“Taake was arrested as a result of a sting operation that a young professional working in the nation’s capital launched on the dating app Bumble after the Jan. 6 attack
The woman, referred to as “Witness 1” in an FBI affidavit, previously recalled how a bit of “comically minimal ego-stroking” on her part led to Taake and other Jan. 6 participants giving up information about their activities during that attack.
“I felt a bit of ‘civic duty,’ I guess, but truthfully, I was mostly just mad and thinking, ‘F--- these guys,’” the woman, who spoke anonymously for fear of online reprisal, said. The men wanted to “regurgitate” the lies they heard from prominent Republicans about the 2020 presidential election, she said.
The woman’s strategy, she recalled, was to say, “Wow, crazy, tell me more,” on repeat until she had enough to send to the FBI.
“It definitely didn’t take a lot of arm-twisting to get them to start talking about it. Basically, me being like ‘Wow, so cool — then what? What else?’ was pretty much all it took,” she said. “One of my friends was like, ‘You basically got all these confessions just being, like, “Haha! Then what?’”
That got an actual laugh from me. "Comically minimal ego stroking" is right, with emphasis on "comical". It's amazing how much people will admit if you stroke their egos and pride.
The woman’s strategy, she recalled, was to say, “Wow, crazy, tell me more,” on repeat until she had enough to send to the FBI.
That got an actual laugh from me. "Comically minimal ego stroking" is right, with emphasis on "comical". It's amazing how much people will admit if you stroke their egos and pride.
Would you have liked the government to just request a geofenced warrant for everyone who had an electronic device and walked somewhere they shouldn't've, and then had each one in for an interview?...
Would you have liked the government to just request a geofenced warrant for everyone who had an electronic device and walked somewhere they shouldn't've, and then had each one in for an interview? Do you think that people would have so happily self-incriminated in that format?
Or would you have preferred that FBI agents were doing what this woman did to get information?
I suppose I'm not clear on what specific actions you would have preferred to see here.
I don't think so, at least in this case. There were a LOT of rioters, so it takes a lot of time and resources for the federal government to identify and build a case against every single person...
I don't think so, at least in this case. There were a LOT of rioters, so it takes a lot of time and resources for the federal government to identify and build a case against every single person who was present. So a random citizen giving them tips and evidence is a big help in getting the ball rolling for the case.
The fact that this random citizen got a full confession by just stroking his ego is even more helpful than the usual tips, and hilarious. The article calls it a "sting operation," but I wonder if she just matched with him randomly and he started bragging or dropping hints without any prodding. This had to be one of the easiest "sting operations" in history.
Given the details, it looks like the people willingly gave up self-incriminating evidence enough to be investigated, but not enough make a case in its own. I see this as about the same level as a...
Given the details, it looks like the people willingly gave up self-incriminating evidence enough to be investigated, but not enough make a case in its own.
I see this as about the same level as a QR code stapled to a tree with “if you have information on the Jan 6th incidents, let us know here” and letting people self-select
That got an actual laugh from me. "Comically minimal ego stroking" is right, with emphasis on "comical". It's amazing how much people will admit if you stroke their egos and pride.
We should be worried that a random citizen was able to gather evidence and make a case the entire Federal government couldn't, right?
Would you have liked the government to just request a geofenced warrant for everyone who had an electronic device and walked somewhere they shouldn't've, and then had each one in for an interview? Do you think that people would have so happily self-incriminated in that format?
Or would you have preferred that FBI agents were doing what this woman did to get information?
I suppose I'm not clear on what specific actions you would have preferred to see here.
I don't think so, at least in this case. There were a LOT of rioters, so it takes a lot of time and resources for the federal government to identify and build a case against every single person who was present. So a random citizen giving them tips and evidence is a big help in getting the ball rolling for the case.
The fact that this random citizen got a full confession by just stroking his ego is even more helpful than the usual tips, and hilarious. The article calls it a "sting operation," but I wonder if she just matched with him randomly and he started bragging or dropping hints without any prodding. This had to be one of the easiest "sting operations" in history.
Given the details, it looks like the people willingly gave up self-incriminating evidence enough to be investigated, but not enough make a case in its own.
I see this as about the same level as a QR code stapled to a tree with “if you have information on the Jan 6th incidents, let us know here” and letting people self-select