Judge: Jan. 6 committee evidence suggests Trump asked rally crowd to break the law
The federal ruling is the first to reckon with the select committee’s final report and criminal referrals.
The Jan. 6 select committee’s finding that Donald Trump lured followers to storm the Capitol does not absolve them of legal responsibility for their actions, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, the first opinion to cite the congressional panel’s criminal referrals of the former president.
U.S. District Court Judge John Bates cited the select committee’s report and criminal referrals to swat down a Jan. 6 defendant’s claim that he believed Trump had authorized him and other rioters to enter the Capitol when he urged the crowd to march down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Bates, an appointee of President George W. Bush, ruled that defendant Alexander Sheppard should be prohibited from making the “public authority” defense because there’s simply no evidence Trump told his followers that entering the restricted grounds of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was legal. In fact, his incendiary rhetoric — especially telling his supporters to “fight like hell” — may suggest Trump was asking them to break the law, Bates said.
His words “could signal to protesters that entering the Capitol and stopping the certification would be unlawful,” Bates found.
Bates’ ruling is the first to reckon with the select committee’s finding that Trump violated at least four federal laws in his crusade to subvert the 2020 election. And it is an early window into how the judiciary might interpret the unusual findings of criminal violations by a congressional committee.
A slew of Jan. 6 defendants have sought to argue that Trump somehow blessed their decision to breach the Capitol, saying they were misled into believing their actions were legal. Though Trump has no power to permit others to violate federal laws, many in the crowd might have viewed his instructions as legal permission, they’ve argued. Those defenses have largely failed in courts, and the one jury to hear that claim — in the case of Dustin Thompson — rejected it, finding Thompson guilty on all charges.
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The Jan. 6 committee’s finding that Trump lured followers to storm the Capitol does not absolve them of legal responsibility for their actions, a federal judge ruled. https://t.co/DgIeqirqcb
— POLITICO (@politico) December 28, 2022
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