A detention hearing is about to start in federal court in Arkansas in the case of Richard Barnett, the man photographed sitting in Nancy Pelosi's office (see: https://t.co/GAAENhkxf0). He's been in custody since his arrest

A hearing is underway now in the case of Richard Barnett, one of the Capitol insurrection defs (photographed at Pelosi's desk) — the govt is challenging an Arkansas magistrate judge's release order. Chief Judge Beryl Howell in DC halted his release until she rules on the matter

Prosecutor Mary Dohrmann begins by arguing Barnett flouted laws "in the most brazen and flagrant manner possible" when he breached the Capitol: "He knew exactly what he was doing."

Prosecutor says the note that Barnett left for Pelosi in her office — "Nancy, Bigo was here you bitch" — was "disturbing" and says the photographs of him sitting at Pelosi's desk show that he appears to "relish" the notoriety

Govt says Barnett doesn't have a criminal record, but notes police reports where a caller lodged a complaint that he'd pointed a rifle at a car with a "Black Lives Matter" sticker and, in a separate incident, was carrying around guns in public

A federal judge in DC is holding a detention hearing in the cases of Capitol insurrection defendants Eric Munchel (who was photographed wearing tactical gear and holding a bunch of zip tie handcuffs) and his mother Lisa Eisenhart — the govt is arguing to keep both behind bars

Re: the zip tie handcuffs that Munchel and Eisenhart allegedly picked up inside the Capitol, AUSA Ahmed Baset says they were visible to lots of people passing by at the time but these two not only took them, but did so "with glee"

Baset says it's true that Munchel and Eisenhart aren't charged with physically hurting anyone, the evidence shows they were looking for lawmakers, who had been cleared out. "They should not be given credit for that," Baset argues.

Baset says that Munchel was in touch with the Proud Boys in Tennessee *after* Jan. 6 and talked about how he'd wanted to join their ranks before but didn't know how

Munchel's lawyer Sandra Roland argues that the Tennessee magistrate judge who granted pretrial release to Munchel and Eisenhart got it right in finding that the govt failed to show there were no combination of release conditions that would protect the community

Sidney Powell has moved to dismiss Dominion's defamation lawsuit. She argues that when she accused Dominion of being part of an election-rigging scheme with ties to Venezuela, "no reasonable person would conclude" those "were truly statements of fact" https://t.co/RDPD1eGvY3

Powell argues she can't be liable if the information she based her "opinions and legal theories" on were actually unreliable, comparing herself to reporters who get 1A protection when they cite sources; but she later also makes clear she disputes that her info was "false"

Powell also raises jurisdictional and venue-related arguments, basically saying the parties + allegations lack sufficient ties to DC and the case should be moved to Texas

The (sort of) retreat of the Kraken: Sidney Powell argues she can't be sued for defamation because her voter fraud lies were just "opinions and legal theories."

"...no reasonable person would conclude that the statements were truly statements of

The hundreds of criminal cases brought re: the Jan. 6 insurrection show how potent Powell and other Trump allies' conspiracy theories were — for ex, one man charged with assaulting cops echoed Powell's false claims that voting machines were tampered with

New: The Trump campaign filed a three-page letter in the 3rd Circuit this morning requesting oral argument in its big case trying to undo Biden's win in PA: https://t.co/oSOEc27he8

There is a lot to unpack here, too much for one tweet, so bear with me

The 3rd Circuit doesn't let lawyers who aren't members of the court's bar to appear unless they're pro bono. Trump's legal team still asks to let Rudy Giuliani argue, saying he hasn't been able to get the "necessary certifications due to Covid-19 complications"

Trump's lawyers write that given how many people voted for him, the claims "should be heard on the merits" — but recall this case is not up on appeal about the merits. The campaign is asking for emergency review of the judge denying its request to file a 2nd amended complaint

They contend oral argument would be helpful to address issues raised by PA, the DNC, and other parties in briefs filed yesterday, which they then touch on in a set of footnotes

The first footnote argues there was no undue delay in filing the 2nd amended complaint b/c given the shifting makeup of the campaign's legal team, there was "confusion" that led to the filing of the 1st amended complaint, which removed sections and a number of counts

A necessary clarification needs to be made with regards to securities laws because I’ve been seeing a theory lately not based on law but based on false presumptions. Before I do so, I want to note that I DO NOT think that XRP is a security (before I get “FUD” responses). 1/

Here it goes: There has been a theory that the SEC should only be pursuing the sales of XRP by Ripple, and once it exchanges hands it is no longer a security. Basically the theory is that the XRP the common investor holds (who bought off an exchange) is not a security because 2/

there is no privity with Ripple. Stated differently, the assumption is the SEC should categorize XRP into two pots: 1) XRP sold by Ripple and 2) all other XRP . The theory continues that a difference should be made and the SEC should clarify that it is only alleging the 3/

transactions made by Ripple to be transactions of securities. This theory is a fallacy. I’ve seen this theory argued by comparing XRP to a stock and noting the differences. It is important to note that this type of comparison cannot apply. 4/

The SEC is not alleging that XRP is a stock, but rather an “investment contract”. An Investment Contract is (1) an investment of money (2) in a common enterprise (3) with the expectation of profit (4) derived solely from the efforts of others. 5/

Law society published some guidance recently on e-signatures...https://t.co/g70MUWg6K0 - some thoughts and comments...

👁‍🗨 Witnessing...they conclude that witnesses have to be "physically present" and you cannot witness somebody by video link. Probably correct as a matter of case law. It's a shame they aren't more forceful in their urge for change here...

The point in witnessing has always been evidential. So that if one person claims they didn't actually sign a document, you have somebody you can call upon to attest evidence that they did or did not. Also adds some formality to the process to make people think

When you're using e-signature, people's email addresses are being put into a system. You also have IP addresses, geolocations, timestamps all recorded when people actually go on to sign the document. Doesn't this add quite a lot of evidential value?

Physical presence would help avoid a scenario where somebody gains access to somebody else's email account, signs a document and then gets somebody to witness. If that witness were virtual, they wouldn't see the mischief that has occurred...is this not quite a remote risk though?

Hey all you ‘nothing is habbening’ guys 👋.

Check this out

This was last night in Sterling Virginia

... it's not that hard to figure out who the corrupt fucks are in my community.

Mike Hackett is a convicted cocaine trafficker and major marijuana kingpin in Monterey County.

Monterey County supervisors claimed no felons would be working in "legal" #cannabis.

2/

Mike Hackett's @RiverviewFarms_ is being sued (again) for various torts.

In a nutshell people who do biz with Hackett later and often soon end up accusing Hackett of being a scumbag.

The lawyer representing Hackett is lying Larry Biegel a local criminal defense attorney.

3/

Jennifer Rosenthal is representing Riverview Farms.

Who is Jennifer Rosenthal?

She is a @RepJimmyPanetta campaign cash bundler.

Rosenthal is also a marijuana lawyer (of course) and represents a guy named Sal Palma Jr.

Junior's grandfather was also named Sal Palma.

4/

Sal Palma is a well known name in the @CityofMonterey. Palma co-owned the hotel where the Monterey Marriott now sits. Named the restaurant on top Ferrante's. Sal Palma also developed millionaire housing at Markham Ranch in Corral de Tierra where billionaire Bruce Taylor lives

5/

Sal Palma was a new immigrant to our community and a non-citizen. In the 1940's in his early 20's Sal Palma because a United States Citizen.

In his later 20's he was accused of sexual assault and arrested by @MontereyPolice.

Sal Palma was convicted. But, he was a new