He also took part in a multicity bus tour arranged by the pro-Trump group Women for America First designed to recruit protesters to go to Washington for Mr. Trumps speech on Jan. 6, in which the president called on his supporters to fight like hell against his election loss and urged them to march to the Capitol while Congress was meeting to confirm it. With Struck on the stand, prosecutors played one video in which Griffin recounted members of the pro-Trump mob spilling over barriers outside the Capitol. COVID report finds suicide calls, overdose deaths and mental illness soared in D.C. Evidence at his trial showed that Griffin and his videographer climbed over various barricades and barriers, then clambered onto the inauguration stage in front of the Capitol and spent over an hour speaking through a bullhorn to the surging mob. Griffins marching with the mob all the way to the inaugural stage, knowing the mobs insurrectionary purpose, likewise constitutes an overt act.. Hemel added: I wouldnt want Couy Griffin to be my county commissioner, or anyones county commissioner, but I think defenders of democracy need to think long and hard about whether judicial disqualification is the wisest approach.. Cowboys for Trump, which Griffin founded in 2019, is also under fire. The judge said Griffins many defenses were not credible, and nor was his summary of his role on Jan. Couy Griffin - Wikipedia Defense lawyers plan to grill the Secret Service about ex-Vice President Mike Pence's whereabouts. Struck responded "no" as the lawyer asked whether Griffin had destroyed anything, confronted law enforcement, or taken any action that would put someone in fear. The ruling declared the Jan. 6 assault an insurrection and ordered Mr. Griffin removed from office. Most of these cases fizzled quickly, and none have succeeded. But the last time the section of the amendment was enforced was in 1919, when Congress refused to seat a socialist member who was accused of giving aid and comfort to Germany during World War I. He shouldn't be punished for showing his pride in his country, Miller said. Cooper then threw to a clip of an interview the correspondent had with Couy Griffin, who said he doubted whether Ashli Babbitt and U.S. Capitol police officer, Brian Sicknick had even died as a result of the riots. "I'm really hoping that the judge will dismiss the charges," Griffin told the Albuquerque Journal in June. Griffins lawyer said he doesnt plan to call any defense witnesses. As a strategic matter, Im skeptical that disqualification under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment is the best way or even a productive way to fight back against anti-democratic forces across the country, Hemel said. Earlier this month, a jury convicted a Texas man, Guy Wesley Reffitt, of storming the Capitol with a holstered handgun inthe first trial for a Capitol riot defendant. A federal judge on Tuesday found Couy Griffin, a founder of Cowboys for Trump and the second January 6 defendant to go on trial as part of the Justice Department's massive prosecution, guilty of . Griffin arrived in a cowboy hat, and the trial featured video footage of him on the Capitol grounds. Indeed, in allowing Greene to remain in office, a judge had emphasized there was no evidence to show that Rep. Greene participated in the Invasion itself or communicated with or issued directives to persons who engaged in the Invasion. Griffin was much easier to tie directly to the insurrection, and he has now been found to have directly engaged in it. ", Trump cowboy Couy Griffin found not guilty of campaign finance charge Couy Griffin, an Otero County commissioner, responded to questioning in court, after watching a video of himself on U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021. "I'm serious," he continued, "That's, that's how and I hate to be so crazy conspiracy-minded. Cowboys for Trump cofounder Couy Griffin has been found not guilty of a misdemeanor charge of failing to register a political group and provide financial disclosures at a trial in southern New Mexico. Griffin added. In closing arguments Wednesday, prosecutors argued that Griffin used Cowboys for Trump to explicitly link political advocacy to appeals for online donations, while flouting registration and financial disclosure requirements for political committees that are designed to ensure transparency and fairness in elections. Whether this will ultimately stand up if appealed remains a major question and one that could have far-ranging implications. But the judge said very few people who didnt enter the Capitol on Jan. 6 were charged, and sentenced Griffin to 14 days in jail and a $3,000 fine. After all, if Couy Griffin is disqualified from holding office for his role in Jan. 6, then shouldnt Donald Trump be disqualified for his even greater role in Jan. 6th?. The verdict from a 12-member jury capped a two-day trial in Alamogordo, the community where Griffin