Judges are citing former President Donald Trump’s rhetoric on election fraud as they deny some accused Capitol rioters bail, saying there’s a risk they’ll commit violent acts in Trump’s name again.
The fanatical Donald Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol in January are facing an unexpected obstacle to their freedom: Trump himself.
Trump’s refusal to accept the reality that he lost the 2020 election — reflected in a torrent of recent statements renewing discredited claims about a “rigged” vote — has become a feature of prosecutors’ latest attempts to jail Capitol riot defendants they deem too dangerous to release pending trial.
Judges have started citing this argument — as part of broader analysis — in cases where they’ve decided to detain defendants for presenting a threat of future violence, and even in some cases where they’ve agreed to let defendants go free, pending trial. They’ve agreed that Trump’s rhetoric could spur his most radicalized supporters to attack again. And that could be bad news for dozens of additional riot suspects being hauled in on alleged conspiracy and police assault charges.
“Former President Donald J. Trump continues to make forceful public comments about the ‘stolen election,’ chastising individuals who did not reject the supposedly illegitimate results that put the current administration in place,” Judge Emmet Sullivan wrote in a recent opinion ordering the detention of Jan. 6 defendant Jack Whitton, charged with one of the most brutal assaults that day.
“uch comments reflect the continued threat posed by individuals like Mr. Whitton, who has demonstrated that he is willing and able to engage in extreme and terrifying levels of violence against law enforcement with a chilling disregard for the rule of law … seemingly based on mistaken beliefs about the illegitimacy of the current administration.”
Prosecutors have also begun citing and echoing Sullivan’s rationale. The latest incarnation came Monday, when assistant U.S. attorney Jessica Arco noted in court that Trump “as recently as today is still talking about this ‘rigged’ election.” Arco was arguing for the pretrial detention of Nathaniel DeGrave, a Trump loyalist charged with assaulting a police officer outside the Senate chamber.
“The defendant is of course entitled to his political preferences,” Arco said. “But given his prior acts of traveling across the country with weapons to ‘stop the steal’ and interfering with the peaceful transition of power on behalf of his idol, and his idol’s continued inflammatory rhetoric about a stolen election, the defendant continues to pose a … threat to the community.”
……..
- Discussion
-
The fanatical Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol in January are facing an unexpected obstacle to their freedom: Donald Trump himself. https://t.co/Ni4WCE4lLZ
— POLITICO (@politico) April 27, 2021
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.