Recently, multiple members of the American far-right anti-government militia Oath Keepers were officially convicted on seditious conspiracy charges in connection to the violent, deadly January 6th attack on the Capitol in Donald Trump’s name, in an attempt to keep Trump in the power of the US presidency by force. As a result of those bombshell convictions, calls have grown and spread like wildfire for the former president himself to also be charged and prosecuted for the same crime for his large role in inciting that very insurrection at the Capitol building.
In recent weeks, as the January 6th House Select Committee disbanded and brought their investigation to a close in preparation for the incoming Republican power in the House of Representatives, the panel of investigators sent a criminal referral to the US Department of Justice against Donald Trump on four separate criminal charges.
But recently, The Guardian correspondent Hugo Lowell weighed in on the matter of potential DOJ charges against Donald Trump during an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and said that in the end, he expects the Justice Department to go after the former president with a more narrow, appeal proof case.
“The Oath Keepers seditious conspiracy verdicts really come about because the government had concrete evidence that the leaders of the Oath Keepers effectively engaged in political violence to stop the peaceful transfer of power, and because it was presented in that way and because, you know, the Oath Keepers had a quick reaction force across the river in Virginia,” Lowell said. “They had weapons and ammunition, and they were texting about we can come to the Capitol, and, you know, bring fire support if you really need it. I think that’s the kind of evidence that’s convincing for a jury.”
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“It’s the kind of evidence that we’re missing as of yet with Trump, and that’s why I think that the Justice Department is looking more at an obstruction of an official proceeding kind of thing for Trump, as opposed to, you know, seditious conspiracy,” the investigative reporter went on to add. “I don’t think it materially makes any difference because they are still really serious felonies and they carry lengthy prison terms, and the Justice Department doesn’t like to score big home runs, they like to score single hits, and if they can find one charge that sticks with Trump, they would much prefer that.”
“They want a sustained conviction, they just don’t want a conviction, they want to sustain it upon appeal,” Lowell theorized, “and I think he was talking about how you want to make sure it follows through all the way. They’re much more likely to take a lesser charge that is more likely to be sustained than the big charge.”
See Lowell’s MSNBC segment here:
Featured image via Political Tribune Gallery
