Breaking 1-06-21: MAGA terrorist attack on Capitol

It seems context is key to the court's decision. Given the context, it's unique and not beyond Trump.

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21264723-66-ruling-2-18-22-thompson-v-trump-opinion

The "import" of the President's words must be viewed within the broader context in which the Speech was made and against the Speech as a whole. Before January 6th, the President and others had created an air of distrust and anger among his supporters by creating the false narrative that the election literally was stolen from underneath their preferred candidate by fraud and corruption. Some of his supporters' beliefs turned to action. In the weeks after the election, some had made threats against state election officials and others clashed with police in Washington, D.C., following pro-Trump rallies. The President would have known about these events, as they were widely publicized. Against this backdrop, the President invited his followers to Washington, D.C., on January 6th. It is reasonable to infer that the President would have known that some supporters viewed his invitation as a call to action. President Trump and his advisors "actively monitored" pro-Trump websites and social media. These forums lit up in response to the rally announcement. Some supporters explicitly called for violence on January 6th (e.g., calling for "massing hangings and firing squads"). Others took direct aim at the Certification itself (e.g., stating that people in the Capitol should "leave in one of two ways: dead or certifying Trump the rightful winner") or at law enforcement ("Cops don't have 'standing' if they are laying on the ground in a pool of their own blood."). These violent posts were discussed "by media outlets regularly viewed by President Trump, including Fox News." The prospect of violence had become so likely that a former aide to the President predicted in a widely publicized statement that "there will be violence on January 6th because the President himself encourages it."

 

Of course he knew. He loved it. He wanted power at all cost. He doesn't believe in Democracy. He only believes he is God's gift to the world, and the best of the best at everything. He thinks he is above the law, and will stab anyone in the back who dares to differ.

 

The bad news continue for Trump.

 

I don't doubt the biggest evidence has already been shredded and burned. After all, Trump's sidekick he paroled loved Nixon.

 

I get the feeling the most salacious and damning stuff likely won't be there. This is still an important ruling and sets a precedent for future presidents.

 

75 days!!! thats a joke. these slap-on-the-wrist punishments will only help to ensure that the trump insurrectionists do it again.

what a loser this guy was - stay-at-home father of 5. and he hardly seemed remorseful. he bragged about what he did. he was violent on that day as evidenced by him being on video saying that a statue of washingtons head would make a great battering ram and his trying to get into peloisis office. he claimed if he met pelosi he would have only taken a selfie with her, which obviously is a lie.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/capitol-rioter-photographed-pelosis-podium-155450810.html

Capitol rioter photographed with Pelosi's podium on Jan. 6 sentenced to prison

A Florida man who bragged he "broke the internet" when he was photographed carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's podium during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced to 75 days in prison on Friday.

Adam Johnson, a stay-at-home father of five boys, traveled to D.C. in support of former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to President Joe Biden. U.S. District Court Judge Reggie B. Walton sentenced Johnson to prison on Friday, saying Johnson made "a mockery" of the events by grabbing Pelosi's lectern and played an active role in the attack. Walton said he just couldn't overlook Johnson's behavior, which he said was deserving of a period of incarceration. Johnson will get credit for some time he's already served, and will also pay a $5,000 fine.

"We're on a dangerous slide in America," Walton said Friday, calling what happened on Jan. 6 something you'd expect to "see in banana republics." Walton asked Johnson how he could hold himself out as a good role model for his five children when he came to D.C. and did what he did on Jan. 6.

Related video: Man who flashed gun during Jan. 6 riot arrested for murder in Utah


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Johnson, speaking to the court on Friday, said he'd been "nothing but cooperative" with the government since his arrest, and said his actions demonstrated that he was apologetic and was "ashamed" to have been a part of the Capitol riot.

Johnson said he recognized that if he did what he did in another country, he'd be "on a firing wall instead of a courtroom." He claimed he had no intent to harm Pelosi.

"If I did find her, I would ask for a selfie with her, if anything," Johnson said.

Johnson pleaded guilty to a criminal count of entering and remained in a restricted building or grounds, admitting that he unlawfully entered the Capitol after witnessing battles with police outside the building, and then grabbed Pelosi's podium "because he believed it would make a good prop for a picture." Johnson also admitted that he shouted that a bust of George Washington would be "a great battering ram" as rioters attempted to break into the floor of the U.S. House, where members of Congress were still present.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Arco told the court Friday that Johnson's conduct deserves prison time. She played a video of Johnson jiggling the door of what he thought was Pelosi's office. There can be no question, Arco said, that Johnson knew he was part of a violent mob.

"Mr. Johnson was part of a mob," Arco said. "He knew that.”

