2024-01-06 01:00:21
Members of far-right groups. Former police officers. An Olympic gold medalist swimmer. And active duty marines. They are part of the hundreds of people convicted in these three years for the violent assault on the Capitol, in Washington, on January 6, 2021.
That day, a stunned nation watched on their televisions how a coup attempt was unfolding in the United States promoted by Trumpist fanatics. Those images will be repeated in multitudes this Saturday upon the anniversary. And many will look to justice.
Washington federal court remains inundated with lawsuitsplea hearings and sentencing stemming from what has become the largest criminal investigation in the country’s history.
The search for suspects is far from over. “We cannot replace votes and deliberation with violence and intimidation,” Matthew Graves, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, told reporters Thursday.
Authorities are still working to identify more than 80 people wanted for acts of violence at the Capitol and to discover who placed homemade bombs in front of the offices of the Republican and Democratic national committees the day before the attack on the Parliament building. And they continue to make new arrests.
The cases are taking place in the same court where Donald Trump is scheduled to be tried in March in the case that accuses the former president of conspiring to reverse his 2020 electoral defeat. The assault on the Capitol sought to prevent the parliamentary consecration of Joe Biden.
A march of opponents of Donald Trump, this Friday demanding democracy and justice, in front of the Capitol in Washington. Photo: AP
The former president, accused of insurrection
That day, in the morning, a large group of ultranationalist protesters They gathered in a public park to listen to the speeches of the outgoing president and his son Donald Trump Jr.
The president repeated his insistent narrative that he had won the November elections against Democrat Biden, but the result had been stolen from him. He never provided evidence, not even in that speech in which he encouraged his fans whom he “asked to fight like demons because if not they will not have a country.” And he urged them to move.
“I know that everyone here will soon march to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make their voices heard. “Today we will see if Republicans stand firm for the integrity of our elections,” he added.
That was the only time he mentioned the word “peacefully.” In contrast, she used the word “fight” 14 times, researchers said. They accuse him of insurrection.
Tension and four deaths
The protesters, whom Trump described as “patriots,” eventually entered the building, breached security and eventually occupied the evacuated Senate chamber. A violent fight broke out. In those crashes A protester was shot by law enforcement inside the building and died. Three other militants also died from gunshot wounds.
Supporters of Donald Trump, with flags and defiants inside the Capitol, during the January 2021 storming. Photo: AFP
The disaster was huge and is considered the first concrete coup attempt in the United States with the intention of Trump retaining power. It was his vice president, Mike Pence, who managed to save the Republic and defended Biden’s legitimate victory on the premises, a gesture for which the New York magnate never forgave him: “He didn’t do what he should have done,” he said.
More than 1,230 people have been charged with federal crimes during the riots, ranging from minor crimes such as housebreaking to serious crimes such as assaulting police officers and seditious conspiracy. Only two defendants have been acquitted of all charges.
Some 750 people have been sentenced and nearly two-thirds have received some time behind bars. Prison sentences range from a few days of intermittent confinement to 22 years. The longest sentence was imposed on Enrique Tarrio, the former national chairman of the ultranationalist Proud Boys who was convicted of seditious conspiracy, in what prosecutors described as a plot to prevent Biden’s inauguration.
Many rioters have already been released from prison after serving their sentences, including some accused of violent acts.
Defense attorneys and prosecutors are closely monitoring a case that will soon escalate to the Supreme Court. It is the testimony of one of these fans accused of obstruction. It is important because it is the same charge brought against Trump by special counsel Jack Smith.
Several defendants also fled after being charged, including a Florida Proud Boys member who disappeared while under house arrest.
The FBI is still searching for some defendants who have been on the run for months, including a pair of brothers from that state. There is another leader of these groups, Evan Neumann, who simply escaped from the country in December 2021 and is believed to live in Belarus, a country allied to Vladimir Putin, the Russian autocrat with a fluid relationship with Trump.
Fuente: The Associated Press
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