FBI ties Capitol attack to Donald Trump’s inner circle
The frustrating thing about criminal investigations into massive criminal conspiracies such as the U.S. Capitol attack is that they tend to meticulously work their way from the bottom up. The first several arrests (or in this case the first several hundred arrests) tend to be low level brutes you’ve never heard of. Then the investigation builds upward from there. Now we’re finally starting to see paydirt.
The FBI has now found contact between a Capitol invader and a member of Donald Trump’s orbit, according to a new report from the New York Times. The person’s name has not been revealed. But notably, the Times says that this is not the earlier story of Roger Stone meeting with the invaders the morning of the attack; this is someone else. That means there are now at least two confirmed instances of coordination between the invaders and members of Trump’s inner circle.
It’s also notable that the name of the Trump associate is being withheld; this could be a sign that this associate is now a target of the criminal probe. In the end the only question may be whether these communications can be traced all the way to Donald Trump himself, so that he can be charged for conspiring with the attackers. Even if not, Trump can still be criminally charged for inciting the attackers, which he did on live national television.
This is all in addition to this week’s arrest of a mid-level Trump State Department appointee in relation to the Capitol invasion. This all just keeps closing in on Donald Trump.
