Federal law enforcement officials are privately debating whether they should decline to charge some of the individuals who stormed the U.S. Capitol this month — a politically loaded proposition but one alert to the practical concern that hundreds of such cases could swamp the local courthouse.
The internal discussions are in their early stages, and no decisions have been reached about whether to forgo charging some of those who illegally entered the Capitol on Jan. 6, according to multiple people familiar with the discussions.
Justice Department officials have promised a relentless effort to identify and arrest those who stormed the Capitol that day, but internally there is robust back-and-forth about whether charging them all is the best course of action. That debate comes at a time when officials are keenly sensitive that the credibility of the Justice Department and the FBI are at stake in such decisions, given the apparent security and intelligence failures that preceded the riot, these people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss legal deliberations.
Absolutely not. These people knew they were breaking and entering the US Capitol during a Joint Session of Congress convened to count the electoral votes! It wasn’t breaking into the high school for spring fling! They were trying to overturn the presidential election for god’s sakes! Five people died, one of them a policeman at the hands of this mob.
All of them had agency. They could have walked away. Plenty of people in that crowd did that, even though they were Donald Trump supporters too. Anyone who wandered the halls with miscreants carrying Confederate flags and wearing Camp Auschwitz shirts and chanting “Hang Mike Pence!”, who heard the threats of violence against Speaker Pelosi and watched as the police were threatened and assaulted were accomplices. I’m sorry, they deserve to have the book thrown at them. And frankly the book really isn’t that harsh considering what they were trying to do.
They should keep the courts running 24/7 and let every single non-violent suspect go if they have to. This was an assault on our democracy and acting as though they were just letting off steam or on some sort of unauthorized tour is unacceptable.
These are not “very fine people:”
The Justice Department revealed new charges against a Texas man who allegedly participated in the Capitol attack and posted online death threats against Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a US Capitol Police officer.
Garret Miller of Texas faces five criminal charges stemming from the Capitol insurrection, including trespassing offenses and making death threats. Miller allegedly tweeted, “assassinate AOC,” according to court documents.
He also said the police officer who fatally shot a Trump supporter during the attack “deserves to die” and won’t “survive long” because it’s “huntin[g] season.”
Investigation into US Capitol riot moves into more complicated phaseProsecutors said in newly released court documents that Miller posted extensively on social media before and during the attack, saying a “civil war could start” and “next time we bring the guns.”
He was arrested on Wednesday, according to the Justice Department. Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to keep him in jail pending trial, and a detention hearing is scheduled for Monday.Clint Broden, a lawyer for Miller, told CNN Saturday that his client “certainly regrets what he did.”
“He did it in support of former President (Donald) Trump, but regrets his actions. He has the support of his family, and a lot of the comments, as viewed in context, are really sort of misguided political hyperbole. Given the political divide these days, there is a lot of hyperbole,” Broden said.
Death threats = “misguided political hyperbole
Right.