General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Today is a big day in Garlands J6 investigation. [View all]Effete Snob
(8,387 posts)And because all of the evidence to be used in the trial has already been provided to the other side.
The alleged conspiracy - the thing the government is setting out to prove - is among the people charged. No one else is named or identified as having been part of the agreement or acts alleged to have been committed among the people charged.
A trial is not some adventure to set off in search of additional defendants.
Also the DoJ has already argued that the trial should not include the Oath Keeper's belief they were authorized by Trump:
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.239208/gov.uscourts.dcd.239208.331.0_2.pdf
First, Rhodes suggests (ECF No. 324 at 33) that he has maintained since being charged that the
QRFs were not to be engaged unless Trump did, in fact, invoke the Insurrection Act. But
Rhodess self-serving statements made a year or more after the end of the charged conspiracy bear
no relevance to his state of mind during the time period covering the charged conspiracy. In fact,
the evidence (some of which is noted above) will show that Rhodes viewed the Insurrection Act
as legal cover and not a prerequisite for his and his co-conspirators plans to use force against
the government. As Rhodes made clear when speaking through an encrypted chat, if the President
fail[ed] to act, then we will. And on January 6, absent any invocation of the Insurrection Act,
Rhodes ordered his co-conspirators to the Capitol, where they forcibly occupied the building and
delayed the Certification of the Electoral College vote.
Rhodess argument fails for a second factual reason. Even assuming arguendo that some
evidence supported Rhodess contention that any use of the QRFs was contingent only on the
Presidents invocation of the Insurrection Act, Rhodes acknowledges (ECF No. 324 at 33) that the
President never in fact invoked the Insurrection Act. Nonetheless, Rhodes and the other
defendants amassed firearms just aside the District of Columbia and launched an attack on the
Capitol on January 6 in the full knowledge that the President had not called them (or anyone) into
service under the Insurrection Act.
Part of the DoJ's case here is that they knew they were not somehow authorized or requested by Trump to do what they did.
But, somehow, people think this trial is going to convict people who aren't even part of it.