The Justice Department this week announced the first sedition charges related to the January 6 insurrection, a significant moment in the year-long investigation as it dismantles, once and for all, the talking point from Republicans downplaying the deadly incident that the attack on the Capitol wasn’t an insurrection because nobody has been charged with sedition.
The case revolves around the far-right extremist group the Oath Keepers and its leader Stewart Rhodes. Many of the defendants were already facing charges for storming the US Capitol building and deny wrongdoing. But the new indictment raises the stakes significantly and made public new details about the plans for violence in order to keep Trump in power.
The development is also an “ominous sign” for Donald Trump and his close allies, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner said, suggesting that Trump’s own words when he directed his followers to “come to D.C.. on January 6th, we’ll be wild” are evidence that can be used to charge him with sedition conspiracy.
During an appearance on MSNBC Saturday morning, Kirschner said that the seditious conspiracy charges filed against eleven members of the Oath Keepers should worry Donald Trump and former advisor Steve Bannon.
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Asked if the rarely-filed sedition charges would have a ripple effect that could swamp the former president, Kirshner pointed out that there was a direct link between the Oath Keeper’s action on Jan 6th and Trump’s comments that could come back to haunt the former president.
“It’s really important because when you read the details of this 48-page indictment, it has echoes of what Steve Bannon said in the run-up to January 6th,” Kirschner told host Lindsey Reiser. “You know: ‘it will be swift, it will be moving, it will be unlike anything we have ever seen before.’ He was exactly right. So doesn’t that raise the question, what did he know?”
“But for Donald Trump, I think the parallels are even more dramatic with respect to Donald Trump’s statements and conduct, when we compare it to what we see in this indictment,” he continued. ” For example, why did the Oath Keepers choose January 6th to come to the Capitol? Because Donald Trump said, ‘come to D.C.. on January 6th, we’ll be wild.’ Why did they name their communications channel, the ‘Stop the Steal’ channel? Well, because Donald Trump incessantly tweeted out, ‘stop the steal.'”
“Why did they march on the Capitol after the rally? Because Donald Trump said, ‘now we’re going to the Capitol, and I’ll be right there with you,'” he continued. “Why did they, quote, ‘fight like hell’ once they got to the Capitol? Because Donald Trump said ‘if you don’t fight like hell you won’t have a country anymore.’ And finally, why did they view Mike Pence as the enemy? Because Donald Trump, on January 6th, tweeted, and I quote, ‘Mike Pence didn’t do what he should have done to protect our country and our constitution.'”
“You know what,” he concluded. “Donald Trump runs through this 48-page indictment and I think that’s an ominous sign of things to come.”
Watch the segment below:
