Posts

Capitol Rioters Using Trump As An Excuse In Court 

/in , /by

While Donald Trump himself was recently acquitted by the Senate for inciting an insurrection at the Capitol on January 6th, after being the first president to be impeached by the House twice, his supporters aren’t finding themselves so lucky. In fact, attorneys for at least seven of the rioters have referenced Trump in efforts to explain their clients actions. 

Matthew Ryan Miller was photographed discharging a fire extinguisher on the steps of the Capitol during the riot. At his hearing this past Tuesday, his attorney claimed that “his client was there at the behest of then-President Trump. Mr. Miller concedes he was on the Capitol grounds to protest along with thousands of other protesters and was merely following the directions of then-President Trump, the country’s chief law enforcement officer, and other speakers to march to the Capitol.”

Embed from Getty Images

Defense attorney for accused Proud Boys member Ethan Nordean wrote in a filing that Trump “egged on” his client. Dominic Pezzola, another accused Proud Boy, claimed that he was “duped and just responding to the entreaties of the then commander in chief.” 

Randy Zelin is a criminal defence attorney who claims that these attorney’s strategies are similar to an “advice of counsel” defense. “The tactic argues that a defendant couldn’t have had criminal intent if they were acting on advice from their attorney. Although Mr. Trump isn’t an attorney, there is a notion that if someone who makes the laws tells you what to do, someone could argue they had no intention to break the law.”

Zelin continued to explain that “The president of the United States telling you that it’s OK to do something or telling you to do something — that destroys your intention, your intent to commit a crime, because the president is telling you it’s OK. Basically, the argument is ‘I had no knowledge that I was breaking the law because I was told by the president of the United States to go ahead and do it.'”

Embed from Getty Images

Harry Litman is a former US attorney who, on the other hand, claimed blaming Trump in court would be extremely difficult for these accused rioters. “The ‘Trump made me do it’ defense is a real long-shot, legally, but the move could still be smart because it may create sympathy with jurors, and may even require Mr. Trump to be subpoenaed — a major logistical obstacle that could slow down a case and force prosecutors to drop to lesser charges,” Litman explained. 

At least one defendant has so far attempted to distance himself from the former president during his trial to argue that he can safely be released from jail. Christopher Ray Grider’s attorney released a memo that claimed his client “no longer cared about politics or who the President is.” 

Documents charging Kenneth Grayson show a social media post in which Grayson wrote “”I’m there for the greatest celebration of all time after Pence leads the Senate flip!! OR IM THERE IF TRUMP TELLS US TO STORM THE F***N CAPITAL IMA DO THAT THEN!”

Derrick Evans, a former lawmaker in West Virginia, has an official complaint filed against him that cites a tweet from Trump with the caption “This is why we are going to DC #StopTheSteal.” 

While Trump himself has avoided conviction for a second time by the US Senate after being impeached twice by the House, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell claimed he was voted to be acquitted based on a constitutional limit of impeachment, not because Trump wasn’t to blame for the riot.

US Capitol Building

Black Lives Matter Activists Call Out Double Standard Of Police Response In Capitol Riots

/in , /by

Hundreds of Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol building yesterday after the current president encouraged the crowd to not back down from fighting one of the “most fraudulent elections in US history,” despite the past two months of evidence disputing every single one of Trump’s claims. 

Rioters broke windows, destroyed offices, vandalized government property, and looted, causing social media to blow up with claims of double standards and the obvious white privilege that these individuals carried to be able to simply walk into what was thought to be one of the most secure buildings in the US. 

Beyond that, many began posting images from the past year of peaceful Black Lives Matter protests that turned violent due to police and military presence alone. Hundreds of thousands of videos began recirculating of the national guard and police throughout America tear gassing, shooting, and assaulting peaceful protesters for simply expressing their first amendment rights, yet dozens of white Trump supporters were able to simply walk in and out of the Capitol as they pleased. 

Embed from Getty Images

One of the most impactful images shared showed the Capitol building steps this summer covered with National Guard troops in preparation for a DC Black Lives Matter protest; prompting many to question where the Guard was yesterday, especially since the DC Mayor called on them two days ago in anticipation of these riots. 

The Black Lives Matter Global Network released a powerful statement about the blatant racism and white supremacy that was exemplified with yesterdays act of domestic terrorism. They stated that the riot was just “one more example of the hypocrisy in our country’s law enforcement response to protest,” and unfortunately, no one was surprised. 

“When Black people protest for our lives, we are all too often met by National Guard troops or police equipped with assault rifles, shields, tear gas and battle helmets. Make no mistake, if the protesters were Black, we would have been tear gassed, battered, and perhaps shot.”

Videos online began circulating of the DC National Guard and police armed and wearing camouflage uniforms on the steps of the Lincoln memorial during a peaceful protest following several days of Black Lives Matter demonstrations in the city; rioters made it into the Capitol yesterday and remained there for hours before the National Guard was activated.

Embed from Getty Images

The DC Mayor also implemented a 6 p.m. curfew when the Capitol first was stormed, however footage showed hundreds of Trump supporters still outside the Capitol building long after that curfew had passed. If we remember back to the Black Lives Matter protests this summer, the police would pull people walking home from work off the street and arrest them for being out past curfew. 

There’s also another double standard in the way in which political leaders and media outlets report on these protests and riots. When it was Black Lives Matter protests turning violent due to an aggressive police presence shooting tear gas and rubber bullets at non-threatening protesters, the narrative turned into one where the protesters were the ones inciting violence and leaving the police with no choice but to control the crowd violently. 

When we look at what was going on yesterday, Republican commentators and leaders immediately took to Twitter and told the rioters not to “become like the other side,” immediately shifting the blame from the domestic terrorists who destroyed federal property to individuals on the other side who “would’ve responded the same way.” 

The reality is it was Trump’s supporters who enacted so much violence and made dark history by storming a federal government building to protest a legitimate election. So far four individuals have died and 53 have been arrested. The FBI has opened an investigation and will be reviewing every picture and video posted online of those who were in the building, and time will tell how they will all be charged.