Three years later, the United States is still hostage to the attack on the Capitol International

Christopher Worrell, 52, a member of the far-right group The Proud Boys, was sentenced to 10 years in prison this Thursday for attacking police officers with pepper spray after a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. wore combat vests and insulted the agents, calling them “communists” and “scum”. For an attack that shook the foundations of democracy in the United States — his conviction is the last. After three years,…

Christopher Worrell, 52, a member of the far-right group The Proud Boys, was sentenced to 10 years in prison this Thursday for attacking police officers with pepper spray after a mob of Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. wore combat vests and insulted the agents, calling them “communists” and “scum”. For an attack that shook the foundations of democracy in the United States — his conviction is the last. Three years later, the attack on the Capitol to prevent the declaration of Joe Biden’s electoral victory in the 2020 presidential election continues to largely mark the political and judicial agenda of the United States, which enters a polarized election year without any open wounds. He has recovered on January 6.

Trump has defended the attackers, whom he calls “patriots”, has denied the attack, maintained that it was not a coup, called January 6 “a beautiful day” and has contributed to the spread of conspiracy theories. . among their constituents. A survey published in The Washington Post This week he revealed that 25% of Americans agree with the hoax that it is “probably” or “definitely” true that the FBI attacked the United States Capitol. The former president believes that what happened three years ago does not hurt him. The candidacy faces a presidential election on November 5, which will likely be a repeat of the 2020 showdown between Trump and Biden.

A threat to democracy

Biden, meanwhile, believes the former president represents a threat to democracy and has made that idea one of his key re-election messages. He has just launched a campaign centered on: “Something dangerous is happening in the United States. There is an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy. “They’re asking all of us right now what we’re going to do to preserve our democracy,” he says in the ad, which shows images of the uprising.

It’s not just politics. The attack on the Capitol on January 6 is still very much alive in the courts, although the two fronts intersect. Special Counsel Jack Smith has accused Trump in Washington of trying to change the results of the 2020 presidential election, which for the first time resisted a peaceful and orderly transition of power. In parallel, the states of Colorado and Maine bar him from running for office in application of the Sedition Clause of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, and there are several other states where his candidacy is contested in primaries.

Trump not only maintains his innocence, but asserts that he had presidential immunity for his actions. Furthermore, he argued that the attack on the Capitol was not a rebellion and that this constitutional provision did not apply to them.

It will be the Supreme Court, with a conservative majority of six of the nine justices (three of whom have been appointed by Trump), who will ultimately decide. There are already three cases related to the January 6 attack that have crossed the street that separates the Capitol from the Supreme Court.

The first issue is the question of presidential immunity in relation to those facts. In this regard, the Supreme Court has returned the case to the Court of Appeal, but it is likely to return to the body. Additionally, Trump has appealed to be excluded from the ballots and has a good chance of winning the appeal, as the interpretation of the clause is a bit too restrictive. And third, the magistrates accepted an appeal about the validity of applying the crime of obstruction of official proceedings in the January 6 riots, one of four for which Trump is accused in Washington. It’s a crime punishable by anyone who boycotts or obstructs an investigation in a variety of ways, from killing a witness to concealing evidence, but it’s unclear how that fits the present case. The judges’ decision could overturn dozens of convictions and condition charges against the former Republican president.

Meanwhile, the police and judiciary continue to condemn those who have been identified and detained as participants in the uprising. Washington federal prosecutor Matthew Graves, who has coordinated the Justice Department’s efforts to pursue those responsible, pointed out at a press conference this Thursday that the attack on the Capitol was “perhaps the largest mass attack on law enforcement officers in a single day in the history of the United States.” According to the Department of Justice, approximately 140 police officers were attacked in the Capitol on January 6, including about 80 from the United States Capitol Police and about 60 from the Metropolitan Police Department. “It’s important that we remember the mass loss that occurred on January 6, 2021 and understand how it happened, so we can make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Graves added.

A total of 1,237 were prosecuted

According to the Department of Justice’s latest report, updated in December, 1,237 defendants have been prosecuted across the country. Of those, 714 have pleaded guilty to various federal charges (210 felonies and 504 misdemeanors), many of whom face prison terms. Another 170 people have been convicted in sentencing trials. So, just over 350 defendants have their cases pending. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is still chasing hundreds of attackers and has a list of most wanted.

Of those convicted, some are awaiting sentencing. So far, 723 defendants have been convicted, of which 454 have been sentenced to prison terms. 151 have been sentenced to periods of house arrest, of which 28 have also been sentenced to prison terms.

Harsh punishments have been received by far-right militia members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers. The longest sentence so far is 22 years in prison for Proud Boys president Enrique Terrio, which is hard to get over. The judge defined him as the “ultimate leader of the conspiracy” and applied the aggravating circumstance of “terrorism”. Some of the proudest boy lieutenants have also received some harsh sentences, having been convicted of treasonous conspiracy, like Tario. Ethan Nordion was 18; Joe Biggs, 17, and Zachary Rehl, 15.

For his part, Stuart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the far-right group Oath Keepers, a type of ultra paramilitary force, was sentenced to 18 years in prison last May. He and his lieutenant Kelly Maggs, both sentenced to 12 years, were also convicted of treasonous conspiracy.

Trump uses the song at some of his rallies justice for all, which mixes the choir of people imprisoned for participating in the attack on the Capitol singing the national anthem (The Star-Spangled Banner, (The Star-Spangled Banner) as Trump himself recites the Pledge of Allegiance and the prisoners close in chanting “USA”. The former president has said he would pardon the attackers if he returned to the White House.

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