‘Fear of losing their power’: Judge slams GOP leaders who support Trump’s campaign demands

« The Judiciary…must be clear: It’s not patriotism, it’s not defending America to defend a man – who knows full well he lost – instead of the Constitution he was trying to to overthrow, » Jackson said. , appointed by former President Barack Obama.

Additionally, Jackson said, Trump and his allies are using rhetoric about multiple Trump-related criminal investigations that contain dangerous undertones.

« Some Republican Party figures … hesitantly predict or even outright call for violence in the streets if one of the multiple investigations doesn’t pan out his way, » Jackson said.

The judge’s harsh remarks came as she handed down a January 6 sentence against defendant Kyle Young, who pleaded guilty to assaulting DC police officer Michael Fanone in some of the most brutal violence to occur during of the attack on the Capitol. Jackson sentenced Young to 86 months in prison, one of the harshest sentences handed down, after he described his « enthusiastic » participation in mob violence against Fanone, including passing a taser to another rioter who used it on Fanone’s neck. Young, she noted, was accompanied in the middle of the crowd by her 16-year-old son.

But his most notable comments were not aimed at Young, but at Trump and GOP leaders themselves, repeatedly describing them as so beholden to ‘one man’ that it has become ‘heresy’ for Republicans to contradict. his claims of voter fraud.

She is not the first federal judge to reprimand Trump in the context of the Jan. 6 riot prosecution. Judge Amit Mehta lamented that many low-level rioters were duped by powerful figures, including Trump, into marching on Capitol Hill, only to face criminal consequences. Judge Reggie Walton called Trump a « charlatan » for his election-related conduct. And a California federal judge, David Carter, determined that Trump’s Jan. 6-related actions likely amounted to a criminal conspiracy to overturn the election.

But Jackson’s comments were the most scathing assessment not only from Trump, but also from those in the upper echelons of the elected GOP leadership who echoed him. She also pushed back against claims by some Trump allies that the Jan. 6 defendants were targeted for political reasons.

« You have not been prosecuted for being a Trump supporter. You have not been arrested or charged and will not be convicted for exercising your First Amendment rights, » she told Young. You’re not a political prisoner… You were trying to stop the one thing that makes America America, the peaceful transfer of power. That’s what « Stop the Steal » was all about.

Jackson is no stranger to high-profile Trump-related cases. She oversaw the trial of longtime Trump confidant Roger Stone, who was charged and convicted of lying to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. During that trial, she lambasted Stone after an ally used her social media account to post an image of her that appeared inside the crosshairs.

Jackson also presided over one of the criminal cases against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who pleaded guilty to financial crimes but was later accused by prosecutors of lying during his co-op deal.