Prosecutor accuses Trump of sending “angry” extremists to Capitol in January 2021

2023-12-05 23:51:59

The special prosecutor investigating Donald Trump (2017-2021), Jack Smith, accused the former president of send members of the extremist group Proud Boys and other “angry” supporters to the Capitol on January 6, 2021 to prevent Congress from certifying the election of Joe Biden.

The accusation deepens the direct link between Trump and the assault on the Capitol and is reflected in a file presented this Tuesday by Smith and his aides, which They investigate the former president for January 6, 2021 and the inappropriate handling of classified documents.

Prosecutors point out that the sending to the Capitol of members of the Proud Boys, a violent far-right organizationand other supporters, who Trump “knew they were angry,” serves to establish the former president’s “motive and intent” to “obstruct Congress’ certification” of Biden’s electoral victory.

“In addition, his statements at that time stating that he had and continues to have enormous influence over the actions of his supporters is evidence of his knowledge and intent to obstruct certificationsince he decided not to exercise that influence to mitigate the violence of January 6,” they explain.

Not only that, “the interruption of the certification process by the mutineers is exactly what the defendant intended on January 6“added the document.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to the four charges against him federal prosecutors: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempted obstruction of an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights.

Last September 5, andThe leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, was sentenced by the federal court of the District of Columbia to 22 years in prison for leading “the conspiracy” which led to the assault on the Capitol, which is related to the death of five people and the injury of 140 police officers.

Tarrio is one of dozens of people who have been tried and sentenced to prison for their participation in the attack while Congress was certifying Biden’s victory in the November 2020 presidential election.

Prosecutors add that Trump’s statements in which He has been in favor of pardoning those convicted of January 6 They are admissible in the trial “to help the jury” because the former president’s words “point out that the law does not apply to those who act at its behest regardless of the legality of their actions.”