served as an Otero County commissioner until he was banished from office last year for his role in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. Why Gov. Unlike that trial, which featured felony charges, Griffin was accused only of misdemeanor offenses. According to a court document, Griffin tweeted after the trial that the media has tried to make me look like the biggest loser the last couple days. Mr. Griffins attorneys say hundreds if not thousands of other people did exactly what Griffin did on Jan. 6 and havent been charged with any crimes. "I'm . Magliocca said the New Mexico decision could reverberate, not just for people like Mastriano, but if Democrats retain control of Congress and want to challenge the seating of certain Republicans tied to Jan. 6. A Trump appointee, McFadden handed down the verdict because Griffin elected for a so-called bench trial, in which a judge rather than a jury reviews evidence and determines guilt or innocence. At the same time, Griffins conviction was for misdemeanor trespassing, for which he was sentenced to 14 days and a $3,000 fine. Some have. Griffin, a 48-year-old former rodeo rider and former pastor, helped founda political committee called Cowboys for Trump. The disqualification of Berger, for instance, was later widely regarded as overreach. Heres what the criminal referrals mean. Babbitt was shot and killed by police as she tried to force her way past a barricaded doorway. Griffin invoked free speech protections in declining to register and disclose donors to Cowboys for Trump, while expressing concern that financial contributors might be harassed. In some ways, Mr. Griffins case was a cleaner win for advocates seeking to punish officials connected to the riot because he was part of the mob that stormed the Capitol, not a lawmaker sitting inside. "I'm not even so sure that Officer Sicknick's even dead," Cuoy Griffin said, stunning the CNN correspondent. as well as other partner offers and accept our. In March, Judge Trevor N. McFadden, presiding at a bench trial in Federal District Court in Washington, found Mr. Griffin guilty of one misdemeanor count of illegally entering a restricted area at the Capitol and acquitted him of another that accused him of disorderly conduct. Updated: 6:15 PM EDT June 17, 2022. After his sentencing, Griffin implored reporters to follow up on discredited conspiracy theories about the Capitol doors mysteriously opening on Jan. 6, an Arizona man falsely accused of being an FBI agitator in the crowd, and the possibility that voting machines in New Mexico might be electronically hacked. Griffin, an ardent conspiracy theorist who refused to certify the state's primary election results this summer in Otero County, told CNN he has been ordered to clean out his office and attacked. Griffins attorneys said in a court filing that Pence had already departed the restricted area before the earliest that Griffin could have entered it, but Secret Service inspector Lanelle Hawa testified that Pence never left the restricted area during the riot. Frankly, I think thats completely legitimate, the judge said. At the outset of the bench trial, McFadden confirmed that Griffin wanted his verdict decided by a judge rather than a jury. Cowboys for Trump founder offered plea deal in Jan. 6 case Separately on Friday, an Indiana man pleaded guilty to carrying a loaded handgun and assaulting police with a stolen baton in the Capitol breach. While Griffin says he did not knowingly trespass, news outlet KVIA showed images this week of Griffin scaling a metal barricade to get to the inauguration platform. In 2019, Griffin forged a group of rodeo acquaintances into the promotional group called Cowboys for Trump, which staged horseback parades to spread President Donald Trumps conservative message about gun rights, immigration controls and abortion restrictions. , Southern Poverty Law Center 'hate' list suffers legal setback, Secret Service blocks Muslim mayor from White House Eid-al-Fitr celebration, Ryan Webb, Delaware County, Indiana, councilman, mocks left by coming out as lesbian woman of color, Seven bodies found in Henryetta, Oklahoma, during search for two missing teens, U.S. government destroying the dollars value through inflation, Bidens idea of freedom should frighten every liberty-loving American. Griffin was present at the Capitol during the riot but did not enter the building itself. Griffin was previously convicted in federal court of a misdemeanor for entering restricted U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, without going inside the building. A judge said Couy Griffin's stated remorse for January 6 conflicted with incendiary public comments. He said he was leading the group in prayer. He has occasionally surfaced in national news for his violent rhetoric and his efforts to impugn the election results in his home state as recently as this summer.).
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