Cristopher Worrell, 52, a member of the far-right group “Proud Boys”, was sentenced this Thursday to 10 years in prison for attacking police officers with pepper spray during the mob of Donald Trump supporters storming the Capitol on January 6, 2021 a combat vest and called the agents “communists” and “scum.” His conviction is – for now – the last for the attack that shook the foundations of democracy in the United States. Three years later, the attack on the Capitol to prevent the declaration of Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election continues to largely shape the political and legal agenda of the United States as it enters a polarized election year with no open wounds 6 healed.
Trump has defended the attackers, whom he calls “patriots,” downplaying the attack and claiming it was not an insurrection. He has called Jan. 6 “a beautiful day” and helped spread theories about the conspiracy that have spread among her constituents. A poll published this week in the Washington Post shows that 25% of Americans agree with the hoax that it is “probably” or “definitely” true that the FBI incited the attack on the United States Capitol. The former president believes that three of them have happened. This will not harm his candidacy in the face of the presidential elections on November 5, which will foreseeably be a repeat of the confrontation between Trump and Biden in 2020.
Threat to democracy
Biden, on the other hand, believes the former president poses a threat to democracy and has made that idea one of the key messages for his re-election. He just launched a campaign focused on: “Something dangerous is happening in the United States. There is an extremist movement that does not share the core beliefs of our democracy. “You are asking all of us right now what we are going to do to maintain our democracy,” he says in the ad as images of the uprising appear.
It's not just politics. The Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol is still very much alive in the courts, even though the two fronts overlap. Special counsel Jack Smith has accused Trump in Washington of trying to change the results of the 2020 presidential election, thereby defying the peaceful and orderly transfer of power for the first time. In parallel, the states of Colorado and Maine prevent him from running for office due to the insurrection clause of the 14th Amendment, and there are many other states where his candidacy is being challenged in the primaries.
Trump not only defends his innocence, but also asserts that he enjoyed presidential immunity for his actions. Furthermore, he argues that the attack on the Capitol was not an insurrection and that this constitutional provision does not apply to it.
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It will be the Supreme Court that will have to make the final decision with a conservative supermajority of six of the nine justices (three of them appointed by Trump). There are already three cases related to the Jan. 6 attack that crossed the street that separates the Capitol from the Supreme Court.
The first issue is the issue of presidential immunity on the facts. In this regard, the Supreme Court has remanded the case to the Court of Appeal, but it is likely that it will be remanded to the panel. In addition, Trump has appealed his disqualification from the election and has a good chance of winning the appeal because the interpretation of the clause is somewhat forced. And third, the justices accepted an objection to the validity of applying the offense of obstruction of an official proceeding to the January 6 insurrection, one of the four acts Trump is accused of in Washington. It's a crime aimed at punishing anyone who boycotts or obstructs an investigation in a variety of ways, from killing a witness to hiding evidence, but it's not clear whether it fits the current case . The judges' decision could overturn dozens of convictions and make the indictment of the former Republican president conditional.
Meanwhile, the identified and arrested participants in the revolt continue to be investigated and convicted by the police and judiciary. Washington federal prosecutor Matthew Graves, who coordinated the Justice Department's efforts to prosecute those responsible, pointed out at a press conference this Thursday that the attack on the Capitol was “probably the largest mass attack on law enforcement officers in a single day” in history ” of the United States. According to the Justice Department, about 140 police officers were attacked at the Capitol on January 6, including about 80 from the United States Capitol Police and about 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department. “It is important that we remember the collective harm caused on January 6, 2021 and understand how it happened so that we can ensure it does not happen again,” Graves added.
A total of 1,237 people were prosecuted
According to the Justice Department's most recent report, updated in December, 1,237 defendants were prosecuted across the country. Of those, 714 people have pleaded guilty to various federal charges (210 felonies and 504 misdemeanors), many of whom face prison sentences. Another 170 people were found guilty in trials. That leaves just over 350 defendants whose cases are pending. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is still tracking hundreds of attackers and has a most wanted list.
Some of those found guilty are awaiting sentencing. So far, 723 defendants have been convicted, 454 of whom received prison sentences. 151 people were sentenced to house arrest, including 28 who were also sentenced to prison.
Members of the right-wing extremist militias “Proud Boys” and “Oath Keepers” received the harshest punishments. The highest sentence imposed so far was the 22-year prison sentence for Enrique Tarrio, the president of the Proud Boys, which is difficult to overcome. The judge defined him as the “ultimate leader of the conspiracy” and listed “terrorism” as an aggravating circumstance. Several Proud Boys lieutenants also received some of the harshest sentences and were found guilty of seditious conspiracy, like Tarrio. Ethan Nordean was 18 years old; Joe Biggs, 17, and Zachary Rehl, 15.
For his part, Stewart Rhodes, founder and leader of the far-right group Oath Keepers, a type of ultra-paramilitary militia, was sentenced to 18 years in prison last May. Both he and his lieutenant Kelly Meggs, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison, were also found guilty of seditious conspiracy.
Trump uses the song “Justice for All” at some of his rallies, in which he mixes a choir of people imprisoned for participating in the attack on the Capitol singing the national anthem (Star-Spangled Banner) with his own. Trump recites the “Pledge of Allegiance” and ends with the prisoners chanting “USA.” The former president has said he will pardon the attackers when he returns to the White House.
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