In yet another example of the double-standard of justice from this vengeful regime, Trump supporters are trapped in a legal circle of hell in the nation’s capital.
To hear federal prosecutors tell it, Guy Wesley Reffitt almost single-handedly organized and led a bloodthirsty mob to overtake Congress on January 6, 2021.
One of the first protesters arrested in the Justice Department’s “shock and awe” dragnet of Donald Trump supporters, Reffitt was immediately indicted on numerous offenses. He spent more than a year in the D.C. gulag set aside for Americans who protested Joe Biden’s election under pretrial detention orders sought by the Justice Department—and he was the first January 6 defendant to stand trial in a city that voted nearly 93 percent for Biden in 2020.
In a matter of a few hours in March, 12 residents of the nation’s capital—not only one of the most lopsidedly Democratic cities in the country but one whose residents view the events of January 6 as an intrusion of their private fiefdom—found Reffitt guilty on all charges: two counts of civil disorder, two counts of obstruction, and one count of carrying a handgun on restricted grounds. (Prosecutors came up with the firearms charges months after he was initially indicted, claiming a holster he wore that day contained a semi-automatic handgun.)
Without question, Reffitt engaged in bad behavior that afternoon; he recorded himself making derogatory comments about House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) before confronting Capitol police on the steps outside the building. The government’s most incriminating evidence in the case came from Reffitt’s teenage son, who secretly taped conversations with his father a few days after Reffitt returned to their Texas home, which the FBI raided on January 16, 2021. (I wrote about the case here.)
But Reffitt’s misconduct doesn’t come close to the overdramatic if not wholly dishonest account described in a 58-page sentencing recommendation the Justice Department filed last week. And it does not make him, or others in similar circumstances, part of a domestic terrorism plot as the Biden regime now insists.
Despite the fact Reffitt traveled to D.C. with only one other person and never entered the building, Jeffery Nestler, the federal prosecutor handling the case, repeatedly alleged that Reffitt played a “central role in leading a mob that attacked the United States Capitol.” Rather than show remorse for his action, Nestler wrote, “Reffitt returned home to Texas on January 8, triumphant about the integral role he played in the attack on our democracy.”
For several pages, Nestler portrays Reffitt as a dangerous militia leader who used his influence to initiate a violent assault against lawmakers that afternoon. “Reffitt did not intend to simply obstruct Congress’s certification of the Electoral College vote. Rather, Reffitt intended to physically remove the legislators from the building (using his firearm and flexicuffs, and the power of the crowd) and actually ‘take over’ Congress,” Nestler wrote. (Reffitt’s companion, an alleged militia member, was not charged for similar conduct after he agreed to cooperate with the government.)
Reffitt, however, wasn’t convicted of attempting to kidnap members of Congress or seize the Capitol building. He didn’t build a weapon of mass destruction, torch federal property, or plot to kill government leaders—crimes that are normally associated under the law with acts of terrorism. Prosecutors didn’t convince jurors that Reffitt was a self-styled American jihadist who developed elaborate plans to overthrow the U.S. government on January 6.
But that is precisely what the Justice Department now wants a federal judge to conclude—and punish Reffitt accordingly.
Nestler and his boss, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, are seeking a 15-year prison sentence based in part on a terrorism enhancement provision in federal sentencing guidelines. And the alleged crime of terrorism? The vague “obstruction of an official proceeding” felony is a post-Enron law intended to prevent evidence tampering that has been bastardized by Biden’s Justice Department to criminalize political protest in America.
“The Court should depart upward under U.S.S.G. § 3A1.4 (“Terrorism”), because Reffitt’s conviction—for obstructing Congress’s certification of the Electoral College vote ‘was calculated to influence or affect the conduct of government by intimidation or coercion, or to retaliate against government conduct,’” Nestler argued, citing requirements under sentencing guidelines to support additional jail time. (“[T]he terrorism enhancement is applicable where a defendant acts according to a plan—whether developed over a long period of time or developed in a span of seconds—with the object of influencing government conduct or retaliating against a government.”
Now, most Americans who aren’t brainwashed members of the national news media or Democratic Party consider attempts to influence the government a fundamental constitutional right. The notion that protesting any public body, especially Congress, makes one a “domestic terrorist” if the protest gets out of hand isn’t just absurd; it sets an extremely dangerous precedent. Which is precisely what this Justice Department wants to do.
Further, nothing Reffitt did on January 6 came close to the organized, violent rioting that was intended to disrupt Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017. Nor did it approach the weeks of protests, which included the occupation of Capitol buildings, breach of police lines, and threats to sitting members of Congress, related to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh in 2018. And of course, Reffitt was not involved in riots coordinated by powerful, monied activist groups following the death of George Floyd in 2020, violence that actually terrorized the American people for months, causing numerous fatalities and at least $2 billion in property damages.
