WASHINGTON – With the 2024 election just days away, Donald Trump’s supporters are falling in love with him. lies about fraud in the recent elections continues to face legal consequences for Attack on the Capitol on January 6even as Trump can to prevent his own criminal trial and again became the Republican presidential candidate.
The young Trump supporter who stormed the Capitol was sentenced Friday afternoon at a federal courthouse in Washington, just a few hundred feet from the crime scene. Caleb Berry, now 23, stood in front of the judge in a black shirt and apologized to everyone in the courtroom and to the country.
Berry pleaded guilty to conspiracy and obstruction of justice and cooperated with the government, testifying in two trials for sworn colleagues. In a test, Berry testified Kelly Meggs, who was sworn in has been convicted of the seditious plot—told a group of members on the east front of the Capitol that they would “stop the vote counting” before forming a militia and marching into the building “like a warrior.”
Strange as it may sound, Berry told the judge on Friday, he thanked federal prosecutors for bringing the case against him, saying they gave him a “robust wake-up call” that got him off the “road of radicalization.” was on. Berry called his behavior “senseless” and said he let his emotions get the best of him because he thought he was doing something “for the greater good” but now realizes that was “absolutely false”. Berry said she would regret her decisions “for the rest of my life.”
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta, who oversaw the trial of numerous Oath-bearing defendants, including founder Stewart Rhodeswho was was found guilty of sedition along with other members — said it was important for Americans to understand the seriousness of the evidence against the group, noting that he had read some of the comments online condemning the case. talked about large armory What the Oath Keepers had hidden across the river in Virginia in preparation for January 6, Rhodes’ weapons said that he regretted it he did not bring it to the Capitol that day.
“What this group did and planned was violence,” Mehta said. “Words don’t lie.”
He added that the oath takers were at the Capitol to “violently obstruct the execution of the laws of this country.”
While Berry’s behavior was not honorable, Mehta said what he did afterward was. The judge said the American people owe Berry a debt of gratitude for standing tall and speaking the truth, even when it could have resulted in difficult and personal repercussions.
“It took a 20-year-old, then 19, to figure it out,” Mehta said. “He did the right thing. He did the right thing. He did what he deserved.”
Berry understood, Mehta said, that “the cause was not fair, it was not fair. It was a mistake.”
Mehta sentenced Berry to three years of probation, a sentence requested by federal prosecutors in exchange for his extensive cooperation.
Trump’s role
Mehta expressed frustration at the general ignorance of many Americans about the January 6 attack and reflected on the number of political leaders who are willing to ignore reality and the law and reject the results of a free and fair election.
“We have a country,” Mehta said, adding that if people aren’t ready to abide by the law and accept the election results, they can tear up the Constitution, the document that officials are sworn to protect and uphold.
“We do this on the theory that the truth must prevail, and in this case it did,” Mehta said.
But he added: “None of us know exactly what will happen in the next few weeks.”
It’s long been known that Trump would order the case against him to be dropped if he’s elected to the White House, but this week Trump made it even more clear. special counsel Jack Smith is fired “in two seconds” if elected.
He also promised to pardon an unspecified number of rioters on January 6, as new arrests continued to mount.
Trump has been charged personally with four federal felony counts of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election — conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official process, obstructing and attempting to obstruct an official process, and liberties. conspiracy. He pleaded not guilty to four people. The indictment In August, it struck back against Trump, alleging that Trump used “unsupported, objectively unsubstantiated and ever-changing” voter fraud claims he knew to be false in a criminal conspiracy to overturn his election loss.
More arrests this week
Last week, the Department of Justice arrested several more people who caused riots on January 6 Jeffrey Newcommade a giant “Trump 2020 Make America Great” sign and used it as a battering ram against a number of police officers, federal authorities said.
California resident Robert Bixby, who wore a “Trump” hat when storming the Capitol, told federal investigators he went because he believed the election was rigged. according to to the FBI.
He was at the east rotunda doors when the crowd broke up and then joined a group that pushed police officers toward the House of Representatives, the FBI said. The FBI claimed that Bixby only used the collar of his shirt to cover his nose and mouth when the chemical spray hit the air.
Zachary Pearlman, FBI he saysHe stormed the Capitol and then confronted a line of police officers inside the Capitol rotunda, “stepping past other rioters to approach the line of officers.”
Pearlman then began “taunting the officers, repeatedly gesturing at them with both hands,” before “pushing the police officer’s riot shield,” the FBI said. Jeremy Michael Miller, FBI he saidOn January 6, he fought with police officers on the west side of the Capitol.
According to the bureau, he “grabbed a bicycle rack and tried to pull him away from police,” then “locked arms with other protesters and pushed their backs into barricades” while wearing a Trump 45 hat. Miller then “attempted to pull the riot shield from another police officer by grabbing it with both hands,” the FBI said.
Two other January 6 defendants was arrested this week — Roger Voisine and his brother, Reynold Voisine — were listed on the FBI’s Capitol Violence webpage, where the bureau is seeking the public’s help in identifying the main Jan. 6 rioters who committed violence that day. The Voisine brothers were known by the nicknames #TableLegWhacker and #BlueJavelin on January 6 to online detectives who helped identify hundreds of defendants.
Roger Voisine said in a statement based on the FBI’s online case, “mischief hunters,” video of the Capitol attack showed “a policeman being hit repeatedly with a broken table leg, nails and other fasteners still attached to the end of the facility.”
Roger Viosine wore a hat with the words “re-elect that mother —–” and threw a baton at police officers before throwing several shoes and another unknown object.
Roger Voisine “threw a pipe at the police officers, forcibly pushed the police officers’ shields, grabbed a police officer and tried to drag him into the crowd, threw a black baton and hit a police officer, threw three shoes at the police officers, threw an unknown object towards the police officers, a table swung his leg at police officers with protruding nails, threw the same table leg at police officers, and shone a flashlight in the officers’ eyes,” the FBI alleges.
His brother, Reynold Voisin, was nearby as rioters dragged Metropolitan Police Department Officer Michael Fanon through the tunnel into the Capitol, where law enforcement confronted the rioters, the FBI said. Reynold Voisine then passed back a police riot shield and threw armbands at police officers before striking the police line with the shield, according to the bureau.
“Roger Voisine twice threw a crutch at police officers, forcibly threw a blue pole and engaged police officers, and assaulted police officers with a shield,” the FBI said.
Both brothers told the FBI in interviews before their arrest that they deleted the photos they took that day.
More than 1,500 people have been arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, and federal prosecutors have indicted more than 1,100 defendants. More than 600 people were sentenced to prison terms.