Popular Defense Of Capitol Rioters Could Doom Donald Trump

Capitol Rioters love arguing in court that Donald Trump made them do what they did on January 6th, but so far that argument has not been successful for any of the accused. However, a former prosecutor says that these defenses could end up being bad news for Donald Trump if he is ever put on trial, but more importantly, they prove just how dangerous and deadly disinformation can become. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins discusses this.

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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.

We have seen many Capitol rioters going to court telling the judge, some of them actually telling juries that I can't be guilty because Trump made me do this. Trump made me storm the Capitol. Trump is the reason all of this happened. So please hold him accountable, not me. And of course, as we have seen every single person that has tried to use this as a legal defense has not worked. None of them have been exonerated. All of them have received some sort of sentence when they go into court and try to argue Trump made me do it. The three people that have taken theirs all the way to an actual jury trial, all three of them have lost by arguing that Trump made me do it. So a former US prosecutor by the name of Barbara McQuade, writing for NBC news, had this to say about this peculiar line of defense from so many of these Capitol rioters.

Although the rioters are responsible for their own actions, it's hard to believe the attack would've occurred without Trump's efforts. He engaged in a months long campaign to convince the public that the voting was rigged, starting even before the election was held. If Trump was the person who lit the match, then why has he not been charged yet with inciting an insurrection? Such a charge would be risky because of first amendment protections, politicians frequently urge their supporters to quote, fight for what they believe in. It is hard to imagine that the Department of Justice would indict a former president based on an untested legal theory, unless DOJ uncovers evidence that links Trump to the planning of the Capitol attack, his role in the riot is unlikely to serve as the basis for charges against him. Well, that's unfortunate, right?

But don't worry. Former US attorney Barbara McQuade does continue. And she, after saying like, listen, you're probably not gonna get Trump on this. The Capitol rioters really do need to give it up. You're not gonna be able to prove that Donald Trump is the reason they did this. However, there's another catch here. The riot may be a distraction from more viable criminal charges, conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. Each of those crimes could be proven without tying Trump to the conduct of the rioters. So we have that, right? And as I I've always said, obviously, Donald Trump with inciting the riot, that is a very difficult thing to be able to prove. Yes, he said these things. Yes, the crowd, the rioters that have gone on trial, they all say, yeah, Trump gave us permission to do this. That was your interpretation of it. He didn't specifically say, go storm the Capitol.

And lacking that specific phrase, you really would have a hard time prosecuting him, convincing a judge, jury, anyone that his words actually said this. You can't do that, right? You can't go with the implicit meaning of these things. It has to be more explicit. And Trump did not go to that length and that is exactly what Ms. McQuade here is trying to tell us. You know, yes, it'd be great if we could do this, we all pretty much know that that's what happened, but you wouldn't be able to prove that in court of law, you wouldn't have the evidence needed to be able to make those claims and prove them and win. And that sucks. And I know a lot of people saying, no, no, of course he did, but yeah, but you couldn't go into court and prove that. That's the problem folks. Just because we want.