Justice Department prosecutors argued in a memo ahead of his sentencing that Johnson's actions illustrated his "sense of entitlement and privilege" and that he appeared "defiant and righteous in his trespassing, which he celebrated by posting this photo to Facebook." Federal prosecutors had requested a sentence of 90 days behind bars.


Adam Johnson (U.S. Attorney for D.C.)
Johnson's attorneys claimed in their own filing that Johnson "deeply regrets his participation in the breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6" and that the "damage and violence inflicted on that date by others is contrary to everything he believes in." They argued that his five children would be negatively impacted by his imprisonment, and that Johnson received extra scrutiny because the lectern he grabbed belonged to the speaker of House.

"Unfortunately, he received considerable attention simply because the lectern belonged to Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi," they wrote. "Arguably, if he latched onto some other piece of government furniture for his photo opportunity jail time would not even be a consideration."

The FBI has arrested more than 740 people in connection with the U.S. Capitol attack, out of more than 2,500 individuals who engaged in chargeable criminal conduct that day. Sentences have ranged from probationary sentences and fines for misdemeanor defendants to five years in federal prison for Robert Scott Palmer, who attacked officers with a fire extinguisher and received the longest sentence of any Capitol rioter so far.

On Thursday, a judge sentenced Jeffrey Register — who helped lead the mob towards the doors to the House Speaker's lobby, where Ashli Babbitt was shot — to 75 days in prison. Earlier in the week, Mariposa Castro received 45 days in prison. More than 40 Capitol rioters have received sentences of incarceration so far, and more than 200 defendants have pleaded guilty, mostly to misdemeanor offenses.

 

What would be an appropriate punishment for his crime? You call him an insurrectionist. I assume that means you think he is guilty of trying to overthrow the government and thus treason. Should he be sentenced to death? Maybe it was only seditious conspiracy. Should he get 20 years in federal prison for walking into a building, picking up a podium, and jiggling a door handle?

 

Send them all to the Ukraine to fight in a real war, since they think that is what they were trying to do.

DD

 

more than 75 days, thats for sure.

yes.

id be totally good with that. but the main people who should be sentenced to death are those who incited them.

id be totally good with him getting 20 years for storming our capital with hundreds of other insurrectionist traitors, destroying and stealing federal government property, wanting to use a bust of george washingtons head as a battering ram to break down the door to the house chamber and threatening elected officials.

"walking into a building, picking up a podium, and jiggling a door handle" - thats an odd way to interpret what happened, but pretty much in line with your arguments in this thread.

look how much time and effort you and the trumpers are putting into defending and making excuses for traitors like this vs. condemning them. its pretty incredible to see.

as the judge said when sentencing the unemployed father of 5 loser trumper, “We’re on a dangerous slide in America". attitudes like yours will only ensure that this happens again...maybe thats what you want?

 

LOL. The death penalty for literally walking into a building, picking up a podium, and jiggling a door handle. I don't know why you would consider that an odd way to interpret what happened, it is what he actually did. I'm sorry, I forgot he also said the words that a bust of George Washington would make a good battering ram. Maybe that is what tipped the scales to death. What a crazy federal judge this must be, giving someone deserving of the death penalty only a misdemeanor and 75 days in jail.

I would say his sentence is probably more or less appropriate. He was trespassing and stole a podium, two minor misdemeanors. It was incident to other people rioting, so he can get more time than normal for those crimes (usually I would see someone get maybe 10 or 15 days). No excuses need to be made, he committed minor crimes and was given a minor punishment. It seems a pretty big waste of resources to undertake the largest manhunt in the history of US law enforcement to capture and try these people for such petty misdemeanors.

 

detained 13 months without trial for a non-violent offense

 

The Oath Keepers and the KKK should be labeled as terrorist organizations.

DD

 

Perhaps he shouldn't have threatened to shoot his kids.

 

Yes they should!

 

I agree with you. Don't know who you are talking to, because it's obviously one of those anti-democracy blame BLM and Biden but defend Trump and his white terrorist posters I put on ignore.

 

"DC gulag" - wow.

 

youre the one who brought up the death penalty...i was just agreeing with you dude.

and again, i find it very odd how you frame the actions of the insurrectionists on that day - "walking into a building and jiggling a door handle". and i also find it odd how you and others put more effort into complaining about the way the insurrectionists are being punished (DC gulag...give me a break!) vs. the fact that they tried to overthrow our government in order to prevent the certification of an election.

attitudes like yours will only ensure that this happens again.

 

This happens to many other offenders notably poor people who can't afford or get bail.

 

And, especially those who threaten to kill their kids.