None of those events has been cited as examples of “domestic terror” by this regime—but FBI Director Christopher Wray officially designated January 6, a four-hour disturbance that resulted in the deaths of four Trump supporters, an act of domestic terror. Wray’s proclamation, made under oath to a Congressional committee in March 2021, gave prosecutors, judges, and the media all the ammunition they needed to brand January 6 protesters, even nonviolent offenders, as America’s version of al-Qaeda.
This isn’t without tragic consequences.
In at least a half dozen cases, prosecutors have asked judges to throw the book at defendants who plead guilty to obstruction ostensibly as a deterrence measure. “The need to deter others is especially strong in cases involving domestic terrorism, which the breach of the Capitol certainly was,” prosecutors wrote in the case of Jacob Chansley, the so-called “QAnon shaman” who spent nearly a year in solitary confinement before prosecutors tortured a plea deal out of him on obstruction. D.C. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth agreed and sentenced Chansley, whom he called the “epitome” of January 6 even though he committed no violence, to 41 months in prison.
When Matthew Perna, who also pleaded guilty to obstruction, learned Graves’ office would seek years in prison for the same reasons it had in Chansleys’ case, he hanged himself in his garage on February 25 of this year.
But this is the first time the government has asked for more jail time specifically under the terrorism provision in federal sentencing rules. If Judge Dabny Friedrich agrees with the Justice Department at Reffitt’s sentencing hearing on August 1, it would turn a nonviolent felony that temporarily disrupted a largely ceremonial process on January 6 into a crime of domestic terrorism.
Nestler, in a way admitting the absurdity of it all, attempts to carve out an exception for Trump supporters: “[The] crimes that Reffitt and others like him committed on January 6 are unprecedented,” Nestler wrote. “These crimes defy statutorily appropriate comparisons to other obstructive related conduct in other cases. To try to mechanically compare other—defendants prior to January 6, 2021, would be a disservice to the magnitude of what the riot entailed and signified.”
Just another example of the double standard of justice from this vengeful regime. And as Graves’ office continues its undefeated streak before D.C. juries, Trump supporters trapped in a legal circle of hell in the nation’s capital can expect more of this, if not worse.
@Reader and this https://youtu.be/ApfU152awvw
Carlson on double standard Bannon discusses. Many examples besides NY Republican (Jewish) Gubernatorial candidate attempted assassin released without bail. Bannon convicted of non-crimes.
he calls it a show trial. I didn’t come up with it. As a former Stalinist, I agree.
@Reader No. watch Carlson interviewing Bannon who was just fonvicted. 22 minutes ago. https://youtu.be/EEw1cg1D3Jw
@Sebastien Zorn
How could it be otherwise?
He is a multi billionaire and a former (possibly future) President, not some Joe Shmoe who naively thinks that if he acts according to the Constitution, he won’t be punished with a few years in jail for scaring the daylights out of his rulers.
HE IS THEIR MAN, HE IS PART OF THE SYSTEM!
Ever heard of “bread and circuses”?
Well, you’ve been watching the circuses.
@Sebastien Zorn
Stalin was never a Marxist, he was never anything except for a consummate politician and the master of intrigue.
He also worked for the tzarist Okhrana (security services in his time before the revolution).
He pretended to be a theoretician and was supported by the Soviet power establishment for the propaganda purposes.
As far as “defending” the Soviet Union is concerned, if the US had to endure what Russia endured from 1812 – 1945, the US would simply cease to exist.
At this point, I am convinced by the events that Russia is always “bad”, no matter what political structure it assumes, simply because the West, headed by the US, wants to conquer it (see the Heartland theory), take over its resources and genocide its people (see Generalplan Ost).
Compare their treatment of the wonderful, civilized France with its bloody revolution and Napoleon conquering the whole Europe, of the wonderful, civilized Germany who is virtually swimming in the blood of the 100 million killed in two world wars including 1/3 of the world’s Jewish population and Russia/Russian Empire/the USSR who defeated both Napoleon and Hitler while the civilized Europe was “lying on its back and thinking of England” (if you know what I mean).
https://www.foxnews.com/media/ny-times-columnist-admits-wrong-about-trumps-supporters-says-russian-collusion-hoax
“Stephens also admitted the Russian collusion narrative – “the Steele dossier and all the bogus allegations, credulously parroted in the mainstream media, that flowed from it” – that marred Trump’s presidency was an “elaborate hoax” and that “there’s just no other word for it”.
“Despite this revelation, Stephens argued that he would not be “morally” wrong to “lambaste Trump’s current supporters, the ones who want him back in the White House despite his refusal to accept his electoral defeat and the historic outrage of Jan. 6.”
