The Drunken Jedi (aka Jorge Riley) has finally screwed-up beyond the ability of his enablers to cover for him. He was arrested by the FBI and is currently being held without bail awaiting a hearing in Federal Court in early March. I’ll have more on this in just a moment.
First why is this individual called the Drunken Jedi on our blog? The short answer is that Sith Lord and Apprentice were taken. This individual is the polar opposite of the Sith Lord, thus in order stay with the Star Wars motif, he was a Jedi. Second, this individual has substance problems which his peers have enabled for decades, thus to point out the obvious is to mock them for enabling and even rewarding bad behavior. (Another blog contributor is going after these enablers via his own post so I will deal only with other aspects to this story.)
I learned of this story via a friend that happened to be dining with the Sith Lord when stuff hit the fan. Folks, this one incident did more to unite the California Republican Party than anything else the CRA (California Republican Assembly) has done in decades. This was the day prior to this story hitting both local television stations KOVR and KCRA. It seems after the raid on the Capitol building January 6th that the Drunken Jedi did an interview video telling how he was in the front of the pack entering the Capitol building and Speaker Pelosi’s office. He talked of getting maced on three occasions as he went about pillaging the People’s House.
Below is the video interview of the Drunken Jedi.
The day of the Sith Lord’s fateful meal, knowledge of the video was circulating thru the Republican electeds at the California Capitol. They were reaching out to anybody they could find in CRA and the Sith Lord got his share of calls demanding that CRA repudiate this guy and his actions.
The following day, the story hit the local TV news stations. Understandably they got a few key details wrong and were unaware of other information which I will attempt to correct in the following paragraphs. But first, the news accounts.
A Sacramento man who admitted his involvement in the U.S. Capitol riot in a video has resigned from his position as a local Republican leader.
Sacramento Man Resigns From Position In California Republican Assembly After Involvement In Capitol Riot
The California Republican Assembly is condemning the actions of board member Jorge Riley, who they identify as the man in the video, and any plans for further violence.
A Sacramento Republican leader was forced to resign on Thursday after backlash following his involvement in the pro-Trump mob that stormed the nation’s Capitol on Jan. 6.
Jorge Riley, corresponding secretary of the California Republican Assembly and president of the Sacramento Republican Assembly, resigned from both positions Thursday afternoon. Photos and posts on his personal Facebook page document his participation in the siege.Sacramento Republican leader Jorge Riley forced to resign after involvement in US Capitol siege
The California Republican Assembly issued a press release condemning Riley’s actions, and said the CRA was not involved in the incident.
KCRA’s story continued:
The statement also said the CRA president demanded Riley resign his membership immediately or be removed.
“CRA President Johnnie Morgan has demanded that the member, Jorge Riley of Sacramento, resign his membership in CRA immediately as it is important to have leaders who’s actions exemplify positive engagement in the civil governance process. If he does not resign, we will seek his expulsion from the organization.”
Members with the CRA told KCRA 3 Riley resigned from both positions at 4 p.m. Thursday.
KCRA 3 reviewed photos, videos and comments posted to Riley’s Facebook page during and after the riot, including a since-deleted Jan. 8 post that read “You will all die.” That post was removed Thursday evening.
In a series of photos and videos, he is seen participating in the rally with President Trump, before moving with the group to the Capitol. As the photos continue, Riley is seen with the group storming the Capitol building. He also shared photos of broken windows inside the Capitol hallways and outside Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office.
Photos of Riley inside the Capitol were removed Friday afternoon.
Folks, sorry but Mr. Riley didn’t cut his ties with CRA as stated in the press accounts. I have been unable to get any confirmation that Riley has submitted anything in writing resigning as statewide Correspondence Secretary, President of the Sacramento Chapter of CRA, or resigning from CRA itself.
Whether Riley leaves the Board voluntarily or is removed, such an action cannot be taken without a duly called Board meeting. As of this writing, two weeks after the media accounts above, such a meeting has not been called. CRA is incorporated in California and all Board members, including Riley, are officers of the corporation. Removal is not official until certified by the Board at a properly called and noticed Board meeting.
Riley has not been replaced as President by Sac CRA.
Riley has not been removed as a CRA member.
