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Attorney General Merrick Garland had balked at the earlier efforts to bring the seditious conspiracy charge. But in the months since, people briefed on the matter say FBI investigators and DC federal prosecutors have spent much time building the case, at least in part with the help of cooperators and the benefit of internal communications among the Oath Keepers.
Federal prosecutors have been slammed — by legal experts, Democratic lawmakers, Donald Trump critics, and media pundits — for going easy on the rioters. That criticism has now been answered in a big way with the charges of “seditious conspiracy.”
Garland said in a major speech last week that prosecutors would go after the January 6 perpetrators “at any level… whether they were present that day or were otherwise criminally responsible for the assault on our democracy.” Thursday’s indictment puts some meat on the bones.
Sedition is difficult to prove in court, and an indictment is only the very beginning of a legal case. There are many hoops that prosecutors will need to jump through before they win convictions. But this is a critical first step.
It destroys, once and for all, the talking point from those downplaying the events of January 6 that the attack on the Capitol wasn’t an insurrection because nobody has been charged with sedition.
Extent of preparation for January 6
One of the most debated questions about January 6 has been over how much planning there was to invade the Capitol.
Thousands of Trump supporters breached Capitol grounds, and a couple thousand got inside the building. But was there a plan? And who knew about the plan?
It’s clear from court…
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Source : cnn
