In less than half a year, juries have rendered three sets of guilty verdicts for seditious conspiracy. The crime means that two or more people agreed “to try to overthrow... or to destroy by force the Government of the United States ... or [its] authority ... or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of [its] law.” Conviction carries a maximum 20-year term of imprisonment.
Even a single set of guilty verdicts for seditious conspiracy is rare. Targets have included Puerto Rican nationalists and al Qaeda sympathizers...As a headline in The Washington Post last year bluntly put it, “Right wing white men aren’t usually convicted of seditious conspiracy.”
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Today's verdicts, which include convictions for multiple other serious crimes, are sure to bolster federal prosecutors in Washington and local prosecutors in Fulton County, Georgia, who are considering charges against former President Donald Trump in connection with events before and during Jan. 6.
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Recall the first presidential debate in 2020, when Trump famously told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” ...At trial, the government introduced a message from one Proud Boy who wrote right after the debate that “Donald has given us a command.”
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One day after news networks declared President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, his campaign had a request for the Proud Boys: Members of the extremist group should attend rallies pushing Trump’s false claim that the election was stolen — but not in their recognizable black-and-yellow gear.
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...the baton now passes to special counsel Jack Smith and to Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis to complete the task by bringing accountability to the very top. History has been made. There is more to come.
We're comin' for ya, Trumpie! Gonna gitcha, too!
