Report: No Treason Or Sedition Charges For January 6th Capitol Rioters
Despite claims by progressives and leftists that the Capitol Hill riots were an “armed insurrection” against the United States government, a recent report by the Associated Press (AP) said that although more than 500 individuals have been arrested and charged with crimes related to January 6 chaos — none have yet been charged with “treason” or “sedition.”
On Tuesday, the AP said so far, those involved in the Capitol riot have instead been given an “increasing number of lesser charges.”
“Accusations against January 6 rioter Thomas Caldwell certainly seem to fit the charge of sedition as it’s generally understood — inciting revolt against the government. And the possibility of charging him and others was widely discussed after thousands of pro-Trump supporters assaulted scores of police officers, defaced the U.S. Capitol, and hunted for lawmakers to stop the certification. Some called their actions treasonous,” the outlet wrote.
“But to date,” the AP noted, “neither Caldwell nor any of the other more than 500 defendants accused in the attack has been indicted for sedition or for the gravest of crimes a citizen can face, treason. And as an increasing number of lesser charges are filed and defendants plead guilty, those accusations may never be formally levied.”
The AP said that some legal scholars say that “sedition charges could be justified but that prosecutors may be reluctant to bring them because of their legal complexity and the difficulty historically in securing convictions” — adding that the bar for proving sedition isn’t as high as it is for the related charge of treason, although sedition charges have been rare.
It said the last time that the US government accused individuals of sedition was in 2010, but a judge “ordered acquittals” on those charges in 2012 because prosecutors’ evidence — manifestos and “diatribes” about the government — were First Amendment protected speech.
Fewer than 10 convicted of treason in US history
In the history of the US, the outlet noted that the government has convicted fewer than 10 people for treason.
It added that the only American charged with treason since the World II era was Adam Gadahn, who was indicted in 2006 for giving “aid and comfort” to al-Qaeda although he was killed by a US drone strike in Pakistan before even being tried in court.
“Alleged participants in the January 6th riots may also, indirectly, have President Joe Biden to thank for the lower-level charges. The Trump administration leveled charges of ‘assaulting federal officers, civil disorder, and failing to obey’ against rioters who took to the streets of Portland, Oregon, last summer [but] the Biden administration has disposed of most of those cases; nearly half of those charges were dropped,” a separate report said, citing The Wall Street Journal.
In a separate report, The Daily Wire said around 560 people have been arrested in connection with the riots, but high-level charges are even “rarer” than what the AP reported.
It said many of the alleged rioters who stormed the Capitol Hill have been instead charged with either entering a restricted building, criminal trespassing, and, in some cases, obstructing justice.
The most common charge are “entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds,” “disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds,” “engaging in physical violence in a restricted building or grounds,” “disorderly conduct in a Capitol building,” and “assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers.”
Reports noted that so far, only 13 of all those charged with riots have pleaded guilty.
Meanwhile, in a recent speech, Democrat President Joe Biden rages on supporters of former President Donald Trump as “worse than slave-owning Confederates.”
Biden says Trump supporters are worse than slave-owning Confederates: "We are facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. That's not hyperbole…The Confederates back then never breached the Capitol as insurrectionists did"
You CAN oppose HR1 & 1/6… pic.twitter.com/Jz8z95owPR
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 13, 2021
“We are facing the most significant test of our democracy since the Civil War. That’s not hyperbole…The Confederates back then never breached the Capitol as insurrectionists did on January 6th,” he said.
“I’m not saying this to alarm you. I’m saying this because you should be alarmed. I’m also saying this. There’s good news. It doesn’t have to be this way. It doesn’t have to be, for real. We have the names,” Biden added.
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