BUCK: We have Julie Kelly joining us right now to talk about the situation of the January 6th protesters and also the possibility of a DOJ criminal charge being brought against former president Donald Trump. Julie, thanks so much for being with us.
KELLY: Hey, guys, thanks for having me on.
BUCK: So, first off, I just think it’s so important ’cause you’ve been on this from the very beginning. You keep on it. You are in this fight to get fair treatment and justice done for those who are accused of crimes, including many accused of entirely nonviolent crimes on January 6th. What is the latest that everyone across the country, Julie, should know about the status of these January 6th defendants?
KELLY: Right now there are about 850 Americans charged in the Justice Department’s unprecedented, abusive, vengeful prosecution of what happened on January 6th. The overwhelming majority of those people are charged with low level misdemeanors such as parading in the Capitol. Nonetheless the DOJ is still requesting jail time for those people. We saw this week Dr. Simone Gold, who is also an anti-lockdown activist was arrested on January 6th.
She pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct. She just started a 60-day prison sentence. So, even for the lowest charges, DOJ’s requesting prison time, and these judges are signing off on it. We still have these 70 to 80 people who remain detained without bond, some of whom have been behind bars for 16, 17 months awaiting trial, have not been convicted of anything. And so, now we see the Washington Post confirming last night what I’ve been predicting for months is that the DOJ is moving — working with a grand jury and moving to indict Donald Trump on at least one felony count, possibly seditious conspiracy, which is insane. But that’s where we are. Things are getting worse for these defendants and targets rather than getting better now more than 18 later.
CLAY: Julie Kelly, political commentator, senior contributor to American Greatness, author of January 6: How Democrats Used the Capitol Protest to Launch a War on Terror Against the Political Right and Disloyal Opposition. You have some breaking news here for us, I believe, earlier today. A man named George Tanios is one of two men accused of the attack on Brian Sicknick, the Capitol Police officer. He spent five months in jail over this. What exactly is going on? And what does it signify in your mind what the Department of Justice is doing associated with George Tanios?
KELLY: You know, it’s pretty stunning because, as you both know, the idea that Brian Sicknick died as a result of what happened on January 6th has been an animating feature of the January 6th narrative. We still to this day, even this committee continues to lie that Sicknick somehow died as a result of the Capitol protest. Of course, in April of 2021, after months of stories including the New York Times account claiming he was bludgeoned to death with a fire extinguisher, a story they later retracted, in April 2021 the coroner came out and said unfortunately at age 42 he tragically died of natural causes, two strokes caused by blood clots.
That hasn’t stopped the media and DOJ itself from perpetuating the lies. So, two men were charged — arrested and charged — in March of 2021. They were both denied bail. George Tanios, they both face identical felony accounts including assaulting an officer with a dangerous or deadly weapon, pepper spray. And George Tanios has been in jail for five months, denied bail, lost his business, bankrupted him, of course, almost destroyed his family.
His detention was overturned by the D.C. appellate court, a very rare move to overturn these pretrial detention orders. Anyway, he still faced charges. He refused to plea. And then today suddenly DOJ filed — drops all the assault charges against him and instead filed two low-level misdemeanors restricted — trespassing on restricted grounds and disorderly conduct for which he will plead guilty later this afternoon.
BUCK: So, just to be clear, Julie, for everybody in the Tanios case, if that’s where this goes, how long will he have been held, and are they keeping — were they keeping — Tanios in solitary or administrative segregation in the jail system in D.C.? And how long would he have served for what are effectively, as adjudicated, misdemeanors?
KELLY: Right. So, he was in jail for more than five months. And even when he was released, Judge Hogan, a Reagan appointee, if you could believe, a man who should have retired long ago, still sentenced him to home detention. He couldn’t even leave his house, so he could not work after being detained for five months additionally. But I believe it’s only six months — up to six months — for each of his two misdemeanors, so I’m assuming that DOJ or the judge will just, after they sentence him — which won’t be today, but — for time served.
That doesn’t change the fact his life has been destroyed, the media describes him as a cop killer, I’ve been in contact with George, really, since before he got released. And, you know, he got out of jail and started looking up his name and could not believe what he was reading. That he is now considered a cop killer. And as you know, even DOJ has dropped all those charges related to him, this will still be part of his life’s story and considered someone who contributed to the death of Brian Sicknick no matter what the facts are.
CLAY: Julie, the New York Times will not cover a lot of the January 6th political prisoner angle, but I was telling Buck, I think it was the Monday edition of the Times, they had a big article about how media was covering January 6th. And you were quoted, they talked about you, we threw Buck and I in there, Tucker Carlson. What did you think of the New York Times article, and what kind of feedback, if any, did you get? Because you were a big part of their story, what was supposed to be a hit piece on the way that so-called conservative media is covering January 6th. But I actually thought the way it read, it actually sounded super-logical on many different levels.
KELLY: I think so too. And it was great to be in such good company, including you guys and Tucker and others.
BUCK: Thank you.
KELLY: You know, we — because we have been running counter to the official regime narrative and in many instances, and the Sicknick case someone, unfortunately we have been right.
CLAY: Yep.
KELLY: And I knew the reason, I knew that these new charges, dropping the charges were coming, and I knew that that’s why the New York Times tried to smear me as somehow downplaying what happened to Brian Sicknick. Well, now we’ve been proven right again. So, that’s part of what the New York Times does. So, that was their predicate for publishing that.
BUCK: We’re speaking to Julie Kelly, political commentator, contributor toAmerican Greatness, author of January 6: How Democrats Used the Capitol Protest to Launch a War on Terror Against the Political Right. Julie, to that end, about the weaponization here against the political right and disloyal opposition from the government, you saw that Washington Post piece, I’m sure, that is trying to at least create the perception, maybe the belief that Donald Trump himself may be charged.
You mentioned the possible insurrection — seditious insurrection — charge against him or conspiracy to commit insurrection, whatever it is, however they’re going to phrase it. Do you think they actually might do this, Julie? That’s what… Clay and I are going back and forth on this. Do you think they’ll pull the trigger on this and come what may from just what this would do to the country?
KELLY: Well, first I want to know who’s thinks the DOJ is gonna charge them.
CLAY: Okay. So, Julie, my argument is, if the DOJ charges Hunter Biden, which I think they will, that they’re going to use that as political cover to potentially charge Trump, and they’re say whether you are the son of the president or the former president, justice demands that we pursue it no matter who the defendant might be. So, my theory is they may use Hunter Biden charges as cover to charge Trump with conspiracy.
KELLY: Interesting.
BUCK: That’s what I said. Interesting.
KELLY: I hadn’t thought about that. I hadn’t thought about it.
BUCK: But what do you think about them just charging Trump, period? You think they might do it under any circumstance?
KELLY: 99.9%, absolutely confident this DOJ is going to indict him.
BUCK: Wow.
KELLY: This is the purpose of the January 6th committee, is to build a public and political case again Donald Trump, especially related to two alleged militia groups. This DOJ has not been held accountable for repeatedly lying in court and to a grand jury about what happened on January 6th. These judges in D.C. are letting DOJ get away with anything. So, I’m confident that Matthew Graves, the D.C. U.S. attorney and Biden’s campaign adviser is presenting information to a grand jury made up of D.C. residents of course that voted almost 94% for Joe Biden, they’d be chomping at the bit to indict Donald Trump for anything, including this exceedingly rare charge of seditious conspiracy, a charge no American has ever been convicted of. And the last time DOJ even tried to prosecute anyone with seditious conspiracy in 2011, federal judge in Michigan tossed the charges out of court. That’s how unusual and rare this count is.
CLAY: Julie, what do you think the timing would be on bringing… If you’re 99.9% certain which charges are going to come, when do you think the DOJ would bring them?
KELLY: I would guess sometime September. I believe this will probably be the October Surprise. It will be the latest DOJ October Surprise to interfere in an election, and there’s nothing to stop them.
BUCK: Julie Kelly, Clay, calling a shot here in the upper deck, my friend. She’s about — swinging the bat too. That’s a big call to make, October Surprise, Trump gets indicted.
CLAY: Julie, we appreciate you. How can people who want to…? And I’ve done this myself, so I would encourage everyone out there listening to do it as well. How can people donate so that these January 6th defendants can have legal representation to help them fight the charges that they are all facing? How can people help them get better attorneys?
KELLY: Well, Clay, thank you for that. As you’ve donated to Patriot Freedom Project, it is a fund that is helping to pay for lawyers and the financial burden of families who are ensnared in this abusive prosecution. I also would ask people to check out George Tanios’ GiveSendGo account, because he’s really been destroyed, to support this narrative about Brian Sicknick, and so those are two places people who want to help financially or even if they can’t send a letter to some of the detainees, I know that it’s greatly appreciated.
CLAY: Julie, fantastic work as always. We appreciate the time, and we will keep you on the dial here as these January 6th prosecutions continue.
KELLY: All right, guys. Thank you so much. Talk soon.
BUCK: Thanks, Julie.