Prospects for accountability for President-elect Trump and those involved in the Capitol attack are fading as Trump takes office and Republicans seek to gain control of Washington, but Trump's critics are disappointed I'm looking forward to it.
Both of Trump's election interference cases face major obstacles to his return to power, and he has promised to pardon many of the 1,500 people charged in connection with the Capitol attack once he takes office. .
This is a disappointment for Democrats and others hoping for justice for what they consider one of the ugliest days in this country's history.
And it's an episode they often refer to as a referendum for voters, including Vice President Harris' closing speech at the Ellipse — where President Trump told his supporters to march to the Capitol. This is the same place that encouraged
“The reason we have the rule of law is to try to hold accountable those who have not been held accountable before. It's the people in power,” the House Select Committee said. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a former member of the board, said on Jan. 6.
“This is an asymmetry that we've been pointing out from the beginning. So far, the people who hit police officers in the head with Confederate battle flags, speared Trump flags, and stormed the Capitol… There was relative responsibility, “to the mastermind behind the whole process, etc.'' ”
President Trump's actions on January 6, 2021 came under intense scrutiny by the now-disbanded House Select Committee. The commission worked as the Department of Justice (DOJ) ramped up what would become its largest prosecution, but its efforts have been criticized by Democrats and other critics as too slow.
Trump was then indicted in Georgia along with a number of co-defendants just weeks later, and will be indicted by Special Counsel Jack Smith for his role in trying to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.
But those prosecutions are facing serious impasses, and Smith is moving to dismiss the Jan. 6 case without prejudice. He cited an internal Justice Department policy that prohibits prosecuting a sitting president.
Dismissing the charges without prejudice would pave the way for future re-prosecution, but prosecutors would face an uphill battle to do so, including arguing that the statute of limitations ran out while Trump was in office. .
In Georgia, an appeals court judge declined to dismiss Mr. Trump's case outright, but Judge E. Prosecutor Fani Willis was disqualified.
Willis has since appealed the ruling to the state Supreme Court, but her disbarment could destroy her case.
The state's high court must first decide whether to hear the case. If the ruling is upheld, the case will be turned over to the Georgia Council of Prosecuting Attorneys, a nonpartisan state agency. Officials would then send the case to another district attorney's office, which would decide whether to proceed, appoint a special prosecutor or handle the case itself.
Even if the court hears Willis' appeal and rules in his favor, legal experts agree that a sitting president cannot be prosecuted criminally until after Trump leaves office in 2029. There may not be a chance to reopen the case.
For Democrats, Trump's re-election represents the ultimate lack of accountability for his role in inciting the mob that stormed the Capitol.
“Trump won the election. … It's so pathetic that the police officers who saved our lives were so disrespected and the criminals who abetted them are now back in the White House.” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), another former lawmaker. of the Committee on January 6th.
“You know, he has vowed to pardon the criminals who stormed the Capitol. People died. We want them to know that we haven't forgotten their sacrifices.”
With President Trump's return to the White House on the horizon, many of the January 6 defendants are encouraged. They have asked for trials and sentences to be postponed on the grounds of future pardons, but judges have largely denied this. Some rioters requested permission to enter Washington, D.C., in time for President Trump's inauguration, but so far only one such request has been granted.
Enrique Tarrio, former national chairman of the Proud Boys, took the risk of testifying in another case, waiving his Fifth Amendment rights as he faces charges of seditious conspiracy. Despite this, he was combative on the witness stand and refused to answer questions under oath. Fee.
Guy Reffitt, the first member of the Jan. 6 rioters to go on trial, faced a judge at a retrial last month after the Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the obstruction charges against him and numerous other rioters.
Mr. Reffitt defiantly told the judge that he had “my feelings” about what he saw as “lies and insanity” about the riots until Mr. Trump's victory.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich countered, “No one cares about your feelings.” “It's an action you take based on your feelings.”
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called the Jan. 6 indictment one of the “largest, most complex, and most resource-intensive investigations” in the department's history. But it has been dealt several blows, and the impact threatens to wane.
The four other defendants are also upset following last summer's Supreme Court ruling on charges of obstructing official proceedings, but prosecutors have denied certification of the mob's actions and the resulting canceled 2020 presidential election. This charge has been used to tie the two together. Following the ruling, the Department of Justice also chose to drop charges against approximately 150 defendants and continues to evaluate the remaining cases.
“There's no question that some of these defendants still have a lot of power right now, and they won't be as deterred from doing anything that violates the law, especially what President Trump wants them to do. You have to imagine that in the future,'' said Mary McCord, a former acting Justice Department national security director and longtime federal prosecutor.
President Trump refused to admit he lost the election during the campaign, but this week he criticized President Biden for awarding the Presidential National Medal to two members of the Jan. 6 commission.
“I think the foundation of a true democracy is a peaceful transition of power,” said Rizwan Qureshi, a former federal prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, D.C. …Because curbing political violence and preserving the democracy we take for granted every day requires accountability and respect for the rule of law. ”