[Ha Ha. Reminds me of David Horowitz”s observation that the Left never has a problem denouncing past revolutions
However, Stephens admitted such disparagement would amount to bad politics.
@Sebastien
Nice synopsis. I recall reading on the Soviet Show Trials in my youth. The idea that such a thing could potentially be experienced in the US was so bizarrely impossible… oh how things have changed.
@Reader
https://youtu.be/Q7JqhDmX-C4
@Reader I just thought Stalin was a competent Marxist-Leninist. And, I still think so, which tells you what I think of this of this monstrous totalitarian ideology which the Dems are leaning towards. This party must be completely discredited and defeated before the moderates in that party can regain power and restore the 2 party system. This is what happened in the 50s, the 70s and again in the 90s.
@Reader Think about the nature of the Jan. 6 committee: no quorum and therefore not t legally constituted, bringing criminal charges that are not within rhe purview of Congress, accused are not allowed to bring witnesses, entire committee is partisan, cancel culture in full effect. All the testimony is he said, she said, no hard evidence. The Dems have lied about absolutely everything so far. Including the Constitutional provision for sending it back to the states. First they said Pence didn’t have the aurhority, now they want to abollish it.then Who else can add to this?
Complete hypiocrisy, while promoting actual Dem iinsurrectionists, domestic terrorists, subversives.
And, you completely missed my point. This has all the earmarks of a Stalinist show trial.
Incidentally, I didn’t worship Stalin and I don’t worship Trump. I like his policies and his honesty, integrity, competence, and respect for the law, all of which these Jacobin Dems lack.
These trials are being conducted by criminals.
You are the gullible one here and I hope someday you get out of your time warp as you still defend the Soviet Union, a criminal enterprise from start to finish.
@Sebastien Zorn
I am glad that you got out of that time warp but has it ever occurred to you that you may be living in another time warp?
This happens when humans endow some human with supernatural god-like qualities (which is very common in addition to another human feature of loving to hate people who are not like themselves or who think differently and blaming them for all the world’s problems).
I am not accusing you of hating anyone, BTW.
@Reader Ever hear of Joseph E. Davies? He was FDR’s ambassador to Russia. When I was an idiot Stalinist, his memoir, “Mission to Moscow” which asserted that the Show trial he witnessed was genuine – and which I believed every word of and frequently brought up in debate – was a center piece of my tiny group’s propaganda. It’s like we were – and the rest of us of us still are – living in a time warp when the New York Times was romanticising and hiding the Holodomor and got a Pulitzer for it – which they still won’t return – for their “reporter,”Walter Duranty.
The witnesses couldn’t be lying out of fear for themselves or their families and on the basis of promises that they would be spared and maybe promoted.
Absurd. Who could make up such elaborate conspiracies.
“IT WOULD TAKE A SHAKESPEARE TO MAKE ALL THIS UP!”
it said in the introduction of the reprinted edition, I read.
“Mission to Moscow,” which is pure pro-Soviet propaganda, the adaptation from his book, was one of the major motion pictures that provoked the McCarthy era in Hollywood. There’s a clip on Youtube. The book is also available on Amazon.
“Now, listen to this, carefully, Norman. I am lying.”
“Star Trek: Liar Paradox”
https://youtu.be/EzVxsYzXI_Y
@Sebastien Zorn
A quick search:
https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=Trump+and+Giuliani%27s+role+in+january+6&ia=web
Most entries are about Trump but I clearly remember that Giuliani gave a speech of a similar nature to a crowd.
@peloni
Since your question was based on a false assumption, it became a non-question.
@Reader
Actually there was a riot held in Washington, but it wasn’t at the Capital building, it was at the White House, and it wasn’t on Jan 6, 2021, it was on June 1, 2020, and it wasn’t planned by Trump and Giuliani, it was planned by the Democrats and Antifa. There were actually 60 Secret Servicemen injured in the real riot which was the only modern attempt to overthrow the govt, that is until they succeeded in doing so on Nov. 3 later that year.
@Reader
False.
@Reader
Thank you for that non answer to my question, but it really is rather non responsive to the question I asked.
@peloni
I don’t belong to any “movements” and I don’t idolize politicians.
@Reader
For someone who sees agent provocateurs in your tea, you certainly do have difficulty recognizing them when they step forward. Serious question for you if you would share, do you only consider someone an agent provocateur when they are politically aligned with a movement contrary to your own?
The people “who almost single-handedly organized… …a mob to overtake Congress on January 6, 2021.” were Trump and Giuliani, and Giuliani is an attorney, so he must have known what he was doing.
This is their hour, and the power of darkness. The Devil is furious, knowing he has but a short time left.