Dem
51
GOP
49
Let us continue with our theme of people who have committed crimes against the United States. Most of the people convicted of storming the Capitol have gotten relatively short sentences; a few years at most. So far, the record holder for the longest sentence is Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes. He got 18 years in prison for his role in the aborted coup attempt. However, he's now being challenged for the top slot by Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who urged his followers to remain in the building while the Capitol police were desperately trying to clear it. He was convicted of seditious conspiracy in May and now the issue is his sentence.
The prosecutors are asking for 33 years, nearly double what Rhodes got. Their memo to the judge said, of the Proud Boys: "They unleashed a force on the Capitol that was calculated to exert their political will on elected officials by force and to undo the results of a democratic election. The foot soldiers of the right aimed to keep their leader in power. They failed. They are not heroes; they are criminals." Prosecutors are also asking for 33 years for Tarrio's ally Joe Biggs, 30 years for Proud Boy leader Zachary Rehl and 27 years for Ethan Nordean, another leader. They aren't messing around here.
During the trials, prosecutors described the trauma they caused for members of Congress and the outnumbered Capitol police. They are also calling the Proud Boys "terrorists," which would increase their sentences. The fate of Tarrio and the others rests now with U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who presided over the trial.
Tarrio was not present at the Capitol on Jan. 6, in part because he had been arrested 2 days earlier and ordered to stay away. But he commanded his "troops" remotely and urged them to stay in the building and fight. At Tarrio's trial, it came out that he felt he was following Donald Trump's orders by trying to block the certification of the electoral votes. The judge hasn't indicated when he will issue the sentences.
If these four get sentences on the order of 30 years, it raises the obvious question of what Trump will get if he is convicted. If one of the medium fish got 18 years and a larger fish got 30+ years, what should the Biggest Fish get? We're not there yet by a mile, but we could be there in a year, maybe two. (V)