In fact, some CRA members are fighting behind the scenes to keep him in the organization.
Oh, there’s more. Riley is the keeper of CRA’s membership rolls. Yep, he has the master copy of who is in the organization and who has paid their dues. This information is needed for Board meetings and conventions.
Riley also owns the web servers hosting the CRA website. Thus, he owns the CRA’s website! Without his cooperation, he can hold the CRA hostage and prevent them from updating content. This is more proof that the CRA leadership learned nothing from their dust-up with the Just Us Brothers.
The FBI has also arrested a Sacramento man, Jorge Riley. Though no court documents have been filed against him, he can be seen on videos posted to Reddit storming the United States Capitol.
FBI Arrests 2 Sacramento-Area Suspects Who Posted Videos From US Capitol Riot
Meanwhile, here’s a nice narrative from the FBI on Mr. Riley.
About the time that the FBI narrative came to my attention, I was given information that Riley was being held with no bail and a preliminary hearing date of March 5. It appears that Mr. Riley is slated to be the poster boy for what happens to you when you raise hell in the Swamp and then brag about it on social media.
Folks I have lots of questions about this whole incident not the least of which is why travel from Sacramento to Washington DC in the first place? Several folks arrested at the protest were from the Left Coast. I have yet to hear of any of these people who were arrested making political contributions to President Trump’s campaign. I’m sure if the Dems could tie them to Trump via donations that they would do it. Given the above, how did they afford to travel to DC if they wouldn’t even write a check to Trump’s campaign? (It only takes a $100 contribution for your name to appear on campaign contribution records filed with the FEC.)
I was just at the Capitol Building a year and a half ago and I thought there was an enormous amount of security so how did these guys get in the building en masse? What about reports that the raid on the Capitol started 20 minutes before Trump spoke to the crowd? Did some protesters get in the building thru security before this started? Or stated another way, was this truly spontaneous or planned?
Media reports raised the possibility that Riley and others would be tried in Virginia or elsewhere in the DC area. Is it necessary to extradite them to the other side of the country or can the preliminary court appearances be done locally?
Apparently, we didn’t have to wait very long for the answer to my last question. Hours after I penned the above, a staff member forwarded the answer to my question with this update.
Jorge Riley, the Sacramento man accused of participating in the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riots, was in a heated hearing Wednesday where a federal judge ordered he remain in custody and be transported to Washington, D.C. courts, calling him “a man of impulse and poor judgment.”
Former Sacramento Republican leader Jorge Riley back in D.C. after arrest in Capitol riot
Judge Carolyn Delaney held firm that there was plenty of evidence against Riley, saying that his incarceration will be a lengthy one if he is convicted. Timothy Zindell, Riley’s attorney, vehemently argued against the judge, saying that the former Sacramento Republican leader was neither a flight risk nor a risk to public.
Zindell also argued that Riley is a disabled veteran with no money and that he had to use his $600 stimulus check intended for coronavirus relief to buy a plane ticket to Washington.
These paragraphs contain a lot of info related to the theme of this post.
- First, Riley will be sent to DC for trial.
- Being in a “heated hearing” with a federal judge is never a good thing.
- The judge, as we suspected, thinks Riley will be on ice for a long time.
- It’s interesting that Riley—who allegedly resigned from his positions in CRA—is still described as a “Republican leader.” As we all know, were he a Democrat, his Party affiliation would never be mentioned in the story. This type of media bias has been the case for the last forty-plus years.
If Riley is transported out of California-which I understand happened yesterday-then maybe CRA will have grounds to remove him since he no longer resides in California, although we learned during the most recent election that living in another state is not necessarily a barrier to voting in the once golden state. The only sure way to ensure Riley’s removal from the CRA and Republican voter rolls is if he is convicted of a crime that results in his loss of the right to vote. Again, many within CRA don’t want Riley removed from office or the organization.
Lastly, if Riley had done the exact same things that he is accused of now and been a member of Some Black Lives Matter, Antifa, or another liberal group of malcontents, he would be out on bail and not be facing any charges as they would be dismissed by prosecutors.
Riley’s day of reckoning has been a long time coming. Had some in CRA said “NO” to him years ago, maybe he wouldn’t be drowning in this pool of excrement today.