Donald Trump's followers are being carted off to jail for participating in the January 6, 2021 violent attack intended to block the electoral college vote finalizing Joe Biden's election and relegating the orange blowhard to the trash heap of history.
But what about those who sent those loyal followers on this fools' errand -- Trump and his son, Don Jr.? Should they not suffer the same fate? Should they be charged with conspiracy or even treason?
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When a hitman is arrested for murder, the person who hired him is also subject to a conspiracy to commit murder charge and under the felony murder statute is also as guilty of the murder as if he had committed it himself.
Why should it be any different for the Trumps? People died in the attack that they encouraged, and others suffered debilitating injuries. The seat of our nation's government was desecrated and the official proceeding to certify the election was disrupted. Our democracy was threatened. Should not those who engineered and inspired these actions suffer the same penalty as those who carried them out -- at least?
Last Friday, Proud Boys leader Charles Donohoe pleaded guilty to two felony counts that carry a minimum sentence of nearly six years in prison and agreed to cooperate against other defendants, hoping for a lighter sentence. Prosecutors now have obtained convictions and cooperation of defendants from both the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers as member Joshua James pled last month to engaging in seditious conspiracy.
James admitted to one count of obstructing an official proceeding. An Army veteran who was injured in Iraq, he was indicted on the sedition charge in January along with 10 others, including Oath Keepers founder and leader Stewart Rhodes.
The Justice Department has been aggressive in prosecuting the January 6 insurrectionists, those who actually carried out the mission to block Biden's election and keep Trump in power. It needs to do the same with those who instigated the attack.
A Smoking Gun?
CNN revealed this week that the House committee investigating the January 6 attack on Democracy has uncovered text messages from Donald Trump Jr. to then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows describing a strategy to keep Trump in power by tossing election results from key swing states. Those texts were sent even before the election results had been finalized.
"It's very simple," Trump Jr. texted to Meadows on November 5, according to CNN. "We have multiple paths We control them all."
The strategy, the texts revealed, involved preventing swing states from certifying their results via lawsuits and demanding recounts. Then, Republican-controlled legislatures would create pro-Trump slates for the Electoral College, swinging the election to Trump. But if neither Trump nor Biden ended up with enough electoral votes, then the House of Representatives would vote by state delegation to pick the winner, a move that would guarantee a Trump victory.
"Republicans control 28 states Democrats 22 states," Trump Jr. texted. "Once again Trump wins."
Those text messages from Don Jr. were sent BEFORE the election had been called. It was a conspiracy that he and others engineered, and could not have happened without his father's knowledge and approval.
That strategy is precisely what Trump and his supporters attempted to do, all to no avail. Even Trump-appointed judges tossed those cases alleging voter fraud for lack of evidence. The effort to replace legitimate electors with Trump supporters was a colossal failure.
Call for Prosecution
NEWSWEEK reported that legal experts and others called for Don Jr. to be prosecuted for trying to subvert the election.
"This was an attempted putsch," Richard Painter, a law professor and former chief ethics lawyer for former President George W. Bush, said on Twitter. "He belongs in the slammer!"
Glenn Kirschner, a former U.S. Army prosecutor who serves as an NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst, said on Twitter that the messages were clear proof that Don Jr. was part of his "father's criminal conspiracy to overturn the election."
"How long do we have to endure this open, treasonous criminality by Trump and company before someone gets indicted?" wrote Kirschner.
Good question.