The Other McCain

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‘Insurrection’? Most Capitol Rioters Probably Won’t Face Prison Time

Posted on | March 31, 2021 | Comments Off on ‘Insurrection’? Most Capitol Rioters Probably Won’t Face Prison Time

This should have been obvious from the start: Trespassing and disobeying police commands are the only charges likely to stick against most of the Trump supporters involved in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Most of them just got swept up in the excitement of the moment and certainly were not part of an “anti-government” conspiracy. This reality was obscured by a lot of prosecutorial bluster and media hype:

Americans outraged by the storming of Capitol Hill are in for a jarring reality check: Many of those who invaded the halls of Congress on Jan. 6 are likely to get little or no jail time. …
In recent days, judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys have all indicated that they expect few of these “MAGA tourists” to face harsh sentences.
There are two main reasons: Although prosecutors have loaded up their charging documents with language about the existential threat of the insurrection to the republic, the actions of many of the individual rioters often boiled down to trespassing. And judges have wrestled with how aggressively to lump those cases in with those of the more sinister suspects. . . .
The prospect of dozens of Jan. 6 rioters cutting deals for minor sentences could be hard to explain for the Biden administration, which has characterized the Capitol Hill mob as a uniquely dangerous threat. … Justice Department prosecutors sent expectations sky-high in early statements and court filings, describing elaborate plots to murder lawmakers — descriptions prosecutors have tempered as new details emerged.

(Hat-tip: Hot Air via Instapundit.)

Joy Pullman at The Federalist points out that the FBI has been missing a lot of terrorists while it has been devoting such enormous efforts to investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol riot:

For that investigation, USA Today says, “agents in all but one of the FBI’s 56 field offices have been drafted to track down” people who attended the Capitol protest that day, the vast majority of whom peacefully protested. “Investigators who typically work cases involving the trafficking of drugs, child pornography and sex have taken calls from rioter’s angry ex-wives and former girlfriends and employers turned tipsters.”
Meanwhile, the FBI and other investigators appear to be hiding the truth about the one death that occurred in connection with this havoc that hasn’t yet been definitively proven to be an accident, besides the rioter a police officer shot to death.
It also appears the FBI is using its police power to prosecute people in connection with the Capitol riot who participated in no violence, including one who never went inside the Capitol nor harmed any person or public property, according to Julie Kelly’s reporting of court documents. His true crime appears to be belonging to a group in which some members believe, according to the federal indictment, that “the federal government has been co-opted by a cabal of elites actively trying to strip American citizens of their rights.”

Read the whole thing.




 

Category: Crime

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