliani oversaw the legal team charged with overturning the election. He is likely one of the un-indicted, co-conspirators in the J6 Federal indictment and an indicted, co-conspirator in the Georgia indictment. Multiple sources report him as being at the Willard Hotel on and just before January 6.
6. Bernard Kerik — Kerik is the former New York police commissioner under Giuliani and his longtime political crony. Speaking to the Post, Kerik said he and Giuliani worked together in furtherance of Trump’s attempt to overturn the election from November 2020 through January 19, 2021. Kerik billed the Trump campaign for $66,371.54 in travel and other expenses, including $55,295 for rooms for legal team members at the Willard from December 18 through January 8, and multiple sources report him as being at the Willard Hotel on and just before January 6. He has also reportedly been interviewed by the FBI and testified in front of the Federal J6 Grand Jury.
7. Boris Epshteyn — Epshteyn is a Russian American Republican political operative who emigrated to the United States in 1993 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Epshteyn was the strategic advisor and co-chair of the Jewish Voice for Trump’s Advisory Board during Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign. As a surrogate for Trump, Epshteyn was and continues to be a frequent guest on the fascistic “War Room” podcast hosted by Stephen Bannon.
8. Russell J. Ramsland Jr. — Ramsland is co-owner of Allied Security Operations Group, a cybersecurity outfit he has used to push election fraud conspiracy theories, going back to 2018. In a November 17, 2020 taping of Lou Dobbs Tonight on Fox News, Ramsland was the invited call-in guest. During his five-minute appear ance, he falsely claimed that there was a “stunning amount of fraud in this election” and that “over 3,000 precincts” in Michigan had inaccurate vote counts in favor of Biden. He also propagated conspiracies surrounding Dominion Voting Systems.
9. Christina Bobb — Bobb is currently a host and reporter on the fascistic One America News Network. She is a lawyer by trade and has worked for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security as an executive secretary. In the months leading up to the coup, Bobb repeated Trump’s election lies and has continued to fundraise and support efforts to “audit” the votes in states Trump lost.
10. Philip Luelsdorff — Luelsdorff is the director of Business Development for 1st Amendment Praetorian (1AP), a fascist paramilitary security group that has provided “security” for far-right politicians and fascist rallies, including a QAnon convention this past May in Dallas.
11. Steve Bannon — Bannon hosts the fascistic “War Room” podcast where he promoted Trump’s “Stop the Steal’ phony conspiracy. He was one of the initial Trump White House staff members. He has been convicted of Contempt of Congress for his failure to honor a subpoena to appear before the J6 Committee. Multiple sources report him as being at the Willard Hotel on and just before January 6.
There are other “War Room” participants of course, but those listed above appear to be the principle players. What a bunch of “fine people”. At least that’s how Trump would probably describe them.
So what were these “players” doing in the days leading up to and on January 6? Unfortunately, we know very little and what we do know is somewhat dated, as illustrated by this October 2021 MSNBC report on a Washington Post story.
Here is some of what we know:
- On the evening of January 5, 2021, just after Trump met with Pence and failed to convince Pence to go along with the fake Electors scheme, Trump and Steve Bannon who was at the Willard Hotel engaged in a lengthy phone conversation. According to Bob Woodward and Robert Costa’s sources, Bannon was winding Trump up, urging him to not give up and to turn up the pressure on Pence.
- On the evening of January 5, 2021, Costa reports seeing a number of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers gathered outside the Willard Hotel.
— During the afternoon of January 6, 2021, Trump was alone in small room in the White House for a number of hours, presumably with a phone, watching the violence at the Capitol unfold.
- The official White House phone logs suspiciously show no calls for several hours during January 6, 2021.
- Recently it has been revealed via CNN that a photograph shows conspirator Kenneth Chesebro walking with the mob towards the Capitol on January 6, 2021, probably with a cell phone.
- Roger Stone was known to be close to Proud Boy leadership and was seen going in and out of the Willard Hotel.
So while there seems to be a lot of smoke, so far no fire connecting Trump, the Willard War Room Gang and the Proud Boys/Oath Keepers and other violent insurrectionists, can be seen. Which seems the likely reason why Jack Smith has thus far not indicted Trump and his Willard War Room gang have not been indicted for their roles in the J6 insurrection. Smith needs at least one of two things to make the linkage between Trump, the War Room and the insurrection mob who violently breached the Capitol.
1. Actual recordings of phone conversations between Trump, the War Room gang and the insurrection mob, which he apparently doesn’t have; or
2. An insider from within the Willard Hotel with knowledge of any calls made linking Trump to the violent mob who is willing to cop a plea and testify to a Grand Jury.
Well there may be a ray of hope that Smith could be getting #2.
It has been recently reported that War Room occupant Bernard Kerik has been interviewed by members of Jack Smith’s team. Per NBC News:
Former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik met Monday with investigators from special counsel Jack Smith's team as part of the probe that resulted in the indictment of former President Donald Trump last week. Kerik’s attorney, Tim Parlatore, confirmed the meeting, which was first reported by CNN. NBC News reported last month that Kerik, an ally of Trump's, had been expected to meet with federal prosecutors in Smith's office. Monday's meeting lasted for about five hours, and Smith was not present, Parlatore said.
Whether, what went on at the Willard Hotel was discussed, we don’t know for sure, but I doubt if it was not a topic of a Kerik interview.
Will there be a superseding indictment linking Trump to the J6 violent insurrectionists through the Gang in the Willard Hotel “Command Center”?
Stay Tuned!
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