Four Major Victories in Eight Days in the Fight for Accountability for the Capitol Insurrection

     On the one-year anniversary of the Capitol insurrection, the insurrectionists seemed pretty smug. It was a mere riot, a protest gone horribly wrong, they claimed. Were it anything more, the Department of Justice would have charged it as such. 

     Then, in January 2022, the founder of the Oath Keepers, Stewart Rhodes, as well as 10 others, including chapter leaders in states like Alabama and Ohio, were charged with seditious conspiracy, a 20-year felony that alleges they attempted to overthrow the government using violence. The indictment stated that Rhodes organized the plot while Edward Vallejo, a top deputy, led quick response teams in Virginia with the goal of funneling weapons into the District of Columbia both during and after the violence on January 6th.

     Sure, but that was just an indictment. Not anymore! On March 2nd, 2022, Joshua James, the leader of the Alabama Oath Keepers, pleaded guilty to one count of seditious conspiracy and agreed to cooperate as a witness in the other 10 cases that are set to go to trial. 

     The Oath Keepers aren't the only far-right hate group that is being dismantled as a result of the January 6th insurrection. After the attack on the Capitol, the Three Percenters ceased to function as a national group while they, alongside the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, were designated a terrorist group by Canada, forcing them to halt their operations in the country. Nearly 100 members of these three groups have been arrested. On March 8th, 2022, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio was charged with conspiracy for his role in the January 6th insurrection. While he was not physically present, having been arrested two days earlier for burning a Black Lives Matter flag at a black church while armed with illegal weapons, a stunt that would earn him five months in prison, Tarrio directed the Proud Boys with the help of the chapter leader of Florida as well as Tarrio's chief deputy, both of whom were at the Capitol that day. The best part: he was arrested in the middle of the night in his underwear.

     March 8th was a very good day for justice. That same day, after less than three hours of deliberation, a jury found Guy Reffitt, the first Capitol riot defendant to go to trial, guilty of five felony counts, including interfering with a police officer, obstructing Congress, bringing a weapon to the Capitol, and obstruction of justice. Obstructing Congress is a unique charge: it was meant to apply to CEOs who bribed members of Congress and was made a 20-year felony after the Enron scandal. However, its language-- "obstructing Congress"-- is vague enough that federal prosecutors were able to use it as a charge, most commonly against rioters who made it into the Senate chamber that day. Insurrectionists have tried to argue the law is unconstitutionally vague, but every federal judge overseeing these cases has ruled that not to be the case; this is now the first such conviction at trial. Reffitt, a member of the Three Percenters who threatened to shoot his own son for turning him into the FBI, was found guilty quickly because the case was that easy. A D.C. jury saw video of him bragging about violence from his own GoPro, from Capitol police bodycams, and from surveillance videos; they heard testimony from his son, Jackson, as well as a fellow Three Percenter who has not been charged in the violence. The only real defense his lawyer gave was that the videos were all "deepfakes," and it was even more ridiculous than you could imagine. Three hours was barely enough time to read the jury instructions, select a foreperson, and hold votes on the charges, and some of that time was devoted to lunch. In essence, there was zero debate among the jury, and that should send a strong message to the hundreds of insurrectionists who have yet to plead guilty. Reffitt now faces up to 60 years in federal prison, which would be a life sentence for a 50-year-old man. I'm urging the DOJ and the judge in this case to send an even stronger message with the sentence than with the conviction, including with the fine: the attack caused $1.5 million in damage to the Capitol when the medical and counseling bills of the Capitol police and members of Congress, the cost of deploying the National Guard and D.C. Metro Police, and the cost of prosecuting these traitors aren't included. Reffitt could face a fine of up to $250,000, and, if he's going to spend a few decades in the hole, I'd recommend putting him to work to pay for every penny of that maximum fine.

     Merrick Garland has shown he's not afraid to dismantle the hate groups that backed up the rhetoric around the Capitol insurrection with action. However, now it is time to go further. Steve Bannon has already been indicted for contempt of Congress: the DOJ needs to indict Mark Meadows, who was held in contempt months ago, and they need to indict the slate of 80+ fake electors. Meanwhile, the January 6th committee is laying out a clear, concise criminal case against Donald Trump for his role in the insurrection. The DOJ cannot be afraid of political blowback or a potential loss in enforcing the law, especially when the chances are so good in front of a D.C. jury: Donald Trump needs to be indicted.

     One must still hold out hope: the people who said there would be no sedition charges, there would be no trial convictions, there would be no tough prison sentences, and there would be no high-profile arrests have been proven wrong, with four major victories in the past eight days alone in the fight for accountability for the Capitol insurrection. Now is the time to ramp up pressure on the DOJ.